Langer talks comeback as Hughes struggles

The pressure is mounting on Phillip Hughes. No sooner had Australia's embattled opener fallen cheaply to David Wigley, Northamptonshire's journeyman seamer, than reports were surfacing of Justin Langer's proposed comeback to Test cricket. And if that wasn't enough, the two batsmen best placed to usurp Hughes this tour, Shane Watson and Michael Hussey, both notched half-centuries on a rain-interrupted day in Northampton.
A day removed from overtaking Don Bradman as Australia's high first-class run scorer, Langer revealed he would be prepared to "play the third Test for Australia next week for nothing". The likelihood of Australia's selectors accepting his offer may well be infinitesimal but the stir it caused at Wantage Road on Friday said much about the concerns harboured about Hughes and his diminishing returns.
Since arriving in England with the Australian team, the 20-year-old has scored just 82 first-class runs at 13.66. Never before in his 28-game first-class career has he endured a stretch this long without registering a half century. His prolific feats for Middlesex now resemble a false dawn.
Hughes' efforts in South Africa, as well as his brisk 78 in the unofficial match against Sussex, might just have provided him with enough selection credits to carry through this Ashes series, but should his struggles continue Phil Jaques and Chris Rogers will certainly enter the frame for Australia's next Test assignment against West Indies. Langer may present a fair case with a typically solid 529 runs at 44.08 for Somerset this season, but at 38, and with no Tests to his name since the fifth and final match of the 2006-07 Ashes, his prospects are remote in the extreme.
"One of the boys in the Somerset changing room asked me 'if they asked you to play tomorrow, how much would it take?' and I said I would play the third Test for Australia next week for nothing," Langer told the Press Association on Friday. "When you have played that much, you miss the big Tests. I miss the hype of the Ashes series.

Deccan hold nerve to win IPL

Deccan Chargers took the bull in their emblem too seriously, as they came out charging to defend a modest total. They bowled with fire, they fielded aggressively, they sledged with a vengeance, and literally, almost by physical force, hustled Royal Bangalore Challengers out in a thrilling final that lived up to the occasion.

The final turning point of the night, which had many by the way, was the 15th over, bowled by Andrew Symonds when he matched his verbal skills from earlier in the night with the wickets of Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli in back-to-back deliveries. Bangalore were 99 for 6 when the over started, and Taylor had looked dangerous in his 20-ball 27. That over was symbolic of the night: every time a batsman seemed to get away from the bowling side, a breakthrough pulled the batting side back.
In defence of a total three less than what Bangalore bettered easily in the semi-final, Deccan came out pumped: with the way they bowled and more conspicuously with they way they behaved. Symonds shadowed the latest tyro, Manish Pandey, all the way from the dugout to the crease. And all during his stay Pandey was a marked man. Symonds followed him wherever he went, giving him lip. Ryan Harris matched the aggression with the ball, clocking 145kmph constantly in the first over, a maiden.
Jacques Kallis looked to take the pressure off the 19-year-old batting with him. In Harris' next over Kallis took two boundaries to get the chase going. RP Singh brought the balance back when Kallis pulled him onto his stumps, going for consecutive boundaries. Out came Roelof van der Merwe, who used the adrenalin to push Bangalore further towards the target.
van der Merwe, another little known commodity, got a mouthful from Symonds and Harris, but he responded by taking two sixes off one Harris over. Despite the maiden Harris had gone for 23 in three overs. Even after Pragyan Ojha got Pandey with the first ball he bowled, van der Merwe's pyrotechnics kept Deccan at a distance.
One ball summed up the adrenalin rush van der Merwe was feeling. Beaten in the flight by Ojha he managed an edge that saved him from the stumping, but he also dropped the bat down. He picked his bat up even as he ran the first run, and turned a two into a three, saving himself from the run-out by running in a direct line from stumps to stumps and diving into them.

- Venki

IPL to be played outside India

Cricket/India,

England and South Africa have emerged as the front-runners to host the second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after the BCCI decided, following days of inconclusive negotiations with the Indian home ministry and various state governments, to shift the tournament out of India. The venue and new schedule will be announced on Monday. Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, said the tournament had been relocated "because of the extraordinary situation existing this year." The 45-day tournament clashes with the forthcoming general elections in India and there had been concerns over security.
Gerald Majola, Cricket South Africa's chief executive, said South Africa was ready to host the tournament if needed. He expected to have "positive discussions" with Indian officials in this regard over phone on Monday. The ECB said it had received a request from the Indian board and the IPL and was examining the possibility of hosting the tournament. ECB chairman Giles Clarke told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek programme he was willing to help his Indian counterparts. "We normally talk to them a great deal and we would be delighted to help again," he said.

