A 52-ball century from Michael Dighton buried New South Wales and earned Tasmania a place in the final as the Blues fell 37 runs short of the target. The Tigers will travel to Melbourne to play Victoria for the KFC Twenty20 title after Dighton pushed his side to 7 for 202 with one of the most impressive innings in the competition’s short history.He finished with 111 from 56 deliveries but only struck five sixes, scoring more through his 13 fours. Dighton used his feet to Aaron O’Brien, the left-arm spinner, repeatedly driving him in the air through cover. O’Brien’s four overs cost 55 and Dighton also took a liking to Dominic Thornely, whose four overs of medium pace were taken for 53. Dighton scored heavily through the midwicket to long on region and was eventually caught in the outfield.George Bailey continued his strong form, posting an unbeaten 40 from 19 balls and Dan Marsh’s 30 helped the Tigers break the 200 barrier. Early wickets cost New South Wales, with Brendan Drew and Ben Hilfenhaus, fresh from his Twenty20 international debut, proving difficult to put away. Simon Katich gave his side a vague chance with 48 from 26 but he became one of Marsh’s three victims.Later in the chase, all eyes were on Andrew Johns, the rugby league player, who came in at No. 9 and successfully pushed singles to roars of approval from the Sydney crowd, before he was caught at backward point for 9.
Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, showed a welcome return to form as he guided Wellington to a four-wicket win in their State Shield one-day match against Auckland yesterday. Fleming, who returns to the Black Caps squad for tomorrow’s match in the one-day series against Sri Lanka at Wellington, hit 104 off 117 balls as Wellington eased past Auckland’s 252 for 8 in 47 overs. Following Fleming’s dismissal – caught by Tama Canning off the bowling of former Wellington representative Mayu Pasupati – with Wellington’s score on 235 for 6, Luke Woodcock hit 41 off 42 to see his side through to a comfortable victory. He was ably supported by Grant Elliot, the South African allrounder, who contributed an invaluable 11.For Auckland, Kerry Walmsley and Chris Martin picked up two wickets to send back Jesse Ryder and Chris Nevin, Wellington’s openers. Wellington were then left at 90 for 3 as Canning removed Rob Nicol for four, but Fleming was in supreme form, forming partnerships with Matthew Bell and Woodcock to help his side home. Martin was the best of the Auckland bowlers, picking up 2 for 44 runs off his 10 overs, while Pasupati managed 2 for 47. Struggling at 100 for 6 after being asked to bat, Auckland were rescued by Nicol’s fighting 88 not-out and some stern resistance from the lower order in Reece Young (40) and Pasupati (42). Iain O’Brien, with 3 for 46, and James Franklin, with 2 for 43, were the best of the Wellington bowlers.Michael Papps, the former New Zealand opener, steered Canterbury to a six-wicket win over Northern Districts to give the national selectors yet another reminder of his fine form. Papps was unbeaten on 137 when Canterbury cruised past Northern’s 272 for 8 in their 50 overs with 10 balls to spare at Owen Delany Park in Taupo. The other batsman not out was Chris Harris (24), Canterbury’s captain. Papps scored 92 in the first round of the competition last week but couldn’t stop Wellington winning that match. Yesterday, however, he brought up the three-figure mark off just 114 balls and forged a valuable 100-run partnership with Nixon McLean (38) before adding an unbeaten 50 with Harris. Fine innings from Alun Evans (89), BJ Watling (53) and James Marshall (33) had earlier seen Northern set a reasonable target, but Papps was too good on his day.Ross Taylor’s century was the only bright spot at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth as rain forced an early end to Central Districts’ match against Otago without a result. The match was abandoned with Otago on 36 for 1 in the seventh over, chasing a reduced target of 203 from 34 overs due to rain. Central scored 219 for 8 in 39 overs with Taylor hitting 107 off just 103 balls.
