As the ECB lurches ever deeper into the Zimbabwe crisis, their chief executive for the past eight years, Tim Lamb, is facing a vote of no-confidence from the chairmen of the 18 first-class counties. According to a report in today’s Sunday Times, the first significant steps towards Lamb’s removal may take place at the next meeting of the First Class Forum on May 11.”His position is very precarious and may become untenable over the next few weeks,” one senior source was reported to have said. “There have simply been too many mistakes on too many issues. We have been wrong-footed on Zimbabwe the whole way along.” David Morgan, the ECB’s chairman, was also singled out for criticism, with another source telling the paper: “I’m disappointed at the poor communication and the obvious mistakes made.”Although the government has made clear its position on the issue, Britain’s sporting interests remain detached from its politics, and so there is no prospect of the all-important ban that would enable the ECB to escape penalty from the International Cricket Council. But, much of the blame for the ECB’s situation is levelled at Lamb, who has been accused of “sleepwalking” into a crucial meeting in Auckland back in March, at which the prospect of suspension from international competition was first raised if England pulled out of the tour.Lamb has since referred to “11th-hour manoeuvring” by other ICC delegates, but he is understood to have backed a hardening of policy in earlier meetings. In addition, his position has been further undermined by the resignation of Des Wilson, whose consultation paper on Zimbabwe had suggested that the ECB would be moving towards a new moral stance on touring. Lamb and Morgan, however, have been retreating from that position ever since the threat of financial sanctions was raised.One of Britain’s leading lawyers, however, believes that the ICC threat could be illegal, and has called on Lamb to challenge the ruling. Robert Griffiths QC, who resigned from the MCC committee last week after it reversed a vote against England’s tour, said: “If you don’t put pressure on the other side, you don’t get to the negotiating table, and they’ve won. The ECB have got to tell the ICC that they have grave reservations whether the ICC can legitimately impose these heavy financial sanctions.”As if that was not enough reason for Lamb to fear for his position, he is also under fire on the domestic front as well. “What is the ECB for?” asked one county chief executive, after a proposal to merge the County Championship and the National League was rejected last week. “Why does it take six months to ask other people? [The ECB] works through committees and goes round in circles. The executive should stand or fall by its decision-making. A lot of people are frustrated. If most businesses were run like this, they would not be around.”
South Africa and Sri Lanka practice and media arrangements ahead of Monday’s match
South AfricaFriday 28thFrom 16h00 Practice at KingsmeadPlayer may be available after practiceSaturday 1stFrom 10h00 Practice at KingsmeadPlayer may be available after practiceSunday 2nd09h00 Media conference at Elangeni Hotel10h00 Practice at Kingsmead CLOSED TO MEDIASri LankaSaturday 1st14h00 – 17h00 Practice at KingsmeadSunday 2nd14h00 – 17h00 Practice at KingsmeadCaptain and coach available after practice
Contacts:Sue Miles – Media liaison 083 222 5211 Gerald de Kock – SA media manager 083 299 5920 Ajit – Sri Lankan team manager 072 621 9224
BIRMINGHAM, England – Australian captain Steve Waugh made history todaywhen he was presented with the International Cricket Council Test worldchampionship trophy at Edgbaston.Waugh and his players received the trophy – a mace design produced insilver and gold, bearing the national logos of all Test countries andvalued at STG30,000 ($A81,900) – on the eve of the first Ashes Testagainst England.Australia is the first country to win the newly-introduced award and theceremony was a stark reminder to England, training nearby, of the taskthat awaits them when play begins tomorrow.Waugh’s team is No.1 on the rankings ahead of South Africa, with Englanda distant third.”The ICC Test championship trophy is a great idea,” said Waugh.”Since the game began people have debated which the best Test side is atany one time.”The introduction of this league table, coupled with the ICC’s ten-yeartours program, means we will now have a definitive answer to thatquestion.”It’s a huge honour for Australia to be the first holder as the playersplace enormous value on their success in this form of the game.”Australia has won ten of its last 13 series, lost two and drawn one,while South Africa has won ten of its last 15, with three losses and twodraws.Those two sides play each other home and away over the next nine months,giving South Africa the chance to become No.1.
Mousa Dembele looks set to leave Tottenham this summer with plenty of Italian sides interested in the Belgian, but would selling him be Pochettino’s biggest mistake?
It’s not often you get a player that every single fan loves and every single player appreciates, but Mousa Dembele has been exactly that for Tottenham in recent years.
