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A late flurry of boundaries from Ryan ten Doeschate and Ariful Haque took Chittagong Kings to the BPL final for the first time

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur18-Feb-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMushfiqur Rahim’s knock of 36 was not enough to help Sylhet Royals put up a match-winning total•BCB

A late flurry of boundaries from Ryan ten Doeschate and Ariful Haque took Chittagong Kings to the BPL final for the first time. Their five-wicket win over Sylhet Royals now pits them against Dhaka Gladiators, whom they had beaten once before in the competition.The two allrounders came together at the end of the 15th over with Chittagong still requiring 52 runs off the last 30 balls with five wickets in hand. After taking stock of the situation in a single over, the Netherlands batsman went after the Afghanistan offspinner Mohammad Nabi, taking him for 16 runs in an over with a six and a four. In the following over, Ariful joined in the fun by going after Elton Chigumbura, with 21 coming off the 18th over to ease the equation considerably.Ariful was later bowled by Nazmul Hossain’s slower delivery in the penultimate over before ten Doeschate finished it off with a slashed boundary off Sajidul Islam in the last over. He made an unbeaten 44 off 28 balls with the help of four boundaries and a single six off Nabi.Chittagong’s top-order misery, however, put them in the spot early in the chase. Chittagong hadn’t successfully chased more than 136 in the tournament so it was a similar scene when Jason Roy, bowled by Sohag Gazi, and Ravi Bopara were dismissed in the first two overs. Bopara’s woeful BPL campaign continued as he was out first ball to the mildly threatening Chigumbura.Nurul Hasan and Naeem Islam added 56 for the third wicket before the former was brilliantly caught by Suhrawadi Shuvo at deep square-leg off Nabi.Earlier, Sylhet were struck early by Enamul Haque jnr who kept them down to 51 for 3 in the first ten overs. The left-arm spinner took two for three in his first two overs. He finished with 2 for 24 from four overs, apart from Kevon Cooper’s two wickets.Sylhet were propped up by a 48-run fifth wicket stand between the captain Mushfiqur Rahim and Chigumbura in just 23 balls before a final flurry from the Zimbabwean allrounder, taking 20 off Cooper’s last over, helped them to a competitive total.Chigumbura made an unbeaten 42 off 25 balls with three fours and three sixes – two over midwicket and one over long-on – but it was still not enough to challenge a Chittagong side that managed to jump over the line at the most crucial moment.

Bruce Martin, with nine wickets in a Test-and-a-half, is comfortably the most successful stand-in spinner they have had since the tour of West Indies last year

