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Vijay Zol, the India Under-19s captain, has received a one-match ban after being found guilty of using offensive language during the quarter-final against England Under-19s in Dubai

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Feb-2014Vijay Zol, the India Under-19s captain, has received a one-match ban after being found guilty of using offensive language during the quarter-final against England Under-19s in Dubai. Aamir Gani, the offspinner, was also found guilty of using obscene language and was reprimanded. Both players pleaded guilty of the charge laid by the on-field umpires.The incident involving Zol happened in the 30th over of the England innings, when he caught England top-scorer Ben Duckett at midwicket. Gani was reported by the on-field umpires after the bowler picked up the wicket of Ed Barnard in the 26th over. Both incidents were caught on camera. India, the defending champions, lost the tightly-contested match by three wickets.Zol will miss India’s play-off match against Sri Lanka on February 24.

Karnataka start favourites but heavy fog and the winter cold will add to the challenge against Punjab

The Preview by Siddarth Ravindran17-Jan-2014Match factsJanuary 18-22, Mohali
Start time 9.30am (4.00am GMT)Manish Pandey slammed 166 when these two teams met last month•ESPNcricinfo Ltd0:00

‘Medium-pace attack is our strength’ – J Arunkumar

Big PictureWith an astonishing 38 points in the league phase, Karnataka are clearly the stand-out team of the season and favourites to win the title, especially after the early exit of defending champions Mumbai. With a clutch of youngsters such as KL Rahul, HS Sharath and Shreyas Gopal impressing in the early days of their career, and a core of experienced and proven performers in Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun, Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa, Karnataka are a well-balanced outfit which has put together six straight victories. While the batting and fast bowling is formidable, the only real question mark is over their spinners.Punjab have a man with over 400 Test wickets filling the spinner’s spot. Harbhajan Singh will complement a strong pace attack, which includes Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul and Manpreet Gony. Their concern will be about getting some consistency in the batting. It might be because they have played on several spicy tracks this season, but in six of the nine matches they have been bowled out for less than 200 in the first innings. They have batsmen capable of playing the big innings though: Mandeep Singh hit a game-changing century in the second innings of the quarterfinals, Jiwanjot Singh can boast of one of the innings of the season with a 147 against Delhi, Yuvraj Singh is out of form but has repeatedly shown his penchant for the big stage.Both teams will keep an eye as much on the weather as the opposition. Heavy fog has lead to most Chandigarh-bound flights being cancelled in the past few days, as is common during the coldest days of the north Indian winter. Besides fog, some play could also be lost due to rain, with mild showers predicted through the week. To make things more uncomfortable, especially for the Karnataka players, temperatures are expected to plunge as low as six degrees, about 10 degrees lesser than the minimum in Bangalore this week.Form guide Punjab WWWLD
Karnataka WWWWWWatch out forKarnataka had a settled batting unit for several seasons, till they began experimenting last year. Rahul was one of those who got an opportunity, and this season he has cemented his place at the top of the order. Scores of 158, 67, 29, 98, 29, 92, 25*, 133, 32, 0, 92* in Karnataka’s six successive wins have pitchforked him to third in the run-getters chart. A big performance in the semi-finals will only add to the buzz around him.Another youngster who has grabbed this headlines this season is Punjab’s fast bowler Sandeep Sharma. With 35 wickets at 22.60, he’s been the team’s most successful bowler, and among the top ten bowlers of the season. He’s already earned a place in a second-string India A side in 2013, but this season’s success following on the 41 wickets he captured in 2012-13 will push him closer to bigger honours.Team newsPunjab are likely to miss one of their key bowlers this season, VRV Singh, due to a fever. That should open up a spot for quick bowler Siddarth Kaul, who missed the quarterfinal clash against J&K.Punjab (squad) Harbhajan Singh (capt), Manan Vohra, Jiwanjot Singh, Mandeep Singh, Taruwar Kohli, Gurkeerat Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Rajwinder Singh, Gitansh Khera (wk), Siddarth Kaul, Manpreet Gony, Sandeep Sharma, VRV Singh, Sunny Sohal, Jaskaran Singh, Uday Kaul (wk)Karnataka are missing two players who injured themselves in the quarter-final: fast bowler Sharath hurt his shoulder while fielding and batsman R Samarth fractured his finger while attempting a catch. Their places have been taken by left-arm medium-pacer S Aravind and batsman Mayank Agarwal. Given the seamer-friendly nature of the Mohali track, Karnataka might be tempted to go in with allrounder Shreyas Gopal as their lone spinner, ahead of the ineffective specialists Abrar Kazi and KP Appanna.Karnataka (squad) Vinay Kumar (capt) , Robin Uthappa, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, CM Gautam, Shreyas Gopal, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ronit More, Abrar Kazi, KP Appanna , Ganesh Satish, Amit Verma, S AravindStatsKarnataka are one short of the Delhi’s Ranji record of seven straight wins, set in 1974-75. Mumbai managed six consecutive Ranji wins on two occasions, in 1972-73 and in 1999-00. Karnataka’s wicketkeepr CM Gautam has 33 dismissals this season, two less than the leaders Andhra’s KS Bharth and Maharashtra’s Rohit Motwani. There were five triple centuries last season; there have been none so far this season.0:00

