The success of Glenn McGrath’s international return over the next two months will have a strong impact on who bats at No. 6 in the first Ashes Test, according to Ricky Ponting. McGrath leaves this week for his first action since withdrawing from the team in January with the team balance for the England series hinging on his lanky shoulders.If McGrath, 36, stutters through the Malaysian tri-series and the Champions Trophy Australia will seriously consider using the allrounder Shane Watson at No. 6 instead of the batting specialist Michael Clarke. With almost three months until the start of Ashes it seems to be the only position in question, although injuries and the form of McGrath after his wife’s battle with cancer will also be factors.”I don’t think there’s any doubt [a fifth bowling option] would help,” Ponting said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “We probably felt coming back from the last Ashes series that at times we were a bowler down, or that it would have been nice to have someone else to go to with the ball through that series.”I think that a lot of that No. 6 position could come down to how Glenn’s going at the time. If we’ve got Glenn, Brett [Lee], probably Stuey Clark and [Shane] Warney all bowling well, then there mightn’t be a greater need for another, unless it’s me or Damien Martyn rolling our arm over, but hopefully that doesn’t happen. It all depends on how Glenn comes along.”The Ashes lead-up will also include at least one Pura Cup game for every player – it could be more with an early exit at the Champions Trophy – and Ponting said the series would be thought about in Malaysia and India. “I don’t think one-day form as such counts for a lot as far as Test form goes, but if you’re out in the middle, hitting balls and scoring runs – or taking wickets and bowling the ball where you want to – it doesn’t matter what form of the game you are playing,” he told . “You can feel like you’ve got your game in pretty good order.”Ponting told the he still had aches and pains from the pre-season camp but said it was a huge success despite a knee injury to Stuart MacGill. “The one downside was that there might have been a couple of little niggles from it,” he told the paper. “Hopefully we can all get over that. The team is a lot closer and stronger now than it’s been for a long time as a result of that camp.”
Australia’s bold move to field five specialist bowlers in its first Testvictory over the West Indies could be short-lived depending onconditions in Trinidad for Saturday’s second Test.Selectors will wait for news on the wicket in Port of Spain beforedeciding if one of the bowlers used successfully in the nine-wicketvictory in Georgetown will be dropped for batsman Martin Love.Captain Steve Waugh wouldn’t be drawn into speculation on the likelyteam until the Australians arrived in Trinidad on Tuesday after spendingalmost two weeks in Georgetown.”We’ll have to wait and see what’s presented at Trinidad. I hear thewicket is going to be a bit of a turner so we’ll have to wait and see,”Waugh said.”[Five bowlers] worked pretty well but I’m not sure whether we’re goingto go back to four bowlers the next Test.”Pacemen Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee and Andrew Bichel and wrist spinnersStuart MacGill and Brad Hogg all claimed wickets on the lifeless Bourdapitch.The Australians, who enjoyed a rest day after winning the opening clashinside four days, expect a tougher battle in the second Test withWindies selectors likely to name vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan andbatsman Chris Gayle.The pair was absent from the first Test as the Windies battled adistracting lead-up with the sackings of captain Carl Hooper and coachRoger Harper.Recalled skipper Brian Lara, who was a controversial appointment, wasbooed by some spectators despite his excellent century in the secondinnings amid claims the Windies weren’t a harmonious team.Acting coach Gus Logie said Lara had the full support of his players.”There has been a lot of dissension in and around the camp. We aretrying to make sure that is deleted as much as possible,” Logie said.”At this point of time it’s very difficult to change techniques.”We are trying to change the attitude – an attitude that says: ‘I wantto play for West Indies, I am committed to play for West Indies’.”West Indies cricket means a lot to us and the players have expressed adesire to do that.”They are quite willing, they have contributed to team meetings, morethan previous times from my understanding.”
