Tag Futebol

The squad met just once before flying to the Caribbean but the captain feels it has been coming together nicely

Andrew McGlashan13-Jan-2022Australia’s Under-19 squad only came together shortly before flying to the Caribbean, and despite a heavy defeat in their warm-up match against India, the confidence of captain Cooper Connolly has not been dented.Connolly is embarking on his second Under-19 World Cup, having played as a 16-year-old in South Africa two years ago. Just weeks after that tournament finished, the pandemic swept the world and, from a cricket point of view, age-group competitions were severely hit – Australia have not had any Under-19 fixtures since then. Ongoing border restrictions meant plans to have the squad all in one place before the tournament did not happen either.Related

• The Class of 2020 – who are the graduates to make a mark?

• U19 World Cup: Connolly among 11 players to watch out for

• FAQs: Your ready reckoner for the 2022 Under-19 World Cup

However, that hasn’t stopped Connolly from trying to establish himself among the most highly regarded young players in the country; he has found a place in the Perth Scorchers squad too. And although Australia were heavily beaten by India, Connolly stood out with 117 off 125 balls.”Yesterday was a reality check for us against one of the stronger sides and maybe the favourite,” he said. “But I feel like we are in good shape for the first game.”Two years ago, he played twice and ended on a good note with 64 off 53 balls against West Indies, the hosts of the 2022 edition and Australia’s first opponents. Connolly is taking his experiences of that event, which was captained by Mackenzie Harvey, into this tournament and hoping to lead from the front.”From that one I can take [the lesson of] not stressing out too much about playing and just trying to be myself in the nets,” he said. “I was getting really stressed out and agitated but I feel from that World Cup, from Macca [Harvey], I can take his coolness and his ability to win games by his captaincy.”Back then I was a little, small 16-year-old that everyone didn’t really know, and since then [with] my mindset and power I feel like I’ve developed a lot over the last couple years working with Clint Heron my batting coach just to improve every area.”From the last World Cup [my aim] was to just make this, I just looked forward to the opportunity I might get to play in two, then to get the captaincy and that’s unbelievable. I’m so proud of myself, mum and dad back home are really proud, I’m just ready to go and lead my country.”Meeting your new team-mates just before you fly to a global tournament is a strange experience, but Connolly believes the squad has been coming together. “Obviously it’s pretty tough, we don’t know what each other is like, but feel like over the past week we’ve grown and go to know each other,” he said.Connolly picked out Australia’s strengths as their batting and spin bowling, the latter including ambidextrous Nivethan Radhakrishnan, but also backed the quicks to make early inroads.

The captain warned his team against getting stuck in predictable ways after their third defeat in a row

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Mar-2019Winless after three games, Royal Challengers Bangalore will need to be more “experimental” and “brave” when things aren’t going their way, if they are to turn their fortunes around this season. This was Virat Kohli’s view after Royal Challengers slipped to a 118-run defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad, which he termed as one of his side’s “worst losses ever”.The platform for Sunrisers’ thumping win came from their openers Jonny Bairstow and David Warner, who both made hundreds and put on 185 in just 16.2 overs. While giving the two batsmen credit for their “brilliant effort”, Kohli felt his bowlers could have varied their plans to them a little more.”Probably one of our worst losses ever. I mean, there’s literally nothing I can explain right now,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation. “Nothing went right for us from ball one, until the last wicket fell in our batting innings, so really difficult one to explain, I guess. We were outplayed in all departments by a quality, quality side, and this showed why they won the previous year, made the finals last year, and now they’re up and running again, so credit to them, they played really well and deserved to win.”We could have tried a few different things, probably [taking the] pace off the ball and a few more bouncers in our innings should have been good, but we really didn’t try anything once those guys got in. It was very difficult to contain runs, and a few of the edges just fell in between as well, you need some luck going your way, get a couple of wickets and stop the run flow.”But the way they batted, I think it was outstanding, just to show intent for 16-17 overs on the run is a brilliant effort, especially in the first innings, where we thought the ball wasn’t coming on as well as the second innings. So credit to both of them, they were world class today and they definitely deserved to be on the winning side.”Kohli once again stressed on the need to be more flexible, and not become predictable, when asked about Royal Challengers’ prospects for their next game, against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur.”Well, the pitch is definitely going to be nice, so we’re going to be in with a contest again. We have to bring our A game to the table. What we did against Mumbai [Indians] is the kind of intensity we need to bring to the ground, and when things don’t go our way we need to be a bit more experimental, a bit more brave out there in the middle.”If we go through the motions, if we do the regular basic stuff, then things are going to keep going away from us. So we’ll have to find ways of winning moments, and eventually getting the result our way and really get going in the tournament, which is very important. If we want to gain some momentum we need to start well, and probably next game should be that game for us.”Kohli opened the batting in Royal Challengers’ season-opener against Chennai Super Kings, but has since moved down to No. 3. He felt this lent his team the best possible balance, and didn’t think any drastic changes were necessary for the rest of the tournament.”We’ve thought about that initially as well. When I’ve opened I’ve done well for the team, but the important thing is to find the right balance in the batting line-up, and I feel myself at three brings in that balance to the side,” Kohli said. “Myself and AB [de Villiers] batting together has always been an advantage for us, so that’s probably the mindset behind me batting three. So I don’t see that changing.”We just need a better start from the boys up front. Just three games into the tournament, we still have 11 games, and things can turn around pretty quickly in this particular league. We’ve seen that in the past, so we’ve got to stay optimistic, not think of too many changes now, and just go with that set batting order and try and capitalise on the moments that come our way.”

