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Graeme Smith, South Africa’s Test captain, has said he will not consider international retirement after being offered a county deal from Surrey that could have required him to quit playing for his country.

Firdose Moonda28-Sep-2012Graeme Smith, South Africa’s Test captain, has said he will not consider international retirement after being offered a county deal from Surrey that could have required him to quit playing for his country.Smith made his statement on Twitter after ESPNcricinfo revealed that he had been identified by Surrey to be the back bone of their rebuilding process. While not specifically confirming the offer, Smith hinted at it when he posted, “I am constantly approached about cricketing opportunities at home and abroad and always consider them.” He followed it up with a message that said “I remain committed to the Proteas and my international career!”Surrey have declined to comment on the deal but it is understood that they still see Smith as part of a long-term plan for them. It remains possible that Surrey will consider signing Smith as an overseas player, which would allow him to continue his international career. The retirement of Mark Ramprakash, the death of Tom Maynard and departure of Rory Hamilton-Brown have left Surrey short in the batting department. Although they have signed Vikram Solanki, their search for other reliable batsmen continues.South Africa have a fairly light winter schedule in the coming years, which could allow Smith to play for Surrey in the English summer. Next year – 2013 – they are due to play Sri Lanka in July/August although the three-Test tour may be reduced to fewer matches.The following two years are far quieter. South Africa tour Zimbabwe in 2014 and Bangladesh in the 2015 winter, tours which they have traditionally used for blooding talent and experimenting.At 31, Smith has played international cricket for nine years and captained South Africa for eight. He has played 100 Tests, overseen South Africa’s rise to the No. 1 ranking and holds the record for the most Tests as captain, having broken Allan Border’s record at Lord’s in August. Smith remains part of South Africa’s one-day squad but was not considered for the World T20 squad.Smith previously told ESPNCricinfo that he does not see himself remaining captain until the end of his international career. He stepped down as T20 captain in August 2010 and as one-day captain after the 2011 World Cup, when he also considered giving up the Test captaincy. Gary Kirsten persuaded Smith to stay on but he has admitted he would like to play as a batsman only in future.

International reinforcements benefited New South Wales as David Warner, Steve Smith and Doug Bollinger took the Blues to a 23-run limited overs victory over South Australia

Daniel Brettig04-Nov-2011
ScorecardSteve Smith fell short here but the Blues ultimately had too many runs for the Redbacks•Getty ImagesInternational reinforcements benefited New South Wales as David Warner, Steve Smith and Doug Bollinger took the Blues to a 23-run victory over South Australia in the domestic limited overs match at the SCG.Warner, demonstrating the growth evident in his increasingly measured batting, and Simon Katich made the key contributions with the bat to lift the hosts to 8 for 261, before Smith, Bollinger and Mitchell Starc did the bulk of the damage with the ball.In SA’s pursuit the former Victorian wicketkeeper Adam Crosthwaite played creditably as an opening batsman to cover for Daniel Harris, and Daniel Christian provided impact with both bat and ball. But the Redbacks never looked likely to challenge the total after the early losses of the captain Michael Klinger and his deputy Callum Ferguson.Klinger snicked a Starc delivery angled intelligently across him towards the slips, and Ferguson failed to maintain his so far imposing limited overs form by edging a flat-footed swing at Josh Hazlewood, making another small step towards his best after long injury absence.Crosthwaite alternated conservative strokes and outlandish ones in a useful contribution as the makeshift opener, and was aided in his efforts to stabilise the innings by the former NSW under-age batsman Tom Cooper.They took SA to a decent platform before Steve Smith lured Cooper into a drive to mid off. Borgas hinted at a dangerous innings with his flashes of invention but then cut unwisely to backward point, and Crosthwaite’s stay was ended when Starc bowled him behind his pads after an episode of verbals between the pair.At 6 for 172 Christian mounted a brazen counter-attack, crashing four sixes in the space of five overs but his exit, bowled by Bollinger attempting to flick the ball over the ‘keeper, effectively signalled the end of the contest.The Blues had won a good toss, and were given a rapid start by Warner, returned from South Africa, and Daniel Smith, he of the blistering 183 not out to beat Victoria in the hosts’ previous match.Smith’s pyrotechnics could not be sustained this time, as he skied a catch to fine leg having made only 12, but Warner played with nicely controlled aggression. Twice he coshed sixes, a hook from the bowling of Gary Putland particularly striking, but otherwise chose his shots judiciously and hustled intelligently between the wickets.His downfall arrived at the hands of the legspinner Cullen Bailey, who was hammered for six by Warner first ball and gave up 16 from his first over, but regathered himself to tease the batsman into an ill-advised paddle-sweep to short fine leg.Steve Smith, steady at No. 3 though a little less fluent than Warner, had already been run out after a mix-up with his partner, and the Blues’ middle order would slip from 1 for 140 to 6 for 193 when Christian defeated Moises Henriques and Peter Nevill with consecutive well-directed deliveries.The remainder of the innings was more a case of salvage than savage for the hosts, as Katich and his captain Steve O’Keefe ensured a competitive total with sensible placement.

