Steyn and Morkel worry England
Close England 241 for 7 (Prior 52*, Swann 5*) trail South Africa 291 (Kallis 108, Anderson 5-63) by 50 runs
Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn hauled South Africa right back into contention in the third Test at Newlands, and the series as a whole, claiming six wickets between them on an extraordinary day that began with a clatter of South African wickets and ended with England’s lower order fighting to avoid a first-innings deficit. Despite clear-blue skies that implied a perfect day for batting, 11 wickets fell in 83.4 overs, including seven in the morning session alone, four of which fell in 17 balls to bring South Africa’s innings to a swift and undignified end.
After the first 15 minutes of the day, England believed they had stolen all the momentum by reducing their opponents from 279 for 6 to 291 all out, but in reply, the first-over dismissal of Andrew Strauss, courtesy of his nemesis, Morkel, redressed the balance dramatically. Steyn, operating as first-change after an unconvincing comeback match at Kingsmead, then announced his return to strike-bowler status with two wickets in three balls, including Kevin Pietersen for a second-ball duck, and when Morkel pinned Paul Collingwood lbw for 19 after lunch, England were in danger of conceding an insurmountable lead.
For the remainder of the afternoon session, South Africa were thwarted by Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, whose fifth-wicket stand of 60 provided further evidence of the pair’s revived confidence, following their twin centuries in last week’s Boxing Day Test. For nearly four hours, Cook was bloodymindedness personified as he hung back in his crease and relied on the bowlers losing patience before he did, as he left outside off time and time again, feeding almost exclusively on tucks through the leg-side whenever they straightened their line of attack.
But whereas in Durban, nothing could crack Cook’s concentration, this time the tea interval unhinged his resolve. Once again it was Morkel who struck the mortal blow, in the first over of the resumption, as Cook was caught in two minds for the only time in his innings, and shovelled a half-hearted pull to Ashwell Prince at short midwicket. Bell responded to that dismissal with a classy stamp of authority, easing Steyn for three fours in the very next over, all through backward point, but just when it seemed he was ready and capable to carry the fight for his country, he gave his innings away on 48 with a loose wafted cut.
The ball, from Jacques Kallis, was a rank long-hop that was asking to be hit, but Bell’s eager slap flew straight to backward point, and as he departed with a grimace of self-admonishment, England’s innings had slipped back into the mire at 174 for 6. But Prior, playing a shot to almost every delivery but timing next to none, was joined by Stuart Broad, and together they ground out a 51-run stand for the seventh wicket before Steyn popped up with the new ball looming, and nicked Broad’s bails with a perfect delivery that zipped through the gate.
Dilshan masterminds easy triumph
Sri Lanka 261 for 3 (Dilshan 104, Sangakkara 74) beat Bangladesh 260 for 7 (Ashraful 75, Mahmudullah 45) by seven wickets
Tillakaratne Dilshan made 2009 his own, scoring ten centuries in all forms, and he didn’t start too badly in the new year either, compiling another robust ton to guide Sri Lanka to an easy win in the tri-series opener. Bangladesh gave a good account of themselves with the bat in getting to 260, but their bowlers lost the battle against Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and the dew.
Defending totals under lights will pose a challenge to all teams in this competition, with the dew factor kicking in, and tonight, Bangladesh were bitten after losing the toss. Shakib Al Hasan said this was a "minimum 250" wicket and his batsmen obliged. Early into the Sri Lankan chase, they realised that they were at least 30 short.
The opening over by the debutant Shafiul Islam was a sign of things to come, as he leaked ten runs. Upul Tharanga was in fine touch, caressing the ball square of the wicket on the off side with very little effort. Bangladesh had packed the off-side field to restrict the left-handers but both Tharanga and Sangakkara managed to pierce them.
However, Tharanga threw it away, chasing a delivery angled across him. Sangakkara was very harsh on anything wide of the off stump and played some delightful drives along the ground. The instinctive Dilshan didn’t mind hitting it in the air, clearing his back leg to pull and clip it over midwicket. In the process, he went past 4000 runs in ODIs.
Shakib wasn’t amused. Early in the chapter, he showed his frustration by placing his hands on his head, without a clue about what to do. He brought himself on in the sixth over after his seamers had already leaked 52. Not that the introduction of spin made any difference. Shakib, Abdur Razzak and Mahmudullah were impeded by the dew, which didn’t allow them to grip the ball properly.
Ashraful didn’t change gears after Mushfiqur departed and continued grafting against the spinners, this time with Mahmudullah for company. Incredibly, Ashraful picked up his first boundary off his 37th ball – a loft over extra cover off Thilina Kandamby – in sharp contrast to the way he normally plays. It’s a style of play he’s getting used to, after being criticised time and again in his career for throwing his wicket away after making a start.
