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Fast bowler Michael Bates’ triple-wicket maiden set up a thrilling four-run win for Auckland in the HRV Cup final against Central Districts at the Colin Maiden Park

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jan-2011Auckland 158 for 8 (J Adams 62, Mason 3-24) beat Central Districts 154 for 9 (Taylor 44, Bates 4-18) by 4 runs

ScorecardMichael Bates’ triple-wicket maiden set up a thrilling win for Auckland•Getty Images

Fast bowler Michael Bates’ triple-wicket maiden set up a thrilling four-run win for Auckland in the HRV Cup final against Central Districts at the Colin Maiden Park. Auckland were restricted to 158 for 8 in their 20 overs, but some tight bowling backed up by sharp fielding helped them wrest the title from the defending champions.Hosts Auckland, who won the toss, elected to bat. But Gareth Hopkins’ decision seemed to backfire after Auckland lost two wickets within the first four overs. Martin Guptill, who was in fine form in the recent Twenty20 series Pakistan, was the first to go in the second over for 4, edging Doug Bracewell to Ross Tayor in the slips. Bracewell struck again in his next over to have Lou Vincent caught at long-on.Jimmy Adams and Colin de Grandhomme then combined for a 66-run third-wicket partnership to calm the nerves. Grandhomme got the Auckland innings moving, striking consecutive boundaries. Adams too found his touch and soon brought up the partnership’s fifty with back-to-back boundaries. Grandhomme fell for 31 but Adams, who was dropped by Taylor, went on to reach his half-century before he was finally dismissed for 62 to leave Auckland at 125 for 4 with 4.1 overs still left. But Auckland failed to accelerate after that, and though Colin Munro hit 29 off 18 balls, Michael Mason struck to pick up three quick wickets, to keep Auckland down to an average total.CD, who had chased down 181 to beat Auckland in Pukekura Park last week to qualify for the final, didn’t bargain for the start they had. Peter Ingram was caught at third man off the first ball of the innings from Michael Bates. This was followed by back-to-back dismissals: Jamie How was caught in the slips of Bates’ third ball and Ian Blackwell was caught by a diving Roneel Hira off the fourth ball. CD were 0 for 3.”To be honest, that first ball was short and wide,” Bates said. “The second was good but the ball that got the third wicket was a half-volley on leg stump.”Michael Yardy and Taylor buckled down to add 51 runs for the fourth wicket to restore some normalcy. When Andre Adams struck to pick up the crucial wicket of Taylor who made a fluent 44, CD needed 87 from 39. At 85 for 7, things looked bleak for CD. Bracewell and Kruger van Wyk added 50 in 4.4 overs to swing the momentum in favour of CD. Bates, however, struck again to dismiss Bracewell and was involved in running out van Wyk in the last over. CD needed 13 runs off three balls but Auckland held their nerve.”We pride ourselves on our fielding,” Hopkins said. “We’ve done a lot of work to set a standard and we want to be the best fielding unit in the competition.”When you win things like this you need an extended squad. You can’t overlook the efforts of those who weren’t playing today. They’re here today and they’ll be celebrating with us.”The winners of the HRV Cup have qualified for the previous two editions of the Champions League and should the format remain the same for the next edition as well, Auckland will be the team to qualify.

