All posts by csb10.top

Last week the BCCI and Star India, a Murdoch-owned, TV-centric media conglomerate, announced the latter’s association with IPL as an “official partner”. The announcement indicated that Star India was just another sponsor of the tournament but didn’t mention the significance – it had effectively entered the territory of one of their key competitors using the same platform and possibly changed the rules of the high-stakes advertising game.Multi Screen Media are the IPL’s official broadcasters through Max, their Hindi film channel, and their recently launched 24-hour sports channel. The broadcast rights deal, revised ahead of the 2009 IPL, is worth around Rs 900 crore ($165 milion) per year till 2017.Star India, on the other hand, have tied up with IPL to primarily promote their flagship channel, Star Plus. “We saw a great opportunity to use this platform to communicate our brand promise of [same relationship, new idea],” Uday Shankar, CEO of Star India, said in a statement following the deal.The significance of Star’s entry into a property owned by one of its competitors goes beyond the boundary signage that was shown frequently and prominently on the screen during Wednesday’s opening game. While not being seen as ambush marketing, it has created ripples in the media and entertainment industry. “We view it as an act of desperation by Star to be part of the biggest sporting entertainment event,” Manjit Singh, CEO of MSM, told , a business daily. “Star’s decision to be part of IPL simply validates our strategy of having bagged the telecast rights”.Some industry experts are looking at the deal as an innovative method of branding. “It could be a trend-setting deal in Indian advertising, where a company enters into a property owned by one of its competitors,” says Kiran Khalap, a brand consultant. “It is kind of a steal for Star to use a platform as big as IPL in such a manner.”The Star India deal is believed to be worth at least Rs 50 crore (approximately $10 million) per year. Even though both Star India and IPL have kept the form of the association under wraps, it is understood that the former plan to have characters from their 33-odd daily soaps attending most of the matches. After the first match against Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils on Wednesday night, one of the female actors from Star’s soaps handed out a Star Plus Award at Eden Gardens. In fact, the unique partnership has also left franchises wondering “whether the players will be asked to make a guest appearance in Star’s reality shows, just like film stars”.MSM’s tetchiness – as revealed by Singh’s unusually aggressive statement – is understandable, say industry experts. “It may turn out to be a profitable move, but Star India’s partnership with IPL is certainly not in a good taste,” a media buyer said on condition of anonymity. “It may start a vicious war between television media majors, similar to the ambush marketing campaigns run by the cola giants over sponsorship of cricket events in the late 90s and early 2000s.”Khalap, however, says this isn’t ambush marketing. “I can’t call it an ambush. It’s effective deployment of resources by a media conglomerate to use a property that’s as big and reach out to the target audience in one more way.”Ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar speaks from a financial perspective. “Cricket is the biggest money-spinning factor in India. The IPL is the second-most followed cricket event after the World Cup,” Kakkar says. “So it doesn’t matter whether it’s ambush or not. Any association with a property like IPL is going to surely help a brand in a much bigger way.”

Jhulan Goswami, along with a couple of her India Women team-mates, sauntered through the lobby of the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai. Not one of the few people present turned her way to acknowledge they were watching the second-most successful bowler in women’s cricket. Outside the hotel, the Sunday crowd continued to throng the seafront alongside the Gateway of India. A few stopped to take photographs. Not of Goswami, but of the landmark hotel, completely unaware that seven international teams were staying there.There is a World Cup in town, a cricket World Cup at that. It has been in the news because some people didn’t want a particular team coming over while other people wanted a particular stadium for their own use, to the exclusion of the women. Over the next three weeks, the tenth Women’s World Cup, to be held in Mumbai and Cuttack, will strive to make headlines for the cricket played by the eight participating teams.The captains of four of them, hosts India, England, Sri Lanka and West Indies, were present at the tournament’s first press event, attended by a generous gathering of journalists and cameramen.The general public may remain largely ignorant, or indifferent, but the players know how much progress has been made on the ground. Charlotte Edwards, captain of defending champions England and one of the game’s greats, spoke of how far women’s cricket had come from the time she scored 173* in Pune a day before her 18th birthday, in the 1997 World Cup.”My first time was when I was 17, a quite memorable one, first time I think I had been out of England,” Edwards said. “Now with the ICC and the professionalisation that has come in, is fantastic. I think it is safe to say that the game today is unrecognisable from when I played back in 1997. The games are televised now, which they weren’t back in 1997. Very proud of where the game is at the moment.”Recent ICC events have shown that the game is becoming popular. I have heard we are attracting loads of young girls who want to play the game. That is the most important thing for us as players. I think we have changed people’s perceptions about women’s cricket a lot. Hopefully this tournament will be another step in hammering that message home.”Mithali Raj, the India captain and another big name, was hopeful of substantial turnouts at the grounds. “It is a great moment,” she said. “It is the first time after 1997 that we are hosting a World Cup, [and] under the BCCI. The kind of media attention and awareness is great. So I am hoping a lot of people will turn up for the matches.”Raj said the best way to popularise the women’s game was to have matches on television. Not only World Cup or World Twenty20 matches, but also bilateral games. “Lot of people question me about the follow-up of women’s cricket. It would be nice if more games are televised when we tour abroad,” Raj said. “Most of them follow Star Cricket, ESPN, where, if women’s cricket is televised, then gradually it will catch people’s awareness. Some of the girls are definitely known faces. Not only the ICC tournaments, but also two-nation series like England v India or Australia v India should be televised on good cricketing channels for them to follow women’s cricket.”This World Cup will be broadcast live on television alright. Now only if those grounds could be filled.

