Opening batsman TS Prasad hit 111 and shared a century partnershipwith Arjun Kumar for the fifth wicket as Andhra ended the second day’splay in the KSCA Coca Cola Trophy (under-25) match against Goa inBangalore on Monday with a score of 285 for five wickets.Overnight rain prevented a prompt start and play got underway only at2.10 pm. Resuming at 101 for two, Andhra lost Balaji Krishna (15) withthe score on 108. Raj Kiran (25) helped Prasad add 48 runs for thefourth wicket. Then Prasad and Arjun Kumar came together and added 126runs off 30 overs. Prasad, who had batted patiently was finally out inthe 80th over with the total on 282. He batted 316 minutes, faced 233balls and hit ten of them to the ropes. Arjun Kumar however camethrough unbeaten with 70 at stumps. He faced 99 balls and hit sixfours and a six.
New Zealand’s least-favourite claim to fame is their status as cricket’s most reliable semi-finalists. In five of the nine World Cups they have reached that stage of the tournament and gone no further, and that pattern was repeated in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20.Chasing 144 for a place in the final, a late wobble from Pakistan’s middle-order wasn’t enough to turn the match back in New Zealand’s favour. Imran Nazir led the assault with a 41-ball 59, adding 60 in seven overs with Mohammad Hafeez, before the captain, Shoaib Malik, sealed the match with a six with seven balls remaining.New Zealand’s participation in this match was unexpected to say the least – South Africa’s astonishing capitulation against India at Durban on Thursday gave them a lifeline, and for much of the match it looked like they were still clinging to it. Pakistan’s bowling was accurate and committed throughout, with Umar Gul outstanding with 3 for 15 in his four overs, and when their own turn came to bat, Nazir and Hafeez flogged the new ball with such gusto that Pakistan were always ahead of the rate.All the same, New Zealand contributed immensely to their own downfall. Ross Taylor enduring a particularly high-profile shocker – while batting he managed to run out both Daniel Vettori and Shane Bond with his non-existent calling, and later in the field he dropped Nazir on 44 at mid-off as Jacob Oram came into the attack.It proved to be a pivotal miss – Nazir smacked two sixes before the over was out to reduce the requirement to 49 from 48 balls with nine wickets in hand, and not even the loss of three wickets in 13 balls could derail their momentum. Nathan McCullum later missed Shoaib in the deep with five runs still to get, but New Zealand’s day in the field was summed up when Lou Vincent was cracked on the back of the head by a pinpoint shy from deep cover. It was an uncharacteristically ragged display all round.Take nothing away from Pakistan, however, whose cartwheeling celebrations at the moment of victory summed up the spirit that has carried them to the final. They dominated the match from the very first over, when Mohammad Asif once again set their agenda with his tight line, length and nip off the seam. Though New Zealand’s openers, Vincent and Brendon McCullum, survived the test to add 50 for the first wicket, they were never able to break the shackles.An untimely rain-break sealed New Zealand’s fate. Vincent fell just nine balls after the resumption, superbly caught by the bowler, Fawad Alam, as he drilled the ball back down the pitch, and McCullum followed soon afterwards for 26, as he swung lustily at a low long-hop from Afridi, and was pinned lbw dead in front of middle stump.Scott Styris thumped a four and a six in his first seven balls before picking out Tanvir with a lofted drive to deep point, and two balls later, Peter Fulton slapped a length delivery to cover. Craig McMillan went for broke and holed out to long-off for 12, as did Oram, who swished across the line and was caught behind off Gul. Taylor’s running then did for the next two batsman, and though he made some amends by taking 17 off Asif’s final over, New Zealand’s total of 143 for 8 never looked like being enough.In response, New Zealand’s bowlers were off the pace – most notably Shane Bond, who was flogged for a first-ball four by Hafeez and was later picked up off a good length over midwicket. Mark Gillespie leaked three boundaries in his first over as well, and at 54 for 0 after six overs, Vettori had no option but to bring himself into the attack at the earliest opportunity. He was as tight and probing as ever with his subtle variations, but Nazir picked the right balls to take on, and both Vettori and Scott Styris were lofted into the stands.Styris made a timely breakthrough when Hafeez went down to sweep his first delivery and was adjudged lbw, but Pakistan were unruffled. They had progressed to 96 for 1 by the time Nazir fell to Jeetan Patel – also lbw – and not even the loss of Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi in quick succession could stop them. Shoaib and Misbah-ul-Haq combined to pick off the remaining 37 runs, and Pakistan’s joy at the finish was unfettered.
