The T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) has named West Indies offspinner Sunil Narine the T&T Cricketer of the Year

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Sep-2012The T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) has named West Indies offspinner Sunil Narine the T&T Cricketer of the Year. The honour comes a day after Narine was named the Emerging Player of the Year award at the ICC Awards in Colombo.Narine took 31 wickets in three first-class regional four-day games in February this year, enabling him to beat T&T captain Denesh Ramdin, left-arm spinner Kavesh Kantasingh, and bastmen Darren Bravo and Kieron Pollard for the award. His 8 for 17 in the second innings against Combined Campuses and Colleges are his career-best first-class bowling figures in an innings – he finished with 13 wickets in the match.Narine also took 15 wickets in the Regional Super50, being the highest-wicket taker of the tournament, and took seven wickets in six matches in the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament.T&T’s Five National Cricketers of the Year were Narine, Darren Bravo, Shannon Gabriel, Ramdin, Pollard and Kantasingh.West Indies’ captain Merissa Aguilleira was adjudged the Women’s Player of the Year.

For the second time in as many months, the BCCI’s mandarins will assemble on Thursday in an attempt to find a new franchise owner for the IPL

Amol Karhadkar24-Oct-2012For the second time in as many months, the BCCI’s mandarins will assemble in an attempt to find a new franchise owner for the IPL on Thursday. Their last attempt was foiled when the owners of Deccan Chargers rejected the sole bid by PVP Ventures to take over the then beleaguered (and now terminated) Hyderabad franchise on September 13, and the BCCI would be hoping Thursday does not see a repeat.Despite several litigation issues that have dogged the league over the last year and the departure of its title sponsor, it is unlikely the new invitation to tender – floated by the board on October 14 after India’s Supreme Court upheld Chargers’ termination – will pass without any serious bidders. When the BCCI top brass meet in Mumbai on Thursday, they would be hoping to have “at least three” bidders for the new IPL team that would feature in at least five editions of the tournament from the 2013 season. “Around half a dozen tender documents have been bought by prospective owners, so it cannot be said that the response has been negative,” a BCCI insider told ESPNcricinfo.It is important to note that a lower base price has been set for the new team, a factor that is expected to draw more interest from bidders. When the Sahara group bought the Pune franchise in 2010, the base price was $225m (about Rs 1035 crore by 2010 rates) for 10 years (about Rs 103 crore per year). It was learnt that this time, the BCCI has set the base price at Rs 60 crore ($11.2 million) per year for a period of five years.Though the BCCI bigwigs were tightlipped over the expected winning bid amount, a market expert, requesting anonymity, said he “won’t be surprised if the winning bid is around Rs 600 crore ($112 million) for five years”.Recently, hours before the Chargers’ termination, a Mumbai-based realty firm, the Kamla Landmarc group had offered to buy Chargers for Rs 1250 crore ($231.5 million) payable over ten years, the amount being confirmed by Ajay Vazirani, senior partner of Hariani & Co, legal advisors to the Landmarc group.”If the base price is lowered, then it will certainly become an investor-friendly entity,” said Prahlad Kakkar, a leading ad filmmaker in Mumbai. “What has been happening till now is the cost of the team is so high that the only option to make money is to sell the team. A lowered base price suddenly makes it more viable for a lot of investors.”The BCCI tender had invited bids with respect to 12 cities: Ahmedabad, Cuttack, Dharamsala, Hyderabad, Indore, Kanpur, Kochi, Nagpur, Noida, Rajkot, Ranchi and Vizag. Among those who will most likely submit their bids are PVP Ventures, whose efforts to buy Chargers last month went in vain. It is also possible that the Ahmedabad-based Adani group, with interests in shipping, mining and agriculture, and Noida-based Jaypee group, who are infrastructure specialists and currently own the Indian F1 track, could end up bidding for their home cities.The BCCI has imposed stringent measures when it comes to the termination clause by adding a performance deposit, which the owners of the team forfeit should they fail to pay their bank guarantee.On Thursday, the IPL governing council will also discuss several issues around IPL 2013, including, it is believed, the fate of the Chargers players. The governing council could decide to send all those players back into the auction pool.

