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Russel Arnold will be playing for his international future when he leads SriLanka A during their tough tour of South Africa and Kenya starting onMonday.

© AFP

Dropped from the national squad after a disappointing World Cup, he returnedfor the start of the Bank Alfalah Cup, but was jettisoned again after asingle match.With his confidence at rock bottom it was unwise to recall him so soon forthat tri-series. Now though, after a long break and with domestic runs underhis belt, he claims to have a "new spring in his step" and is lookingforward to the chance of reclaiming his space in the side."The South African tour will be a stepping stone for me to make a comebackto the national team," Arnold, now 29 years old, told reporters before theSri Lanka A team’s departure to South Africa."I think if I can focus all my energies on this tour, England should takecare of itself. I will be disappointed if I don’t make it to the teamagainst England."Signs that he was coming out of the bad patch were evident during theQuadrangular series two weeks ago where he made two big hundreds (160 and147) for Old Peterites and then followed it up with a brilliant unbeaten 93in the J.R. Jayawardene trophy one-day fixture against traditional rivalsSSC."The way things have gone for me in the last couple of weekends I amconfident. When I go out to bat there is that little bit of extra spring inmy step. I feel fresh and I know where I stand," said Arnold.

© CricInfo

"I did spend a lot of time in the nets and worked a lot on my fitness. Butmy main focus was to clear my mind. The feeling of failure sometimes tellsvery heavily on you. Sometimes you burden yourself with unwanted things inyour mind. I should be stronger and more focused on what I have to do now,"Arnold continued."I have experienced drops in form during my career but this is the firsttime a thing like this has happened. It also came at a very important timefor Sri Lanka cricket. If I was in slightly better nick I think things mighthave been a little bit different for the team."In the World Cup semi-final against Australia we were 60-6 when I walkedin. If I was my normal self and on top of my game, there was a slight chancewe could have turned things around," he said.Sri Lanka A will play seven games in South Africa followed by five one-dayinternationals in Kenya. With England due in Sri Lanka in November Arnold -and his teammates – have a perfect opportunity to press their claims.The selectors will focus most on the batting, which has been inconsistentthroughout the past year. Apart from Arnold, Michael Vandort, Naveed Nawaz,Jehan Mubarak, Ian Daniel and Avishka Gunawardena will all be vying forplaces in the national squad.The fast bowlers will also be looked at closely too though, especially withPrabath Nissanka certain to miss the England tour because of his troublesomeknees. Currently recovering from surgery, Nissanka is targeting theAustralia tour in February for a comeback.

"From Sri Lanka’s point of view this `A’ tour is a great opportunity for theplayers. It comes at a time when there is a not much cricket being playedand a lot of people will be following it closely. It is also coming at atime when our cricket is not at the top and just before an England tour,"said Arnold."The team is talented and they are very keen to do well. They believe in meand I am enjoying the captaincy with them at the moment. It’s helped thatthe selectors named the squad so early as we have got to know each otherwell," he said.Captaincy is nothing new to Arnold, who has led his school St. Peter’sCollege and then his club NCC (where he is the present captain), his firmHatton National Bank and also Board XI and A teams against touring sides."Captaincy is keeping me a bit sharper and given me more responsibilities tocontribute with the bat," added Arnold.

The West Indies upcoming Tests and limited-overs international away series with Pakistan will go ahead after all, following the acceptance of the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB), offer to play in a neutral venue.Earlier today, the WICB confirmed that the series will now take place on the heels of this agreement. The series, now reduced to two Tests and three one-day internationals, will be played in the United Arab Emirates at the Sharjah Stadium.The tour has been in limbo following the intensification of military activity on the India/Pakistan border. The fact that there was also action on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border did not help the PCB’s case in convincing the WICB to send their team to tour in Pakistan.”We were always committed to playing the series and we are happy with the arrangements, so we are now looking forward to an exciting contest between the two teams,” said Michael Hall, chief operations officer of the WICB.The PCB has indicated that the revised itinerary of this series will now comprise two Tests and three limited-overs internationals to be played between the last week of January and the third week of February.This would be the first time that a Test series is played on a neutral venue. In October, the International Cricket Council approved the use of neutral venues for Test and one-day series if the host country was unable to do so for whatever reason.The tour will now run from the last week of January to the third week of February. The revised schedule will be issued later.