The wiry midfielder doesn’t fill out the stats columns in terms of goals and assists, but his impact on Pochettino’s young Tottenham side is almost immeasurable, and it seems bizarre that he’s seemingly being allowed to walk out the door.
The 30 year-old has just one year left on his contract, and Inter Milan have now reportedly joined AC Milan, Napoli and Juventus in the race to secure his services.
While the midfielder is bound to feel the effects of his age at some point, he is a superb athlete, and the fact that four top Italian teams are all battling it out for his signature shows just how highly rated he is.
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Spurs are likely to get upwards of £20m for the fan favourite, which is good business for a player entering the last 12 months of his contract, but Daniel Levy should be offering the player whatever he wants to stay in North London for another couple of years.
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With plenty of attention on the possible departure of Toby Alderweireld, not enough is being made of Dembele’s probable exit, which could prove to be Pochettino’s biggest mistake as Tottenham manager if he doesn’t get a top class replacement in.
So, Spurs fans, do you think it’s mistake to sell Dembele this summer? Or is it time to cash in and move on? Let us know your thoughts by voting in the poll below…
Pakistan’s first full tour of Bangladesh ended in a whitewash of the hosts, both in the Tests and one-day internationals. Pakistan won by an innings and 78 runs on day three of the first Test at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. Waqar Younis took six to dismiss Bangladesh for 160, Pakistan’s batsmen racked up 490, and Danish Kaneria polished off the local batting order with seven wickets.Bangladesh didn’t fare much better in Chittagong, making scores of 148 and allowing Pakistan to score 465 – Yousuf Youhana had an unbeaten 204 to his name and Younis Khan 119. Reeling under the mountain of runs they crashed to an innings-and-169-run defeat.Tests: Pakistan 2, Bangladesh 0 Bangladesh were clearly overawed by their opponents as the ODI series began. Bangladesh, owing plenty to debutant Tareq Aziz’s 3 for 19, bowled Pakistan out for 202 in 49.5 overs in the series opener in Dhaka but flopped with the bat. Pakistan used eight bowlers – even Inzamam-ul-Haq bowled a wicket-maiden – and won by 49 runs. Crowd trouble marred the second ODI – Shoaib Akhtar, who was fielding near deep fine leg, got hurt when one of the spectators hurled something at his head and had to go to hospital to receive treatment – but Pakistan won by 72 runs. The rout was completed thanks to Adbul Razzaq’s 6 for 35 and Shahid Afridi’s 44-ball 83 in the final game.ODIs: Pakistan 3, Bangladesh 0 2003 Pakistan hosted Bangladesh for a return series in the second half of 2003 and the result was the same. Hundreds in both innings from Yasir Hameed, on Test debut, was the highlight of a seven-wicket win at Karachi’s National Stadium. Habibul Bashar was Bangladesh’s star performer with 71 and 108 but there was little else. Shabbir Ahmed, another debutant, and Kaneria each grabbed eight wickets in the match.Bangladesh made 361 in their first innings in Peshawar, with Javed Omar scoring 119 and Bashar 97, but folded for just 96 in the second as Shoaib finished with ten wickets in the game. Mohammad Hafeez’s maiden hundred then sealed a nine-wicket win.The series ended in a thriller in Multan, sealed by Inzamam’s masterclass. Bangladesh bowled extremely well to gain a 106-run lead but collapsed to 154; set 262 to sweep the series Pakistan struggled spectacularly and owed everything to Inzamam’s unbeaten 138. Victory was attained by one-wicket and Inzamam was rewarded with the captaincy.Tests: Pakistan 3, Bangladesh 0 Bangladesh stayed on for an ODI series and lost 5-0. The margins of victory were comprehensive, bar the fourth ODI when Bangladesh pushed Pakistan to the wire. Hameed’s maiden hundred powered the hosts to a 137-run win in Multan; Youhana’s 106 set up a 74-run win in Faisalabad; the series was clinched with a big win in Lahore, thanks in no small part to Umar Gul’s economical five-wicket bag; Pakistan edged a Rawalpindi thriller in game four, chasing down 223 off the penultimate ball of the match with Youhana not out on 94; and the drubbing came with a 58-run win in Karachi, one set up the top order. Youhana’s 366 runs pushed him into the top ten of the ICC’s ODI batsmen.ODIs: Pakistan 5, Bangladesh 0