Sreesanth will replace Ajit Agarkar in the Indian squad for the remainder of the Champions Trophy after Agarkar sustained a hairline fracture on his left thumb during the match against West Indies. Sreesanth will arrive in Mohali – the venue for India’s last group stage match against Australia – later this afternoon, and will be available for selection for Sunday’s match.Agarkar apparently suffered the injury trying to stop a full-blooded drive from Runako Morton during Thursday’s game. With Munaf Patel also doubtful due to a wrist sprain and RP Singh clearly out of his depth, India face a serious predicament ahead of the Australia game.The approval to replace Agarkar with Sreesanth was given by the ICC’s Technical Committee. The ICC rules clearly prohibit replacement in the course of the tournament if the player concerned had a recent history of injuries. But a replacement is allowed if the injury to the player concerned was totally unforeseen. Agarkar’s injury obviously falls in this category, hence permission for the replacement was granted.Sreesanth, who averages 34.38 from the 19 one-day matches he has played for India, was not picked for the Champions Trophy – a surprise exclusion. His performance in the one-day series in West Indies recently was mediocre – in the three games he played Sreesanth gave away 158 runs for two wickets – but his attitude and willingness to learn were appreciated by the team mangement, which made his omission from the tournament surprising.Speaking to Cricinfo, Sreesanth admitted that he was pleasantly surprised at being called up, focussing on the season ahead. “Honestly, I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news,” he said. “I’ve been training hard, trying to make it to the South African tour, also looking ahead to my next Duleep Trophy game. This comes as a great opportunity for me.”Though his initial omission from the Champions Trophy squad was a setback, Sreesanth said that there was no shortage of motivation, from within and from senior players. He impressed in South Zone’s comprehensive win over West Zone in Indore, picking up five wickets.”I have always beleived in myself,” he continued. “The presence of so many senior players like [Anil] Kumble, VVS Laxman in the Duleep Trophy match helped and they kept encouraging me.”
Sri Lanka’s bowlers clinched victory on the third morning of the secondTest, capturing the last six Bangladesh wickets for 66 runs to complete an innings-and-69-run win and a 2-0 series whitewash.Chaminda Vaas started the final slide early on the third morning with aclever and supremely skillful spell of swing bowling on a flat pitch.Mohammad Ashraful (26) was set up with an inswinger and then dragged forward to one that nipped away just enough to catch the outside edge. Thilan Samaweera, the Man of the Match for his first innings 138, took a fine low catch at first slip.Shahadat Hossain, the nightwatchman, did not last long either as he too was outsmarted and lulled into a false sense of security by some outswingers and then bowled by a curling indipper as he offered no stroke. Vaas finished with 3 for 36 from 13 overs and then handed over the job to the spinners.Aftab Ahmed (25) and Khaled Mashud (18) battled away for a while beforeRangana Herath, spinning the ball sharply and bowling with a generous loop, found the outside edge of Ahmed’s bat. Muttiah Muralitharan followed up by pinning Mashud lbw and then Herath snapped up the tail to finish with 3 for 52.Bangladesh, bowled out for 191 and 197 in a total of just 105.2 overs, were left bitterly disappointed at the end, with Habibul Bashar, their captain, once again laying the blame squarely on the shoulders of the top order.”We really needed big runs from our top order but despite some of thebatters making good starts that did not happen – we are making it verydifficult for ourselves,” he told reporters after the match.Bangladesh’s four consecutive innings defeats before lunch on the third day will increase the pressure on the ICC toreview their current ten-year programme and perhaps reduce the numberof Tests Bangladesh are forced to play against the top Test nations.Sri Lanka’s win ended a long and successful home season. It proved to be a honeymoon start for Tom Moody, the new coach, but tougher times lie ahead now in India, New Zealand and Australia during the next four months.
