The USA Cricket Association has named a 30-man squad for the forthcoming ICC Trophy but, as with most things connected with US cricket at the moment, the announcement immediately started a battle over who exactly had the right to pick the side.The old USACA board, led by the president Gladstone Dainty, chose the squad – and at the same time named the same management team which had overseen the USA’s participation in the Champions Trophy in England last September – but the alternative new board, backed by the Council of League Presidents, is believed to be about to tell the ICC that the side is not representative of the best players in the country. It is expected that a request will be made that the ICC does not recognise the selections until the ongoing disputes over who actually runs US cricket are resolved.Critics were quick to point out that the side contains many of the players who were condemned for their performances in the Champions Trophy. That team was also labelled as a virtual Dad’s Army, given the average age of the players. Another surprise is the inclusion of Imran Awan, the player who returned home early from the tournament in circumstances which have never been fully explained.
Ricky Ponting has stressed that a patient approach against Sri Lanka’s slow bowlers, and an aggressive one against their batsmen hold the key to Australia’s chances of success when the one-day series starts off at Dambulla on Friday.The Australians expect a full hand of spinners to be in opposition, and had a meeting to discuss ways of combating Muttiah Muralitharan on Wednesday night. "We haven’t played him too badly in the past," Ponting said. “It’s been the other blokes, the part-timers, who have caused us more problems than him."In the past, Australia have paid for their eagerness to attack the part-time slow bowlers introduced early in the innings. “We’ve realised these bowlers have come on and it’s been a chance for us to get after them early but we’ve actually got out," he said. “That’s one area we’ve addressed and we’ll address it again before tomorrow’s game. One thing you don’t want to do is go too hard and lose too many wickets and put pressure on the middle order against their spinners."”The game plan … is to keep wickets in hand for as long as we can against their spinners and be a bit more patient through the middle of our innings. You know that on these grounds whatever you sacrifice through the middle you can pick up at the end of the innings with wickets in hand.”Such a wait-and-watch approach would be adopted by the bowlers though. They have been given license to target the Sri Lankan batsmen with short balls aimed at the rib-cage. Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka’s most potent one-day threat, has already suffered a broken arm and a broken finger in his tussles with Australia, and Ponting said that he could expect more on the same in the days to come.”That will still be a plan of ours for sure, especially with the new ball. There’s no doubt we’ll be testing them out that way. I think with someone like him it (short-pitched bowling) certainly is a bit of weakness. We want to bowl it short near the body – they don’t like that too much, the same with the Indian players."”That’s our biggest challenge: to identify weaknesses in opposition batsmen and be able to bowl accordingly. And that’s what we didn’t do well enough in Australia early on this summer, although we it well in the end. It’s important we do that straight away in this series.”On the team selection front, Australia will be forced to leave out either Michael Bevan or Simon Katich. Michael Clarke’s slow left-arm spin, and inventive batting have made him a near certainty for the middle order, and it has been suggested that Katich being a more regular bowler might tilt the scales in his favour.”The good thing about our side at the moment is that we’ve got a few guys we can rely on to bowl some pretty good part-time spin," said Ponting. "Symonds and Clarke do a pretty good job and I don’t think there’s any more pressure on Bevo’s spot for that reason.”
Somerset Under 13’s were beaten by the narrowest of margins when they took on Dorset at Sherborne School last Sunday.Batting first Somerset were all out for 93 in 39.1 overs, with Ben Rudge top scoring with 19, James Fear made 12 and Harry Livingstone being unbeaten on 14.In a thrilling finish, with the last pair at the wicket Dorset hit the winning run with just two balls to spare.Left arm seamer Ben Rudge completed a good afternoon by having the impressive figures of 8 overs 1 maiden 3wickets for 12 runs.
Chelsea have identified an in-form striker as a potential future player for Enzo Maresca as club scouts watch all of his matches.
Chelsea given Liam Delap concern as Joao Pedro plan revealed
It hasn’t exactly been the best of starts to his west London career for summer signing Liam Delap, who has spent most of his debut campaign at Stamford Bridge on the treatment table.
Indeed, Delap’s highly anticipated Chelsea stint has descended into frustration, with the 22-year-old managing just six starts across all competitions.
Persistent fitness problems have prevented him from establishing any meaningful impact. Delap’s nightmare began in August when he sustained a hamstring injury that sidelined him for over two months, forcing him to miss ten matches during the crucial opening phase of the campaign.
After finally returning to fitness in November, the England youth international managed only his sixth Premier League start against Bournemouth before disaster struck again.
Landing awkwardly following an aerial duel with Marcos Senesi, Delap dislocated his shoulder and was forced off after just 32 minutes with his arm in a makeshift sling.
Big name player has privately said that he would join Chelsea in January
It could lead to a very popular transfer.
