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John Buchanan could take up a place on New Zealand’s selection panel as part of his new role as the country’s director of cricket

Brydon Coverdale19-Apr-2011John Buchanan could take up a place on New Zealand’s selection panel as part of his new role as the country’s director of cricket. Buchanan was appointed on Friday to take control of the high-performance sector of New Zealand Cricket and immediate tasks in his wide-ranging brief include overseeing the appointment of a new captain and selectors.The existing three-man panel of Lance Cairns, Mark Greatbatch and chairman Glenn Turner come off contract at the end of the month, and one option would be to make the coach John Wright a selector. However, Buchanan is also considering whether he, as the man with ultimate responsibility for the high-performance programme, should be on the panel himself.”That’s something that I’m tossing around at the moment,” Buchanan told ESPNcricinfo. “There’s every chance, but in the next couple of months it’s going to be very important to listen to a whole range of people and get their views and work out some of the logistics and practicalities of what I do. Certainly it’s an option at the moment.”Buchanan’s four-year deal officially begins next month and he will need to hit the ground running, with the choice of Daniel Vettori’s successor as captain being another key decision. But regardless of who gets the job, Buchanan does not want the captain to be overburdened, as often appeared to be the case with Vettori.”The two front-runners are Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum,” Buchanan said. “John Wright is going to be pretty critical to that decision, because ultimately the captain and coach are going to have to work very closely together. His advice and his thoughts will be pretty important in terms of making a final decision.”One of the things we’d like to be able to achieve is to create greater leadership capacity in any side that New Zealand puts on the field – whether they’re given a formal title as captain or vice-captain should be almost irrelevant. Individual players should be able to step up, and that means making good decisions more consistently than what they have done currently. That’s one of the targets we’ll be trying to put in place.”That sort of accountability among players, coaches and support staff is likely to be a major plank of Buchanan’s strategy for stretching New Zealand to reach new heights. And although he hopes to leave the day-to-day business of coaching to Wright, he has not entirely ruled out the possibility of having a more active role when New Zealand head to Australia in November for a Test series.”Ideally I’ll be hands-off,” he said. “John Wright is the coach, and we’ll have a captain in place and he’ll have his support staff. Ultimately they need to be accountable for their performances. Hopefully we’re pretty close by that stage with that group of people that I won’t have too much of a role at all. But if not, then I’ll be around.”I see it as having to be a very close partnership [with Wright]. He coaches the pointy end of the high-performance program. If the Black Caps are not performing then it means we’re not doing things the right way. He and I need to work closely together and I’m very confident we can do that.”It will be important for the two men to work out the demarcation between their roles, especially given Buchanan’s history as a head coach. During his eight years at the helm of Australia, Buchanan helped the side win three World Cups and a record 16 consecutive Test matches, but he had at his disposal champion players like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist.Getting the same results from New Zealand might be an unrealistic goal, but Buchanan is looking forward to the challenge of driving the team to punch above its weight. And he believes that merely by creating the director of cricket position, NZC has shown itself to be one of the most forward-thinking organisations in world cricket.”I think it’s a role that’s long overdue in cricket, and whether I got the position or didn’t get the position, I applauded the step that New Zealand have taken,” he said. “They’re a little bit disadvantaged in the way of resources, so they have to be much smarter with what they do have, a little bit more innovative and creative about how they use what they have got.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings in Kolkata

