India look to reclaim pride in T20s against Zimbabw

HARARE: After the humiliation they suffered in the ODI tri-series, India will look to make amends and take revenge against giant-slayers Zimbabwe in the first Twenty20 International on Saturday.

Here with a second-string team, India were dumped out of the just-concluded tri-series after suffering back-to-back defeats against the spirited Zimbabweans.

The host team, which lost the tri-series final to Sri Lanka, would be plotting another shocker for the Indians.

The break that followed their tri-series ouster has given Suresh Raina's men enough time to chalk out their plans to avoid another stunner from Elton Chigumbura's fighting side.

The key to India's success is batting and the line-up is desperately missing the heavyweights, who were rested from the series.

Dinesh Karthik and M Vijay are not exactly the ideal opening pair for Twenty20s as both the batsmen are known to take their time in settling down at the crease before attempting strokes.

In fact, the duo couldn't make much of an impact in the ODI series failing to score any memorable knock.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Raina himself are the men in form and would look to continue their run in the two Twenty20s.

A lot would be expected from Twenty20 specialist Yusuf Pathan, who would be aiming to prove his worth after being dropped from the ODI squad for the upcoming Asia Cup owing to poor run of form.

On the bowling front, the Indian spin attack would be bolstered by the arrival of Piyush Chawla as Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha have not made a mark so far on the tour.

The pace department is not too impressive either with the Ashok Dindas and Umesh Yadavs conceding too many runs for too few wickets.

Zimbabwe, on the other hand, are high on morale despite the tri-series final loss to Sri Lanka. The team has shown the stomach for a fight and they would be looking to continue just that.

Their batsmen showed decent form in the ODIs and would be looking to be slightly more aggressive in the shortest format of the game.

Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu and Charles Coventry are proven performers and the Zimbabweans would be hoping to get some explosive knocks from them to surprise the Indians once again.

Teams:

India: Suresh Raina (captain), M Vijay, Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ashok Dinda, Pankaj Singh, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Naman Ojha, Piyush Chawla.

Zimbabwe: Elton Chigumbura (captain), Andy Blignaut, Chamu Chibhabha, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Greg Lamb, Hamilton Masakadza, Chris Mpofu, Ray Price, Ed Rainsford, Vusi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya.

Crowd noise is '12th man', says South Africa skipper

JOHANNESBURG: South African skipper Aaron Mokoena said the raucous crowd was a "weapon" for the home side, praising the way his young team-mates had risen to the challenge in their 1-1 World Cup draw against Mexico.

Mokoena was upbeat despite a late goal that denied the hosts a famous victory in front of nearly 85,000 fans at Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium on Friday.

Mokoena said the deafening noise from the crowd with thousands of blaring vuvuzela horns was "our 12th man that we need. It's our weapon."

"We don't mind vuvuzelas at all."

Midfielder Teko Modise also praised the crowd.

"We're encouraged about the support. It's great to see them coming in numbers to support us," he said.

Midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala gave South Africa the lead after drilling home following a superb pass from play-maker Steven Pienaar on 55 minutes only for Rafael Marquez to grab a late equaliser.

"Today it was important that we didn't lose the game which is very, very good. We created a lot of chances, which was very good, we defended well as a team and we take positives out of the game," said Mokoena.

"Their strikers are quick and strong and we were worried about them. We needed to be mentally tough and focused at the start. We played really well in the second half and we deserved to win the game, though we need to use this as a springboard and build on it.

"We've got to build from the first game and the confidence is still there among the boys."

Everton midfielder Pienaar agreed that South Africa deserved to take all three points on the strength of their second half showing.

"We just have to go on and we can only get better now. We played against one of the best teams in the world and to walk away with a point, I think we must be proud of ourselves," he said.

Man of the match Tshabalala said the team did well after a shaky first 20 minutes.

"Maybe we missed a few chances but the good thing is that we created them in the first place. The rest is just a question of time. More goals will come.