After their bowlers limited Thunder to 135, Stars’ top-order polished the chase off in 17.2 overs

The Report by Akshay Gopalakrishnan05-Jan-2019Melbourne Stars’ bowlers settled into the ideal pace on a slow Carrara Oval surface to stifle Sydney Thunder and rise to second on the BBL table.Having struck twice inside the Powerplay, the Stars continued to chip away at the Thunder order. Only during a 25-ball 42 from their No. 6 Daniel Sams did the Thunder innings gain a measure of steam. It was enough to lift them to 135 after they had ambled along at around a run a ball for much of the innings.Getty Images

It wasn’t enough to challenge the Stars top order, however. They hardly broke a sweat, knocking down the requisite runs in 17.2 overs to win by eight wickets. Marcus Stoinis blazed away to launch the chase with a 22-ball 34. The foundation was so strong that even the usually belligerent Glenn Maxwell played a muted knock, striking just a four and two sixes in his unbeaten 41, and putting on an unbroken 80 for the third wicket with Nick Larkin to see the Stars home.The defeat has displaced Thunder from the top half of the table. They are now fourth, with six points from as many matches.Choking ’em outAs he did in their previous game, Shane Watson, the Thunder captain, opted against chasing, with the possibility of the surface slowing down as the game wore on. As he did in the previous game, Watson fell early, well inside the Powerplay. But unlike in the previous game, nobody from Thunder’s top order rode the early storm.Jos Buttler, the season’s highest run-getter, was the first to fall, his start cut short when Boland found his leading edge, which was held at point. Calum Ferguson followed next ball, when he threw his hands at an expansive punch and sliced a catch to backward point.The common element in the two balls was that both had been delivered slower. That became the primary ingredient for success on this surface. Joe Root fended softly at the hat-trick ball, which cut away off the seam and found the edge of his bat, but didn’t carry to the keeper. With Thunder 28 for 2, the pressure was on.The pushbackWhile the slower ball was effective, it came with an obvious rider. As a bowler, there was always the risk of overdoing it. Having picked up 2 for 8 in his first two overs, Boland was welcomed into his third with a cut past third man, who misfielded, for four from Root. Very quickly, it prompted Boland to drag the pace back. But Root had already sussed out a template.After negotiating a slower ball and a regular length ball, Root was waiting right back in his crease when Boland dropped his pace, and length, off the fifth ball of the over. He pulled it over midwicket. When Boland repeated the drill next ball, Root played even later, pulling him behind square to give Thunder 12 runs to close out the Powerplay.On a pitch where balls routinely stopped on the batsmen and finding the right timing was difficult, Root had managed a control percentage of 85 when he jabbed a length ball from Stoinis off the inside of his bat to midwicket. However, the best of the fightback was yet to come.Liam Plunkett hadn’t played a T20 since October last year. In fact, barring two T10 matches in the UAE in late November, he hadn’t played any cricket at all. Considering that, he had done well to give away just eight runs from his first two overs. Sams, however, would go on to ruin his figures.Sams pulled a slower short ball from Plunkett for six over backward square off the second ball of the 15th over, and sliced the next for as many over backward point. He then picked a slower ball from Stoinis and sent a towering hit soaring over deep square leg. In between all the big hits, he turned the strike over regularly. It meant that between overs 15 and 17, Thunder collected 35 runs.It was the only spell of substantial acceleration, as after another six off Stoinis, the bowler had the last laugh by having Sams caught at deep point, and Thunder slipped back into their shell. In the end, that made a telling difference.No slow, no goUnlike the Stars bowlers, Thunder’s didn’t bring out their variations and slow it up. Instead, they opted to fire it in at pace. On this surface, with its lack of bite and carry, they were setting themselves up for failure.A rush of boundaries – four of them in the first 14 balls of the innings – warned Thunder that a change in strategy might be called for. And then Ben Dunk drove a full ball from Sams into the hands of Root diving forward at short cover.Thunder’s bowlers continued to go full tilt. Even Jonathan Cook, the legspinner, hit speeds upwards of 90kph. He was taken apart for a hat-trick of fours in the sixth over, which went for 15 runs, and the Stars had raced to 53 for 1 at nearly nine an over.Stars didn’t look back. When Stoinis was taken out by Fawad Ahmed, slicing a catch to backward point, Stars needed 79 from 78 balls. Maxwell and Larkin collected 67.5 percent of those runs in ones and twos. In all, their partnership contained just two fours and three sixes, the last of which, from Maxwell, gave Stars the winning runs.

