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Sourav Ganguly has said he wasn’t bought in the IPL auction for reasons that have nothing to do with cricket, and that he doesn’t see a role for himself with the Kolkata Knight Riders

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Feb-2011Sourav Ganguly, who failed to attract bids from any of the 10 IPL franchises during the auction on January 8 and 9, has said he wasn’t bought for reasons that have nothing to do with cricket, and that he doesn’t see a place for himself in the Kolkata Knight Riders set-up.Kolkata, a team Ganguly led in the first and third seasons of the tournament, had offered him a role within the organisation. “Shah Rukh Khan spoke to me about a possible role as mentor. I don’t think Kolkata Knight Riders needs a mentor. I see no role there,” Ganguly told . The team already has enough expertise in [Dav] Whatmore and [Wasim] Akram. I wanted to play and not mentor the team. I didn’t see myself in the sort of a role [Anil] Kumble has chosen [with Royal Challengers Bangalore].”The franchise struggled to produce consistent results on the field, and Ganguly said that was because the team suffered from a “confidence problem”. “I felt there was panic every time we lost. There was panic among the owners, panic among the players. But you need continuity in a team to deliver, like Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.”When we don’t win three seasons in a row, there’s an opportunity to rebuild. I understand Kolkata felt they deserved better and when they got an opportunity to rebuild the team, they wanted to bring in some fresh faces.”He also expressed disbelief that none of the franchises thought he was worth a place based on his cricketing ability. “I had the runs. Players of my age, [Adam] Gilchrist, [Rahul] Dravid and [VVS] Laxman are still actively involved. I haven’t been able to put the finger on the button why I was left out. Cricketing logic and past form suggests I should have been picked. There are several reasons I could have been dropped, but not for cricket.”At the same time, Ganguly rubbished the perception that he comes with baggage and plays politics. “I have played cricket, five years as captain and eight years under different skippers. I have helped in building what the Indian team is today. And this doesn’t come by playing politics.”The Kochi franchise did write to the BCCI after the auction to ask if they could sign Ganguly, but some of the other franchises objected to the proposal, and it was shelved, to Ganguly’s dismay. “I was very disappointed when the franchises stalled the repurchase. The rules of the IPL have been changed in the past. Every rule in sport should give an opportunity to play, not keep them out. Whether it’s Sourav Ganguly today or some other player sometime.”When he is finally done playing the game, Ganguly plans to turn his attention to running it. “I am mentally preparing myself for an administrator’s role at some stage. I would love to be part of the Cricket Association of Bengal at some point of my life. I also would love to coach the Indian cricket team as well.”

Ottis Gibson is the one West Indian who has been on the receiving end of some Dutch (mischief) before

