South African teams in CL T20

The Standard Bank Pro20 was used to launch the franchise system at the end of the 2003/04 season and has been a domestic highlight ever since. Like its format of 20 overs per side, it has a short, sharp format of five league matches followed by a semi-final and final.

The No. 1 side after the round robin stages plays No. 4 in the one semi-final and No. 2 plays No. 3 in the second semi-final with the winners going through to the final. In all cases the team with the higher log position has home ground advantage. There is also a reserve day allowed for all knock-out matches in the case of inclement weather conditions.

NASHUA CAPE COBRAS is the brand name for the Western Cape franchise of Cricket South Africa. Its constituent components are the Western Province Cricket Association and the Boland Cricket Board. They  play their home matches at Boland Park, Paarl, and at Sahara Park Newlands.

Current nationally contracted players are Smith, Gibbs, JP Duminy and Monde Zondeki.. Ashwell Prince also hails from this place..



DIAMOND EAGLES is the brand name for the central franchise of Cricket South Africa and has been the most successful franchise in terms of winning trophies. The constituent members are the Free State and Griqualand West Cricket Boards. Their home grounds are the OUTsurance Oval in Bloemfontein and the De Beers Diamond Oval in Kimberley.

They are one of only two franchises - the Nashua Titans are the other - to have won all three domestic trophies in the course of the past four seasons and have altogether had five trophy successes.

IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Diamond Eagles don't have it easier, grouped with winners of AUS and ENG T20 winners namely, NSW and Sussex..  The South African Pro20 runners up the Diamond Eagles have had some fantastic seasons on the domestic circuit but with no current South African internationals some have suggested the side may struggle against their more fancied opponents. But having said that, no team is to be taken lightly.. 

Dippenaar is a seasoned campaigner, van Wyk's exploits in IPL2 have gone largely unnoticed as he was a part of KKR, Dillon du Preez had an excellent spell of fast bowling in one game and was never picked again for the RCB, Ryan McLaren would be an asset to the side,

 Boeta Dippenaar (capt),

Dillon du Preez,

Morne van Wyk,

Mthandeki Tshabalala,

Adrian McLaren,

Ryan McLaren,

Victor Mpitsang,

Ryan Bailey,

Jandre Coetzee,

Cornelis de Villiers,

Dean Elgar,

Reeza Hendricks,

Alan Kruger,

Rilee Rossouw,

Shadley van Schalkwyk.  

Cape Cobras along with RCB and Otago Volts make up Group C .. The Nashua Cape Cobras have a particularly tough programme, playing the tournament opening match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bangalore on October 8, with their remaining pool game against New Zealand’s Otago Volts in Hyderabad just two days later.

Cape Cobras will be led by Andrew Puttick, in the absence of Graeme Smith, who was initially left out of the 15 man squad.. Wow !! How quickly can Life change!!

Cape Cobras 

Andrew Puttick (capt) - capt / opener/ keeper

Herschelle Gibbs,

JP Duminy,

Justin Ontong,

Charl Langeveldt- leads the pace bowling

Claude Henderson,

Monde Zondeki,

Vernon Philander -all rounder

Henry Davids,

Ryan Canning- lower order batsman and keeper

Rory Kleinveldt all rounder

Richard Levi

Sybrand Engelbrecht,

Derek Brand,

Francois Plaatjies.

English teams at CL T20

Kent's 145 was not enough to stop Somerset from reaching the finals..
Northants 136 almost proved to be enough to gain access to CL T20 but Murray Goodwin's steady and calm innings took Sussex past 136 with 2 balls to spare..

Sussex Sharks and Somerset Sabres entered the Final of Twenty-20 cup thereby earning a place in the Champions League T20..

A $6million jackpot is up for grabs - read the news.. The focus from the finals was slowly shifting to CL T20..
2 semis and a final on the same day was some treat to the fans.. But all three matches on the same day robs us of the fun too.. If its played on 2 days or even 3 days, it keeps the excitement and thrill that much longer and makes it a great weekend..

After play started at 11.30 in the morning with the 1st semi final, the action shifted to the final at 7.30pm..