India’s batting juggernaut set the table and a charged-up Zaheer Khan dug in as India wrapped up an innings-and-239-run victory inside three days in Dhaka to clinch the series against a lacklustre Bangladesh. Zaheer’s 5 for 34 bowled the hosts out for 188 and when the follow-on was enforced under dark skies, there were only feisty half-centuries from Mohammad Ashrafuland Mashrafe Mortaza to delay the inevitable. India’s fielding left much to be desired, but in all, this was grossly one-sided cricket in humid conditions on a lifeless track.Weighed down by a mountainous 552-run deficit at the start of play,Bangladesh collapsed meekly. As on the second day, Zaheer needed littletime to get stuck in. Second ball, he trapped Shakib Al Hasan leg beforewith one brought in from outside off stump. Zaheer’s fourth five-wickethaul, and first since Brisbane 2003, came when he cleaned up MohammadRafique – who raised 1000 runs in Tests during his 12 – with a fulldelivery.Anil Kumble’s three wickets polished Bangladesh off on a track with nodemons in it before Zaheer resumed service. Having handed Javed Omaranother first-ball duck, Zaheer came back first over after lunch to bounceout a woefully out of form Habibul Bashar. That dismissal also broughtout the brilliant Ashraful, who drove and pulled with disdain during an81-run fourth-wicket partnership with Rajin Saleh (42 from 46) thatencompassed just 55 balls.When India toured in late 2004, Ashraful played the Test innings of hislife in a lost cause at Chittagong. Here, he threatened to repeat that infar more brutal fashion with 67 from just 41 balls. Debutant Ishant Sharmapitched it up, Ashraful drove, head straight and feet in place for 14runs. RP Singh dropped short, and Ashraful pulled, all wrist and late onthe roll, for six. And when Zaheer strayed even fractionally, Ashrafulsent the ball to the off-side boundaries at will.With Ashraful on 57 from just 30 balls, Rahul Dravid turned to Kumble. Agentle shoulder-warmer was floated up and Ashraful drove to the coverboundary, but he then flicked one to midwicket to end a brief butbelligerent innings. Ramesh Powar dismissed Saleh, Shakib Al Hasan andKhaled Mashud in quick succession but there was resistance from MohammadSharif and Mortaza (70 from 68), who added 54 for the eighth wicket.Butterfingers set in as Dravid dropped one and Dinesh Karthik two off thespinners, but Kumble showed them how to do it with a smartcaught-and-bowled after Sharif misread a googly. Rafique fell leg beforeto Tendulkar and when Mortaza slogged Tendulkar up in the air shortlyafter blitzing a second Test fifty, it was all over.The Bangladesh side that turned up at the brand new Sher-e-Bangla stadiumlooked remarkably like the faltering team of old. They were unable to bowla side out, shoddy with their fielding, and shaky with the bat. India,conversely, dominated every session.The plan was to bat just once, and a torrent of runs took them to amammoth 610 for 3 declared before Zaheer found proof of life in a comatosesurface. Having made his Test debut in 2000 at the Bangabandhu NationalStadium downtown, Zaheer looked an accomplished bowler in this series.What India will take from this game is the noise that he, Karthik andWasim Jaffer made with a long summer in England looming on the horizon.The opposition will be a lot tougher, but at least India can depart withthat winning feeling.
As expected, Zimbabwe cruised to victory over Bermuda in the final of the Tri-Nation tournament at Queen’s Park Oval, Vusi Sibanda’s hundred giving them a total that was never likely to be overtaken. These sides met two days ago when Zimbabwe recorded a crushing 194-run win, and while Bermuda had rested a couple of key players for that game, few expected anything else today.Zimbabwe won the toss and batted, making a sprightly start thanks to Sibanda who looked in good form from the off. For a batsman who has been given a long run in the side, he has largely disappointed – as an average of 16.12 from 32 innings before this game indicates – but he did little wrong against far less threatening bowlers than he faced against West Indies.Chamu Chibhabha, who was the batting star in the early part of that series, struggled for his 18, but his dismissal brought in Brendan Taylor who cracked a typically bellicose run-a-ball half-century, adding 88 in under 14 overs with Sibanda.At 200 for 2 with 11 overs remaining, Zimbabwe were looking at another post-300 score, but the innings hiccoughed as they then lost three wickets in seven balls, two to Irvine Romaine. A tiring Sibanda finally fell for 116 as the innings ended with a thud rather than a bang.Why Tawanda Mupariwa was not entrusted with the new ball against West Indies was a mystery, and his initial burst today, when he removed both Bermuda’s openers, only added to the bewilderment. Equally bemusing was Bermuda’s decision to send in Treadwell Gibbons at the top of the order. On Thursday, he ground out an 85-ball 33; today he faced 13 balls for 0.Saleem Mukuddem and