Shivnarine Chanderpaul has become the 10th batsman and the second West Indian to pass 10,000 runs in Test matches, reaching the mark on the fourth day of the third Test against Australia at Windsor Park in Dominica

Daniel Brettig at Windsor Park26-Apr-2012Shivnarine Chanderpaul has become the 10th batsman and the second West Indian to pass 10,000 runs in Test matches, reaching the mark on the fourth day of the third Test against Australia at Windsor Park in Dominica.In keeping with much of his career, Chanderpaul passed 10,000 in the midst of a desperate Caribbean fight in the fourth innings to stave off defeat at the hands of the Australians on a deteriorating pitch, moving forward from his inimitable stance to push a delivery from Michael Clarke wide of mid-on and go to 14 for his innings.After the day’s play, Chanderpaul said getting past the milestone was a target he had set himself. “I have been batting well and spending a lot of time at the crease, and to reach 10,000 Test runs is something special for me. It was one of the goals I set myself and I believe I have reaped for reward for the hard work I put in over the years.”When I go to bat, I know I have a job to do for the team and the people of the West Indies. Test cricket is the ultimate form of the game and this is where you want to perform and give your best. I will keep striving for more.”Chanderpaul reached the milestone in his 140th Test, emulating Brian Lara’s feat of also passing 10,000 for the West Indies. He was congratulated warmly by the Roseau crowd and also by Australia’s fielders, who all applauded once the single was taken. The 10,000th run also served to take his Test match batting average back above 50.Earlier in the series Chanderpaul had surpassed Lara as the highest run-scorer of all West Indian batsmen at Kensington Oval in Barbados, and said at the time that he had always taken particular satisfaction from runs made against Australia, as they are always hard-earned.”Always a tough, tough opposition and you always have to fight and it is always well to do good against them,” he said. “There are always things at the back of your mind because you always want to do well.”Against an opposition like Australia if you’re doing well against them you know the world is watching. When you go against them you have to bring your A game. You can’t just walk out and decide that you can play anyhow against them. You have to step up.”At 37, Chanderpaul has witnessed many barren years in West Indies cricket, but has expressed optimism that the team is showing signs of significant improvement under the captaincy of Darren Sammy and the coaching of Ottis Gibson. This has encouraged him to prolong his career, having debuted against England in his home country of Guyana in March 1994.”We all can see it, the guys are getting better, the younger players are coming through,” Chanderpaul had said in Barbados. “That’s what we’ve been aiming for over the years, you want to see the younger players come through. Now we’re seeing it and that’s the future, we have to plan that way.”Chanderpaul is doing his best to support this development with his bat, again leading the averages and aggregates against Australia. Their coach Mickey Arthur offered generous praise to a batsman he had first seen on the 1998-99 West Indies tour of South Africa.”Shiv’s been outstanding all series. He’s been quite brilliant really. He’s certainly thwarted our bowlers. He’s shown why he’s got 10,000 runs in Test cricket,” Arthur said. “Very uncomplicated technique even though it looks very weird on the eye. He’s been outstanding – to get him right at the end of the day has just lifted our dressing room hugely.”I first saw him when he was very young. He toured South Africa and he looked a very, very good player then. In my last series that I had with South Africa as coach against the West Indies I think Shiv got a hundred in every first innings so he was well on track. In this series he got a hundred in Barbados, 94 in Trinidad and runs again here. I’ve just seen so much of him and can’t help but admire the application and the desire to keep scoring runs. You’ve got to marvel at that – a fantastic achievement.”

English cricket will continue to insist that all players, including short term overseas signings, undergo anti-corruption education – even though the amnesty to report match-fixing has produced “nothing of major significance.”

