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Source: www.wscountytimes.co.uk
Essex recall Tom Craddock for Northants match - East Anglian Daily Times
Tom Craddock, who is recalled to the Essex side for the match at Northamptonshire
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
9:00 AM
ESSEX have named their side in advance of the LV= County Championship match against Northamptonshire, starting today at Wantage Road, and the side includes Ryan ten Doeschate who will make his first appearance in the competition this season.
The 31-year-old has been playing in the IPL for winners Kolkata Knight Riders and head coach Paul Grayson is naturally delighted to have the all-rounder back in the line-up.
“It’s good to have Tendo back, he’s a good experienced cricketer and he’s looking forward to playing four-day cricket again,” Grayson said.
“Last year, when he came back to us, he had been playing a lot of cricket around the world and looked a bit tired but this time, he’s looking fresh.”
Alviro Petersen has returned to South Africa and Essex will go into the match without an overseas player although they do have Ravi Bopara back who missed the defeat to Derbyshire in the previous Championship match because of injury. Tom Craddock also comes into the side with the leg-spinner replacing pace man Tymal Mills.
Although Essex have only one Championship win to their name thus far in 2012, Grayson believes that his side can still have a say in the push for promotion.
“We are still in with a chance in Championship cricket, there are nine games to go and if you get back-to-back wins in four-day cricket, you can soon shoot up the table,” he said.
“We had a very encouraging win against Gloucestershire Gladiators on Monday in the Clydesdale Bank 40 which is just what we needed. I thought that we bowled really well for 35 overs and although they got a few runs at the end of their innings when we didn’t quite get our yorkers right and we need to look at our death bowling, our performance overall with the ball was pleasing.
“Then Ravi batted beautifully and I thought that Tom Westley’s innings was superb and he’ll take a huge amount of confidence from that as well. They made the run-chase comfortable and helped us to a comfortable first win in that competition.”
The match between Essex and Northamptonshire earlier in the season at Chelmsford fell victim to the weather when the only play possible came on day two of the four days and then only 27 overs were sent down. In that time, Essex had reached 54 for six wickets with Mark Pettini was the only batsman to reach double figures.
Of the other 167 County Championship contests between the two counties, Essex have won 53 matches and lost 42 whilst one game finished as a tie.
Essex: J Foster (wkt, capt), M Pettini, T Westley, O Shah, R Bopara, B Foakes, R ten Doeschate, G Napier, D Masters, C Willoughby, T Craddock.
Source: www.eadt.co.uk
Sussex skies light up as the Jubilee beacons blaze - The Argus.co.uk
Sussex skies light up as the Jubilee beacons blaze
10:06am Wednesday 6th June 2012 in News By Bill Gardner
Night skies glowed as dozens of Jubilee beacons were set ablaze across Sussex.
Thousands of people flocked to watch the fires on Monday night which formed part of a ‘chain of light’ to celebrate 60 years of the Queen’s reign.
In Brighton and Hove, a trio of fiery beacons were lit in Rottingdean, on Hove promenade and on Brighton seafront.
The fires were lit by the mayor of Brighton and Hove, Bill Randall, council leader Jason Kitcat and the Royal British Legion.
Near the Palace Pier, crowds danced to music from brass band Fanfara and steel band Euphoria.
Dozens of other fires were lit across the county.
In East Hoathly, a 30ft wooden sculpture of Britannia complete with trident, shield and helmet was set ablaze. Sculptor Keith Pettit took three weeks and three lorry loads of scrap wood to make the female warrior before it was burned to the ground.
The beacon at Shoreham Fort took a while to get going despite the efforts of East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton.
After the event, Mr Loughton joked on social networking website Twitter: “We got the beacon alight eventually – aided by a Calor Gas blowtorch – but it was worth it.”
In Bognor, a Royal British Legion brass band played as a beacon was lit on the Place St Maur. Sky lanterns were released into the sky along with 60 helium dove balloons.
Scouts and Guides led the celebrations in Littlehampton with a colourful procession along the seafront led by a marching band.
Afterwards the mayor of Littlehampton, Coun Emma Neno, lit the flame, helped by the winner of a children’s fancy dress contest held in Mewsbrook Park.
Revellers in Seaford were treated to a hi-tech laser show at Seaford Head before the traditional beacon was lit by laser from the ancient Martello Tower above Seaford Museum.
Source: www.theargus.co.uk
Kent State’s rotation has it rolling along - Register-Guard
When a team loses six players to the pro baseball draft — four in the top 10 rounds — and among them is a left-handed ace who passes up his junior year to sign a contract, the likelihood of a breakthrough season seems slim.
One year after Kent State suffered that very fate, however, here are the Golden Flashes, in the NCAA super regional round for the first time in school history, and coming to Eugene this weekend to play Oregon for a spot in the College World Series.
Twelve months removed from a “heartbreaking” loss to Texas in the Golden Flashes’ 11th regional appearance, and from losing their top two starters plus their closer to the draft, Kent State beat Kentucky twice and Purdue once to win a regional last week. The Golden Flashes open a three-game series against Oregon on Saturday at 8 p.m. in PK Park.
“When we lost last year in the regional final, it was heartbreaking,” Kent State coach Scott Stricklin said. “It was really tough. It’s been a long year thinking about it.
“If you were to ask me last year which team would have a chance to make a super regional, every one of us I think would have said that team. But that just speaks volumes about the kids we have — blue-collar, hard-working kids who have exceeded expectations.”