Round-up of the second day’s play in the first round of matches in the Faysal bank Pentangular Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Feb-2011Fourteen wickets fell on the second day of the match between Federal Areas and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, with Federal Areas edging ahead. Federal Areas led by 85 runs at stumps with two wickets in hand, after bowling Khyber out for 111 and then reaching 196 for 8. Khyber had ended the curtailed first day at 82 for 4, and only managed to add another 29 runs to their total on Monday morning. Federal Areas’ seamers did all the damage with Nasrullah Khan and Saad Altaf taking two wickets each on Monday to finish with figures of 5 for 34 and 3 for 53 respectively. Khyber seamer Imran Khan came back with a strong reply, with three early wickets, but Federal Areas captain Bazid Khan steadied their innings with his 64. Once his 71-run partnership with Awais Zia was broken, though, Federal Areas lost three more quick wickets, and found themselves 136 for 6. Lower-order resistance from wicketkeeper Naeem Anjum, who finished the day unbeaten on 32, allowed Federal Areas to extend their lead. Khyber legspinner Yasir Shah took 3 for 79 in the day, while Imran took 4 for 44.Baluchistan’s seamers gave their side control of their match at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground, bowling Sind out for 105 in the first innings. The batsmen then built on the 68-run first-innings lead, and ended the day 170 ahead with seven wickets remaining. Sind, who had bowled Baluchistan out for 173 on the first day, were in trouble from the outset on Monday morning. Abdur Rauf and Mohammad Irfan ran through their top order, reducing them to 32 for 6. The third seamer Rizwan Haider got in on the act, picking up two wickets, as did left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar. Rauf finished with figures of 4 for 52, while Irfan took 2 for 23. Baluchistan then had a rocky start to their second innings as they slumped to 13 for 3, but Sohaib Maqsood scored an unbeaten half-century and put together an unbroken 89-run stand with Naved Yasin, to help them end the day at 102 for 3.

Shafiul Islam and Imrul Kayes have been the the two standout performers in Bangladesh’s last two matches, and their captain recognises their importance

Sidharth Monga in Chittagong14-Mar-2011The most pleasing aspect of Monday’s win for Bangladesh will be that they did what was expected of them. That can’t be said of the first four games, but on Monday they came out against a lower-ranked team and professionally and solidly fashioned a facile win that keeps them alive in the tournament. Bangladesh might have lost to Netherlands in their only international before this, but at home, on a slow and low pitch, they were strong favourites, and demonstrated just why. However, even on this track, the best fast bowler on display was wearing green and red, and that was impressive too.Two men, though, stood out more than the others in what was a good team effort. Again it will please Bangladesh that they are the two same men that were a notch above the others in their win against England. Imrul Kayes again came up with a level-headed fifty to anchor the chase, and Shafiul Islam, on a slow pitch, produced a performance that yielded no wickets, but might have got him a four-for some other day.Despite the lack of wickets, Shafiul’s contribution was not lost on either of the captains. What made his first spell of 6-3-7-0, more than the number of edges he missed out on, was that the batsmen were targeting him while the ball was hard and coming on. Yet they probably felt lucky they didn’t lose any wickets to him.”In his first spell, he got nice away swing,” Peter Borren, Netherlands’ captain, said of him. “He didn’t bowl a bad ball pretty much the whole day. He was pretty consistent. We were looking to kind of attack the seamers at the start because we thought that might be our opportunity to score a little bit, in the Powerplay against the hard ball with some pace on the ball, but to be honest he didn’t allow us to do that. He bowled really nicely today, and credit to him for giving nothing away. He didn’t go for many runs, and he probably deserved more wickets than he got.”Imrul Kayes got his second consecutive Man-of-the-Match award•Getty Images

Shakib Al Hasan was full of praise too. “The first two matches we won were both due to massive contributions from Shafiul,” he said. “He delivered at crucial moments. Today also he did very well with the new ball, and even later in the innings. I think he has learnt a lot from the India match, which he is being able to apply now. And that is giving him the confidence that he can be a world-class bowler.”Shafiul’s good work was followed up on by the trio of left-arm spinners, and then after Tamim Iqbal’s dismissal in the first over, Kayes played the kind of innings that soothes nerves in the dressing room. No loose shots, no hurry to get to the target. When he won the Man-of-the-Match award for a pretty similar effort against England, he pointed out that it was his first match award. Three days later he has now emulated Manjural Islam Rana as the only Bangladesh player with consecutive match awards in ODIs.Last time, Kayes also pointed out that Shafiul actually deserved the award, but today he was there at the end, unbeaten, and there was no doubt as to who the Man of the Match should be. “The last match Man-of-the-Match award was given to me but I did not deserve it. It was Shafiul who should have got it,” he said. “But this match I played well and was unbeaten. I had not won a Man-of-the-Match award before these two, so getting this today makes me very happy.”I think the wicket was not good to bat on. When Tamim got out I was constantly talking to Junaid [Siddique]. The main thing was when Junaid hit a good ball, I thought if I stayed at the wicket I would be successful.”Shakib said of Kayes’ innings: “Last match he batted really well, but in this match he had to struggle a bit because of the wicket, which was not allowing us to play shots. He stuck around and did the right thing.”This was the best Bangladesh could have done in terms of the result from this game, for the net run-rate situation is beyond their control. They are so far behind West Indies and Ireland, the teams they can end up tied with, that it is near impossible to beat their run-rates. A lot now depends on the result of the match between England and West Indies, but Shakib continues to remain positive. “It is in our hands too,” he said. “If we win the next match [against South Africa] we will get to the quarter-finals. It is as simple as that.”

