It has been a fairytale run for both Bengal and Uttar Pradesh this season. Both were rank-outsiders in the beginning, especially Bengal who were on the brink of relegation the previous season. But both teams had the grit to fight back and push aside heavyweights such as Mumbai, Railways, Baroda to set up the summit clash.Both teams scored contrasting victories in the semifinals, Mohammad Kaif leading Uttar Pradesh to an emphatic five-wicket away victory over Mumbai while Deep Dasgupta had to settle for the first-innings lead against Baroda at Eden Gardens. The Ranji Trophy final, to be played at KD Singh Babu Stadium in Lucknow, is most likely to be a five-day affair and the side that has the most amount of patience owns the trump card.The teams The only change for Bengal will be Rohan Gavaskar, who missed the semi-finals due to illness, replacing Kamal Mondal, who made just five on his debut against Baroda. Bengal, with three centurions in their last match, will clearly rely on their batting with Dasgupta, who has 538 runs at 44.83 including two vital hundreds this season, leading the way. In the bowling stakes, he may well be rubbing his palms in anticipation with the successful duo of Saurasish Lahiri, the talented young offspinner, and Shib Paul, the right-arm fast bowler, coming good. Lahiri, Bengal’s leading wicket-taker, is ranked fifth in this season’s bowling tally, and together with Paul may prove difficult for UP to deal with on the low Lucknow surface.As for the hosts, their confidence comes from three outright victories in the last three games and, that too, in away encounters on different surfaces. Kaif maintains that if his bowlers can take 20 wickets three times outside home, then they definitely hold the upper hand, home advantage and all. Praveen Kumar, with 34 wickets, is the highest wicket-taker between both sides, while Piyush Chawla, the much-talked-about legspinner who is also part of the India Under-19 team for the World Cup, has 30. Not to be overlooked in UP’s bowling attack is Ashish Winston Zaidi, who at 34, is still very capable of sending down his wily medium pacers and teasing the batsman.The pitch The pitch at the KD Singh Babu Stadium is known to be sluggish in nature – predominantly there is minimal lift for the fast bowlers – and on current view the hard and shiny surface looks to have just a flicker of grass on the good-length areas, which still require some rolling. Essentially, whoever calls right at the toss will definitely not think twice about batting. In three matches at this venue, UP have posted 400-plus scores twice – in one they made Punjab follow-on – and one outright victory against Hyderabad. The key, thus, will be in getting a sizeable first-innings score.Guiding lights Kaif, returning to the side when left out of the national squad, has been UP’s energizer-bunny. UP started on a disastrous note, losing their first two games at home and drawing the next two. But once Kaif joined the bandwagon and brought with him a much-needed vigour, a spirit of self-belief was instilled in the struggling team and since then they have won three matches.If Kaif brought his international experience to the fore when UP were suffering, Paras Mhambrey, the former Mumbai and India fast bowler, played the big brother role for Bengal admirably. Mhambrey, after helping Mumbai secure the Ranji title the previous season, took over the coach’s role at a time when Bengal were becoming stale. He opted for the untested and untried fervour of youth instead of experienced players who looked well past their sell-by date. His strategy worked, and Dasgupta and his side did not miss an opportunity to acknowledge Mhambrey’s role in their success.Final count This will be Bengal’s 12th appearance in the Ranji final, which they won twice in the 1938-39 and 1989-90 seasons. UP have come close to winning on three occasions, the last time in 1997-98, but they have yet to lift the crown.Cold fervour The premier cricket tournament in India stopped attracting the crowds in the last decade due to a lack of international stars making their presence felt. It would be hard, thus, to expect Lucknowites, who are well swathed in their woolens, to flock to the KD Singh Babu Stadium over the next five days.Uttar Pradesh: Jyoti Prakash Yadav, Shiva Shukla, Praveen Kumar, Mohammad Kaif (capt), Suresh Raina, Gyanendra Pandey, Rizwan Shamshad, Piyush Chawla, Amir Khan (wk), Ashish Winston Zaidi, Shalabh Srivastava, R Prakash, R Mishra, Praveen Gupta.Bengal: Deep Dasgupta (capt/wk), Arindam Das, Subhomoy Das, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Rohan Gavaskar, Manoj Tiwary, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Saurashish Lahiri, Shibsagar Singh, Ranadeb Bose, Shib Paul, Subhojit Paul, Ashok Dinda, MY Lodhgar.