Sarah Taylor will create history later this year if she is selected as the first woman to play for a men’s county side and Mark Alleyne, the MCC head coach who has Taylor under his charge at Lord’s, believes it is important to take her out of her comfort zone.Taylor is widely regarded as the best cricketer in the women’s game and will play men’s league cricket for a Birmingham League side at the start of the season while training at Sussex with a realistic view to being called into the second XI. The MCC had already explored the option of getting Taylor a men’s game over the last year.”I think for her it would be a relevant challenge just to see how she would get on,” Alleyne told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s something that we talked about over 12 months ago to be honest. We think she’s good enough and I’m confident her skills can stand out in the second XI.”Putting someone in an uncomfortable position and just seeing how they can deal with it could stand her in good stead for some of the tougher moments in women’s cricket. If she can deal with it, there should be nothing she can’t deal with in the women’s game.”The greater power of men’s cricket will be an adjustment Taylor would need to make and she will not be too far away from the next sledge. But Alleyne is confident she can live with it. “We know she’s got the skills to cope.”Technically, Taylor will face a larger, and half an ounce heavier, ball to which she has had little exposure. But Alleyne does not see that making a insurmountable difference. “Her experience using the larger ball isn’t great at the moment,” Alleyne said. “But such are her keeping skills, the different ball shouldn’t affect her at all. She keeps well to spinners and seamers.”It is with the bat where Alleyne knows Taylor will have to make a significant step up. “The pace is consistently quicker than she’s used to. Batting in the top order against pacier bowlers with a bit more bounce can attack areas where she hasn’t really been tested before.”Whether she can put together high quality performances against consistent pace will be one of the questions to answer.”Alleyne oversees the MCC Young Cricketers at Lord’s, where Taylor is on the staff, and has been in close contact with the England Women’s head coach Mark Lane.”Sarah has been with MCC for two years and she’s right on top of her game at the moment, playing particularly well,” Alleyne said. “Everyone’s curious to see how she can continue to improve and how she can benchmark herself with the boys.”Alleyne looks for new opportunities for all the MCC staff and said the conversations he has with Taylor are no different to anyone else. “We’re always looking for opportunities for them to up their game with lots of different challenges. At the time of talking with Sarah, it was just another conversation that we would have with any other players.”Taylor had subsequent talks with Sussex and an opportunity could arise for her to provide wicketkeeping cover this season. She and fellow England international Holly Colvin, who is also on the MCC staff, have been invited to train with Sussex when they return from the Women’s World Cup in February.Sussex are a wicketkeeper lighter in 2013 after Andrew Hodd left for Yorkshire and with England commitments ruling Matt Prior out for large parts of the year and both Sussex academy wicketkeepers unavailable at the start of the season, Taylor could well be needed.

