Fast bowler Ishant Sharma has been ruled out the IPL after undergoing an ankle surgery earlier this month, which is likely to keep him out of action for at least six months

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Mar-2012Fast bowler Ishant Sharma has been ruled out of the IPL after undergoing an ankle surgery earlier this month, which is likely to keep him out of action for at least six months. Deccan Chargers, Ishant’s IPL franchise, confirmed the development, saying they would now be seeking permission from the IPL for a replacement player.Ishant had been delaying the surgery for nearly a year, but finally decided to take the plunge after he returned from Australia in January, where he had played the Test-leg of the tour. Though he impressed in patches, Ishant remained inconsistent and only managed five wickets at an average of 90.20 in the four-Test series.It is understood that he had considered delaying the surgery post this IPL season, but that would have ruled him out of the home series against England, starting in November. Ishant is likely to plan his rehabilitation so that he can make a return during the home series against New Zealand, also later in the year.”The wound is likely to heal in three months’ time and he is solely focussing on that,” a source close to Ishant told ESPNcricinfo.Last year, Ishant’s India team-mate Virender Sehwag was in a similar scenario with a shoulder injury but he chose to delay his surgery. After the World Cup, he played through pain at the start of the IPL but withdrew midway through the tournament. He was ruled out of the West Indies tour and missed the start of the Test series in England.Edited by Kanishkaa Balachandran

A round-up of matches from the National Cricket League

Mohammad Isam24-Apr-2012Rajshahi Division rallied on the final day to beat Sylhet Division by 119 runs at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, and reached the National Cricket League final. They overtook Sylhet in the points table to finish second.A maiden five-wicket haul from part-timer Farhad Hossain in the post-tea session Sylhet ensured a Sylhet collapse in their pursuit of 330 for victory. Farhad, who bowls off-spin, removed Golam Mabud and Sylhet’s Indian recruit Rahul Dewan in the space of five overs before picking three more tail-end wickets. Abul Hasan, however, took advantage of the open swathes left by Rajshahi, who put as many as six fielders in catching positions during the last hour.Mizanur Rahman set the tone for Rajshahi with his 105 and shared a 186-run opening stand with Jahurul Islam on the first day. Mizanur scored his second first-class century. Sylhet fought back on the second day through Enamul Haque Jr’s six wickets, Rajshahi declaring their first innings on 387 for 9.Sylhet’s approach was predictable but their aim to grind out the bowlers backfired as skipper Farhad Reza and left-arm spinner Sanjamul Islam kept it tight and picked wickets regularly. Apart from Nadif Chowdhury’s 61, none of the Sylhet batsmen took advantage of their starts.Khulna Division, who will take on Rajshahi in the final, drew their final second phase game with Dhaka Metropolis at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium. Khulna, the table-toppers, took a more cautious approach as they had already qualified for the final.Anamul Haque, the opener, was the hero for Khulna, making 193 runs with the help of 27 boundaries and two sixes. He was trapped leg-before the next day, just short of a double-ton, by Tareq Aziz to end an innings that lasted more than five hours.Taposh Ghosh, the left-hand allrounder, also notched up an unbeaten 111 during Khulna’s 618 in the first innings and in Dhaka Metro’s reply, Tasamul Haque, too, struck a century. Both players recorded their second first-class centuries in first-class cricket.The match only had an academic interest when Khulna didn’t impose the follow-on despite leading by 330 runs. They batted again and Imrul Kayes struck 117 off 181 balls. There was one more century left to score and Shamsur Rahman duly picked up a ton off 88 balls in Dhaka Metro’s second innings.Both matches endured a day’s break due to a general strike across the country.

Jonny Bairstow has impressed for England in the one-day game, possessed with a competitive spirit, a natural power and a sharp eye. No wonder England are anxious to see if he has the aptitude for Test cricket.