His 75 was significant mainly because it kept the Sri Lankans at bay, helped the innings last the entire 50 overs, something Bangladesh have struggled to do in the past. Naeem’s final-over fireworks (off Suranga Lakmal) pushed the score past 250 and as the Bangladesh players walked off in satisfaction, there was hope of a contest. An hour and a half later, those smiles vanished.
Dew factor prompts Sri Lanka to bowl
Kumar Sangakkara’s decision to bowl was on expected lines, given the dew factor which is expected to play a big part later in the evening at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur. The Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan said he would bowled as well, but he expected the pitch to assist the batsmen. The surface had an even covering of grass, which would allow the ball to skid through and come on to the bat.
On the eve of the game, Bangladesh announced the debut of right-arm seamer Shafiul Islam, from Bogra, who was one of the leading wicket-takers in club cricket. Bangladesh will naturally rely heavily on their spinners, though it will be interesting to see if they can grip the ball properly once the dew sets in.
There were no debutants for Sri Lanka, but a couple of changes were made to the side which faced India in New Delhi recently. Chamara Silva was recalled to bring a bit of experience to the middle order, which has struggled for consistency in recent times. Silva is a solid finisher and Sri Lanka needed an aggressive hand at the end of the innings. Nuwan Kulasekara, who looked out of sorts in India, was given a chance to make amends.
Sri Lanka: 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Thilan Samaraweera, 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Chamara Silva, 7 Suranga Lakmal, 8 Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, 9 Suraj Randiv, 10 Nuwan Kulasekara, 11 Chanaka Welagedera
Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Mohammad Ashraful, 4 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 5 Raqibul Hasan, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 8 Naeem Islam, 9 Abdur Razzak, 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Shafiul Islam
South Africa bundled out for 291
James Anderson and Graham Onions required just 17 balls on the second morning at Newlands to capture South Africa’s four remaining wickets, and hand England control of the third Test.
Resuming on 279 for 6 overnight, South Africa’s hopes and aspirations were invested in the solid figure of Jacques Kallis, unbeaten on 108, his 33rd Test century. But he was dramatically extracted without addition by the second ball of the morning, as Onions fizzed a perfect seaming delivery off his outside edge and into Matt Prior’s gloves.
The door was ajar for England to rout the tail, and Anderson duly obliged. His first delivery of the morning, bowled with a ball that was only four overs old, was too much for Dale Steyn, who had batted well for his overnight 26, but now squirted a fat edge to Jonathan Trott at third slip, who made good ground to accept the chance to his right.
Three deliveries later, Morne Morkel hung out his bat outside off for Graeme Swann at second slip to atone for his first-morning miss with a fine low catch, diving to his right. And though Paul Harris nudged a rare boundary through the cordon to get South Africa’s scoreboard moving, he ran out of partners in Anderson’s next over. Friedel de Wet was pinned on the front pad by a nip-backer, and sent on his way for a duck despite the futile use of a review.
Anderson finished with the outstanding figures of 5 for 63, his eighth five-wicket haul.
Nadal reaches Paris Masters quarter-finals.
Battling Rafael Nadal moved into the Paris Masters quarter-finals on Thursday with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 win over Tommy Robredo underlining his Nadal threat to unseat Roger Federer as world No.1 by the end of the season.
With Federer a shock loser to Frenchman Julien Benneteau on Wednesday, a win for Nadal in Sunday’s final would leave him just 305 points adrift of his arch rival with the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals to come in London later this month.
Nadal ended Federer’s long reign as world No.1 after winning the Beijing Olympics last year, but Federer bounced back to regain the top spot in July after winning both the French Open and Wimbledon titles.
Nadal had needed to save five match points to get past Spanish compatriot Nicolas Almagro in a second round marathon of over three hours on Wednesday, and he wobbled again against Robredo, another countryman and a player he had beaten in straight sets in all five of their previous encounters.
Robredo even served for the match at 5-4 in the deciding set but once again Nadal produced his best with his back to the wall to pull through by winning the final three games of the match.
“I was a little less lucky than yesterday,” Nadal said. “He served for the match and it was in his hands, but I won anyway.
“I wasn’t playing my best, but I played better than yesterday.”
Joining Federer on the sidelines though was fourth seed Andy Murray who found two matches in one day too much to handle as he lost 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
The Scot, who won a season-best sixth title in Valencia on Sunday was taken to 1:45 a.m the night before in defeating James Blake 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/4).
