Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly added another feather to his cap when he was awarded an honorary fellowship by the University of Central Lancashire.
Ganguly, who retired from international cricket late last year after playing 113 Tests and 311 ODIs, was conferred the fellowship for his “unparalleled determination coupled with grit and talent.”
“It is a huge honour,” Ganguly said after receiving the fellowship at Lancashire on Wednesday.
courtesy-PTI
Gautam Gambhir became the number one batsman, replacing Pakistani run-machine Mohammad Yousuf in the latest ICC Test Player rankings issued on Wednesday. Incidentally, Gambhir reached the top when the ODI batting chart is also led by an Indian, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Yousuf, who had returned to the batting table last week in number one position after his century in the first Test at Galle, flopped in the second Test to drop to fifth position. Accordingly, Gambhir became the sixth India batsman to lead the batting table in this version of the game.
The 27-year-old left-handed opener is the first Indian batsman after former captain Rahul Dravid to top the batting chart. Dravid had briefly become the number-one batsman after hitting centuries in each innings (110 and 135) of the Kolkata Test against Pakistan in March 2005. Dravid had first achieved the top batting ranking in January 1999 and has been number-one for 36 Tests between 1999 and 2005.
Sachin Tendulkar is the other India batsman in the last 15 years who has topped the batting chart. He first led the table in November 1994 while last time he occupied the number-one position was in August 2002 after the Leeds Test against England. Overall, Tendulkar has been the number-one batsman for 125 Tests between 1994 and 2002.
The other India batsmen to have achieved number-one positions in their careers are Gundappa Viswanath (seven matches in 1975), Sunil Gavaskar (46 matches between 1978-80) and Dilip Vengsarkar (17 matches between 1987-88).
Pakistan captain Younis Khan was able to retain his second position in the Test batting rankings but fell nine points behind Gambhir who, without hitting a ball, has gone ahead of both the Pakistan batsmen for the first time in his 25-Test career in which he has scored 2,271 runs at an average of over 54.
Gambhir's 847 points is relatively low for a number-one position in modern times as usually a batsman nearer to the 900-point mark goes to the top, which reflects that he has benefited from some of the other top batsman being off their peaks.
With only 10 points separating Gambhir from third-placed Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka, the top order is expected to change again, of course depending how the Pakistan and Sri Lanka captains perform in the third and final Test which starts in Colombo from July 20.
The only big movers in the latest rankings are Pakistan opener Fawad Alam, who has entered the table in 52nd position after his 168 on his Test debut, and Bangladesh's Tamim Iqbal whose century in the second innings has helped him rocket 22 places to 62nd spot.
There is also a change at the top of the bowlers' chart for the first time in more than three years with Muttiah Muralitharan handing over the baton to South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn.
Steyn had briefly joined Muralidaran in number-one position after the second Test against India in Ahmedabad in April 2008. However, Steyn had failed to go top of the table on his own after a disappointing third Test in Kanpur.
For Muralidaran, it is the first time that he has dropped to second position since February 2006. This is because he missed both the Tests of the ongoing series due to injury and a player loses one per cent of his ratings for every match he misses.
Andrew Flintoff has announced that he will retire from Test cricket at the end of this Ashes summer, although he still intends to make himself available for Twenty20 and ODI cricket, and is expected to be fit for tomorrow's second Test against Australia.
Flintoff, who has missed 25 of England's last 48 Tests through a variety of injuries, suffered another fitness scare on the eve of the Lord's Test, when he reported soreness and swelling in the same right knee that required surgery back in April, after he tore his meniscus while playing in the IPL.
"It's not something I have just thought of overnight, it's something that's been on my mind for a while regarding this series," said Flintoff. "With the knee flaring up again and getting the injections on Monday, now is a time I felt comfortable with doing it. There's been a lot of speculation over my future for the past few weeks, so I wanted to get it out there, and concentrate on playing cricket.
"I've had four ankle operations and knee surgery, so my body is telling me things, and I'm actually starting to listen. I can't just play games here and there while waiting to be fit. For my own sanity, and for my family's, I've got to draw a line under it. I've been going through two years of rehab in the past four, which is not ideal."
Sri Lanka 240 (Sangakkara 87, Gul 4-43, Ajmal 4-87) and 171 for 3 (Warnapura 54) beat Pakistan 90 (Kulasekara 4-21) and 320 (Fawad 168, Younis 82, Herath 5-99, Kulasekara 4-37) by seven wickets.. MoM:Fawad & Kulasekara
Four years and six months after their first Test win, Bangladesh sealed a historic second victory when they beat West Indies by 95 runs in St Vincent. Bangladesh's spin twins Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah weaved a tantalising web to consign a weakened West Indies to defeat. The only resistance came from David Bernand, who defied everything thrown at him for 134 balls to remain unbeaten on 52.
