Watson, Warner key to NSW's chances in CLT20...

New Delhi: New South Wales (NSW) have a number of players who could come to the fore and enhance the team's chances of going all the way in the 2011 Champions League Twenty20 tournament.

The opening pair of Shane Watson and David Warner who have starred for their respective teams, Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the years will be once again looking to turn on the heat for the 2009 CLT20 champions.

The opening pair of Shane Watson and David Warner will be looking to provide the team with solid starts.

Watson whose multi-dimensional role has been on display time after time for Australia will be looking to fire on all cylinders for NSW with both bat and ball.

Simon Katich who lost his central contract in the Australian national team recently would be determined to prove that he is still very much a force to reckon with; however Aussie Test opener Phil Hughes who is in the midst of his duties in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka will have to jump a gear or two to make the adjustment in the slam bang format of the game.

NSW will be well served in the spin bowling department by offie Nathan Hauritz and leg break bowler Steven Smith while veteran pacer Stuart Clark will be looking to bring on years of experience into play and help his side win their second CLT20 title.

Tait cherishes playing alongside Dravid

Kolkata: Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait who shared the Rajasthan Royals dressing room with Rahul Dravid in the last edition of IPL stated that the retired India ODI batsman was one of the toughest to bowl at.

The 28-year-old further said his Test career was all but over as he was concentrating more on the Twenty20 format.

The 28-year-old played alongside Dravid for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.

Tait, who is here spearheading the South Australia Redbacks attack in the upcoming Champions League Twenty20, said he learnt a lot from the Indian batting star who bid adieu to ODI cricket in England on Friday.

"It was really good to have him in the Rajasthan Royals squad. We have learnt a lot from him. He may be known as a Test specialist, but he showed that he can play the Twenty20 format as well," Tait said, lauding Dravid's mental toughness.

Tait, who played his last Test for Australia against India in Perth more than three years ago, said he was no longer looking towards coming out of retirement from longer version.

"I am no longer looking at Test return. Test cricket is too long that takes a toll on the body. I will stick to Twenty20," Tait who became world's second fastest after clocking 161.1 kph at the Lord's against England said.

On the upcoming India-Australia series next year, Tait said it would be highly competitive.

CLT20 matches shifted from Eden Gardens

Kolkata: The four Champions League Twenty20 ties, which were scheduled to be held at the Eden Gardens here, was on Tuesday shifted to Hyderabad and Bangalore after the stadium was rendered unsuitable for the matches due to flooding following monsoon rains.

After a discussion between Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and CLT20 organisers, the governing council of the tournament has moved the matches from Eden Gardens to Hyderabad and Bengalore, pending approval from local authorities.

The matches were shifted to Hyderabad and Bangalore after the stadium was rendered unsuitable for the matches.
"With regret and in the best interests of the tournament, CAB and CLT20 have reluctantly agreed to moving its four scheduled Group B matches away from Eden Gardens due to the heavy rains that have deluged Kolkata," CAB President Jagmohan Dalmiya said.

"We're disappointed that we're not able to host the matches, but this decision was unavoidable and taken out of our hands due to the current weather conditions. We wish CLT20 luck for the tournament and hope CAB will have the chance to host the event in the coming years," he said in a statement.

As a result of Tuesday's decision, the Group B matches on September 25 and 28 will now take place at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, while the match on September 29 involving Royal Challengers Bangalore and a team from the qualifiers will be played at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengalore.

NZ pacer Southee pulls out of CLT20

Christchurch: New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee on Tuesday pulled out of the Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament after suffering a knee injury.

Southee, who recently won the ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year award, was scheduled to fly to India this week to join the Chennai Super Kings ahead of their first match on September 24.

A knee injury has led to Tim Southee withdrawing from the third edition of the competition.
But now, he will stay home for treatment in an attempt to be fit for New Zealand's upcoming tour of Zimbabwe.

"Tim has suffered some cartilage damage to his left knee while preparing for the Champions League," New Zealand director of cricket John Buchanan said.

"He requires further assessment to determine the seriousness of the injury but initial signs indicate that he is unlikely to require surgery.

