All posts by csb10.top

The Pakistani fast bowler, Mohammad Sami, has signed as Kent’s second overseas player on a two-month contract. Sami, 22, will replace the Australian batsman Greg Blewett when Pakistan complete their three-match NatWest Challenge series against England later this month.Blewett, who has been standing in for his compatriot Andrew Symonds during Australia’s tour of the Caribbean, will continue to deputise for Sami in the short term.Pakistan’s international schedule has enabled Sami to join Kent on aneight-week deal – after which the club will review their overseas player policy for the rest of the season.

Former Somerset paceman Ken Biddulph has died suddenly at his home in Amberley near Stroud in Gloucestershire at the age of seventy.Ken, who was born at Chingford in Essex joined Somerset in 1955 and played in 91 first class matches before he left the staff in 1961. During his years with the Cidermen he took 270 wickets at an average of 27.62,his best year being 1960 when he accounted for 83 batsmen.After leaving Somerset Ken Biddulph played minor county cricket for Durham for eight seasons with considerable success, and in 1963 he topped the county averages by taking 61 wickets at a cost of just under 14 runs each.Former Somerset all rounder Ken Palmer who played alongside Ken Bidddulph during his years at the County Ground told me: "Ken was a big tall guy. He was a nice lad who was great company to be with and he was always willing to help anybody.He continued: "He used to bowl massive inswingers and when I first came to Taunton I couldn’t bowl that ball so during one winter he showed me how and I really appreciated that."Right up to the end of his life Ken was involved in coaching cricket. He was still bowling in the nets just before Christmas 2002 and had planned a weeks coaching course in April 2003.His funeral will take place at the parish church in Amberley on Thursday January 16th.

With six weeks left for the World Cup, the South Africans are bracing themselves to the fact that the big event will be upon them soon and they have a job in hand to show to the world and prove that this was the best that ever was.Fifty-four matches are to be played starting from Feb 9 at various centres which include already established venues and the one’s which are still in the process of being rebuilt and renovated.The one-day series against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Tests against them were taken as a dress rehearsal and experiment to assess the security arrangements and crowd management. The series against Pakistan isalso being treated as such. But there is a lot to be desired. Nearer to the event, the organisers say that all things will be in order to make it a success.In the one-day games that Pakistan played recently, strict security was in evidence. Security guards, stewards, metal detectors, searching of bags, all seemed to be in order. And plains-clothed policemen mingled with the crowd to make sure that banned substances like sharp objects, whether metal, wooden or glass bottles and alcohol were not smuggled in.Like at Sharjah, there were also guard dogs with their handlers posted round the ground at Port Elizabeth where Pakistan had their only victory in the five match one-day series. The organisers say the experiment could be repeated for the safety of the crowd and players.The ICC sleuths were also seen hanging around having their lunches and drinks hoping that there presence will be a deterrent for the wheelers and dealers. Whether they will ever succeed in that will always remain a matter of speculation.The worrying thing however for some of the visiting journalists is the lack of communication facilities in the press boxes at the venues where Pakistan has recently played matches and where World Cup games are due to be played.There were no internet or phone facilities available at any media box unless one had his own dedicated phone line. Not even a coin-box or card operated phone line as was provided in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and also for the first time in England during the 1999 World Cup.A great majority of scorers in the box seemed untrained and agency men struggled at times to wire a correct scorecard in time to meet their deadlines.Organizers claim that when the big event comes nearer things may start to look right and a lot better than it is at the moment. The management of the World Cup led by Dr Ali Bacher is racing against time but they promise a problem free World Cup and the best that has ever been organised. Only time will tell if they are right.

