Pakistan will fly out to the West Indies for the World Cup on Thursday without Shoaib Akhtar or Mohammad Asif, the two fast bowlers currently under a cloud of fitness and doping-related issues.”Both fast bowlers are in England for medical check-ups and they won’t be going with the team to the West Indies,” team spokesman PJ Mir told Cricinfo.Asif is suffering from an elbow injury while Shoaib has a problematic knee. But both have also yet to be dope-tested by the PCB, a test the board says they have to clear before they can join the squad in the Caribbean. Speculation has been rampant over the nature of their trips to the UK, the increasing belief among many now that they are there to try and resolve issues stemming from their positive dope tests last October. The PCB has denied this.”Asif is expected to return home Thursday and Akhtar will be back in Pakistan on Friday,” Mir added. Once they have returned, an assessment will be made of their medical reports and a decision finally made as to whether or not they are fit enough to go. Only then will they undergo the dope tests the remaining 18 players (including five reserves) underwent and cleared last week.”If Akhtar and Asif are declared medically fit then they have to go through PCB’s process of dope testing,” Mir said.All of which means that Pakistan, unbelievably, are still not sure of the final make-up of their squad and playing XI for the opening game of the tournament, against West Indies in Jamaica on March 13. If neither do go they will join Abdul Razzaq, ruled out of the World Cup due to a knee injury only yesterday, as high-profile absentees from the tournament for Pakistan.
Gauteng made a stiff chase appear easy as they powered to a five-wicket success against North West on a featherbed at Potchefstroom. Driaan Steyn made 137 off 145 balls for North West, as they amassed 268 for 3, but he was overshadowed by a fine team effort from Gauteng. Enoch Nkwe smashed 87 off 76 balls, adding 106 with Blake Sinjman and 78 with Dumisa Makalima. However, when he fell to leave the score 203 for 5 there was still work to do. Marthinus Otto (32 not out) and Diaan van Wyk (33 not out) completed the job with ease, hitting the winning runs with 6.2 overs to spare.Eastern Province came up against very little resistance as they cruised to a seven-wicket win against Boland at Port Elizabeth. Boland had reached 95 for 1 in the 18th over, but then collapsed in dramatic style as they crumbled to 148 all out – without using 11 of their overs. Grant Howell produced the brilliant figures of 4 for 13 with his legspin. The chase proved a formality for Eastern Province, with Colin Ingram and Chad Baxter added 112 for the first wicket.
If evidence were needed that Bennett King’s all-too-brief honeymoon period as West Indies coach is over, it came courtesy of a stinging editorial on caribbeancricket.com which lambasted King for not returning to the Caribbean after West Indies exit from the VB Series.King remained in Australia while the rest of the squad returned home last week, and although a spokesman for the West Indies Cricket Board said that his return was “imminent”, that cut no ice.”It is equally offensive to have the cricket czar taking time off in the midst of a first-class season , especially considering his lack of familiarity with the region’s players,” fumed Ryan Patrick. “What better opportunity could there be to establish working relationships with the individual team coaches and managers, and get their insight on their players?”King’s carefully crafted image as a hard taskmaster has been rammed down our throats. If the team’s on-field performance doesn’t improve soon, the long hot-sun practices will mean nothing.”Patrick’s comments are not echoed elsewhere, where the consensus seems to be that King has not had nearly enough time to make any real impact. Although West Indies were successful in September’s ICC Champions Trophy, that cannot disguise the reality that he took over a side in virtual freefall and one where real class was in short supply.Although King will not be given an easy time if the forthcoming home series against South Africa and Pakistan go badly, the one-dayers in Australia were his first chance to see his new charges in action and probably left him painfully aware of just how big a challenge he has on his hands.There is, however, a sizeable minority in the Caribbean that believe appointing a foreign coach was wrong, and in their eyes King can do no right.
