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Ed Cowan knows the series against England Lions has a significance for next year’s Ashes but does not want Australia A to look too far ahead

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford06-Aug-2012Ed Cowan has a tricky course to steer. Last week his Australia A team played Durham at Chester-le-Street and this week they take on England Lions at Old Trafford. Both venues will be used for next year’s Ashes Tests and Cowan is as aware as anyone in his squad of the importance of gaining experience on these grounds. Yet he also understands the perils of his players gazing ahead to next summer when their focus should be on the unofficial Tests against the Lions in Manchester and Birmingham.”It’s natural for people to ask whether these guys will be back next summer,” said Cowan, “and it’s also a natural, but unhealthy, thought process for those guys themselves to be thinking: ‘I’m here. If I do well, I’ll be back next year.'”I think we all know how fickle cricket is. Two weeks can be a long time. People who put their hand up on this tour and combine that with really consistent performances in the Australian first-class system will go a long way toward pushing for Test selection. For people like Nathan Lyon, Tim Paine, Mitchell Johnson and myself, who are either in the Test team or right on the fringes, it’s invaluable experience on Test match grounds. But cricket is played in the moment. You start thinking two months ahead and you miss your opportunity right now. For guys to be looking that far forward is not a healthy thought pattern.”Cowan’s task in concentrating his players’ minds on the threat posed by the Lions this week is not made easier by the fact that Old Trafford is currently in the throes of a £32m redevelopment, most of it predicated on Test cricket, particularly Ashes games, returning to Manchester on a regular basis. The sound of bat on ball currently has to compete with the clang of mallet on transom. Yet Cowan, the 30-year-old opener, is convinced that his players are ready to meet the challenges that lie ahead over the next eleven days.”The squad’s feeling pretty good,” he said. “We’ve had three weeks to acclimatise and had two good hit-outs against county sides, so we’re looking forward to the next two games being the pinnacle of the tour. Our focus has been these two matches and I wouldn’t read too much into our form so far. We’ve been good in patches and pretty disappointing in other patches. A bad hour cost us the game against Durham last week and if that creeps into our game consistently, the Lions will pounce all over it and put us to the sword. Our best cricket is good enough to win, and win convincingly. We just need to play that best cricket over four days.”We’ve got four guys with Test experience in tomorrow’s eleven, two or three on the cusp on international selection and three or four where there’s more of a development aspect. This is a big mini-series. The focus has to be about winning in England because Australian teams quite recently haven’t been winning in England, so it’s important to build that confidence by winning games of cricket. We’re now into full-tilt four-day cricket and we’re expecting some strong results. The best eleven will be on the park for the Lions games. I don’t think it’s the next best Australian Test team but it’s certainly close to it.”In order to achieve the outcome he desires, Cowan and the Australia A management team have stressed that individual performances will need to be placed within the context of the team’s achievement. And having played for a Tasmania side whose 2010-11 Sheffield Shield triumph was based on precisely that ethos, Cowan is well placed to extol its value.”When people play for the team, individual performances take care of themselves,” he said. “The challenge for me as a captain is cultural. On field decisions affect the ebb and flow of a game, but the bigger picture is the management of a culture and making sure that people want to play for the team. Having moved to Tasmania and having seen how important a culture can be for guys who do want to play for each other, I’m a firm believer in how strong that can be.”This squad had a good ten-day training camp in Hampshire and the importance of being a team player was stressed. Not only here, but in the full Australian Test team there’s been a cultural change in that there’s very little tolerance for guys who want to be playing for themselves. In terms of mirroring the senior team, that cultural thing is a big theme in the Australian game at the moment and you saw after the Argus review that you got strong guys in the right positions to drive a little bit of a cultural revolution in Australian cricket. Michael Clarke is doing a fantastic job with the Test team and I guess the challenge for me is to try and replicate that.”