Somerset beat Middlesex by six wickets at Taunton

David Lloyd at Taunton08-Apr-2012
ScorecardVernon Philander may have been the talk of the County Ground for much of this match but friend, foe and neutral observer alike went away this evening singing the praises of spinner George Dockrell.Fast bowler Philander played a significant role as Somerset launched their latest attempt to win a first championship title by beating Middlesex by six wickets. But it was 19-year-old Dockrell who took centre stage – and looked an absolute natural under the spotlight – when his team needed a generous helping of magic today.Figures of 6 for 27 from 20.1 overs suggest a wizard at work. Well, there will be batsmen on the circuit who play him better than these visitors. And not all pitches are going to yield as much turn and bounce as this splendid early season offering from groundsman Simon Lee. But Dockrell’s left-arm weaved a spell which was a treat to watch – unless you were something like 22 yards away, of course.Dockrell, a tall, slim Irishman, has been gathering an army of admirers for a couple of years now, mainly while playing limited-overs cricket for his country. Indeed, people were purring about him when he appeared against England – as a 17-year-old – in the World Twenty20 tournament of 2010.This season, though, is Dockrell’s chance to play first-class cricket to his heart’s desire. With Murali Kartik having left Taunton for Surrey, the way is clear for young George to fill his boots. And fill them he surely will if he keeps bowling with as much control, flight and variety as he displayed during this match.Somerset were first alerted to Dockrell’s talent when he was just 15. Last year, with Kartik on board, he appeared in only one championship contest. But this summer his development promises to be rapid and, on the evidence of today, spectacular.Middlesex were looking more than capable of earning a draw when they reached 105 for 1 deep into the morning session. The first innings arrears had just been cleared and, with a fair amount of good fortune, admittedly, Philander had been seen off.But Dockrell changed the game from the moment he defeated Sam Robson’s attempted sweep to win a leg before decision. Chris Rogers followed, edging a cut, and the visitors knew a tricky afternoon stretched out before them.Even so, losing their last seven wickets for 40 runs in 20 overs to be hurried out for 175 was pretty remarkable. Philander did for Neil Dexter and Dawid Malan to finish with match figures of 7 for 81. But the Dockrell show resumed with John Simpson being undone by turn and bounce before Gareth Berg, lbw pushing forward, Ollie Rayner, stumped, despite at least one fumble from Craig Kieswetter, and Toby Roland-Jones, holing out in the deep, completed the collection.A match haul of 8 for 62 should have allowed Dockrell to sit back and relax while Somerset knocked off a victory target of 72 in 40 overs. Instead, he and a few others in the home changing room will have moved towards the edge of their seats as the hosts slipped to 44 for 4.Having one eye on approaching dark clouds probably did not help the top order. But just when some mild panic was setting in around the ground, James Hildreth and Jos Buttler settled matters with a few hefty blows – including Buttler’s reverse sweep off Joe Denly, to seal the deal.Having lost their opening match of the last two championship campaigns, Somerset deserve to feel good about themselves after this result. As for Middlesex, they fought so hard for so much of a match in which conditions generally conspired against them that defeat will be tough to take. But in the first division one bad session is usually fatal – and the visitors had a shocker after lunch today.No such worries for Dockrell, of course. “This should give me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season,” he said. “Obviously I didn’t get many opportunities last year with Murali Kartik here so I’m pleased to have started well.”You have to go with what you’ve got. I’m quite tall and getting bounce seems to be a big thing for me at the moment. I’m still working on my action and I made a little change this winter while working with Ireland coach Phil Simmons and it seems to have helped because I’m getting a bit more spin.”