The solid batting during the lunch session between Kieran Powell and Shivnarine Chanderpaul hurt Bangladesh’s chances badly

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur13-Nov-2012Two hundreds in a day are more likely to grab headlines, but it was the partnership of the centurions that lifted West Indies from trouble and placed them in a commanding position at the end of the first day’s play in Mirpur.Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Kieran Powell added 125 runs for the fourth wicket, which wasn’t even the highest partnership on the day, but it was their solidity that stood between Bangladesh and dominance. Powell was dismissed for 117 after a four-hour stay in the crease, hitting 18 boundaries and a six. Chanderpaul remained unbeaten on 123 off 195 balls with the help of 17 fours, having reached his 26th Test century.Before lunch however, the situation was different. Bangladesh were celebrating after West Indies lost their third wicket. It gave the home side momentum going into the second session. But the pair batted until the tea break, unperturbed, with West Indies scoring 121 more without the loss of any wickets. They, however, didn’t slow the scoring rate, batting at a slightly higher pace than the first session, which included Chris Gayle’s 17-ball 24.What makes the partnership more important were the efforts Bangladesh made between lunch and tea. The home side had to wait in the face of Gayle’s early onslaught, but once they got rid of him and took two more wickets, they went for the kill. Captain Mushfiqur Rahim rotated his bowlers quite regularly, and the bowlers changed angles a number of times. The fielders worked hard too, but neither Chanderpaul nor Powell yielded as the latter went on to score his second Test hundred.Later Powell said he found it comforting to bat with the Chanderpaul, who is in the 18th year of an illustrious international career.”I think batting with any senior player is easy. Shiv has lots of experience, something like 145 Test matches,” Powell said after the day’s play. “He takes all the pressure off you and lets you play the normal game. He keeps talking to you.”The age difference between the pair is around 16 years, a non-issue for Chanderpaul, who has been known to take young batsmen under his wing. “He’s just telling me to be patient, stay positive, look to rotate the strike and put away the bad balls, and play straight,” Powell said.It is only natural for Powell to have batted, among the senior batsmen, more frequently with Gayle. It was only the third time for him to bat with Chanderpaul and it was obvious who suited him more, especially when playing a long innings.”Both are different players. Chris [Gayle] is more of a power player. Shiv is more about manoeuvring the ball. You have to give him the strike and keep it flowing (when you bat with Chris) but with Shiv you have to maneuver and build a steady partnership.”Powell has had to fight for his spot with the likes of Kirk Edwards, Adrian Barath and Kraigg Brathwaite. With Gayle returning to the team after his clash with the WICB, it was one out of four who would get a place, but Powell got in after his century and big opening partnership against New Zealand in July. This innings, too, would put him right ahead in the race.”I can’t really say if I’m going ahead, you would have to ask the selectors,” he said. “I’m just trying to strengthen my case each and every day. The more centuries you have, the better it is. I want to control what I can.”

A wrap of the opening day of the eighth round of Ranji Trophy matches in Group B

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Dec-2012
ScorecardTwo partnerships, of 66 and 92 runs respectively, carried Uttar Pradesh to 279 for 6 amid regular wickets against Tamil Nadu on the opening day in Chennai. Captain Mohammad Kaif, for whom this season has been productive in terms of runs, scored a half-century before falling to offspinner Malolan Rangarajan, who claimed three wickets. Kaif’s stand with Umang Sharma took their side to 123 for 2, but then four wickets fell for 64 runs. In trouble at 187 for 6, Ali Murtaza and Prashant Gupta added a further 92 runs before stumps.Tamil Nadu’s M Vijay took his third wicket in first-class wicket in the two overs he bowled.
ScorecardAn unbeaten 172-run partnership between Kedar Devdhar and Aditya Waghmode took Baroda to a strong 256 for 3 against Maharashtra in Pune. Baroda started their innings poorly with two quick wickets falling to seamer Shrikant Mundhe before the 10th over of the match. But opener Saurabh Wakaskar stuck with No. 3 Waghmode to add 70, before falling for 50 to spinner Akshay Darekar. Devdhar, the next batsman in, dominated the stand with Waghmode to reach a hundred before stumps. Waghmode ended the day with an unbeaten 87.
ScorecardOdisha’s combined bowling effort, led by medium-pacer Biplab Samantray, reduced Vidarbha to 188 for 8 on the first day in Cuttack. Five batsmen got starts, but no one scored more than 40. The innings was based on two productive stands, for the fourth wicket worth 74 between Amol Umarhande and Hemang Badani, and for the sixth wicket worth 49 between Gaurav Upadhyaya and captain Sairaj Bahutule.The scoring was slow throughout the day. Basant Mohanty, who bowled the maximum number of overs of all the bowlers, registered an economy rate of 1.06.
ScorecardHubli and its 31 degrees sunshine provided Haryana a stark contrast from the chilly, foggy north Indian towns where they have played much of the season, but for the first two sessions against Karnataka their batting floundered just as it has so often over the past two months. The several thousand fans who turned up to see the first first-class match in Hubli for a couple of decades would have returned home a happier lot had it not been for Amit Mishra and Jayant Yadav’s 125-run eighth wicket stand that lifted Haryana to 293 for 7.Read more of the report here.

