Category Uncategorized

International Cricket Council match referee Mike Denness confirmed the punishments handed down to six Indian Test players relating to incidents in the second Test match against South Africa in Port Elizabeth, but refused to elaborate on his decisions at a press conference that rapidly descended into farce at St George’s Park on Tuesday.Amid accusations of bias and conspiracy, Denness sat tight-lipped next to United Cricket Board chief executive Gerald Majola in what amounted to little more than a puppet show as angry Indian and South African journalists sought vainly to establish exactly what Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Shiv Das, Deep Dasgupta, Harbhajan Singh and Sourav Ganguly had done to deserve their punishments.Five of the players received suspended sentences from Denness, but Sehwag has been banned from playing in the third Test match at SuperSport Park starting on Friday.Exactly why, however, remains a mystery with Denness claiming that he is not allowed to talk to the media by ICC regulations. Which, of course, begged the question of why he was at the press conference in the first place. There was no answer to this.To further raise the temperature, it was alleged at the press conference that Indian president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, has threatened to call off the remainder of the tour if Denness was not removed as match referee.According to a press release issued by Majola, Denness held four separate meetings with the Indian players on Monday relating to incidents during the South African second innings on Sunday.Majola apologised for the leak of the punishments on Monday night. It emerged that Denness had specifically asked the UCB not to make an official announcement until Tuesday morning, but at least one journalist was informed of the disciplinary by the Indian team management on Monday night.So reticent was Denness to say anything that at one point Indian commentator Ravi Shastri asked what he was doing there in the first place. “We all know what he looks like,” said Shastri.Majola said that he would talk to Denness after the press conference and try to obtain a more coherent explanation for the sentences. Two things, however, are abundantly clear: in the first place this matter is far from over; secondly, despite attempts to streamline it, the match referee system remains clumsy, inconsistent and, in this instance, incoherent.It might even be fair to say that Denness has done far more damage to the game than the six players he punished.

Sarah Taylor, the England women’s wicket-keeper batsman, has broken into what was previously a jealously-guarded male preserve by becoming the first woman to play Australian first grade cricket. She gatecrashed what reputedly has been one of the last bastions of the macho Australian male by making her debut for Northern Districts in the South Australian Premier Competition on Saturday.Not all statisticians seem entirely happy to let a Pom to take the accolade, with references also made to a T20 match in Victoria once played by Cathryn Fitzpatrick, who stepped down as coach of the Australian women’s team in May, but Taylor’s achievement in being selected for a two-day game will gain universal recognition.SACA Premier Cricket is a two-day competition and represents the highest level of cricket played in South Australia outside first-class cricket.Taylor took on keeping duties and was scheduled to bat at No 8 for Northern Districts – aka the Jets – in the first match of the 2015-2016 season against Port Adelaide Magpies at the Salisbury Oval, alongside players such as South Australia and Leicestershire’s Mark Cosgrove and the former Hampshire batsman Joe Gatting – nephew of ex-England captain Mike Gatting.She joined a list of players that includes former Australian Test cricketers Darren Lehman and Ryan Harris to have represented Northern Districts CC in this competition.Taylor went to Brighton College, the same school as the former England wicketkeeper, Matt Prior, who said her catching talents were immediately apparent. She is particularly talented standing up to the stumps and has been advocated at times as worthy of a match in English county cricket. Mike Selvey, cricket correspondent of has championed her as unique: the only women’s cricketer he has ever seen with all the attributes to play at first-class level.”I’m really excited about this opportunity – it’s completely unexpected and offers another new challenge and environment for me to test my skills against some very strong cricketers. I had no idea that I would be the first woman to play at this level in Australia, but I am sure that I won’t be the last. I have grown up playing boys cricket at Brighton College and more recently in the ECB men’s premier league for Walmley CC, so I am used to playing with the guys.”Taylor will also feature in the Women’s Big Bash for Adelaide Strikers and is also currently playing 50-over state cricket for the Breezair SA Scorpions in the Women’s National Cricket League.The sight of women playing in what was traditionally men-only cricket has gradually become more common in England over the past 20 years. Earlier this year England women’s fast bowler Kate Cross became the first woman to play in the Central Lancashire League, one of the country’s most reputable and traditional leagues.

Everton have dropped some further positive early team news before they play host to Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday evening.

The Lowdown: Doucoure back for Man City clash

As seen in images posted on the club’s official Twitter channel, the Toffees have revealed that Abdoulaye Doucoure is now back in training and will hope that he can play a part against Pep Guardiola’s men.

