South Africa thrash Zimbabwe

South Africa have cruised to a 171 run win over Zimbabwe in Potchefstroom today. Batting first, they scored a huge total of 418/5, with Loots Bosman scoring 88, Alviro Petersen 80 and Jacques Kallis 50 before Mark Boucher demolished the Zimbabwean attack with 147.

Zimbabwe did actually show some improvement in their batting as they reached 247/4 from their 50 overs, with 88 from Terry Duffin and 55 from Hamilton Masakadza. They deserve credit for keeping wickets intact, and gained some much needed time in the middle.

India win in close game

India have trumphed over the West Indies in a close game in Malaysia today. India batted first and made 162. They would have struggled if it wasn’t for a fine 65 from Sachin Tendulkar after Dwayne Smith demolished the Indian top order with 4/31. Despite a lower order fightback from the West Indies, led by Brian Lara (batting at 9!), India bowled them out for 146 for a 16 run win. India now need to beat Australia on Friday to get to the final.

Orgasmic?

Just had a quick look at the live scorecard of the current India v West Indies ODI, and they’ve described Dwayne Bravo’s dismissal of Agit Agakar as an “orgasmic slower ball”. I’m not sure I want to imagine what that might mean!

Hair to umpire in Champions Trophy?

According to cricinfo, Darrell Hair is expecting to umpire in the ICC Champions Trophy in India next month. I can’t help think that this is a mistake, and that the ICC should lay off any official announcement until after the hearing into Ovalgate.

It’s been a while…..

I’ve been busy blogging over at Beyond the Boundary, and have let myself get a little lax at blogging here. But that should be changing now, and I’m going to back at full blogging speed, starting soon.

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