ByEmilio Galantini
Reports have since claimed that the former Man City starlet faces up to a month out, with his return not anticipated until midway through January.
The forward’s only goal this season came as a substitute in Chelsea’s Champions League victory over Barcelona, with Maresca acknowledging that Delap has been “a little bit unlucky” but insisted the goals will eventually come once he can maintain fitness and rhythm.
However, according to journalist Simon Phillips, there are ‘internal concerns’ over his start to life at Chelsea, and the club’s desire to play Joao Pedro in an attacking midfield role means they’re considering another striker.
Emmanuel Emegha is due to arrive from Strasbourg next year, but the plan for him is currently unclear, and he could even head back out on loan.
Chelsea earmark Strasbourg striker Joaquín Panichelli as 'future player'
Writing via his Substack, Phillips reports this morning that Chelsea have their eyes firmly on in-form striker Joaquín Panichelli as a ‘future player’ amid their worries about Delap.
Club scouts are said to be watching all of his games for Strasbourg too, and they’ll be mightily impressed by what they’ve seen from the Argentine.
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Panichelli has already scored 10 goals in 21 outings across all competitions for Chelsea’s sister club so far, and their relationship with Strasbourg via BlueCo means this could be a pretty straightforward deal to do.
The 23-year-old has also seriously impressed Ligue 1 experts, with pundit Joachim Durand telling Transfermarkt that Panichelli is a ‘pure number nine’ with many desirable qualities.
Agents make 'clear' transfer demand as Chelsea forward pushes for January exit
Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, will fly home to the Caribbean after admitting that his injured thumb and hamstring will not heal in time for him to play in any of the four remaining ODIs in South Africa.”Given the most recent prognosis that I will require at least another two weeks of recovery before I could even consider picking up a bat again – furthermore being declared match fit – I have been granted permission by the WICB to return home to Jamaica to concentrate on getting better,” Gayle wrote in his Cricinfo diary.The news, though not entirely unexpected, is a blow to West Indies who lost the first one-dayer by six wickets in Centurion yesterday. Gayle, who injured his thumb in the second Test in Cape Town, has entrusted Bravo to steer the ship in his absence – but he too is combating his own injury after picking up a side strain during the Test series.”I had already been feeling quite frustrated at just sitting around and having to watch my team-mates battling out in the middle without any contribution from me,” Gayle said. “This injury update only made me feel worse. I therefore spoke to team management and the WICB chief executive, Dr. Donald Peters, who was here in South Africa, and expressed the view that it would be best for me to head back to the Caribbean immediately and focus on recovering fully. Sitting on the sidelines was really beginning to affect me.”We will be hosting two top teams, Sri Lanka and Australia, in the coming months and I definitely want to be 100 percent fit for those matches. So leaving the tour is the most logical step at this stage.”Clive Lloyd, the West Indies’ team manager, said: “This gives an opportunity for the younger players to show their mettle and step up to the plate.”West Indies host Sri Lanka for two Tests and three one-dayers in March and April, with Australia arriving for three Tests and five ODIs in May.
West Zone huffed and puffed to a three-wicket win over Central Zone in the opening match of the Deodhar Trophy at Ahmedabad. West Zone were coasting to victory after opener Wasim Jaffer laid the foundation with a calm and collected 89 before a wicket burst gave the opposition a glimmer of hope. In the end, the Mumbai duo of Amol Muzumdar and Abhishek Nayar steered the side home with seven overs to spare.Jaffer and Yusuf Pathan, promoted up the order, added a quick-fire 47 for the first wicket in conditions where the seamers struggled to contain the batsmen with the new ball. Yusuf made a breezy 20 off 18 balls before edging to Rohit Jhalani off RP Singh. Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the former Indian batsman, joined Jaffer and the pair added 102 for the third wicket. Jaffer was particularly impressive, picking the gaps with ease, managing 13 boundaries in his 106-ball knock.Shalabh Srivastava, the left-arm seamer, caught the middle order off guard with three quick strikes to peg West Zone back. Irfan Pathan, boosted by the news of his final inclusion in the World Cup squad, failed to cash in and Srivastava proceeded to scalp Parthiv Patel and Sairaj Bahutule in successive deliveries with West Zone needing a further 20. Nayar and Muzumdar buckled down to polish off the remaining runs in the face of some penetrative bowling and sharp fielding by Central Zone.Earlier, Ramesh Powar, the offspinner, played his part with a miserly spell to restrict Central to 234 after the openers got off to a flier. Powar’s ten overs included four top-order wickets in quick succession, as he applied the choke on the Central batsmen, conceding only 25 runs.The spotlight was on Pathan to prove his form and fitness in this crucial encounter, one which was to determine his participation in the World Cup. His first ball, an inswinger bowled wide outside the off stump was dispatched over midwicket by Praveen Kumar, who blazed away in an opening stand of 85 with Faiz Fazal in just under 15 overs. Kumar made merry against Pathan and Rakesh Patel, scoring 51 off 42 balls with three sixes.The spinners were brought on early and Powar removed Kumar, courtesy of some neat work behind the stumps by Patel. The Central batsmen found it difficult to free their arms against Powar who varied his length beautifully. The in-form Mohammad Kaif was Powar’s second big victim and he proceeded to take two more wickets to leave Central at 110 for 4. It was a statement of intent from Powar, who was left out of the World Cup squad despite a decent showing in the one-dayers against West Indies recently. His fellow spinners, Bahutule and Yusuf Pathan chipped in with a wicket each to leave Central at 165 for 8.S Abbas Ali, the left-hander, revived the innings with a half century and his stand of 62 with Singh averted an early finish and lifted the side to a respectable total. Ali reached his fifty at the tail-end of the innings, falling for 51. Pathan finished with two wickets – dismissing both Ali and Singh – but was a little expensive, conceding over five and a half runs per over.
