England’s Test match season did not exactly burst into life at Lord’s, rather it evolved sedately over the opening two sessions with New Zealand’s bowlers – led by the impressive Trent Boult who struck twice in the afternoon session – keeping the batsmen on a tight leash.

Boult’s wickets top and tailed the middle session and were both rewards for high-class, crafty and accurate swing bowling. Alastair Cook, who had problems against him and Neil Wagner in New Zealand, pushed at one side off stump and Jonathan Trott – shaping to play a significant innings on a ground where he averages over 70 – was brilliantly caught low at third slip five minutes before tea just as his stand with Ian Bell was building a position of relative strength for England.

Trott’s dismissal will have left one New Zealander feeling especially relieved; Bruce Martin had given him a life before he had scored when he spilled a return catch. It also meant that Joe Root, who has never played at Lord’s, emerged for his first home Test innings in a tricky situation. Read more
Courtesy : www.espncricinfo.com

Sunrisers Hyderabad overcame the thrashing they had against Chennai Super Kings a few days earlier with a 30-run victory over Kings XI Punjab on Saturday. The win, their eighth in 13 matches, at Mohali also brought them into the contention of reaching the top four.

The wicket at the PCA Stadium had a greenish look to it and the Punjab bowlers exploited it to good effect. While Praveen Kumar and Parvinder Awana weren’t as effective as one might have expected, Harmeet Singh and Sandeep Sharma were sharp with their length and line.

Harmeet got Shikhar Dhawan (15 off 14) off the first ball of his spell and Sandeep, playing his first IPL game, didn’t take long to make his mark, getting Hanuma Vihari (5 off 7) off his third delivery. Sharma troubled the Hyderabad batsmen from the outset, getting the ball to move both ways. Read more
Courtesy : ibnlive.in.com

What was expected to be a mismatch turned out to be just that, as Mumbai Indians beat the woeful Pune Warriors by five wickets in front of their home fans at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium on Saturday. With a place in the IPL 6 playoffs at stake, Mumbai kept Pune to 112 and knocked off the target inside 19 overs to move to second place on the leaderboard with 18 points. Defeat put Pune on par with their worst slump of nine consecutive losses, which they suffered in the 2012 season.

With nothing to play for, Pune made five changes in an attempt to do damage to Mumbai’s play-off hopes but failed to find any lift. Not surprisingly, it was the feeble batting that led to defeat. In their previous match only two batsmen reached double digits and today the situation was not much better. The highest score was 33 but most incriminatingly, Pune did not score a boundary after the 11th over. Read more
Courtesy : ibnlive.in.com

Rahul Dravid and Adam Gilchrist have praised the Rajasthan Royals bowlers for tying down the Kings XI Punjab batsmen towards the end of their innings in Mohali on Thursday. Kings XI were 105 for 2 in the 15th over but were restricted to 145 for 6, Royals allrounder Kevon Cooper leading the way with 3 for 23 from four overs. Ajinkya Rahane then made his third successive half-century as Royals recorded their ninth win of the season with eight wickets and an over to spare.

Dravid, the Royals captain, said death bowling had been a “major concern” for his side, and something that had been discussed among the players. “We have been discussing the issue in the team meetings, working out ways on how to improve our bowling at the death. We actually had a chat with two to three bowlers,” Dravid said. “We came out with a few ideas and some plans. The bowlers have been implementing those plans for the last couple of games. I think the bowlers, particularly Kevon and James Faulkner, performed really well.” Read more
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Pakistan offspinner Saeed Ajmal has been working closely with the team’s video analyst as he prepares to target the opposition’s batsmen, including Chris Gayle, in the Champions Trophy in England. Ajmal said he was expecting batting pitches during the tournament but said his variations would be effective during the tournament.

“I know they [teams] plan against me,” Ajmal told reporters on the fourth day of the training camp in Abbottabad. “And I am also planning against them. Although I haven’t added any new variation this time, I am looking at their videos and planning accordingly. Spinners have an important role in all formats of the game and those like me, who bowl in death overs, have to work extra hard to counter the batsmen. Read more
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Neil Wagner provided more compelling evidence for his inclusion in New Zealand’s Test team on the final day of the tour match against Derbyshire. Generating decent pace and maintaining a nagging line and testing length, Wagner claimed four wickets by tea to put his side on course for a comfortable victory.

With New Zealand having declared overnight, Derbyshire were set 335 runs to win and made a decent start to their pursuit, with Chesney Hughes and Billy Godleman seeing off the new balls spells with little difficulty. But the introduction of Wagner made life far harder for the batsmen.

Coming on as first change, Wagner soon worked up a good pace and, by maintaining a particularly probing length, had the batsmen unsure about what to play or leave. Hughes was caught behind, edging a tentative prod at one he had to play, before Godleman was leg before to a full delivery that appeared to beat him for pace. Read more
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Zimbabwe batsman Hamilton Masakadza has said that the home side is not under pressure playing at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, a venue where they have lost to Bangladesh seven times in nine matches. He was the top-scorer in the first ODI, but was one of four batsmen to fall when the score was on 93.

“I think we just had a bad start in Bulawayo,” Masakadza said. “We couldn’t fight like the way we were supposed to. I think 260 was a par-score on this wicket, which is batting friendly, but we just didn’t bat well enough to chase it down.

“I think they (Bangladesh) had a few good games here where we haven’t played so well ourselves. We don’t really think there is a jinx. We chased 300 runs against New Zealand in a one-day game.” Read more
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Delhi Daredevils needed to continue their winning momentum against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday, but another humiliating defeat, their eighth in eleven matches, put paid to their hopes of reaching the playoffs of this season of the IPL.

The Hyderabad bowlers were accurate as they bowled out Delhi for just 80 in 19.1 overs. While the Hyderabad spinners never allowed the Delhi batsmen to get going, their pacemen picked up bulk of the wickets, with Dale Steyn, Darren Sammy and Thisara Perera getting two wickets each.

Chasing a meagre total, Shikhar Dhawan made full use of the pace offered by the Delhi bowlers on an otherwise very slow and turning track at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Dhawan (22), as he showed in the previous matches, was immaculate with his timing before being trapped leg before by Johan Botha. Ashish Reddy was sent up the order to make use of his hitting abilities, but was caught behind for just 3 off Ashish Nehra. Read more
Courtesy : ibnlive.in.com

India have left experienced batsmen Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh out of their 15-man Champions Trophy squad.

Left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan, who last played a 50-over match for India in June 2011, got the nod while wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik was recalled after almost three years.

Opener Murali Vijay was a surprise inclusion, while all-rounder Irfan Pathan also got a recall.

India open the tournament against South Africa in Cardiff on 6 June. Read more
Courtesy : www.bbc.co.uk

Ziaur Rahman whose five-wicket haul helped Bangladesh crush Zimbabwe by 121 runs – their biggest margin of victory against the opponents – said that his initial target was to bowl two dot balls per over against the Zimbabwe batsmen.

Picked as a third seamer behind Robiul Islam and Shafiul Islam, Ziaur would have been pleased with completing a full quote of ten overs. Instead, he was the leading wicket-taker in the game, extending his streak from the four-wicket haul in the last innings of the second Test in Harare.

“I wanted to bowl at least two dot balls per over,” Ziaur said. “The batsmen would be under pressure if they were kept quiet, and that is exactly what happened.” Read more
Courtesy : www.espncricinfo.com