Trevor Bayliss has been appointed as the new Sri Lanka coach. Bayliss, 44, who succeeds Tom Moody, will begin a two-year term in August after giving up his coaching duties in New South Wales.Jayantha Dharmadasa, president of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), said Bayliss, who was interviewed in Colombo, had made such an impressive presentation that the board had no hesitation in contracting him as the next coach.”Trevor came before a high powered committee comprising Aravinda de Silva, Sidath Wettimuny, Michael Tissera, Anura Tennekoon and Duleep Mendis, who were very impressed with his presentation,” Dharmadasa said.A stroke-playing middle-order batsman and brilliant cover fielder, Bayliss quickly made his mark as the head coach of NSW when he succeeded Steve Rixon three years ago. He became a cricket development officer for the NSW Cricket Association and was a mentor to the second XI for a long time before taking the top job.Kanangan Mathivanan, SLC’s secretary, said: “When we knew how good he was, we signed him up immediately because there are a lot of countries head-hunting for coaches at present.”Mathivanan also stated that a new clause has been included in the contract where either of the parties will have to give three months’ notice if they are quitting or terminating the contract. “We were caught in a tight situation when Moody informed us at the end of the World Cup that he was leaving us. That gave us little breathing space. Fortunately for us we did not have any heavy international commitments at the time.”Bayliss was one of the names suggested to SLC for the position by Moody. The others included Terry Oliver, the Queensland coach, who was also a strong contender. He was interviewed a fortnight ago.SLC’s move to appoint Bayliss so quickly is an interesting development given that Dharmadasa had said last week that his committee was not in a hurry. He will have his first international assignment with the Sri Lanka team when they take part in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup tournament in South Africa in September.Bayliss becomes the fifth coach from Australia to take charge of Sri Lanka since 1995. Dav Whatmore had two stints with the national side. He was followed by Bruce Yardley, John Dyson and then Tom Moody.Trevor Penney, who was Moody’s assistant, will handle the Sri Lanka team for the series against Bangladesh which starts next week.The board appointed Rumesh Ratnayake, the former Sri Lanka fast bowler, as assistant coach to succeed Penney, whose contract expires in August.
Darren Lehmann has been censured by Yorkshire County Cricket Club after he was caught on camera making an obscene gesture to the crowd, during last night’s Twenty20 match against Lancashire at Old Trafford.Lehmann, who had been barracked for much of the game by Lancashire’s fans, retaliated after taking a catch to dismiss Paul Horton off Dion Kruis. Yorkshire went onto win the game by 15 runs, and Lehmann apologised afterwards for his “spur of the moment” reaction.”Yorkshire County Cricket Club do not condone this behaviour and have met with Darren to discuss the matter,” read a statement. “The club have dealt with the matter internally and are confident it will not happen again.”Yorkshire have contacted Lancashire County Cricket Club this morning and apologised to the Board, players and fans of the club for this incident which was a black mark on an otherwise enjoyable evening for all concerned.”
Pakistan are scheduled to play four Tests and a triangular one-day series (also involving Sri Lanka) when they tour England next year. Pakistan last played a series of more than three Tests in 1992, which was incidentally against England, under the captaincy of Javed Miandad.They will also play a Twenty20 international against England on the long tour, according to a report in . The itinerary includes as many as eight side-matches against different counties. England will play seven Tests against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a triangular one-day series and two Twenty20 Internationals.A Pakistan board official is also quoted as saying that Pakistan were keen to play five Tests, but since the itinerary was already fixed under the ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP), they would play four. Pakistan have a break at the moment, and then return to the action with a bang in October, with a home series against England from October 22, followed by an Indian tour in January and the Asia Cup in February. Before heading to England in May, Pakistan tour Sri Lanka for three Tests and three one-day internationals.The official said that Pakistan had asked the ICC to clear the dates for the Asia Cup as it was not included in the FTP cycle, and the final schedule is expected to be decided at the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in London later this month. Pakistan will be hosting the Asia Cup for the first time since the tournament was conceived in 1984. India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, UAE and Oman have confirmed their participation.
England A were set a daunting target of 367 on the third day of their Duleep Trophy match against East Zone in Amritsar, after a day of hard toil for their bowlers. East Zone resumed in the morning on 65 for 3, and though they soon slipped to 132 for 5, the tail showed impressive resilience to hoist the total to a daunting 308.England’s bowling honours were shared by Sajid Mahmood, leading the attack since the departure of Simon Jones, and the captain James Tredwell, who added four more wickets to his first-innings 5 for 101, but conceded his runs at exactly five an over.East Zone, who had secured a first-innings lead of 58, took control once again in a sixth-wicket partnership of 106 between Laxmi Shukla (60) and Devang Gandhi (59). Tredwell eventually broke through, but England A’s prospects were dented by the sight of Shiv Sunder Das striding out at No. 9. Das, who has already played 23 Tests, made a century in the first innings and had decided to put his feet up in the second, but he eventually used his feet well to make 55, before Mahmood dismissed him to bring an end to the innings.England, who learned a thing or two about approaching tricky targets in their humiliating defeat against South Zone last week, made the worst possible start to their chase when Scott Newman was bowled by Shib Paul before for a fourth-ball duck. Michael Lumb then followed, lbw for 13 (25 for 2) and that victory seemed rather a distant prospect. But Ed Smith (33) and Kevin Pietersen (29) carried England safely through to the close without any further alarms, leaving them needing a further 288 on the final day for victory.