Firdose Moonda in Delhi26-Feb-2011Ottis Gibson is the one West Indian who has been on the receiving end of some Dutch (mischief) before. He was England’s bowling coach at the World Twenty20 when they lost the opening match at Lord’s by four wickets. It was the upset of the year and it hasn’t been easy to erase from memory.”I remember the feeling was like in our dressing room and jubilation in their dressing room,” Gibson said. “Those guys, when they come into an event like this, they bring in lots of energy and an expectation of upsetting a big team.”To the Dutch, West Indies would fit comfortably into that category – they are a Full Member, albeit one in decline – and they still hold the aura of being one of the traditionally great nations in the cricketing world. For the critics, West Indies present Netherlands with an even challenge, which is why the men from the Caribbean have to find a way of showing that they still belong in the elite league. “The results in the last two years don’t suggest that West Indies are a big team, but what we know and what believe in is that we are a still a big team and we have to prove that,” Gibson said.Their opening defeat against South Africa has by no means ruled them out of the competition with the format allowing teams more than one slip up and still make into the quarter-finals. It means that West Indies can’t allow any clouds of gloom to crowd out their sunshine and that they still have plenty to play for.”Our players have got a lot belief that they can come here and do well and prove to the world that we are still a more than capable nation.” Gibson said and added his team are taking inspiration from tournament past. “India weren’t expected to win the World Cup [in 1983] but they won. Pakistan had to win a game to qualify for the semi-finals, they won the game and went on to win the World Cup,” he added. “We’ve got history in this competition. We have to look forward, we have to positive.”Something that will aid that sort of thinking is the fact that they have played on this wicket before and take more information into the match which they did not have on Thursday. “The wicket didn’t exactly play according to how we thought. [Kemar] Roach plays here for the IPL team, [Dwayne] Bravo and [Kieron] Pollard have played a lot here and they said in the second innings it was going to go a lot slower and lower which it didn’t. It remained a pretty good wicket throughout the game.”What will make the task of staying upbeat more difficult is the absence of Dwayne Bravo, one of West Indies’ key players even though his pitch information was a little off target, who has been ruled out for four weeks with a knee injury after he slipped in his follow through against South Africa. “Bravo has been key part of our team for a long time,” Gibson said. “He is a sort of energiser in the team, with his fielding, bowling, batting and also with his presence in dressing room.”Bravo also formed an essential cog of the team’s overall game plan. “Our strategy was built around three allrounders – captain Darren Sammy, Bravo and Pollard,” Gibson explained. “With him [Bravo] missing it give us an opportunity to perhaps think whether we a need a batsman at number six and perhaps an extra bowler.”In one way, though, the need to play an extra bowler could help West Indies because they didn’t look like taking a wicket for long periods against South Africa, after they got a couple of early breakthroughs. Ravi Rampaul and Andre Russell may come into contention, as will left-arm spinner Nikita Miller.What they need most of all is a fresh perspective, a mentality that says they are going to compete, no matter who they are playing against and the will to prove what Gibson said with such confidence. “Cricket is still very much alive in the Caribbean,” he said. Now show us.

Durham acting captain Dale Benkenstein and wicketkeeper-batsman Michael
Richardson piled on the agony for Yorkshire on the third day of the County
Championship match at Headingley

16-Apr-2011
Scorecard
Durham acting captain Dale Benkenstein and wicketkeeper-batsman Michael
Richardson piled on the agony for Yorkshire on the third day of the County
Championship match at Headingley.The sixth-wicket pair racked up 187 together before Benkenstein was out for 150
on the stroke of tea, at which stage Durham promptly declared to leave Yorkshire
with an unlikely victory target of 490 over four full sessions.The highest score Yorkshire have made to win a match is 406 for 4 and their
highest to draw is 341 for 8. Young openers Adam Lyth and Joe Root, undaunted by the size of the task, got Yorkshire off to a cracking start and Root was still battling away on 38 at the
close, by which point Yorkshire were 88 for 2 and trailing by 401.This was Benkenstein’s third Championship century against Yorkshire and the
second time he had reached the 150 mark. By the time he fell to a tumbling catch
on the boundary edge by Lyth he had received 213 deliveries and struck 17 fours
and a six, leaving Yorkshire with a mountain to climb if they were to hold out.For the second time in the match, South African Richardson showed great
application on his Championship debut and he followed up his first-innings 67
with an unbeaten 73 off 136 balls with eight boundaries. The partnership was Durham’s highest for the sixth wicket against Yorkshire, overtaking the 130 by Jimmy Daley and Chris Scott in 1994.The visitors had only one objective in mind when they resumed in the morning on
64 for 3 with a lead already worth 242, and that was to bat Yorkshire into
the ground without taking any undue risks.The plan worked perfectly and Gordon Muchall and Benkenstein treated Ryan
Sidebottom and Steve Patterson with respect, as they did Adil Rashid and Moin
Ashraf when they took over the attack.Rashid eased the pressure with two long hops which Benkenstein slammed to the
mid-wicket boundary but at 98 Ashraf accounted for Muchall, who was well caught
by wicketkeeper Jonathan Bairstow diving to his right.Yorkshire’s hopes of carrying out a successful damage-limitation exercise rose
when Ian Blackwell departed to a splendid low catch at first slip by Lyth off
Rich Pyrah, making it 124 for 5, but the situation became extremely bleak
again as Benkenstein and Richardson assumed complete control.They stepped up the momentum in the afternoon, Richardson hitting Rashid for
consecutive fours on his way to a 104-ball 50, while Benkenstein moved to his
faultless century from 174 deliveries with 13 boundaries.The new ball was taken at 268 for 5 in 80 overs but Benkenstein’s response
was to drive Patterson fiercely for a straight six, his third 50 using up only
38 balls, and his departure was the signal for the declaration.Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale left the field shortly before tea for treatment
after injuring his right elbow when diving to cut off a boundary.Lyth and Root regularly pierced the attacking field to get Yorkshire off to a
rapid start but at 64 in the 17th over, with both batsmen on 26, Lyth played an
ungainly stroke against Callum Thorp and was caught behind.Anthony McGrath struggled to seven off 30 balls before Blackwell had him well
caught by Michael Di Venuto at slip, leaving Gale to see it safely through to
the close with the assured-looking Root.

