All posts by csb10.top

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Dwayne Smith celebrates his phenomenal start to the season for Mumbai Indians•Associated Press

In perhaps the most thrilling last-ball finish in this season, Dwayne Smith, playing his first game for Mumbai Indians this year, smashed three boundaries off the final three deliveries to avert what seemed a certain choke from the hosts at Wankhede Stadium. Mumbai Indians were in control for a sizeable chunk of the chase, courtesy a century stand between Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma, before the middle order imploded. When the situation was at its most dire, Smith hit the straight boundary three times.Mumbai Indians needed 16 off the final over with three wickets in hand. Ben Hilfenhaus conceded a single off the first ball, yorked Lasith Malinga with the second, and a single off the third left the hosts needing 14 off the last three deliveries. Smith kept the game alive by muscling a six off the fourth ball several rows over long-on. The equation was eight off two balls and Hilfenhaus failed to land both in the blockhole. A low full toss was bashed over the bowler’s head, giving long-off and long-on no chance. Hilfenhaus managed to pitch the final ball, but not at the desired length. Smith smashed it to long-off and before he knew it he was being mobbed by deliriously happy team-mates.The game was Mumbai Indians’ to lose after the hard work from Tendulkar and Rohit. Following Tendulkar’s dismissal, they needed only 40 off 25 balls with eight wickets in hand. Dinesh Karthik forced two boundaries through the off side to tilt the balance further in their favour, but got a little too cheeky immediately after, walking across his stumps to Dwayne Bravo and getting bowled.MS Dhoni then sprung a surprise, bringing in the normally under-utilised Ravindra Jadeja. Ambati Rayudu slogged and missed; the well-set Rohit made too much room and he too was bowled. Jadeja picked up two wickets in a two-run over and Super Kings were in a position where the game was theirs to lose.The following over by Bravo had a tight wide call, which gave Mumbai Indians a crucial extra delivery in the final analysis. Robin Peterson then took off for a quick single towards mid-off, but Faf du Plessis showed his brilliance for the second time in the evening with a direct hit with just a stump to aim at. Another six from Smith, hit with tremendous bat speed – and Harbhajan Singh’s slog down long-on’s throat added further twists. Smith, however, had the final, emphatic say.It should not have got this close. Tendulkar lost his opening partner James Franklin cheaply, but the early wicket was good for Mumbai Indians as it brought in Rohit early. The pair kept the chase on course with a stand of 126. Tendulkar targeted Albie Morkel as the weak link in the attack, ransacking 33 off 17 balls. With the mid-off in the circle in the 11th over, Tendulkar made room but failed to put away the first two balls. He scooped the third over extra cover, walked across the crease to launch the fourth over fine leg for six, before spanking the sixth over cover to bring up his fifty.Rohit was at his elegant best at the other end after being let off at third man by R Ashwin. A short-arm pull for six off Hilfenhaus got him going early in his innings. When Bravo offered width, he slapped them past point for boundaries. By the 15th over, which cost 15, a deflated Super Kings were waiting for the fatal mistake.It came via a chipped shot from Tendulkar against Ashwin. The ball appeared to clear du Plessis at cover, but he plucked it one-handed over his head, lost balance, tumbled and still held on. There was an element of doubt as to whether du Plessis was in full control as the ball appeared to touch the grass as he gathered himself up. Tendulkar did not challenge the fielder and trudged off for 74. It was the start of the twist that had the most enthralling climax.Super Kings had earlier progressed to 173 with steady contributions from the top order. The openers added 47, Suresh Raina and Bravo put together 62 for the third wicket, before Dhoni and Bravo added a frenetic stand of 44 in just under four overs. Two wickets by Malinga in the final over prevented Super Kings from getting to 180, and it was just enough for Mumbai to keep their No. 3 position.

Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming has said he believes the pressure of expectation, which comes from winning two successive IPL titles, contributed to his team’s defeats against Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians.Against Daredevils on Tuesday, Super Kings imploded for 110, with M Vijay, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath and R Ashwin being run out – which Fleming also attributed to pressure.The Super Kings’ captain MS Dhoni scored 11, taking his aggregate to 22 runs in three matches, but he was backed by Fleming. “Yes he’s under pressure but it’s a pressure where he’s thrived before and one that he lives with, day in and day out, playing for India, so it’s nothing new.”He has a desire to win, so he will feel pressure to perform like all other players do, and him more so because he’s a very talented player and a key component of this side,” Fleming said. “When he’s playing well, nine times out of ten we win the matches.”Run-outs cost Super Kings dearly in both their losses, with three batsmen (Dhoni, Ashwin and Faf du Plessis) erring in the season opener against Mumbai Indians on April 4. “We panicked, we were trying to create runs that weren’t there and we paid the price,” Fleming said. “I don’t want to make run-outs an issue, but it’s mainly due to the pressure we’re being put under.”However, Fleming said it’s still early days in the tournament. “It’s too early to give you big synopses of what is going wrong; it’s two games we haven’t played well, we want to rectify it.””We are not an up-and-down side, we are usually consistent, but we’ve been beaten twice now and have been well off the mark. We just need to reassess how hard we’re going with the bat and may be set our sights a little bit lower, and if we over achieve then we’re in the game.”

MS Dhoni has said the team will lose out on about 20 runs in the field if all three of Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag are played together. When asked if, taking today’s XI as base, the addition of Sehwag at the expense of either Suresh Raina or Rohit Sharma was worth 20 runs, Dhoni answered emphatically in affirmative. He said the impact another slow man on the field will make is intangible to eyes outside, but fairly clear to him.”People often talk about that one run, but that one run that you save, it changes the strike, and if the next ball the batsman plays a big shot – a six or a four, it can have a big impact,” Dhoni said. “If you see, the last few games that we played, we got two or three run-outs and that really had a big impact.”Also, it’s not only these three players [Tendulkar, Sehwag and Gambhir] that we are talking about. We also have quite a few other players who are slow on the field. It will just add on to that, and we will be left with just two or three really good fielders. It’s not that these fielders are bad, but for this environment and these conditions and big outfields, they are slightly on the slower side. They will be exploited.””Once the ball goes to them, the Australians or the Sri Lankans will try to exploit the doubles or three runs. It means it will put more pressure on their body because the throwing needs to be good, and the diving needs to be good so they will under constant pressure. So ultimately it will be a pressure game.”Dhoni is not adamant, but it will only be an extreme case when all three play in a game together. “That may happen,” Dhoni said. “It will affect our fielding in a big way, which means there will be more pressure on the batsmen to score those extra 20 runs. But if the middle-order does not perform consistently well, you may have to go with the experienced guys at the top of the order.”Dhoni was asked if the fielding was more important than skill. He replied that it is a misconception to not consider fielding a skill. “In India, there is less emphasis on fielding, that’s why you say skill is cricket and fielding is fielding,” Dhoni said. “When I was young, fielding was considered slogging around, and batting and bowling was always fun.”Dhoni will miss the next game because of the slow-over-rate ban, but when he comes back he has a challenge with the fitness of the side. Today, too, he said he was forced to bowl out Zaheer Khan early – in the 40th over – because the bowler was cramping up, and Vinay Kumar was cramping up too. It left India with Irfan Pathan and Vinay for the last few overs; Australia took 101 off the last ten.”[It slipped in] the last 10 overs,” Dhoni said. “The bowlers felt the heat. Right from the start of the second Powerplay, [in the] 36th over I saw my best fast bowlers battling through cramps, so that was the reason I bowled Zaheer Khan out in that spell.”I didn’t want to lose any overs from him and then kept Vinay Kumar for the last few, but he also felt the cramps. In the last 10 overs they batted really well and our bowlers were not really able to execute the way they could have if they were not battling cramps or the heat. It was hot out there and you are supposed to go through that phase, but I felt they found it slightly difficult to go through.”If despite resting bowlers and managing their workload, India are going through this problem, they have a real issue at hand. “Everybody was hydrated but at times we have seniors. Over here there is no breeze, it becomes very hot. And it is a big outfield, [batsmen] put pressure on the fielders, they have to put a bit more pressure on their body to not let the batsman score doubles from them.”