‘Bengal, Karnataka are on a roll’ – Kartik

A round-up of the fourth day’s play of the eighth-round Group A games of the Ranji Trophy 2013-14

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Dec-2013
ScorecardLeft-arm spinner Akshar Patel’s brisk fifty and his second five-for this Ranji season helped Gujarat to 166-run win over Odisha in Ahmedabad. At the start of the day, Odisha were 345 for 8 in their first innings, but Gujarat ensured no time was wasted as they quickly mopped up the visitors for 367.The 112-run lead was then stretched by the Gujarat batsmen with their aggressive batting. Akshar was promoted up the order and the left-hander responded with an unbeaten 54 off 48 balls. His knock was peppered with one four and two sixes and ensured that Gujarat kept the score moving in spite of losing seven wickets.Their push for victory was strengthened when Odisha lost two quick wickets chasing 250. Akshar, supported by Jasprit Bumrah and Rakesh Dhurv, ran through the Odisha line-up as only three of the visiting batsmen could post scores in double figures.The win helped Gujarat overtake Mumbai on the points table to move to second place with 26 points from seven games.
ScorecardVidarbha held on for a draw in Jamshedpur against Jharkhand, thanks to a 91 from opener Faiz Fazal, who helped steer the team to 164 for 3 before the two captains decided to call it off.Vidarbha, who had collapsed in their first innings from 136 for 1 to 218 all out on day three, clawed their way back into the game with an early strike on Wednesday, as seamer Shrikant Wagh removed Ishank Jaggi with the fifth ball of the day.Saurabh Tiwary and Shahbaz Nadeem chipped in with 44 and 40 respectively, but Jharkhand’s next five batsmen only contributed 11 runs between them. Wagh finished with 4 for 39 and the hosts eventually declared at 161 for 9, setting Vidarbha a target of 276.Jharkhand had almost 60 overs to bowl Vidarbha out and secure their first win of the season, but Fazal and his opening partner Akshay Kolhar resisted with a stand of 55. Kolhar fell for 23, but Fazal put up important partnership – 53 for the second wicket with Ravi Jangid – to all but take the team to safety.

Michael Hussey was denied a century as South Australia squeaked to first innings points over Western Australia on a tense day two of the Sheffield Shield match at the Adelaide Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2013
ScorecardMichael Hussey was denied a century as South Australia squeaked to first innings points over Western Australia on a tense day two of the Sheffield Shield match at the Adelaide Oval.John Botha’s five wickets had put SA on the path to a comfortable lead as the visitors subsided to 9 for 166, but Hussey and Michael Hogan added a stubborn 69 to take WA to the outskirts of the lead.However, Chadd Sayers coaxed Hogan to drag an expansive drive onto his stumps in the final over of the day, consigning Hussey to an unbeaten 99 and the Warriors to a 13-run deficit. SA can go top of the table with an outright win.Hogan had earlier claimed his own five-wicket return as SA’s tail was quickly accounted for in the morning.