Another weighty contribution from Nick Knight set up a total of 279 for seven for England against Sri Lanka at the Adelaide Oval. Knight made 88 and featured in successive half-century partnerships with Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan, while Alec Stewart completed a half century.Knight kept his position as Trescothick’s opening partner despite the return of Michael Vaughan, who batted at number three on his return to the side at the expense of Owais Shah. For Sri Lanka Chamila Gamage replaced the injured Muttiah Muralitharan.It was Gamage who made the first breakthrough after Nasser Hussain chose to bat first in extreme afternoon heat. Trescothick (39), who produced a booming cover drive to post England’s 50, lost his off stump looking for a leg-side boundary.Vaughan was missed on one by wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara, who couldn’t hold on to what would have been a fine one-handed catch to his right off Gamage. Vaughan looked to pick up from where he left off in the Ashes series, with boundaries off Aravinda de Silva and Dilhara Fernando, but when he had reached 28 he skied a pull at Fernando to Chaminda Vaas at mid-wicket.Much as they had done in Sydney, Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva kept the run rate within reasonable bounds before Hussain (18) was bowled via inside edge and pad by Jayasuriya.Knight soldiered on, providing some relief with a swept six off de Silva, but on 88 he played loosely at Vaas for Sangakkara to hold on to the resultant edge. Knight has made 440 funs in his last seven one-day innings for England. Ian Blackwell was then lbw first ball to leave England teetering at 206 for five.As he has so often done before, Alec Stewart recharged the innings. He and Paul Collingwood added 54 in eight overs to revitalise England, taking 16 off one over from Fernando, including a Collingwood six over square-leg.By the time Stewart (51) and Collingwood (18) were dismissed, England were in sight of respectability.
An awesome display by Australia’s batsmen condemned England to their 11th successive defeat in limited-overs cricket in a match that was totally dominated by Australia as they coasted to victory by eight wickets.Their powerful all-round ability was much in evidence throughout as they made this last match before the NatWest Series final on Saturday look like a practice game in preparation for the showdown with Pakistan. They appeared unconcerned and at ease in facing the victory target of 177 set by England.England did claim an early wicket when Matthew Hayden mistimed his pull to be caught for eight off Andy Caddick with the total on 39. Thereafter, it all went Australia’s way with Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist quickly getting the measure of the England attack.The fifty partnership came from 45 balls as they kept pace with each other. Gilchrist reached his half-century first from 54 balls, 40 of those runs coming from boundaries.Ponting raced to his fifty from 45 balls which included six fours and two sixes off Caddick. The first was an effortless lift over mid-wicket and the second over fine leg which also brought up Australia’s hundred.The England bowling made little impression on the two Australians as they comfortably piled on the runs. Only half-way through their innings, Australia were already 157 for one needing just 20 for victory. Five overs later it was all over with man-of-match Ponting unbeaten on 70 from 71 balls.England did get a consolation wicket in the 27th over when Robert Croft took a return catch from Gilchrist. His was another brilliant knock with 80 coming from 90 balls, 14 of which were hit to the boundary.Earlier in the day, a timely flourish from the England lower order batsmen propped up the innings which was on the verge of disintegrating. Caddick with 36 not out from 44 balls led the hard-hitting spree along with Croft who showed his usefulness with the bat with 20 valuable runs when they were so needed by England.Of the frontline batsmen only Nick Knight, who missed his half-century by two runs, seemed to settle against the early onslaught of Australia’s fast bowlers. Apart from him, the innings of Ben Hollioake would have raised England’s hopes. He opened his account with two boundaries to extra cover off Glenn McGrath, but was unlucky to be run out later on 22, from a deflection off the bowler as he backed up for a run.Australia’s bowlers had struck just when England seemed to have made a recovery after the the loss of Marcus Trescothick’s wicket in the first over of the match – without a run on the board – when he played on to McGrath. Australia struck three times in quick succession to take early control of the England innings.On 51 for one, Alec Stewart, 22 from 46 balls, was caught, pushing to point in Brett Lee’s second over after he had replaced McGrath and then in the next over, the 16th of the morning, Ian Harvey had Owais Shah caught behind for one.England were 53 for three and to push them deeper into trouble, Lee claimed his second wicket. Alastair Brown failed to keep down a lifting ball which was not much short of a length, and was caught at gully off his gloves.England, having decided to make first use of The Oval pitch which is usually full of runs, had lost their last three wickets within four overs and in a space of eight runs to be reduced to 59 for four.McGrath was back in the attack for the 23rd over and with his fourth ball he had Paul Collingwood taken at first slip off the outside edge from a push. It left England struggling on 81-5.When England had been dismissed for 176, Lee had captured three wickets for 63 while McGrath and Harvey had two each.