The Preview by Dustin Silgardo06-May-2011Match factsFriday, May 7, Kolkata
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)Doug Bollinger has been frugal at the death•AFPBig pictureChennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders are on strong runs, and both teams will probably make the play-offs regardless of what happens on Saturday. However, with the new format allowing the top two teams two bites at the cherry in the play-offs, and with Mumbai Indians looking set to take one of those spots, this match is a chance for either side to take a step towards that crucial second spot.If there is anything to separate the two teams, it is probably that Chennai have more dynamism in their batting. It could be a big factor given the match could be played on a brand new pitch at Eden Gardens, which is expected to produce more runs than previous tracks at the ground.Gautam Gambhir’s continued reluctance to open the batting means Kolkata have plenty of solidity but not much power at the top of the order. Yusuf Pathan has usually come in late in the innings and hasn’t had a chance to get his eye in before launching, and the batting is not as deep as Chennai’s. All this has meant that while Kolkata have put up decent totals consistently, they have never scored more than 171. If the pitch at Eden Gardens serves up a run-fest, that may not be good enough.Form guide (most recent first)Kolkata Knight Riders: LWWWL (second in points table)
Chennai Super Kings: WWWWL (third in points table)Team talkIn Jacques Kallis and Eoin Morgan, Kolkata have two openers who are striking at less than 125 in this IPL. It would be a bold move to drop either of them, but bringing in Ryan ten Doeschate or Shakib Al Hasan could help match the Chennai middle order, which contains Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Albie Morkel and S Badrinath, all of whom have strike-rates of more than 130. L Balaji is expected to be back for Kolkata after he was rested from the previous game. Chennai should go in unchanged, unless they decide to rest somebody.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team selector.In the spotlightBrett Lee has bowled well without much reward in this tournament: he has three wickets in seven games and has gone at 7.48. Against Kochi Tuskers on Thursday, his last over was smashed for 22 runs. But his luck has to turn at some stage.Lee’s countryman Doug Bollinger has been impossible to get away in the end overs. His mix of full deliveries outside off stump and short-of-length deliveries has allowed him to maintain an economy-rate of 6.21, even though he bowls at times when the batsmen are looking for quick runs.Prime numbers While bowling in the last four overs, Bollinger has conceded just 62 runs off 60 deliveries during the tournament, and has picked up six wickets Jacques Kallis’ strike-rate of 109.58 is the lowest among the ten leading run-getters in this IPL. The chatter”In the last two games, the spinners have pulled us back into the contest after good starts by our opponents. They have been consistent and have tied the batsmen down. So it will be challenging if we lose Suraj Randiv in the latter stages of the tournament.”

“The ground holds some good memories. We came into the match 1-0 down and won it to level the series and become the No. 1 Test team in the world. Personally, I was not very successful, but it was part of a learning curve.”

Kent’s England offspinner James Tredwell bagged 4 for 46 as 13 wickets fell during an action packed day of Championship cricket against Leicestershire in Tunbridge Wells

30-May-2011
ScorecardKent’s England offspinner James Tredwell bagged 4 for 46 as 13 wickets fell during an action packed day of Championship cricket against Leicestershire in Tunbridge Wells. Bat dominated ball on the opening day at The Nevill Ground as Kent amassed 376 for 3, their biggest total to date of a disappointing campaign, yet the reverse was true on Monday when a dozen wickets tumbled inside the opening two sessions.Having lost their last seven wickets for 30 runs in the space of 9.4 overs, Kent set about reducing the visitors to 161 for 6 before England Test prospect James Taylor led a revival for the East Midlands outfit with a stoical, unbeaten 43 scored in a shade over two hours.When rain and bad light led to an early conclusion just before 6pm, Leicestershire had reached 220 for 6 after 64 overs and trail by 239 going into the third day of the 109th year of Festival Week cricket in the Royal Spa Town. The Foxes need a further 90 to avoid following on.Responding to Kent’s 459 all out, Leicestershire made a measured start through Matt Boyce and Will Jefferson as Kent’s attack, in stark contrast, started dreadfully. Matt Coles gave away four wides and Robbie Joseph overstepped and sprayed the new ball around in a scrappy pre-lunch burst when Jefferson received a life at third slip even before getting off the mark.The hosts turned the screw in the mid-session however, with Tredwell coming to the fore.He had Jefferson (77) and White (five) stumped by former England keeper GeraintJones, who also played a part in the demise of Boyce, for 23, by taking a catchfrom an ill-judged drive against Coles.Veteran Paul Nixon reached eight against his former county before clubbing a loose one to point where Adam Riley claimed the chance at the second attempt. McDonald gifted Tredwell another scalp by flicking to short midwicket, then Tom New snicked one to second slip.Taylor and Jigar Naik dug in thereafter to add 59 for the seventh wicket before rain and bad light ended the entertainment prematurely. At the day’s start Kent resumed with sights set firmly on posting 600-plus, but a clutch of poor shots coupled with a little more help for the seam bowlers from a pitch with only the merest flecks of green in it, saw wickets tumbling.Experienced fourth-wicket partners Martin van Jaarsveld and Darren Stevens progressed their side’s score on to 429 by adding 53 inside the opening hour before the wheels came off Kent’s bandwagon as both went in the 30s. Van Jaarsveld was caught at slip playing around a good ball from Wayne White then Stevens, hampered by a trapped nerve in his shoulder, went leg before to a shooting offcutter from Nadeem Malik.Kent had little to offer by way of resistance thereafter as three went for ducks and two more for single-figure scores. White led the Foxes attack with 4 for 66 and Malik provided excellentsupport with 3 for 87.

