craig kieswetter

Craig Kieswetter was the hero for England as they completed a whitewash against Bangladesh in the One Day International series.

England completed the 3-0 victory over Bangladesh with a 45 run advantage with South African born Kieswetter scoring his maiden ODI century, ending on 107 from 124 balls.

The England team had reached 284 for 5 in their innings and seamer Tom Bresnan played his part with a superb 4 for 28 keeping Bangladesh on the back foot throughout.

The Tigers could only muster 239 for 9 and ended the game in Chittagong easily beaten. But it was not all plain sailing for England and the Bangladesh spinners kept England at bay for long periods of the match and while one South African born player earned the plaudits another, Kevin Pietersen again raised question marks over his one day game, falling lbw for a measly 22.

Paul Collingwood was also short of his most fluent game and fell for 36, But Kieswetter along with Eoin Morgan, took the batting powerplay in the 41st over and effectively won the game with a splendid 103 from the last nine overs.

Final score:
England 284 for 5   Bangladesh 239 for 9

Graeme Swann

England bowled South Africa out for 418 on the second day of the first Test match at Centurion, following a long day in which South Africa built patiently on their overnight score of 262 for 4, making things extremely difficult for the English bowlers.

Graeme Swann scored the third five wicket haul of his short Test career, at a cost of 110 runs, while Graham Onions took 3 for 86, with Paul Collingwood collecting four catches for England, but missing out on a record five in one innings when he dropped Harris on 24.

A tired looking England had to wait until after tea to finish South African off  before setting about the task of run making.

The South African bowlers Ntini, playing his 100th Test, and De Wet put England under pressure from the start and Cook was first to go for 14 runs, caught Boucher, bowled De Wet.

Jonathan Trott at number three survived a strong lbw appeal that had to be reviewed by the TV umpire before settling in alongside Strauss and building a quick 50 partnership.

Score at the end of Day Two, First Innings:

South Africa : 418 all out    England : 88 for 1

stuart broad

England fast bowlers Stuart Broad and James Anderson have snubbed the lure of the Indian Premier League and it’s riches to concentrate on their respective England Test match careers, and the upcoming back to back series against Bangladesh and Pakistan in 2010.

23 year old Broad and Anderson 27, were widely expected to cash in on their Ashes win this year by playing in next seasons Indian Premier League, but good news for England is that the pair will instead focus their energies on their international careers.

Both players have suggested that they would be interested in joining the IPL, should the opportunity arise in the future. Broad said;

“It was a hard decision – the IPL is a hugely exciting prospect and it’s something I would love to play in at some stage, especially leading up to the 2010 World Twenty20. I have four Tests in South Africa that will be hard work. At 23, I should give my body a break whenever I can. A three-week break after a hard winter’s touring will be better used resting my body.”

Broad also revealed that his agent had spoken to a few IPL teams and says that there is definitely plenty of money around, but he will be sticking by his decision for now.

Anderson also has concerns over keeping his body fit and is already looking ahead to the Ashes series in Australia next winter, he said;

“I am proud to be playing cricket for England and my international career is more important than anything which is why I have decided not to compete in the IPL in 2010. Taking on Australia next winter is going to be a huge challenge and one that I am fully committed to. I want to be an integral part of the first England cricket team to retain the Ashes since 1972 and I will be giving myself the best possible chance of achieving that by not playing in the IPL.”

England all rounder Andrew Flintoff picked up his knee injury while playing in the IPL last year and Kevin Pietersen is believed to have aggravated his Achilles problem while training with Bangalore Royal Challengers, a claim that the player has vehemently denied.

Lane had taken over the role as head coach of the England Women’s Cricket team in April 2008, following the sudden resignation of Mark Dobson midway through a tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Lane coached the Womens side to unprecedented victories in both the World Cup and the World Twenty20 finals during 2009.

Hugh Morris managing director of England Cricket said: “I would like to congratulate Mark on his awards which are thoroughly deserved after an outstanding year for women’s cricket in England and Wales.”

While Clare Connor, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s head of women’s cricket, said: “Mark has played a key role in helping the England women’s team develop into a truly world-class side and he should be congratulated on a year of unprecedented success.”

What are the chances of Mark Lane being offered a place on England Men’s coaching staff?

virender sehwag

India’s unbelievable blitzing of Sri Lanka in the third Test, by an innings and twenty four runs has moved them to become the world’s top ranked Test team for the first time.

And how they deserve to have reached such a pinnacle, made all the more fitting by their recent performances in the final home Test match against Sri Lanka.

Virender Sehwag’s blistering innings of 293, deservedly earned him the man of the match and man of the series awards as India won the series 2-0.

Captain Sachin Tendulkar said of the current Indian team;

“I would not hesitate to say this is the best team I have ever played with, if you look at the batting line-up, right from the number one batsman to the number seven batsman which is Mahendra Singh Dhoni, it’s a solid line-up.”

I think the process of getting to the number one spot really started when (coach) Gary Kirsten and Paddy Upton took over, along with Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh.

The aim of the whole team then was to get to be the top in the world. All credit to Kirsten, he handled the team brilliantly and credit also to the other players who have been a part of this team over the last 18-20 months.”

When they are in full flow, India are a true delight to watch, possessing some of the most in form batsmen in world cricket at present, if they can maintain this level of cricket they will be at the top of the rankings for a long time to come.

andrew strauss

Both England captain Andrew Strauss and South African captain Graeme Smith feel that their respective teams are capable of better performances than they have so far achieved in the five game ODI series and both will be hoping for a dominant performance in the final game tomorrow.