Romaine ensured there were no more setbacks, but by the time Mukuddem went with the score 59 for 3, Bermuda had used almost half their allocation of overs and were out of the hunt. Dean Minors and Lionel Cann injected some sense of urgency spirited cameos, but by then the bird had flown.Prosper Utseya ended his Caribbean trip showing the same control that he had throughout, taking 2 for 21 from his ten overs, and even the ever wayward Blessing Mahwire grabbed three and Bermuda pressed for runs that were only ever going to change the margin of defeat rather than the result.Zimbabwe, however, deserved their victory and it has to give their young side a boost after a frankly disappointing series against West Indies. Their next opposition are Bangladesh in two or three months, and that will be an altogether different proposition.Bermuda came out of the competition with a realisation of how much work they have to do. But they have $11 million of government investment injected into the sport and an enthusiastic local population. Zimbabwe have the money, courtesy of the ICC, but their other problems are weighty, and it will be interesting to see where these two countries stand in three or four years time.The third participants – Canada – were terribly unimpressive, and they do not have the money or widespread support for the game; nor do they have the time to make major advances before the World Cup in 10 months’ time. They face Bermuda and Kenya in another tri-series in July where they will need to be several notches better than they were here to even compete.
Cambridge University 191 for 5 (Timms 58) beat Oxford University 190 (Stearn 56*, Savill 4-28) by five wickets ScorecardA sixth-wicket stand of 92 between James Chervak and Tom Savill guided Cambridge University to a five-wicket win with four balls to spare in the one-day Varsity match at Lord’s.The pair came together with Cambridge struggling on 199 for 5 chasing Oxford’s 190 after Richard Timms (58) had given them a solid base. But from 72 for 1, they lost four quick wickets before Chervak (39*) and Savill (33*) saw them home. The decisive over was the 46trh wne Savill took 18 off four balls to swing the match Cambridge’s way, two successive sixes, one over deep square-leg and the other over a short Tavern boundary.Oxford had Daniel Fox (49) to thank from helping them recover from a shaky start, and then Christopher Stearn chipped in with a 77-ball unbeaten 56. Savill was also the pick of the bowlers for Cambridge, claiming 4 for 28 with Vikram Banerjee taking 3 for 29.
On the Nursery ground, Oxford’s women won their match by three wickets with an over to spare chasing 201 to win.
The man who cleared Muttiah Muralitharan’s bowling action five years ago has reopened the debate by questioning the legality of Murali’s new doosra.Bruce Elliott, a professor at the University of Western Australia, and a member of the International Cricket Council’s committee which investigates suspect actions, said that Murali’s new ball, which behaves very much as a legbreak would, is questionable.”With the doosra, what I’m suggesting is that when a finger-spinner wants to rotate the wrist to come over the top of the ball it seems difficult not to straighten the arm – but I won’t say it’s impossible,” Elliott told the Sydney Morning Herald. “The doosra fits into the category that says ‘danger’.”And Elliott warned that any illegal actions have to be stamped out immediately, otherwise they are quickly copied by youngsters. “There’s no doubt that children on the subcontinent are trying to emulate Murali. On the subcontinent they learn more by watching. If kids are trying to bowl like Murali then, yes, there’s danger. The million-dollar question is whether they are straightening the arm. If you keep it bent or even flex it, it’s still illegal.”If you extend up with the arm you’ll get more over-rotation on the ball. For a spinner, that’s a huge advantage. That, by definition, is illegal. If you keep your arm bent, you can use the big rotator muscles in the shoulder, which are geared for throwing.”Elliott’s comments are sure to arouse anger in Sri Lanka, but they come in the light of recent remarks by ICC officials that spinners will be more under the spotlight whereas in the past it was fast bowlers who attracted attention. The desire to clamp down was reinforced when it emerged that six players in the recent Under-19 World Cup had been reported as having suspicious actions.”I’m sure the ICC is becoming more concerned,” Elliott explained. “And I don’t think it’s unfair to say that it is in direct response to that concern [young players mimicking established stars]. Because most people don’t have his physical characteristics, and they will revert to actually extending the arm.”