New South Wales rounded up Western Australia’s batsmen for 217 on the opening day of the Sheffield Shield for 2012-13

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Sep-2012
ScorecardMichael Clarke had reason to smile on day one of the Sheffield Shield for 2012-13•Getty ImagesIf New South Wales did not quite erase the scar of being bowled out for 91 on the first day of the corresponding match last season, then the rounding up of Western Australia’s batsmen for 217 was a sound start to their bid for a victory to start the Sheffield Shield for 2012-13.Led for the first time in a Shield match by Australia’s captain Michael Clarke, the Blues bowlers made the most of their leader’s successful call at the coin toss, limiting the Warriors to 3 for 61 at lunch then chipping away across a rain-speckled afternoon despite the efforts of Mitchell Marsh and Adam Voges (44).Scott Henry and Peter Nevill, fit again after missing Sunday’s limited overs match with food poisoning, then survived 1.5 overs without loss before bad light called a halt to play.As he had done in the one-dayer, Doug Bollinger returned the best figures for NSW, though it was an ensemble effort as Trent Copeland, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Hanriques and the spinner Steve O’Keefe all contributed.The wicketkeeper Brad Haddin claimed a trio of catches behind the stumps as lateral movement and outside edges accounted for three of the first four wickets, Marcus North upset to have given away the other when he hooked at Hazlewood and offered a catch to Bollinger at fine leg shortly before lunch.Marsh’s afternoon innings was a patient follow-up to the 78 he managed in the one-day match, but he and the rest of the bowlers will now have to redouble their efforts on day two if they are to regather the ground lost by the batsmen.

The ministry of youth and sports in Bangladesh has announced a 13-member adhoc committee to run the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for the next three months

Mohammad Isam27-Nov-2012The ministry of youth and sports in Bangladesh has announced a 13-member adhoc committee to run the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for the next three months. Within this time the committee will have to hold elections under the amended constitution, the ministry confirmed in an ordinance on Tuesday.The decision comes in view of the the BCB’s current panel of directors’ tenure running out on November 28. However, the election of a new set of directors was stalled by diagreements between the board and the National Sports Council – the regulatory body for all sports federations in Bangladesh.The ministry have retained current BCB president Nazmul Hassan and Ahmed Sajjadul Alam, Mahbubul Anam, Enayet Hossain Siraj, Gazi Ashraf Hossain and Jalal Yunus, who were board directors between November 2008 and November 2012, on the committee.Former Bangladesh captains Khaled Mahmud, who has been a coach after retirement, and Naimur Rahman, who is the president of Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh (the players’ representative body), are also on the panel.Among the other members, only one has a background in cricket management from outside Dhaka, while the rest are from various cricket clubs based in Dhaka. The list includes Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan (Mohammedan Sporting Club Ltd’s director in charge), Dr Ismail Haider Mallik (Abahani’s cricket secretary), Gazi Golam Mortuza (Gazi Tank Cricketers councilor) and Afzalur Rahman Sinha (president of Surjo Tarun club). AJM Nasiruddin is an administrator from Chittagong, though he too has been involved with Brothers Union, a Dhaka Premier League club.The naming of the adhoc members is big news in Bangladesh cricket but already fingers are being pointed at the lopsided choice by the ministry, which has gone for an all-Dhaka body rather than one that includes administrators from across the country.