Neil Dexter took three wickets as Middlesex consigned Surrey to the bottom of the second division with victory by an innings and 42 runs at Lord’s

Sahil Dutta at Lord's29-Apr-2011
ScorecardNeil Dexter took three wickets as Middlesex consigned Surrey to the bottom of the second division with victory by an innings and 42 runs at Lord’s.It marks an improvement on last year for Surrey, but not by much. The last time the London rivals met here in the Championship, Surrey went down by an innings and 44. Middlesex now stand top of the second division after winning each of their first three games. Given that they won just four in the entire season last year, their start this time round represents a remarkable revival.The result was set up on the second day when Surrey lost 12 wickets but Dexter, the Middlesex captain and Man of the Match, can point to his first-day hundred which hauled his side out of early trouble as a key contribution. He was in the thick of the action again on the final day – taking 3 for 46 – as his team sealed the result with a day and half to spare.One of Dexter’s victims was Steve Davies, whose 94 was a lone hand in Surrey’s line-up. Though never quite giving an air of permanence, Davies’ classy off-side timing brought him his highest score of the season so far.When the day began much of the focus was on Steven Finn but instead it was another sky-scraper seamer – Toby Roland-Jones – who did much of the damage, finishing with 4 for 38 which included his 50th first-class scalp in his 11th game.Though not yet as quick as Finn he offered more control and got the first wicket of the day when Gary Wilson, who had resisted for the best part of an hour, hacked at a wide delivery to be caught behind for 18. Two overs later Rory Hamilton-Brown prodded limply at a length ball to collect the third of four ducks in the Surrey innings.Tom Maynard played so well the day before that he can be forgiven for falling early in a lost cause, but the soft manner of dismissal will irk Surrey fans. Dexter had positioned two short catchers at cover and Maynard duly punched a drive straight to one of them a ball later.All the while Davies merrily drove and cut sweetly towards a century but he was running out of partners as Gareth Batty and Chris Jordan fell. In the end it was Dexter who denied him though as a wide drive-me invitation was inside-edged onto the stumps. Roland-Jones finished off the job, snaring Yasir Arafar and Jade Dernbach, who ended with a pair, in three balls.

R Ashwin, who took three wickets for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL final, said taking pace off the ball was the key to dismissing Chris Gayle in the first over of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s chase

