Having shown glimpses of fine form in his previous match, Jammu &Kashmir batsman Kavaljit Singh translated it into a big knock againstServices on Day One of their Ranji Trophy league match at Delhi.Winning the toss, Jammu & Kashmir opted to bat, a departure from thepolicy they have being following of late. They were rewarded for thisexperiment, however, as Sabir Kanth and Kavaljit batted resolutely toreach a score of 237/1 by stumps.Although opener Raju Sharma departed early, Kanth and Kavaljit put on217 runs for the second wicket. Kanth, the slower of the two, wasunbeaten n 69 off 268 balls, while Kavaljit had made more than doublethat score. He was on 148 off 254 balls at the close of play.
Kent skipper Matthew Fleming paid glowing tribute to Andrew Caddick after his side’s two-wicket County Championship defeat by Somerset at Bath.Fleming said: “I can’t fault the way we played. We battled from start to finish and there were some good performances, but Caddick was the difference between the sides.”Not content with match figures of 10-97, the England pace bowler produced an equally valuable contribution with the bat after coming in with Somerset struggling on 152-8, needing a further 38 to win.Caddick had the confidence to counter-attack, sweeping left-arm spinner Min Patel for a big six over mid-wicket, to give one final twist to a compelling match.His positive batting enabled Ian Blackwell to settle at the other end and the pair produced sensible shot selection to suffer few alarms in an unbroken stand of 41.When Blackwell cracked the winning boundary several team-mates ran onto the pitch to share the celebrations. It was a sweet moment for the winter signing from Derbyshire, who is making a good impression at his new county.Somerset captain Jamie Cox was overcome by the tension of the final overs and admitted he couldn’t watch. “I’m not usually like that, but it was some finish,” said the Australian.”Thanks to Caddy and Ian we have come out of the Bath Festival with a huge boost. Some of our earlier dismissals weren’t too clever and they pulled things around.”Going into the final day on 50-3, chasing a victory target of 190, Somerset were pinning hopes heavily on Cox, who was unbeaten on 27 overnight.But, having added 16 to his score, he was bowled around his legs by the tireless Patel, who later removed Rob Turner on his way to figures of 3-43 off 36 overs, including 20 maidens.Peter Bowler and Turner fell before lunch, which was taken with Somerset 123-6. When Keith Parsons was caught behind trying to force Mark Ealham off the back foot soon after the interval Kent were right on top.Graham Rose, batting with a runner because of a hamstring problem, fought hard for his 18. But when he fell lbw playing across a straight ball from David Masters at 152 Somerset supporters feared the worst.It was Caddick’s match. He consistently extracted bounce from a pitch that acted as a feather bed to the other seamers and deservedly picked up the Player of the Festival award.The prize was a bottle of bubbly and the chance to put his feet up for two nights in a local hotel, something the England management will presumably appreciate as they seek to keep their top bowler fresh for the battles ahead with West Indies.Kent contributed fully to Championship cricket at its most absorbing and had no reason to feel too downhearted over their first defeat in the competition this season.Fleming said: “It was four days of very competitive cricket. Tonight we’ll loosen our ties and relax because the only really bad aspect of the game for us was the result.”
Leeds United have been dealt a fresh blow over captain Liam Cooper as he recovers from his hamstring injury…
What’s the latest?
Injury expert Ben Dinnery has claimed that the centre-back’s return to training does not mean that he will be back sooner than expected.
The Premier League Injuries site owner has explained why the Scotland international may not be back in the team in the immediate future.
He told Football Insider: “We always thought it was going to be around three months but I think that mid-March is realistic now.
“Just because you’re back training, that doesn’t mean you’re ready to be part of the first team. It can actually be a bit of a red herring.
“There are lots of exercises to complete and hoops you need to jump through before you get to that stage.
“Leeds need Cooper to be ready when he does come back. If it adds a few weeks on the timeline for the sake of not rushing him, it’ll be worth it.”
Fuming
Leeds fans will surely be fuming with this claim as Cooper’s return to training may have led them to believe that he would be back in contention in the early parts of March.
