Wellington woo Zimbabwe star

Wellington have signed Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor and Surrey skipper Rory Hamilton-Brown as the remaining overseas imports for their domestic Twenty20 cricket campaign.The province's director of cricket Robbie Kerr confirmed the signings this morning.Batsman Taylor will play the full 10-match campaign, starting on December 18, and possibly also some 50-over matches for the Firebirds in mid-December.The 25-year-old had a remarkable run of form in the recent series against New Zealand, scoring 128 not out, 107 not out and 75 in the ODIs and 50 and 117 in the one-off test in Bulawayo.''He caught our eye in Zimbabwe and seemed to find the New Zealand bowlers quite enjoyable,'' Kerr said.Taylor's stint with Wellington will serve as a lead-in to his country's tour of New Zealand which starts in late January.Hamilton-Brown is a batting all-rounder, who also bowls offspin. The former England under-19 player was recommended by England coach Andy Flower.The 24-year-old will play the second half of the competition, replacing Sri Lankan star Muttiah Muralitharan when he departs after the round five game against Northern Districts in Mt Maunganui on January 4. Hamilton-Brown's debut will be the home match against Canterbury on January 6.World Test wicket recordholder Muralitharan is only available for the first five games as his wife is due to give birth to their second child in early January.Wellington's T20 opener is against Auckland in Auckland on December 18.

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Sanath Jayasuriya blames poor batting for loss against Pakistan – Cricket News Update

Sanath Jayasuriya blames poor batting for loss against Pakistan – Cricket News UpdateFormer Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya blamed poor batting display for his side’s Test and One Day International (ODI) series loss against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).Sri Lanka toured UAE with high hopes to deliver against the Men in Green, who are known to be inconsistent in international cricket.However, the visitors failed to make an impression and have won just one game out of the total eight played until now, three being Tests and five ODIs.Jayasuriya was extremely disappointed with the outcome of the series and said, “It's a bit disappointing to lose both the series. It would have been ideal had we won at least one. I think sometimes in Tests we batted well and sometimes we just got stuck and did not look for runs and bogged down. Batting was poor and the only batsman in form was Kumar Sangakkara.”The legendary all-rounder said that the team needs to work out some plan in order to get out of the current crisis.The 42-year-old added, “You need three or four batsmen to be among the runs. I didn't see others chipping in with runs and that's what Sri Lanka is lacking in and they should have a chat and discuss what went wrong because this is the third series ending in this manner.Jayasuriya further went onto say that the team should not still panic and give time to the youngsters to settle down. He added that this phase can come at any team where senior players are leaving and the youngsters are struggling to cope up with the pressure of international cricket.Earlier, the Sri Lankan skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan echoed the words of Jayasuriya, saying that his batting was not up to mark in the UAE series.The 35-year-old said that he was proud of the bowlers, who were considered as a weakness before the start of the series against Pakistan.However, things turned out to be entirely different once the series kicked off and the Sri Lankan batting started failing regularly.Dilshan will now be hoping to win the only Twenty20 of the tour, which is scheduled to be played in Abu Dhabi on Friday, November 25, 2011Tagged in: Twenty20, Dubai, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, ODI, Test, Sanath Jayasuriya, Abu Dhabi, UAE Test your Cricket knowledge by placing free betting on cricket matches. Get most accurate Cricket betting odds and picks for successful betting.

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Ponting confronts his cricket mortality