Alex Winter30-Apr-2012The Professional Cricketers’ Association and ECB will continue to insist that all players, including short term overseas signings, undergo anti-corrupotion education – even though the three-month amnesty to report match-fixing has produced nothing of major significance.Players arriving on short-term deals for the Friends Life t20 represent a major remaining obstacle in the education programme set up by the PCA and ECB in the wake of the Mervyn Westfield trial. Westfield pleaded guilty in January to spot-fixing while playing for Essex. He was sentenced to four months in prison but released on licence last week after serving half the sentence.Every professional cricketer in the country has been required to work through an online tutorial. Overseas players have been given a two-week period after arriving in the country to complete it but the PCA has encouraged counties to arrange for players to fulfil the obligation before they arrive.The Westfield trial prompted the ECB to open an amnesty window for confidentially reporting information about corruption. The window closed on April 30 with the ECB and PCA satisfied with the progress made in tackling corruption.Current and former players came forward with information but nothing of major significance has been discovered. “All of this information has been managed in confidence and has given us a clear picture of the nature of the threat our game faces from corrupt activities,” Chris Watts, the ECB’s anti-corruption officer, said. “The absence of a significant number of new reports is reassuring but the access unit will rigorously review any report of alleged corruption.”Angus Porter, chief executive of the PCA, said the amnesty window “had not uncovered a can of worms” but said it has served a greater purpose. “More importantly we’ve taken the opportunity to remind people of their duty to report incidents without delay. It’s been helpful as part as a general process of education.”Essex, Westfield’s former county, were criticised for their reaction to the incident which occurred in September 2009 but was not reported until early 2010. They were accused in the trial at the Old Bailey for “turning a blind eye” to corruption by defence counsel Mark Milliken-Smith QC, a criticism they later dismissed as unjustified.”We’ve been working closely with the Essex lads,” Porter said. “We’ve all come an awfully long way since 2010. The emphasis of our discussions with them has been to acknowledge that they did the right thing in coming forward as they did.”The PCA remains undecided on whether to use Westfield as part of its future education programme. He and former team-mate, the Pakistan international Danish Kaneria, who was named during the trial as the man who groomed Westfield for corruption, are the subject of an ECB disciplinary hearing on May 21.The hearing has been delayed to allow Kaneria’s lawyers more time to prepare their defence. Kaneria has not yet confirmed whether he will attend the hearing in person.

A bludgeoned half-century from new boy Richard Levi and career-best bowling figures from Max Waller saw Somerset to a 63-run victory over Warwickshire

13-Jun-2012
ScorecardA bludgeoned half-century from new boy Richard Levi and career-best bowling figures from leg-spinner Max Waller saw Somerset to a 63-run Friends Life t20 victory over Warwickshire at Taunton.Levi hit 69 off just 34 deliveries, while Waller’s four wickets cost just 16 runs as last season’s beaten finalists started this season’s competition with a win.Somerset, put into bat in front of a crowd of more than 5,000 were given a good start by Craig Kieswetter, who hit a swift 20 – including two sixes – before he was caught at short fine leg by Chris Wright off Chris Woakes.The same bowler struck again in the fifth over when Peter Trego pulled a short delivery to Darren Maddy at deep midwicket. Jos Buttler brought the 50 up with an inside edge to the fine leg boundary off Woakes’ final over.Offspinner Jeetan Patel was brought into the attack for the 10th over and with his second delivery tempted Buttler on 16 to give a catch to Woakes at deep backward point. At the halfway point the hosts were 80 for 3, with Levi on 34.However, in the next over the opener heaved a full toss from Steffan Piolet over midwicket for six – and he repeated the feat off the last ball. In the next over Levi reached his half-century with a boundary to square leg off Patel, which also brought up the Somerset 100.New batsman Albie Morkel hit his first six two balls later when he drove Patel over long-on – and the South African pair took 19 off the 13th over, bowled by Keith Barker. Maddy came on for the 15th and Levi despatched the first ball over long on for six, however four deliveries later Levi’s eye-catching knock was over when he was caught at deep long-on by Woakes.Levi contributes six fours and four sixes and his fourth-wicket partnership with Morkel produced 67 runs from 33 balls. Morkel was run out for 38 off the third ball of the penultimate over by a direct throw from Patel – and three balls later Nick Compton was superbly caught by Chris Wright running back from short fine-leg to collect a top-edged scoop.Chasing a victory target of 192, Laurie Evans and Varun Chopra had taken the total onto 40 in the sixth over when Thomas bowled Evans for 17. Trego accepted a sharp chance to catch William Porterfield at extra cover off Waller, who struck with his next delivery when Maddy was leg before wicket.Chopra went down the wicket to George Dockrell in the next over and was smartly stumped by Kieswetter for 37, before Waller picked up his third wicket when he bowled Rikki Clarke for six with the total on 72.Steve Kirby returned at the Old Pavilion and with the last ball of the 12th over bowled Barker for 3. Waller struck again with the third ball of his final over when Woakes was caught at short midwicket by Thomas, leaving the Bears teetering on 80 for 7.Thomas returned at the River End for the 18th over and immediately claimed his third scalp when Johnson was caught at short midwicket by Trego, then three balls later Patel followed when he was caught by Waller at short cover. Fittingly, Levi ended the Bears innings on 128 when he caught Wright at long-on.

