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With England’s one-day fortunes unequivocally on the rise, Craig Kieswetter is unconcerned about his relative lack of personal success, and believes that the confidence currently swirling around the squad is sure to rub off on him before long.

Andrew Miller09-Jul-2010After a flying start to his international career, encompassing a maiden ODI hundred in Bangladesh back in March and a Man-of-the-Match performance in the World Twenty20 final against Australia two months later, Craig Kieswetter is currently enduring a rather leaner spell at the top of England’s limited-overs batting order.In the recent series win against the Aussies, he was limited to 69 runs in five innings, and followed that up with 32 from 40 balls against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge on Thursday. But with England’s one-day fortunes unequivocally on the rise, he is unconcerned about his relative lack of personal success, and believes that the confidence currently swirling around the squad is sure to rub off on him before long.”I have been able to experience a lot in a short international career,” said Kieswetter. “I have probably had a dream experience. I have played against Bangladesh, been part of a winning side at a World Cup and created history. I have really enjoyed what I have been part of and have contributed at certain stages. I know cricket can bite you and it is not possible to get a hundred in every innings. I also know I don’t have to be perfect in every innings, but being able to contribute with bat or gloves is all I can ask.”Australia are the No. 1 international one-day side in the world, and it was a fantastic experience playing against them,” he added. “They had four or five top-quality bowlers running in at you, so it was a step-up to be playing a top three team in the world and that was my first experience of playing in a series against one of them. I didn’t get the runs I wanted to, but I learned a lot from the five games and I feel I am constantly improving.”England’s six-wicket win over Bangladesh has put them well on course for their fourth ODI series victory in a row – a run of form that they have not equalled since their all-conquering Ashes tour in 1986-87, and one which looked inconceivable while England were being drubbed 6-1 by the Aussies in last September’s ignoble contest. According to the captain, Andrew Strauss, the team is on the brink of a major breakthrough in the 50-over format, and that is an assertion with which Kieswetter agrees.”We feel confident in the dressing room, and we feel we are going to win every game,” he said. “That is a good feeling to have. That is down to the hard work we have put in and the direction Strauss and [Andy] Flower have been giving us. We feel confident but we know we can’t rest on our laurels. We are confident in the fact there is a World Cup coming up, a Pakistan series and an Australia tour. We know the next few months is a great chance to showcase how we can keep improving.”One of Kieswetter’s key objectives between now and then is to cement his partnership with Strauss at the top of England’s 50-over card. The pair have shown glimpses of what they might be able to achieve in harness, notably during a century stand against Scotland last month, but their latest 74-run stand against Bangladesh was marred by some less-than-convincing running between the wickets.”We are trying to strike up a partnership,” said Kieswetter. “Last night we batted nicely together albeit with a few dodgy runs in there. I think I have got to realise I am not batting with another 22 year-old. I am batting with an old man at the other end and we will have to see about our running. It will take a while but we do dovetail quite nicely, so we will try to build up a partnership. I’ve just got to hit it through the in-field before I call him through for a single.”One surprising aspect of their stands to date has been the frequency with which Strauss, who once described himself as a bit of a “stodgy” batsman, has set the tempo with Kieswetter trailing in his wake. His approach has been a far cry from the carefree thwacking that characterised his 20-over alliances with Michael Lumb, but Kieswetter admits that he is still adapting to the different requirements of the two limited-overs games.”It has been interesting,” he said. “Standing in the field for 50 overs is a test in itself because that is more than a whole Twenty20 game. I think it took the first few games to get used to it again and getting overs into the legs is tricky, but I have played 50-over cricket for Somerset so now I’m feeling good and pretty happy as well with where I am.”For me it is just about trying to go out and play my shots,” he said. “If I rein it in and try to be too tight and not play my natural game that is when I get stuck. Last night I went out to play with a bit of flair and tried to enjoy myself, and I really did. I felt I was hitting ball nicely. My movements were good at the crease and I was really happy with what I was able to contribute.”I am not looking at too many areas at the moment. I don’t want to change too many things right now. I want to make smaller changes just to improve my game by one percent at a time.”