Mumbai eased into another Ranji Trophy semi-final on the basis of a massive first-innings lead after their quarter-final against Madhya Pradesh ended in a draw

Abhishek Purohit at the Holkar Cricket Stadium05-Jan-2012
ScorecardMumbai eased into another Ranji Trophy semi-final on the basis of a massive first-innings lead after their quarter-final against Madhya Pradesh ended in a draw on the fourth day in Indore.On the final day, Mohnish Mishra led a dominating batting performance from MP and, with his captain Devendra Bundela, smashed the friendly Mumbai attack for 224 runs in just over a session. MP declared on 474 for 3 but Mumbai, with the security of first-innings points, were never going to go for the target of 233 in a minimum of 49 overs. The match ended at the start of the mandatory overs, by which time Kaustubh Pawar and Praful Waghela had scored fifties to lead Mumbai to 113 for 1.The only source of interest at the start of the final day was whether MPwould go for quick runs and set a target for Mumbai. They did not disappoint. Mishra and Bundela plundered at will on the flat pitch and Wasim Jaffer had nine fielders on the boundary for the major part of the first session. The batsmen still kept hitting the odd boundary, and Mishra smashed five sixes as well. Some of them were flat and clean strikes against the medium-pacers that clearedlong-on.With Dhawal Kulkarni resting ahead of the semi-final against Tamil Nadu because of a shin niggle, the Mumbai spinners did the bulk of the bowling. Ankeet Chavan bowled 40 overs for a return of 1 for 171. Mumbai were not thinking about taking wickets; their only consideration was to bat for as few overs as possible. MP helped them by batting on for a few more overs after lunch so that Bundela could get to his century. When the declaration finally came, Mishra was unbeaten on 174.Pawar, who had rescued Mumbai in the first innings with a defiant 161, punched powerfully off the back foot for boundaries to sign off with a half-century in the second. The pitch looked good to last another four days; it was their indecisive batting on the first morning, when the surface was at its freshest, that ended MP’s tournament.

Jamaica became only the second side to capture four successive four-day regional championships

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Apr-2011
Scorecard
Nikita Miller helped Jamaica earn their fourth title in a row•Getty ImagesJamaica made it four four-day Regional Championships in a row with a comfortable 8-wicket win over Combined Colleges & Campuses inside two days at the Three Ws Oval in Bridgetown. Having taken a 113-run first-innings lead, Jamaica’s spinners, Nikita Miller and Odean Brown, triggered a spectacular collapse after CCC had reached 56 for no loss. Miller began the slide by bowling Romel Currency for 23, after which CCC proceeded to lose their next nine wickets for 63 runs in less than two sessions.Miller ended up with 4 for 33, the day’s best figures, while Brown took 4 for 54 to go with 3 for 34 in the first innings, earning the Man-of-the-Match award. West Indies allrounder Andre Russell took the other two wickets.Jamaica, who had begun the day on 106 for 3, were bowled out for 225 with captain Tamar Lambert top scoring with 41. It was the spinners who did the damage for CCC as well, with offspinner Ryan Austin taking four for 81 and left-arm spinner Kavesh Kantasingh 4 for 89.The only other team in history to win four consecutive titles in regional first-class cricket was Barbados when they won the Shell Shield from 1977 to 1980.”This is a tremendous result for us as a team and for our nation Jamaica,” captain Tamar Lambert said after collecting the Headley/Weekes trophy. “From the start of the season we said we were looking to make it four straight and we did it in style here today. We proved we are the strongest team. We all worked hard and we played well together as a unit. I always stress on team unity and I’m happy the guys played well and won the trophy.”

