Virat Kohli, the captain of India’s Under-19 squad for the World Cup, may still be in his teens but he’s already aware of the kind of spotlight an Indian cricketer faces when playing on the international stage. As the team prepared to depart for Malaysia, Kohli said India were “expected to be favourites” and hoped to fulfill those expectations – backed by a strong batting line-up and a bolstered attack – during the 15-day tournament.The squad spent the last week at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, fine-tuning their preparations under the guidance of Dav Whatmore, who will be their coach for the tournament. Kohli said the team had worked hard on their fielding skills, which he felt needed to be improved, during the camp and the time spent together had helped build team-spirit.India have had a successful run in the lead-up to Malaysia. They won a Youth Test series in South Africa 1-0 as well as a triangular limited-overs tournament involving South Africa, who are grouped with India in the World Cup, and Bangladesh. The batsmen performed impressively in the tri-series, with Kohli, Saurav Tiwary, Tanmay Srivatsava and Manish Pandey all averaging above 50.”We have a deep batting line-up and most often our No.7 and No.8 batsmen have not had a chance to bat on the last two or three tours. So batting is a big strength,” Kohli said. “The fast bowling was lacking on the last tour so we’ve got more fast bowlers to strengthen that area.”India’s group also includes West Indies and Papua New Guinea and their practice-matches before the main tournament kicks off will be against two teams Kohli considered among the toughest in the competition – New Zealand and England.”We know most of the England team and the New Zealand team, which are the difficult teams. We don’t know much about Pakistan because I think the team has changed. But we’ve seen South Africa, England and New Zealand which are the strongest teams, so we know about them.”For most of the team, the World Cup will be their first experience of playing in front of a television audience. Kohli, however, said that thinking about factors such as television would only add to the pressure. “You don’t have to think about it much,” Kohli said. “We just have to play like we have been playing on the last four or five tours. We’ve been winning all the tours so we would like to keep up the winning streak.”While Kohli and his team-mates are thinking of the immediate future, and how it could be the launching pad for future international careers, their coach is able to look at the larger picture. The challenge, Whatmore said, was to “create the right pathways and competitions for the youngsters to come through.”
The dates for the second Afro-Asia Cup one-day series, which is being staged in India, have been announced.The three matches, which the ICC have granted full ODI status, will be played in Chennai (June 6) and Bangalore (June 9 and 10). All games will start at 2.30pm and will be day-night matches. The organisers have said that the two sides will be known as the Asia Tigers and the African Lions.The timing is slightly surprising given that it is in the monsoon season, but such are the demands on the teams that it was one of the few free periods in the calendar. India will have just finished their series against Bangladesh, and none of the other countries who will supply players are in action.The first staging of the tournament, which is a fund-raiser for the African Cricket Association and the Asian Cricket Council, was in South Africa in August 2005. On that occasion the outfields had to be painted green for television audiences, so far out of the normal season were the games played.
The United Cricket Board of South Africa has named the 18 players who will attend the 2006 National Academy, based at the High Performance Centre at the University of Pretoria.Dean Elgar, the captain of the South Africa U-19 team at the World Cup in Sri Lanka, is among the names and he is joined by youngsters who have shown promise at various age groups and in first-class cricket.Anton Ferreira, the UCBSA national coaching manager and head of the National Academy, said: “The squad of 18 represents the 11th intake of this UCBSA’s elite player development programme and will be the third at the high performance centre at Tuks.”These players all have first-class experience at either amateur provincial or franchise professional levels and the majority have already started making their mark in a big way in various senior competitions.”The four-month academy will provide an intensive and extensive approach to their development both in cricket and life skills. We want to build their all-round capacities in order to enable them to meet the challenges of the next level of cricket.”Squad Keegan Africa, Craig Alexander, Farhaan Behardien, Werner Coetsee, Dillon du Preez, Dean Elgar, Robert Frylinck, Heino Kuhn, Corne Linde, Sadi Mhlongo, Hillroy Paulse, Abdul Hack Razzak, Pepler Sandri, Blake Snijman, Abongile Sodumo, Dominic Telo, Craig Thyssen
Digicel, the sponsor of the West Indies team, has regretted the leaking of a confidential memo to the public. A statement from the company said, it was "disappointed that an internal memo, given to the WICB as a confidential communication has reached the public domain,” according to the BBC website. The West Indies team has been embroiled in a controversy ever since the memo, which suggested that players were more keen on having a good time off the field than performing on it, leaked out to various sections of the media.Digicel also reaffirmed their commitment to sponsoring the West Indies team. It is currently in a US$20million contract over five years with the team. "We are enthusiastic about developing the many initiatives which will support the growth of the game," said the statement. This comes hot on the heels of the West Indies Players’ Association threatening legal action against a newspaper which published the memo.In the memo, Richard Nowell, the sponsorship liaison, reportedly lambasted the team for its behaviour, calling the team, "the poorest ambassadors from any representative team I’ve come across." The West Indies Cricket Board is scheduled to conduct a tour debriefing on February 20, and are expected to discuss the contents of the memo in this meeting.
