Manoj Tiwary sounded the first unofficial salvo in the run-up to the India-Australia series when he said that a good number of Australian batsmen had been “wanting” in their technique against the India A spinners

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Feb-2013Manoj Tiwary sounded the first unofficial salvo of an otherwise far ‘kinder, gentler’ run-up to an India-Australia series in a long time when he said that a good number of Australian batsmen had been “wanting” in their technique against the India A spinners on day two of their three-day practice match at the ICL Guru Nanak College Ground in Chennai.Tiwary, a free-spirited batsman, became the second centurion in the India A innings, scoring 129 as his team was all out for 451 just before tea on a rain-affected day. After the day’s play, with Australia scoring 131 for 4 and losing all four batsmen to the spinners Rakesh Dhurv and Jalaj Saxena, Tiwary didn’t hold back, either on opinion or prediction.”They haven’t played the spinners as well as they could have – because I think the technique was [found] wanting,” he said. Australia were tootling along at a good clip against the four India A medium pacers before spin was introduced in the 21st over. Left-arm spinner Dhurv had Ed Cowan leg before in the 23rd over and Australia lost three more wickets before stumps. Off-spinner Saxena had Phil Hughes stumped and Usman Khawaja bowled, both scoring 1. Of all the batsmen, it was only Shane Watson who looked completely in control.Tiwary said of the bulk of the Australian top order, “They were not sure of their defence to be honest. That’s why they were not stretching enough to play the spin and not going back enough to play their shots.” Australia are without captain Michael Clarke and opener David Warner and Tiwary was not without his assessment. “If this is the way they are going to bat, it’s going to be difficult for them to be honest… to face quality spinners like Bhajjupa (Harbhajan Singh) and Ashwin and Ojha. The way they are bowling, it will be very difficult for them.”Should the wicket in Chepauk, where the first Test begins on February 22, be like what it was at the Guru Nanak College ground – slow, low, with very little pace and minor turn – Tiwary predicted more worries for “all their bowlers.”Watson though said there was, “absolutely no doubt about what India is going to hit us with.” The start of the tour, he said, was proving to be a “big learning curve for a lot of the guys” and that the best approach to playing spin in India had to be “proactive.” Spinners he said must “certainly” be attacked. “You can’t just allow them to settle in a certain line and length and allow them to be able to bowl that ball over and over again. At some stage that ball is going to turn and bounce and do something. As individual batsmen, we have to find a game plan to have as much success as we can.”Australia’s lesser-experienced batsmen, he said, were however, “very talented guys.””They have scored a lot of first-class runs in different conditions and it won’t take a very long time to find a game plan and a technique that will work here.”Lost in the assessment of Australia’s response to the two rather unheralded Indian spinners was Tiwary’s own performance; every time he has been given an opportunity against touring sides, he has scored runs this season, getting 93 against England A before his century in Chennai. “I came out to play this match, not to impress anyone but just to make myself happy after scoring runs. I was very conscious about getting big runs here to prove myself that I can score runs against quality opposition as well,” he said.One of the shadow men for spots in the Indian Test middle order, Tiwary more talked about for his one-day game said, “My dream has always been to play Test cricket. It depends on the selectors what they think about me and whether they can show some faith in me. My job was to score runs and I will do that as long as I play first-class cricket and four-day cricket.”The push for an India spot, he said, demanded a high degree of determination because of the competition. “You know the competition is so high you can’t miss out in an innings because you will go back few months of selection.” When asked whether he considered his game good enough to handle fast bowling adequately, he said that he was not concerned what his game “looked” like. “What I can do is I can score runs and if you can only look ugly and score runs, I will still go for runs. It doesn’t matter if I look odd or ugly in facing quick bowlers. I know my game and I know how to score runs. That’s how I have been able to score more than 5000 runs in seven or eight years of first-class cricket.”