Chris Taylor and Will Gidman, plus a big helping hand from the weather, enabledGloucestershire to earn a draw against Essex in their County Championshipclash at Colchester

20-Aug-2011
Scorecard
Chris Taylor and Will Gidman, plus a big helping hand from the weather, enabledGloucestershire to earn a draw against Essex in their County Championshipclash at Colchester.After being set a huge victory target of 388 in 88 overs, the visitors finishedon 231 for 5, with Taylor striking an unbeaten 103 and Gidman making 57 in anunbroken stand of 133 spanning 106 minutes.They had come together with their side on 98 for five and went on to defy asuccession of bowling changes to guide their team to safety, although raindeprived Essex of 28 overs in which to force a victory that would have keptalive their slender promotion aspirations. The visitors’ hopes of launching their victory bid on a sound footing were soon dashed.Richard Coughtrie departed without a run on the board, caught in the slips byRyan ten Doeschate off the bowling of Maurice Chambers, and David Masters snaredtwo more wickets before the 50 was raised.Kane Williamson was caught behind by James Foster for 19 and then Tom Westley’ssafe pair of hands at second slip accounted for opener Chris Dent (16). Gloucestershire avoided further mishap before lunch, taken at 71 for three, but were plunged into further trouble immediately afterwards by Graham Napier.First he had skipper Alex Gidman (18) easily caught by wicketkeeper Foster froma thin edge and then breached the defences of Hamish Marshall (seven) to leavethe stumps in disarray. By this stage, with half of their side back in the pavilion cheaply, the bestthe visitors could hope for was a draw. A total of 62 overs still remained, withtheir last recognised pair together.Taylor, having come in at the fall of the second wicket, was now wellentrenched and completed a fighting half-century that contained half a dozenfours. At the other end, Will Gidman was offering obdurate support as they carried thetotal to 131 before rain forced a suspension in play.When play did resume, Essex were left with 22 overs to try to force victory butTaylor and Gidman denied them with considerable ease whilst putting together anunbroken partnership of 133.Earlier in the day, Essex added a further 45 runs from six overs beforedeclaring on 288 for five immediately after Jaik Mickleburgh was run out for 84- a knock that included eight boundaries. Skipper Foster finished unbeaten on 46from 40 balls, but not before he was involved in the final of several heatedincidents in this match.It featured Jon Lewis, who appeared to obstruct Foster as he completed asingle. Angry words were exchanged before umpire Steve Gale stepped between thetwo players and the game continued.On the second day, Alex Gidman had angrily remonstrated with the same officialafter being given out lbw whilst on the opening day, Gale had reversed hisdecision against Ten Doeschate – much to the annoyance of the Gloucestershireplayers. Essex finished with 10 points and Gloucestershire eight points.

Former West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul has demanded an explanation from WICB chief Ernest Hilaire regarding the comments he made regarding the lack of discipline and application in the team, leading up to the massive post-World Cup overhaul