Marlon Samuels has accused Shane Warne of “desperate” behaviour after escaping with a reprimand for his part in an ugly confrontation with Warne during the Big Bash League

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jan-2013Marlon Samuels has accused Shane Warne of “desperate” behaviour unbecoming for a legend of the game after escaping with a reprimand for his part in an ugly confrontation with Warne during the Big Bash League.Samuels also called for BBL organisers to adopt a more disciplined attitude towards player behaviour to ensure the right example was set to the family audience that the tournament is so anxious to attract.”It’s not a war, it’s a game,” he said. “We’re here to entertain people, but we’re here to show love to one another as cricketers as well.”Samuels was found guilty of unbecoming behaviour in his confrontation with Warne during the Melbourne derby between the Renegades and the Stars on January 6. He threw his bat away in frustration after he was struck on the body by a return from Warne, but the BBL’s Code of Conduct commissioner John Price ruled that he had received “extreme provocation”.Samuels has been recuperating in Australia after suffering a severe facial injury when he failed to hook a bouncer from Lasith Malinga in the same match, but it was his stand-off with Warne which remained on his mind as he spoke about the affair for the first time to .”There were a lot of kids in the ground – Twenty20 is about family – so I couldn’t afford to react in a very bad way,” he said. “I was able to come out on top with him behaving the way that he was behaving. He’s supposed to be a legend in Australia. What he did was give me the stripes so I am the legend now.”Warne’s aggressive outburst, which involved swearing, finger jabbing and tugging at Samuels’ shirt, originated from an incident much earlier in the game in which Samuels seemed to have physically hampered David Hussey’s attempts to take a second run. But the charge arising from that incident – that he “engaged in deliberate or inappropriate physical contact with a player or official” – was dismissed.Warne served a one-game suspension, and was fined $4500, for his clash with Melbourne Renegades player Marlon Samuels. He was fined for a second time on Monday, this time for breaching the CA Code of Behaviour when he handed the captaincy to James Faulkner in an effort to avoid a ban for slow over rates in the semi-final against the Perth Scorchers.Samuels said Warne had gone too far in trying to unsettle him. ”You can talk in a game and try to get into someone’s head, but you don’t get physical. That’s what he did. He took it to the next level, which was just way overboard. He was a very desperate man doing desperate things. That’s not the way you go about it when you’re the face of the tournament with kids looking on.”Samuels was infuriated that only Malinga among the Stars side checked on his welfare as he left the field bleeding from an eye wound, but he praised the support he had received from the Renegades and vowed that he would only represent them in the BBL. From the ugliest of incidents came a rare sign of player loyalty in the money-buys-all world of Twenty20.”This tournament is a very good tournament, but whoever’s running the tournament has to take some positive steps by showing more discipline,” he said. ”The behaviour is poor. Every game you have people in other people’s face. Remember, T20 is for family and kids. You’re trying to pull a big crowd. It’s not a boxing game.”The same BBL commission cleared Darren Berry, the Adelaide Strikers coach, of unbecoming behaviour when he confronted Samuels earlier in the tournament and offered a pointed critique of the West Indian’s bowling action.