Damien Martyn is the favourite to receive the prestigious Allan Border Medal at a gala ceremony in Melbourne tonight. As a Test and one-day player, Martyn’s superb performances through the voting year, from February 11 until yesterday, are expected to earn him Australia’s highest individual award ahead of Justin Langer and Shane Warne.Warne’s return from a one-year drugs suspension was superb, netting 75 wickets, and Langer scored 1481 runs for 2004, but Martyn’s consistent brilliance after a lean 2003-04 stood above both of his Test-only team-mates. Martyn registered six Test hundreds – two each in Sri Lanka, India and Australia – and 1373 runs during the polling period, and played in 21 one-day matches, including making 24 in yesterday’s three-wicket VB Series loss to Pakistan.Martyn is also a contender for the Test Player of the Year along with Langer and Warne, while Michael Clarke, who will be judged on 731 runs, including two hundreds and three fifties, is tipped for the one-day award.
The issue of racial discrimination in Zimbabwean cricket has cropped up again, with Murray Goodwin alleging that black cricketers were getting a free ride into the team. Goodwin, who last played for Zimbabwe three years ago before quitting due to pay disputes with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, said: “It sounds really racist but in actual fact it’s the truth and that’s a sad state of affairs because these guys don’t have to perform as well as the European guys to get a game.”You’ve got guys getting promoted because of performance and other guys getting promoted because of their colour. It’s hard because when you’re playing in a team and you’ve got these guys getting a free ride – it’s not their fault at all – the selection [policy] is a bit of an issue. Everyone’s trying to play in a team and you can’t begrudge that … but you’re just wary of how they select you and on what grounds.”Meanwhile, Geoff Marsh, the Zimbabwean coach, has told his players to forget about the political implications of their tour to Australia. Marsh believes that the politics of the Zimbabwean situation has the potential to distract his side at a time when they need to be completely focussed on the cricket. “When the political situation gets involved in the game of cricket in Zimbabwe I try to take it out.”Adam Gilchrist agreed with that approach. Writing a column for Fairfax papers, Gilchrist supported Australia’s decision to play against Zimbabwe in the 2003 World Cup, stating that the decision stood vindicated within ten minutes of their arrival in Bulawayo, when a local woman gave him a hug and said: “Thank you so much for coming, for giving us a ray of brightness in these difficult times.”He strengthened his argument further by talking about the lack of protest over Zimbabwe’s tour to Australia. “Surely if the reasons for not playing are moral ones, why would the same rules not apply when the Zimbabweans are here? Either people have short memories, or perhaps we are realising that participating in sporting events doesn’t mean that we are either supporting or disregarding the policies and regimes of the government of the country we are playing. Although we are well aware of the tragic heartache that has been caused and the issues that remain unresolved, we are simply sportsmen proudly representing our country.”
South Africa opened their tour of Australia on a winning note when they beat an ACB Chairman’s XI by 48 runs in a 50-over match at Lilac Hill in Perth on Wednesday.Neil McKenzie made a fine 76 while Lance Klusener clubbed 64 off 74 balls as the South Africans reached 257 for nine. Herschelle Gibbs struck a typically breezy 39 off 36 balls at the top of the innings,In reply the Chairman’s XI were bowled out for 209 with Mike Hussey top-scoring with 56. For the South Africans Steve Elworthy took four for 27 with Allan Donald getting through eight overs to take two for 42.