He was not involved in the matchday squad against Leicester and Dinnery’s comments suggest that he may not be back for the massive clashes with Aston Villa and Norwich at Elland Road. Having the captain back for successive home matches against bottom-half sides would have been a huge boost as his leadership on the pitch would have been a lift to the side.
Instead, Jesse Marsch will need to deal with the current crop of defensive options who have been letting the club down all season. Leeds have conceded the most goals (61) in the entire division this season and have only kept three clean sheets in 27 matches.
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All three of those shutouts came in Cooper’s 15 appearances to date. This highlights the difference between him being in and out of the side, as the Whites have failed to keep a single clean sheet in the 12 matches that he has been absent for.
Therefore, Leeds are in desperate need of his presence at the back to improve their defence and improve their chances of avoiding relegation to the Championship. This is why fans will be fuming that his return to training will not see him return for another couple of games, at least, according to Dinnery.
AND in other news, “Definitely”: Insider drops teasing Elland Road claim that’ll have Leeds fans buzzing…
Geoff Boycott has called Duncan Fletcher “a hypocrite” for his comments about Andrew Flintoff’s drinking habits on tour. Flintoff’s father has also complained about Fletcher’s new book and says his son is “not a happy man” after the revelations surrounding his behaviour in Australia and the Caribbean over the past year.Fletcher wrote Flintoff attended a fielding session while drunk and the former coach also had doubts before naming him as captain for the Ashes. Boycott, who was also targeted in Behind the Shades, was unimpressed with Fletcher.”After the stuff he has come out with in the last couple of days, I find it ironic that he spent his eight years with England spouting on about loyalty and keeping everything within the team,” Boycott told the . “There he was, taking the moral high ground at every opportunity. And as soon as he finishes, what does he do? He gets stuck into Flintoff.”I have no problem with cricket people writing books, telling the truth, and making some money. I have done it myself. Fine. But it seems a bit rich coming from someone who has made such a big deal about not “talking out of school”. Fletcher is a hypocrite and he should be ashamed of himself.”Colin Flintoff said his son felt betrayed and was upset with Fletcher for speaking out. “The golden rule is that what goes on in the dressing room stays in the dressing room,” he told the Guardian. “Fletcher has betrayed Andrew’s confidence. I am upset that he has done this for the sake of his book.”There is no bigger team player than Andrew. These comments have really upset him. I have spoken to Andrew about this and he is not a happy man.”Paul Nixon, who was part of Flintoff’s one-day squad in Australia and at the World Cup, supported his former captain by saying he did not have a drinking problem. “Freddie’s such a competitive guy and a passionate guy, he wants to win every game ferociously for England,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live. “I think that the hiding they got in the Ashes really affected him more than people realise.”Alastair Cook also added his support for Flintoff. “All I know is when I was playing under Freddie for England, he was my leader,” he told . “He gave everything for England and I just wish him successful rehab on that ankle.”It’s his third time, which must be tough, but we hope he gets back as soon as possible because a fully-fit, firing Freddie Flintoff is what we need for English cricket.”He said he had not read the book. “It is just a book isn’t it? We are not bothered about what people are writing. We have moved on. Everyone is entitled to their opinions but personally I am not bothered what he has written now because we are under Peter Moores.”It doesn’t affect the squad as a whole and we are more worried about how we are going to play against Sri Lanka in two weeks’ time.”
South Africa’s convincing 4-0 series win against India has pushed them up to within five points of the Australians, while the Indians slid back to sixth place in the latest ICC team rankings for one-day internationals.India were third on the table as recently as April this year, but since then they have fallen after a sharp drop in form which has resulted in just three wins in their last 17 matches. South Africa, on the other hand, have reached their highest rating since January 2003. If they continue their form against Pakistan early next year, and if Australia slip up in the VB Series against England and New Zealand, South Africa could even be the top team going into the 2007 World Cup.India, meanwhile, are in danger of slipping to seventh place – where they were in October 2005 – if West Indies snatch a series win against Pakistan in the five-match series which starts on December 5. West Indies are currently only marginally behind India.Among the individual ratings, Shaun Pollock had plenty of reason to celebrate after his outstanding display against India. Pollock, who won the Man-of-the-Series award with ten wickets at 8.30 apiece, moved up to 910 points in the bowlers’ ratings, an astonishing 111 points ahead of the second-placed Glenn McGrath. In fact, Pollock’s rating is the fourth-highest in the all-time list for ODI bowlers. Only Joel Garner (940 points in April 1985), Richard Hadlee (923 in June 1983) and Muttiah Muralitharan (913 in April 2002) have ever had more points.Click here for more details.
