Dhoni joins the party, cracks ton; Lanka cornered

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni cracked an unbeaten century as India tightened the noose around a hapless Sri Lanka by taking an imposing 333-run first innings lead and set the platform to push for victory in the third and final cricket Test IN Mumbai on Friday.


Although Virender Sehwag (293) narrowly missed becoming the first cricketer to score three triple hundreds in Test history, there was no respite for the visitors as the Indians rattled up their highest-ever total before declaring at 726 for nine at the fag end of the third day.
After Sehwag's carnage on the second day, the runs came at a much slower pace but Dhoni (100 not out) stole the thunder with some lusty hits to notch up his third Test ton and put India firmly in the driver's seat.
Rahul Dravid (74), VVS Laxman (62) and Sachin Tendulkar (53) chipped in with useful contributions for the Indians who need to win this match to climb to the number one spot in the ICC Test rankings.
Required to face three overs, the Sri Lankans reached 11 for no loss with the two openers Tillakaratne Dilshan (3) and Tharanga Paranavitana (8) remaining unseparated at stumps on the third day which again belonged to the home team. The islanders trailed India by 322 runs.
The Indians posted their highest ever Test total of 726 for nine declared, ecliping the previous best of 705 for seven declared against Australia at Sydney in 2004.
With two more days left in the Test, India will fancy their chances of pulling off a victory with the Brabourne track expected to deteriorate and assist the spinners.
The focus was on Sehwag when play began this morning but the swashbuckling opener fell just seven runs short of his third triple century.
Sehwag, who resumed the day at 284 in a team total of 443 for one last evening, checked a drive off Muttiah Muralitharan at the last moment and was caught and bowled by the wily off-spinner for 293.
It was a big disappointment for the Delhi dasher and the crowd gathered at the Brabourne stadium as Sehwag was gradually moving towards becoming the first batsman in the history of the game to score three triple centuries.

Batting legends Don Bradman of Australia and Brian Lara of the West Indies are the only other players to have scored two triple centuries in Test history.

Sehwag did not add any boundary to his last evening tally of 40 fours and seven sixes and faced 254 balls and shared a 237 runs for the second wicket with Rahul Dravid in 264 balls.
The Lankans also got rid off Dravid (74) before Sachin Tendulkar and V V S Laxman carried the hosts to lunch without further damage.
Murali who had wilted under the brutal assault by Sehwag on Thursday finally had his revenge and his first wicket of the match in his 22nd over after the home team added only 15 runs to their overnight score.
Sehwag, who bludgeoned the Lanka bowlers the previous day, was cautious on Friday and took his runs in singles and twos.
He added nine runs before Muralitharan, bowling round the wicket, turned the ball a bit as Sehwag attempted to loft it initially before changing his mind.
The double-mindedness resulted in the ball taking the thick inside edge and popping back to the bowler who juggled with the catch before completing it to the delight of his teammates.

An over earlier Dravid, unbeaten 62 last evening, survived a very confident caught behind the wicket appeal while attempting to cut left-arm spinner Rangana Herath.
But Dravid, who lofted Herath for a six two balls later, chased a ball angled across by Welegedara and was caught behind by Prasanna Jayawardene.
The in-form middle-order stalwart struck five fours and a six in his 147-ball essay. Tendulkar, playing in a Test in Mumbai for the first time since being booed off the field at the nearby Wankhede Stadium three years ago against England, was given a rousing reception and started confidently by paddle-sweeping, on-driving and pulling the two Lanka spinners for fours.
Apart from Sehwag and Rahul Dravid (62), who both were dismissed in the pre-lunch period, the home team lost the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar (53), VVS Laxman (62), Yuvraj Singh (23) and Harbhajan Singh (1) in the post-lunch session.

Lanka should have got rid off Dhoni when he edged one off left-arm spinner Rangana Herath but Mahela Jayawardene reacted late at the first slip and the ball raced to the fence. Dhoni was on six at that time.
The hosts added 93 runs in 27 overs in the afternoon session, a far cry from yesterday when they went at more than five an over with Sehwag leading the assault on the hapless Lankan attack.