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Apr-2011Former West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul has demanded an explanation from WICB chief Ernest Hilaire regarding the comments he made regarding the lack of discipline and application in the team, leading up to its massive post World Cup overhaul. In a strongly-worded letter addressed to Hilaire, a copy of which is with ESPNcricinfo, Chanderpaul questioned whether the comments were directed at him.Chanderpaul, along with senior players Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan were axed from the side for the ongoing series against Pakistan. Hilaire’s interview with network, a copy of which was later released by the WICB, touched upon a number of the problems ailing West Indies cricket over the past 15 years.Chanderpaul’s concerns were over the following excerpt from the interview: “If you look at West Indies cricket since the mid-90s, a lot of the systems we had in place broke down. There’s no discipline, there’s no application. We’ve been doing that for 15 years and we’ve been losing. We need to put a new system in place. No one man is bigger than the team, no one man is such a superstar he can decide if he is training today, if he’s going to have treatment tomorrow, if he’s going to attend a team meeting. It cannot work that way.”In response, Chanderpaul wrote: “I am particularly concerned about the following statements: 1. There’s no discipline, there’s no application. 2. No one man is bigger than the team, no one man is such a superstar he can decide if he is training today, if he’s going to have treatment tomorrow, if he’s going to attend a team meeting.”I am of the opinion that anyone reading these comments in the specific context will conclude that:”1. I, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, am an indisciplined individual and during my tenure as a West Indies player over the past fifteen years have lacked discipline and contributed to the West Indies team losing.”2. I, Shivnarine Chanderpaul have not applied myself or demonstrated any real application to my role as a member of the West Indies team over the past 15 years and by so doing have contributed to the West Indies team losing.”3. I, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, consider myself to be bigger than the team.”4. I, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, while a member of the West Indies team during the past fifteen years, have decided when I was training or not training.”5. I, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, while a member of the West Indies team during the past fifteen years, have decided when I was going to attend or not attend team meetings.”6. (Based on the accusations above) I, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, while a member of the West Indies team during the past fifteen years, have disregarded the coaches and managerial staff or undermined team discipline by my actions and attitude.”Chanderpaul also questioned whether the statements were reflective of Hilaire’s personal opinion, or were made in his capacity as WICB chief. “If they were made by you, I note that you constantly use the word ‘we’ in the excerpt above,” Chanderpaul wrote. “I would like to know if this is a ‘royal we’ or, in other words, are you speaking for yourself, albeit as CEO of the West Indies Cricket Board or are you speaking for and on behalf of the West Indies Cricket Board itself? This is important to me since I believe I have served the WICB and West Indies Cricket faithfully and well during my career and it would be difficult for me to accept that the members of the board of directors of West Indies cricket have sanctioned those remarks. On what basis have you made those statements and with what purpose?”Asking Hilaire to reply urgently, Chanderpaul said he was worried the comments would damage his reputation. “I am convinced that those persons who do not know the sacrifices I have made on behalf of West Indies Cricket and my dedication to the cause of West Indies Cricket would believe, based on what you have said in your interview, that I lack discipline and application and have not demonstrated the sense of responsibility which I know that I have shown throughout my career. While I would refer you to my unblemished reputation for professionalism and to all the other CEOs, coaches and managers with whom I have worked, I believe that you have crossed the line by making these public accusations that, while they may include others, are also directed at me and if unchallenged and corrected may destroy my career.”Chanderpaul told Hilaire in his letter that if he did not receive an adequate explanation he would take whatever action necessary to clear his name. “While it would help if the WICB as an organisation repudiates your comments in this regards, it would still not be sufficient to erase the tremendous damage already done. I await your urgent response and reserve all of my rights in this matter.”

