Chris Cairns has remained in Sydney with a minor back strain while his New Zealand team-mates drove to Bowral for tomorrow’s limited-overs match against an Australian Country XI at Bradman Oval.The Kiwis could be joined by dynamic opening batsman and part-time medium pacer Nathan Astle tomorrow night if, as expected, he proves his recovery from a broken hand in a domestic game for his club, Canterbury.NZ team manager Jeff Crowe says Cairns did not want to risk aggravating a small niggle by travelling to and from the Southern Highlands town.Allrounder Chris Harris will also be given a rest ahead of NZ’s busy tri-series program of three matches in four days from Saturday.The Kiwis take on Australia on Saturday and South Africa on Sunday in a double-header at Adelaide Oval, then back up two days later againstAustralia at the MCG.
The Indians may not be consistent, but the Zimbabweans sure arepredictable. When it comes to bowling on Indian wickets, Heath Streakand his motley crew have no idea how to approach the task. Theirspeedster Henry Olonga is a case in point. After roaring in for a fewovers attempting to send down the fastest delivery in the history ofthe game, he settles down to being more sedate, if not more sensible.When it comes to spinners Brian Murphy, Grant Flower and Dirk Viljoen,the less said the better. Uniformly, the Zimbabwean bowlers, barringthe captain himself, bowled on every spot in the pitch. Short, full,wide of off stump, down leg side… Everything was tried but thesimple short of a length outside the off stump delivery. The result,India amassed 609 before declaring with four wickets still in hand.Sachin Tendulkar made a masterly 201 not out and Rahul Dravid helpedhimself to 162. The two put on 249 runs together. For the first timesince Mark Taylor’s Australians conceded 633/5 declared to India inCalcutta in early 1998, India crossed the six hundred run mark. Thatwas two and a half years ago. One would certainly have to go back muchlonger to find an instance where India made six hundred runs abroad.The day began positively for India. After a few quick singles Dravidstruck a boundary to reach ninety-nine. On reaching that score, heslowed down, ever so briefly. Carefully playing out almost two overs,Dravid finally brought up his century. Having done so, it was back tobusiness as usual. Dravid quickly got busy cracking the bowlers away.He began by welcoming Grant Flower to the wicket by hitting him out ofthe ground over long on. Playing several such shots against the leftarm spinners, Dravid was unafraid to take the aerial route. Meanwhile,Tendulkar threatened to catch up with his counterpart. Reaching hiscentury off 155 balls, Tendulkar opened his shoulders and began totake a serious liking to the Zimbabwe bowlers. The pair went in to thepavilion to enjoy a sumptuous lunch, till then untroubled andunconquered.While the crowd eagerly awaited a surfeit of runs and no wickets lostin the session between lunch and tea, they were in for adisappointment. Instead, the Indians added just 83 runs for the lossof two wickets.After reaching 162 without stuttering, Dravid inexplicably went aftera bouncer that was well down the leg side from Streak and gloved theball through to the wicketkeeper. The nature of the pitch and thebowling attack made it look like Dravid had missed out on a goodopportunity. However, one must remember that he spent more than sixand a half hours at the wicket and struck twenty fours.Coming in to bat with 473 runs already on the board must be quiteawkward. Sourav Ganguly certainly found it so. In a two paced inningswhere he was either blocking the ball or going for huge hits, Gangulymanaged 30 before miscuing one such big hit, only to be caught at midoff.Ajit Agarkar (12), as he has done many times in the past, promisedmuch and delivered little. Fortunately Sunil Joshi came in and smackedthe ball around for a sprightly 27 in the company of Tendulkar. Thisbrought stumper Dahiya out to the middle. He was given just fourminutes at the crease by Tendulkar. Reaching the second double centuryof his Test career in 392 minutes, Tendulkar exulted. In a repeat ofthe last Test, India declared their innings closed as soon as abatsman reached his double hundred. In Delhi it was Dravid and today,Tendulkar. The Mumbai batting star’s 201 included 27 hits to thefence, but not once did he attempt to hit the ball all the way overthe ropes. At a massive 609/6 India declared their innings closed.In response, Zimbabwe sent Guy Whittall to open the innings in placeof Grant Flower who bagged a pair in the Delhi Test. In the eighteenovers that were bowled, Zimbabwe managed to reach 59/1. The wicketthat fell was of Gavin Rennie, being needlessly run out. Whittall (34not out) and Stuart Carlisle (4 not out) saw Zimbabwe through tostumps without further damage.
West Ham United are once again interested in a deal to bring Hugo Ekitike to the London Stadium in the summer transfer window.
What’s the talk?
That’s according to a report by Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness), who claim that, after failing with a bid for the Stade Reims centre-forward in January, West Ham remain interested in a move for the 19-year-old at the end of the current campaign.
