Craig Cumming and Chris Martin have been added to New Zealand’s squad for the one-day series against South Africa. The opener and fast bowler, already in the Test side, have been retained after James Franklin withdrew with an injured knee.”Franklin will not be available for the immediate future, and his withdrawal leaves the squad lacking his versatile set of skills,” Sir Richard Hadlee, New Zealand’s selection manager, said. “However, the retention of Cumming and Martin from the Test squad will restore balance to the ODI squad.”Having originally named a 14-man squad for South Africa, both these players can be accommodated in the squad.”Cumming has played 12 one-day internationals with an average of 14.63, the last of which was against Australia at Napier in 2005. Martin has also had a lengthy break from the one-day circuit. He last played for New Zealand against Sri Lanka in January 2006.Franklin will have surgery on his injured right knee later this month, which will prevent him from taking part in the three-ODI series against South Africa which starts on November 25 and the Chappell-Hadlee series in December.New Zealand squad: Daniel Vettori (capt), Shane Bond, Craig Cumming, Mark Gillespie, Gareth Hopkins, Jamie How, Chris Martin, Michael Mason, Kyle Mills, Brendon McCullum (wk), Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Lou Vincent.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has decided to challenge the Pakistan board’s decision to overturn the bans imposed on Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif for testing positive for nandrolone, a banned substance.WADA will approach the Court of Arbitration in Lausanne, Switzerland, and contest the decision on the ground that Pakistan is a full member of the ICC which in turn is a signatory to the anti-doping code laid down by the WADA.Dick Pound, the WADA chairman, said that since both Shoaib and Asif did not ask for their B samples to be tested it meant that they had accepted the result of the initial test. “The Pakistan Cricket Board [PCB] simply did not apply the code,” Pound told BBC Sport.Shoaib and Asif tested positive after an internal dope test was carried out by the Pakistan board just before the Champions Trophy in October. A three-man tribunal banned Shoaib for two years and Asif for one year in November but by December the appeal committee overturned the ban on the ground that neither player had been warned or cautioned against taking supplements.Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, refused to respond saying, “No comment. As far as we are concerned, the matter is now closed.” Pound, responding to a similar comment by Ashraf earlier, said that it was the WADA’s job to monitor compliance with the anti-doping code. “In cases of that nature, there are sanctions that are meant to be applied and in our view they have been improperly applied.”You cannot have in an anti-doping system an individual national federation purporting to act without regard to the rules of the international federation which has adopted the code.”He said that the agency would appeal to the CAS to deal with the case expeditiously but was fairly certain that the two players would get to play in the World Cup in March as such cases took months rather than weeks to be sorted.Pound criticised the ICC for being indecisive about the matter adding that if the WADA managed to contest the ban successfully then it would be considerable embarrassment to the ICC for not acting promptly. “The ICC doesn’t seem to be entirely clear which way it wants to go, so rather than wait and possibly have the thing fall between stools, we’re going to exercise our responsibility under the code – we do not think the proper result has been achieved to date.”
Shane Warne has been cleared to play for Victoria in Sunday’s ING Cup match against Queensland after Australia’s medical team asked him to rest following the West Indies series. Warne struggled with a back injury before the second and third Tests and was given a week off after taking 16 wickets at 22.87.Warne will captain the Bushrangers at the Junction Oval and he was one of two changes to the side with Lloyd Mash set to make his debut. Aiden Blizzard and Grant Lindsay have been dropped from the side.Queensland were forced into a change when Mitchell Johnson was picked for the Australian one-day side in New Zealand. Ashley Noffke will replace Johnson and play his first limited-overs match since the opening game of the summer against New South Wales.Victoria Michael Klinger, Lloyd Mash, David Hussey, Graeme Rummans, Jonathan Moss, Adam Crosthwaite (wk), Liam Buchanan, Peter Siddle, Tim Welsford, Shane Warne (capt), Gerard Denton, Shane Harwood. Supersub to be named.Queensland Jimmy Maher (capt), Matthew Hayden, Clinton Perren, James Hopes, Craig Philipson, Chris Simpson, Chris Hartley (wk), Andy Bichel, Nathan Hauritz, Ashley Noffke, Michael Kasprowicz, Nathan Reardon. Supersub to be named.
