The dates for the triangular one-day tournament in Holland in Augusthave finally been announced. The tournament is a warm-up event for theICC Champions Trophy in England in mid-September, although India – one ofthe participating teams – are also playing three one-dayers in Englandbefore the Champions Trophy.All four matches will be played at the VRA Ground in Amstelveen. Thefinal will be held there on August 28.Tournament dates Aug 21 – India v Pakistan Aug 23 – Australia v India Aug 25 – Australia v Pakistan Aug 28 – Final
Selection chairman Sir Richard Hadlee threw a positive spin on New Zealand’s early exit from the World Cup today.Speaking on Radio Sport, the national sport station, he said that New Zealand had gone into the tournament ranked No 8 in the world and could claim to be ranked No 4 or 5 now which indicated the side had made some progress.The side had also won 11 of its last 16 games which had not happened before.Hadlee defended the side selected from claims that not enough specialists were named by saying the top five or six batsmen had been selected as specialists while several of the bowlers had been selected on a similar basis.He said the side had won five games in a row and apart from the last one and a half games, the side had been winning.The loss to Australia had not been a selection issue, it was one where the players had to take a degree of accountability for what happened, he said.Hadlee said the balance of the side had been ‘absolutely right’ and it needed to be remembered that the side had to be picked by December 31, or January 2 in New Zealand’s case.He said the choice of opening with Daniel Vettori as a batsman had been a calculated gamble against the West Indies which had done reasonably well. It was attempted against Australia as an unorthodox move to try and break up the Australian game plan.It hadn’t worked on that occasion, he said.Hadlee also confirmed that he had been part of the selection process of the side, along with coach Denis Aberhart and captain Stephen Fleming and all teams chosen had been a unanimous choice.The opening batting had been an unsettled problem for 15 years and the decision to bat Nathan Astle at No 3 was because of the fact he was so crucial to the side. It was done in an attempt to make it easier for him with five overs or more having been bowled when he batted, and when that had happened the tactic had worked. But on other occasions he was facing in the first or second over.Hadlee added that the failure to go to Kenya had impacted on the chances for players like Mathew Sinclair and Daryl Tuffey. If New Zealand had gone to Kenya and picked up four points, they would have qualified for the Super Six before having to play Canada and that would have allowed those players a chance.Hadlee had been delighted with the form shown by Fleming who he described as superb while Shane Bond had been electric with his bowling.Hadlee said he and the selectors now had to look forward to Sri Lanka and it was time to reflect and reassess on the World Cup while also taking into consideration some very good performances in domestic cricket.”Maybe there are one or two players who may be introduced for the tour,” he said.
More new ground was broken in Zimbabwe cricket as the small Midlands city ofKwekwe hosted a full international touring team in a first-class match forthe first time. West Indies enjoyed a good day of batting practice,finishing with a total of 374; Zimbabwe A finished on 26 without loss. Thestar, for the second game in a row, was West Indian opener Chris Gayle, whoadded 162 to his unbeaten 257 against the President’s XI.The Zimbabwe A side included Alistair Campbell, desperate to find his battingform. Zimbabwe A won the toss and, as has become usual on winter mornings when the conditions often give inordinate help to the bowlers, put the West Indiansin to bat.The bowlers found little or no movement off the hard, flat pitch, but didfind the ball swinging early on. Daren Ganga and Chris Gayle dug a firmfoundation before the latter began to unleash some powerful offside drives.After the first hour the boundaries began to flow across the fast outfieldand the home bowlers appeared doomed to being on the receiving end of aserious pasting.The openers sailed past their century partnership; after the openinghalf-hour or so, none of the bowlers succeeded in troubling them and onlyBryan Strang appeared capable of restricting them, as Travis Friend, RaymondPrice and Mluleki Nkala all proved expensive. Gayle at one stage looked oncourse for a century before lunch, when the score was 154 