Kent State’s 2011 staff ace, Andrew Chafin, was selected with a compensatory first-round pick in last year’s pro draft. Closer Kyle McMillen was taken in the fourth round, and 2011 Mid-American Conference pitcher of the year Kyle Hallock went in the 10th round.
And yet, starting pitching has improbably been Kent State’s strength this season. David Starn, a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft, will start Saturday against the Ducks, putting on the line a 10-3 record and 2.01 ERA, with 118 strikeouts in 107 2/3 innings.
As a third-year starter, Starn was the sure thing this season. More surprising have been contributions from Kent State’s other two starters. Ryan Bores (9-2, 3.29), a junior college transfer who passed up a pro contract after being drafted last season, will start Sunday’s second game, and Virginia transfer Tyler Skulina (11-2, 3.84) would start game three Monday, if Oregon and Kent State split the first two.
“We lost a lot of impact arms off last year’s team,” Stricklin said. “That was the big question mark coming in — could we have guys fill those shoes? And Ryan Bores and Tyler Skulina have been outstanding.”
No more so than in the regional round. Starn started the opener against Kentucky, which lasted an incredible 21 innings, severely stressing each team’s bullpen. Bores responded by throwing a complete game in the win over Purdue, and Skulina lasted seven innings to win his school-record 11th game in the regional final against Kentucky.
David Lyon, a four-year starter at catcher for Kent State, said the three starters present three vastly different styles. Starn is a lefty who relies on off-speed stuff, Bores uses on his sinker and slider to get groundball outs, and Skulina is the power arm of the group.
“Going from a soft lefty to a sinker-slider guy that’s at 91 (mph) with a lot of sink, to a guy that’s 6-5, 250 pounds and runs it up there at 96, that’s a big change,” Lyon said.
Stricklin calls Lyon “as good a defensive catcher as there is.” In a rare responsibility for this level, Lyon calls pitches himself in most situations, rather than the coaching staff.
“It is unique in the college game, but that’s the kind of leader he is,” Stricklin said. “He’s just outstanding.”
Kent State’s leadership as a whole was tested this season, Stricklin said, when the Golden Flashes played less than inspired baseball from the start. They still looked like a strong candidate to win their conference, but at the midway point there were few signs this would be the Kent State to break through in the postseason.
The low point came at Bowling Green in mid-April, when the Golden Flashes dropped two of three, their first MAC defeats of the season, to a team without a strong recent tradition. Since then, they’ve won 24 of 26, including a national-best 20 straight entering this weekend’s super regional.
“Our seniors really took over the team, made sure our guys were doing the little things in practice,” Stricklin said. “And we’ve just been really sharp and played good baseball ever since.”
This weekend, that streak will go against an Oregon team that also swept through its regional in impressive fashion.
“I feel good about where our team is, but going all the way across the country to play a top-five team that’s competed at such a high level in the Pac-12, it’s a tough challenge,” Stricklin said. “But we’ve got good baseball players who play hard and play with confidence. We’ll be ready to play.”
Said Lyon: “We’re 54 outs away from Omaha. It’s crazy to say that. I think everyone wants to get to Omaha so bad, we’re going to be playing our hearts out. Even if we end up on the losing end, we’re going to leave everything on the field.”
Source: www.registerguard.com
Loose bowling tops County order of Essex troubles - This is Gloucestershire
ALEX Gidman was left to rue a sluggish start with the ball as a Ravi Bopara-inspired Essex eased to an eight-wicket CB40 victory over Gloucestershire.
On his return to the Eagles line-up the England star stroked an imperious unbeaten 120 as the hosts powered through to win with 19 balls to spare.
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Kane Williamson hit 73 for Gloucestershire
Earlier a superb 73 from Kiwi star Kane Williamson and gutsy half-century from Ian Cockbain helped Gloucestershire post a competitive 224 for five.
But despite claiming the early wicket of Mark Pettini, thanks to a catch from skipper Gidman off Ian Saxelby the Eagles took control.
Bopara took control, combining in a partnership of 185 for the second wicket with Terry Westley (82) to punish some errant bowling as the hosts took firm control.
"We didn't bowl as well as we can at the start of the Essex innings. If you give class players easy scoring opportunities they will take them," Gidman said.
"The pitch stayed pretty consistent all through and if you bowled at the top of off stump it was hard to score. Essex did that better than us."
Gidman was happy with the way his side wrestled back their innings after a slow start in which the Essex bowling attack got on top.
Kiwi star Williamson, who will leave for New Zealand's tour of the West Indies at the end of the month, again looked in fine form.
There were also telling lower order contributions from Ian Cockbain, who hit an unbeaten half-century, and seasonal debutant Jack Taylor who blasted 22 off 12 balls.
"I felt momentum was with us at the end of our innings. We are a developing batting unit and have guys who can strike the ball well in the closing overs," Gidman said.
"It might have been a slightly below-par score, but if we had taken a few wickets early on it would have been competitive.
Dspite defeat Gidman remains confident that Gloucestershire can challenge for the top positions in their CB 40 group this term.
The Netherlands have raced away at the top of the table, but with plenty of home games to come, not least a triple header at the county's Cheltenham Festival fortress, Gidman is taking an optimistic outlook.
"It's a blow, but only the Netherlands are on a roll in our group, with the rest of the teams beating each other, so we are still well in it," he said.
Gloucestershire return to CB40 action on Sunday when they make the short trip to New Road to face Worcestershire.
The Friends Life t20 then kicks-off on Thursday with the visit of local rivals Somerset to Bristol for a game that star t20 signing Muttiah Muralitharan is set to play.
Source: www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk
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