Mohammad Ashraful c Samaraweera b Vaas 26 (136 for 5) Shahadat Hossain b Vaas 1 (139 for 6) Aftab Ahmed c Samaraweera b Herath 25 (172 for 7) Khaled Mashud lbw b Muralitharan 18 (194 for 8) Mohammad Rafique b Herath 9 (196 for 9) Syed Rasel c Jayasuriya b Herath 1 (197 all out)
Pakistan’s cricket board has announced a list of probables for the Pakistan A tour of Kenya. A camp will be held from July 12. Wasim Bari, the chairman of selectors, said that a few senior players who did not make the grade for the Asia Cup would instead be considered for the tour to Kenya.Pakistan A kick off their tour with a four-day game against Kenya on August 8, before participating in a tri-series with the hosts, as well as India A.Camp probables Taufeeq Umar, Babar Naeem, Asif Zakir, Naved Latif, Nomanullah, Shahid Yousuf, Usman Tariq, Naveed Qureshi, Shadab Kabir, Shoaib Khan, Afaq Rahim, Naseem Khan, Faisal Ather, Qaiser Abbas, Salman Qadir, Junaid Zia, Bilal Asad, Mansoor Amjad, Azam Husain, Zulqarnain, Nasir Khan, Irshad Mohammad, Mohammad Khalil.Itinerary August 5-8 Kenya v Pakistan A August 11 Kenya v Pakistan A August 12 Kenya v India A August 13 Pakistan A v India A August 14 Kenya v India A August 15 Kenya v Pakistan A August 16 Pakistan A v India A August 17 Kenya v India A August 19 Pakistan A v India A August 20 Kenya v Pakistan A August 21 Final August 22 Reserve day
New Zealand Cricket’s High Performance Centre turf manager Karl Johnson is to spend a week in India looking to assist with pitch development at a cricket academy in Pune.The trip has been arranged with former New Zealand team coach David Trist who does coaching work at the academy.Johnson, who looks after three grounds and two lots of practice facilities at the New Zealand Cricket complex at Lincoln University, is having a look at what the Indians want to do at the ground and assessing what can be done to help.”What they want to do is create more pace and bounce in their pitches and I’m going to have a look to see what we can do to help.”There are a whole lot of things to look at: the local soils, the weather, the heat, the grasses and the pitch preparation they do to name a few,” he said.Johnson said there is the possibility of an ongoing relationship with the Pune academy and, given the state of pitches in New Zealand this summer for the New Zealand-India series he said he is looking forward to discussing New Zealand pitches with the Indians.He has also been liaising with the New Zealand Sports Turf Institute which has done work in India in the past.
Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has come in for scathing criticism in theSri Lankan media for violating the ICC Code of Conduct twice within aweek during the triangular one-day series in Colombo inviting thewrath of the match referee.”Ganguly’s actions are sullying the good name of Indian cricket,”state-owned ‘Daily News’ said in a coloumn by its cricket writer.”Ganguly will certainly not go down as a captain who upheld the spiritof the game after getting on the wrong side of the InternationalCricket Council match referee Cammie Smith twice inside a week,” itsaid.The Indian captain was suspended for a match for showing dissent atthe umpire after being adjudged leg before wicket in a match againstNew Zealand. Ganguly got into trouble once again in the penultimateleague match against Sri Lanka when he gave a verbal send-off toRussel Arnold. He was “severly reprimanded” by Smith and fined 75 percent of his match fees.”To be the captain of a country is a matter of national pride. Alongwith it comes greater responsibility and accountability. By hisactions, Ganguly had become a marked man and he should restrainhimself on the field,” the daily said.”It’s unbecoming of the captain of India,” said another daily ‘TheIsland’ which also commented that Smith seemed to have adopted doublestandards in penalising Ganguly while letting off Michael Slater for amuch graver show of dissent during Australia’s tour of India earlierthis year.The paper said the match referees might be forced to take harshdecisions against players who crossed the line once too often. “Onecan only think of such an explanation to justify Ganguly’s suspensionin this instance,” it said.It also criticised former Indian opener Navjot Singh Sidhu, now atelevision commentator, for “jumping to Ganguly’s defence”.
Manchester United currently sit top of the league, having lost two of their ten games, slightly ahead of title rivals Chelsea and Manchester City.
The explanation for this, we are often told, is that competitiveness within the Premier League has increased, but could another reason be that the elite in the top flight simply isn’t as strong as it used to be?
Chelsea have perhaps been the most impressive team in the league this season, with summer signings Eden Hazard and Oscar settling in superbly alongside the magnificent Juan Mata behind Fernando Torres. However, they remain a flawed side, which is part of what makes them so exciting. When we take a look at their European form, they were out-classed twice by Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk in this season’s Champions League as they seek to retain their European title, even if they managed to win their latest encounter at Stamford Bridge.
Credit must go to Roberto Di Matteo for moulding a new style in the aftermath of last season’s success and he really has done an excellent job considering the circumstances and pressures placed upon him. However, they are far from the finished article and in 18 games this term, they’ve kept six clean sheets, but let in 27 goals. That they’ve scored 46 goals of their own has largely covered up the fact that they remain an unbalanced outfit and against true quality, as they’ve shown against Manchester United, Atletico Madrid, Shakhtar and Juventus so far this campaign. They are not alone, though.
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson invested heavily in the summer on both Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa and while they may have already qualified from a weak Champions League group after just four games, the sense that they may struggle against greater challenges persists and they’ve been bailed out time and time again by the quality and strength of their forward ranks.