The USA’s Under-19 cricketers got an opportunity at last in Los Angeles to display the skills that had carried them through unbeaten in the Americas U-19 tournament in Canada five months ago.The 2005 U-19 tournament had been postponed, and then relocated from Florida to Los Angeles a month ago. Given the uncertainties caused by the assorted hurricanes in Florida, this was probably an expedient move – southern California is one of the few places that can promise an equable cricket climate in mid-November, and Los Angeles has certainly proved that it has the facilities to organize and hold major tournaments – after all, it was also the default location last year for the delayed US national finals.The tournament format was a somewhat truncated form of the 2004 version. Instead of three days of cricket during with each Zone played the other three, there were only two days of cricket with the first-day winners automatically placed in the second-day finals and the losers playing for third and fourth places.Judging by the results, the new format definitely worked to the disadvantage of last year’s finalist, the Atantic/SE Zone. They were beaten handily by the West (NW/SW) Zone, with their U-19 USA players Ravi Timbawala and Abhimanyu Rajp among the runs and the wickets respectively. This automatically put them out of the finals. Had there been a third match for them to play, they might have had a chance to break back into the tournament with a possible victory over New York who they had defeated in 2004. As it was, they showed what they were capable of in their decisive win over the Central Zone (CE and CW) for third place.Meanwhile, New York/NE faced few problems in their march to the tournament victory. Having skittled out the Central Zone with almost as much ease as the Atlantic/SE Zone were to do the following day, they eked out a closer but comfortable victory over West Zone in the finals and captured the 2006 National tournament. Again, the New York/NE stars in the USA national team, Akeem Dodson and Hemant Punoo (USA U-19 captain), were credited with their batting for the New York victory.Compared with the 2004 tournament, fewer runs were scored in 2005. There were no centuries this time (there were two in 2004); Akeem Dodson’s 76 and unbeaten 71 for New York were by far the highest scores in the tournament, and established him as the best batsmen for the weekend; he was followed by Timbawala’s unbeaten 60 against Atlantic /SE. On the bowling side, there was one five-wicket haul by Dominc Auden for NY/NE against Central Zone, and one four-wicket haul, by Nisarg Patel (West) against Atlantic SE.Atlantic/SE 117 in 34.3 overs ( Romero Deane 22, Renardo Francis 19; Nisarg Patel 4-29, Nadir Malik 2-23, Abhemanyu Rajp 2-10) lost to West (NW/SW) 118 for 3 in 24.4 overs (Ravi Timbawala 60*, Mrunal Patel 19*; Tim Allen 2-30) by seven wicketsNew York/NE 242 in 44.3 overs (A Dodson 76, K Ramsabad, D. Audain, N Hay, T Walters 16, K Ganesh 14; S Singh 3-46, J Makwana 3-60, R. Siddiqi 2-49, Wakas Khan 1-37, Shaham Mumtaz 1-33) beat Central West/Central East 64 (D Audain 5-19, F Mughal 2-15, T Walter 2-19) by 178 runsChamionship Game : West (NW/SW) 159 for 9 in 45 overs lost to New York/ NE 160 for 3 ( Akeem Dodson 71*, H Punoo 34*, K Ganesh 30 ) by seven wicketsThird & Fourth Place Game Atlantic/SE 322 for 9 in 45 overs (Bhatt 52, Francis 42, Allen 41,Nathaniel 58*) beat Central (CW/CE) 121 (Allen 3-45, Nathaniel 3-24) by 201 runs
Ricky PontingOn rating his double-century The one in Melbourne last year was the most satisfyingbecause of the way that series was headed. The way itwas built up, and being Stephen [Waugh’s] last series,I wanted to make sure I was doing as much as I couldto make sure he went out on a winning note.On his innings I’m really happy with the way I played and felt reallyat ease throughout the whole innings.On joining Greg Chappell and Don Bradman with fourdoubles I didn’t know that. A lot of those milestones tend tobe popping up around this team at the moment. It’snice to be mentioned in the same breath as those guysand