South Africa’s 4-1 series victory over England has enabled them to address their decline in the ICC One-Day Championship table. Prior to their victory in the third match at Port Elizabeth, South Africa had won just one match in their last 13 – and that had been against Bangladesh.But now, after four wins and a washout in their last five games, they have climbed from seventh to fifth, and have overtaken England in the process. South Africa’s rating has been boosted from 101 to 106, while England, who began the series in fourth place on 109 points, have slipped back to seventh, behind West Indies, who beat them in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy in September.There have been some significant changes in the one-day player rankings as well. Jacques Kallis was briefly rated as the best one-day batsman in the world, but slipped behind Ramnaresh Sarwan following a disappointing end to his series. But South Africa’s other two leading players, Graeme Smith (14th in the batting) and Shaun Pollock (second, behind Glenn McGrath, in the bowling) both improved their rankings.For England, Darren Gough made a welcome return to the top ten following an excellent series – he finished in eighth place – while Kevin Pietersen is already in 25th place in the batting, following his dramatic arrival in international cricket, which culminated in 454 runs in the seven-match series. England’s only top-ten batsman is the injured Andrew Flintoff, because Marcus Trescothick has fallen 15 places to 20th, following his poor run of form.
The Glamorgan team to face Durham at the Riverside ground in Chester-le-Street in the final four day County Championship match of the 2003 season, starting on Wednesday, 17th September, will be drawn from the following squad :
J P Maher (6)M A Wallace + (18)A Dale (11)M J Powell (14)M P Maynard (25)D L Hemp (4)R D B Croft * (10)A G Wharf (16)M S Kasprowicz (3)D S Harrison (20)D A Cosker (23)S D Thomas (7)I J Thomas (27)
Sri Lanka are looking to blood their reserve fast bowlers in their Saturday clash with West Indies, whose eyes are focused on their crucial game with Zimbabwe the following day that will decide the second qualifier for the LG Abans triangular series final.The result tomorrow is irrelevant for Sri Lanka and not crucial for West Indies, although a win would make them favourites to qualify for the final, as should they then lose to Zimbabwe, they would still be protected by a superior net run rate.For Sri Lanka, it’s a perfect chance to groom their inexperienced players. Chaminda Vaas have a few niggles so he will step down and off-spinner Kumar Dharmasena is also expected to be rested.Prabath Nissanka and Charitha Buddika Fernando, both of whom impressed in Sharjah, although Nissanka was wayward at times, will come into the side, which will weaken the lower order batting."We are thinking of giving a couple of the youngsters a chance. This is a good time to groom the youngsters for the future, like we did in Sharjah," said Jayasuriya after a light training session in the morning."But we also have to careful, we still want to win the game because we could be playing West Indies in the final, so we can’t make too many changes."West Indies, buoyed by their recent win against Sri Lanka, are hoping that they have turned the corner on a difficult tour."There is nothing like winning and we hadn’t won a game at all till then, so the win has helped a whole lot," said Hooper, who had peppered the boundary during an aggressive midday net. "But we also realise that match is history now and that tomorrow, we start afresh."But West Indies are concentrating on Sunday, raising the possibility of a couple of changes and the potential inclusion of the one-day specialists, who are yet to play a game."We haven’t won much against Sri Lanka this tour but we did last match and it would be great if we could do it again. However, although we would like to win both games, the most important game is against Zimbabwe on Sunday."Both matches will be played at the Asgiriya International Stadium in Kandy where the groundsman has prepared a brown flat wicket that promises plenty of runs.Indeed, the last time a one-day game was played here, Sri Lanka blasted a world record of 398 for five against Kenya in the 1996 world cup.Sri Lanka (likely):Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), Marvan Atapattu, Avishka Gunawardene, Mahela Jayawardene, Russel Arnold, Kumar Sangakkara, Upul Chandana, Muttiah Muralitharan, Nuwan Zoysa, Charitha Buddika Fernando, Prabath NissankaWest Indies (from):Carl Hooper (capt), Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Ridley Jacobs, Neil McGarrell, Corey Colleymore, Pedro Collins, Jermaine Lawson, Ricardo Powell, Daren Brown, Ryan Hinds
Pakistan right-arm leg-spinner Danish Kenaria destroyed Australia’sbatting with figures of five wickets for 17 runs off 10 overs to givePakistan victory by four wickets at the R. Premadasa Stadium Thursday.Put into bat on a slow pitch, Australia were shot out for 113 in the40th over after struggling throughout against the pace of left-armerSahid Saeed and the spin of Kenaria. Saeed struck two early blows tofinish with figures of 3 for 13 off 10 overs. Top scorer was Shane Watsonwho made a solid 27 off 63 balls.Australia fought back hard to reduce Pakistan to 68 for 6 in the 33rdover, before an unbroken seventh wicket stand of 45 off 41 ballsbetween Humayun Farhat and Yasir Arafat saw them home in the 40thover. Wicket-keeper Humayun who accounted for three dismissals in theAustralian innings, rescued Pakistan from a tight situation with arun-a-ball knock of 38 not out which included six fours. He took thegame away from Australia in the 38th over when he slammed three foursoff Michael Clarke to carry Pakistan past the 100-run mark. Havingovercome that psychological barrier, Pakistan cruised home withHumayun making the winning hit by straight driving Shane Watson to theboundary.This was Pakistan’s second successive win in the Super League followingtheir defeat of New Zealand on Tuesday. They meet West Indies in theirfinal game on Saturday.
