Matthew Wade justified Victoria’s decision to make him their No. 1 wicketkeeper with 83 and four catches on debut as the Bushrangers took control against South Australia. Despite all their off-season batting work the Redbacks showed little improvement from their woeful 2006-07, ending the day at 8 for 162 and trailing by 276.Gerard Denton and Dirk Nannes claimed three wickets each as several Redbacks made starts and failed to go on. Matthew Elliott fared best with 42 but the Borgas brothers’ first Pura Cup match together will be one to forget – Jason edged Denton behind for 1 and Cameron went in the same manner for 0.Mark Cosgrove managed six fours in his 34 before nudging to short leg off Bryce McGain right before tea. A further five wickets fell in the final session and at the close the home side was 127 short of avoiding the follow on, with Cullen Bailey on 18 and Jason Gillespie on 2.South Australia were also disappointing with the ball as they let Victoria’s last two pairs add 118, with Wade the major contributor. He was chosen ahead of Adam Crosthwaite because of his batting skill and although he survived a couple of dropped catches he showed serious potential, striking nine fours and two sixes. Nannes, who made 31 not out, and Peter Siddle (17) were Wade’s tail-end helpers.
Central Districts v Northern Districts Northern Districts did the unthinkable… again. For the second time in three years they chased down a 400-plus total to beat Central Districts. They did so on the back of an outstanding unbeaten 120 from Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand allrounder.Hamish Marshall also sent an ill-timed reminder to the national selectors about his ability as he notched up his ninth first-class century at Lincoln today. Marshall’s impressive 153 off just 204 balls came too late to bring him into calculations for the first Test against Sri Lanka that starts in Christchurch on December 7.Declaring overnight, Northern had all day to score the runs but once Marshall was dismissed at 240 for 5 few would have given Northern a chance. Enter Vettori. He combined with Joe Yovich (52) to add 99 for the seventh wicket and 74 for the eighth with Peter McGlashan (16).Michael Mason, who was named in the New Zealand squad for the first Test, took 3 for 74 off 25 overs.Central took the two first-innings points to go with their outright victory against Wellington last week.Auckland v Wellington Rain ruined any chance of an outright result in Christchurch so Auckland used the opportunity for batting practice on the last day after Wellington comfortably took first innings points.When stumps were drawn at tea Tim McIntosh had reached his half century while captain Richard Jones was unbeaten on 47.Earlier Neal Parlane and James Franklin had scored half centuries for Wellington after opener Matthew Bell fell nine runs short of a century.
Stuart MacGill, who watched helpless as Australia crashed to an Ashes series defeat to England, said on Sunday that his omission from the losing team made no sense. The legspinner, who has taken 160 wickets in 33 Tests, went through the entire Ashes series without receiving a word of explanation from selectors about why he was overlooked for all five Tests.MacGill looked on as England’s batsmen showed a dislike for the turning ball with fellow legspinner Shane Warne snaring 40 wickets. MacGill said the selectors’ decision not to choose him was a mystery. “There was no explanation whatsoever,” MacGill told Sydney’s newspaper. “Warney took 40 wickets when he’s supposed to be past it. He had 16 wickets in two Tests, before the (third) Old Trafford Test, when I thought I might have been a good chance of getting in there somewhere. None of it made much sense to me.”I’m looking at the tour now in two ways. There was the cricket side of it and the general experience. If I remove cricket from the tour, it was great. It was a nine-week, well-paid holiday. Obviously, I wish it hadn’t been that way, but it was. If you add cricket into the mix, it was a debacle.”I was sitting there watching us go downhill without being able to help.” MacGill said the gruelling workload on Warne took its toll on the champion leg-spinner by the fifth and final Test at The Oval earlier this month. “The workload that Warney had during the series … you just can’t expect someone to carry the attack, statistically and physically. It’s a big mental drain.”There was obviously some conservative thinking there and some nerves in the decision-making. I can understand it to a point, particularly when you consider that maybe my forte isn’t keeping the runs down, but thinking like that isn’t how you win Test matches.”MacGill and Warne are likely to be paired on the spin-friendly Sydney Cricket Ground when Australia play the Super Series Test against the Rest of the World from October 14.
ScorecardSouth Africa’s only chance to get in some practice before the one-day series against Sri Lanka was ruined when their tour match against the Board President’s XI at Moratuwa was abandoned due to rain without a ball being bowled. The washout also means that Alan Dawson and Jean-Paul Duminy, who were flown in for the one-dayers, will not get a chance to experience Sri Lankan conditions before the start of the series. The first match of the five-game series will be held at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on August 20.