No show from Goodwin this time around, but a late flurry of boundaries from Yasir Arafat and explosive knock from Dwyane Smith ensured a total of 172 for 7.. Chasing 172 itself is a big task, added to it is the pressure of finals.. So, 172, could look like 190.. Somerset saw 2 contrasting innings Marcus Trescothick  33 from 15 deliveries and de Bruyn 22 of 32 deliveries and eventually slumped to 109 all out, losing their last six wickets for just five runs.

IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE :

Somerset Sabres

Placed in group A with Deccan Chargers and Trinidad..

The first game is on Saturday 10th October when the Sabres will take on Deccan Chargers in Hyderbad and the Sabres second game is against Trinidad and Tobago which will be played at Bangalore on Monday October 12th..

Langer would captain the side, Trescothick whose mental and physical condition forced him out of international tours and has  kept him out of the England squad despite being a prolific run getter in the domestic tournaments is lured  by the ????? (money or whatever) to tour India, de Bruyn except for the dismal finals is in good form..Batsman Jos Buttler, who also keeps wicket and who at just 19 is the youngest member of the party. Arul Suppaiah, Malaysian born has been impressive..

TEAM ::: 

Justin Langer (capt),

Marcus Trescothick,

Zander de Bruyn,

Omari Banks,

James Hildreth,

Craig Kieswetter,

Pete Trego,

Arul Suppiah,

Alfonso Thomas,

Max Waller,

Charl Willoughby,

Wes Durston,

Mark Turner,

Jos Buttler,

Ben Phillips.

Sussex Sharks
Placed in a non-IPL group, Group B, with Diamond Eagles and NSW Blues.. 


Led by Michael Yardy, the team has a lot of all rounders and players with experience at the international level too.. This might well be the group to look out for as all the teams are evenly matched.. 

Dwyane Smith has opted to play for Sussex ahead of the Chargers.. Luke Wright, Martin-Jenkins, Yasir Arafat are excellent all round talents.. Chawla has been impressive in both the IPLs, Ed Joyce needs to introduction.. James Kirtley will be remembered for both his swing bowling and for his one handed catch of Ganguly in Natwest ODIs 2001.. A young side, with many players in their early 20s.. 



Michael Yardy (capt),
Dwayne Smith, 
Luke Wright, 
James Kirtley, 
Piyush Chawla, 
Ed Joyce, 
Joe Gatting, 
Robin Martin-Jenkins, 
William Beer, 
Andrew Hodd, 
Christopher Nash, 
Ben Brown, 
Rory Hamilton-Brown, 
Yasir Arafat, 
Chad Keegan.

Trinidad and Tobago

The name reminds us of only one, the master Lara...... Home to Queen's Park Oval which has witnessed marvellous knocks from the master Lara.

Trinidad and Tobago is the only side from the West Indies to have qualified for the Airtel Champions League Twenty20.

Notable players from T & T

Brian Lara
Ian Bishop
Learie Constantine
Wes Hall
Larry Gomes
Gus Logie
Merv Dillon
Deryck Murray

Players still Playing- Darren Ganga, Dwayne Bravo, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Dinesh Ramdin

Domestic series is played among
Guyana, Barbados, T&T, Leeward islands, Windward Islands, Jamaica, Combined Colleges and Campuses,

4 day tournament, Carib Beer series, Limited over competitions and Stanford 20-20 league form the domestic set up of the Windies cricket..

19 teams took part in the inaugural Stanford T20 competition, 16 were shortlisted for the actual tournament with 3 being eliminated after a playoff.. The 2nd edition was bigger with 20 teams in the fray..Stanford Twenty20 Cup is a knock-out competition featuring national sides from several Caribbean territories vying for the million-dollar grand prize. The competition was created two years ago and is solely financed by Antigua-based, Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford. This tournament is played on the ground built by Sir Allen Stanford, Stanford cricket ground..

Trinidad won against Barbados by 5 runs to  enter the finals while Jamaica beat Guyana in a 1 run thriller to play in the finals.

The finals was a one sided affair though.. The two-island republic, lifted by clever left-arm chinaman bowling from Dave Mohammed, were crowned winners in the Final which promised much, but delivered a no-contest on Sunday at the Stanford Cricket Ground.

