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This time he is ready to hang on to the England gauntlets, writes Peter English in the July issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly

Chris Read: rated by Rodney Marsh as one of the best young players he has seen

Chris Read’s hands look small and delicate. When he sits he rests them on the table, one protecting the other. He knows safe hands are mandatory and is aware of the dangers of waiting for a chance, whether it is a caught-behind or a call from David Graveney. “It’s possible you won’t get an [England] opportunity for three or four years, so when you get one you’ve got to take it,” he says.Read has a beaming smile and since the start of the season there has been a lot to be happy about. Alec Stewart challenged the selectors to choose a young keeper for England’s ODIs and Read was suddenly in a two-man tussle with James Foster. Then the ECB Academy director Rod Marsh, who rates Read as one of the best young players he has seen, was named as the fourth England selector. “It goes without saying that it was good news,” Read says. “But it’s up to me to prove I’m good enough to be given a chance and to prove I can play at that level.”At the end of May Read’s smile briefly disappeared when he broke a thumb playing for Nottinghamshire in a National League game against Sussex at Horsham. International wicketkeeping dreams begin and end with shattered bones. Ian Healy has Ian Botham to thank for launching his record-breaking 119-Test career. Botham broke the finger of the Queensland incumbent Peter Anderson in 1987-88 and four first-class games later Healy was playing for Australia.Standing up to the medium-pacer Gareth Clough, Read was struck on his right thumb and suffered a hairline fracture, potentially a three-week injury. The selectors stuck to their guns and picked him in the one-day squad, with Foster on standby.Read knows about big breaks. He was picked on an England A tour before playing a first-class game and when he moved from Gloucestershire, where he was stuck behind Jack Russell, to Nottinghamshire, Wayne Noon was injured early in the season. Read stepped up, was picked for a second England A tour and in 1999 made his Test debut at 20.It is difficult to talk to Read without looking back. He sits in the Horsham pavilion looking out at a portable practice net six days before suffering the injury. No one stops for autographs and only his county coach Mick Newell interrupts to leave a map to the hotel and a key to lock up the dressing room. He is not Alec Stewart.Read has been forgotten for a long time but is honest about the past and realistic about the future. “Looking at my record, three Tests and five innings, to score 38 runs is not really good enough,” he says.The three Tests were against New Zealand but his eight dismissals on debut at Edgbaston were swiftly overshadowed by the footage of his embarrassing misjudgement of a Chris Cairns slower ball that bowled him at Lord’s.He still went to South Africa as cover for Stewart and was pleased with his returns in nine ODIs. “But I probably had my worst season after that. Since then I’ve been making improvements and my game has been on the up.”A winter at the Academy under Marsh put more polish on his glovework and after a National League century in the opening match against Northamptonshire he was under most microscopes as ODI replacements were canvassed following World Cup retirements. “Second time round it’s a lot easier because I’m three or four years wiser,” he says of the pressure. “The first time it was a bit of a shock and I wasn’t quite prepared. Now I have experience and know what to expect.”Marsh and Read clicked in Adelaide. Read was impressed by Marsh’s positive attitude and his work ethic. The feeling was mutual. “Rod said in his last season he didn’t miss a chance and that’s my aspiration,” he says. “I remember missing two chances last season. There was a catch against Gloucestershire, diving low to my right and I couldn’t get my hand underneath it, and I missed a stumping off MacGill that spun a mile.”Read’s spin is that he does not want to be pigeon-holed as a limited-overs player and his wicketkeeping voice, slightly squeaky but very clear, would suit the longer game if only to annoy the batsmen with his constant chatter. He believes England’s transition towards the 2007 World Cup is natural and it will be up to the new players to “get on with it and make the best of it”. “Knight, Caddick, Stewart, Hussain, they are big names,” he says, as if suddenly realising that they are all missing. “It gives guys opportunities. There are young guys all over the country who are desperate for a chance to perform.” He now has a second one.Click here to subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly

The July 2003 edition of Wisden Cricket Monthly is on sale at all good newsagents in the UK and Ireland, priced £3.40.

