Cricket Digest
ICC World Twenty20 2009
all times BST
Group A:
India, Bangladesh, Ireland
June-
6 - India v Bangladesh, Trent Bridge (1730)
8 - Ireland v Bangladesh, Trent Bridge (1330)
10 - India v Ireland, Trent Bridge (1730)
Group B:
Pakistan, England, Netherlands
June-
5 - England v Netherlands, Lord's (1730)
7 - England v Pakistan, The Oval (1730)
9 - Pakistan v Netherlands, Lord's (1330)
Group C:
Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies
June-
6 - Australia v West Indies, The Oval (1300)
8 - Australia v Sri Lanka, Trent Bridge (1730)
10 - Sri Lanka v West Indies, Trent Bridge (1330)
Group D:
New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland
June-
6 - New Zealand v Scotland, The Oval (1000)
7 - South Africa v Scotland, The Oval (1330)
9 - New Zealand v South Africa, Lord's (1730)
- top two in each group progress to Super Eight stage
SUPER EIGHT STAGE
June-
11 - D1 v A2, Trent Bridge (1330)
11 - B2 v D2, Trent Bridge (1730)
12 - B1 v C2, Lord's (1330)
12 - A1 v C1, Lord's (1730)
13 - C1 v D2, The Oval (1330)
13 - D1 v B1, The Oval (1730)
14 - A2 v C2, Lord's (1330)
14 - A1 v B2, Lord's (1730)
15 - B2 v C1, The Oval (1330)
15 - B1 v A2, The Oval (1730)
16 - D1 v C2, Trent Bridge (1330)
16 - D2 v A1, Trent Bridge (1730)
KNOCK-OUT STAGE
June-
18 - First semi-final, Trent Bridge (1730)
19 - Second semi-final, The Oval (1730)
21 - Final, Lord's (1500)
Latest News
Pakistan batsman Yousuf joins ICL
Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf has joined the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL), in a move that could jeopardise his international future.
He is now unlikely to play in the three one-dayers against the West Indies, the Pakistan Cricket Board said on Monday.
"His wife told us on the telephone that he has left for India today to play in the ICL," PCB director of operations Zakir Khan said.
"But we will wait for facts and figures before taking any action against him."
The PCB has a strict policy of banning all players who have joined the ICL - a Twenty20 league which is bankrolled by India's largest media group, Zee television, and not recognised by world cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council.
Yousuf had been set to join the ICL when it was set up in 2007 after he was left out of the Pakistan squad for the World Twenty20 tournament.
But after talks with former PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf, he agreed to forego the move and remain eligible for Pakistan.
However, several former Pakistan players, including ex-skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, all-rounders Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood, pacemen Shabbir Ahmed and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, and opener Imran Farhat, are still playing in the ICL and are thus barred from national selection by the PCB.
Yousuf left for New Delhi on Monday from Lahore just hours after he was named in a 15-strong Pakistan squad for the three-match one-day series against the West Indies in Abu Dhabi from 12-16 November.
"He did not inform us about his travel plans to India and we are trying to contact him directly," Khan added.
Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam, recently appointed to succeed Geoff Lawson, said the team has enough reserve players to replace Yousuf for the series in Abu Dhabi.
Opener Nasir Jamshed will have a fitness test before departing as he has just recovered from a bout of malaria.
Pakistan squad to play West Indies: Shoaib Malik (capt), Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Younus Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (wk), Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Abdur Rauf, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanvir, Fawad Alam.
The Explainer
The carrom-ball
Giving 'em the finger
The newest addition to cricket's lexicon is derived from a non-contact sport
What is a carrom-ball?
"Carrom-ball" is the popular term for the middle-finger-flicked delivery bowled by the Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis. While bowling this delivery, he holds the ball along the seam - the seam usually facing gully - between thumb and index finger, and flicks it with the middle finger (much like the striker is flicked in the board game carrom).
How does the carrom-ball behave?
Most times it angles into the right-hand batsman on a low trajectory at high pace and then breaks away. At times it just straightens, as opposed to breaking away. The batsman, in both cases, is forced to try and cover the line, and then finds it too late to recover once the ball turns or straightens, leaving him vulnerable to many forms of dismissal: caught at slip or off the leading edge, bowled, lbw, and stumped.
How effective has the delivery been?
Mendis has been phenomenally successful, with 26 wickets in three Tests and 28 in 11 ODIs to date, and the carrom-ball is an important weapon in his armoury. His first Tes
t wicket (in picture, right) came off one such: a fast legbreak that squared Rahul Dravid up, and took the top of off stump. Notable among his many carrom-ball victims has been VVS Laxman, lbw in the second innings of the second Test, and then stumped in the first innings of the third.What is the origin of the term?
Mahendra Mapagunaratne, a Sri Lankan lawyer based in Toronto, is believed to have come up with the phrase, which has quickly caught on among commentators and cricket writers.
Sri Lanka, by the way, are the reigning world champions at carrom. Their men's team beat India in the final, played in Cannes earlier this year.
HotSpot
X-ray vision Among the recent innovations in use in cricket broadcasting is a system that claims 100% accuracy in catching the thinnest of edges
What is HotSpot?
HotSpot is a television innovation - first seen during Channel Nine's coverage of the 2006-07 Ashes - that uses infrared camera technology to determine whether a batsman has made contact with a delivery, and if so, which part of his bat or body made contact.
How does it work?
Two powerful thermal-imaging cameras are positioned above the field of play, behind the bowler's arm at either end of a ground. These can remotely sense and measure the minute amount of heat generated by the impact of a cricket ball against another object. Computer technology then generates a negative image on which the point of contact is highlighted as a red friction "hot spot" for a second or two. HotSpot doesn't only record impacts between the ball and other objects, but also the bat hitting a pad or the ground.
If there are two simultaneous hot spots - ball on pad and bat brushing pad - close together, how do you differentiate?
Two hot spots would appear, one fractionally before the other, according to the sequence of the events. HotSpot is therefore useful in instances of bat-pad impacts in determining whether the ball hit bat or pad first.
What technology does the application use?
HotSpot uses technology developed in the military for tank- and jet-fighter tracking. The technology was adapted for television by BBG Sports, the Australian company responsible for the Snickometer, in conjunction with Sky Sports. Channel Nine producer Steve Crawley described HotSpot as "100% backed up by science", as opposed to other applications.
Has it been used in any other sport?
HotSpot has only been used in cricket - though its services are not available to umpires under the current referral system - but work is underway to adapt the technology for use in tennis.