without loss(Ganga 60, Gayle 92).He reached three figures shortly afterwards, and set his stall to run upanother double-century. Crouching in slightly ungainly fashion at thecrease, he nevertheless drove elegantly, especially straight and on the offside, flicked with superb timing off his toes and adding the occasional glidepast the slips.Just as the pair looked on course to eclipse the first-wicket record forZimbabwean cricket, 280 by Ray Gripper, when he scored his 279 not out, andJono Clarke against Free State in 1967/68, Ganga skied the hard-workingRaymond Price to extra cover and was caught for 79 (Gayle had 160), with thetotal 242. Then, without addition, new man Shivnarine Chanderpaul was givenout caught at slip.Gayle now lost his fluency and, four overs later, was dismissed lbw for 164,trying to swing Price across the line. Price struck again in his next over,as Sarwan (0) chopped a ball on to his stumps, and four wickets had gonedown for 21 runs, most of those scored by Carl Hooper.A brief stand followed between Hooper (36) and Marlon Samuels, which wasbroken soon after tea when Barney Rogers had Hooper caught at slip with hisoff-breaks; 305 for five. But then Ridley Jacobs joined Samuels and thepair added 60 together before Jacobs was out to a brilliant diving catch byStuart Matsikenyeri at mid off, giving Bryan Strang a well deserved wicketwith the second new ball. Immediately afterwards Samuels (50) was caught atthe wicket off the same bowler.With only their tail left, West Indies might well have declared, but insteadtheir lower order pottered around at the crease to little effect. The WestIndians were all out for 374, the last five wickets having fallen for just nineruns. Price was applauded off the field by his home crowd for his figuresof five for 121.Alistair Campbell, in poor form recently, had clearly decided to take thepositive way back, driving two fours in the opening over from Marlon Black.Hamilton Masakadza also played some good drives, and Zimbabwe A finishedwith 26 without loss (Rennie 10, Masakadza 16).
According to Sky Sports, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has insisted that fans should not get used to the club spending as extravagantly as they have in recent transfer windows.
The Reds have spent almost £250m in 2018, and while it looks to be paying off so far, the German has said that it will not continue in an interview before his side’s narrow loss to title rivals Man City yesterday.
While this may disappoint a lot of Liverpool fans, who may have grown accustomed to the number of high-profile signings that have arrived at Anfield over the past 12 months, it also sends out a very encouraging message.
The former Bundesliga winning manager is obviously content with the team that he has at the moment, and is not particularly enticed by huge signings of the likes of Virgil van Dijk last January or Alisson this summer. That does not rule out the club making signings this January, with Timo Werner and Nabil Fekir on the radar, but it does perhaps rule out the possibility of the signings that break records as they have done.
The Reds currently sit at the top of the Premier League, four points clear of second place Man City, which is an indication that they have the resources and players to get themselves this far. Klopp may not see it necessary to continuously add to something that is working so well already.
However, the danger here is that rivals Man City are likely to splash the cash this month, and Liverpool would not want to be caught out by failing to strengthen their squad in the same way. But for now, Klopp has sent a very positive message about his confidence in his team.
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West Indies batsman Brenton Parchment will lead a Jamaica Select XI in a three-day match against Australia at Trelawny next week. Xavier Marshall and Carlton Baugh are the only other players in the 13-member squad to have Test match experience.Left-arm spinner Nikita Miller, who took 32 wickets at an impressive 15.71 in the Carib Beer series, was also included but there was no place for Jamaica’s prolific batsman Brendan Nash. Several players in the squad such as Donovan Sinclair and Shacaya Thomas have no prior first-class experience.The match which gets underway on May 16 is Australia’s only practice game before the Test matches.Squad: Brenton Parchment (capt), Xavier Marshall, Simon Jackson, Shawn Findlay, Lorenzo Ingram, Carlton Baugh Jr (wk), Donovan Sinclair, Shacaya Thomas, Nikita Miller, André Dwyer, Gavin Wallace, André Russell and Neive McNally.