Jamaica had 10 of the 11 players having played in the national side- to name a few Xavier Marshall, Wavell Hinds, Gayle, Darren Powell, Jerome Taylor, Nikita Miller, Dave Bernard, Carlton Baugh, Marlon Samuels..

Jamaica were bowled out for 91 in 16.4 overs with chinaman bowler Dave Mohammed taking 4 for 21..

T&T boasts of Dinesh Ramdin, Dwyane Bravo, Darren Ganga, Darren Bravo, Dave Mohammed and Lendl Simmons.. Chasing such a modest target was never going to be a serious challenge for T&T, and they hit the jackpot with 64 balls to spare..

                            

IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CLT20 :

T&T are grouped with Deccan Chargers and Somerset in the Group A..

T&T will play two warm-up matches before playing their first tournament match against Somerset in Bangalore on October 12. They play Deccan on October 14 in Hyderabad.

T&T squad:

Daren Ganga (capt) - veteran. needs no intro

Dwayne Bravo - Mumbai Indians player, excellent all rounder

Lendl Simmons - showed his class in the T20 world cup in England

William Perkins,

Kieron Pollard - good all rounder

Sherwin Ganga,
Navin Stewart,
Samuel Badree,
Darren Bravo - Lara look alike in a few shots, very promising

Ravi Rampaul - tormented Sachin when he came into the side first

Denesh Ramdin (wk)- Can be very useful with the bat
Sunil Narine

Adrian Barath

Rayad Emrit - has all round capabilities- medium pace and handy bat, plays county cricket.
Dave Mohammed - left arm chinaman, RPO less than  5..

Australian teams in Champions League -CL T20

Lets travel DOWN UNDER to meet the teams qualifying for the Champions league T20 -

New South Wales Blues and Victoria Bushrangers..

Aussie domestic set up is pretty much familiar with most cricket fans.. For starters, though, Aussie domestic cups are simple.. 6 teams, 3 competitions..

New South Wales - based in Sydney
Victoria - MCG, Melbourne
South Australia- Adelaide
Queensland- Gabba, Brisbane
Tasmania - Hobart
Western Australia - WACA,Perth

Pura cup which is now Sheffield Shield cup 4 day matches, Ford Ranger cup - limited overs and KFC big bash T20.. 

In KFC big bash, each team plays against the other once.. The 2nd and 3rd placed teams play in a semi final, and the winner plays the team which had topped the points table in the round robin stage..

2009 KFC Big Bash T20 Points table

	Played	Won		Lost	Pts
RTA SpeedBlitz Blues	6	4		2	8.00
XXXX Gold Queensland Bulls	6	3		3	6.00
West End Redbacks	5	2		3	4.00
PKF Tasmanian Tigers	5	2		3	4.00
VB Victorian Bushrangers	7	4		3	8.00
Retravision Warriors	5	2		3	4.00

Series Highlights

Record	Detail
Highest Total	5/203		VB Victorian Bushrangers,  2nd Twenty20 - TAS v VIC,  Bellerive Oval
Lowest Total	10/105		Retravision Warriors,  10th Twenty20 - VIC v WA,  Melbourne Cricket Ground
Biggest winning margin	78		VB Victorian Bushrangers,  10th Twenty20 - VIC v WA,  Melbourne Cricket Ground
Lowest winning margin	2		RTA SpeedBlitz Blues,  15th Twenty20 - NSW v VIC,  Stadium Australia

NSW qualified for the decider in top spot after a thrilling win over Victoria ..The preliminary finals was played between Queensland and Victoria, Victoria won the match with 2 overs to spare chasing 113..

In the finals, Victoria won the toss and elected to bat first. They made a strong total of 4/166 from their 20 overs, mainly due to a brilliant knock of 91 from 56 balls from opener Rob Quiney.Aaron Bird continued his outstanding form for the RTA SpeedBlitz Blues in limited overs cricket, taking 3/21 from four overs. Doug Bollinger was the other wicket-taker.

