Rest day in test cricket history

December 29, Monday which is supposed to be the 4th day of the 1st test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at Mirpur is the first rest day in a Test since 2001 on account of parliamentary elections in Bangladesh.

Read more on rest days on test cricket history here

SMH test cricket team of year 2008

Sydney Morning Herald newspaper's Test team of the year

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicket-keeper, India),
Graeme Smith (South Africa),
Gautam Gambhir (India),
Hashim Amla (South Africa),
Kevin Pietersen (England),
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies),
AB de Villiers (South Africa),
Ryan Sidebottom (England),
Dale Steyn (South Africa),
Mitchell Johnson (Australia),
Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka).

India tour of New Zealand 2008-09 schedule

5 ODIs
1 T20
2 Tests
1 Month of tour, would be worth watching.

The fixture:

March 2009

Fri 6 Floodlit Match
19:00 local, 06:00 GMT Only Twenty20 International - New Zealand v India
Westpac Stadium, Wellington

Sun 8 Floodlit Match
14:00 local, 01:00 GMT 1st ODI - New Zealand v India
McLean Park, Napier

Wed 11 Floodlit Match
14:00 local, 01:00 GMT 2nd ODI - New Zealand v India
Seddon Park, Hamilton

Sat 14 Floodlit Match
14:00 local, 01:00 GMT 3rd ODI - New Zealand v India
Eden Park, Auckland

Tue 17 Floodlit Match
14:00 local, 01:00 GMT 4th ODI - New Zealand v India
Westpac Stadium, Wellington

Fri 20 Floodlit Match
14:00 local, 01:00 GMT 5th ODI - New Zealand v India
AMI Stadium, Christchurch

Thu 26 - Mon 30
11:00 local, 22:00 GMT 1st Test - New Zealand v India
Seddon Park, Hamilton

April 2009

Fri 3 - Tue 7
11:00 local, 22:00 GMT 2nd Test - New Zealand v India
Basin Reserve, Wellington

Source: cricinfo

Gautam Gambhir 2008 test record - awesome

Gautam Gambhir had a terrific 2008 in test match, scored total 1134 runs from 8 tests with an average of 70.87. He scored total 6 50's and 3 hundreds (includes the double hundred vs Australia at Delhi)

His 2008 macro level statistics:

Sri Lanka tour
-------------
SSC - 39 and 43
Galle - 56 and 74
PSS - 72 and 26

Vs Australia at home
----------------
Bangalore - 21 and 29
Mohali - 67 and 104
Delhi - 206 and 36

Vs England at home
--------------------
Chennai - 19 and 66
Mohali - 179 and 97

The detailed 2008 test statistics for Gambhir can be found here

Ranji Trophy schedule 2008-09

The quarter-final line-ups for Ranji Trophy Super League, 2008/09 were decided at the end of the seventh round.

3rd Quarter-Final: Gujarat v Uttar Pradesh at Vadodara - Dec 26-29, 2008
1st Quarter-Final: Mumbai v Himachal Pradesh at Ahmedabad - Dec 26-29, 2008
2nd Quarter-Final: Saurashtra v Karnataka at Mumbai (BS) - Dec 26-29, 2008
4th Quarter-Final: Tamil Nadu v Bengal at Bangalore - Dec 26-29, 2008

2nd Semi-Final: - Jan 4-7, 2009
1st Semi-Final: - Jan 4-7, 2009

Final: - Jan 12-16, 2009

Ranji Trophy Super League, 2008/09 match results on cricinfo is here

SA seals second ever best test chase

The top 5 highest run chase in test cricket that I put in my earlier post needs a change as SA chased a massive total of 414/4 yesterday at WACA vs the home Australians.

