Andrew Flintoff has allayed fears over his fitness ahead of England’s Super Eights match against Sri Lanka on Wednesday by taking part in a full training session at Antigua Recreation Ground.Flintoff was forced off the field for treatment on his left ankle during England’s win against Ireland in Guyana.Flintoff batted and bowled during practice and was expected to face Sri Lanka at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. England need to win at least one of their two matches against Sri Lanka and Australia to have a realistic chance of reaching the semi-finals for the first time since 1992.
Rahul Dravid said Virender Sehwag “eased the pressure off” him and helped India set up a match-winning total against Pakistan in India’s series-levelling win at Abu Dhabi. Sehwag bounced back from his poor run with an 83-ball 73, inclusive of ten fours and a six, in a 138-run opening stand with his captain.”Sehwag batted beautifuly today and it is good to see him back (among the runs),” Dravid said in the post-match press conference. “The key was to get runs at the top of order and Sehwag eased the pressure off me.”Dravid, opening the innings, hit a patient 92 while Sehwag broke his run drought with a cavalier innings that helped India put up 269 for 5. Dravid was quick to mention that India had looked to bounce back from a six-wicket defeat yesterday: “We learnt from our yesterday’s mistake and it was a good all around performance by the boys. They responded well after the defeat.”Inzamam-ul Haq, his opposite number, conceded that the opening partnership of Sehwag and Dravid was the deciding factor in the match. “The opening partnership was very good and they batted very well today,” he said. “Though it (the target) was chaseable we lost wickets at regular intervals and could not built parnerships.”India and Pakistan shared the DLF Cup. Proceeds from Tuesday’s match were donated to the survivors of the massive earthquake that hit Kashmir last October killing more than 73,000 people in Pakistan and 1,300 in India. Revenue today’s match would be be shared by the Indian and Pakistan cricket boards after USD 1 million would be donated to the hosts.
Graeme Smith’s ninth Test hundred helped put South Africa, who finished on 370 for 6, a lead of 23, in a strong position at the end of the third day at Port of Spain.It was another day of attrition which offered little out-and-out entertainment – 188 runs and three wickets came from 90 overs – but it was one which belonged entirely to South Africa. By the close, the balance of the game had noticeably shifted away from West Indies. The unbeaten seventh-wicket stand of 67 between Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher was psychologically vital.The hero of the day was Smith, whose innings was crucial and whose determined concentration never wavered until his dismissal the ball after the afternoon drinks break. He patiently ground down the bowlers, with only the occasional cracking drive or pull to emphasise that he could attack if he wanted. His only wobbly moments came when West Indies took the second new ball before lunch and he wafted at a few balls slanted across him. But the pitch was not conducive to flamboyance, and Smith realised the importance of not being asked to do too much in the fourth innings on a surface which would only deteriorate.Even when he was finally dismissed, West Indies failed to capitalise. That has been their failing with the ball in this match. Breakthroughs have not been exploited. As the day wore on, Herschelle Gibbs, Prince and Boucher all chipped away, frustrating a West Indies attack that contributed considerably to its own difficulties.
The morning produced 56 runs from 24 overs. Even the purists struggled for positives, but West Indies’ bowlers looked listless and never really appeared to get out of second gear. None of the seamers managed to apply any sustained pressure and there was more aggression in evidence in the queues at the bars. Most worrying was that Shivnarine Chanderpaul seemed unable to rally his troops and often looked more lost than those he was supposed to be leading.Smith and Monde Zondeki, the nightwatchman, added 41 for the fourth wicket. In truth, Zondeki was rarely troubled and the ease with which he survived probably contributed to his demise and he played round a good inswinger from Pedro Collins for 14.That brought in Gibbs who was subdued by any standards, comatose by his own. The post-lunch period continued the pattern of the morning with South Africa making slow progress and West Indies looking bereft of ideas. The crowd slumbered and even the usually boisterous Carib Beer girls gave up trying to get the spectators enthused.But the drinks interval proved to be Smith’s undoing as his seven-and-a bit-hour vigil was ended by the combination of an unconventional bowling change and a straight ball. Chanderpaul, in his one inspired moment, brought Wavell Hinds on to bowl. His first ball was medium-paced and straight, Smith played all round it and was trapped plumb in front. Smith departed openly muttering and tutting, but that was probably more to do with the manner of the dismissal than the decision. He made a gutsy 148.
