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Neesham instrumental in recovery from top-order implosion

ECB Reporters Network14-Jul-2024All-rounder Lewis Goldsworthy hit a career-best 67 as Leicestershire Foxes maintained their push to win a place in the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast with a five-wicket victory over East Midlands rivals Notts Outlaws at the Uptonsteel County Ground.New Zealand’s Jimmy Neesham backed up Goldsworthy’s performance with 44 from 22 balls as the Foxes won with an over to spare – despite having been six for three at the start of their chase – condemning the Outlaws to an eighth defeat in what has been comfortably their worst season in the current Blast format.With seven of the nine North Group counties chasing four qualifying places in a tight finish to the group season, the Foxes have 14 points but may still have to defeat group leaders Birmingham Bears in their final fixture at Edgbaston next Friday if they are to go through.Ben Martindale, the 21-year-old left-hander, made 44 from 42 balls – his best in a fledgling T20 career – and skipper Joe Clarke 39 from 23 as the Outlaws made 160 for six, a mid-innings collapse rescued to a degree at the death by Liam Patterson-White (28 from 16) and Lyndon James (22 from 11), Scott Currie taking two for 35 for the Foxes.But it was a score that proved not enough despite Olly Stone taking two for 22 from his four overs, Rehan Ahmed chipping in with 34 from 38.Having opted to bat first, the Outlaws would have been pleased to be 49 without loss from six given their recent form. After taking only 10 runs from the first 16 deliveries, Clarke and Martindale plundered seven boundaries from the next 20.Clarke lifted a Rehan full toss over the short boundary on The Meet side of the ground for his second six, quickly adding two more fours, but the partnership was broken on 68 as he fell to a catch on the cover boundary.After a tentative start, Martindale grew in confidence, reverse pulling six off Goldsworthy but Notts were checked again in the 11th when Jack Haynes was caught at deep midwicket in a wicket-maiden by Josh Hull.Martindale briefly broke free from a Foxes squeeze as he slogged Currie over the midwicket rope but an attempted repeat was brilliantly caught by Louis Kimber, keeping the ball in the air as he crossed the boundary and stepping back to take it inside.Matt Montgomery and Tom Moores fell cheaply as the Outlaws slipped to 115 for five in the 17th but Liam Patterson-White, who hit back-to-back sixes off Hull before being caught off Currie off the penultimate ball, joined Lyndon James (22 not out off 11) in adding 45 from 20 balls to give the innings substance.Indeed, 160 looked a decent total as the Foxes made a calamitous start, losing Sol Budinger, pulling to deep backward square, and Peter Handscomb, miscueing to extra cover, and Rishi Patel, bowled off an inside edge, to be six for three from 14 balls.It could have been much worse for the home side, with two difficult slip chances and one comparatively comfortable return catch put down, Patterson-White giving Rehan a life on 21 in the third instance. As it was, by the halfway point, with no further losses, the Foxes needed 100 runs to win.Rehan was caught at mid-off off James after the fourth wicket pair had added 76 but Goldsworthy, on loan from Somerset, chose the right moment to make his biggest contribution so far, hitting two sixes and six fours in a fine innings before holing out to deep midwicket off Patterson-White.He added 54 with Neesham for the seventh wicket, leaving 25 more to get with his departure, the New Zealand all-rounder going most of the way to finishing the job with three sixes and two fours before Louis Kimber drove Fazalhaq Farooqi for the winning boundary.