it’s a great way to start the year after adisappointing one last year.On how he’ll celebrate I don’t think a lot about the game away from the game.I’ll go home tonight to a wife who doesn’t talk toomuch about cricket, so that’s always nice. Australia’sNext Top Model is on so I’ve been told I’m watchingthat.On the position of the game If we bowl really well in the morning I’ve got afeeling that we’ll win the game tomorrow. There’senough in the wicket for the spinners that if we bowlwell we’ll create another nine chances. There’s everychance the spinners will start tomorrow becausethere’s nothing in it for the fast bowlers.On Gilchrist’s batting You’ve just got to let him go and sit back and enjoyit. Once he gets on a roll like he did today, theworst thing you can do is say something and make himstop it. The way he hit the ball and changed thecourse of the game was outstanding. He’s a once in alifetime player, [so] 13 centuries is unbelievable for awicketkeeper in the amount of Tests he’s played.Adam GilchristOn the clarity of his ball striking I hit some nice ones towards the end, but felt a bitscratchy early. With Shoaib [Akhtar] I got lucky witha few edges either side of the slips cordon. From thehook shot that I attempted off Shoaib, where I skiedit and got lucky again, I switched on.On making starts this season It’s nice to get to the hundred after several inningsof getting 40 or 50. As far as hundreds are concerned,they are not always the barometer that you judgeyourself against. It’s what the team is requiring atthat time.On attempting another six to bring up his century I wasn’t being drawn in by the crowd. There was a ballthere to cover-drive for four but all morning I wastrying to muscle them a bit too much. It was never inmy mind to try and do three in a row.On the batting plan with Ponting We just wanted to get as many as we could aheadbecause the wicket is doing plenty for the spinbowlers. We didn’t have any clear intention to go outthere and be ultra aggressive. Someone told me thatRicky only faced 13 balls in the first hour. Neitherof us were aware of that.On the pitch It’s turning at reasonable pace so it’s enough tocatch edges and beat the bat. They only lost onewicket and scored at four runs an over tonight sowe’ve got to be watchful of that, and that we don’tget too over-attacking.On Danish Kaneria’s bowling He’s been outstanding throughout the series. He’s gota lot of wickets and fortunately someone has riddenhim for long enough to produce the runs. He’s veryeffective with an extremely good wrong-un that someguys struggle to pick. And he’s got a lot of courage.Danish KaneriaOn his bowling against Australia I’ve played against some of the best batsmen in theworld in the best team in the world and my confidencehas gone up. It will help when I play for Pakistan.On his confidence level It is natural because when I was young I tried thesame type of bowling. My coach told me that if you arefrightened of your bowling getting hit you will be nomore. Legspin is attacking, you can get runs and youcan get wickets. I just want to bowl my line andlength.On getting advice from Shane Warne No, I haven’t asked anything from Shaney. I have neverasked him because his bowling and my bowling aredifferent. He’s more side-on and I have a round-armaction.On wanting more wickets than Warne When I finish my cricket I want to make my name as theworld’s greatest legspinner, God willing. I want [morewickets] than any spinner. My last wicket was my 101stand, Inshallah, I will do my very best to get my target.On being fined for the Clarke outbust I am very sorry for that because of the crowd andeverybody hearing it on the tv. Me and Clarke weresaying some things to each other. Then he hit me forsix and I got him out. I was excited. You never knowwhat you are saying or not saying. I didn’t mean tosay it because he’s a very good guy and a friend. Ithas cost me a lot, I’m playing a free game.On the lead Pakistan need to win If they are chasing around 200 or 250 it would be agood fight for us. It would not be easy for them toget runs very quickly.
