The Indian board (BCCI) has come to the defense of Chetan Desai, the manager of the Indian team on the tour of South Africa, and said that it would seek an explanation from Rahul Dravid for his outburst against Desai.Desai had come under a scathing attack from Dravid for his tour report which criticised the selection of an out-of-form Virender Sehwag and an unfit Munaf Patel for the series-deciding Test at Cape Town which India lost.”We would like to talk to Dravid and find out the exact situation in which he has been reported to have said these words,” said Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary. “Chetan Desai was the manager on the tour and as per tradition he filed his report after the team’s return. And he has not said anything about his [Dravid’s] abilities as a player in the report. The report is with Mr Sharad Pawar [BCCI president] and after he reads it he will give us guidelines on what to do.”Dravid told reporters in Kolkata that Desai had no standing in the game.” Anyone is entitled to give his opinion; anyone is entitled to give a report. But me commenting on that, I will comment only when it is worthy of my comment.”It is important to put it in perspective and understand that I have been asked for my views on a report given by someone … When I last looked at the history of Indian cricket I did not necessarily see his [Desai’s] name featuring very prominently.”The report was said to be critical of Sehwag’s attitude to the game and also did not spare Dravid for being stubborn in selection matters, especially in the third Test. Shah also sought to play down the matter of how the report got leaked to the media and what the BCCI was going to do about this. “We are certainly interested in knowing how it happened,” Shah shot back when queried whether the BCCI was not worried how the leak took place
Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been recommended by the West Indies selectors to be retained as captain and Ramnaresh Sarwan his deputy for the tour of New Zealand from February 16 to March 29, convenor Joey Carew confirmed yesterday.Carew was quick to end speculation initiated by a report on a Trinidad radio station, repeated on Voice of Barbados yesterday, that Daren Ganga, the Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies A captain, was likely to replace Chanderpaul. But Ganga, who played the last of his 31 Tests against South Africa in Georgetown last April, was recalled for the Twenty20 match, five one-day internationals and the three Tests.Carew indicated separate squads of 14 for the shorter matches and 15 for the Tests have been chosen. They went through the usual process of ratification by the WICB yesterday but were not officially announced up to last night. Carew said his panel has acceded to Brian Lara’s plea that he wanted to reduce his ODI appearances in an effort to prolong his phenomenal Test career. Lara will join the team for the first Test in Auckland following the ODI series.Coach Bennett King’s input at the selection meeting in Port of Spain on Monday was influential in the decision to retain Chanderpaul as captain, Carew said. “The coach gave a lengthy explanation of what went on, and what didn’t go on, during the tour of Australia late last year. His recommendation was that we continue with Chanderpaul as captain.”He did not say whether there were other nominations. The Jamaica captain Wavell Hinds’s modest Test record [an average of 33 in 45 Tests] appears to have ruled him out of contention for the leadership. Hinds was chosen only in the ODI squad, to be replaced for the Tests by Devon Smith who had a disappointing series in Australia after an innings of 88 in the first Test.Chanderpaul was appointed captain for the home series against South Africa and Pakistan last season following the withdrawal of Lara over the West Indies Cricket Board ruling to debar six players from selection because of their personal endorsement contracts with Cable & Wireless, direct competitors of new team sponsors, Digicel.Ths sixth man in the position since Viv Richards’ retirement in 1992, Chanderpaul has endured a similar failure rate to those before him while West Indies slid from No. 1 to No. 8 in the ICC rankings. Under him, West Indies have a record of one Test win, nine losses and two draws, and one win against 11 ODI defeats.Chanderpaul led a team of inexperienced reserves to Sri Lanka for three Tests and a triangular ODI series also involving India last July and August after the other leading players observed a West Indies Players Association (WIPA) boycott over a contracts dispute. He was retained for the tour of Australia last October and November following an end to the WIPA’s action that cleared the way for the selection of all the players.