Qualifier 2 and the final will be played in Ahmedabad

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Apr-2023The MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai will host Qualifier 1 of IPL 2023 on May 23 and Eliminator on May 24. The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will be the host for Qualifier 2 on May 26 and the final on May 28.Last year too Ahmedabad had hosted Qualifier 2 and the final. In the final, Gujarat Titans beat Rajasthan Royals to lift the trophy in their inaugural season. The 2023 season too kicked off in Ahmedabad, where Titans beat Chennai Super Kings.Currently, Royals are at the top of the points table with four wins from six games. Just below them, and separated only by the net run rate, are Lucknow Super Giants. Titans are fourth with six points from five games.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

This year, the competition is being played in the home-and-away format for the first time after a gap of three years. In 2020, the tournament had to be postponed from the March-May window to September-November and moved to the UAE because of the Covid-19 pandemic.In 2021, there was an attempt to play in the Indian summer but a breach of the biosecure bubble led to the season being interrupted midway, and the second half of the season resumed in the UAE in September. In 2022, the tournament was played in the March-May window in India, but the entire league phase was played at venues in Mumbai and Pune, and the playoffs and final in Kolkata and Ahmedabad.

Solid fifties from both openers, and Siddle’s four-for, paved the way for Hurricanes’ exit as they fell well short of a 189 chase

Tristan Lavalette21-Jan-2022Alex Carey starred with a half-century in his BBL return as in-form Adelaide Strikers ended Hobart Hurricanes’ season to start the finals with a 22-run victory at a barren MCG.In the Eliminator, a must-win match between the fourth- and fifth-ranked teams, Carey smashed 67 off 45 balls in his comeback from Ashes duties and combined brilliantly with opening partner Matthew Short, who made 89 of Strikers’ 6 for 188.Their strong attack then nullified Hurricanes, whose inconsistent season finished on a sour note.Strikers have stormed into unlikely title contention after their fifth straight win to book a clash with third-placed Sydney Thunder in the Knockout on Sunday.Carey and Short destroy HurricanesAshes heroes Carey and Travis Head returned for their first BBL matches of the season to significantly bolster Strikers’ batting order. Carey stole the show early with a calculated assault on the smaller boundaries down the ground.He showed his intent with a powerful straight blow off Test team-mate Scott Boland and stormed to 20 runs off his first 10 balls in an impressive switching of gears after playing in the long format.Carey’s fast start eased the pressure on Short, who, for most of a breakout season, had provided the fireworks during the four-over powerplay. He had a back seat to Carey before notching his half-century with a huge six off speedster Riley Meredith in the 12th over during the Power Surge.He then put his foot down just as a bogged-down Carey holed out in the 15th over to end the 145-run partnership. Short smashed spinner Wil Parker for consecutive sixes in the next over but his dismissal snuffed Strikers’ momentum at the death.Boland returns but Hurricanes struggleBoland was back in the BBL after playing his sole game this season in mid-December just before he became an Ashes cult hero. But this MCG deck was nothing like the green top he decimated England on during the Boxing-Day Test, with Boland suffering against a red-hot Carey.Hurricanes mostly struggled and badly missed frontline spinner Sandeep Lamichhane, who has left the BBL due to national commitments with Nepal. Parker, his replacement, was on a hiding to nothing and promptly smashed for 42 runs off four overs although picked up Short with his final ball.Hurricanes weren’t helped by ragged fielding marked by several dropped catches, with Tom Rogers’ sitter to reprieve Short on 15 particularly costly. Their sloppiness seemed to suggest the wheels were falling off but Hurricanes fought back late to give them some hope.Peter Siddle celebrates after sending back Tim David•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

