JOHN BUCHANAN WANTS JOHN WRIGHT TO PICK THE CAPTAIN FOR NEW ZEALAND

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John Buchanan wants John Wright to pick the captain for the New Zealand team

Director of New Zealand Cricket, John Buchanan, has said that the coach of the national team John Wright should be the one to decide the new captain for the Black Caps.

Daniel Vettori decided to step down from Test captaincy after the home series against Pakistan earlier this year and relinquished the limited overs leadership after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

Ross Taylor has been Vettori’s vice-captain since the last couple of years and is expected to take over the job but Wright seems to be in favour of the wicketkeeper/batsman Brendon McCullum.

Buchanan said that it is imperative for an international cricket team that the coach and the captain have a good relationship and this is the reason why Buchanan wants Wright to choose the captain.

He said, "If the coach and captain of a team don't get along then it's a recipe for disaster, so John needs to be very strong on who he wants there."

New Zealand cricket has faced torrid times since the last one year, facing disastrous defeats against Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Defeats against India and Pakistan might not have hurt them that much as both the subcontinent teams are major forces in international cricket but their loss against Bangladesh was alarming.

Kiwis faced a humiliation at the hands of Bangladesh when they were whitewashed in the One Day International series.

Buchanan who himself is a former coach of the Australia team feels that more and more power should be given to the coach.  He feels that the coach of a team is responsible for the performance and this is the reason why coaches should have a say in selection.

"Part of my role is very clear. I want to elevate the role of the coach. I believe an individual is accountable for the team performance yet doesn't have some of the key responsibilities that should go with that position of which selection is one," Buchanan added.

Let’s hope that Buchanan and Wright can change the fortunes of Kiwi cricket because New Zealand has been a very important team in international cricket over the years.

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Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala

Kochi Tuskers Kerala (KTK) put on a lacklustre display against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the first innings of an Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter. The match, being played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on 20 April, 2011, saw the Tuskers restricted to a meager 132 runs by the brilliant bowling of Yusuf Pathan.

KKR, after winning the toss, decided to put KTK into bat. Brendon McCullum and skipper Mahela Jayawardene opened the innings for the KTK and provided a blistering start of 49 runs with an average of seven runs per over. Both played exceptionally well and smashed the KKR bowlers all around the park.

The opening partnership was broken when McCullum was caught by Eoin Morgan off the bowling of Shakib Al Hasan. The Kiwi made 23 runs facing just 19 balls and smashed two fours and a six.

PA Patel came into bat as a one-down batsman. After the addition of just two runs to the total, Jayawardene was sent back to the pavilion. He was caught plumb in front of the wickets and was declared LBW after being bowled by Yusuf Pathan. He scored 25 runs from 27 balls and smashed five boundaries.

Once the captain’s wicket fell, right handed batsman, Brad Hodge, came into the middle to bat. The Aussie could not impress with the bat and after scoring just two runs off eight balls, he was clean bowled by Yusuf Pathan. RA Jadeja was the next man in and tried to establish the KTK’s innings but his senior partner on the crease could not support him for long and became the next victim of Yusuf Pathan’s off-spin. He was also judged LBW after scoring just nine runs from 11 balls.

KTK lost their four top order batsmen for just 65 runs and came under an immense pressure. However, Jadeja stood tall in front of the KKR’s bowlers to stablise KTK’s innings but none of the remaining middle order and lower middle order batsmen support him and the Tuskers kept on losing wickets at regular intervals.

Jadeja was out in the 16^th over after playing a handy knock of 29 runs off just 18 balls and claiming three huge sixes. After the wicket of Jadeja none of the KTK’s batsmen could even cross the 15 run mark. KM Jadhav scored 12 runs and was clean bowled by Al Hasan. Similarly R Vinay Kumar was sent back to the pavilion by Al Hasan after scoring 11 runs.

At the end of 20 overs, KTK managed to score 132 runs for the loss of seven wickets and asked KKR to chase the target with an average of 6.60 runs per over.

Yusuf Pathan was the pick of the bowlers for KKR and picked up three wickets for 20 runs and one maiden. Similarly Shakib Al Hasan also took three wickets and gave away 28 runs. 

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Yusuf Pathan’s injury mild in nature says Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper, has confirmed that an injury picked up by Yusuf Pathan in an Indian Premier League (IPL) fixture is not serious and the off-spinner will feature in upcoming matches for KKR.

