Shaun Tait will use the three one-dayers against New Zealand in his bid to get back into the Test frame. Tait dropped out of the Test squad for Sri Lanka with an elbow injury, and had to watch Mitchell Johnson bowl credibly in the third fast bowler’s slot.But he says he will target the Chappell-Hadlee Series, which starts at his home ground in Adelaide next Friday, to push for selection for the India Tests, which begin on Boxing Day. He also has Tuesday’s Twenty20 in Perth to further his claims, which have already been boosted by a ten-wicket match haul against Queensland in the Pura Cup, including 7 for 29.”It’s in the back of my mind,” Tait told . “I can’t lie, I suppose, but at this stage I’m just stoked to be back in the one-day side. Last time was the World Cup so it’s exciting. I’ll concentrate on that for the next couple of weeks.”Tait said he enjoyed the edge of competing for a Test spot with Johnson, saying that when he gets his chance he wishes him all the best. “It’s healthy competing. We’re all mates,” Tait said. “It’s fantastic and likewise with myself. In this day and age there’s so many good players around you’ve just got to accept it.”Brad Haddin is similarly happy to be in the one-day squad, but he has a different aim – to nail a spot as a batsman in his own right, rather than a back-up keeper to Adam Gilchrist. This has always been his target, he says, but he’s moving ever closer to achieving it after he was included in the one-day squad for his batting, following on from the one-dayers in India in October when he batted in Ricky Ponting’s absence while Gilchrist kept.”It’s something I’ve been working on for a long time now to be considered in the team on my own merits while Adam is still in the squad,” he told . “It’s been probably a four to five year process and it’s finally come about.”Haddin’s recent one-day form is impressive. He made 200 runs at 66.66 against India, with two half-centuries in four innings, and he has 239 domestic runs at 79.66 so far.He will be concentrating on Australia’s bid to reclaim the Chappell-Hadlee trophy after New Zealand took the series 3-0 last season. “We really want that trophy back,” he said. “We don’t want our little cousins to be holding it for much longer, we’d much rather have it in our trophy cabinet.”
The cricket world has been cautioned not to expect too much of the young spin bowlers who will be the long-term replacements for Shane Warne. Terry Jenner, Warne’s mentor, said the next generation of Australian spinners, including Dan Cullen, Cullen Bailey and Nathan Hauritz, could not be asked to immediately become matchwinners like Warne.”Because Shane has raised the bar so high people expect a lot of young legspinners now,” Jenner told the . “People are expecting them not only to be able to bowl like Shane but to do it from age 14 – they forget he had to battle when he first played Test cricket.”Jenner said in the short-term Stuart MacGill could fill the void left by Warne, which might allow the younger spinners time to develop before they are called into the Test team. “The bonus for the youngsters coming through is they will have 12 to 18 months grace while Stuey MacGill plays before they have to step up,” he said.”With the greatest respect to Stuey at least, for those who follow him and are compared to him, he is a normal human being who will have good and bad days. He will dominate on some days and will get hit out of the attack on others which didn’t really happen to Shane, who would be an impossible act to follow.”Michael Atherton said the England team of the 1990s suffered similarly when allrounders were compared to Ian Botham, who had recently retired. “There were many allrounders who suffered under comparisons with Beefy, all of them until Andrew Flintoff really,” Atherton said. “I suppose the thing to say is that you are not going to find many who stand up to the comparison. I guess the danger is every time a legspinner comes along, Shane Warne will be mentioned. That’s unrealistic.”Richie Benaud said although there were a number of promising slow bowlers in Australia, it was hard to predict how they would handle the pressure. “There are a lot of good young spinners around but just think for a moment what will be on the one who is chosen to replace Warne,” Benaud said. “It will all be the ‘new Warne’, you can be guaranteed that. There will be headlines five centimetres high. There are plenty around. It’s just whether they can handle it.”
Australia’s World Cup campaign received a significant boost with the renewal of sponsorship between Cricket Australia and Travelex, the world’s largest foreign exchange specialist, extending the partnership until the end of 2010.Travelex has been the overseas sponsor and international tour partner of the Australian men’s cricket team since 2001. The new agreement features annual performance measures and incentives for the team to maintain its high levels of success.James Sutherland, the CEO of the Australian board, said the partnership with Travelex was not only an indicator of the strength of Cricket Australia’s brand in the marketplace, but also provided tangible support for the men’s team in the build up to the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.Sutherland added that Travelex’s strong international reputation will assist Cricket Australia develop and expand its brand into traditional non-cricket markets in Europe, North America andSouth-East Asia.
