CLT20: Yorkshire and Auckland qualify for the Main Round

Azhar Mahmood produced a remarkable all-round performance to send Auckland through to the main draw of the Champions League. His unbeaten 55 blazed Auckland's trail to a target his 5 for 24 had ensured was paltry. Their second victory wrapped up Pool 1, with Hampshire and Sialkot now unable to qualify.

Despite their schedule in the qualifying tournament lasting two days, Auckland had spent two weeks in South Africa and their preparations proved worthwhile as they became the first New Zealand team to make the main draw of the Champions League. 

Gary Ballance and Adil Rashid made astute use of T&T's limitations, adding 103 for the fifth wicket. Between them, Rampaul and Badree went for 44 in eight overs, but Yorkshire plundered 110 of the remaining 10.5. By chasing successfully, Yorkshire progressed to the main competition, leaving T&T and Uva Next to play an inconsequential game. 

Read More

England tour of India, 2012/13

Thu Nov 15 - Mon Nov 19 04:00 GMT | 09:30 local 09:00 PKT	1st Test - India v England Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
Fri Nov 23 - Tue Nov 27 04:00 GMT | 09:30 local 09:00 PKT	2nd Test - India v England Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Wed Dec 5 - Sun Dec 9 03:30 GMT | 09:00 local 08:30 PKT	3rd Test - India v England Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Thu Dec 13 - Mon Dec 17 04:00 GMT | 09:30 local 09:00 PKT	4th Test - India v England Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur
Thu Dec 20           14:30 GMT | 20:00 local 19:30 PKT	1st T20I - India v England Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune
Sat Dec 22           14:30 GMT | 20:00 local 19:30 PKT	2nd T20I - India v England Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Fri Jan 11           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	1st ODI - India v England Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot
Tue Jan 15           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	2nd ODI - India v England Nehru Stadium, Kochi
Sat Jan 19           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	3rd ODI - India v England HEC International Cricket Stadium Complex, Ranchi
Wed Jan 23           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	4th ODI - India v England Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala
Sun Jan 27           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	5th ODI - India v England Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh

Read More

New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka

                                      

Tue Oct 30 13:30 GMT | 19:00 local 18:30 PKT	Only T20I - Sri Lanka v New Zealand Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
Thu Nov 1           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	1st ODI - Sri Lanka v New Zealand Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
Sun Nov 4           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	2nd ODI - Sri Lanka v New Zealand R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Tue Nov 6           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	3rd ODI - Sri Lanka v New Zealand R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Sat Nov 10           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	4th ODI - Sri Lanka v New Zealand Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sooriyawewa, Hambantota
Mon Nov 12           09:00 GMT | 14:30 local 14:00 PKT	5th ODI - Sri Lanka v New Zealand Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sooriyawewa, Hambantota
Sat Nov 17 - Wed Nov 21 04:30 GMT | 10:00 local 09:30 PKT	1st Test - Sri Lanka v New Zealand Galle International Stadium
Sun Nov 25 - Thu Nov 29 04:30 GMT | 10:00 local 09:30 PKT	2nd Test - Sri Lanka v New Zealand Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo

Read More

South Africa in Australia Series

If the South African Test touring party to Australia arrived more or less as expected, it also confirmed a battle of contrasts among the fast bowlers: South African dependability versus Australian depth.

Among South Africa's travelling 15, there are only four pacemen. The uncapped bowling allrounder Rory Kleinveldt will back-up the outstanding trio of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander, while Jacques Kallis provides his familiar versatility. The captain Graeme Smith and the coach Gary Kirsten are in no doubt what their best XI is, and far from fearful that one of their top three quicks will break down.

Australia's pace planning for the series is far more preoccupied with depth, likely to include the presence of five quicks, plus Shane Watson, in training before each match. The seasoned duo of Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus can be expected to play in all three Tests, but there will be rotation beyond them, as James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins all appear likely to get at least one match against the South Africans to spread the load among their younger bodies

Read More

Razzaq in trouble over Hafeez criticism

Pakistan Cricket Board has issued a showcause notice to the allrounder Abdul Razzaq and asked him to explain his outburst against Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez after the World Twenty20.