New Zealand have stayed under the radar in their ride to the semi-finals, and Ross Taylor has now set his sights on making the final

Sidharth Monga in Colombo27-Mar-2011South Africa didn’t play a bunch of dummies who had to just turn up in Dhaka and watch Graeme Smith’s men crumble from a vantage point.One of the undesirable fallouts of South Africa’s exit from the World Cup, depressing as it was to their fans, is the focus on South Africa’s choke. The talk all around the cricketing world has been how South Africa lived up to their record of not having won a single knockout game in World Cups, of their mental brittleness in big events, of what future holds for them, and the other team that won the match has been all but forgotten.New Zealand played a game too, you know. Jesse Ryder showed a glimpse of how good a batsman he is before a charged-up New Zealand side, yelling, hollering, sledging, intimidating, pulled off the best fielding performance of the World Cup. They were a team possessed. They didn’t want to go home, they wanted to settle a score with a ground that consigned them to their lowest low. They were not a bunch of dummies.Quietly they have slipped into Sri Lanka, “warmer than Dhaka, not as hot as Mumbai”, facing a far tougher task than the one they accomplished in Dhaka, that of beating a team much more naturally talented, much more varied, playing in home conditions, used to conditions warmer than Dhaka but not as hot as Mumbai.And it’s staying under the radar that they are hanging on to. “Most of the time New Zealand play we are underdogs,” Ross Taylor, who has captained New Zealand in some of the games this World Cup, said two days before their sixth semi-final in 10 World Cups. “It’s something we almost enjoy, and we expect when we play. I know a lot of teams expect to beat us, and we enjoy the underdog tag, and we expect to beat them as well.Ross Taylor: “We genuinely believe we can go one step further and make the final”•Getty Images

“I don’t think too many other people gave us a chance, which probably made other teams take us a bit lighter than they normally would, which played into our hands, but you know it’s going to be a tough game on Tuesday, one that we are looking forward to.”New Zealand have played Sri Lanka before in this tournament, and the result was not too encouraging, a defeat by 112 runs at a ground these teams will be fighting for the right to play at. Taylor sees having played Sri Lanka as an advantage, as an opportunity to have made the mistakes in a game not so big. “It’s a new game,” he said. “We are taking a lot of confidence from our last game against South Africa. We have got an advantage that we have played against Sri Lanka in the pool matches, and we did a few things wrong. Hopefully we can rectify that in the match on Tuesday.”New Zealand, in a way a team not too dissimilar to England who were demolished by Sri Lanka in the quarter-final, seek to learn from the way England played. “Watching parts of the game and analysing the way England played and where they went wrong and where Sri Lanka went wrong, but we have got a lot of momentum in our camp. We were happy with the way we fielded, and hopefully we can continue with that and put Sri Lanka under pressure.”Taylor said the side was desperate to translate the record of having made six semi-finals into something more significant. “We are proud of our history of making semi-finals, but looking at this team we want to make history and go one step further and make the final,” he said. “We genuinely believe we can do that, and we want to show that on Tuesday.”