But again South Africa stood firm. Gibbs defensive intention finally cracked and he lofted Chris Gayle for a straight six. It caught Aleem Dar on the hop and he briefly seemed to have forgotten how to signal that rarity. But Gibbs was eventually undone by the pitch, Collins producing a ball which barely rose above shin height and which shot under Gibbs’s bat and into his off stump. That was a sign that the surface was beginning to go, and soon after Ashwell Prince ducked a bouncer which clattered into his helmet after barely rising above waist height.With West Indies’ bowlers struggling, every chance had to be taken, and it was harder for Donovan Pagon at midwicket to drop a mistimed hook from Prince off King than it was for him to catch it, but he managed. That seemed to finally deflate the already punctured West Indies, and Prince and Boucher had enough confidence to crack a few sublime drives as the shadows lengthened.As West Indies left the field their bowlers had to hope that Bennett King had not taken a leaf out of Ray Jennings’s book or it would have been cold baths all round.How they were outSouth Africa Drove uppishly to cover Flashed faintest of outside edges Defeated by inswinger and trapped plumb Played round an inswinger and lost middle stump Plumb leg-before to gentle, straight ball straight after drinks No chance of keeping out a shooter which took off stump
“Basement battle.” Zimbabwe hate the term, but they cannot honestly aspire to anything better at present, after the decimation of the experienced team that represented them between 1998 and 2000. The best they can hope for is to put the young upstarts of Bangladesh firmly in their place.For their part, Bangladesh have made great strides during the past year, for which credit is widely given to their coach Dav Whatmore. They came within one wicket of a maiden Test victory against Pakistan last year, and Zimbabwe – the weakest of their seniors among the Test-playing teams – are firmly in their sights.But playing away from home is to their disadvantage, although their hard-earned victory over Zimbabwe A earlier this week will give them a small degree of confidence. It was actually their second-string seam bowlers that won them the match, so they will be hopeful that their first-choice men will do an even better job.Bangladesh’s batting will give them less confidence, though. Only the opener Shahriar Hossain and Mohammad Ashraful looked in any sort of form on a none-too-ideal batting pitch.Zimbabwe are boosted by the return of Grant Flower, although his injured hand is not yet fully comfortable. Craig Wishart, the scourge of Bangladesh bowling in the past, is battling to be fit for the one-day series after his leg injury six weeks ago, while Mark Vermeulen is still out of action after his head injury in Australia.Both sides, despite their lowly positions in Test cricket, have one player who is a giant among pygmies, a man of genuine international quality. These are the respective captains, Heath Streak and HabibulBashar. Their performances will have a vital influence on this series.Both teams have younger players coming through, though, who are on the way up and some of them are likely to make names for themselves against less formidable opposition.Overall, though, the odds lie with Zimbabwe on their home soil. They tend to be overawed by the senior Test teams, but are not afraid of Bangladesh; however, it is but a small step from confidence to complacency. Their biggest enemy could be rain. The weather around Harare is very unsettled, as is usual in February, and the start of the match was delayed, probably until lunch at the very least.Zimbabwe 1 Dion Ebrahim, 2 Trevor Gripper, 3 Stuart Carlisle, 4 Grant Flower, 5 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 6 Sean Ervine, 7 Heath Streak (capt), 8 Andy Blignaut, 9 Gavin Ewing, 10 Raymond Price, 11 Douglas Hondo.Bangladesh 1 Shahriar Hossain, 2 Hannan Sarkar, 3 Habibul Bashar (capt), 4 Rajin Saleh, 5 Mohammad Ashraful, 6 Khaled Mashud (wk), 7 Mohammad Rafique, 8 Manjural Islam Rana, 9 Mushfiqur Rahman, 10 Tapash Baisya, 11 Manjural Islam.