Hampshire Hawks moved back to the top of the National League Division Two table following a comprehensive victory over the Derbyshire Scorpions at The Rose Bowl. The sixth successive win (one short of their all time record) takes them into poll position with just four matches remaining.John Crawley won the toss and invited the Scorpions to bat on a warm but overcast afternoon, and was immediatly rewarded by a brilliant spell of seam and swing bowling from Dimitri Mascarenhas, he bowled his nine overs through and took two wickets for the paltry sum of 11 runs.Chris Tremlett and Alan Mullally took up the mantle and destroyed the Scorpions batting line up. Only skipper Dominic Cork managed the bowlers with some ease as he was last man out one short of a deserved half-century.It was not easy for the Hawks either when they started their reply, but James Hamblin and Simon Katich played carefully to reach 43 before the Aussie edged to the wicket-keeper. Hamblin and Kenway eached posted scores before falling, and when John Francis was bowled leg stump off spinner Lian Wharton, the home side still had much to do.Crawley and Mascarenhas then steadied the ship, and together they took the Hawks to vistory with some 9 overs plus to go.
The South African victory in the first Test was expected. What wasunexpected was a nine-wicket win with more than a day to spare.
When a team has so many factors going against them, it isimperative that nothing is done to weaken the side further. Thestrongest possible outfit must be played, the batsmen and bowlers mustdo their job in exemplary fashion, and half-chances have to be takenin the field.
There were really too many factors ranged against the Indians on theeve of the game. For one thing, there was the wide disparity in thepast records. Not having won even one of the seven Tests in SouthAfrica over the two previous visits, the Indians were at a seriouspsychological disadvantage. The South Africans, besides being aformidable outfit at home, were also aware that they had bearded theirrivals in their own den, sweeping a two-Test series in India 20 monthsago. Secondly, the visitors were badly affected by the pre-Test tourgame being washed out. The right build up is all-important, and a oneday competition is hardly the right way to prepare for a Test series.Moreover, there was nothing in India’s recent away record in Zimbabweand Sri Lanka to inspire confidence.When a team has so many factors going against them, it is imperativethat nothing is done to weaken the side further. The strongestpossible outfit must be played, the batsmen and bowlers must do theirjob in exemplary fashion, and half-chances have to be taken in thefield. Then, with some luck, maybe the Test can be saved.Unfortunately, things did not quite work out that way. True, eve-ofthe-match injuries to Sameer Dighe and Harbhajan Singh were, as thecliché goes, circumstances beyond anyone’s control. But Dighe couldnot have done any better than Deep Dasgupta, who in fact had a fairlygood match, and Harbhajan’s presence would not have made muchdifference to the final result. So marked was the difference betweenthe two sides in their approach that, at most, the victory marginmight not have been so wide and the match might have gone to the fifthday. For, if anything, the problem lay more with the batting than thebowling.True, the bowling was generally way off the mark. When the bowlersconcede a total of 563, it does put pressure on the batsmen. Certainlythe bowling quartet three of whom conceded over 100 runs each andthe fourth gave away 98 will not remember Bloemfontein with anysense of pride or satisfaction, even though Javagal Srinath emergedwith some credit. But then, what are the other options available tothe team management? The attack has to have two seamers and twospinners, and this would have been the case had Harbhajan been fit.But the seam attack is so weak that Anil Kumble and Harbhajan wouldhave to be at their absolute devastating best to do an adequate coverup job. Kumble would have to rework the Kotla magic of 1999 andHarbhajan the kind of wonders he pulled off against Australia earlierthis year. Unfortunately, as everyone knows, these are once in alifetime achievements.And now to the batting. I wonder whose bright idea it was to ask RahulDravid to open the batting. He is not a guinea pig to be tested in arole in which he has already shown his distaste and in which positionhis record is woeful. In the past, the guinea pigs were players likeNayan Mongia and MSK Prasad and even VVS Laxman before he came goodin the middle order. Since when are highly successful middle-orderbatsmen, established players who are among the top two or threebatsmen in the team, with an average of 50 plus, used for lab tests?Let us stop these foolish experiments pronto. A specialist openingbatsman has been picked for the tour. Does he not deserve a chance?A disturbing point to ponder over is that there are not many optionsfor the team management as regards the composition of the finalplaying eleven. In the absence of an all-rounder, the only two choicesare six batsmen and four bowlers or five batsmen and five bowlers.Both options are fraught with danger given the Indian team’sinconsistency. But having gone in for the first choice and lost badly,perhaps there is no way out but to opt for the second choice, hope forthe five bowlers to dismiss South Africa twice, and hope that the fivebatsmen avoid the mistakes they made in the first Test. Or is thishoping for too much?