The world’s top cricketers will participate in a two-match one-day series to be played in Australia and Asia to raise funds to support the victims of the tsunami disaster that has devastated thousands of lives in a multitude of countries across the Indian Ocean.The matches will be played between an ICC XI and an Asian XI, with the first game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on January 10. The second one-dayer will be played some time in February or March, at a venue which will be decided later by the Asian Cricket Council, the ICC announced today.The ICC XI, to be picked by Sir Richard Hadlee, the former New Zealand allrounder, and Steve Waugh, the recent Australian captain, will be announced on Sunday, and is expected to include players from Australia, New Zealand and West Indies. The Asian XI, consisting of players from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, will be announced on Monday.Channel 9, the Australian broadcaster, has already committed to televising the first match live in Australia while negotiations are on with international broadcasters for the rights for the first match in the overseas market.Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, said that the enormous goodwill across the cricket-playing world had made the matches possible at such short notice. “Like the rest of the world, the international cricket community is shocked at the scale of the devastation caused by this disaster.”Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the Asian Cricket Council, believedthat these matches would be able to generate millions of dollars to be used to help rebuild people’s lives. The games are in addition to several other fundraising initiatives already undertaken by the cricket community around the world. These include £120,000 (approx US$230,000) donated by the Indian board, Aus$34,000 (US$26,500) donated jointly by the Australian Test team and Cricket Australia, and £20,000 (US$38,300) from the England team and its players’ association. The Indian team will also donate their payments from a forthcoming one-day intenational to the Indian Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, while the Bangladesh Cricket Board has pledged the gate receipts from its upcoming series against Zimbabwe, estimated at $10,000, to relief efforts.
The Indian team will prepare for their home series against New Zealand with a camp at the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) Stadium at Bangalore. According to a report by the Press Trust of India, the month-long camp, to be held in August, will be attended by all the probables. The list of probables will be announced later.The report also indicated that Greg Chappell was likely to assist John Wright, the Indian coach, in the batting and fielding departments during the preparatory camp.New Zealand arrive in India on September 23, and will play two Tests and a triangular one-day tournament which will also feature Australia.
Sri Lankan captain, Sanath Jayasuriya, looked a confident man before leavingto Sharjah for the tri-nation tournament with Pakistan and Zimbabwe at thedesert city from October 26.Speaking at Dilmah team sponsorship launch, Jayasuriya claimed: “Theconfidence is really high as our one day form has been excellent. We haveplayed well at home and particularly in Sharjah in the last few outings.”The Sri Lankans won the last two tournaments in Sharjah by thumping margins.Earlier this year, they convincingly beat Pakistan in the final and thistime last year they crushed India. Jayasuriya, though, is taking nothing forgranted.”There’s no guarantee that we can win this tournament,” he said. “There’slot of responsibility on the batsmen and bowlers.”Safety concerns in the wake of military action in Afganistan have dominateddiscussions in cricket boards throughout the world in recent weeks, butJayasuriya is not voicing fears about a tour to the Middle East.”We are not very concerned about that,” he said. “The Cricket Board hasbeen in touch with CBFS and they are confident that everything is ok, so wedon’t have any problems in going there.”Sri Lanka travel to Sharjah without all-rounder Suresh Perera, a key memberof the team that defeated India and New Zealand in the Coca-Cola Cup inJuly, as his bowling actions is still be reviewed after he was reported byumpire Steve Bucknor.”It’s a big blow,” admitted the captain. “Unfortunately he’s having aproblem with his action. It’ll be rectified very soon I hope and he can bequickly brought back into the side.”However, Sri Lanka have the option of playing Dulip Liyanage who bowlsmedium pace and can chip in with the bat like Perera.”Yes, we’ve the option of playing Dulip (Liyanage) in the position whereSuresh (Perera) used to bat,” he said.The Sri Lankans have got two youngsters in their side. Prabath Nissanka andCharitha Fernando. Both choices caused some surprise, but that of Mataraborn Nissanka has created the greatest excitement.”Prabath (Nissanka) is having a very good future,” predicts Jayasuriya. “Hewas troubled by injuries but now he’s alright he can bowl really fast.Charitha (Fernando) can bowl quick as well and he’s got the ability to chipin with the bat, which gives him an extra advantage.”In the last tournament Sri Lanka went with the six batsmen policy withall-rounders Kumar Dharmasena and Suresh Perera batting in the middle order.Perera’s unavailability creates problems for the balance of the side.Asked as to what changes would be made, Jayasuriya said: “It depends on thesituation. There are quite a few bowlers who can chip in with the bat. Butanyway it’s too early to comment on the composition of the side. We have togo there and see. We have got to take into account the opposition, theconditions and lots of other stuff.”Jayasuriya, though, hinted at Kaluwitharana retaining the gloves in Sharjah:”We have been playing with Kalu for the last few matches and he has beenperforming well in the shorter version of the game, so we might settle withhim again in Sharjah.”Speaking for the first time since the World Cup draw, he acknowledged thatSri Lanka had been rewarded for their recent good form with a favourabledraw, but warned: “We can’t be confident because we are in a group thatgives us some advantage. To win an international cricket matches you need toplay really hard right from the start on that day. We are not thinking atthe group right now but considering about getting the right formula for theWorld Cup.”The team departs Sri Lanka on Sunday for the tournament that starts onOctober 26 and ends on November 4.
Scorecard Shishir Bhavane held Karnataka’s innings together with a patient 65•PTI
J Syed Mohammad is a proper journeyman domestic cricketer. During one of his many voyage, he has called Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium his home ground while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore. On the first day of the Ranji Trophy of 2015-16, Syed ran through the real home team of the Chinnaswamy Stadium, double defending champions Karnataka, with his best first-class figures of 7 for 44. Karnataka, who chose to bat, were bowled out for 187, thanks largely to lower-order runs scored in the company of young left-hand batsman Shishir Bhavane.Karnataka were missing the injured Manish Pandey, but they had enough batting strength in the in-form Mayank Agarwal, veteran Robin Uthappa and Karun Nair, who has recently been a part of India’s Test squad. They all fell to Syed as he took six wickets in his first spell to reduce Karnataka to 104 for 7. Bhavane, though, scored 65 runs in partnerships with J Suchith and Abhimanyu Mithun. In the 12 overs remaining after the end of Karnataka’s innings, Vinay Kumar took a wicket, but it was Assam’s day overall. Scorecard Deepak Chahar shot to fame with his showing on the first day of the 2010-11 season as he took eight wickets to bowl Hyderabad out for 21. What happened on day one at the same ground five years later wasn’t as dramatic, but his five-for helped Rajasthan shoot Delhi out for 138 in what might be a more important spell for him. He is part of a controversial team, other sides know his bowling well now and are better equipped against his swing. The home team were without the injured Pankaj Singh as an ad-hoc-committee-controlled Rajasthan took to the field against Delhi, the only team whose administrators can beat theirs when it comes to controversy.Gautam Gambhir, Delhi’s captain who has stayed back despite offers from Bengal, resisted for a while, scoring 24 out of Delhi’s 53 for 4, but once he fell a procession followed. Chahar, making use of the conditions after Rajasthan inserted Delhi, took the wickets of Unmukt Chand, Gambhir, Milind Kumar, Yogesh Nagar and Parvinder Awana. A counterattack from Sumit Narwal took Delhi to 138, but Pranay Sharma’s 42 in reply meant they didn’t carry any momentum when they bowled. Narwal took two wickets to keep Delhi interested, and Pradeep Sangwan’s wicket of Pranay just before stumps will give them further hope, but Rajasthan would have been the happier team at the end of the day. ScorecardVidarbha opener Aditya Shanware struck a ton on his first-class debut, helping his team to 256 for 6 against Odisha in Nagpur. Vidarbha, batting first, began promisingly, as Shanware strung together fifty-plus stands for the first two wickets, with Jitesh Sharma (49) and Ganesh Satish (53). The hosts were well set at 173 for 1, but Odisha’s medium-pacers Basant Mohanty and Suryakant Pradhan dealt key blows at regular intervals, and Vidarbha soon found themselves at 197 for 5. Shanware and Ravi Jangid stopped the slide with a 57-run partnership for the sixth wicket, but Vidarbha suffered a big setback towards the end of the day, as Shanware was dismissed for 119 in the 88th over. Maharashtra v Haryana – Sehwag shines on Haryana debut
Everton must not pursue their reported move for Leicester City defender Jannik Vestergaard.