South Zone

Hyderabad upset Tamil Nadu by 36 runs at the Rajinder Singh Institute Ground in Bangalore to make the knockouts. Hyderabad’s 333 for 9 was set up by an opening stand of 151 between T Suman and Ravi Teja. Suman hit 122 off 117 with 17 boundaries while Teja contributed 69 off 78. There were three cameos down the order that lifted Hyderabad well above 300. Tamil Nadu began with a big opening partnership as well, when S Anirudha and Abhinav Mukund put on 135 in quick time. Anirudha’s dismissal for 77 off 70 led to wickets falling regularly even as Mukund kept scoring at the other end. It was Teja who did the damage with his legbreaks, taking his maiden List A five-for. His victims included S Badrinath, Arun Karthik and eventually, Mukund, who was the sixth man to be dismissed with the score on 257. Teja also took the last wicket to fall as Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 297 in the 48th over to be knocked out of the tournament.

Robin Uthappa made a century and Abrar Kazi took four wickets as Karnataka finished on top of the South Zone points table with a 56-run defeat of Andhra at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Uthappa, who cracked 104 off 95, added 78 upfront with Mayank Agarwal (42) and 117 with Ganesh Satish (67). Karnataka were in a dominant position at 195 for 1 in the 31st over but fell apart after Uthappa’s dismissal . They managed 275 in the end but it was to prove more than enough. Only opener Prasanth Kumar (61) challenged Karnataka’s attack as the rest subsided in several wasted starts. Kazi ended with 4 for 33 as Andhra were dismissed for 219.

Goa beat Kerala by 98 runs in an inconsequential match at the Aditya Academy Ground in Bangalore. Reagan Pinto (65) and Rohit Asnodkar (45) laid the base for Robin D’Souza to smash an unbeaten 44 off 29 which took Goa to 250 for 8. Kerala had a disastrous start to their chase when they were reduced to 26 for 4. Robert Fernandez (52) and P Anthaf (44) took the score past 100 but once they were dismissed, Kerala crumbled to be bowled out for 152 in the 40th over. Sher Yadav took 4 for 21 for Goa.

North Zone

Delhi secured progress from North Zone with what ended up being a tense win against Haryana at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Delhi were cruising at 174 for 3 in the 41st over, chasing 214, but a couple of wickets caused a slowdown, and the game went into the final over before captain Rajat Bhatia struck the winning runs to maintain Delhi’s 100% record in this year’s tournament. It did not look like the game would be that close when Mohit Sharma was in the middle. He scored 68 off 65 balls, and after a slow start seemed to have put Delhi on course for an easy win. A couple of strikes from Haryana kept them in the game but their total of 213 was not enough.The below-par total was a result of Haryana losing three wickets in the first 20 overs, and their middle order not being able to accelerate. Parvinder Awana took two early wickets, and then returned to take another, to finish with figures of 3 for 31 from his 10 overs, with three maidens. Sachin Rana and Rahul Dewan put together a partnership of 75 to help Haryana recover from the early losses, but the runs came slowly. Haryana left the acceleration too later – Kuldeep Hooda played a couple of big shots right at the end – and their total was not big enough.

Punjab gave themselves a good chance of qualifying for the next round, with a 131-run hiding of Services, at the Model Sports Complex in Delhi, that earned them a bonus point. It was a comprehensive performance from Punjab: the top order fired to get them to a total of 288 for 6, and the bowlers skittled Services for 157. Gurkirat Ahluwalia, playing only his fifth List A game, scored 108 off 103 balls, and was given company first by Ravi Inder Singh, who scored 51, and then India Under-19 star Mandeep Singh, who got 62 off 65 balls.Services were out of the contest as early as 10.3 overs into the chase, by when they had slipped to 23 for 3. Ravi Inder Singh kept the middle order in check with his offspin, and finished with 3 for 38. Services lumbered to 157 in 43 overs before being bowled out.