Scorecard
An opening stand of 154 between the captain Chris Hartley and the opening batsman Usman Khawaja set Queensland on the path to a 30-run victory over New South Wales in the domestic limited overs match in Canberra.Hartley and Khawaja laid a platform for the Bulls’ eventual total of 6 for 292, its dimensions ultimately proving out of reach for the Blues despite a doughty rearguard from Ben Rohrer.NSW lost regular wickets in their pursuit as Cameron Gannon picked up a first five-wicket haul of his domestic limited overs career, before Rohrer added 81 with Josh Lalor in a mere 56 balls to give the Bulls a fright.The match was the last of the Australian domestic summer before the states break for the Twenty20 Big Bash League, which commences on December 7.

ScorecardJiwanjot Singh made his third century in five first-class games as Punjab completed the formalities on the final morning with a nine-wicket demolition of defending champions Rajasthan. Punjab needed 55 more runs to reach their target of 204, and needed 12 overs to make them. Jiwanjot cracked 21 fours in his unbeaten 110, while Ravi Inder Singh finished on 60, his second fifty of the match. Punjab have 29 points now, having won four out of five games, and are way ahead of second-placed Madhya Pradesh, who have 11 from four.
ScorecardWith Bengal motoring to 116 for 0 in an improbable chase of 391, the final day at the CCI looked set to end in a tame draw. Mumbai allrounder Abhishek Nayar conjured up a six-for out of nowhere, and Bengal were made to work hard for avoiding defeat. Nayar took all but one of the Bengal wickets to fall, and had figures of 19-12-13-6 to go with his twin half-centuries in the game. He had the openers Rohan Banerjee and Arindam Das caught behind for fifties, and also bowled Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary for 14. Seven overs were left when Nayar bowled Laxmi Shukla for a duck, but Wriddhiman Saha, who was put down by early by Kshemal Waingankar, batted out 152 deliveries to ensure a stalemate. Mumbai now have ten points from four games, while Bengal have seven from five.For more on this match, click here.
ScorecardGujarat, having piled up 566, dismissed visitors Hyderabad for 375 in Valsad to take three points. With only six points from their first four games, Gujarat then enforced the follow-on, but Hyderabad were steady at 124 for 2 before the game was called off. Rush Kalaria and Rakesh Dhurv picked up three wickets each in the Hyderabad first innings, which had three half-centuries but no hundred. Akshath Reddy, Hanuma Vihari and B Sandeep could not go on to make big scores like the Gujarat batsmen had.
ScorecardSaurashtra did what Gujarat had done, and asked Railways to bat again after taking a huge lead, but could not break through in the second innings. Kamlesh Makvana picked up six wickets, and Ravindra Jadeja three, as Railways crumbled from a strong 168 for 1 to be dismissed for 335. The overnight batsmen Shivakant Shukla and V Cheluvaraj could not add too many in the morning. Parag Madkaikar and Murali Kartik made sixties, but it was not enough against Saurashtra’s mammoth total. Saurashtra now have nine points, as many as Gujarat have, while Railways are on six.

ScorecardMark Stoneman made a century to put Durham in charge at Trent Bridge•Getty Images