The links
Football Insider report that Everton director of football Kevin Thelwell is very much an admirer of Vestergaard.
He apparently tried to sign the Dane during his time at Wolverhampton Wanderers, and launched a fresh scouting mission during the recent international break.
Thelwell and his recruitment team believe he could be an asset to the club because of his ‘aerial dominance’ and experience in the Premier League, but there’s reason to question that assessment.
Former player underwhelmed
Last summer, amid links to Tottenham Hotspur, former PL midfielder Rob Lee admitted that he was unconvinced by Vestergaard and urged the Lilywhites to think twice about a move (via Football Fan Cast).
He questioned the consistency of the centre-back’s performances: “I’ve seen him play well, seen him play badly, so I wouldn’t go breaking the bank for him,” he said.
“I’d go and break the bank for Danny Ings, but for Vestergaard, no, not really. He’s not Virgil van Dijk, is he?”
Strong criticism from journalists
In the end, it was Leicester City that snapped him up, but some journalists believe the move has proven to be a mistake.
For example, Josh Bunting of the Islington Gazette has called it a ‘poor’ signing that ‘hasn’t worked at all’, while Zach Lowy regards him as ‘one of the biggest flops’ of the summer transfer window.
Lowy also believes that the 6 foot 6 Vestergaard isn’t as dominant as he ought to be – he labelled him ‘about as imposing in the air as a macaroni penguin’. The numbers support this too, as the Denmark international ranks eighth for winning aerial duels in the Foxes squad, despite being by far their tallest player (Whoscored).
Tactical concerns
What’s more, Vestergaard may not be the best fit for Frank Lampard’s system at Goodison Park.
The manager has looked to be aggressive, playing the kind of high line Rodgers employs at Leicester, but BBC Sport writer Raj Chohan has observed that the Foxes look ‘so much’ more vulnerable when they ask Vestergaard to push up the pitch.
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And The Athletic’s Rob Tanner has noted that the 29-year-old may simply be better suited to playing deeper.
Based on these verdicts, it looks like moving for Vestergaard could be a costly mistake for the Toffees, who already have a number of flops at centre-back with Jamie Carragher branding them a ‘Championship back four’.
In other news, a transfer insider says Arsenal have a second Everton target in mind.