Lions prevailed over Titans, scoring a six-wicket win in their Sunfoil Series match in Benoni

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsLions prevailed over Titans, scoring a six-wicket win in their Sunfoil Series match in Benoni. Chasing 181 runs for victory, Lions, who began at an overnight score of 69 for 0, wrapped up proceedings in the first session of play, with a day to spare. The win puts Lions at the top of the points table in the series.Much of the credit for this win rests with fast bowler Hardus Viljoen and batsman Neil McKenzie. Viljoen’s finished the match with figures of 9 for 81, including a six-wicket haul in the second innings that was instrumental in dismissing Titans for 187.McKenzie’s knock of 70 in the first innings helped Lions gain a slender seven run-lead as they scored 202 in response to Titans’ innings of 195. McKenzie, who has played 58 Tests and 64 ODIs for South Africa, then put on 56 runs for the third wicket with Temba Bavuma to seal the match for Lions.

A wrap of this week’s Regional Four Day Competition matches

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Feb-2013
ScorecardKirk Edwards led Barbados from the front, scoring a century in the first innings against Guyana•WICB

Barbados registered their first win in this year’s Regional Four Day Competition, beating Guyana by an emphatic 93 runs in Bridgetown on Monday.Barbados dominated the match on all days, beginning with some solid batting on the first day. Captain Kirk Edwards led from the front with a composed 120 off 195 balls. A 164-run fourth-wicket partnership between Edwards and Jonathan Carter gave Barbados a platform for a substantial score and useful contributions from the lower order ensured that the hosts reached 367.Guyana’s reply ran out of steam as Miguel Cummins and Ashley Nurse struck at regular intervals, stifling partnerships between the batsmen. Useful knocks from wicketkeeper Derwin Christian, captain Veerasammy Permaul and Ronsford Beaton managed to lift Guyana to 225.With a lead of 142, Barbados were looking to bat Guyana out of the match. Opener Rashidi Boucher scored a sedate 81 and, with some support from Roston Chase, extended Barbados’ lead to 377.Guyana got off to a solid start in the chase, despite losing opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul early, as Rajindra Chandrika and Leon Johnson added 78 runs for the second wicket. The visitors were without their captain Permaul in the second innings, who joined the West Indies’ preparatory camp ahead of the Zimbabwe series. His replacement in the batting line-up, Zaheer Mohamed, was stoic as he faced up to the challenge of a steep target. Mohamed added 88 runs for the seventh wicket with Christian, but ran out of partners as Guyana were dismissed for 284.
ScorecardAn all-round bowling effort by Windward Islands helped them dismiss Trinidad and Tobago for 86 in their second innings, en route to a ten-wicket win in St Vincent. The result got them 12 points, to lead the Regional Four-Day Competition points table.Fielding first, they bowled T&T out for 179 on the first day, with seamer Keon Peters taking three wickets and three other bowlers joining in with two each. Besides middle-order batsman Jason Mohammed, who scored a half-century, no one put up any resistance. The captain and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, who has been selected for the West Indies squad for the upcoming one-day series against Zimbabwe, scored 20.In reply, Windwards started strongly with a 124-run stand between Devon Smith and Tyrone Theophile, both of whom scored half-centuries. Smith was eventually bowled for 99, and the rest of the batting crumbled as Ravi Rampaul, returning from injury, and legspinner Lanic Cariah took nine wickets between them to bowl Windwards out for 260. Rampaul took 5 for 65.But T&T couldn’t claw their way back in the match. Eight batsmen, including Ramdin, scored in single digits, and no one scored more than 15, as they only evaded an innings defeat by five runs. Seamer Delorn Johnson and spinner Dalton Polius were the chief wreckers, taking three wickets each.Windward Islands took two overs to reach their target of six to finish the game on the third day.

The preview for the third ODI between South Africa and Pakistan in Johannesburg

The Preview by Firdose Moonda16-Mar-2013

Match facts

March 17, 2013, Johannesburg

Start time 1000 local (0800 GMT)Hashim Amla has teased with starts in both matches so far•AFP

Big Picture

If one-day series have to be this drawn out – this five-match one will take 15 days to complete – at least they should reach their mid-point with all to play for. Pakistan’s comeback in Centurion has ensured that is the case and set the contest up for an exciting second half.With just over 34 hours separating the end of the second match on Friday night and the start of the third one on Sunday morning, this is the only time in the series where momentum may matter because there is such little time to reflect. For Pakistan, that’s good news.They did almost everything right at SuperSport Park, although there are a few things they will want to improve on. After having South Africa 62 for 5, they probably conceded more than they would have liked to. They also made heavy weather of the small chase upfront and will want one of the top three batsmen to go on to post a big score.Those things involve fine-tuning but South Africa have to look at the broader problems. Again, they found themselves in a pressure situation and again, they could not emerge from it. Farhaan Behardien’s determination served as an indication that the middle order is firming up but now they need a collective effort.Their only fault in the field was a lack of control as AB de Villiers edged dangerously close to being behind the over-rate. Mini-conferences between deliveries and constant changes of fields indicated how hard he was trying to create something but that needs to be tempered with some urgency.