Andrew McGlashan in Wellington15-Mar-2013No New Zealand player had waited longer for a Test debut than Bruce Martin when he was handed his cap in Dunedin last week after 115 first-class matches. The contrast with the man he’s covering for could hardly be greater. Daniel Vettori made his debut, as a bespectacled 18-year-old, after two games in 1997.Vettori is hoping to make his first tentative steps back into action next week when he plays in the domestic Ford Trophy one-day competition having not appeared for New Zealand since the World Twenty20. Martin, with nine wickets in a Test-and-a-half, is comfortably the most successful stand-in they have had since the tour of West Indies last year.However, it would just be Martin’s luck if Vettori proved his fitness in time for the England tour in May. There is room for both in a squad, but missing out would not be a foreign concept for him. “I wish someone had picked two left-arm spinners. He was a thorn in my side, so to speak, but he was a good fella to learn off as well,” Martin said.Watching Martin bowl, it’s as though he has done more than just learn off Vettori with an action and delivery that looks like a clone. “Everyone says it, but it’s just the way I bowl. I happen to look a bit like him, without the glasses.”Before his recall to the squad that toured South Africa earlier this year, the closest Martin had come before was being in a squad against Australia in 2000. Yes, that’s right, when Vettori was injured. Thirteen years later, in Dunedin, his opportunity came and he finished with a highly creditable five wickets in the match. Four more followed in England’s first innings at the Basin Reserve on a surface that “turned more than I’ve had this season.” It would have been five if the DRS had not been around to save Matt Prior from an lbw decision.”I’ve had 13 years to visualise playing Test cricket,” he said. “I’ve been playing this game for a long time in my head, so it’s nice to get out there and have a crack. Today was good, I picked up some pretty big wickets.”The reserves of knowledge those years of toil on the domestic circuit helped him to build up are not to be underestimated especially when Kevin Pietersen dispatches your first ball of the day straight down the ground for six. The fact that Pietersen could not do it again, and more than once found himself in a bit of tangle against Martin, is credit to the bowler who certainly did not take a backward step.”It’s nice to test yourself against a guy like that. He’s pretty ruthless the way he gets forward and gets back, such a big fella, and it was hard to get past him there at times. He’s such an imposing figure with the bat. I wanted to try and get in the fight a little bit, let him know I was there.”Such has been the dominance of New Zealand’s spin department by Vettori, that in the 16 years since his debut in 1997, the next most successful spinner for them in Tests has been Paul Wiseman with 61 scalps. Martin is already fifth on the list with his nine. Kane Williamson is one above him.However, as strange as it may sound regarding a bowler with 360 Test wickets, never mind 4516 runs, does Vettori walk back into the New Zealand side? In his last nine Tests, which date back to January 2011, he has taken 21 wickets at 41.57 which includes a five-wicket haul against Zimbabwe. Clearly, you do not leave out a cricketer of Vettori’s calibre without a great deal of thought, but time catches up with everyone.In those same nine Tests Vettori averages 28.93 with the bat, with a hundred against Pakistan, so he still brings all-round value but Martin showed, with a bristling 41 in Dunedin, that he was not a rabbit. Martin is not going to lose the enjoyment of the moment by thinking about the future.”Every time I get a bowl out there I just treat it as my last Test and I’ve got to perform,” he said. “That’s kind of what’s like when you are my age. You have to keep putting the numbers up there and make them pick you. It’s all gone past so quick that it’s a bit of a blur to be honest. Test, sleep, Test. It’s a way it’s nice to get a bit of reward for 100-odd games of toil.”

Bangladesh became a tighter unit after they were pushed into a corner due to injury problems, according to their coach Shane Jurgensen

Mohammad Isam in Colombo13-Mar-2013Bangladesh became a tighter unit after they were pushed into a corner due to injury problems, and this helped them perform well in the memorable draw in Galle, according to their coach Shane Jurgensen. Their first-innings score of 638 – Bangladesh’s highest in Test cricket – will be a source of motivation leading up to the second Test in Colombo, which begins on Saturday.”All the issues and injuries in our team actually made us stronger as a group and more determined,” Jurgensen said. “It was led very well by the captain and vice-captain. When we were batting, we made sure we sat together. There wasn’t much of a crowd in Galle so the boys had to support those in the middle from the dressing room.”Jurgensen had observed the players since he had first been appointed bowling coach in late 2011, and noticed they easily lost confidence. As a result, he began his stint as full-time coach by insisting on dealing with them as adults and as international players. “After I had first arrived, we lost both series against West Indies and Pakistan,” he said. “With the inconsistent success, I thought maybe their confidence got knocked around very easily.”I have an individual approach with them, and then a bigger focus on the team. I trusted the boys and I have the belief in them. They have got the potential and skill and I am just trying to give them the confidence and give them the respect as international cricketers, treat them like adults.”Bangladesh’s recent experience with head coaches hasn’t been ideal. Stuart Law resigned in March last year, before Richard Pybus quit the job in October. Jurgensen was given the responsibility just for the West Indies series and now has been given the job on a year’s contract.He had little time to put in place specific plans, but believed that talking to players individually and in groups has helped the team regain focus in Test cricket. “Leading into the Test match, we sat down as a whole group in Matara, and then a batting and bowling group. We have done it in the past, but every time we do that in groups, we make it even more specific to your own team. The boys just executed it really well.”Similar preparations are afoot ahead of the second Test, but this time Bangladesh will have to make changes according to the conditions at the R Premadasa Stadium, which is different from Galle. “We will take the confidence of the batting into this Test match,” Jurgensen said. “At the same time, we need to assess the condition. On initial inspection, it looks different to Galle.”Essentially we need to do exactly what we did the last time. We have to go through the same process.”

Everywhere you look at Edgbaston, there seems to be a picture of Chris Wright and Keith Barker, grinning broadly, one hand each on the LV= Championship trophy, but Varun Chopra had an equal part to play.