England batsman Ian Bell’s half-century was not enough as his Warwickshire side succumbed to an 18-run defeat against Northamptonshire

08-May-2011
ScorecardIan Bell found form with 88 but Warwickshire subsided late in their chase•Getty Images

England batsman Ian Bell’s half-century was not enough as his Warwickshire side succumbed to an 18-run defeat against Northamptonshire Steelbacks in the Clydesdale Bank 40 at Wantage Road.Steelbacks’ wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien crashed 61 off 46 balls and David Sales finished unbeaten on 60 as the hosts posted 238 for 5 from their 40 overs.The Bears slumped to 17 for 3 before Bell’s knock of 88 off 101 balls and Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf’s 72 put them back in business, but Chaminda Vaas’ 3 for 45 helped to ensure they fell short. The visitors lost their last seven wickets for just 45 runs and it means Northants maintain their 100 per cent record in this year’s competition.Warwickshire won the toss and elected to field and Andrew Miller quickly took the wicket of Stephen Peters, out caught and bowled to complete an opening wicket maiden. Vaas then departed for 31 when he smashed Darren Maddy to Rikki Clarke at mid-wicket.But Ireland international O’Brien went on to complete an explosive half-century off just 37 balls before perishing when he was caught and bowled by Maddy. Alex Wakely then went for 27 when he chipped Miller straight to Bell at mid-wicket. Sales stuck around to reach 50 off as many balls but Rob White fell on 47 when he launched Chris Woakes to Keith Barker at deep cover to break a fifth-wicket stand of 82.Chasing 239, the Bears’ reply got off to an awful start when they lost Varun Chopra for a single in the first over when he edged Vaas to O’Brien. Barker (5) threw his wicket away when he recklessly smashed Northamptonshire captain Andrew Hall to Wakely at deep cover before Ireland opener Will Porterfield (10) was run out by James Middlebrook at mid-on.Bell then completed a composed half-century off 66 balls as he and Yousuf added 158 between them, the latter making it to 50 off 52 balls. The stand was broken when Bell was run out by Peters at point before Yousuf departed when he nudged Vaas to O’Brien to tilt the match back in the home side’s favour.Clarke (8) then needlessly blasted Hall to David Willey at midwicket and Darren Maddy hammered 25 off just 18 deliveries before launching Vaas to Hall at extra cover. Wicketkeeper Richard Johnson departed without facing a ball as he was superbly run out by Willey at mid-off before the same man bowled both Miller and Maurice Holmes to claim personal figures of two for 29 and seal victory.

After an absence of nearly 15 seasons from top-flight first class cricket, one of Pakistan’s most famous domestic teams, United Bank Limited (UBL), is set to make a return in next season’s Quaid-e-Azam (QEA) trophy

Osman Samiuddin20-Apr-2011
Rashid Latif and Waqar Younis were among the stars who helped UBL shine in late 80s and early 90s•Martyn Harrison/AFP

