SW Radio Africa reports that former test cricketer Mark Vermeulen has been detained (or is being questioned) by Zimbabwean police following a fire which burnt down the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy. As the article says, Vermeulen has recently been no stranger to controversy, having recently been banned from most cricket in England for 10 years. His example (on- not off- field behaviour) seems unfortunately to have been followed by other cricketers in Zimbabwe, from where further on field assaults on umpires and players have been reported.
Postscript: Cricinfo has just reported that Vermeulen has now been charged with two counts of arson.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
How much can SA improve?
Tomorrow SA meets NSW here in the Pura Cup. As AdelaideNow reports the Redbacks are fielding an unchanged team. It also appears, from an ABC report, that Darren Lehmann will remain at number six:
There had been speculation the Redbacks' batting line-up may change after the second innings collapse against Victoria earlier this week. The Redbacks suffered a 215-run defeat at home to the Bushrangers, having made only 134 in their run chase. The outright loss to Victoria has put extra pressure on the squad but Lehmann, who will stay at number six, said there was no reason to panic.
"I'm really confident with our order, we're encouraging them and hopefully they repay that faith," he said."I'm sure they will, they're all good players and we just want them to make some big runs."
I hope that the underperforming players, who shall remain nameless for now, justify his support for them.Australia through to final
Yesterday the Australian one day team (not to be too confused with the eleven who'll begin trying to regain the Ashes later this month), after wobbling at the top of the order, managed to defeat NZ comfortably in the Champions Trophy semi-final. I was following the game for a while on the internet, where as usual Cricinfo provided the best service (about an over ahead of Cricket Australia's "live" commentary and well in front of ABC Radio's news updates). I went to bed as NZ lost its first wicket at 16, and expected a closer tussle than eventuated.
The scorecard is here .
The final will be played on Sunday. As I post S Africa have just completed their 50 overs, from which they made 8/258. I wouldn't put money on it but would expect this to be enough unless Lara plays a blinder (as I've seen him do not too long ago )
The score (which should be progressively updated) is here: Cricinfo (this link) seems to be a few balls ahead of the BBC. Cricket Australia isn't covering the match.
Update: Friday morning. As you can see by clicking on the link above, my assessment of the S Af - WI game was wide of the mark, as Chris Gayle's 133 n o carried the Windies home by 6 wkts. Lara made only 9, so will have a point to prove in the final.
The scorecard is here .
The final will be played on Sunday. As I post S Africa have just completed their 50 overs, from which they made 8/258. I wouldn't put money on it but would expect this to be enough unless Lara plays a blinder (as I've seen him do not too long ago )
The score (which should be progressively updated) is here: Cricinfo (this link) seems to be a few balls ahead of the BBC. Cricket Australia isn't covering the match.
Update: Friday morning. As you can see by clicking on the link above, my assessment of the S Af - WI game was wide of the mark, as Chris Gayle's 133 n o carried the Windies home by 6 wkts. Lara made only 9, so will have a point to prove in the final.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Return to service: more on SA - Vic match
Beta Blogger, or my connection to it, has been down for several days. Despairing of it ever returning , I went back to the old Blogger format and started two "new" blogs (once you've moved to beta Blogger you can't switch back): Casting a Short Shadow 2 and Nudges and Deflections 2 .
The latter contains three postings about the SA - Victoria game, which I've edited, cut and pasted:
Victoria deservedly defeated SA outright today after a rearguard action led by Mark Cosgrove seemed for much of the day likely to squeeze a draw from the jaws of victory.
After Victoria moved quickly from their overnight 4/201 to declare at 6/246 the rest of the day's batting moved at a funereal pace as the top part of the Redback innings came apart. Cosgrove played doggedly out of and Gillespie doggedly in character to offer their team some hope that they could hang on until stumps. The Victorian field placing, except for a period after tea, was generally attacking: towards the end we even saw a classic umbrella field (see photo). When Gillespie was lbw to Moss the last three followed in quick succession, with Cosgrove unable to keep the strike for the penultimate over, bowled by Gerard Denton, who had removed Bailey and Rofe (caught behind playing at a ball he could have left alone) in his previous one. Denton then administered the coup de grace with his sixth wicket of the innings as Tait nicked a ball to Jewell at leg slip.