Strikers impress with ball and in the fieldShort’s terrific game continued with the key wicket of Ben McDermott as he bowled four overs of his handy offspin on the trot. Peter Siddle, who took the most wickets in the BBL’s regular season, then claimed opposite number Matthew Wade to tighten Strikers’ stranglehold and he finished with four wickets to lead from the front.Strikers have not missed a beat since losing talisman Rashid Khan late in the season with veteran spinner Fawad Ahmed proving a more than useful replacement.They’ve also been rejuvenated by the inclusion of quicks Harry Conway and Henry Thornton, whose fast and straight bowling has been a revelation after playing just one BBL game before this season for Sydney Sixers five years ago.The duo claimed four wickets between them with Thornton holding his nerve against a rampaging D’Arcy Short, who briefly rattled Strikers.In a major contrast to Hurricanes, Strikers were sharp in the field to underline their remarkable resurrection, having spent most of the season in the bottom two.Short fires in vainHurricanes’ batting oozes with firepower on paper but hasn’t quite clicked all season. They’ve been reliant on McDermott, whose terrific tournament ended when he fell in the first over. A failure from Wade made their chase particularly grim and they needed Short to recapture his belligerent best from his heyday.He responded with his best knock of a sluggish season to give Hurricanes a flicker of hope. He smashed 22 runs in the Power Surge but his wicket in the 15th over triggered a collapse.Big-hitter Tim David, who has been their designated finisher all season, showed off his prowess but it was too late. Perhaps Hurricanes’ brains trust will rue once again not allowing the Singapore national player more time at the crease.There was much hype over Hurricanes heading into the season but their early finals demise should be considered a disappointment.

Along with data, “instinct comes in and ability to read the game, which Dhoni clearly has”, says Dravid

Deivarayan Muthu02-Aug-20201:17

Nehra: This IPL has nothing to do with Dhoni’s international career

T20 is a format that’s fickle and frantic, but MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings have somehow cracked consistency, reaching the IPL knockouts in each of the ten seasons they have been a part of. Rahul Dravid, who has come up against the Super Kings both as captain and coach, put down the team’s success to a combination of their use of data and Dhoni’s instincts.Dravid was speaking at a webinar hosted by the Great Lakes Institute of Management, where N Srinivasan, the former BCCI chief and head of India Cements, which owns Super Kings, was also present, and he labelled Dhoni a “pure instinct man”.”If you look at the success CSK has had, they’ve got really good access to data and they’ve got really good access to people behind the scenes and they’ve run cricket teams at the junior level,” Dravid said. “They understand talent and they’ve obviously got a good scouting process in place. But, what they also have is a captain who really understands instincts. So, I mean, look, I know Dhoni quite well and I hope he hasn’t changed, but I know Dhoni is probably not one to look at reams of data and statistics.”And he’s probably not going to get as involved in the auction process because when you’re looking at picking a squad of say 25 players or 28 players as CSK would, they need so much of information because there are so many players that they can pick from. They are probably not going to have the ability to see each and every one of the thousands of cricketers who play cricket in India and the overseas players, right?”So, you’re going to heavily rely on data and whatever metrics you put up. And, I think, the right metrics is critical because obviously CSK does that when assembling a squad. Then, what you do is once you’ve handed over the squad to the coach and to captain on the field, it’s critically important to have somebody with instincts and get the better of it, which obviously Dhoni is good at.”In the heat of the battle, you have your analysis, you got your coach and you’ve probably planned the game. But there are critical moments in a game, especially in a Twenty20 game, when every over matters. You can’t rely on data all the time… because you collect it from a past event. But, on that particular day, he (the player) might not be feeling very well or the captain might have noticed that his form is not good on that particular moment. That’s where instinct comes in and ability to read the game, which Dhoni clearly has.”Dhoni’s instinct and game-smarts came to the fore again during the 2010 IPL final, where he trapped Kieron Pollard with a funky field. Given Pollard’s propensity to hit the ball down the ground, Dhoni posted Matthew Hayden at straight mid-off and challenged Pollard to clear that fielder. However, Pollard only scooped Albie Morkel straight to Hayden as Super Kings went on to win their maiden IPL title.More recently, during the 2019 IPL final, Dhoni had one of his best fielders, Faf du Plessis, at straight long-off or straight long-on against Pollard. And when R Ashwin was at the Super Kings, Dhoni used the spinner as a powerplay option and often deployed a leg slip for him.During a Champions League T20 fixture in 2010 against Victoria in Port Elizabeth, Dhoni entrusted part-time offspinner Suresh Raina with the responsibility of defending 11 off the final over. Raina plucked two wickets and gave up two boundaries before Bryce McGain’s run-out off the last ball helped the Super Kings tie the game.Hindustan Times via Getty Images

