Scorecard Mathew Harvie took 5 for 40 in Otago’s 61-run win over Northern Districts in their State Shield match at the University Oval in Dunedin. Opener Craig Cumming made 112 off 129 balls and helped Otago set Northern a target of 280. Northern were bowled out for 218.Before Cumming was run-out for the seventh wicket he added 53 with Aaron Redmond, 47 with Neil Broom, and 53 with Greg Todd.Harvie had Nick Horsley, the Northern opener, trapped leg before with his third ball of the day. He then dismissed the other opener, Alun Evans, and Peter McGlashan as Northern crawled to 51 in 14.4 overs. Mark Orchard and Joseph Yovich, who top-scored with 50, steadied the innings with a 61-run partnership for the sixth wicket which was ultimately broken by Turner, who ended with 3 for 32.Auckland’s match against Wellington at Eden Park and Central Districts match against Canterbury at Pukekura Park were abandoned without a ball being bowled.
James Anderson and Alex Loudon have been omitted from the Test squad to tour India, but they are the only changes from the party that lost 2-0 against Pakistan. However, the selectors have left one space free, which will be filled by a third spinner once the fitness of Ashley Giles has been assessed.Simon Jones returns after recovering from surgery to the bone spur on his right ankle. He is due to spend ten days at the MRF Pace Academy, in Chennai, to continue his rehabilitation. Liam Plunkett’s encouraging performances on his Test debut at Lahore, and in the following one-day series, have been enough to pip Anderson to the reserve pace bowling slot.Anderson retains his place in the one-day squad but the end of Darren Gough’s international career is a step closer with his omission. Vikram Solanki’s stop-start career has again been halted with Ian Bell preferred, lending further weight to the theory that England still don’t know their best one-day team.The chairman of selectors, David Graveney, said: “Although we lost the series [in Pakistan], there were some encouraging individual performances from players who are new to Test cricket and we are keen to continue their development.””With regard to injured players, Michael Vaughan and Ashley Giles both underwent operations before Christmas and their rehabilitation programmes are progressing according to plan. We do, however, intend to name an additional spinner in the Test squad once we have had an opportunity to further re-assess Ashley’s fitness nearer to the time of our departure for India.”Graveney explained that the one-day squad was selected with a view to the World Cup: “Plunkett has made a promising start to his international career and is an emerging player with great potential. Bell has also been named in both squads as we believe his ability to bat in the top order will give us another option as we continue to plan for the World Cup in 2007.”Solanki will be disappointed not to make the trip to India but he is still part of our plans for the future and is one of a number of players on the fringes of selection for the one-day squad.”Commenting on Gough’s omission, he said that the performance of the younger seamers had encouraged the selectors to stick with them for India. “Gough asked the selectors not to consider him for the tour of Pakistan for personal reasons and we respected his wishes.”With Plunkett and Anderson performing well in Pakistan, and Jones now available for selection again, the selectors feel the priority is for these players to gain as much experience of one-day cricket as possible, ahead of the World Cup, and as a result Gough misses out.”The news will not come as a surprise to Gough, who had earlier told that he was not expecting a recall. “I’m not a 20-year-old who’s out there demanding a place. I’m mature and I can understand they want to go with the young guys.”Of course I am disappointed because I still think I am one of the best bowlers at the end of a one-day match. You can’t buy one of them at a local superstore – it takes years and years.”England Test squad Michael Vaughan* (capt), Marcus Trescothick*, Andrew Strauss*, Ian Bell*, Kevin Pietersen*, Andrew Flintoff*, Paul Collingwood*, Geraint Jones*, Matt Prior, Ashley Giles*, Shaun Udal, Liam Plunkett, Matthew Hoggard*, Simon Jones*, Steve Harmison*. *denotes 12-month central contractOne-day squad Michael Vaughan (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Geraint Jones, Matt Prior, Ashley Giles, Ian Blackwell, Kabir Ali, Liam Plunkett, Simon Jones, Steve Harmison, James Anderson.
