The rain affected South Zone Cooch Behar Trophy match between Kerala andGoa, predictably enough, ended in a disappointing draw at the MedicalCollege ground in Trivandrum today. Play was possible only for 133 minuteson the first day during which Goa made 71 for eight wickets. The second andthird days were completely washed out and the teams got three points each.This was the second successive no result for Kerala.
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Jacques Rudolph hammered an unbeaten 201 to ensure that there were no last-day shocks for the South Africans as they drew their tour match against a Western Australia XI at Perth’s James Oval. His masterclass which included 24 fours took some of the pressure off the tourists’ injury concerns and enabled the tourists to declare on 9 for 395 at tea. They set the Western Australia XI a nominal target of 388 and allowed their bowlers a last stretch before the first Test on Friday.The South Africans batting had earlier wobbled again, and it took a 175-run ninth-wicket stand between Rudolph and Andre Nel (64) to finally ensure that the match would end as a draw. Ten Western Australian bowlers were used in all, and Matthew Petrie was the pick, finishing with 4 for 78. The final session was very low key, and Shaun Pollock picked up the one wicket to fall.Jacques Kallis has now been given until Wednesday to prove his fitness for the first Test against Australia but the tourists look likely to have a worthy batting replacement in Rudolph should Kallis miss out.Kallis has had just ten minutes’ practice since arriving in Perth and tearing a tendon in his elbow and team officials said he would have to prove himself in the nets on Wednesday or miss selection for the Test, which starts on Friday. He had earlier been given until Tuesday to prove his fitness.Although this match ended in a draw, the damp and dull wicket offered the tourists little experience of the conditions they will experience on the bouncy WACA wicket which will host the Test.But it did show that Rudolph, who has been the stand-out batsman of the tour for South Africa, could easily slot in at No 4 behind AB de Villiers, Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs if Kallis is ruled out.South African coach Mickey Arthur said he was still confident of a competitive showing against the world champions despite his team’s lacklustre form. “I’m upbeat, I really am,” he said. “You just have to be at the heart of the team to see our team spirit is fantastic and the guys are up for it. It hasn’t gone our way yet, but our intensity and discipline has got better and better. I think the guys will be up for it come Friday, I really do.”Despite Arthur’s optimism, losing Kallis, currently ranked the world’s best Test batsman, would be a massive obstacle for the tourists to overcome. With a batting average of 57.07 plus 184 wickets from his 94 Test matches, Kallis rivals England’s Andrew Flintoff as the world’s premier allrounder.Australian captain Ricky Ponting said he hoped Kallis would recover in time to play on Friday. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed and hope he does come up, because we want to play the best South African team that we can,” he said. If he’s not the best, he’s one of the very best batsmen in the world. He’s a pretty handy bowler for them as well and he’s a vital member of their side.”Australia’s only injury concern was fast bowler Glenn McGrath who has the flu and missed training on Tuesday. “We believe he’s fine and he’s improving,” said the team spokesperson, Belinda Dennett, “and he’s expected to train with the team tomorrow.”