Northamptonshire duly secured the County Championship’s Division Two title, despite being held to a draw by Essex at Wantage Road.Matthew Hayden’s men needed only to avoid defeat to claim the trophy, but were hoping to record a sixth successive victory to round off their home programme on a high note.They looked on course as the visitors, trailing by 177 on first innings, slipped to 110 for four against Essex old boy Darren Cousins, who snapped up 4-50 to give him 62 wickets this summer.But Stuart Law came to the rescue with his fifth century of the season, and his solid unbeaten 119 guided Essex to safety at 225-4 and kept alive their own hopes of achieving promotion into Division One for 2001.Northants batted on to reach 410 all out in the morning session, notching the fifth batting point, and Cousins then tore into his former county with a superb opening burst which saw him trap Paul Prichard leg-before for a duck and have Paul Grayson caught behind.Law and Darren Robinson (42) steadied the innings by adding 83, only for Cousins to make his presence felt again by removing Robinson and skipper Ronnie Irani in successive overs.Stephen Peters then settled in with Law, who completed his hundred off 161 balls, and the captains called it a day with their fifth-wicket stand worth 115.Hayden received the second division silverware at the end of the match, and Northants’s delighted Director of Cricket Bob Carter commented: “We set out at the start of the season to get promotion in the Championship and hold our place in Division One of the National League.”We thought they were realistic goals, and so it’s proved.”

West Ham United appear to have an edge in the race to sign Nottingham Forest defender Joe Worrall, according to club insiders Claret & Hugh.

The Lowdown: Worrall’s season

The 25-year-old has played an instrumental part in Forest’s recent defensive success. Having played in 29 Championship games this season, missing the other seven matches due to a fractured rib and a calf problem, the Reds have kept 12 clean sheets to date – an average of one every three games.

The defender leads his team in interceptions, averaging two per game, and also in the number of passes he makes, with 55.1 per league match (via WhoScored).

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/west-ham-latest-developments-4/” title=”West Ham latest developments!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Latest: Claret & Hugh’s update

According to West Ham insiders Claret & Hugh, the Irons have a small edge in the race to sign Worrall, with the chase now heating up.

It is understood that Forest are yet to open contract talks with the player, despite his current deal expiring in just over two years’ time.

Favourably for the Hammers, Forest manager Steve Cooper remains keen on Irons academy left-back Emmanuel Longelo, who can thus be used to negotiate a potential deal between the two clubs.

The Verdict: Defenders needed

West Ham have been left extremely short at centre-back at times this season. With the season-ending blow sustained by Angelo Ogbonna and the hamstring injury which sidelined Kurt Zouma for six weeks, David Moyes was left with just Craig Dawson and Issa Diop for a period of time.

Therefore, it is imperative that the Irons rectify this issue in the summer.

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During Worrall’s loan stay at Rangers in 2018/19, then-Ibrox manager Steven Gerrard tipped the defender to “be a captain of whatever team he plays for”. More recently, England centre-back legend John Terry praised the 25-year-old’s performance against Liverpool in the FA Cup last week.

As a result, it seems clear that the Forest colossus can play at the highest level, and he could be a very good option for Moyes’ squad in a position which badly needs addressing.

In other news: Danny Mills has been discussing another West Ham transfer target

	Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, has been accused of ‘deliberately avoiding’ a meeting in Islamabad © AFP

Senator Enver Baig, a member of the Standing Committee on Sports that is currently probing the bank accounts of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has accused its chairman Nasim Ashraf of ‘deliberately avoiding’ a meeting with the committee in Islamabad on Thursday.”He [Ashraf] was supposed to appear before the committee and answer important questions but he conveniently proceeded to Dubai to avoid us,” Baig told .”The worst part is that we were given a false excuse for his absence as a top PCB official told us that Ashraf had gone to Dubai to meet ICC president Ray Mali. But I’ve confirmed with the ICC headquarters in Dubai that no such meeting took place. In fact Mali had left Dubai two days ago for South Africa,” said Baig, who has been a major critic of the PCB top brass in recent years.Baig added that Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, told the committee during an “on-camera” session that Ashraf had to rush to Dubai to meet with Mali and discuss some important issues related to the ICC Champions Trophy which Pakistan are to host this September. “He [Naghmi] told us that Ashraf had to leave in a hurry because Mali had told him that he was in Dubai just for a day on Thursday.”Baig said that it all turned out to be a “pack of lies”. “I believe that Ashraf flew off to Dubai to avoid the committee that was supposed to ask him some probing questions.” Baig also said that he and some Senators had requisitioned another meeting next month to discuss the PCB’s finances and have asked the Senate committee to make Ashraf’s presence mandatory.The committee, according to Baig, found out an “astonishing” fact from the details of the PCB bank accounts provided by the board that the it spent Rs 1.2 billion (US$17,788,340) during a short span of the last six months. “We were really surprised because that means that the PCB has been spending 12 crore a month. We’ve asked them to provide details and now they are supposed to submit balance sheets within the next three weeks.”