ESPNcricinfo staff30-May-2011R Ashwin, who took three wickets for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL final, said taking pace off the ball was the key to dismissing Chris Gayle in the first over of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s chase.”He [Gayle] has been batting really well this year and has been extremely selective in his strokes, which to me was the real difference,” Ashwin told the . “My plan was not to give him any pace as everybody knows what Gayle can do with it. Lack of pace meant that he had to use his feet and mind.”Gayle was the leading run-getter in this IPL and single-handedly transformed Bangalore’s fortunes in the tournament. But Ashwin, who had dismissed Gayle for eight in the first qualifier in Mumbai, said that he was always confident of getting him out. “You can’t plan against someone like Gayle. If you think too much about him, you can get defensive. I was confident that I can get him and I did.”I knew he won’t step out to me at all. I had in mind that at Wankhede he had pulled me for a six.
The plan was made in Bangalore that I’d spin a few past him and then slip in an arm ball to get him out lbw or bowled. But on Saturday it spun and bounced and I think Gayle was a little late for his shot.”Ashwin, who was often used used by his Chennai captain MS Dhoni, to bowl with the new ball, admitted he “liked” bowling early on in the match. “I like bowling with a new ball. Secondly, I bowl in the nets with it as well. I just like the feel of it, the seam and lacquer helps it to skid off the wicket.”Ashwin ended the tournament as the highest wicket-taker for Chennai with 20 wickets and said that having Dhoni as a wicketkeeper had helped his bowling. “I rely a lot on the bounce, therefore a good wicketkeeper is extremely crucial,” he said. “With Dhoni, the caught-behinds and stumpings have gone up many notches in my bowling. He understands the trajectory, the variation and the bounce that I get.”Chennai’s victory, however, was set up by their batsmen, with a 159-run opening stand between M Vijay and Michael Hussey propelling them towards a total of 205. Vijay, who was declared Man of the Match for his 95 off 52 balls, said that his focus had been to ensure he picked up as many singles as possible. “I was missing a lot of singles in the previous matches,” he said. “I was getting starts but not carrying on. So I worked consciously on running better, helping Hussey get the singles and rotating the strike.”Vijay said that the fact that Chennai had retained the nucleus of the side in the 2011 auction helped in the team’s success. “There are a lot of known faces around since Chennai retained four players and bought back the core group of the squad during the auction, ” Vijay told the . “Everyone knows what is expected and knows each others’ game well. It has helped that MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming have been working together for a while. The sense of familiarity has put players in a comfort zone and brings the best out of them.””There are a lot of quality players in this squad, those who have played Tests and ODIs for their countries. Since they are international stars they know what needs to be done to ensure that the winning momentum is carried forward from one game to another. “

Martin Crowe, the legendary New Zealand batsman, has said that he is serious about making a comeback to first-class cricket as a means of self-motivation and a tool to get fit at the age of 48