Srinivasan agreed that Dhoni’s tactics and judgment had been central to Super Kings’ set-up. He also said that Dhoni didn’t really believe in team meetings, something Dwayne Bravo revealed last year.”We’re awash with data just now,” Srinivasan said. “To give you an example, there are bowling coaches and in a T20 game, they play videos of every batsman whom they’re going to come against and they see how he got out, what’s his strength, what’s his weakness etc. So, MS Dhoni doesn’t attend this, he’s a pure instinct man. The bowling coach, [head coach Stephen] Fleming will be there and everybody will be there, everyone is giving opinions, [but] he’ll get up and go.”In the context of instinct, he feels that he can assess a batsman or player on the field, that’s his judgement. On the other hand, there is so much of data that is available to help a person also analyse. It’s a very difficult line to draw [between data and instinct].”Srinivasan also outlined the challenges of bringing players from different cultures together and running an IPL franchise.”There was one outstanding player that we suggested to MS, he said: ‘no sir, he will spoil the team’. The cohesion within the team is important and see in America, franchise-based sport has been there for such a long time,” he said. “In India, we’re just starting and we’re new to it. But we at India Cements have had a lot of experience running teams at junior levels – Rahul has been part of us – [and] one aspect is that we understood from the beginning is when you manage and run a team, you own the franchise, not the player. You own the team, but not each and every player.”If we’re talking of competitive IPL or competitive T20, all of them are outstanding performers. To get 10-12 people together and to keep the peace between them itself is not an easy task.”

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.”

As Australia arrived in Adelaide for the ODI on Friday, fast bowler Josh Hazlewood said that more attention needed to be paid to the way bowlers transitioned between formats

Daniel Brettig24-Jan-2018It is often said by retired players that perspective can be easier to find from outside a cricket team than within it. From his out-of-favour vantage point as surplus to Australia’s ODI team, Glenn Maxwell has a simple answer to questions about what Steven Smith’s team are doing wrong with the bat – they are batting at a tempo the world’s more confident teams have long since deemed too slow.While Maxwell feels he has made the very evolution as a batsman that Smith, the coach Darren Lehmann and the national selectors seem to be asking for, he believes that the team he was once a part of has fallen behind England and others in terms of the cruising speed they employ with the bat.Where Australia had been happy to score around six an over for the first 10 overs and then throttle back to four or five until the closing overs, Maxwell said that England had shown it was better to be more aggressive and then “chill” at a run a ball. “They’re obviously playing the new brand of one-day cricket,” Maxwell said, “which is go as hard as you can for 15 or 16 overs, chill out at 10 but still go at six an over.”I think the Australian one-day team for a while our chill-out time has been four and a half to five an over of just making sure we conserve wickets. I think these days you just can’t afford to do that. You’ve got to be a little tougher and got to be a little more boundary-conscious.”Maxwell’s words provide further impetus to the search for a refreshed approach from the Australian ODI set-up, after the selection chairman Trevor Hohns conceded that a full review of the team’s personnel and tactical approach was required in order to be competitive at next year’s World Cup. In assessing his own development, Maxwell said he was disappointed he had not been given the chance to show his evolution after being shunted up and down the batting order prior to being dropped in India last year.”I feel like I’ve changed a little bit over the last period of time where I’m able to work my way through situations instead of just going ahead and blasting it,” he said. “Looking back at the Indian ODIs, I probably didn’t have the chance to show that. The first game turned into a T20 and I came out and we needed 13 an over, and I think the game before I got dropped I was sent in with six overs to go. So there wasn’t exactly time to rebuild and work through an innings.”As the Australian team, sans Maxwell, arrived in Adelaide ahead of the dead rubber Australia Day ODI on Friday, fast bowler Josh Hazlewood said that more attention needed to be paid to the way bowlers transitioned between formats. While much work has been done around their physical preparation and workload management, Hazlewood said the different skill sets required in the shorter forms needed to be better addressed in the future.Getty Images