South Africa’s ODI series against Pakistan will go ahead unchanged despite the twin bomb attacks that rocked Karachi late on Thursday, killing over 130 people and injuring over 500. Karachi is due to host the final ODI on October 29 and it remains on the itinerary after assurances to the South African team of extra security.The decision came after a meeting between officials from Cricket South Africa (CSA), the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), top local security officials and the provincial Punjab government. Zakir Khan, PCB’s director operations, said, “After concern shown by South Africa’s management over the incidents in Karachi, we had a comprehensive security briefing, which included board officials and the Punjab home secretary. After the meeting, it has been decided the tour will go ahead as planned.”The series moves to Faisalabad and then Multan after tomorrow’s game in Lahore and the tourists have been assured beefed-up levels of security for the remainder of the tour. Logan Naidoo, South Africa’s manager and vice-president CSA, said the offer had come from the home secretary’s office.”We came here knowing the situation and we knew it wasn’t free movement. That hasn’t changed after the incidents of last night. It’s strange because we didn’t go to the PCB and say we needed more security. In fact, the home secretary said levels of security will be increased by another two levels at the other three venues.”The tour itinerary, however, remains open to change should the situation in the country change again. “Having met with the PCB chairman and officials and with the home secretary, we are quite satisfied so far that the arrangements that are made are acceptable to the South African team so we will definitely continue with the tour.”We will be keeping tabs on what’s happening within the country for the rest of the tour and if anything changes we will meet again before making a decision.”The management offered their sympathies and condolences to the families affected by the blasts and said the players had been disturbed by the deaths.”It’s not a usual situation for the players and they are more disturbed in terms of the deaths [that] occurred. We will ensure that whatever safety precautions we take for officials we will take for them as well,” Naidoo said. “We wouldn’t be limiting any security measures for them.””I have spoken to officials in South Africa and I have told them that we are engaging the PCB and I am thankful to them. We are satisfied with the way the situation has been handled.”The twin bombs went off at the motorcade for Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan, who returned to the country yesterday after a self-imposed exile of eight years.
Although still recovering from his recent heart bypass surgery, Reginald Pearman, the Bermuda president, has expressed his disappointment over his country’s three successive defeats to Kenya in the recent one-dayers.”Well as you can imagine I haven’t been much in touch with what went on in Kenya other than getting the news that we lost all three matches,” he told , “and of course that was news that was rather disappointing.”I feel that what the players have to realise is that they have to work harder to acclimatise themselves as quickly as possible when they go to play in other countries. They have to realise that they are on the big stage now and must be prepared for whatever hurdles are placed in front of them.”
We lack a match-winner in bowling and batting El James, Bermuda’s former president
El James, the former board president, echoed Pearman’s comments while adding that a level of understanding was needed by the public and media.”The local cricket fraternity has to remember that we are going through something we have never experienced before, the players are going to strange countries far from home, leaving their friends, families and loved ones and eating new foods, adjusting to new surroundings and playing on wickets that are different,” James said, responding to comments made last week by Martin Williamson, Cricinfo’s Managing Editor.”It’s a huge adjustment to their whole lives and it takes a while for them to settle down and deal with these changes – so to be honest it’s unfortunate when a harsh judgement is made,” he said. “We actually need to turn our game around, especially when the thinking of some in the world is that we are going in the opposite direction after qualifying for the World Cup.”We need match-winners – look at Kenya’s Steve Tikolo – he was always playing a spear-header’s role and in return who did we have – nobody really.”We lack a match-winner in bowling and batting, nobody is a threat in these respective departments and this is not good. If we had one or two individuals who can come up with a century and a few fifties and a couple of bowlers who can capture several scalps in a game on a consistent basis then we could look forward to a few successful results. But without any semblance of consistency it’s only going to get harder.”Meanwhile the assistant coach, Herbie Bascome, insists the players desperately need to toughen their resolve mentally if they are to find success.”I definitely feel this team has much more to offer than we’re offering now,” he said. “But what’s happened may have a lot to do with coming to Africa, a different environment, a different culture, because we’re getting more experiences than just cricket,” he said. “The cricket is at the highest level but when you come to Africa you’re coming to a place where you’ve always wanted to visit because you’ve read so much about it. You know, maybe the players weren’t in the right frame of mind to play cricket.”Mentally, if we decide we’re going to play this game we have to get tuned in. The most important thing is being able to think your way out of situations. When we realise the importance of the mental part of the game, then we’ll get better.”