All posts by csb10.top

ScorecardMatthew Hoggard will find out the extent of his injury next week•Getty Images

Matthew Hoggard will go for a scan on his hip next week after he suffered an injury on the opening day of this Championship match against Kent. Although he came out to bat, albeit briefly, on the final day he only bowled five overs in a game that drifted to a draw.If Hoggard is forced into a period on the sidelines it will be a blow to Leicestershire’s already thin bowling resources and the home attack did not make much impression on the final day. However, it was a match where many bowlers prospered as 1,114 runs were scored for the loss of 22 wickets in the match.Robert Key scored a century in was effectively an extended net session as Kent batted out the contest with ease after the home side were dismissed for 495 an hour before lunch on the last day. That gave Leicestershire a lead of 89 runs, but with so little time left in the match there was no way for either side to fashion a positive outcome, and they had to settle for nine points each.But it did enable Kent’s top order batsmen to gain some more valuable time in the middle in their first Championship game of the season, and when the teams shook hands on the draw, the visitors had reached 213 for 2.Key made up for missing out on a half-century in the first innings by scoring an unbeaten 104 while Brendan Nash added 62 to his earlier 50, confirming just how good the pitch had been for batting throughout the four days.Leicestershire, who were 452 for 7 overnight, decided to bat on, and added another 43 runs in just under an hour. Shiv Thakor, resuming on 105, was out for 114, skying a catch to deep midwicket off Mark Davies. A brisk unbeaten 24 by Ollie Freckingham accelerated the scoring rate and Hoggard was last man out for 4.Key reached his 50 off 124 balls while sharing an opening partnership of 74 with Sam Northeast (32) and a second-wicket stand of 124 with Nash. Nash posted his 50 off 71 balls with six fours, before edging Jigar Naik to slip, but Key carried on and drove Michael Thornely for his 11th boundary to reach his century off 194 balls a few minutes before the teams shook hands on a draw.

ScorecardMoeen Ali struck a stylish half-century to blunt Lancashire’s attack•PA Photos

Any illusions that Lancashire would find Championship promotion easy were dispelled on an attritional opening day at Old Trafford. Lancashire puffed without ever threatening to blow the house down; Worcestershire seemed more concerned with self-preservation than domination on their own return to Division Two.When these sides met at Old Trafford in Division One last season, Moeen Ali claimed 12 for 96 in the match with his offbreaks. He continued his fine record at the ground, albeit in a different discipline, with a mature 78 as Worcestershire held their own.Despite his considerable talent, Moeen’s batting average was only 25 last year: an important reason why Worcestershire only won one Championship game. Light on his feet and a crisp timer, Moeen’s cutting, and a straight six off Simon Kerrigan, showed why he has a reputation as a stylist. Yet it was his discipline – he lasted 188 balls – that was even more impressive, although he was dropped in the gully after a loose cut on 41. It was a shame when, attempting to replicate his earlier six against Kerrigan, Moeen was caught at long-on. Still, his cousin Kabir Ali would have looked on enviously: a new signing for Lancashire but not playing here, he has a problem with his knee that the county will monitor over the next month, though he looked sprightly warming up.Without Kabir, Lancashire’s attack was unable to rise above the workmanlike. Both Glen Chapple, into his 40th year, and Kyle Hogg (with an opening spell of 8-3-11-0) were typically parsimonious but Lancashire would have hoped for more when they inserted Worcestershire. The suspicion remains that an injury to Chapple could make regularly taking 20 wickets, even in Division Two, a struggle.So Wayne White’s Lancashire Championship debut was encouraging. His first ball could scarcely have been worse – the longest of long hops – but at the end of his over he claimed the opening wicket, a leading edge from Matthew Pardoe that was athletically taken by Chapple at mid-on. Although he bowled too wide for periods, White consistently looked the most likely wicket-taker, generating more pace and bounce than the other seamers, and later had Alexei Kervezee sharply taken by Steven Croft at second slip. Having averaged 30 with bat and ball in his last two seasons at Leicestershire, White may prove one of 2013’s most prudent signings.In a largely turgid day, the highlight was a duel between Kerrigan and Thilan Samaweerawa, making his county debut aged 36. The Sri Lankan is an excellent player of spin, able to hit the ball powerfully in front of the wicket or with finesse behind it. So it was to Kerrigan’s huge credit that, the ball after Samaraweera had glided a delivery for four to third man, he claimed him caught behind with a slightly quicker delivery.Despite Samaraweera’s anger at his dismissal, Worcestershire could be very satisfied with their day. It did not start well. Richard Jones was injured in the warm-up and was replaced by David Lucas before Daryl Mitchell lost the toss. Mitchell himself then suffered what Worcestershire described as a “24-hour bug”, and didn’t bat until No. 7. He didn’t look like a man who needed the exercise of running quick singles, but, along with the almost strokeless Neil Pinner, withstood Chapple’s probing second new ball spell. Luke Procter’s nagging seam claimed Pinner lbw for 29 as Worcestershire closed on 227 for 6.