Jon Culley at Edgbaston12-Apr-2013
ScorecardVarun Chopra settled back into the old routine with runs for Warwickshire on a dismal day•PA Photos

Everywhere you look at Edgbaston, there seems to be a picture of Chris Wright and Keith Barker, grinning broadly, one hand each on the LV= Championship trophy. And with good reason. With 118 wickets between them, their strike bowling partnership was the key to many a Warwickshire victory.Yet there was another key alliance at the heart of Warwickshire’s success and the scoreboard at the close of day three in this rain-ruined beginning to their title defence might indicate that it remains in fine working order. The Varun Chopra-Ian Westwood partnership at the top of the order developed into one of the most reliable in the competition. Both batsmen ended the season averaging in the forties and five times they gave the Warwickshire innings the perfect platform by scoring more than 100 runs without being parted.It was a contribution not to be underestimated. If the ability to take 20 wickets is key to winning Championship matches, then amassing totals that can be defended comes a solid second. The left-handed Westwood has endured some tough times in the last few years, fulfilling a career ambition by landing the captaincy but giving it up at the end of the 2010 season when he struggled for form. Subsequently, his place in the side was often little more than a stop gap when Ian Bell was on England duty.He started last year slowly but his form picked up in the second half, when the partnership with Chopra was at its most formidable. In one six-innings sequence the pair compiled stands of 100, 175 and 136. Westwood made two centuries in August, 19 days apart.Westwood’s recovery has been to Chopra’s benefit, too. The more at ease Chopra has become in the partnership, the more consistent has his form been. The only other England qualified batsman to pass 1,000 first-class runs in Division One last season was Nick Compton, who earned his elevation to the Test side as a result.Chopra, a 25-year old right-hander, has prospered, like his team-mate, Wright, since moving to Edgbaston from Essex. He made 1,000 runs in 2011 as well. His reward — alongside Wright — was a place in the 17-man England Performance Programme squad in India and a Lions tour to Australia, where he scored centuries in two 50-over matches, the second in the first meeting with Australia A in Hobart. Like Wright, he has been named also in in the provisional squad for the ICC Champions Trophy.Those spectators with the patience to wait for some action at a dank and gloomy Edgbaston yesterday saw Chopra and Westwood finish 10 short of another three-figure partnership, which will offer Warwickshire encouragement from a match destined to end in a draw. After the fragmented action that followed a 3.30 start, about 90 minutes of play was possible, and the conditions, in terms of pitch and atmospheric conditions, and the need to focus and refocus as stoppage followed stoppage, were hardly ideal for batting. Yet Chopra and Westwood set about their business with a familiar efficiency.Derbyshire might consider themselves a little unlucky. Tim Groenewald saw Chopra dropped on 10, albeit off a very hard chance high in the air to Ross Whiteley at point, and edge just short of first slip on 19. But Chopra picked off nine boundaries to illustrate to the newcomers how narrow are the margins for bowling error in First Division cricket as Warwickshire finished the day with a platform for a decent yield of batting points on the last day, if nothing else.

John Mooney has been suspended for three matches by Cricket Ireland after posting an insensitive tweet about the death of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Apr-2013John Mooney, the Ireland allrounder, has been suspended for three matches by Cricket Ireland after posting an insensitive tweet about the death of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.Mooney, 31 and from Dublin, tweeted following Baroness Thatcher’s death on April 8 that he hoped her demise was “slow and painful” before quickly deleting the tweet and issuing an apology for causing offence.Cricket Ireland’s chief executive, Warren Deutrom, described the comments as “crass, insensitive and offensive” and Mooney was found to be in breach of his central contract, which prohibits public statements that “denigrate, are derogatory, or prejudicial to the interests of cricket; or are of a nature which brings the game of cricket or Cricket Ireland into disrepute”.Mooney, who has scored 709 runs at 24.44 and taken 34 wickets at 28.55 in 45 ODIs, will now miss Leinster’s inter-provincial matches against Northern on May 6 and North-West on May 14-16 as well as Ireland’s first ODI against Pakistan on May 23. He will be available again for the second ODI on May 26.”John accepted that the tweet was offensive and inappropriate,” Deutrom said. “We took into consideration the fact that he issued a fulsome and swift apology and that he is genuinely remorseful for his action. However, given the breach of his contract and nature of the tweet, we felt it appropriate that a three match sanction be imposed. We have also severely reprimanded John and reminded him of his duties and responsibilities as a high profile international cricketer.”Mooney played for Ireland at the 2007 and 2011 World Cups and hit the winning runs in the famous chase against England. He was also named Ireland player of the year in 2010.

