Surrey have been docked eight points for ball-tampering during their Championship match against Nottinghamshire, at The Oval earlier this month. There will be a further nine-point deduction, suspended until May 31, 2006, which will come into effect if Surrey or any Surrey player is found guilty of ball-tampering in the next 12 months.Gerard Elias QC, the chairman of the ECB’s discipline committee, issued a statement today, saying that even though the umpires officiating at the game warned Surrey about the condition of the ball, further ball-tampering occurred.Surrey accepted that there had been ball-tampering, and launched an internal investigation, but where unable to establish the guilty party. Elias said: “The report indicated the club’s intention to apply its own internal disciplinary procedure to reflect the serious view the club takes of such a blot on its reputation and that of cricket in general.”Surrey’s chief executive Paul Sheldon added: “This whole incident has been a huge disappointment to the club, and it wishes to offer a full and final apology to everyone who has been affected. The firm and decisive action taken indicates how seriously the ECB and the club have treated the case. It clearly shows our determination to ensure that this cannot be tolerated in the game. As stand-in captain, Mark Ramprakash handled a very difficult situation with characteristic professionalism. We can now draw a clear line under the whole issue and put the matter behind us.”The ECB took into account Surrey’s admission and prompt action when deciding on their punishment, but an eight-point loss will still hurt them in a tight top division of the County Championship.Meanwhile, on a busy day for disciplinary issues at the ECB, a hearing has been announced into Steve Kirby’s conduct during the Championship match between Glamorgan and Gloucestershire at Cardiff on May 6-9. Glamorgan complained that Kirby roughed up the ball when it was hit into the car park, but Gloucestershire maintain that it was just natural wear and tear. That hearing will take place on June 6.
Wasim Jaffer and Vinayak Mane gave a lesson in partnership-building as Mumbai reached a commanding 236 for no loss at the end of the second day’s play at Chennai. The openers’ batting approach was a direct contrast to yesterday, when the Tamil Nadu batsmen had created their own pitfalls on a featherbed of a pitch.When play began this morning, MR Shrinivas hung on for 52 balls and added 25 with Dinesh Karthik. They were completely at ease in their 53-run stand and nudged the score towards the 300 mark. However, Nilesh Kulkarni was brought on after the medium pacers failed to strike, and trapped Shrinivas with a quicker one in his second over.And there began Tamil Nadu’s grind, under the blazing sun. Mane started in a great hurry, pulling Shrinivas to the midwicket fence in the second over of the innings. A few more neat drives followed, before he nearly paid the price for going after every ball. An inside edge missed the stumps by inches, and Ramakrishnan Ramkumar grassed an uppish flash off the very next ball. A few balls later, he flashed again, and this time, Karthik only managed to get his fingertips to it. Mane was on 15 when he survived these nervy moments, and that was the last whiff of a chance that either batsmen offered.Mane creamed three consecutive fours of C Ganapathy, and that set the tone for the rest of the day. Jaffer, who had had a quiet day till then, latched on to the momentum. A silken straight-drive off Shrinivas loosened the leash, and he deftly used the angles against the spinners. Two shots stood out for their exact placement: a delicate sweep off Sridharan Sriram, who was firing it in on leg stump with a strong leg-side field, and a late cut that beat both third man and deep point.Jaffer took just 55 balls to race from 50 to his hundred. There was a smooth air about the whole innings, with hardly any shots played in the air. Jaffer rated this knock, which included 17 fours, as one of the best innings of his career. “The 314 that I scored in my second first-class game was special,” he said, “but this one will rank as one of the best. I have played in three Ranji Trophy finals and have missed out on scoring a hundred in the previous ones. I was extremely keen to get this one.”Mane’s century, his third on the trot, was characterised by some well-controlled sweeps. There was a patch after tea when he swept almost every ball from the spinners, sometimes picking it from way outside off. Fittingly, he reached his hundred with a swept single, and was eager to cash in on his great form and carry on for much more. “I was disappointed when I didn’t make a double-hundred in the semi-final,” he said. “I will try and get a big one this time.”Those are ominous words as far as Tamil Nadu are concerned. This was the highest partnership for Mumbai against Tamil Nadu, and thoughts go back to March 1996, the last time a Ranji Trophy final was played in this stadium. On that occasion, Karnataka kept Tamil Nadu on the field for the best part of three days, and pummeled 620 for 8, before romping to the title. And to realise how bad things could still get for Tamil Nadu, you only had to listen to Jaffer say: “It would be great to get a second triple century.”
