ScorecardSaif Hassan’s century propelled Bangladesh Under-19s to a 58 run win over Zimbabwe Under-19 in the second youth ODI in Chittagong on Thursday.Batting first, the home side made 241 for 8 in 50 overs. Saif batted till the 42nd over to make exactly 100 off 154 balls with a dozen boundaries. His opening partner Pinak Ghosh struck 65 off 99 balls with six boundaries and a six. The rest of Bangladesh Under-19s side added just 58 in their last eight overs after Pinak and Saif were dismissed in successive overs. Offspinner William Mashinge was the pick of the Zimbabwe Under-19s bowlers with figures of 3 for 37 in seven overs.In reply, the visitors were bowled out for 183 in 46.1 overs with Taufail Zaheer top-scoring with 63. Left-arm spinner Saleh Ahmed Shawon took four wickets while captain Mehedi Hasan and Ariful Islam picked up two wickets apiece.The third youth ODI will be held at the same venue on November 14.
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas has slammed Real Madrid for going public about their interest in Gareth Bale. However, Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has continued to state that the club will not give up in trying to sign the Welsh Wizard.
Former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp says a move to Real Madrid may be too good to refuse for Bale, noting that the opportunity to play for Los Blancos does not come along very often.
Spurs are also in the news for a positive reason. The Lilywhites completed a £26 million club record transfer for Roberto Soldado. Soldado tallied 30 goals in 46 appearances for Valencia. The 28-year-old believes the transfer was a good move for both sides.
Away from north London, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard believes the club must hold on to Luis Suarez in order to be successful.
“I think he’s got a huge decision to make and his teammate, I’ve got to show him respect and give him space to make whatever decision he wants to make,” Gerrard stated. “But I think everyone in this room and everyone at this club knows what I want Luis Suarez to do.”
Gerrard also said he would not want LFC to sell Suarez to Arsenal, but he would understand if he went abroad to Real Madrid or Barcelona. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger finally confirmed that the north London club has made a bid for the Uruguayan star.
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With the ongoing Gareth Bale transfer rumours, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has raised an important question to his star Cristiano Ronaldo. Ancelotti stated that he’s not looking to change his position on the field but wants to put Ronaldo where he feels the most comfortable.
Finally, in the midst of all the Wayne Rooney transfer news, Man United legend Bobby Charlton believes Rooney should be a mainstay at Old Trafford for years to come, noting that he hopes one day Rooney will score as many goals in a United shirt as he did.
ScorecardAllrounder Jalaj Saxena and left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma shared six wickets between them to reduce Mumbai to 69 for 6, after Harpreet Singh’s 59, coupled with useful contributions from the lower order, guided Madhya Pradesh to 240.Mumbai openers Akhil Herwakar and 19-year old Jay Bista began reasonably well, putting on a 39-run stand before both batsmen fell in successive overs. Soon after, Saxena had Shreyas Iyer caught behind for 1, the batsman’s first single-digit score after 20 innings in the Ranji Trophy. The slide continued as the visitors lost six wickets in space of 30 runs in eight overs.After having opted to bat, three of MP’s top four had starts but neither carried on to make a substantial score. Harpreet Singh, however, anchored the innings, hitting five fours during his 155-ball vigil. Offspinner Ankush Jaiswal, playing his maiden first-class game, took four wickets, including that of Harpreet, but a quick last-wicket stand of 56 in less than six overs dragged MP past 200. ScorecardSneha Kishore, the 21-year old left-arm spinner, claimed his maiden five-wicket haul to skittle Railways for 182 at Karnail Stadium in Delhi but the hosts hit back, leaving Andhra at 62 for 4 at stumps on the first day.Anureet Singh struck with his first ball to trap Srikar Bharat lbw before Mohammad Kaif fell in a similar manner, bagging his fourth successive duck this Ranji season. Koripalli Sreekanth and AG Pradeep also failed but opener Prasanth Kumar and Ashwin Hebbar ensured that there was no further damage.Earlier, Railways lost an opener of their own – Ashish Singh – for a duck, before Saurabh Wakaskar and V Cheluvaraj steadied the innings with a 76-run partnership. Kishore then tripped up the middle order but Ashish Yadav and Arnab Nadi guided Railways past 150. The innings was wrapped up by seamer Bandaru Ayyappa, who finished with four wickets.Overnight rains and intermittent showers forced the abandonment of the first day of the eighth round fixture between Tamil Nadu and Gujarat in Tirunelveli, which was hosting its first Ranji game after 10 years. The day was called off at 1.45 pm local time, without even the coin going up, after two ground inspections.UP v Punjab: Khera, Sidhana resist after UP pacers strike
Mark Wallace’s 14-year run of consecutive County Championship appearances for Glamorgan will come to an end on Wednesday because of a torn calf suffered in the previous Championship match against Northamptonshire.”A bit of an old man’s injury,” he said ruefully as he contemplated the end of a run of 230 successive Championship matches.Wallace sustained the injury while batting against Northamptonshire’s fast bowler Olly Stone, pulling up abruptly after taking a couple of steps out of his crease as he attempted a quick single. He was standing in as captain at the time for Jacques Rudolph.After treatment from Glamorgan’s physiotherapist Mark Rausa, he was helped off the field, together with the assistance of the 12th man Jeremy Lawlor.