Two Christmases ago, Simon Jones was contemplating the prospect of never setting foot on a cricket pitch again, after that fearful knee injury at Brisbane which kept him out of all forms of cricket for 16 months. Today, however, his thrilling diving catch at fine leg, and his subsequent dismissals of Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock from consecutive deliveries, gave England the momentum they needed to push for an eighth Test win in a row.Jones was rather more subdued in front of the microphones than he had been on the pitch, however, where he greeted the wicket of Kallis by charging down to third man and leaping into the arms of Matthew Hoggard. “The boys have been giving me a good ribbing about that,” he admitted, after a bizarre celebration, which resulted – puzzingly enough – in Hoggard grabbing his ears and squeezing them as hard as he could.It was that earlier catch, however, that really set England on the road towards victory. “It gave us a bit of a buzz,” said Jones, who understandably enough has not been England’s most mobile fielder since his comeback. “It was one of those where you get into position and it just sticks. Fred [Flintoff] thought it was going to come straight to me, but in the end it was awkward and I had to stretch for it.”
Pollock himself came close to trumping Jones’s starring role, when – having just removed Marcus Trescothick with the first ball of the innings – he followed up with a perilously close shout for lbw against Mark Butcher. “I haven’t seen it yet, but it must have been close,” agreed Pollock. “But when you’re defending small totals you need those 50/50s to go your way.”He admitted: “It was a disappointing day for us. We’d talked about 270 being a tough target here, with the wicket going up and down, and we were conscious we needed a big partnership. The luck didn’t go our way, but cricket’s a strange game. We’ll be fighting to the end, and there’ll be some serious headlines if we pull off a win.”Pollock was at least pleased that his side had been wrapped up in a close duel for four days of the Test, and predicted an even contest for the rest of the series as well. “It’s been good Test cricket,” he said. “England were in the pound seats after Day Three, we showed some good character to fight back, and the people have enjoyed watching it. It’s been entertaining stuff.”One of the most entertaining moments was an explosive delivery from the young speedster Dale Steyn, which nipped away to detonate Michael Vaughan’s off stump. “I certainly enjoyed it!” enthused Pollock. “Dale’s an exciting talent – he’s got good gas, and a good wrist on him as well. It comes out nicely with a good seam. He’s a huge find, and I hope he kicks on and plays a big part in the series.”And Pollock warned: “We’ll come out fighting tomorrow,” before taking a sneak peak towards the heavens. “It would only be human to wake up and look out of the curtains to check the weather. England are favourites, but if we can put a run together, like Makhaya [Ntini] did in the first innings, then anything can happen.”
Matthew Hayden believed that for much of the first day of the Test against Zimbabwe in Perth he batted within himself. It was only after scoring his century that he felt compelled to start expanding his game.Speaking after stumps, at which time he was 183 not out, he said: “From a hundred on, I really started to feel good. The next fifty seemed to come up in a few minutes.”Geoff Marsh was disappointed with Zimbabwe’s day as he told the players at stumps that for all but the last hour they had played “really good Test cricket. We bowled good lines, played to our game plan.”We held Australia. But it just goes to show what a great side they are. In the half an hour after tea we just let the game drift. We bowled the two spinners for too long. We should have brought the quicks back on a bit earlier.”Marsh was surprised at the lack of swing with an easterly blowing all day, but he agreed the pitch was slow and it had been a very good batting strip.