Sachin Tendulkar has said he was scared of breaking down in front of Yuvraj Singh when they met in London after Yuvraj’s treatment for a rare germ cell cancer in the United States. Tendulkar was speaking in Delhi at the release of Yuvraj’s book .”When I went to meet him in London, I was telling my wife that I don’t want to break down when I see him,” Tendulkar said. “I met him and gave him a tight hug. We enjoyed a meal, and from the way he ate I was convinced that he was back on track.”When I saw my wife discussing medical terms with Yuvraj, I realised what he had been going through. He is like my younger brother and I would ask God why it (the illness) had to happen to Yuvraj.”Yuvraj recollected his first meeting with Tendulkar. “My first conversation was when I was looking at him in awe at the dressing room, suddenly he said, ‘please pass on the biscuits.'” To this Tendulkar replied, “I have not got those biscuits till now.”Apart from Tendulkar, India captain MS Dhoni also spoke about Yuvraj’s fight with cancer. Dhoni said he knew about Yuvraj’s situation even before he was told about it. “When his test reports came, someone told me he has cancer,” Dhoni said. “I just said ‘are you sure?’ The person repeated that Yuvraj has cancer. I was shocked.”Following his return from the United States after his treatment for mediastinal seminoma, Yuvraj set up a cancer charity called Youwecan, which focuses on spreading cancer awareness and early detection.Several players who spoke at the event in conversation with Yuvraj and Harsha Bhogle said they had seen Yuvraj cough and throw up repeatedly during the 2011 World Cup, but assumed they were throat or stomach problems. Yuvraj was named Player of the Tournament for the World Cup and described the moment after Dhoni hit a six to win the final for India.”I was running towards Mahi to hug him and he was running towards the stumps.” Dhoni had said he’d made a run for the stumps because otherwise the rest of the players would make a grab for them.During his stay in Indianapolis for cancer treatment, Yuvraj said he had followed India’s matches in Australia and admitted to feeling “sad” at not being involved. “I would watch videos of my batting until one day Anil Kumble came to visit me and shut my laptop. He said I should forget about cricket and concentrate on my recovery.” The only time Yuvraj found himself “jumping” with excitement and joy during two difficult months of chemotherapy was on hearing about Virat Kohli’s century in Adelaide.The India team and support staff were called onto the stage for photographs, but as the players went up Virender Sehwag stayed seated. Yuvraj called out to him and said, “Veeru, [I’m also not in the (Test) team, you’re also not in the team – come on up].” Sehwag did with a smile on his face.

Rangpur Riders captain Abdur Razzak has said his team’s players have been playing “free of cost” in this season of the Bangladesh Premier League because they haven’t been paid yet. Razzak’s comments come a day after Owais Shah, the Dhaka Gladiators batsman, complained he had not been paid the first installment (25%) of his $75,000 paycheck.The Riders are third in the tournament with three wins, after they went down to Sylhet Royals by five wickets on Thursday.”Our focus is bound to be hampered,” Razzak said. “The foreign players in my team are feeling insecure. Our owner has told us the payments will be cleared before the second round. It would be great if it happens because we are all professional cricketers. We have played free of cost so far, so there have been discussions among the players.”Razzak said he hoped the owners understood that cricket was the only source of income for most of the players, but wasn’t certain he would see all the money. “I am not saying that I will be playing free of cost but if I had to, it wouldn’t be a good situation. What will be my livelihood? I have spent my life in cricket.”Truth be told, I am not confident about payment. If I say I am confident, I might not get paid, and if I say I won’t get paid, they may clear the payment.”Shah had said that he received the remittance slip from the Bangladesh board but the amount had not been credited into his account. ESPNcricinfo was also told that Shah was just one of many players not to have been paid.Tim May, the the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), said that players’ patience with the organisers had worn thin and there was possibility of a boycott if the payments were not made.

