CRICKET RSS WORLD

Yuvraj Singh waits in the middle as the Rajasthan Royals celebrate a wicket. (AP Photo)

Kollkata Knight Riders' Sourav Ganguly reacts after his team was beaten by Delhi Daredevils. (AP Photo)

England pacer Graham Onions celebrates after taking a wicket against West Indies. (AFP Photo)

Rohit Sharma celebrates after taking a hat-trick against Mumbai Indians. (AP Photo)

Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni and Muttiah Muralitharan walk off the ground as Yuvraj Singh looks on. (AP Photo)

Brett Lee plays a shot. (AP Photo)

Which IPL team opens with the ‘Rock at the top’ and the ‘Cannon’? If you guessed Rajasthan Royals you’d be right, but bonus points if you said ‘Desert Roses’ for those are the nick names Shane Warne (aka ‘King’) has given to Graeme Smith, Swapnil Asnodkar and his team.

The rest of the players also have fitting aliases. Rajasthan’s hard-hitting match-winner Yusuf Pathan goes by the name of ‘Lethal weapon’, while the ‘Terminator’ (although he hasn’t terminated much as yet) is Dimitri Mascarenhas, the Times of India reported. Abhishek Raut is the ‘Young gun’, wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat is ‘Reliability, while the team’s ‘Rockstar’ is allrounder Ravindra Jadeja.

There are a couple of natural disasters as well, ‘Tornado’ and ‘Cyclone’ (Kamran Khan and Shane Harwood respectively) which would fit right into an X-Men movie. ‘Home run’ and ‘Big fury’ refer to Tyron Henderson and Munaf Patel while Darren Berry is the team’s ‘General’.

Rajasthan also have a ‘Secret weapon’ which they deployed in the last game against Deccan Chargers. It fired as well with Lee Carseldine contributing important runs towards the victory.

It’s not been a good year or two for Bermudan cricket, with poor on-field performances and lurid off-field tales dogging the side. Hopes that the only way was up after the recent failure to qualify for the 2011 World Cup were dashed with news that fast bowler George O’Brien had been charged with using a Taser stun-gun against what local papers described as a “love rival”.

O’Brien pleased not guilty when he appeared in court, his lawyer claiming the incident was related to “matters of the heart”. The magistrate was duly unimpressed and expressed concern that O’Brien actually owned a Taser in the first place. He will stand trial in August.

O’Brien has a chequered record. In 2005 he was handed a two-year suspended ban after reportedly punching an opponent during Bermuda's Cup Match, the biggest game of the year. In 2006 he was dropped from the national side after he missed a number of training sessions and failed to impress at the ones he did attend. That led to him being excluded from the 2007 World Cup squad, and days after being left out he broke his leg playing football.

Australia haven’t had a match-winning spinner since Shane Warne hung up his boots after the last Ashes series and the situation is serious enough to warrant calling a ‘spin summit’ next month to discuss the issue. The country’s spin bowling experts – including Terry Jenner, Warne’s mentor, and John Davison, the spin bowling coach at Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence (COE) - will meet at the COE in Brisbane to find a solution for the lack of quality spinners in all formats. According to AAP, the reluctance of captains to use attacking spinners is the reason for the lack of spin options. Australian selectors are expected to pick Nathan Hauritz, a containing offspinner, for the Ashes ahead of more attacking spinners like Jason Krejza and Bryce McGain. But Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, felt “attacking” was an over-rated term, saying "to assert pressure from one end is attacking cricket". That, presumably, will be up for discussion at Brisbane as well.

Just how far the ECB is prepared to bend over to earn an extra buck - and it would probably win many limbo competitions – might be gauged by its reaction to ESPN-Star’s reported multi-million dollar bid for rights to cover the planned new domestic Twenty20 tournament, due to launch in 2010.

The Daily Telegraph claims that it is a condition of ESPN-Star's bid that every team taking part in any televised match must contain an Indian player. This will leave the ECB between a rock and a hard place. In the past it has tended to follow the dollar and risk public opprobrium, as evidenced by its decision to take live English cricket completely off terrestrial TV and place it in the hands of BSkyB.

