New Zimbabwe domestic format

The Logan Cup, the first class tournament in Zimbabwean cricket has been re-formatted, after the abandonment of the tournament last season. Instead of Zimbabwe’s provinces competing for the tournament it will now be five select XIs; Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe A, Zimbabwe Board XI, Zimbabwe Development and the National Academy.

This new format is a joke. Whilst it may give more players the chance of playing first class cricket, what is the point in the tournament, as it’s essentially a series of inter-squad practise games instead of an actual competitive tournament.

All hell breaks loose

What up to then was a series without controversy between two teams whos encounters have thrown up more than their fare share of incidents in the past was ruined yesterday.

Daryl Hair accused the Pakistanis of ball tampering, which led to the players refusing to come back out after tea, and the match being awarded to England by forfeit.

None of Sky’s cameras have picked up any ball tampering, and they have at least two dozen of them. Did Pakistan tamper with the ball? I doubt it, no one is that stupid these days. But one assumes that Hair isn’t so stupid as to accuse someone without actually seeing something. But Hair isn’t saying anything.

If Hair hasn’t seen anything, then the Pakistani team were well within their rights to protest. They may have done it for too long, but they were within their rights. I don’t think we’ve heard the last of this. Statements need to come from all parties, including the umpires.

Anyway, for a little fun, you can enjoy more details of Hair and Doctrove incompetence at Cricinfo, here.

Prince Charles takes £200,000 from Surrey cricket

And it could rise too. This article details why he earns the money, and points out that in 3 years time, the money could rise by an extra £540,000. This isn’t on. If it rises as much as that, he’d be taking three quarters of a million pounds from Surrey County Cricket Club. Money that could be used to develop the sport, especially in the inner-cities, which Charlie claims to want to be developed, is instead going to someone who gets a ridiculous amount of cash from the UK tax-payer. It just isn’t on.

Controversy in Twenty20 final

Leicestershire have beaten Nottinghamshire in ther final of the Twenty20 cup, but not without some controversy. Nottinghamshire looked dead and buried, needing 11 of the last ball. Allenby bowled it, and David Lloyd on commentary instantly called it no-ball as Will Smith hit it for six. This should have left 3 runs needed from the extra ball, but the umpires didn’t spot it.

Mick Newell, the Nottinghamshire coach will not make a formal complaint, although TV replays clearly show that it should have been called a no-ball. Congratulations to the Foxes anyway for their second Twenty20 title.

Bangladesh win first ODI

Bangladesh started their tour of Kenya with a 6 wicket victory. After putting Kenya in, they dismissed them for 168, despite a middle order fightback from the Kenyans. Mohammad Ashraful led the way in the run chase with an unbeaten 67. A more complete report can be found at the Kenya Cricket Blog.

Result

Kenya innings: 168 all out
Bangladesh innings: 170/4 (Mohammad Ashraful 67 not out)

Bangladesh win by 6 wickets

England wrap up series

England have beaten Pakistan at Headingly, thus taking an unasailable 2-0 lead in the series. It is England’s first home series win against Pakistan for 24 years.

Batting first, England made a huge total of 515, with Pietersen scoring 135 after a contraversial not out decision early on in his innings, and Ian Bell again in the runs with 119. Umar Gul bowled well to take 5/123. The total was overhauled by Pakistan, who scored 538. England looked like dismissing Pakistan for a low score at 36/2, but Younis Khan (173) and Mohammad Yousuf (192) put on a partnership of 363 to steady things somewhat for them. Pakistan couldn’t capitialise on that fine partnership though, and extras were the next highest scorer.

Thriller in Colombo

After Sri Lanka’s demolition job in the first test, it is perhaps surprising to see that the second test has been a much closer affair. South Africa batted first and scored 361, with Murali taking 5/128, and de Villiers falling just five short of a century. Sri Lanka looked to be struggling in their first innings at 86/5, but the lower middle order turned things around, and they eventually scored 321, with Dale Steyn taking 5/82.

Murali was again the destroyer in South Africa’s second innings, taking 7/97 as South Africa were dismissed for 311. This set the home side a target of 352, and with a backbone of 123 from Jayawardene, they reached it, winning by just one wicket in a very close game.

Dean Jones in hot water

The BBC are reporting that former Australian batsman Dean Jones is in trouble of remarks he made over the South African batsman Hashim Amla. Jones refered to Amla, who is a Muslim, as “the terrorist” as he made catch during the second Test against Sri Lanka.

The comments were carried on the Sri Lankan host broadcaster Ten Sports, as well as on South African TV. Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola is demanding an immediate apology, as well as Jones’ suspension. He also intends to report the incident to the ICC. He said:

The switchboards of both Cricket South Africa and SuperSport have been jammed with calls from some very angry people.

SuperSport has confirmed Jones’ remark after viewing tapes of the incident and his outrageous comment is heard quite clearly.

This kind of insulting racial stereotyping has no place in cricket and must be stamped on swiftly.

**UPDATE**

Ten Sports have sacked Dean Jones.

Bangladesh win final ODI

Bangladesh have won the final ODI against Zimbabwe by 8 wickets. Zimbabwe batted first, and 75 from Hamilton Masakadza led them to 197, with Rajin Saleh taking 4/16 for the visitors. The Bangladesh innings was all about Shahriar Nafees, who scored a fine unbeaten 118 to secure the game for his side in the 45th over.

Zimbabwe win a series

What seemed unthinkable at the beginning of the year has now happened. Zimbabwe have won a ODI series against test playing opponents.

With one match to go, they are 3-1 up in the five match series against Bangladesh, after a 7 wicket win today.