Post-lunch, Tendulkar reached his 54th half-century in 88 balls and helped himself with six fours before dragging one from Nuwan Kulasekara on to his stumps.
The dismissal also ended the 71-run fifth wicket stand between Tendulkar and Laxman. Laxman then square cut Welegedera for two boundaries to reach his 42nd half-century in 129 balls with six fours in it.
Laxman lost his patience and threw his wicket, bringing cheers for the Lankans. The well-tossed up ball invited Laxman to have a go and the leading edge was taken behind the bowler by Kulasekara to give Murali his second wicket.
Herath got rid off an uncomfortable-looking Yuvraj by luring him out to be caught at mid off when he miscued an aggressive shot and soon Harbhajan Singh was bowled trying to reverse-sweep Murali.

History of cricket

The game of cricket has a known history spanning from the 16th century to the present day, with international matches played since 1844, although the official history of international Test cricket began in 1877. During this time, the game developed from its origins in England into a game which is now played professionally in most of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Early cricket:---

Origin:

No one knows when or where cricket began but there is a body of evidence, much of it circumstantial, that strongly suggests the game was devised during Saxon or Norman times by children living in the Weald, an area of dense woodlands and clearings in south-east England that lies across Kent and Sussex. In medieval times, the Weald was populated by small farming and metal-working communities. It is generally believed that cricket survived as a children's game for many centuries before it was increasingly taken up by adults around the beginning of the 17th century.

It is quite likely that cricket was devised by children and survived for many generations as essentially a children’s game. Adult participation is unknown before the early 17th century. Possibly cricket was derived from bowls, assuming bowls is the older sport, by the intervention of a batsman trying to stop the ball from reaching its target by hitting it away. Playing on sheep-grazed land or in clearings, the original implements may have been a matted lump of sheep’s wool (or even a stone or a small lump of wood) as the ball; a stick or a crook or another farm tool as the bat; and a stool or a tree stump or a gate (e.g., a wicket gate) as the wicket.

Derivation of the name of "cricket"

A number of words are thought to be possible sources for the term "cricket". In the earliest known reference to the sport in 1598 (see below), it is called creckett. The name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch krick(-e), meaning a stick; or the Old English cricc or cryce meaning a crutch or staff [2]. Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word krickstoel, meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church and which resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket.

According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University, "cricket" derives from the Middle Dutch met de (krik ket)sen (i.e., "with the stick chase"), which also suggests a Dutch connection in the game's origin. It is more likely that the terminology of cricket was based on words in use in south east England at the time and, given trade connections with the County of Flanders, especially in the 15th century when it belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, many Middle Dutch[3] words found their way into southern English dialects.

First definite reference:

Despite many prior suggested references, the first definite reference to the game is found in a 1598 court case concerning dispute over a school's ownership of a plot of land. A 59-year old coroner, John Derrick, testified that he and his school friends had played creckett on the site fifty years earlier. The school was the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, and Mr Derrick's account proves beyond reasonable doubt that the game was being played in Surrey c.1550.The first reference to it being played as an adult sport was in 1611, when two men in Sussex were prosecuted for playing cricket on Sunday instead of going to church. In the same year, a dictionary defines cricket as a boys' game and this suggests that adult participation was a recent development.

Early seventeenth century:

A number of references occur up to the English Civil War and these indicate that cricket had become an adult game contested by parish teams, but there is no evidence of county strength teams at this time. Equally, there is little evidence of the rampant gambling that characterised the game throughout the 18th century. It is generally believed, therefore, that village cricket had developed by the middle of the 17th century but that county cricket had not and that investment in the game had not begun.

The Commonwealth.

After the Civil War ended in 1648, the new Puritan government clamped down on "unlawful assemblies", in particular the more raucous sports such as football. Their laws also demanded a stricter observance of the Sabbath than there had been previously. As the Sabbath was the only free time available to the lower classes, cricket's popularity may have waned during the Commonwealth. Having said that, it did flourish in public fee-paying schools such as Winchester and St Paul's. There is no actual evidence that Oliver Cromwell's regime banned cricket specifically and there are references to it during the interregnum that suggest it was acceptable to the authorities providing it did not cause any "breach of the Sabbath.

Continued growth in England:-

The game continued to spread throughout England and, in 1751, Yorkshire is first mentioned as a venue. The original form of bowling (i.e., rolling the ball along the ground as in bowls) was superseded sometime after 1760 when bowlers began to pitch the ball and study variations in line, length and pace. Scorecards began to be kept on a regular basis from 1772 and since then an increasingly clear picture has emerged of the sport's development.