Mike Atherton and Sourav Ganguly produced a feast of high-quality strokeplay to become Lancashire record-breakers at Taunton.Replying to a modest Somerset total of 198, the two Test players put on 192 for the first wicket in 34 overs to lead their side to a seven-wicket victory – only Lancashire’s second in the National League this season.The stand was the county’s highest opening partnership in the competition, beating the 177 compiled by Graeme Fowler and Gehan Mendis against Kent at Canterbury in 1986.It was murderous batting, particularly in the closing stages, when Atherton and Ganguly appeared to be trying to out-hit one another with a succession of thumping boundaries off the medium-pacers.Atherton hit a near faultless 105 off 115 balls, with 14 boundaries, managing to score faster than his partner for most of the stand.Ganguly was first to go for 82, having smashed a six and 10 fours, in a typically elegant contribution. He had faced 93 balls when trying one big hit too many and departing with just seven runs needed.Atherton quickly followed and John Crawley missed out before Lancashire cruised home with seven overs to spare, denting Somerset’s title hopes in the process.While the serene batting will be remembered by most of a bumper crowd basking in glorious sunshine, it was the visiting bowlers who set up victory after Somerset had won the toss.Home skipper Jamie Cox opted to go into the game with an extra bowler, calling up all-rounder Jason Kerr for his first appearance of the season at the expense of Mark Lathwell.It proved a mistake as, despite an encouraging start, Somerset batted poorly, with too many players tossing their wickets away through poor shots.Wicketkeeper Rob Turner was promoted to open with Cox and the pair put on 46 in quick time. Then, after Piran Holloway had fallen for a duck, Peter Bowler helped Cox add 45 for the third wicket.But from a promising 103-2 in the 19th over Somerset fell away as spinners Chris Schofield and Gary Yates took two wickets each in key spells that enabled Lancashire to peg back the run-rate.The pair sent down their combined 18 overs for only 73 runs, sharing the vital wickets of Cox, Bowler, Mike Burns and Ian Blackwell.Somerset were never able to accelerate again and the total of 198 all out in 44 overs looked woefully inadequate on a typically batsman-friendly Taunton pitch.Glen Chapple weighed in with 3-23 from his nine overs as only Keith Parsons of the later batsmen showed much composure in making 25.As it turned out, 250 might not have been enough against players of the calibre of Atherton and Ganguly in top form.But Cox conceded he had got it wrong. “We should have played Lathwell. But our medium-pacers have been going for a few with the white ball and I thought Kerr would be a handy extra option,” he said.The only Somerset player with cause to smile was Bowler, whose benefit game this was. His coffers will have been swollen considerably by the gate receipts and a bucket collection that raised more than £1,700.
Hong Kong beat table-toppers Papua New Guinea by 93 runs at the Hong King Cricket Club to qualify for Friday’s final in the ICC World Cricket League Division Three, where they will play PNG again. Hong Kong’s win also mean they are guaranteed promotion to WCL Div. 2.PNG, who chose to field, had Hong Kong in trouble early on as Rarva Dikana and Hitolo Areni picked up three wickets to reduce Hong Kong to 39 for 3 in the 11th over. However, Hussain Butt, who top-scored with 68 was involved in two crucial 40-plus stands with Irfan Ahmed (25) and Nizakat Khan (36) to take Hong Kong past 100. Areni struck to dismiss Nizakat and Waqas Barkat in quick succession but Butt and captain Najeeb Amar put on 53 runs in just under 10 overs to get the Hong Kong innings back on track. Butt was dismissed with the score on 196 but Nadeem Ahmed hit some big shots to take Hong King to 221 before they were bowled out.Hong Kong’s bowlers then defended the total, bowling PNG out cheaply. Tony Ura and Kila Pala were the only two batsmen who managed to get past 20, as PNG failed to string together any substantial partnerships and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Nadeem picked up three wickets as PNG were bowled out for 128 in just under 48 overs.”We talked about how we could beat PNG today and knew if we batted first it would be important to make as many runs as possible before our bowlers could get to work on the PNG side,” said Hong Kong coach Charlie Burke.”The important thing for us was to remain focussed and we knew by putting PNG under pressure the side would become vulnerable which they did today. We beat them in a warm-up game without our full strength squad so we knew we had the ability today to beat them, and our ability and strength showed today.”There are plenty of quality sides in Division 2 but my focus since taking this role has been about securing promotion. We have the promotion but this league isn’t over and we want to win the entire tournament in front of our home crowd before we focus our attention to the new challenges and teams Division 2 will throw at us,” said Burke.”We’re obviously disappointed with our play and commitment in the loss to Hong Kong today,” added PNG captain Dikana. “Today was Hong Kong’s final as they battled for survival in the tournament and they were the better side on the day. Congratulations to a well prepared side that fought hard and showed strong spirit.”We have a rematch to see who will take home the title of Division Three champions and I know my team have the ability to take the trophy home to PNG as the best side in the tournament. Our complete focus is on tomorrow as we take one step at a time. Tomorrow is a new ball game.”