After his devastating 9 for 67 on Thursday, Graham Onions will be have free rein to attack Nottinghamshire again on the final day after Durham established a commanding lead by the end of day three, pushing for the win that will almost certainly preserve their place in Division One and make a substantial dent in Nottinghamshire’s chances of claiming a second County Championship title in three seasons.Durham, who were bottom of the table before Phil Mustard stepped down from the captaincy in favour of Paul Collingwood, have hauled themselves out of the relegation places with two wins in a row — during a run of five on the spin in all competitions — and now sense the chance of putting daylight between themselves and the other scrappers.They have a lead of 341 to take into the final day and will not need many more to feel they can declare securely and allow Onions off the leash again. Nottinghamshire, with two large holes in their run-scoring potential where Samit Patel and James Taylor would normally sit, will do well to escape with a draw.Durham built their position of strength on a fine century from their opening batsman, Mark Stoneman, whose six years with the county have not been blessed with enough such days. The left-hander has passed 50 some 19 times in first-class matches but this was only the fourth he has turned into a three-figure score.His career-best 128 against Sussex last August was his first century in the Championship for four years yet he batted in this innings as if it were a routine occurrence. He went to 50 off 90 balls with a four off Luke Fletcher and having proceeded unfussily into the 90s showed no sign of nerves. Indeed, at just the point at which you wondered if he might become a little jittery he produced five scoring shots in a row to move from 90 to 103 against the left-arm spin of Graeme White, the last two of which brought him his 13th and 14th boundaries.Having not given a chance, the sequence of shots that ended with his dismissal soon afterwards made a bizarre contrast. First sweeping White, he was horribly dropped at deep backward square by Alex Hales; then, having taken a single in between, he hooked Ben Phillips and was dropped again by Paul Franks, who let the ball slip through his hands on the rope at long leg, giving Stoneman six. The next ball then shot through at ankle height to have him out leg before.Stoneman lacked substantial support from Durham’s top order. Will Smith, the junior partner in a stand of 62 for the first wicket, edged Fletcher to the wicketkeeper for 15, and Phil Mustard, after a sound start, went for 21, feathering a catch behind in an attempted pull. Dale Benkenstein steered Fletcher straight to gully.Keaton Jennings looked comfortable until falling leg before to Phillips, contributing 31 to a second-wicket partnership of 74. Scott Borthwick was bowled by White for 4, at which point Nottinghamshire had hopes of keeping Durham’s lead below 300 with only four wickets still standing.But Collingwood’s alliance with an impressive Mark Wood late in the day added 61 for the seventh wicket before Wood was caught behind driving at Fletcher. Collingwood finished the day unbeaten on 51 and — unless Onions goes lame overnight — Nottinghamshire are effectively out of the game.As much as they will miss the batsmen on international duty, it is the absence of their injured talisman, Andre Adams, which has cost them heavily. His wicket-taking consistency has been at the centre of Nottinghamshire’s success over the last few seasons and they have no one else who poses a similar threat. At times, compared with the damage Onions was able to inflict, it seemed Fletcher, Phillips and company were bowling on a different strip.

The one-day international between Scotland and England scheduled for The Grange in Edinburgh on August 12 has been cancelled due to the ground having recently been flooded and concerns about a continuing poor forecast for the area.Although the match remains three weeks away Cricket Scotland could not be sure that the ground would be playable for an international fixture and that the required infrastructure, such as temporary seating, would not cause long-term damage.Cricket Scotland and the ECB held discussions about moving the fixture but no suitable alternative could be found at short notice which means Scotland will lose the lucrative match which is part of the ECB’s deal to play Ireland and Scotland in alternate years to help promote the game.Roddy Smith, the Cricket Scotland chief executive, said: “This is a hugely frustrating decision that Cricket Scotland have had to make, but we could not justifiably take the risk of building on a ground so saturated from a major flood and six weeks of consistent rain.”The build is only two weeks away and with an unsettled forecast for the remainder of July we have had to make a decision based on the facts presented to us and the professional advice we have taken. We have been faced with an unprecedented and sustained period of rain that has, unfortunately, taken the season’s biggest game from us.”The weather has been horrific. Water on the ground was up to five feet deep in some please. We just rent the ground, and we are grateful for it, and we don’t want to risk a situation where cranes are hauling out lorries hauling out toilets.”The rain has has decimated Scottish club cricket. In more than 20 years as a player and administrator, this has been the worse sustained spell of bad weather I have ever known.”The cancellation of the fixture does remove a potential headache for the England selectors and Andy Flower, the director of cricket, as the match was sandwiched between the second and third Tests against South Africa while there is also a series between England Lions and Australia A taking place either side of when the ODI was due to be played.It had been expected that England would field almost a third XI for the match to give key players a rest. Cricket Scotland were prepared to accept that in the belief that it would still help to promote the game. With the 2013 summer equally crammed with the visit of New Zealand, England’s hosting of the Champions Trophy and an Ashes series, Smith accepts that there is no possibility of an England visit until 2014 at the earlest.Smith said: “All ticket holders will be refunded in full by our ticketing partner, Ticket Soup, and we will be contacting everyone who has purchased a ticket with free offers to attend matches next season. I am very grateful for the support and understanding of all our key partners. Everyone is very disappointed but understands the exceptional circumstances we are faced with.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSouth Africa A played out 56 overs in the fourth innings with the loss of only two wickets to deny Sri Lanka A a chance to square the two-match series. South Africa had beaten the visitors by an innings in the first match in Durban.Sri Lanka A started the day with opening batsman Dimuth Karunaratne, on 99 overnight, reaching his century in the first over of the morning with an off-drive to the boundary. Karunaratne, who had scored 83 in the first innings, went on to take Sri Lanka past 300 and completed 150 runs in the process. He declared the innings soon after, giving a target of 349 runs in a minimum of 71 overs to the home team.South Africa A lost openers Dean Elgar and Reeza Hendricks with only 37 runs on the board, but Stiaan van Zyl, 39 off 140 balls, and Faf du Plessis, 55 off 120, combined together in an unbeaten 93-run partnership as the game meandered to a draw.