Zimbabwe 211 for 2 (Carlisle 103*, Gripper 65) drew with Bangladesh 168
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Stuart Carlisle reaches his hundred |
Stuart Carlisle’s second Test hundred was the highlight of the final day of the second Test at Bulawayo’s Queens Sports Club – but there were no other challengers for the champagne moment on a day where both sides did little more than go through the motions.Carlisle brought up his century with a drive to the cover boundary, and the ball had barely hit the fence when the umpires removed the stumps and mercifully brought the rain-decimated match to an end. The loss of three full days was always going to make for a meaningless three sessions – the real puzzle was why as many as 50 spectators turned up to watch.When Zimbabwe wrapped up Bangladesh’s innings five balls after lunch, there was briefly a hope that Heath Streak might go for broke and try for quick runs, with the aim of bowling the fragile Bangladeshis out for a second time. The sight of Trevor Gripper striding out to bat ended any such fantasy.There was another brief flurry of excitement when, in the third over, Dion Ebrahim edged Tapash Baisya to Hannan Sarkar at second slip for 2 (5 for 1) but that was as good as the afternoon session got. Gripper, who was dismissed cheaply in both innings at Harare, set out his stall for runs by any means, while Carlisle was only marginally more aggressive.After tea, Gripper sped up, presumably for no reason other that had he continued at his pre-interval crawl he would have had no hope of reaching a hundred. As it was, that was academic – he tickled Tapash to wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud for 65 (134 for 2). Carlisle increased his scoring and reached his hundred. His first Test century came against Australia at Sydney – there is little question which one he will look back on with more satisfaction.In the morning Bangladesh’s innings had been of a funereal pace. Play started on time – remarkable given the recent downpours – and Bangladesh’s innings followed a to-be-expected course, with wickets falling and a sleep-inducing run-rate. The two-and-a-half hour session produced 80 runs and four wickets.Zimbabwe broke through with the second ball of the day, Douglas Hondo trapping Mushfiqur Rahman leg-before for 0 (89 for 6), but for the next 90 minutes Manjural Islam Rana and Mashud held firm in a seventh-wicket stand of 37 runs made at under two an over. Sean Ervine ended the torpor when he dismissed Mashud leg-before for 9 (126 for 7), and then Ray Price grabbed two quick wickets, including Manjural for a top-score 39.But Mohammad Rafique and Alamgir Kabir held firm for the last 40 minutes before lunch, Rafique clipping ones and twos while Kabir dropped anchor and showed little inclination to score. Their 24-run last-wicket stand was ended straight after the restart.
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
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A lower-order fightback from Gary Brent and Elton Chigumbura wasn’t enough to prevent South Africa from coasting to a five-wicket victory in the first one-dayer at Bulawayo. Zimbabwe recovered from a disastrous 72 for 7 to post 206 but the target was hardly challenging for the South Africans as Gulam Bodi, Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers helped themselves to half-centuries, polishing off the target with nearly three overs to spare.After losing Loots Bosman in the first over to Christopher Mpofu, Bodi and Smith added 72, ensuring Zimbabwe could take no advantage of the early dismissal. To their credit, the Zimbabwean bowlers didn’t allow the batsmen to blitz away to the modest target, and the fielders too impressed with their commitment, plugging the gaps in the infield.Smith, playing his first match since the World Cup semi-final, got into his groove with boundaries on either side of the pitch. He used his feet against the gentle medium-pace of Elton Chigumbura and brought up his fifty with a boundary, an uppish drive off the same bowler. However, Chigumbura won the battle two balls later when he held on to a one-handed return catch. At this stage, the South Africans upped the tempo and pushed the run-rate above four.Bodi had the most to gain, impressing in his debut game. He fetched his first boundary with an innovative flick across the line from off stump and kept the runs coming. He impressed with his range of strokes, caressing half-volleys past mid-off and then took on the spinners, sweeping and stepping down the track. Zimbabwe used as many as six bowlers by the 25th over but none looked like troubling the batsmen as Bodi and de Villiers milked the attack with minimum fuss.Bodi eventually fell just after reaching his fifty, beaten for turn from the Prosper Utseya and edging to Tatenda Taibu, in his first match since 2005. de Villiers then took charge of the chase, stating his intent with three boundaries in an over off Mpofu, and even the loss of two more wickets – that of Jean-Paul Duminy and de Villiers – couldn’t bring the home side back into the game.Earlier, the Zimbabwe top and middle order were exposed in their inept display, after Utseya chose to bat under sunny skies. Vusi Sibanda set the pace with some confident boundaries off the front and back foot but he was unable to convert his breezy start courtesy a brilliant catch at slip by Smith in the fifth over with the score at 21.Reckless running contributed to five of their dismissals and Hamilton Masakadza was the first victim, following a mix-up with Brendan Taylor. The arrival of Taibu spiced things up and his urgency to get off the blocks was evident as he took on the short stuff from the seamers. Taibu, perhaps the only world-class batsman in the line-up, sized up Makhaya Ntini with a fierce pull over square leg and in the company of Taylor, settled into a good rhythm, flicking anything drifting on the pads from Johan van der Wath and Morne Morkel.
