Cricket News In Brief – February 6, 2012 – Part 1
England lost Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott in the opening session of Day 4 against Pakistan, with Abdur Rehman and Saeed Ajmal grabbing a wicket each.
Strauss was handed a lifeline when he was dropped by wicket-keeper, Adnan Akmal, off pacer Umar Gul but the Poms skipper departed shortly after – adjudged lbw off Rehman.
Alastair Cook was also given a second chance when Gul parried an easy catch at deep square leg, but Ajmal struck to dismiss Trott, which placed Men In Blue in a commanding situation.
New Zealand sealed an emphatic series win against Zimbabwe by claiming the second ODI by 141 runs, with Rob Nicol being named Player of the Match with 146.
The Kiwi’s posted a mammoth 372 on the board, aided by Nicol’s stupendous ton, along with scorching half-centuries from Martin Guptill and Jacob Oram.
In reply, the Rhodesians were never in command as they lost regular wickets, before Tatenda Taibu and Elton Chigumbura’s late rally helped them to post a respectable 231.
Australian pacer, Ben Hilfenhaus has been recalled into the ODI team following the injury sustained to veteran fast bowler, Brett Lee.
Hilfenhaus was the leading wicket-taker in the 4-0 demolishing of India, and now has been recalled to the fifty over side as a replacement for Lee, who has been ruled out for the whole of the ongoing Commonwealth Bank tri-series due to a foot injury.
Lee suffered the injury in second T20 against the Men In Blue and will be hoping to recover before the Aussies travel to West Indies in mid March.
Shaun Marsh, the Australian top order batsman, is hoping to make a quick return to the national team after being advised to play in the domestic competitions.
Marsh has been in poor form of late, which included just 17 runs from six innings against India in the Test series. Despite such abysmal showings, the left-hander is staying positive.
"I am at the bottom of the barrel right now but other people have been in this position and come back and had nice careers for Australia. I know if I keep doing the right things it will change," said Marsh.