Glamorgan’s hopes of victory over Leicestershire in their LV= County Championship Division Two game were wrecked by the weather

24-May-2013
ScorecardGlamorgan’s hopes of victory over Leicestershire in their LV= County Championship Division Two game were wrecked by the weather, with only 55 minutes of play possible on the final day at Grace Road.Leicestershire, following on 300 runs behind, added another 49 runs for the loss of one wicket in 12.4 overs and were 182 for 2 when the game was abandoned as a draw with 28 overs remaining. Glamorgan collected 10 points from the match and Leicestershire five.Rain and strong winds throughout the morning meant the sides had to wait until 3.30pm before a start could be made, with Leicestershire on 133 for 1 and still 167 runs adrift.It took some sterling work from the groundstaff to make any play possible at all and when the game did start, it was so cold that 10 of the Glamorgan side wore woolly hats. Only Murray Goodwin had the traditional cricket cap on.Graham Wagg even kept his beanie on to bowl, but it was Michael Hogan who claimed the one wicket to fall. He had Greg Smith, 62 not out overnight, lbw for 70 to end a second wicket stand of 58.Australian Joe Burns hit three fours in his score of 18 while Ned Eckersley added 20 runs to his overnight 23, before heavy rain again swept in and the match was abandoned.

Pat Cummins, the Australia fast bowler, will play his first competitive match in nine months for the Northern Ireland Cricket Academy on Wednesday

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jun-2013Pat Cummins, the Australia fast bowler, will play his first competitive match after nine months with a back injury for the Northern Ireland Cricket Academy on Wednesday.Cummins was named as a non-playing member of the Australia A squad who have played four-day matches against Scotland and Ireland in the past two weeks.The squad have travelled to Bristol to face Gloucestershire on Friday but Cummins will remain in Ireland to play for the NICA against MCC at Carrickfergus, just outside Belfast.Forty-eight hours later he will switch colours to play for MCC against Ireland Under-19s, part of their preparations for the Under-19 World Cup qualifier in August.Cummins has not played since October last year when he bowled four overs for 27 to help Sydney Sixers beat Lions in the Champions League final. During the tournament he complained of stiffness and on his return home was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back.Cummins made his international debut aged just 18 on Australia’s tour of South Africa in October 2011. His first, and to date only, Test at the Wanderers included 6 for 79 in the second innings, earning him the match award in a narrow Australian victory.He has also impressed in five ODIs, including playing England at Lord’s last year, and a successful World T20 in Sri Lanka where he claimed six wickets at 32.83 to help Australia to the semi-final.Despite the understandable hype surrounding Cummins, his injury history has compelled Cricket Australia to take a conservative approach with him this time around, and he is unlikely to figure in international calculations for some time yet.

Fawad Ahmed pull off a stunning piece of fielding during Australia A’s tight win over Gloucestershire, but his bowling did not make a huge statement

Daniel Brettig in Bristol23-Jun-2013
ScorecardFawad Ahmed had a difficult match with the ball•Associated Press