But if it does accede to ESPN-Star's demands, then it raises the prospects of all future bids being accompanied by similar demands. Where does that end? Could we see BSkyB have a place on England’s panel of selectors, or picking overseas players for counties?

Cricket clubs are used to not being able to honour fixtures because of the weather or player shortages, but Roborough Cricket Club in Devon have a more long-term issue after a group of so-called travellers set up camp on the outfield earlier this week and let their children loose on the square.

“They've been riding across the wicket,” said club treasurer Mike Gaylard. “We're going to inspect it on Monday morning and carry out any necessary repairs. We're hoping we'll be able to play in the afternoon. They just think they've got a God given right to be there.”

“We're just passing through; it's our way of life,” one of the travellers countered. “It's the only way you know when you've been brought up with it.”

The police washed their hands of the situation and the local council, who own the ground, said that they could “only move as fast as the law allows”.

Shane Warne walks on water but is famously partial to beer – even in the middle of an IPL game. Leading his Rajasthan Royals back on to the field after a strategic time-out against Bangalore at Centurion on Thursday, Warne was walking along the boundary when he spotted a spectator holding a glass of beer. He reached out, the beer was proffered, a quick swig ensued, a few drops were spilled and one spectator was left with a glass he probably will keep forever. It was all over in a few seconds and, though captured live by the TV cameras, was studiously ignored by the commentators. Warne, typically unfazed by the potential for controversy, carried on from where he’d been interrupted by the break: leading Rajasthan to yet another win and, by the end of the night, to second spot in the table.

Dilawar Hussain, of Blackburn, is an angry man. And £475 short. Hussain, who plays for Gujarat and Niles cricket clubs, ordered a kit from Lahore and arranged for it to be shipped to the UK via DHL.

But before reaching him, eight bats and a few pairs of pads were ruined by officials searching for explosives. Each bat and pad arrived with holes drilled in them. Worse, no one has owned up to the damage. "It is unbelievable. What were they thinking? They're ruined,” said club captain Dilawar Hussain.

True to form, the governments of both Pakistan and the UK are engaged in a battle of passing the buck. Last heard, British customs said it would have provided paperwork if it did the check.

The rural community remodeled as the fictional village Champaner in the 2001 Academy Award-nominated Hindi film Lagaan is set to actually host a cricket tournament. No, this won’t be a real-life battle against high taxes between peasants in a barren village and their oppressive British rulers. Instead, in keeping with times, it’s going to be called the Kutch Premier League, planned along the lines of the IPL, and will feature eight local teams vying for the tag of Twenty20 champs in an arid corner of Gujarat.

Rajnal, 50 kilometers from Champaner's inspiration Kunaria, will play host to teams with names like Wagad Royal Challengers and Kutch Gladiators, owned by former Indian Test offspinner Rajesh Chauhan. The other teams are owned by local businessmen, who paid Rs 50,000 (US$ 1,017) for each. Running the show is the Ratnal Sport Club, which auctioned the teams. There are even 24 icon players out of a pool of 150 auctioned on May 1. Raking in the top amount was allrounder Nirav Pandya, for whom Bhuj Black Hills paid Rs 20,000 (US$ 407).

Each game will be a day fixture and telecast on local cable television, though hopefully without DLF maximums and Citi moments of success. Local steel company Nilkanth Steel owns the title sponsorship. Add a dash of glamour in the form of popular Gujarati actress Hemali Shejpal, and this is one proper shindig.

The winner will pocket Rs 1.5 lakh (US$ 3,050) in cash and a trip to Canbis County Cricket Club in Kenya, which has a large Gujarati population.Doing a rustic take on Lalit Modi, event planner Trikam Ahir said the tournament’s intention was to provide a platform for local players as well as “good entertainment for locals” during the summer vacation. The times they are a-changin’.

