The newspapers in the Caribbean treated the defeat of West Indies at Bridgetown rather like the death of an elderly aunt. Not unexpected, more with resignation than anger. But after a suitable – if brief – period of mourning, they have come out fighting.The editorial in the Jamaica Observer kicked off with an attack on the board. "The approach to the management and structure of our cricket is amateurish and is in need of new professionalism. With all due respect to new manager Tony Howard, the current management of the West Indies team seems inadequate for the job."Coach Gus Logie, for example, has made it clear that he should not be held responsible for what happens on the field – the implication being that Captain Lara is the one running the show. If the coach cannot assert himself enough to do his job, he surely does not deserve that job."Tony Becca in the Jamaica Gleaner agreed that change has to come from the top. "West Indies cricket has a lot of problems, including indiscipline and the lack of pride. They all lead to one thing, however – too many unprepared players, too many boys in a man’s game. The only way to stop it is to start at the bottom and the West Indies board has to come up with a plan to deal with the structure of West Indies cricket."That theme is echoed in a number of publications, most vehemently in another column in the Observer which calls for resignations. "We would recommend the principle [of resigning] to the other top officers of the WICB and the captain of the team, Brian Lara."It continues: "For frankly, in the historic, social and political environment of the Caribbean no West Indian, certainly no Caribbean nationalist, can easily swallow the drubbing being administered by the Englishmen. Cricket in this context, from a West Indian point of view, is a metaphor for geo-politics. The results of the matches are too much in keeping with the order of things between developed and developing states.”So try as we may, rationalise as we will, in the recesses of West Indian minds, particularly those of the early and middle generations, this is no mere sporting contest. As we have argued before in these columns, cricket is life and the rest is detail."
Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya is confident that his side can upset Australia in their first Super Six match at Centurion on Friday and book an early berth in the World Cup semi-finals.”We need to pull off one of the big games either against Australia or against India to make it more easier for us before we come up against Zimbabwe. We are taking it one by one,” said Jayasuriya after the team’s morning practice.”Australia and India are two of the strongest teams and we’ll have to play very good cricket to beat them. We need to get on top of them early.”If you go down in the game, you cannot come out on top of these teams. They are very good in both departments batting and bowling. If you are batting, in the first few hours you have to put some runs on the board, and when you bowl, you have to bowl well to tie them down,” he said.”If our batsmen can show the same form they had shown against West Indies and South Africa, we will be able to put up a good total for our bowlers.”We have been working really hard at our cricket after losing to Kenya. We had to win the last two games against West Indies and South Africa and on both occasions we did really well. I am very happy the way things are at the moment, but there is a lot of hard work ahead of us."A big bonus is the form shown by veteran Aravinda de Silva.The 37-year-old, the architect of Sri Lanka’s 1996 triumph, has struck form at the right time scoring a scintillating 73 and taking two crucial wickets against South Africa.”Aravinda’s presence in the team is a big factor and serves a lot of purpose. He can bat and also bowl. He is in the runs at the moment and it is a huge advantage for the team. He is an experienced campaigner and his presence on the field is helpful to me. When things aren’t going right he can tell me a few things and put us in the right direction,” said Jayasuriya.Sri Lanka’s problems lie with the poor batting form of Mahela Jayawardene and the inability of the other seamers to support strike bowler Chaminda Vaas.Jayawardene has yet to get into double figures in the tournament, accumulating just16 runs (avg. 4.00) with a top score of nine.”We pushed him up the order in the last match to enable him to get some runs, but he failed. He is too good a player to be dropped,” said Jayasuriya.”Mahela has a lot of potential and we still have faith in him. He is a player who can change a match with his batting. Unfortunately, he is not in the runs. But he is too good a cricketer to keep failing for a long time.”Any batsman who goes through a bad patch like Mahela will think of so many things. I went through a similar period in the first few games in Australia. I think you have to be simple and only think of the basics. Mahela should play his natural game and not think of anything else. He is in a shell at the moment and he has to come out of it very quickly,” he said.Apart from Jayawardene, wicket-keeper/batsman Kumar Sangakkara is also short of runs making just 52 from five innings (av. 13.00) and a top score of 24.He said that Pulasthi Gunaratne and Dilhara Fernando were struggling as Vaas’ support bowlers.”Pulasthi is coming out of an hand injury and Dilhara is not hitting the right areas. They are working hard at their game,” said Jayasuriya.”At Dilhara’s pace he is unable to sometimes control the line and length. What we want him to do is to get us some wickets. If he can get one or two early wickets, that’s what matters,” he said.One thing that will be to Sri Lanka’s advantage is the absence of fast bowler Jason Gillespie who was forced to return home after straining a tendon in his heel. He has been replaced in the squad by left-armer Nathan Bracken.”I think it will be a big loss for Australia, Gillespie not being there. He is one of their best bowlers. It is an advantage for us that he is not there,” said Jayasuriya.