Alex Winter14-May-2012Jonny Bairstow has impressed for England in the one-day game, possessed with a competitive spirit, a natural power and a sharp eye. With such a combination it is little wonder England are in a rush to discover whether he has the aptitude for Test cricket.Bairstow, the batsman who has left England eager to find out more about him, now faces the challenge of the Lord’s slope, a talented West Indies attack in bowler-friendly conditions and the rhythms of the five-day game.When he makes his debut in the first Test against West Indies, starting on Thursday, he and his late father David will become the 13th father-son combination to play for England.
Perhaps a Test debut will come at the right time for Bairstow. His natural instincts might be checked by the Test environment. He will be expected to learn and adjust. He is the sort of vigorous and exciting batsman who makes selectors want to take a punt.By contrast, the player he has been preferred to, James Taylor, has been left at Nottinghamshire to refine his approach in less high-profile surroundings. Taylor took a bold decision to make the move to Trent Bridge where bowler-friendly conditions can expose his tendency to play across the line but working out his game in difficult batting conditions and success in Division One is his route to future England honours and everyone expects him to get there.Bairstow will have to play differently than his other innings at Lord’s last August but his previous knock provides a good omen: he made 114 from 136 balls with a West Indian, Corey Colleymore, opening the bowling. That was his first century in one-day cricket.He has also made five first-class centuries, the latest of which came at Scarborough against Leicestershire. His 182 came in a testing scenario, Yorkshire were 33 for 3 when he arrived at the crease, the type of situation where Bairstow has thrived.”It’s probably inner grit,” Bairstow said. “I think it’s a good attitude to have, thinking ‘right we’re up against the wall, I want to dig us out of this situation.’ It perhaps comes naturally to me; I haven’t necessarily worked on it but I’m pleased to have it.”Another natural talent is his power: the asset immediately evident following his 41 from 21 balls on debut in Cardiff which won England the ODI against India. But Bairstow says there is a time and a place for both power, and touch and control – the latter will be the more important skill on Thursday.Power and an eye for the ball were the initial factors in digging Yorkshire out of a hole at Scarborough. Only after tea on the first day when the scoreboard was more pleasant for the hosts did he settle and knuckle down towards and beyond his hundred. It took time for him to look like a proper Test player: he does have it but his state of mind is generally to be aggressive.”The mindset I took to Scarborough, to Northampton, to here at Lord’s will be the same. It isn’t something you can flick on and flick off. Mindset is something that you can only naturally do. Thursday will be the same as every other day. If the ball’s there to be hit, it’s there to be hit.”But this week Bairstow is the latest man to take possession of the troublesome No. 6 slot. He will want to ensure his tenure is longer than the more recent occupants – Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan – whose path to Test cricket through prowess in the one-day arena draws parallels.He will also have a very keen eye to help him in Geoffrey Boycott – a close family friend. Boycott’s wife telephoned Bairstow’s mother to offer her congratulations. His mother and sister should be at Lord’s this week.”Geoffrey is very much, if you want to speak to him you can do,” Bairstow said. “I’m very grateful to have someone like that. I haven’t really picked his brains but it’s possible I could speak to him about his experience. I’ll probably catch up with him at some point.”

A remarkable last-minute court order obtained by disgraced former board chief executive Tom Tikolo prevented Sunday’s already delayed Cricket Kenya elections being held

Martin Williamson27-May-2012A remarkable last-minute court order obtained by disgraced former board chief executive Tom Tikolo prevented Sunday’s already delayed Cricket Kenya elections being held.Tikolo’s action prevented most of the the country’s largest body, the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NCPA), from participating in the elections. The NPCA has yet again been mired in in-house bickering over the past few months.”It’s very disappointing that the whole process keeps being frustrated by people who don’t want to see elections being held,” said outgoing chairman Samir Inamdar. “We didn’t want to go against the court ruling. But we will keep an eye on Nairobi and we plan to take legal action against the branch for delaying the election process.”It is unclear who Tikolo was representing by his action. His own club has already distanced itself from the move.That Tikolo threw the spanner in the works raised more than a few eyebrows as he was considered a peripheral figure following his dismissal for stealing funds from the board at the end of 2010. He withheld a payment of around $10,000 due to Cricket Kenya in respect of a tournament in the West Indies, an act that was only discovered when his email was hacked into and details revealed to the press.

