Michael Clarke’s performances over the last year or so have suggested that he is a huge star in the making, and he hopes to reinforce that belief if picked for the Australian Test squad that will tour India in October. Clarke had a fantastic time in India during the TVS Cup triangular series last year, picking up seven wickets and making 118 runs as Australia romped to victory.”I love playing in India,” he said, speaking to reporters in Amsterdam. “I don’t mind the ball spinning. Hopefully I will be selected and show my ability there, both against pace and spin.”Interestingly, Clarke’s coach-cum-manager, Neil de Costa, is of Indian origin, and was involved in his initiation into the game. In fact, it was de Costa who made the nine-year-old Clarke pick up a bat for the first time.Clarke acknowledged de Costa’s influence and said, “His parents are Indians and we did a lot of work playing spin bowling. I have also been brought up playing a lot of spin. My wickets at home are a little slower than the other wickets you commonly find in Australia.”There was also a mention of Shane Warne, who had helped him out with his spin bowling. “Warney has been fantastic, a brilliant bowler and a great person. I think he has helped me a lot with my cricket and definitely with my bowling.”Clarke’s one-day batting average is an impressive 43.47 after 29 games, often while batting as low as No. 6 or 7. But though he made a scintillating hundred in a tour match against India at Hobart last December, a modest first-class average (37.83) might count against him when the selectors pick a side to win in India for the first time since 1969-70. Given his talent, though, an Indian tour is probably just the challenge he needs to take his game up a notch.
India’s cricketers won’t be lacking for advice when New Zealand tour travel there next month for a Test and one-day series.With the Indian team scheduled to arrive in Bangalore ahead of their preparatory camp, Kapil Dev – their former captain and coach – echoed the words of John Wright, warning them not to take New Zealand lightly.Kapil said the conditions would be tough for New Zealand, but that had always been the case. The New Zealanders are used to playing on green pitches, that have recently proved to have more bounce as well.India has rarely provided those sorts of conditions and after the problems experienced by New Zealand’s groundsmen last summer, it was always likely that India’s pitches for the return visit would be low on the user-friendly scale for the New Zealanders.Kapil said New Zealand had a reputation for rising to an occasion, and that was what made them dangerous. He also said that he didn’t think New Zealand were convincing winners over India last summer – it was just that they exploited the conditions better.Wright said the New Zealanders were “under-rated”. They had performed well on the recent tour of Sri Lanka, and Wright said it was up to India to perform better, and to build on their good home record. Both Kapil and Wright were happy with the depth emerging in the pace bowling department.Wright added he had no problems with the fact that the Board of Control for Cricket in India had chosen 36 players for the conditioning camp. The exercise would be good from a fitness point of view, and he was confident he could handle the numbers.
South Australia has surged to a powerful innings and 40 run win over a bruised and battered Tasmania on the fourth and final day of the teams’ Pura Cup clash here in Hobart today.After their batsmen completely outwitted the Tasmanian bowlers yesterday, it was the turn of a depleted attack today to impressively secure the Redbacks’ first outright points of the season.The home team was murdered one day and buried the next.In skittling Tasmania for a paltry second innings total of 167, the South Australians defied the forecast of grim weather that never materialised and longstanding perceptions about the placid nature of Bellerive’s pitch. Accordingly, they emphatically reversed the result of an equally crushing defeat in the corresponding match last season.Darren Lehmann, the chief architect of the Redbacks’ already powerful position by the end of the third day, declared his team’s first innings closed at the mammoth overnight score of 5/589, leaving Tasmania with the exercise of accumulating 207 runs before the visitors would even be required to bat againIt was a task that quickly began to overwhelm them.Opener Dene Hills, still nursing a strained abductor muscle from yesterday, was unable to bat as the Tigers’ innings began.Worse news was to come as their customary mainstay, Jamie Cox (0), fell to an lbw decision when playing well forward to Mark Harrity (5/65) on just the second delivery of the innings. Though it took a while longer for the second victim to succumb – makeshift opener Michael Dighton (15) failing to remove his gloves from the line of a delivery that steepled from a good length – it set an ominous tone.On a day when the Tasmanian Cricket Association had thrown open its doors to the public to show off its new grandstand, its batsmen subscribed to a revolving door policy instead.In taking each of the first four wickets to tumble and splitting the most meaningful partnership of the innings when he forced top scorer Shane Watson (58) to play a delivery back into the stumps, it was Harrity who instigated a stunning collapse that saw seven wickets crash for the addition of a mere 25 runs in mid-afternoon.Harrity was an immensely promising left arm tearaway when he first entered first-class cricket in 1993-94, but his career has been stalled by a series of cruel injury blows in each of the eight seasons that have passed since. In the absence from the attack of Jason Gillespie on account of international duty, and the injured Paul Wilson, Brett Swain, Mick Miller, Ryan Harris and Greg Blewett, he chose a propitious time to rediscover some of his old fire today.Paul Rofe (3/24) complemented Harrity with impeccable accuracy and similarly produced career-best figures, and spinner Brad Young (2/71) also snared two vital wickets amid Tasmania’s crumble.Though Watson and Daniel Marsh (31) stood firm with a 75-run stand for the third wicket, and last pair Sean Clingeleffer (28*) and Shane Jurgensen (7) defied the inevitable for a plucky 61 minutes, they were the only three bowlers needed.”It’s been a long time coming,” said Harrity of his triumphant performance.”I haven’t managed to get through a full season in nine seasons so that’s the main aim this year and hopefully to live up to what’s been expected of me for nine years.”Darren Lehmann turned the game for us (yesterday), along with Greg Blewett. It was some of the best batting I’ve ever seen. That put us all on a high and I went to bed last night thinking ‘if we stick at it here today, you never know’.”What Harrity scarcely needed to add was that, throughout this match, his team far better understood the imperative of pitching the ball in the right areas on a pitch that offered consistent and sometimes menacing life.Because, amid the ruin of the last two days, the message had already been etched firmly on Tasmania’s tombstone.