Pakistan 257 (Youhana 65, Inzamam 64*) beat Bangladesh 201 for 9 (Sarkar 61, Kapali 61, Gul 5-17) by 42 runs (D/L method) Scorecard
Umar Gul: took 5 for 17 in Pakistan’s comfortable win
Bangladesh never quite got themselves in a position to mount a serious attack on a target of 258, let alone the revised 244 from 44 overs. They lost wickets regularly, and the only contribution of note came from Hannan Sarkar, but even he batted too slowly to cause the Pakistanis any worry. Umar Gul, improving with every game, picked up a five-wicket haul, scalping 5 for 17 and sent Bangladesh spiraling to a 42-run loss. Pakistan’s total of 257, achieved on the back of half-centuries from Yousuf Youhana and Inzamam-ul-Haq proved more than sufficient. With this win, their 300th in one-day internationals, Pakistan took an unassailable 3-0 lead in this five-match series.Bangladesh got off to the worst possible start in pursuit of 258. The lights failed twice at Lahore, but no overs were lost on the first occasion. Bangladesh were rocked by strikes either side of the first stoppage. Mohammad Ashraful (1) edged the fourth ball of the innings, from Gul, straight to Inzamam at first slip (1 for 1). Soon there was another stoppage, when one light tower failed completely and six overs were lost. Bangladesh were then set a revised target of 244 from 44 overs.Gul then struck again in the fifth over before Bangladesh could settle down, removing Rajin Saleh. A full delivery induced the drive and the resultant nick was easily pouched by Kamran Akmal. Saleh (4) had batted well in the Test series, but Bangladesh were in disarray at the fall of his wicket (9 for 2).When play resumed after the second stoppage Habibul Bashar (14) compounded Bangladesh’s problems, top-edging a pull to third man (42 for 3), and Gul had his third wicket.The required run-rate climbed steadily. Sarkar, who scored a patient 61, was keen to play out the overs rather than go for the target. When Sarkar attempted a late surge after reaching his half-century, he was undone, playing down the wrong line to Shoaib Malik. His off stump was pegged back and Bangladesh were in trouble at 137 for 4.Mushfiqur Rahman was run out by a good bit of outfielding from Gul and Alok Kapali’s valiant 61 from 70 balls came to an end when he clipped Gul to Younis Khan at midwicket (175 for 6). Khaled Mahmud (16) struck two boundaries before skying the ball high in the air, attempting an ambitious heave off Shabbir Ahmed (183 for 7).Gul (5 for 17) then completed a hugely profitable outing when he shattered Mashrafe Mortaza’s stumps to pick up his fifth wicket (186 for 8). From here on, the game held interest merely for the scorers, who in the end noted that Pakistan had won by 42 runs by the Duckworth/Lewis method.As at Multan and Faisalabad, Pakistan’s innings, earlier in the day, revolved largely around the two men in form – Youhana and Inzamam. Youhana in particular was overtly aggressive. After Mohammad Hafeez edged Tapash Baisya to Khaled Mashud (13 for 1), Youhana came out seemingly intent on tearing the cover off the ball. He thick-edged the ball to third man more than once and narrowly escaped two chances. After Mohammad Rafique was introduced into the attack, Youhana predictably danced down the track and attempted a heave over long-on. He missed, and so did Mashud, who fumbled the stumping chance.Youhana’s second reprieve came when Yasir Hameed tapped a ball around the corner to short fine leg and then refused to run even as Youhana came tearing down the length of the pitch. The throw, though, was wild, and that gave Yasir the time to come out of his reverie and make his ground at the non-striker’s end in time.Both Youhana and Yasir struck some glorious fours, driving elegantly through the off side. When Yasir fell (90 for 2) – skying a catch to Baisya at long-on – Pakistan slowed down, and Bangladesh’s spinners, and Rafique in particular, pinned the batsmen to the crease. Runs dried up, but to their credit, Youhana and Younis Khan played intelligently, refusing to lose their head out of impatience.Youhana, in fact, fell to laziness rather than anything else. Rahman’s gentle delivery outside the off stump was nothing special, but Youhana prodded at it and inside-edged the ball onto his stumps (127 for 3).As the final overs approached, batsmen fell rapidly in the pursuit of quick runs, and only Inzamam, swatting full-tosses over square-leg for six, lasted the course of the final 10 overs, steering Pakistan to a total only 13 short of what he said he was aiming for when he won the toss in the afternoon.