Scorecard Abdul Razzak’s quickfire 58 delayed the inevitable but Bangladesh crashed to a massive defeat, by an innings and 149 runs, in their opening game of the Duleep Trophy at Nagpur. Resuming on 123 for 8, Bangladesh lasted 7.3 overs this morning with Razzak’s strokeplay being the main highlight. He smashed 11 fours and a six in his 61-ball knock and was the only Bangladesh batsman to score a half-century in the whole game.Shib Shankar Paul, who finished with match figures of 9 for 75, and Ranedeb Bose, his fellow medium pacer and Bengal team-mate, cleaned up the last two wickets. However, East will still struggle to make the final after being jolted in the opening game against Central. Bangladesh now turn their attention to Jaipur, where they will meet Central from March 1.
Frizzell County Championship Division One Table Essex 77 for 2 v Nottinghamshire 284 at Chelmsford Scorecard Chris Cairns thrashed a rapid 70 from 73 balls, then took a wicket in his first over, as Nottinghamshire and Essex jostled for position on the first day at Chelmsford. Cairns added 98 for the fifth wicket with Jason Gallian, whose 65 spanned three hours and provided the backbone of an erratic innings in which six batsmen failed to reach double figures. Jon Dakin was the main cause of the wobbles, picking up 4 for 53 in 16.5 overs. Cairns then trapped Will Jefferson lbw for 1, but Andy Flower and Mark Pettini added an unbeaten 46 for the third wicket as Essex closed on a high.Warwickshire 342 for 6 v Lancashire at Edgbaston Scorecard Lancashire’s hopes of making a late charge for the title were dealt a blow at Edgbaston, as Jonathan Trott and Dougie Brown added 216 for the sixth wicket to steal the momentum for Warwickshire. The early part of the day had belonged entirely to Lancashire, and to Glen Chapple in particular, who swung and seamed his way to three quick wickets, including Michael Powell in the first over. Kyle Hogg and John Wood joined the fun as Warwickshire were reduced to 101 for 5, but with Peter Martin absent with a back strain, Trott and Brown turned the tables. Trott eventually fell for 126, and on 112, Brown retired hurt with a calf problem. But Lancashire have much ground to make up.Frizzell County Championship Division Two Table Gloucestershire 331 for 5 v Derbyshire at Bristol Scorecard He is better known for his quick scoring, but Jonty Rhodes displayed the adhesive side of his game today, as he batted for the best part of six hours for an unbeaten 121, his third Championship century of the season. Rhodes’ effort further compounded Derbyshire’s woes at the foot of the second division, as Alex Gidman and Matt Windows contributed a pair of well-paced 40s to help Gloucestershire to an imposing 331 for 5 at the close. The recent unknown, Paul Havell, who took four wickets against the South Africans last week, was again Derbyshire’s most successful bowler, picking up 3 for 68 from 22 overs. At one stage, Gloucestershire had been a wobbly 78 for 3, but Rhodes stopped the rot and put his team on top.Worcestershire 364 v Hampshire 4 for 0 at the Rose Bowl Scorecard Worcestershire didn’t have too many positives to take from Saturday’s capitulation in the C&G final, but for their reserve wicketkeeper Jamie Pipe, who stood in for the injured Steve Rhodes, the Lord’s effect was clearly inspirational. He cracked an unbeaten 104, his maiden first-class century, to keep their title hopes alive at the Rose Bowl. Pipe came to the middle at the fall of Stephen Peters for 87, and immediately took the attack to Hampshire’s bowlers, adding 137 for the sixth wicket with Justin Kemp, who made 90. When Tim Tremlett and Laurence Prittipaul ripped through the lower order, however, it seemed that Pipe would be denied his dream. But with Worcestershire’s No. 11 boshing boundaries at the other end, he just edged past the mark.Durham 190 v Northamptonshire 166 for 1 at Wantage Road Scorecard Mike Hussey has announced he wants to take a break from County cricket next season, but it hasn’t broken his concentration for the time being. Nor, indeed, that of his partner-in-crime Phil Jaques, who crashed his way to 102 not out in an unbeaten second-wicket partnership of 165, as Durham were given a lesson in batting and bowling at Northampton. Durham, who won the toss and chose to bat, were bundled out for 190 in 60.3 overs, thanks to a five-wicket haul from Jeff Cook. It didn’t take long for their bowlers to respond, however. Shoaib Akhtar, who has clearly forgotten there’s a Test match taking place back home, dismissed Tim Roberts for a first-ball duck. But that was the high point of Durham’s day. Northants already look set for a crushing victory to boost their prospects of the second division title.Somerset 228 v Yorkshire 86 for 3 at Headingley Scorecard After months on the sidelines with a knee injury, Matthew Hoggard returned to first-class cricket with a huge splash at Headingley, picking up career-best figures of 7 for 49 to leave Somerset in the lurch. Yorkshire’s day, however, was marred by an injury to Steve Kirby, who appeared to be struck on the head in his followthrough by a Nixon McLean straight drive. But for Hoggard it was the sweetest of returns, and a timely reminder of his abilities ahead of England’s winter tours. Somerset were bowled out for 228, with Darren Gough also in the wickets, but they clawed back some lost ground by the close, reducing Yorkshire to 86 for 3 in reply.