We live in the visual age. So it comes as no surprise that the Doordarshan programming schedule for the month has put off VVS Laxman’s comeback to first-class cricket by a day.A fully-fit Laxman, the captain of the Rest of India side for the Irani Trophy clash against Ranji champions Baroda, will take the field on October 13 instead of October 12.BCCI executive secretary Sharad Diwadkar said in Mumbai that the match was postponed by a day to ensure that Doordarshan had no problems in showing the match live to the millions of cricket lovers in every nook and cranny of India.Heavy showers in Pune have also seen the match being relocated to Nagpur.The Irani Trophy is the domestic season opener. VK Ramaswamy of Hyderabad and Vijay Chopra of Delhi are the two umpires for the four-day match that will end on October 17. Bhagwandas Suthar of Madhya Pradesh will be the match-referee.Laxman has only recently recovered from a knee injury that he sustained during India’s tour of Sri Lanka. The Irani trophy match will be important for him as it will help him prepare for the upcoming Test series against South Africa.Rest Of India (from):VVS Laxman (Captain), Akash Chopra, Rahul Sanghvi, Vinayak Mane, Dinesh Mongia, Sarandeep Singh, Yere Gowda, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Rashmi Ranjan Parida, Debasish Mohanty, Ajay Ratra, Salab Srivastava, Tinnu Yohannan, Surindra SinghBaroda (from):Connor Williams (Captain), Satyajit Parab, Nayan Mongia (w.k.), Tushar Arothe,Himanshu Jadhav, Rakesh Solanki, Rakesh Patel, Irfan Pathan Jr., Irfan Pathan Sr., Umang Patel, Milap Mewada, Hrishikesh Parab, Harkid Parmar. Vinit Wadkar(Coach)

Leeds United are interested in signing Al Saad SC striker Baghdad Bounedjah, according to Algerian news outlet FZ Foot.

What’s the story?

The 26-year-old Algerian international hasn’t played any club football in Europe but has maintained a remarkable scoring record so far in his career.

At current club Al Saad SC in the Qatar Stars League, he has scored 64 goals in 57 games in all competitions.

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According to the report, Leeds have made an offer for the prolific striker who is valued at £3.15million on Transfermarkt, but the player rejected the approach as he wants a salary equivalent to what he is currently earning.

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”257599″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch Leeds’ opening fixtures for the 201819 Championship season”]

Out of the blue

This is certainly one of the more unusual transfer stories emanating from Elland Road this summer, particularly as they are already looking to sign strikers Matej Vydra and Jerry Mbakogu.

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There’s no denying that Bounedjah has an eye for goal and he has a remarkable scoring record, but the quality of defending in the QSL is certainly not Championship quality.

Perhaps he is worth a punt to see if he can carry on scoring at a higher level, but in truth it’s probably best if Leeds stick to players who have proven it against similar high level opposition.

Celtic pundit Frank McAvennie has been reacting to a transfer update involving on-loan defender Cameron Carter-Vickers, as per Football Insider.

The Lowdown: Transfer update

The American has become a regular in Glasgow after joining on a season-long loan, making 35 appearances in green and white.

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Celtic have the option to make his move permanent in the summer for an initial £6m, although Tottenham insider John Wenham believes that asking price has rocketed, with a number of Premier League clubs now keen on the 24-year-old’s services.

Leicester City and Wolves are the latest to show an interest in Carter-Vickers, and McAvennie has been reacting to Wenham’s reveal.

The Latest: McAvennie’s comments

Talking to Football Insider, McAvennie said that it would be a ‘massive mistake’ if the Hoops now need to pay more for Carter-Vickers than their agreed option-to-buy fee, hitting out at Celtic chiefs in the process as he raged:

“I would have thought a price would be agreed during the loan talks.

“If it hasn’t then someone at Celtic hasn’t done their job. You can’t have someone coming up, impressing, then the price goes up.

“You can’t have that so if a price hasn’t been agreed it is a massive mistake.

“He’s been brilliant and I would like him to stay around so hopefully something can be arranged.

“We haven’t had too much news about that up here so I can only hope it’s not true.”

The Verdict: The waiting game…

Ultimately, Carter-Vickers will be the one to have the final say when it comes to his next move, regardless of any figures involved.