England’s hopes of saving the Second npower Test were hanging by a thread tonight after an exasperating day of errors and brittle performances.By the close, a partnership between Mark Ramprakash and Mark Butcher had removed the possibility of the match ending inside three days after they put on 96 for the fourth wicket.Butcher, who was called up for the Edgbaston Test as cover for the injured Michael Vaughan and Graham Thorpe, was heading for his first century in 27 Test innings with 73. His brother-in-law Alec Stewart was keeping him company but England were still 51 runs behind with the score 163 for four.The third day – the 20th anniversary of England’s historic win over Australia at Headingley in 1981 – started on an ominous note when Butcher dropped a simple slip catch in the second over of the morning which would have had Adam Gilchrist back in the hutch for 13. It was a devastating waste of opportunity and from that point on, an uncharacteristic clumsiness pervaded England’s efforts in the field.Gilchrist was dropped another three times during the morning session. Once on 33 by Ian Ward at cover, again on 49 by Butcher – a difficult chance – and most remarkably of all, on 73 by Michael Atherton, who rarely makes a mistake at first slip.With each fumble and tumble, Gilchrist looked more incredulous and when he finally departed in the second over after lunch for 90, he will have thanked his lucky stars that he came so close to making a second consecutive Test century.He went with all guns blazing, trying to hook Darren Gough, 17 overs into the new ball spell, to leave the total on 387, and the lead over England a hefty 200. They had increased both by 14 runs when Andrew Caddick struck for the fifth time in the innings and wrapped it up with the wicket of Brett Lee to bowl out the tourists for 401, the same score as at Headingley ’81.Caddick’s figures were 5-101 and he made a particularly good impression finding extra bounce with the new ball while Gough finished with 3-115, but it would have been six if three of the dropped catches had stuck.England urgently needed a strong start to their second innings to offset the possibility of defeat in three days but Marcus Trescothick was caught behind for three in the sixth over. His lack of footwork made him vulnerable to the Australian pacemen but it was Jason Gillespie, for the second time in the match, who claimed his wicket.Australia were also having a relative nightmare in the field which gave Michael Atherton a second life on two. Matthew Hayden diving to his left saw the ball tumble out of his hand after shooting off the edge of Atherton’s bat.Atherton looked steady against Australia’s new ball attack, hooking when the opportunity allowed and passing Lord Cowdrey’s tally of 7624 Test runs to go into fourth on the all time list of England’s leading run scorers. But the introduction of Shane Warne into the attack saw a lapse in concentration and having faced 45 balls and hit three boundaries, he was bowled around his legs for 20.His demise brought Butcher and Ramprakash together and with the score on 47 for two, they took responsibility to recover and rebuild. The campaign started slowly but with Butcher taking the lead the pair gradually gained in confidence. Ramprakash brought up the 50 partnership and England’s 100 with a well timed square drive and settled down to eliminate the demons that have wrangled whenever he appears for England at Lord’s.But having taken his total to 40, his highest Test score at Lord’s, he was trapped leg before to Gillespie, just seven overs from the end.
He’s the best player in the Premier League; nothing much has changed. He should have been in the FIFA World XI alongside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, according to some. Above all, Robin van Persie should be the name that stands ahead of all others for this season’s Player of the Year award.
There are only positives in this debate. While the Premier League may be losing its status as the best league in the world to either the rising power in Germany or the technical excellence of La Liga, English football needs a fiery debate to reignite the engines.