Jammu & Kashmir’s winless run continued as they lost to Himachal Pradesh by three wickets at the Model Sports Club in Delhi. J & K did well to get back into the game, after Himachal were 152 for 3 chasing 212, and pushed the game till the penultimate over. Left-arm spinner Raman Dutta took 3 for 32 and helped make the game close, but Himachal’s top three had done enough to ensure the target was achieved. J & K had lost wickets regularly in the first innings with No. 10 Ram Dayal top-scoring with 34 not out off 25 balls. The wickets were shared around by Himachal’s bowlers. Rahul Singh was the most successful, taking 3 for 39.

Central Zone

A century by Shivakant Shukla helped Railways beat Rajasthan in Nagpur and finish top of the Central Zone table. Shukla’s 122 guided Railways’ chase of 246 and got them home with three overs and seven wickets to spare. Rajasthan lost early wickets after being put in but Robin Bist and Puneet Yadav helped them recover. Yadav’s 81 came off 91 balls, but Bist took 110 balls to reach 74, which meant Rajasthan’s run-rate did not rise much above four till the 40th over. Yadav and Raman Chahar accelerated towards the end but the total of 245 was not enough to challenge Railways, who finished the group stage with a 100% record.

A 37-run ninth wicket partnership gave Vidarbha a two-wicket win against Madhya Pradesh at Jamtha, but MP still qualified ahead of Vidarbha on account of having scored more bonus points in the group stages. Urvesh Patel was Vidarbha’s hero, as he helped them recover from 144 for 6 to chase 234 in 44.5 overs. Amol Ubarhande had given Vidarbha a platform with a half-century, but his dismissal in the 22nd over started a slide. Urvesh Patel stayed solid at one end as Vidarbha slipped to 163 for 7 and then 197 for 8. He found support in Nos. 9 and 10, and moved to 86 not out to take his team to victory. MP had reached 233 thanks to Rameez Khan’s 97, and though they lost they are still in the tournament.*

West Zone

Yusuf Pathan smashed ten sixes in making an unbeaten hundred as Baroda beat Saurashtra by 52 runs at the Bandra Kurla Complex ground in Mumbai. Yusuf built on the start given by Kedar Devdhar and Aditya Waghmode who put on 75 upfront. There weren’t any big contributions from the middle order apart from Yusuf, who kept hitting sixes all around the ground. He was finally bowled on 114 off 78 deliveries with six fours and ten sixes. Baroda set a stiff target of 316 and Munaf Patel immediately jolted Saurasthra, bowling Sagar Jogiyani off his fourth delivery which jagged in from short of a length. Shitanshu Kotak and Cheteshwar Pujara could not carry on for long but Sheldon Jackson kept Saurashtra in the game with his maiden List A hundred. Jackson benefitted from a few dropped chances but did not back off from playing his strokes in making 117 off 120 with seven fours and five sixes. As with Yusuf, there wasn’t much help for Jackson from the rest of the line-up and Saurashtra were dismissed for 263 in the 45th over. Left-arm spinners Bhargav Bhatt and Swapnil Singh finished with three wickets each.

Ankit Bawne and Akshay Darekar starred as Maharashtra defeated Mumbai by 15 runs at the Wankhede Stadium. Bawne made an unbeaten 93 to take Maharashtra to a competitive 254 for 8. Sangram Atitkar chipped in with 54. Dhawal Kulkarni and Abhishek Nayar took two wickets each for Mumbai. Mumbai’s top order failed again with only Nayar (42) managing to make more than 20. Anupam Sanklecha and Darekar soon had Mumbai reeling at 130 for 6 before Iqbal Abdulla and Ankeet Chavan started the repair job. The duo hit fifties to take Mumbai past 200 but Darekar had both batsmen caught by Nikhil Paradkar and dismissed Kshemal Waingankar for a duck to end the innings on 239 in the 49th over. With this result, though, Maharashtra and Mumbai have both progressed to the knockouts.

