Live Chat
online
Create
The County Championship is reaching an interesting finish where three teams are still in fray to win the title. The Middlesex-Yorkshire is game turning into a psychological warfare, where a win for either side will ensure the championship title for them, while a draw at Lords would result in Somerset winning the title.
Middlesex, who were initially frustrating the Yorkshire bowlers by playing out time, declared their innings on 359, giving Yorkshire a target of 240 in 40 overs, setting up a nailbiting finish. It will be interesting to see whether Yorkshire bats aggressively and goes for the target, or settles for a draw to hand Somerset the County Championship.
Taskin Ahmed has been cleared to bowl by the ICC
Bangladesh's fast bowler Taskin Ahmed and spinner Arafat Sunny have been cleared to bowl by the ICC after remedied actions. The two were reported for suspected actions during the 2016 World T20, and were subsequently banned when their actions were found illegal after they were tested at the ICC centre in Chennai.
The ICC mentioned in a press release that the umpires were free to report Arafat and Taskin in the future if they believe they use a suspect action.
Bangladesh would be looking for Taskin and Sunny to play a key role for their side in the upcoming home season. Bangladesh takes on Afghanistan in three ODIs at home, followed by a home series against England featuring three ODIs and Two tests.
Memon believes a different venue should have hosted the 500th host.
Renowned cricket journalist, Ayaz Memon, believes that Mumbai, and not Kanpur, should have hosted India's historic 500th Test. In an article written for Hindustan Times, Memon mentioned that he didn't want to take anything away from Kanpur's Green Park stadium, but felt Mumbai would have been an ideal choice for the 500th Test, given the rich culture and tradition of Bombay cricket.
Memon also wrote that given the extended monsoon and the current wet spell, a different venue should have been preferred. Memon felt BCCI failed to grab an opportunity to create a build-up for the 500th Test, which was needed given that Test cricket is struggling to get viewers in the country.
Hazzlewood feels new DRS tweaks will rule out the 'really bad calls'.
Australian pacer Josh Hazzlewood believes the changes to the Decision Review System (DRS) will favour the bowlers. The tweaks have been made to the usage of DRS during the 'Umpire's call' in a Leg Before Decision decision. According to the new rule, for a 'not out' call to be overturned, more than half the ball now has to be hitting the pad within an area bordered by the outside of off and leg stumps.
The 25-year old quick feels the tweaks will rule out the 'really bad calls' on the field. Hazzlewood said, "I do like (the DRS) in the fact that it takes that really bad call out of the game, if you've got one (review) left. (But) I do like that natural umpire making all of the decisions."
"You can tinker with the rules and I think this is a good one, bringing it back in the bowler's favour. Obviously I'm a fan of that." the pacer said.
Vaughan refutes Trott's claims about targeting the latter during the 2013-14 Ashes
Michael Vaughan has hit back Jonathan Trott's claims on his integrity. Trott had targetted Vaughan claiming that the former England captain targetted him in a column for The Telegraph for quitting the 2013-14 Ashes series midway due to a 'stress-related illness' but not other players like Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stoke, since they were associated with ISM, Vaughan's sports management company.
Vaughan dismissed Trott's claims, and responded on Twitter. "At the time of writing that article, I held no role with ISM other than being a client of ISM," Vaughan said. "The cricketers named, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes, are ranked and widely regarded as amongst the very best in the world in their respective disciplines.
The former England captain also wrote "Criticism of my opinions, my actions and even personal criticisms are all fair game, but I will not accept any attack on my honesty or my integrity," he said.
The 41-year old also mentioned that he taking help of his legal team on the matter. "My solicitors have today written to the Times concerning the inaccuracy of the article," Vaughan wrote.
South African all-rounder Chris Morris has been sidelined for two-months with a left knee injury. The injury rules him out of the ODI series against Ireland and Australia.
Morris had been carrying a niggle in his knee for 8 months, and the injury had worsened in the last few weeks. Morris will be hoping for a return back to international cricket for the Test series against Sri Lanka in December.
Dwaine Pretorius has been added to the squad for the Australia ODIs, that begin from September 30 in Centurion.