The Hero-Honda Challenger Trophy 2002 threw up a result that can only be described as good for Indian cricket at large when India `A’ beat the India Seniors team by two wickets with almost two overs to spare. The opening match of the tournament threw up some strong performances, none more so than the one from Yuvraj Singh, who notched up the only half-century of the match, playing a leading role in his team’s triumph.When Sourav Ganguly won the toss and elected to bat first, he would have been more than a little surprised at the pace and bounce that the wicket at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium afforded. Only recently, the same ground provided a more gentle wicket for the Test match against the touring England side. With the ball moving a bit in the air and cutting off the wicket, batsmen were made to feel uncomfortable every time the seamers bowled a good line and length.Trying to work his way out of a dreadful patch in the longer version of the game, Ganguly failed, making just 2 before falling to Daniel Manohar. Deep Dasgupta (10) and Virender Sehwag (4) followed their captain back to the pavilion and India seniors were in trouble at 64/4.Hemang Badani, fighting to make his way back into the national side, struggled early on. The southpaw did not move his feet nearly as fluently as he usually does and was lucky to survive a confident shout for lbw early on. However, Badani calmed his nerves and soon began to time the ball sweetly. In the company of Jacob Martin, Badani notched up 41 (36 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) and took India seniors on to 126/5 in the 28th over before falling to Sarandeep Singh.A flurry of wickets suggested that the seniors side might fold up without playing out the 50 overs available to them. A cameo from Sunil Joshi (25) and the wholesome thumping of Harbhajan Singh (36 runs, 42 balls, 1 four, 3 sixes) saw the team notch up 229, a total that looked at best unlikely till it was achieved.The selectors present at the venue had a good chance to look at the players strutting their stuff and would have been impressed by more than one performance. With the ball for India A, Ajit Agarkar was nippy, getting the ball to skid through nicely in the course of his haul of 2/32. Sarandeep Singh too reminded the selectors that he was hot on Harbhajan Singh’s heels with a return of 3/36.It was India A who came together well on the day, teaching the India seniors side a lesson or two. Chasing the target of 230, the India A side struggled, threatened to throw it away towards the end but held on for a valuable victory.Hyderabad’s Daniel Manohar beginning patchily, playing and missing more than once, scored 37 at the top of the order, to add to his three-wicket haul. Manohar truly had a memorable game. After the fall of skipper VVS Laxman’s wicket with the score on 83, two more quick wickets fell. Manohar was cleaned up by a Bangar in-dipper and Rohan Gavaskar (4) gloved a short ball from Ganguly to the hands of Deep Dasgupta behind the stumps.Then came the phase of the game that steadied the India A innings. Yuvraj Singh, judiciously mixing caution with aggression, restated his claim for higher honours with a sprightly innings of 55 (77 balls, 6 fours). In the past, there have been innumerable occasions where the strong left-hander had got good starts, appeared in command, only to throw his wicket away. That certainly wasn’t the case today. When the ball was there to be hit, Yuvraj gave it a fair whack, but did not make a serious error till the ball that dismissed him. Losing his concentration after reaching his half-century the Punjab lad flirted with a Tinu Yohannan delivery outside the off, managing only to edge the ball through to the wicket-keeper.Ajit Agarkar (11) fell to a rash stroke at an inopportune moment soon after Yuvraj Singh’s dismissal, but India A were close enough to the target by that stage for the tail-enders to complete the job, something they duly did.If nothing else, the game will serve as a good wake up call to the India seniors side in this tournament.
The KSCA Coca Cola Under 25 encounter between hosts Karnataka andAndhra at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore was evenly poised atstumps on the second day. Andhra were leading by 222 runs with onesecond innings wicket in hand as the match looks to be heading for anoutright result on the third and final day tomorrow.Earlier in the morning Karnataka collapsed to just 167 in their firstinnings after resuming at their overnight score of 97/1. The bulk ofthe damage was done by seamer Balasaraswathi Reddy who claimed 6/61 tohelp Andhra to a first innings lead of 53. Karnataka opener ShyamPonnappa failed to add to his overnight score of 58, giving BalajiKrishna his sole wicket of the innings.The other not out batsman AR Mahesh did manage to advance his scorefrom 23 to 38 before Reddy had him caught behind. Of the rest only SSudhindra showed some inclination to stay at the wicket, making 23 inone and a quarter hours stay at the crease. MN Vikram complementedReddy’s efforts with a three wicket bag of his own.In reply Andhra got off to a dreadful start losing their first fivewickets with just 19 runs on the board, opening bowlers NC Ayyappa andSunil Kumar scalping all five wickets between them. Middle order batArjun Kumar in association with the tail sparked a recovery thatlifted Andhra to 169/9 at stumps. Arjun was undefeated on a priceless56 (87 balls, 5 fours) while Ayyappa returned figures of 5/44 as thematch heads to an interesting climax.
Sunderland boss Alex Neil picked up another win in the third tier over the weekend as his side beat Gillingham 1-0 at the Stadium of Light.
Nathan Broadhead’s diving header in the last minute sealed the three points to keep the Black Cats in the race to land a play-off spot.
They are currently two points behind 5th-placed Sheffield Wednesday in the table as they attempt to land a top-six place between now and the end of the regular season.
If the Black Cats end up in the play-offs and Neil is able to guide them to the Championship this term, Kristjaan Speakman will be facing the daunting prospect of sorting out the club’s striking options heading into next season.