Crystal Palace and Southampton are both eyeing moves for Tottenham midfielder Harry Winks, according to The Daily Star.
The Lowdown: Winks’ lack of game-time
The 26-year-old has struggled to become a regular for Spurs this season, starting just nine Premier League games.
He has regularly featured in cup competitions but doesn’t appear to be in Antonio Conte’s first-choice XI, playing just two league minutes in Tottenham’s last four games.
Winks is out of contract in 2024, and it seems as if a move across London could well be on the cards this summer.
The Latest: Palace keen on Winks
The Daily Star shared a story regarding Winks on Saturday evening, revealing that both Palace and Southampton are keen on a move for the 26-year-old.
Spurs will reportedly listen to sensible offers for the midfielder over the coming months, with the player not featuring in Conte’s long-term plans.
The Verdict: Smart target?
Even though Winks has fallen out of favour in north London, he could still be a shrewd signing by Patrick Vieira for Palace. The England international has been labelled by Paul Robinson as ‘one of the best’ who ‘dominates the game’, and he has a wealth of Premier League experience.
You could argue that he should be in the prime of his career at the age of 26, and with a Transfermarkt valuation of £15.3m, a move could be one to keep an eye on for Eagles fans over the coming months.
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Vieira also has just five defensive and central midfielders on the books on a permanent basis, two of whom are out of contract over the next few months, so that could be in Palace’s thinking when it comes to their interest in Winks.
In other news: ‘Appalling…’ – Matt Woosnam fumes as off-field news involving Crystal Palace is confirmed
Vernon Philander has been ruled out of the Test series against England due to the ankle injury he sustained in India while Dale Steyn is only rated 50-50 for the third Test in Johannesburg but Kyle Abbott has recovered from his hamstring strain.Steyn suffered a shoulder injury in Durban which ruled him out of the New Year Test at Newlands and will now see another specialist for a second opinion ahead of a fitness test when the squad meets up again in Johannesburg on Monday.On Tuesday, Steyn was in good spirits over his fitness when he tweeted: “Start bowling again today. #lekker.” However, it would be no surprise if South Africa took a cautious approach after his recent injury history.Steyn has been injured nine times in the last two-and-a-half years, has sat out four of their last six Tests, and his problems seem to stem from each other. He missed three of the four matches in India after suffering a groin strain in the first Test which ultimately resulted in seven weeks on the sidelines.That lengthy period of time off the field contributed to the shoulder problem, caused from heavy bowling loads in the Durban Test after a period of rest.”Vernon Philander is a no-go for the Test series. He is still very much in his rehab phase,” Mohammad Moosajee, the South Africa team manager, said. “Kyle Abbott has made a full recovery from his hamstring strain and he will be ready for the Johannesburg Test.”Dale Steyn is pretty much 50-50. He has got another appointment with a shoulder specialist in Cape Town tomorrow for another opinion and will be reassessed when we regroup in Johannesburg on Monday.”The full squad for the final two Tests will be named on Friday with the main debate surrounding a potential replacement opener for Stiaan van Zyl. Stephen Cook would be the favourite if a player from outside the current squad was called in.South Africa’s performance at Newlands, where they made England nervous on the final day, has eased some of their other form concerns around the top order. Hashim Amla, who has stepped down as captain, made 201 while Faf du Plessis made a battling 86. Most significantly, though, was the century for Temba Bavuma which has secured his long-term spot in the middle order.