An artwork depicting the history of the cricket bat.The first famous clubs were London and Dartford in the early 18th century. London played its matches on the Artillery Ground, which still exists. Others followed, particularly Slindon in Sussex which was backed by the Duke of Richmond and featured the star player Richard Newland. There were other prominent clubs at Maidenhead, Hornchurch, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Bromley, Addington, Hadlow and Chertsey.

But far and away the most famous of the early clubs was Hambledon in Hampshire. It started as a parish organisation that first achieved prominence in 1756. The club itself was founded in the 1760s and was well patronised to the extent that it was the focal point of the game for about thirty years until the formation of MCC and the opening of Lord's Cricket Ground in 1787. Hambledon produced several outstanding players including the master batsman John Small and the first great fast bowler Thomas Brett. Their most notable opponent was the Chertsey and Surrey bowler Edward "Lumpy" Stevens, who is believed to have been the main proponent of the flighted delivery.

It was in answer to the flighted, or pitched, delivery that the straight bat was introduced. The old "hockey stick" style of bat was only really effective against the ball being trundled or skimmed along the ground.

Cricket and crisis.:-

Cricket faced its first real crisis during the 18th century when major matches virtually ceased during the Seven Years War. This was largely due to shortage of players and lack of investment. But the game survived and the "Hambledon Era" proper began in the mid-1760s.

Cricket faced another major crisis at the beginning of the 19th century when a cessation of major matches occurred during the culminating period of the Napoleonic Wars. Again, the causes were shortage of players and lack of investment. But, as in the 1760s, the game survived and a slow recovery began in 1815.
MCC was itself the centre of controversy in the Regency period, largely on account of the enmity between Lord Frederick Beauclerk and George Osbaldeston. In 1817, their intrigues and jealousies exploded into a match-fixing scandal with the top player William Lambert being banned from playing at Lord's Cricket Ground for life. Gambling scandals in cricket have been going on since the 17th century.
In the 1820s, cricket faced a major crisis of its own making as the campaign to allow roundarm bowling gathered pace.
Balls per over:-

In 1889 the immemorial four ball over was replaced by a five ball over and then this was changed to the current six balls an over in 1900. Subsequently, some countries experimented with eight balls an over. In 1922, the number of balls per over was changed from six to eight in Australia only. In 1924 the eight ball over was extended to New Zealand and in 1937 to South Africa. In England, the eight ball over was adopted experimentally for the 1939 season; the intention was to continue the experiment in 1940, but first-class cricket was suspended for the Second World War and when it resumed, English cricket reverted to the six ball over. The 1947 Laws of Cricket allowed six or eight balls depending on the conditions of play. Since the 1979/80 Australian and New Zealand seasons, the six ball over has been used worldwide and the most recent version of the Laws in 2000 only permits six ball overs.

World Series Cricket

In the 1960s, English county teams began playing a version of cricket with games of only one innings each and a maximum number of overs per innings. Starting in 1963 as a knockout competition only, limited overs grew in popularity and in 1969 a national league was created which consequently caused a reduction in the number of matches in the County Championship.

Although many "traditional" cricket fans objected to the shorter form of the game, limited overs cricket did have the advantage of delivering a result to spectators within a single day; it did improve cricket's appeal to younger or busier people; and it did prove commercially successful.

The first limited overs international match took place at Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1971 as a time-filler after a Test match had been abandoned because of heavy rain on the opening days. It was tried simply as an experiment and to give the players some exercise, but turned out to be immensely popular. Limited overs internationals (LOIs or ODIs, after One-day Internationals) have since grown to become a massively popular form of the game, especially for busy people who want to be able to see a whole match. The International Cricket Council reacted to this development by organising the first Cricket World Cup in England in 1975, with all the Test playing nations taking part.

Increasing use of technology:-

Limited overs cricket increased television ratings for cricket coverage. Innovative techniques that were originally introduced for coverage of LOI matches was soon adopted for Test coverage. The innovations included presentation of in-depth statistics and graphical analysis, placing miniature cameras in the stumps, multiple usage of cameras to provide shots from several locations around the ground, high speed photography and computer graphics technology enabling television viewers to study the course of a delivery and help them understand an umpire's decision.

In 1992, the use of a third umpire to adjudicate runout appeals with television replays was introduced in the Test series between South Africa and India. The third umpire's duties have subsequently expanded to include decisions on other aspects of play such as stumpings, catches and boundaries. As yet, the third umpire is not called upon to adjudicate lbw appeals, although there is a virtual reality tracking technology (i.e., Hawk-Eye) that is approaching perfection in predicting the course of a delivery.