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They were outplayed by Liverpool at Anfield, even with the opposition being reduced to ten men following Jonjo Shelvey’s red card and against Tottenham, Southampton and Chelsea they’ve also looked worryingly fragile at the back, even if the Everton loss on the opening day can be attributed to a somewhat makeshift defence, which continues to cause problems. While last term they were bordering on an embarrassment in Europe, crashing out of both competitions in quick succession, making a mockery of Ferguson’s rebuke that his team weren’t struggling and that the mere suggestion that they were was laughable.
Roberto Mancini’s side this season have looked a shadow of the one which won the Premier League last term, in part due to a failure to really strengthen the starting eleven over the summer and the manager’s needless tinkering with the side’s system, which has caused more harm than good.
The fact that they’ve had two difficult groups in Europe two years running hasn’t helped matters, coming up against Bayern Munich and Napoli last term and Real Madrid, Ajax and Borussia Dortmund this. They’ve barely displayed even half of their ability in this competition and that’s how you truly judge the elite, by how they fare against what other countries have to offer and whenever the occasion has called for a performance, they’ve come up short.
Cast your mind back to the talent that was on offer in this country just a few years ago – Chelsea had Arjen Robben, Claude Makelele, Hernan Crespo, Michael Essien and Ricardo Carvalho. Manchester United had Ruud van Nitelrooy, Cristiano Ronaldo and Edwin van der Saar. Arsenal Thierry Henry, Roberto Pires and Cesc Fabregas. Liverpool had Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano.
Yet each side, due to economic reasons and top players either being pursued by the Spanish duopoly of Barcelona and Real Madrid or simply coming to the ends of their careers, haven’t replaced their outgoing stars with players of the same quality. There’s not quite as much depth or talent at the top in the Premier League these days, which allows those teams below to become more competitive. The league has undoubtedly levelled out more, which has only seen standards slip, particularly in terms of defending.
Standards are certainly slipping, which makes it a much more difficult league to predict for the most part and it makes fabulous entertainment. Most of us can agree that Chelsea’s Champions League win, much like Liverpool’s back in 2005, wasn’t a showing of strength, more an acceptance of both teams limitations and neither were the best teams in the final, let alone throughout the competition.
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Ask yourself this, how many truly world-class players does the league possess this season? Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero, Juan Mata, David Silva and Robin van Persie may come into that bracket, but there’s not a whole lot else to choose from. Then contrast this with the number that was in the Premier League say three years ago, or five.
Each title challenger these days has an obvious weakness for the opposition to exploit, whether home or abroad, and as competitiveness increases, the quality across the board has spread, meaning our best is now no longer comparable with what the rest of Europe has to offer. For many this is good news, it all depends what you want to take from the league, but when looking back at what the league was like when English sides were the teams to beat, a gradual decline has most certainly set in.
Do you think the Premier League is as good as it has been in the past? Do you prefer it the way it is now? Follow me on Twitter @JamesMcManus1 and let me know what you think.
Abhinav Mukund’s 25th first-class century, and half-centuries from B Indrajith and Dinesh Karthik gave Tamil Nadu a 244-run first-innings lead over Baroda on the second day of their 2016-17 Ranji Trophy fixture in Raipur. Tamil Nadu’s bowlers had backed Abhinav’s decision to put Baroda in by knocking them over for 93 on the opening day. They ended the day on 79 for 1, with Abhinav on 40 and Indrajith not out on 18.Abhinav scored an even 100 off 165 balls, while Indrajith struck a more sedate 68, off 166 balls. The duo, who came together at 32 for 1, extended their partnership to 147. Karthik then struck a brisk 65, before new-ball bowler Munaf Patel wiped out the lower order in quick time to finish with 4 for 91 and wrap up Tamil Nadu’s innings for 337. Baroda made a more assured start to their second essay, ending the day on 44 for no loss, trailing by 200 runs.In Hyderabad, Punjab responded strongly after dismissing Uttar Pradesh for 335, finishing on 243 for 3. UP had ended the opening day on 300 for 6 with Kuldeep Yadav on 62 and Saurabh Kumar batting on 39. UP added 35 more for their last four wickets. Kuldeep was dismissed for 71 and Saurabh made 52. Sandeep Sharma took 5 for 85 for Punjab, while Shubek Gill, the right-arm medium pacer, took 3 for 57.Punjab were buoyed by their opening batsmen, Manan Vohra and Jiwanjot Singh, who both struck half-centuries and shared a 117-run partnership. Uday Kaul struck 33 and played second fiddle in a 96-run third-wicket stand with captain Yuvraj Singh, who was unbeaten on 72. Punjab are behind by 92 runs.It was a slow day at the SDNR Wadeyar Stadium in Mysore where only 177 runs were scored in 88.2 overs on the second day. Mumbai, who resumed on 244 for 5, put up 345 in their first innings, before reducing Railways to 76 for 3.Suryakumar Yadav, who began the day on 60, compiled 110 – his 11th first-class century. Legspinner Karn Sharma added two lower-order wickets to his tally to finish with 5 for 81. Railways’ top-three took their time and got off to starts, but none could stay on. Left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil took two wickets and Tushar Deshpande, the right-arm medium pacer, took one as Railways went into stumps trailing Mumbai by 269 runs.The Bengal-Gujarat match in Delhi, meanwhile, was called off due to smoggy conditions.