Maybe it’s not as clear-cut to most that van Persie should grab the accolade for a second consecutive year; there are players both in the north and in the capital who are doing incredible things, and well worth a mention for the right to be crowned player of the season.
But being the best isn’t always enough, especially in England. Fans need reminding why you’re the best and why you deserve personal awards ahead of everyone else. There’s often too much going on in the Premier League to be tied down to just one hero, and that is one of the league’s great strengths.
If the season finished in December and the award handed out then, van Persie would have won. Yet what has he done since then? Over the past few months, has he been better than Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale or even Michu? Where’s Juan Mata in all this?
Though that’s largely the point: people will question what he has done in the past few months rather than over the entire season. Van Persie is far too good to completely break down between now and the end of the season. By May, most will remember what they’ve seen in the weeks leading up to the final weekend. But Luis Suarez has had his critics for failing to convert earlier in the season and Bale wasn’t even a serious contender for the award in the first half of the campaign – certainly not when players like van Persie and Juan Mata were the standouts.
It also isn’t just about who won the league title or played a part in a successful European campaign. Even if Liverpool finish well outside the top four, most at Anfield will say that Suarez has nevertheless been the best player, predominantly because of his value to the club and where they’d be without him.
Where would Swansea be without their best player? What about Spurs? Yet that’s an argument that can be had for many clubs up and down the country. Jack Wilshere has been Arsenal’s star performer this season, but he isn’t and shouldn’t be mentioned as a contender for Player of the Year. Manchester United are going to win the league title because of their Dutchman in attack, and yet to some that might not be enough.
But it should be.
Even with what can be described as a cold past few months, where van Persie has only scored once in his last seven while squandering a few golden opportunities against Real Madrid, he has still made Alex Ferguson’s team the best in England and changed games in their favour when the only outcome looked to be a loss.
Scoring form doesn’t necessarily take away from how good van Persie is. If there is a heated argument against the Dutchman winning the award, then it’s only because people have forgotten how good he is, through no fault of their own.
You look at names like Isco and Radamel Falcao, where few teams in world football would turn their noses up at either player, and yet the discussion has cooled down on both in recent months. Have we forgotten how good they are? Probably, it’s certainly not as prominent in the mind as it was earlier in the season. But it doesn’t take anything away from what they’ve done.
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Advocates of Real Madrid will say Ronaldo should have won the last Ballon d’Or because of his season with Madrid and his performances in the Clasicos. But it wasn’t enough. He was fantastic, mesmerising. Without his league goals – all 46 of them – where would Madrid have finished? They should have won the Champions league, too, or at least gotten closer than they did. And yet the nagging feeling inside Ronaldo’s head was that he knew it wouldn’t be enough to swing the majority of votes in his favour.
As the holder of the award, it is only van Persie’s to lose. Since arriving at Manchester United he’s at times looked like a man possessed, playing with that same level of brilliance that Arsenal fans were so accustomed to but now with an added belief that his efforts will pay off big come May.
It takes nothing away from the others, much in the same way that Messi’s fourth Ballon d’Or award is unlikely to force us to forget Ronaldo’s season last year. But van Persie remains the leading light in English football, and this second year will offer much more of a foundation to keep him at the top of the mountain.
A fractured arm has ruled Brian Lara out of the rest of Trinidad and Tobago’s season. Lara was struck by a rising delivery from fast bowler Lionel Baker on the opening day of T&T’s third-round Carib Beer Series match on Friday against the Leeward Islands and x-rays have shown a bone fracture in his left arm just above the wrist.Lara, who retired from international cricket last April, had his arm placed in a cast and sling.Omar Khan, T&T’s manager, told CMC Sport that Lara would be out of action for approximately eight weeks. “The cast will be on for six weeks before it is removed and then he has to do physiotherapy for a further two weeks, so Brian will be out for about two months in terms of his participation in the Carib Beer Series,” he said.After a century and an unbeaten half-century in a winning effort against Guyana two weeks ago, Lara played through T&T’s further games despite a lingering shoulder injury. He was hit on the arm a few balls after driving Baker for four.”He [Lara] is very disappointed, in fact tears came to his eyes when the doctor came back and revealed that the x-rays revealed the broken bone. It was really disappointing for him,” Khan said.”He really did look forward to competing in this game especially the kind of treatment he has been getting in St Maarten, there has been a tremendous feeling for T&T team and for Brian Lara in particular to be in St Maarten here to play cricket. The people of St Maarten had given him a rousing welcome and he looked forward to participating.”Lara made himself available for T&T this season but said he would step down once the international players returned from their tour of South Africa, to give younger players a chance to develop. With T&T having taken a lead in the Carib Beer Series points table thanks to Lara’s early success with the bat, Khan said the 38-year-old’s absence was a major loss.”It’s a big blow for the team because as you know he has been the mainstay of our batting and he has really come back and led from the front. But that’s how things go, there is nothing to do about it except to be positive [and] the other guys will now get an opportunity to showcase their talent.”
