Cook rubbish ball-tampering talk

Alastair Cook has fervently denied Umar Gul's charge that England bowlers Stuart Broad and James Anderson have occupied in ball tampering.

Gul claimed Anderson tampered with the ball during Pakistan's contentious 2010 tour of England and that Broad did the same in the most recent Ashes series in Australia.

He said: "During our series against England last year I saw [James] Anderson was doing it (ball tampering). Against Australia, when they [England] won the Ashes, everyone saw Broad use his shoe to scratch the ball."

England one-day captain Cook hit back at the 27-year-old's claims today, saying: "We certainly haven't tampered with the ball and if he did have any complaint he should have gone to the ICC over that.

"I think he has approximately said himself that it has been a bit of a mountain out of a molehill."

Gul came out with claim that Broad and Anderson illegally tampered with the ball after reading retired Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar's memoirs, which contains an admission that he took part in ball tampering during his career.

Cook was speaking at London Heathrow airport ahead of his team's leaving to India, where they will play five 50-over games and one Twenty20 over the next four weeks.

Cook led the ODI team to a 3-0 win over the Indians in England this summer after Andrew Strauss had skippered the team to a 5-0 Test whitewash.

Cook admit playing the 50-over world champions on their own soil will be a much harder task, but has still back his men to win.

"I surely think we can beat India," Cook said."It will be extremely tough. We need everyone to be playing very well.

"We all know what the one-day crowds are like over there. They love their cricket. "Delivering our skills when 50,000 or 60,000 people are screaming and when balls are flying all over the place will also be a key factor, but absolutely with this squad I think we can do something actually special."

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Ganga aim for NCL T20 semis spot

T&T captain Daren Ganga said they will now play with expect and faith to qualify for the semifinals of the NCL T20.

Ganga was dissatisfied that his team lost two close ties earlier in the event but said they wanted to do something significant on Sunday against Chennai Super Kings as it was the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.

"Obviously, we were dissatisfied with our two losses earlier. Both were very close games which went down to the last over. And, that is the beauty of 20-20 cricket. Today, we played wonderfully to get them over the line," Ganga said.

"You can say that our bowling was very good next to the Mumbai Indians, though we just did not put good total on the board. And, it is always good to obtain a win very early in a competition.

"This day is a very special day as it is the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi and we required to do something important. For us coming from Trinidad, not receiving those wins was a bit unlucky," he said.

"We consideration today is going to be our day. We had that faith as a team. There is more chance of qualify as well. We will play with that hope and that belief. God only knows as to what will happen in the last game. But, we powerfully feel that we will qualify for the semifinals," Ganga added.

Trinidad & Tobago, who lost by one-wicket to Mumbai Indians before being beaten by New South Wales in a one-over eliminator, finally tasted success when they hit title holders Chennai by 12 runs in a low-scoring Group A match.

The Caribbean side will now next take on South Africa's Cape Cobras on Tuesday in their last match of the group stage.

"It was not easy (win) at all. We saw in the first game itself that it is tough to bat to put up a huge total. We realised that and recognize that and we stuck to get as much runs as probable," Ganga said.

"We might not make 150 or so but were very contending with 130. We were satisfied with that and we fight with confidence with the total as such."

Ganga said his side doesn't have any big name and their power lies in team coordination.

"As I said before the event, our strength is on our team members. We do not have big players who had played in the IPL. But, we have got players who appreciate their roles. We taught and ready them with certain philosophies," he said.

"All in all, all the guys are put their weight to add as a team and get success that we had (against Chennai)."

Off-spinner Sunil Narine, who took three critical wickets giving away just eight runs in his four over’s to set up the win for Trinidad & Tobago, said he has a special release up his sleeves, which he developed after spending hours at the nets.

"We play wind ball (tennis ball with a tape) cricket. I just had been bowling and trained that delivery regularly. I got it by practicing and working regularly," Narine said.

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Chennai pitch rough to score on

After beat to the NSW Blues, Mumbai Indians all-rounder James Franklin say the MA Chidambaram Stadium pitch in Chennai is one of the most challenging he has played on.

"It's almost certainly one of the more challenging pitches I've played on in my vocation," Franklin said after the match.

"It was really, really tough looking to score runs up front and it was real attach, credit to New South Wales, I think they bowled exceptionally well, they stuck to the basics, which came out really well."

Batting first, Mumbai could only post 100 for seven and would not have reach three figures but for Franklin's winning knock of 42.

"It was a case of trying to get runs; I think we were 20 or 30 runs short. (A total of) 130 would have made the game really interesting. But our bowlers bowled exceptionally well, they gave us a chance of winning, but Steven Smith and Ben Rohrer (who shared an unbeaten 63-run partnership for the sixth wicket) batted wonderfully and saved New South Wales," he said.

Franklin also defended the attacking fields set by Mumbai captain Harbhajan Singh when New South Wales were in trouble at 28 for five. The Australian outfits were still able to milk singles and decrease the force building on their team.

"We were trying to take wickets and also aware of not giving away too many runs. (But) you've got to pay credit to those two guys out there (Rohrer and Smith), who were able to turn strike in the middle with minimal risk," Franklin said.

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Trinidad and Tobago beat Chennai Kings

Trinidad and Tobago 123 for 8 (Perkins 34, Cooper 28, Jakati 2-18) hit Chennai Super Kings 111 for 6 (Bravo 32*, Narine 3-8) by 12 runs

Dwayne Bravo attempt to save the situation with 32 from 22 balls and Albie Morkel hit 18 from 12 but it was too little too late.

Doug Bollinger take three for 30 and Shadab Jakati two for 18 as the West Indian side were limited to 123 for eight, with only Kevon Cooper's late assault lifting their total to that mark.

It proved crucial, though, as Chennai struggle to 111 for six in reply, with Sunil Narine taking three for eight from his four overs.

T and T openers Lendl Simmons (20) and William Perkins (34) put on 52, taking 9.3 overs to do so, but only Adrian Barath (23) contribute further as they fell to 92 for six.

But Cooper, whose preceding seven Twenty20 innings had yield just 39 runs at an average of 7.80 and a run a ball, club three sixes and a four as he made 28 from 10 balls to set up a competitive total.

Mike Hussey's 13 were the best of a weak contribution from Chennai's top order, with even Subramaniam Badrinath's 14 occupying 26 deliveries. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni summed up the hosts' struggle with seven from 22 balls before offering a return catch to Narine.

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