Michael Vaughan scored his third hundred of the Ashes series to put the tourists into a commanding position on the third day of the final Test. The Yorkshire opener made an unbeaten 113 as England reached an impressive 218 for two in their second innings. Earlier a typically flamboyant century from Adam Gilchrist had enabled Australia to take a first-innings lead of just one run, but the fact that Australia have to bat last on a wearing SCG pitch makes England favourites to avoid a 5-0 series whitewash.After his wonderful run in 2002 Vaughan had seen the New Year in with a duck, but he bounced back at the first opportunity with another sublime innings, studded with a six and 16 fours, to give England a 217-run lead. It was his seventh ton in the last 12 Tests and took his Ashes tally to 563 runs – the highest by an England batsman in Australia since Geoff Boycott scored 657 and John Edrich 648 on the victorious 1970-71 tour.England lost Marcus Trescothick early, chopping on to his stumps to give Brett Lee his 100th Test wicket. Vaughan then played the starring role in an 87-run partnership with Mark Butcher (34), before the Surrey left-hander was caught by Matthew Hayden at short leg, getting a glove to a spinning delivery from Stuart MacGill.Vaughan then shared an unbroken third-wicket partnership of 94 with his captain Nasser Hussain, who ended the day unbeaten on 34. Vaughan’s innings was not without good fortune; he twice edged MacGill just short of slip, and was dropped on 102 when he pulled Damien Martyn to Justin Langer at mid-wicket.After being 150 for five yesterday, Australia did remarkably well to overhaul England’s first-innings total, albeit by only one run. Resuming on 237 for five, their innings this morning was dominated by Gilchrist. He hit a brilliant 133 off just 121 balls, dominating a stand of 82 runs for the ninth wicket with Jason Gillespie.Matthew Hoggard took three wickets to give England the initiative first thing. Steve Waugh fell almost immediately, failing to add to his overnight 102 before edging a widish ball to Mark Butcher at second slip. To the delight of the Barmy Army Hoggard then took two wickets off successive balls, and almost repeated Darren Gough’s achievement in claiming a hat-trick in the corresponding Test here four years ago.Andy Bichel, who had been lucky not to be sent on his way by Russell Tiffin when he gloved Hoggard to Alec Stewart behind the stumps in the Yorkshireman’s previous over, was the first of the two to go, caught by John Crawley in the gully as he tried to cut. Lee fell to the next ball, edging a full-length delivery to Stewart, and Gillespie was within a whisker of departing to his first ball in like manner.Gilchrist rarely wastes time at the crease, so it was no surprise to see him grasp the situation by the scruff. He took 24 off his next 15 balls to put Australia within reach of England’s total, before edging Steve Harmison to Stewart. Gillespie (31*) then took his side into a one-run lead before last man Stuart MacGill holed out to Hussain at mid-on, giving Hoggard his fourth wicket of the innings.
Sunderland are currently battling for a place in the play-offs in their attempt to get out of League One and back up to the Championship.
Alex Neil’s side are sixth in the table as it stands and have seven games left to make sure that they are in with a shot of returning to the second tier.
It is a grim reality for Black Cats fans as their team scrap for a play-off place in the third tier after many years of competing in the Premier League in recent history.
Some supporters may look back on decisions that the club made over the years and pick out moments which led to where they are now, and one of those could be the departure of John Egan.
The current Sheffield United defender came up through the youth ranks at the Stadium of Light and went out on loan to a number of Football League clubs before being released in 2014, duly signing for Gillingham on a free transfer.
This decision ended up being a huge howler by the Wearside, club as he has since gone on to forge an impressive career, joining the Blades in 2018 after spending two years with Brentford after leaving Gillingham.
He has averaged a SofaScore rating of 6.98 or higher in all four of his Championship campaigns for the Bees and United combined to date. The Republic of Ireland international is an outstanding player in the second tier and his market value represents that, as shown in the graphic below.
Transfermarkt currently value him at £6.3m and he has proven that he can play in the top two divisions in England, whilst Sunderland remain in the third tier for now.
In his debut season in the Premier League for the Blades in 2019/20, he averaged a sublime SofaScore rating of 6.96 across 36 matches. He made 2.8 tackles and interceptions per game and won 61% of his overall duels in the top flight as he flexed his defensive strength.
Although his side ended up being relegated in the following campaign, he still averaged a solid SofaScore rating of 6.75 as he played 31 times. This shows that he is capable of producing quality at the top level and being a reliable defender.