Yorkshire notched their third consecutive Friends Provident t20 victory by toppling North Group table-toppers Nottinghamshire by seven wickets

24-Jun-2010
ScorecardYorkshire notched their third consecutive Friends Provident t20 victory by toppling North Group table-toppers Nottinghamshire by seven wickets in a fine all-round performance at Headingley.Chasing a 159 target, Yorkshire got there at a canter with 10 balls to spare, Man of the Match Anthony McGrath (38) and Gerard Brophy (31) enjoying an unbroken stand of 61 together. McGrath had earlier picked up a wicket in four accurate overs and also held a catch.Yorkshire showed they meant business from the start of their innings as skipper Andrew Gale slammed the first two deliveries from Darren Pattinson to the boundary and in the same over Adam Lyth cleared the rope over midwicket before striking a four.After Gale had been bowled by Dirk Nannes at 23 in only the second over, Lyth and Herschelle Gibbs put Yorkshire in charge with a 53 stand before Gibbs drove Samit Patel gently to David Hussey at cover.However, Lyth remained in control until he was out for 43 from 33 balls with three fours and a six – hitting spinner Graeme White’s first ball to Alex Hales on the midwicket boundary. Yorkshire continued to play it cool, however, and Brophy boosted the scoring even further with three early boundaries in one over from Paul Franks.Although Nottinghamshire lost a couple of early wickets after winning the toss, they were still able to make rapid progress through a third-wicket stand of 70 in eight overs between Hales and Patel before Yorkshire managed to apply the brake again as only 60 runs came off the last nine overs.Steve Patterson continued his recent habit of taking a wicket with his first ball as Alistair Brown fell to a well-judged catch behind the bowler by McGrath in the second over and after Hales had hit a couple of sixes it became 32 for 2 when Matt Wood off-drove Patterson to Gale.Both Patel and Hales benefited from dropped catches off hard hits before settling in together but the run spree was ended at 102 with the dismissal of Patel for 41 off 24 balls with five fours and a six, the batsman getting a thick edge off the accurate Richard Pyrah to McGrath.An airborne catch by Lyth at long-off brought McGrath the valuable wicket of Hussey but an even more astounding effort by Richard Pyrah in the same fielding spot at the other end got rid of the dangerous Hales for 62 from 43 deliveries with four fours and three sixes, Pyrah leaping to take the catch one-handed in a successful bid to stay inside the rope.With Yorkshire keeping it tight in the closing overs, particularly Pyrah who conceded only 17 runs, Nottinghamshire lost their momentum and they will have been disappointed with their final effort.

Michael Hussey believes Pakistan’s batting depth will be seriously tested in the absence of Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan for the upcoming series against Australia

Brydon Coverdale11-Jul-2010Michael Hussey believes Pakistan’s batting depth will be seriously tested in the absence of Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan for the upcoming series against Australia. However, Hussey is wary of an “outstanding” attack that is likely to determine the fortunes of the side six months after they lost 3-0 in Australia.Younis did not play in that series but has been one of their most reliable Test players in the past couple of years. Both he and Yousuf, the captain during the visit to Australia, average over 50 in Test cricket and in their absence, the only member of the top six who averages above 40 is Umar Akmal, who has played only six Tests.”I think their depth is going to be tested,” Hussey said. “You take Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf out of that team and you’re losing two outstanding, classy players. That’s going to be a big loss, particularly in the Test match arena. It’s going to be very hard to find those runs that those guys consistently score in Test match cricket.”But their bowling attack looks outstanding. They’re very well balanced and they cover all bases very well. Run-making for us is going to be tough, but hopefully if we can bowl well and keep them under pressure, I’m hoping we can bowl them out for less runs than us.”Although Pakistan might enter the series with some confidence left over from their two Twenty20 victories in Birmingham, history is against them, as they haven’t beaten Australia in a Test since November 1995. During the most recent series in Australia, Salman Butt was the only Pakistan player to score a Test century, and only he and Umar Akmal averaged above 30.For the Australians, five men posted hundreds and averaged 50-plus including Hussey, whose 134 in Sydney helped Australia to a famous victory from what seemed an unwinnable position. He enters Tuesday’s Lord’s Test in fine form, having cruised to a century in the warm-up game in Derby, but he knows the challenge will be far greater against Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul and Danish Kaneria.”I feel like I’m seeing the ball well, but it doesn’t really matter in a practice game,” he said. “I’d give all those runs back for a hundred at Lord’s in a Test match, that’s for sure. The Pakistanis have an excellent attack, it’s going to be a lot better than the attack we faced up in Derby. It’s going to be a huge challenge.”At 35, Hussey is one of the old men in an unusually inexperienced Australian squad . Five of the 14 members are yet to make their Test debut, although Steven Smith and Tim Paine will wear the baggy green for the first time at Lord’s. Hussey said the youth in the group helped create genuine excitement ahead of a rare neutral Test.”In our team we’ve got a great mix,” he said. “All the guys love playing for Australia and you can really see it in their faces. Even Ricky Ponting at the moment, I think he’s loving being captain of the team at the moment. It’s a new team, it’s fresh, he wants to have an input on how these young guys develop as cricketers and there’s a real enthusiasm around the team.”