In addition to Ganga, Rawl Lewis, the legspinner and Windward Islands captain, who last played for the West Indies on the tour of South Africa seven years ago, fast bowlers Jerome Taylor of Jamaica and Deighton Butler of the Windwards and batsman Runako Morton of the Leewards have been recalled. Lewis, Taylor and Morton are in both Test and ODI squads. Butler, who got his unexpected chance in the revamped team in Sri Lanka last year, was only chosen for the ODIs.”Lewis has been playing so well that we’re thinking of giving him a bit of a run to see whether he could become a permanent fixture in the team,” Carew said. “He has definitely matured. I think the captaincy [of the Windwards] has done a lot of good for him.” Lewis was Windwards’ leading wicket-taker in last season’s Carib Beer Series with 32 wickets and he has 14 in two matches this season. He is preferred as the specialist spinner to left-arm chinaman-googly type Dave Mohammed and offspinner Omari Banks, both of whom have had brief stints in the Test team.Taylor made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in 2003 but was soon sidelined by a back injury for over a year. He led the bowling averages for Jamaica on his return last season, with 26 wickets at 16.61 each, and clinched his place with his 5 for 85 against Barbados in the match that ended on Monday.Batsman Marlon Samuels and fast bowlers Tino Best and Jermaine Lawson are dropped from the team on the Test tour of Australia last October and November. An operation to remove a bone spur from his knee ruled out Corey Collymore, the leading West Indies bowler since he returned to the team for the Tests against Pakistan last season.Carew said that the teams for the one-day and four-day matches against England A in the Caribbean next month would be chosen after two more rounds of the Carib Beer Cup.Test squad(with ODI replacement in brackets) Shivnarine Chanderpaul (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan (vc), Chris Gayle, Devon Smith (Wavell Hinds), Daren Ganga (wk), Brian Lara (excluded for ODIs), Runako Morton, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Denesh Ramdin, Rawl Lewis, Ian Bradshaw, Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards, Daren Powell (Deighton Butler).
The England & Wales Cricket Board has defended the schedule for the South African tour after the lack of warm-up matches and condensed programme of Tests was criticised following England’s defeat at Cape Town. England have no first-class bewteen any of five Tests, and the last two, at Johannesburg and Centurion, are back-to-back.John Carr, the ECB’s director of cricket, told the BBC website: “We have to hold our hands up, along with the South African board, and say that this winter it hasn’t been a satisfactory situation. We raised our eyebrows when we received the first draft from the South African Board.”Unfortunately, South Africa have got an incredibly condensed programme from last November to the end of May.” South Africa played two Tests against India in November, and after England’s five-match series they host Zimbabwe for two more before flying to the West Indies for four Tests.Carr went on, “We need to play seven Test matches and 10 one-day internationals during the course of the home programme to generate the revenue that helps fund all of English cricket. We are expected to reciprocate a similar amount of cricket over the winter months. Most years we manage that workload in a more acceptable way in terms of when the cricket is played.”It just so happens that the logistics of international cricket at the moment, and South Africa’s programme in particular, meant the whole of our tour had to be condensed into a very narrow period. We weren’t in a position to demand a reduction in the number of Test matches or one-day internationals.”
Sri Lanka’s selectors have included Dinusha and Dilhara Fernando in a 15-man squad for the opening Test against England, which starts next week.The two pace bowlers will be competing for one place as Sri Lanka are set to play only two quicks on a surface that is expected to offer bountiful assistance to the slow bowlers.Sri Lanka included three specialist spinners – Muttiah Muralitharan, Upul Chandana and Kumar Dharmasena – in the squad, as well as offspinning allrounder Thilan Samaraweera.Chandana is tipped to edge out Dharmasena and play his first Test for 16 months, although Sri Lanka also have the option of playing all three spinners and batting Romesh Kaluwitharana at number six.That appears unlikely though considering Sri Lanka’s recent vulnerability in the middle order so Tillakaratne Dilshan, Michael Vandort and Thilan Samaraweera are effectively competing for the final batting slot.Russel Arnold, who captains a Board President’s XI against England on Wednesday, misses out on a recall, as does Nuwan Zoysa, who was pushing for a return to the squad.Sri Lanka, now captained by Hashan Tillakaratne, have not won their last three series but have fond memories of Galle, where they trounced England by an innings when the two sides last met in 2001. They have won six out of the eight Tests played at the south coast venue, losing only to Pakistan in 2000.Squad: Hashan Tillakaratne (capt), Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Kumar Dharmasena, Upul Chandan, Chaminda Vaas, Dinusha Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), Michael Vandort