It has emerged that Worcestershire have joined the list of counties looking to sign Glamorgan’s injury-hit fast bowler Simon Jones.Jones, whose contract expires at the end of the month, has already been linked with a move to Hampshire and has held preliminary discussions with them. Glamorgan are also keen to keep him.However, Steve Rhodes, Worcestershire’s director of cricket, revealed that he had met with Jones as well. “We were given permission to speak to Simon and that is what we have done,” he told the Press Association. “We are interested in him and we wouldn’t have spoken to him if we weren’t.””Simon met with Steve on Sunday,” Worcestershire chief executive Mark Newton said. “It was an exploratory meeting and I believe it was very positive. But we have not offered Simon anything yet. We are expecting some feedback from him shortly and then we will move on from there.”It is no secret that we need quality seam bowlers and Simon is certainly one of those. But his medical history will mean that there must be an air of caution.”Jones has played little cricket since his Ashes-wining exploits in 2005. In two seasons he has managed only five Championship appearances in which he has taken two wickets at 193.00. He has continued to be dogged by knee and calf injuries and when he has played, he has not come close to being able to bowl flat out.The other factor is that Jones is no longer on an ECB central contract and so any county signing him would have to be prepared to pay all his salary, and he won’t come cheap despite his fitness record.
Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, refused to show any concerns over South Africa’s performance after his side were easily beaten by the Titans on Sunday.”We have played four matches in seven days and the guys may have been a bitwary out in the field”, he said after spending a long time with the squad atthe end of play. “We started out with certain plans in mind before thesefive matches and they are very much coming together. The goals that we haveset before leaving for India have been achieved and I am not concerned withthe outcome today. It was a lot easier for [the Titans] to bemotivated for today than what we were, and they played well. This win willmean a lot to them”.Arthur also dismissed concerns about the little niggling injuries affecting the squad.”Graeme Smith is just about 100% fit and he could have batted today, butwe decided to give him as much rest as possible,” he said. “He will play in thefirst warm-up match in India. Herschelle Gibbs is almost fit as well andhe may play this weekend in the opening domestic matches. The same goes forCharl Langeveldt who was replaced by Andre Nel for today. Loots Bosman could not field as he has an injured shoulder and Andrew (Hall) was not feeling well so wedid not use him in the death overs.”The South African fourth seamer seems to have been a problem in the past fewmatches but again Arthur is not concerned. “We have selection options thatare open to us as we are lucky to have players that can be used in variouscombinations. Robin Petersen has improved in every match and bowled welltoday. We have got him bowling a bit quicker and keeping it wicket-to-wicket”.Arthur however agrees that the only concern is the South African over-rate.”We keep a close eye on it and are in constant contact with thethird umpire,” he said. “We are still cutting it a bit close and I would hate to losethe captain in a match ban for something like this. Graeme already has a ICCwarning hanging over his head. We talk a lot about it, we keep tabs on it,but we still seem to be pushing the limits”.With the one-day domestic season starting this weekend, Arthur hasreleased those who are fit enough to play for some additional match practise beforeflying out to India in two weeks time.
Mohammad Ali, a left-arm fast-medium bowler from Pakistan, has signed for Middlesex. Ali, 31, formerly of Derbyshire, has taken 264 first-class wickets at an average of 32.60.Middlesex’s coach John Emburey told the BBC: “We have to strengthen up in the seam bowling area and hopefully there will be a couple more signings this winter.”Ali recently qualified for England, and played for Herefordshire in 2005.