Ever wondered if Michael Hussey had a crush on one of the brat pack while in school? Whether boy-next-door-meets-bad-boy MS Dhoni likes actions flicks or chick flicks? Well you may soon find out.

In a new PR drive, the normally reserved ICC has decided to release information on the game’s top players in order to generate more hoopla for the ICC World Twenty20 this summer. The ICC will circulate 19 questions to leading players from various countries in an attempt to get more out of them than the standard ‘opening-batsman-offbreak-bowler’ routine they often mumble on TV.

According to the Express, the survey will include questions ranging from retirement plans, nightmare opposition, childhood heroes, favourite films, songs, actresses and food, and even if any relative has played competitive cricket. The ICC will then share the hallowed information with its broadcasting and internet content collaborators before the World Twenty20 kicks off on June 5.

Talk about creative mojo.

If I were Geoff Miller, I think I’d be a little miffed at the coverage given to the various England squads announced last week. There is scarcely a mention of the national selector who chairs the selection committee and acres devoted to the influence allegedly wielded by the newest addition to the committee, team director Andy Flower, whose imprint we are supposed to be able to discern.

Excuse me? The head coaching honcho, whether you call him coach, team director or Grand Panjandrum, spends his time working with whomever is in the current squad, giving him extremely detailed knowledge of today’s personnel while preventing him gathering much of interest about potential recruits.

Flower won’t have seen Eoin Morgan, Graham Onions or Tim Bresnan play much, if any, cricket over the last two years, so how can his imprint be seen in their selections?

I've just finished reading Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket , Christian Ryan's biography of Kim Hughes and have a few thoughts to offer (to add to Michael Jeh's piece). First off, this is a good read. Ryan writes fluently, and conveys the sheer physicality of cricketing action remarkably well. There are many colorful turns of phrase, and they are all needed when describing a) a cricketer as interesting as Hughes and b) a cricketing culture as hard-boiled as the Aussie one. Ryan's English is unmistakably Australian, with its directness and verve, and he has done well to construct the book as a kind of oral history, based on extensive interviews with many of the participants--players, coaches, journalists--in the Hughes saga.

So Cricket Australia has pulled Nathan Bracken, James Hopes and Shane Watson out of the IPL in order to manage their niggling injuries. It may well be the right thing for the country and all three players have the maturity and commonsense to not bleat too loudly (yet). As fringe players, they understand that their brand value is enhanced by playing international cricket.

It begs the inevitable question though: at what point will we begin to see the first cracks opening up between players and their home countries' boards? It’s unlikely that India will ever have to face this problem because the IPL is their very own cash cow. Other countries though, despite overtly supporting the BCCI’s money-spinner (if indeed it does make money which I suppose it does), might soon find themselves in a situation where they are at odds with their players if they exercise their right to withdraw them from IPL commitments.

The BBC commentators made Graham Swann’s dismissals of Devon Smith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in consecutive balls their champagne moment, but I would have awarded it to Fidel Edwards for that beautiful ball which did for Kevin Pietersen.

Admittedly, bowlers start with a big advantage when delivering Pietersen’s first ball. They know in advance that he will come forward and attempt to dink the ball to mid-on before setting off for a suicidal single, but even armed with that knowledge it takes a high degree of skill to bowl the right ball. Fidel landed it absolutely to perfection.

Edwards was the best bowler on show: it was just a shame that none of his team-mates bothered to turn up until Brendan Nash and Denesh Ramdin’s stand of 143 delayed the end of the match by a couple of hours. Because of Edwards, England were struggling at tea on the first day, but because of everyone else in the West Indies team, England picked themselves up and eventually romped to victory.

From Andrew Hughes, United Kingdom

Warning! The following piece of writing contains extended metaphorical sequences which some of the more literate readers may find distressing.

Andy Zaltzman’s Cricinfo articles never fail to arrive punctually at Comedy Central. But whilst his latest piece on the IPL was chugging along nicely, inducing more than its share of laughter from the Hughes sofa (or more accurately, the idle man reclining upon the Hughes sofa) it gradually became clear that I had boarded the wrong carriage. Having travelled on his train of thought for most of the journey, I was forced at the last minute to leap from the speeding vehicle of logic and roll down a grassy embankment of disillusionment.

