happy new year 2012

Herath spins Sri Lanka to victory

Sri Lanka levelled their series in South Africa with victory by 208 runs on the fourth day of the second Test at Durban.

Set an imposing 450 to win and clinch the three-match series, the hosts were dismissed for 241, with only AB de Villiers (69) and Dale Steyn (43) - who put on 99 for the seventh wicket - offering much resistance.

Rangana Herath took five wickets for 79 runs to seal a first Test win for Sri Lanka since the retirement of legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and set the stage for a thrilling decider in Cape Town next week.

Aus media

India were "bounced and bruised at the MCG", declared a gleeful Aussie media which hailed the hosts for their surprise humbling of the famed India batting line-up.

The much-vaunted Indian batting line-up came under attack from the Australian media as the visitors could post just 282 and 169 in the two innings against an inexperienced home side bowling attack to lose the Test by 122 runs.

Only Sachin Tendulkar seemed to be in control over the Australian fast bowlers as he top-scored in both innings with a fluent 73 and 32, the local media said.

'The Daily Telegraph' wrote that the pressure is now on India and their famed batting line-up would have to prove that they are not flat-track bullies.

"MS Dhoni has conceded India's great weapon is now its weakness - a cast of batting flops who must prove they are not flat-track bullies," the newspaper said.

Fast Sydney track awaits India

There will be no respite for India when they head to Sydney for the second Test, with the curator promising a fast-paced pitch.

SCG curator Tom Parker said the pitch he is preparing would favour fast bowlers on the opening day before settling down and turning later.

A year ago, Australia registered a first-day score of 134/4 on a rain-marred first day en route to an innings defeat to England.

Akram questions Dhoni's tactics at MCG

Former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram has slammed India's negative body language on crucial Day 4 of series-opening Test and questioned MS Dhoni's captaincy.

By Joshua Nath

After suffering a humiliating 122-run loss in Melbourne on Friday, MS Dhoni and his men are under fire. Losing five overseas Tests on-the-trot has invited censure and the captain’s role is now under the scanner.

Pakistan legend Wasim Akram has slammed Dhoni’s captaincy, criticizing his field positioning and his inability to motivate the team’s younger lot when the chips were down at the MCG

First job is done by Indian blower

Coming to the end of first day of first test match between IND vs AUS, AUS was 277 for the lost of six wicket. Young blower U Yadav took first 3 wickets (Warner, Marsh, Ponting), Z khan took the wicket of Clarke and Hussey and at last R Ashwin took the wicket of Cowan.

Australia started the day aggressively but then India bounced back in the second half of the morning session.  The hosts batted quite impressively post lunch with Ponting and Cowan faring well with the bat. The last session saw the Asian side bouncing back one more time with three quick wickets but the frustrating partnership between Haddin and Siddle restricted India from bundling out the innings.

Hussey said he can stop Tendulkar

Michael Hussey insists Australia will be doing all they can to prevent Sachin Tendulkar from scoring his 100th international century.

The 'Little Master' is poised on 99 tons and it is widely anticipated that the elusive 100 will come up in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.

But, while Hussey expects Tendulkar to reach the landmark, he just hopes to not be on the receiving end of it.

"I hope he doesn't get it against Australia. He's been a number one player for so long, it's a credit to his character, but I hope he doesn't get his 100th hundred in Australia," said Hussey.

"I don't think he is under any pressure though. He knows his own game so well. He has been under pressure for so long. The way the public has been with Tendulkar in India, he would be able to handle it, no problem."

Hussey himself meanwhile is struggling for form and is lucky to be selected for the Melbourne Test after failing in the Test series' against South Africa and New Zealand.

The 36-year-old has scored just 83 runs in his last seven innings', but insists he just needs a bit of luck to go his way and the runs will soon follow.

Ricky Ponting against Sachin Tendulkar

There is no denying the fact that Tendulkar and Ponting are two of the greatest in the modern-day game. They have both led their sides and are the most prolific scorers in Tests and one-dayers.

With the Boxing Day Test round the corner, the duo would both be eyeing a century, albeit for different reasons.