Yuzvendra Chahal is also in contention, according to the India captain, after watching how England have struggled against the two wristpinners

Nagraj Gollapudi13-Jul-2018India’s wristspinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal could both find a place in the Test squad, according to Virat Kohli, following their success in the limited-overs games against England. India are set to pick their team for the five-Test series in England in the next few days.”There might be a few surprises in there,” Kohli told Sky Sports after India won the first ODI at Trent Bridge, when asked by Mike Atherton whether Kuldeep had done enough to play the Tests. “Anything is possible because we still have a few days to pick the Test side. Yeah, look, he is making a strong case for himself. So is Chahal. Both of them together are pretty lethal for us. Looking at the English batsmen struggling against them we might be tempted to do that.”Kuldeep’s case is particularly compelling, having taken a five-for in the T20I series and a six-for in the first ODI, on his maiden tour of England. He has played two Tests so far and taken nine wickets at an average of 20.77. Chahal has only featured in limited-overs cricket for India and has played 27 first-class matches for Haryana. He has 70 wickets at an average of 33.90 with two five-fors.The fingerspinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been India’s regular spinners in Test cricket in recent years, but they have lost their place in the limited-overs teams and now face a challenge from the two wristspinners. Although the BCCI has not revealed a date for the Test selection, it is understood the squad will be picked in the next few days. MSK Prasad, the chief selector, joined the Indian squad in Nottingham this week and it’s likely the Indian think-tank will consult the India A coach Rahul Dravid before the squad is announced. Dravid is currently with India A, who are playing West Indies A in the UK.India have so far lost just one match on this tour, which began with two T20Is in Ireland. Before leaving India, Kohli had said his wristspinners would be his primary weapon, especially in the middle overs of ODIs.”When given more overs and more time they become even more lethal when guys are not going hard against them for 4 overs,” Kohli had said. “When they have 10 overs and they have something to play with to come back into the game, they know they have the skill to make an impact.”Kohli summed up the victory in Nottingham as “clinical” and gave credit to Kuldeep, whose 6 for 25 were the best figures for a left-arm wristspinner in ODIs. “Tonight Kuldeep was outstanding. To give away 25 runs on that sort of a pitch and picking up 6 wickets in the first innings with two hard balls was an outstanding spell,” Kohli said. “I don’t think I have seen a better ODI spell for a while.”But why had Kuldeep been dropped for the Bristol T20I? Kohli said that was a “tactical” decision keeping in mind the breeze blowing towards the shorter boundary. “We want him confident because we know he can be a matchwinner. And T20 cricket is such a short game that anyone can make an impact and win you games, but when it comes to longer games we need players who can really make an impact, because in 50-overs cricket if you don’t get wickets in the middle overs it is going to be really difficult.”Kuldeep and Chahal had already proved their worth in South Africa, where India won the ODI series 5-1 – 28 of the 33 wickets they had taken there had come in the middle overs. So far in England, Kuldeep has 18 wickets from 24.3 overs at an economy rate of 4.89 and an average of 6.66. Chahal has got 8 wickets from 30 overs at an economy rate of 6.73 and an average of 25.25.There is also a stark difference in the impact Kuldeep has made in the middle overs against England, who have played Chahal more confidently. Kuldeep has given just 59 runs off 69 balls at an economy rate of 5.13, while Chahal has gone for 132 runs off 198 balls at an economy rate of 7.33.”These two remain a strength for us in the middle overs,” Kohli said. “We got to make sure we keep them strong, keep them confident and put in these kind of performances regularly. These two guys since they have come into the team they have been the difference for us. They remain a huge weapon for us.”