Kent batted out for a forgettable County Championship draw in their rain-affected second division clash with Derbyshire in Canterbury

27-May-2011
ScorecardKent batted out for a forgettable County Championship draw in their rain-affected second division clash with Derbyshire in Canterbury.Kent banked nine points to the visitors’ 11 after Derbyshire opted to extend their overall lead to 364 before declaring on 256 for 4 soon after lunch. Having been set an impossible last-afternoon winning target of 365 from a minimum 58 overs – an asking rate of 6.29 an over – Kent reached 94 for two amongst the rain breaks before shaking hands on a draw at 5pm.Home skipper Rob Key anchored the innings with an unbeaten 59 from 78 balls, his second-best score of the campaign to date, while Martin van Jaarsveld enjoyed a 38-minute net in the middle for an unbeaten 12.The home reply started badly when Joe Denly, back in the side following a three-week lay-off with a fractured thumb, followed his first innings of five with a fifth-ball duck in the second. The right-hander had his middle stump uprooted by a Tim Groenewald off-cutter that darted through the gate.After another break for rain that led to an early tea interval, Kent regrouped through Key and Sam Northeast to add 61 for their second wicket before Northeast, in aiming to leg-glance against Tony Palladino, edged through to the wicketkeeper to fall for 21.The last day started with Derbyshire’s first-innings centurions Wayne Madsen and Usman Khawaja back in tandem as the east midlands side resumed on their overnight score of 85 for one.Khawaja, who will fly home to Australia tonight for his country’s A-team tour of Zimbabwe, reached 36 before he became his side’s first casualty when edging a defensive push against Azhar Mahmood to the wicketkeeper.Madsen, fresh from scoring 140 here during the opening two days, reached 71 from 111 balls before failing to get on top of a cut shot at Neil Saker and picking out Northeast at point. Dan Redfern and Wes Durston then featured in a fourth-wicket stand of 93 in 21.1 overs, each ultimately scoring a 50 from 61 and 88 balls respectively.Redfern went soon after lunch after the left-hander skied a leg-side slog against James Tredwell to make it 236 for four. Luke Sutton’s declaration followed 30 runs on and just after Durston had reached his half-century.

Simon Katich has become the first player to sign up with a Big Bash League team outside his current state after it was confirmed he would join the Perth Scorchers this summer

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jun-2011Simon Katich has become the first player to sign up with a Big Bash League team outside his current state after it was confirmed he would join the Perth Scorchers this summer. Katich is the captain of New South Wales but chose not to play with one of the two Sydney-based Twenty20 sides, and instead will return to his home city for the tournament, a decade after moving from Perth.In the longer format, Katich is hoping to make plenty of runs for the Blues and show Australia’s selectors what they are missing from the Test side after his dumping from the national squad this month. In the shorter version, he will be joined in Perth by the Western Australian trio of Marcus North, Shaun Marsh and Luke Pomersbach.The three batsmen have signed with the Scorchers, while Michael Hussey has also agreed in principle to playing with the Perth side subject to his availability. The deals were overshadowed on the first day of the Big Bash League contract window by the news that Chris Gayle and David Warner would unite at the Sydney Thunder, but the Scorchers coach Mickey Arthur said he was comfortable with the way his side was shaping up.”This is the first of our exciting player announcements and we look forward to making a few more in the coming days,” Arthur said. “Securing Shaun Marsh was a high priority given he is one of the hottest T20 prospects in Australia and a Perth born and raised star. We could not see him wearing anything else but the orange.”Simon Katich and Marcus North give us tremendous experience, leadership and hardness. I am thrilled to have both of them on board, and look forward to welcoming Simon back to his city of birth to represent the Scorchers. Luke Pomersbach is another whose record speaks for itself. As one of the most dangerous batsmen in T20 cricket and another of our local stars it is great news to have him committed to the Scorchers.”