I have just returned from spending four largely wasted days in Mutare for the match between the Zimbabwe Board XI and Northerns B. Just under a full day’s play was possible, the second day of the three-day match; the other three were completely lost.It was all quite unnecessary, as there was not much rain during the day. Nigel Fleming gives his views on this fiasco in his Manicaland report. The Board XI are determined to win the UCBSA Bowl competition to persuade the apparently most unwilling South African authorities to promote them to the SuperSport Series next season, and they were dealt a savage blow not so much by the weather as by the ground conditions. The ancient covers were about as much use as a popgun in an air raid when the rain fell, mainly during the night. This greatly adds to the pressure on the Board XI in their quest for promotion.It was dry enough during the day for the players to depart for the famous Leopard Rock Hotel to play golf, which meant that they were unavailable for interviews. The only one I was able to conduct was during play on the second day, when the only player available, with the Board XI in the field, was fortunately enough left-arm spinner Ian Engelbrecht, the only one I had not previously interviewed. He proved a very interesting speaker, and his biography is included in this issue. The washout of the one-day game meant that he was robbed of a chance to make his debut for the Board XI.IN BANGLADESHAbroad, Zimbabwe finally managed to win, albeit against Bangladesh, who as I mentioned last week are still grossly underprepared for Test cricket. With no television coverage available, one has to rely on CricInfo reports, which suggest that Zimbabwe played well on a very good batting pitch, although to lose two wickets without a run on the board when chasing 11 to win suggests carelessness.Any win helps, so this will be a boost for the team, and all being well this will be boosted still further in the three-match one-day series about to start. Whatever Zimbabwe’s morale is like, they still believe they can beat Bangladesh, and it will take a major performance by the home side or a very poor one by Zimbabwe if Bangladesh are to win a match. But it will not always be like this, with Bangladesh’s huge resources, and one day soon they will beat us, and quite possibly continue to do so regularly. So we had better make hay while the sun shines! We cannot afford overconfidence.MIKE DENNESS AND THE INDIANSReaders will obviously be aware of the furore in South Africa over match referee Mike Denness’s actions against Sachin Tendulkar for alleged ball-tampering and against several Indian players for excessive appealing, including the suspension of Virender Sehwag for one match. I cannot resist adding my comments.First of all, having watched several times the replay of Tendulkar’s actions with the ball, there is no doubt in my mind that he was simply cleaning the seam, which is legal. I cannot understand how it could be interpreted as interfering with the ball, as interpreted by the rules. As I see it, Tendulkar’s only error was his failure to do so under the supervision of the umpires, as required in the laws.If the match referee did have any doubt, Tendulkar’s past record should have worked in his favour. As far as I am aware, he has never been involved in anything to bring the game into disrepute in any way, unlike a number of other top players I could mention, many of whom have not been punished as he has been. Despite being the idol of many millions, he remains a pleasant, humble man, a sportsman in every sense of the word. He must be deeply hurt by this slur on his reputation. I am sure all that was needed was a gentle reminder from the match referee that he should consult the umpires first next time.Regarding the Indian players and their excessive appealing, I agree with that, except on two counts. Firstly, my feeling is that it was excessive to suspend Sehwag for a Test – and he was not the first player to be banned for a Test match, as the television commentators said more than once. Ridley Jacobs was the first, when he allowed a batsman to be given out stumped when the ball was in his wrong glove when West Indies toured Zimbabwe recently.I am in favour of a more hands-on approach by match referees. With a young player like Sehwag, who has no history of misbehaviour behind him, would it not have been sufficient for the match referee to call him at the next interval to tell him in effect, "Your behaviour was unacceptable; you had better keep your nose clean for the rest of the series, because if there is one sniff of a recurrence I will suspend you"? In most cases, that should do the trick. A quiet word of warning with certain players at the next interval when necessary might do wonders and forestall resentment.My other reservation is that, although I feel glad that positive action was taken against excessive appealing, another aspect of misbehaviour was apparently ignored. Jacques Kallis, for example, was apparently allowed to spit abuse at an Indian batsman after he evaded a bouncer without any action being taken at all.Obviously every now and then players will let slip a few words through frustration, but when it becomes personal and insulting it is unacceptable. Yet Mike Denness appeared prepared to overlook it. The preamble to the laws of cricket states that the spirit of the game involves respect for your opponents, and that it is against the spirit of the game to direct abusive language towards an opponent. – in exactly the same section where it says it is against the spirit of the game to advance towards an umpire in an aggressive manner when appealing.No wonder the Indians feel they are discriminated against by match referees. Their players, or some of them – I cannot remember seeing the great Sachin do so – are rightly penalized when they go over the top in their appealing. Yet the opposition are allowed to get away with sledging, and too often commentators support them with comments such as, "It’s good to see a bit of needle out in the middle," and so on.Cricket is traditionally a gentleman’s game. Obviously that is no longer the case in practice, but is it still even an ideal? Is it gentlemanly behaviour to abuse an opponent, even when frustrated? Match referees need to start demanding more self-control from the players. It is a rare virtue these days.Zimbabwe are one of the better international teams when it comes to on-field behaviour, but in domestic cricket the situation is not the same. It has come into Logan Cup cricket, with the Mashonaland side, disliked throughout the rest of the country for their attitude, leading the way. Others have followed. Certain clubs have earned notoriety for their verbals on the field, and it has apparently come into schools cricket as well.Umpires, managers and captains at all levels need to be made aware of their responsibilities. Umpires need to be urged to take a stand against any verbal abuse that goes beyond the occasional frustrated comment; they need to be supported and to know that they are supported. The authorities, I feel, should adopt a `name them and shame them’ policy of disciplining the culprits and publicizing the fact that they have done so.Many umpires at club and provincial level, I am told, tend to ignore sledging because they don’t feel they get support from the authorities. In fact, the authorities do deal with their reports and follow them up, but it is done so privately that the umpires concerned do not even get to know about it, and so feel they are ignored. Let’s get Zimbabwe cricket clean and keep it clean. It would help if the rest of the world took a stand against bad on-field behaviour as well.By the way, it was good to see Zimbabwean umpire Russell Tiffin have such a good game in the Port Elizabeth Test match. He had some very tricky decisions to make and, according to the television camera, they were mostly, if not all, correct.