Hopefully he will be open to staying at Celtic Park, as he has already made more appearances for the Hoops than any other club. He has starred under Ange Postecoglou, becoming the club’s best performing centre-back and winning three man of the match awards. [WhoScored]

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On that basis, you’d like to think that he’s found a new permanent home in Scotland in what is his seventh loan spell away from north London, but only time will tell whether or not he lays down roots in Glasgow.

In other news: Journalist shares even more positive Celtic injury news; ‘phenomenal’ star now close to return

Ian Bradshaw yesterday admitted that Barbados’ attack lacked the necessary firing power after Guyana performed the rare feat in attaining a first innings target in excess of 400. “We weren’t penetrative enough in our bowling. The pitch was a good one. It was a little bit slow, but I thought we could have been a little bit more penetrative,” the new Barbados captain said after the drawn opening Busta match at Kesington Oval.In the twinkling of an eye, Barbados swiftly lost their seemingly firm advantage after lunch.Corey Collymore’s splendid spell of fast bowling in the morning session in which he uprooted Carl Hooper’s off stump with arguably the best ball of the match, appeared to have been the decisive strike in defence of their big target of 422.Hooper, resuming on 117, was out for his best regional first-class score of 159 and it was Collymore’s sixth wicket which reduced Guyana to 391 for eight a few minutes before lunch.On resumption after the break, there was immediate success with the dismissal of Eion Katchay which left Guyana 23 short of overhauling Barbados.The hosts needed only to dislodge first-timer Ron Matthews or last man Kevin Darlington, but the Guyanese tail-enders quickly proceeded to wipe off the target in a stand of 37 which was only broken when leg-spinner Dave Marshall came on for his first bowl of the day.It was difficult to explain what went wrong for Barbados, but the skipper and new coach Hendy Springer also gave Guyana their due recognition for reaching their total of 436.”When you put tactics together, you don’t cater for hard luck or good luck or things like that,” Springer said. “The luck went Guyana’s way at times and they did well enough to get into that position and deserved to pull through with first innings lead.”Springer described Barbados’ overall performance as interesting.”The bowlers have been suffering from a lack of match practice, but I thought they did exceptionally well,” he said.”What we’ll probably have to do is to work on some sharpness in the field to save some of those runs that we gave away and a couple of sharp, missed chances, but I think we are waking up to the fact that we are into a first-class season.”For most of the last two days, there were some who argued that Barbados should have gone into the match with five specialist bowlers, but both Bradshaw and Springer defended the final choice.In the case of Springer, he felt there was a need to get away from the club mentality.”In first-class cricket, you have got to be a bit more patient. As far as the responsibility of the bowlers is concerned and the amount of work they had to do, every bowler went out there with a responsibility and knew they would have had to do a lot of work taking into consideration the nature of the pitch,” he said.”I think everybody tried really, really hard, For a lot of them, things did not work out wicket wise, but I think they made their contribution and they know what they are supposed to be doing.”Bradshaw, who went wicketless in 30 overs, made reference to the fact that two of the team’s bowlers – Hendy Bryan and Dave Marshall – who were among the leading wicket-takers last season, were not successful in this game.”When we sat down to pick the team, we obviously felt that we had a team that was good enough to beat Guyana,” the captain added.Bradshaw also responded to queries about why he chose to delay the taking of the new ball until early yesterday morning after 131.1 overs had gone by.”Late in the afternoon (Sunday), it was an option, but Corey had a little cramp and at that stage he was our most penetrative bowler. With him not being 100 per cent, we waited until the morning to take it,” he said.

With Gautam Gambhir in good nick, it may be a while before Virender Sehwag gets a game © AFP