Tendulkar will be keen to get the monkey off his back by scoring his 100th international ton, while Ponting would look to end the century-draught. He has not scored one in nearly two years. The former captain quit captaincy in March and turned 37 on Monday. The ton could go a long way in saving his career.

Not that they have not had their opportunities to achieve the same. Tendulkar reached 94 in the third Test against the West Indies in Mumbai last month but nicked one to the slips.

The 38-year-old also threatened with a 76 in the first West Indies Test following a 91 in the fourth Test against England at the Oval in August.

He has totalled 651 runs in eight Tests for an average of 46.50 this year

'Rohit must be preferred over Kohli'

Former Australian skipper, Ian Chappell, says India's Rohit Sharma should be chosen over Virat Kohli in the Test series between the two sides, starting in Melbourne on December 26.


Kohli has more or less sealed the number-six slot with a century in the last warm-up game in Canberra, but Chappell said it would be a mistake to play the Delhi batsman at the expense of Sharma.

"I think Rohit Sharma should be preferred. I have seen him taking on the Australians, playing the horizontal shots.

"But I think Kohli will be played, and that will be a mistake," Chappell said

It's Aussie youth vs old wise India

Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke says the 'youth and enthusiasm' of his team would be up against India's 'old wise heads' during the eagerly-awaited Test series from December 26.

"I think it's going to be a really good contest between youth and enthusiasm versus some old wise heads in the Indian team," Clarke wrote in his column for 'The Daily Telegraph'.

"The Indians are a very strong team currently ranked second in the world on the ICC Test ladder behind England. In Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag (to name a few) they have a lot of batting experience, knowledge and runs," he said.

"But their bowling lacks experience and they're dealing with injuries as well. They'll have concerns there. Zaheer Khan is a big player for them," Clarke explained.

Clarke said the Aussies have been practising hard against seaming deliveries and having a batting camp before the series has turned out to be a good idea.

Lyon: Not afraid of Sehwag, Sachin

Australia's off spinner Nathan Lyon has said that Shane Warne's era is "gone and done" and he is not afraid of the famed Indian batting.

Lyon, who nearly won Australia the Test in Hobart against New  Zealand claimed that the upcoming four match Test series against India will be tough but he was not at all overawed by that thought.

Ready to take the onus against the likes Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, the 24-year old off-spinner from New South Wales said the series against India will be tough, but, he has grown up playing in tougher conditions and it was nothing new.

''I played against men when I was 12,'' Lyon was quoted by The Age.

The off-spinner also hoped to carry on the spin torch on his broad shoulders after Shane Warne.

PAKISTAN V BANGLADESH – 2ND TEST – PAKISTAN BEAT BANGLADESH TO TAKE SERIES BY 2-0

Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets in the second Test of the two match series at Mirpur in Dhaka on Wednesday, December 21, 2011.

The tourists had to chase down 103 runs for victory and achieved that comfortably by losing just three wickets.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq smashed a six off just the second delivery he faced to win the match in the evening session of the fifth day.

On the other hand, Bangladesh took a lot of positives from this game. They put up a solid fight and did not give the game away easily to the opposition. Despite losing the match, Shakib-Al-Hasan was awarded man of the match for his splendid all-round performance.

The victory wraps up a resoundingly successful tour for Pakistan, who also swept the one-day series 3-0 and won the sole Twenty20.

T20 qualifying structure announced

A total of 16 teams will fight it out in the UAE from March 13-24, with the tournament winners set to join Australia and the West Indies and the runners-up grouped with defending champions England and India.

Group A: Afghanistan, Netherlands, Canada, Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Denmark and Nepal.

Group B: Ireland, Kenya, Scotland, Namibia, Uganda, Oman, Italy and USA.

The group winners will feature in the first qualifying final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on March 22 with the victor sealing a place in the World Twenty20 being staged later in the year.

Meanwhile, the sides that finished second will face the teams that finished third in the opposing group and the two winners will progress to the preliminary final on March 23.