South Africa Vs England 3rd ODI 27 Nov Live

The third ODI between South Africa and England will be played at Cape Town on Friday. The first game at Wanderers in Johannesburg had been rained off, whereas England won the second game at Centurion - rather easily at that.

England had surprised everyone in the second game by first restricting the South Africans to a lowly total of 250 on a pitch that should have seen many more runs. Then, batting against the Proteas bowlers, the English batsmen, Jonathin Trott and Paul Collingwood made a mockery of the attack despite having lost a couple of early wickets.

The South Africans will come back all guns blazing. However, they have multiple problems and hence, how they overcome those problems will be an interesting watch. One had already seen how the Aussies overcame issues with the injuries in the series against India and went on to win the series; a hallmark of a true champion. South Africa has already lost Jacques Kallis for the series. Apart from that, the hosts are also struggling with the bowling line-up. Albie Morkel continues to leak away runs, whereas the bigger issue comes from their premiem pace bowler Dale Steyn, someone who has bowled moderately well. However, he has conceded the big runs at crucial junctures in the game.

Johan Botha was dropped from the previous game, but one doesn't see him remain out of the side for long. He should be back into the third ODI at Cape Town.

The batting line-up now will depend heavily on the captain Graeme Smith for the functioning. Despite half centuries from Hashim Amla and Alviro Petersen in the previous game, it needs the runs from the captain who bats much more aggressively than anyone else and hence takes the games away. Herschelle Gibbs has been drafted into the side and could be an option for the side.

For England, one does not see a lot of changes to the side. The opening combination was changed around to get in Jonathon Trott at the top and it worked wonders. Trott has been known to be an aggressive batsman in the county level, and shown his maturity to convert his first class form into international form. This has given Strauss options, and allowed his all-rounders in Collingwood and Luke Wright to come down the order with the ability to smash around in the batting powerplay.

all in all, the English side looks more settled than their South African counterparts, but the hosts have the tenacity in them to bounce back.

Cricket-PCB chief wants Younus to return for Australia tour

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ejaz Butt wants to see troubled former captain Younus Khan return to international cricket for the next month's tour of Australia.

Batsman Younis was replaced as captain for the test tour to New Zealand early this month when he pulled out of the trip following a one-day series loss to the same opponents in Abu Dhabi.

With media reports suggesting Younus had lost the confidence of his players, he told the board he wanted to take a break from international cricket as he was struggling for form.

"Personally I want to see Younus playing in Australia as a Pakistan player. I don't think his career is over by any stretch of imagination, He is still a top test batsman," Butt told reporters on Sunday.

Butt added that Younus's form would be assessed by the national selectors with a view at playing in the full tour of Australia.

The PCB has appointed senior batsman Muhammad Yousuf as skipper for the three-test series in New Zealand and has said it would decide on the captain for the Australian leg in the near future.

Butt said he was confident Younus would resume playing in domestic cricket soon so that was easier for the selectors to reach a decision when they finalised the squad for Australia.

"I believe he still has number of years of cricket left in him and can contribute a lot more runs to the Pakistan team," Butt added.

Younis, who turns 32 later this month, has a batting average of 50.09 in 63 tests but just 33.12 in 197 one-day internationals.

Contrasting views from Butt and Afridi about Younis Khan

So while the decision of Younis Khan to step down as the captain of the Pakistani side and take a break from the international cricket for some time gets debated in the international circles, the PCB chief, Ejaz Butt has already come out with a statement saying that Younis Khan will continue to remain the captain on his return from the break, if he remains fit and has the form.

Younis Khan had been appointed as the captain of the side till the 2011 World Cup, before he lost the series to New Zealand and promptly resigned from the post citing differences with his team. However, Butt said that the PCB had a long term plan in place and the same will be reviewed in a few days time.

Butt also refuted claims that there was something not too right within the team. He said that every time Pakistan lost a game or a series, such allegations had been laid in the past as well. He had been responding to queries whether the resignation from Younis Khan had anything to do with the rift between the players. Younis Khan had alleged that he had resigned because he could not get the team together and hence needed a break. Pakistan had played some real rash shots to get out in the final game against New Zealand which led to speculations that they had done so to undermine the captaincy of Younis Khan.