Sri Lanka have recalled allrounder Jeevan Mendis and seamer Dilhara Fernando to their ODI squad for the home series against Pakistan starting in June. Also included in the squad is fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep, who toured South Africa late last year with the national team but had to head back home due to a hamstring tear. Rangana Herath, who didn’t play in the Asia Cup, is back as well while allrounder Farveez Maharoof and Ajantha Mendis do not find a place.

Sri Lanka’s limited-overs squads

ODI squad
Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekera, Sachithra Senanayake, Lasith Malinga, Rangana Herath, Upul Tharanga, Nuwan Pradeep, Dilhara Fernando

T20 squad
Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (wk),Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kaushalya Lokuarachchi, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekera, Sachithra Senanayake, Lasith Malinga, Chamara Kapugedera, Upul Tharanga, Isuru Udana

Jeevan Mendis, who also bowls leg-spin, has played 19 ODIs for Sri Lanka, picking up 14 wickets and averaging 19.18 with the bat. He last played for them in the ODI series against Pakistan in the UAE in November 2011. Since then he’s played on the domestic circuit, representing Tamil Union, chipping in with handy contributions in the middle order and taking wickets in all three formats.Pradeep hasn’t played an ODI for Sri Lanka but went wicketless in his only Test, against Pakistan last year. After having to leave from the tour of South Africa, he had a three-month lay-off. Returning to domestic cricket in March this year, he’s played a first-class game and three Twenty20s.Fernando played two Tests and an ODI on the tour of South Africa and was named in the provisional squad of 30 for the upcoming series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Ajantha Mendis, who was part of that squad, has also been left out. Ajantha Mendis hasn’t played competitive cricket since January following a back injury.Sri Lanka play two Twenty20 internationals, five ODIs and three Tests against Pakistan. For the Twenty20s, they brought back left-arm seamer Isuru Udana – who last played for the national team in the 2009 World Twenty20 – and legspinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi, who hasn’t played for the national side since 2007.

ScorecardLeicestershire held out for a draw in a tense finish to their Division Two match against Northamptonshire. Having been set a victory target of 341 in 86 overs, the home side finished on 289 for 9, with last-wicket pair Wayne White and Matthew Hoggard surviving the last 9.2 overs to deny Northants their second win of the season.At one stage Leicestershire looked the more likely winners, with Ramnaresh Sarwan hitting 94 and Josh Cobb 59, to leave them needing 101 runs off 20 overs. But they then lost five wickets for 28 runs in 10 overs before White and Hoggard salvaged the draw.It was a fine effort from Northants who were reduced to a four-man bowling attack because of an injury to Chaminda Vaas that kept him off the field for the final day. Lee Daggett took 4 for 76 and David Willey 2 for 70 but, despite claiming the second new ball with six overs remaining, Northants were unable to claim the wicket they needed for victory.Two enterprising declarations set up the prospect of a positive result from the rain-affected game. Leicestershire declared on their overnight 38 for 2 and Northants responded by scoring 26 without loss. Leicestershire did not make the best of starts to their chase, slipping to 64 for 3 as Willey and Daggett gave Northants the initiative.But Sarwan and Cobb joined forces in an exhilarating fourth-wicket stand of 103 in 21 overs that gave Leicestershire a sniff of a possible victory.Sarwan was in majestic form with some glorious drives on the off side and wristy strokes through midwicket. He reached 50 off 65 balls with seven fours and looked set to complete his second century of the season as he cruised into the nineties. But he was finally dismissed lbw trying to sweep offspinner James Middlebrook having hit 94 off 120 balls.Cobb’s half-century came off 62 balls with a six and seven fours but his innings ended when he was bowled offering no shot to a ball from Daggett. Ned Eckersley made a determined 35 but in the end it was White and Hoggard that came to Leicestershire’s rescue.