The winner of that game will then face the losing side from the first qualifying final on March 24, with the winners of the two qualifying finals, who will both have already secured their spots in the tournament proper, then facing each other that evening.

The ICC's global development manager Tim Anderson said: "This final qualifier is the last step of a pathway that comprised 13 ICC regional tournaments during 2010 and 2011 and saw the involvement of over 90 ICC Associate and Affiliate members.

"The 72-match format has been designed to give the best sides every chance of making the final."

Clarke calls for DRS consistency

Frustrated with the on and off use of the Decision Review System, Michael Clarke said that either technology should be used in all the series or not at all.

Australia enjoyed the benefit of technology in the series against New Zealand but India has refused to allow its use in the upcoming four-Test series Down Under.

It will be Australia`s first Test series played without referrals since Ricky Ponting`s men toured India last October, and Clarke was categorical in saying that there should be consistency with regard to use of technology.

Highest run-scorer in international cricket

With 99 centuries (48 ODI & 51 Test cricket) in international cricket more than 86,000 runs Tendulkur is highest run scorer. On 24 February 2010, Tendulkar became the first man to score a double century (200*) in an ODI against South Africa. On 8 November 2011, Tendulkar became the first batsman to score 15,000 runs in Test Cricket. He also holds the world record for playing highest number of Test and ODI matches.

Tendulkar is cross-dominant: He bats, bowls and throws with his right hand, but writes with his left hand. He also practices left-handed throws at the nets on a regular basis. Cricket info columnist Sambit Bal has described him as the "most wholesome batsman of his time". His batting is based on complete balance and poise while limiting unnecessary movements and flourishes. He appears to show little preference for the slow and low wickets which are typical in India, and has scored many centuries on the hard, bouncy pitches in South Africa and Australia. He is known for his unique punch style of hitting the ball over square. He is also renowned for his picture-perfect straight drive, often completed with no follow-through. Straight drive is his favorite shot. In 2008 Sunil Gavaskar, in an article he wrote in the AFP, remarked that "it is hard to imagine any player in the history of the game who combines classical technique with raw aggression like the little champion does".

Tendulkar's entry into world cricket was very much hyped up by former Indian stars and those who had seen him play. Tendulkar's consistent performances earned him a fan following across the globe, including amongst Australian crowds, where Tendulkar has consistently scored centuries. One of the most popular sayings by his fans is "Cricket is my religion and Sachin is my God". Cricket info mentions in his profile that "... Tendulkar remains, by a distance, the most worshipped cricketer in the world." During the Australian tour of India in 1998 Matthew Hayden said "I have seen God. He bats at no. 4 in India in Tests."

history of cricket

Cricket has been an organized adult game since the seventeenth century when it first took the fancy of English gentlemen lying low in their country estates at the time of the Civil War. It became fashionable after the restoration under the sponsorship of powerful aristocratic patrons. By the later eighteenth century control of this fashionable and profitable new leisure activity was in the hands of a number of gentlemen’s clubs. By the nineteenth century these had evolved into county organizations which, led by Marylebone Cricket Club, subsequently dominated English cricket. Their influence spread throughout the British Empire and survived the transition to the Commonwealth. In England, the emerging public schools, believing that cricket fostered qualities of manliness and leadership, proclaimed it to be more than a game, in fact an institution. Poets and parsons praised its ethical qualities.

The first evidence of cricket being played was recorded in the year 1550, by the pupils of Royal Grammar School, Guildford. In the year 1611 it is reported that two young men from Sussex were punished for playing cricket instead of going to the church. The first match is recorded to have been played at Coxheath in Kent in the year 1646.

The late 18th century was a very crucial phase for the development of the game, both within and outside Britain. The game was spread far and wide mainly due to England’s imperialism. Wherever they went, the game went with them and thus spread outside England. The first official match was held between Canada and United States was held in the year 1844.

In the present times, cricket has its own following of loyal fans. The International Cricket Council, better known as the ICC is the governing body in world cricket. The ICC was founded on the 15th of June in the year 1909. All laws relating to ODIs, Test Cricket and T20s are framed and implemented by the ICC.