A wrap of the second day of the eighth round of Ranji Trophy matches in Group C

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Dec-2012
ScorecardJaummu and Kashmir’s medium pacer Ram Dayal bowled an incredible spell at the start of the second day picking up Himachal Pradesh’s top-six batsmen and giving away just 14 runs. But Himachal recovered to take a narrow lead and then removed three J&K batsmen to go ahead by the end of the day.Dayal struck with the third ball of the morning, removing Aakash Chopra and from there on, continued to torment the Himachal top-order. Bowling an extended spell, he had reduced Himachal to 58 for 6 at one point. It was Dayal’s third five-for this season and it almost gave a chance to J&K to take a first-innings lead after scoring 175.But a 65-run seventh-wicket stand between Aatish Bhalaik and Karanveer Singh revived Himachal and helped them take a narrow 11-run lead and Himachal’s opening bowlers – Vikramjeet Malik and Rishi Dhawan – struck thrice in the nine overs of J&K innings to help Himachal take control.
ScorecardCenturies by VA Jagadeesh and Robert Fernandez helped Kerala to a big first-innings lead against Jharkhand in Mallappuram. The two batsmen, who were unbeaten yesterday, took the lead past 100 as Kerala looked set to post a big total. But left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem struck twice in two overs to disrupt the progress. After the 230-run second-wicket partnership, Kerala lost their last nine wickets for 95 as Nadeem took four and Samar Qadri picked up three.Still, Kerala had a 205-run lead and they made the most of the day by picking up Jharkhand’s openers before the end of play and will start tomorrow with an innings win in sight.
ScorecardA strong opening partnership between Pallavkumar Das and Sibsankar Roy led Assam’s response which has put them in a strong position to take first-innings lead. Pallavkumar was out one short of his half-century but Roy stayed unbeaten on 72 when stumps were called, with Assam 83 runs behind Andhra Pradesh’s 249.The highlight of the day was veteran Amol Muzumdar’s fourth hundred of the season – his 29th in first-class cricket. Mumzumdar, on 82 overnight, completed his century in time before he ran out of partners. Arup Das was the most successful bowler for Assam with four wickets.
ScorecardAfter losing the first day to rain, Tripura were pulled out of deep trouble, losing their top three wickets for only six runs, by their middle-order batsmen to recover to 170 for 5 at stumps. Saurabh Bandekar and Hanumant Gadekar took two wickets each as Abhijit Dey stitched two crucial partnerships with Abbas Ali (44) and skipper Ajay Ratra (37).

أعرب ديفيد مويس، المدير الفني لفريق وست هام، عن غضبه الشديد لعدم احتساب ركلة جزاء لصالحهم أمام ليفربول في مباراة الأمس ببطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

وتلاقى الفريقان على ملعب “لندن الأولمبي” في الجولة الثالثة والثلاثين من الدوري الإنجليزي، حيث فاز ليفربول بهدفين مقابل هدف.

وطالب وست هام بركلة جزاء في الدقائق الأخيرة من الشوط الثاني لوجود لمسة يد على لاعب ليفربول، تياجو ألكانتارا. هل حرم الحكم وست هام من ركلة جزاء أمام ليفربول

وقال ديفيد مويس في تصريحات نشرتها شبكة “بي بي سي” العالمية: “لا أصدق ذلك، أهم شيء أن الحكم لم يتحقق من ذلك، لقد كان أمرًا غير محترم تمامًا من حكم تقنية الفيديو”.

وأكد: “شخص ما في تقنية الفيديو لم يكن لديه ما يكفي من المعرفة الكروية ليعرف أن الأمر يستحق نظرة، بالنسبة لي لم يظهر حكم الفيديو المساعد أي احترام لنا وكان الأمر يستحق استدعاء للحكم في الملعب”.

وأضاف: “لقد اندفع اللاعب نحو الكرة، وهذا يعني أنه خرج عن سيطرته والحكم لم يحتسب شيئًا، ولكن ماذا يمكنك أن تفعل؟ لقد استحقنا الحصول على شيء من المباراة”.

وتسائل: “هل اعتقد أن تياجو تعمد ضرب الكرة، لا، لكن هل اعترض طريق الكرة؟ نعم فعل ذلك، خرجت ذراعيه وارتطمت الكرة بذراعه، قد يحتاج مسؤولو تقنية الفيديو إلى الاعتذار لنا، نحن نحتاج إلى نقاط للبقاء في الدوري الإنجليزي”.

وواصل: “أشعر بخيبة أمل لأننا تلقينا أهدافًا سهلة، لكن الأداء كان يستحق شيئًا، وأمام فريق ليفربول الذي يتحسن، استحقينا ركلة جزاء”.

وأردف: “لقد لعب ليفربول كرة قدم جيدة في بعض الأحيان، كما فعلنا ذلك أيضًا، كان هناك هدفان جيدان حقًا من مسافة بعيدة، ولكن من وجهة نظرنا كان هدفهم الثاني ضعيفًا”.