Sitting in an office with a blizzard howling outside, Durban seemed a million miles from snowy Canada rather than a few thousand.Yet as Bangladesh wickets continued to tumble, the desire was to be somehow instantly transported across the Atlantic to witness perhaps Canada’s finest cricketing hour.Bangladesh are not a powerhouse in world cricket, and Canada have beaten them before, in the ICC Trophy.But few gave Canada a chance of winning a single match at this World Cup.The last competitive cricket Canada had played as a team was in August.Most of the team has not seen grass for some months, instead they’ve practising indoors in Toronto.Theirlong-time coach Jeff Thomas was replaced by Gus Logie just six weeks before the World Cup, and lack of money prevented a pre-World Cup tour.This was a day-night match, and the first opportunity the team had to play under lights was last week. Excuses were ready for what seemed likely to be a disappointing trip to South Africa after the excitement of qualifying in Toronto in 2001.The main hopes might have been John Davidson and Ian Billcliff, both of whom are Canadian by birth, but ply their cricketing skills in the Southern Hemisphere, Davidson for South Australia, and Billcliff in club cricket in Auckland, after a varied first-class career.But on the day this was truly a team effort.Davison and Billcliffcertainly played their part, Billcliff with the top score, a much-needed steady innings in the middle-order after wickets had tumbled, and Davison with two crucial wickets.However, the hero was Austin Codrington – he had only managed two wickets in the 2001 ICC Trophy, and his best bowling in the Toronto leagues last summer was three for 33. His five wickets were taken with accurate pace bowling, of good line and lengthwith a little movement.Then there was Ashish Bagai, the young ‘keeper who learned his cricket in Toronto – three catches, one of which was as good as any you’ll see, behind the stumps in this World Cup, and not a single bye. Fazil Samad took two good catches at slip and his brother two more as substitute, including a stunner to dismiss Khaled Mashud.Sanjay Thuraisingam had hardly bowled since August, with work commitments preventing him taking part in the Red Stripe Bowl, and back problems keeping him out of the lead-up matches, yet he bowled six aggressive overs, taking a crucial wicket.The veteran Davis Joseph at 39, made the first breakthrough and took a second wicket to break an important partnership. Desmond Chumney had adismal run in the warm up matches and some would be surprised to see him in the team today.He and Ishwar Maraj together got Canada off to a solid start and, if not for an unfortunate run-out, he might well have made a more substantial contribution. The fielding as a whole was magnificent – certainly world-class, with some great catches.Joe Harris failed with the bat today, but was triumphant as a captain. He never let up in the field, realising that wickets were critical, and deserved full credit for bringing this disparate group of players together as a team.”It’s the best day of our lives” hesaid.It’s also perhaps the greatest day in Canada’s long cricket history, and one that has brought a little bit of warm South African sunshine to the cold Canadian winter.
Uttar Pradesh were 197/3 in relply to the Bengal first innings score of 207 all out, on the second day of the Vijay Merchant under-16 knock-out quarterfinal match at Narendrapur, near Kolkata on Sunday.Tahir Abbas with an unbeaten 71 off 157 balls with the help of seven boundaries and opening batsman Ravi Kant Shukla who made 64 (9 fours) in 129 balls were the arhcitects of the UP reply. Shiva Kant Shukla made 35 and Aris Alam 21 in the UP innings. Earlier in the day Bengal resumed at 176/6 and were bowled out for 207 in the 116th over. Praveen Gupta picked up two more wickets in the morning to finish with the figures of 39.4-23-44-5 to take the bowling honours.