Denton had by far the best figures but he was well supported, as the scorecard attests, by all the other bowlers, especially Shane Warne who bowled extremely well for his 1/42.
Victoria deserved to win and after an indifferent performance against WA will be full of confidence for the rest of the season.
SA carried too many passengers and will need to regroup before meeting NSW later this week. The batting, apart from Lehmann, Cosgrove and to some degree Borgas, is thin, and the attack, which looks good on paper, in this game lacked the sharp edge required to gain and the retain the ascendancy.
I've started this blog to let me post while I can't, for reasons I can't fathom, access my beta blogger one.
On day 2 of the game Victoria turned a fairly even position into a dominant one. In the first session they held off and later dominated the SA attack. Declaring at lunch at 6/385 (after being 5/244 at stumps) , they had the brittle SA batting lineup 4/70 at tea before Darren Lehmann energised Borgas and the pair put on a century partnership. This was still not enough to leave the Redbacks , 5/197 at stumps, with much of a chance. Shane Warne, after some rougher than usual handling by Brogas and Lehmann, by the end of the day was making the ball bounce and turn considerably and troubling Manou, who came in for the last few overs when the situation seemed right for Gillespie . The lower photo shows the last ball of the day (and the last ball before daylight saving - note shadow encroaching on pitch).
Lehmann, 75 no at stumps, is as usual SA's main hope. The Victorian quick bowlers were steady rather than menacing, but this brought them rewards. The fields were mostly defensive: the top photo shows that for Moss, who bowled military medium with the keeper standing up, no slip (Warne is at third man) and two on the leg side boundary.
It's hard to see SA getting back into the match from here. If they're to do so the lower order will need to support Lehmann's attempt to double his stumps score.
The latter contains three postings about the SA - Victoria game, which I've edited, cut and pasted:
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Nick to Nick in nick of time earns Vics victory
Victoria deservedly defeated SA outright today after a rearguard action led by Mark Cosgrove seemed for much of the day likely to squeeze a draw from the jaws of victory.
After Victoria moved quickly from their overnight 4/201 to declare at 6/246 the rest of the day's batting moved at a funereal pace as the top part of the Redback innings came apart. Cosgrove played doggedly out of and Gillespie doggedly in character to offer their team some hope that they could hang on until stumps. The Victorian field placing, except for a period after tea, was generally attacking: towards the end we even saw a classic umbrella field (see photo). When Gillespie was lbw to Moss the last three followed in quick succession, with Cosgrove unable to keep the strike for the penultimate over, bowled by Gerard Denton, who had removed Bailey and Rofe (caught behind playing at a ball he could have left alone) in his previous one. Denton then administered the coup de grace with his sixth wicket of the innings as Tait nicked a ball to Jewell at leg slip.
Denton had by far the best figures but he was well supported, as the scorecard attests, by all the other bowlers, especially Shane Warne who bowled extremely well for his 1/42.
Victoria deserved to win and after an indifferent performance against WA will be full of confidence for the rest of the season.
SA carried too many passengers and will need to regroup before meeting NSW later this week. The batting, apart from Lehmann, Cosgrove and to some degree Borgas, is thin, and the attack, which looks good on paper, in this game lacked the sharp edge required to gain and the retain the ascendancy.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Victoria consolidate
I wasn't able to get to the match today, but the Cricinfo bulletin (with link to scorecard) seems to be a good succinct summary, and much better than the Cricket Australia report, much of which just repeats the scores . I agree with Cricinfo that SA will find it hard to keep Shane Warne at bay in the fourth innings .
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Victoria surges ahead: SA v Victoria day 2
I've started this blog to let me post while I can't, for reasons I can't fathom, access my beta blogger one.On day 2 of the game Victoria turned a fairly even position into a dominant one. In the first session they held off and later dominated the SA attack. Declaring at lunch at 6/385 (after being 5/244 at stumps) , they had the brittle SA batting lineup 4/70 at tea before Darren Lehmann energised Borgas and the pair put on a century partnership. This was still not enough to leave the Redbacks , 5/197 at stumps, with much of a chance. Shane Warne, after some rougher than usual handling by Brogas and Lehmann, by the end of the day was making the ball bounce and turn considerably and troubling Manou, who came in for the last few overs when the situation seemed right for Gillespie . The lower photo shows the last ball of the day (and the last ball before daylight saving - note shadow encroaching on pitch).