Adam Gilchrist has said that the Australian team will not work around Shane Warne’s attempt to break Muttiah Muralitharan’s Test record. With barely 24 hours to go for the start of the first Test against Sri Lanka at Darwin, Gilchrist, standing-in as captain for Ricky Ponting, said that focusing on the individual wasn’t the Australian way and that he’d be surprised if Warne disagreed with the stand.Muralitharan withdrew from the tour, leaving Warne with a tangible chance of reaching and overtaking Murali’s Test record of 527 wickets. But Gilchrist’s comments indicated that Warne would have to make the most of the opportunities he gets. He made a reference to Brian Lara’s recent record-busting effort and spoke about how it differed from Matthew Hayden’s 380 against Zimbabwe last year.”Ricky’s stated that very strongly around the time that Brian Lara went on to get that batting world record,” Gilchrist said in a press conference, referring to Ponting’s disapproval of the length of Lara’s innings. “It’s just not the way we play. Matty Hayden got that opportunity against Zimababwe some months ago as a result of the way we were playing – that is, because he batted so aggressively that he got it within five sessions.”So if you can achieve these personal milestones within our game plan then so be it,” Gilchrist added. “Warney is talented enough to do it, but I think it’s more about thinking about our process, getting that right towards winning the game, what will come with that is individual success and Shane is obviously paramount to us achieving that success.”Warne achieved phenomenal success on his return to international cricket after his 12-month drug ban, with a 26-wicket haul against Sri Lanka in three Tests. But a cancelled Test series against a feeble Zimbabwean side left him cold and short of Muralitharan’s mark, while Murali added considerably to his tally in Zimbabwe.
So when is Steve Waugh retiring? Not anytime soon, going by his latest comments. In an interview with Reader’s Digest, Waugh said that he still has a lot of cricket left in him."I know I’m 38 now," said Waugh, "but cricket-wise I feel like I’m 20. I can learn. I think I can improve. I don’t dwell on what I have done — it’s what I haven’t done."For a long time now, Waugh’s career has seemed to be winding down. He was dropped from Australia’s one-day team in the beginning of 2002 and was ignored for the World Cup. In the last Australian summer, there were even calls to drop him from the Test team but he silenced his critics with his 29th Test century — equalling Don Bradman’s record — in a memorable final Test against England.The selectors persisted with him for the West Indies tour and Waugh justified the faith reposed in him with another century as he led the way to a 3-1 victory in the Caribbeans. But at 38, is he too old to go on?”I don’t think age should be a factor in anything," Waugh said. "If you’re doing the job and you’re good at it and you’ve acquired all that experience over the years, it seems strange to say: ‘let’s get rid of this bloke and the start the process all over again’. As long as you’re competitive and fit, age has nothing to do with it."Waugh said that he was training harder on his fitness than ever before. Bangladesh, look out.
South Africa clinched the three-match one-day series against Zimbabwe withan easy 148-run victory in the second one-day international at Harare SportsClub.A good team effort, helped by some rather spineless Zimbabwe batting,gave them a two-nil lead, with the final match to be played tomorrow at thesame venue.It was another hot sunny day, and the pitch looked good enough for SouthAfrica to decide to bat on winning the toss, although one end had noticeablymore grass than the other. Situated on the other side of the square fromthe Test pitches, it yielded a little more pace.Zimbabwe made two changes to their team from Bulawayo. Captain HeathStreak, who had been nursing a back injury in the first match and paid theprice, had to withdraw and Guy Whittall took over the leadership. Streakwas replaced by the accurate medium-pacer Gary Brent, while Stuart Carlislecame in for Craig Wishart, who was ill. South Africa retained their winningteam.Travis Friend, bowling from the clubhouse end of the ground into the grassyend of the pitch, extracted some unusual bounce in his first over, but itdidn’t stop Gary Kirsten and Gibbs taking 12 from it, including a wide thatbounced above head-height and a hooked six by Gibbs.Gary Brent began withimpressive movement and accuracy, but