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Like Sibanda, Taibu too failed to sustain the momentum, edging to the keeper for 22. The introduction of Vernon Philander left the home side in further disarray, as he picked up two wickets off successive balls. An astounding one-handed pluck by Shaun Pollock at slip sent Sean Williams packing and Stuart Matsikenyeri was all at sea to an offcutter that sent his off stump for a mid-morning jog.Two more run-outs followed; that of Taylor and Utseya, adding to the embarrassment for the home side. With all the regular batsmen back in the pavilion, Brent and Chigumbura set about the repair work with nothing to lose. They buckled down and picked up singles and twos. After nearly ten overs of nudging and grafting, Chigumbura broke the shackles with cover drives off Thandi Tshabalala, while Brent used the long handle to good effect each time the bowlers, especially Ntini, erred in length. The confidence in his strokeplay rubbed off on Chigumbura. A six by Brent brought up the 150 in style and soon after, Chigumbura took control, outscoring Brent.A couple of spanking drives through the off side brought up Chigumbura’s seventh half-century in ODIs and following it, he proceeded to cart the bowlers over midwicket. A run-out, courtesy de Villiers, ended Chigumbura’s knock at 59 but Brent stayed on till the end, reaching his maiden international half-century in 78 balls. Zimbabwe posted a more respectable 206 but it was hardly a match-winning one.
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The ICC has issued a warning to Zimbabwe Cricket that the appointment of a new interim board is not the end of its troubles, but stopped short of making any comments on controversial statements made by senior sports officials last Friday.Almost 72 hours after the news broke that Zimbabwe’s government had stepped in to assume control of the board, Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, said that “no-one should regard the appointment of this committee as a solution to the issues facing Zimbabwe cricket.”These include addressing allegations of financial mismanagement; ensuring disputes between players and the board are effectively addressed; and providing certainty for other ICC members that the strongest possible Zimbabwe cricket team will be able to fulfil future international commitments, especially the forthcoming tour of the West Indies due to commence in April.”The issue is certain to be discussed when the ICC directors meet this week in Karachi, and West Indies are sure to express serious concerns that even if Zimbabwe do raise a side to tour in April, it will be so weak as to significantly undermine the profitability of the series.While the ICC has always maintained this is a domestic issue, the pressure on it to act has increased in the light of the seemingly racist decision to oust all white and Asian administrators on the grounds of their colour and political position.
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Romesh Kaluwitharana finished his first-class career by captaining Colts to victory in the 2004-05 Premier League Tournament. It was Colts’s first domestic title since 2001-02.Victory was all but assured after BRC were bundled out for 178 to give Colts a decisive, and match-winning first-innings lead of 196. Chaminda Vaas collected with 5 for 32 to go with his first-innings century as BRC lost their last five wickets for 34 runs, The lower order failed to continue the good work put in by Manoj Mendis, who, on the second day, had propped up BRC with a spirited 73 with 12 fours.Colts needed to bat out time on Sunday afternoon, and Kaluwitharana dispelled any fears of a dramatic turn-around by putting on 77 for the first wicket with Shantha Kalavitigoda before being out for the last time in his career, to Duncan Arnolda. Kalu was given a rousing send-off, and his team-mates gave him a guard of honour. Kalavitigoda pressed on, despite Sajeewa Weerakoon cutting through the Colts’s middle order to claim 3 for 60, and reached his hundred from 117 balls with 12 fours and a four sixes before umpires called time.At the post-match presentation ceremony, Weerakoon was awarded the bowler of the tournament, while Rashan Peiris of Colts was player of the tournament. Russel Arnold, who wasn’t playing in the final, was batsman of the tournament.