A wrap of the third day of the Ranji Trophy in Group C

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Dec-2012
ScorecardVidarbha’s 85-run first-innings lead came in handy as they defeated Odisha by 106 runs on the third day in Cuttack. A half-century from their No. 3 Amol Ubarhande was crucial in their second-innings total of 140 which helped them set a target of 226. In reply, Odisha were dismissed for 119, the collapse catalysed by Amol Jungade’s five wickets. The win took Vidarbha to third position in Group B.
ScorecardMaharashtra opener Harshad Khadiwale scored a responsible century to help his team take a first-innings lead against Baroda in Pune. Continuing from his overnight score of 69, Khadiwale was involved in valuable partnerships with five batsmen before departing for 168, including a 166-run stand with captain Rohit Motwani, who scored 91. Left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt claimed both the wickets, and added one more later as Maharashtra finished the day at 376 for 7.
ScorecardLeft-arm spinner Ali Murtaza took seven wickets as Uttar Pradesh bowled Tamil Nadu out for 179 and took a commanding position on the third day in Chennai. Resuming on 149 for 6, Tamil Nadu lasted for less than 13 overs. In response, their bowlers, Aushik Srinivas and medium pacer Sunil Sam, shared seven wickets to restrict Uttar Pradesh to 207. But they have a tough target of 421 ahead of them after conceding a first innings deficit of 213.
Scorecard”As long as I play cricket I will remember Hubli, since I scored my first hundred and double-hundred here and my recall to the Indian team also came here,” Haryana captain Amit Mishra had said on Sunday. Karnataka will have less fond memories of the city since their batting buckled in little more than two sessions, needing a miracle to reach the knockout stages. Haryana started the round in seventh place, qualification looking a long way away, but an outright victory here will keep them in the hunt for reaching the next stage.Read more of the report here.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has denied the PCB’s claims that it had not followed the correct procedure for approaching players for the Bangladesh Premier League

Mohammad Isam18-Jan-2013The PCB’s response

“In order to put the record straight, it is stated that PCB received no request from Bangladesh Cricket Board regarding release of its players for the auction of BPL.
“It should also be noted that the tour of Bangladesh to Pakistan in April 2008 was an FTP commitment and in no way a favor to PCB. It is pertinent to mention here that just before that tour, Zimbabwe and South Africa also visited Pakistan in the same period.
“As far as the first edition of BPL (2012) is concerned, the PCB cooperated with the BCB after then president BCB Mostafa Kamal made long-term commitments and understandings and requested the PCB to support their league. The release of the players on part of PCB was intended to make the inaugural tournament of the BCB a success.”

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has denied the PCB’s claims that it had not followed the correct procedure for approaching players for the Bangladesh Premier League. The Bangladesh board also said that the PCB’s last-minute refusal to give Pakistan players NOCs has caused it to be in a “difficult and embarrassing situation”.”On December 5, 2012, the BCB had formally written to the national cricket associations of all Full Members seeking support and cooperation for issuance of ‘No Objection Certificate’ to the cricketers under their respective jurisdiction who were interested in participating in the 2nd edition of BPL T20,” a BCB media release said.”The subsequent player auction, in which a good number of Pakistani players were bid for and picked up by different franchises, received worldwide media coverage. At no point during the continuous communication between the BCB and PCB on various matters since the BPL 2013 auction on December 20, 2012 did the PCB raise any concern about the NOC issue until January 16, 2013.”The PCB had claimed that the BCB bypassed them and approached the players directly. “This was regrettably felt by BCB when they approached PCB at the last moment for release of the players for their league,” a Pakistan board media release said.”As per practice and procedures in vogue, a home board has to approach the visiting players’ parent board seeking release of its players for their domestic cricket competitions. In BPL’s case, BCB, their representatives or the players’ agents were in contact directly with the Pakistan players and PCB was kept out of this process. Even the auction of Pakistan players at BPL was done without PCB’s prior permission or intimation.”The BCB also reminded Pakistan of their cooperation when Australia had refused to tour the country in 2008. Bangladesh had toured Pakistan in April that year, playing five ODIs and a Twenty20. But over the last year, the relations between the two boards have been poor, culminating in the PCB stopping their players’ participation in Bangladesh’s domestic Twenty20 competition.