East Zone

Assam entered the knockouts with a 46-run victory over Jharkhand at Eden Gardens. Dheeraj Jadhav made yet another century this season and R Sathish was not far behind with a quick 82 as Assam surged to 301 for 9. While Jadhav was relatively patient in his 107 off 120, Sathish clubbed nine boundaries in racing to 82 off 59. Shiv Gautam and Saurabh Tiwary did for Jharkhand what Jadhav and Sathish had done for Assam. Gautam struck 124 off 129 while Tiwary made 76 off 83 in helping Jharkhand recover from 27 for 2. The rest of the line-up, though, did not turn up and the third-highest score by a Jharkhand batsman was just 11. Deepak Gohain led Assam’s assault with 4 for 46 while Abu Nechim, back after injuring himself during the Duleep Trophy semi-final against North Zone, claimed 3 for 68.

Bengal also made the knockouts from East Zone with a 30-run win over Tripura in a low-scoring game at the Jadavpur University Complex in Kolkata. Wriddhiman Saha held a faltering innings together with a patient 66 after Rana Dutta and Sanjay Majumder had rocked the Bengal top order. Saha took Bengal to 198 in the end. Laxmi Shukla and Sanjib Sanyal grabbed four wickets apiece in Tripura’s chase which seemed to be over at 80 for 8 in the 22nd over. Manisankar Murasingh (66) and Dutta (24 not out) more than doubled the score, though, in an 86-run partnership to bring the visitors back. Sanyal ensured Bengal would come out on top when he had Murasingh caught in the 37th over. The innings ended on 168 in the next over when Bengal captain Sourav Ganguly trapped Majumder lbw. Ganguly had gone lbw as well, for 8.*February 27, 2012 9:49 GMT: This report originally said Vidarbha had qualified ahead of Madhya Pradesh from Central Zone. It has been corrected.