Derbyshire sign Milnes
Derbyshire have completed the signing of all-rounder Tom Milnes, 22, from Warwickshire. The 22-year-old has been on loan at Derbyshire since July and made his first-class debut against Surrey at the Kia Oval at the start of September. “The club already looks strong going into 2016,” said Graeme Welch, Derbyshire’s elite performance director, who has also strengthened with New Zealanders Hamish Rutherford and Oli Broom. 2015, though, was a disappointment with talk of promotion being replaced by the reality of a second-from-bottom position in Division Two of the LV= Championship.
Wallace was playing his 249th first-class match and 230th successive championship match for the Welsh county in a sequence which runs back to June 13, 2001 when he was a late call-up to replace the unwell Adrian Shaw behind the stumps in Glamorgan’s match against Kent at Maidstone.”I’m probably due an injury to be fair,” Wallace said. “I would have taken 230 games in a row when I got called up to go to Maidstone in 2001, so I can’t really grumble.”Glamorgan will play their final game of the season against Gloucestershire, winners of the Roayl London Cup on Saturday, in a four-day match at Bristol.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has launched a major development drive to upgrade media facilities at all international venues in time for England’s tour in October and the 2011 World Cup.The P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, which hosted Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test match against England in February 1982, has been the first stadium to be upgraded just days after the local and foreign media lambasted its facilities during the second Test against Bangladesh.The media centre was first contracted in 2001 with basic facilities on the understanding that it would be developed into a complete unit with time. However, the promised renovations did not materialise and end result was the stadium being starved of international cricket.However, the stinging public criticism of facilities during the second Test encouraged the ground’s owners, the Tamil Union, to take swift action. With two weeks the box was transformed from an empty corrugated-roofed space with electrical problems to a modern air-conditioned centre equipped with comfortable seating, power points and Wi-Fi.The total cost to Tamil Union for the upliftment of the media centre was Rs. 1.8 million. But Sri Lanka Cricket secretary K. Mathivanan stated that SLC would reimburse 50% of the cost. “Tamil Union has done a grand job on the media centre and they deserve all the credit as much as the flak they received prior to the refurbishment. We are in the process of upgrading all the media centres at major international venues,” Mathivanan said.”The media centres at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Galle and Dambulla will be upgraded by SLC to whom the venues have been leased out. The SSC will be informed shortly that their media centre also needs to be upgraded before the England series. We will follow the same procedures with them as we have for Tamil Union.”
Ashish Nehra, the left-arm fast bowler, will not attend the fitness camp in Bangalore between July 25 and August 1 as he is playing club cricket in England. Kiran More, the chairman of selectors, felt that he should continue playing in England to gain match practice in his recovery bid from a back injury.Dinesh Mongia, recalled to the Indian ODI squad for the tri-series in Sri Lanka next month, will attend the camp with the rest of the squad. Mongia, currently playing for Leicestershire as their overseas player, was initially only supposed to attend the cricket skills camp, also in Bangalore from August 6. “Initially we thought he could continue playing till the camp begins on August 6,” More told reporters. “But then we discussed the issue and decided that Dinesh should be here.”Besides the 15-member squad for Sri Lanka, More announced that several other players, including regulars from the Test squad, have been asked to report for the first leg of the camp which starts on Tuesday. They include VVS Laxman, VRV Singh, Wasim Jaffer, Murali Kartik, L Balaji and Robin Uthappa.
