Swann urges England’s misfiring bowlers to shape up

October 1st, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has urged his team to go one step further in the Champions Trophy following their exuberant show so far in the tournament sealing a semi-final clash against Pakistan on Friday. "It is about time we made a final.

September 29th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - The following is the scoreboard of the Group A match between England and New Zealand at the Wanderers here Tuesday. England: Andrew Strauss c McCullum b Mills 0 Joe Denly b Bond 5 Owais Shah c McCullum b Bond 3 Paul Collingwood c Taylor b Elliott 40 Eoin Morgan c Taylor b Butler 9 Ravi Bopara lbw Bond 30 Luke Wright c McCullum b Elliott 4 Stuart Broad c & b Elliott 1 Graeme Swann c McCullum b Elliott 11 Ryan Sidebottom c Taylor b Vettori 20 James Anderson not out 4 Extras (b 4, lb 4, w 9, nb 2) 19 Total (all out in 43.1 overs) 146 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Strauss, 0.2 overs), 2-10 (Denly, 3.5), 3-13 (Shah, 5.1), 4-50 (Morgan, 18.2), 5-80 (Collingwood, 23.6), 6-90 (Wright, 25.6), 7-95 (Broad, 27.1), 8-109 (Swann, 31.2), 9-117 (Bopara, 34.6), 10-146 (Sidebottom, 43.1) Bowling: Kyle Mills 10-2-19-1 Shane Bond 10-2-21-3 James Franklin 6-0-31-0 Grant Elliott 8-0-31-4 Daniel Vettori 1.1-0-2-1 New Zealand: Brendan McCullum c Bopara b Broad 48 Martin Guptill c Swann b Anderson 53 Neil Broom c Morgan b Sidebottom 17 Ross Taylor c Swann b Broad 1 Grant Elliott c Morgan b Broad 3 Gareth Hopkins c Morgan b Broad 2 Daniel Vettori not out 10 James Franklin not out 2 Extras (lb 7, w 4) 11 Total (for six wickets in 27.1 overs) 147 Fall of wickets: 1-84 (McCullum, 12.3 overs), 2-113 (Guptill, 18.4), 3-114 (Taylor, 19.1), 4-118 (Elliott, 21.4), 5-130 (Hopkins, 23.6), 6-140 (Broom, 26.1) Bowling: James Anderson 10-0-53-1 Ryan Sidebottom 6-0-32-1 Stuart Broad 8.1-1-39-4 Paul Collingwood 3-0-16-0 Result: New Zealand won by four wickets Player of the match: Grant Elliot (New Zealand) Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and Daryl Harper (Australia) TV umpire: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)

September 29th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - New Zealand sailed into the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, beating England by four wickets in a Group B match at the Wanderers here Tuesday. An explosive 39-ball 48 from wicketkeeper Brendan McCullum and a patient 53 from Martin Guptill saw New Zealand achieve the target of 147 in 27.1 overs by losing six wickets.

September 27th, 2009 CENTURION - India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has blamed the bowlers for his side's 54-run loss to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy. The Indian bowlers were smacked all over the ground by the Pakistani batsmen, who piled on 302 runs batting first at the SuperSport Park here Saturday.

September 26th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - As the two arch rivals India and Pakistan prepare themselves for the 'match of the tournament' in the ICC Champions Trophy, former Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram has warned his home side against showing immaturity during the game. Akram pointed out that Pakistan would have to be careful in selecting the final eleven for the match, as the Centurion track would hardly offer any assistance to the bowlers.

August 25th, 2009 LONDON - Brit cricketer Jimmy Anderson has revealed that the gee-up song that had been sung at the Ashes, where England won, had been sung by an Australian. 'Time For Heroes' by Juliet The Sun is a song frequently played in the home side's dressing room.

August 24th, 2009 DUBAI - England off-spinner Graeme Swann has jumped no fewer than 17 places and into the top 10 in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers for the first time in his career. The 30-year-old took eight wickets in the Oval Test match underlying his position as England's top slow bowler and moving to 10th in the latest rankings.

August 11th, 2009 LONDON - England off-spinner Graeme Swann has said there is no need for knee jerk reactions in the wake of the Leeds defeat against the Australians, and urged England selectors to retain faith in both Ravi Bopara and Ian Bell in next week's Ashes decider. In an article for The Sun, Swann said: "The worst thing England can do is panic in response to one bad performance at Headingley and all the pressure from the pundits.