After Burnley’s 1-0 win at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night, the Merseyside club may be worried about potential relegation just a little bit more, so they will need as many of their key players back as possible when the Premier League champions visit Goodison Park.

The Latest: Godfrey progress

Just after Everton revealed the news about Doucoure, they also tweeted an update on Ben Godfrey as he also aims to return to full fitness.

Posting an image of the 24-year-old in training, the club added the succinct caption of “Making progress”, along with an hourglass emoji.

The Verdict: Positive news for Everton

It certainly is promising to hear that Godfrey is also making progress, on top of the revelation that Doucoure is back in training.

The defender has not played for Everton since the 4-1 win at home to Brentford in the FA Cup earlier this month, and he had rarely missed a game this season before then (Transfermarkt).

Godfrey has ranked highly among his team-mates in terms of tackles, clearances and blocks per game in the Premier League this term (WhoScored), so he is clearly a key player in Frank Lampard’s team.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

While he may not make it for the match against the Sky Blues this weekend, he may be fit enough for the rest of the campaign, which will no doubt be a big boost for the Toffees.

In other news, Everton are ‘hedging their bets’ over this deal

Robin Uthappa is gung-ho ahead of the fourth ODI in Gwalior © AFP

Listen to Robin Uthappa at a press conference on the eve of a match and you could be forgiven for thinking that he, and sometimes the team, is bullet proof. Everything about him is gung-ho, the morale is perennially high and the future’s always bright.Much like his approach to batting, he attacks as a mode of defence. When somebody questioned Zaheer Khan’s effectiveness as the leader of the bowling attack, Uthappa shot back saying Zaheer had bowled magnificently in Kanpur, conceding just 25 off seven overs and that it was unfair to ask such questions.He wanted to “fight fire with fire” against Australia and although India went down 4-2, Uthappa said the intensity with which the games were contested was good preparation for the series against Pakistan.”Against Australia the pressure brought the best out of us and made us ready for this series,” Uthappa said on the eve of the fourth one-dayer in Gwalior. “There is pressure in this series as well, as it still can go either way. But we are confident of doing well, as we are on top of our game.”The Indian batting line-up is indeed on top of their game. They chased down 240 with ease in Guwahati, scored 321 in Mohali, and 294 in Kanpur. The top and middle order coming good in each game has meant that Uthappa, batting at No. 6 or No. 7, hasn’t had much of an opportunity against Pakistan. He came in with India at the doorstep of victory in the first ODI, got a poor lbw decision early on in the second, and scored a brisk 19 off 17 balls after coming in during the 44th over in the third.Has the lack of opportunity flustered him considering that he broke into the one-day team as an opener who scored 83 against England in Indore – the highest score by an Indian on debut?”As long as I am contributing to the team’s cause, it does not matter to me whether I am batting,” Uthappa said. “I can bat anywhere.” When pressed for a preferred batting position, he refused to budge, saying that he would bat “wherever the team wants”.Ironically, it is his success at the position the team wanted – No. 6 or No. 7 – that has cemented Uthappa’s spot in the one-day side. After his sparkling debut, Uthappa was unable to secure a place for himself at the top of the order after a disastrous World Cup, in which he scored 30 runs, meant that Uthappa struggled to get a game during the tour of England in 2007. It didn’t help either that most of the Indian top-order slots were non-negotiables.A cool 47, batting at No 7, to win a tense game against England at The Oval sowed the seeds of Uthappa’s finishing career after which he has batted primarily in the lower-middle order. It’s a difficult position to bat in for you are expected to consolidate if the top-order fails, accelerate if you enter during the final overs, and farm strike when batting with the tail. Though Uthappa hasn’t been needed to play significant innings in the series so far, he’s prepared to “play it tough on the field” should the situation arise as India attempt to clinch the series.