The report goes on to state that the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United and Arsenal are also keeping a close eye on the situation of the France U21 international – for whom the Ligue 1 side are believed to be demanding a figure in the region of €20m (£17m) in order to part with this summer.
“The next Mbappe”
Considering just how much potential Ekitike quite clearly possesses, in addition to the fact that David Moyes is in rather desperate need of a new centre-forward this summer, the argument that the teenager would be something of a dream signing for West Ham is a rather easy one to make.
Indeed, over his 21 Ligue 1 appearances this season, the £18m-rated forward has been in sensational form for Reims, bagging nine goals, registering three assists and creating two big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.3 shots and making 0.6 key passes per game.
These returns have seen the striker who Graeme Bailey dubbed an “outstanding talent” – as well as claiming that “many in France believe he could be the next Mbappe” – average an incredibly impressive SofaScore match rating of 6.88, ranking him as Oscar Garcia’s 10th-best player in the top flight of French football.
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As such, with Moyes currently only having the option of the 32-year-old Michail Antonio up top – a player who has suffered terribly with injuries in recent years – it would indeed appear an extremely wise move for the West Ham board to finally provide the Jamacia international with adequate backup and competition in leading the Hammers line, with Ekitike very much looking to be an extremely exciting prospect for the Irons.
AND in other news: Sold at £37m, now worth £58.5m: Moyes had a WHU nightmare on “unplayable” £56k-p/w ace
Derbyshire have signed Charl Langeveldt, the South African fast bowler, on a two-year Kolpak contract. Langeveldt could be in action for Derbyshire as early as Sunday’s Friends Provident Trophy match against Yorkshire at Headingley.”Charl is an excellent addition to our squad and brings real quality and experience to our side,” John Morris, the head of cricket at Derbyshire, said. “He has proven ability at the highest level of the game and just as importantly is exactly the sort of character we are looking for.”We have managed to bring him to Derbyshire ahead of several other options he had and we are delighted to have him on board.”Langeveldt, who has played 59 ODIs and six Tests, last turned out for South Africa in the one-day series against Bangladesh last month. He pulled out of the subsequent tour of India after being picked ahead of Andre Nel in a move many perceived to be driven by Cricket South Africa’s transformation policy.He was in sensational form for the Cape Cobras in the recently-concluded Standard Bank Pro20 series, taking 18 wickets in six matches, including a five-wicket haul and a hat-trick. His previous county experience includes short stints with Somerset in 2005 and Leicestershire in 2007.
Send us your feedback … what do you think?”Cricket Kenya (CK) has suspended its Central province ahead of next month’s board elections.”The province has not promoted any form of the game in their area of jurisdiction,” Samir Inamdar, CK’s chairman, told Cricinfo. “They have less than the prescribed three active clubs as required for the formation of branches. The decision to suspend their membership of CK was unanimously reached in a special council meeting. “The province was set up by the old Kenyan Cricket Association, and at the time Cricinfo reported that it appeared to have been created to give the existing board extra votes as there was little evidence of any meaningful cricket being played there.When the old KCA executive was ousted in May 2005, the new board decided to embrace Centrals (and Rift Valley, another disputed new province) and try to promote the game there. To safeguard the possibility that a province could not simply be guaranteed its place as a member with representation rights without ensuring that it had a minimal level of cricket being played within it, it was decided, in keeping with past practice, that a province had to have a minimum of three cricket-playing clubs to remain as a provincial affiliate.While in Rift Valley that faith has been justified – there are now 12 active clubs in the region – in Centrals there has been almost no activity Inamdar said: “the province is at present, from a cricketing perspective, totally moribund”.S Bindal, Centrals’ provincial representative, never attended any board or council meeting and, as a result, lost his seat under CK rules.Joshua Kiragu, the Centrals chairman, was appointed as CK’s development convenor. “He was given the task of co-ordinating the Cricket Without Boundaries project in Western Province,” Inamdar said. “The board had raised queries about the application of certain funding given to him for this project and despite repeated requests he failed to report to the CEO and/or the treasurer on this issue.” The CK executive has resolved to remove him from his seat on the ground that he too has failed to attend any board or council meetings for over a year. The executive voted to suspend Central, citing the fact that “it had no active cricket being played, no real structure, no constitution and no recognised officials”.CK officials believe that cricket has a future in the region and they will attempt to relaunch the game when new and more reliable people can be found. “There is great potential there particularly among schools,” Inamdar said, “and a good possible source of funding from the many high profile businesses and industries in the vicinity.”