Sahara Matribhumi, the Bangladesh subsidiary of Sahara group, has made an offer of approximately $9.4 million for a period of four years for the sponsorship of the Bangladesh cricket team

ESPNcricinfo staff30-May-2012Sahara Matribhumi, the Bangladesh subsidiary of Sahara group, has made an offer of approximately $9.4 million for the sponsorship of the Bangladesh team for a four-year period. The bid was substantially higher than the $ 3.4 million offered by the previous sponsors, Grameenphone, and $4 million offered by Robi, another telecom company.BCB president Mustafa Kamal said that while no decision has been made yet on which offer to accept, Sahara’s bid of approximately $2.3 million a year, if finalised, would be beneficial for Bangladesh cricket.”The national team sponsorship, which is the main component of the tenders that we had invited, has been offered 2.3 million dollars per year by Sahara,” Kamal said. “We expect the revenue to be around Tk 110 crore during this four-year period. It was unimaginable a few years ago but more than the money, I think it will be a turning point if we can have Sahara with us.”All the tenders are for a four-year period. I hope that we can finalise the deals in the next few days. We haven’t made a decision on the tenders; I’m just letting you know what is the highest we’ve got.”Apart from the national team sponsorship, Sahara was the only company to bid for the sponsorship rights of the National Cricket Academy at a price of $130,000 per year.Last week, Sahara group chairman Subrata Roy had said in Dhaka that his company was interested in investing in Bangladesh cricket. Speaking at an event, he said that it ‘may be possible’ for Sahara to sponsor the Bangladesh team. “The Sahara logo is seen on the jerseys of Indian cricket team,” he said then. “Though I am not announcing it right now, but I can say it may be possible to see the same logo on the jersey of Bangladesh cricket team.”

The Melbourne Stars have poached two key players from their cross-town rivals the Melbourne Renegades, with Brad Hodge and Glenn Maxwell both signing multi-year deals with the Stars

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jul-2012Melbourne Stars have poached two key players from their cross-town rivals Melbourne Renegades, signing multi-year deals with Brad Hodge and Glenn Maxwell. The defections are a major blow for the Renegades, who finished second last on the Big Bash League table last summer and could yet lose their captain Andrew McDonald, who is believed to be considering a change of teams.Thursday was a day of big moves in the contract window, as Perth Scorchers confirmed they had signed Pat Cummins, who last year was contracted by Sydney Sixers. The Cummins move had been revealed earlier in the week by the Sixers general manager Stuart Clark, and the Scorchers made the deal official on Thursday, also adding Mitchell Marsh to their group.”There is going to be nothing subtle about our game plan. It will be based around pure aggression, and Pat and Mitch embody everything about that,” Lachlan Stevens, the Scorchers coach, said. “Pat is the most exciting talent in Australian cricket. We want batsmen who play with intent and pacemen who bowl fast, and Pat certainly ticks the second box.”In Melbourne, the major move of the day was the Stars attracting Hodge and Maxwell from the Renegades, Hodge for two years and Maxwell for four. The Stars were a stronger performing side than the Renegades last summer, when they finished fourth and narrowly missed a place in the final.Their stocks will be boosted by the addition of Hodge, 37, who no longer plays first-class or one-day cricket and is second only to David Hussey on the all-time run tally in Twenty20s. Maxwell, 23, is a powerful striker of the ball and has scored 178 runs at 59.33 and a strike rate of 178 for Hampshire in the county Twenty20 competition this year.Hodge said the chance to finish his career at the MCG, where the Stars are based, instead of at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne’s Docklands, was a key factor in his decision.”For me it just felt right to return to the MCG and probably finish off my career here,” Hodge told reporters in Melbourne. “A lot of my fans are from the MCG, I am a Melbourne Cricket Club member, I am a Melbourne footy club supporter, so for me everything in my sporting life happens here. It is where I have played and it has been my second home for 17 years.”Ian Chappell, the Stars chairman of selectors, said: “Brad has been a very successful and popular player for Victoria throughout his career and we’re looking forward to him being a stable influence on the Stars batting line-up. Glenn is a dynamic player, capable of influencing matches in a number of different ways. He’s the type of player who can energise a team and our fans.”In other signings on Thursday, the England batsman Owais Shah confirmed he would again play for Hobart Hurricanes, after he was the fourth-leading run scorer in the tournament last season. Shah, 33, who has not played for his country in nearly three years, signed a two-year deal with the Hurricanes, who have also gained Ben Dunk from Sydney Thunder and re-signed fast bowler Michael Hogan.”It was disappointing to fall in the semi-finals but I can’t question the professionalism of the squad and coaching staff at the Hobart Hurricanes,” Shah said. “I loved living in Hobart with my family and when the time came to decide I really had no hesitation in committing to the Hurricanes again.”I think there’s a strong feeling of unfinished business within the squad and I’m looking forward to getting back among the boys and preparing as best we can for the next campaign.”In other signings, the allrounder Daniel Christian agreed to a three-year deal with Brisbane Heat, his team from last summer, while the fast bowlers Kane Richardson and Gary Putland committed to the Adelaide Strikers.