“We haven’t quite transitioned from Test cricket to one-day cricket as well as we could have,” Hazlewood said. “England have two sets of bowlers in some regard, with only [Chris] Woakes and [Moeen] Ali backing up so they’re really one-day specialists, I guess you could say and they’ve showed us how to play. I think you still want your best bowlers playing…but you do need to work on skills from time to time. Maybe it’s a session here or there around Test cricket, you work on those skills with the white ball.”We can probably learn and do things a bit differently. I guess you have to outline some training sessions for the white-ball stuff and work on your variations even while you’re playing on a Test tour. My role in one-day cricket is a little bit similar to Test cricket, I bowl at the start a lot and a little bit through the middle. But for some guys like [Mitchell] Starc and [Pat] Cummins, their one-day game is probably closer to a Twenty20 game where they bowl a lot of overs at the end when the [opposing] batters are going.”By contrast, England have been refreshed by the changeover, something Woakes said was as much a matter of mindset as of tactics. “It’s just a different game…different format, different ball,” he said. “It’s more of a mindset thing because you’re constantly trying to hit the ball in one-day cricket whereas, in Test cricket, you’re more wary. People who don’t know the game that well would probably think it’s a red, it’s a white ball – what changes? But it’s amazing how much it does change.”Winning is a habit so we’ll be trying to do that in the last two games to secure a 5-0 whitewash. It is a huge motivation. We’re obviously delighted to win the series…but we won’t be letting up. We’ll still be trying to go out there on a big day for them, Australia Day, and turn them over. You don’t come out to Australia and win too often so, once you’ve got your foot on the throat, you want to keep it down. If the roles were reversed, then Australia would be doing exactly the same thing to us.”

While the result of this match will make no difference to the qualification scenario with both teams already through, there is still plenty to look forward to

Akshay Gopalakrishnan in Thiruvananthapuram14-Dec-2016Remote, tranquil and alluring, little about the St. Xavier’s College Ground in Thumba is reminiscent of the archetypal cricket stadium. Away from the hubhub of the city, the gentle breeze that steadily blows across mitigates the lingering humidity due to the geographic location, with the St. Andrew’s beach to the west of the ground.Jharkhand return to the venue not just with fond memories – Ishan Kishan slammed 273, the highest in Jharkhand’s history in their previous match here – but an unwavering confidence that stems from having made the quarter-finals for the second successive season.Jharkhand’s youngsters have been the flavour of their season, and nothing encapsulated that better than that innings from Kishan. The 18-year-old has grabbed eyeballs not just for his attacking brand of batsmanship, but also for the remarkable consistency with which he has been able to do it. Kishan and Ishank Jaggi have scored over 1200 runs and six centuries, making Jharkhand one of only two teams – Tamil Nadu being the other – to have two batsmen with three or more centuries.At the other end, Odisha would be more relieved than confident heading into the match. A frantic week of uncertainties ended with Odisha qualifying for their first knockouts in a decade courtesy Delhi’s defeat to Saurashtra.Odisha have benefitted immensely from their team firing in unison. Six of their batsmen have scored centuries, and their bowlers too have shared the wickets. Odisha have welcomed Biplab Samantray’s return to form after a drab 2015-16. Samantray was sacked as captain and later left out, but has regained his mojo; his 498 runs to go alongside 11 wickets have served Odisha well.Govinda Poddar, the man who took over from Samantray as leader, has thrived in his new role and hasn’t let it affect his batting. Young Subhranshu Senapati and Sandeep Pattnaik have also impressed in their debut seasons. While opener Pattnaik’s performances have fallen off in the latter half, Senapati’s consistency despite floating a bit in the line-up has lent solidity in the middle order.Odisha’s new-ball combination has come good with Suryakant Pradhan topping their charts with 26 wickets and Basant Mohanty claiming 17. Samantray has performed the supporting seamer’s role well, while left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh has also been among the wickets. Jharkhand, on the other hand, have primarily relied on Shahbaz Nadeem, the left-arm spinner, and medium pacer Ashish Kumar, although they do hold a slight advantage having already played a match here.Jharkhand are through to the knockouts for the second time running•KCA/Ranjith Peralam