Nathan Hauritz, the Queensland offspinner, has decided to leave Queensland and move to New South Wales (NSW) to try and revive his fledgling Test career.Hauritz, 24, who made a solitary Test appearance against India in November 2004, on a dustbowl at Mumbai where he took five wickets, was moving to NSW without any club or state contract. “I still want to play for Australia and I see this as my best chance,” Hauritz told AAP. “I’ll head down there, get a job, play grade cricket and see what happens.”Hauritz debuted for Queensland in 2000-01, taking a total of 59 first-class wickets at 47.8 with a best of 4 for 95. In 73 one-day games for the state, he has taken 90 wickets at 29.95. However, since his Test debut he has played just seven games for Queensland, going wicketless in his only first-class match last season. In February 2005, he was dropped from the squad to make way for Mitchell Johnson, the left-arm fast bowler. “Queensland has a fast bowling culture and I see this as a fantastic opportunity to go down there [NSW] and work within a spin bowling culture,” said Hauritz of bowling in the Sydney Cricket Ground, traditionally Australia’s most spin-friendly venue. “I want to move to the next level and the opportunity to work with guys like Greg Matthews and Stuart McGill is too good to pass up.”His domestic one-day record this season in the ING Cup shows better figures with seven wickets in 10 matches at an average of 61.42. “I could have stayed here and probably been a good one-day spinner for Queensland for the next 10 years but I want to play both forms of the game – one-day and four-day cricket – and I want to give myself a chance to play Test cricket again.”It’s exciting but at the same time it was also a really hard decision to leave all the guys I’ve played junior cricket with,” says Hauritz of his plan to move. “I’ve got to back myself and do what I think is best for me right now. I can’t wait to get down there and get into it.”Terry Oliver, the Queensland coach, said that the door was always open for Hauritz to come back. “It’s a gutsy move and if he’s going to do it then now is the right time,” he said. “Horrie has been a tremendous asset to Queensland Cricket and has been one of our form one- day players over the last couple of years.”
Is it a sign of Australia’s willingness to evolve, or proof of their impending demise? As one of the most hyped series of recent times prepared to get underway at Bangalore, Adam Gilchrist, Australia’s stand-in captain, indicated that his team’s era of unabashed aggression was about to draw to a close.With the scars of 2001 very much to the fore during a chaotic press conference at the Chinnaswamy stadium, Gilchrist hinted that a patient approach might be called upon, on a dry and cracked pitch that the coach, John Buchanan, recently described as “terrible”.”By nature, we are an aggressive team,” admitted Gilchrist. “But to a huge extent, that aggression left the door open to India on our last tour. Back then, we were a very confident team riding a wave of momentum, but we’ve had a lot of time to ponder that defeat, and we’ve picked up a great deal of experience in subcontinent as well.”At Kolkata in 2001, India famously brought Australia’s all-conquering run of 16 consecutive victories to an end, after VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid compiled a stand of 376 to turn the follow-on on its head. Australia, set an all-but-impossible final-day target of 384, crumbled to 212 as Harbhajan Singh ripped through the innings.”We are wise to those experiences,” added Gilchrist, who made a king pair in that match. “This time, we have planned much better, and we are ready to adopt what we think would be the right approach. Whether that means we’ll have to be more patient, remains to be seen.”Any attempt by the captains to play down the hype was emphatically outmanoeuvred by the series sponsors, who first attempted to rouse the assembled press hoards with a continuous loop of “I vow to thee my country”, before unveiling the series trophy – which emerged out of the backdrop on a revolving plinth – amid a deafening blast of the Star Wars theme tune.Star Trek might have been more appropriate, given all the talk of Australia’s “final frontier”, but Gilchrist refused to be drawn into such talk, placing those words straight back into Steve Waugh’s mouth, from where they had first emerged.”It was maybe the final frontier for Stephen,” said Gilchrist. “It was towards the end of his career, and he hadn’t had success here, despite achieving so much in various places around the world. We prefer to see it as a fantastic opportunity to create a bit of history, although that’s not to say we’re putting any more emphasis on this than an Ashes series or the last India series. It’s great that the Australia-India rivalry is so high-profile, and on worldwide scale, but that’s as far as it goes.”The series begins without two of the most brilliant batsmen of the modern era, Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar, although Gilchrist was wary not to get carried away by Tendulkar’s absence, and the effect it might have on the Indian team.”I regard Sachin as one of the best players I’ve ever seen,” he said. “He provides a wonderful foundation for the rest of the order to work from, but in all honesty, he’s not been the one who’s really done the damage to us in the past series. He’s played one or two remarkable innings, but over the course of the series it’s been the Dravids and Laxmans who’ve really done it.”I can tell you, we’re well aware of the talent in the Indian team,” concluded Gilchrist. “We won’t be taking it easy at all.”
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.
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.
"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.”