Fawad Ahmed provided the single most thrilling moment of Australia A’s tighter-than-it-should-have-been victory over Gloucestershire when he clasped a blinding catch at mid-on to account for a stubborn Gareth Roderick. Unfortunately for Ahmed, it was also the most telling contribution he made to the last match before Australia’s selectors decided whether or not to add him to the Ashes squad that assembles in Taunton on Monday.Match figures of 31.2-9-100-1 for Ahmed told a story almost as barren as the tourists’ second innings fade for 111, against a Division Two team that their captain Michael Klinger conceded was still learning how to play “hard first-class cricket”. There were mitigating factors against the success of legspin in the match, cold temperatures keeping hands cold and an icy wind testing Ahmed’s command of length and pace.Ashton Agar’s left-arm spin fared rather better, though their relative tallies of overs suggested the 19-year-old was not being quite so closely observed by the selectors John Inverarity, Rod Marsh and Mickey Arthur. Ahmed’s best was eye-catching, several leg breaks fizzing past groping bats and some googlies misread as comprehensively by Matthew Wade as they were by the Gloucestershire batsmen.But a tally of two wickets from as many matches on the Australia A tour is the first significant reverse Ahmed has suffered since making his state debut for Victoria last summer and quickly factoring into the calculations of selectors, administrators, marketeers and ultimately Federal politicians, who passed legislation to expedite his application for citizenship last week.Questions about Ahmed’s readiness for an Ashes promotion were chief among those raised by the first long-form match played by an Australian team in England this year. Steve Smith, the stand-in captain while Brad Haddin rested, could thank his pace bowling triumvirate of Ryan Harris, Jackson Bird and the fast-rising Chadd Sayers for ensuring the tour would conclude with three victories out of three, but the tourists were placed under considerable pressure before getting there.On the second evening Dan Christian had taken the initiative well away from the bowlers, inflicting particular punishment on Ahmed. He would only add another six runs to his overnight total before the persisting Harris coaxed an outside edge behind, but after Benny Howell was pinned lbw first ball, a series of partnerships down the order had Gloucestershire creeping alarmingly close to their target, Ahmed’s catch notwithstanding.The last pair of Liam Norwell and Tom Smith had scrounged 36 together by the time Sayers claimed a deserved eighth wicket for the match, granting Wade his fifth catch among 23 byes, the morning session extended by an extra half hour for the taking of the final wicket proving a nervous 30 minutes for a team that had seemed in such command on the first day, declaring after a mere 58 overs then rounding up five early wickets.From there they had to fight the match out. Gloucestershire’s ability to fight toe-to-toe with a conglomerate of Australia’s best young players plus a sprinkling of Ashes tourists provided some disquieting evidence to back up the observation of the former England captain Andrew Strauss about what his side had witnessed down under in 2010-11.”We were surprised at the quality of some of the state sides,” Strauss told the . “Australia used to have a conveyor belt of talent but it was noticeable they were a long way behind where they had been four years previously.”On the evidence of this match there is still a lot of catching up to do, for Ahmed and Australia.

Hamish Marshall struck his fourth century of the season on an even first day at Northamptonshire.

02-Aug-2013
ScorecardHamish Marshall led Gloucestershire into a good position before a late collapse•PA Photos

Hamish Marshall struck his fourth century of the season on an even first day at Northamptonshire. Marshall hammered a brilliant 145 off 197 balls including 19 fours and two sixes to help Gloucestershire recover from a shaky start.A late collapse meant the visitors were bowled out for 358 towards the end of the day with David Willey, Andrew Hall and Muhammad Azharullah each taking three wickets for Northants, who then closed on 13 for 0.Gloucestershire won the toss and chose to bat but they lost Chris Dent for a four-ball duck in the third over when he edged Willey to Northants wicketkeeper David Murphy. In Willey’s next over, Gloucestershire’s wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick was trapped lbw for just 2 to leave the visitors 9 for 2.But Alex Gidman helped his side recover from their poor start by racing to 50 off just 54 ball as part of a partnership of 92 with captain Michael Klinger. But Gidman was to throw his wicket away on 59 when he slashed Hall to Willey at point as Gloucestershire reached lunch on 117 for 3.Klinger, though, was to fall three runs short of a composed half-century when he was taken by Murphy off the bowling of Hall in the third over of the afternoon.Marshall then went past 50 off 81 deliveries with a four over extra cover off James Middlebrook as the visitors dominated the rest of the session. He went on to complete his 24th century in first-class cricket – and his third in five innings – off 125 balls before Benny Howell completed his half-century
off 84 deliveries in the last over before tea.But Howell fell on 60 early in the evening when he swept Hall to David Sales at deep square leg to break a fifth-wicket stand of 183. Marshall finally departed two overs after Northants took the second new ball by nudging Azharullah’s leg side strangler to Murphy.James Fuller followed him back to the pavilion as he was bowled by Willey before Will Gidman chopped Azharullah on to his stumps to walk for 15. Craig Miles and Tom Smith were then pinned lbw by Azharullah and Steven Crook respectively, meaning Gloucestershire’s final five wickets had fallen for just 20 runs.Northants captain Stephen Peters and Kyle Coetzer then survived two overs before stumps and will resume tomorrow on 12 and 1 respectively.