Mithali Raj, India’s captain, reflected on a game that got away after Maria Fahey and Sarah McGlashan set up New Zealand’s third straight victory in the quadrangular tournament. Fahey was dropped twice in her innings of 59 and her wicket early on could have changed things around for India.”We were 20 to 30 runs short of a good score,” said Raj, “but if we had taken those chances that we got off Fahey then probably the lower middle-order would have been exposed to Jhulan [Goswami] much earlier and given us a chance to win.”The beneficiary of the chances, Fahey, herself agreed that Goswami had bowled really accuratly as had the Indian spinners. Goswami’s first spell of seven overs got her three wickets for 18 runs. She claimed a fourth wicket by dismissing Sarah Tsukigawa for 14 and ended with figures of 4 for 26. “After the first two wickets fell my plan was to just build a partnership with [Sarah] McGlashan which worked out for us,” said Fahey.Haidee Tiffen, the New Zealand captain, felt that her side should have won it long before crossing the line. “We bowled really well and it was a pretty good wicket,” she said. “But once the partnership [between Fahey and McGlashan] was broken wickets began to fall, to be honest, to stupid shots and not too bad a bowling.”Tiffen also explained that they brought in Tsukigawa, who took 3 for 33, as late as the 40th over because they had planned to play two spinners in the match. Tsukigawa herself felt that the pitch had less bounce for fast bowlers and that the spinners had bowled well.Hemlata Kala was the only Indian batsman who made any sort of impact on the scoring but without any significant partnerships Kala’s 69 was far too little to boost India to a position through which they could dictate the terms. However, she felt that Tsukigawa was effective only because she was bowling right at the end when the Indian batsmen were going for the runs.”The New Zealand bowling wasn’t too tough but it’s just that everyone has their good days. This was one such day for me.” Kala also agreed with her captain that if chances off Fahey along with some run out attempts had been converted India could have won the gameAfter a two-day break, the fixtures are repeated with India playing England at Chepauk and New Zealand playing Australia at the IIT Chemplast Ground on February 28.
Seven years ago, in the semi-final of the 1999 World Cup, South Africa and Australia contested what has widely come to be regarded as the definitive one-day international. A total of 426 runs in two innings, twenty wickets in the day and world-class performances across the board – a match that built to a pulsating finale in which South Africa threw away their place in the World Cup final with what also came to be regarded as the definitive one-day choke.Today, however, South Africa can be called chokers no longer, after burying the ghosts of 1999 with victory in a match even more extraordinary and nail-shredding than its illustrious forebear. Never mind 426 runs in a day, Australia had just posted a world-record 434 for 4 in a single innings – the first 400-plus total in the history of the game – with Ricky Ponting leading the line with an innings of cultured slogging that realised 164 runs of the highest class from just 105 balls. And yet they still lost – by one wicket, with one ball to spare, and with the Wanderers stadium reverting to the sort of Bullring atmosphere on which it forged its intimidating reputation.At the halfway mark of the day, South Africa had been reduced to a near laughing stock. Ponting had been the kingpin as he reprised his World Cup-winning innings on this very ground in 2003, but every one of Australia’s batsmen had taken their pound of flesh as well. Adam Gilchrist lit the blue touchpaper with an open-shouldered onslaught that realised 55 runs from 44 balls; Simon Katich provided a sheet-anchor with a difference as he creamed nine fours and a six in a 90-ball 79, and Mike Hussey – in theory Ponting’s second fiddle in their 158-run stand for the third wicket – hurtled to a 51-ball 81. Australia’s dominance seemed so complete that Andrew Symonds, the most notorious one-day wrecker in their ranks, was not even called upon until the scoreboard read a somewhat surreal 374 for 3.Unsurprisingly, South Africa’s bowlers took a universal pounding. Jacques Kallis disappeared for 70 runs in six overs and as the innings reached its crescendo, a flustered Roger Telemachus conceded 19 runs from four consecutive no-balls. The team had squandered a 2-0 series lead and were staring at a 3-2 defeat, and not for the first time this year, Graeme Smith’s penchant for speaking his mind was looking like backfiring. With the Test series getting underway in four days’ time, the need for a performance of pride had never been more urgent.And so Smith took it upon himself to deliver, responding to his team’s indignity with a brutal innings laced with fury. He made light of the early loss of Boeta Dippenaar, whose anchorman approach would not have been suited to the chase at any rate, and instead found the perfect ally in his former opening partner, Herschelle Gibbs. On a pitch that might have been sent from the Gods, the pair launched South Africa’s response with a scathing stand of 187 from 121 balls, to send the first frissons of anxiety through the Australian dressing-room.