Less than 48 hours after Paul Collingwood lifted his first piece ofsilverware as England captain his mind was turning towards the nexttrophy up for grabs. The team arrived in Johannesburg on Mondaymorning, along with India, completing the line-up for the ICC WorldTwenty20.The celebrations after the victory at Lord’s will barely have calmeddown – and Collingwood said the team was still ‘buzzing’ – but in themodern international game there isn’t much time to reflect. However,although the seven-match ODI series has denied England any warm-upmatches for the tournament, Collingwood believes the tight schedulecan benefit them.”We played some fantastic cricket against them [India] and we comeinto the World Twenty20 with a lot of confidence. We have gotexperienced Twenty20 cricketers amongst our squad and hopefully theycan give us a little bit of an edge over the other teams. We are alllooking forward to it, we are buzzing, it has only been a couple ofdays since we won the game on Saturday and I think that quickturnaround could work in our favour.”I think the same kind of skills are used in both forms ofthe game, maybe it’s just a little bit quicker. Of course it wouldhave been great to get a couple of games in, but all the players arein good form and confident, and when you are confident you go out andplay your best cricket. I think that will be a massive advantage tous.”The English domestic game has been at the forefront of Twenty20cricket and that is reflected in the 15-man squad with Jeremy Snape,Darren Maddy, Chris Schofield, Luke Wright and James Kirtley beingnamed in various specialist roles. But despite a seemingly significantadvantage in Twenty20 – Maddy and Snape are both in the top 10 ofmatches played, while no one else featuring in South Africa is on thelist – Collingwood was reluctant to think of his team as likelywinners.
Andrew Flintoff is a massive player, I’ve always said he’s two players in one. Not just on the pitch, but his character off it too. He’s vital to us in the dressing room
“I wouldn’t make us favourites, that’s the beauty about thiscompetition,” he said. “Every team is coming here and thinking theycould win it. Twenty20 cricket is like that; it only takes one inningsto turn the match around or one bowling spell. But I think it is anadvantage that we have been playing a lot recently. Our skills shouldbe up to scratch, obviously we are match-fit, and that’s the edge thatwe need to go all the way.”Although Collingwood said everyone was match fit, there are still hugequestion marks over Andrew Flintoff. He played through the pain atLord’s, after a steroid injection, and Collingwood didn’t commithimself to how much of a role he will play in the next two weeks.”We are just going to have to assess it as we go along. He’s desperateto play, obviously he has a little bit of soreness in the ankle sowe’ll have to be sensible. But so long as he is desperate to play andit’s the right decision for the day then Freddie will be playing.”And as Flintoff showed at Lord’s, when he claimed 3 for 45 includingthe scalps of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, he adds an aura tothe England team. “He is a massive player, I’ve always said he’s twoplayers in one,” added Collingwood. “Not just on the pitch, but hischaracter off it too. He’s vital to us in the dressing room and spurseveryone on. It’s great to have him here and hopefully he’ll play abig role.”With or without Flintoff, the team won’t be short on big-hitting poweras the lower order demonstrated against India. Dimitri Mascarenhasslammed five sixes in five balls at The Oval, but most of the talk hascentred around Sussex allrounder Luke Wright who made 50 off 38 ballson debut.He was promoted to open in the deciding match and although he fell fora second-ball duck, Collingwood said Wright’s place is likely to be atthe top where most of his success for Sussex stems from. “Maybe he’llbe in the top three, we’ve got to finalise our strategies but he’sobviously done very well up the top of the order and those six overs[with fielding restrictions] are going to be crucial.”There isn’t much time for Collingwood and Peter Moores, England’s coach, to put thefinishing touches to those plans and work out their best eleven.England’s opening match is against Zimbabwe, in Cape Town, on Thursday.