Ricky Ponting has conceded he does not have much time left in the game, saying he will quit as soon as he considers himself incapable of improvement, and will not wait for a "tap on the shoulder. However Ponting believes he is not yet ready to retire because he has not felt the same loss of drive common to the greats he once shared a dressing room with.In Ponting's time as captain, Justin Langer, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist all related the same drain of enthusiasm for the work required to keep playing international cricket. Ponting said he was yet to feel similarly empty, and was flushed with further enthusiasm by his 62 in Australia's memorable win over South Africa."If I keep doing all the work that I'm doing and then not getting the results then maybe it's time. But at the moment I don't feel that time is here just yet," Ponting said in Sydney. "I feel there's enough there still to keep working hard. I was captain when Langer, Warne and Gilchrist and all those guys stood down so I know the things that were going through their mind having spoken to them."A lot of them, what they said about it they just didn't have the drive and the desire to work as hard as they needed to work to get their games back on track again. With me, there's no doubting that at all. You can ask all the other players, all the other coaches and the things that I've been doing and putting myself through over the last few months it' s been about trying to get every little last bit out of myself and giving myself the best chance to perform."I'll continue to do that but there's only a certain amount of time I can keep that going for as well. If it is that I've reached a point where I can't get better then it might be time.Ponting is clearly preparing himself for the possibility this may be his last summer in Australian colours, even though the possibility is hurtful to a man who has known the inside of the dressing room for 16 years. His recent struggles in South Africa, brightened partially by the final innings, gave him plenty of time to consider his own technical fallibility."When you have three dismissals that I've had in that Test series I had to have a look at where things were going wrong," Ponting said. "I was seeing the ball clear enough, I felt I was moving early enough but I was moving into the wrong positions. Head position was one thing I had to look at and I was locking myself off with my front foot, straight ball was hitting me on the pads.I did a lot of work leading up to the second Test match and got out the same way in the first innings of the second Test. I noticed some differences with my own batting in the second innings of the second Test. It's probably been highlighted as well. I saw some footage on the big screen when I was batting showing things were a little bit different in that innings."I know if I get some time in the middle then all those things will start coming back. It's when you're deprived of time in the middle you wonder how long it's going to take for that stuff to come back again. I couldn't bat more in the nets than I have over the last few months and it's about now getting myself in the same frame of mind as I was for this last Test match then hopefully start the summer really well in Australia."Though he has been the subject of unstinting criticism and analysis over the past year, first for his captaincy and latterly his batting, Ponting said he understood the reasons why, and did not need to hear his captain Michael Clarke say he needed to contribute more often."I don't have to ask questions to know I have to make runs," Ponting said. "We're in a professional game and if you're not making runs you'll arrive home and you'll answer questions that I've been answering the last few weeks, that's just part and parcel of what we do."I totally understand why I'm being asked the questions I'm being asked, but by the same token I believe I'm good enough, one, to be in the team and I'm good enough to win games for Australia. Hopefully in the next little bit I can start doing that again.

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World Twenty20 plans begin here

Twenty20 might have become the origin of everything that is bad (or good, depending on your affiliation) about cricket, but the international Twenty20 game has had almost no role to play in that development. Consider these stats: we have had 32 Tests so far in 2011 and 139 ODIs - a number inflated by the World Cup, no doubt - but only a piddling 19 Twenty20 internationals. Comparing that number against the 74 fixtures IPL 2011 alone had, gives you even better perspective of the space T20Is occupy.T20Is have been reduced to irrelevant one- or two-match series, shoe-horned at either end of long bilateral tours. The stakes are so low that teams don't take these games seriously. A part of the reason is the quirky scheduling of the World Twenty20. Initially planned as a biannual event that would lend context to the format, it made three London-bus appearances in four years, before hibernating out of our conscious. The next edition will be held in September 2012 in Sri Lanka, and teams will want to start drawing up plans now, after a year dominated by the World Cup and a clutch of marquee Test series.Sri Lanka haven't looked like winning anything in the longer formats since the World Cup. Indeed, they have lost all their Test and ODI series since then. However, in that same period, they have been unbeaten in Twenty20s, and are in the middle of an impressive sequence of five successive wins. They will be desperate to extend that run and build momentum in the lead-up to the World Twenty at home, even as they seek succour from their reversals in the other formats.Pakistan have always impressed in Twenty20s, a six-match losing run last year notwithstanding. They have won the World Twenty20 once, and made the final and the semi-finals on the other two occasions. Their fortunes next year will hinge on how the team responds to Misbah-ul-Haq's leadership. His safety-first method has been an unequivocal success in the Test and ODI versions, but it remains to be seen whether it will work in Twenty20s. Watch out for Misbah-ul-Haq is now known for his equanimity as much as his poetic forward defence. He has moulded the Pakistan side in his own image, leading to the increasing popularity of the hash-tag #TeamMisbah on Twitter. When he first announced himself, Misbah was anything but the obdurate middle-order milker that he has become now. He lit up the inaugural World Twenty20 with a bunch of audacious innings that took Pakistan to within a shot of glory. Which version of Misbah will be on display in this game?At various points during the tour Tillakaratne Dilshan has looked tired, indignant, sad and frustrated. By the end of the ODI series, with his form and his side's fortunes in a seemingly terminal slump, his dominant expression seemed to suggest resignation. The chance to thrash it around in the shortest format should lift his spirits; on Friday, no one will question his shot-selection if he gets out playing those loose on-the-up heaves.Team newsIn Mahela Jayawardene's absence, Sri Lanka might be forced to open with Dinesh Chandimal, unless Upul Tharanga gets a look in. Given his poor ODI form, that is unlikely.Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 2 Dinesh Chandimal, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Chamara Silva, 5 Dimuth Karunaratne, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Dilruwan Perera/Kosala Kulasekara, 9 Thisara Perara, 10 Lasith Malinga, 10 Dilhara FernandoPakistan have 14 fit players in their squad, of which Abdur Rehman and Sarfraz Ahmed are almost sure to miss out.Pakistan (possible): 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Imran Farhat/Asad Shafiq, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Umar Akmal (wk), 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Sohail Tanvir, 9 Aizaz Cheema, 10 Umar Gul, 11 Saeed Ajmal Stats and triviaThere's a Pakistan traffic-jam at the head of the list of leading wicket-takers in the format. Shahid Afridi has 53, followed by Umar Gul (47) and Saeed Ajmal (45). How Sri Lanka would have loved to have No. 4 on that list - Ajantha Mendis - fit and available.Dilshan is one of only five T20I centurions. Jayawardene is another, but like Mendis, he isn't around for this game Quotes"It will be a new game on Friday and a change of format, so I hope the players lift themselves.Tillakaratne Dilshan hopes a change in format will lead to a change in fortunes"He still has a lot of cricket in him and just needs one innings to get back in touch.Misbah-ul-Haq backs Shoaib Malik to come good soon