A couple of months after announcing his retirement, Virender Sehwag has said he was “hurt” by the manner in which he was dropped from the Indian team in 2013

Gaurav Kalra30-Dec-20155:56

Hurt by the way I was dropped – Sehwag

A couple of months after announcing his retirement, Virender Sehwag has said he was “hurt” by the manner in which he was dropped from the Indian team in 2013. Speaking exclusively to ESPNcricinfo in Delhi, Sehwag revealed he learnt of his axe from the newspapers and the decision wasn’t communicated to him by the selectors, team management or BCCI.”I hadn’t scored runs in two Tests against Australia,” Sehwag said. “So, I was thinking I would get a couple of more opportunities to perform well in the last two Tests [of the series] and then get dropped if I didn’t perform. If the selectors would have given me that option to play two more Tests and then retire.”Sehwag was left out after the second Test against Australia in Hyderabad in March 2013 after failing to post a half-century in eight innings. He returned to domestic cricket but failed to make a case compelling enough for a national recall. In 20 Ranji trophy matches for Delhi and Haryana since his last Test, Sehwag scored 1269 runs at an average just under 40 with three centuries. Sehwag admitted that it took him a while to adjust to playing on the domestic circuit after having had a long international career.”When I got dropped, I was thinking that I’m a good player and can get back into the Indian team but I was still living in the mindset that I am an aggressive opener and can score runs but I did not realise that domestic cricket is totally different to international cricket and I was still playing in the same way,” he said. “I did not score runs that [2013-14] season and my highest was 50-odd [56] and I was struggling to cope up with [conditions in] Delhi.”I then changed my thinking next year and batting style by giving myself a little more time and I scored 500 plus runs, but I needed to score that in the previous season and maybe I would have gotten back into the team. It was too late but I was playing because I wanted to play the game.”Sehwag is widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen of the modern era, but he was quite candid about his desire to play in the middle order towards the end of his career. Despite the retirements of Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, Sehwag was never offered that option.”I told the management [about wanting to bat lower down] but they felt that I was still good enough to play as an opener and they didn’t want to take chances with the opening pair. I tried my best but could not get an opportunity in the middle order,” he said. “When I played my last series, Tendulkar was still there, Kohli and Dhoni were there. Pujara was playing as the No. 3 batsman. Tendulkar was playing at 4, Kohli at 5 and it meant that I had to bat at No. 6 after Tendulkar as you could not ask him to bat at No. 3 or 5. So, there was no chance for me to bat in the middle order.”While Sehwag retired with an impressive Test record, his performances outside the subcontinent were inconsistent. Some knocks like the 195 at MCG in 2003 are considered modern day classics, but overall Sehwag averaged just 35.84 in 36 Tests and made just 5 of his 23 Test centuries outside Asia. He conceded that as an area he struggled to match his peers in.”You don’t think of these things when you play,” he said. “When you retire, you look back and see that my Test average outside Asia is 40 and it is 49 overall. If I can change something, I’d like to change that average outside Asia. I tried as hard as I could outside Asia but I couldn’t do that. I gave my best but didn’t score as much as I can. Dravid, Tendulkar, Sourav and Laxman did it and scored hundreds as well.”