واختتم: “لقد كنا جيدين جدًا في الدفاع عن الضربات الركنية هذا الموسم لكنني لم أحب ذلك على الإطلاق، على الرغم من أننا خسرنا، إلا أن الأمر لا يبدو وكأنه هزيمة”.

Robin Brown, the former Zimbabwe coach, has been temporarily put in charge of Kenya ahead of this month’s ICC Intercontinental Cup and two one-dayers in Namibia.The coaching post has been vacant since Mike Hesson, currently in charge of the New Zealand team, quit in May. That month Brown, who played seven ODIs for Zimbabwe in the 80s, was appointed Kenya’s head of cricket development.The matches against Namibia were supposed to be played in Nairobi but were shifted to Windhoek due to security concerns. Brown said there needed to be more team unity for Kenya’s results to improve.”We have a very professional team of players,” Brown said. “They just need to put their past problems behind them and we can start seeing the results. We can get back to the top if we can all get together.”The more cricket we play, the more we will improve. Unfortunately we have not been able to realise this because we have not hosted any visiting teams, as most of the players have been engaged in the East African Cricket League tournament.”Kenya are near the bottom of the table in both the Intercontinental Cup and the ICC World Cricket League Championship. The four-day ICC Intercontinental match will take place at Windhoek’s United Cricket Club from September 29 to October 2, followed by the two limited-overs on October 4 and 6.

A number of Indian companies have successfully bid for teams in the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL), highlighting the lure of the franchise model in cricket’s largest market despite the BCCI’s reluctance to allow Indian players to participate, according to reports.Among the winners are the Wadhawan Group, a business conglomerate with interests in real estate, retail and education, India Cricket Dundee, an Indian fan organisation along the lines of the Barmy Army, and Varun Beverages Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, the agent for Pepsi in Sri Lanka.The Wadhawan Group bought Wayamba for $5.02 million, the highest price for any of the franchises. Wayamba represented Sri Lanka in the first two Champions League T20 tournaments in 2009 and 2010 and has Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, as it’s icon player. The group has been involved with cricket in the past, most notably as sponsors of the New Zealand national team, the Victoria Bushrangers and VicSpirit teams through Dheeraj East Coast, a joint venture between Dheeraj Realty, the group’s real estate company, and East Coast LLC, an Australian company.

The SLPL franchise owners

Wayamba – Wadhawan Holdings Private Limited, $5.02 million
Kandurata – Number One Sports Consulting Private Limited, $4.98 million
Ruhuna – Pearl Overseas Limited, $4.6 million
Uva Success Sports Private Limited, $4.6 million
Basnahira -Indian Cricket Dundee Limited, $4.33 million
Uthura – Rudra Sports Private Limited, $3.4 million
Nagenahira – Varun Beverages Lanka Private Limited, $3.22 million

Mumbai-based India Cricket Dundee (ICD) bid $4.33 million to buy the Basnahira franchise. Formed in 2010, ICD’s stated aim is to create a “widespread fan base that will be able to support the Indian cricket team all year round, whether at home or on tours away”, according to their website.Varun Beverages, based in the West Province of Sri Lanka, won the rights to the Nagenahira franchise for $ 3.22 million, the lowest price for a franchise. The company is a subsidiary of RJ Corp, which includes InBev India International Private Limited, which distributes beers such as Stella Artois and Budweiser in India. The group also runs the Delhi Public School in Gurgaon.Kandurata was the second most expensive team at $4.98 million and was picked up by Number One Sports Consulting Private Limited. The Uva and Ruhuna franchises were bought by Success Sports and Pearl Overseas respectively for $4.6 million each, while Rudra Sports Private Limited picked up Uthura for $3.4 million. The news was reported in the Sri Lankan .A player draft will be held on July 5 and 6 to determine the composition of the teams. Each team can have a maximum of 18 players, including six foreign players. The SLPL starts on August 10, with the final to be held on August 31. There will be 24 games in total, split between Colombo and Pallekele.