A round-up of the action from the fifth day of matches in the 2010-11 Vijay Hazare Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Feb-2011West ZoneSiddharth Chitnis continued his blistering start to the tournament with a blazing century against Maharashtra to rescue Mumbai from a precarious position in their chase of 218 at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. Chitnis’ 100 from 70 balls ensured Mumbai won with 51 balls to spare, but things looked tricky for them at 94 for 5. Seamers Shrikant Mundhe and Samad Fallah had done the early damage, but Chitnis took the game away from Maharashtra with his aggressive knock that included a whopping 10 sixes. He dominated a 63-run sixth-wicket stand with wicketkeeper Aditya Tare, who scored just 13, and then finished the game with Ajit Agarkar for company. Mumbai would have hoped for a more relaxed chase after left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla took 4 for 29 to help bowl Maharashtra out in 48.4 overs. Chitnis, who made his List A debut in the first game against Baroda, is now the second leading run scorer in the tournament, having made 224 runs at a strike rate of 143.58. Abdulla is the leading bowler, having taken 15 wickets in four games. Baroda picked up the victory and a bonus point from their match against Saurashtra at the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara. They reached 246 after electing to bat and then dismissed Saurashtra for 180. Baroda were given a solid start by opener Kedar Devdhar, who scored 63 off 87 balls, and some handy contributions from the middle order ensured they reached a competitive total, though they would not have been pleased with the three run-outs in their innings. Seamer Murtuja Vahora dented Saurashtra’s chase early, taking three wickets to help reduce the visitors to 64 for 4. The left-arm spinners took over from there, with Swapnil Singh bagging 4 for 26 and Bhargav Bhatt taking 2 for 28.North ZoneDelhi made heavy weather of a target of 166, beating Himachal Pradesh by three wickets at the Sector 16 Stadium in Chandigarh. Having been put in to bat, Himachal were rocked early, losing two wickets to consecutive balls from Sumit Narwal in the fifth over. They never recovered, the innings’ highest score of 46 coming from opener Hemant Dogra. Delhi began their chase shakily, collapsing to 29 for 4, before spirited rear guard efforts from Puneet Mehra (42 not out) and Narwal (37) saw them home.Haryana completed their third straight win of the tournament in as many matches, defeating Services by 28 runs at the Dhruve Pandove Stadium in Patiala with a solid all-round performance. Choosing to bat first, Haryana built their innings around opener Mukul Dagar, who top scored with 50, and 30-something cameos from Rahul Dewan and Sunny Singh. Medium-pacer Sumit Singh ran through Haryana’s middle order, taking 4 for 42 to restrict them to 246 for 8. Services’ best partnership was a 92-run stand between middle order batsmen Yashpal Singh and Madhusudhan Reddy. But with no other batsman passing 26, and Joginder Sharma and Amit Mishra bowling tight spells to take five wickets between them, Haryana always held the upper hand.A big opening stand, followed by an explosive 44 off 18 balls by Manpreet Gony, saw Punjab defeat Jammu & Kashmir by eight wickets with 15 overs to spare at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali. After electing to field, Punjab bowled out J&K for 220. The pick of Punjab’s bowlers was Rahul Sharma, who finsihed with 4 for 28 from 9.3 overs. Only two J&K batsmen played noteworthy innings – opener Imraj Thakur with 52 and Amit Pal Singh with 60. Punjab’s openers Karan Goel and Ravi Inder Singh scored half centuries, after which Gony – promoted to No. 3 in the line-up – pummelled the bowlers for five sixes and a four in his short stay at the crease, to take the game firmly away from J&K.East ZoneFive wickets from seamer Yaju Krishanatry and an unbeaten century by opener Akash Verma helped Jharkhand cruise to an eight-wicket victory against Bengal at the Maharaja Bir Bikram College Stadium in Agartala. Krishanatry gave Jharkhand the ideal start after they chose to field, reducing Bengal to 25 for 3. While he was the one who took the wickets, his new-ball partner Kuldeep Sharma was economical, finishing with figures of 1 for 26 from 10 overs. After the early flurry of wickets, Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha rebuilt the innings with a 102-run partnership. Tiwary was out for 59, while Saha made 60, but the lower order didn’t contribute much and Bengal only managed 216. Jharkhand needed just 43.2 overs to reach their target, with Verma scoring 116 not out, and Ishank Jaggi getting 75.Orissa completed a convincing win over Tripura at the Polytechnic Institute Ground in Agartala, with Biplab Samantray performing with both bat and ball. Samantray’s 80 off 88 balls helped take Orissa to a total of 255 after they elected to bat. He put together 98 runs for the fifth wicket with Rashmi Das, who scored 51. Bibhudutta Panda smacked an unbeaten 38 off 25 balls to give Orissa’s innings momentum towards the end overs. In reply, Tripura slumped to 10 for 3, with Alok Mangaraj picking up two early wickets. Yogesh Takawale’s 61 was the only resistance as Tripura were bowled out for 186, with Samantray chipping with two wickets.Central ZoneUttar Pradesh moved into a three-way tie at the top of the Central Zone points table with a narrow three-wicket win over Madhya Pradesh at Green Park in Kanpur. Put into bat, MP got off to a poor start, losing both openers inside six overs. UP continued to take wickets at regular intervals and at 107 for 6, it looked like MP would struggle to get 200. Rameez Khan (55) then added 61 for seventh wicket with Harpreet Singh (33) and 32 for the eighth Ankit Sharma (20) to push the score to 213. UP openers Rohit (60) and Tanmay Srivastava (55) started well, adding 119 for the first wicket, and though the middle and lower orders wobbled a little, the result was never in doubt after that. UP is now tied with MP and and Vidarbha, though MP has played one game more.Sanjay Bangar and Shreyas Khanolkar made centuries at the top of the order to lead Rajasthan to a 31-run win over Vidarbha at the Kamla Club Sports Ground in Kanpur. Justifying the decision to bat first, Khanolkar and Bangar added 182 for the first wicket before the former was trapped leg-before to Shrikant Wagh for 103, an innings studded with 12 fours and a six. Bangar pushed on to make 139, falling with just two balls left in the innings, as Rajasthan piled up 312. Vidarbha made a decent fist of the chase, but no one was able to go on and make a big score – Shalabh Srivastava top scored with 64 – and ultimately came up short.