Jumping from a metaphorical locomotive isn’t easy, but I had no option. So what was it that could have provoked me, all these days later, to create such a shaky analogy? It wasn’t that he expressed his lack of interest in who might win the IPL. I don’t care who wins it either. What led me to pull the emergency cord was the conclusion that he drew from that insouciance. Not giving a Mark Nicholas about who won the thing, he seemed to be saying that it would not therefore be permitted to cross the electronic threshold into Zaltzman Land.

From John Van Der Westhuizen, South Africa

Recently I harped on about how poorly batsmen had been dealing with overs 11 and 12 after the tactical break. In the first 15 games we saw that batsmen were slightly more likely to lose their wickets than they generally were at other points in the innings. The Little Maestro himself said that batting sides lost momentum after the break, and that he was not a big fan of it. Commentators almost religiously point out the dangers facing batsmen after the resumption of play after these breaks. Well rest assured, as I am here to tell you that batsmen across the board seem to have adjusted and are now taking the tactical break in their collective stride.

For the purposes of this analysis, I have looked only at overs eleven and twelve, the two overs directly after the break. We found previously that on average over fourteen games, the batting side lost at least one wicket per period. Sounds like very little but bear in mind, a 'period' is only twelve balls. This wicket fell at an average cost of 16.5 runs and a run rate of 7.5 runs per over. How the numbers have evened out now.

After thirty one games, the average number of wickets to fall in this period has plummeted. That the tournament average is now only 0.55 wickets per period, and at a cost of 26.4 runs, speaks volumes for the way that batsmen have adapted in the last fifteen fixtures. Not only has NOT losing a wicket in this period become more common - it is bordering on becoming the norm. In the last seven IPL games (fourteen innings), only two wickets have fallen during overs eleven and twelve. Scoring rates have been consistently around the 7.5 runs per over mark. Bad news for the bowlers then, it would seem the game is still designed to relegate them to cannon fodder in the shortest version.

Having said that the wickets in SA have generally offered results for good honest work and hitting correct lengths. India would have been tougher work for the bowlers.

PS: The no-ball/free hit rule was not mentioned in my previous posting. So despite my efforts to paint a picture that's more user friendly to bowlers, it would seem the opposite has occurred. Not only does the period of overs eleven and twelve seem to offer them no grace whatsoever - but I have also now added another rule that makes their lives a misery. Remind me to send my three year old son to a good batting coach when the time comes.

EAST LONDON, South Africa (Reuters) - The Delhi Daredevils surged to the top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after crushing the Mumbai Indians by seven wickets on Friday.

LONDON (Reuters) - England completed a 10-wicket victory over West Indies in the first test against West Indies within three days on Friday after the visitors had finally shown some fighting spirit with the bat.

LONDON (Reuters) - England go into the second test against West Indies with fresh conviction after their bold selections paid dividends at Lord's this week.

CENTURION, South Africa (Reuters) - Matthew Hayden's swashbuckling knock of 89 helped propel the Chennai Super Kings to a 12-run victory over Kings XI Punjab that put them top of the Indian Premier League standings on Thursday.

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh offered an amnesty on Saturday to their Indian Cricket League (ICL) players asking them to end their contracts with the unofficial Twenty20 competition by June 15 if they wanted a ban from domestic and international cricket lifted.

CHENNAI (Reuters) - Sports Minister Manohar Singh Gill is concerned an Indian Premier League (IPL) mobile phone-based contest amounts to gambling and could give rise to a fresh bout of corruption in the game.

(Reuters) - Indian Premier League results and standings on Saturday.

(Reuters) - The Kings XI Punjab beat the Deccan Chargers by three wickets in their Indian Premier League match

KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistan's cricket authorities have mounted a legal challenge to the International Cricket Council's (ICC) decision to strip the country of the right to host 2011 World Cup matches.