Dav Whatmore, coach of Bangladesh, has shrugged off Dennis Lillee’s criticism of Bangladesh and its upcoming tour of Australia, saying that it was not thefirst time a new side had struggled to make its presence felt.”It’s been pushed into the background that New Zealand and West Indies took a while to win Test matches,” said Whatmore. “We need to be a little bit careful.And it depends what sort of eyes you are looking through.”Whatmore pointed out that Bangladesh had much passion for the game on its side. “There are 140 million people in Bangladesh. They get their act together and they are going to be a real push for other countries,” he said. “We’ve got the supporter base and the player base. We don’t have to spend a huge amount of money to get kids to play cricket like they do here in Australia.”Asking for patience from the cricket world, Whatmore said: “I have an open mind on this and there’s been a couple of good examples of sides coming into international cricket and having to wait a long time before they had a win.”But he made few concessions for his players, stating that they needed to toughen up to win. “You can imagine if you are one of those poor people there who loves their cricket and you look forward to the team doing well and they don’t – everyone is on a downer,” said Whatmore. “It’s important for countries like Bangladesh for their sporting results to be positive – it just lifts everyone.”
Rob Turner, who has been awarded a thoroughly-deserved benefit Somerset in 2002, has recorded a hole in one at the par-three fourth hole at Oake Manor Golf Course near Taunton.
RobTurner Photo Paul McGregor
Rob, who described himself to me as “a modest golfer” said: “I hit a good tee shot, but when I looked towards the green I couldn’t see my ball. Nobody was more surprised than me to find that it had gone in the hole.”Wicket-keeper batsman Rob, who celebrates his 34th birthday next month,was born in Malvern but brought up in Weston-super-Mare where he attended Broad Oak School. He later moved to Millfield, where he was in the same first eleven that included Jonathan Atkinson, Paul Bail and Harvey Trump who all went on to play for the county.Rob went on to Cambridge, where he captained the University side as well as the Combined Universities XI. He made his first team debut for Somerset in 1991, and has become a firm favourite with Cidermen fans.Rob’s year gets under way with a Benefit Tour to New Zealand between February 12th and 27th, which has been planned around the five-match one-day internationals between England and New Zealand.A Benefit Year Launch lunch is planned at The County Ground during March.
West Ham United manager David Moyes has expressed his disappointment with Michail Antonio following the striker’s poor display in the Hammers’ 3-1 defeat to Tottenham on Sunday.
The Lowdown: Antonio’s performance
During the all-London clash, the Jamaica international was substituted early in the second half after failing to make an impact on the game. In his 56 minutes on the pitch, the 31-year-old had just 21 touches of the ball and lost possession nine times, completing a paltry four passes.
Even as the Irons’ lone striker, Antonio illustrated his lack of attacking threat by failing to produce a single shot on target, capping off a disappointing display for him and the Hammers.
The Latest: Moyes’ comments on Antonio
When questioned whether Antonio was just tired following his 36th appearance of the season, Moyes told football.london:
“No, I did not think he reached his level. We needed Michail to play at a really high level and the level of the Tottenham front players was such an unbelievably high level. We had a lot of the ball and I watched them here against Everton and it was very similar Everton had a lot of the ball and without much of the ball Tottenham were a couple of goals up and it is similar to today. We had the ball for the opening 15 minutes or so but they were two goals up.”
When further questioned about a potential loss of confidence after missing two chances, the manager replied:
“Two chances yeah. I do not know if he is struggling with confidence. Mich is a good guy and he does not come over that way [as a confidence player] but if you are a No.9 at any football club you want to score goals and that will fill your confidence. He had two good opportunities and somebody told me Spurs had four shots on target and we had one and Tottenham scored three and we scored one.”
The Verdict: Could turn to Yarmolenko
An alternative option for Moyes could be to use Andriy Yarmolenko at centre-forward, with the Ukrainian recently back in the fold after a period of compassionate leave due to the war in his homeland.
However, since his return, the winger has netted two very important goals. He came off the bench and scored in the 2-1 win against Aston Villa, and even more crucially, he bagged the winning goal which sent West Ham through to the quarter-finals of the Europa League at Sevilla’s expense.
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If the Hammers’ sole striker is unable to produce the goods in the final third, Yarmolenko could therefore prove to be a great alternative option for Antonio, with the former occasionally lining out in a number nine role during his career.