A century from Kiran Powar brightened up the first day of play inTamil Nadu and Goa’s Ranji Trophy tie at Chennai.Winning the toss, Goa’s openers were separated early. One-down batsmanPowar, however, batted resolutely, shrugging off the regular loss ofpartners at the other end.Making 111 off 282 balls, with five fours and three sixes, Powar wasfinally out with the score on 206, being the fifth wicket to fall. Noother batsman really contributed to Goa’s total.At stumps, Goa were 217 for six, with Rajesh Naik (12*) and HAS Khalid(2*) at the crease.
Australia coach Darren Lehmann has delivered David Saker a blunt lesson in states’ rights, rebuking the new Victoria coach for his suggestion that the Australian selectors would be “mad” to choose James Pattinson for the Test team before Christmas.
‘You’ve still got to get results’
A young Australia will not have any excuses for failure at home this summer, nor does the coach, Darren Lehmann, want them to. Asked whether expectations for the team needed to be dialled down after a raft of retirements following this year’s Ashes defeat, Lehmann stated his men were still very much in the results business, even as they rebuilt. “I think our expectations are always high,” he said. “So whoever comes in we expect them to play well for Australia and perform when they need to and succeed. There’s a transition with the retirements obviously, but for us it’s more a case of playing the way we need to play and a couple of senior guys now like [David] Warner and [Steven] Smith will need to stand up and do the extras. Make more runs but help the young guys to develop their games. “It is exciting times for Australian cricket, and the big thing for us is you’ve still got to get results. We’ve got to get a side that’s going to be good enough to compete around the world for five or six years and beyond.” Lehmann said the postponement of the Bangladesh tour had disappointed him in delaying sight of a group of youngsters, but at the same time meant a smoother preparation to face New Zealand. “A setback because we didn’t get to see the young blokes play, but in terms of prep for New Zealand it’s probably better to be at home so you don’t have to go from subcontinent wickets to Australian wickets,” he said. “In terms of prep it’s probably better, but still a shame we didn’t get the chance to play there.”
Formerly the England bowling coach, Saker replaced the long-time Bushrangers mentor Greg Shipperd earlier this year, and the state’s decision not to play Peter Siddle in the Matador Cup has disappointed Lehmann and other members of the team hierarchy. Saker’s subsequent directives about Pattinson were not taken to kindly, either, even if state and national set-ups have similar views about the need for him to groove his new bowling action before returning.”I think David Saker should concentrate on coaching Victoria, and leave us to pick the side for Australia,” Lehmann said pointedly. “And if James Pattinson is in and ready to go we think highly of him. We won’t rush him back if he’s not right, he’s got to be ready to play.”Haven’t seen him [Siddle] bowl. It would be good for him to be playing but we can’t control what Victoria do, it would be nice to see him play because we’ve got a Test match coming up, so we’ll just have to wait and see. That [one Sheffield Shield game] is probably all he’s going to get, isn’t it?”The debate with Saker is of the sort once commonplace in Australian cricket, when the states habitually bickered with Cricket Australia over the handling of their players. However it has grown increasingly rare as the national governing body pursues a policy of unification and ‘One Team’ working together for the betterment of the national game.All states save for South Australia were represented at Hurstville Oval on Tuesday as the team began a two-day training camp to keep one eye on the looming Test series against New Zealand in the midst of the domestic limited overs competition. Lehmann spoke frankly about two lessons to be learned from the winter’s Ashes defeat – there will be no repeat of the four bowlers, six batsmen experiment at Trent Bridge, while the bowling attack will be better balanced to ensure the scoreboard is not allowed to leak damaging runs.”No, we’ll play with five bowlers. We made that mistake in England and we won’t