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Paceman Junaid Khan out of Pakistan's Bangladesh tour

ABU DHABI : Pakistan paceman Junaid Khan was ruled out of the team's tour of Bangladesh after injuring his abdominal muscle during the fifth and final one-day against Sri Lanka here on Wednesday.The 21-year-old left-arm paceman had a MRI scan after he felt pain during his three-over spell in the match, which revealed a partial tear."The scan revealed a partial tear of the abdominal muscle which requires six weeks of rest," said assistant team manager Naushad Ali. "He is out of the Bangladesh tour and needs rehabilitation."Khan's injury is the second blow to Pakistan after allrounder Abdul Razzaq was Tuesday ruled out of the tour with a shoulder injury.Pakistan have already announced a 16-man squad for the tour of Bangladesh where they play one Twenty20 match, three one-day internationals and two Tests, starting with the Twenty20 in Dhaka on Tuesday.Ali said Pakistan Cricket Board's selection committee would in time name replacements for the injured duo.Khan, who made his Test debut on the tour of Zimbabwe in September this year, has so far played four Tests, nine one-day internationals and two Twenty20s. AGENCIES

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England eyes 50-over domestic league

LONDON : English cricket is considering replacing its 40-over domestic one-day league with a 50-over tournament to replicate the international game, the ECB said on Wednesday.England are Twenty20 world champions and have risen to the top of the world test rankings but have struggled for years at 50-over one-day cricket."In order to compliment the Team England goal of mirroring success in the Test and Twenty20 formats at the forthcoming Cricket World Cups, the format of ODI cricket must be introduced within domestic cricket from 2014," a statement said following an extensive consultation."To support and strengthen the domestic County game, 14 T20 matches should be played, and to provide preparation time for high quality four-day cricket, the County Championship should be reduced to 14 matches."The ECB is also looking to reduce the number of four-day county matches on the calendar. AGENCIES

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Tendulkar again falls short of 100th century

MUMBAI : Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar fell short of his 100th international century once again on Friday after being dismissed for 94 in the third and final test against West Indies.Tendulkar, playing his 184th test at his home Wankhede Stadium, has scored 51 centuries in tests and 48 in one-dayers. He recorded his 99th century in March during the 50-over World Cup.He was caught by West Indies captain Darren Sammy and bowled by Ravi Rampaul. AGENCIES

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Pakistan eye clean sweep vs SL with T20 win

ABU DHABI : Pakistan will be looking to complete a clean sweep of all three forms of the game against Sri Lanka tonight after their comfortable three-wicket win in the final ODI on Wednesday night.Tonight the two teams meet in a one-off T20 international and, after having won both the Test and ODI series, Pakistan will be starting off as favourites in the game, which gets off to an 8pm start at the Zayed International Cricket Stadium.The Lankans will be boosted by the presence of Ajantha Mendis and newcomers wicketkeeper-batsman Kushal Janith Perera and opening batsman Dimuth Karunaratne as Tillakeratne Dilshan looks to reverse his team's fortunes in the shortest version of the game.On Wednesday night, Pakistan's young wicketkeeper-batsman Umar Akmal scored an unbeaten 61 and also picked up three catches behind the stumps to emerge as Man of the Match.Giving him a helping hand was skipper Misbah-ul-Haq with an innings of 66 from 99 balls and he was involved first in a 62-run stand for the third wicket with Younus Khan and then added 84 runs for the fifth wicket with Akmal.Pakistan