Munaf Patel, who engineered an eight-wicket victory for the Board President’s XI in Baroda last week, has been rewarded with a call up for the Mohali Test, with Vikram Raj Vir Singh making way for the match which will be played at his home venue.The only other change in the 15-man squad is the return of Yuvraj Singh, recovered from the hamstring strain that ruined his matchwinning century in the final ODI against Pakistan at Karachi. Suresh Raina, touted as an Indian great of the future, makes way, though Kiran More, the chairman of selectors emphasised that he was very much a part of plans for the future. “We have to pick Yuvraj,” More said. “Suresh Raina is an outstanding player, and is part of a grooming process. He’s ready to play any class of cricket.”The inclusion of Munaf, the 22-year-old from Ikhar in Gujarat, ahead of VRV was just as easily explained. “We wanted to give VRV a taste of Test cricket and also assess his fitness. He has not played much, and we want him to go back to domestic cricket and play more games. Munaf has been in great form. He’s taken a lot of wickets in domestic cricket [for Maharashtra and West Zone], and also had 10 wickets in the side game. Even from the Deodhar Trophy, the reports that we have got have been outstanding.”More also spoke of how delighted the selection committee and team management were with Wasim Jaffer, who justified with recall with superb knocks of 81 and 100, his maiden century. When asked if India would continue to repose faith in specialist openers rather than going back to the makeshift theory adopted in Pakistan, More minced no words. “Jaffer has proved himself. We will certainly go in with specialist openers. It was a big area of concern for us, but he batted brilliantly and we’re very happy.”When prodded about “the other opener” – Virender Sehwag failed in both innings here – More refused to take the bait. “He’s one of the best we have,” he said in perfunctory fashion. Enquiries about Harbhajan Singh’s fate, after unflattering figures of 2 for 527 from his last three Tests,met with a guarded response. “We haven’t even seen the pitch yet,” said More. “We’ll go there and decide on an XI after we see the pitch and conditions.”An attempt to inject some controversy into an otherwise straightforward media briefing was coolly shot down. When asked about his comment that the door had been shut on Sourav Ganguly, More said: “I said the same thing at my last press conference. We’re not going to look back. We will only look forward. There’s nothing new in that.”Squad Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla.
The legal battle for control of Sri Lankan cricket has officially started after Thilanga Sumathipala’s executive committee – all appointed at Sunday’s AGM in defiance of the government’s suspension of the board – filed an application in a Court of Appeal. Sumathipala’s legal team requested an interim order to prevent the suspension of the board.The suspended executive committee has confronted Jeevan Kumaratunga’s surprise decision last week, claiming that the minister has been mislead by vested interests within the government, effectively pointing the finger of blame at Arjuna Ranatunga, now the deputy tourism minister, who has been a fierce critic of Sumathipala over the years.They have also challenged the right of the appointed six-man interim committee, headed by Jayantha Dharmadasa, to enter the board premises. The Colombo headquarters has been locked up and protected with extra security guards to prevent access to the board’s "immovable property". All employees have been sent home on leave.Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s president Chandikra Kumaratunga has demanded an immediate report on the cricket board crisis, according to The Island newspaper. A ministry official was quoted as saying that a full report was being compiled outlining the chief reasons for the decision to suspend the board.The central reasons justifying the suspension in the official Gazette Order issued last Thursday include Sumathipala’s participation in ICC Executive Board meetings without ministerial permission in November and March and for "ineffective and improper financial management" leading to a massive $3.3 million loss last year.Sumathipala’s team has explained the heavy losses as the result of the cyclical nature of tour revenue and insisted that the financial future of the board is secure after their signing of a record $50 million broadcasting deal with Taj Television. They have also rubbished claims in the media by the sports minister of running an inflated salary bill.But potentially more serious to the suspended executive committee will be the alleged reimbursement to Sumathipala of $300,000 of Sri Lanka Cricket funds for personal legal and professional fees during the course of the year. Claims of excessive travelling by officials will also be investigated.In addition, the sports minister has accused Sumathipala of having links with the gambling industry, revealing to the BBC that he has been sent a detailed report from the ICC, which has set up a Code of Ethics inquiry to investigate his relationship to Sporting Star, a betting shop owned by his family.The board’s tsunami disaster fund Cricket-Aid, the brainchild of Sumathipala, has come under the spotlight too after newspaper allegations that the fund is not properly registered as an NGO. Critics have claimed that the setting up of a separate charity was unconstitutional under the present sports law.