After an absence of nearly 15 seasons from top-flight first class cricket, one of Pakistan’s most famous domestic teams, United Bank Limited (UBL), is set to make a return in next season’s Quaid-e-Azam (QEA) trophy.On Tuesday, UBL won the PCB’s Patron’s Trophy Grade II final, beating Pak Medicam on first-innings lead in a rain-interrupted final at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. That win meant the side has now qualified to play in the QEA trophy division II next season. It will be the team’s first appearance in top-flight cricket since January 1997, when, in their last match as a first-class side, they defeated another domestic powerhouse and long-term rival Habib Bank Limited (HBL) in the final of the Patron’s Trophy to win it for the first and only time in their history.UBL joined the first-class circuit in 1975, a decade in which a number of banks entered the first-class scene, offering players employment and an opportunity to play premier first-class level domestic cricket. The move was part of the BCCP’s restructuring of Pakistan’s domestic cricket, to involve departments such as banks and airlines in the domestic structure. UBL arrived on the circuit after a merger with the now-defunct Commerce Bank, which had been on the first-class scene since 1973.From thereon, they proceeded to become one of the scene’s giants, winning the QEA four times, the Pentangular thrice, and the Patron’s Trophy once, in addition to several limited-overs titles. More importantly perhaps, they produced – or nurtured – a procession to talent that served Pakistan well over the years. Sadiq Mohammad, Haroon Rasheed, Sikander Bakht, Ashraf Ali, Ehteshamuddin, Mansoor Akhtar, Tauseef Ahmed, Mudassar Nazar, Basit Ali, Saeed Anwar, Mushtaq Ahmed, Salim Jaffer, Rashid Latif, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Waqar Younis and Azhar Mahmood, among others, all played for UBL at one point or another in the bank’s time.The privatisation of the bank and a subsequent change in management in 1997 brought an end to the bank’s sports department, at a time when a number of other banks and organisations also pulled out for financial reasons. But their ground, the UBL Sports Complex, was kept on as a first-class ground in Karachi as was the academy. The former Test batsman Mansoor Akhtar, who now heads the bank’s sports department, continued to push the management, however, to invest in sports again.”I was involved with the UBL sports complex after the sports department shut down and the academy as well, and kept pushing for sports to re-start,” Akhtar told ESPNcricinfo. Five seasons ago, the bank’s management agreed and UBL returned to the second tier of domestic cricket, Grade II. This season, with a young side made up mostly of its own academy products, they have won the Grade II title and finally returned.”We have eight players in our side from our academy and they have been exceptional this season,” Akhtar said. “Guys like Sharjeel Khan [the young, left-handed opener who hit two centuries in the final] and Saad Sukhail [another left-handed top order batsman who came to the UBL academy when he was 10] have done really well for us and will be big prospects over the coming years.”The bowling is led by former Test fast bowler Shabbir Ahmed, who also captained the side this season, and includes one-time tearaway quick Mohammad Irshad and Rumman Raees Khan, a left-arm fast bowler Akhtar is particularly excited about. Though Akhtar is keen to keep the bulk of the side and a number of players, such as former U19 talent and Karachi regular Ali Asad, have sufficient first-class experience for regional sides, in any case.But he realises a few big-name acquisitions may have to be made if UBL are to be competitive next season. “We will speak to the management about getting some big names because Grade II to Grade I is a big leap. But we have done it now and it’s amazing. We’re hoping that soon we can put UBL back on the path to those glory days that we are so proud of.”

Terry Jenner’s former team-mates have remembered him as “a lovable rogue” who transformed from a good spin bowler into an outstanding coach