Ben Brocklehurst, who captained Somerset in 1953 and 1954, has just celebrated his eightieth birthday.Born in Norfolk, Ben Brocklehurst was an elegant right-handed batsman who first appeared for Somerset in 1952 at the age of 30.His first appearence was against Yorkshire at Taunton in the opening match of the season when he was unfortunate enough to be dismissed without scoring. The bowler on that occasion was a youthful Brian Close who himself was to become another of the county’s captains twenty years later.In his first season with the club, Ben Brocklehurst appeared in just six matches, and scored 160 runs at an average of 16.00, with a highest score of 40.Ben Brocklehurst was appointed captain of the team for the following season, and played in all but one of the championship matches. In his 27 matches he scored 650 runs at an average of 14.44, with a highest score of 62.In 1954 he played in all 28 championship matches and enjoyed his best season with the club. In all matches he scored over 800 runs at an average of over 16 which included his career-best innings of 89 against Pakistan at Taunton, when he opened the innings with Les Angell.At the end of the 1954 Ben Brocklehurst left the county and later became managing director and proprietor of The Cricketer Magazine.Several years after he left Somerset, Ben Brocklehurst regularly played village cricket for his nearby village of Ashurst which is situated between Tunbridge Wells and East Grinstead on the Kent and Sussex borders.In one early season, hotly contested local derby encounter with Fordcombe in the early 1960s, the writer of this article bowled Ben Brocklehurst cheaply without knowing that he had once been the captain of Somerset.If you are reading this Ben, everyone at the club sends their best wishes and hope that you had a good day.I’m sure you have many happy memories of those long-ago days at the County Ground with the Cidermen.

