Top Stories: Things that made news in the Cricket World Today

Top Stories: Things that made news in the Cricket World Today:

India eyes comeback in Sangakkara’s farewell game:

• Handed an unexpected thrashing in the opening game, India would look to plug their loopholes and get their team combination right even as Sri Lanka eye a series winning farewell for Kumar Sangakkara in the second cricket Test starting at the P Sara Oval in Colombo on Wednesday. The visitors dominated the first Test in Galle, yet ended up on the losing side, going down by 63 runs after having the hosts on the mat for a major part of the game. Read Full Preview Sri Lanka v India 2^nd Test Preview

Virat admits India need to be aggressive:

• Virat Kohli said today that the loss in the first Test despite dominating for most part of the match was a hard one to take but his team is on top of its game. He assured that lessons have been learnt from the mistakes and that Team India will hit back hard against Sri Lanka in the Colombo match. “We definitely have it in us to bounce back. There is no point thinking about or living in the past. More often than not, if you dominate six sessions, it means that you are on top in the Test match and you should be able to win the game but that wasn’t the case,” Kohli said in the pre-match press conference.

Nuwan Pradeep likely to miss 2nd Test against India with injury:

• Sri Lankan medium-pacer Nuwan Pradeep is likely to miss the second cricket Test against India, starting in Colombo on Thursday as he is yet to fully recover from a hamstring injury. Pradeep was rendered doubtful on Wednesday and in all likelihood fit-again Dushmantha Chameera will replace him in the playing eleven.

Ashes 2015: England determined to make it 4-1 against Australia:

• England may have already regained the Ashes but captain Alastair Cook is determined not to let-up when they face Australia in the fifth and final Test at The Oval on Thursday – a match that marks rival skipper Michael Clarke’s farewell to international cricket. No England side has ever won four Tests in a home Ashes series. But they are now within sight of their biggest margin of victory since Mike Brearley led England to a 5-1 success ‘Down Under’ against an Australia side weakened by defections to the ‘rebel’ World Series Cricket in 1978/79. Taking this series 4-1 would certainly go some way to avenging the memory of the 5-0 whitewash inflicted upon England in Australia some 18 months ago. Read the preview here 

ICC’s Ban on Pakistan’s Tainted Trio Asif, Butt, Amir to Expire on September 1:

• There is good news for Pakistan’s tainted trio – Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Salman Butt. The International Cricket Council on Wednesday confirmed that the sanctions against speedster Asif and former skipper Butt will expire at midnight on September 1.
• The International Cricket Council banned the three Pakistan players after they were found guilty of various offences of corrupt behavior relating to the Lord’s Test between England and Pakistan in August 2010.

Read Full story here: ICC confirms sanctions against Asif and Salman Butt will expire on 1 September 2015

Quinton De Kock Century Powers South Africa A to a Dominant Position:

• Left-handed batsman Quinton de Kock scored a quick fire century to help South Africa A pile up a massive first innings score of 542 as India A struggled at 122/3 at stumps on the second day of the first four-day cricket match at the Krishnagiri Stadium on Wednesday. For India A, skipper Ambati Rayudu (11 not out) and (Karun Nair 0 not out) remained unbeaten at the end of the day with a challenging task ahead as the hosts trail by an enormous 420 runs with seven wickets in hand in the first innings. Resuming the day at 293/4, the visitors went on full attacking mode, aiming to mount a big total. Their plan worked perfectly as de Kock struck 113 off just 102 balls alongside skipper Dane Vilas’ 74-ball 75 to help the team score 249 runs in just 51 overs on Day 2. For the hosts, spinners Axar Patel (4/115), Shreyas Iyer (2/29), Jayant Yadav (2/177) were the pick of the bowlers.

Hazlewood, Anderson to miss final Ashes Test:

• Australia’s Josh Hazlewood and England’s Jimmy Anderson have both been ruled out of the fifth Ashes Test Starting tomorrow due to injuries. Australian coach Darren Lehmann said Hazlewood is not injured, but dealing with some “niggling problems” that will be investigated further when he returns home. Meanwhile, England fast bowler James Anderson has also been ruled out of the fifth Test after failing to recover from a side strain he suffered during Australia’s second innings at Edgbaston. Anderson missed the fourth Test at Trent Bridge and England has opted against rushing him back.