Australia's women's cricket team, also called the Southern Stars, came back from behind to bag the third game of the four-match one-day international series. Losing the toss, the Sri Lankan women got off to a flying start, before the spin of Grace Harris and Kristen Beams, thwarted the home teams run flow, putting pressure. Jess Jonassenand Holly Ferling followed up the good work, initiating a Sri Lankan collapse, where the host side lost 6 wickets for 20 runs, and bundling out for a mere 103.
The Southern Stars openers Nicole Bolton and Elyse Villani didn't break a sweat, and chased the target in the 28th over, with the loss of only wicket.
Afghanistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Shahzad has expressed his admiration for Indian limited-overs skipper MS Dhoni, saying that he had been following the Indian cricketer for over a decade and wished to play in the same side as him one day in the IPL.
“I saw MS Dhoni first in 2005, but then when I saw him and his team win the ICC World T20 in 2007 I felt very nice. I had a dream of meeting MS Dhoni and that was fulfilled 3 years after that when Afghanistan toured West Indies for World T20.”
“MS Dhoni is an extremely down to earth and humble human being. My wish is to play along his side in IPL once.”
A few days back, Ishant Sharma was declared unfit to compete in the opening India vs New Zealand Test at Kanpur after failing to fully recover from Chikungunya.
That disease it looks like has found itself another casualty, with Justice RM Lodha now down with the disease and that means that proposed meeting between the BCCI and the Lodha panel, scheduled for the 26th of September could be postponed.
Former member of the selection panel Vikram Rathore has backed the decision of the BCCI to pick a new selection panel, stating that while big names are good for the role, nothing can be done if those names dont apply for the job.
He added all five picked for the job had a good understanding of the job and admitted that a few others, who were in other off-field roles werent too sure to go for it, keeping in mind the conflict of interest issue.
Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag got out for a duck in a charity match between Cricket United and Surrey All-Stars at Surrey's home ground, The Oval. Sehwag was dismissed by Jade Dernbach after the ball clipped Sehwag's bat and went straight to the first slip where Adam Hollioake completed the catch.
Cricket United scored 143-7 in their 20 overs, thanks to Owais Shah's 59 and Yusuf Pathan's 34. In reply, Surrey kept losing wickets at regular intervals. When 4 runs were needed off 1 ball, Harbhajan Singh managed to score just 2 runs as his team fell short by just one run. Saeed Ajmal was the pick of the bowler for Cricket United as he picked up 3 wickets.
Indian opener Murali Vijay backs Rohit Sharma in spite of his failure in the first innings of the first test against New Zealand. Vijay feels that when an expensive shot from Rohit does not come good, it makes him look silly and when it does, it fetches him appreciation. He also added that despite the end result, one needed to have trust in Rohit’s instincts.
Vijay said, When it comes out good, it looks good. When it doesn’t, you fall on the wrong side. We still have got to back our instincts.
Read more on this story here
Former Australian opener Chris Rogers has announced his retirement from first-class cricket after leading Somerset to victory in their final County Championship fixture of the season. The 39-year-old signed off in spectacular style scoring centuries in both innings as his side thrashed Nottinghamshire by 325 runs.
For more on this, read here
Legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar has revealed that he would have loved to play alongside his cricket heroes Sunil Gavaskar and Sir Viv Richards.
Speaking to The Hindu, Sachin said, “ I really would have loved playing alongside Sunil sir (Gavaskar) and Viv (Richards). They were my batting heroes.” Gavaskar also responded to Sachin’s quote by saying It’s nice of him to say that.
For more on this, read here.
Former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt is not sure whether he will be considered for national selection in spite of a good show in the National T20 Cup, but hopes to keep knocking on the doors by giving his best. Butt said, Since my comeback, every time I've done well, it has given me a good feeling. I want to carry on with these performances till I get selected, that is the ultimate goal. I don't know if the board really want me or not, but I have two good performances.
Live Chat
online
Middlesex win County Championship after thrilling finish!
In a thrilling end to the league, Middlesex have been crowned the champions of Division One in the County Cricket Championship in England after defeating Yorkshire.
Yorkshire had a target of 240 to get in 40 overs, but a brilliant bowling spell by Toby Roland-Jones saw Middlesex through as Yorkshire were bowled out for 178 with only 4.4 overs left to play. Earlier in the day, Middlesex had declared their innings after scoring 359 with the loss of 6 wickets.
A draw between the two sides would have seen Somerset lift the title, but Middlesex once again proved why they are one of the best sides in the game.