do that again,” Lehmann said when asked about choosing six batsmen. “The biggest learning curve for us was the type of pitches they chopped and changed so you might have to chop and change your attack depending on the conditions. Ryan Harris [retirement] certainly hurt, no doubt about that, and we’d certainly like control.”England was the first time our bowlers have leaked a lot of runs or gone at four an over. We certainly had the control at Lord’s and the Oval, but the other three we went around the park and that’s not been what we’ve been about over the last 18 months, we’ve kept it under three an over and in control of the game.”That’s been the interesting change for us with the group to make sure those blokes that are playing if they are attacking bowlers they’ve still got to be able to defend as well. At the end of the day we’ve got to pick the side to take 20 wickets. One thing about Australian cricket the last couple of years we’ve been able to take 20 wickets, but we need to get control back and go for less runs.”To that end, Lehmann and his fellow selectors Rod Marsh, Trevor Hohns and Mark Waugh will be monitoring the progress of Mitchell Johnson, who is set to resume bowling in the latter stages of the Matador Cup. Johnson and Josh Hazlewood were both kept out of the theoretical tour squad for Bangladesh in order to let them refresh and regain strength, and Lehmann said he wanted to see Johnson bowling fast.”He looks fit and strong, that’s what we did it for, and he’s got all his niggles out of the way,” Lehmann said. “I was looking forward to seeing him bowl right now, but he looks like he’s fresh and ready to go. I think that’s when he bowls his best – he’s running in, he’s strong, he’s fit.”Towards the back end [of the Ashes] he got a bit tired, he played a lot of cricket, the same with Josh and Mitchell Starc, they got tired. This break’s been good for them, some one day cricket’s not bad because it’s 10 overs and you can have a look at how they’re going. Mitchell Johnson will play this week for WA I would think. He’s getting back to where we need him to be, and we should have a fully fit squad to pick from.”
Everton made it through to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup last night after beating Boreham Wood 2-0 at Goodison Park thanks to a brace from Salomon Rondon.
The Toffees were hit with a potential blow in the match after left-back Vitaliy Mykolenko, who captained the Merseyside club on the night, was forced off in the second half with a suspected injury issue.
Now that the dust has settled, though, it seems that the Everton fans can breathe a sigh of relief on the matter.
What’s the news?
After the match, journalist Patrick Boyland relayed comments from Frank Lampard, who revealed that the Ukraine international suffered a dead leg, which is why he had to come off after 60 minutes as Seamus Coleman replaced him.
The 22-year-old recorded one key pass and one shot on target before coming off, also winning four duels and making two tackles and two interceptions as he ultimately earned himself a solid overall match rating of 7.2/10 from SofaScore. Therefore, it’s safe to say that the Toffees boss and the club’s fans will be happy to hear that Mykolenko’s knock was not a serious one.
Since arriving at Goodison Park in January after joining from Dynamo Kiev in a deal worth a reported £20m, the defender has made just four appearances for Lampard’s side.
With the Merseyside club set to take on Tottenham on Monday night in their next attempt at moving away from the Premier League relegation zone, Mykolenko could be a vital figure for his team if he’s fit enough to play and can be a strong defensive figure while also offering a threat going forward.
However, having spent their two previous league games as an unused substitute, it’ll be interesting to see whether or not Lampard decides to start the 22-year-old against Antonio Conte’s side.
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Either way, it’s still a relief to hear that it was just a dead leg which forced him off against Boreham Wood rather than something which could have kept him sidelined for a significant period of time. With Everton fighting to stay in the top division, their manager will need as many options available to him as possible to help avoid the dreaded drop.