The updated top 5 best run chase in test crcket history are:

West Indies (vs Australia) 418/7
South Africa (vs Australia) 414/4
India (vs West Indies) 406/4
Australia (vs England) 404/3
India (vs England) 387/4

Cricinfo full page for highest test run chases is here

Match details:

Played at WACA
Result South Africa won by 6 wickets scorecard

Dhoni's records as captain in test, odi, t20

These are the stats of MSD's captaincy records in test, odi and T20 matches for team India.

----------
20-20
----------
Played 9
won 5
tied 1
n/r 1
lost 2

Achievements:
Won 20-20 world cup

--------
ODIs
--------
Played 41
won 24
n/r 3
lost 14

Achievements:
Beat Pakistan 3-2 at home,
Won commonwealth bank series in Australia,
Beat Sri Lanka 3-2 away
Beat England 5-0 at home (2 matches canceled)

Failures:
Lost 2-4 at home to Australia
Lost in final to Pakistan in Kitply cup
Lost in final to Sri Lanka in Asia cup

----------
Tests
----------
Played 4
won 4

Achievements:

Won the only test in charge against SA to draw series 1-1
Won the only 2 tests in charge against Australia to win series 2-0
Won the first test against England (4th highest run chase ever in tests)

The wining tests scorecards from cricinfo:

India v South Africa 3rd test Green park, Kanpur
India v Australia 2nd test Mohali
India v Australia 4th test Nagpur
India vs England 1st test Chennai

Highest run chase in test cricket - records

With India reached their target of 387 vs England, this became the fourth-highest run-chase in Tests.

The top 5 best run chase being:

West Indies (vs Australia) 418/7
India (vs West Indies) 406/4
Australia (vs England) 404/3
India (vs England) 387/4
Australia (vs Pakistan) 369/6

The full list of highest run chases in Test cricket can be found here in cricinfo

The England Vs India test match played at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai,
scorecard

Brendan Nash debuts for West Indies

Brendan Nash was born in Australia; he played for Queensland; moved to Jamaica last year and has debut for West Indies in the first Test against New Zealand today. With this Nash became the first white player to play Test cricket for the West Indies since the early 1970s since Geoff Greenidge, who played 5 tests for the West Indies.

Read more from theaustralian news

West Indies tour of New Zealand 2008 - 09 fixture

December 2008:

Thu 11 - Mon 15
12:00 local, 23:00 GMT 1st Test - New Zealand v West Indies
University Oval, Dunedin

Fri 19 - Tue 23
12:00 local, 23:00 GMT 2nd Test - New Zealand v West Indies
McLean Park, Napier
Fri 26 Floodlit Match

17:00 local, 04:00 GMT 1st Twenty20 International - New Zealand v West Indies
Eden Park, Auckland
Sun 28 Floodlit Match

17:00 local, 04:00 GMT 2nd Twenty20 International - New Zealand v West Indies
Seddon Park, Hamilton
Wed 31

12:00 local, 23:00 GMT 1st ODI - New Zealand v West Indies
Queenstown Events Centre

January 2009
Sat 3 Floodlit Match
14:00 local, 01:00 GMT 2nd ODI - New Zealand v West Indies
AMI Stadium, Christchurch

Wed 7 Floodlit Match
14:00 local, 01:00 GMT 3rd ODI - New Zealand v West Indies
Westpac Stadium, Wellington

Sat 10
12:00 local, 23:00 GMT 4th ODI - New Zealand v West Indies
Eden Park, Auckland

Tue 13
12:00 local, 23:00 GMT 5th ODI - New Zealand v West Indies
McLean Park, Napier

Indian cricket squad for test vs England 2008

Yuvraj and Ojha recalled
M Vijay and Badrinath retained,
RP Singh dropped

India squad:

Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, M Vijay, S Badrinath, Pragyan Ojha.

Read more from cricinfo

England team set to resume India tour

Good news for cricket fans like me; read more from bbc

The fixture:

1st Test v India at Chennai - Dec 11-15, 2008
09:30 local time (04:00 GMT)

2nd Test v India at Mohali - Dec 19-23, 2008
09:30 local (04:00 GMT)