August 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Pakistan's legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram was impressed with the nine young fast bowlers who attended the 19-day camp that concluded here Monday. The camp was conducted by Gatorade Centre for Pace Excellence (GCPE) at the Modern School in Vasant Vihar.

July 14th, 2009 LONDON - Off-spinner Graham Swann has said that England saved the first Ashes Test fair and square, and the Australians can talk all they like about delaying tactics. In an article for The Sun, Swann said: " We will go to Lord's on Thursday with the series locked at 0-0 because of a brilliant rearguard and an amazing partnership between Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar." He admitted that the match was tough, but absolutely straight.

July 7th, 2009 SYDNEY - Former Australian fast bowler Rodney Hogg has said that the toss will be crucial in the first test of the Ashes series that begins in Cardiff on Wednesday. "The toss in the First Test starting on Wednesday is the most important Ricky Ponting will face," The Herald Sun quoted Hogg, as saying.

July 4th, 2009 LONDON - England off-spinner Graeme Swann, who has emerged as the leading Test wicket-taker in the world in 2009 with 26 victims, says that he has learnt from his errors, but has lost the ability to smile along the way. In an interview with The Sun, Swann said he was looking forward to his Ashes debut in England, and added that when he was doing the drinks for the squad in 2005, the atmosphere gave him the goose bumps.

July 3rd, 2009 BIRMINGHAM - England's bowlers are in perfect shape for the Ashes. Pace bowler James Anderson took five wickets, while left-arm spinner Monty Panesar claimed three victims and Andrew Flintoff two.

June 28th, 2009 LONDON - England's right-arm offbreak bowler Graeme Swann has expressed confidence on England's spinners abilities to tangle Australians in a web to regain the historic Ashes series, which begins on Thursday. Swann highlighted the magic web that spin genius Shane Warne used to create around English batsmen, however, this time he is hopeful that the likes of left-armer Monty Panesar and Adil Rashid would turn the table on Australians.

June 14th, 2009 LONDON - Scoreboard of the World Twenty20 Group E Super Eights match between England and India at Lord's here Sunday. England: Ravi Bopara b Jadeja 37 (37) Luke Wright c Pathan b RP Singh 1 (7) Kevin Pietersen lbw Jadeja 46 (27) Dimitry Mascarenhas not out 25 (27) Owais Shah c Jadeja b Harbhajan Singh 12 (10) Paul Collingwood lbw Zaheer Khan 7 (5) James Foster c & b Harbhajan Singh 6 (5) Graeme Swann b Harbhajan Singh 0 (1) Stuart Broad not out 3 (1) Extras (lb 2, w 14) 16 Total (for seven wickets in 20 overs) 153 Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Wright, 1.4 overs), 2-74 (Bopara, 10.5), 3-92 (Pietersen, 12.6), 4-122 (Shah, 17.2), 5-138 (Collingwood, 18.3), 6-145 (Foster, 19.3), 7-145 (Swann, 19.4) Bowling: Zaheer Khan 3-0-26-1 RP Singh 3-0-13-1 Ishant Sharma 4-0-36-0 Yuvraj Singh 2-0-20-0 Harbhajan Singh 4-0-30-3 Ravindra Jadeja 4-0-26-2 India (target: 154 in 20 overs) Gautam Gambhir c Broad b Mascarenhas 26 (26) Rohit Sharma b Sidebottom 9 (8) Suresh Raina c Wright b Sidebottom 2 (5) Ravindra Jadeja c Broad b Swann 25 (35) Yuvraj Singh st Foster b Swann 17 (9) Mahendra Singh Dhoni not out 30 (20) Yusuf Pathan not out 33 (17) Extras (lb 4, w 4) 8 Total (for five wickets in 20 overs) 150 Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Sharma, 1.5), 2-24 (Raina, 3.4), 3-62 (Gambhir, 10.4), 4-85 (Jadeja, 13.3), 5-87 (Yuvraj Singh, 13.6) Bowling: James Anderson 4-0-32-0 Ryan Sidebottom 4-0-31-2 Stuart Broad 4-0-21-0 Kevin Pietersen 1-0-9-0 Luke Wright 2-0-16-0 Graeme Swann 4-0-28-2 Dimitry Mascarenhas 1-0-9-1 Toss: India, opted to bowl Man of the Match: Ryan Sidebottom, England