“I said last night it was going to be difficult to come back and feel 100 percent. It’s obviously limited recovery after a long match,” he said.”But you still come out and you try to give it your best shot. Wasn’t good enough.”
Nikolay Davydenko meanwhile became the seventh player to qualify for the eight-man London Tour Finals despite losing 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to Sweden’s Robin Soderling in another third round match.
Placed seventh in the standings coming into Paris, the loss briefly left the Russian at the mercy of the four other players in with a chance of playing in London from November 22-29.
But then Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, who was holding on to the eighth and final slot, lost 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Marin Cilic of Croatia.
His defeat meant that Davydenko was assured of finishing the week no lower than eighth which stamped his ticket for London.
Verdasco will now have to sweat it out while keeping an eye on the progress of the three other potential finalists – Soderling, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who reached the last eight here with a 6-2, 6-3 win over French compatriot Gilles Simon, and Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, who was playing US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in Thursday’s final match.
Soderling, who reached the French Open final the last time he was in Paris in June, will still have to at least reach the final at Bercy to have any chance of making it through to London.
Next up for him, with a place in the semi-finals at stake, will be third seed Novak Djokovic, who cruised past French qualifier Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-2 in 75 minutes.
The 2008 Australian Open champion from Serbia, last year’s Tour Finals winner, is seeking to lift back-to-back titles following his win in Basel last week where he beat Roger Federer in the final.
He is also eager to win his first Masters Series title of the year having lost in four finals.”Robin has a chance to qualify for the Masters Cup so he will give his best in the quarter-finals,” Djokovic said.
“He is a big server and is having the best year of his career. I played him recently in Beijing and won so, hopefully, I can do the same here.”Title-holder Tsonga, who needs to defend his title to qualify for London, said after his win over Simon that he refused to let himself become obsessed with qualifying for the season’s finale.
“I’m not here for the Masters. I’m here for Bercy,” the French No.1 said.”I will only be qualified if I win this tournament, so I’m not thinking about London.
Benneteau, who said his win over the world No.1 Federer was the best moment of his career, failed to carry his form into Thursday losing 6-4, 6-3 to compatriot Gael Monfils.
Sunny, Vishy feted by Big B, Little Master.
It was a sight for the Gods. Four legends – Amitabh Bachchan, Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath and Sachin Tendulkar – came together on Sachin, Gavaskar, Vishwanath, Amitabh one stage to celebrate 60 years of life of two of India’s greatest cricketers in Gavaskar and Vishwanath.
While Tendulkar was the chief guest of the function, Amitabh did the honours by presenting Sunny and Vishy with golden bats. And indeed, as these greats stood together to a standing ovation from the distinguished audience at the Rangasharda auditorium, they made for a picture to be preserved for posterity.
The clock was pushed back to the era when Gavaskar and Vishwanath were the signatures of Indian cricket. There were glimpses of their heroics on the screen while their friends and colleagues came up with interesting anecdotes to bring forth not just their passion for the game but also their colourful persona.
The mood was set for the wonderful evening once Amitabh held fort and his rich baritone struck an instant rapport with the audience. And catching the mood of the occasion, Vishwanath took a trip down memory lane to recall several humorous and even horror-filled incidents of his illustrious career. Yet, when it came to praising Gavaskar, he underlined the qualities that made his brother in-law one of the greatest batsman of all times.
“He was an amazing player who faced fast bowling all over the world with courage, pride and determination. I admired his tremendous powers of concentration and his ability to pick the length of the ball,” said Vishwanath.
On his part, Gavaskar recalled that he never wore a helmet because he wasn’t comfortable wearing it and found it a bit heavy. In a lighter vein, Gavaskar said that if born again, he would like to be a fast bowler and not an opening bat. His reasoning: “In my days, they used to have a fast bowlers’ union where by no fast bowler would bowl a bouncer at any of his opponent. But now things are different. I can retaliate.”
The unique occasion gave Big B butterflies in his stomach. “Even as I sit between these distinguished people, I have butterflies in my stomach. I don’t know what to say. But, it’s good to have butterflies for any performer to perform under pressure,” he explained. His views were endorsed by Tendulkar who said, “It’s important to be nervous because when I am nervous I know I want to do well.”
While greeting Vishwanath and Tendulkar for their wealth of accomplishments, Amitabh said he was privileged to have spent more time with Sunil. “He would call me on every birthday and I called him on his birthday. And it was Sunil who started it,” the Bollywood icon said.
Pakistan out to avenge ’shameful’ Kiwi loss.