Gautam Gambhir’s good recent form and the fact that he hadn’t been persisted with recently helped him win a spot ahead of his Delhi team-mate Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni revealed at the end of the game.Dhoni had said on Sunday that the duo were competing for one berth and justified his decision to go with Gambhir, who repaid the faith with a valuable 44. “He has done consistently well at this level,” Dhoni said. “He has been unfortunate in the past as some others have been given preference over him. [His longest run] in the team was only six matches in a row and he was Man of the Match in quite a few games.”Dhoni also suggested that Gambhir would be persisted with for a few more games. “I wanted to give him a few more matches before resting him and giving opportunities to others. And the way he played today he deserves his place in the side. He batted quite superbly.”It means Sehwag, who replaced Rahul Dravid in the squad, might have to wait a while before his comeback. There was some speculation about Sehwag missing the game in the wake of his father’s death but Dhoni had said he was in “good nick and hitting the ball well”.Dhoni’s promotion to No. 4, ahead of Yuvraj Singh, was also not in keeping with the script. He’s batted in that position on just eight earlier occasions, the last being the Chandigarh game against Australia. He entered at a tricky 96 for 2 and left after an assured half-century, with only 15 needed for victory. “I am flexible about it,” Dhoni said when asked if it was a sign of things to come. “I’ve said in the past that I need someone to fit in my place at No. 6 or 7. Today we needed a left and right-hand combination. Afridi was bowling offbreaks to left-handers, and legbreaks to the right-handers. That encouraged me to promote myself.”Dhoni wanted his side to look at each game as a one-match series, maintaining the same intensity throughout. “Starting the series with a win will help the team. It helps the team’s confidence, and the momentum goes your way. But we have to keep things right in the coming matches as well. It is not just about doing things right in one match. We have to do it throughout the series.”While Dhoni said 280 would have been a “winning score” his counterpart, Shoaib Malik, didn’t think Pakistan were a few runs short. “I think 230-240 was a good target. It was defendable. The difference was that we dropped catches. If we had taken them, the result would have been totally different. Fielding let us down.”He was talking about the two chances that Gambhir offered, off successive Shoaib Akhtar deliveries when he was on 7 and 11. Both were identical chances with the ball deflecting off the edge and flying between the wicketkeeper and Younis Khan at first slip. Instead of targeting his bowlers, Malik stressed on the fielding concerns instead. “We gauged the pitch and picked our best bowling attack. A fit Shoaib is an asset. He is our best option and is currently bowling quick and running in quick. I can’t blame my spinners also. Especially when our fielding didn’t back it up.”

Nathan Hauritz has played little first-class cricket since making his Test debut in 2004 © Getty Images

The fast bowler Tim Macdonald will make his debut for Western Australia in their Pura Cup match against New South Wales at the SCG starting on Friday. Macdonald has been called into the 12-man squad to replace Brett Dorey after concerns Dorey’s minor knee complaint could affect his ability to play the full four days.Macdonald, 26, is a right-arm swing bowler in his first year in the Warriors’ squad. He claimed 12 for 88 including a first-innings hat-trick in the Western Australia Second XI’s five-wicket win against the Victoria Second XI earlier this week.The Warriors have also been forced to make four other changes, with Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Hussey and Damien Martyn all playing for Australia in the first Test at the Gabba. Shaun Marsh, Clint Heron, Adam Voges and Luke Ronchi have been brought into the squad.New South Wales have named three spinners with Nathan Hauritz, who has not played a Pura Cup game this season, joining Stuart MacGill and Beau Casson in the Blues’ 12-man squad. Hauritz has been impressive in the Ford Ranger Cup, where he has taken nine wickets at 17 in four matches for the New South Wales, but has played limited first-class cricket since making his Test debut for Australia in 2004.He managed only one Pura Cup game for Queensland last season before moving to Sydney in May this year. MacGill has recovered from the nose injury he sustained during fielding practice on Saturday and will lead the Blues’ spin attack.Simon Katich and Nathan Bracken will add strength to the team after returning from Champions Trophy duty in India. Greg Mail has made way for Katich at the top of the order while Bracken replaces Stuart Clark, who is also playing in the Test match. Hauritz takes the place of the allrounder Moises Henriques, who has a leg injury. New South Wales are second on the Pura Cup table with two wins from three games. Western Australia have one draw and two losses to show from their first three matches.New South Wales squad Phil Jaques, Simon Katich (capt), Ed Cowan, Dominic Thornely, Aaron O’Brien, Brad Haddin (wk), Beau Casson, Matthew Nicholson, Nathan Hauritz, Nathan Bracken, Doug Bollinger, Stuart MacGill.Western Australia squad Chris Rogers, Clint Heron, Marcus North (capt), Shaun Marsh, Adam Voges, Luke Ronchi (wk), Brad Hogg, Aaron Heal, Shawn Gillies, Ben Edmondson, Steve Magoffin, Tim Macdonald.