With the local boy arriving in Ranchi as India captain for the third ODI against England, the city has been taken over by Dhoni mania. In neighbouring West Bengal, Sourav Ganguly still sends the locals berserk whenever he makes a public appearance. Ranchi has had to wait eight years after Dhoni’s India debut to host its maiden international game. No wonder then that thousands lined the roads from the Birsa Munda airport to the team hotel, a sight that left MS Dhoni feeling “humbled”. Getting in and out of the team hotel has been difficult, with people crowding the entrance and even prompting the police into a mild lathi charge.To celebrate the occasion, a liquor shop put up posters of Dhoni and Alastair Cook and even lined its counters with bats and stumps. The authorities went a step further. The state aviation department has been roped in, and there are plans to have a glider fly over the stadium and scatter (pink-coloured powder) on the outfield during the inauguration ceremony, before the start of the match and during the innings break.Students are demanding a holiday on Saturday, the match day, something schools, already hit by shutdowns because of a severe cold wave, can ill-afford. J Mohanty, principal of DPS [Delhi Public School] Ranchi, is benevolent, though. “This is a proud moment for Jharkhand,” Mohanty told the . “The cricket match will be on the students’ minds and they will also have to wait outside the hotels for a glimpse of their cricketing heroes. So we will not hold any additional classes this weekend.”There is a reason Dhoni matters so much to Ranchi and Jharkhand, which had little to cheer when it was part of Bihar state and has had little to cheer since it was carved out in 2000. Political instability is common; central-government rule has just been imposed for the third time in the state’s short existence. “Small-town boys from places like this just don’t get to be captain of India,” Ushinor Majumdar, Jharkhand correspondent for the Hindustan Times, told the . “And it is mostly because of Dhoni that there is so much attention. In many ways it is an under-developed, backward place. But it is known in cricket thanks to Dhoni.”International cricket in Jharkhand was restricted to the steel city of Jamshedpur, where Dhoni has played a couple of ODIs, including one against England in 2006, at Tata Steel’s Keenan Stadium. It was the state association’s desire to have its own stadium that enabled Ranchi to watch Dhoni play for India in the city.Dhoni was clearly thrilled with the stadium at his hometown. “Personally, it’s a special moment for me. The journey begins tomorrow. It’s the beginning of a new innings,” he said at a function inaugurating cricket’s latest international venue*.He said the 39,000-seater stadium will give Ranchi plenty of recognition. “When I first joined the team, people were asking me the place I belonged to,” Dhoni said. “I used to say I am from India and the next thing I would say I am from a place called Ranchi in Jharkhand. I used to explain Ranchi, giving various routes like it is a place close to Kolkata, near Jamshedpur. We are the richest state in natural resources.”But, after the stadium was built it has now become an international venue. At least, we need not have to explain further about Ranchi in the cricket playing nations. It is a proud beginning; proud moment for people of Jharkhand.”The mood in the city has already shown how proud Ranchi is of the double honour of making its international debut with a homegrown captain.* January 18, 17.00GMT This story has been updated after the stadium’s inauguration ceremony

Match facts

Nathan Lyon will be an important player for Australia at his home venue•Associated Press

November 22-26, Adelaide Oval
Start time 1030 (0000 GMT)