Otago beat Canterbury comprehensively by nine wickets in their State Championship encounter at Queenstown. After following on, Canterbury just about managed to stave off an innings defeat, leaving Otago to chase only seven. Chris Harris and Paul Wiseman were the only Canterbury batsmen to pass fifty as their side stayed on the defensive throughout, facing over 130 overs for their total of 276. Wiseman top-scored with an unbeaten 80. For Otago Bradley Scott, the left-arm fast bowler, was the most impressive, taking 5 for 48.Central Districts took command at the end of the third day at Palmerston North, leaving Auckland to chase a target of 456 with only three sessions left. Central were earlier bowled out for 390 in their second innings and Auckland, in reply, lost two wickets with 85 on board. Central rode on solid contributions by their middle order, with half-centuries by Jacob Oram (89) , Timothy Weston (70) and Bevan Griggs (50). Oram scored as many as 60 runs through boundaries alone while Griggs compiled a run-a-ball half-century with six fours. Auckland lost Richard Jones early with the score on 1. Tim Lythe and Matthew Horne were at the crease at stumps.Wellington and Northern Districts both made sporting declarations to set up a chance for a result in their State Championship match at Hamilton. Northern declared their first innings 98 behind Wellington, after Alun Evans scored 103. Wellington rode on Matthew Bell’s 109 at the top of the order, who shared a 141-run stand with Michael Parlane. Jesse Ryder made an aggressive half-century, scoring 55 off 51 balls. Wellington declared at 255 for 8, leaving Northerns to chase 354 in the last innings. Grant Robinson fell early as Northern ended the day at 3 for 1.
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Cricket is a mind game above all others with the possible exception of golf, the ultimate masochists’ pursuit. It is something Michael Bevan, the most driven of Australian players, knows only too well. Bevan spent more than a decade trying to prove himself on the world stage while fighting a losing battle against certain perceptions of his batting, notably that he had a weakness against the short ball and was thus the dreaded “one-day specialist”.So when he lost his lucrative Cricket Australia contract at the end of 2003-04 and went back to negotiate the relative pittance of a salary with his beloved New South Wales, his cricketing life reached a genuine flashpoint. He knew his international career was probably finished at 34, unfair as that might have been given his one-day average of 53.58 and a reputation for owning three or four shots to every ball.Always a different card, Bevan chose to pack up and play in Tasmania, who also offered an assistant coaching job. He arrived in Hobart with a mindset that reflected the fact he was no longer required to prove anything to anyone beyond himself. Brian McFadyen, the coach, soon noticed the change. While it was different from before, there was also a familiarity about it. McFadyen, now ensconced as a senior coach at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, sensed Bevan wanted to play like he had all those years ago, when it was just another game. In essence, he had gone back to the swashbuckling kid from Canberra who lit up NSW upon his arrival at the end of the 1980s. The result was astonishing. Jamie Cox, the state’s veteran top-order batsman, called it “phenomenal”. McFadyen preferred “out of this world”.Bevan played nine Pura Cup matches for Tasmania in 2004-05 after missing the opening game with an Achilles injury. He made eight centuries, an Australian record for a single season. He accumulated 1,464 runs, breaking the all-time domestic mark of 1,381, which was set only the season before by Matthew Elliott, another left-hander. He averaged 97.60 and Phil Jaques, the next best player, was 273 runs behind. Tasmania’s poor season meant he was no chance of making the final, and combined with his first-game absence four potential hits were sacrificed. It is said that there are lies, damned lies and statistics, but there is no disguising this one. It is a big number, a significant number, and one for the ages.Beginning with a muffled 19 and a magnificent, unbeaten 167 against Victoria at Bellerive Oval, Bevan scarcely stopped to smell the roses. Tasmania’s season at four-day level was dreadful as they finished last in a competition won by NSW. At least they could watch Bevan from the sanctity of the dressing-room. During the second innings he and the feisty all-rounder Damien Wright met at 6 for 46 and put on 215 for the seventh wicket, a record for Tasmania, who defied Victoria for hour after hour. Bevan survived 439 minutes in the maelstrom and was still there when the Bushrangers secured their first win in Hobart for 25 years. Despite the loss, he was on a roll.