Run-fest, the norm. Will it be different this time around?
The ground has faced its share of criticism despite its short history. Sunil Joshi, the Assam coach, had expressed disappointment at the run-up areas that were too sandy and the dressing rooms where repair works were underway during their match against Vidarbha. Jharkhand too had some complaints.”I found the dressing room too small. There is no air conditioner, and in this heat, if you field for two and a half hours, what do you do?” Saurabh Tiwary, the captain, said. “In the last match we played, when we used to come back after fielding, we used to get our lunch and sit outside in the tent. This time, too, we will do the same. You will see it.”The dressing room works have been completed now. But with two new grounds coming up around the city, this venue is soon set to be used only for junior cricket, meaning the change room facilities are only temporary arrangements.The presence of sand, which can still be seen abundantly on the peripheries of the stadium, is a result of the ground’s topography. But on the flip side, it makes the outfield quick and soft, minimising the risk of injury.The last time a match was played here, between Delhi and Jharkhand in November, 1307 runs were scored across four days – the third-highest aggregate of the season. That game was played on a red soil surface, while Thursday’s clash happens on a clay surface. Nonetheless, it’s expected to be another high-scoring match, although spinners will find a lot of assistance and the pitch could start crumbling as early as on the second day.”The pitch for the first game (against Delhi), we knew that it was fully flat. But this one is entirely different,” Tiwary said. “For around eight feet on either side, there has been no rolling or watering. I reckon it should start spinning on the second or the third day.”While the result of this match will make no difference to the qualification scenario with both teams already through, there is still plenty to look forward to. Odisha, despite having qualified, have only two outright wins, and another one here will set things up nicely heading into the knockouts of what has been a huge season for them. For Jharkhand, this will be an opportunity to top the group.

Yasir Shah is expected to be fit for the second Test against England in Dubai after recovering from the back spasm which ruled him out of the opening contest

Umar Farooq in Abu Dhabi16-Oct-2015Yasir Shah is expected to be fit for the second Test against England in Dubai after recovering from the back spasm which ruled him out of the opening contest. However, team manager Intikhab Alam hinted there could be a surprise addition to the squad after Pakistan’s attempts to call up Zafar Gohar for this match were thwarted by visa issues.Responding to criticism from Pakistan’s captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, over the lack of spin cover in the initial 16-man squad, Alam told ESPNcricinfo. “We don’t want to reveal anything at the moment but we have some plans.”That could throw an intriguing couple of names into the frame. A long shot would be Saeed Ajmal, who tormented England here in 2012, but has had to remodel his action and was not effective for Worcestershire in the County Championship this year, while another option may be offspinner Bilal Asif even though his action is under scrutiny after the one-day series in Zimbabwe.Bilal was reported after taking 5 for 25 in Harare, but the reporting and assessment process laid down by the ICC allows him to continuing bowling until the results of the tests are known. The testing has to take place within 14 days of the report and he is due to travel via Dubai to Chennai, one of the ICC’s approved testing centres, on October 18 and be tested the following day. He would be available for selection until the results come through, a process that takes a further 14 days and means, in theory, he would at least be available for the Dubai Test starting on October 22.Ajmal, meanwhile, who on Friday was traveling from Faisalabad to Lahore, told ESPNcricinfo he was not expecting to be called-up. “Of course everyone might be thinking about me right now but I can confirm that they haven’t asked about my passport,” Ajmal said. “But I am sure in the present scenario they are definitely thinking about me.”At the toss Misbah expressed his frustration at the lack of an extra spinner in the squad, thoughts echoed by the head coach Waqar Younis when he spoke to TV on Friday. Pakistan’s plan was to play two fast bowlers and at least two specialist spinners but they were forced to bring in Imran Khan as part of a three-man seam attack after Yasir and Gohar didn’t make it.Over the last two days Yasir has been seen jogging around the ground during intervals and having a bowl in the nets. “He is fit and will be match fit by the second Test,” Alam said. “We no more require Zafar as he was only named replacement for the first Test but he didn’t make it, so we have plenty of time ahead of the next game to decide.”With Yasir set to be available it would appear unlikely that Pakistan would alter their first-choice spin pairing even though Zulfiqar Babar, by lunch on the fourth day, had bowled 48 wicketless overs. The first Test was still awaiting its first wicket for a spinner.