Nadir Shah, the Bangladesh umpire, has been handed a ten-year ban by the BCB on charges of corruption alleged by a TV sting operation in 2012

Mohammad Isam18-Mar-2013Nadir Shah, the Bangladesh umpire, has been handed a ten-year ban by the BCB on charges of corruption alleged by a TV sting operation in 2012. The decision followed an investigation carried out by the Bangladesh board.Sharfuddoula Saikat, the other umpire who was contacted by reporters posing as agents, was cleared to continue umpiring. Saikat had informed the BCB’s umpires committee at the time of contact with whom he perceived to be agents, but his case had also been kept pending since October last year.”Nadir Shah will not be considered for a BCB retainership for 10 years,” the BCB said in a statement. “During this period he will not be eligible for any assignment under the jurisdiction of the BCB.” He has the right to appeal to the BCB once he is formally informed of the decision.The sting, broadcast by , claimed to have “exposed” several first-class umpires from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan who were allegedly willing to give decisions favouring players for a fee. In the sting, conducted in July and August 2012, the reporters claimed to belong to a sports management company and promised the umpires officiating assignments in events of all kinds around the world, largely domestic Twenty20 leagues.All three national boards announced investigations following the broadcast. The BCB conducted a detailed investigation into the matter, with two committees being formed by subsequent board of directors. A BCB statement said the ICC supported it in the investigation process. The PCB is scheduled to receive the report of its inquiry committee later on Monday, while in Sri Lanka the investigation has not been carried out as yet.ICC chief executive Dave Richardson said the decision reflected the commitment of the ICC and its members to root out corruption from cricket. “This decision also reiterates cricket’s zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and should serve as a reminder to all stakeholders, be they umpires, players, curators or administrators of the risks and challenges the sport faces.”Shah, who officiated in 40 ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals, was the only umpire shown in the sting to have met the undercover reporters in person; the others operated through internet-based video chats. He had said at the time that he went along with the undercover reporters’ plan because he had felt “threatened” by the people, whom he met at a Delhi hotel. He maintained that stand in public though he did admit his mistake to the investigation committee.

Steve Waugh believes England may fall victim to hubris in the forthcoming Ashes series, suggesting that Australia’s bowling strength means Michael Clarke’s team needs to only find a handful of decent batting performances to regain the urn

Daniel Brettig29-Mar-2013Steve Waugh believes England may fall victim to hubris in the forthcoming Ashes series, suggesting that Australia’s bowling strength means Michael Clarke’s team needs to only find a handful of decent batting performances to regain the urn.Australia’s nightmarish tour of India has lifted English confidence to stratospheric levels, leaving Ian Botham to speak for many when he remarked that “this is the worst Australian team I can remember”. However, Waugh took a brighter view of Australia’s prospects provided the selectors showed faith with the players they had identified to succeed.”I think England aren’t as good as they think they are,” Waugh said at the New South Wales end of season awards night in Sydney. “I honestly think we can win the Ashes. We’ve got the bowlers to take 20 wickets. If that’s the case you can win any Test match. It just needs a couple of batsmen to find a bit of form.”Shane Watson, I think, has the potential to be a really great Test batsman, if he can step up to the mark along with Michael Clarke and some of the younger guys. I like the look of Phil Hughes, he’s got something deep within him that makes him a long-term Test player; we’ve got Dave Warner.”There’s enough talent there, we just need some confidence in that line-up and if we follow on from the damage the bowlers are going to do, I think we can win the Ashes.”The results in India have brought a rush of pessimistic predictions and a vast array of prospective Ashes squads, but Waugh counselled those in charge to persist with the players they had chosen. Waugh is not directly involved with Australian cricket presently, but did sit on the Argus review panel that introduced a raft of changes to the national team’s structure in 2011.”I think we’re just going to have to have patience with the current team,” he said. “It reminds me a lot of 1985-86 when I first came into the Australian side. It took us a couple of years to know how to win … 13 Test matches before I played in a winning Test side; 26 Tests before I scored a century. So, we’ve got to have patience in the side, believe in who we’ve got. We have to pick and stick for a while.”While presenting the medal that bears his name to the young Blues paceman Gurinder Sandhu, Waugh also posited the view that women’s cricket had advanced to the point that Cricket Australia should consider instructing Big Bash League sides to include one female player in each squad. Alex Blackwell was named the NSW women’s cricketer of the year for 2012-13, while the retiring Lisa Sthalekar was also honoured.”I think it’s about time where we could have one female player per Big Bash side,” Waugh said. “Going forward, I can’t see why the girls can’t have representation in the Big Bash. It’s a bit out there, that thought, but I think it might be time.”