For all that spin bowling is considered an art involving guile and deception, India’s spinners took apart the New Zealand batting with the precision of surgeons combined with the calculations of mathematicians

The Report by Sharda Ugra26-Aug-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsPragyan Ojha and R Ashwin shared a massive 18 wickets between them•Associated Press

For all that spin bowling is considered an art involving guile and deception, India’s spinners took apart the New Zealand batting with the precision of surgeons combined with the calculation of mathematicians. The first Test in Hyderabad had a severely truncated third day and a slightly curtailed fourth, but ended with a day to spare.India won by an innings and 115 runs, its spinners taking 18 of the 20 wickets to fall. New Zealand, following on in their second innings, were all out for 164 an hour before the scheduled close of play on Sunday, losing their last nine wickets for 66 runs.At the top of the pile stood R Ashwin, who finished the game with his first ten-wicket bag in Tests, taking 6 for 54 in the second innings and a match tally of 12 for 85 – the best figures for an Indian bowler in Tests versus New Zealand.Ashwin sent down a repertoire of flighted off-breaks and top-spinners of varing pace, made canny use of his special “carrom” ball. It helped clean up the New Zealand tail, with four still left for the taking after tea. Ashwin got three of the remaining four, two with the carrom ball that leaves the batsman. Ashwin’s second-innings tally followed up his 6 for 31 in the first.Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha bowled in perfect tandem with Ashwin, both making maximum use of the frequent bite and bounce on the surface, and also the struggle of the New Zealand batsmen against spin. Ojha’s match tally was 6 for 92.The morning session was delayed by two hours due to rain and India’s push for victory was resisted handsomely up by a gutsy 72-run second wicket partnership between Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson. They batted all through the 90 minutes before lunch, scoring 51 careful runs and holding off the Indian spinners.McCullum’s departure early on in the second session gave the Indians the opening. New Zealand’s last nine wickets fell for 66 runs; it had taken a few pieces of masterful spin to pull the ground out from underneath New Zealand’s feet.It all began when McCullum steamed off when given out leg before in Umesh Yadav’s second over after lunch, an inside edge the source of his fury. The sound of the inside edge appeared decisive but replays showed simultaneous points of contact off both bat and pad. McCullum was later reprimanded by the match referee for showing dissent to umpire Steve Davis’ decision. McCullum’s had been a sagacious innings, the perfect senior colleague in partnership with the 22-year-old Williamson, scoring 32 in close to three hours of batting.Until then, McCullum had played the assured hand, Williamson taking the risks of trying to drive against the spin. Ashwin tried to lure him into a false stroke. In the first session, the waiting game worked for New Zealand, Williamson driving Ashwin down the ground for a boundary the moment he over pitched. McCullum pulled out his patent pull shot when Ojha bowled one short and on leg stump. It was New Zealand’s session in which their batsmen held some control.After the break, though, came the deluge. If McCullum fell to a somewhat controversial lbw, seven runs later, Ross Taylor shouldered arms to Ashwin, who got the ball to turn and knock the top of his off stump. Williamson – clearly New Zealand’s batsman of the entire Test – held his own at the other end, getting to 50 with a steer past third man for three.With less than half an hour left for tea, Ojha, who had bowled 11 overs non-stop from one end, came in for his second spell of the day. The second ball was a peach: it looped up towards the stumps and drew Williamson forward. As it pitched, it bounced and turned away from him, nibbled at the edge of Williamson’s bat and flew to Virender Sehwag at first slip.Daniel Flynn, who had until then played foil to Williamson, tried to sweep Ashwin in his 54-minute innings for the first time. The end result was identical to his first innings: unequivocally, leg before for 11. Three runs later, Ashwin worked out the dismissal of James Franklin, with five minutes left for tea. Franklin nicked a climbing off break, and Sehwag dived to his right to take a one-handed catch at first slip. Five wickets had fallen for 54 runs in the 30 overs between lunch and tea. Right there, New Zealand’s time in the Test match was as good as up.