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Earlier this season, Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny claimed that Egan could “play in the Champions League” after helping his team to keep a clean sheet against Portugal. His strong statistics in his first top-flight campaign suggest that he has the potential to do so, with his international boss – who sees him in the flesh in matches and in training – believing that the 29-year-old is Champions League quality.
Therefore, the Black Cats had a howler with Egan, as they were unable to tap into his potential and gained nothing from his success as they lost him on a free transfer, and they have had to watch on as he caught the eye in the Premier League and at international level.
AND in other news, Huge boost as Neil handed big Sunderland injury lift which will leave supporters delighted…
A bustling unbeaten 79 from JP Duminy helped South Africa to a six-wicket win in the opening game of this five-ODI series at Centurion. They strolled home with two overs in the bank but that hides the fact that they had more than a few uneasy moments during their chase.The match, reduced to 36 overs a side after heavy overnight rain, followed a similar pattern to Friday’s Twenty20. South Africa’s bowlers took an early stranglehold, West Indies battled back, South Africa’s batsmen wobbled before their strength in depth enabled them to secure victory. Two days ago Shaun Pollock was the hero; today it was JP Duminy.Chasing a modest 176, South Africa got off to a shocking start, losing both openers inside four overs. Jacques Kallis and Duminy were building a good recovery when light rain started to fall. All eyes turned to the Duckworth-Lewis calculations, something that still tends to cause nightmares in these parts, and the possibility of an artificial finish appeared to rattle the batsmen. Kallis fell to add to dressing-room jitters, but as the weather eased Duminy and Justin Ontong regained their composure and took charge. West Indies, hampered by a wet outfield and a soggy ball, were not helped by the conditions, although their cause was further hindered by some dreadful fielding as the match slipped from their grasp.That it was Duminy, one of their new boys, that anchored the chase was the icing on the cake for South Africa. Too often it has been left to the old guard to dig them out of trouble, but his innings was measured, his shot selection sound, and more importantly he did not panic even when the rain was falling.West Indies again looked at least one bowler light and Bravo, who had said before the start he could not bowl, felt the need to bring himself on. It almost worked as he removed Ontong with a brilliant diving caught-and-bowled in his first over, but thereafter he looked like a man uneasy with his body. That he felt that he had no option but to haul himself into the attack underlined the lack of faith in some of the other options.In fairness to West Indies, it was to their credit that they made a match of it at all after they were stuck in in seamer-friendly conditions and then slid to 81 for 6. The rain juiced up the pitch and South Africa’s impressive all-seam attack did the rest. It took a solid seventh-wicket stand of 69 between Darren Sammy and Runako Morton and then some old-fashioned hitting late on to boost them to 175.The seamers bowled a nagging length which prevented the batsmen from getting onto the front foot, and the middle order came and went in a flurry of shots born out of frustration.What will concern South Africa is the way that once again they failed to finish the job after doing all the hard work. There was some excellent fielding, none better than Pollock’s pinpoint return to the keeper from long-on to run out Morton, but there was too much sloppy stuff in among it.Had the match gone to the wire then South Africa would also have had some justification to gripe about the umpires who twice in as many overs declined to refer run-out appeals when replays showed the batsmen to be short of their ground. It was either incompetence or a show of solidarity with Steve Bucknor, but there would have been far more of a stink had West Indies won by the odd run or two.The two sides now head to Cape Town for the second match on Friday. West Indies have lost four on the trot and despite twice hauling themselves back into games after poor starts, they have nothing to show for all their efforts. They need to get a win or their morale could start to drain away rapidly.