Reece Topley has been included in an England Under-19 squad for the first time, and is part of a 14-man group to play seven Youth ODIs against South Africa this summer

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jun-2011Reece Topley has been included in an England Under-19 squad for the first time, and is part of a 14-man group to play seven Youth ODIs against South Africa this summer.A product of the Graham Gooch Essex Cricket Academy, the 17-year-old left-arm seamer made his first-class debut in April and after an eye-catching start to the season signed a one-year contract with the county.Kent allrounder Adam Ball, who captained the side in two games on their trip to Sri Lanka earlier this year, has been retained in the leadership role and is one of a number of players who have impressed for their counties this season.His team will take on a strong South African side captained by Keaton Jennings, with the first match of the tour at Edgbaston on July 16 and further fixtures in Northampton, Arundel Castle in West Sussex, Taunton and Canterbury.”Selecting this squad was a very challenging process because of the large group of outstanding players available,” said Tim Boon, the England Development Programme Head Coach. This series provides valuable opportunities for our talented young cricketers to accelerate their learning and progress in world class environments in both competition and training.”South Africa will provide us with tough opposition throughout the summer and vital experience on our journey to the Under-19 World Cup in Australia next summer.”England Development Players are both challenged and supported by a highly specialised management team to take players to the edge of their capabilities in learning to win games of cricket including areas such as game strategy, leadership, mental toughness and athleticism required at the highest level,” he added. “We want players to take responsibility for their performance and to play with confidence and freedom as they strive to win games of cricket for England.”England Under-19 squad Adam Ball (capt), Daniel Bell-Drummond, Peter Burgoyne, Ben Foakes, Gavin Griffiths, Brett Hutton, Aneesh Kapil, Sam Kelsall, Tom Knight, Jamie Overton, Adam Rossington, Shiv Thakor, Reece Topley, Sam Wood

Kamran Akmal has said he has ironed out the mistakes in his technique and is determined to make a comeback to the national team, even if it as a specialist batsman

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Nov-2010Kamran Akmal, the Pakistan wicketkeeper, has said he has ironed out technical flaws in his glovework and is determined to make a comeback behind the stumps, but is ready to play even as a specialist batsman if required. Kamran made several wicket-keeping errors on Pakistan’s tour of England in August and was dropped for the second Test against the hosts. He played the last two Tests and the one-dayers but was left out of the squad for the series against South Africa.”I’ve addressed some of the basics, especially those things that went wrong for me in England,” Kamran told . “I’ve watched a lot of the videos and we’ve analysed some of the errors. I’ve been working hard with the National Bank coaches and have received sound advice from ex-cricketers like Ijaz Ahmed and Waqar Younis [the national coach].”Kamran, who was replaced by Zulqarnain Haider for the ODIs and younger brother Adnan Akmal for the Tests against South Africa, has scored 530 runs at an average of 75.71 for National Bank in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy this season, including his maiden first-class double-century against Fasialabad. Pakistan’s selection committee are due to meet soon to choose the squads for the tour of New Zealand, which starts with the first of three Twenty20 internationals on December 23, as well as the preliminary 30-man squad for the World Cup, and Kamran is hopeful that his domestic performances will earn him a recall.”When I wasn’t chosen for the series versus South Africa, I decided that I would look to regain my form and confidence in domestic cricket,” he said. “I’ve managed to score plenty of runs and I have been happy with my form behind the stumps.”My dropping was up to the PCB and the selectors, and was out of my control. They choose who they think deserves a chance and I have no problem with that. I am more determined than ever to reclaim my place in the Pakistan side and I am comfortable if the selectors and management want me to play as a keeper or purely as a batsman.”Kamran underwent a minor appendix operation before the UAE tour but was fit when Adnan was picked for the Tests following Haider’s controversial exit from the side. There was some speculation that his exclusion from the squad may have been linked to the spot-fixing scandal. He was sent a notice by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACSU) after the Nottingham Test seeking information about events related to the 2010 World Twenty20 held in the Caribbean in May. Kamran was subsequently cleared for Pakistan selection after he sent an enquiry to the ICC asking if he was under investigation.Akmal admitted it had been a hard few months for him but said he has the mental strength to bounce back. “Being dropped is not an easy thing to take,” he said, “but I took it on the chin and decided that I would use my dropping from the team as a motivational tool. At this level, it’s the mental side of the game that quite often causes mistakes or a loss of form. I needed to be mentally tougher and I’ve worked on that.”