Big Picture

Australia and South Africa don’t do draws. But for a Saturday completely lost to rain, that trend may well have continued at the Gabba. Instead, the teams have headed to Adelaide still locked at 0-0, although Australia took more positives from the Brisbane Test. After a disappointing first day on which their bowlers took only two wickets, they fought back to be in the prime position on the final day, but time ran out for them to manufacture a result. All the same, they will head in to the second Test knowing that Ed Cowan has proven himself a Test-quality opener, Michael Clarke’s monumental 2012 has shown no signs of ending early, Michael Hussey has broken a seven-year century drought against South Africa, and most of the bowlers found form as the Gabba Test played out. David Warner remains a slight concern at the top of the order but in the main things are simmering away nicely in the Australian setup.For South Africa, there wasn’t much to like about the Gabba Test apart from the continued brilliance of Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis. Alviro Petersen showed why he should not be underestimated on the first day with 64, but that was about it. Questions remain around whether Jacques Rudolph offers enough value; since his return to the side last November he has played 12 Tests for one century. But more than the batting it was South Africa’s bowling that left much to be desired at the Gabba. Perhaps they expected the pitch, by reputation a seamer but in reality a true surface, to do the work for them. Whatever the case, that they allowed 487 runs to pass between bowlers’ wickets – Cowan’s run-out was the only breakthrough on the fourth day – was a massive problem. Vernon Philander lacked impact, Dale Steyn showed only glimpses of his best and Morne Morkel needs to curb his habit of over-stepping on crucial deliveries. Not that any of these issues concerned the coach Gary Kirsten enough to encourage him to spend every day working with the squad between Tests; instead he flew home for a whistle-stop trip to see his wife and children.At Adelaide Oval, the teams will again be greeted by a good batting surface. Life won’t be easy for the fast men early on but the pitch will wear and provide some uneven bounce and help for the spinners later on. During the 1980s the venue had the reputation of being a ground where draws were almost inevitable but that is no longer a fair assessment, and only three of the past 20 Adelaide Tests have failed to find a winner. If that trend continues this year, whichever team comes out on top cannot lose the series. And if it’s South Africa, the No.1 ranking will be out of Australia’s reach.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
Australia DWDWW
South Africa DWDWD

In the spotlight

South Africa’s batsmen tried to belt Nathan Lyon out of the attack at the Gabba but he kept his nerve, continued to flight the ball and picked up two wickets in each innings, as well as having a skied catch put down off his bowling. A 25-over spell on the third day helped Lyon get back into his rhythm after some undemanding Sheffield Shield work in the lead-up, and at his home venue of Adelaide Oval, where he took five wickets against India last summer, he will be a key man as the pitch deteriorates. With Shane Watson unable to bowl even if he does play, Lyon will again be asked to bowl some long spells to give the fast men some rest.Vernon Philander had so much success in his first ten Test matches that it was a major surprise that he went wicketless at the Gabba, having also failed to claim a victim the tour match in Sydney. At times in Brisbane the Australians found it a little too easy to leave Philander’s deliveries alone and on a pitch like Adelaide, which won’t offer the bowlers much apart from perhaps some variable bounce as the game wears on, he will need to make the batsmen play more often.

Team news

Australia are unchanged from Brisbane, with Shane Watson’s bid to play as a batsman ending predictably on match eve. Ben Hilfenhaus retains his spot ahead of Mitchell Starc, and Rob Quiney has another Test to prove himself at No. 3.Australia 1 Ed Cowan, 2 David Warner, 3 Rob Quiney, 4 Ricky Ponting, 5 Michael Clarke (capt), 6 Michael Hussey, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Peter Siddle, 9 James Pattinson, 10 Ben Hilfenhaus, 11 Nathan Lyon.JP Duminy’s injury meant South Africa had to make at least one change from the Gabba side and it has been confirmed that Faf du Plessis will make his debut in Adelaide. Imran Tahir has also been named and will replace Rory Kleinveldt in the starting XI.South Africa 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Jacques Rudolph, 7 Faf du Plessis, 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Morne Morkel, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Imran Tahir.

Pitch and conditions

Like the Gabba, the Adelaide Oval surface should provide plenty of runs early in the match, but it is also likely to deteriorate as the game wears on, which will bring the spinners into play. The forecast for the duration of the match is hot and sunny.

Stats and trivia

• The Gabba match was the first draw between these two sides in 14 Tests, the previous one having come at the WACA in December 2005. The teams haven’t drawn two consecutive Tests since 1921
• Michael Hussey is in line to play his 75th consecutive Test since his debut in November 2005, but AB de Villiers is in the midst of an even better run and should step out for his 79th consecutive Test since his debut in 2004
• The only member of South Africa’s side who has played Test cricket at Adelaide Oval is Jacques Kallis, who in two matches there has scored 15, 15, 5 and 65 not out
• Ricky Ponting has scored more runs at Adelaide Oval than any other Test venue, 1723 at an average of 63.81