“I like to get my eye in at that time – one hundred.”Here lies the secret behind the success of the great converter – Mathew Sinclair, who scored his ninth career 150-plus innings yesterday.The innings has dominated a game between Central Districts and Canterbury in which the next highest score has been Ben Smith’s 41.Sinclair’s ability to make big scores has kept selectors interested in the right-handed stroke player, despite a recent run of poor Test returns.Discussions with Sir Richard Hadlee and CLEAR Black Caps player co-ordinator Ashley Ross at the Village Green this week have demonstrated that Sinclair is still in the management’s thoughts despite the emergence of Lou Vincent and Brendon McCullum as top order international batsmen while Sinclair has been unobtrusively accumulating for CD. He has made timely scores of 161 and 171 in the last week.A hint of Sinclair’s determination was shown by CD captain Glen Sulzberger revealing that Sinclair was disappointed not to get 200 against Otago.When he was dismissed by Canterbury’s combative fast bowler Wade Cornelius yesterday as he neared a fourth career double century the pair had a brief slanging match mid-pitch. Cornelius has been injected with some of the fuel that used to drive Dayle Hadlee over the winter at the Hadlee-run Academy and was able to make Sinclair mis-pull after a 339-ball stay. But Hadlee was impressed by both players, and the whisper is that Sinclair will stay in the Test team.The 18-Test veteran has scored an impressive 1079 Test runs at 43.16, with three centuries all 150 or above, but just one fifty.Sinclair’s phenomenal run of tall centuries run in descending order: 214, 204, 203 not out, 189, 182, 171, 166 not out, 161, 150, 145, 102 and 100 not out. That means when he reaches one hundred Sinclair, on average, goes onto 165.58.”You know when you always like to talk about someone going on and getting the big one?” he asked.”I guess for me that’s the sort of thing I like to go on and do.”It’s that sort of stage when I don’t really want to get out to be honest. You’ve got yourself set at the crease and you want to go on and that’s my philosophy for it,” he told CricInfo.But as to a Test place Sinclair was giving less away.”It’s not my decision at the end of the day so I can’t really say yes or no for it,” he said.However, the chances are that Sinclair’s ability to submerge the opposition with his weight of runs, as he has done with Otago and Canterbury in the last week, will nudge the selectors into keeping New Zealand’s big hundred-man in the Test team.
Air India won their quarterfinal encounter against Delhi by eightwickets in the CricInfo Trophy women’s National Cricket Championshipat the Jorhat Stadium at Jorhat on Monday.Set a target of 180, Air India made a shaky start losing Anju Jain (5)with the score at 6 in the third over. But Anjum Chopra (82 not out of75 balls) and Mithali Raj (58 runs of 50 balls) laid the foundationfor the victory with a 131-run stand in 23.5 overs for the secondwicket. Then Anjum Chopra and Mamta Mamben (14 not out of 12 balls)guided Air India towards victory in 35.1 overs.Earlier, winning the toss and electing to bat, Delhi lost opener RakhiMehra (15) at 20 in the fourth over. But S Jaya (35 runs of 77 balls)and Sima Wadhwa (14) added 50 runs in 12.3 overs for the secondwicket. Then M Reema (51 runs of 72 balls) joined Jaya in a fourthwicket stand that realised 44 runs in 12.3 overs. After the departureof Jaya, Asha Jain (13) and Reema added 26 runs for the fifth wicketin 5.3 overs. But once the fifth wicket fell at 148, Delhi lost itsway and managed only 179 in the alloted 40 overs.
The January transfer window was a very busy one for Everton, as not only was Frank Lampard appointed manager, but five players walked through the door as the club looked to ensure their Premier League membership would be reinstated for next season.
However, after more difficult defeats and poor performances, the Toffees are currently hovering dangerously above the relegation zone in 17th, and to make matters worse, one of their key transfer targets Matheus Nunes, is now being linked with some of the top clubs in Europe.
What’s the news?
Earlier in the month, Pep Guardiola described Nunes after Manchester City’s Champions League clash with his club Sporting Lisbon, as: “one of the best in the world right now.”
Correio da Manhã (via Sport Witness) are just one publication that have suggested the Portuguese midfielder could be heading to the Etihad Stadium at the end of the season – much to the frustration of Everton fans who believed that the player was close to signing for their club earlier in the year, as well as last summer.
But now, even the likes of Spurs are ahead of the Merseyside club in the race for the 23-year-old’s signature, and should Everton still be as interested as they were in recent months to acquire him, they will face stiff competition not just to out-bid teams, but to convince the player to sign on at Goodison Park.
Everton waited too late
Unfortunately for the supporters, it seems that the club waited just too long to make a move, and didn’t cough up enough money in the last two transfer windows to entice Sporting into selling.
Now, the transfer looks more improbable than ever, with Nunes having a price tag of at least €40m (£33m), but should performances continue to get better and better, you can expect that valuation to go up.
The midfielder is a technically gifted player with skill and flair, completing 73% of his dribbles as well as winning on average 6.8 duels per game and making 0.7 key passes per game. That means he’d add plenty to a stuttering Everton attack.
Having made just two assists and scored two goals in the Liga NOS this season, there is definitely room for improvement in terms of his offensive output, but that will come with time wherever he will play his football next season.
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Sadly, it looks as though it won’t be at Goodison Park, an eventuality Farhad Moshiri and co may end up living to regret.