Read Full story here: Ashes 2015: Anderson, Hazlewood out of the fifth Test

It’s going to be an emotional game for all of us: Angelo Mathews:

• Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews on Wednesday said his team will look to give retiring legend Kumar Sangakkara a winning send off when they take on India in a highly-emotional second cricket Test starting on Thursday. Sangakkara will bid farewell to international cricket after the second Test and Mathews said it will be a highly emotional affair for his side.

BCCI likely to finalise new Team India coach before South Africa series:

• The BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur on Wednesday left for Sri Lanka where he will be meeting Indian cricket team’s Director Ravi Shastri on the sidelines of the second Test between the two countries starting Thursday. It is learnt that BCCI will take a final call on Team India’s chief coach’s post before the start of the South Africa series in October. The official reason given for Thakur’s visit is felicitating the retiring Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara on behalf of BCCI and the Indian cricket team but one of the main agenda of his visit will be to have a detailed discussion with Team Director Shastri about the next Indian coach.

Preity Zinta to IPL officials: Some of my players may have been linked to suspicious activity:

• Some players from Kings XI Punjab may have indulged in suspicious activities linked to throwing matches, and the Indian board’s anti-corruption team has not been able to effectively tackle the menace, the IPL team’s co-owner Preity Zinta told BCCI officials during a meeting this month.
• Zinta also said that she had felt at times that some IPL matches involving her team had followed a pre-decided pattern.

Pakistan Cricket Board faces internal revolt:

• Revolting against the new domestic structure introduced by Pakistan Cricket Board, Ejaz Farooqi, the president of Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) stormed out of a meeting of Board of Governors, leaving PCB in a fix. The revolt was as a result of the new structure which allows only one Karachi team to be given entry into main rounds of the National T20 Championship and the premier Quaid-e-Azam Trophy while its second team has to come through a qualifying process.

Steyn’s plan for New Zealand batsmen leaked in hotel delivery mix-up:

• In a bizarre turn of events, a sheet of paper with Dale Steyn’s well-detailed plan for each of the New Zealand batsmen has made it to the public domain via social networking site Facebook after a hotel delivery mix-up. The “secret blueprint” was out in the open after it was slipped under the door of a hotel guest instead of the South African team on the eve of the first of the three-match ODI series, starting in Centurion. The document reveals an elaborate picture of Steyn’s meticulous planning against the Black Caps, with columns denoting areas to bowl to the batsmen, their ability to deal with bouncers and the best approach during death overs. There has been no confirmation or denial regarding the authenticity of the document from any South African cricket officials.

Injured du Plessis ruled out for at least four weeks:

• Faf Du Plessis has been ruled out of the ODI series against New Zealand and will be out of action for at least four weeks due to a knee injury. Du Plessis did not play the T20Is after picking up the injury during training ahead of the series. He should recover in time for South Africa’s tour of India, which starts in October. Du Plessis’ absence means that South Africa are without a third senior player after JP Duminy and Morne Morkel were given time off from the series for paternity leave

Amla, Rossouw lead South Africa to 304:

• Hashim Amla joined Herschelle Gibbs as the South African with the most ODI centuries when he raised his bat to his 21st at SuperSport Park to break a lean streak that has stretched back seven innings. Amla had gone without a half-century in any format since the World Cup but he seemed back to his best as he ushered Rilee Rossouw through a 185-run second-wicket stand to give South Africa a sizable total of 304 on a surface which is expected to slow up under lights. New Zealand had earlier won the toss and elected to bowl.

Suresh Raina trains on synthetic pitches in Amsterdam to fine-tune his game:

• Determined to make a strong start in the next domestic season, India batsman Suresh Raina is presently undergoing a month-long high intensity training at the synthetic pitches of Amsterdam Cricket Club (ACC) in the Dutch capital.
• Raina, who is currently on a vacation with his newly-wed wife Priyanka in The Netherlands, is training with the Dutch national team, which has recently qualified for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup to be held in India next year.

Read full story here – Suresh Raina training in Netherlands to hone his skills