Martyn Ball was a great servant of Gloucestershire cricket © Getty Images

Martyn Ball has shocked Gloucestershire by announcing his retirement from professional cricket after 19 years with the club. Despite signing a new one-year deal last summer he as opted to take up a role with the US-based property development company Ginn Europe.Ball, 36, admits it was a huge decision to leave the sport behind but felt the time was right. “I’ve had 19 fantastic years playing first-class cricket and Gloucestershire has become a major part of my life,” he told .”But this marvellous opportunity has come along and I have had to make a decision. There has been a lot of soul searching but, in my mind, I know this is the right time for me to announce my retirement.”I’ve seen people stay too long and end their careers full of bitterness and resentment and I didn’t want that for myself. This way, I’m going out on my own terms and with my reputation intact.”Tom Richardson, the chief executive, praised Ball’s efforts with the club. “He has made a significant contribution, especially during the past eight seasons when our team has collected nine trophies.”His efforts in these one-day competitions cannot be underestimated although the statistics will not always show the depth of Martyn’s contribution.”Ball is also set to leave his position as Professional Cricketers’ Association chairman but still hopes to put something back into the game. “I want to be able to come back in the future and help out Gloucestershire in any way I can.”In a career spanning 193 first-class matches he took 389 wickets at 37.74 and scored 4633 runs at 19.22. However, it was in the one-day game where he really shone and his 288 wickets came at 30.47 while he was a brilliant slip fielder. He’d also adapted well to Twenty20, playing 29 matches and taking 27 scalps at 24.48.His highest honour came when he was called up to England’s tour of India in 2001-02 after Robert Croft’s withdrawal from the trip following the 9/11 attacks. He didn’t make the Test team, but did line-up in a warm-up fixture and came as a sub in the second Test, at Ahmedabad, catching Sourav Ganguly off Andrew Flintoff.

As former Barbados and West Indies player Vasbert Drakes prepares for his second stint as coach of Trinidad and Tobago’s Queen’s Park Cricket Club, he has called for better facilities throughout the region and for the players to develop their game.The tall allrounder, who played 12 Tests and 34 ODIs, leaves his native Barbados today to resume duties in Port of Spain.”I am excited about what is happening at Queen’s Park and the good work that is being done there. We have excellent facilities and a quality programme,” said Drakes, who played his last match for the West Indies in January 2004. “It is something I would like to see spread across the Caribbean. One of the difficulties across the region is facilities. At Queen’s Park we have better facilities than even some of the teams competing in the Carib Beer Series. West Indies cricket is struggling, we know that. One way to lift the team and see it compete at the highest level again is to start at the club level. The roots must be strong.”In a first-class career which spanned 15 years, 36-year-old Drakes played for four teams in the English County Championship – Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Sussex and Warwickshire – and was Player of the Year twice with Border in the South African SuperSports League. He also represented Scotland last year. Late last year he served as player/coach for the Pickwick Club which he led to their first domestic Division One title in Barbados since 1958.Drakes said the Stanford Twenty20 Tournament, which is due to start in Antigua in August, could be a saviour for West Indies cricket. “In the Caribbean we don’t have the money to pay our players as top professionals so we have to look at programmes where we can get assistance,” Drakes pointed out. “The Stanford Twenty20 has come along and looks capable of bringing a change and bringing back a professional approach to the game. We should embrace it.”

Bob Woolmer: Hits back at Miandad© Getty Images

Bob Woolmer has expressed his disapproval over Javed Miandad’s scathing criticism and termed it as “very disappointing”. Miandad had questioned Woolmer’s coaching methods and said that nothing much had changed since he took over as coach.Speaking to the media on the eve of the first Test, Woolmer was blunt with his reaction. “It’s very disappointing that a senior, very respected cricketer and past coach of the Pakistan cricket team comes out and criticises the team, the coach and everyone involved,” he said. “I find that rather disappointing coming from someone of his caliber.”Woolmer, who was blamed for experimenting too much with the side, found the remark even more confounding because Miandad had been in charge right before he took over. “[They were] harsh words from someone who had the team before I took over. It’s like … criticising yourself. He’s not working with me, he’s not in the dressing-room, he doesn’t understand what I’m doing or what I’m trying to do, so he’s really saying things from outside.”Woolmer then spoke about working together and, refreshingly, didn’t limit it to cricket. “Quite frankly, if Pakistan were to get together and unite the forces and harness all the forces they had, it would be a much better country for it.”

In the wake of Sunil Gavaskar’s statement that sportsmanship has gone out of the modern game, James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive, today revealed that they were deluged with 15 days of complaints from the public, along with a backlash from sponsors, after Glenn McGrath’s verbal tirade in the West Indies.Speaking at a business lunch, Sutherland said that CA were inundated with phone calls and e-mails following McGrath’s vein-popping rant at Ramnaresh Sarwan during the fourth Test in Antigua. McGrath later apologised to Sarwan and publicly expressed regret at his behaviour, but it has left significant ramifications for the game in Australia.Sutherland continued: “The damage that that caused Australian cricket and arguably our brand could never be measured, but judging by the reaction we got from the media and the public there was no doubt there was a diminution as a result of that unfortunate incident.”People were saying that the Australian team were poor role models anddon’t want (their) kids playing cricket and the captain needs to take controlof the team.”Sutherland, who at the time demanded Steve Waugh curb in his team’sbehaviour, also said sponsors had contacted him to say their brands weresuffering because of the backlash.However, he insisted Cricket Australia had learned much from the incident. While not condoning McGrath’s actions, he also believed that the Australian team had in some ways been a victim of their own success: “When you are successful in this day and age people do like to pick out the bad things and look for things that aren’t that great.”No action was taken by either the umpires or match referee, Mike Procter,against McGrath over the incident, but he was rebuked by Sutherland,who believed it was up to the umpires to clamp down and enforcecricket’s code of conduct to make sure such incidents were promptly dealt with.Sutherland said: "What we need to see is the umpires having the strength of their convictions to act and report players when they cross that line. We need to clarify it and the umpires need to back it up and perhaps stop trying to be everyone’s mate and actually take the hard line and nail players who cross the line.”