India end drought with thumping win

Cricket/New Zealand,

It had been 33 years since India won a Test match in New Zealand but the statistic was rendered obsolete after a six-wicket haul from Harbhajan Singh inspired a comprehensive 10-wicket victory at Seddon Park. Daniel Flynn led the defiance with 67 and Brendon McCullum hustled 84 as India eased off after tea. But though the innings defeat was avoided after a 76-run partnership with Iain O'Brien, India needed just 32 balls to knock off the 39 runs needed.
McCullum was decidedly fortunate to survive a leg-before shout from Munaf Patel when he was on three, and Simon Taufel missed a bat-pad catch when he had 67. But those apart, he played his strokes freely, with MS Dhoni not employing too many close-in fielders and more than content to give him singles. With the field spread, he cut the ball with immense power and played a couple of pulls too as the innings defeat was avoided.
O'Brien defended stoutly and hit a couple of boundaries himself as the partnership assumed frustrating proportions. Almost inevitably, it was Harbhajan that provided succour, though there was more than an element of doubt about the bat-pad decision that ended O'Brien's resistance. He could have few complaints though after the third umpire had given him the benefit of a run-out call.

Tendulkar keeps India on top

Cricket/New Zealand,

The expected run barrage never came, with Virender Sehwag run out early in the day, but half-centuries from Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid and an unbeaten 70 from Sachin Tendulkar allowed India to establish a measure of control at Seddon Park. New Zealand were disciplined with the ball and sprightly in the field, but despite a lot of moisture in the air after overnight rain, there was no real menace from the bowlers. By the time the players went off for bad light, India were just a run behind, though there would have been some disappointment at the fact that well-set batsmen didn't go on to make bigger scores.

There was still Tendulkar though. Having taken 11 balls to get off the mark, he eased himself into rhythm slowly, but there were some sparkling strokes in the final session. There were cover-drives off front and back foot, precise cuts and deft nudges off the pads. His best shot though was a gorgeous on-drive off Chris Martin, a stroke he followed up with an impudent ramp over slips off Iain O'Brien. New Zealand were left to reflect on a missed chance when Tendulkar had made just 13 and miscued a pull off Daniel Vettori just beyond Daniel Flynn at midwicket.

Seamers shine on hard-fought day

Cricket/New Zealand,

Superb hundreds from Daniel Vettori and Jesse Ryder dragged New Zealand from the depths of 60 for 6 to a relatively respectable 279 on a well-grassed but true pitch at Seddon Park. By stumps, India had knocked off 29 with Virender Sehwag looking in ominously good touch. India dominated the first session and the final hour, but the defiant 186-run stand, a record for the seventh wicket for New Zealand against India, could still be pivotal to the outcome of the match. The rest of the batsmen contributed next to nothing, while India's three seamers took all but one of the wickets to fall.
What was especially eye-catching was the positivity with which New Zealand scripted the revival. Ryder was fortunate to survive a leg-before shout from Zaheer Khan when he had made 37 while Dravid put down a difficult chance at slip when Vettori had 77, but those apart, India struggled to create wicket-taking opportunities. Far too many edges went through gaps in the slip cordon, and a couple of run-out chances were fluffed as Vettori and Ryder ran the visitors ragged.

All-round Ryder scripts resounding consolation win for New Zealand

Cricket/New Zealand,

A team in the doldrums after three comprehensive defeats sprung back to life thanks to the all-round efforts of their most exciting and marketable young cricketer, Jesse Ryder. His miserly spell of 3 for 29 sunk India to a paltry 149, but it was his delightful exhibition of lusty hitting which caught the imagination of the capacity crowd at the Eden Park stadium. Supported by an equally stylish Martin Guptill - who slammed an unbeaten 57 - Ryder put New Zealand on the path to a consolation win. His only blemish was that he could not stay till the end.

It was as if New Zealand were playing on a different surface. The kind of swing which their bowlers managed in India's innings was seemingly absent under lights and the ease with which Ryder went about bludgeoning the bowlers over the on side with exquisite pulls showed how the Indians were outplayed in the batting department.
India's only chance of mounting a fightback was to pick up early wickets but after Brendon McCullum's dismissal in the third over, they had to wait more than 12 overs for their next breakthrough, by which time Ryder and Guptill had already added 84.
Guptill and Ryder are New Zealand's most exciting batting talents and the cheers from the packed Eden Park stadium for their rising stars never died down. Perhaps the busiest people at the venue were the workers at the construction site on one side of the ground who had to fish the ball out of the rubble and unfinished stands.