Irony can be cruel and it played one of its most callous cards when Sri Lanka’s bid to stay alive in the series was killed off by wet weather. After the favours rained on them in that famous relegation game in the 2003 World Cup – when South Africa’s mathematical deficiency meant the showers fell in Sri Lanka’s favour – the wheel was bound to turn at some stage.When it did, it was violent. Sri Lanka were crushed when they had already been beaten, and even though they got better, they were never quite good enough. So far, their series has been characterised by starts with the bat without pushing on, wayward bowling that lacks penetration and a fielding side that can look worse than a leaky tap.A montage of Tillakaratne Dilshan’s expressions as the series has progressed would tell a tale of hope turning into despair, disappointment and ultimately disillusion. Dilshan, like anyone involved in the series, expected fifty-over contests that would be compelling and competitive. He did not see this coming.After Paarl, where he had struggled to explain exactly what had happened, the expectations appeared too great and a repair job had to be done before East London. Even though Sri Lanka’s batting effort in East London was close to five-and-a-half times better in numerical terms, it wasn’t enough to give them a win. In Bloemfontein, they achieved and surpassed their stated goal of 250, and had a real chance of keeping themselves alive in the series when weather intervened.It could have been different. One more wicket would have put them into the South African tail and changed the Duckworth-Lewis equation. One less run in Lasith Malinga’s last over, the wide perhaps, could have changed the complexion of a tight chase. One more save in the field could have eventually left South Africa just short. Ifs and buts are useless now that the series has been lost.It was difficult to look at Dilshan’s face on Tuesday night. He has appeared at a loss before. When he was hit for two back-to-back fours off an over in East London, for example, he wore an expression of extreme exasperation. When he carelessly lost his wicket in Bloemfontein, he seemed to be angry with himself, for the first time in a series where that sort of self-fury could have emerged after every one of his dismissals. But when he arrived to address the media after Sri Lanka conceded the series, the helplessness on his face was pitiful.”Everything is coming against us,” he said, with a small shake of the head. “We had a good chance to win this one-dayer but we can’t control the rain.”No, they cannot and this time it worked against them. Had it not rained, and if the full 50 overs of the South African innings had been bowled, Dilshan may have been able to smile whole-heartedly for the first time this year. Instead, he was forced to look at the core of Sri Lanka’s problems starting with the simple fact that every time they got better, South Africa did too.Although Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis were rested for the last three games, South Africa had Faf du Plessis to take charge of the chase. Although the seamers struggled on a flat, hard pitch that required them to bend their backs, Robin Peterson bowled 10 impressive overs to keep Sri Lanka in check. Once again, it was a case of not enough runs for the visitors – they were on track to score in excess of 300, after reaching 155 for 3 after 30 overs, but finished with 266 for 9.”All their spinners bowled well but we needed one guy to continue batting after getting a start,” Dilshan said. “One guy should bat 40 to 45 overs in the top order. We were short another 20 runs today. Before we started I thought 250 or 260 will be a good total. But when we started batting I thought 280.”This time, that batsman could have been Dilshan himself. He had a quiet start and scored his first boundary only after 41 balls. He even brought out the Dilscoop, a shot that suggested he was feeling in control. Then, he simply tossed it away and for the first time he admitted that he knew he had done the wrong thing. “They bowled a tight line to me so I didn’t want to take any chances at the beginning,” he said. “Upul was scoring well so I had no need to take any chances. I wanted to bat throughout the innings and I was really disappointed to get out in the 30s.”Already, questions have arisen about Dilshan’s ability to lead and suggestion is thick in the air that his captaincy lease will not be renewed once the series is over. Dilshan said he will not terminate it himself. “I have to finish this one-day series. I have been appointed for this,” he said. “And I will captain for the next few series if asked.”There’s no point even thinking that far. For now, Dilshan will have to lift his team and stave off a rampant South African side that is eyeing a whitewash. “We are doing everything in preparation but everything is going wrong for us,” he said. “We are getting close but we can’t finish it off. We have to finish strongly.”

ScorecardKurtis Patterson became the youngest batsman to score a century in Sheffield Shield as New South Wales took an overwhelming lead of 291 against Western Australia at the SCG. Patterson smashed 157 and had the experienced Simon Katich for company as NSW ended the day at 4 for 441.At 18 years and 206 days, Patterson broke the earlier record set by Barry Shepherd, the former Australian Test batsman, who made a century on debut for Western Australia aged 18 years and 241 days in 1955-56. The left-hander came to the crease after NSW lost Ben Rohrer. Patterson and Katich battered the Western Australia bowlers to add 221 for the fifth wicket.Patterson survived two close calls before getting off the mark. He reached his century with his 16th boundary shortly before tea. He accelerated after tea, hitting his last 55 runs off just 25 balls, before getting out caught at backward point by Mitchell Marsh. Katich was lbw to Nathan Rimmington, hitting ten fours in his 125 before Rohrer declared.In reply, Western Australia lost Marcus Harris early.