England, perhaps surprisingly, have the edge over South Africa in this competition so far, leading 2-1 with one to go following the first match wash out, they are in a position where they cannot lose the series and a far cry from the dreadful ODI series against Australia earlier this year.

Smith meanwhile will be spitting feathers whenever he reads the scoreline, he said ahead of the final game;

“If we had played to our potential England would have had to take a few more risks up front while they were batting instead of us allowing them to play a certain way. We haven’t pushed them to perform under pressure and that is disappointing.”

Strauss acknowledged that England had put South Africa under pressure in the series, and says that the team have progressed quite a long way but adds that England are far from the finished article and still have a long way to go.

The England captain said; “We have to play well tomorrow and have to expect another South African backlash.”

rahul dravid

Rahul Dravid’s 144 runs for India in the second day of the second test against Sri Lanka in Kanpur took him past Australian Allan Border’s 11,174 runs in Test cricket and into fourth place in the all time scorers list.

Dravid sits behind his Indian team mate Sachin Tendulkar, West Indies’ Brian Lara and the current leader Australian captain Ricky Ponting on the list.

It was also Dravid’s 28th test century, coming in an innings in which India’s two opening batsmen had already scored well over a century each themselves, Sehwag getting 131 and Gambhir a brilliant 167, as the home side built an impressive lead.

India did finally succumb to the bowling of Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath who claimed five of the last six wickets as India finished on 642 all out. It might have been worse for Sri Lanka but at last the wicket appeared to be showing signs of some turn and the spin bowler Herath was able to take advantage.

Things did get worse for Sri Lanka as they came out to bat, Zaheer Khan took the wicket of Tillakaratne Dilshan, before Sri Lanka had scored a run. But the visitors rallied and finished the day on 66 for 1, with both  Paranavitana and  Sangakkara on 30 not out.

england cap record holder

Paul Collingwood was instrumental in England’s win over South Africa on Sunday in the second of five One Day Internationals. Leading with the bat to earn an unbeaten 105, taking a superb catch off AB de Villiers and taking two wickets for 24 of six overs.

A superb all round performance from Collingwood on his record beating 171st England appearance in which he scored his fifth ODI century and helping England to a 1-0 advantage in the series following the the first game wash out.

Having eclipsed the record of 170 England appearances held by Alec Stewart, 33 year old Collingwood has emerged as the country’s most potent threat in one day cricket, even though his form at Test level remains indifferent.

Collingwood has undoubtedly worked hard on his game since making his first international appearance in 2001, not gifted with the natural ability of the likes of crowd pleasers Andrew Flintoff or Ian Botham, he has worked on his weaknesses throughout the years and developed his one day game not just with the bat but as a genuine all rounder.

His bowling has improved beyond compare, starting as a medium pace bowler, Collingwood has mastered variations in his bowling style and is able to mix it with some of the best, while his fielding as an England player is second to none.

Collingwood said that he was proud to have broken the record of England caps and added, ” To go out there and put a performance in like that, it makes it a very special day.”

In typical fashion Collingwood chose to deflect the spotlight from his own achievments and pointed to England opener Jonathan Trott’s 87 runs, saying;

“He played a lovely anchor role and put us into a really strong position. When someone comes into international cricket, it’s easy to tell them to keep doing what they do in county cricket, be he’s just focussed on what he does well for Warwickshire. Today was a prime example of that.”

Meanwhile with over 4,000 runs, 99 wickets and 98 catches in his England career, Collingwood is on the threshold of  becoming the first Englishman, and only the ninth overall, to reach the unique ‘treble’ of 1,ooo runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches.

Sri Lanka braved the early menace of India’s Zaheer and quickly took a hold on the game, particularly off the superb batting of Dilshan who managed an excellent 112 to put his country back into the match.

It was the second consecutive century for Dilshan since being elevated to opener for his country and it is his tenth test hundred.

Dilshan had formed solid partnerships with both Paranavitana (35) and Sangakkara(31) during the day, before Zaheer snared both Dilshan and Sangakkara leaving Sri Lanka on 194 for 3.

Samaraweera and Mahela then picked up the gauntlet for Sri Lanka by putting on an unbeaten 81 runs between them and ending the day with the scores:

First Innings

India – 426 all out    Sri Lanka – 275 for 3

The match looks quite finely balanced ahead of the third day and you wonder which way it will twist next. Both India and Sri Lanka have put on some excellent displays with the bat, you have to wonder if either side can conjure some magic with the ball.

rahul dravid

Rahul Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni assumed control for India in the first Test match against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad, after Sri Lanka’s Chanaka Welegedara claimed three wickets in his first four overs with the new ball to leave the hosts reeling at 32 for four.

In only his second Test match,  Welegedara made the most the moisture in the pitch in the morning to prise out Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar cheaply, while Dammika Prasad added the fourth Indian wicket of WS Laxman.

Dravid joined by Yuvraj managed to take stock of the situation and piece together an innings worthy of the best as weaknesses in Sri Lanka’s bowling became evident during the day with their inexperienced attack.

There was no respite for Sri Lanka when they did eventually snare Yuvraj (68) with the score at 157 for 5, as it was Dhoni who came on and quickly settled into his stride to continue to build the score alongside Dravid.

Dhoni fell for 110, with three overs to go by which time India had built up an incredible 381, ending the day on 385 for 6, with Dravid scoring an incredible 177 not out.