On his return from Sri Lanka, Razzaq criticised Hafeez for selecting him in only one game of the tournament. "It was Hafeez's decision not to pick me for the semi-final, not anyone else's," Razzaq told reporters in Lahore. "I know the team management didn't drop me, it was Hafeez alone who didn't want me to play."

PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarwar confirmed that Razzaq was bound to follow the code of conduct though he wasn't a centrally contracted player. By speaking to the media without the PCB's consent, he had breached the player's code of conduct, which forbids them from speaking to the media without prior permission from the board.

"He [Razzaq] has been served a showcause notice for breaching the code of conduct," Sarwar told ESPNcricinfo. "He has been given seven days to respond, starting from October 10."

After being selected in the Pakistan squad, for the World Twenty20, after a gap of nine months, Razzaq played just one game in the tournament, scoring 22 off 17 balls in the Super Eights win over Australia. "I was very sad and disappointed to not get a chance to play in the semi-final. I was mentally prepared for the big match and it came as a huge letdown to know I was not playing," Razzaq said, adding that Pakistan had the perfect opportunity to win the tournament.

Read More

Auckland Aces beat Sailkot Stallions by 6 wickets

Sialkot Stallions entered their maiden Champions League T20 with an awe-inspiring domestic record. They had won Pakistan's Twenty20 competition seven out of nine times and possess a world-record winning streak of 25 matches. However, on a Wanderers pitch that bounced and seamed, they were undone by Auckland Aces' pace attack and their own desire to swing with abandon.

The predominant features of Sialkot's innings were batsmen playing and missing and an abundance of dot balls; their attempts at counter-attacking were short lived. Their batsmen cleared the Wanderers' boundaries ten times but managed to score only 130. It was the third-lowest total for an innings that contained ten sixes; the first two were chases in which the target was easily achieved.

The target was well below par and Auckland's openers, Martin Guptill and Lou Vincent, handled the bounce better than their counterparts did. The opening stand of 32 put the chase on course and the second-wicket stand of 51 between Guptill and Azhar Mahmood gave them an opportunity to win with a high net run-rate. They lost a couple of wickets in quick succession but New Zealand's domestic champions managed to get home with 17 balls to spare.

Gareth Hopkins, the Auckland captain, got what he wanted despite losing the toss, and Kyle Mills and Michael Bates made excellent use of the conditions. On a green-tinged pitch, the right and left-arm combination harried the Sialkot openers with short-of-a-length deliveries. After Imran Nazir was smacked painfully on the glove, Shakeel Ansar attempted a big hit in Bates' first over and holed out to mid-on. The No. 3 batsman Haris Sohail took 12 deliveries to get off the mark, before Nazir ended two consecutive maiden overs by pulling Bates over the fine-leg boundary.

Read More

Sialkot Stallions finally get stage to strut their stuff

Two of the teams at this year's Champions League would have made their first appearance in at the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2008.

The Titans have had the opportunity to qualify every year since then but only got it right in 2012. The other, the Sialkot Stallions, did not have that same chance. Relations between India and Pakistan soured after the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008 and Pakistan players and teams found themselves shut out of the competition.

If a representative from Pakistan had been let into the tournament in the previous three editions, that team would have been Sialkot in two of them. They were Pakistan's domestic winners in 2009 and 2011, and 2012 - Lahore Lions took the crown in 2010. And if the Champions League existed before that, Sialkot would have participated in most of those editions too.

Read More

Samuels, Sammy give WI first world title since 1979

Flair. Calypso. Frontrunners. Millionaires. Gold chains. Chris Gayle. No, no, no, no, no and no. West Indies' first World Twenty20 win was more digging in, refusing to give up, running and fielding like their life depended on this match, stunning the home crowd, and pulling off one of the most amazing turnarounds in Twenty20 history, especially given the stage. The due share of flair came from one of the most eye-pleasing batsmen going around. There's no need to add "one of the" here, because Marlon Samuels played simply the best Twenty20 international innings ever seen when West Indies were down and the count had reached about eight. A feedbacker to ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball commentary asked if Samuels' 78 was the 281 of Twenty20 cricket.

Read More