There is not a bowler on the planet who has more international wickets this year than Mitchell Starc. His tally of 75 puts him well in front of the second-placed Yasir Shah. Extend it to the combined first-class, List A and T20 formats, and Starc is even further in front: his 138 wickets across those forms have come at the remarkable average of 16.07, and John Hastings is next with 108 wickets.In short, Starc is in the form of his life. Player of the Tournament in the World Cup, he last month annihilated almost every team in the Matador Cup with 26 wickets at 8.11, then topped off his Test preparation with eight wickets with the pink ball in last week’s Sheffield Shield round. Now it is back to the red ball to see if that recent form translates.It has not always. In fact, with Starc, something has always seemed to get lost in translation between the white ball and the red. It meant that the first three years of his Test career resembled the hokey-pokey: Australia put their left-armer in, they put their left-armer out, they put their left-armer in. Now it’s time for him to shake it all about.He made a good start to a red-ball resurgence during the Ashes, when he was Australia’s leading wicket taker, and now the challenge is to sustain that same form over a six-Test home summer against New Zealand and West Indies. It was against New Zealand at the Gabba that Starc made his Test debut four years ago, but it is only now that he is starting to make himself a consistent Test bowler.”The last 12 to 18 months, to play a lot of cricket I think has been the best thing for me,” Starc said. “There’s only so much you can learn and work on in the nets. I guess I’ve had a bit of an extended run with the white ball and whether it be through form or through injury I haven’t had that with the red ball. To have a bit of that in the last six months has been nice and I think that’s probably shown in getting better with the red ball.”Starc played every Test during this year’s Ashes in England and was his country’s leading wicket taker, an achievement that encouraged not only Starc but the Australian coaching staff as well. Coach Darren Lehmann said that although there were times in England that Starc lacked consistency, he expected a big summer from him back home.”He’ll be fine, I think it’s just experience and confidence,” Lehmann said. “He’s had some really good spells for us over the last 12 months with the red ball. It’s probably about being really consistent with what he wants to achieve, getting the lengths and lines right. He was very good at stages in England and then sometimes he leaked too many runs. I expect him to bowl really well with the red ball [at home].”Starc’s form is so impressive at the moment – particularly his mastery of the fast, inswinging yorker – that plenty of Matador Cup batsmen must have wished the Bangladesh Test tour had gone ahead last month and he had not been let loose on them in Sydney. Cricket Australia insisted he rest from one of the matches, against Queensland, but he told them that he otherwise just wanted to keep bowling.”I had a bit of input, so I wanted to play a lot,” Starc said. “I didn’t want to rest that Queensland game but they got that one over the line – resting’s not going to do anything for my body. I just want to be available for every game, as long as I’m fit enough and bowling well enough.”Australia will hope that New Zealand still carry some of the scars from the World Cup final in March, when Starc’s inswinging yorker rattled the stumps of Brendon McCullum in the first over of the match, setting the tone for Australia’s win. Starc took 2 for 20 in that game, as well as 6 for 28 in the earlier group match against New Zealand in Auckland, and he hopes they remember.”We’ll definitely be reminding them that we’ve bowled them out for 150 and 180 on very good wickets,” he said. “It’s one-day cricket, it’s something we can look back on and take a bit of confidence from but it’s a different challenge and nice to be playing in Australia and taking on guys that probably haven’t played too much cricket in these conditions.”New Zealand opener Martin Guptill said it was important he and his team-mates prepared for Starc’s yorker, but did not let it dominate their thoughts.”He’s got a very quick yorker and it does swing, but you don’t want to just be preparing for that,” Guptill said. “He’s got other balls in his arsenal as well. You’ve just got to watch the ball and play each ball as well as you can. I’m just trying to go out there and do my processes, and if I get a yorker I try and clamp down on it.”