Quotes

“I think the players can take confidence from the way we performed and improved in that Test match, but it doesn’t guarantee much. Like words, it doesn’t really matter what you say it’s what you do and we need to have that attitude and make sure come tomorrow we’re 100% ready for that first delivery whether we’re batting or bowling.”
“The changeroom attendant said the one thing you can expect is the same Adelaide wicket. It will probably get drier as the game goes on. It’s got a good grass covering. The field is looking really good. The square is probably the greenest I have seen it in a long time.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMultan steamrolled Quetta by 10 wickets in their first Group A Faysal Bank T-20 Cup match at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. After putting Quetta in, Multan’s fast bowlers, Abdur Rauf and Mohammad Irfan, struck thrice in the first three overs to reduce Quetta to 16 for 3. The situation got worse for Quetta with the introduction of spin in the sixth over as left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar struck with this second ball. Babar continued his stranglehold as he picked up two more wickets off consecutive balls in his second over and finished with incredible figures of 4-2-3-2. Irfan, who came back to bowl the seventeenth over, cleaned up the tail as Quetta were bowled out for 72. In response, it took Multan’s openers Zain Abbas and Sohaib Maqsood just 11 overs to overhaul the target.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBuoyed by opener Imran Farhat’s second T20 century, Lahore Eagles scored a comfortable 58-run win over Hyderabad. Farhat, who remained unbeaten on 100 off 59 balls, launched an attack with his opening partner Taufeeq Umar, who scored 65, to bring up the team’s 100 in the sixth over. The two batsmen put up 168 runs for the opening stand which set-up the base for the team’s 224-run total. Hyderabad remained on track till the halfway stage as opener Sharjeel Khan single-handedly fought on. Sharjeel remained unbeaten on 103, an innings laced with eight sixes and five boundaries, but didn’t receive support from the rest of the cast. For Lahore, Asif Raza and Junaid Zia were both economical and picked up two wickets apiece.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDefending champions Sialkot completed a commanding eight-wicket win over Islamabad in their first match. Islamabad, who chose to bat, struggled to force the pace and lost regular wickets from the start. Fast bowler Umaid Asif was the pick of the bowlers, picking up three wickets for 21 runs while Navel-ul-Hasan picked up two as Islamabad were restricted to 122. In response, Imran Nazir scored a quick half-century and was out after taking the team only 19 short of the target in the thirteenth over. Shoaib Malik and Haris Sohail, both stayed unbeaten on 21, and completed the chase without any further hiccup.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShahid Afridi led Karachi Dolphins to a 40-run win against Peshawar with a half-century that lifted the team from a slump in the middle to a strong total of 164. Karachi Dolphins lost their first wicket off the first ball, but Shahzaib Hasan attacked with a flurry of boundary hits to score a quick 33 off 14 balls. But three wickets went down for six runs slowing the Dolphins down. But Afridi held one end together and stayed on the crease till the nineteenth over to ensure the team got to a decent total. Peshawar stumbled early in the chase when they were reduced to 20 for 4 in the fifth over, but a 68-run stand between Iftikhar Ahmed and Akbar Badshah resurrected hopes of a fight back. However, once Afridi removed the half-centurion Iftikhar, Peshawar collapsed and were all out for 124.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsOpener Imranullah Aslam’s quick-fire 89 off 53 balls helped Bahawalpur beat Rawalpindi by 19 runs. Aslam attacked from the start by dispatching Yasir Arafat for five fours in the third over of the match. He went on to hit 12 boundaries and two sixes in total before falling in the nineteenth over and helped them post 173. Rawalpindi faltered at the start as they lost opener Awais Zia off the fourth ball for a duck. Naved Malik and Babar Naeem kept them in the hunt, with Malik scoring 51 from 22 balls, with nine fours and a six. But his dismissal triggered a middle-order collapse and Rawalpindi managed 154. Siddiq was the pick of the Bahawalpur bowlers finishing with figures of 3 for 22.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSoon after being appointed the captain, Mohammad Hafeez scored a half-century to help Lahore Lions beat Karachi Zebras by seven wickets. Chasing 142, the strong Lions team was not put under any pressure at any stage and even though they lost their openers with the score on 60, Hafeez and Umar Akmal used their experience and remained in control. The two batsmen shared a 67-run stand which came off 47 balls. Hafeez was out after scoring 53, but Umar continued to attack and helped complete the chase with 11 balls to spare. Zebras, after chosing to bat, made a solid start and were placed at 98 for 2 after Fahad Iqbal’s half-century. But three wickets went down for eight runs, slowing the the team down in the process. Aizaz Cheema was the most successful bowler with 2 for 21.