Sriram Veera19-May-2011Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, has said that he is contemplating a return to first-class cricket 15 years after retiring from it. Crowe, 48, said he sees it as a means of self-motivation and a tool to get fit – and also an opportunity to score the 392 runs he needs to tally 20,000 first-class runs.He will first turn out for the Cornwall cricket club before deciding on plans to play for Auckland Central Districts.”Every now and then you find yourself drifting along. I needed to do something to stay at the top of things,” Crowe told ESPNcricinfo.” It’s a little bit of fun but it’s based on the need to get off my butt. When you get to my age, you need to do something. Physically, I am a person who needs more than going to gym. I need to fire myself up. I don’t like swimming, cycling, or lifting weights. I can’t climb, I can’t run; why not bat? It’s a serious goal to get fit but it’s a fun and light-hearted attempt to see if a 48-year old can play and at what level. Unless you try you will never know.”He then added, with a laugh, “Hey! If Ganguly can do it, anyone can do it!” Shane Warne has been amazing and as a spin bowler he can probably bowl like that for a long time to come. Gilchrist has kept himself fit. It’s human nature to feel that you are top of things.”It’s also human nature that makes some fans wary of sportspersons making comebacks at such an age. The thought of watching their once-favourite player struggling doesn’t sit too well with some fans. Some even consider such comeback attempts to be a bit sad on the part of the player but Crowe said he didn’t subscribe to that view. “No. if I had done that at the age of 37-38, then may be your concerns would be valid. If I had done it then, it would have been sad. At that stage you are trying to make a comeback to international cricket. Now, I don’t have any aspiration to play international cricket. I gave up then because of my knee. I am interested to see if a 48-year old can bat. It’s probably unlikely. It’s probably only heard of at average club level. But that’s what we are going to check out.”Crowe said he drew inspiration from Adam Parore and Mark Richardson. “Parore is about to climb Mount Everest and Mark Richardson is about to do four marathons this year. I realised I needed to something that wasn’t just about getting fit but oriented towards something I would have fun doing. My friend texted me: ‘Why don’t you try knocking off 20,000 first-class runs? You have 392 to go.’ And I thought that’s the perfect answer. Why don’t I take a bat in my hand and see what happens when summer comes around. At the same time it could be fun because here in New Zealand the batting is in a little bit of decline and it will be a good way to see where the techniques are at.”Crowe was forced to quit international cricket due to his bad knee, with few career goals still unfinished. “I’m happy with my career except for the fact that I finished on a downer, with an injury. I suppose I wanted 20 hundreds, 6000 runs, but in the end I was not physically capable of hanging on. And a lot of politics came in to it. Howarth as coach was a joke, and I played under Lee Germon, which was ridiculous,” he had once said in a 2008 interview.After retirement, Crowe underwent an operation to his knee. “By the time I was 40, I couldn’t even walk. I had a major operation called an osteotomy; it gives you 15 years of interim relief until you are old enough to have an artificial knee. I have felt good with this operation in the last 4-5 years. I have been playing regular golf and walking with no discomfort. I just feel I need to do a little bit more as I am lacking focus on something. So I have come up with this.”The last time he picked up the bat was last March, when he turned out in a charity game for the Christchurch earthquake called ‘Fill the Basin’. Crowe made six runs, which included a boundary, before falling to Stephen Fleming. “I play regular golf and I have played cricket occasionally over the years. Two years ago, I took the New Zealand team to Hong Kong sixes and I did a lot of practice. When I was in Bangalore for IPL in 2008 as coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore, I did a lot of practice before the main players turned up. I faced a lot of Sunil Joshi in the nets. I felt good, fit. I know I can still use the bat, it’s the case of whether the body holds up, and how long the foot will keep moving until everything seizes up.”Crowe said he will stop playing when he gets close to risking an injury and shared his thoughts on facing young pace bowlers. “Getting injured is going to be a high probability. When it starts getting to that stage, you stop. The quest is over. I want to see how far I can push myself. I will start with club cricket and if all goes well, then that far-fetched dream of getting 20,000 runs is earned. That’s the Everest, the goal I am giving myself. I am pretty confident that I can play nice and straight and score runs with my ability to hit the ball where I want to. My eye-sight is pretty good. One of the challenges is to see how the nerves hold out – when a 20-year old is bowling at you, how do you feel about it? And I am quite keen to find out what’s that like. As soon as I get a feeling that it’s all too hard, that’s fine’; we shall pack it up. To walk out and play competitive cricket is the goal.”Crowe will return to his spiritual cricket home at the Cornwall cricket ground in Auckland. “I started there when I was six years old. That’s where my father’s ashes are. That’s where my family was brought up in cricketing sense.”Batting against pace might excite him but what about fielding at this age, and at what position will he field? “I like the gully,” Crowe said with a laugh. Asked whether he will consider turning out for New Zealand if he succeeds at the club and first-class levels, Crowe deadpanned: “Now you are getting silly mate!”

Yorkshire’s batsmen fared better than they have done in recent times, but they still went down by six wickets to new leaders Middlesex