The inaugural Caribbean Premier League (CPL), West Indies’ city-based Twenty20 competition, will be held between July 29 and August 26 this year

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jan-2013The inaugural Caribbean Premier League (CPL), West Indies’ city-based Twenty20 competition, will be held between July 29 and August 26 this year, the WICB has announced.West Indies do not have any international engagements during that period, which will allow all regional players to participate in the tournament. The league is expected to comprise six privately owned teams and will replace the existing Caribbean T20.”After a successful run of the Caribbean Twenty20, we hand the baton over to Verus International as they take charge and establish the CPL,” WICB chief executive Michael Muirhead said. “The WICB is excited about the prospects that the CPL will bring for the players, the fans, sponsors and the economies of the Caribbean. We look forward to an explosion of cricket and all the attendant benefits for all stakeholders.”

Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq put on Pakistan’s biggest partnership in South Africa to even up the match on the first day

The Report by Siddarth Ravindran14-Feb-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsYounis Khan enhanced his reputation for scoring when it matters•Getty ImagesPakistan cricket continues to confound. In the morning, South Africa’s ruthless pack of quick bowlers ran through the opposition top order yet again and all the fears over Pakistan’s brittle batting seemed to have come to pass. Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq, however, showed there was plenty of backbone in the batting by putting on Pakistan’s biggest Test partnership against South Africa to even up the match on the first day in Cape Town.Against the finest attack in the world, Younis enhanced his reputation of scoring runs when his team was in distress. The famous Younis smile was frequently on display, after particularly good deliveries – a Dale Steyn curler which beat him, a Morne Morkel bouncer which struck him on the body – and especially after completing his first Test hundred in a year.Shafiq’s century is likely to rank as the finest innings of his career so far. Initially, he wasn’t in the best touch: there was a leading edge beyond mid-off, and there were several loose drives outside off which didn’t connect, but he grew in confidence once the pitch started to lose its venom. After that he unveiled his strokes, uppercutting Jacques Kallis behind point for four and picking off the usually accurate Vernon Philander for two leg-side boundaries in an over.What really allowed the Pakistan batsmen to break free was the introduction of the weak link in the South Africa attack, Robin Peterson. His job description, especially on day one, is to keep it tight while the quicks get a breather, but he couldn’t quite play that role as he struggled to settle into a consistent line and length. There were far too many short balls early on and the pressure built up by the fast bowlers – who gave away only 14 runs in the first 12 overs after lunch – quickly evaporated as he gave away four boundaries in his first five overs.Smart stats

The 219-run stand between Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq is Pakistan’s first double-century partnership against South Africa. Younis features in each of the three top stands for Pakistan against South Africa.

The partnership is also the second-best for Pakistan’s fifth wicket outside Asia, next only to the 258-run stand between Inzamam-ul-Haq and Saleem Malik in Wellington in 1994.

Younis’ 111 is his first Test century in 13 innings in South Africa. His previous-highest was 68.

Shafiq’s unbeaten 111 is his third Test century in 27 innings, and his highest score. It’s also his first hundred outside the subcontinent.

It’s only the fifth time in Test history that a pair has added more than 200 for the fifth wicket after the team’s been four down for less than 50.