Legspinner Amit Mishra has been recalled to India’s Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka in August. Mishra, 32, last played a Test in 2011 and he took legspinner Karn Sharma’s place in the team that had travelled to Bangladesh in June. It was the only change to India’s 15-man squad.Mishra has not played a Test since the 2011 tour of England, where he played two matches and took three wickets at an average of 106.66. In the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy season, Mishra played six matches for Haryana and took 10 wickets at an average of 20.40.”Amit Mishra has always been part of our thinking,” India’s chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil said in Delhi. “If you remember, even last year he was in the reserves [for the West Indies series]. The final authority of picking the XI is the role of the captain and the team management. Why A was not played and why B was picked it is not what we get into. Looking at the conditions, we have picked him for this SL tour.”Karn and fast bowler Mohammed Shami were not considered because of fitness problems. Karn had been ruled out of India’s tour of Zimbabwe in July with a fractured finger, and Shami is presently recovering from knee surgery.Opener KL Rahul had missed the Test in Bangladesh because of dengue fever and his replacement Shikhar Dhawan made a hundred in that game, leaving India with three openers – M Vijay being the third – to choose from in Sri Lanka.The selectors have not picked a reserve wicketkeeper in the squad as back up for Wriddhiman Saha. “We have a standby wicketkeeper we have nominated,” Patil said. “Secretary and selectors, we are aware who is the wicketkeeper nominated if there is injury on the SL tour.”Does he have the technique or not, time will tell,” Patil said of Saha batting at No. 6. “We have backed him looking at his performance in domestic cricket. The kind of experience he carries. You immediately cannot replace someone like Dhoni and come in and deliver the results. But we certainly feel that Wriddhiman is the right option and looking at his ability in batting as well, he should strike a good balance.”BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur also said Virat Kohli would turn out for India A in the second unofficial Test against Australia in Chennai from July 29-31.”Virat Kohli had requested the selection committee for some match practice and wanted to play a game against Australia A,” Thakur said. “He will be playing the second four day game against Australia A.” Patil, however, confirmed that Cheteshwar Pujara would lead India A in the game.Squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Varun Aaron, R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Rohit Sharma, M Vijay, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul
Leeds United have turned their Premier League season around dramatically.
At one point, with Daniel Farke at the helm, the Whites looked like being dismissed as nervy relegation fodder, with an abysmal five defeats across October and November very much troubling his position at Elland Road.
Now, the West Yorkshire outfit is deep in a four-game unbeaten streak, with wins against Chelsea and Crystal Palace seeing Farke’s men confidently power home seven goals. Subsequently, the Whites have now opened a six-point gap between themselves and 18th place in the difficult division, as Leeds continue to look up the table, rather than down.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin continues to stick out as an absolute gem of a summer signing, with the one-time free agent striker now up to seven goals for the Premier League season, after another lethal showing against the bewildered Eagles.
Why Calvert-Lewin is important to Leeds
Match of the Day pundit Joe Hart has even suggested that the ex-Everton marksman would be a “great option” for Thomas Tuchel to have in the England set-up, and it’s not the wildest shout from the former Three Lions stopper.
Indeed, the 11-time England international looks a man reborn at the moment in Farke’s set-up, with six goals collected from his last five games, making him a vital figure as Leeds continue to push up the standings.
Consistently finding himself in the perfect possible space to fire home chances, the 28-year-old is looking like an unbelievable masterstroke of a signing, with £0 spent on a transfer fee, for a striker who did have a strong 57 Premier League strikes next to his name, before leaving the Toffees behind.
Of course, the concern will be whether he does fall victim to a prolonged spell on the sidelines through injury, but at the moment, he will be considered one of the standout bargains in the entire division.
He isn’t the only sublime bargain Leeds managed to acquire in the summer, though, with an Ao Tanaka-style deal going under the radar at the moment, while Calvert-Lewin steals the limelight.
The star who is one of Leeds' best bargains since Tanaka
It will be hard to top the free transfer signing of the Sheffield-born goal machine, but he does boast a high £100k-per-week wage, which does mean he’s costing the West Yorkshire side a pretty penny in salary costs alone.
On the contrary, Gabriel Gudmundsson only takes home a slim £40k-per-week pay packet, despite also sticking out as a “crucial” – per Farke – first team presence this season, much like his aforementioned Japanese teammate.