The ECB have announced two squads to take part in a spin bowling masterclass, spread over three days, starting on June 25 at the academy in Loughborough.”Following last year’s success we are pleased to be able to repeat the event,” David Parsons, England’s official spin bowling coach said. “The format provides the opportunity for many of the most promising young batsmen and spinners to test themselves against one another, to learn more about the game and to develop their own games technically and tactically.”The event will also include advice and training from John Childs, Jack Birkenshaw, Ashley Giles and Mike Gatting. A number of match scenarios will be designed to test batsman, bowlers and wicketkeepers the art of spin bowling and how to bat (and keep wicket) to spinners.Parsons was named England’s spin bowling coach in January 2006 and introduced the first “spin match” last September.Batsmen: Varun Chopra (Essex), Andrew Gale, Joe Sayers (both Yorks), Billy Godleman (Middlesex), Ben Wright (Glamorgan), Karl Brown (Lancashire), Alex Wakely (Northamptonshire), Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Billy Godleman (Middlesex)Wicketkeepers: Ben Brown (Sussex), Paul Dixey (Kent),Spinners: Vikram Banerjee (Gloucestershire), Graeme White (Northamptonshire), Christopher Morgan (Hampshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Azeem Rafiq (Yorkshire), Sachin Vaja (Essex), Thomas Winslade (Surrey), Moneeb Iqbal (Durham)
Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman, has denied reports circulating in Pakistan that the PCB’s newly drafted constitution has been rejected and sent back by the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf.The draft copy has been with the President – who is also Patron-in-Chief of the cricket board – awaiting approval since June 2005 when it was sent for vetting. There it still remains, in limbo and not, as a local newspaper reported a few weeks ago, rejected and sent back.Shaharyar told Cricinfo, at the National Stadium Karachi, that the draft had not been rejected and was still with the President. “We sent the draft on June 9 last year. After that we were told it had to be vetted by their legal authorities. In the meantime, three members of our ad-hoc committee, Ali Raza, Moeen Afzal and Naseem Shah, said the constitution is not taking into account properly the corporate culture. I told them to make a paper on it, which has also been sent to the President. They now want to scrutinise this as well.”The board has also come in for criticism from, among a plethora of others, members of the senate for being so guarded and secretive about the draft constitution and not allowing members of the public to see it before it is approved. But Shaharyar revealed that if it were up to him, he would have allowed the document to become public.”My own feelings were that the draft which Justice Karamat Bhandari wrote should be made available to the public so they can offer suggestions. This is my own view, not that of the President or the Justice – they say it may become politicised – but I felt it would have been a good idea.”But it is still uncertain when the board, without a constitution since 1999 and being run on an ad-hoc basis, will finally have one. Shaharyar could only say, “I have a feeling there is movement there so maybe in the next few weeks or months they will say something on it.”The drafting and implementation of a constitution was one of the chairman’s top priorities when he took over in December 2003; since then it has failed to see the light of day despite various deadlines being set. It will be of some concern to the board that, despite having a draft ready by the middle of last year, the status quo remains, although what they can do about it – Shaharyar said, “I can hardly push the President on it so much, as I am sure he has more pressing matters to deal with” – is unclear.
On the performance today We are very happy with the performance. To be 3 for 160 at the end of the day is very satisfying for us. There was a good bit of time for all the players who batted.On the rain delay Yes, but we can’t do anything about that. We got a chance to get used to the conditions.On the Mumbai attack The attack was very good in terms of work divided. I think Ajit Agarkar is very much in consideration with the Indian selectors. I thought the use of [Ramesh] Powar, the offspinner, early on was a good move by the Mumbai team. It was good for us, too, as it gave Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer a chance to experience a slower bowler from the outset. I think it was very useful for us as a batting team.On Ricky Ponting missing the second Test I think we basically thought that it was unlikely he would play in the second Test. I think he, like all of us, knew that that would be the outcome. So it’s good that his thumb is recovering well, and we expect him during the second Test and hopefully he will return for the third Test.Selection for this game The players that we left out will be relatively comfortable about their own preparation. So that gave the opportunity to other players who we needed to see in match circumstances.On Simon Katich batting at No. 3 That is not completely certain for the Tests, but it is one of the options we have. We are getting closer to understanding what our final combination will be, so there is every chance that Katich batting at No. 3 will be one of the options when the selectors sit down to pick the team.
