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Do not count the Aussies out: Hadlee

prasad — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:51:54 +0000

He may not boast of an express pace which his yesteryear contemporaries — Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Dennis Lillee enjoyed, but Sir Richard Hadlee had the gift of relentlessly pursuing a tidy line and length that fetched him 431 Test victims off just 86 matches.
In the city to launch the Apollo Knee Clinic facility, Hadlee stressed on the role of knees in the life of a fast bowler. “Fast bowlers tend to often suffer from niggles in their knees. The reason for that is — they run fast and land on their knees. Year after year, when you play, it does tend to hurt that part of the body. So, it becomes important for the fast bowlers to take care of it. If there is a problem, show it to a specialist and get it fixed,” the 58-year-old stressed.
Amongst the current crop of fast bowlers in the world, Hadlee pointed at Ishant Sharma as the one to watch out for. “It is crucial for India to preserve a talent like Ishant. He is a great asset to the team. I hope he maintains his fitness and is able to play for India for a long time.” Hadlee also appreciated Sachin Tendulkar’s unmatched run of 20 years in international cricket. “I played against him when he was a 16-year-old, I never thought he would play for 20 years. I would want him to blow off all the records in the coming years,” he said.
When asked to predict the outcome of the ongoing India-Australia ODI series, Hadlee said, “For the moment, India enjoys a 2-1 lead. But do not count the Australians out. They are one of those teams that have the ability of pinching you when you least expect them to.”
When asked to comment on Tendulkar’s statement that one-dayers should be made into a 25-25 over format, Hadlee said, “I think it could be made into a 30-20 over format. This will mean that in the first innings, batsmen will get the advantage of playing a slightly longer knock. Also, it will give the crowd to see greats like Tendulkar bat twice on a single day.”
Hadlee voiced his concern on the issues that plagued New Zealand cricket. “It is having problems of late. The coach quit because the players felt that he was not delivering what he had set out to. Also, skipper Daniel Vettori who is the selector has been made the coach now. It puts enormous pressure on him and I would like to see how he performs in the forthcoming series in Dubai against the Pakistanis.”
The Kiwi ace did not appear too keen on donning the coach’s hat of the New Zealand team. “No, I am too old to coach New Zealand,” he quipped.

Resilient Kiwis versus Australian muscle power!!!

prasad — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:23:07 +0000

Trust Ricky Ponting’s men to come hard against their rivals New Zealand when they clash in the final of the 2009 Champions Trophy at the SuperSport Park here on Monday. The rain threat however looms large and it will be kind on the weather God if he would make way for what appears to be a fascinating contest.
Both Ponting and Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori will be very eager to have a go at each other but the odds are now in favour of the undefeated Australians and going by the way they played their semifinal, there certainly can be only one winner. New Zealand and Australia are both past champions, the former wining it in 2000 at Nairobi and the Aussies winners in 2006 at Mumbai.
Barring a blip against the West Indies at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, Ponting’s squad have been a dominant force. This is something Vettori is very aware of.
Ponting is top scorer with 287 run leads the run-scorers’ charts with 287 runs, inclusive of the century he creamed off England’s attack while Shane Watson too ran into form in semifinals. Opener Tim Paine is at hand to start Australia off briskly and the dangerous Mike Hussey, Cameron White and Mitchell Johnson follow down the order.
The Kiwis, on the other hand, have not been very well served by their batsmen. Vettori has had to come in and play two significant innings to pull his side out of trouble — against England in the league phase and again against Pakistan when he put on 104 for the fifth wicket with Grant Elliott.
At the top of the order, Brendon McCullum will be more than a handful and Martin Guptill has really fired here. The Black Caps will also miss Jesse Ryder and Jacob Oram, but Vettori will be looking to use Elliott albeit judiciously.
With the ball too, Australia have the edge though Vettori has been among the top three bowlers here. Brett Lee is back to his fast and accurate self and has Johnson, Peter Siddle and James Hopes operating behind him, besides the off-spin of Nathan Hauritz.

The New Zealanders will be banking on doing little things correctly and Australians will vow to steamroll their opposition to claim their second straight Champions Trophy title

Kiwis win by four wickets, qualify for semifinals

prasad — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:45:22 +0000

It was New Zealand all the way right from the first over of the match as they steamrolled and put England to sword in their ICC champions Trophy match at the Wanderers on Tuesday. The New Zealanders won their match by four wickets and qualified for the semifinals of the event. The opening pair of Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum played their part scoring a brisk partnership. McCullum played some audacious shots on both sides of the wicket with aplomb. Chasing 147 for a win, the Kiwis brought their fifty in under 47 balls. While England were their usual cautious self, the Kiwis were carefree. McCullum took NZ to 84 when he skied to Bopara off Broad for a supremely made 48 off 39 balls. The Kiwis havent played this freely for a long time and the start given by Mac. They brought their hundred in the 16th over and with a flashy six by Guptill.