Ross Taylor, New Zealand captain, has said that his team’s focus wouldn’t shift beyond the matches in the group stage in the World Twenty20

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2012New Zealand will be wary of its group-stage opponents in the World Twenty20 and won’t look “too far ahead” early in the tournament, its captain Ross Taylor has said. New Zealand are in Group D along with Bangladesh and Pakistan.New Zealand pulled off a thrilling one-run T20 win against India in Chennai on Tuesday, which capped their tough tours of West Indies and India over the past two months. But Taylor said the threat of the Bangladesh and Pakistan spinners in Sri Lankan conditions would stop his team from being overconfident.”We’ve got a tough pool in Pakistan and Bangladesh and we don’t want to look too far ahead of those two matches,” he said.”Twenty20 is a game where you now have to play attacking but they do have world-class spinners in their sides and we need to acknowledge that and allow our players to combat it,” Taylor said.New Zealand play Australia and South Africa in two warm-up games before their first match of the tournament on September 21.”Australia played very well in their last game, I’m sure they’ll take a lot of confidence from that. The way [David] Warner and Watto [Shane Watson] batted set a very good platform for the side. Any New Zealand-Australia game is obviously competitive and we’ll be looking forward to trying a few things and obviously want us to win the game as well.”On Tuesday, New Zealand, after being in a position to lose for a major part of India’s chase, stuck together a few economical overs at the death through James Franklin and Jacob Oram to take them to victory. Taylor, however, said the win shouldn’t affect their focus on the upcoming tournament.”I think it gives you a little bit of confidence but you don’t want to get too carried away. It’s just one win.”New Zealand’s coach Mike Hesson, hinted that the side would start experimenting once they were “confident about our own game”.”It’s sort of adjusting to the changing humidity, which will take a couple of days so a couple of good trainings and get ready for the warm-up game. Just making sure we give everyone some decent opportunities. Obviously, the key is once we get to the Bangladesh game, once we feel confident about our own game, we’ll certainly give a number of people different opportunities,” Hesson said.He was especially pleased with the side’s resilience to respond positively to the Hyderabad Test, Hesson’s first match as a coach, to run India close in the second Test in Bangalore and finally notch up a win in Chennai.”It was certainly a challenging start: playing in Hyderabad was obviously difficult in terms of quick turnaround from the trip to the West Indies. But I thought the progress the guys showed in Bangalore in the second Test certainly showed improvements with the bat especially, in terms of intent and in terms of defensive spells against the spin bowling, I thought we made good improvements there.”We were frustrated to have the Twenty20 washed out [in Visakhapatnam] but the character we showed in the second T20 against a good side in Chennai gives the guys a lot of confidence heading into the tournament.”The game involved a collision between Kyle Mills and Brendon McCullum as they went to take catch off Yuvraj Singh. Mills, who left the field immediately, will have an x-ray on his left cheek, which Hesson mentioned as a precautionary measure.”He’s going to go for an x-ray today, just of his cheek and just make sure there’s no break there. We’re pretty confident there’s not, but it’s always nice to check that out. And he’s also got a fairly badly bruised hip so we just have to assess where he’s at.”A team decision may be taken on the role of McCullum, who is suffering stiffness in his knee and right arm.

England will head to Sri Lanka to defend their World Twenty20 title in decent spirits after levelling the series against South Africa with a comprehensive 28-run victory at Edgbaston

The Report by Andrew McGlashan12-Sep-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJos Buttler finally pulled off his strokemaking in an England shirt•PA Photos