Brendon Mc Cullum was drafted into the NSW squad to enable him to be a part of the CL T20 campaign with the blues, after a good start he nicked a ball to the keeper, Katich and Hughes played well.. But after losing those two and Mosis Henriques in quick succession the match was evenly poised..  Dominic Thornely and Ben Rohrer who came to bat together put on 73 runs in five overs.With 10 runs needed of the last over, Thornely scored a boundary and was out the next ball leaving 2 runs to be scored of 2 balls.. The batsmen scampered through for a bye of the last ball and had to wait for the 3rd umpire's decision before celebrating the win..

This 5 wicket win ended Victoria's dominance in the T20 format and gave the blues their first KFC T20 trophy..

IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE T20 :

NSW are placed with the Eagles and Sussex in group B..

Australia’s icons and international cricketing royalty, Sir Donald Bradman, Richie Benaud, Steve Waugh and Glenn McGrath, have played first-class cricket for New South Wales. The Speed Blitz Blues have won the first-class competition 44 times and the one-day domestic cup nine times.

To name a few more, Brett Lee, Mark Waugh, Katich, Warner, Henriques, Hughes, Jaques, Michael Clarke, Bracken, Stuart Clark, Haddin , Shane Watson..

They start their campaign on the 9th against Diamond Eagles at the Kotla, Delhi..

Team :

• Aaron Bird
• David Warner
• Dominic Thornely- played for Mumbai Indians sparingly used..
  
• Steven Smith
• Daniel Smith
• Ben Rohrer
• Steve O'Keefe - miserly left arm orthodox bowler
• Brett Lee
• Simon Katich (C)
• Doug Bollinger
• Simon Keen
• Stuart Clark
• Nathan Hauritz
• Moises Henriques - played for the controversial KKR
• Phillip Hughes

Victoria are placed with Delhi Daredevils and Wayamba elevens in group D.

Victoria have won 3 editions of KFC big bash and was the runner up in the 4th edition.. Victoria in the current squad boast of the likes of Hodge, David Hussey, Cameron White..

• Aiden Blizzard - excellent T20 player
• Peter Siddle
• C White (C) - powerful striker, RCB player
• Matthew Wade
• Robert Quiney- hand picked by Warne for the Rajasthan Royals
• Clinton McKay
• Bryce McGain - an old leg spinner
• Andrew McDonald- Daredevil, who is good with both bat and ball
• David Hussey - one of the best T20 players
• Aaron Finch
• Shane Harwood
• John Hastings
• Brad Hodge- we all know who he was with in the IPL-2 don't we ?
• Jon Holland
• James Pattinson

Champions League CL T20 - Otago Volts

Otago Volts are a New Zealand side..

6 associations that take part in NZ domestic cricket are -
Auckland,
Northern Districts,
Central Districts,
Otago
Wellington and
Canterbury..

2006 T20 tournament was a KKR type in DLF IPL 2 with the volts not winning a single match, 2007 the format of 2 groups was done away with and a round robin was followed and the change worked for the Volts as they ended as runner-up to Auckland Aces.. In 2008, the team did not make it to the finals..

The 2009  T20 competition was held in the month of February and the final on the 1st of March.. The schedule of the series is something that cannot be understood.. Each team at the end of the tournament play 8 matches.. The top 2 in the round robin round qualify for the finals..

	Played     Won	Lost		Abandoned	Points     NRR
	Otago Volts                       8          6	1		1	26              1.740
	Canterbury Wizards           8          5	2		1	22            -0.021
	Auckland Aces                  8          5	2		1	22            -0.062
	Wellington Firebirds           8          4	3		1	18            -0.369
	Central Stags                     8          1	6		1	6            -0.721
	Northern Knights               8          0	7		1	2            -0.738

So, Otago and Canterbury advanced through to the finals which was abandoned due to rain..

Heavy rain and a sodden outfield has gave the umpires no choice but to abandon play without a ball being bowled in the State Twenty20 final between the State Otago Volts and State Canterbury Wizards at University Oval in Dunedin.

Otago was crowned 2008/09 champions after finishing top of the table after the preliminary rounds.
The State Otago Volts were rewarded with the home final after winning six of the seven matches completed in round robin play with the State Canterbury Wizards winning five from seven and sneaking past Auckland on run-rate.