Lance Klusener, the former South Africa allrounder, has been appointed coach of the Dolphins franchise and will begin working with the team on July 16, on a two-year contract

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jul-2012Lance Klusener, the former South Africa allrounder, has been appointed coach of the Dolphins franchise. He will begin working with the team on July 16, on a two-year contract.Klusener, 40, had worked with the Dolphins on an interim basis after Graham Ford resigned earlier this year. He said he was pleased to be working with his old franchise. “Being a former Dolphin, I am very proud of my team and want to be part of the process of rebuilding the team to its rightful place as South Africa’s No. 1 franchise.”Klusener has level 3 coaching certification from Cricket South Africa, and has worked at the country’s high performance centre and with IPL franchise, Mumbai Indians. The shortlist of candidates for the job was brought down to two names, Klusener and former Cobras coach Shukri Conrad, before Klusener was chosen. Reportedly, while the panel selecting the coach was split initially over Klusener’s appointment, he was the Dolphins players’ clear first choice for the job all through.The Dolphins have not come close to challenging for a trophy for the last four seasons, since qualifying for what would have been the inaugural Champions League T20 in 2008 – the tournament was cancelled due to the terror attacks in Mumbai in November that year. They had won only one game in ten this season in first-class cricket, finishing bottom of the table in the SuperSport Series, and did not make the knockouts in the domestic one-day tournament.Fa-eez Jaffar, the chairman KwaZulu-Natal Cricket, said Klusener’s main task would be to reintroduce a winning culture into the franchise set-up. “Lance has been a Dolphins man all his life. It will be good to see him working with and bringing out the best in our senior players, and guiding and mentoring our young emerging players.”One of his first tasks would be to reintroduce the culture of winning and playing with passion and pride wearing the Dolphins badge. This has been missing for some time. Players must want to play for the Dolphins.”

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has named six Test players in the Bangladesh A squad for the Shafi Darashah Invitational tournament in India

Mohammad Isam15-Jul-2012The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has named six Test players in the Bangladesh A squad for the Shafi Darashah Invitational tournament in India. The tournament is a four-day competition hosted by the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), which will feature local first-class teams and will run from July 27 to August 14 in Bangalore and Mysore.

Bangladesh A 15-man squad

Shahriar Nafees, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Mithun Ali, Shamsur Rahman, Raqibul Hasan, Shuvagata Hom, Farhad Hossain, Naeem Islam, Enamul Haque jnr, Sohag Gazi, Shahadat Hossain, Alauddin Babu, Dolar Mahmud, Kazi Kamrul Islam

However, the BCB didn’t announce a captain for the team and it was learned that the decision would be made in “a day or two”.The six Test players in the squad include Shahriar Nafees, Imrul Kayes, Raqibul Hasan, Naeem Islam, Enamul Haque jnr and Shahadat Hossain. Shuvagata Hom, who has played a handful of ODIs, was also picked.Shamsur Rahman, Mithun Ali and Farhad Hossain, who all scored more than 500 runs in the National Cricket League 2011-12, are in the 15-man squad, while the bowlers include offspinner Sohag Gazi, and seamers Alauddin Babu, Dolar Mahmud and Kazi Kamrul Islam – the latter two aggregated more than 25 wickets in the NCL.Saqlain Sajib, Rajshahi’s 23-year-old left-arm spinner who was one of only three bowlers who took 50 wickets in the NCL, did not find a place in the 15.Robiul Islam, Nasiruddin Faruque, Arafat Sunny and Al-Amin Hossain were named standbys.Bangladesh A will fly out for the tournament on July 23. They are placed in group A, along with the KSCA XI, KSCA Colts and the Baroda Cricket Association XI (BCA), and will play the BCA XI in their opening game from July 27. The other group includes the KSCA President’s XI, Mumbai Cricket Association XI, Rajasthan Cricket Association President’s XI and Hydrabad Cricket Asscoaition XI.

Peter Trego took four wickets on Marcus Trescothick’s return to the Somerset side, as Lancashire’s batsmen struggled again

Myles Hodgson at Aigburth01-Aug-2012
ScorecardPeter Trego made full use of the conditions to claim four wickets on day one•Getty Images