James Anderson removed Guptil at 113 for 2 when the Kiwi edged it to Swann for 53 off 55. Graham Elliott walked in when 33 were still needed with Kiwis on 114 for 3 at 19.1 overs. While England tried their level best at controlling the situation on a day their batsmen let them down badly. Elliott was caught by Eoin Morgan off Stuart Broad for 3. At 118 for 4 and with 29 still needed, the match was interestingly placed. Neil Broom and Gareth Hopkins did not stay long as the latter was caught by Morgan off Broad for 2 with Kiwis at 130 for 5. It was game on ! Skipper Vettori joined Broom in the middle. Broom was then removed by Sidebottom caught off Morgan as NZ slumped to 140 for 6. Vettori was joined James Franklin in the centre. The Kiwis finished it off then without much losses.

Earlier, Overcast conditions greeted the two teams and with weather hovering around the 20 degree mark, it was a chilly day at the office for England and New Zealand. The Kiwis won the toss and chose to field. This was the same pitch where England reduced Sri Lanka to 17 for 4 in their first match. For the Poms, Sidebottom came in for Graham Onions while Kiwis brought in Ian Butler and Hopkins in for Tuffey and Jesse Ryder.

The Kiwis struck early removing skipper Strauss in the very first over when Kylie Mills got him caught by McCullum for a duck.

Owais Shah walked in next. In company of Joe Denly, the duo began the repair work at the earnest. Joe Denly got a beauty to see his stumps rattled when Shane Bond got one that nipped back and was back to pavilion at 10 for 2 in 3.5 overs. Denly out for 5 from 10 balls. Shah was the next to go at 13 for 3 when he was caught by keeper McCullum off Bond for 3 off 10. Collingwood and Eoin Morgan began the repair work and the duo put together a stand of 37 runs and by the 19th over Morgan was back at the hut, caught by Ross Taylor off Ian Butler. England 50 for 4.

Ravi Bopara walked in next. 50 for 4 became 90 for 6 as England which had surprised themselves with their superlative performances in their first two games were losing their way. Stuart Broad was the seventh wicket to fall, caught and bowled by Graham Elliott for 1 with England 95 for 7 in the 28th over.

Bopara on the other end continued to wage a lone battle as Graeme Swann walked in next. With the pitch dual paced, batting wasnt all that easy. Swann swung some shots in an agricultural fashion, but did get some much-needed fours to augment the English total. Swann left with England on 110 in the 32nd over for 11, caught McCullum off Elliott. Sidebottom sauntered into the middle. It soon became 117 for 9 with Bopara departing to a ball that kept extremely low off Bond and umpire Daryl Harper took time to lift the dreaded finger.

Sidebottom played some crucial shots to soar the England past the 140-run mark. The tall left-hander grew in confidence with every four he hit and the English dressing room cheered every shot played. On a day when every English batsman failed miserably, Sidebottom played some shots that bordered on agriculturism and aggressiveness.

England finished at 146 with Sidebottom scoring a valuable 20. Elliott for the Kiwis took 4 wickets for 31 while took three for 21. Mills and Butler took a wicket each.

Cricket tit-bits: Virender Sehwag steps down as Daredevils captain, Gambhir to lead in Champions League

prasad — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:29:50 +0000

Delhi dasher Virender Sehwag on Monday stepped down as the skipper of the IPL side Delhi Daredevils and subsequently Gautam Gambhir was being chosen as the replacement. This will mean that Gauti will lead the Delhi side in the upcoming Champions League that will be held in India next month.

On the reason for stepping down, Sehwag said that he wanted to concentrate on batting, a reason which found backing from most quarters including the owners of the team—the GMR Group. In a statement released on Monday, the GMR’s chairman Srinivas Bommidala stated “Viru has been a source of great strength and inspiration to the team. When he expressed a desire to step down in order to fully focus and concentrate on batting, we respected his decision and accepted his request.”

Dinesh Karthik has been appointed Gambhir’s deputy.
It will be interesting to see if Viru displays a change in his batting style when he is away from captaincy pressures. All in all, a good decision as the flamboyant right-hander will continue to further entertain the millions who will flock to see Sehwag shine.