Form guide

(Most recent first)

South Africa: LWWLL
Pakistan: WLLWW

In the spotlight

Hashim Amla has teased with starts in both matches so far but a nasty habit of inside-edging is blighting his game. Usually known for his cool head, Amla has looked hasty in his approach. In his reign as the No.1 ranked ODI batsman in the world, Amla has struck that balance so far but with Graeme Smith struggling and an inexperienced middle order, he is not getting it quite right in this series yet.With Mohammed Irfan in doubt with a hamstring injury, it will fall to Umar Gul to lead the Pakistan attack once again. Gul has only had one impressive performance on tour, his explosive 5 for 6 in the Twenty20, but he has not taken a single wicket in the ODIs. Moreover, he has been expensive and although he succeeded in troubling Smith in the first match, he was ineffective in the second. If Pakistan hope for a repeat of their Centurion showing, Gul will have to up his game significantly.

Team news

Farhaan Behardien earned himself a few more matches with the only half-century of the innings in Centurion which will keep David Miller out further. Dale Steyn’s return means that if Rory Kleinveldt has not recovered from the rib niggle that kept him out of Friday’s match, the attack will also stay the same.South Africa: (probable) 1 Graeme Smith 2 Hashim Amla 3 Colin Ingram, 4 AB de Villiers (capt & wk), 5 Faf du Plessis, 6 Farhaan Behardien, 7 Ryan McLaren 8 Robin Peterson 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Kyle Abbott/Rory Kleinveldt, 11 Lonwabo TsotsobeAfter Kamran Akmal partnered Mohammad Hafeez with some success in Centurion, pressure will mount on the management to let him open. That would mean only a reshuffle in the batting order with Hafeez dropping to No.3. Pakistan did not miss the extra batsman on Friday and will stick to the same combination with three fast bowlers and Saeed Ajmal as long as Irfan is fit. If Irfan does not play, Wahab Riaz may come in.Pakistan: (probable) 1, 2 and 3 Nasir Jamshed/Kamran Akmal (wk)/Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Umar Gul, 9 Saeed Ajmal 10 Junaid Khan, 11 Mohammed Irfan/Wahab Riaz

Pitch and conditions

Six years ago, this was the ground that produced what it still advertised as the “Greatest ODI of all time,” the 438 game between South Africa and Australia. The Wanderers one-day surface promises runs and pace and more of the same can be expected. The weather forecast is clear during the day with a shower possible in the evening.Unrelated to the match, but of interest nonetheless is that the stadium will be turned pink in support of breast cancer awareness and the organisers are attempting to break the record for the most number of people wearing pink in one place on a day.

Stats and trivia

• Of the players in this series, Graeme Smith has the most runs at the Wanderers with 452 at an average of 41.09.
• Pakistan have never won a bilateral ODI series against South Africa.

Quotes

“We’ve had two one-sided games so far because one of the teams hasn’t turned up. We didn’t turn up today and Pakistan didn’t in Bloemfontein. If both teams pitch up at the Wanderers, hopefully it will be a very exciting game on Sunday. We will still be favourites because of home conditions on a bouncy and pacy track at the Wanderers.”

“With the fielding restrictions, you need to pick wickets. Chasing five or six runs an over is easy to get when batsmen are settled. Every batsmen needs to go and get some big knocks. We really need to show some responsibility and just go on.”