Sri Lanka Cricket announced on Friday that Ashantha de Mel, a former fast bowler and selector, would head a new, bloated seven-man selection panel during the coming year. Lalith Kaluperuma, the previous chairman, is the only selector retained in the new panel, which will now sit down to pick Sri Lanka’s squad for the forthcoming tour of Australia.The size of the panel was increased from four to seven after the government, which retains responsibility under the sports law for the appointment ofselectors, rejected a Sri Lanka Cricket-proposed committee.This delayed the announcement of a fresh panel after the previous committee had completed its tenure on April 30. But a compromise agreement was reached bythe inclusion of both the board and government’s choices. Aravinda de Silva, the current vice-president of Sri Lanka Cricket and an influential selector during the past year, made himself unavailable for the new committee.The new selection panelAshantha De Mel Shabbir Asgerally KM Nelson Lalith Kaluperuma Don Anurasiri Promodya Wickramasinghe Ranjith Madurasinghe
JOHANNESBURG – Australia should win the World Cup.It’s that simple.Ricky Ponting is the captain who, when players from all nations are paraded at Newlands in Cape Town tomorrow night for the opening ceremony, will have the most faith in the 14 surrounding him.Australia has some of the best bowlers: Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne.”I think we stack up very well with the other countries – very well,” said McGrath.”We’ve got all areas covered. Very good fast bowlers, very good spinners, very good medium pacers, we’ve got all bases covered. We’re very happy with what we’ve got.”They have the best line-up of batsmen: Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Ponting, Damien Martyn, Michael Bevan, Darren Lehmann and Jimmy Maher.”We probably couldn’t be much happier with the bat,” said Ponting.Some of the best fielders: Ponting, Andrew Symonds, Brad Hogg.”The one-day game is a chance to show your skills, dive around in thefield – Ricky is the best in the world and other blokes in our side areexciting to watch. I enjoy watching them from first slip,” said Warne.The best wicketkeeper-batsman: Gilchrist.”We really don’t know and understand how good Adam Gilchrist is to ‘keepfor that long and at that standard, which is outstanding, then come outand flay attacks like he does with a minimum of fuss,” said Maher.Arguably the best tacticians: Ponting, Warne, Gilchrist, coach JohnBuchanan.”We talk tactics normally a night or two before the game,” said McGrath.”We sit down and have a team meeting, a planning session. We look at certain players and discuss plans we have for each opposition batsman and also how we’re going to face each bowler.”It’s very well planned and thought out these days, most of it on computer.”We can type in any ball, any shot, anything we want to see.”We can find out the results of every possible delivery. If there’s ashort ball outside off stump, we can see where it goes more often thannot from a particular batsman.”Video technology plays a big part in getting us ready.”The coolest head: Bevan.”All I try and do is … make sure I give myself options,” he said.”I guess I know what works for me, the shots that I can play, the shotsI can’t.”Just having a clear objective in the tight stages of matches is important.”And they have the wood on every other nation, especially the hosts.”We’ve definitely got a psychological hold over South Africa,” said Warne.”The results prove that in all the different forms and the major gameswe’ve played against them.”When it’s got to the crunch, we’ve managed to beat them or they’ve beenin a winning situation and we’ve come back to win.”There’s an easy way to win a World Cup and a hard way.West Indies did it the easy way in 1975 and 1979 when they swept allbefore them.Australia did it the hard way in 1999 when two early losses to Pakistanand New Zealand left it needing six straight wins and a tie to lift thetrophy.As thrilling as that charge home was, Gilchrist wants no repeat.”I wouldn’t think the best way to go is getting ourselves in a sudden-death stage after three games like we did in ’99 – not good for your health, that,” said Gilchrist.”I don’t know that there’s any blueprint, any successful formula to winning the World Cup.”We won last time after very ordinary games in the first three games.”Pakistan, I guess, were very similar in 1992 in that they started slowly and really built the momentum up.”But what’s to say you can’t go and win every match?”We’re confident and we’re looking forward to the tournament.”Let the games begin.