After Yorkshire’s wonderful fightback on day three, this fascinating, absorbing Roses match has produced more ebbs and flows

Jon Culley at Headingley22-Jul-2011
ScorecardAfter Yorkshire’s wonderful fightback on day three, this fascinating, absorbing Roses match has produced more ebbs and flows, another unlikely recovery and enough Yorkshire wickets falling in a fragmented final session for Lancashire to have the scent of victory.Yorkshire may still win, in theory. After all, they have Adil Rashid and Rich Pyrah, hero of their first innings, still to come. But their target of 148 more runs is probably a less realistic proposition than Lancashire’s requirement of four wickets.Yorkshire’s batting has been brittle at times this season and a target of 284 always represented a test on a wearing pitch, with variable bounce a factor in several third-day dismissals. Yet they began well, reaching 80 for 1 in the 20th over, with Joe Root the only casualty, edging a Glen Chapple outswinger into the hands of Paul Horton at first slip.But Lancashire took the upper hand after two wickets fell in the space of four deliveries. Anthony McGrath, who has had a troubled season bedevilled by problems with foot movement – blamed on a back injury – looked to be regaining some semblance of form. He was cut short, however, when Kyle Hogg had him leg before for the ninth time in 14 Championship innings this season, although umpire Neil Mallender’s verdict, reached after lengthy consideration, clearly disappointed him.Then Jacques Rudolph, shaping ominously for the kind of innings Yorkshire had been willing him to deliver on his return to the county, fell without argument, leg before to a fine, full ball from Saj Mahmood, capping an impressive day for the former England bowler.As dark clouds slipped across from behind the new pavilion, it left Yorkshire willing the weather to close in, at least to give them a chance to regroup and re-assess. Drizzly rain fell for a while but with 42 overs scheduled in the final session there were too many left for the umpires to make hasty conclusions. Indeed, when the clouds thinned and the players re-emerged, there was scope for another hour.It was an hour Yorkshire could have done without. Jonny Bairstow, who had started confidently before the interruption, was bowled by Chapple, in an excellent spell from the pavilion end, before Gary Keedy was introduced at the football stand end and made an impact in his first over as Gary Ballance bagged a pair in the match by nudging a catch to Tom Smith at silly point.That left Yorkshire 119 for 5, with only survival a realistic target. When Chapple claimed the second success of his spell, Tim Bresnan edging to Smith at second slip, the odds against that looked long, even though Andrew Gale remains unbeaten on 28 overnight after a gutsy effort.For the home supporters who had remained on the ground, it was a disappointing end to a day that had started with Yorkshire building superbly on the heroic deeds of Thursday to ensure that the magnificent, odds-defying partnership between Pyrah and Ryan Sidebottom had more than merely fleeting significance.Even though Lancashire had been 33 for 3 overnight, a lead of 122 still gave them the edge. A telling first session from the Yorkshire attack was still the minimum requirement if the match was not to slip away from them again.Inspired by Bresnan’s determination to make his return from Test duty count, they duly delivered, dominating the morning to the extent that the 63 runs that Lancashire added before lunch were gained at a cost of five wickets, leaving them wobbling on 96 for 8 at lunch, their advantage a far-from-comfortable 185.Bresnan, whose arrival from Lord’s on Thursday ended Iain Wardlaw’s participation in his debut first-class match, joined Ajmal Shahzad in giving away nothing in the opening overs. And only 17 had been added in a little over nine overs when Bresnan struck the first blow of the day for Yorkshire, knocking back Steven Croft’s off stump. It was a delivery that skidded through, suggesting that uneven bounce might become a factor.Not as much of a factor as Pyrah, it seemed, when Thursday’s centurion took over from Shahzad at the football stand end and claimed a wicket with his eighth ball, trapping Mark Chilton in front. With no further addition, Lancashire were 50 for 5, only 139 in front.Gareth Cross had an escape on 10 when Rudolph spilled a sharp chance at first slip off Sidebottom but it was not long before another delivery shot through at ankle height, beating Smith’s defensive bat and winning another leg before decision.Chapple could have gone first ball, swatting away a Sidebottom bouncer with no control, but it was not long anyway before he had gone too, wafting at a ball from Pyrah and giving Bairstow a catch. Next, with Bresnan back on at the pavilion end, Cross went back to a fullish delivery but, like Croft and Smith before him, was deceived by the pitch. Now Lancashire were 87 for 8, their advantage 176, and Bresnan was celebrating a fourth wicket.Again, though, the match produced a ninth-wicket partnership that changed the picture. Mahmood and Kyle Hogg, drawing on what had worked for Pyrah and Sidebottom in their record stand, decided that there was no point in being tentative.Neither is inclined to prod about anyway, so this came as no real surprise. Bresnan took a hit or two for his trouble, but it was his failure to cling on to a routine catch at third slip that turned out to be his most expensive contribution to a stand of 80 between the pair.It was offered by Mahmood, on 23 and with the lead standing at 220. Sidebottom threw his head back in exasperation, as he does in such moments, although he was a good deal more cross when Mahmood, taking full advantage of his good fortune, immediately hit four boundaries in a row, including that insult among insults, a Chinese cut.Indeed, Mahmood managed to purloin 27 runs from 11 balls before an ugly swipe at a ball from Rashid saw him bowled, leaving the field looking as annoyed as Sidebottom had moments earlier.They seemed like important runs, giving Mahmood his first half-century of the season, a feat quickly matched by Hogg. Both men had chalked up eight boundaries, punishing anything short or offline with a frequency that reminded the Yorkshire bowlers to their cost that this is a pitch that demands accuracy once the shine has gone off the ball.Hogg was run out after Keedy called him for a chancy single, Bresnan’s throw from short extra catching him out of his ground, but Lancashire’s lead, one suspected, was probably enough.