Gudmundsson’s PL numbers for Leeds
Stat
Gudmundsson
Games played
17
Games started
16
Goals scored
0
Assists
0
Touches
56.4
Accurate passes
24.4 (78%)
Big chances created
2
Ball recoveries
3.6
Total duels won
5.7
Stats by Sofascore
Ao Tanaka only earns a £25k-per-week wage himself. Still, with two goals this Premier League season already from just seven starts, it’s clear that the former Fortuna Düsseldorf man is another golden bargain pulled off by the top-flight newcomers, having cost just £3.5m to bring in last summer.
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Looking at the table above, too, the £10m dropped on Gudmundsson’s services also feels like a fair amount to splash on a star who is now Leeds’ guaranteed starter in the left-back spot, with the energetic Swede winning himself a high 5.7 duels on average this season as a battler for his lowly team’s cause.
It was a risky move on Leeds’ end to drop that amount of money on an unproven Premier League talent, with Gudmundsson only being exposed to major top-flight action in the Eredivisie and Ligue 1.
But, he has made that transition look effortless – much like Tanaka instantly getting up to speed with the Championhip and Premier League – with Gudmundsson even being hailed as Leeds’ “best player” by The Athletic’s Beren Cross back in September, which is an assessment which has only grown stronger, after winning a combined 17 duels against Chelsea and Palace to steer Farke’s men to two memorable victories.
Leeds’ shrewd summer transfer activity is really paying off now, with Farke hopeful his team can continue picking up wins, knowing he has the likes of fan favourite Gudmundsson in defence, but also a reinvigorated Calvert-Lewin leading the line.
56 touches, 5 key passes: 8/10 Leeds star was better than Calvert-Lewin
This Leeds United star was even better than Dominic Calvert-Lewin against Crystal Palace as Daniel Farke’s men romped home to a huge 4-1 win.
The Indian Premier League’s Mumbai-based franchise has been named their team ‘Mumbai Indians’. Sachin Tendulkar, the team’s icon player, will captain the side, which also includes Sanath Jayasuriya and Shaun Pollock.”Mumbai Indians is a nice combination of senior players and youngsters, so I think we all will be looking forward to go out there, put up a perfect unit and perform well,” Tendulkar said after unveiling the team’s logo at a promotional event in Mumbai. “Twenty20 cricket is hugely popular everywhere and I have no doubt the IPL will be a hit.”Tendulkar said he was looking forward to open the batting with Jayasuriya: the last time he did so was back in 1998, while playing for the Rest of the World XI against MCC at Lord’s in a charity match held in memory of Princess Diana.The team logo for the Mumbai Indians has the Sudarshan Chakra with the team’s name engraved in it. The team’s colour – blue – is the same as that of the Indian national side.The franchise, owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd, was bought for US$ 111.9 million, making it the most expensive of the eight franchises. The team has three Sri Lankans in Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Fernando, while Pollock and Loots Bosman are the other overseas recruits. Robin Uthappa and Harbhajan Singh are the other India nationals in the side, which has promising local players in Abhishek Nayar and Ajinkya Rahane.