Champions League Twenty20 Team Named

 

Craig Cumming (Captain) - opened the innings for NZ, 13 tests and 11 ODIs not so impressive record.
Neil Broom - RHB, middle order batsman, still new to international arena..

Nick Beard - 20 year old, a slow left-arm spinner and lower-order batsman

Derek de Boorder - second wicket keeper

Ian Butler - handy bowler

Mathew Harvie

Dimitri Mascarenhas -all rounder from England, also played for Rajasthan Royals

Brendon McCullum - probably the only batting star

Nathan McCullum - Brendon's brother who is good lower down the order and bowls useful off-spinners

James McMillan

Warren McSkimming

Aaron Redmond -not a star, but certainly capable of scoring quick runs, high T20 average

Hamish Rutherford

Greg Todd

Neil Wagner

 

 

The support staff with the team will be: George Morris (manager), Mike Hesson (coach), Vaughn Johnson (asst coach), Greg Usherwood (physiotherapist), Chris Donaldson (strength & conditioing), Anthony Bullick (video analyst). 

 

Otago Volts Coach Mike Hesson said “players have made it difficult with the depth in the squad and some difficult decision have had to be made. I am however very pleased with the quality of the squad of 15 we have been able to select. The squad covers all skill groups required and is well suited to Indian conditions.

 

With seven players having international experience and promising youngsters like Nick Beard, Hamish Rutherford (both New Zealand Under 19) and Neil Wagner who has been very impressive since moving to New Zealand we feel the squad has an exciting mix”

 

 

The video below is that of Brendon McCullum scoring 170 in the State Shield finals, 7 sixes and 19 fours.. 

Champions Trophy 2000 - part 2

Click here for PART 1

 

PRE QFs - 

• India vs Kenya, 
• England vs Bangladesh, 
• West Indies vs Sri Lanka...

India won the toss and chose to bowl first. Batting first, Kenya were restricted to 208 for nine in 50 overs. The total was never going to be one to pose any problems for the Indians and thanks to skipper Sourav Ganguly's 66 and Rahul Dravid's unbeaten 68, they romped home with eight wickets and 7.3 overs to spare.. Kumble received MoM for 2-22 in 10 overs..

Similarly, England faced little opposition from Bangladesh emerging winners by eight wickets with 6.1 overs to spare. Bangladesh did well in getting 232 for eight in 50 overs but against ordinary bowling, Alec Stewart (87 not out) and skipper Nasser Hussain (95) had little difficulty in negotiating some ordinary bowling during their second wicket partnership of 175 runs. 

A stroke-filled 132 by opener Avishka Gunawardene and his third wicket stand of 160 runs with Mahela Jayawardene (72) saw Sri Lanka post 287 for six in 50 overs, a total that proved to be too formidable for the West Indies who were dismissed for 179 in 46.4 overs.

This meant that the Quarter Finals line up stood like-

• India vs Australia

• Pakistan vs Sri Lanka

• New Zealand vs Zimbabwe

• England vs South Africa

The quarterfinals were marked by three one-sided results but the pulsating Australia-India game made up for this. Australia were firm favorites but this was a rejuvenated Indian side, under the captaincy of Ganguly and including three potentially fine players in newcomers Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Vijay Dahiya. After Australia made the early inroads, a breath-taking innings from Yuvraj saw India wrest the initiative and the advantage thereafter stayed with India.

The left-hander hit 84 off 80 balls treating the pace of McGrath, Lee and Gillespie with utter disdain. India ultimately posted a challenging total of 265 for nine in 50 overs. Then it was the turn of another youngster to strike. Bowling with hostility, Zaheer Khan removed Adam Gilchrist and Steve Waugh and some fine work by the varied attack, backed up by some superb work in the field in which Yuvraj was outstanding saw Australia bowled out for 245 in the 47th over. 

SriLanka's batting was dismal, Wasim Akram and Azhar Mahmood took 3wickets each to topple Lanka who were bowled out for 194.. Pakistan reached the target in 43.5 overs on the back of a century from Saeed Anwar.. 