This was the final that you could have predicted with eyes tight shut a month ago, with one flyweight – Zimbabwe – competing against two heavyweights. And despite a wobble or two against a plucky Zimbabwe team led with characteristic skill and bravery by Heath Streak, neither Australia nor India had to stretch too many sinews to get here. That said, three of the four league games they contested were humdingers, with only Australia’s romp in Perth interrupting the trend of fine contests that have defined this summer.The cavernous Melbourne Cricket Ground will dredge up mixed emotions in both camps. Until recently, it was the one venue where Australia appeared most vulnerable, with 40 wins and 34 defeats in their first 77 games there. But since then, in an era when they have boldly charted new waters in one-day cricket, Australia have reeled off 15 victories in 18 matches at the MCG.India’s Melbourne experience has followed a distinctly different route. Having won four of their first five one-day games there, they have now lost four on the trot and you have to go back to January 31, 1986 – when Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar were the batting heroes – for their last triumph.It’s impossible to separate the two teams in the batting stakes, though each will look to their marquee names to deliver more than they have thus far. In the league matches, you had Adam Gilchrist and VVS Laxman matching each other stroke for stroke, though Laxman reeled off three centuries to Gilchrist’s one. Both teams have also depended on middle-order effervescence in the shape of Andrew Symonds and Yuvraj Singh, the only Indian batsman to play Australia’s quick bowlers with confidence on a bouncy WACA pitch.Neither team distinguished itself overly with the ball, not helped by pitches made for batsmen’s pleasure. India can boast two of the highest wicket-takers in the tournament – Irfan Pathan has 14, and Ajit Agarkar 11 from just five matches – but neither has shown an inclination to be as economical as Scrooge.For Australia, Brett Lee – savaged for 83 runs in Brisbane – appears back to something like his rapid-fire best, while Jason Gillespie has struggled to live up to his billing as the world’s premier fast bowler. Symonds, with his innocuous offspin has taken more wickets (10) than either Lee (8) or Gillespie (6), but all of them have been eclipsed by the exceptional Brad Williams, who can point to 12 wickets at 16.66 and a superb economy rate of 4.12.
With a trophy at stake, Australia’s selectors have also been prompted to do what they should have done even before the Test series started – bring in Michael Kasprowicz. Now Queensland’s all-time leading wicket-taker, Kasprowicz has been one of the most consistent – and ignored – performers in world cricket for half a decade or more.His 48 wickets in the Pura Cup last season, and stellar displays for Glamorgan in the county championship, didn’t sway the selection panel, who persisted instead with those woefully out of form. The way he bowled against India when given a chance in the TVS Cup should have told them all they needed to know, but they still overlooked him. This call-up, however late, might just spare their blushes.The selectorial eyes will also be keenly trained on Damien Martyn – so out of sorts this season – and Simon Katich, competitors for a seat on the plane to Sri Lanka, with Darren Lehmann almost certain to be an automatic choice. Michael Clarke will also be under scrutiny, with the Hussey brothers forcing themselves into the picture through sheer weight of runs.As for India, they would do well to experiment with their bowling attack. L Balaji has been the most unflappable of their pace bowlers, and would be an ideal foil for Agarkar. At the moment, Pathan doesn’t have the raw pace, or the composure, to take on Gilchrist in full flight, and his enthusiasm and aggression would be best served as first change, Lee’s role not so long ago when Australia sensibly decided to keep the new ball with Glenn McGrath.A summer when runs have rained down should see many more scored on Friday, with the likes of Matthew Hayden and Sachin Tendulkar overdue a big score. India should welcome back their slow-bowling talisman, Anil Kumble, if he is fit in time, but even that might not be enough against an Australian side that have won 14 of 23 finals at the “G”, including four on the bounce.Australia (likely) 1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Clarke, 7 Simon Katich, 8 Brett Lee, 9 Jason Gillespie, 10 Brad Williams, 11 Michael Kasprowicz.India (likely) 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 VVS Laxman, 4 Rahul Dravid (wk), 5 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Rohan Gavaskar, 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Irfan Pathan, 10 Anil Kumble, 11 L Balaji.