The champagne moment arrived at 4.40 pm local time when Shakib, the stand-in captain, nailed last man Tino Best in front with a dipping full toss with only ten overs left in the day. Best put up his bat as if to suggest he had edged it but the finger was up and the Bangladeshi fielders converged in a huddle of joy, soon joined by a limping Mashrafe Mortaza.
It was an enthralling last couple of sessions in a beautiful setting, the Kingstown stadium ringed by the sea. The cricket was almost sub-continental in its elements. Spinners operated with several close-in men prowling near the batsmen waiting for a mistake, and an over-excited chirpy wicketkeeper, Mushfiqur Rahim, applying immense pressure on the batsmen and the umpires with his appeals exclamations. And when the seamers came on, it wasn't seam but reverse swing on view with the slinging Rubel Hossain and the grunting Shahadat Hossain trying their best to break through.
The plot thickened in the last session, as Bernard found a willing partner in Nikita Miller, suggesting a replay of Cardiff, where England pulled off a great escape on Sunday. But Mohammad Ashraful, who failed in both innings with the bat, stamped his presence on the game by removing Miller, who'd stayed on his back foot to defend stoutly for 54 balls, with one that straightened to get the edge. Mahmudullah returned to trap Ryan Austin and take out Kemar Roach before Shakib sealed the finish.
CARDIFF: The last wicket pair of Monty Panesar and James Anderson played 69 balls without being separated to enable England to cling to a dramatic draw against Australia today in the face of defeat in the opening Test of the five-match Ashes series. England having conceded a first innigns lead of 239 runs was in deep trouble when Panesar joined Anderson at the wicket in the final session of the fifth and final day. The two tailenders kept the Australian bowlers at bay till the scheduled end of the match in the opening Test at Sophia Gardens.
The last wicket stand of 19 in 69 balls between Anderson (21 not out in 53 balls) and Panesar (seven not out off 35 balls) helped the hosts to a draw as they finished on 252 for nine.
Earlier, Paul Collingwood scored a painstaking 74 in nearly six hours to set the stage for the heroics by the last wicket pair.
England, who had made 435 runs in the first innings, reached 252 for nine at the close of play. Australia had scored 674 in the first innings.
The second Test of this five-match series starts at Lord's where Ashes-holders Australia have not lost a Test since 1934 on Thursday.
John Buchanan, the former Australia coach, has said India's 'Fab Four" batsmen - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman - are not suited to Twenty20 cricket. Buchanan, who worked closely with several Indian players during his stint with the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, made these and other observations in his new book, The Future of Cricket: The Rise of Twenty20.
Buchanan was otherwise in praise of Tendulkar - who has opted out of Twenty20 internationals but not the IPL. "Tendulkar has been lauded, and rightly so, as one of the very top batsmen in the history of cricket," he wrote. "But is he an effective T20 player at this stage of his career?
"In the position he plays - as an opener or No. 3 - the T20 game requires not only the finesse and skills he has, but also the power and domination, an ability to take the bowlers on while being creative. You have to be inventive and fearless. And I don't see those qualities as part of Sachin's makeup at this stage of his career. Sachin Tendulkar is still a great player but not in this arena of T20."
Buchanan had similar views on Tendulkar's contemporaries, none of whom featured in the ICC World Twenty20 in England.
"Homegrown heroes such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh and VVS Laxman, were expected to influence, and on some occasions single-handedly win IPL matches," Buchanan said. "Yet their subdued performances highlight that Test match temperament does not necessarily ensure prolonged success in the T20 game.
"The same could be said about Rahul Dravid. Dravid is a great representative of Indian cricket, a team man, humble, a well-spoken gentleman. But unfortunately he could not score a single run in the early rounds of the IPL, and in my opinion, is not suited to this form of the game. I am certain Dravid's performances were also affected by the off-field drama created by his franchise owner Vijay Mallya."
His opinions weren't restricted to India's ageing stars. He went on to question Yuvraj Singh's attitude, though he later clarified that there was no malice involved in his comments.
"Yuvraj Singh in a sense tries to be a modern-day Sourav Ganguly, but I don't think he has the charisma or the dignity with which Ganguly carries himself," he said.
However, Buchanan was full of praise for Ganguly, though the pair didn't have the best of times with Kolkata during the IPL. Buchanan's multiple-captain theory didn't go down well with the team at the start of the tournament and a host of off-field and selection issues saw the team finish at the bottom. It also cost Buchanan his job as coach.
"Ganguly was the model for the new breed of confident and combative Indian cricketers. Ganguly showed that Indian cricket could stand up for itself. He is similar in that way to Ian Chappell who stood up for what he believed and was not afraid to take on the administration."