Daniel Brettig at Lord's05-Jun-2012
ScorecardCorey Collymore took the first wicket to fall but injured his knee while bowling later in the day•Middlesex CCCIf the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend had coaxed out the most curmudgeonly of English summer weather, then Middlesex and Somerset were grateful for a momentary break in the overhead “festivities” at Lord’s. Friendlier skies allowed for 48.5 overs on day one, the visitors scrapping to 130 for 4 by the time rain turned up in mid-afternoon to prevent any further play.The covers had not been down for long when the RAF fly-past skirted the ground, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight able to salute Elizabeth II because the weather was kind enough for a plane’s take-off as well as a bowler’s run-up. The sight of the venerable Lancaster bomber made for majestic viewing, somewhat more so than the battling of Somerset’s top six against a seaming and occasionally swinging ball in the hands of Corey Collymore, Tim Murtagh, Toby Roland-Jones and Gareth Berg.Collymore was typically austere in the rations he afforded the batsmen, but he did not see out the day, complaining of what the captain Chris Rogers termed “knee pain that he hadn’t felt before” after bowling the first ball of his 12th over. Collymore’s fitness will be monitored closely, for Middlesex have only four specialist bowlers among their XI, and none with the West Indian’s breadth of experience. Berg was summoned to complete the over, and was rewarded for his readiness by claiming Somerset’s acting captain James Hildreth, pushing at a ball that bent subtly away and edging behind.Jos Buttler had only one ball to survive before the showers set in around 3pm, more or less on the forecast cue. They began so gently that Rogers was visibly irritated at having to go off and he debated the point with the umpires as they marched for the pavilion. This is a pivotal fixture for both sides, Middlesex having the chance to vault above Somerset into third, while victory for the visitors would keep their promoted opponents at bay and close the gap on Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire at the top.Hildreth and the wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter had fared best of the batsmen, mounting an 80-run stand either side of lunch after the new ball had accounted for the top three with only 45 runs collected. Alex Barrow’s stay was particularly brief, squared up by Collymore and edging behind for a third-ball duck.After reaching 1,000 first-class runs at the start of June, Nick Compton has faltered a touch. Having made 7 against Notts in the CB40 fixture at Trent Bridge on Monday, here he shouldered arms and gave Murtagh free passage to bowl him for a single, leaving Somerset 1 for 2 in the third over. Arul Suppiah at least managed to stave off the worst excesses of the early movement, but his stern occupation was ended by the first-change bowler Roland-Jones. Unsure whether to play or leave, Suppiah was ultimately too late on one that seamed back and clipped off stump.That brought Kieswetter to the wicket with Hildreth, and together they repaired some of the damage, helped by the ball ageing a little and Roland-Jones offering greater latitude for scoring than Murtagh or Collymore had done. Kieswetter was 20 when he survived a beseeching lbw appeal by Berg, but otherwise played some handsome strokes through the offside. He also took advantage of the short boundary in front of the Tavern and Mound Stands, the match strip on the south-eastern side of the square compelling Rogers to place two men on the fence at times even as the ball continued to seam.Hildreth’s was a composed, steady innings in challenging circumstances but Collymore’s exit took his mind from the task sufficiently to let Berg claim his outside edge. Rogers’ annoyance at exiting the field soon after will be compounded by the weather outlook for the next three days, which promises about as much rain as was dumped upon the Thames Jubilee pageant.

حقق فريق أتلتيكو مدريد، فوزًا ساحقًا على خصمه إشبيلية، مساء اليوم السبت، في إطار منافسات بطولة الدوري الإسباني.

واستضاف ملعب “واندا ميتروبوليتانو” مباراة الفريقين في إطار منافسات الجولة الرابعة والعشرين من الليجا، حيث فاز أتلتيكو مدريد بنتيجة 6-1.

كان ممفيس ديباي قد سجل هدف أتلتيكو مدريد الأول في الدقيقة 23 من عمر الشوط الأول، قبل أن يسجل الهدف الثاني له ولفريقه في الدقيقة 26.

وقلص يوسف النصيري الفارق لصالح إشبيلية بتسجيله هدفًا في الدقيقة 39 من عمر الشوط نفسه.

ولكن أتلتيكو مدريد استفاق بشكل أفضل في الشوط الثاني، حيث سجل 4 أهداف، عن طريق كل من أنطوان جريزمان، يانيك كاراسكو وألفارو موراتا في الدقائق 53، 69 و76، قبل أن يحرز موراتا من جديد هدفًا في الدقيقة 92.

وشهدت المباراة حصول لاعب إشبيلية، باب جايي، على بطاقة حمراء في الدقيقة 80.

بتلك النتيجة، ارتفع رصيد أتلتيكو مدريد إلى 45 نقطة في المركز الثالث، بينما تجمد رصيد إشبيلية عند 25 نقطة في المركز السادس عشر.