"A call on his availability for the Black Caps' tour of Zimbabwe will be made closer to the time."

Southee won the T20 performer of the year award for his five wickets in eight balls, including a hat-trick, when New Zealand beat Pakistan by five wickets last December.

We believe in our ability: Daren Ganga

Hyderabad: Pleased over the second consecutive victory in the qualifying round of the Champions League Twenty20, Trinidad and Tobago captain Daren Ganga said he is confident of a good show in the main tournament.

"As a captain, you are always pleased with a victory like this. It was a convincing victory from the very first ball. We laid good foundation for this victory. It is really heartening to see batting come together," Ganga told reporters after his side defeated Leicestershire by 51 runs to qualify for the main stage.

Trinidad and Tobago captain Daren Ganga said he is confident of a good show in the main tournament..
"It was not assailable total in these conditions again we set the game up in the first six to eight overs. It was really good to dominate a team like this."

"We just want to focus playing one game at a time. We came to play eight matches. We played here two, got four matches in the preliminary round. I don't want to sound overconfident but we believe in our ability. We believe in our style of Twenty20 cricket and we will continue playing to our strength," said Ganga.

The captain of the Caribbean team said they were looking forward to play against Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. "We will rise to the occasion. We think that we are prepared as a team. To beat these guys will be a big feather in our cap. I am sure we are very motivated for these encounters."

"It is a weird sort of situation because both were players in our team," he said about Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo, who are playing for MI and CSK respectively.

Leicestershire captain Matthew Hoggard blamed poor batting for his side's defeat. "We knew 168 was going to be a challenging total. We needed a good start but we lost four wickets in the first four overs."

"We played some shots in the first four overs as if we are going to knock off the runs in 15 overs rather than full 20," he said and hoped that the team would come out with better plans for the second match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday.

Somerset win to put Auckland out of CLT20

Hyderabad: Somerset held their nerve in a nail-biting qualifying match against the Auckland Aces, to win by four wickets in their Champions League T20 match in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Chasing 126 to win, Somerset opener Chris Jones blasted three quick fours before a stunning catch at point by Jimmy Adams off Kyle Mills ended his innings.

Auckland bow out of the qualifiers after losing off the last ball by four wickets.
RE van der Merwe and Peter Trego then took Somerset across the fifty mark but Ronnie Hira struck in the ninth over, removing the former to reduce them to 52 for two.

Michael Bates then struck twice in two balls, dismissing Trego and Nick Compton, as all of sudden Somerset slipped to 54 for four in 9.2 overs.

Somerset found themselves in a spot of bother on 64 for five, but a 61-run partnership for the sixth wicket between James Hildreth (34) and Steven Snell (34 not out off 24 balls), took Somerset within spitting distance of a victory.

Hildreth was run-out in the second last delivery of their innings when he tried to steal an extra run but it didn't have any bearing on the results as next batsman Thomas scored the winning runs in the last ball of the match.

Earlier Somerset produced a brilliant bowling display to restrict Auckland Aces to a modest 125 for seven. Electing to bat, Auckland could never recover from their disastrous start where they lost three wickets for 14 runs in 3.1 overs and failed to put enough runs on the board in their second qualifying do-or-die match.

Lou Vincent top-scored with an unbeaten run-a-ball 47, laced with three fours and a six, but with wickets tumbling on the other hand, he was left to do very little.

Openers Martin Guptill (9) and Jimmy Adams (0) failed to give Auckland a good start as Trego trapped the latter in front of wicket in the second over itself.

First down Rob Quiney (4) also could not last long and was sent packing by Thomas in the third over after being adjudged lbw to a delivery that stayed a touch low.

Guptill, who was dropped by Waller in the second ball off Thomas, couldn't make use of the opportunity and was dismissed by Trego when his lofted shot landed in the hands of Hildreth.

Skipper Gareth Hopkins and Vincent then joined hands and brought up the fifty in the ninth over.

Vincent scored his first four with a thickish edge past the keeper, before hitting Trego for a boundary and a six in the sixth over.