Pakistan’s most dominant phase came after tea, when South Africa were waiting for the second new ball. There wasn’t much reverse swing on offer, and South Africa rotated Kallis, Peterson and Dean Elgar to keep their main bowlers fresh. Younis opened out, hitting a couple of straight sixes and Shafiq launched a flighted delivery well over long-on and then crashed one behind backward point as 62 runs came in the final 10 overs with the old ball.Both batsmen reached their century just before the new ball, and Pakistan had moved along to 238 for 4 after 80 overs. Then came a critical phase of play as South Africa’s attack reverted to menacing. Steyn and Philander bowled several unplayable deliveries; Philander had the ball buzzing past the outside edge and Hot Spot saved Younis against Steyn in the first over with the second new ball. It was Hot Spot that provided the evidence to end Younis’ innings two overs before stumps, though, as South Africa reviewed an lbw decision, only to find that Younis had edged the ball through to the keeper.South Africa were just as threatening in the morning. Slicing through the opposition has become so common to them that when Philander took his first wicket of the day, he barely bothered to celebrate, merely completing his follow-through as though the batsman had left the ball alone. Even wicketkeeper AB de Villiers didn’t belt out an appeal or jump for joy after taking a regulation catch, merely tossing the ball aside and jogging up to Philander to congratulate him.Once again, the fast bowlers had the ball hooping around, the purists ooh-ing and aah-ing over the late movement and the batsmen flailing outside off. Midway through the session, Pakistan were down to 33 for 4, and any attempts to forget their record low of 49 all out in Johannesburg were pointless.For the second Test in a row, South Africa captain Graeme Smith took the unconventional decision at the toss. After choosing to bat on a difficult track in Johannesburg, he opted to bowl on a Cape Town surface that was expected to ease out after the first hour. Towards lunch, it did settle down but, as Smith hoped, serious damage had already been done.Philander started the procession with that celebration-free wicket of Nasir Jamshed, who flirted with one outside off without moving his feet. Steyn joined in with his usual away-cutters, one of which Mohammad Hafeez nicked to first slip. Morkel then had Azhar Ali wafting outside off, to give de Villiers another simple catch before he produced another of those patented rearing deliveries that Misbah-ul-Haq could only glove to short leg for a duck.It all seemed one-way traffic, before Younis and Shafiq led the recovery with centuries that gave South Africa’s bowlers increasingly rare sessions of frustration.

Neil Wagner, the left-arm quick, has been added to the New Zealand squad for the first Test against England in Dunedin after impressing in the tour match in Queenstown

Andrew McGlashan in Queenstown01-Mar-2013Neil Wagner, who started Saturday by being called into the New Zealand squad and finished it hitting the winning runs in Queenstown, singled out Kevin Pietersen’s lack of runs as a significant boost for the home side going into the first Test in Dunedin after the New Zealand XI managed to disrupt England’s preparationsWagner claimed six wickets in the match, and produced some lively spells in the second innings to trouble England’s batsmen. Pietersen made scores of 12 and 8 in his first match of the tour, while Nick Compton hit 21 and 1. For both those players, the four-day match in Queenstown was their only chance to spend time in the middle, ahead of the Test series.”For me, personally, it was a good thing that the top order, apart from Belly (Ian Bell) who played exceptionally, hasn’t had a long hit out there,” Wagner said. “Guys like Kevin haven’t batted that long in this tour match…so it’s good that he’s going into the Test without much batting under his belt. It does help us. We can hammer on his confidence and try to give him nothing.”He also believes there were useful points picked up about England’s batsmen which those who are playing for the New Zealand XI, and are now transferring to the Test squad, can take with them. “There were a couple of things, obviously things we’ll keep quiet about,” he said. “It’s nice to have a little bit of a look. In a game like this you can have a look at things real close and search for little spots of weakness.”New Zealand may yet decide to field an all-pace attack in the first Test, which would mean Wagner, who has three caps, could line up alongside Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell. However, if they opt to give a debut to left-arm spinner Bruce Martin, then Wagner could find himself carrying the drinks.Wagner, for obvious reasons, was clear what he thought should be done. “I can’t see why we wouldn’t play four seamers – that’s just by personal opinion – but any time I get a chance, I’ll be happy to try and grab it and make the most of it.” He has only managed five wickets in the early stages of his Test career, but has had a productive Plunket Shield season with 30 wickets at 25.43.”I had a couple of chances before, and I would have liked to have done better,” he said. “But I’ve worked a lot on certain parts of my game which I needed to fine tune and sometimes, unfortunately, with those sorts of things, you have to play more to get those things working as it doesn’t always come out in the nets. Playing a bit of first-class cricket I felt like something started clicking, and I had a lot of confidence coming into the game. I’m pretty stoked about it.””It was a very special day. It’s something I’ve been working hard for. You just have to keep fighting every day to find yourself a spot. That’s what I’ve been trying to do so I’m very pleased with that, and it was nice to get the news this morning. Then to finish the game off like we did and get a win was like the cherry on the top.”