Sri Lankan cricket authorities face formal sanction for Galle’s dustbowl first Test pitch after it was officially rated “poor” by the ICC match referee Chris Broad

Daniel Brettig in Kandy03-Sep-2011Sri Lankan cricket authorities face formal sanction for Galle’s dustbowl first Test pitch after it was officially rated “poor” by the ICC match referee Chris Broad. SLC must provide a written response to his report within 14 days.A hefty fine and “a directive for corrective action” will be the result if the ICC does not deem their explanation sufficient. The pitch was the cause of much conjecture in the lead-up to the match, but by its conclusion both sides agreed it had been far too dry and offered exceedingly rare extremes of spin and variable bounce.”The ICC’s General Manager – Cricket, Dave Richardson, and the ICC’s chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle will now consider all the evidence,” the ICC said in a statement, “including studying video footage of the match and submissions from the host Member Board, before reaching their decision in due course.”Ricky Ponting equated the Galle pitch to the infamous Mumbai surface of 2004 while Michael Clarke said “day one felt like day five” after Australia wrapped up a 125-run victory in the first Test.The Australians’ pride in victory was made more so by the state of the surface, which can be described as a desert in the middle of an oasis. Galle is lashed by frequent rain and the outfield is verdant green, but the pitch prepared for the Test, ostensibly to aid Sri Lanka’s spin bowlers, was tinder dry. Even Tillkaratne Dilshan, Sri Lanka’s captain, expressed surprise at the pitch.When gusts of wind swept across the ground on day four, some officials wondered whether they might take the whole of the pitch with them.Having celebrated his 100th win in Test matches, becoming the first man to achieve the feat, Ponting said he had only seen one other pitch of similar quality in his career. That match, the fourth Test between India and Australia at Wankhede Stadium in 2004, was completed in little more than two days after the first was all but lost to rain.”Yeah [I can remember] one, we had one in Mumbai on which we had to chase 100 in the fourth innings and it was about halfway through the second day and we couldn’t get them,” Ponting said. “I think we all knew when we saw the wicket two days out from the start of this game we knew it was going to be like this.”It was very loose two days out and we couldn’t see how it was going to get any better. So it was a great toss to win and a good first innings total for us and that set the game up.”Clarke, who made an important 60 in the second innings to ensure the fourth innings target would be out of Sri Lanka’s reach, was similarly wide-eyed about the surface, and conceded the toss had gone a long way towards deciding the match.”If you speak to all the batters that’s definitely one of the toughest wickets I’ve had to bat on in a Test match and that was on day one,” Clarke said. “Day one felt like day five of a Test match, so to scratch out 270-odd were crucial runs, we thought that was a pretty good score.”It’s really hard, I hate to see a Test match result determined by the toss, I hate to see any game of cricket determined by the toss, but that was one of the toughest wickets I’ve played Test cricket on. No doubt it was prepared for spin bowling, but I think it might’ve backfired as well.”Dilshan had commented on match eve that the pitch would start to turn after tea on the first day, but it was doing plenty from the first morning, when Rangana Herath’s first ball jumped and turned to kiss the edge of Shane Watson’s bat. If anything the pitch’s venom dissipated a little on days three and