West Indies Women picked up their second win of the qualifiers, handing Pakistan Women their first defeat, by eight wickets, in Savar. It was a comfortable win for West Indies, who kept Pakistan to 140 and then completed the chase in 34.5 overs thanks to half-centuries from Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin. West Indies lost a couple of early wickets in their chase but Dottin and Taylor, who scored a century in the last game, against Ireland, built a 123-run unbeaten stand. Offspinner Anisa Mohammed was West Indies’ star with the ball, taking her third five-wicket haul in ODIs. Pakistan chose to bat but were 33 for 3 before Nain Abidi and Sana Mir put together 89 for the fourth wicket. Their stand was followed by a collapse and Pakistan were bowled out for 140 in 49.2 overs.Sri Lanka Women beat Zimbabwe Women in Savar in almost identical fashion to the way they beat Netherlands Women two days ago. In that game, Sri Lanka bowled Netherlands out for 61 in 41.3 overs and then chased the target in 14.2 overs while losing three wickets; in the game against Zimbabwe they skittled their opponents for 62 in 41.4 overs and again won by seven wickets, this time reaching the target in 10.5 overs. Seamer Chamani Seneviratna, who went wicketless against Netherlands, took 5 for 15 against Zimbabwe, while Sherina Ravikumar picked up three wickets. Zimbabwe were in trouble from the start, batted slowly and had only two batsmen who reached double figures. Sri Lanka lost two wickets in the first three overs of their chase but Yasoda Mendis’ unbeaten 35 off 31 balls saw them home in quick time.Ireland Women picked up their first win, and it was a comprehensive one, by 255 runs in Mirpur, against Japan Women, who are becoming the whipping boys of the tournament. Ireland were put in and amassed 311 for 9. Cecelia Joyce scored 64 off 68 balls, Eimear Richardson got 57 off 45 and the rest of the top order all made contributions to the big total. Japan’s inexperience was belied by the fact that they gave away 41 runs in wides. Japan’s batsmen made some improvement to the 38 all out they made against Bangladesh, but it was a minor one. Only one batsmen reached double figures as they were bowled out for 56, with Richardson capping off an impressive all-round performance with figures of 8.2-4-4-5.There was another trouncing in Fatullah, where Netherlands Women beat United States of America Women by 225 runs. Netherlands chose to bat and their top order fired, getting them to a total of 329 for 5. Opener Miranda Veringmeier ensured they got off to a brisk start and scored 99 off 115 balls. Kerry-Anne Tomlinson and Esther Lanser provided the impetus at the end, smashing 80 off 58 and 51 off 42 respectively. Their partnership was worth 110 runs from just 12.1 overs. USA never attempted to chase the runs and crawled to 104 all out in 49.5 overs.

Marlon Samuels and Fidel Edwards have been handed Grade B contracts by the WICB for 2011-12, while Ravi Rampaul has been upgraded to Grade B after having been on a Grade C contract last year. Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo have not been offered central contracts after they turned them down last year. Lendl Simmons and Denesh Ramdin, who are both in the West Indies squad for the Test series in Bangladesh, have been excluded from the list of contracted players, while Ramnaresh Sarwan has been ignored again despite a brief return to the Test team over the home season.Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who had a tiff with the board after being ignored for ODIs following the World Cup, continues to be the only player with a Grade A contract. Darren Sammy, the West Indies captain, has been given a Grade B contract again.Among the players who had contracts last year but have been ignored by the board this time are left-arm spinners Sulieman Benn and Nikita Miller, and batsmen Brendan Nash and Devon Smith.Samuels returned to the West Indies team this year after serving a two-year ban for alleged links with an Indian bookmaker, and has been in prime form on West Indies’ tour of Bangladesh. Fidel Edwards also got back to Test cricket this year, after overcoming a long-term back injury, and impressed against India in the home series. Rampaul’s promotion arrives on the back of 22 Test wickets at an average of 23.13 this year, along with 22 one-day wickets at an average of 18.90.Miller and Benn haven’t played for West Indies since the end of the World Cup. Benn was left out after unfavourable reports from the team management about his behaviour during the tournament.Nash was named vice-captain at the same time that Darren Sammy took over the national team’s captaincy in October last year. However, he made just 54 runs in his last six innings and was dropped midway through the series against India this June. He recently withdrew from the Jamaica squad for the Regional Super50, citing personal reasons.Legspinner Devendra Bishoo, and top-order batsman Devon Thomas, have been promoted to Grade C contracts from the development contracts they received last year. Bishoo was named the ICC Emerging Player of the Year for 2010-11 after taking 21 wickets in his first five Tests, while Kirk Edwards scored a hundred in his debut Test, against India in Dominica.Shane Shillingford, the offspinner, who was cleared to resume bowling after undergoing remedial work on an illegal action, and is in the squad for the Tests in Bangladesh, has kept his Grade C contract.The WICB has also increased the number of contracted women players from six to eight, with the Guyanese duo of Tremayne Smartt and Shemaine Campbelle being added to the contract list.Men’s contracts
Grade A: Shivnarine ChanderpaulGrade B: Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul, Darren Sammy and Marlon SamuelsGrade C: Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Kirk Edwards, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell and Shane ShillingfordDevelopment Contracts: Kraigg Brathwaite, Shannon Gabriel, Nelon Pascal, Kieran Powell and Devon ThomasWomen’s Contracts
Grade A: Anisa Mohammed and Stafanie TaylorGrade B: Merissa Aguilleira, Shemaine Campbelle, Shanel Daley, Deandra Dottin, Stacy Ann King and Tremayne Smartt

