Category Uncategorized

Muttiah Muralitharan admits he has introduced changes into his game to keep batsmen under his spell.”I’m bowling really well around the wicket a lot at the moment and that’s a new tactic that can help me,” said Muralitharan. “It seems that when you can’t see which way the ball is going it’s harder. So hopefully that helps me in the future and I’ll take more wickets. People are getting ready for the spin, so if I bowl the ‘doosra’ I might get a top edge.”Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s captain, hailed the spinner. “He is always trying to take wickets and keeps the pressure on,” said Jayawardene. Muralitharan, one of the survivors of the 1996 title-winning team, took his tournament tally to 23, bettered only by Glenn McGrath, and his overall ODI career record to 455.Meanwhile it is expected that Farveez Maharoof might replace the struggling fast bowler Dilhara Fernando for the final against Australia. Fernando was warned twice for running on the pitch during the 81-run win over New Zealand at Sabina Park on Tuesday while his five overs cost 45 runs. Asantha de Mel, Sri Lanka’s chief selector, told the BBC they were not happy with Fernando’s form and that fellow seamer Farveez Maharoof is likely to get the nod.”Most probably it will be Maharoof,” said De Mel from the Caribbean. “We were not satisfied with Dilhara’s performance.” Maharoof was considered unlucky not to make the semi-final after he had taken 4 for 25 in Sri Lanka’s last Super Eights game against Ireland.De Mel also confirmed that Upul Tharanga would continue to open ahead of Marvan Atapattu. If Atapattu doesn’t play it will be the second time he has sat out an entire World Cup tournament. The same fate befell him when Sri Lanka won the title in 1996.Maharoof was named man-of-the-match against Ireland last week where he took four wickets, including three in an over, as well as pulling off a stunning run-out. Ironically, Maharoof, a former captain of his country’s Under-19 side, was only playing in that match in Grenada because Fernando had an ankle injury.”I got injured earlier in the tournament against Bangladesh but I just kept working hard in the nets,” said Maharoof. “This is my first World Cup and it is something I have been looking forward to ever since I became professional three years ago. All the bowlers have proved their class at the World Cup,” added Maharoof. “We have been talking about getting the basics right and putting the ball in the right areas.”

Back in the national team after a one-year absence, Hashim Amla, the 23-year-old South African batsman, insists that he is better equipped to make the most of his opportunity this time.”The time out of the national team gave me the opportunity to work on my skills as a batsman,” Amla, who has been included in the squad for the second Test against New Zealand, told journalists. “I’ve changed a couple of things, and I have been making lots of runs in the Supersport Series.”Amla made his Test debut against India in November 2004, but was dropped after his first six innings fetched just 62 runs, with a highest of 25. His tendency to shuffle across his stumps made him an lbw candicate, while question marks were also raised about his ability to handle the short deliveries. Amla, however, said that several coaches had advised him not to bother about the perceived kinks in his technique.”They said I should just concentrate on making runs. I’ve worked on basic things, and I think I am a lot more mature and more experienced than when I last played for South Africa. No cricketer can ever claim to be perfect, and there are always things you can work on to improve your game. Every cricketer improves every year as he goes on, and gains more experience.”Amla is likely to take the No.3 slot in the batting line-up after Herschelle Gibbs was left out, and even though the New Zealand attack will be without Shane Bond, Amla reckoned it would be a big challenge for him. “Their attack is not like the Australian attack,” he said, “but there is strength in their attack and they are ranked above us in the international Test ratings, so you can take nothing for granted.”

