Deccan bounce back with resounding home win

Updated at: 1240 PST,  Friday, April 15, 2011

HYDERABAD: Deccan Chargers revived their faltering Indian Premier League campaign with a 33-run thrashing of Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday.Pacemen Dale Steyn and Manpreet Gony grabbed three wickets each while Ishant Sharma took one to restrict Bangalore to 142-9 after Bharat Chipli struck 61 not out to take Deccan to 175-5 at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium.The win was Deccan's first at home after eight IPL losses, including two in the current edition.Sharma struck early for Deccan, having the dangerous Tillakaratne Dilshan caught behind in the second over for seven.The experiment to promote tailender Zaheer Khan as a pinch hitter also flopped, with Steyn uprooting his middle stump with a swinging full toss.Gony then removed opening batsman Mayank Agarwal and the in-form AB de Villiers to leave Bangalore reeling at 29-4 in the seventh over.Virat Kohli waged a lone battle, making a 51-ball 71 before falling to Gony. Chipli earlier held the Deccan innings together with his quickfire 35-ball knock, containing five fours and three sixes.Zaheer had given Bangalore a key breakthrough when he removed opener Shikhar Dhawan in the third over after skipper Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to field.Sunny Sohal (38) came to his team's rescue, putting on 50 runs with skipper Kumar Sangakkara who made a fine 36 before being caught by de Villiers off Johan van der Wath (1-30).Deccan piled on 63 runs from the last five overs but Zaheer applied the brakes by removing JP Duminy (22) and Deccan's big buy Daniel Christian in the space of five balls.Zaheer finished with figures of 3-32 off his four overs.Brief scores:Deccan Chargers 175-5 in 20 overs (B. Chipli 61, S. Sohal 38, K. Sangakkara 36; Zaheer Khan 3-32) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 142-9 in 20 overs (V. Kohli 71, C. Pujara 25; D. Steyn 3-24, M. Gony 3-31) by 33 runs.

Read More

Buchanan named New Zealand director of cricket

Former Australia coach John Buchanan has been named New Zealand's director of cricket, a new position which will govern most high-performance aspects of the sport in New Zealand.The 58-year-old was confirmed in the position Friday and will take up his role in May, New Zealand Cricket said.NZC said Buchanan will establish New Zealand's new high-performance programm, implement a consistent coaching philosophy across the country, build a talent identification system and oversee the national selection panel.He was Australia coach for eight years from 1999, guiding it to two World Cup titles and a record 16 wins in a row in Test matches."It's an honour to be appointed to this challenging role. It is a wonderful opportunity to build on the work that has been done," Buchanan said."New Zealand Cricket has a proud history and is a true honour to be given the responsibility. I want to be part of the next successful era and am committed to building sustainable high performance for New Zealand Cricket."NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said Buchanan's appointment gave the team an opportunity to improve on the world stage."He has a great cricketing pedigree and will provide outstanding leadership as NZC look to move forward," he said.While Buchanan had an outstanding record of success with the Australia team, his methods were often seen as unorthodox and the value of his contribution was disputed.Former captain Ricky Ponting rated his contribution highly but outspoken leg-spinner Shane Warne was often dismissive of his approach and input.New Zealand recently reached the semifinals of the World Cup, but that success followed a near-record losing streak in one-day internationals.Under recent coaches John Bracewell, Andy Moles and Mark Greatbatch, New Zealand has dropped near the bottom of the world standings in both Tests and one-day matches.

Read More