Among the appointments of foreign coaches in Bangladesh this year, Richard McInnes’ easily stands out, even counting the abrupt change in the senior team’s coach in April. The point is, not many coaches return to a post, so McInnes’ comeback as the head coach of Bangladesh’s National Cricket Academy (NCA) for a two-year period has drawn plenty of interest in the country.McInnes is realistic about why he is back in Bangladesh: to produce international-quality players. “My job is to produce players for the national team, and these players will play domestic cricket as well,” McInnes told ESPNcricinfo. “Hopefully, as a byproduct of their time here (at the NCA), they’ll dominate domestic cricket and get selected for the national team.”My job is to provide very strong support to Richard Pybus (the national coach) and his team. I want to make sure we provide anything they need; players who aren’t on tour for the different formats, they’ll be getting ready here for their particular format, whether its Test, ODIs or Twenty20s. We’ll have a very strong link between the national team and this place.”The seven years since 2005, when McInnes stepped down from his post of manager of Bangladesh’s high performance unit, have seen many changes, the biggest being the increase in international wins and the emergence of a few more dependable players. Back then, he was the man in charge of the only available source of players for a Test team that had many revolving doors.Now the academy, just like the high performance unit, is modeled after a finishing school for cricketers, from where they are just a step away from the Bangladesh A team. But spots in the national team are not completely guaranteed these days, even for those who are earmarked as special talents, simply because the selection panels nowadays won’t punt on a 17-year-old ‘genius’. The player must perform in domestic cricket as well, and McInnes’ is someone who has knowledge of the country’s first-class structure.”The first-class system here needs some work from what I’ve been hearing,” he said. “One of the challenges is the absence of quality fast bowling, and wickets where ball swings and bounces. These are the conditions the Bangladesh team tends to struggle with when they go overseas. That’s not easily fixed because of the climatic and soil conditions.”[For the cricketers] it is a little bit like the chicken and the egg: batsmen get criticised when they can’t do well against fast bowling, but they don’t get 6’4″, 6’6” fast bowlers at home. We’ll try and create some things [to aid them in this respect] here.”McInnes is hardly a fan of a quick evolution. He is appreciative of having a first-class system in place which will, for example, teach a batsman how to bat an entire day. “How do you train someone to bat for five to six hours in a Test match? You can’t train them – that’s where the first-class competition is really, really important. We need players to bat out a day in first-class cricket, come back the next day and bat till lunch on day two. We will try to get players to make big hundreds in first-class cricket.”His primary goal will be to prepare players for each spot in the national team, thereby increasing competition and raising the performance of the incumbents. “If we’re all doing our job, we have two-three players for every position in the national team. [Then] there’s real competition for the spots. Players who are in the national team know that they have to perform well to hold on to that spot.”The thing that I bring [to the job] is making sure we’re thorough, preparing across all areas. There’s an advantage with a live-in programme [like the NCA’s], we have a lot of time to do these things.”McInnes’ is also pleased with the new facilities at his disposal. When he was with the high performance unit, he had spent many hours on the road during his daily commute to BKSP, the sports institute located 40km north of Dhaka. The NCA, on the other hand, built on the Shere Bangla National Stadium premises in Mirpur, comes with its own field and residential quarters.Seeing players who worked with him at the high performance unit make the step up to the international level, has pleased him, McInnes said. “Eleven out of the 13 who played in the Asia Cup [in March] were in the programme. I was in India at the time, watching the matches, and I talked to Mushfiqur [Rahim, the Bangladesh captain] on Facebook. I was very proud of that, and I think a lot of those players understand what they need to do to be successful.”The high performance programme collapsed following McInnes’ departure in 2005, and Shakib Al Hasan, in recent years, has often spoken of restarting it. However, when it first began, the cricketers were not too pleased with the tough training regimen in place, as well as the food that they were served. Now, almost every cricketer from those camps are now either playing for Bangladesh (Shakib, Mushfiqur, Tamim Iqbal), have played for the team (Alok Kapali, Naeem Islam, Shahadat Hossain, Shahriar Nafees) or are on the fringes, like Shamsur Rahman. And these players remember McInnes for the changes he brought about in Bangladesh cricket and the skills he made them develop.This time around, McInnes will have to deal with the weightier expectations, fueled by the success he enjoyed during that last stint in the country. He will get his first taste of how much Bangladesh has changed since then when the NCA takes on the West Indies High Performance team in September.