Inzamam-ul- Haq praised his team’s effort in securing their first Test win in the Caribbean since 1988. Pakistan won by 136 runs in the second Test in Jamaica and levelled the series 1-1. “The boys really worked hard, and all credit must go to them for us winning this game because it’s been 11 months of continuous cricket,” Inzamam said during the post-match press conference. “I think it was a great effort to have come back from defeat in the first Test.”Apart from Inzamam’s hundred in the second innings, Pakistan’s victory was also inspired by Danish Kaneria, who scalped 5 for 46 in the second innings, and ended all West Indian hopes of winning the series. Inzamam commended Kaneria’s matchwinning spell. “It was a close match, but I think the difference was the bowling of Danish in the second innings,” he said. “He bowled tremendously well, and it was never going to be easy batting on this pitch on the fourth and fifth day.”Kaneria himself suggested that the surface had helped in sending the hosts hurtling to defeat. “I bowled a little quicker in this match because the pitch was giving me a lot of assistance, different to Barbados, where the turn was slow and the pitch was good for the batsmen,” he said, after winning the man-of-the-match award. Shabbir Ahmed, whose bowling action was reported to the ICC last week, also supported Kaneria with 4 for 55 and finished with eight wickets in the match.West Indies, who were beaten 2-0 by South Africa prior to this series, and then lost eight consecutive one-day internationals, had won the first Test at Bridgetown by 276 runs, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul preferred to focus on the positives. “It was still a decent series for us,” he said. “We won the first Test, and we were able to bowl out Pakistan twice in both Tests. This shows that we can improve, and we are improving, and if we put in the hard work, we can get something in return.”But, credit must be given to Pakistan. They played very well to come-from-behind, and win this game. The pitch always had a little bit in it for the bowlers, and they put the ball in the right areas, and that helped them to come out on top.”However, Bennett King, their coach, was not so lukewarm in his response. He blamed the bowlers for the loss, as they conceded 374 and 309 runs in the match. “In terms of the actual reason why we didn’t win this Test match, you can actually blame our bowlers,” he said. “Although we had a very good performance in Corey Collymore, I thought they scored 150 to 200 runs too many in total, through some pretty ordinary bowling. And that probably is the thing that disappointed me most.”West Indies were set a target of 280, which King reckoned was always going to be a tough proposition. “I thought the total that they set us was too much. I honestly thought that we should have got them out for a lot less. I think on that wicket, under 200 was probably a more realistic score.”All was not lost for West Indies, as Brian Lara was named the Man of the Series for scoring 331 runs at a phenomenal average of 82.75, including hundreds in both Tests. “It was a good home season for me, I scored four hundreds in five matches, but I did not do anything in the second innings of this Test match when it was most needed,” said Lara. “We really needed a series victory to give us a boost of confidence, after losing to South Africa, and we were well placed coming into this Test after winning in Barbados. I think we have shown major improvements in our fielding, but hopefully we can work on our batting and bowling in the matches coming up.”West Indies have three weeks rest before traveling to Sri Lanka for two Tests and a triangular series also involving India. King made it clear that there would be no respite for his team. “They’ve all got programmes when they go home for the next three weeks,” he said. “And it’s been structured so that we’ve actually set times and organised with the trainers in their home countries what they’ve gotta do and what time to expect them. And if they don’t show up, the trainers have been informed to ring us and tell us.”

ScorecardThe first day of the second Test at Bulawayo was abandoned without a ball being bowled after heavy overnight rain which left the city awash. Although the sun was out early, more than four inches of rain fell in the previous 24 hours and despite the pitch and outfield being well covered, the ground was sodden. Four inspections – all cursory – confirmed that play was impossible.There were rumours that the Zimbabwe Cricket Union was trying to reschedule the match to start tomorrow, and so hopefully allow the game to run for the full five days. But that would have needed the sanction of the International Cricket Council, and there were no signs that any formal request had been made.The delay will give Heath Streak and Stuart Carlisle more time to try to shake off their injuries. Streak has back spasms but is likely to play, Carlisle has a quadricep strain and is considered an unlikely starter.Play is due to start tomorrow at 9.30am (0730GMT), but this is February in Zimbabwe, and as such more rain is a distinct possibility. Perhaps those responsible for scheduling should take more notice of local weather when allocating matches.Zimbabwe (probable) 1 Dion Ebrahim, 2 Trevor Gripper, 3 Grant Flower, 4 Stuart Matsikenyeri, 5 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 6 Sean Ervine, 7 Gavin Ewing, 8 Heath Streak (capt), 9 Raymond Price, 10 Douglas Hondo, 11 Blessing Mahwire.Bangladesh 1 Hannan Sarker, 2 Shahriar Hossain, 3 Habibul Bashar (capt), 4 Rajin Saleh, 5 Mohammad Ashraful, 6 Mushfiqur Rahman, 7 Manjarul Islam Rana, 8 Khaled Mashud (wk), 9 Mohammad Rafique, 10 Tapash Baisya, 11 Alamgir Kabir.