Smith made 90 from just 55 balls, and seemed set to trump Ponting’s 71-ball century when he swatted the spinner, Michael Clarke, to Mike Hussey on the midwicket boundary. But Hussey’s celebrations were manic and betrayed the creeping sense of foreboding that had taken hold of Australia’s players. Just as South Africa had suffered for the absence of Shaun Pollock, so too was Glenn McGrath’s constricting influence being missed. His understudies were simply not up to the task, with Mick Lewis earning an unwanted place in history as his ten overs were spanked for 113 runs – the most expensive analysis in any form of one-day international cricket.Now it was Gibbs who took centre stage. The man who, memorably, dropped the World Cup at Headingley in that 1999 campaign has redeemed himself a hundred times over in the intervening years. But this was to be his crowning glory. With AB de Villiers providing a sparky sidekick, Gibbs carved great chunks out of the asking-rate, bringing up his century from 79 balls and rattling along so briskly that, by the 25-over mark, South Africa had 229 for 2 on the board, and needed a mere 206 to win..Only one contest could compare – the extraordinary C&G Trophy contest between Surrey and Glamorgan in 2002, when Alistair Brown scored 268 out of a total of 438 for 5, only for Glamorgan to track his side all the way with a reply of 429. In both instances, the sheer impossibility of the task galvanised the batting and turned the fielders’ legs to jelly, and with Gibbs on 130, Nathan Bracken at mid-off dropped a sitter off a Lewis full-toss, and could only contemplate his navel as the Bullring roared its approval.It was undeniably the decisive moment of the match. Bracken finished with a creditable 5 for 67, but this faux pas was written all across his features at the post-match presentations. Cashing in superbly, Gibbs hurtled to his 150 from exactly 100 balls, bringing up the landmark with his fifth six of the innings and the 21st of a bedlamic contest. He had reached a glorious 175 from 111 when Lee held onto a scuffed drive at mid-off. The stadium stood in acclaim, but with 136 runs still required and their main source of momentum gone, South Africa had plenty still to do.Kallis and Mark Boucher regrouped with a steady partnership of 28 in six overs, but when the big-hitting Justin Kemp went cheaply, it took a blistering intervention from Johan van der Wath to reignite the chase. He drilled Lewis over long-off for two sixes in an over then added a six and a four in Bracken’s eighth, as the requirement dropped from a tricky 77 from 42 balls to a gettable 36 from 22. He perished as he had lived, holing out to extra cover, and Telemachus followed soon afterwards, but not before he had clubbed an invaluable 12 from six balls.And so it all came down to the final over, just as it had done at Edgbaston all those years ago. Brett Lee had seven runs to defend, and South Africa had two wickets in hand. A blazed four from Andrew Hall seemed to have settled the issue, but in a moment reminiscent of Lance Klusener’s famous aberration, he smeared the very next delivery into the hands of Clarke at mid-on. Two runs needed then, and the No. 11, Makhaya Ntini, on strike. Lee’s best effort was deflected to third man to tie the scores, and it was left to Boucher – with visions of Edgbaston swirling through his head – to seal the deal with a lofted four over mid-on. The most breathtaking game in one-day history had come to a grandstand finish, and all that remained was for the participants to pinch themselves.