Zimbabwe Cricket’s player contracts debate took a surprise turn after the board withdrew the contract offers to three players – Stuart Carlisle, Neil Ferreira and Barney Rogers.On Thursday, ZC announced that only three players – Heath Streak, Tatenda Taibu and Andy Blignaut – would get long-term contracts, but four other senior players, Trevor Gripper, DougMarillier, Mark Vermuelen and Mluleki Nkala, did not even make the initial list of 27 players to get the level-one performance-based contracts.The board said that the decision to give short-term performance-related contracts had resulted from recent poor displays. “It’s a strange decision,” one of the players made the offer said. “It’s completely taken everyone by surprise. It’s a body blow. We are not sure of the reasons why ZC had to resort to such a move. It hasn’t helped morale at all ahead of the next game (on Sunday against India).”The players feel strongly about the issue. The guys have discussed it and felt that they should just go on and play tomorrow to keep cricket going, but they are completely devastated by the decision.”Carlisle has been struggling with form since returning to the side following the rebel strike. But Ferreira and Rogers are two of the most talented and promising young players in Zimbabwe. Insiders suggest that the two might have had clashes with certain ZC board members. Rogers was a surprise omission from the Test series with New Zealand, and the Videocon one-day tri-series, raising rumours of a clash with the selectors. Ferreira was rather harshly discarded after his debut Test against New Zealand, and that followed a long period of him being inexplicably overlooked.Gripper, Marillier and Vermuelen, the other players cast into the wilderness, have previously fallen out with ZC, and Gripper’s father was identified by ZC officials as being one of the main figures in last year’s player strike. Nkala, one of the more experienced young players in the team, is the chairman of the Zimbabwe Professional Cricketers’ Association.
Grant Flower has agreed to join Essex from next season. Flower, 33, has agreed a two-year deal, and will play as a non-overseas player under the “Kolpak” ruling.Flower played 67 Tests and 219 one-dayers for Zimbabwe, and fared better in the one-day format, averaging a little over 33 with the bat, and taking 104 wickets with his flattish left-arm spin. He announced his retirement from international cricket last week after playing a leading role in the recent disputes between the so-called rebel players and the Zimbabwean board.He will join his elder brother Andy, who retired from the international game after the 2003 World Cup, and who has been with Essex for three years. It will be Grant’s second spell in county cricket, after a brief flirtation with Leicestershire in 2002.Flower’s arrival at Essex will mean that they will have three Zimbabwean-born players in the squad, providing Scott Brant, their overseas fast bowler, returns next season. Flower, like his brother, will qualify as a local player because Zimbabwe has a trade agreement with the European Union. The loophole arose when Maros Kolpak, a Slovakian handball player, went to the European Court in a bid to play in Germany without being classed as a foreigner because he came from a non-European Union country. His victory meant that workers from around 100 countries who have trade agreements with the EU are now protected by European employment laws.”Grant is a very talented cricketer who will bring an added dimension to our upper order,” said David East, Essex’s chief executive. “He is a brilliant fielder and provides us with another spin-bowling option in all forms of cricket. We very much look forward to him joining us in 2005.”
On Saturday a new generation of cricket fans will assemble en masse at Trent Bridge, the venue for the first-ever Twenty20 Cup final. At the competition’s launch back in May, in the trendy Kensington Roof Gardens complete with pop bands and fancy dress, the general consensus was “ok, it’s a gimmick, but let’s see what happens.” A gimmick it remains, but it has turned out to be a successful one.