Adam Gilchrist, the Kings XI Punjab captain, believed the team had a defendable total on a sluggish pitch, but credited Eoin Morgan for turning the match in Kolkata Knight Riders’ favour

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Apr-2013Adam Gilchrist, the Kings XI Punjab captain, believed the team had a defendable total on a sluggish pitch, but credited Eoin Morgan for turning the match in Kolkata Knight Riders’ favour. Kings XI picked up the wickets of Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan early in the innings, but Manvider Bisla and Jacques Kallis built a 66-run stand, before Morgan smashed a quickfire 42 off 26 balls to help Knight Riders complete the chase with 10 balls to spare.”Great breakthroughs early and we were right in the hunt all the way through,” Gilchrist said. “Jacques and Manvinder Bisla did very well to steady the ship. Bisla took his early let-off and played a nice and controlled innings. Morgan was the difference in the end in their batting and obviously Jacques had a great game with both bat and ball. I must say if I were to believe you guys [media], Jacques wasn’t even turning up today.””I thought 150 was pretty competitive,” he added. “If you get greedy, you might get 10 more. In the end, it wouldn’t have mattered with the way Morgan played.”Kings XI got an ideal start when Azhar Mahmood struck twice off consecutive balls in his first over, but the bowlers struggled to pick up wickets after that. Harmeet Singh, who had picked up three wickets against Delhi Daredevils, was introduced in the 11th over and immediately picked up Kallis’ wicket, but made no impact after that.”He bowled beautifully in Delhi the other night,” Gilchrist said. “He started well early today, but he would be disappointed with how he executed a couple of deliveries. But it was very sweaty and moist out there. He relies on those variations, the back spinners, the leg spinners. It was, in his defense, difficult to grip. But he is a welcome addition.”Gilchrist said he was satisfied with his form too after scoring 27, his best innings this year, and hoped to continue improvement in his game.”I did more practice leading into this tournament than any other ones. Nice to get some from the middle of the bat. Obviously, the trouble is you fail fail fail, then you get 20-odd, and start to feel good, then you get disappointed and frustrated that you get out. So you are never really happy as a batsman. I have got to keep trying to lift my game and contributing.”Eveything felt really good today up until I played that shot (the one that got him out). It was just slow off the wicket a little bit. I am not hitting the balls that I used to hit in the prime of my career. I understand that and I am not shattered by that. I am thrilled to be playing and enjoying it. It is not life and death. The great thing about knowledge and maturity is that there are more serious things going out there.”Kings XI are placed fifth in the table after four wins in eight matches.

Darren Gough was at his best in the heat of an Ashes confrontation but he is not about to write off the current generation

Andrew McGlashan12-May-2013Darren Gough was at his best in the heat of an Ashes confrontation, and he was often central to the rare occasions England managed to overcome Australia during the 1990s, but he is not about to write off the current generation, ahead of the first of this year’s back-to-back series.Australia’s 16-man squad was met with reactions ranging from ridicule to dismissiveness in some quarters. Even down under there is more trepidation about the forthcoming series than since the late 1980s. But Gough, who took 74 wickets in 17 Ashes Tests, believes the strength of their fast bowling resources gives them a chance in England.”I’m not going to be as critical as some people are,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “Their bowling attack is very strong and the fast bowlers are superbly talented. What’s interesting to me is that most of them are coming over with the A team to have a little roll and I think that’s very important. Last time they bowled too short so they’ll be able to learn the length to bowl.”There has been little doubt of late that Australia are building a formidable pace unit – although keeping players like James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc and Ryan Harris fit for extended periods is proving a challenge, while Pat Cummins continues to lurch from injury to injury. But without support from the top order, they are often going to be in the position of trying to keep the side in matches.Gough suspects that some of the batsmen on the trip will not be given much more of an opportunity to show they can handle Test cricket, but added that the decision to bolster the squad with the experience of Chris Rogers and Brad Haddin could prove a shrewd move.”These guys have an opportunity,” he said. “They had a poor series in India, got beaten by South Africa, and are now coming to England with a lot of them fighting for a spot in the Ashes back home. If they can get runs on the board, England will have a heck of a fight on their hands.””They’ve realised you can’t pick players who aren’t ready. Against bowlers like Anderson, Broad, Finn and Swann you need some experience. Rogers has been a fantastic player for many years and Haddin still deserves to be Australia’s No. 1.”The key to Australia’s run-scoring potential is the captain, Michael Clarke, who has enjoyed a phenomenal run of form over the last six months. Beyond his batting, however, Gough sees an intriguing match-up between him and Alastair Cook as captains. Trent Bridge will be Cook’s first Ashes match as a captain, while Clarke first lead Australia in the Sydney Test in 2011.”Clarke’s from the Shane Warne mould of captaincy. He likes to adventurous, sometimes a little controversial, he’s a very attacking captain which will be vital. The head-to-head with Alastair Cook, who is a different style of captain, will be fascinating. I think Clarke has handled things well so far, especially India with some of the trouble they had – I thought he came out as someone with a strong personality.”ESPNcricinfo have teamed up with Last Man Stands to offer one of our lucky readers the chance to play a celebrity LMS match at Lord’s nursery ground on Friday May 24. One team will be captained by Darren Gough, the other team by Ian Harvey. To be in with a chance of winning this unique opportunity, register a team to play Last Man Stands before May 17 and enter promotional code CRICINFO at www.lastmanstands.com