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has announced two provisional women’s squads to train over the next season. The squad for New Zealand’s tour of Australia in July and August will be picked from the provisional squads.A big absence is veteran Rebecca Rolls, the side’s wicketkeeper who retired from all forms of cricket in March. Batsman Emily Drumm who is playing overseas, has been left out. The selection panel who were re-appointed in the run up to the World Cup, named the uncapped Rachel Candy, Lucy Doolan, Rachel Priest and Amy Satterthwaite. Internationals Ross Kember and Beth McNeill, who were not in the team that toured India, also find a place in the squad.The two squads will train together at a camp to be held at NZC’s High Performance Centre at Lincoln University on June 9 and10. This will be followed by separate camps – the national squad on September 22 and 23, and the A squad on September 29 and 30.New Zealand Haidee Tiffen , Suzie Bates, Nicola Browne, Sarah Burke , Selena Charteris, Sophie Devine, Maria Fahey, Sara McGlashan ,Aimee Mason, Rowan Milburn , Louise Milliken, Sarah Tsukigawa ,Helen Watson, Ros Kember, Beth McNeill, Rachel Candy, Lucy Doolan , Rachel Priest , Amy Satterthwaite.New Zealand A Kendra Cocksedge, Amanda Cooper, Ingrid Cronin-Knight, Maree Hannay, Megan Kane, Zara McWilliams, Katey Martin, Prashilla Mistry, Megan Murphy, Elizabeth Perry, Megan Wakefield
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has slapped Jagmohan Dalmiya, the former board president, with another show cause notice. Dalmiya has been asked to explain, within 21 days, the details of the exorbitant expenses incurred during the 1996 World Cup under his time in office.Niranjan Shah, the BCCI Secretary, has been reported by as demanding details of figures related to the Pilcom account held with the Indian Overseas Bank in Kolkata. Shah has been quoted as saying that withdrawals from the bank showed “abnormally high” expenses including telephone bills, travel and cash withdrawals. Details came from a report submitted by N Srinivasan, the BCCI treasurer, to a working committee. Asked whether further action would be taken against Dalmiya, Shah said that would be decided only after he responded to the latest notice.The first show cause notice alleging misappropriation of funds had been issued against Dalmiya and Kishore Rungta and Jyoti Bajpai, two former board treasurers, on February 27. The Bombay High Court had granted the trio interim relief against arrest, but instructed them to appear before the Economic Offences Wing for further interrogation last week. They were granted anticipatory bail as the police prepared to submit their reports to the court.Dalmiya, who also served as president of the ICC, was the convener of Pilcom, which was created to organise the 1996 World Cup in the subcontinent. Inquiries into the Pilcom accounts were initiated after Dalmiya was ousted by Sharad Pawar as BCCI chief in November last year.
Bennett King, the West Indies coach, is willing to take his share of the blame for his team’s crushing defeats in the Tests and one-day internationals against South Africa. King, who took over the coaching position ahead of the VB Series in Australia, has said that his side is committed to improve.”I’m prepared to take the blame for a lot of the stuff because we’ve had to try and come in in a very short space of time and play Test cricket and one-day cricket, and we’ve worked the boys hard in that time,” King was quoted as saying in The Trinidad Express. “We’re pushing them harder. I offer no excuses there. And that’s why I said I’m not blaming my players for feeling tired when they come into matches, that’s my fault. To be honest, they’ve fronted up in matches and they’ve been tired, physically, which probably goes into their mental side as well.”I wasn’t expecting anything different,” he said. “The results, even though they won the ICC, you have to look at the history over the last three or four years. It’s been a tough road for the West Indian fans and the cricketers themselves. I’m pretty realistic about where we are at the moment.”West Indies, who lost the Tests 2-0, slumped to their first one-day series whitewash at home when South Africa won the fifth one-dayer by seven wickets in Trinidad. “We’ve got to find a way where these players understand the requirements that are needed for international cricket. And that’s my responsibility. Yep, we take some losses but, in the long term, what we are working towards is that there are going to be a lot more smiles rather than a lot more disappointment.”King pointed to the inconsistency of the batsmen as being the main reason for the team’s failure. “I still believe that Chris Gayle at his tender age and Ronnie Sarwan at his tender age, they’re still only 24, 25 and when you look around the globe with cricketers, people are starting to come into their own by the time they are 27, and they are actually playing much better when they are in their 30s…I’m not asking people to be patient, I’m asking people to be thoughtful which is what we ask our players to be.”King was vocal about the state of regional cricket in the Caribbean. “Some of the bowling issues for me stem from regional cricket,” he continued. “How much time do you need to develop some of these people for international cricket? We’re going to have to keep them in there and people are going to have to suffer through some bowling spells that may not be quite as good if they are the people we’re gonna target to lead West Indies into the future. We’ve gotta take a trusting approach and be prepared to spend large amount of times so that they learn.”However, West Indies have very little time to reflect on their performance, as they face another tough challenge when they play Pakistan in three one-day matches and two Tests, with the first one-dayer beginning tomorrow in St.Vincent. “It’s very, very tight,” he said. “There’s a lot of things we want to do with the players and we need to do with the players and when you’ve got back-to-back series like this…it’s hard to get the work into players that we want.”