Brydon Coverdale25-May-2011Terry Jenner’s former team-mates have described him as “a lovable rogue” who transformed from a good spin bowler into an outstanding coach. To a generation of cricket fans, Jenner, who has died in Adelaide at the age of 66, was known as the mentor who helped Shane Warne develop from a promising young cricketer into the world’s greatest spin bowler.It was quite a leap for a man who took 389 first-class wickets but managed only nine Test matches. An attacking bowler in his younger years, Jenner later relied too often on the safer delivery out of the front of his hand than the loopy legbreak, but he found a way to instil confidence in Warne, who would turn to Jenner whenever he needed advice.”I think one of the reasons he was able to relate to spin bowlers was that he’d been through the mill,” said Greg Chappell, who played with Jenner at South Australia and captained him in the Test side. “He’d found it pretty tough himself as a spin bowler. It’s not an easy art. I think there were probably times that TJ didn’t have the confidence in himself that perhaps he was able to imbue in others as a coach.”I think TJ could relate to Warnie’s personality and perhaps the fact that he wasn’t one that handled authority very well, because TJ never did. TJ found spin bowling pretty tough and had obviously thought a lot about it and what was important about it … was to have the confidence to back yourself and trust what you had. There were probably times in TJ’s career where he didn’t do that, and having learnt from that experience I think helped him greatly when he was talking to others, but particularly someone like Shane Warne.”Jenner battled to hold down a spot in the Test team in the early 1970s, when Ashley Mallett, Kerry O’Keeffe and later Jim Higgs were all competing for the spin position. Jenner and Mallett had been close friends since they were 14, having played together in Perth when a teenage Jenner was trying to make his way as a wicketkeeper.They moved to Adelaide at the same time – Mallett to seek coaching advice from the great Clarrie Grimmett, and Jenner to pursue a relationship – and ended up bowling together for South Australia for many years. Mallett praised Jenner as a great communicator and thinker on the game, and said the pair worked well as a team, while maintaining a healthy rivalry at the same time.”I played a lot for South Australia with him, bowling in tandem, and we never had to discuss strategy or who we should be bowling to, it just happened instinctively,” Mallett told ESPNcricinfo. “We were very competitive in the nets. If you talk to the Chappell brothers, you’d know that it was on in the nets. We always figured that if we could bowl well to the Chappells, then the next day’s Test or Shield game would be easy.”There was always a beer hanging off a wicket. He’d always claim a wicket. If Ian would drive TJ half an inch off the ground, that was caught at cover! We had a lot of fun but it was extremely competitive in the nets. TJ and I were competitive, we were always trying to outdo each other. We’d always done that as kids.”Mallett and Jenner played together twice in Test matches, both times in 1975. The second of those games, against West Indies at the Gabba, was Jenner’s last Test match, and Chappell’s first as Australia’s captain. Chappell said one of his most vivid memories of playing with Jenner was when he was felled by a bouncer in the final Test of the 1970-71 Ashes series.”I was at the non-striker’s end when he got hit in the head by John Snow at the SCG. I always thought there was a single in it, but TJ never responded,” Chappell joked. “It’s fair to say that TJ was a lovable rogue. There was always a bit of fun just around the corner wherever TJ was.”Max Walker, who toured the West Indies with Jenner in 1973, said he would be remembered not only as a fine coach, but as an uplifting presence around the squad in his playing days.”He was always full of mischief,” Walker said. “To try and read his eyes it was a bit like, what’s coming next? Is it the zooter, the toppie, the wrong’un, the slow one or the wide one? As such, he was always an energiser in the team. Quite often he carried the drinks, but he was always very much one of the lads.”

Duncan Fletcher has said that India have got the potential and the ingredients to be a great side, and he has been impressed by the way they have thrown themselves on the field in the heat

Sriram Veera in Antigua12-Jun-2011One of the important events of this series for India, apart from the opportunities for the youngsters to prove their worth without the guiding presence of the seniors, is the debut of Duncan Fletcher as coach. He came heavily recommended by Gary Kirsten and his approach to coaching is slowly filtering through the anonymity that he cherishes. In the training sessions, he rarely addresses the players in a group. He will pick out a player or wait for him to walk up and have a chat. Even inside the secrecy of the team hotels, he says he prefers one-on-one conversations.”If someone comes and chats to me, we just have a quiet chat,” Fletcher said. “But that’s just been the way that I have always operated and I will continue to operate like that. I have always liked one-on-one situations. People tend to be more free and comfortable in that situation. They are freer to ask questions so if they get it wrong they are not embarrassed. It’s between me and the player. Why should I get it out in the media and help them get onto the bandwagon? That’s why I go one-on-one because I think there is a lot of confidentiality required.”At the end of the third ODI, Fletcher went to Rohit Sharma and told him that he had rarely seen someone finish a game in such style and with such ease, and lavished more praise at the press conference.He also talked about his coaching philosophy. “It’s important that I come here to first observe and understand them, to gain each other’s respect, I mean that’s the first thing. Get to understand how they think. People accept messages in different ways. So it’s crucial how they communicate with other people. Sometimes if you rush in, it’s very easy to destroy a cricketer and far harder to help a cricketer. I just have to be patient.”This tour doesn’t have many Indian reporters and so far Fletcher hasn’t been hounded by the media. He did get a sneak peek, though, before the third ODI. Suddenly, a reporter asked him, “Geoffrey Boycott has said that even his mom can coach this Indian team. What do you have to say?” Fletcher didn’t show any anger, nor even slight irritation. He just said calmly, “I don’t want to comment on that.”As you would expect this is the warm-up tour for him as a coach. The time to get to know the players, settle in and be accepted and respected. Respect is a constant theme in his vocabulary. Even in his first media conference in Chennai after he was named as a coach, he said, “You have to gain their [players’] respect and they have to gain my respect. And that’s what this is about. Once you have that then it makes your job easier.”It must be hard not to come with any perceptions about players, especially in a team like India, but Fletcher says that was the most important thing that he had to do before he took up the job. “A lot of people have a lot of things to say about the players and other people involved in the set-up, but it’s very important that you go in with a very clear mind about the players and make up your own mind about them. That’s why I have stood back and observed and see how they react to things. It’s important for me that this procedure takes place.”He has liked what he has seen so far from this Indian team. “This [third ODI] was a game where we struggled but we won. It shows two things: the character of the team, which is very very important, and that we can win from those situations. That’s not easy. Most sides would crumble under that sort of pressure and so it’s good to win so that you know how to win from those situations. By winning the series three-nil already they have shown great capability with bat and ball. What has impressed me is the way they have thrown themselves on the field in this heat. They have got the potential and the ingredients to be a great side.”

Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have grown accustomed to playing each other in limited-overs cricket in recent years, but have not met in a Test for more than five years

Firdose Moonda in Harare02-Aug-2011Tatenda Taibu greeted Mohammed Ashraful with a brotherly hug, the kind of embrace that two weary soldiers would share. They nodded sagely as they separated, two stalwarts who have been down this road before. As veterans of their respective national teams, friends from when Taibu spent a season playing club cricket in Dhaka and opponents on more occasions than either can remember, it was fitting to be re-entering Test cricket together.While England and India are tussling at the top of the Test table, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh are in a scrap at the bottom. Both have not played a Test in over a year, with Bangladesh’s hiatus lasting 14 months because of scheduling and Zimbabwe’s almost six years after a removing themselves from the longest form of the game when their house fell apart. On Thursday, that interval finally ends.For Bangladesh, it’s a chance to show that they have matured as a cricketing nation and can adjust to conditions, instead of succumbing to them. For Zimbabwe, it’s the start of a new era, with one eye firmly on the future of their status as a Full Member of the ICC. To be embarking on the journey together is special, the two toddlers of the Test arena, each stacking their building blocks to see whose is higher, each confident theirs will be the tower that stands, even if it has to lean over a tad.”We’ll win it,” a cheeky Tamim Iqbal said, dismissing all thoughts the Bangladesh may need some time to get back into the groove of playing Test cricket. “If you’re eating with the left hand, you won’t forget to eat with the right hand. It’s exactly the same – you need to prepare well, set your mindset and just play.” Zimbabwe’s Hamilton Masakadza, who was sitting next to Tamim during their media session had a ready response. “We’ll come out guns firing too and look for the win,” he said.Zimbabwe are hoping to capitalise on home advantage. They are reportedly preparing a pitch that will have some life for the quicker bowlers, so that they terrorise the Bangladesh batsmen with short balls and counteract the threat of left-arm spin. Tamim doesn’t care about any of that. “We’ve toured South Africa, with one of the quickest wickets in the world. We faced Dale Steyn who is one the quickest bowlers in the world,” he said. “I don’t think there is any Dale Steyn in this team and I don’t think there is any Cape Town wicket so I don’t think we will have a problem.”A teasing response from Masakazda this time. “You speak so well now,” he said to Tamim, who only laughed, letting the Zimbabwean continue. “Anyway, Tamim is one of the Bangladesh players who does play the short ball well. Cricket is evolving and it’s a thing of the past to say one team doesn’t do this, or does do this so I don’t think that will play too much of a role,” Masakadza said.Part of cricket’s evolution has been the debate on whether it should stay an old boys’ club that only allows nine or ten big boys to play at the highest level or expand and give smaller teams time to develop. The ICC need look no further than Harare Sports Club over the next week to know the answer to that question.There’s every chance that some of the cricket played here will not be of the highest quality, that if it goes the five-day distance, the bowlers will be toiling too hard and the batsmen playing defensively, that if there is a result, it could be in a three-day shootout and this match will not go down as one of cricket’s most memorable because its scorecard.There is an even greater chance that the 22 men in white who step onto the field will be hoping with all their hearts to start something special, whether its Bangladesh trying to better their record away from home or Zimbabwe trying to show that the years of hard work have paid off, and that once the final ball is bowled they will walk off as friends and comrades who are in this journey together.