With increasing calls for Australia to hire a specialist fast bowling coach, Damien Fleming, working for the last two years developing young pacemen for Australia, has thrown his name in the hat of potential candidates.As Cricket Australia considers appointing specialist assistants to John Buchanan, Fleming, who recently left as head of the national Pace Australia program, said he would love the chance to work with the country’s senior bowlers if it arose.Fleming was quoted by AAP as saying, “if a position was going, I would be very keen. I have spent the past couple of years running the Pace Australia program and it was a good two years for me to develop my knowledge in the biomechanics side of things and work with sports scientists, as well as working with young bowlers.”He continued, “I would like to work with the elite squad, and it would be important to be able to deal with a young bowler coming through, who might have technical problems, through to the more experienced bowlers, for whom it might be goal-setting or something like that you work on.”Fleming also spoke of the lack of young fast bowling depth in Australia at the moment calling for Jason Gillespie’s potential contribution to Australia to be re-examined. “The thing is there has only been one Glenn McGrath in more than 100 years of Test cricket. Between (Dennis) Lillee and (Jeff) Thomson and McGrath, we had guys like Craig McDermott and Merv Hughes, who were very good bowlers. Maybe we are at the stage where we get a guy who can play for three to six years and give us good service.”The next cabs off the rank are all in their late 20s or early 30s, guys like Nathan Bracken (28), Stuart Clark (30) and Mick Lewis (31), but there is a dearth of bowlers aged between 23 and 27 who are ready to go in there and be a 10-year player.”I think Australia should go back to Gillespie and work with him to get him back into the Test team. He had always been earmarked as a spearhead to take over from McGrath, and at 30, he still has four or five good years in him.”Australia’s revamp of their coaching structure began with the appointment of Richard McInnes as a full-time performance analyst.

New South Wales 5 for 251 (Katich 92, Jacques 70) beat Victoria 5 for 245 (Moss 74, Hussey 67, Rummans 54*) by 5 wickets
Scorecard

David Hussey on his way to 67© Getty Images

Simon Katich led the way with a fine 92 as New South Wales scraped to a last-ball win in their match against Victoria and earned their first ING Cup points of the season.Needing 246 to win, NSW sufferred a mini-collapse once Katich fell as they lost three wickets for four runs late in the game. But Shawn Bradstreet smashed 26 from 17 and sealed the victory with a six off the final ball.Katich said he was under pressure to justify publicly expressing his frustration at being axed from the Test squad to play New Zealand. He was quoted by AAP as saying, “I was definitely nervous today because I knew a lot of people would be viewing to see how I went, particularly after what I said last week. But I was lucky to be able to back it up.”Earlier in the day, Victoria managed to reach 245 thanks to a good allround batting display. Matthew Elliott, Jonathan Moss, David Hussey and Graeme Rummans notched up half-centuries but Victoria couldn’t get the required acceleration late in the innings.

The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) has revamped the paystructure of the national team, slashing player contract salaries andintroducing performance-related incentives for the national team.Player contracts have been cut by 30% compared to the previous year contractfee, but the blow has been sweetened by an additional US$500 for each winas well as a match fee bonus.The match fee for Tests (US$1750) and one-day internationals (US$1250)will be increased by 50% for a win against one of the top four ranked sidesin the world and 25% against the fifth to eighth best teams.”This incentive-based remuneration package is equitable and was acceptableto the players," said BCCSL chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya. "They know that ifthey have a successful season they can earn more than the 30 percent whichhas been taken off their previous contract."The move follows the announcement earlier in the week of a US$2.7 millionloss in 2002 by the BCCSL. The players have also faced widespread criticismin the local media after their prolonged player contracts dispute prior tothe World Cup.The BCCSL also reduced the number of central contracts handed out in 2003 to12 compared to the 15 awarded the previous year, after advice from the newlyappointed selection panel."When we sat down to discuss the players to be given the contracts therewere some who hadn’t played that much in the previous year so we decided tocut down to 12," explained Lalith Kaluperuma, the chairman of selectors.”But if players work hard, we can add them later on."Contracted players Marvan Atapattu, Hashan Tillakaratne, Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Russel Arnold, Dilhara Fernando, Kumar Dharmasena, Prabath Nissanka, Thilan Samaraweera.