17-Jul-2011
Scorecard
A fourth-wicket stand of 111 between Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance followed by some remarkable hitting from Jonny Bairstow brought about a dramatic change in fortunes for Yorkshire in their CB40 Group A match at Headingley, but they still went down by six wickets to new leaders Middlesex.After barely playing a shot in anger in struggling to 53 for 3 off 16 overs, Yorkshire then blasted their way to 196 for 7 off the next 15 in a game reduced to 31 overs a side because of rain.
Middlesex were equal to the task, however, and they eased their way to their target with an over to spare, Paul Stirling and Chris Rogers racking up half-centuries.Put in to bat, Yorkshire lost a wicket in the first over when Joe Sayers edged Cory Collymore to second slip where Neil Dexter deflected the ball to first slip and it was caught at the second attempt by Dawid Malan.Captain Andrew Gale glanced Collymore for four and Lyth drove Steven Finn over long-off for another boundary but runs remained hard to come by and Yorkshire were in big trouble when Gale top-edged a pull for Steven Crook to hold a return catch and Anthony McGrath was run out by Tim Murtagh’s direct hit.Even when Ballance joined Lyth there was no immediate improvement and there were ironic cheers from the small crowd as Ballance struck Murtagh for four to end a spell of 11 overs without a boundary. Suddenly, Ballance sprang to life by pulling Finn for six in an over which cost 17 and brought the batsman his first one-day half-century for Yorkshire.Crook took up even greater punishment in the next over which conceded 22 with both batsmen clearing the rope. The 100 stand arrived off 83 balls and Lyth then brought up his own 50 before Ballance was caught on the square leg boundary by Scott Newman off Dexter for 71 from 53 deliveries with seven fours and two sixes.Lyth was also held in the deep in the next over from Collymore, his 52 coming off 73 balls with three fours and a six, but the most dramatic hitting came in a furious late assault from Bairstow.
He blasted Dexter over long on for six and in the final over from Collymore he smashed three consecutive sixes, all to different parts of the ground.In attempting a fourth he was sensationally caught on the mid-wicket boundary by Crooks who slipped at the last second and grabbed the ball while on the seat of his pants. There were 27 runs in the over, plus the wicket, and Bairstow’s 33 was scored off 15 balls with four sixes.Yorkshire were denied an early success when McGrath put down Malan at second slip and the signs looked ominous as Newman lifted Richard Pyrah over mid-wicket for six.The openers had put on 59 inside 12 overs before they were parted by Ben Sanderson who was lofted to Ryan Sidebottom at wide mid-on by Newman for 33 and it became 64 for 2 when Malan’s reverse sweep hit the back of the bat and was neatly held behind the stumps by Bairstow.Unfortunately for Yorkshire, they could not capitalise on these dismissals and Stirling and Rogers gradually put Middlesex in command with some fluent batting that brought each of them their half-centuries in a three figure stand. Shortly before going to his 50, Rogers survived a legside stumping chance against Pyrah but by this time Yorkshire were already looking a beaten side.The stand closed on 116 in 13 overs, Stirling being bowled by Sidebottom for an excellent 57 from 37 balls with five fours and a six, and Rogers soon followed for 51, slicing Ajmal Shahzad to Sidebottom after receiving 44 balls and hitting six boundaries. Dexter and Jamie Dalrymple came together at 182 for4 in the 27th over and saw Middlesex over the line without any further alarms.

Pakistan’s season-opening domestic Twenty20 tournament has been shifted to Lahore after the stadium at Rawalpindi was deemed unfit to host the event

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Aug-2011Pakistan’s season-opening domestic Twenty20 tournament has been shifted to Lahore after the stadium at Rawalpindi was deemed unfit to host the event. The tournament was scheduled to be played in Rawalpindi from September 16, but after the local authorities could not complete renovation on the dilapidated stadium in time the event has been shifted to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, where it will begin on September 25.After the huge success of the Faysal Bang Super Eight T20 Cup in Faisalabad, the PCB had said they would host their next domestic Twenty20 tournament in another small city. However, with Rawalpindi unable to host the tournament, Twenty20 cricket will return to the bigger centre of Lahore, which hosted last year’s edition of the tournament.The delayed start means the players in the national side will have returned from their tour of Zimbabwe and will be available to participate for their local teams. The Twenty20 tournament will feature 14 teams as opposed to last year’s 13; a team from Afghanistan will take part in the tournament for the first time, meaning the format may be shifted to two groups of seven teams.The other teams participating are Karachi Dolphins, Karachi Zebras, Lahore Lions, Lahore Eagles, Sialkot Stallions, Islamabad Leopards, Abbotabad Falcons, Rawalpindi Rams, Multan Tigers, Quetta Bears, Faisalabad Wolves, Peshawar, Panthers and Hyderabad Hawks.

Greg Smith and Ned Eckersley both hit centuries as Leicestershire recovered from a nightmare start to put the brake on Middlesex’s promotion charge