After the initial loss of 4 wickets for 120, 85 from Twose and 52 from Craig McMillan enabled NZ to reach 265.. ZIM did not have the experience to post a win after being in a similar situation, 108-4, to post a win.. 4 wickets from Paul Wiseman sealed a win for NZ.. ZIM all out for 201..

Similarly, England were no match for South Africa's professional allround skills. Graeme Hick top-scored with a 65 but England's total of 182 in 44.1 overs was always going to be inadequate. South Africa with Jacques Kallis (78 not out) and Boeta Dippenaar (65) figuring in an unbroken third wicket partnership of 132 runs romped home with 11.5 overs to spare.

SEMI-FINALS
India vs South Africa
Pakistan vs New Zealand

Anwar hit a second successive hundred (104), after a mini collapse Akram and Razzaq helped Pakistan score 252 in 49.2 overs against New Zealand. Azhar Mahmood, then, reduced the Kiwis to 15 for two but Nathan Astle (49) and Roger Twose (87) initiated a recovery process by adding 135 runs for the third wicket. Pakistan came back strongly and had a distinct edge when New Zealand were 187 for six. However, Craig McMillan (51) and Scott Styris (26) figured in an unbroken seventh wicket stand of 66 runs to steer New Zealand home amidst much excitement with one over to spare. Shane O' Connor's 5 wicket haul earned him the MoM..

The 2nd SF which many thought would go South Africa's way had some surprises.. Ganguly posted a run a ball 141 which had 11 fours and 6 sixes against an attack that comprised of Pollock, Donald, Kallis, Telemachus, Klusener.. Though Donald and Pollock were economical, Kallis and Telemachus were torn apart and as Ganguly was at the crease, SA captain was even reluctant to bowl his spinner Boje who duly got hit for 26 in 2 overs.. Result a mamoth total of 295.. SA innings suffered an early jolt as Zak removed Hall ( the famous in swinging yorker, swinging into the legs and uprooted the stumps), and then went reeling to 50-4.. India took wickets consistently and that put an end to SA's journey in the tournament..

FINALS
India locked horns with NZ for the title clash..

Cairns, returning bravely from a knee injury, won the match with an inspirational century that resuscitated a failing run-chase and carried New Zealand to one of their proudest moments. They certainly had to win this one the hard way, after Ganguly and Tendulkar had opened with 141 in just 26.3 overs. However, Tendulkar was stranded by a bad call and, while Ganguly carried on to his second successive hundred, 135 from the final 25 overs represented diminishing returns. 264 for six in 50 overs.  Trusting in their deep batting order, New Zealand were aggressive from the start. 37 for two and later132 for five - New Zealand were gasping for breath.. It was now that Harris joined Cairns for a cool-headed partnership of 122. Though the required run-rate continued to climb, Cairns refused to be fazed. He hit two sixes, one a glorious straight drive off Kumble into the red clay of the car park in the 47th over, and ultimately the winning run with just two balls remaining.

 

  

 

Ashes series - Lords

In his final act at the home of cricket, Andrew Flintoff broke England's 75-year Lord's curse with his first five-wicket haul since the Ashes-clinching Oval Test of 2005. It was, unquestionably, a performance that will enhance his already mythical status within English cricket, but more pertinently for now, delivered England to a 1-0 series lead heading into Edgbaston. England have waited 75 years to win at Lords , and they have taken a 1-0 lead in an Ashes series for the first time since 1997.

 

  

  

It was Flintoff all the way.... England having posted a great opening wicket stand slumped a bit to reach as similar a situation as was at Cardiff.. With Strauss being bowled in the 1st over the next day, the onus was on the lower order to put up some vital runs.. And they did it considerably well.. 425 was a par score.. 

Australia were below par in their 1st innings losing 2 early wickets only for Katich and the tired out of form Hussey to bail them out.. Once they were out, the team crumbled to 152 for 8 with Siddle and Hauritz saving the blushes for australia as they played brilliantly to get the team across 200.. 

A lead of 210 was a little too much and Australia had to bowl well to restrict England to a decent score to post a successful chase.. They failed to do so.. Bopara and KP were uncharacteristically slow , Prior played well to post a quick fire half century.. 