Friend broke through with the wicketof Kirsten (10), who was surprised by the extra bounce and got a leadingedge that yielded a lobbed catch taken by the bowler himself.Gibbs and Jacques Kallis were determined to dominate and played someoutstanding strokes, although Kallis was missed off a hard chance to thirdman. He had scored 26 when Paul Strang came on to bowl, and immediatelychopped the first ball on to his stumps; South Africa 89 for two in the 17thover.It took an outstanding catch to remove Gibbs (69 off 77 balls), as Whittalldived full-length at midwicket to hold a low flick off his toes off adelivery from Strang; South Africa were 133 for three.Brent had retired with the honourable figures of 26 runs in eight overs; nowickets, but his accuracy might well have contributed to those at the otherend. Whittall replaced him to bowl with similar economy until Jonty Rhodesgot hold of him. He should have had Rhodes caught on the boundary, but itbounced off Alistair Campbell’s hands and went for six.Rhodes added 79 with McKenzie, reaching his fifty off 36 balls, before thelatter pulled Grant Flower straight to Mluleki Nkala on the midwicketboundary to depart for 40 in the 38th over. Rhodes (56) soon followed tothe same bowler, top-edging a sweep to be superbly caught by the divingStrang at fine leg.Flower did a fine restraining job, and medium-pacers Brent and Whittall werewisely given the final four overs. Pollock (15) fell to Whittall in similarmanner to McKenzie and then Klusener off the final delivery for 34. Theyfinished with 272 for seven wickets.Zimbabwe sprang a surprise by sending Strang in to open with Campbell,Ebrahim dropping to the middle-order position he finds more natural.Strang, in his unorthodox style, got after the bowling to score 19 out of 38before edging a catch to the keeper off Pollock.Masakadza (0) followed almost immediately, run out for the second timeagainst South Africa through inexperience, ambling through for a leg-bye andsurprised to be thrown out by Kallis at the bowler’s end.Campbell (21)then drove Kallis to mid-off; Makhaya Ntini, with a disappointing tour todate, caused Andy Flower (2) to chop a ball on to his stumps, and Zimbabwewere on their way out of the match at 50 for four.Stuart Carlisle and Grant Flower had to undertake a damage limitationexercise. Carlisle (31) played the more confidently of the two, but abrilliant diving catch far to his right by wicket-keeper Mark Boucherremoved him in the 25th over and left Zimbabwe needing a miracle at 94 forfive.It did not happen. Mutual hesitation with Ebrahim in the middle of a quicksingle led to the run-out of Flower for 20, while Whittall (0) tried to hitClaude Henderson against the spin to be caught in the gully. Ebrahim (15)was caught at slip off Henderson as Zimbabwe subsided peacefully for 124without much fight.
Some big Newcastle United team news has been dropped involving Ryan Fraser ahead of their game at Brentford in the Premier League this afternoon.
The Lowdown: Injury scare
The 28-year-old suffered an injury scare late on in the 1-1 draw at West Ham United last week, having to be substituted for Miguel Almiron with just over 10 minutes left in the match.
Eddie Howe has since revealed that the Scotland international missed the early part of training in preparation for the clash against the Bees, but also commented on whether the winger will be fit enough to play.
The Latest: Fraser OK for Brentford clash
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the fixture, Howe has now confirmed (via Jordan Cronin) that Fraser ‘will be OK’, while he also gave updates on the fitness of five other players in his squad.
A ‘late call’ will be made on Allan Saint-Maximin, while Javier Manquillo is ‘getting closer’ to full fitness, but Callum Wilson, Kieran Trippier and Matt Ritchie all miss out once more.
The Verdict: Big news
If Saint-Maximin is declared unavailable for the match, then it is certainly a big plus to have another winger in Fraser fit enough to play.
Coupled with his one goal and one assist in the top flight so far this season, the former Bournemouth ace ranks fourth out of his Newcastle team-mates in terms of crosses per match (1.2). That is something from which Chris Wood should be able to thrive, as he wins far more aerial duels per game (10.2) than any Magpies player.
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Howe will surely want a threat out wide if Saint-Maximin is absent, and Fraser would certainly provide that if he features in west London today.