James Pattinson is out of the IPL and may also miss the Champions Trophy to have surgery on what Cricket Australia described as “a non-cricket related medical condition in his lower abdominal region”

Daniel Brettig04-Apr-2013James Pattinson, the Australia fast bowler, is out of the IPL and may also miss the Champions Trophy that precedes the Ashes after he was compelled to have surgery on what Cricket Australia has described as “a non-cricket related medical condition in his lower abdominal region.”The departure of Pattinson to India for his stint with Kolkata Knight Riders was initially delayed until Friday as medical staff awaited the results of tests and the advice of specialists. However, on receipt of opinion that Pattinson should undergo surgery immediately, he has been ruled out of competing in the Twenty20 event, joining the national captain Michael Clarke on the sidelines.Pattinson wishes to keep the condition private, but it is not believed to be serious, nor likely to affect his cricket future beyond the time required to recover from the surgery.”James Pattinson will be having surgery tomorrow for a non-cricket related medical condition in his lower abdominal region that has been troubling him during the latter part of the recently concluded tour of India,” CA’s chief medical officer Justin Paoloni said. “James has undergone tests and consulted specialists since returning from India, and it was felt that surgery is absolutely necessary at this time.”The recovery times will [be] determined once the surgery is completed but James is expected to return to training in approximately four weeks. His preparation for The Ashes is not expected to be affected but his availability for the ICC Champions Trophy will be determined at a later stage.”

Chamara Kapugedera, the middle-order batsman, has been named as a replacement for one of the three injured allrounders in the Sri Lanka squad that qualified for the finals of the Commonwealth Bank tri-series

Sa'adi Thawfeeq02-Mar-2012Chamara Kapugedera, the middle-order batsman, has been named as a replacement for one of the three injured allrounders in the Sri Lanka squad that qualified for the finals of the Commonwealth Bank tri-series. Which of the injured players – Farveez Maharoof, Angleo Mathews and Thisara Perara – is being replaced, has not yet been decided. Sri Lanka will play Australia in the best-of-three finals from Sunday, in Brisbane.Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said that the team management, in consultation with the national selectors, had opted for a batsman. He will fly to Brisbane on Friday night. “The request was for a batsman for the No. 6 position and Kapugedera was picked,” Ranatunga said. “The team management will take a decision tonight, on which of these injured players will be sent home.”Kapugedera, who has not represented Sri Lanka since the World Cup final last April, had shown some form for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the ongoing domestic first-class competition, the Premier League Tier A tournament, scoring two hundreds in his previous four games. The pick of his innings was a 168-ball 158 in the first week of February, which came against defending champions Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club.Sri Lanka entered the final league match – a must-win game for them – without the services of Farveez Maharoof, who picked up a back complaint during Tuesday’s game against India in Hobart. Then, during the Australia chase, Thisara Perara and Angelo Mathews went off the field with injuries. Perera bowled only five balls before walking off with a back problem and Mathews was forced off with a calf injury. After the match, captain Mahela Jayawardene had said that he was hopeful that Mathews and Maharoof would be fit for Sunday’s game, but Perera’s chances of playing were less certain.Edited by Nikita Bastian