Bad light forced the umpires to call off a match shortened by rain to 11 overs a side before a positive result was possible at Grace Road, ruining anticipation of a clash between two Pakistan team-mates – Shahid Afridi and Umar Akmal

ECB/PA12-Jun-2015
ScorecardRain wrecked the clash between Umar Akmal (pictured) and Shahid Afridi•Getty Images

Bad light forced the umpires to call off a match shortened by rain to 11 overs a side before a positive result was possible at Grace Road, ruining anticipation of a clash between two Pakistan team-mates – Shahid Afridi and Umar Akmal.Leicestershire skipper Mark Cosgrove won a delayed toss, but only 1.1 overs were possible before heavy rain caused a further hour’s delay.When play resumed, in drizzle and increasing gloom, umpires Jeff Evans and Nick Cooke decided there was sufficient time for an 11-over match.Richard Levi and Josh Cobb put together an opening partnership of 31 for the Steelbacks, but Foxes’ left-arm fast bowler Atif Sheik dismissed both with successive balls, hitting towards midwicket where Tom Wells took two excellent catches, running across the soaking outfield and sliding to hold the ball on the full.Ben Duckett picked up the pace for the Steelbacks, hitting two straight sixes in going to 39 off 23 balls, with Wells particularly expensive, conceding 28 runs from his two overs. Clint McKay, bowling a series of slower balls of varying lengths, conceded just a single from the final over.With the light worsening rapidly, Leicestershire lost a wicket to the first ball of their innings, Ned Eckersley flashing at a Rory Kleinveldt delivery and edging to Alex Wakely at first slip.Kevin O’Brien was bowled by Mohammad Azharullah, but after just 3.1 overs, the umpires decided the light was too bad to continue.

The last time Somerset lost a Championship match at Taunton, the ground rang to raucous Lancastrian celebrations. This time it was deserted as Middlesex unexpectedly escaped the showers to pull off a three-day victory

David Hopps at Taunton17-May-2013
ScorecardTim Murtagh took 10 for 77 in the match•Middlesex CCC

The last time Somerset lost a Championship match at Taunton, the ground – not to mention the town centre hostelries – rang to raucous Lancastrian celebrations as the Red Rose celebrated their first outright title for 77 years. This time the ground was deserted as Middlesex unexpectedly escaped the showers to pull off a three-day victory after 7pm. But empty ground or not, 20 months later, the town might just have played host to another Championship winner.Middlesex went top, ahead of Durham, by virtue of this victory and with a third of the season gone the table is beginning to take an intriguing shape. Nobody looks more serious contenders than Middlesex. Durham are unexpected leaders, Warwickshire’s innings defeat against Yorkshire raised many questions about their ability to defend their title, and Somerset, so often nearly-men, will be grateful just to stabilise their season after this nine-wicket defeat.Dave Nosworthy, Somerset’s director of cricket, is still awaiting his first win after five matches. After eight weeks, he will be wondering whether the job is bigger than he realised. It was never going to be a matter of ticking things along; it was a matter of rebuilding with very few players clamouring for recognition in the 2nd XI.”Middlesex played very well and outplayed us,” he said. “That is two games in a row where we haven’t pitched and we will have to reassess things. Yorkshire was disappointing and now this, but sometimes the biggest punch comes from the back foot and we’ll see what sort of characters we’ve got. The individuals need to pinpoint themselves.”We haven’t played terrible cricket but after five games we should have won two of them and that lingers in the back of the mind.”Middlesex look to be quite a strong outfit. They look a very balanced and a settled side and playing some quality cricket. At the start of the season I don’t think you could say who was going to win the thing – it was an open race – but they have shown some good early form.”Somerset could at least draw heart from the signing of Dean Elgar, who replaces his fellow South African batsman, Alviro Petersen, while he is on Champions Trophy duty. He is expected to make his debut against Yorkshire in their next home Championship fixture at the end of the month. Nosworthy called him a fighter – and he needs others to show similar resolve.The game was all but up for Somerset from the second afternoon when they collapsed to 35 for 5, still 160 behind. Peter Trego and Jos Buttler brought a veneer of respectability with a pair of 80s, Somerset adding another 143 to their overnight 112 for 5 as the clouds began to build.This was not a game when Tim Murtagh could be kept out of the picture for long. He had Trego caught at short midwicket and later he rounded up the Somerset innings by having Steve Kirby lbw to the first over with the second new ball to finish with match figures of 10 for 77 – the third 10-wicket haul of his Championship career.The resistance meant most for Buttler, whose chequered Championship career has been strewn with careless dismissals, but who not for the first time this season showed a growing inclination to play in a more considered fashion and who bedded down dutifully to make 85 in nearly four-and-a-half hours.Perhaps this innings, even in defeat, will one day be seen as a breakthrough in the longer format. He is such an innovative and exciting one-day player that one wonders if he can ever really enjoy playing in such a restrained fashion, but he is beginning to broaden his range.Beneath the helmet one imagined that he might have the baleful expression of a captured antelope pining for the great outdoors. Somerset will hope that his discipline was proof of his gathering maturity because they need all the talent at their disposal to rescue a disappointing start to the season.The longest delay on an afternoon of heavy showers ripped 35 overs from the day. There was a time when it seemed inevitable that Middlesex would be back tomorrow, but the umpires’ determination to stick around proved shrewd. There were a few wet areas in front of the Ondaatje Pavilion and when Trego slipped with 17 runs needed, it was enough for the captain, Marcus Trescothick, to have a word and the umpires to be forced into a confab.The extra half-hour was claimed at 39 for 0 with Middlesex 32 short and a comfortable rate of four an over ahead of them. But there was enough in the pitch for Somerset to take a prize scalp or two and Jamie Overton bowled Chris Rogers in the first over of overtime. Rogers has always been one of the doughtiest batsman on the circuit, but since his selection for Australia’s Ashes tour, his wicket has become a collector’s item; it was another happy moment in Overton’s eye-catching season.