England will head to Sri Lanka to defend their World Twenty20 title in decent spirits after levelling the series against South Africa with a comprehensive 28-run victory at Edgbaston on the back of an explosive display from Jos Buttler and a marginally more controlled half-century from Craig Kieswetter after the match had been reduced to 11 overs a side.It was unfortunately fitting that the final international of the season was badly impacted by rain which meant the game did not start until after 8pm, but on a chilly autumn evening the Birmingham crowd were at least given something to enjoy. Leading the way were the Somerset pair of Kieswetter and Buttler who added 48 off just 14 balls to give the innings a late kick.Buttler was responsible for the second most expensive over in Twenty20 internationals when he took Wayne Parnell for 32, although it was an eight-ball over with Parnell twice over-stepping. Buttler cut loose for the first time in his Twenty20 international career with a powerful display where he straight drove two sixes, scooped two trademark fours – a shot that caused him problems against Pakistan in the UAE – and then clobbered a short ball over midwicket.That launched England to a demanding 118 for 5 and despite Hashim Amla top-scoring again South Africa did not threaten to come close against impressive bowling and, largely, safe catching although Michael Lumb did spill a simple chance at deep cover in the final over.If there can be such a thing as an anchor in an 11-over innings Kieswetter was it. He reached his fifty off 31 balls with a flat six over midwicket off Morne Morkel in the last over before being bowled by the next delivery. He hit two other sixes, straight down the ground, to remind everyone what the England selectors see in him. It was his third fifty in T20Is.Kieswetter had started with Lumb, playing his first Twenty20 since June 2011, as the opening pair from the previous World T20 were reunited. The first over was a manic affair which cost 16 from Morkel, including a massive five wides down the leg side that would not have hit an adjacent pitch, and two sweetly struck boundaries from Kieswetter.Lumb, though, last just four balls before losing his middle stump against Parnell and while Kieswetter managed to keep the scoreboard moving his partners were less successful. Luke Wright made 6 off 10 balls before skewing an outside edge to point while Eoin Morgan could not find his timing and picked out long-on.Both of those wickets went to Johan Botha, who bowled three excellent overs for 19, as the offspinner again proved difficult to score off. However, his last ball was driven for a straight six by Kieswetter which was a sign of things to come in the final two overs of the innings.At the toss Stuart Broad had said he was using this match to try out a few things before Sri Lanka and he gave the first over of South Africa’s reply to Danny Briggs on his international T20 debut. It produced mixed results as Amla struck two boundaries but he was also beaten as Briggs found some turn.Tim Bresnan, playing his first match of the series, ended Richard Levi’s lean series when the opener swung across the line and when Briggs was brought back for a second over he had Faf du Plessis caught at extra cover off a leading edge.Amla continued to caress the ball as he has done all tour, but Graeme Swann ended the match as a contest by having AB de Villiers and Amla caught in the deep by Jonny Bairstow. Although the asking rate was by now well out of reach Jade Dernbach again showed excellent skill when his first over, the eighth of the innings, cost just two runs. Now Sri Lanka beckons.

Opening batsman Martin Guptill has claimed the top honour at the New Zealand Cricket Awards in Auckland, winning the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2012Opening batsman Martin Guptill has claimed the top honour at the New Zealand Cricket Awards in Auckland, winning the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for 2011-12. Guptill was also named ODI and Twenty20 player of the year, based on performances between September 1, 2011, and August 31, 2012. Young fast bowler Doug Bracewell picked up the other big award of the evening, being named Test Player of the Year.

Full list of award winners

• Martin Guptill: Sir Richard Hadlee Medal

• Doug Bracewell: Test Player of the Year

• Martin Guptill: ODI Player of the Year

• Martin Guptill: Twenty20 Player of the Year

• Amy Satterthwaite: International Women’s Player of the Year

• Frances McKay: Women’s Domestic Player of the Year

• Gareth Hopkins: Men’s Domestic Player of the Year

• Simon Hickey: Gillette Young Player of the Year

• Cran Bull: Bert Sutcliffe Medal for outstanding services to cricket

• Doug Bracewell: Fans Choice for Outstanding Individual Performance

• Doug Bracewell: Winsor Cup for best bowler in first-class cricket

• Martin Guptill: Redpath Cup for the best batsman in first-class cricket

Batsman Amy Satterthwaite, who averaged 51.75 in five ODIs during the judging period, was named Women’s Player of the Year.Guptill scored 681 runs in 11 Tests in the same period. He was one of the few bright spots for New Zealand on their tour of the Caribbean, where they lost in all three formats; he made 97, 67, 71 and 42 there, top scoring in three of the four innings. In ODIs, against Zimbabwe home and away, his sequence of scores read 74, 105, 70, 77 and 85. In all, he scored 579 runs in 13 matches in the format. In 13 Twenty20s, he scored 454 at 45.40 with strong showings against South Africa and Zimbabwe.Bracewell, who debuted in November last year, took 40 wickets in 11 games at 28.02. His best of 6 for 40 came in New Zealand’s famous 7-run win against Australia in Hobart, where he claimed the wickets of Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey with the score on 159 to upend their chase of 241. For that performance, Bracewell also picked up the Fans Choice for Outstanding Individual Performance award.The winners were decided by an independent selection panel headed by former New Zealand Cricket president Don Neely, and included former New Zealand wicketkeeper Ian Smith and veteran radio commentator, Bryan Waddle.