Monday, 11 July 2011

Warwickshire Get Behind Banned Spinner Holmes

11 July 2011

Maurice Holmes will not bowling at Edgbaston - or anywhere - until he undergoes remedial work on his bowling action

©Action Images

Warwickshire have pledged their full support for off-spinner Maurice Holmes, who has been banned from bowling following independent analysis of his bowling action.

In a statement released by the club, they have called the decision of the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) disappointing.

"Warwickshire County Cricket Club was recently advised that following an independent analysis of his bowling his action under the scrutiny of the ECB Warwickshire’s Maurice Holmes has been suspended from bowling in county cricke," the statement read.

"This decision is disappointing news to the Club who have pledged their full support to seeking a satisfactory outcome and a full return to competitive cricket for this promising 21-year-old right arm spinner.

Ashley Giles, Warwickshire’s Director of Cricket, added: "Maurice has an unusual action and has often been the focus of attention, but there is a strong belief that further analysis which will be conducted over the next few weeks, will show that there is nothing illegal with his delivery and that he will be able to return to first class cricket. We will be doing everything to assist Maurice in his endeavours."

Sunday, 10 July 2011

results

England produced a fine all-round performance to beat Sri Lanka by 16 runs in an excellent fifth and final One-Day International at Old Trafford.

Half-centuries from Jonathan Trott and Eoin Morgan saw England to a score of 268 for nine and Sri Lanka showed all their fighting qualities to recover from 131 for five to push England close before they were bowled out for 252.

Angelo Mathews (62) and Jeevan Mendis (48) put on 102 for the sixth wicket to keep the game alive and the tourists were still in with a chance until Mendis was caught by Kevin Pietersen off Samit Patel and Mathews was caught by Tim Bresnan off Jade Dernbach.

Dernbach returned two for 49 when he ended the match by bowling Lasith Malinga for six to hand England a 3-2 series win.

England themselves looked set for a bigger score thanks to the contributions of Trott, who made 72, Morgan's 57 after openers Alastair Cook (31) and Craig Kieswetter (43) had put on 85 for the first wicket.

They fell within two runs of each other and when Kevin Pietersen was caught behind for five, England were 97 for three.

An excellent partnership of 118 between Trott, who faced 87 balls, and Morgan, whose innings took 60 deliveries, saw both players score just five boundaries between them but they played superbly to frustrate Sri Lanka.

Morgan fell when he was stumped and Trott was a touch unlucky when an innocuous delivery from Suraj Randiv bounced off his pads and dislodged a bail before he had chance to kick it away from his stumps.

Randiv then returned figures of five for 42, also removing Ian Bell (4), Patel (8) and Tim Bresnan (6) as England's middle order collectively threw their wickets away but fortunately for the home side, they had been given the platform to hit out and attempt to score quick runs.

Sri Lankan openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Tillakaratne Dilshan then both fell for four - Dilshan completing a terrible run of form in the ODIs and Karunaratne making little impression on debut.

Both men fell to Bresnan, who delivered an excellent opening spell and he was backed up by James Anderson, who removed Mahela Jayawardene for nine when he was caught by Alastair Cook.

Kumar Sangakkara and Dinesh Chandimal then revived Sri Lanka's innings, Sangakkara making a classy 48 in 75 balls and Chandimal hitting 54 in 64 balls which included five fours and two well-struck sixes.

Chandimal fell to Graeme Swann and when Sangakkara was bowled by the irrepressible Bresnan, the game looked all up for Sri Lanka.

Mathews and Mendis then gave England a serious scare but they had been left with a little too much to do and once their partnership was broken, England broke through to swiftly finish off the rest of the order.