Ross Stewart has been linked with a move to Premier League side Norwich and Nathan Broadhead is set to return to Everton this summer. They have scored 28 goals between them in League One and losing both of them ahead of a campaign in the second tier would be a disaster, especially if they fail to bring in a player of the requisite quality to replace them.
One striker they have been credited with an interest in is 18-year-old Guiseley forward Josh Stones. The youngster has caught the eye this season with his goals at youth level and Sunderland are one of the clubs keen on a deal for him.
However, Football Insider recently reported that Wigan have agreed terms with the striker ahead of a summer switch to the DW Stadium. This means that, as it stands, Speakman is set to miss out on a deal for the teen as Wigan have swooped in ahead of them.
Stones has scored nine goals in his last five youth games for Guiseley, whilst he recently scored a hat-trick at youth level for England’s schoolboys team against Scotland. This means that he has found the back of the net 12 times in his last six matches in development football, which highlights his incredible potential as a player.
Therefore, missing out on a deal for him would be a big disaster for Speakman. Not only would it be to a League One rival, but it could also be at the same time they lose both Stewart and Broadhead – leaving Neil’s squad threadbare at the top end of the pitch.
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The Stadium of Light supremo must do everything in his power to convince the 18-year-old phenomenon to turn Wigan down and sign a contract with Sunderland. His statistics at youth level suggest that he would be an excellent addition to the club’s ranks and they cannot allow their rivals to snap him up ahead of them.
AND in other news, SAFC made huge £600k blunder over “outstanding” machine who aged like “fine wine”…
“What you are saying about pressure, I am hearing this for the first time.”Mehedi Hasan, the Bangladesh Under-19 captain, had a straight face while saying this, but quickly broke into a giggle. Either he hid the sarcasm of the comment well or cloistered himself from social and mainstream media over the last few weeks.The moment, though, captured the unusual pressure and expectations on Bangladesh for an age-level tournament. Bangladesh may be buoyed by home advantage, but the fans expect the team to go past the quarter-finals at least.Bangladesh’s training session on the eve of their opening match against South Africa bubbled with energy and excitement. In between the serious stints of batting and bowling, they played around with attempts to take boundary-line catches. They even involved their team consultant Stuart Law in their horseplay. The players were admonished by their head coach Mizanur Rahman a couple of times, but it was all in good fun.The Under-19 World Cup is essentially a springboard for players to make it to the biggest level. While Bangladesh are keen to express themselves through their well-trained skills, they also face the challenge of dealing with heightened expectations.Mehedi has expressed happiness at people considering Bangladesh as contenders and hoped to “fulfil the expectations.””I like the fact that everyone thinks we can reach a good position,” Mehedi said. “Everyone is expecting that we will be on top, and beat the big nations. We know our standard, so we will try to fulfil the expectations. We just have to play our normal game. The team is very excited because we have prepared for this tournament. The real test starts tomorrow. If we can do well tomorrow, our hard work will be rewarded.”Mizanur, though, played down the pressure and expectations, and reckoned that Bangladesh’s record against South Africa held them in good stead for the tournament opener. Bangladesh had defeated South Africa 11 times out of 14 attempts in Youth ODIs in 2015.”There is no pressure around us,” Mizanur said. “We have been working towards this tournament for the last 18 months. We just don’t want the players to lose focus now.”We know everything about them. Our bowlers will know where to bowl to their batsmen. We hardly knew anything about England apart from the general information. So playing against South Africa will be easier. We beat them 5-2 in their conditions and 6-1 at home. We will be ahead in terms of mentality and preparations.”South Africa captain Tony de Zorzi, meanwhile, has said that his team is in a “good space.” The defending champions have also roped in former India batsman Sridharan Sriram as a batting consultant to counter spin. Sriram, who had served as a coaching consultant with the Australia A team, will work with the senior team in the upcoming World T20 in India.”We are very comfortable,” Zorzi said. “We are in a good space as a team and quite confident. They [Bangladesh] are a very talented side, as are we. They have to play well to beat us and I think they know that.”We have played couple of warm-up games and we have [former India batsman] Sriram helping us as batting consultant against spin. Lot of the guys have adapted to the conditions having played here before. There’s no fear of playing spin.”Five members of the Bangladesh team, including Mehedi, had played in the 2014 World Cup in the UAE, but this is set to be a different challenge and experience.