four, allowing Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews add 142 to delay Australia’s win.”This is a challenging wicket,” Dilshan said. “We know when you come to Galle this is a slow wicket, this is a very challenging wicket for Test cricket, but we’ve managed to get the highest fourth innings runs today. It is challenging, not easy.”Normally the Galle track is very dry. We expect a turning and slow wicket in Galle but the thing is this started turning first day, so it was a little bit drier but we expect Galle to be similar to this as we’ve played previous.”Clarke praised the efforts of Michael Hussey, who was named Man of the Match for his 95 in the first innings, when the rest of the batsmen were struggling.”His 95 is worth at least 150 on that wicket, and put us in a great position to win the Test, so I’m thrilled,” Clarke said. “We executed our plans really well. As a batting group we would’ve liked someone to go on and make a hundred, especially in the first innings we found that all of us got a start.”If Huss had a couple of partners I’m sure he would’ve got a hundred, but that’s one thing as a batting unit we can work on. Our bowling unit did a really good job as a group, hitting good areas, we knew on that wicket we were going to get a little bit of inconsistent bounce so we had to be at the stumps as much as we could, and our fielding was fantastic, our energy in the field was the standard we want to see.”

A round-up from the first round of games in Zimbabwe’s Logan Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-2011Matabeleland Tuskers laid down an early marker with a 106-run win over Mountaineers at Mutare Sports Club in their first Logan Cup match of the new season. On a pitch that became harder to bat on as the game wore on, Tuskers’ seamers – led by Man of the Match Chris Mpofu – ensured that the hard work of their batsmen in the first innings did not go to waste, bowling Mountaineers out for just 92 on the fourth day.Tuskers captain Gavin Ewing chose to bat on the first morning and after an early wobble against the new ball it was Ewing himself who helped shore up the innings, sharing partnerships of 133 and 60 for the third and fourth wickets with Craig Ervine (59) and Keith Dabengwa (67 not out). Ewing went on to reach a century – the first of the season – while Mountaineers legspinner Natsai Mushangwe picked up five wickets as Tuskers reached 306.Hamilton Masakadza’s 75 and contributions from former Zimbabwe Under-19 players Kevin Kasuza (46) and Benjamin Katsande (45) propped Mountaineers up but Chris Mpofu’s five-for ensured a 12-run lead for Tuskers. The visiting batsmen struggled the second time round and Tuskers were thankful for Keegan Meth’s unbeaten 41, which helped set a target of 199 for Mountaineers. Their chase never got close, however, Mpofu picking up a further four wickets and Meth finishing the remarkable figures of 3 for 19 in 14 overs as Mountaineers were bundled out for 92.At Masvingo, Forster Mutizwa’s unbeaten century carried Mashonaland Eagles to a remarkable three-wicket win over Southern Rocks. Mark Mbofana’s career-best 5 for 41 in Southern Rocks first innings appeared to have gone to waste when Eagles were bowled out for just 147, conceding a lead of 119.That was extended to 338 despite a robust second-innings effort from the Eagles attack, and when they were reduced to 3 for 2 by Tinashe Panyangara in their chase, all seemed lost. Mutizwa then sparked a remarkable turnaround, however, sharing in a partnership of 124 with Elton Chigumbura, who hit a patient 53. An 80-run stand for the fifth wicket with Trevor Garwe tilted the balance, before Nathan Waller’s swashbuckling 53 – from just 34 deliveries – helped seal the match.