South Africa next face Uruguay in Pretoria on June 16 and then France in Bloemfontein on June 22.
TOI

First day of camp affected by rain

Training on the opening day of the Indian cricket team's preparatory camp for the Asia Cup was called off because of inclement weather in Chennai.

Rains since morning forced the team management to call off the day's practice session.

Eight cricketers have assembled here for a two-day camp ahead of the Asia Cup beginning in Sri Lanka from June 15.

Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Ashok Dinda and Pragyan Ojha will fly directly to Colombo after completing their Twenty20 engagements against Zimbabwe.

India will take on Bangladesh in their opening match of the Asia Cup on June 16, followed by a match against arch-rivals Pakistan on June 19.

© PTI

Cricket committe meets to discuss ticket sale for World Cup

he Cricket Board's Local Organising Committee for the 2011 Cricket World Cup met to discuss the sale of tickets for the quadrennial event.

Representatives of all the eight Indian state cricket associations that will host the matches during the World Cup, including Karnataka' Brijesh Patel, Punjab's M P Pandove and Vidarbha's Sudhir Dabir, were present at the meeting.

Officials of Kyazoonga.com, which is overseeing the online sale of the tickets for the event to be hosted jointly by India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh were also present.

This was a routine meeting related to the distribution of tickets for sale for the World Cup, Dabir said after the meeting.

Eight Indian centres -- Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Delhi, Kolkata, and Mohali -- will together host 29 matches allotted to India.

© PTI

Gilchrist to captain Middlesex

Australia great Adam Gilchrist will captain Middlesex in their next six matches after Shaun Udal announced his resignation as skipper of the Lord's-based county with immediate effect on Friday.

Gilchrist, captain until batsman Neil Dexter takes permanent charge, is now set to lead Middlesex in their upcoming five domestic Twenty20 matches, starting with Friday's game against Kent at Canterbury.

And the wicketkeeper/batsman -- elevated to the captaincy a day after being dismissed for nought -- will also lead Middlesex in their 50-over tour match against Australia at Lord's on June 19.

Commenting on Gilchrist's appointment, Middlesex's director of cricket, Angus Fraser, said in a statement on Friday: "It would be foolish for Middlesex not to make use of one of the most experienced and respected cricketers the game has produced whilst he is at the club.

"He captained the Deccan Chargers to success in the 2009 Indian Premier League and led Australia in all forms of the game with distinction on numerous occasions. In his short time in England he has already had an influential role in the T20 cricket we are playing."

Former Middlesex and England pace bowler Fraser added: "Everything about Adam is world class and since his arrival he has had an extremely positive effect on the dressing room.

"Our players love having him around and playing in the same side as Adam shows our young cricketers what is required to be a great player.

"Adam's presence gives Neil a wonderful opportunity to watch and learn from one of the finest and most respected players to play the game."

The 38-year-old Gilchrist was out for nought against Somerset in Thursday's six-wicket Twenty20 loss at Lord's, having managed just two in his first game for Middlesex.

Former England off-spinner Udal joined Middlesex from Hampshire, where the 41-year-old has spent the bulk of his career, in 2008 and was handed the captaincy in September that year.

But Fraser said the county's "indifferent" cricket -- they are second from bottom in the second division of the two-tier first-class County Championship -- had worn down Udal, who remains available as a player, and had adversely affected his bowling too.

"Shaun cares passionately about how Middlesex CCC performs and has worked extremely hard to turn the team in to a winning outfit but the indifferent cricket we continue to play has worn him down," Fraser said.

"It has affected his bowling too. Shaun is an intelligent and articulate man and he feels the team needs a change in leadership.

Udal added: "Captaining Middlesex has been a huge honour for me. There can be few better feelings than leading a team out at Lord's.

"Letting go of something like that is extremely difficult but Angus Fraser and I have agreed that this is the best way forward for the club."

© AFP

Duckworth and Lewis get honours recognition

The inventors of cricket's controversial Duckworth-Lewis method were among those included in the honours list marking the birthday of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II published here on Saturday.

Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis, whose surnames have become part of the fabric of cricket, were both awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire).