Chris Tremlett prepared for his 100th first-class match knowing that after playing his last Test three years ago, he was still a long way from international recall

Sahil Dutta10-Aug-2010Chris Tremlett prepared for his 100th first-class match knowing that, after playing the last of his three Tests three years ago, he was still a long way from an international recall. Of all of England’s well-stocked reserves, the fast-bowling ranks are the most crowded but, after a long period of injuries, near-misses on one-day selection and most recently a change of county from Hampshire to Surrey, Tremlett says he has emerged a stronger bowler and stronger character, ready to rejoin the fold at the highest level.His performances this season, capped by bursting through Sussex’s top order with three wickets in his first two overs on Monday, suggest he might just be right. After missing the start to the season he has led Surrey’s attack, sending down almost 240 overs to pick up 29 wickets at 21.13 in the Championship and the England management is known to have taken note.”I’m feeling very strong right now, the body is feeling good and I’m probably the fittest I’ve ever been,” he told Cricinfo. “I think the injury days are behind me, the change of club has brought a change of luck. I’ve bowled a lot of overs but I feel very fresh whereas in previous years by this time it’s been a battle to get through and I’ve picked up injuries, so hopefully I can keep bowling lots of overs, keep taking wickets and keep winning games for Surrey.”A hulking figure at 6’7″ with a strong and tall action, Tremlett ticks every box a fast bowler should. During his three Tests in 2007 he roughed up the vaunted Indian line-up, and showed enough to suggest he could have been a fixture in an England side that was desperately looking to move on from the 2005 generation. Back then he was keeping Stuart Broad out of the team but, three years on, it’s Broad who’s established England’s transformation and Tremlett has also watched Steven Finn, whose attributes so closely mirror his own, leapfrog him into the national side. Tremlett, however, sees no reason why he can’t line up alongside those two.”I can see a role for myself in the England side. I am similar in a way to Finny and Broady in terms of height and pace and I can bat a bit as well. If [England] want another bowler with pace and bounce that’s what I offer and I’m bowling well. I’ve stayed fit and done what I’ve been asked to in the past so I have no doubt I could go and perform.”The comparison with Broad is telling. While their physiques may match, their psyches could not seem further apart. Throughout Broad’s career he has walked a fine line between healthy aggression and outright petulance – a line he so clumsily crossed at Edgbaston – while Tremlett, on the other hand, has been held back by an apparent lack of fire. A hangdog expression and an infuriating reluctance to impose himself on the opposition has left an impression that he does not have the heart for a fight. It’s a charge he rejects entirely and puts more down to lazy stereotyping than any underlying truth.”Some of the things that people have said about me in the past have been complete rubbish. I don’t think the people who made these criticisms actually know me at all – they have no idea about my personality and what drives me,” he said. “If I didn’t have the heart or the drive I wouldn’t have moved to Surrey, I wouldn’t have fought back from injury after injury, and I wouldn’t be in the position I am now – bowling well and taking wickets.”Despite his annoyance with the ‘soft touch’ label, he acknowledges he has come across diffident at times and has spoken in the past of the need to add some devil to his on-field persona. Now 28, he feels more comfortable in himself and says that an aggression has come out of experience and confidence in his bowling.”I guess when I was younger I was a bit timid but, with age, now naturally I am more aggressive. I’m not working on my body language any more, the older I’ve got the more experienced I’ve got, and the more confident I’ve become. I’m not over the top or anything, I don’t think I ever will be, it’s not who I am and it’s not the type of bowler I am. But I let batsmen know I’m there, let them know I’m bowling well and let the ball do the rest.”I’m definitely a better bowler now to where I was when I last played for England. The wicket at The Oval has been very flat and it’s forced me into becoming a better bowler – I’ve had to think a lot about how I’m bowling and that experience has helped me be more naturally aggressive.”It is an important point. Long gone are the days when fast bowlers queued up at The Oval expecting the kind of pace and carry that propelled Devon Malcolm to his nine-wicket destruction of South Africa 16 years ago. Much like its Australian equivalent at Perth, the pitch is a much more soporific affair now as England may well find out next week. The lingering suspicion, all the more apparent after Pakistan’s third-day resistance at Edgbaston, is that the gloss on England’s attack fades when the sun shines. Finding ways to succeed in unfavourable conditions is a pressing concern for the Ashes in particular and Tremlett feels his Oval experience gives him the ingredients to succeed.”The Oval pitches have been very slow and low this year. Luckily for me my body is feeling good so I’ve bowled quicker this year but I’ve had to learn to bowl better areas. I now back myself to go at under three an over and take wickets on flat decks. My action is more solid so I think I’ve got what it takes for Australia – I’ve played Test cricket, I’m a good bowler and can offer pace and bounce on any track.”