Hopkins then hit a couple of fours before a direct throw from Arul Suppiah ended his innings. Colin Munro (6), Mills and Hira too failed to make any impact.

For Somerset, Peter Trego (2/26) and Alfonso Thomas (2/21) picked up two wickets each, while C Waller (1/18) and RE van der Merwe (1/25) scalped one each.

Miandad wants T20 Cup shift over dengue fears

KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad insisted on Tuesday for shifting the Faysal Bank T20 cricket tournament to Karachi because of dengue fever epidemic in Lahore.

"Because of the menace of dengue in Lahore, it is important to shift the event to Karachi," he told reporters at the Bilawal House after a group of sportspersons met President Asif Zardari.
Miandad said all educational institutions in the Punjab capital have been closed which itself is a clear indication as to how bad is the situation there.
"By holding the event in Karachi the players can also show their solidarity with the flood and rain-affected people of Sindh and can raise funds for them," he said.

CLT20: KKR, Somerset eye qualification

Still, a straightforward victory will prevent any undue stress and the pressure will be more on the Kolkata side, whose owner Shah Rukh Khan is expected to be in the stands at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

Hyderabad: With both teams in the running to make it to the next stage of the Champions League T20, the final qualifying match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Somerset on Wednesday is bound to see a few nerves.

However, coming into the game, the two sides involved will have the advantage of knowing the result of the earlier match between Ruhunu Eleven and Leicestershire Foxes, depending on which both Kolkata and Somerset could qualify irrespective of who wins their game.

Both KKR and Somerset are in the running to make it to the next stage.

Kolkata are clearly the superior side to their English counterparts, even though they are missing injured skipper Gautam Gambhir. Their performance in the first game belied their strength, however, with the IPL side managing only a narrow two-run victory over Auckland Aces. Stand-in skipper Jacques Kallis stressed the need to improve after that match, and KKR will be hoping the lessons have been learnt quickly.

Despite being given a good start Manvinder Bisla (32-ball 45) at the top of the order, no other batsman bar Kallis (33) managed to make a significant contribution. KKR will need the likes of Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary and Shakib Al Hasan to get them some quick runs.

It was KKR's slower bowlers who helped them defend 121 and earn the win, as they were able to keep things tight as well as pick up the wickets. Yusuf, Shakib and Rajat Bhatia should again prove to be quite a handful for the Somerset line-up in favourable conditions.

Somerset also defeated Auckland in a last-ball thriller in their first game, and again it was the bowlers who did the job for the County side. None of the bowlers went for more than six-and-a-half runs an over, with only Indian left-arm spinner Murali Kartik going wicket-less.

The batting, shorn of international stars like Craig Kieswetter on England duty, struggled to chase the low total of 126, with only a late cameo from the hitherto unknown Steve Snell (24-ball 34) pulling them through. James Hildreth (34) will have to be among the runs again, while more will be expected of South African Roelof van der Merwe.

The intensity of the game may depend on how things pan out by the time KKR and Somerset take the field. Still, another close game in likely, with the bowlers likely to make the difference for either side.

It hurts to come this close and lose: Hopkins

Hyderabad: Auckland Aces skipper Gareth Hopkins on Tuesday said it was "gut-wrenching" for his side to crash out of the Champions League twenty20 after coming so close to victory.

Auckland, who were beaten by Kolkata Knight Riders by just two runs last night, suffered a four-wicket defeat against Somerset on Tuesday night.

Gareth Hopkins said it was "gut-wrenching" for his side to crash out of the CLT20.
"It is gut-wrenching to go this close and fall short. We were just looking to play straighter, but I think we had enough with our experienced bowling line-up. The Somerset boys played really well in the end," Hopkins said after the match.

Chasing 126 to win, Somerset recovered from a mini-collapse and reached the target only in the last ball of the match with skipper Alfonso Thomas, himself, hitting the winning runs.

"We didn't deserve to win it until the last couple of overs really, the way we batted. It was a bit of deja vu really to go out and finish a game here," he said.

"The goal is always to get into the second half where we have two more international players coming," added Thomas.