Sri Lanka will now play Pakistan in the first game of the CBFS triangulartournament next week (October 26) following a last minute change to theitinerary.According to the previous itinerary, Sri Lanka were to face Zimbabwe in thefirst encounter.Friday is a holiday throughout the Middle East and traditionally attractsthe best crowds in Sharjah, most of whom are keen Pakistani fans. They willbe delighted with the change.The Zimbabwe-Sri Lanka match has been shifted to the following day.Originally, Pakistan were to play Sri Lanka on Saturday.However, there’s been no change to the rest of the matches.All the matches will be day-night encounters and will commence at 4:30 pmlocal time and end at 12:15 midnight.The Sri Lankan side will be leaving to Sharjah on Sunday.Fri 26 Oct – Pakistan v Sri Lanka
Sat 27 Oct – Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe
Sun 28 Oct – Pakistan v Zimbabwe
Tue 30 Oct – Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe
Wed 31 Oct – Pakistan v Zimbabwe
Fri 02 Nov – Pakistan vs Sri Lanka
Sun 04 Nov – Final

ScorecardMoeen Ali collected three wickets against Pakistan A to boost his confidence ahead of what will be a vital role he has to play in the Test series, but England were given a taste of what could loom over the next month as they toiled during a wicketless afternoon session in Sharjah and were reminded of how crucial it will be to take every chance that comes to hand.A productive morning for England, in which Moeen struck twice to add to Mark Wood’s opening wicket, gave way to a more sobering middle session after Alastair Cook had spilled Iftikhar Ahmed on 11 at a wide slip off Stuart Broad’s first ball of his second spell. Iftikhar went on to finish unbeaten on 92 as Pakistan A reached 216 for 5.It took England 44 overs to break the second-wicket stand of 112 between Iftikhar and Fawad Alam, who is part of Pakistan’s Test squad. Moeen added his third by having Fawad, who had offered a caught-and-bowled chance to the same bowler on 50, taken at mid-on.However, the purpose of these matches are to acclimatise to the testing conditions, so while missed chances were certainly not the order of the day a lengthy stint in the field, with miles in the legs, could serve England well.England’s quicks were all managed in short spells on another energy-sapping day where cold towels were frequently used to bring some relief and James Anderson’s opening five overs with the new ball was the longest stint for any of the seamers. It was first-change Wood, the pick of England’s pacemen throughout the day, who made the initial incision when Sami Aslam pulled to square leg where Broad pulled off a brilliant, one-handed catch.By then, Moeen was already into his first spell and was soon among the wickets. Khurram Manzoor edged gently to slip and Ali Asad was trapped on the back foot by a quicker delivery as Moeen ended his first stint with 7-2-9-2.His likely Test partner, Adil Rashid, had also settled into an economical pre-lunch spell and though managing just one maiden he maintained an economy rate of under three during the day, which will have been encouraging for Cook although a line-up of Azhar Ali, Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq will pose far greater challenges. Misbah, who appeared for this match on the first day having not been in the original squad, opted not to have a bat.After Iftikhar received his let-off, he and Fawad made steady progress through the afternoon as Cook used seven bowlers including Joe Root. Iftikhar struck the two sixes of the innings, both off Moeen, and passed fifty from 125 balls while Fawad took 132 deliveries to reach his.Late in the day, Anderson struck in the first over with the second new ball when Usman Salahuddin tickled a catch down the leg side but another chance went begging when Adnan Akmal edged between Jos Buttler and Cook at slip, neither of who moved. Akmal finished on a lively 26 off 27 balls.The second of the two-day matches begins on Thursday and is likely to be a chance for Alex Hales and James Taylor to stake a claim for batting spots, although after Jonny Bairstow’s runs in this game and Moeen’s all-round capabilities are taken into account it is looking increasingly likely that the Test top order will be those that played here.