Shahid Afridi described Pakistan’s defeat in the one-day series as “shameful” but was hopeful his players could lift their performance for the two-match Twenty20 series starting in Dubai on Thursday.
Pakistan lost the final match by a narrow seven-run margin in Abu Dhabi to go down 2-1 to New Zealand in the three-match one-day international series.
“It was a shameful defeat and we batted like club cricketers,” said Afridi, who will lead the side for the Twenty20 series because Younus Khan quit the shortest form of the game after leading Pakistan to victory in England in June.
During Monday’s one-day international Pakistan, who managed to dismiss New Zealand for 211 all out, were let down by their top-order batsmen as they struggled to 101 for nine.
An explosive unbeaten 73 by tail-ender Mohammad Aamir — who set the highest score for a number 10 batsman in the history of one-day cricket — gave them an outside chance of winning.
But Aamir and Saeed Ajmal’s new Pakistani record of 103 for the tenth wicket could not prevent New Zealand from taking the last wicket to survive the turn around and win the match.
Afridi said he has been trying to motivate his players after the defeat, adding that he did not believe being defending Twenty20 champions would put them under extra pressure in Thursday’s opening match.
“We need to stick to the basics and do our best to win both the matches,” said Afridi, man-of-the-match in both the semi-final and final of June’s world Twenty20.
Opener Imran Nazir and all-rounders Sohail Tanvir and Fawad Alam have joined the squad for the Twenty20 series. Younus, Mohammad Yousuf, Salman Butt and Wahab Riaz have all been left out.
New Zealand have yet to defeat Pakistan in a Twenty20 encounter but have been buoyed by their one-day series success in Abu Dhabi, said captain Daniel Vettori.
“The one-day series win was a confidence booster for us and I am sure the guys will be more motivated,” said Vettori, whose team came from 1-0 down in the series.
“The conditions in the one-day matches were favourable to Pakistan and here also they will suit them, but the key thing is that we have a series win and must keep the pressure up and win the Twenty20 as well.”The second Twenty20 match in Dubai will be played on Friday.
Yousuf replaces Younus as Pakistan captain.
Pakistan on Wednesday appointed Mohammad Yousuf as captain for the Test tour of New Zealand after Younus Khan asked for rest following the one-day series defeat against the same country.
“Yes, Younus has asked for a rest so we have appointed Younus as captain for the three-Test tour,” Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt told AFP, adding, “it has nothing to do with the defeat against New Zealand.”
Pakistan lost the three-match series 2-1 after a narrow seven-run defeat in the final match on Monday.Following the one-day series defeat, Pakistani media reported that Younus had lost the confidence of his fellow players, who wanted him to be replaced.Pakistan will fly from Dubai on Sunday to play three Tests in New Zealand.
India drop to third place in ODI rankings.
Having begun the series with a genuine chance of becoming the top ODI team in the world, India slipped back to third position after going down 2-4 to world champion Australia in the seven-match home series that concluded on Wednesday.
In contrast, Australia reaffirmed its number one status after dominant 10 weeks of One-day cricket even though the seventh and final ODI against India was washed out.
India went into the seven-match series as world number two and needed to win the series to topple Australia from the top slot but Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men could not capitalise on the injury-ravaged Australia’s thin resource and lost the series.
For Australia, it caps off a superb 10 weeks or so of ODI cricket, having beaten England 6-1 at their own backyard, followed by a victorious performance at the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa and now an impressive series victory over Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team.
As recently as September 20, the Aussies were ranked third behind India and the Proteas but now there are eight ratings points separating them from Graeme Smith’s team. However, with a ODI series coming up against England and with Australia concentrating on Test cricket until the third week in January, there is the opportunity for South Africa to close that gap.
Elsewhere, Zimbabwe has lost one ratings point following its 0-2 series defeat to South Africa and now sits just a single point above Ireland in the 10th position.
Same Squad in Next 2 ODI against Aussie
The BCCI announced that the same Indian squad will be retained for the next two ODIs of the seven-match series against Australia.
National selection panel chairman Krishnamachari Srikkanth announced here after India’s 99-run victory in the second one-dayer that the same squad will play in Delhi (October 31) and Mohali (November 2).
“We have decided to retain the same squad for the next two ODIs in Delhi and Mohali,” Srikkanth said in the presence of BCCI joint secretary Sanjay Jagdale.
The two teams are tied 1-1 in the series after Australia won by a narrow four runs at Vadodara in the first match on Sunday.
The selection committee also announced a 14-member Board President’s XI squad led by Rohit Sharma for the three-day match against visiting Sri Lanka to be played in Mumbai from November 11-13.
Source@cricbuzz