Sri Lanka’s batting coach Marvan Atapattu has blamed a lack of application from the Sri Lanka batsmen for the team’s poor performance in the ongoing ODI series against Australia

Sa'adi Thawfeeq21-Aug-2011Sri Lanka’s batting coach Marvan Atapattu has blamed a lack of application from the Sri Lanka batsmen for the team’s poor performance in the ongoing ODI series against Australia. Australia took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series after they beat the hosts by five wickets in the fourth ODI in Colombo on August 19.”The batting is pretty disappointing, no doubt about it,” Atapattu said. “It’s more to do with application [rather] than anything else. We know the potential that we have, but we have not gone all the way to show what we are made of.”It’s consistency in application that we lack. Apart from one or two batsmen, it has nothing to do with technique or anything like that. It’s more to do with application.”Sri Lanka have failed to bat out their 50 overs in the three games they have lost and were bowled out for just 132 on Sunday, which disappointed Atapattu. “Being ranked No. 2 [Sri Lanka were ranked second in the ICC rankings for ODI teams at the start of the series] we should be doing much more than what we have. It is disappointing to see the personnel in the team and their performances. We look at the team and say this is one of the best batting line-ups in the world; although we are playing against the No. 1 [ODI] team, we as a batting unit believe that we are much more capable than this.”Upul Tharanga, the leading run scorer for Sri Lanka in the series so far, is the only top-order batsman for the hosts to average above 40. Captain Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have all struggled for consistency, with none of them averaging above 37. “The problem we have is that it is only the same two or three batsmen who are always contributing. The pressure on these batsmen is more. What we are trying to do is get the rest of the batsmen to also contribute.”Atapattu said that batsman Dinesh Chandimal, who was dropped from the squad after the first three ODIs, had some technical issues that needed to be resolved. “Chandimal has changed a bit since he got his last fifty in Manchester. There is nothing wrong with his hitting – he is a fantastic hitter of the ball; probably the best in the country today. He needs to fine-tune certain areas before he faces a good bowling attack like Australia’s next time around.”Sri Lanka’s batting line-up has undergone changes in recent times: Thilina Kandamby who was vice-captain on the England tour was dropped for the Australia series, while, along with Chandimal, allrounder Thisara Perera was dropped after the first three games against Australia. Atapattu suggested the changes were not helping but said the batsmen in the side should be delivering.”It is the duty of the captain and me as batting coach to make the best use of the batsmen selected in the squad. There is a lack of consistency in the batting line-ups we have been given; but we don’t have any control over that. The players who are in the squad should make the runs. The reason for not reaching even a total of 200 [in the fourth ODI] is because the batsmen failed to contribute.”My personal opinion is to give as much opportunities to a player and if he doesn’t perform to expectations then we will have to look at another potential player and give him similar opportunities, but we must have patience with them. If we keep on changing players from day to day we will remain in the same position always. We cannot expect to produce an Arjuna [Ranatunga], Aravinda [de Silva], Hashan [Tillakaratne] or Roshan [Mahanama] overnight – it will take some time. Until such time we have to be patient. If we don’t get the expected results from the present crop of players then we will have to adopt that policy [of giving new players opportunities].”The final ODI will be played in Colombo on Monday which will be followed by three Tests in Galle, Pallekele and Colombo.