Although facing some of the greatest challenges in its history, the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) has been strangely evasive in its public dealings. It took no public position on ProCricket although repeatedly asked to do so, refused to even explain (let alone justify) its team selection procedures of recent months, and turned a deaf ear to all questions about what it was doing and why.The only reliable source of information about USACA is the proverbial grapevine. Typically, some member of USACA’s "inner circle" will anonymously post a sensitive letter, e-mail or memo on a bulletin board, a web site or on the internet. This will be picked up by other equally anonymous folk, and the flurry of e-mails will bring a lot of hitherto unknown facts to light. Then, as the correspondence subsides, all is silence again–until the next leak, or unexpected revelation.This is just what happened over the last two weeks. A series of internal memos between members of the USACA executive and board of directors has surfaced on the internet, and is busily doing the rounds. Taken as a whole, they do not present a pretty picture of the USACA’s inner workings.The current squabble revolves around the selection procedures for the USA team for the 2004 Under-15 tournament in Cayman Islands. The New York region, which has had a running feud with USACA ever since it felt cheated out of USACA’s top offices in 2003 by an alleged conspiracy between the other regions, was the first to protest, claiming that its youngsters had been totally ignored by the selectors. Then, a more serious protest, "quoting chapter and verse", was lodged by the Northwest region–its director posted documentary evidence for five nominations it had made to the USACA selection committee and pointedly asked what criteria, if any, had been used to reject his nominees.This challenge was altogether too much for an ex-president of the USACA, who is widely rumoured to be the "invisible hand" behind US team selections. After congratulating the USA Under-15 team for their performance in the Cayman Islands, he took direct aim at the Northwest director in what amounted to a character assassination–and he made sure that all other USACA directors, and all USACA executives, got the message. This ex-president is widely credited with engineering the coup that knocked the New York region out of all positions of control in the USACA, and putting in place a president, Gladstone Dainty, who had served as his USACA treasurer. His incendiary attack on the Northwest region director set off all kinds of reactions across the US cricket community, and before long the rumor mills–and the web sites– were churning furiously.This exchange of e-mails exposed the ruthlessness that underlies USACA’s docile public face. Any perceived threat to its ways of doing things, and its chiefs go for the jugular, trying to silence its critics by any means necessary. USACA has been especially successful in this activity because of tactit support from the ICC, which refuses to deal with any other entity in US cricket. Whether those days will come to an end now that ICC has established a presence in this country via its Project USA remains to be seen — but few bets are currently being placed on either side.The internet correspondence also provided some juicy tidbits about what has been going on behind the scenes at USACA. It appears that the energetic P. K. Guha, first vice-president of USACA who had openly challenged the president and the USACA board of directors over their lethargy and inaction, resigned rather than wait to be fired by the Board. Guha was the one member of the USACA executive who had been elected as in "independent", i.e. owing nothing to any of the factions that have dominated the USACA for the past five years. His sudden departure can only cast further doubt on USACA’s ability to manage the affairs of US Cricket.The divisions within the USACA board on what to do about ProCricket were also highlighted in the e-mails. Apparently, on the basis of his unedited comments, the ex-USACA president has been leading the charge against ProCricket. The current USACA secretary has argued in favour of leaving ProCricket alone, the current president has refused to take a firm position, and the treasurer has adroitly avoided being put on the spot. With the USACA executive being so hopelessly at odds over as important a challenge as ProCricket, it is easy to see why nothing has been accomplished by USACA in the past few months.Which brings us to the real question. Apart from its politics–what is the USACA doing for US Cricket?The answer would have to be, nothing much; or more accurately, nothing that one knows of. USACA’s five-year plan, written in 2000 at the urging of the ICC, is gathering dust on the shelves with most of its domestic objectives unmet. Its promises to develop junior cricket across the USA, to develop a national umpiring program, to secure better facilities and resources, and to implement a series of initiatives to make cricket more accessible to the US community, have been largely unfulfilled – any successes in these areas have been local or at best regional, with little participation or input from USACA.A perfect example of this do-nothing attitude is provided by some of the incidental e-mails. The next big event on the USACA’s domestic calendar is supposed to be the national Under-19 Championships, which are supposed to take place around mid-August. Someone asked, disarmingly enough, what the USACA was doing about it, since it was only three weeks away. The final answer – from a member of the USACA executive who would undoubtedly wish to remain anonymous – was that he had heard nothing about it, no one had even discussed the event with him, so it was (for all practical purposes) a non-event! Yet there it is, prominently displayed on the USACA web site.It is not clear that the USACA even knows how to proceed on a national basis with such goals. There are no professional marketers or sports managers at the board or executive level in the USACA, and no indication that there will be any in the near future. This is where Project USA, and its new CEO might help–but only if USACA’s leadership is prepared to listen–become more transparent and open in their dealings, and give up on backroom politics as their reason for continuing to exist.
Ian Ward hits out during Surrey’s chase for quick runs Kent at The Oval
Surrey 245 for 3 v Kent at The Oval Scorecard Report to follow at the close of play.Essex 6 for 2 v Lancashire 218 at Chelmsford Scorecard Report to follow at the close of play.Leicestershire 72 for 1 v Warwickshire 253 at Leicester Scorecard Report to follow at the close of play.Frizzell County Championship Division TwoDerbyshire v Yorkshire 314 for 7 at Derby Scorecard Report to follow at the close of play.Northamptonshire 20 for 3 v Hampshire 125 at Northampton Scorecard Report to follow at the close of play.Somerset 100 for 2 v Gloucestershire 228 at Taunton Scorecard Report to follow at the close of play.Worcestershire 218 v Durham 100 for 8 at Worcester Scorecard Report to follow at the close of play.