Andy Flower became only the second batsman in Test history, after JimmySinclair of South Africa against England in 1898/99, to score more than halfhis team’s entire run aggregate in both innings of a Test match when his side was bowled out twice. However, so little support did he receive from the majority of his team-mates that not even his Herculean efforts could prevent South Africa from gaining a victory over Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club by nine wickets.Zimbabwe began the final day still 10 runs short of forcing South Africa tobat again, and with three wickets in hand, one of which was the pricelesswicket of Flower. It took 25 minutes to wipe out the deficit, whenFlower swept Claude Henderson for the first boundary of the day to take Zimbabweinto credit. A similar stroke later in the over took him past 150. ThenTravis Friend’s gallant vigil came to an end as he played inside a ball fromLance Klusener that didn’t turn, to be bowled for 17; 326 for eight.Flower passed the 156 that he scored in Zimbabwe’s first-ever Test victory,over Pakistan in 1994/95, his previous highest score on this ground, andreached 300 in a Test for the first time. He now became the highest scorerin a Test against South Africa, beating the 299 by Don Bradman in 1931/32.He lost Raymond Price for 4, caught off bat and pad from the slowoff-cutters of Klusener; 344 for nine. Klusener at this stage of the matchwas in fact the only bowler to cause Flower any trouble, beating the batseveral times and forcing him to play with care.Shaun Pollock took the second new ball and immediately Flower opened out,driving the first two balls to the boundary. While Douglas Hondo gallantlyblocked about two balls an over, Flower lashed at anything loose, reaching193 with a six over square leg off Jacques Kallis. On 198 he was forced toplay out a maiden over from Pollock, which included an lbw appeal that hewas perhaps fortunate to survive.With the first ball after lunch, bowled by Andre Nel, Flower was droppedhigh at slip. Later in the over he took a single, only for umpire Tiffin toanswer positively an lbw appeal against Hondo (6), which, if not dubious, wascertainly not straight-forward. Flower thus fell just one run short ofbecoming only the seventh player in Test history to score a single and adouble century in the same match, and the first to be stranded on 199 notout. He batted for a total of 879 minutes in the match.South Africa needed 78 to win, and were immediately rocked by the dismissalto the first ball of the innings by Boeta Dippenaar, trapped lbw by anoff-cutter from Travis Friend. Herschelle Gibbs, suffering from a backspasm, did not field during the morning or open the batting. AlistairCampbell took over the wicket-keeping gloves to rest Flower after hismonumental efforts with the bat.Friend again lacked accuracy, a failing that Kirsten exploited with relishearly on, and then Kallis hit him for four boundaries in a row. Scoring atfive runs an over, South Africa won forty minutes before tea with 33.4 oversin hand. Despite superb batting from Kirsten, Kallis and Gibbs, there couldonly be one choice as Man of the Match, notwithstanding the result.

The Soweto Cricket Oval became the focus of international attention on Thursday whenit was turned into dazzling scene of colour and song for the official launchof the eighth ICC Cricket World Cup to be staged in South Africa in Februaryand March of 2003.More than 400 guests – who included South Africa’s Minister of Sport andRecreation Ngconde Balfour and the International Cricket Council’s chiefexecutive officer Malcolm Speed – were treated to a taste of what Africa’sfirst cricket World Cup will be about.In an event televised around the world, Mr Balfour performed the ceremony ofraising the new 2003 World Cup flag for the first time on a day in which theeye-catching official logo and Dazzler, the tournament’s zebra mascot were unveiled.The president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, Adv Percy Sonn,said it was symbolic that the launch function should be staged in Sowetowhere so much of the future of South African cricket lay. It was, he said,demonstrably the greatest cricket function that Soweto had ever hosted.More than 100 Soweto schoolchildren, dressed in bright World Cup regalia,celebrated the event by taking part in a mass cricket clinic.The SA Post Office’s chief executive officer Mr Maanda Manyatshe also usedthe occasion to reveal the first in a series of 13 World Cup postage stampsand hand over commemorative issues.The guests, who included the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, MrRonnie Kasrils, and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Aziz Pahad,were reminded of Ali Bacher’s prophetic words, uttered in a speech to theWisden Dinner in London 12 years ago, promising that cricket in South Africawould survive its international isolation and that “out of Africa will comesomething new. It will be dazzling, it will be strong, it will be good.”As the executive director of the 2003 World Cup, Dr Bacher’s use of the word”dazzling” in 1989 now takes on special significance. The collective nounfor zebras is a “dazzle” and the World Cup mascot – a zebra in 12 cricketposes – will be known as Dazzler.Nathan Reddy, of the agency TBWA Gavin Reddy, who designed the logo andmascot, explained that the zebra colours represented the fusion of black andwhite peoples and the cultural diversity of South Africa.Dr Bacher reaffirmed the World Cup’s mission statement that promises toenhance the lives of South Africans in all walks of life through the event.He said the teamwork of the United Cricket Board, the International CricketCouncil and the Global Cricket Corporation, who hold the television andsponsorship rights, would ensure the success of the tournament, as would thestrong partnerships that had already developed with, among others, the SAPost Office, Department of Trade and Industries, Reserve Bank, SA SportsCommission and SA Mint.Mr Speed, who came to Soweto from London especially to attend the launch,emphasized the scope of the event internationally when he announced anexpected television audience of 1 billion people. He said he was confidentthat South Africa would deliver an excellent event.The World Cup’s information website was also launched with a big-screensneak preview. It can be accessed on www.cricketworldcup.com

