England lose to WI despite Strauss' ton

Providence, Guyana: Andrew Strauss hit his third one-day international hundred, but England still went down to a 21-run defeat at the hands of the West Indies at the Guyana National Stadium on Sunday.


The captain made 105 from 129 balls as England, chasing 265 for victory, were dismissed for 243 in 48.2 overs to allow West Indies to draw level at 1-1 in the five-match series.


The third and fourth matches will be contested at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Friday and Sunday, with the final game set for St. Lucia on April 6.


England had won the opener here on Friday when West Indies coach John Dyson embarrassingly miscalculated the Duckworth-Lewis method and handed his opponents a one-run win.


"We lost too many wickets too early and we were always behind the eight ball," admitted Strauss.


"We needed things to go our way in the last powerplay but with the medium pacers bowling, it wasn't easy to get the ball away. It was getting lower and slower, so we had to take risks to get runs.


"It would have been nice to have gone 2-0 in the series, but we have a good chance of winning in Barbados where the wicket might suit us better."


West Indies skipper Chris Gayle said his team had a point to prove.


"We were really down after what happened on Friday," said Gayle. "We wanted to give the crowd something to cheer about and I want to commend the guys for the way they played."


Man-of-the-match Shivnarine Chanderpaul scored his 10th one-day hundred of 112 not out from 134 balls to lead West Indies to 264 for eight from their 50 overs.


Strauss reached his hundred from 126 balls with a drive through cover for two off Kieron Pollard, but England lost wickets steadily.


Their best stands were 50 between Strauss and Owais Shah for the third wicket, and 59 between the England captain and Dmitri Mascarenhas for the sixth.


Mascarenhas made 29 and Shah made 22 and were the only other batsmen that passed 20.


Dwayne Bravo and Pollard both collected two wickets for West Indies.


Earlier, England, particularly Paul Collingwood and Mascarenhas, bowling their modest medium-pace, restricted West Indies to 57 runs in the last 10 overs and collected four cheap wickets to scupper the home team's hunt for quick late runs.


The tourists had been under pressure from Chanderpaul and compatriot Ramnaresh Sarwan when they put on 133 from 177 balls for the third wicket, after West Indies elected to bat and lost Lendl Simmons for a duck and fellow opener Gayle, for 20, inside the first six overs.


Urged on by the largest crowd for an international match in Guyana, Chanderpaul and Sarwan hit 74 from 89 balls. But James Anderson had Sarwan caught at deep mid-off in the 35th over, and Collingwood and Mascarenhas prevailed in the closing overs to limit the damage of the West Indies batsmen.


Anderson captured three for 37 from nine overs, Collingwood took three for 49 from 10 overs, and Dimitri Mascarenhas bagged two for 53 from 10 overs.


Source:http://cricketnext.in.com/news/england-lose-to-wi-despite-strauss-ton/39318-13.html

Harris takes six as SA win by an innings

Cape Town: Mitchell Johnson hit an 86-ball century for Australia before South Africa completed an innings and 20-run win on the fourth day of the third Test at Newlands on Sunday.


Johnson and Andrew McDonald (68) shared an Australian record seventh wicket stand of 163 to delay South Africa's consolation victory. Australia won the series 2-1.


Left-arm spinner Paul Harris took six for 127 and fast bowler Dale Steyn three for 96.


South Africa were on course for a crushing victory when Australia lost their sixth wicket at 218, still 224 short of avoiding an innings defeat.


But McDonald and Johnson, voted man of the series, went for their shots and thrashed a tiring bowling attack.


They put on 163 in 122 minutes off 161 balls to break the Australian seventh wicket record against South Africa of 160 by Richie Benaud and Graham McKenzie in 1963-64.


The stand was ended when McDonald was caught at silly mid-off off Harris.Johnson was on 95 while Peter Siddle was out first ball, also caught at silly mid-off.


Johnson, who was stranded on 96 not out in the first Test in Johannesburg, faced Steyn, who placed eight fielders on the boundary in an invitation to Johnson to take a single and expose new batsman Bryce McGain.


But Johnson pulled the second ball for six to raise a maiden Test century. In the same over Johnson called for a suicidal second run and McGain was run out at the bowler's end. Johnson finished on 123 not out off 103 balls with 11 fours and five sixes

Only 40 runs were scored during the morning for the loss of Simon Katich's wicket but three wickets fell between lunch and tea before McDonald and Johnson came together.


South Africa had to wait 98 minutes before Harris had Katich caught at mid-off after Katich and Mike Hussey dug in with cautious batting, adding just 36 runs from the start of play.


Katich was out for 54, adding 10 runs in 60 balls before playing a loose drive. He could have been out without adding to his overnight 44 when Harris put down a straightforward chance at gully off Steyn in the ninth over of the morning.