New Zealand Cricket Academy director Dayle Hadlee was happy with the programme his charges of 2001 endured at the end of their year at the High Performance Centre at Lincoln University.The side had a full programme of matches against, Otago, Central Districts and Auckland of the New Zealand associations, and the Australian and Queensland Academies, all played at Lincoln.”We provided a challenging playing programme. Some of the players demonstrated their talents, others have quite a lot of work to do,” he said.The intake this year was slightly younger than earlier groups but it had responded well to the demands of the course.The high points of the playing programme had been the performances against Otago, the one-day victory over Auckland and the comprehensive performances against the Queenslanders.The first three one-dayers against Australia were disappointing because the side had under-achieved, he said.The side had been affected by the unsettled nature of the team in the games with the constantly changing personnel due to the bowling problems the side experienced.”The culture was forever changing but it has to be said the Australians played very well,” he said.In reviewing the year, Hadlee said there was work that needed to be done on the pre-Academy screening of players. The players this year, who were affected by injury had been more than satisfied by the efforts made to improve their situations.”Many of the injuries were extremely well-managed but some are more on-going,” he said.One of particular concern affects the leading player of the intake, wicket-keeper/batsman Brendon McCullum. He has a chronic knee injury and he won’t be keeping wickets this season.His injury is being monitored so that it can be used as a point of comparison for the longer term treatment of the problem.If the knee improves, he will keep wickets in the last game of the year to see if there is a reaction which will show whether the injury is related to wicket-keeping.McCullum had been the stand out player of the year while Central Districts batsman Jamie How looked extremely promising although still troubled by inconsistency.Canterbury’s Wade Cornelius was by far the pick of the pace bowlers in the intake and Wellington’s Luke Woodcock surprised with the progress he made as a left-arm spinner. His work ethic had been outstanding and he had also benefited from having Mike Shrimpton available to work with him at the Academy.The injuries suffered by the pace bowlers were frustrating because none of them were the same. One player had a stress fracture. Another had a muscular problem, another a leg injury and another a side strain.The workload of the players had all been monitored and they were all on track to recover.Hadlee said the most important thing with the bowlers was ensuring they had safe actions.Statistics from the end of season games were:Multi-day matches: (Two two-dayers v Otago, two three-dayers v Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy, one three-dayer v Auckland, one four-dayer v Queensland Academy of Sport)Batting
Note: averages do not include performances by Pryor, Mills and Hefford when playing against the Academy for Otago, Auckland and Central Districts, respectively.
Aston Villa fell to a 2-1 defeat yesterday against West Ham United thanks to goals from Andriy Yarmolenko and Pablo Fornals after winning their three previous league games prior to the clash at the London Stadium.
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As well as the disappointing result, the Midlands club were handed a potentially major injury blow during the match after left-back Lucas Digne was forced off the pitch with just ten minutes on the clock with a suspected injury.
In a Twitter post from Villa journalist Ashley Preece after Sunday’s clash, he revealed that the French defender is apparently set to “have an MRI scan to determine severity of his hamstring injury.”
Gerrard gutted
Since arriving at Villa Park back in the previous January transfer window from fellow Premier League side Everton in a deal worth a reported fee of £25m, the left-back has immediately made himself a key player for Steven Gerrard by appearing in all but one of the nine league games the Villans have played.
In the eight league games he’s played in for his new club, the defender has managed to rack up a higher average of crosses per game (1.3) than any other Villa player, highlighting just what he’s capable of offering Gerrard’s side and what they will be missing if his hamstring injury keeps him out of action for a significant period of time.
In addition to this, the 28-year-old has also picked up an average of 1.4 key passes per game, the joint-second highest alongside Emi Buendia and John McGinn, showing just how much of an attacking threat he is as well as his crosses, meaning that the Villans will not only have to deal with having a defensive option out of action but also someone that can be an attacking threat for the team.