In other news, NUFC are now ahead in terms of talks to sign this ‘phenomenal’ Ligue 1 star
Mahela Jayawardene acknowledged Bangladesh’s growing one-day prowess but warned that his team was determined to win the three-match series starting at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo on Friday at any cost.”We always respected Bangladesh whenever we played them in Test or ODIs, especially in ODIs where they can be a handful. They’ve shown that when we played them in Bangladesh. They beat us once,” Jayawardene said.”You can’t take the eye off the ball when you play them. We just have to make sure we play the best cricket possible and be consistent about our all round performance. The main thing is to win the series. It doesn’t matter how you win it,” he said.For this series Sri Lanka has rested Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan who have captured nearly 700 one-day wickets between them. Jayawardene said: “It’s a good opportunity for the others without Vaas and Murali. That’s how we look at it. Both of them have been great campaigners for us. What we try to do is try to manage them and give exposure to the other players.”Their absence is not going to put too much pressure on the rest of the bowlers. The amount of cricket guys like (Farveez) Maharoof, Dilhara (Fernando), Lasith (Malinga) and (Malinga) Bandara have played they know what it is all about. It’s a healthy atmosphere and competition that we’ve got,” Jayawardene said.”In the recent past I haven’t thrown the ball to Murali and Vaas at all because I know that guys like Lasith and Dilhara have picked up wickets whenever I had thrown the ball to them. It’s not a big issue for us.”The return of Sanath Jayasuriya, the most capped one-day cricketer, adds considerable strength to the batting. “Sanath is fresh and wants to play one-day cricket again. He has played well for Lancashire and he had some really good games. He is looking forward to the opportunity,” Jayawardene said.Sri Lanka delayed finalising their eleven because three of the players (Jayasuriya, Jehan Mubarak and Chamara Kapugedera) arrived from England only on Tuesday.Bangladesh, meanwhile, remain wary of playing the World Cup runners up, at home to boot. Shaun Williams, the coach, said: “If we are to beat Sri Lanka we need to play better than we did against them in the Test series.”We have quite a few new players who have come into the one-day team and one of them is Aftab Ahmed who played a fabulous knock to steer us to victory in the practice game on Wednesday,” Williams said.”We are confident of putting up a better performance. To do that our batting must click. I was disappointed with our top order in the practice match with the exception of Tamim Iqbal when we lost half the side for 100. But we showed we had the batting depth and we didn’t panic with Aftab leading the way at six,” he said.Aftab, who hit a run-a-ball 91in Bangladesh’s three-wicket win, will continue to bat at the same position. The second and third ODIs will be played at the R Premadasa Stadium on July 23 and 25.Sri Lanka (from): Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Chamara Silva, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, Jehan Mubarak, Farveez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga, Malinga Bandara, Nuwan Kulasekera, Upul ChandanaBangladesh: Shariar Nafees, Tamim Iqbal, Thushar Imran, Mohammad Ashraful (capt), Shakib al Hassan, Aftab Ahmed, Mushfiqur Rahim, Farhad Reza, Mashrafe Mortaza, Syed Rasel, Abdur Razzak
A superb spell of 6 for 65 from Dimitri Mascarenhas blew away Yorkshire for 195 on the first day against Hampshire at Southampton. Craig White, the Yorkshire captain, was the first to go when Chris Tremlett snuck one through his defence; thereafter it was the Mascarenhas massacre. From 105 for 3 Yorkshire fell to 138 for 7, all wickets falling to Mascarenhas. And though Jason Gillespie played a cheeky cameo, Tremlett mopped up the tail. Gillespie removed James Adams for 29 in Hampshire’s reply, but Michael Carberry (81 not out) led a confident response by the home side, who now trail by just 64 runs.Middlesex were put to the sword by Dale Benkenstein and Gareth Breese, both of whom struck solid hundreds for Durham, on the first day at Lord’s. Jimmy Maher (46) and Gordon Muchall, who spanked a quick-fire 68, put on 104 for the second wicket but Middlesex fought back, leaving Durham wobbling on 131 for 4. Benkenstein and Breese then took over with great authority, putting on 222 for the fifth wicket. Despite Benkenstein (125) falling with Durham on double Nelson, the visitors took the first days’ honours, going to stumps on 379 for 6.David Hussey continued his fine form this season with a superb150, his second successive hundred in Championship matches, as Nottinghamshire amassed 397 in just 98 overs on the first day against Lancashire at Nottingham. The visitors had Notts in all sorts of trouble at 107 for 5 with Dominic Cork and Tom Smith cutting through the top order. Hussey refused to be dictated to, however, and in just 177 balls he smashed 150 with 22 fours and a six. He was indebted to Mark Ealham (83) who stuck with him for three hours, and together the pair put on 226 for the sixth wicket to hand the momentum back to Nottinghamshire.