The 2013 Women’s World Cup trophy replica, brought to Mumbai for a promotional launch of the event, has been detained by the customs officials at the Mumbai airport

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2012The 2013 Women’s World Cup trophy replica, brought to Mumbai for a promotional launch of the event, has been detained by the customs officials at the Mumbai airport. The tournament will be held in the city early next year. The trophy arrived via baggage from Dubai, and according to customs rules trophies can only be brought into the country through cargo.”The trophy should be brought through cargo. In the past we have notified that it shouldn’t be part of the baggage. Prior permissions are required to bring them as part of baggage. As per the regulation, the authorities will have to pay a duty on it,” Airports customs official PM Saleem told .Saleem also mentioned that he had received a letter from the BCCI requesting for an exemption from taxes. However, without documents signifying the approval of the central government in this regard, the trophy will not be released, it is understood.An ICC spokesperson, however, mentioned that the ICC possessed all the necessary paperwork to avoid this.”Despite having all the appropriate paperwork, Mumbai Customs decided to confiscate the trophy. This is the third time. The first time was when they confiscated the 2011 ICC World Cup marketing trophy, then the World T20 marketing trophy and now the ICC Women’s World Cup marketing trophy. All the trophies are replicas,” he said.In 2011, the trophy awarded to the Indian team after they won the World Cup had been the original trophy that had arrived in the country much earlier: the replica had been taken back to Dubai following a similar customs roadblock.

Andrew Strauss dropped three catches and scored just 2 as Michael Lumb’s 162 put Nottinghamshire in charge

Jon Culley at Trent Bridge10-May-2012
ScorecardMichael Lumb made his second century for Nottinghamshire since joining over the winter•Getty Images