A training camp for the Pakistan U-19 team comprising of 21 players has been announced by the chairman and members of the junior selection committee. The camp will commence from June 4, 2007, and will help prepare the team for their upcoming tour of England that starts from July 25, 2007.The players will head back to play in their respective district tournaments after attending the camp till June 13. The second phase, from July 5 to July 23, will see them re-assemble in Abbottabad from where the team will depart for England to play two 4-day matches, two practice 2-day matches and 5 one day matches in this series.Mansoor Rana will be the coach while Sajjad Gill has been appointed as trainer.Camp probables: Shan Masood, Usman Salahuddin, Umer Ameen, Zeeshan Mushtaq, Adil Ameen, Ahmed Iqbal, Taimur Ali, Immad Wasim, Kamran Hussain, Shahzaib Ahmed, Gulraiz Sadaf, Muhammad Hussain, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Rameez, Rahatullah, Jibran Khan, Ali Asad, Mohammad Aamir, Azhar Attari, Junaid Nadir, Ahmed Shahzad.

Bennett King: hitting back at allegations © Getty Images

Bennett King, the West Indian coach, has hit out at reports claiming that he called former players “dinosaurs”.”This is completely and totally inaccurate, it’s an outright lie,” King said in a statement released by media liaison Imran Khan. “I’ve worked with former players here in the West Indies and all over the world and I have the utmost respect for their outstanding contributions to the game as players and what they can provide to players now.”King was reacting to comments made by Rudi Webster, the sports psychologist who had recommended King to the West Indies board, and who, according to reports, was regretting that decision.”I’m seeing a side of him now that I didn’t recognise,” Webster had said during a conference for senior Caribbean sports journalists. “I’m sorry to say that I’m the person who recommended him to the WICB. Having achieved his goal, and having been given the enormous power he has, and being an academic coach who describes people like some of our great players, and some of the great Australian players as dinosaurs. I think that is the greatest insult from someone who has not had any achievement in international cricket, just two or three titles with Queensland.”King, however, hit back strongly at these allegations, saying that he had regularly enlisted the help of former cricketers. “Currently my staff and I work with the ultimate legend Sir Garry Sobers, and other former player as well, and I personally endorse a greater involvement of former players in order to contribute to the improvement of the contemporary players,” King said. “Only a few months ago in Australia I invited Courtney Walsh to offer his advice and he did so most willingly and most graciously.”It was not the first time that I had done this, it is well documented how we facilitated and encouraged Ian Healy to give his expert opinion in the area of wicketkeeping both when we were in Sri Lanka last and then again in Australia. They have a wealth of information and we cannot afford to let that slip away, and what makes this report even more farcical is that I am currently actively involved in urging the greater involvement of former players.”

Bennett King has very little to smile about after West Indies’ narrow loss to South Africa in Barbados © Getty Images

Bennett King, the West Indies coach, has lambasted his lower-order batsmen for failing to follow the instructions in the closing stages of the crucial third one-dayer against South Africa in Barbados. West Indies, who required only four runs of the last over with three wickets in hand, lost the match by one run when Charl Langeveldt claimed his maiden hat-trick.”The instruction was to hit the ball and try and give the strike over to Dwayne (Bravo),” King was quoted as saying by The Nation. “It just highlights some of the experience of the boys and some of the thinking and their process that needs to change.”However, the tailenders, Ian Bradshaw and Daren Powell, were clean bowled trying to attempt big shots, and Corey Collymore was caught plumb in front the wicket, leaving Bravo stranded at the other end on 21.King pointed out the lack of experience in the lower order, which led to their downfall. “The real reason why we didn’t win that game was simply because we made some mistakes early and didn’t bowl as well as we could’ve,” he continued. “And all combined the results are there for everyone to see. So you don’t want to end up dwelling on things like that that happened in the past.”However, King also mentioned the positives to have come from the match. “The general public, from various sectors, have been very supportive about what they see on the field,” King told CCN TV6, a Trinidad based television channel, “And I think the people who know their cricket can see that there’s been some changes in the side already and changes they believe are quite good, so the feedback’s been good.”South Africa lead the five-match series 3-0, as the two teams head to Trinidad for a double-header over the weekend. South Africa also won the Test series 2-0, which was their fourth successive Test series win over West Indies.