AustraliaAdam Gilchrist c Hall b Telemachus 55 (97 for 1) Simon Katich c Telemachus b Ntini 79 (216 for 2) Uppercut to third manMike Hussey c Ntini b Hall 81 (374 for 3) Full toss swatted to long-onRicky Ponting c Dippenaar b Telemachus 164 (407 for 4) Blazing cover-drive plucked above head on boundarySouth AfricaBoeta Dippenaar b Bracken 1 (3 for 1) Dragged onto off stumpGraeme Smith c Hussey b Clarke 90 (190 for 2) Swatted to deep midwicketAB de Villiers c Clarke b Bracken 14 (284 for 3) Heaved to cow cornerHerschelle Gibbs c Lee b Symonds 175 (299 for 4) Chipped drive to long-offJacques Kallis c&b Symonds 20 (327 for 5) Diving return catch off firm driveJustin Kemp c Martyn b Bracken 13 (355 for 6) Toe-ended wide delivery to backward pointJohan van der Wath c Ponting b Bracken 35 (399 for 7) Holed out to extra coverRoger Telemachus c Hussey b Bracken 12 (423 for 8) Spooned drive, brilliant sprawling catchAndrew Hall c Clarke b Lee 7 (433 for 9) Slap to mid-on
A gritty, unbeaten 203 from Shivnarine Chanderpaul and a more flamboyant 213 from Wavell Hinds guided West Indies to 543 for 5 before they declared late on the second day at the Bourda.But if Chanderpaul had led by example with the bat, his decision to declare in fading light as soon as he had flicked Nicky Boje for four to bring up his double hundred was an error. South Africa’s openers faced just two balls in the gloom before they were heading back to the pavilion with broad grins on their faces. It was an inevitable end, and it was hard to see why West Indies had not just batted through to the close and added to Graeme Smith’s frustration.On a pluperfect batting track and in front of another good crowd, West Indies had made steady rather than spectacular progress, with the run rate never climbing above three an over. In fairness to South Africa, they looked more on the ball than they had yesterday, but on this batsman-friendly surface it made little difference.Overnight rain left the playing area too damp for a prompt start, but when play resumed an hour late it was fairly clear that the bowlers were in for another long day. Both Chanderpaul and Wavell Hinds started circumspectly, Hinds taking 20 minutes to add to his overnight 188. A taunt of “Boring, Wavell, that’s boring,” from Graeme Smith in the slips only stirred him and thereafter he got back into his stride, bringing up his double hundred with a punch behind square on the off. He then played the shot of the match, a classical straight drive off the disappointing Makhaya Ntini.Chanderpaul began the brighter, flicking the second ball he faced for four, but displayed remarkable concentration in his shot selection, happy to duck bouncers and leave any temptation outside his off stump. He punished anything on his legs as well as unleashing a few sumptuous drives through the covers.
Hinds fell shortly after lunch aiming an expansive off drive at Charl Langeveldt and a relieved Mark Boucher taking a straightforward catch. He had made 213, exactly 200 more than he was on when Herschelle Gibbs dropped him yesterday morning. It was a supreme display of stamina, concentration and skill.There was no respite for the South Africans as one Hinds was replaced by another, Ryan, who started uncertainly but slowly found his grove. He added 116 with his captain before on 47 he aimed a drive at a flighted ball from Boje but only edged straight to Jacques Kallis at first slip. If Hinds had played well enough to deserve his fifty, Boje had earned the wicket with his perseverance on an unhelpful surface.As Chanderpaul pressed on, Narsingh Deonarine, the fifth left-hander in the top seven and another making his debut, survived a jittery start and a hostile welcome from Andre Nel and gradually found his touch. The run rate continued to fall as the ball grew soft, and a message came out from Bennett King, the coach, to get things moving.Then came Chanderpaul’s moment of triumph, which nobody would begrudge him in the difficult circumstances surrounding this match. The shame was that seconds later it was followed by the declaration which was so badly timed.How they were outWest IndiesSmith c Boucher b Nel 11 (24 for 1) Regulation edge, pouched one-handed in front of first slip.Ganga c Boucher b Nel 0 (24 for 2) Pushed at a wide one, simple catch at knee-height.Pagon c Kallis b Nel 35 (106 for 3) Early on a defensive push, skewed to silly mid-off.W Hinds c Boucher b Langeveldt 213 (390 for 4) Loose off drive edged to wicketkeeper.R Hinds c Kallis b Boje 48 (506 for 5) Edged attempted drive of flighted ball straight to first slip.