Daryl Tuffey hasn’t played since the first match of New Zealand’s World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka but has been recalled for today’s winner-take-all Super Six match against India at Centurion.New Zealand is in a must-win situation and Tuffey’s revival in the selection favour stakes is almost certainly attributable to the dominance he achieved over the Indians during the recent series in New Zealand.It is a big gamble by the selection panel given Tuffey’s lack of matches and also the different conditions in South Africa.Selection chairman Sir Richard Hadlee said today: “Daryl Tuffey had an outstanding home series against the Indians recently and he has been bowling very well in the nets over the last few weeks pushing to regain his place.”We hope the dominance he had over the Indian batsman during the home series will continue in to tomorrow’s game.”Tuffey comes in at the expense of Andre Adams.”Andre has not been showing the discipline and control required when bowling at the death and as a result he has been very expensive,” Hadlee said.Also back is Craig McMillan who supplants Lou Vincent.Vincent came in for the match against Australia after recovering from a finger injury but was among several front-line batsmen who failed. With that in mind, his lack of form is clearly regarded as being worse than the lack of form which caused McMillan to be dropped for the Australian match.”Unfortunately, Lou has not been able to produce the form and consistency we expected of him during this World Cup and this has cost him his position for tomorrow’s game,” Hadlee said.”For tomorrow’s crucial match we have opted for Craig’s experience.”We have asked him to show some responsibility by playing himself in before taking the high-risk options that come with playing the big shots.”The New Zealand team is: Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Shane Bond, Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Brendon McCullum, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, Scott Styris, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori.

Sussex CCC are pleased to announce that Murray Goodwin has agreed a newtwo-year contract which will keep him at the Club until the end of the 2003season.This obviously means that Michael Bevan will not be coming back next year and we would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all he has done for the Club both on and off the field.

Richard Montgomerie’s first hundred in the one-day league set up a comfortable 27-run win for Sussex over Essex in the Norwich Union League at Hove.Montgomerie made 108 in a first wicket stand of 176 with Murray Goodwin as Sussex made 241-3 from their 45 overs in the day-night second division contest.Half-centuries from Paul Grayson and James Foster helped Essex recover from a poor start, but they finished well short on 214-7.Montgomerie and Goodwin had earlier compiled a record first wicket stand in the one-day league’s various guises for Sussex, beating the 162 by David Smith and Franklyn Stephenson against Surrey eight years ago.Goodwin converted his third half-century of the season into a competition best 87 before he was caught at short mid-wicket, but Montgomerie went on to a century off 121 balls with eight fours before he was run out in the penultimate over after adding 55 with Chris Adams (25) for the second wicket.Essex struggled to make much impression early on. Stephen Peters was run out by Will House’s direct hit in the third over, Graham Napier edged Jason Lewry to the wicketkeeper and then Ronnie Irani and Darren Robinson fell off successive balls to leave Essex 44-4 after 14 overs.They were revived by a fifth wicket stand of 85 in 18 overs between Grayson and Foster which was ended when James Kirtley returned to the attack to bowl Grayson for 52.Foster went on to finish unbeaten on 56, but with the asking rate climbing to above ten an over his composed innings was never going to be enough.Essex remain rooted to the bottom of the table while a third win keeps Sussex in seventh place.