Speaking to Anfield Watch, reliable reporter David Lynch has shared what he believes on defender Joe Gomez’ future at Liverpool amid links with a move away.
The Lowdown: Clubs queuing…
As per recent reports, Gomez could be a man in demand this summer as many clubs keep tabs on the England international’s situation at Liverpool.
90min recently claimed that ‘half the Premier League’ are keen on signing the centre-back with West Ham, Tottenham, Leicester City and Newcastle United all credited with interest.
Gomez’ lack of game time has thrown his future at Anfield into disrepute ahead of England’s World Cup quest with Lynch now sharing what he knows on the situation.
The Latest: Lynch shares Gomez update…
Speaking to AW, the journalist fully expects Gomez to push for an Anfield exit this summer to enhance his chances of making Gareth Southgate’s England squad for Qatar later this year.
When asked what the future holds for Liverpool’s 24-year-old, he explained:
“Joe Gomez’s lack of football this season isn’t a reflection on his quality, as Jurgen Klopp put it, he has simply been unfortunate that his slightly slower return to full speed following injury has coincided with Joel Matip enjoying a perhaps unexpected run of fitness and Ibrahima Konate hitting the ground running.
“But that doesn’t mean things are going to get any better for him next season at Liverpool and so, if he truly harbours World Cup hopes, I expect Gomez to push for a move this summer.”
The Verdict: Blow for Klopp?
Liverpool’s head coach, branding Gomez ‘world class’ earlier this season, clearly rates the defender and it could be a blow not to have him as an option for 2022/2023, especially considering the damage a lack of depth at centre-back did at Anfield last season.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
That being said, if the Three Lions contender is to make Southgate’s cut in time, he could be better served moving on to pastures new for guaranteed game time rather than having to compete with the likes of Matip and Konate.
In other news: ‘Told…’ – Journalist leaks major Salah update from the Liverpool ‘dressing room’, find out more here.
Jack Simmons has stood down as chairman of Lancashire after 11 years in the position. Michael Cairns has been elected as his successor.Simmons announced he would not stand for re-election during his chairman’s speech at the club’s AGM on Thursday evening. He said: “It is something I’ve been thinking about for a couple of years and my decision not to stand for re-election was made in the best interests of Lancashire.”Michael [Cairns] is the top man, and has a huge amount of experience in business and development. Lancashire is embarking on a very integrated redevelopment and I think it’s better for someone like him to be leading the club forward.”What I didn’t want people to think is that I’ve finished here because I have a new position at the ECB – that has nothing to do it.”Simmons will continue to sit on the club’s cricket committee, which also includes former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd.
Mashrafe Mortaza, the Bangladesh fast bowler, has replaced Shoaib Akhtar in the Asian squad for the Afro-Asia Cup beginning next month in India. Shoaib had pulled out two days earlier as he failed to recover sufficiently from a knee injury.”We have picked up Mortaza to replace (Shoaib) Akhtar in the Asian squad,” ASM Faruque, member of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) selection committee told Reuters.Mortaza is the second Bangladesh player to make it to the one-day squad after the inclusion of Mohammad Rafique, left-arm spinner. Mortaza is also a part of the Asian Twenty20 international squad for the one-off match on June 5 in Bangalore. He recently won the Man-of-the-Match award in the first Test against India in Chittagong for his first-innings 79.The three-match ODI series gets underway on June 6 in Bangalore, followed by the next two games in Chennai on June 9 and 10 respectively.
Shane Warne, Hampshire’s captain, made clear his frustration over Kent’s lack of co-operation on the final day of the Championship match at The Rose Bowl.Warne, who is one of the most adventurous county captains, tried to agree a fourth-innings target with Robert Key after rain affected the first two days of the game.”There was a little bit of haggling going on but Keysy didn’t want to know,” said Warne. “We got down to 240 off 65 overs, but they still weren’t interested at all. If I was offered that I’d take it everywhere in the world – no matter what the ground was like – and there was a kiddies’ boundary out there as well.”In the end, Kent were left a far-from-demanding 225 in 48 overs after Warne declared Hampshire’s second innings on 176 for 6. That target was not agreed between the captains. In the end, bad light brought an early end to the match.Warne, however, was clearly irked. “I was disappointed that Kent weren’t really interested in anything – they wanted 60 overs to get 200. I thought we were the only side that really wanted to win the game. Right from ball one I thought they came here with the mentality, their body language and everything, to be very negative about the whole thing. I think they just wanted to come here and basically not lose.”This is not the first time that Warne has been less than impressed with Kent. Last September, he accused David Fulton, Key’s predecessor, of effectively handing Nottinghamshire the Championship title by agreeing to chase 420 at more than six an over. Nottinghamshire won the game, and with it the title, whereas any other result would have set up a decider against Hampshire.