Everton have found themselves in a vulnerable position in the Premier League after a campaign nobody could have predicted for the Merseyside club, however, there are some positives to be found even in the darkest moments at Goodison Park this season.
Frank Lampard was brought in to replace Rafa Benitez after a horrific six months of poor performances and management from the Spaniard, and it gave Everton fans a glimmer of hope that the club could turn things around after finding themselves struggling to keep their heads above water, and falling into a serious relegation challenge.
Since his arrival on Deadline Day, Lampard has definitely made improvements despite the instability continuing throughout the team as confidence was at an all-time low when he took over at Goodison Park. Although it hasn’t been plain sailing for the former Chelsea boss, the Toffees most recent victory against Newcastle showed the first taste of resilience and hope in months.
Now three points clear of the relegation zone, there is a small cushion for the Everton squad to capitalise on after they were victorious in their game in hand that they had over their relegation rivals in the bottom three, setting them ahead of their competitors with 11 games left to go.
One player who has continued to shine throughout the storm clouds that have hung over Goodison Park this season is Anthony Gordon, who is shaping up to be the new Wayne Rooney for Everton, although unlike his fellow Evertonian, he could be set to secure his future at the club much longer.
Transfer insider, Dean Jones, has told GIVEMESPORT that the young attacker will “remain” at Everton:
“From everything that I can gather from speaking to people, he wants to remain at that club for as long as he possibly can. And so, I’ll be very surprised if Everton tried to cash in on him, that’s not the route to go down right now,” he said.
According to FB Ref, the £7.2m-rated winger who was hailed “top quality” by Jonathan Walters, is in the 99th percentile for tackles, 93rd for pressures and 97th for blocks over the last 12 months compared to his positional peers in European football which is extremely impressive when you consider the position Everton are in currently.
It also demonstrates just how hard-working the youngster is and how relentless he can be; traits that embodied a young Wayne Rooney in Merseyside. Gordon may not have the goal tally to match quite yet but is undoubtedly one the most exciting players to through Finch Farm since the England great.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
After all, the 21-year-old was even hailed a “boy wonder” by former Everton striker Victor Anichebe after his impressive performance for England U21’s, where Gordon found the back of the net on the international stage against Andorra last weekend.
Whilst Everton’s future is unclear and there is a huge amount of work to do to get the club back to where it needs to be competing for European spots in the top half of table, Gordon clearly has a bright future ahead of him and working with legendary Premier League midfielder turned manager Lampard, will surely only further his progression as they work together.
In other news: Left Everton in 2017, now worth £90m: Moshiri will have nightmares on “iconic figure”
Anil Kumble has accused Australia of not playing in the spirit of the game in a heated finish to a Test that continued the ill-feeling between the teams. After a match filled with controversy it was revealed the BCCI would request Steve Bucknor, the “incompetent” official, be replaced for the third Test in Perth while Kumble will review the pre-series catching agreement he had with Ricky Ponting, who aggressively defended his integrity.”Only one team was playing with the spirit of the game, that’s all I can say,” Kumble said after a day that included a horrible decision for Rahul Dravid and a claimed low, slip catch by Michael Clarke against Sourav Ganguly. The dismissal was sealed when Ponting told the umpire Mark Benson it was out, although television replays were, as usual, not conclusive.”We’d like to play hard on the field and expect that from Australia as well,” Kumble said. “I’ve played my cricket very sincerely and honestly, that’s the approach my team takes, and we expect that from Australia as well. Sometimes it happens that in the heat of the moment you take those chances and then probably don’t say anything on that. It’s a part of the game.”Australia’s sprint to victory with seven balls to spare was also overshadowed by the charges of racism tabled against Harbhajan Singh, a complaint which was raised on the field by Ponting, and an India team official was angry at the treatment towards the side during the 122-run defeat. India suffered heavily due to the poor umpiring and Chetan Chauhan, the India manager, believed they would not have lost if they had received 50% of the contentious calls.”The way the umpiring was, the team is agitated and upset,” he said. “A lot of decisions have gone against us. Of course a few went against the Australians also.”The crucial rulings involved Bucknor and Andrew Symonds, who was given not-out to a loud edge when he was 31 – he made 162 – and today he dismissed Dravid caught-behind when the ball flicked the batsman’s pad. “Had some of the decisions, I would say 50% of them, were received in our favour, the result would have been different,” Chauhan said. “It really affected us. We’re not saying this because we have lost the game. It was for everybody to see.”Bucknor and Mark Benson both had matches to forget and Bucknor is due to stand in Perth from January 16. However, Chauhan said the BCCI was lodging “a strong protest” with the ICC “so that some of the incompetent umpires do not umpire in the rest of the series”.The Indians were not the only ones fuming. Ponting reacted angrily when asked about his appeal for a catch against Mahendra Singh Dhoni that