12-Sep-2011
Scorecard
Greg Smith and Ned Eckersley both hit centuries as Leicestershire recovered from a nightmare start to put the brake on Middlesex’s promotion charge in their County Championship Division Two clash at Grace Road.Leicestershire lost three wickets in the first two overs of the game but Smith (108) and Eckersley (106) helped the home side recover to 319 all out by the close of the first day. Top-of-the-table Middlesex needed 12 points to clinch promotion when play began and they pocketed three of them with seamers Tim Murtagh, Corey Collymore and Gareth Berg claiming three wickets apiece.Wicketkeeper Eckersley, looking to earn himself a contract with Leicestershire, recorded his maiden first-class century while Smith posted the third championship ton of his career. The two of them shared a fifth-wicket partnership of 131 to keep the Middlesex attack at bay for 42 overs.All this came after Middlesex made a flying start after winning the toss and putting the home side in to bat in windy conditions on a pitch with tinges of green in it. It took the visitors just two overs to pick up their first bowling point as Leicestershire lost three wickets without adding to the four runs scored by Matt Boyce off the third ball of the morning from Murtagh.Boyce then edged Murtagh’s final delivery to second slip where Ollie Rayner took the catch. Will Jones, on his Championship debut, was trapped lbw by Collymore who followed that up by bowling James Taylor with the last ball of his over.It left Leicestershire staring at another batting debacle having been bowled out for 34 by Essex and 48 by Northants earlier in the season. But between them Smith, Eckersley and Jacques Du Toit showed real grit and determination to haul their side back from the brink.Smith and Du Toit, who have both been struggling for runs this summer, began the fightback with a fourth-wicket stand of 84 in 22 overs. They rode their luck at times but punished anything loose to the extent that 52 out of 75 runs came in boundaries.Du Toit’s brisk knock of 42 was ended when he chased a wide delivery from Berg and was caught by Andrew Strauss at slip. That brought in 22-year-old Eckersley to join Smith in the middle and the two of them showed great resolve and concentration to steer the home side towards respectability.Smith reached his 50 – only his second of the summer – off 96 balls with seven fours and the century stand came up in 34 overs. Eckersley’s 50, which included four boundaries, came from 118 deliveries and the next landmark was Smith’s 100 arriving off 186 balls with a glorious cover drive that brought him his 12th boundary.The two of them batted throughout the afternoon but in the second over after tea Smith flicked at a ball down leg side from Collymore and was caught behind.Eckersley continued to battle on even though wickets fell at the other end and he reached an excellent 100 that included 12 boundaries. He was finally ninth out at 308 bowled by Berg, who then had Nathan Buck caught behind off the final ball of the day leaving both sides with three bonus points.

Kim Littlejohn is confident his key advisors – the major association coaches – will be objective enough to make New Zealand’s new selection system work

Brydon Coverdale22-Sep-2011Kim Littlejohn is confident his key advisors – the major association coaches – will be objective enough to make New Zealand’s new selection system work. Littlejohn began his new role as national selection manager this week, having relocated from Melbourne, where he was the high-performance manager with Bowls Australia.His appointment was part of a radical new direction for New Zealand under the director of cricket John Buchanan, who wanted to professionalise the selection process. Under the new system, Littlejohn and the head coach John Wright will form a two-man selection panel, with Wright to have the casting vote when choosing the final XI for a match.Littlejohn will be limited in the amount of cricket he will be able to watch live but a key part of the system involves him taking feedback from the six major association coaches. And while the more players a provincial side delivers to the Black Caps, the better that coach will look, Littlejohn dismissed any concern they would simply push their own men.”I’m very confident [it will work],” Littlejohn said. “In some cases you’d obviously expect the major association coaches to put forward their players but I think there are some checks and balances in the system, where it’s not just one coach’s view, we’re looking at the views of six coaches on a particular player. That will make sure we get a good open and honest opinion on any particular player that we might be looking at.”Buchanan said by streamlining the selection process, there should be greater communication and feedback, which sometimes wasn’t the case with traditional selection panels. The changes have also continued his approach of placing more accountability on coaches – hence Wright taking such an important role in choosing the team and the provincial coaches being included.”From a selection point of view, three or four or sometimes five selectors are involved in and around a cricket team and I think that provides many a time miscommunication and poor feedback to players and coaches,” Buchanan said. “The key people who understand where individual cricket athletes are at are our coaches, so they become pretty integral.”All the same, Littlejohn said he would be aiming to watch “a reasonable amount” of domestic cricket this summer. He spent his first few days on the job at New Zealand’s training camp in Christchurch, which helped him familiarise himself with the squad.”It’s given me the opportunity to get to know the players and put faces to names,” he said. “My understanding of the players is a little limited in the sense that it’s just been what I’ve been able to watch from Australia on television and read in the press, but I’ve done a lot of research over the last few weeks to get up to speed.”