Exactly a week after the cricket got under way in this World Cup, England will at last take the field. They were due to make a late entry anyway with the much discussed match against Zimbabwe in Harare last Thursday, but the cancellation of that one means that the encounter with the Netherlands at Buffalo Park, East London takes on an even greater magnitude.From an English point of view, it is unthinkable that there should be an upset in this one, but the possibilities cannot be totally overlooked. To say that England’s preparation has been less than perfect is something of an understatement.Just when they looked to have a settled side and knew what their best eleven was, so Craig White went down with a recurrence of his side injury. That represents a serious blow, even if not so much now certainly it will be against stronger opposition.Then there has been all the uncertainty of the build-up. Convincing wins in the warm-up matches did the team a lot of good. The uncertainty over the Zimbabwe question will have undone all that beneficial work – and then some.The Dutch will be well aware of that and would like nothing more than to heap further problems on the English camp. They remember the times when they beat strong English county sides and they recall the time in the 1996 World Cup when they lost by 49 runs. They reckon that in a similar situation they now have the experience to exploit it.These are brave words, but their performance against India will have been noted by England. The Dutch bowled out the might of India’s batting for 204, although their batsmen let them down by getting bowled out for 136. Even so, it was useful experience and they have now been on the World Cup stage.Having planted the tiniest seeds of doubt, the Dutch should not be able to nurture them to the stage where they burst into flower. If this England side has been able to put aside the distractions that must have had an effect, they believe they have the quality to make an impression in this tournament.With a full strength team, they can boast a batting order to match almost any. That should be able to score enough runs to make up for the lack of an out and out match-winner in the attack. There are not many of those around, so England’s prospects look better than they have done for many a World Cup. The match against the Netherlands is not one that should cause too many problems and, indeed, the team now knows that it cannot afford any mistakes following the Zimbabwe decision.

England coach Duncan Fletcher and his fellow selectors will meet ECB officials tomorrow to discuss what went wrong in the NatWest Series and see what lessons can be learned.England lost all their six games – four of them comprehensively – in the triangular competition involving Australia and Pakistan. They have now lost 11 One-Day Internationals in a row.Selectors David Graveney and Geoff Miller will join Fletcher in the meeting at Lord’s and can expect some tough questioning although the meeting is intended to be constructive.”To lose all six matches is not good enough,” said ECB chief executive Tim Lamb. “We need to review where our performance has gone wrong in this series and also to talk to the selectors about their strategy for the future, particularly in regard to one-day cricket.”They met for three hours on Wednesday to talk about that and we’ve calledthe selectors in to have a review. It’s not a witch-hunt, it’s a constructivediscussion because we’re all responsible.”We think it’s a responsible thing to do as a senior management team, toconduct a little bit of an inquiry into what has gone wrong over the past fewweeks and hopefully to satisfy ourselves that the selectors have a robust planin place.”I think England supporters would want us to look at this situation because6-0 is not good enough. The wheels have come off during this tournament and itis our duty to hear what the selectors have to say although there is nosuggestion that heads are going to roll.”In fact, Lamb offered a vote of confidence to the selectors ahead of tomorrow’s meeting.”We have total confidence in Duncan Fletcher, we have total confidence in theselectors and they are all contracted to the end of the 2003 season,” hestressed.”This is a sensible review. It’s not usual we lose six matches out of six ina one-day series and it’s the right thing to do under the circumstances.”It’s not a panic measure; we just think as senior managers of the game, weowe it to the many English supporters who are very disappointed about theperformances, to conduct a review into what went wrong.”Graveney welcomed the meeting as a chance for both the selectors and the ECB hierarchy to air their views.”A meeting like this had to happen and it’s better sooner rather thanlater,” said Graveney. “We’ve learned a lot from this tournament and likewiseI’m sure the young players have learned a lot.”We’ve played two of the top one-day sides in the world and I’d defy any teamwith the possible exception of Australia to be able to cope with losing four orfive key players through injury like we’ve had to do.”The Board want to know what we’re doing to put thing right and that’s fairenough – I don’t see it as a blood-letting exercise.”