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A match later he conjured 106 and 100, from only 137 balls, against South Australia as the Tigers won by 195 runs. Around this point McFadyen spotted the change in Bevan’s batting from previous years. “He actually backed himself more,” he says. “I suppose he played with the chains off. I’ve got no doubt he’d played before that with distractions, whether it was national selection, the short ball or a few other things around him.” It was clear that he wanted to bat naturally and fluently, like he had as a teenager. “When he first came on the scene he was aggressive,” McFadyen says. “Like a lot of young players he’s had to temper that to make himself consistent. I reckon the decision he made was instead of being conservative he would throw caution to the wind and see how good he could be.”Twin centuries against the Redbacks were followed by a lean period in the context of his summer: 11 and 93 against Queensland in Brisbane; 21 and 12 against NSW in Sydney; and 42 and 4 in the return match with the Bulls. However, the rest was special. After Tasmania slumped to 3 for 23 against Western Australia at Bellerive Oval in late January, he peeled off a first-innings 190. As they aimed to set the Warriors a target, Bevan hit the ball even better, gleaning an unbeaten 114 out of 5 for 226. Symptomatic of their season, they lost despite setting a monumental 396.The runaway train was still motoring when, confronted by a Victoria attack headed by Shane Warne, he toiled for 434 minutes over 144, then gathered 86 of Tasmania’s limp 198 as they were again defeated. When the Tigers met NSW in Hobart, Bevan smashed an unbeaten 170 against Stuart MacGill and his impressive company. As the Blues rolled to victory on the final day MacGill had his revenge, dismissing Bevan for 26, which was a rare failure on his new home deck.Bellerive Oval has a reputation as a batsman’s paradise, but Bevan was not getting it easy. McFadyen said the curator at the beautiful ground beside the Derwent estuary was urged to prepare “result wickets” and duly delivered. “There was juice left in and the first hour of each first innings was always difficult,” he says. “It was not a traditional batsman-friendly wicket. The scores don’t reflect that because it dried out on the third and fourth days. I can tell you it was bloody difficult.” In the tough conditions, against quality opposition, and on surfaces helping the pace bowlers, Bevan was unflappable. Even McFadyen was slightly surprised. “There’s been a question mark about him when it’s difficult and he’s been labelled a one-day player,” he says. “He did not look like missing a ball, didn’t look like playing and missing for the whole season.”Cox recognised an old look in Bevan’s eye. “I played under-age cricket with Michael and even then he had the aloofness, if you like, that a lot of special players have,” he says. “There’s this zone where they go and you wonder what they’re thinking. You look at them and you know they’re ready to go.” By the final game Bevan’s mind was still churning, and as they arrived in Adelaide he needed another 76 runs to overtake Elliott’s landmark. With 115 and 44 he succeeded in another loss, which won the wooden spoon, and completed a four-game streak of at least one hundred in the world’s toughest domestic competition.The Pura Cup had ended for Tasmania but their season wasn’t entirely over. In the ING Cup final Bevan hit a typically inventive 47 not out from 52 balls that helped them to a famous victory over Queensland, the state’s first one-day trophy since the low-key Gillette Cup in 1978-79. Enjoying a fine season on that stage, too, he captured 519 runs at 86.50. “In the end, it got ridiculous,” Cox says. “We were almost taking it for granted. He’d score a hundred late in the year, and you could see the blokes almost forgetting to pat him on the back.”