was ruled not out because the batsman did not hit it. The ball ballooned away from Ponting at silly point and he dived to make an athletic take, which sparked loud appeals, but replays seemed to show it touching the grass.”There’s no way I grounded that ball. If you’re actually questioning my integrity in the game, then you shouldn’t be standing there,” Ponting told an Indian journalist. “What I did in the first innings, doesn’t that explain the way I play the game?” Ponting told the umpires he had not accepted an edge cleanly despite the appeals from the players around him.”I’m saying I’m 100% sure I would have caught that catch off Dhoni,” Ponting said. “As it turned out it was given not out anyway, am I right or wrong?”Adam Gilchrist also took aim at criticism of Australia’s delay in closing their second innings today, shouting “How about that declaration, Tony Greig” while Ponting was conducting a radio interview. The Indian media also made an official complaint to the BCCI about what a journalist called the “humiliating” treatment from Ponting during an abbreviated press conference before he attended the hearing involving Harbhajan.Ponting believed there was nothing wrong with Australia’s on-field conduct during the match. “I have absolutely no doubt about this match being played in the right spirit,” he said. “There’s been one little issue that’s come out of the game, otherwise the spirit between both teams in both Tests has been excellent.” In Sydney Kumble and India disagreed.
Tante Merle was resurrected here yesterday, and Trinidad and Tobago’s cricketers kick-started Carnival celebrations with a tense, nerve-jangling victory in the KFC Cup final against the Windward Islands.In an absorbing duel in which fortunes repeatedly swung back and forth, the match was decided in the final over which the Windwards started requiring eight runs with just a solitary wicket in hand. By then, there had been so many twists and turns no one at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex dared to predict who would win.Desperate singles were scampered from the first two balls and a dot ball went into the scorebook from the next ball. As Ezekiel Francis and Mervyn Matthew tried to steal another single, Ravi Rampaul, on his follow-through, effected an under-arm run-out to give Trinidad and Tobago victory by five runs.It was a superb finish that brought back memories of that so-called Tante Merle match between Trinidad and Tobago and the Combined Islands that ended in a tie at the Queen’s Park Oval in 1975. This did not go down to the final ball, but the end was just as gripping and the exchanges throughout the day were fierce and competitive.Trinidad and Tobago have not lost a match in the shorter form of the game this season and you saw why. When their backs were to the wall, they fought brilliantly. When they were batting, they were 45 for 3, and later 118 for 5. To their credit they managed 210 for 8 from their 50 overs. When they fielded, they had the Windwards 82 without loss and later 188 for 7 with 23 runs needed from 26 balls. To dismiss the Windwards for 205 was a job well done.”This is a great victory,” said victorious skipper Daren Ganga. “Words cannot describe the sort of effort and fight we showed as a team. That is the character and quality of our team. We were pushed to the line and we responded well. I want to commend the guys. They played brilliantly. Everyone played his part.”Windwards’ victory charge was admirably led by Devon Smith, whose 81 was another impressive effort, and when there was a wobble in the middle of the innings, captain Rawl Lewis counter-attacked with 39 off 37 balls. When Rampaul spectacularly yorked Lewis to leave Windwards 188 for 8, Trinidad and Tobago put their noses ahead and prevailed in the end, leaving the Windwards ruing their missed opportunity.”I’m extremely disappointed. It’s hard enough to get to the final, but when you’re in a position like that and you lose, it’s very difficult to take,” Lewis said. “Experience played a big part in the end. You had more balls than runs, but the guys went for big shots.”Apart from Rampaul, three others played a big part in the Trinidad and Tobago defence of their total. Dave Mohammed claimed the first two wickets after the Windwards’ fine opening stand and added another in the penultimate over when Gary Mathurin missed a big swing and was bowled. Mohammed also took a splendid diving catch at backward point that prised out Smith.Kieron Pollard showed his value with the ball, grabbing three mid-innings wickets, and Sherwin Ganga slowed the Windwards’ advance with ten overs of mean offspin in which he conceded only 17 runs. It followed his vital 64 and he was the obvious Man-Of-The-Match.Yet again, it was predictable that the captain winning the toss would field, and Trinidad and Tobago, batting first for the first time in the tournament, struggled for the vast majority of their innings. For the second successive day, Deighton Butler was a handful with the new ball even if he was wicketless. His partner Mervyn Matthew bowled well to remove Adrian Barath and Daren Ganga. At the start, there was a bit of give in the surface and some sideways movement, but the track improved as the match progressed and it was the best of the three separate pitches presented for the semi-finals and final.Trinidad and Tobago owed a lot to Sherwin Ganga for getting them to a total they could work with. After they lost Lendl Simmons, Kieron Pollard and Denesh Ramdin, Ganga, with a mixture of responsibility and enterprise, stabilised things and later found key partners in Richard Kelly and Dave Mohammed.Ganga hit only two fours, but he also clouted two sixes, and his partnerships of 43 with Kelly, and 38 with Mohammed, were vital in the circumstances. Kelly was aggressive from the beginning, hitting 41 off 50 balls; Mohammed was just as attacking in his 19 off 29 balls.