All Today’s Yesterdays – September 11 down the yearsSeptember 10 | September 121911
One of the great figures in world cricket was born. Lala Amarnath’s century on debut, against England in 1933-34, was India’s first in Test cricket. A dashing batsman and versatile bowler, he twice took five wickets in an innings in the 1946 series in England – ten years after being sent home from a shambolic tour of the same country. He captained India to victory in their first official series against Pakistan (1952-53) – and his Test career lasted 19 years to the day. His sons Mohinder and Surinder also played for India.1985
One of Sri Lanka’s greatest days. The match at Colombo’s Sara Stadium was their 14th in Test cricket – and their first win. Thanks to Rumesh Ratnayake’s 5 for 49 and Amal Silva’s five dismissals, India were all out for 198 and lost by 149 runs. A draw in the next Test gave Sri Lanka a series for the first time.1999
Another big one for Sri Lanka, this time at Kandy. Led by new captain Sanath Jayasuriya, they beat Australia in a Test match for the first time, at the 11th attempt. Once the visitors had been dismissed for only 140 on an uneven pitch, Sri Lanka won comfortably by six wickets.1912
West Indies’ youngest Test cricketer was born. When he made his debut, against England at Bridgetown, Derek Sealy was only 17 years 122 days old, the youngest Test cricketer from outside the subcontinent. A strong attacking batsman, he made 58 in his debut innings and went on to score 92 and 91 in different Tests against the same country in 1934-35. He didn’t do so well away from home, averaging only 10.00 in Australia in 1930-31 and 23.75 in England in 1939.1999
A new member joins a relatively exclusive club. Tasmanian batsman Jamie Cox scored a double-century and a century in the same first-class match, making 216 and 129 not out for Somerset v Hampshire at Southampton. On what the Wisden Almanack described as “a perfect batting wicket”, he was dropped twice in the first innings but “his second was chanceless”.1995
Much better known as an opening batsman who scored 205 at Old Trafford in 1992, Aamir Sohail was an occasional slow left-arm bowler who did the trick on this occasion. His 4 for 54 helped dismiss Sri Lanka for 233 at Peshawar and win the first Test by 40 runs.1849
A long-lived great-grandfather was born today. When William Henry Cooper died in 1939, he was 89 years old. He liked to take his time with other things too: when he played first-class cricket for the first time, he was already 27. In the first of his two Tests, against England at Melbourne in 1881-82, he bowled 98.2 overs in the match, finishing with 9 for 200. His main claim to fame is ancestral: the only player whose great-grandson was also a Test cricketer. Paul Sheahan played his first Test for Australia in 1967-68.Other birthdays
1874 Charles Prince (South Africa)
1907 Oscar da Costa (West Indies)
1976 Murali Kartik (India)

Bangladesh has nothing to lose going into its daunting Test series with New Zealand starting tomorrow at Hamilton’s WestpacTrust Park.The visitors, playing in conditions as foreign to those in which they play their cricket as it possible to be, know they are in for a tough time.But captain Khaled Mashud, the side’s wicket-keeper, said the whole exercise is part of the learning the side has to do if it is to develop as a Test-playing nation.”We have a lot of talented players, especially at under-17 and under-19 level and within a few years we will have a good side.”What we do have is a lack of match experience,” he said.A first-class competition involving matches other than limited overs games has only been going for three years in Bangladesh.”We will try and do our best. But we are not used to this type of wicket. It was bad luck we didn’t have more batting in Wanganui. This wicket has more grass and that will be helpful for the bowlers.”We will have to play straight. In our country our batsmen like to play a lot of shots to midwicket, but here they have to play straight.”New Zealand in New Zealand conditions will be a very good side. They played very well in Australia.”We will try to show our best form. It is hard for us as a new team. We will improve over the next two or three years,” he said.The Bangladesh team for the first Test is: Khaled Mashud (captain), Al Sahariar, Aminul Islam, Habibul Bashar, Javed Omar, Khaled Mahmud, Manjural Islam, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Ashraful, Mohammad Sharif, Sanwar Hossain.