In other news – Forget Rondon: “Passionate” Everton gem who won 78% duels was Lampard’s true hero v Boreham Wood
Mike Procter, the ICC match referee who handed Harbhajan Singh a three-Test ban for alleged racist remarks against Andrew Symonds, has defended his decision to punish the Indian offspinner.”I am South African, and I understand the word racism,” Procter told the . “I have lived with it for much of my life. This was not a case of just taking the word of an Australian over an Indian. I stand by my decision. I believe the process was a fair one. I intend to carry on for the rest of the series, because I don’t have a problem with India. I have always had a good rapport with Indian players.”Procter said it had been a tough day at the office for him. “Obviously this has all been very difficult for me. I didn’t get to sleep until 11am [on Monday], and then only for a couple of hours. It has been one of the most difficult days of my life.”Procter said Sunday’s hearing was not a heated affair, adding he was unsure when the procedure for the appeal over the ban would take place. However, he did say the hearing into Brad Hogg’s alleged remarks would be conducted on either January 13 or 14 in Perth.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) reacted strongly to reports that umpire Darrell Hair is planning on suing the board and the ICC for alleged racial discrimination.The website revealed that Hair was planning legal action after he was banned from officiating Test matches following his role in the forfeited Oval Test between Pakistan and England in August last year.”I can confirm that I have instructed my lawyers to issue an application in the London Central Employment Tribunal alleging racial discrimination by the ICC and PCB,” said Hair at a press news conference in Nairobi.”It is inappropriate for me to make further comment given that this matter is yet to be determined by the tribunal,” added Hair, who had been umpiring the final of the ICC World Cricket League between Kenya and Scotland.An ICC spokesman said the organisation did not believe there was merit in the claim and it would “vigorously defend the matter”. It was the ICC’s only comment on the issue.Hair believes the PCB “unlawfully induced” the ICC to engage in discriminatory acts when it lobbied for his ban before a November meeting. Percy Sonn, ICC president, announced after the meeting: “It was clear from discussions that the ICC board had lost confidence in Mr Hair.”But the PCB maintains that the final decision was not taken by one member, but the cricket community as a whole and Pakistan cannot be singled out. “We haven’t received anything, any notice yet anyway,” Salim Altaf, PCB’s director cricket operations told Cricinfo.”But it was the ICC that said in November that we have lost confidence in Hair. It was an ICC decision based on their member body. I do not see how the question of legal action taken against Pakistan even arises out of this,” he added.Altaf said, however, that were the board to be issued any such notice, they would be prepared to battle it out in court. An ICC spokesman told Cricinfo: “We haven’t received anything from Mr Hair, but even if we had we would not be able to comment as it might be prejudicial to proceedings.”However, Nasim Ashraf, chairman of the board, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that his lawyer had informed him of Hair’s complaint and that he was “simply outraged” over the matter. “This is adding insult to injury. Race has nothing to do with this. Mr Hair was removed from the elite panel of umpires by the full ICC board, which has many countries, because of his poor judgement. This is the most preposterous thing I have heard.”Ashraf added: “It is crass for him to say a black West Indian was let off [whereas] he was a white man and therefore he was charged. Mr Hair was the senior umpire and he literally took over that Oval cricket match. I was present there.”There was only one man that evening that did not want cricket to be played. [It was] a black spot on the history of cricket thanks to Mr Hair.”The Test was forfeited after Hair and Billy Doctrove awarded England a five-run penalty because they believed the ball had been tampered with during England’s second innings on the fourth afternoon. Pakistan refused to come out to play after the tea break, in protest against the decision.Eventually, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s captain, was cleared of ball-tampering charges but given a four-match ban for bringing the game into disrepute, by Ranjan Madugalle. Hair offered his resignation in exchange for $500,000 soon after the Test, before he was eventually removed from the ICC’s elite panel of umpires.
Guyana 245 for 8 (Sarwan 104*) lead Windward Islands 189 by 56 runs ScorecardAn unbeaten 104 from Ramnaresh Sarwan, the Guyana captain, gave them a crucial first-innings lead of 56 as they finished the second day of their Carib Beer match at 245 for 8 against Windward Islands at St Georges in Grenada.Responding to Windwards’ first innings score of 189, Steven Jacobs and Narsingh Deonarine took the score to 50 when a sudden collapse saw Guyana losing three wickets for just two runs. Sarwan and Travis Dowlin then took the score to 102, adding 50 for the fifth wicket.Guyana were in further trouble at 143 for 8 but Sarwan and Rayon Griffith built a crucial 96-run partnership for the ninth wicket. Griffith scored five boundaries in his innings of 36, before holing out to Daren Sammy at midwicket off Jean Paul. Sarwan, dropped on 61 by Junior Murray, the wicketkeeper, reached his 20th first-class century off 222 balls, scoring 12 boundaries and a six. Rawl Lewis and Kenroy Peters took three wickets each for Windwards.