Ian Harvey: the only Twenty20 centurion and top of the batting averages
The ECB have gone to great pains to tell us how the crowds have been on the up, which was their preliminary aim. And with a sell-out crowd for the finals day, audiences are set to touch 255,000 for the whole competition, thrashing the 2002 Benson and Hedges Cup in terms of bums on seats, as well as breasts in jacuzzis.The day kicks off at 10.45am with the first and less glamorous semi-final, between Leicestershire and Warwickshire. Leicestershire won the North group with five wins out of five – even though Dominic Cork did his best to dispute that – while Warwickshire made it as the best runner-up. They lost only one game, against the other semi-finalists Gloucestershire, and were blasted there mainly off the back of Nick Knight’s bat. Knight smashed 235 runs in the group stages and he will need to continue to shine brightly against the wily Leicestershire Foxes’ attack, who have used the spinners as the secret of their success.Indeed, Virender Sehwag surprisingly heads the Leicestershire bowling averages, and he and Jeremy Snape will play a big part in slowing things down. Warwickshire too have relied on their slow bowlers, and Neil Smith and Collins Obuya will have to work out a way of keeping Brad Hodge quiet – he averages 47.00 with a top score of 97.The second semi starts at 2.45pm, but promises to be worth the wait. Surrey take on Gloucestershire, undoubtedly the two best one-day teams in the country, and this tie is worthy of a final itself. Both breezed through the group stages unscathed, and both have dangermen worth watching. For Gloucestershire, Ian Harvey took to Twenty20 like a bat to ball. He became the first – and only – player to score a century with a blistering 50-ball 100 against Warwickshire. He averaged 80.33, by far the highest, and along with his fellow Antipodean, Craig Spearman, (averaging 44.75) they have the most explosive top order of the four teams.For Surrey, Azhar Mahmood stands out above all their international superstars. Mahmood only played in three group matches due to Pakistan’s involvement in the NatWest Challenge, but he certainly made his mark with both bat and ball. He averaged over 50 runs, took eight wickets under ten apiece and is a proven matchwinner. Adam Hollioake, Surrey’s captain, is also tailor-made for the game with his buccaneering batting, and he heads the competition’s wicket-takers with 13.The winner of the second semi will be favourites for the final, which starts under the lights at 7.15pm. The finale will complete a long day, but if it’s anything like the group stages, then it should be an exciting one. And bearing in mind Atomic Kitten will be strutting their stuff in the interval, there will be enough to keep everyone interested.
Bangladesh is fighting to avoid an innings defeat as they were all out for 251 in their first innings and forced to bat again. To avoid the follow on the hosts needed 343 runs, but a horrendous come-and-go of the local batsmen led the squad to end up with 92 runs short of their target. The only consolation was the swashbuckling hundred that came from Habibul Bashar’s bat, who batted exceptionally well all through and arranged his innings with 15 sparkling boundaries.With the overnight 57 for 1, Bangladesh lost Al-Sahariar in the first hour today, when the opener failed to fend off an Olonga delivery that trapped him lbw. He got three lucky survive throughout his 29.The next partnership was looking auspicious as Aminul Islam was batting sensibly, though Bashar was scoring most of the runs. Aminul gave a return catch to Marillier at 21 and the leggie took it comfortably. The people of Chittagong were much disappointed to see their local hero Akram Khan back soon after Aminul’s exit. Again it was Marillier to remove him for a scanty 6 besides his name.Bashar was retaining the strike as much as possible and batted fearlessly. He deserved a century long before, at least in one of the five half centuries he made; but fate remained stern on him on every occasion. This ground was the opportunity to score big runs and he knew it.He hit four boundaries after he reached eighty and reached his hundred (108) by flicking Olonga to third man. Bashar lost his concentration a bit and Grant Flower took this advantage to beat him lastly by a delivery that turned sharply, slopped through his bat and clipped his bails off.After Bashar, Mohammed Ashraful put some resistance to score a patient 33. The kid overcame the initial nervousness and batted prudently. He played 140 balls while his teammates were dropping quickly. Skipper Naimur Rahman could not take control of his run drought once again scoring 5 runs only.Bangladesh were packed up for 251 with more than two days ahead. Left arm off spinner Grant Flower bagged four wickets.The remaining session allowed 10 overs of play and the hosts were 15 for no loss at the close of the day.