The ICC has welcomed the decisions of the interim committee in charge of Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) to withdraw from its Test commitments until 2007, and to commission an independent investigation into allegations of financial mismanagement.The ICC President, Ehsan Mani, said that ZC had made the right decision in withdrawing from Tests in 2006. “Zimbabwe Cricket has taken a sensible step in withdrawing from its Test cricket commitments for the coming year.”The Zimbabwe team has demonstrated in recent series that it is not in a position to be competitive in Test cricket and its decision to withdraw from its commitments over the next 12 months helps protect the integrity of the international game.”During this period we will support Zimbabwe Cricket by encouraging other members to host and undertake tours that expose Zimbabwe’s elite cricketers to the longer form of the game.”We will closely monitor the performance and progress of the team and towards the end of the year we will work with Zimbabwe Cricket to determine the most appropriate course of action.”Mani also supported the interim committee’s decisions to investigate allegations of financial mismanagement and involve a players’ representative in its technical and player welfare committee.”We welcome the interim committee’s decision to commission an independent investigation into allegations of financial mismanagement,” Mani added. “The inclusion of a representative nominated by the Zimbabwe Professional Cricketers’ Association in the decision-making processes of the board is also a positive step towards ensuring that the views of the players are taken into account.”The decisions taken in Harare, on Wednesday, follows a meeting between the ICC and the chairman of the interim committee, Peter Chingoka, in Karachi last week. During this meeting a range of concerns were raised by Mani and the ICC chief executive, Malcolm Speed.Mani emphasised that there was still a lot of additional work to be done by the interim committee. “These developments address many of the concerns raised by the ICC in its meeting with Peter Chingoka, and in a subsequent letter to the interim committee, but there remain other issues that must be addressed and we will continue to monitor the progress of the interim board on a wide range of topics.”Zimbabwe’s next Test commitment was to have been a tour of West Indies that was due to commence in April. Related scheduling discussions between Zimbabwe, West Indies, the ICC and other members are already underway.
Tim Nielsen, the former South Australia wicketkeeper, will replace Bennett King as the head coach of the Cricket Academy in Brisbane. After working with the Australian team as an assistant and performance analyst since 2002, Nielsen has accepted the job and was excited by the prospect of leading the Australian Institute of Sport men’s program.”This is a tremendous opportunity and I am thrilled and excited at the challenge that lies ahead,” Nielsen said. “I have gained immeasurable experience working closely with the Australian side over the past few years and I am really looking forward to making a positive contribution to the players coming through the ranks of Australian cricket.”James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said Nielsen was chosen to fill the “particularly important” role following a rigorous selection process. “Through his experience as a player, assistant coach at state and national level, and his technical knowledge, Tim is well-equipped to head-up the men’s program,” he said. “This appointment is a key step forward for Tim in his coaching career, and his credentials will be especially valuable as we seek to keep our elite players and programs at the cutting edge of world cricket.”Neilsen joins a list including Rod Marsh and King, who left in October to guide West Indies, as the head of the Academy and will oversee the work of the senior coaches, John Harmer and Damien Fleming, and Stephen Jenkin, the AIS’s women’s head coach. Nielsen played 101 first-class games as a wicketkeeper-batsman and his 316 dismissals were a South Australia record.