Pakistan’s Raza Hasan is confident of being back in the reckoning for national selection with his swift recovery from a career-threatening spine injury

Umar Farooq29-Mar-2013Raza Hasan, Pakistan’s 20-year old left-arm spinner, is confident of being back in the reckoning for national selection with his swift recovery from a career-threatening spine injury. He returned to competitive cricket, after an almost four-month break, in the ongoing Faysal Bank Super Eight Twenty20 Cup.Hasan, who made his international debut last September against Australia, has played seven Twenty20 internationals since, taking six wickets at 25.66. But he was pegged back with major back trouble when he injured the disc in his spine in a domestic Twenty20 game on December 2. He underwent surgery, performed by a neurosurgeon Dr. Anjum Habib Vohra.”It was a major blow but with the timely treatment I am back in shape,” Hasan said. “Although I was given at least eight weeks’ rest by the doctor, I extended it to 12 weeks to give my body adequate rest. I am enjoying good health due to the gap. I am working hard to cover up for lost time.”I was a bit reckless earlier with my injury and I let it linger on, but now after the operation I am taking extra caution to take care of myself with proper gym sessions and back exercise.”In the wake of the injury, he missed the tours of India and South Africa, and hasn’t so far played Tests or ODIs for his country. During his layoff, two other left-arm spinners, Zulfiqar Babar and Abdur Rehman – who served a 12-week ban for testing positive for cannabis during his spell with Somerset – have been called in by the selectors. But the competition with other spinners for a place, with Saeed Ajmal leading the race, isn’t worrisome for Raza.”I am not really worried on being pushed back on return of Abdur Rehman or others as I don’t think I will be competing with anyone. The only completion I am facing is with my own self and I need to improve myself from here. I am young and have plenty of time ahead of me [to do the needful], rest is in the hands of the selectors.”

South Africa’s Graeme Smith will miss the Champions Trophy in England next month, because of the flaring up of a long-term ankle injury that will require surgery

George Dobell08-May-2013South Africa’s Graeme Smith will miss the Champions Trophy in England next month, because of the flaring up of a long-term ankle injury that will require surgery*.Smith had scans in London on the ankle on Wednesday and Surrey announced that he would return home to South Africa immediately to undergo an operation. South Africa are set to feature in the opening fixture of the Champions Trophy, against India on June 6, in just over four weeks’ time.Cricket South Africa confirmed in a release on Thursday morning that Smith will miss the tournament. “Graeme has been troubled by left ankle pain over the last few months and despite extensive treatment and physiotherapy, it has recently deteriorated significantly while playing for Surrey in England. Surgery will be required, and he has been advised to follow a rest and rehabilitation programme over the next four to six months,” team manager Dr Mohammed Moosajee, was quoted as saying in the release. “This unfortunately rules him out of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy in England and Wales and the Selectors will name a replacement in due course.”Smith said: “It’s a big blow for me personally to be missing out on the Champions Trophy next month. Our ODI squad is creating something special and I was looking forward to being part of that family.”Titans opening batsmen Henry Davids and Lions youngster Quinton de Kock are the likeliest candidates to replace Smith in the ODI squad. It is a second setback for South Africa, as they are also without Jacques Kallis for the tournament, after the allrounder had opted to skip it due to personal reasons.On having to cut his county stint short, Smith said: “To have to head home now, so early in my time at Surrey is very frustrating but I leave the team in a good place and hope to be back with them as soon as possible.”Smith is contracted for three years and, although Surrey are resigned to the fact that his brief tenure as captain is already at an end for this season, they are confident he will return in 2014. He will not play against Durham in the Championship match beginning at The Oval on Friday and leaves Surrey in the bottom two of the first division.Surrey’s team director, Chris Adams, said: “Graeme has made an impressive start as a leader and the squad have really responded to his leadership. It’s clearly disappointing for all, especially Graeme, but we wish him a speedy recovery.”Smith missed South Africa’s fifth ODI against Pakistan in Benoni at the end of March and at the time Moosajee had referred to a “chronic left ankle problem”.He added: “We have been trying to manage him but unfortunately the impingement syndrome slowed him down today and he is quite symptomatic. He has had surgery on this ankle a while ago and I think the load and the volume of cricket for the year, and particularly during this ODI series, has troubled him.”Nevertheless, Smith, who described his ankle problem as “an ongoing problem”, honoured his contract with Surrey, aware that he was regarded as a prestigious signing who could bring stability to the club following a traumatic period brought about by the death on the London underground of their England Lions batsman Tom Maynard.Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, has already been signed as Smith’s replacement, but he was not scheduled to arrive until the start of the Champions Trophy and will see out his IPL contract with Mumbai Indians.*05.50GMT, May 9: This article has been updated after CSA confirmed Graeme Smith will miss the Champions Trophy