The Delhi Daredevils squad for Champions League T20: Gautam Gambhir (Captain), Dinesh Karthik (Vice-captain), Virender Sehwag, AB De Villiers, Tilakaratne M Dilshan, Daniel Vettori, Paul Collingwood, Ashish Nehra, Amit Mishra, Dirk Nannes, Owais Shah, Rajat Bhatia, Pradeep Sangwan, Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh, Mithun Manhas

Coach/Officials: Coach – David Saker; Manager – T A Sekar; Asst Manager – Aashish Kapoor; Physiotherapist – Justin Steer; Trainer – Rob Walter; Performance Analyst: Trent Woodhill; Cricket Operations: Sunil Valson.

New Zealand edge out Sri Lanka in a thriller

prasad — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:49:18 +0000

Discipline as they say bears fruit always. That is exactly what happened when New Zealanders defended a modest total 141 in front of an all-conquering Sri Lanka that literally were humbled on a day when the World Twenty20 finalists were restricted to 138-9 in a tense finish at the Premadasa stadium.

Oram finished with an interesting hat-trick, only the second instance after Brett Lee’s against Bangladesh in the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in 2007 in South Africa.

The lanky Kiwi dismissed Mathews off the last ball of the 17th over, before taking wickets off the first two balls of the final over. Oram finished with 3-33 and skipper Vettori took 2-11 as Sri Lanka lost seven wickets for 71 runs after Tillakaratne Dilshan’s brilliant 57 off 28 had lifted them to 67-2 in the seventh over.

Earlier in the day, the Kiwi innings revolved around Ross Taylor’s 60 off 45 balls after Vettori won the toss and elected to bat on the slow wicket.

Taylor hit five fours and a six in his third Twenty20 half-century. Taylor brought up New Zealand’s 100 in the 15th over with a boundary off Sanath Jayasuriya, and celebrated the landmark by pulling the next delivery over mid-wicket for six.

The discipline showcased by the Black Caps goes to show that Twenty20 is as unpredictable as the weather in Old Trafford, Manchester.

Cricket tit-bits—Warne names Rashid as the next Freddie

prasad — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:46:56 +0000

Stuart Broad’s performance could have been exemplary in the just concluded Ashes 2009 but spin legend Shane Warne named Adil Rashid–who is yet to make his Test debut, as the best bet to fill in England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff’s shoes in the five-day format. Quite a few names were doing the rounds as Flintoff’s probable successor after the 31-year-old all-rounder called it quits in the five-day format but Warne surely spun a googly on many and stumped quite a few. “I hope that Stuart Broad isn’t going to be labelled with the tag of ‘next Freddie’. He seems to have his feet on the ground and there is no doubt about his promise. But I think England may have another stronger candidate waiting to fill that all-rounder’s role,” Warne wrote in his column in The Times. “My alternative, though, is Adil Rashid.

“Yes, he’s a spin bowler rather than a seamer, but there is no reason why England can’t go with three pacemen and two spinners. That’s a balanced attack, to me. Rashid has scored hundreds and taken wickets in his past matches for Yorkshire. He’s a real all-rounder,” Warne wrote. Warne, however, refused to buy the theory that a spinning all-rounder cannot fill in the void created in English cricket by Flintoff’s retirement.

“A seven-eight-nine of Rashid, Broad and Graeme Swann would be pretty effective in Test cricket. Perhaps in time Broad and Rashid would switch positions. Rashid just looks ready to come into the fold and should be picked for the South Africa tour. spent some time with him a couple of years ago when Hampshire played Yorkshire. Rashid seemed confident and knew what he was talking about. At the time he was only 19 or 20, but he had a good understanding of bowling. Most important, he liked to spin the ball,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori on Wednesday joined the likes of Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee and Shane Warne when he became only the eighth all-rounder in Test cricket’s history to collect 3,000 runs and bag 300 wickets. Vettori, who has 3,329 runs to his credit, claimed his 300th wicket when Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara’s shot found Jacob Oram at the mid-wicket region on the first day of second and final Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club here. This is the 34-year-old Vettori’s 94th Test appearance. Other cricketers to have achieved the milestone are Kapil Dev (Ind), Ian Botham (Eng), Richard Hadlee (NZ), Shaun Pollock (SA), Imran Khan (Pak), Shane Warne (Aus) and Chaminda Vaas (SL).