It might not have been of great significance in the overall context of the World Cup, but for Namibia and the Netherlands this match represented the summit of their ambitions to return from South Africa with a victory of which to boast. It was the Dutch who proved to be just a little bit too strong and they claimed their first one-day international victory by 64 runs.Having lost their captain, Roland Lefebvre to injury, the Dutch won the toss and batted first on a belter. After an early wicket, it became evident that the bowlers had had their confidence battered by battles against the bigger nations. The batsmen, on the other hand, were finding life against Gerrie Snyman and Burton van Rooi rather easier than facing Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar as they had earlier in the competition. That is no disrespect to the Namibian bowlers, but a fact of life in this hardest of cricketing schools.A second wicket partnership between Feiko Kloppenburg and Klaas-Jan van Noortwijk worth 228 scored at a shade under six an over established a position of Dutch supremacy.Kloppenburg was the first to reach his hundred and so became the first Dutchman to attain that score in a one-day international. He passed the milestone with what was a dangerous run that could have seen him out for 99, but the ball missed the stumps at the non-striker’s end and Kloppenburg began a celebration that involved swinging his bat around as if it was the sail of a windmill. It was not an altogether inappropriate gesture from a Dutchman.Van Noortwijk soon followed him. He was on the point of exhaustion, dropping to one knee and gasping for breath as his score matched the number on his shirt – 99. However, pushing the ball out on the off-side he raced to the other end although he too might have struggled had the shy at the stumps hit.Kloppenburg eventually fell to a tired shot of his own, top-edging an intended slash through the off-side to the wicket-keeper. He was out for 121 from 142 balls with four sixes and six fours.His demise preceded something of a collapse to give the Namibians some sort of reward for their efforts. Bas Zuiderent, the one professional in the Dutch side, has endured a poor World Cup. He came in after a long partnership and went out again after facing seven balls.Louis Burger returned to the attack to bowl Zuiderent and then inflict the same fate on Tim de Leede first ball. The hat-trick ball was a poor one – a leg-side wide. Burger then suffered as Luuk van Troost and van Noortwijk, almost immobile with cramp, plundered runs aplenty off the final overs.Van Noortwijk was undefeated on 134 from 129 balls with 11 fours and three sixes as the Netherlands reached the second highest total in this tournament by putting 314 for four on the board. The words `Dutch’ and `mountain’ rarely appear in the same sentence, but the Namibians certainly had a mountain to climb in pursuit of such a large Dutch total.Nevertheless, they set off bravely in pursuit with an opening partnership betweenJB Burger and Morne Karg keeping the required rate within their sights. Burger already had a big score in the tournament when he embarrassed the English bowling, while Karg had only one previous innings when he was not alone in falling to Glenn McGrath. Both batted with the belief here that they could win and it was looking good until the 14th over when the score had reached 76.That was when Kloppenburg came into the attack, fresh – if that is the right word – from his hundred. Burger tried to lift his fourth ball over mid-wicket and got the height if not the distance. He found substitute fielder Ruud Nijman on the boundary and was out for 41.Karg followed when his score reached 41 and also fell to a catch by Nijman. This time it was a very good one as the batsman lashed de Leede high over the infield and Nijman came racing in from the cover boundary to slide under the ball right at the end of its travel.After a period of reappraisal following the fall of those two wickets, Daniel Keulder and Gavin Murgatroyd began to take Namibia back towards the required rate with some sensible batting and the occasional lusty blow. Their third wicket partnership realised 92 in 18 overs and was beginning to cause the Dutch serious concern whenKloppenburg returned to bowl Keulder.Keulder had scored 52 when he went, and so too had Murgatroyd when he lofted an intended big hit to Zuiderent at mid-off off the bowling of Hendrik-Jan Mol. That was virtually the end of the challenge that had lasted for a creditable 35 overs.Kloppenburg claimed the wickets of Louis Burger and Snyman to be on a hat-trick, but finished his ten over allocation before he could claim a fifth wicket. Adeel Raja had Sarel Burger stumped by the impressive Jeroen Smits and bowled Melt van Schoor before claiming the last wicket to seal the win.Van Noortwijk had to sit out the second half of the match as the exertions of his innings had caused him to suffer dehydration. He watched from the cool of the pavilion on a saline drip as his colleagues clinched the win. He could have been refreshed by going out onto the field, for midway through the Namibian innings an automatic sprinkler suddenly popped up out of the ground to give a cooling spray to anyone within range.Wicket-keeper Smits looked on as the groundsman rushed to the middle while waving frantically to the control room to have the system switched off. The Dutch, however, have years of experience when it comes to dealing with water where they do not want it. Smits simply trod on the sprinkler head and it obligingly went back into the ground.