In other news: Brands clanger: Released Everton prospect in a “rich vein of form” is now PL quality
The third day at the SSC couldn’t have gone much better for Mahela Jayawardene. His unbeaten 167 led Sri Lanka to a 28-run lead over England with six wickets remaining and in the process he became his country’s leading run scorer and set a new milestone for a single batsman at a Test venue, pushing Graham Gooch’s Lord’s record into second place.However, in typical Jayawardene manner it was the team position that was more satisfying to him than the personal success. “It was important for us that we batted through the first session. England had put us under pressure by scoring 351 so we needed to make sure we bat through the day today without too many hiccups,” he said. “Now we’ve got an advantage we need to push ourselves and go for a win if we really work hard tomorrow.”On a wicket like this the second, third and fourth days are the best to bat on. Batting England out of the Test would be our first target which we’ve gone three quarter of the way to doing. We just need to make sure we push that advantage in a couple of more sessions by scoring a couple of hundred more runs. Then England cannot put us back under pressure. They need to make sure they save this Test match. It will be interesting to see what Murali can do on a fifth day wicket.”During the course of the day Jayawardene set up many records, surpassing Sanath Jayasuriya’s tally of 6973 runs to become Sri Lanka’s most prolific batsman and becoming the first Sri Lanka batsman to cross the 7000-run mark in Tests. He also equalled Aravinda de Silva’s highest number of Test hundreds when he completed his 20th ton.”I am very honoured to have passed Sanath’s record. He’s been a brilliant ambassador for us. He pushed the limits for a lot of youngsters in Sri Lanka cricket and challenged everybody,” said Jayawardene. “I just need to work hard at my game. Everyday you learn something out there when you play international cricket. You bring that into your game and make sure you improve. As a team we try and work harder challenging ourselves individually to be better players. That’s what it’s all about.”With Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu recently retired, Jayawardene admitted there was more pressure on him and Kumar Sangakkara in the batting ranks to help the younger players settle in. “A lot of senior players have retired and there is a lot of responsibility on Kumar’s and my shoulder. We work really hard to make sure we carry the team through this period so that the youngsters can come through. We’ve got some exciting talent behind us. We need to guide them in the right direction.”Jayawardene’s innings took him past Gooch as the leading run scorer on an individual ground as the SSC remained a happy hunting ground. “I have played ten years of club cricket here. I know this wicket pretty well and enjoy batting here,” he said. “It’s value for your runs, a good outfield and brilliant atmosphere. If you stick to your basics and work around your stroke play and be patient, you can get a lot of runs here.”Jayawardene was the second Sri Lankan to reach three figures in the innings after Michael Vandort’s 138 set up the strong platform. Vandort needed to steady the innings after two early wickets and paid tribute to the role of Jayawardene in their 227-run stand for the third wicket.”Every Test innings is important but from the team’s point of view we were 22 for 2 when Mahela joined me. He helped me a lot throughout the innings,” he said. “We get along well in the middle because this is about the third or fourth century partnership we have put together. I have been playing a few rash shots during my innings and every time I did that he came and game me advice.”
Gold League Karachi Harbour appeared well on the way to their second successive victory as they attained a lead of 158 over Lahore Shalimar on the second day of their fourth round Quaid-e-Azam match at Lahore.Atif Maqbool, Karachi Harbour’s right-arm offbreak bowler, took 5 for 63 as Lahore Shalimar were bowled out for 179 inside 63 overs. No batsman got to 50 as Salman Butt, the Pakistan Test opener, was Lahore Shalimar’s highest scorer, run out on 47. Butt partnered with Aamer Sajjad (44) and added 53 for the third wicket. Later, Junaid Zia added 34 runs off 77 balls with four fours and a six.Earlier in the day, Karachi Harbour squandered the chance of posting a large total as they lost their last five wickets for the addition of just 37 runs, having resumed at the overnight 282 for five. The sixth-wicket stand between Fahad Iqbal and Sarfraz Ahmed ended at 129, after only two more runs were made. Iqbal failed to add to his 71 runs while Ahmed, 69 overnight, fell at 75, having faced 136 balls and hit eight fours and a six. Zia, Lahore Shalimar’s right-arm medium-fast bowler, took 4 for 82.Karachi Harbour openers made 18 in their second innings before stumps were drawn.Defending champions Sialkot suffered a setback as they conceded a first-innings lead of 50 to table leaders Peshawar at Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar.After restricting Peshawar to 200 on