Danish Kaneria struck two vital blows midway through the morning session to leave the Test match tantalisingly poised with five sessions to go. Bangladesh were in control of the situation at 194 for 3 – a lead of 136 – but the loss of Habibul Bashar and Alok Kapali resulted in the second hour being a real battle of cat-and-mouse. At lunch, Bangladesh had reached 221 for 5, with Rajin Saleh having faced 192 balls for his 45.The first hour had belonged to Bashar, who brought up his second Test century – only the fourth by a Bangladesh batsman, and the first against Pakistan – with a mixture of caution and reckless abandon. Having resumed on 82, Bashar was off and running with a cracking square drive off Shoaib Akhtar.The prospect of three figures was clearly making him nervous though, and he was fortunate that a thumping drive off Mohammad Hafeez just eluded Yousuf Youhana’s outstretched fingertips at deep midwicket. And if that wasn’t good fortune enough, an inside-edge off Akhtar’s bowling spun back just short of the stumps.But Bangladesh’s best batsman wouldn’t be denied, and a deft deflection down to short third man off Umar Gul saw him to 100, prompting sustained applause from the dressing room, and the small smattering of spectators. At that stage, with Saleh having dug a deep trench at the other end, things looked rosy for Bangladesh.It was Bashar’s penchant for the spectacular that undid him. Kaneria, who had persisted in pitching short and wide most of the morning, finally got one in the slot. Bashar leant back and had an almighty swing, but it didn’t even go as far as the average sand wedge – straight to Shabbir Ahmed at cover (194 for 4). Bashar’s 108 had spanned almost five hours, but the manner in which he gave it away took some of the sheen off the effort.Moments later, Kaneria sneaked a googly through Alok Kapali’s bat and pad, prompting a few anxious faces in the Bangladesh dressing room. They needn’t have worried. With Saleh showing the adhesive qualities of a periwinkle on rock, and Khaled Mashud providing stolid support, Pakistan’s best efforts were thwarted. Akhtar ran in and gave it his best shot, but the bowling seldom threatened a Bangladesh side that has suddenly discovered the access codes to Test match batting.
The record books show that he’s only played five games at the very pinnacle of the sport.Thankfully, though, they also now verify that he is among the finest first-class cricketers that Australia has ever produced.Darren Lehmann’s game was not conditioned by a stint at a cricket academy. He’s generally content to stay out of the media limelight, and is happier to call a spade a spade than to deal in rehearsed clichés and euphemisms. He enjoys cricket for cricket’s sake and doesn’t care too much for the lucrative financial returns now on offer from the game. And he’s not especially big on sledging, either.Unusual traits for a top player of his era perhaps, but it hardly matters. Lehmann is still among the contemporary giants of Australian cricket.And his achievement today in becoming the most prolific scorer of runs in the history of interstate first-class cricket in the country is testament to his place in the pantheon.With his innings of 26 against Victoria at his old stamping ground of the MCG, the South Australian left hander has swelled his personal haul of runs in Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup cricket to a phenomenal 10,653. It moves him past Jamie Siddons, well beyond Dean Jones, and even further ahead of David Hookes.In advance, in fact, of every single player who has participated in the course of 100 years of domestic first-class competition in Australia.It’s a performance made all the more piquant by the fact that his runs have been scored at a time when the competition is widely acknowledged to have been the most testing of all domestic battlegrounds in the world.Though Lehmann will remain typically modest in its wake – to him, a sense of team far outweighs the individual – it represents a pretty powerful statement of his abilities. And of batting that’s been based on a mixture of the pitiless, the ruthless, the murderous and the downright audacious.It hasn’t always been easy, of course. He’s battled over-zealous administrators, wizened analysts who advised against an early three-year move to Victoria, and an horrific eye injury that briefly threatened to derail his career altogether. Not to mention a hostile gaggle of critics from the eastern states obsessed with depicting him as a flabby, flat-track bully and a liability in the field.He’s also had to cope with intense disappointment as a series of players with less imposing records have been preferred to him in the national team.Yet Lehmann’s batting, and moreover his productivity, has rarely ceased to amaze.Refreshingly, there’s been little to disturb an appetite for big scores ever since the then jocose kid from the northern suburbs of Adelaide made his opening appearance for Salisbury in first grade cricket in his mid-teens. And perhaps even less to interfere with it from the time of his debut on the first-class stage as a 17-year-old back in 1987-88.Modest scores of 10, 0 and 24 marked his opening three first-class innings. But, when he struck 51, 