Wicket-keeper batsman Steve Snell, who scored an unbeaten 34 off 24 balls to set up the runchase, said they were trying to be patient and were confident of pulling it off in the end.

"It was nice to be out there and playing in a high-pressure game. We were trying to be calm, and thought one boundary an over would win us the game," he said.

"We knew even if we needed 15 in the last over, we were in the game. Didn't want to lose it before that. Pretty delighted to get there in the end. I am a back-up for two internationals, a spare keeper if you like. So enjoyed it," he added.

Somerset will next play Kolkata Knight Riders in their second qualifying match on Wednesday.

CLT20: Ruhunu, Leics play must-win encounter

Hyderabad: Leicestershire Foxes take on Ruhunu Eleven in their must-win match of the Champions League qualifiers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, on Wednesday.

This is the final match in Pool A, with the Caribbean team Trinidad and Tobago having already qualified for the main tournament after winning both their matches. Other than the topper of Pool B, the third-best team (based on points and/or net run rate) from either groups goes on to play the main tournament.

Ruhunu Eleven were defeated by T&T in their first match of the tournament

In their opening match, the Foxes succumbed to an embarrassing 51-run defeat against Trinidad and Tobago, which has seriously dented their chances of qualifying. So the English champions not only have to beat Ruhunu but also do it with a fair margin to resurrect their awful net run rate.

Their bowling was all at sea against T&T. The batting too didn't have anything to write home about, largely due to contrasting conditions from what they are used to in England. Abdul Razzaq holds the key but needs to bat up the order to boost Leicester's chances of putting up an impressive total.

Ruhunu, on the other hand, should be able to negotiate the conditions, which are similar to what they get at home in Sri Lanka. With experienced international stars like Sanath Jayasuriya in the ranks, they surely start as the favourites. Should Jayasuriya fire, Dinesh Chandimal can hold the middle order together while chasing or setting a target.

Their bowling relies on their slow bowlers as they showed in the match against T&T, where they opened with Sanath Jayasuriya.

As things stand, Ruhunu seem to have their noses slightly in front with the presence of Jayasuriya, familiar playing conditions and better run-rate compared to Leicestershire.

Team gelled well in Zimbabwe - Waqar

Pakistan news

Waqar Younis: "I am happy and a satisfied man and have learnt a lot during my tenure [as coach]." © AFP

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Pakistan had gelled well as a unit on their successful tour of Zimbabwe, outgoing coach Waqar Younis has said. Pakistan had played one Test, three ODIs and two Twenty20s during the recently concluded tour, with a 100% win record.

"I think there is no need to say much as results speak for themselves," Waqar told AFP after the team returned to Pakistan. "We won all the matches on the tour and the players gelled well to give this good performance."

He was pleased with his stint as coach, he said. "I am happy and a satisfied man and have learnt a lot during this tenure." Waqar had announced before the tour of Zimbabwe that he would be stepping down for personal reasons after 18 months as coach. He will now head to Australia, where his family resides, to undergo treatment on his liver.

Waqar took over as coach of the national side in March 2010, in the aftermath of a dismal tour of Australia on which Pakistan failed to win a game. He replaced Intikhab Alam and his stint coincided with a turbulent phase for Pakistan cricket. The spot-fixing controversy erupted during the 2010 tour of England and the wicketkeeper, Zulqarnain Haider, fled to London while Pakistan was involved in a series against South Africa in the UAE later in the year.

On the field though, Pakistan enjoyed a successful tour of New Zealand under Waqar, prior to the 2011 World Cup, where they reached the semi-finals. They also beat West Indies 3-2 in an ODI series in the Caribbean, but the tour was marred by his differences with then limited-overs captain Shahid Afridi over discipline.

Current captain Misbah-ul-Haq said he was "on the same frequency" as Waqar whenever the two worked together. "He [Waqar] did very well and during his stints we, as a team, progressed well," Misbah said. "I hope that the experience gained during the [Zimbabwe] tour will serve us well during the upcoming series against Sri Lanka."

Pakistan play three Tests, five ODIs and a lone Twenty20 against Sri Lanka in the UAE between October 18 and November 25.