When a fellow scores 162 it seems ridiculous to focus on the guy who makes only 2 but, on this occasion, it is unavoidable, given that their fortunes managed to intertwine. Michael Lumb made 162, Andrew Strauss 2.Needless to say, it is a score the England captain hoped he might exceed, especially after what had happened earlier. He owed his side a few runs, having dropped Lumb twice in two balls – on 95 and 99, both times off the medium pace of Neil Dexter – and put down Steven Mullaney, who made 61, on 34.Strauss’s latest brief encounter with county bowlers came at the end of a long day for Middlesex, who had watched Nottinghamshire put their own patchy batting form behind them to total 423, claiming maximum batting points after managing only one in total from their five previous matches.At the heart of this, clearly, was Lumb, who probably had a month’s worth of good fortune in one go after Middlesex revealed ways not to get him out that were not limited to Strauss’s error-prone day at first slip.The only consolation for Strauss, albeit a hollow one, was that he was not the sole guilty party. Taking catches at slip is always relatively difficult; holding steeplers at mid-on is meat and drink, yet Tim Murtagh dropped an absolute sitter there off Ollie Rayner, the tall off-spinner, when Lumb had made 86, just over half his final tally.Murtagh’s mistake, therefore, was the costlier, allowing Lumb the opportunity for another 76 runs. But with 27 added for his Mullaney mishap, when Rayner was again the man inclined to emit a shriek of frustration, Strauss trumped him with 94.He did hold on to a couple, it should be said. But, all in all, Strauss would not, you imagine, have been in the best frame of mind to face Stuart Broad under the Trent Bridge floodlights, without which he probably would not have made it beyond the indoor nets, such was the dark gloom cast by a leaden sky.Strauss has his own personal cloud, in any event. Yet it was not Broad who dealt another blow to his quest for runs, but Harry Gurney, a left-arm seamer he had never before encountered.Gurney, who followed James Taylor in moving from Leicestershire to Nottinghamshire during the winter, was signed primarily with one-day cricket in mind but made a good impression after filling in for Andre Adams against Somerset last month and is keeping the more experienced Luke Fletcher out of the team in this match.Quicker than Strauss might have expected, Gurney troubled the England captain more than Broad had in his opening over and claimed his wicket with the first ball of his second, drawing the left-hander to fence at one outside off stump and give Chris Read a low catch.Strauss will not need reminding that he has only one Test century in his last 50 innings, so often has that statistic been repeated. The other one he will be disappointed with is 57 runs from his four supposedly recuperative innings for Middlesex.Gurney did not add a second wicket but Andre Adams weighed in with two, bringing his tally for the season to 30, and Middlesex have some way to go even to reach the follow-on target of 274.Lumb might also have been stumped, off Rayner on 148, but given that he batted for six and a half hours and hit 23 boundaries, some handsome strokes among them, it would be churlish, really, to suggest he was lucky. This was his second century for Nottinghamshire, whom he joined from Hampshire in the winter, and will confirm his liking for Trent Bridge, which was the backdrop to his career-best 219 in 2009.His partnership with Alex Hales for the second wicket was worth 150 and he helped Riki Wessels put on a further 83 for the third. Lumb and Mullaney then added 95 for the fourth before Murtagh, at mid-off, belatedly put right his earlier mistake.Mullaney enjoyed himself hugely, achieving the not inconsiderable feat of hooking Gareth Berg over the tall Bridgford Road stand for six. His 60 off 95 balls, supplemented by some enthusiastic late-order biffing, notably from Adams, took Nottinghamshire past 400 in the first innings for the first time at Trent Bridge since last July.Steven Finn, the other Middlesex player with England on his mind, ended with four wickets but struggled for line and rhythm and conceded 14 boundaries. Then again, he is only 22 and his days under a cloud can be more readily excused.

Former Pakistan wicketkeeper Rashid Latif and the Karachi city government have come together to launch, from next week, what might be the most lucrative club tournament to have been played in Pakistan

Osman Samiuddin02-Feb-2010Former Pakistan wicketkeeper Rashid Latif and the Karachi city government have come together to launch, from next week, what might be the most lucrative club tournament to have been played in Pakistan.The Karachi Champions League, a Twenty20 league, for the leading clubs of the city will begin next week with Rs 10 million (around USD 117,200) as the top prize for the winners. The tournament, a brainchild of Latif and the Rashid Latif Cricket Academy (RLCA) will feature a number of Karachi-based international players, as well as a host of domestic cricketers. Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Khalid Latif, Fawad Alam, Khurram Manzoor and Sarfraz Ahmed, among others, will be playing.”It was an old idea of mine, one that I had been working on,” Latif, who captained Pakistan as well, told Cricinfo. “I am a big follower of English football and I love the history of clubs over there, like Chelsea and Fulham. We have so many old clubs in Karachi and we need to revive that club culture once again here.”The idea was put into practice after Latif ran the idea by the city’s mayor Mustafa Kamal during what was supposed to be a five-minute meeting. “We ran the idea by him and he agreed after a minute,” Latif said. The prize money has been put up by Kamal’s city government; as well as the winning club getting Rs 10 million, the runners-up will receive Rs 5 million (around USD 58,900), the semi-finalists Rs 500,000 (around USD 5900) each and the quarter-finalists Rs 250,000 (around USD 2900). All told there is Rs 17 million (nearly USD 200,000) in prize money at stake, easily the most lucrative local tournament in the country’s history.The tournament is expected to last nearly a month and will be played at various grounds around the city that are supervised and run by the RLCA. Malir Gymkhana, North Nazimabad CC, Korangi Al-Fatah CC and Airport Gymkhana are some of the more renowned 16 clubs in the tournament and each will be allowed only one international player.The tournament will be televised on , a local sports channel and plans are already underway to make it a national league – the Pakistan Champions League. “Karachi is the financial centre of Pakistan and a lot of MNCs are based here,” Latif said. “The plan is to get them to sponsor a club each. Next season we will introduce player trading and hopefully in time, it can be pushed to a national league.”