Gambhir was speaking to media after their match against the Kochi Kerala Tuskers (KKT). The left-handed batsman said, “Nothing serious with Yusuf's injury, he should be OK for the next game.”
Yusuf was injured while fielding in the Twenty20 match. He looked like he was in pain soon after taking Ravindra Jadeja’s catch at the long-on boundary. The attacking middle order batsman seemed to settle nicely under the ball as he took the catch.
The all-rounder did not stay and was substituted soon after. Later, during KKR’s innings when he came out to bat, he had a runner with him and had a short stint with the bat and failed to guide his team to victory.
Requiring a total of 132, KKR could only manage 126 and lost the match by six runs. Gautham was infuriated with his team’s performance. The left-hander believes his side should have won the match with little effort.
In post match interview he said, “We should have chased that target easily. The wicket was playing better than it did in the last game. Credit to Kochi. The way their bowlers bowled. We were disappointing, not up to the mark.”
Earlier in the match, KKR won the toss and choose to field. The Kochi Kerala Tuskers openers went berserk in the powerplay and made full use of fielding restrictions as they scored 45 runs without the loss of any wicket.

Things changed once spin was introduced and Shakib Al Hasan was able to break the partnership as he dislodged Brendon McCullum. Pathan showed Mahela Jayawardene his way back to pavilion and he picked up two more wickets from his next couple of overs.

The all-rounder finished his spell with three wickets and conceded 20 runs in the process. Apart from Jayawardene, Parthiv Patel and Brad Hodge were two more scalps to his name.

KKR lost reliable batsmen, Jacques Kallis and Gambhir, early on in their innings. This caused some panic in the line-up but some stability was brought by the fourth wicket stand between Eoin Morgan and Manoj Tiwary. Once their partnership was broken, thanks to some excellent fielding by Jayawardene, no one else put up a fight.

Kochi Kerala skipper, Jayawardene, acknowledged his bowlers efforts and said he always had belief in his bowler’s ability to bowl in the death overs. He concludes that taking early wickets was the key to their success and this made a modest total look impossible to achieve.

Jayawardene advised his batsmen to improve in upcoming matches as he thinks that they were about 15 runs short of what they should have scored.

The Kerala Tuskers are new to the Indian Premier League and have already started to give the big guns a run for their money. Apart from defeating KKR, they have also emerged victorious against the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.

Despite the loss, KKR are still toping the group with six points and will face the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Kerala Tuskers, on the other hand, have jumped up to take the third spot after the win.

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Kochi Tuskers Kerala captain Mahela Jayawardene believes team moving in right direction – IPL news

Kochi Tuskers Kerala skipper Mahela Jayawardene has said that the team is moving in the right direction after their consecutive wins over Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians in the fourth edition of the ongoing Indian Premier League.

The captain said that the victory over CSK had given a lot of positive energy to the players, which would surely help them in the upcoming matches.

After facing a couple of humiliating defeats in their opening IPL matches, the Kochi side roared back in style, notching two successive triumphs in the tournament.

Having defeated Mumbai Indians in the 13^th match of the IPL, Jayawardene and company thrashed defending champions Chennai Super Kings by seven wickets on Monday.

Chasing Kings’ target of 135 runs as per the Duckworth Lewis method, the Kochi side achieved the target convincingly with the help of a blistering innings from Brendon McCullum. The Kiwi wicketkeeper batsman scored 47 runs from just 33 balls with the help of 3 sixes and 4 boundaries.

“I think we are heading in the right direction, I mean beating Mumbai and Chennai is two huge win for us and we have got a lot of positives out of these two games but its like I said early in the tournament, we have to be consistent over a period of time and we work hard in areas which we have to improve and do that,” said Jayawardene.

Meanwhile, CSK coach Stephen Fleming blamed an hour-long rain interruption for the loss against Kochi. Fleming described that the team was in a great position after scoring 65 for 2 in 9 overs. However, with three overs less than the usual 20, the lower order batsmen did not get the opportunity to add some quick runs to the total.

Fleming believed that if his team had been given the complete quota of 20 overs, the result would have been different.

It was Chennai Super Kings’ second defeat in the competition. In contrast, the Kochi Tuskers have jumped up to the fourth spot in the IPL rankings with their second consecutive win in the tournament.

Kochi Tuskers are now due to lock their horns with the leading side of the season, Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday.

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