79 and 60 in three of his next four, it was clear that something special was afoot.They were sophisticated innings each of them, simultaneously expressions of talent that has not only remained uncomplicated but has often ascended close to the unbelievable.He similarly wasted little time in reaching the first of a manifold set of three-figured scores that were to follow, registering his maiden century in just his tenth match and showing the experience to be so perfunctory that he turned it into a double century for good measure – 228, to be precise, against New South Wales in 1989-90.By that stage, the 19-year-old was well on the way to becoming the youngest cricketer in Australian history to score 1000 runs in a first-class season. It wasn’t the first record he was to prise from some of Australian cricket’s biggest names.He had rejected an overture to attend the Australian Cricket Academy on his way to the feat – a move suspected to have long been held against him by officialdom. But Lehmann sagely felt that he was already armed with all he needed to know in order to become a high-performing batsman. Presumably, he realised even then that he had within him the ability not only to bat like a butcher but also a sculptor and virtually everything in between. If that was the case, then he was correct on all counts.He missed selection as a potential bolter in Australia’s 1989 Ashes team – setting a trend that was to mystify friends, fans and even foes alike for more than a decade – but attacks around the country were already coming to realise that Lehmann’s was no ordinary talent. Duly, further honours were quick to follow.He has passed the 1000 run barrier in an Australian first-class season five times; was the Pura Cup Cricketer of the Year in 1999-2000; a key figure in Victoria’s Shield-winning side of 1990-91 (still the state’s last triumph in the competition) as well as South Australia’s victorious team of 1995-96. He has also been a runaway winner of the Australian Cricket Board’s State Cricketer of the Year title in each of the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 seasons – the only two summers for which it has been on offer.There are only two players in history who have made more first-class runs for South Australia alone, and his name features in as many as three of the state’s partnership records in domestic first-class matches.Across a string of other milestones, it’s also sobering to note that no Australian in history has amassed as many first-class runs before appearing in their first Test.Simply, it has been a career bursting with achievement. And, from his first captain (Hookes) to the youngest member of a South Australian side now under his own charge (Paul Rofe), it’s almost impossible to find a teammate – or even an opponent – who has a bad word to say about him. Or his impact upon the game as a whole.To those and other ends, Darren Lehmann has been desperately unlucky that his skills have remained so hidden from the international arena. That 17,430 first-class runs – and an average of 55.86 – have translated to just those five fleeting Test appearances means he has been dealt a wickedly cruel hand.Connoisseurs of domestic cricket have, accordingly, been the lucky ones. They know that few cricketers who have graced Australian fields over the last century have so dominated this level of the game.And that, in all senses, it has been a true privilege to watch him.
ScorecardCape Cobras had the best bowler – Mthokozisi Shezi with 5 for 34 – and the top scorer of the game – Wayne Parnell with 74 not out – but they still fell 12 short of Warriors in East London.Warriors cobbled together a total of 153 for 8 after choosing to bat, the innings stuttering as only three batsmen made it past 20. JJ Smuts’ unbeaten 61 off 40 balls was their best score, while Colin Ackerman’s 34 was second highest. Shezi ran through the middle and lower order, striking twice in two different overs to cripple the innings.Cobras opened with Parnell once again and he made 74 off 60 balls, batting through the innings. He got very little support though and there was a steady fall of wickets at the other end. Justin Kemp’s 20 was the next best score for Cobras and a low scoring rate deprived the chase of momentum. Five Warriors bowlers picked up wickets, with Andrew Birch returning best figures of 3 for 28.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has received both an injury lift and blow this week, following Saturday’s 1-0 victory at home to West Ham United.
Thiago Alcantara, Joel Matip and Roberto Firmino all took part in Sunday’s session at Melwood, with the first two expected to be involved in the matchday squad for tonight’s Champions League round of 16 second leg clash against Inter Milan – with the Reds leading 2-0 on aggregate before kick-off.
That said, the German manager is still sweating over one of those players. Unfortunately, he believes that the game may have come just a little too soon for Brazilian forward Firmino though, who suffered a muscle injury in the reverse fixture a few weeks ago.
“I think all trained yesterday fully. I’m not sure yet what we make of that exactly, to be honest, because we have to see how they react,” Klopp said yesterday.