Angelo Mathews embarks on the Champions Trophy as a largely untested commodity. Can he use this platform to successfully secure his position at the helm and lead Sri Lanka to success?

Andrew Fidel Fernando27-May-2013Both on and off the field, Angelo Mathews gives few emotions away. There was a time when he was among the team’s most exuberant men, but experience, and the onset of responsibility, have seemingly dulled his zest for public elation. He is now equally stoic with a dozen microphones set before him.As Sri Lanka departed for the Champions Trophy in England, Mathews had little to say, aside from trotting out worn-out assurances that the side would seek to capitalise on its strengths, and had set its sights on the semi-finals as their first target. Four months into his tenure, Mathews is already proficient in the art mastered by all jaded captains – that of talking without saying much at all. Only, Sri Lanka’s problems in the approach to the tournament did not need vocalising. The IPL has laid them bare.Nine of Sri Lanka’s probable first XI travelled to India for the tournament, and only Thisara Perera and Sachithra Senanayake have returned with any semblance of form behind them. Of the three Sri Lankan captains, Kumar Sangakkara dropped himself from the side, mid-season, citing a poor run, while Mathews himself surrendered the captaincy when his own place in an ailing team became threatened. Mahela Jayawardene remained at the helm of Delhi Daredevils throughout the tournament, but the team finished dead last, with him having done barely anything with the bat to prevent it.Among the others, Tillakaratne Dilshan failed to fire in five outings, while Jeevan Mendis and Kusal Perera largely warmed the dugout benches during the last two months. Lasith Malinga meanwhile, who had been among the IPL’s safest bets in previous seasons, was as bipolar for his franchise as he has been for Sri Lanka in the last 18 months.Over the past week, the team has arrived piecemeal from across the Palk Strait and headed immediately into Champions Trophy training sessions, to join the six non-IPL cricketers who have been at it for almost a month.”I’m not really worried about our form,” Mathews said. “The IPL is completely different to what we will play now. We are professionals, and we know how to prepare for a tournament like this. The boys are pretty confident of themselves. The guys who were in India and Sri Lanka have all trained well, and there was a training tournament here. When we prepare for the Champions Trophy, we put in a lot of effort, and as a team we are ready for this.”Despite his optimism, Mathews will know the team has further to go than if they had all embarked on their flight to England with runs and wickets to commend them. However, there is also truth in his assertion that the Champions Trophy is a different beast. Alongside Pakistan, Sri Lanka have been the most consistent side at major tournaments in the last six years, making it to four finals in their last six ICC events. Their results leading in to each tournament have not always suggested they would progress to the final.On each of those occasions, the team has ignited at the beginning of the tournament, finding, as a collective, gears that elude them in many bilateral affairs. By the time the group stage is complete, they have been marked as favourites, and have ridden that momentum to the final, where vexing decisions and uncharacteristic nerves have hastened their ultimate demise.Chief among the reasons for their sudden surge has, in the past, been leadership. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara matured as cricketers before they were handed the reins, and have proven shrewd as captains in major tournaments.Mathews may possess a steel temperament, but he has not yet shown himself as a canny leader, and his batting form is a law unto itself – failing abruptly just when formidable scores are beginning to cluster together. His bowling has been more consistent, and it is this that has helped make him a vital part of the Sri Lanka side since his arrival. He is yet, however, to truly establish himself on the international stage in the way that almost every Sri Lankan captain has before him.The Champions Trophy is his biggest assignment yet, as captain, and his challenge has been magnified by the state of his own game, as well as those of the side’s senior batsmen. If Mathews can stir up the familiar courage Sri Lanka teams have embraced in recent tournaments, he will emerge a secure leader, and repay the faith he has been afforded. If he cannot, he will remain a young captain on trial, with plenty still to prove.