An update has emerged regarding Newcastle United and their interest in Watford attacker Ismaila Sarr…

What’s the talk?

According to The Sun, PIF are plotting a summer bid for the Hornets attacker in a potential £35m deal at the end of the season.

The report claimed that he is set to leave the Hertfordshire club irrespective of their divisional status, as they fight to remain in the Premier League. Liverpool are also believed to have sent scouts to watch him in action and may rival the Magpies for his signature.

Saint-Maximin 2.0

Newcastle can find their new Allan Saint-Maximin by bringing Sarr to St James’ Park as, just like the Frenchman, he is an exciting wide player who is capable of getting fans off their seats.

The Watford gem has the ability on the ball to beat opposition defenders with his dribbling and is capable of lighting up matches with his goalscoring quality. He has netted five goals in the Premier League this season whilst completing 1.8 dribbles per game.

In the Championship last term, he completed 1.9 dribbles per match and created a whopping 11 ‘big chances’ for his team-mates. He also found the net 13 times in the second tier as he showed that he can score and set up goals from out wide.

Saint-Maximin has produced five goals and three goals in the top flight this term, whilst averaging 4.3 dribbles per game. He attempts more take-ons than the Watford winger, although both players can contribute in the final third and have the ability to dribble past opponents.

Former Manchester United defender and current Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville previously showered Sarr with praise, saying: “He’s a big, big talent, honestly he really is. I always think, particularly as a wide player, what would I have not wanted to have played against? The first thing is pace.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe 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.

“And then you’ve got to think about, can he use his pace? Well, yes, he can, because he makes really good quality runs: the spin in behind, straight, but also the run inside in between full-back and centre-back – which I always think is the most difficult to mark.”

These comments from the retired full-back illustrate exactly why Sarr would be an exciting player for the Newcastle supporters to watch, which is why he would be Saint-Maximin 2.0 for the Magpies. The flyer can get fans excited with his direct play on the wing, and PIF must now ensure that they can get a deal over the line for the Senegalese wizard.

AND in other news, NUFC can find a new Andy Carroll in £60m “nightmare” who Shearer dubbed “magnificent”…

The Titans maintained their unbeaten start to the MTN Domestic Championship with three wins in six days, extending their lead over Cape Cobras to five points.Titans, who also have a game in hand over the Cobras, easily beat their rivals by five wickets in a one-sided match despite Herschelle Gibbs’ hundred, and Cobras title hopes were further dented when they then lost to Zimbabwe Chevrons.The Warriors, who opened with back-to-back defeats, have now won three on the trot. Two convincing wins this week over the Lions and the Dolphins put them within a point of the Cobras. The defeat checked a good start by the Dolphins who earlier in the week had easily beaten the Eagles.The Eagles, who won the SuperSport Series before Christmas, have been well off the pace and although they beat Zimbabwe on Wednesday, two hefty losses has left them languishing in the bottom half.Zimbabwe’s win over the Cobras in Harare was their first of the competition, and face a basement battle with the Lions in Potchefstroom this week. After winning their opening game, the Lions have lost three in three and slipped below Zimbabwe on net run rate.The batting has not been to the fore with only four coming in the 16 matches so far, with the Eagles’ Morne van Wyk topping the pile with his 128. The Warriors’ Juan Theron is the leading wicket-taker with 11.