North Zone 254 for 8 (Dharmani 73, Powar 3-56) v West Zone Scorecard Dinesh Mongia won the toss on the opening day of the crucial Duleep Trophy tie at Dharmasala, but North Zone didn’t have much to cheer about thereafter. West Zone had the better of the first day’s play, restricting North to 254 for 8.Munaf Patel nailed Aakash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir early, and reduced North to 21 for 2. Pankaj Dharmani held things together with a dogged 73 and stitched together some useful partnerships with the middle order. Dinesh Mongia (25), Mithun Manhas (21) and Sangram Singh (34) managed to get starts, but none kicked on to a sizeable score.Dharmani fell for 73, trapped lbw by Sairaj Bahutule, but the tail put up some good resistance with Joginder Sharma (33) and Sarandeep Singh (23) chipping in with valuable contributions. Apart form Munaf, West Zone depended on their spinners to do the damage. Bahutule finished with 2 for 45, while Ramesh Powar was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 56, enhancing his chances of being picked as a replacement for Harbhajan Singh on India’s tour to Pakistan.
Although the expression “Decision Day for England” has been used with monotonously repetitive regularity over the last week, there is no doubting today’s qualifications for such a tag.The World Cup technical committee is meeting in Johannesburg to decide whether England should play their World Cup Pool A match against Zimbabwe in Harare. The England and Wales Cricket Board hope that new evidence will persuade the committee that death threats received from an organisation called the “Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe” cannot be dismissed as a hoax, as claimed by the Deputy Commissioner of South African Police, Andre Pruis.He said that the organisation was not known to pose a serious threat and that he received several such letters himself on a personal basis. However, it was later revealed that the organisation was known to Interpol.There appears to be little sympathy for England’s cause outside the country. Indeed, two of the Boards’ top brass, Jagmohan Dalmiya (India) and Percy Sonn (South Africa) have gone well beyond the mere unsympathetic in adding their respective verbal fusillades.Dalmiya suggested that far from just forfeiting the match if they don’t play in Harare, England should actually be docked an additional four points for failing to do so. In a letter to International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed, he stated: “The ICC should come to a firm and final decision whether Zimbabwe is a safe country or not for playing World Cup matches.”If Zimbabwe is not a safe country, then shift all the matches from there. But if it is safe, award full points to Zimbabwe for the England match and levy a penalty of four minus points on England.”Meanwhile the president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, Percy Sonn, has now been called to account by his own organisation. Sonn, who some observers claimed was drunk at the game between India and Holland at Paarl, was heard to launch into a tirade about English cricket in front of ECB chairman David Morgan, who was attending the game as Sonn’s guest.The UCBSA chief executive Gerald Majola is planning to talk to Sonn about the alleged incident. The ECB has maintained a dignified silence.”I have spoken with Percy and he will get the opportunity to discuss the matter with the UCB general council in the next few days,” said Majola. “Until that discussion has taken place, it is inappropriate for the UCB to make any further comment on the issue.”Sonn later apologised for his behaviour, in response to requests from several South African politicians.Sonn said in a statement: “I realise that my conduct at Boland Park on Wednesday fell short of standards which people find acceptable for a person in my position and, if I offended anyone with my behaviour, I sincerely apologise.”Earlier this week Sonn told a press conference that South Africa might boycott this summer’s tour of England in retaliation for the ECB’s refusal to honour their World Cup fixture in Zimbabwe on security grounds.It is against this unedifying background that the technical committee will decide whether to abandon England’s match on safety grounds and split the points between the countries, relocate the game or hand the points to Zimbabwe.It is not just millions of pounds that are riding on the decision. So, it seems, is almost an entire summer programme of international cricket in England.