Shane Watson, the Australia allrounder, has questioned whether his body will be able to handle the rigours of bowling regularly and opening the batting

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Oct-2011Shane Watson, the Australia allrounder, has questioned whether his body will be able to handle the rigours of bowling regularly and opening the batting, and suggested he may have to shift down the order to compensate. Watson has been surprisingly successful the top of the order for Australia over the last couple of years and had previously rejected the possibility of a return to the middle order, but is rethinking his options after the recent tour of Sri Lanka.”My role in the team has changed,” Watson told the . “I have additional bowling demands and I do have to consider whether my body will be able to handle it. I need to think about what will be the best for the team, and how to get the best out of myself, moving ahead.”I will continue to talk to [captain] Michael Clarke about it, but having just gone through the Sri Lanka series with that extra workload, this is the time I am thinking about it more.”Watson, newly promoted to vice-captain, bowled 75 overs in the three Tests in Sri Lanka, a substantial increase per game compared to the 76 overs he bowled across the five Ashes Tests last summer. His batting also appeared to suffer as a result. He made just 85 runs against Sri Lanka at an average of 17.40. In the Ashes series, he was Australia’s second leading run-scorer with 435 at 48.33.In order to protect him for international cricket – Australia play South Africa and India later this year – Cricket Australia has placed a bowling ban on him for the duration of the Champions League Twenty20, where Watson is playing for New South Wales.Watson is also set to release his autobiography, , in two days time, in which he reveals that CA told him to give up bowling in 2007 due to his constant injuries. His subsequent decision to seek an outside opinion was the reason he was able to get back to his best form and keep bowling, and “is the only reason I wrote the book”, Watson said.”I know from speaking to a number of athletes that the information they are getting is often not the best thing for them to get fit constantly. Sometimes you have to look outside to be able to find it. There would have been a number of people who found themselves in my situation and moved on to something else, but it is not always a dead-end.”It was former Australian Football League physio Victor Popov that Watson turned to for help, a move that ultimately paid off for Watson and Australia: “These guys [at CA] were doing their best to help me but when it came down to it, they were giving up on me … it doesn’t get much worse than being told by your team’s medical experts that maybe you might never bowl again.”In the end, I couldn’t handle it and I didn’t go out of my apartment for about three weeks, apart from seeing Victor … I cried quite a bit. I felt like I was just about at the end of it, especially as an all-rounder.”I was 26 and it felt like I was never going to realise my dreams … I knew that so many other people in the world have a life that’s 50,000 times harder than I’ve ever had. But I was in a spiral and, when you’re like that, the only thing that matters is what’s going on in your own life.”