“So, Thiago was only a week out, probably will be fine but we have to wait for it. Joel was only three or four days I think, so he is fine, I would say.
“With Bobby [Firmino], it was longer out, it was [his] first session, so we have to see if we have to stress that or if it makes probably sense to give him just a few more days with proper training.
“Because we obviously don’t train properly today, it’s a minus-one session, it’s tactical stuff, not high intensity and Bobby might need something else. We will see that. But they are all in training.”
The potential return to the starting line-up for both Thiago and Matip will be huge for the team, as their vast experience compared to other options that Klopp could select instead will be crucial in helping the team see through the victory against the current Italian Serie A champions.
This season, 30-year-old Thiago has started just ten Premier League games, due to fitness reasons and the competition for places at the club, but has still managed to average a solid 7.05 match rating according to SofaScore, as well as contributing one assist and one goal for his club.
Meanwhile, Cameroon international Matip has been a mainstay at the heart of defence alongside Virgil Van Dijk, keeping out exciting young prospect Ibrahima Konate when fit, and averaging an impressive 7.28 match rating in the Premier League.
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Sadly, Firmino’s absence, if he does miss the tie, will be a big one. Although Diogo Jota has scored 17 times this term but has only just returned from his own injury absence and may not entirely be up to speed yet. Thus, the opportunity of handing him a mid-week rest would have been an appealing one for the club’s boss.
The Brazil international is a man for the big occasion too, having scored three in four Champions League matches this season, and not having him available will be something that Klopp will no doubt be concerned about this evening. He needs to hope that Jota performs and indeed, stays fit.
In other news: Klopp drops cryptic 7-word Liverpool message on live TV, fans will be worried
Dive for the prize Behind-the-wicket catching has been a severe problem for Australia over the past month, but there was no issue in the micro-seconds it took Matthew Hayden to leap high to his left and stun Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The batsman had driven hard at Brett Lee and Hayden, standing at second slip, latched on to it like he had a bucket on his hand. It was the Australians’ catch of the series.Another not out “Now for the hat-trick, Billy,” a spectator in the Bradman Stand shouted after Sourav Ganguly was finally ruled caught from his scoop to Michael Hussey at cover. Mitchell Johnson’s previous delivery to Ganguly looked plumb to viewers behind the wicket, but Billy Bowden, who has spent much of the Test shaking his head to appeals, was not swayed. The hypothetical hat-trick ball was easily covered by VVS Laxman.Foot fault Sachin Tendulkar arrived in a hurry, driving his first ball hard into the foot and shin of Phil Jaques at bat-pad before it ricocheted to Andrew Symonds at cover. The Australians were confident they had achieved a miracle dismissal, but the replays raised doubt over whether it bounced short of Jaques’ foot and Tendulkar was rightfully reprieved.Jekyll and Hyde Tendulkar’s 13 continued his trend of under-performing in the second innings against Australia. He managed only 52 runs for the entire series at the second attempts, but he more than made up for it with 440 at 146.67 in the first ones during an unforgettable collection of a couple of hundreds and another two half-centuries. Australians will remember his time here fondly.Gilly’s last dismissal Adam Gilchrist bid farewell to Tests by making sure Mark Boucher would have just that little bit extra to do when he inevitably regains the world record for dismissals. Gilchrist took a leg-side catch off Brett Lee to dismiss Laxman and in his final session held on to Virender Sehwag’s edge and celebrated wildly. In between the two catches, his last effort in Tests was nearly decided for him when, standing up, Stuart Clark boomed in a bouncer. Agile to the last, he managed to put his gloves in front of his face just in time.Bruised and broken Brett Lee’s bouncers have been hostile this series and he made Rahul Dravid retire hurt after one got big on the batsman and hit his right middle finger. That was on Dravid’s 15th dot ball of the day, and although he played out one more over he couldn’t grip the bat properly and left the field for an x-ray. It showed a break.The Billy and Asad show The Test may have been petering out to a draw, but the umpires decided they could still have some fun. As they waited for the teams to arrive back on the pitch for the final session, Bowden and Asad Rauf took the match ball and started practising their slip catching in the middle. They may well have inspired Hayden.
The first day of the second Test between the England and Bangladesh A sides was washed out at Bogra.Heavy rain had lashed the area on Tuesday night leaving the outfield extremely soggy and further rain on the morning of game left the umpires with no choice but to abandon the day. They finally bowed the inevitable at 2pm.The news is not much better for the remaining days but, if the weather relents, play will start half an hour earlier each morning to try and make up for lost time.England had planned to bring Adil Rashid, the Yorkshire legspinner, into the side at the expense of Tom Smith following their five-wicket win in the first Test at Mirpur.