In other news: Paul Brown makes Declan Rice contract claim
ScorecardChristian Leopard raced to an unbeaten half-century to lead New Zealand Under-19s to a four-wicket victory over Australia Under-19s in a tri-nation one-day tournament in Dubai. In a low-scoring game, he came in at No. 8 and struck 50 off 42 balls with six fours and three sixes to complete a rather tense chase.Australia’s bowlers, led by offspinner Arjun Nair’s three wickets, were doing their best to complicate a chase of 170 and had dragged New Zealand from 82 for 2 to 82 for 3, 82 for 4, 82 for 5 and finally 102 for 6 when Leopard walked in. He strung a steadying 71-run seventh-wicket stand with Finn Allen and took his team past the finish line. The winning runs – secured with the help of a four to long-off – also took Leopard, who was one of 10 debutants in the New Zealand side, to his fifty.The accolades until then had belong to the New Zealand bowlers after they had opted to field. Nathan Smith struck in the first over and Australia had slipped and slid to 115 for 5 in the 22nd over with their top-scorer Patrick Page (44 off 55 balls) back in the pavilion. Wicketkeeper Brooke Guest attempted to rally the tail around him but Australia got to 142 for 6 and were all out 27 runs later. All but one of the six bowlers New Zealand used picked up wickets, with left-arm seamer Ross ter Braak picking up 3 for 23 and left-arm spinner Rachin Ravindra chipping in with 2 for 19.
Ryan Butterworth, now playing for Mashonaland, was one of the leading students at the CFX Academy for 2001 and the only one to score a century in the Logan Cup that season. Although he was never selected for one of the national age-group teams at cricket, his performances for Old Hararians in the national first league club championship probably won him a place at the Academy.His club plays him as an opening batsman, as did the Academy for a while, although he would prefer to bat at number four if given the choice. He sees himself as an all-rounder, though, bowling medium-paced seamers ("I just try and move the ball around as much as I can") and also keeping wicket at times.Ryan comes from a sporting family, although cricket was not the most prominent. His father played at school, but not as an adult, but has always given Ryan the utmost encouragement. When he was very young, Ryan used to play cricket along with other sports in the family garden at home, along with his twin brother Brendan, who is less inclined towards sport and gave up cricket after junior school. He attended Gateway Primary School in Harare and his natural sporting ability came to the fore, as he was a leading member of the school cricket team throughout his years there, usually as captain. His best performance there was 96 not out against Eaglesvale School while in the colts team, and against the same opposition he took eight wickets in an innings in another match. He was selected to captain the Harare Schools B team in the national primary schools week of 1993.He progressed to Prince Edward High School, and with his natural leadership qualities continued to captain teams throughout his career. At that stage cricket was not his primary sport as he was more inclined towards swimming and triathlon, but the personal interest of headmaster Clive Barnes did much to encourage him. "He used to come around and watch when I was captain of the A side; he came and spoke to me a bit and taught me a bit," says Ryan. "Then I went on to the first team, with George Lee-Bell as coach."Ryan was in the first team for four years, his best performance being 133 against Peterhouse during 2000, his only century for the school, although he scored several fifties and took a couple of five-wicket hauls. During the first couple of years in the team he kept wicket, and then, after the departure of a strong bowling side led by David Mutendera, he found himself taking the new ball. He attended Mashonaland and national trials at Under-15 and Under-19 levels without gaining final selection. He particularly enjoyed his matches against St George’s College and Peterhouse, as he had some friends there and they responded to the challenge of playing each other.He joined Old Hararians Sports Club, the Old Boys club of Prince Edward School, and for the last three seasons has opened the batting for them. National umpire Russell Tiffin, an Old Hararians man, came round to the school to speak to the team, as a result of which Ryan joined up. He pays tribute to the great support and help he has received from club captain Trevor Penney. He scored about six centuries for the Old Hararians second team, but has yet to break that barrier in the first league.Ryan played a season of winter league cricket for Mvurwi, for whom he scored several fifties. He also came under the influence of former national batsman Andy Waller when he took an `O-level’ break, working on his farm in that area to gain come farming experience, as he was thinking at that time of taking up a career in farming.Ryan’s most celebrated innings before his century for the Academy was his 33 in the final of the national club first league knockout competition, for Old Hararians of Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo in 2000/01. Conditions were damp and difficult, and Ryan’s determination, top score for his side, did