Lehmann, 75 no at stumps, is as usual SA's main hope. The Victorian quick bowlers were steady rather than menacing, but this brought them rewards. The fields were mostly defensive: the top photo shows that for Moss, who bowled military medium with the keeper standing up, no slip (Warne is at third man) and two on the leg side boundary.
It's hard to see SA getting back into the match from here. If they're to do so the lower order will need to support Lehmann's attempt to double his stumps score.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Retro cricket: SA v Victoria day 1
The first day of the 4 day SA - Victoria match was played out today in a manner redolent of the 1950s, with a slow run rate and, towards the close of play, pre-daylight saving shadows creeping over the ground (see photo). The weather also harked back to pre global warming times and the football season: no rain, but a cool, turning to cold later in the day, southwesterly wind blowing. August in October is quite a change from the January in October we've had recently.
Victoria finished on 5/244 off the prescribed 96 overs: better than 4/122 which they were at one stage, but hardly a match winning score at this stage. Of course if the lower order can contribute another 100 or so (and the scoreboard lists Warne at number nine, so this may not be out of the question) then SA may struggle to build the lead they'll need to offset batting last.
The SA attack was generally tight and disciplined: the pitch gave Tait, Gillespie and Rofe some help, while the wind provided legspinner Bailey with some assistance. He bowled a long spell in the middle and final sessions and eventually picked up a second wicket, when he went back to over the wicket after several productive (for the batsmen) overs round the wicket.
A legspinner bowling round the wicket on the first day is most un-1950s (though Richie Benaud once famously won a test in 1961 bowling into the rough on the last day.
I'll be there tomorrow and look forward to watching the next stages of the contest.
Media coverage
Nothing yet on Cricinfo about the match but a brief report from Alan Shiell on Cricket Australia's website.
Spectators aren't shown any video of the play, even though every ball is taped (see photo above). Why can't some footage (even if not slow motion etc) be put up on the big screen ?
Friday, October 20, 2006
Live scores?
Cricket Australia's claims to be providing "live" scores on its website are overstated. The NSW v SA Pura Cup match is at an interesting stage but the "live" score hasn't been updated for some time.
They took their time to post the final result - a 1 run win to Australia off the last ball - in the women's one day international v NZ.
Why not hand the scoring over to Cricinfo? They almost always do a much better job with their live commentaries.
They took their time to post the final result - a 1 run win to Australia off the last ball - in the women's one day international v NZ.
Why not hand the scoring over to Cricinfo? They almost always do a much better job with their live commentaries.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Benaud in blue and other media moments
A couple of cricket related snippets from this morning's TV.
Sunday (but not mentioned on its website ) had Richie Benaud previewing (and in his low key way plugging the telecasts of) the Ashes series. As usual everything he said was measured and substantial. What struck me, though, was his attire: a blue jacket, not his customary cream, beige or thereabouts. What or who is behind this? Someone of his reputation doesn't need to reinvent himself at this stage of his career.
ABC TV's Offsiders, which should but doesn't have its own website, had a home video type clip of Barrie Cassidy, batting in spectacles but minus pads, being dismissed in a game. He was hitting across the line, which he doeesn't often do on either Offsiders or Insiders.
Sunday (but not mentioned on its website ) had Richie Benaud previewing (and in his low key way plugging the telecasts of) the Ashes series. As usual everything he said was measured and substantial. What struck me, though, was his attire: a blue jacket, not his customary cream, beige or thereabouts. What or who is behind this? Someone of his reputation doesn't need to reinvent himself at this stage of his career.
ABC TV's Offsiders, which should but doesn't have its own website, had a home video type clip of Barrie Cassidy, batting in spectacles but minus pads, being dismissed in a game. He was hitting across the line, which he doeesn't often do on either Offsiders or Insiders.
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