It seems to have escaped many people’s attention that, despite the loss of Marcus Trescothick for most of the season through injury, Somerset have remained one of the Division One title contenders. So it was fitting on his return that they continued that impressive form on a rain-hit opening day against Lancashire.As captain, leading batsman and outstanding slip fielder, Somerset have struggled to replace Trescothick while he has been sidelined for the last three months with ankle ligament damage, yet they have remained consistent enough to be well placed behind the leaders, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire.During a day with enough rain around to dampen even the most enthusiastic of county cricketers, it became apparent why they have been so consistent, expertly exploiting bowler-friendly conditions to make major inroads into Lancashire’s batting line-up in the 52.2 overs possible.Perhaps inspired by Trescothick’s first Championship outing since April, his comeback was overshadowed by an outstanding display from Peter Trego, their combative allrounder, who took his wicket tally to 38 by claiming 4 for 34. Bowling exclusively from the River End and benefitting from a stiff breeze that aided swing bowling for most of the day, Trego continued Lancashire’s desperate form in the defence of their title.Trego bowled six successive maidens from the start of the day and it was 41 balls before Lancashire were even able to score a run off his bowling. Bowling wicket to wicket and allowing the conditions to do the work, he had already dismissed openers Paul Horton and Stephen Moore by the time Trescothick allowed him a rest shortly before lunch with figures of 10-7-12-2.By the time he returned for his second spell in the evening session – rain washed out most of the afternoon – he was required to break up a stubborn 79-run stand between Karl Brown and Ashwell Prince that threatened to turn the day in Lancashire’s favour. Brown had battled for over two hours for his 39 when he drove loosely at Trego off the front foot and lost his off-stump, which precipitated a late collapse of three wickets for 15 runs in only 34 balls.Steven Croft followed five overs later, edging Alfonso Thomas low to second slip to give Trescothick his second catch of the day, before Trego halted Prince’s defiance with the first ball of the next over when he was adjudged to have edged behind.Only four more overs were possible before rain curtailed play for the final time and Lancashire, whose batting unit have only passed 300 four times in the previous 11 completed Championship matches, look unlikely to improve on that dismal record. It should certainly be an interesting Championship debut for Andrea Agathangelou, a South-African born batsman with a Cypriot passport, who will resume tomorrow morning unbeaten on 0.Lancashire, as they have to be wavering just above the relegation zone, remain optimistic and Brown believes the swing generated by Trego should also help their own attack. “Trego got a bit of swing, and if that movement continues it will really help our bowlers because Glen Chapple and Kyle Hogg swing the ball more than most bowlers,” he said.”Hopefully we can make the most of the conditions as well. He tries to do different things when he’s bowling, he tries to get you out in different ways and he’s quite clever the way he goes about it. I enjoyed the battle out there, getting stuck in, it was good fun. We are in a tough position in the league and we are going to have to fight our way out of it.”

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has said a phalanx of allrounders will be his side’s biggest strength in the upcoming World Twenty20, because of the balance and flexibility they afford the team

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Sep-2012Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has said a phalanx of allrounders will be his side’s biggest strength in the upcoming World Twenty20, because of the balance and flexibility they afford the team. Angelo Mathews and Jeevan Mendis are in Sri Lanka’s squad as batting allrounders, while Thisara Perera’s forte is with the ball. Nuwan Kulasekara has also batted well in the last eight months in addition to opening the bowling, and opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan has contributed reliable offspin as well.”[The allrounders] give us a lot of options in our team combination, so we can pick more batsmen or more bowlers to suit conditions and opposition, and still have a balanced team,” Jayawardene said. “They give me options, because if you have some guys who aren’t hitting their stride, I can keep rotating the bowlers and one bowler having an off day won’t hurt us. Likewise, if someone who wouldn’t be a first-choice bowler is going really well and getting wickets, you can get four really good overs out of him. If your bowlers can bat as well, that gives you the depth in your line-up.”Mathews and Dilshan scored heavily during the recently concluded SLPL, while Perera also struck form with the bat. Mathews’ average of 70.33 was the highest in the league among batsmen who had scored more than 100 runs, and his aggregate of 211 put him at second in the top run-scorers’ list. Dilshan finished two places behind, having made 195 in one fewer innings.Jayawardene said the progress of Mathews and Perera had been particularly encouraging, given their performances over the last 18 months. “[Perera] has worked on his bowling and he has seen the results of that in the last year, where he picked up a lot of wickets for us, and there’s a lot to like about how he goes about his game. We’ve all seen what [Mathews] can do as well. He played an amazing knock in the SLPL final, and he’s been playing those back-against-the-wall kinds of innings for Sri Lanka in the past, so those two look very promising for us. “Jayawardene said that despite several players being called upon to contribute in both disciplines, they are each aware of not neglecting their primary skill. “I don’t think there will be a problem with that, because everyone knows what they have to do and what their focus is,” he said. “We have a unit that has been together for a while, and everyone knows their role in the team.”Sri Lanka made the final in three of the last four limited-overs World Cups, but Jayawardene said his side’s inability to convert those chances into titles was not the result of a lack of mental fortitude. “Getting ourselves into the semi-finals and final means that we are doing most of the things right, but perhaps we need to push a little bit more in a big game, like a final, to win it,” he said. “I’ve always said that playing in big tournaments and playing well is a big plus. Yes, we’ve stumbled in a few finals in the last five years, but I look at it in a positive way and say, ‘We’re getting there and doing the right thing’.”Sri Lanka have picked 18-year-old spin bowler Akila Dananjaya in their World Twenty20 squad, despite him having played only six professional games in his career, all during the SLPL in August. Jayawardene said the team management was mindful about exposing Dananjaya to international cricket too early, but will not hesitate to play him, should he respond well to being in the international side. “We have to see how he reacts and handles himself around the squad. From what I’ve seen in the provincial tournament, he doesn’t look scared at all. We’ve got two senior spinners [Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis] in the squad who can do the job, but if Akila is up to the task, we will use him.”