Two aggressive half-centuries from Hemin Desai and Vaibhav Wategaonkar carried Oman to a commanding four-wicket win over Denmark at the Kowloon Cricket Club, but it was not enough to allow Oman to qualify for the final.Denmark were sent in to bat and got off to a shaky start, losing their openers with just 38 runs on the board. Carsten Pedersen and Rizwan Mahmood steadied the innings with a 66-run partnership but once Mahmood was dismissed with the score on 104, Denmark suffered a collapse. Rajesh Kumar and Khalid Rashid picked up three wickets apiece as Denmark slumped from 104 for 3 to 181 all out in just under 48 overs.Oman needed to knock the runs off quickly if they were to keep their hopes of qualifying for the final alive. Desai and Zeeshan Siddiqui got them off to a rapid start, adding 34 runs in 2 overs before Siddiqui was dismissed. Desai and Wategaonkar then blasted 41 runs in 17 balls. Desai fell for 51 off just 17 balls with five fours and five sixes. Wategaonkar added another rapid 22 with Adnan Ilyas before Bashir Shah had Ilyas stumped. Oman seemed to lose momentum after his dismissal. Though they reached their target in just under 25 overs with Wategaonkar unbeaten on 54, Hong Kong went ahead of their run-rate by beating PNG to destroy Oman’s hopes of qualifying for the final.
USA’s hopes of qualifying for WCL Div. 2 were ended by Italy, who beat them by four wickets at the Mission Road Ground. Italy will now go on to play Oman in the third-place playoff while USA will play for fifth place against Denmark.Italy got off to a shaky start in their chase of 223, slumping to 52 for 4, but a 102-run partnership between Peter Petricola and wicketkeeper Hayden Patrizi got them back into the game. After Patrizi was out for 50, Michael Raso came in and smashed 38 off 29 deliveries, and Italy got home with 18 balls to spare. Petricola was unbeaten on 69.Petricola had also been Italy’s most successful bowler, taking four wickets as Italy restricted USA to 222 for 8. USA captain Steve Massiah scored 52 and opener Sushil Nadkarni scored 47, but USA didn’t get to a big enough total.”Along with the entire team, I am hugely disappointed to be relegated back to Division Four,” said Massiah. “We didn’t prepare for this tournament as well as we have done in other events and our performances here were nothing like what we know we are capable of when we play cricket.”Certain things didn’t go our way this tournament and we now need to go back to the USA and rethink our strategy and how we are going to bounce back from this and rebuild our team to climb back up the leagues.”
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For the first time in years, Liverpool are well-equipped to challenge for the Premier League title.
Jurgen Klopp has shaped an exciting and scintillating team that can score goals from all areas of the pitch.
In the summer, the Merseyside outfit bolstered areas that needed strengthening and they have started the season perfectly by winning all seven of their matches so far in all competitions.
It would be understandable if the fringe players at Liverpool were worried about their chances of making it into the first team.
However, 21-year-old Harry Wilson is one of those talents who could be pushing for a regular spot next season.
The winger was sent to Derby County on loan in the summer and he has impressed so far by making six appearances in all competitions, scoring two goals.
One of those hits was netted on Tuesday night in the form of a stunning free kick against Manchester United in the third round of the EFL Cup.
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Wilson was a major factor in Frank Lampard’s side progressing into the next round via a penalty shootout after the clash finished 2-2 in normal time.
Plenty of Liverpool fans were impressed, which has led us to ask you whether the young winger should be considered for the first team next season.
Tottenham Hotspur source John Wenham has slammed Sergio Reguilon after the Spaniard’s display in Sunday’s 3-1 win against West Ham.