the first day Sialkot were bowled out for 150 with Fazl-e-Akbar, Riaz Afridi, and Jannisar Khan taking three wickets each. Sialkot were in real trouble losing six wickets for 79 before Tahir Mughal and Khalid Mahmood added 56 for the seventh wicket. But the last three batsmen managed only 15 between them.But Peshawar again collapsed in their second innings securing an overall lead of 187 with two wickets remaining. Mughal, who took 5 for 56 in the first innings with his right-arm fast-medium bowling, continued his great form with 4 for 56 in the second as Peshawar lost their eight wickets in 35 overs.Faisalabad collapsed to 169 for 9 in their first innings and ended the second day, shortened by bad light, 82 runs behind Rawalpindi at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.Resuming at their overnight score of 239 for 8, Rawalpindi were bowled out for 251 within the first six overs of the day. Mohammad Wasim, 51 overnight, top-scored with 62 runs off 150 balls with four boundaries. Ahmed Hayat got 4 for 31. Faisalabad, currently at the bottom of the pile with no points from their previous two matches, need to lift themselves up to avoid being relegated to next season’s Silver League. They had won the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy title in 2003-04.Silver League Islamabad might have a chance of promotion to next season’s Gold League, as they attained their fourth consecutive victory defeating Hyderabad by nine wickets within two days of their fourth round Silver League Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Cricket Championship at the Mirpur Cricket Stadium.Hyderabad were bowled out for 106 in their first innings. Islamabad took a lead of 50 and then Hyderabad crashed to 65 all out in their second innings. Islamabad made the 16 required for the loss of one wicket.Islamabad though began the day poorly losing their last seven wickets for 40 in the first 16 overs of the day. Farhan Ayub, Hyderabad’s left-arm fast-medium bowler, took his second five-wicket haul in first-class cricket when he got his career-best of 7 for 71.Iftikhar Anjum, with 3 for 15, and Rauf Akbar, with 5 for 49, ran through the Hyderabad batting order in 22 overs. Farhan Ayub got a match haul of 8 for 79 as Islamabad lost their opener Mohammad Kashif for a duck before Iftikhar Anjum and Mohammad Fayyaz wrapped it up in four overs.Wasim Khan took 4 for 64 runs as Lahore Ravi forced the follow-on upon Quetta by dismissing them for 248 in the first innings at Lahore.Quetta, replying to Lahore Ravi’s first innings total of 408, failed to cope with their hostile bowling and the Quetta last pair of Mohammad Alam (34) and Gauhar Faiz (31 not out) added 63 runs but fell 10 short of the follow-on.Arun Lal, with 92, was the only Quetta batsman who scored higher than 34. He added 59 along with Shahzad Tareen for the sixth wicket to repair the early loss which left them at 56 for 5.Earlier, Lahore resumed at their overnight score of 331 for 6 in 85.1 overs but their last four wickets fell for 77 runs.Ali Azmat made 126 off 172 balls while Waqas Ahmad made 33 in a 57-run seventh-wicket stand. Quetta could not start their second innings due to fading light.Abbottabad bowled out Multan for a meagre first-innings score of 139 and had secured a lead of 147 by the end of the day at Multan. Sajid Shah, Abbottabad’s right-arm fast-medium bowler took 6 for 46 and is now needs 10 more to reach 500 first-class wickets.Multan could not extend their advantage over Abbottabad after restricting them to 237 on the first day. The only real resistance in the Multan innings came from the Bilal Khilji who made an 50 off 97 deliveries.With 21 points from their previous three matches, Multan still appear the team most likely to meet Islamabad in the Silver League final, that’s scheduled to start from February 7. But first the two teams will meet in the Silver League fifth match.
Riding on a splendid allround performance by Nathan Astle, Canterbury completed a six-wicket win against Central Districts at Napier. Chasing 172, Astle stood firm at one end and saw his team through to the finish with two balls to spare.Astle clattered six fours and three sixes in his 56-ball 75 and strung together quick partnerships with the rest of the batsmen. After losing Brendon McCullum early, Craig McMillan and Astle brought up their fifty partnership in just 22 balls. Peter Fulton joined Astle when McMillan was run out and scored 31 in a 62-run partnership that virtually sealed the match. Though Fulton and Chris Cairns fell in quick succession (139 for 4), Astle steered Canterbury home in the company of Chris Harris in the final over of the game.After Central Districts won the toss and chose to bat, Jamie How smashed 41 in an opening stand of 55 with Matthew Sinclair. Sinclair too played his part, scoring 58 off 36 balls but apart from the openers none of the other batsmen made any substantial contributions and Central Districts lost their way from 104 for 1 and collapsed to 171 for 9. Cairns took 2 for 24 in his four overs and Astle chipped in with a fine bowling performance, 2 for 23, before authoring a convincing victory with the bat.