India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who played the last of his three Tests in January 2011 in South Africa, is eager to make a comeback to the Test side and following his injury problems, his focus is on fitness.”I am very conscious about my fitness now. I am aware and try my best to avoid injuries,” Pujara told . “I have a fitness routine and I follow it religiously. It hurts when I miss a training session. The best chance to avoid injuries in cricket, where you throw yourself on the field, is by trying and following certain training programmes.””I am following a schedule prepared by the NCA physios. I am working on strength and stability.”After making a dream debut against Australia in 2010 – where he scored a matchwinning, fourth-innings 72 – and being part of the team that later toured South Africa, Pujara was sidelined for much of 2011 with a knee injury.Pujara had a modest Ranji Trophy season with Saurashtra last year on his return, managing only 200 runs with two half-centuries. But the recent India A tour of the West Indies – he was the top scorer with 252 runs in three matches in difficult batting conditions – renewed the selectors’ faith in him and he was included for India’s Tests against New Zealand.”It feels good. I’ve worked really hard for this. Now that I have got my chance, I want to bat the way I did on my debut against Australia. I was also part of the squad to South Africa. I didn’t get too many runs there, but it was a great learning experience. I got a feel of Test cricket in 2010 and I want to use that confidence and start all over again. Unfortunately, I was out for six months but then injuries happen. The good thing is that I am fit now. I did well for India ‘A’ in the West Indies.”In the first match against West Indies A in Barbados, Pujara followed up his first-innings half-century with an unbeaten 96 that helped India A to fashion a dramatic two-wicket win. He scored another half-century in the second match.”The conditions were tough; the wickets were up and down. The ball jumped from a good-length spot and it was difficult for the batsmen to adjust,” Pujara said of the West Indies series. “But I never let the conditions affect me. I backed myself and played my natural game. I knew a good tour would help me get back into the Test side.”Pujara made his first-class debut seven years ago, and since then he has amassed 4639 runs at an average of 53.32. But the New Zealand series will be an important one; he might especially be scrutinised now, with India looking for a replacement for Rahul Dravid and there often being comparisons made between the two players. But Pujara wants to just focus on his game: “I think there shouldn’t be a comparison. Rahul Dravid scored more than 10,000 runs in both Tests and ODIs. And I have just started off. But I respect the faith people have in me.”

ScorecardMatthew Hoggard, seen here against Derbyshire, enjoyed his first day back in the ranks with three wickets for Leicestershire in Amstelveen•PA Photos

Leicestershire’s veteran pace bowler Matthew Hoggard marked his relinquishing of the county’s one-day captaincy to Josh Cobb with three wickets in the county’s first CB40 win of the season against Netherlands in Amstelveen.Michael Thornely made a boundary-laden 86 as Leicestershire posted 208 for 7 in an innings reduced to 36 overs by the weather.Hoggard and Jamie Sykes then took three wickets apiece as Netherlands, the Group A leaders, were bowled out for 175, leaving Leicestershire as 33-run winners.Timm van der Gugten removed Josh Cobb in the first over and added the notable scalp of his opening partner Ramnaresh Sarwan to leave Leicestershire 51 for 3 from 13 overs.Thornely and Wayne White put on 69 for the fifth wicket before White (38) became Mudassar Bukhari’s first victim, leaving Leicestershire 143 for 5 with only 26 balls remaining only for a further 65 runs to be crashed in a climax that transformed the game.Thornely was caught by Tom Heggelman off Shahbaz Bashir to end a 77-ball knock containing six fours and five sixes.Hoggard removed Michael Swart and Wesley Barresi either side of Stephan Myburgh’s promising innings of 21 from 12 balls being ended when the opener retired hurt.Bashir followed to leave the hosts 35 for 3 – effectively four – and they never really recovered, though Cameron Borgas attempted to give the innings some momentum with an innings of 40 from 48 balls.