In the meantime, Shahid Afridi, who is the captain of the side in the T20I format, and who is tipped to take over from Younis Khan in the ODIs as well, has said that Younis should not have taken a break from his batting. According to Afridi, Younis Khan should have toured

as his batting was a necessity.

Afridi said, "He was having problems but I don't think he should have taken the decision to skip the tour. He should have played on because the captain is the central figure in a team."

Amidst all the problems related to the captain and team selections, the Pakistanis registered a win over New Zealand in the first T20I under the captaincy of Afridi. The second game will be played in Dubai on Friday. New Zealand have their own set of problems as they have lost most of their cricketers on tour and are left with only 11 fit players to take field for the game on Friday!

Sri Lankans arrive in India and hope to change appalling test record

The Sri Lankan cricket captain, Kumar Sangakkara, realises that their record in test matches in India is as poor as it could get and hence would like to change that in the forthcoming series that his team plays against hosts India. In the last 27 years, the Lankans have played 14 test matches so far, but have yet to win a single game. Their best series result came in the 1997-98 series when they managed to snatch a 0-0 draw against the Sachin Tendulkar-led India.

Last time around, the Lankans had begun well in a rain-hit test match between the two teams, but then had gone on to lose the remaining two games to lose the series 2-0. To add to their misery, the losses were 188 runs and 259 runs large, which meant that the Sri Lankans had been thoroughly outplayed in the series.

Sri Lanka will play three test matches, two T20Is and five ODIs in a tour that lasts for more than a month and a half. They open their campaign with a tour game against the Board President's XI at Mumbai and will follow that up with three test matches at Ahmedabad, Kanpur and Mumbai. The Mumbai game will be played at the Brabourne stadium as the Wankhede stadium is currently under renovation.

Sri Lanka has yet to win a single game in Australia and South Africa, apart from India, and Sangakkara has said that he understands that and will look to change the record. He also added, "We are here to relax, enjoy and not worry about history, and try and put as much pressure on the Indians as possible."

Sangakkara made a pertinent point when he said that the Indians do not like to be pressurised and their loss against the Aussies in the ongoing ODI series will mean that they will be under a lot of pressure to defend their record. This will be the one place that the Sri Lanka will be able to take advantage. The Lankans have also brought an inexperienced bowling attack, but Sangakkara brushed off those suggestions by saying, "Inexperience is sometimes a good thing as the Indian batsmen have not played our fast bowlers regularly in the longer form of the game which can work to our advantage."

Unfortunately, even the great Muralitharan averages more than 40 in India and that will be the one thing that the off-spinner would love to change about his record. Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath will be the other two spinners in the side.

Tendulkar completes 20 years in international cricket

Sachin Tendulkar has completed twenty years in international cricket on 15th November, 2009. He had begun his career in Pakistan as a 15 year old boy in 1989 on the same date, and has gone on to become one of the best batsman in the world in the following twenty years.

Some of the tributes that the players gave him included the likes of Virender Sehwag who said that it was Tendulkar who motivated him into playing longer innings. He also said that it was Tendulkar who taught him the mental aspects of the game, and how to face a particular bowler. He also said that Tendulkar's biggest strength that he read the situation well and could adapt himself to that.Sachin Tendulkar himself has said that there is a 16-year old inside him who is still waiting to play.

Harsha Bhogale has said that it was his focus in the game that stood out. Even as a child cricketer, it stood out, and there have been various instances of that happening through the rest of his career. There was this one instance of Tendulkar scoring a century in the game against Kenya in the 1999 World Cup after having just lost his father. It was his focus and steely resolve that had helped him do that.

For Tendulkar himself, the biggest and the best moment in his career came when he got the chance to wear the Indian cap. He has also attributed the manner in which he has managed to keep his feet on the ground to his parents and his brother to begin with, and then to his wife, who he says has been his anchor.

Tendulkar has almost 13000 runs in test match cricket, and only recently completed his 17000 runs on the ODI. Tendulkar has 42 centuries in the test matches, and 45 in the ODI version of the game. He also has 95 scores of a half century and above, including the centuries, in the test matches, whereas he has scored 136 fifty plus scores in the one day internationals.

Tendulkar also has 60 man of the match awards to his name in the ODIs, as against the 14 man of the series awards. He has also been involved in one 300 run stand in the ODIs, which is incidentally the highest ever partnership in that format. The two innings that will probably be the best of his would be the one at Sharjah against Australia in 1998, and the one in Chennai against Pakistan in 1999.