Broad warned by ICC over antics

The ICC has requested England fast bowler Stuart Broad not to repeat his controversial attempts to distract a batsman as displayed during the Super Eights match against South Africa. The incident, which occurred during the 17th over of the South African innings, prompted the opposition to approach the ICC for clarification and following a meeting yesterday between match referee Alan Hurst and umpires Steve Davis and Alan Hill they decided it was "not an appropriate action."

As Broad approached his delivery stride, he pointed towards his side as if to indicate a fielder was out of position, but carried on with his bowling action without disrupting his own rhythm. AB de Villiers worked the ball behind square for a single so Broad's antics didn't bear fruit. It might have been more of a talking point if the ball had brought him a wicket. Broad had done it before as well, during the one-day series at home against West Indies.

Graeme Smith, the South African captain, had said the matter needed clarification. His view appeared to be supported by Law 42.4 of the Laws of Cricket, which states: "It is unfair for any member of the fielding side deliberately to attempt to distract the striker while he is preparing to receive or receiving a delivery."

Paul Collingwood, the England captain, had defended Broad saying he was not going to ask him to stop doing it. England coach Andy Flower claimed former South African allrounder Shaun Pollock had begun the practice some years ago.

"He [Pollock] didn't point to the left as Stuart did but he looked to the left as he was running in," said Flower. "He was probably the first guy I saw do it, which is interesting. I don't think it's a huge issue, to be honest."
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Kiwi Ryder out of World T20 with mystery illness

New Zealand have called up Otago batsman Aaron Redmond to replace the sick Jesse Ryder for the World Twenty20, the Black Caps said on Thursday.

Ryder, a top order batsman, was hospitalised in London earlier this week for a mysterious illness and did not travel with the team for the Super Eights match against Ireland here later on Thursday.

New Zealand manager Dave Currie said Ryder remained in hospital, but was likely to be released within the next 24 hours and head back to New Zealand for further recuperation.

"Unfortunately medical advice is that it would be very difficult for Jesse to regain full fitness in time for the remainder of the tournament," said Currie.

"Because of the time constraints at this stage of the tournament we have made the call to bring in a replacement player, and we are fortunate that Aaron has been able to join the side for Thursday's game.

"It?s a real disappointment for Jesse. He is one of the most explosive batsmen in the world and was well placed to make his mark on this tournament," said Currie.

The International Cricket Council has approved Redmond's inclusion in the squad, Currie added.

A media release from the Black Caps earlier this week said "the diagnosis of Jesse?s injury was unclear, but it seems he is suffering from a significant infection".

Redmond was playing grade cricket in England when he was summoned to join the national squad.

He has played seven Tests for New Zealand and was a leading performer in the latest domestic Twenty20 competition, finishing as the top run scorer including an innings of 100 not out from 58 balls.
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ODI route in England a blessing in disguise - Arthur

Mickey Arthur the South Africa coach, has said the heavy defeat to England in the one-day series last year had only made the team stronger and emerge as a world-beating unit. He said the 4-0 defeat - after winning the Test series - forced him and Graeme Smith to rethink their overall composition of their limited-overs side and the benefits are now being felt, with South Africa starting the ongoing ICC World Twenty20 as one of the favourites.

"I think that one-day series we had here (in England) after winning the Test series was a blessing in disguise for us," Arthur said. "It certainly forced myself and Graeme to sit back and do a lot of reflection, deciding on which way we wanted to go, what was going to be our brand going forward to the World Cup in 2011, who were the players we were going to look at and we did. We sat down and we thought long and hard about it.

"With the team we had in England, we didn't have the ability to take pace off the ball. We realised we needed to grow our spin bowling department, we realised we needed to have batters who could bowl spin coupled with out and out pace bowlers."

Though the current Twenty20 squad isn't markedly different from the one-day team which toured England last year, the big difference is the number of spinners who've helped South Africa's growth. The offspinner Johan Botha - an effective Twenty20 bowler - was elevated to the one-day captaincy to fill Smith's absence; JP Duminy has been chipping in regularly with his offbreaks and Roelof van der Merwe has been an asset with his left-arm spin and match-winning ability.

"I think we've got the balance right now. We've got seven definite bowling options, three of which are spin bowling options - I include JP Duminy in that because I think he's that good," Arthur said. "And we've got three guys who can bowl at over 140kph (Dale Steyn, Wayne Parnell and Jacques Kallis).

"We also bat down to ten - Wayne Parnell was batting at six for Kent a month back - and I still think as a group we are probably the best fielding side in the world."

Despite the team's recent success as a Test unit - with Test series wins in England and Australia - a victory in an ICC event has always eluded them. South Africa failed to make the semi-finals of the last World Twenty20 on their own turf and bowed out of the 2003 World Cup in the group stages, among other missed opportunities.

"We said a year ago there were three things we really wanted to do as a South African unit - to win a Test series in England, to win a Test series in Australia and to win an ICC trophy event," Arthur said. "We've flattered to deceive in ICC events. We've ticked two of the three boxes and we've got three opportunities until 2011 to put the other one right so here's hoping."
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Australia vs New Zealand T20 Practice Match 2009 Live Score

Tomorrow Australia will take on New Zealand in a warm-up match. Both teams have got win in their first practice match. Australia got win against Bangladesh by 38 runs where India finished their inning 9 runs short from New Zealand innings. It will obviously be an exciting thing to see these two winning teams facing each other to play their last practice match. Both the champion team and the underdog team failed to show their best game. But I can still remember that these two teams got more focus as the top favorite team. It has been clear that T20 is a game where no one is favorite. Anything can happen in this format of cricket game.

Teams: Australia vs New Zealand warm-up match

Venue: The Oval

Time: 16:30 GMT (17:30 Local time)




It is sure that Australia faced a weak team Bangladesh. Then they had to struggle hard to make sure their victory. Match between these two teams became more competitive. On the other hand, New Zealand faced a tough opponent India. Their match was closely competitive. I am surprised to see that Indian players could not manage 9 more runs to clinch the victory.

However, New Zealand is not a good team either. But we can expect to see them performing well against Australia. Let us see if Ricky Ponting’s Australia can continue their good form against Kiwi.

Live Updates- ESPN STAR Sports has got the telecasting rights and it is telecasting most of the practice matches live on this channel.

If you are unable to enjoy this game live on TV then you can get live updates from some cricket related websites. Cricinfo.com is providing live online updates ball by ball. I am sure that you will enjoy the game live and keep in tough with it.

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Kevin Pietersen in the 2009 ICC Twenty20 World Cup will face a big challenge

Kevin Pietersen in the recent Twenty20 format of cricket has been said is not good. Twenty20 cricket, if you look at his record, you can not ascertain the truth is. So, the forthcoming ICC Twenty20 World Cup's best batsman of the modern generation as to prove their talent is a big challenge. They form in both Test cricket and one-day line.

But cricket's shortest format of the game your performance is really terrible. To challenge the Royal Bangluru by the most players in the form of bids was sought. The team was chosen as captain. However, because his skills as the captain failed to prove his RCB 2 win six games in the guidance found. Above that Anil Kumble, the second edition of IPL in the final of the team was led. Twenty20 cricket is that their theory about you and you become a better Twenty20 cricket is a game. He only played 15 Twenty20 cricket where he is an average of 26.78 from 375 matches is scored.


2009 ICC Twenty20 World Cup will be played in England this time. So, the benefit of home advantage should want to use. I take the best opportunity for them to come back in this game is. Read more