A rampant Chennai Super Kings crushed the Warriors by eight wickets to win the Champions League Twenty20 final at the Wanderers

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera in Johannesburg26-Sep-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
R Ashwin removed the dangerous Davy Jacobs, and changed the tenor of the game•Associated Press

It was a reverse sweep that changed the entire complexion of the game. Davy Jacobs had started off imperiously and catapulted Warriors to 45 in the sixth over. Then R Ashwin got one to turn quickly towards the leg stump, Jacobs went for the reverse sweep, but was trapped in front. It’s a shot that he had successfully played in the previous game; the adventurous unorthodox spirit is his calling card, and he has reaped much success with that approach. But tonight it hurt his team. This can be a cruel game, sometimes.After Jacobs fell, Muttiah Muralitharan suffocated the Warriors with his skill, and L Balaji maintained the pressure with a disciplined spell in the middle, keeping the Warriors to 128, which was never going to be enough. And it wasn’t. This is the last time this group of players will turn out for Chennai, and they gave themselves a nice farewell present.Warriors’ Achilles heel is their lower order. Johan Botha bats at no 6; the batting isn’t that deep. And so, the middle-order chose caution over valour and Chennai closed in. L Balaji, who grew in confidence with the Warriors’ non-violent approach against him, slipped in a few quiet overs with his steady line and length stuff. Ashwin continued to tease them with his variations and Muttiah Muralitharan came on in the 10th over to harass them with his ability.He kept his doosras to a minimum, and ripped offbreaks across at varying pace. Success came in the 14th over: Mark Boucher, who has fallen most to Muralitharan than any other bowler in his career, was bowled, and Justin Kreusch was beaten by the dip and flicked straight to midwicket.There was a brief little moment in the 17th over when things stirred at the bull ring. “Fast cars and big shots, that’s Craig Thyssen,” Jacobs had said earlier in the week. Tonight Thyssen went after Balaji to pick up three boundaries – a pulled four, a delicate late steer and a muscled six over midwicket. The home supporters in the crowd started to find their voice: They chanted out “Let’s go Warriors” and tried to inspire the local team but Thyssen’s cameo was too late and too little to matter in the bigger scheme of things. In hindsight, Ashwell Prince’s fall – he was bowled missing a slog against a full toss from Doug Bollinger- also proved critical as there was too much pressure on the middle-order.The only chance for Warriors after that effort was take early wickets. They didn’t. M Vijay and Michael Hussey shut them out of the contest with assured knocks. Both play spin well. Vijay used his feet to repeatedly drive inside out while Hussey, as ever, worked the angles. There was a brief moment at the end when Vijay and Suresh Raina fell in quick succession and you wondered, ‘Hold on, do we have a twist here?’ The equation jumped from a comfortable 26 from 31 deliveries to 13 from 12. However, Hussey and Dhoni calmly escorted Chennai home. A score of 128 wasn’t enough to test Chennai. Jacobs’ wicket was the key.Half-way through the evening, Jacobs’ blitz at the start already seemed a distant memory. As ever, he had moved around on his nimble feet and ripped shots with slaughterhouse finality. He smashed Doug Bollinger and Albie Morkel to all parts of the ground. There were his usual shuffle-and-smash shots, but there were also some skillful upper cuts and neat cover drives. Things looked so bright for Jacobs and his team in the sixth over but the lights went out very quickly.