Mushfiqur Rahim had to break a long-held superstition after being appointed Bangladesh’s captain. For the past six years, he has made it a point not to speak to anyone in the media on the eve of an international match. Though he stuck to it on every occasion, that all changed on Monday when he spoke of his ambitions as a captain, and the realistic goals he has set ahead of the series against West Indies; he even admitted to prepping himself mentally before he betrayed his routine.Bangladesh take on West Indies in the solitary Twenty20 on October 10, marking Mushfiqur’s debut as captain. He hardly resembles one; the towering Darren Sammy even jokingly crouched as they posed with the trophies. But Mushfiqur wasn’t asking the West Indians to bend down as yet, the 23-year-old instead wishing for a good start and a lockdown by the spinners.”The start is very important,” said Mushfiqur. “Like it was against New Zealand who were well prepared last year, it is going to be the same with West Indies. We need to believe that we can win against them and that will come when we make a good start.”In international cricket, whether you’re a captain or not, there’s a lot of pressure. We’ll get home support and help from the wicket, so I think sometimes it’s better to look at the positives,” he added.He wants to mark his ascent as the leader of the pack with change in Bangladesh’s fortunes. “We couldn’t find the results as expected during the last tour. I want the team to perform as a unit. The difference that I want to create is by finding positive results,” said Mushfiqur.Coach Stuart Law, in his first home series in charge, believed that the new skipper is the sort of character everyone wants in a team. “Mushy is very much his own man,” said Law. “He’s very driven and knows what he needs to do to get the best out of himself.”He’s one of those players you love having in your team. He works very hard and hopefully that ethic comes into the team now. He’s a great example to the younger players.”I believe we can win the series. West Indies are a good outfit. We have to play well to beat them. They’re ranked higher than us, I believe we go into this as the underdog.”As long as we play smart cricket, we are a force at home,” he said, adding that he wanted some international teams taking part in the BCB Cup though he regarded the preparatory one-day tournament as satisfactorily “competitive”.

New Zealand allrounder Nicola Browne, 27, has announced her retirement from international cricket.”It was a tough decision but I feel that it’s the right time to step away,” Browne said. “When I look back I feel that I’ve achieved a lot of what I set out to do and have a lot of fond memories.”I am still passionate about cricket and keen to stay involved. My focus will be on helping and supporting others to achieve their goals and dreams and doing my part to continue to grow the women’s game in New Zealand.”Browne, who made her international debut in 2002, played two Tests, 108 ODIs and 34 Twenty20s for New Zealand. She enjoyed a good run in the shorter formats, picking up 77 wickets and scoring 1745 runs in one-dayers, and picked up 33 wickets in T20s, the most by a New Zealand bowler. She was named player of the tournament at the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in 2010.”She [Browne] developed into one of the best bowlers in women’s cricket and is an excellent role model for the other players,” women’s coach Gary Stead said. “She is an extremely dedicated and professional athlete and that showed in the way she went about preparing and playing the game.”