much to give his team a competitive total and bring about an eventual victory."I opened with Conan Brewer, and Pommie Mbangwa and John Rennie opened the bowling," he said. "The ball was seaming around like I’d never seen it before on the Sports Club Test wicket. It was very hard early on. The rain came and we had a break; we went back on and it was still seaming. As the ball got a bit older it started swinging, and John Rennie was swinging it plenty. I played a stupid shot to get out, two balls before drinks. My game plan was just to see out Pommie and John Rennie, and when the new bowlers came on to attack them. It worked to an extent."Playing for the Academy, often as wicket-keeper, he struggled in the early matches but then took full advantage of a good pitch at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo to hit an aggressive century in the final Logan Cup match of the season. Later in the year he played against the touring Indian and West Indian teams. "Opening the batting against the West Indies and Bangladesh in the one-day games was great," he said. "Pity I never scored any runs!"About his year at the Academy, Ryan says, "I’ve learned to concentrate more. Patience is a virtue and you need to work hard at it to get where you want to go."He successfully applied to stay in Mashonaland after his year at the Academy was over. "It’s quite a challenge in Mashonaland and that’s what I like," he said. "I had a good club season after the Academy, averaging about 46. I got 97 not out and 86 not out, and four or five fifties. In Logan Cup it’s been thirties and forties every innings!"He plans to spend the 2002 season playing for Wolverton at Milton Keynes in England before returning to Mashonaland to fulfill the third year of his contract with ZCU.Ryan is an aggressive batsman, his favourite strokes being the cover drive and the pull and hook. He feels he is better suited to the middle order in the longer version of the game but is happy to open in one-day cricket. He admits to the tendency of losing his concentration once he gets to the twenties or thirties, and the need to carry on to a big score. He is an excellent all-round fielder and enjoys that area of the game.He is most grateful to coaches Dave Houghton and Gwynne Jones for their work at the Academy. "I think it’s going to do very well for Zimbabwe cricket, with all the youngsters coming through."Cricket heroes: "Daryl Cullinan is one of them, definitely, and Viv Richards. And now Trevor Penney, who has also been a great help to me."Toughest opponents: "I think among bowlers it’s got to be Campbell Macmillan. Every time I face him he gets me with a ball that does the wrong thing! Reon King is definitely the fastest I’ve ever faced – and Travis Friend – but I’ve faced Campbell more often and he’s troubled me a lot."Immediate ambitions: "At the moment it’s the Zimbabwe A side next year, and hopefully from there I’ll go bigger."Proudest achievement so far: "My 133 against Peterhouse for Prince Edward."Best friends in cricket: "Conan Brewer – I’ve been with him for the last three years opening for the PE first team. I hope he’s coming to join the Academy next year; he’s one more year of school. I’ve made many friends in cricket and I really enjoy all the guys at the Academy."Other sports: "Rugby for Prince Edward first team; in triathlon I represented Zimbabwe; tennis and swimming. I still play social tennis and I’ve just stopped rugby because of the Academy. I have no time for triathlon any more."Outside interests: "Nothing – just cricket!"Dave Houghton says: "Ryan is quite a good strokeplayer and a good fielder as well. He tends to get out a lot in the thirties and forties. He played quite a crucial role with his innings of 33 to help Old Hararians win the national league last Sunday – but again got out in the thirties, so we have some work to do encouraging him to compile big scores rather than just getting good starts."
Yasir Hameed, the opening batsman, has been recalled to Pakistan’s squad for the first two Tests against West Indies while Samiullah Khan, the young left-arm paceman, has also been included.Hameed, 28, has been ignored by the selectors since June 2005 when he played during the tour of West Indies but his recall had been tipped after Pakistan’s continued problems over finding a successful opening partnership.Over the last two years they tried 15 different combinations at the top of the order. Hameed will fight for opening berth with Imran Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez, who did the job in Pakistan’s last Test at The Oval, and also Shoaib Malik who missed the series against England.Samiullah is drafted into the squad following the suspensions handed down to Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. He toured England but was granted limited opportunities. However, he has been in outstanding form domestically at the start of the season.Inzamam-ul-Haq, who is serving his four-match ODI ban, will lead the side. West Indies arrive in Lahore on Monday night, where the first Test starts on November 11, followed by Multan on November 19.Pakistan squad Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Faisal Iqbal, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal (wk), Danish Kaneria, Samiullah Khan, Shahid Nazir, Abdul Rehman, Umar Gul.