The university statisticians' formula is widely regarded as the fairest, if perhaps the most complicated, method yet devised of setting revised targets in one-day matches interrupted by bad weather.

Significantly, unlike other systems, Duckworth-Lewis, in use since 1996, has the capacity to reward the fielding side for taking wickets.

Such has been its fame, the 'Duckworth-Lewis Method' was used as the name for both a band and its "indie cricket concept album" last year.

But that hasn't stopped it coming in for criticism, most recently at the World Twenty20 where eventual champions England lost to hosts the West Indies in a group match by eight wickets.

Although England scored 191 -- a challenging Twenty20 total -- rain meant the West Indies were left with a target of 60 from six overs.

Angry England Twenty20 captain Paul Collingwood, awarded the MBE for his bit-part role in the final Test of the team's 2005 Ashes win, said afterwards: "I don't know what equation you should have but you shouldn't have that one."

But a proud Duckworth said Saturday: "I hope this award demonstrates to the outside world that the country believes we have made a useful contribution to the game -- a lot of people haven't actually realised we are actual people."

Lewis added: "I was thrilled to get the news and it's very satisfying that our solution to the rain-interruption problem on one-day cricket has been recognised in this way."

Several other sports figures were honoured in awards open to British citizens and those from former British Empire turned Commonwealth nations.

They included former England and British and Irish Lions No 8 Andy Ripley, made OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire).

Ripley is seriously ill with prostate cancer and the 62-year-old was given special dispensation to receive his award at Buckingham Palace, the Queen's London residence, last month.

There were OBEs, a rank above an MBE, too for champion jockey Tony McCoy, who this year won the Grand National jumps race for the first time in his career, and former Formula One driver David Coulthard.

Amy Williams, who became Britain's first solo Winter Olympic gold medallist in 30 years when she won won the women's bob skeleton at this year's Games in Vancouver, received an MBE.

Former Sunderland chairman Bob Murray, widely credited with rescuing the north-east football club from the brink of financial collapse in 1986, received a knighthood and is now entitled to call himself "Sir Bob".

Kieswetter, Bell in England's ODI squad

England selected Craig Kieswetter instead of Matt Prior in a one-day squad captained by the returning Andrew Strauss for next week's match against Scotland and the series which follows against Australia.

South African-born wicketkeeper-batsman Kieswetter, who completed his four-year qualification process in February, was in explosive form in England's recent Twenty20 World Cup triumph.

"Craig Kieswetter made a century in only his third one-day international on the tour of Bangladesh and continued to impress during the World T20 tournament in the Caribbean," said national selector Geoff Miller in a statement.

"He has been earmarked for a role at the top of the order and I am sure he will be relishing the opportunity to test himself against high quality opposition."

The Somerset youngster comes in at the expense of test keeper Prior, who played alongside him against Bangladesh in March, for the first time in the 50-over form of the game.

Hampshire batsman Michael Lumb, Kieswetter's opening partner in the World Twenty20, was not included in the 13-man squad and nor was Alastair Cook.

Strauss returns, along with Lancashire pace bowler James Anderson, after both were rested for the tour of Bangladesh.

Warwickshire batsman Ian Bell and Sussex all-rounder Michael Yardy were also recalled to a squad featuring 11 players from England's Twenty20 campaign.

"Michael Yardy's inclusion is a reward for performing consistently to a high level in the World T20 in the Caribbean and also reflects our longer term planning for a World Cup in the Indian sub-continent next year in which spin bowling will be a major feature," said Miller.

"We have named a slightly smaller squad for this summer's NatWest Series than in previous years as our own programme closely mirrors the England Lions schedule for their triangular series against India `A' and West Indies `A'.

"We will draw on additional players from the Lions squad if required and will also consider using the Lions programme to give non-playing members of the one-day squad match practice where appropriate."

England play Scotland in Edinburgh on June 19 before facing Australia in a five-match series, starting in Southampton on June 22.

England squad: Andrew Strauss (capt), Craig Kieswetter, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Michael Yardy, Luke Wright, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom, Ian Bell.

© Reuters