The Lowdown: Reguilon’s performance
The 25-year-old played 88 minutes at the weekend, but in spite of a reasonably decent 7.1 SofaScore rating, he failed to produce a single accurate cross or successful dribble attempt from a left wing-back position. He also had two big chances to try and test Lukasz Fabianski, but he failed to hit the target with either of them.
This added to a list of wasted chances in recent weeks, including those from the games against Brighton and Manchester United in recent weeks.
N17 ‘insider’ Wenham claimed that, despite a number of poor performances recently, Reguilon’s display against West Ham was the worst of all.
Speaking with Football Insider about the Spurs defender, he fumed: “He’s so average it’s untrue.
“I always go back to these constant rumours about Barcelona or Real Madrid being interested in him. There’s always stuff about them paying a premium for him, it’s nonsense.
“He’s just not that good. He’s the best of the full-backs we have but that’s not really praise at this point. Against Man United, he didn’t offer anything, against West Ham was the same.
“For me, he is the worst of the bunch. He wasted so many chances against West Ham. You can absolutely see why Conte kept playing Sessegnon over him until he got injured.
“He wastes so many good crossing opportunities. He was very, very poor yesterday. It’s probably his worst game for Tottenham.”
The Verdict: Damning verdict by Wenham
Wenham’s damning verdict suggests that Antonio Conte is not playing Reguilon out of choice, but is instead being forced into the starting XI due to Ryan Sessegnon’s hamstring injury. This rendered the 21-year-old out of action for Spurs’ last four games, and with an unknown return date for the ex-Fulham starlet, it appears that Reguilon is going to receive more game-time over the remainder of the season.
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Whilst Wenham claimed that the Spaniard is “the worst of the bunch”, this is arguably an unfair assertion. According to WhoScored, the 25-year-old has been Tottenham’s fifth-best player this season, so perhaps the £68,000-per-week defender is merely in a momentary rut and could come good again during the final weeks of the campaign.
In other news: Dean Jones makes Harry Kane claim amid Paulo Dybala speculation
A four-for from left-arm spinner Gurinder Singh and three wickets from captain Manisankar Murasingh helped Tripura bowl Services out for 163 in Guwahati to seal a 219-run win, their first Ranji Trophy win in four seasons. Tripura’s last victory in the tournament came against Himachal Pradesh in December 2012. This is only their eighth win in 153 Ranji matches since their debut in 1985-86; they have lost 99.Tripura began the fourth day on 280 for 1 with an overall lead of 322. The overnight pair of Udiyan Bose and wicketkeeper Smit Patel, who had scored centuries on the third day, quickly took the side past 300. Bose fell for 165 but Patel (127*) steered the side ahead before they declared their second innings at 340 for 3. Services, set 383 to win, were reeling at 75 for 5 by the 24th over. Rahul Singh resisted with 51, but with only tail-end batsmen to keep him company, Tripura had little trouble dismissing Services by the 55th over.Haryana captain Mohit Sharma cut through Hyderabad‘s lower order to help set up his side’s eight-wicket win in Jamshedpur. Hyderabad were in danger of being dismissed for much lower than the 224 they eventually scored in their second innings, but got there through fifties from wicketkeeper K Sumanth (55) and Chama Milind (66*). The pair added 83 runs for the seventh wicket, but the honours on the day belonged to Mohit, who wrapped up four of Hyderabad’s last five wickets to finish with 5 for 26 in 14 overs.Left with 85 to get, Haryana chased the target down in 16.4 overs. Wicketkeeper Nitin Saini scored 45, opening the innings.Half-centuries from Srikar Bharat and Hanuma Vihari, and important contributions from DB Ravi Teja and Ashwin Hebbar helped Andhra salvage a draw against Chhattisgarh in Kalyani.Following-on, Andhra resumed on the fourth day at 122 for 4, needing another 73 runs to wipe out the deficit and make Chhattisgarh bat again. Vihari and Ravi Teja helped the side past that milestone, before a 53-run partnership between Hebbar and Murumulla Sriram took Andhra past 250. Andhra ended the day on 282 for 8. Chhattisgarh took 3 points by virtue of the first-innings lead.