With all of this in mind, it would be safe to suggest that the 41-year-old Villa boss will be gutted if the results of Digne’s MRI scan come back with a negative diagnosis and the full-back could be facing some time on the sidelines while his team look to secure a top-half finish in the league table.
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Looking ahead, having replaced the former Toffees star at the London Stadium on Sunday, Ashley Young could be in for a run in the team if Digne isn’t likely to be back on the pitch anytime soon.
In other news: Forget Coutinho: “Outstanding” 75-tackle sensation has been Gerrard’s Villa catalyst – opinion
Azhar Ali has agreed to continue as Pakistan’s ODI captain after a request by him to resign, over the presence of Mohammad Amir at the training camp in Lahore for the national team, was rejected by the PCB.”Azhar Ali met the chairman PCB [Shaharyar Khan]. He tendered his resignation. The chairman didn’t accept his resignation, Azhar Ali agreed and he will continue as captain,” the PCB said in a statement.Azhar, along with Mohammad Hafeez, had refused to join the camp earlier, but had finally relented following a meeting with Shaharyar Khan. ESPNcricinfo understands that Azhar had agreed to join the camp, but had said he would need time to decide on his role as captain.Amir is in the selection mix for the first time after his five-year ban for spot-fixing in the 2010 Lord’s Test. He was one of the 26 probables named for Pakistan’s pre-season conditioning camp. Azhar and Hafeez were originally scheduled to join the camp after completing domestic matches, but they did not do so. Azhar went on to state that he would not attend the camp “as long as Amir is there”. After their meeting with Khan, though, the PCB chairman had said: “I do respect their concerns but some of them, I told them, are not acceptable. So they understood and confirmed that they are on the same page with us.”
Mervyn “Pee Wee” Wong, a cricket scorer and statistician, died aged 75 on Wednesday night after complications from a stroke in St Augustine.Wong’s most noted piece of work was a collaborative effort with Jimmy Richards, a Jamaican editor, on the “Book of West Indies Cricket Records 1880-1989”, which recorded first-class and Test statistics for West Indies cricket during that period.Brij Parasnath, a cricket commentator and statistician, said Wong had left an indelible mark. “He has left a great legacy for all of us [statisticians], in terms of West Indies records which are updated and accurate, and which have helped us to promote West Indies cricket in a better way through the print and electronic media,” said Parasnath. “We commisserate with his family and wish them all the best in this period of sadness.”
New South Wales scraped home by one run in a thrilling Ford Ranger Cup match against Western Australia at the SCG. A blistering century from Brad Haddin set up the Blues’ win before Brett Dorey holed out from the final delivery of the Warriors’ 50 overs with two runs still needed for victory.Chasing 268 to win, Western Australia looked out of the game with 24 balls remaining, needing 35 with two wickets in hand. But Dorey smashed 25 from 12 deliveries and with nine required off the last over the New South Wales captain Simon Katich threw the ball to Dominic Thornely, who had not bowled all night. Thornely took 1 for 1 from his first four balls before Dorey slogged a six over midwicket to make the equation two runs from the last ball. When he skied it to deep square leg, Daniel Christian held his nerve and took the catch to win the game for the Blues.Five days after Adam Gilchrist scored the second-fastest hundred in Australian domestic one-day history, Haddin reminded the nation that should Gilchrist, 35, decide to retire any time soon Australia will not need to look far for a replacement. Haddin’s 115 – his fifth century in domestic limited-overs games – came from 102 balls and included nine fours and three sixes.His 146-run partnership with Thornely, who made 60, gave the Blues hope of reaching of 300 but the Warriors staged a late fightback, taking 7 for 18 in 30 balls as New South Wales were all out for 267 in the 50th over. Steve Magoffin took 3 for 43 and together with Sean Ervine (4 for 51) bowled Western Australia back into the game, helped by two run-outs from Chris Rogers.Adam Voges made 68 for Western Australia but they lost wickets at regular intervals as the offspinners Jason Krejza (3 for 41) and Nathan Hauritz (3 for 42) extracted plenty of turn from the SCG pitch. Voges and Brad Hogg worked Western Australia into a winnable position before Hogg was adjudged stumped for 38, despite the fact that Haddin appeared to break the stumps without the ball in his gloves. Krejza, who bamboozled the Warriors’ middle order, had only come into the New South Wales squad after the allrounder Moises Henriques was ruled out with a leg injury.