, who lost Abdul Razzaq before the final ODI to an injury, suffered another blow on Wednesday night when their strapping young left-arm paceman Junaid Khan was ruled out of action for six weeks following a muscle tear in his abdomen.But Misbah's squad have had a fine run in this series, which was also reflected in Wednesday's win when Sohail Tanvir regained his form to finish with a four-wicket haul and then Akmal stepped in to finish the run chase on a confident note.Dilshan, who has been woefully out of form himself, will be hoping to get back in what is his favourite form of the game, while the Lankans will once again depend on Kumar Sangakkara.Vice-captain Angelo Mathews impressed with both bat and ball in the final ODI and much of Sri Lanka's chances will depend on him. The Islanders will also be looking to Lasith Malinga and Mendis to provide some firepower with their pace and spin respectively.Squads:Pakistan: Misbah-ul Haq (capt), Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malek, Sarfraz Ahmad, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Umar Gul, Aizaz Cheema, Sohail Tanvir, Asad Shafiq.Sri Lanka:Tillakaratne Dilshan (captain), Angelo Mathews, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Dinesh Chandimal, Kushal Janith Perera, Thisara Perera, Ajantha Mendis, Dilruwan Perera, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Kosala Kulasekera, Charmara Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne. AGENCIES

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Saeed Ajmal ranked number-one ODI bowler in the world

Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal has rocketed to the top of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers following an impressive series performance against Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates.Ajmal took 11 wickets at an average of just 16.27 and an economy-rate of less than 4.00 to help his side to a 4-1 series win. That effort won him five places on the latest rankings and puts him at the top, just ahead of two other spinner, Daniel Vettori of New Zealand and England's Graeme Swann.In what has proven to be a very successful series for members of the Pakistan attack, two other bowlers - Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez - have shot into the top 10 with Afridi now occupying seventh position and Hafeez one place further back.And it's not just the Pakistan bowlers who are making moves up the rankings. With an average of 53.66 for the series, Umar Akmal has gained six places on the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen and now sits in 11th spot. There is no change, however, in the top 10 of the batting chart with South Africa's Hashim Amla still leading the way followed by his team-mate AB de Villiers in second.

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Five Australia players unavailable for selection for first Test vs New Zealand

Cricket Australia has today advised that Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Pat Cummins will be unavailable for selection for the first Test against New Zealand starting at the Gabba on 1 December.The squad will be announced tomorrow.Cricket Australia General Manager Team Performance Pat Howard said:"We unfortunately suffered some injuries during the recent Test series against South Africa. With such a short turnaround time between series, five players who were involved in the series will not fully recover in time to play the first Test against New Zealand."Speaking about the individual players, Australia team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said:Ryan Harris"Ryan Harris is recovering from the pelvis injury that kept him out of the second Test against South Africa. He is making good progress but has not returned to bowling as yet and is therefore unavailable to play the first Test against New Zealand. A decision on his return to training will be made early next week and will determine his return to playing. Shane Watson "Shane Watson has not fully recovered from a hamstring strain sustained in the second Test against South Africa earlier this week. He is making good progress and will be reviewed next week to determine his availability." Shaun Marsh "Shaun Marsh has made significant progress from the back injury he sustained in South Africa. He has not returned to training as yet and will continue to have intensive treatment. We are hopeful that he will return to training sometime next week and possibly be available for selection for the second Test."Mitchell Johnson "Mitchell Johnson injured his left foot while batting in the second innings of the second Test against South Africa earlier this week. His foot was considerably swollen and painful after the game but he is showing early signs of improvement. He will not return to training in time to be fit for the Gabba. His return to training and playing will be clearer in coming days after he is assessed by a foot specialist in Perth and the swelling has had a chance to resolve." Pat Cummins "Pat Cummins experienced left heel pain towards the end of the second innings in his debut Test match. He had scans that have cleared him of any serious injury but we don?t expect that he will fully recover in time. He will be reviewed early next week to determine his workload plan for the summer.

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