The jury in the alleged spot-fixing trial heard on Thursday in-depth information on legitimate payments made to the players and the breakdown of how their earnings were distributed

Richard Sydenham at Southwark Crown Court13-Oct-2011The jury in the alleged spot-fixing trial involving Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif heard on Thursday in-depth information on legitimate payments made to the players and the breakdown of how their earnings were distributed, including a loyalty payment of £22,000 for declining the Indian Cricket League.Those payments and method of distribution is significant to the case, as large amounts of cash were found in the hotel rooms of the two players during police raids in August last year, on their tour of England. The players attempted to account for the money during police interviews at the time.On the seventh day of the trial at Southwark Crown Court, the prosecution called the former PCB director of cricket operations, Zakir Khan, to detail all of the various payments made to their contracted players.Zakir, appearing via a video link from the PCB offices in Lahore, forensically explained the breakdown of pay when prompted by Aftab Jafferjee for the prosecution and then the two players’ legal representatives.The most interesting aspect was perhaps a fee of three million Pakistani rupees made to players to deter them from signing up to the so-called ‘rebel’ ICL. That amount equates to about £22,000. That nugget of information was brought to the court by Butt’s barrister Ali Bajwa QC and confirmed by Zakir.Pakistan were the worst affected by the breakaway league and a team in the ICL even carried the name the Lahore Badshahs, captained by former Pakistan star Inzamam-ul-Haq and coached by ex-wicketkeeper Moin Khan.The ICL, which has since disbanded, was unsanctioned and not officially supported by the ICC and its members. With an exodus of Pakistan players to the ICL, also including players like Mohammad Sami, Abdul Razzaq and Mohammed Yousuf, the PCB made loyalty payments to players they did not wish to lose the ICL – Butt being one of them.From Bajwa’s probing, Zakir also confirmed to the court that the then PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf offered to triple player bonus payments for the match against India in the Kitply Cup in Bangladesh during 2008, when Butt scored an unbeaten 129.During the police searches a total of £30,002 was found in Butt’s hotel room (room 714 at the Marriott in Regents Park) as well as various cash in other currencies such as US$12,617, UAE Dhs 24,300 and 26,015 Pakistani rupees. Asif had just over £8,000 in sterling in his room (No. 130).With that background, the prosecution gleaned the legitimate breakdown of pay made to its players. Butt and Asif, the court was told, were both in the top pay bracket (A band) and were paid a monthly retainer of Rs 250,000 (approx £1800). For match fees they received Rs 350,000 per Test (£2500), 300,000 per one-day international (£2200) and 250,000 per Twenty20. Both of those payments were made by cheque in Pakistan.In terms of prize money, for items such as Man-of-the-Match or Series awards and series wins, those monies are calculated at the end of tours in the PCB office and again paid by cheque in Pakistan within 20 days of that tour or series finishing.The court was also told that players receive a share of 80 percent of the PCB’s annual sponsorship with Pepsi, which was worth approximately US$1 million in 2010. Then the fifth segment of income from the PCB related to incentive bonuses for items such as centuries scored, five-wicket hauls, four catches for a fielder and wicketkeeping catches and stumpings.Bajwa also pointed out that his client Butt earned a share of his US$150,000 salary for a contract with Kolkata Knight Riders in the first edition of the Indian Premier League in 2008.In terms of allowances, the jury was told that for the ten week tour of England in 2010, the maximum Butt could have pocketed from the PCB was £10,500. All players earned £8,000 for the tour but because Butt was captain he received an added captaincy bonus that was worth £250 a week.Expenses such as accommodation, breakfast and travel was paid for them, and the main items they would be expected to fund were dinners, refreshments, entertainment, laundry and shopping.In his testimony Zakir also confirmed that Pakistani President had paid the players Rs 500,000 per man for reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup and that such payments were not uncommon for excellent achievements. He also agreed that former captain Javed Miandad did not have to pay duty fees on a car he brought into the country in 1986 “but that type of thing doesn’t happen any more,” he said.The information on payments was explained before lunch, and after the break the court heard mostly legal arguments not in the presence of the jury and some cross-referencing and background of the phone records used in evidence. There is a possibility that Butt will commence his defence in the witness box on Friday but Justice Cooke may yet prefer him to start his testimony after the weekend.Butt and Asif are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, relating to the Lord’s Test last year when they allegedly conspired with agent Mazhar Majeed, teenage fast bowler Mohammad Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-determined no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.The case continues.