The declaration was not all that well timed.. The only reason could have been to use the early morning conditions to get a few wickets but I personally would have loved to have another 60-70 runs more or whatever is got in the 1st hour of play.. It was good that Australia lost Katich early or a good performance from him and/or Hussey could have got Aussies closer.. But it was the big man Freddie all the way.. Took 5 wickets in his final outing at the Lords as a test match player and was instrumental in the win.. Swann played an equally important role.. 

Now, the big question that arises is - How many times have the Aussies failed to play the swinging ball ? Genuine swing or reverse swing Aussies always lose out.. Mitchell Johnson who was hyped as a trump card hasn't bowled well at all going at well over 4 or at sometimes 5 RPO.. Thats ridiculous from a test match point of view.. He may lose out his spot to an accurate Clark if the Aussies want to win and square the series.. 

Andy Flower, coach England has jumped the gun and said England can win without KP and Flintoff ; even if not for performances their mere presence in the team will boost the side's morale and they need to play a crucial role if England are to regain the Ashes.. 

Next match at Birmingham on the 30th of july.. 

Bangladesh rein supreme

When was the last time Bangladesh won a test match ?

We have to date back to Jan 2005 to a 2 test home series against Zimbabwe.. Zimbabwe were lead by Taibu and Bangladesh by Bashar.. At 12.53 p.m. on January 10, the moment all Bangladesh had been waiting for arrived. When Enamul Haque junior had Christopher Mpofu held at silly point, they recorded their maiden victory in their 35th Test. They had been dreaming of this day since gaining Test status in 2000, but first had to endure 31 defeats, three draws..

Four years and six months after their first Test win, Bangladesh sealed a historic second victory when they beat West Indies by 95 runs in St Vincent.. Bangladesh's spin twins Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah weaved a tantalizing web to consign a weakened West Indies to defeat.

The champagne moment arrived at 4.40 pm local time when Shakib, the stand-in captain, nailed last man Tino Best in front with a dipping full toss with only ten overs left in the day.. Bangladeshi fielders converged in a huddle of joy, soon joined by a limping Mashrafe Mortaza..

  

  

  

  

nPower Ashes test- Cardiff

 

 nPower Ashes 2009

 

Happier time

 

Poor bowling gives Anderson headaches and leaves Broad red faced

 

Philip Hughes got Aus to a great start followed by stupendous batting from Ponting and Katich

 

 Aussie dressing room celebrates centuries from North and Haddin

 

Marcus North scored a brilliant century cementing his disputed spot in the side

 

Haddin has been in great form of late and he continued his form with a quick fire 100

 

KP bowled by Hilfenhaus and Aussies got on top of England soon after..

 

Gutsy batting by Panesar and Anderson to save the test match wwas marred by some cheap tactics of getting the 12th man and the physio on the field to evade time

 

NO!! Thats not the scenes of winning but actually narrowly managing to escape from the jaws of defeat..

Australia were on top right throughout the game until the last hour.. Last hour they some how could not manage to get Panesar and Anderson out.. Earlier in the day Collingwood played brilliantly to eat away time which was undone by a momentary lapse in concentration that made him top edge a upper cut or rather a miscued upper cut to Hussey.. England looked down and out before their nightwatchman Anderson and the no.11 Panesar batted out nearly 11 overs to save the match.. Every defense of Panesar was cheered to the max.. The huge roar when England went past Aussie score to post a lead was akin winning back the ashes..

Nothing much to celebrate though, as England would rue missing the inform Onions in this match.. Swann was very poor so was Panesar.. Broad looked down and out.. Need to strengthen the bowling if the have any hopes of winning a test match leave alone winning the ashes back.. 

Aussie looked far better.. The question they would like to answer if they like to bring Clark back in for Siddle, the latter had gone for quite a few runs in the match at a high RPO.. Clark would keep things tighter.. Hauritz has been more than handy and has bowled pretty well amidst all the criticisms that he cannot be rated as a spinner.. Batting looks all the more potent with North showing quite a lot of promise making up for the loss in form of Hussey.. 

All eyes now on the coming Thursday as the action shifts to Lords.. Will there be any team changes from the both the sides? Or atleast England would like to bring Onions back in place of Panesar/Swann ..