John Buchanan believes the ICC should consider turning world cricket into a franchise-based system where players could choose which country to represent, in an effort to make the game more competitive. Buchanan spent eight years as Australia’s coach, finishing after the World Cup in April, and he thinks Australia’s dominance is hurting international cricket.”This equality debate keeps bubbling to the surface and means that there is a serious issue there,” Buchanan told the . “I think it mightn’t be a bad thing if the ICC looked at some rule relaxations, which might allow a more even distribution of players around the world.”Most young cricketers in Australia grow up wanting to play for Australia, but I’m sure there would be quite a few who, when they get to about 25 or 26 and realise they probably won’t get a chance to wear the baggy green, would still be happy to play international cricket anywhere. The problem at the moment is that there is a long qualification period and, by the time that’s up, the player and the other country probably lose interest.”Buchanan said the ICC’s current rules were too strict, with players needing to spend at least 183 days a year for four consecutive years in their new country before qualifying to play a Test. However, he believes turning Test nations into franchises could lead to a greater flow of players between countries, and a more competitive international scene.”Countries should look to recruit young players from Australia, and places like India, to increase their depths of talent,” Buchanan said in the . “Those players would enhance the domestic competition and, hopefully, go on to play Test cricket for the country they move to. We don’t want cricket to become like a horse race when the favourite wins all the time. No-one will want to watch.”Barry Richards, the former South Africa batsman, agreed that there was a serious problem with Australia’s dominance – Ricky Ponting’s team won their 13th consecutive Test when they beat Sri Lanka at the Gabba on Monday and Australia have not lost a World Cup match since 1999. “Australia plays international cricket, the rest just play cricket,” Richards said.”I have lost interest in it because I know the result before they start playing. Until you get strength against strength, nothing is going to happen. In England, they have 18 counties and they call it first-class cricket and it’s absolutely useless.”Buchanan’s replacement as Australia’s coach, Tim Nielsen, told the the franchise plan was not the answer and other nations needed to keep striving to catch Australia. “We’ve got to keep trying to raise the bar,” he said, “because, as always, we are the ones being chased and people are looking to what we are doing and trying to replicate it.”
Already 2-0 down in the series, England desperately need a win in the third Ashes Test at Perth to ensure the series remains competitive. The numbers, though, aren’t very encouraging for an England supporter. Cricinfo lists some of the significant stats from Perth.
11 – The number of Tests Australia have won at Perth since 1990. Of the 16 Tests during that period, they have lost just twice – to West Indies in 1993 and 1997.60% – The loss percentage for England in Tests at Perth, which is theworst for them among all overseas venue in which they’ve played at least fiveTests. In ten matches, they’ve lost six, with just one win and threedraws.2 – The number of wins for the team that won the toss and chose to bat first at the WACA since 1990; of the 11 Tests in which a team has done that, seven have been lost and two drawn.49.55 – The average runs per wicket for spinners in Tests at Perth since1990. Slow bowlers have only taken 67 wickets in this period, compared to395 by the fast bowlers at 30.76.18.62 – The average opening stand between Matthew Hayden and Justin Langerhere. In eight Test innings at Perth, the pair have only added 149, with ahighest stand of 43. Over their entire career, Hayden and Langer average52.22 per partnership.61.57 – Adam Gilchrist’s Test average at the WACA, where he also has a strike-rate of 88.68. In ten innings, Gilchrist has scored one century and three fifties.37.28 – Shane Warne’s bowling average at Perth, which is his least successful venue in Australia. In 11 Tests at this venue, Warne has taken just 32 wickets at a strike-rate of 80.1.48 – The number of wickets for Glenn McGrath in his 11 Tests here. They have cost him 23.81 apiece, which is slightly more expensive than his career average of 21.61, and he only has one five-for here.44 – The strike rate for Brett Lee at Perth. In five Tests he has 30 wickets, at an average of 25.46, which is significantly better than his career average of 32.21. Two of his seven five-fors in Tests have come at this venue.168 – Steve Harmison’s strike-rate in his only Test at the WACA in which he took 1 for 86 off 28 overs. No other England bowler in the current squad has played a Test here before.