Hussey was caught at gully off Steyn four overs after lunch for 39 and Brad Haddin became Harris' third victim when he holed out to mid-on.


Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke made a fighting 47 before he was bowled off an inside edge by Steyn, armed with the second new ball, shortly before tea.


Clarke earlier was given out by umpire Steve Bucknor after he appeared to be caught behind off Jacques Kallis when he had made two. But Clarke immediately asked for a referral and survived when replays showed his bat hit his pad.


It was the fourth successive time a decision by Bucknor, standing in his last Test match before retirement, was overturned on referral.

Source:http://cricketnext.in.com/news/harris-takes-six-as-sa-win-by-an-innings/39312-13-1.html

BCCI pulls the plug, takes IPL out of India

Mumbai: It's official. Season two of the Indian Premier League will be played outside India. The final schedule and venue will be announced on Monday.


The high-profile Twenty20 tournament might be held in some other country, possibly England, after a BCCI working committee meeting decided to shift the tournament out of India.


The tournament will have all the 59 matches that were originally scheduled for the IPL. South Africa also appears to be in the reckoning to host the tournament.


"My apologies to the people of India, who have loved this game and who have given us huge support, that we are not able to hold this event in India," BCCI President Shashank Manohar said after a high-level meeting between officials.


The extraordinary circumstances finally brought out an extraordinary solution - the BCCI brought the suspense over the second edition of the IPL to an end as they declared it will now be taken outside India.


"We are sorry that we have to move the IPL out of India," IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said. "We would have loved to, we have tried over a hundred iterations to convince them. But unfortunately, because of the clash with election dates we could not do it. But at the same time, people will be able to watch it on television in their homes."


With the Government playing hardball on the security issue with less than three weeks for the tournament to start, this was perhaps the only feasible option for the BCCI to go ahead with its billion dollar league.

"Because of the attitude of the government, that they are not in a position to provide security, particularly by the state of Maharashtra and the state of Andhra Pradesh, we were forced to take a decision to move the event out of India," Manohar said.


And now that the wheels have been set in motion, the IPL isn't wasting anymore time on taking a final call on its new destination.


"Our teams (IPL officials) are moving to various countries from tomorrow night to explore (our options) and we will have a final schedule as to which country we are going to be in by tomorrow evening," Modi said.


Sources say England and South Africa are the front-runners to play hosts. England is said to be the preferred venue, although the South Africans are keen as well.


"If the BCCI needs help on matters, we normally talk to each other, and we'd be delighted to help if we can," England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke said.


An official statement from Cricket South Africa, on the other hand, said: "We received an official approach this morning to be one of several options they are considering to host the IPL outside India. At this stage we are looking forward to holding discussions with IPL officials to discuss the proposal in detail."


Last year the IPL shattered the myth that the Indian fans only supported their national team. Now, the IPL bosses are hoping the cynical view that the tournament simply cannot succeed unless its played in India will be proved wrong.

Source:http://cricketnext.in.com/news/bcci-pulls-the-plug-takes-ipl-out-of-india/39304-13-1.html

Maharashtra Police divided on IPL dates

New Delhi/ Mumbai, March 20: The Maharashtra Police today appeared to be divided on holding Indian Premier League matches in the state even as the organisers of the cash-rich cricket tournament claimed to have worked out multiple schedules to deal with various security apprehensions.While Maharashtra Director General of Police and election security in-charge Suprakash Chakravarty, expressing his personal opinion, called for a postponement of the Twenty20 event, Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor said the city was ready to host the matches.On a day of frantic developments, the statements of two of Maharashtra’s top police officials only added to the confusion surrounding the fate of the league, scheduled from April 10 to May 24.Asserting that conducting free and fair Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra was his top priority, Chakravarty said he cannot spare his men for the Twenty20 matches.

Sachin’s 42nd ton puts India on top

Hamilton, March 20: Sachin Tendulkar gave ample display of his class with a masterly 160 as India tightened the noose around New Zealand by taking a huge 241-run lead and snapping up three early Kiwi wickets in the first cricket Test here today.Tendulkar not only notched up his 42nd Test century but also anchored the innings brilliantly to steer India to a commanding first innings total of 520.Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (47) and Zaheer Khan (51 not out) chipped in with useful contributions as the visitors took advantage of a good batting track of Seddon Park to put the host team on the back-foot.The Kiwis were struggling at 75 for three at close on the third day, still trailing by 166 runs.With two full days left, the Black Caps will have to bat out of their skin to prevent India from taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.Indians took the wicket of night watchman Kyle Mills in the very last ball to cap a day, completely dominated by them with Tendulkar standing out with his heroic knock.