Pakistan’s cricket fraternity reacted with shock and anger to the team’s three-wicket loss to Ireland in their group stage match in Jamaica with Intikhab Alam, the former player and coach of Pakistan, calling it the “lowest point in Pakistan cricket”. Ireland bowled out Pakistan for 132 and then chased the score with 32 balls remaining to send Pakistan crashing out of the World Cup.”Irish players rose to the occasion, they meant business and looked more motivated than us,” Alam told Associated Press. With Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif and Abdul Razzaq, Pakistan’s key fast bowlers, not making the squad due to injuries, the side had been considerably weak going into the opening match of the World Cup. But Alam refused to put down injuries as an excuse for the loss. “No matter who was playing for us and who was not [playing], the bottom line is that still we had more experienced players in our ranks than Ireland,” he insisted.Rashid Latif said that as a former Test captain he felt ashamed by Pakistan’s defeat. “It’s [the defeat] a crime with cricket, what else do they want? It’s better they should leave,” Latif said. “All the [Pakistan] former Test cricketers kept pointing toward the weaknesses in our team for months before the World Cup but nobody listened. I was not expecting such a shameful performance. I have no words to describe it.”Sarfraz Nawaz, the former Paksitan fast bowler, said that if the team couldn’t beat Ireland then Pakistan cricket was in the wrong hands. “It’s better that all who are responsible for this should be shown the door.,” said Nawaz. “The wicket was suitable for seamers and Ireland won the crucial toss, but we lost fair and square without putting up a fight.”The chief selector, Wasim Bari, agreed that the loss was disappointing but refused to comment any further on the matter. Meanwhile Nasim Ashraf, the chairman of the Pakistan board, expressed deep disappointment over Pakistan’s loss to Ireland in their group stage match in Jamaica. Ashraf said that having taken over as chairman of the ad-hoc committee less than six months ago, he and the board had decided to maintain continuity in order to strengthen the team. He added that a comprehensive new plan for the development of cricket in Pakistan would be launched after the World Cup.The ad-hoc committee is scheduled to meet on March 31, after the team returns, in Lahore to discuss a future plan to build a strong cricket setup.
Don’t for one moment think that Scotland will be at Cricket World Cup 2007 just to make up a number.There are those – thousands maybe – who feel the biggest stage of the game is no place for fledgling cricket nations. Scotland’s upset win against a Barbados XI last week should be enough evidence that they can cause another shock result at the big event.”Absolutely … we can cause an upset,” said coach Peter Drinnen. Whether or not they or fellow lightweights like Bermuda, Holland, Ireland or Canada could do the unthinkable and topple any of the big guns, there would always be the debate that too many of International Cricket Council associate members are at the World Cup.For the first time in nine World Cups, as many as six “second rate” teams are on show. “The ICC has been very supportive of associate members and are trying to push us forward to that next level. We welcome that,” Drinnen said. “We’ve got to do everything we can to prepare the players in a professional manner.”If that opportunity arises, we will try to be as competitive as we can at that next level. We’re excited by the challenge and the players are certainly putting in the work.”They are making the most of the opportunity they have in Barbados. One win in six matches might not be an accurate reflection of their quality. When they lost their first two matches to University of the West Indies and Empire, we might have figured they were no better than local club standard. But Drinnen had to point out they were coming off an inactive period stretching back to last September because of the winter season.”What we’ve been doing is building up. We’ve been learning about the conditions,” the coach said. “A lot of the players haven’t played here before, so our lengths and lines vary from British conditions. We’ve learnt about that.”For the World Cup, Scotland will have warm-up matches against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at the 3Ws Oval and for the competition itself, they will be based in St Kitts where they will meet Australia, South Africa and Holland.Conditions are likely to be slightly different from what they meet at the 3Ws Oval, Weymouth and Windward, but the experience would put them in good stead. By the time the World Cup comes around, they would have had considerable preparation.After this trip, they have a host of opportunities, Intercontinental Cup matches, leading up to tournaments in Kenya and United Arab Emirates early next year. They will also welcome a recent decision by the ICC to increase the programme of ODIs for the associate members who are competing in the World Cup, and among the assignments for Scotland will be a home series against Pakistan.”The ICC is delighted to be able to announce such a dramatic increase in the number of ODI matches to be played by these associate member countries,” said ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed. “It is essential that their top players are exposed to regular competitive international cricket if they are to continue to develop and this is a very significant step in the right direction.””We in this part of the world won’t know too much about cricket in Scotland, but the game is surely developing. There is a considerable amount of cricket played in Scotland which is not realised around the world,” Drinnen said. “We’ve got more cricketers in Scotland than rugby players. We have a major domestic league in the premier division and two other divisions under that. Outside that, we have many other regional leagues that operate.”With the extended playing calendar for the national team, cricket has grown considerably over the last three to four years in the country. It really is progressing. There is more cricket than what people realise in the country.”