A collective batting performance from the Australia Under-19 top order helped the side beat New Zealand Under-19 by eight wickets, as they took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Apr-2013
ScorecardA collective batting performance from the Australia Under-19 top order helped the side beat New Zealand Under-19 by eight wickets, as they took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.Chasing 241, the Australia openers got off to a strong start, as Matthew Short and captain Damien Mortimer added 109 runs at over six runs per over. Short struck a brisk 73 off 60 balls, which included 12 fours, before being dismissed by Rakith Weerasundara in the 18th over. After Mortimer fell in the 26th over, Sean Willis and Kelvin Smith added 101 runs for the third wicket, hitting well-paced half-centuries, to take their side home with more than five overs to spare.Earlier, Australia pace bowlers Matthew Fotia and Guy Walker took three wickets each to restrict New Zealand to 240 for 8. Walker was particularly effective against the top order, dismissing opener Weerasundara for 36 and then Shawn Hicks and captain Leo Carter in quick succession. A 77-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Henry Collier and Ken McClure revived the New Zealand innings, with Collier scoring a solid 133-ball 86. However, the loss of quick wickets towards the end of the innings meant that Australia were left with a modest total to chase.

Ziaur Rahman wanted to bowl two dot balls an over, but ended up taking a five-for, only the fourth Bangladeshi bowler to do so in ODIs

Mohammad Isam04-May-2013Ziaur Rahman whose five-wicket haul helped Bangladesh crush Zimbabwe by 121 runs – their biggest margin of victory against the opponents – said that his initial target was to bowl two dot balls per over against the Zimbabwe batsmen.Picked as a third seamer behind Robiul Islam and Shafiul Islam, Ziaur would have been pleased with completing a full quote of ten overs. Instead, he was the leading wicket-taker in the game, extending his streak from the four-wicket haul in the last innings of the second Test in Harare.”I wanted to bowl at least two dot balls per over,” Ziaur said. “The batsmen would be under pressure if they were kept quiet, and that is exactly what happened.””I bowled wicket-to-wicket. The captain told me to bowl as straight as possible, and wait for them to make mistakes. All I wanted to do was cut down the runs, even if I didn’t get a wicket.”He is the fourth Bangladeshi pace bowler to pick up a five-wicket haul. Mashrafe Mortaza and Farhad Reza are regular bowlers but there was also a five-for from Aftab Ahmed against New Zealand in 2004.Though not of the same quality, Ziaur hasn’t been picked predominantly as a bowler in international cricket. A knee condition stopped him from being an out-and-out pace bowler three years ago and he has since worked on his batting and focused on becoming an allrounder.”But I didn’t leave bowling altogether. I couldn’t bowl fast due to my knee injury. I worked on my batting at the time, so now I can do both properly,” he said. “I have been bowling well off late, so I had the confidence in myself. I think the lines were good, and the wicket helped too. But I never thought I would take four or five wickets in an innings,” he said.There was disbelief in the Zimbabwe camp too, though about a different issue. Their captain, Brendan Taylor, was at a loss of words while describing how his side were bowled out in the 33rd over.”I don’t know what to say really. The Bangladesh bowlers bowled well, they bowled stump-to-stump. That is what we expected, but they did not bowl anything that would get the majority of our batsmen out, the batsmen somehow found ways to get out.”We have been saying the same thing for the last two months now. After the tour of West Indies, we said that the batsmen must play straight, but they got out today playing across the line. There were too many batsmen bowled on a good pitch.”He was also slightly critical of the bowlers, though he said that 260 was the sort of score which could have been chased successfully on this wicket. “I had said that 280 is a chaseable score on this ground, but I still think we gave away too many today. Having said that, we will take 260 against Bangladesh on this pitch; it’s the batting that let us down,” he said.