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Bevan told the media he was still improving, and that he remained hopeful of a berth at the 2007 World Cup. He refused to make a retirement announcement, a fact that surprised no one who knew him well. “I’m a better player than when I was in the Australian side, no doubt about it,” he says. “The World Cup is a long way off but I don’t think it’s out of the question. I hope it isn’t. It’s nice to know that at this stage of my life I’m hitting the ball the best I’ve ever hit it.”All of which must make people wonder why Bevan, the artist and sometimes cantankerous player, completed his international career with only 18 Tests, an average of 29.07, and precisely zero centuries. The answer is in the timing. Bevan played in an era when Australian batting opportunities were limited, a fact the likes of Cox, Jamie Siddons, Stuart Law and even Dean Jones could attest. Then there was the short-ball perception and the associated mind games and battles. Devon Malcolm, the very quick English bowler, made him flinch a couple of times in the 1994-95 Ashes series. Bevan paid a massive price for those moments of discomfort, and the irony was that nearing the end of his career he was flaying the short ball.”It’s a myth, there’s no doubt about it,” Cox says of the weakness-against-the-short-ball theory. “It was exposed on one trip by one bowler. If you watched him last year he pulled and hooked beautifully. People tested him out because they thought he was weak, but he smacked them.”Everyone already knew that Bevan was a fine player and a highly-charged individual. In a sense he was ahead of his time because he did not fit the archetypal Australian cricket legend of the beer-swilling man’s man, the image cultivated by the Chappells, Lillee, Marsh and Walters. He was a gym rat and a fitness fanatic long before it became the norm of the modern professionals. What was not so widely known was that his hunger was undiminished by the vagaries of selection and the bodyblow of losing his contract.”His strength is his ability to remain focussed on the job at hand,” McFadyen says, “but he probably expects that of everyone.” While he has been labelled as difficult – not quite normal – last season he was a role model who would spend a couple of hours on the bowling machine the day before a game.Sitting back watching the show, McFadyen reasoned that if Bevan was picked for Australia again he would thrive. It probably won’t happen, but it’s a nice thought. “Most of us who witnessed it felt his batting was as good as anything we’d ever seen,” he says. “It wasn’t just one or two performances, it was every time he went out. It was out of this world.”
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Less than 48 hours have passed since the final of the Challenger Trophy at Mohali, and the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) finds itself embroiled in a new controversy over television rights with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).The first volley was fired by SK Nair, BCCI secretary, as he accused the PCA of not releasing the full financial details of the television deal with Zee Sports, which broadcast all four games. “We have sent them letters asking them to give us the financial details of the deal but PCA refuses to divulge information,” Nair has been quoted as saying by . “We would like to know how much money PCA has made because it affects the gross earnings of the board from which subsidies are given to affiliated units.”The BCCI claims that it is the PCA’s responsibility to maintain transparency regarding any financial dealing, such as who determined a final amount for the TV rights and on what basis, given that the PCA is an affiliate of the BCCI.IS Bindra, PCA president, disapproved Nair’s statements and has dashed off his own letter to the board, dated October 13 and delivered to Nair, by hand, on October 14. Bindra has cited that the PCA went ahead and found sponsors for the Challenger Trophy and arranged for its telecast at the request of the Annual General Meeting, and that he does intend to submit a detailed financial report.Nair’s comments and Bindra’s response are sure to raise the tempo of discussions at the board’s marketing committee meeting to be held in Mumbai on October 16, where the technical bids for TV rights for coverage of all matches till 2009 will be discussed.
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Victoria’s push to reach the Pura Cup final has suffered two setbacks with Mick Lewis and Jon Moss missing the match against Western Australia starting at the MCG on Thursday. However, the return of Cameron White, who has been part of Australia’s one-day campaign, is timely with two rounds remaining.Lewis, who was playing for Australia a year ago, was dropped while Moss has a thigh strain as the Bushrangers, who are third, eye a finals berth. The fast bowler Peter Siddle is in line for his debut after replacing the out-of-favour Lewis. Siddle captured 5 for 38 in the 2nd XI game against South Australia last week to impress the selectors.”Obviously there’s little separating several teams on the table, so the points up for grabs in these remaining two games will be fought for extremely hard,” White said. “I’m sure Justin Langer will be going for the maximum as well, so I think we’ll see some declarations and exciting run chases.” The fourth-placed Warriors are two points behind Victoria and four behind the joint leaders New South Wales and Tasmania.Victoria squad Cameron White (capt), Adam Crosthwaite (wk), Shane Harwood, David Hussey, Nick Jewell, Michael Klinger, Andrew McDonald, Bryce McGain, Lloyd Mash, Darren Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Rob Quiney.Western Australia squad Justin Langer (capt), Chris Rogers, David Bandy, Shaun Marsh, Marcus North, Adam Voges, Clint Heron, Luke Ronchi (wk), Aaron Heal, Steve Magoffin, Ben Edmondson, Danny McLauchlan.