Division Two
On a brisk-scoring opening day at the picturesque ground of Queen’s Park, Derbyshire romped to 351 all out against Worcestershire. After losing two early wickets, Chris Taylor fought back with a quick 40 but it was left to Ant Botha at No.6 to really stabilise Derbyshire’s innings with a fine 87. But after demolishing Gloucestershire last week, Matt Mason was again in fine form for Worcestershire, never letting Derbyshire get away. He ended with the superb figures of 5 for 49.Two magnificent hundreds from Michael Powell and David Hemp put Glamorgan well on top against Gloucestershire on the first day at Cheltenham. Brendon McCullum, playing his last game for Gloucestershire, retired after seven balls when he was hit on the hand by Steve Kirby, which effectively left Glamorgan 27 for 2. But with an attack missing their captain and most accurate bowler, Jon Lewis, Gloucestershire struggled all day as Mike Powell (176 not out) belted the bowling to all parts. It was his third hundred in ten days, and he also passed the milestone of 1000 runs in the season. Hemp fell in the second over after tea, but Glamorgan were handily placed at 346 for 2 going into the second day.Northamptonshire raced to 406 for 4 on a sublime batting track against Essex on the first day at Northampton, thanks to contrasting hundreds from Stephen Peters (178) and David Sales (129 not out). Peters played magnificently, guiding 27 fours in a 277-ball innings lasting just short of six hours. He was joined by his captain, Sales, at the fall of Sourav Ganguly’s wicket, who made just 9, and immediately took charge. While Peters was happy to play the anchor role, Sales was characteristically aggressive, launching three big sixes. Together the pair put on 212 before Peters was fourth man out for 178.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul On his team’s performance I must say well done to the young guys who went out and played this game. Probably no one would have expected them to come out and play the sort of cricket they played. In the first innings we were doing well and had them on the ropes but let them off the hook. We just didn’t have the killer instinct to take the game awayfrom them. We relaxed a bit and let them back into the game.On the forthcoming second Test We have a few days now to go and prepare and practice against those balls swing back [from Chaminda Vaas]. Murali and Vaas are two world class bowlers and you would expect them to do well. We just have to look at ways to go about playing them.Bennett KingOn the team’s overall performance I am disappointed that we didn’t come away with a win there. We played very well initially and set up what should have been a positive result for us. But it is very hard to win a cricket match when five of your top six score 11 runs. They are certainly better players than that.On the threat posed by Chaminda VaasIt was quite dark and the ball swung around during that period probably more than at any other time of the match. But these guys have played against left-armers that swing the ball back in the Cariibeaan and at this level I would expect them to be good at it. We knew it was coming and we practiced it, but when they went out they moved too early.On the performance of the bowlersThe bowlers did enough to make them uncomfortable for long periods of time on what was a very flat track. We got through their top order pretty well, although we let them off the hook when their No 9 and 10 got runs. I was disappointed because we didn’t have the petrol in the tank to execute our plans. Then, again, in the secondinnings, we got to a position where we ran out of gas again.Marvan Atapattu On playing a weakened West Indies team They had a nothing to lose going in as there was only one side expected to win. People might have expected us to just run through but that does not always happen in cricket. Actually, to have a win after playing for four innings was more pleasing than just playing one innings and getting them out twice. Their batters are findingit a bit tougher than their bowlers. They have a good attack and in the first innings were very disciplined, bowling a good length and line which got us in a bit of bother.On Jayawardene and Samaraweera’s winning stand We were 49 for 3 and under pressure, but both of them batted brilliantly and took responsibility for winning the game. We want to have all our batting going a bit better in the next game.On the thinking behind the inclusion of Gayan Wijekoon We wanted to groom a youngster as an allrounder, especially with this new rule coming up in one-day internationals, and we wanted to have a seamer in the No 7 or No 8 slot that can bat a bit..On Murali’s performance He was a bit worried I would say after the first innings. After bowling 30 overs he rarely ends up getting just one wicket. But he bowled a better line in the second innings and the pitch was a deteriorating a bit which helped his cause. He is back to being the normal Muralitharan.
Australia’s back-to-form fast bowler Glenn McGrath has said that he will be targeting Sanath Jayasuriya’s wicket when Sri Lanka begin their chase for 312 on the third day of the first Test at the Marrara Oval tomorrow.McGrath roared back with 5 for 37 to knock Sri Lanka over for a paltry 97, and he is looking forward to repeating that performance in the second innings.”Their top three is probably their key – Atapattu, Jayasuriya and Sangakkara,” said McGrath. “We will be trying to make early inroads in there. Jayasuriya is always a big key to their batting line-up. He is probably the guy I’d target before the series. I want to get on top of him and knock him over a few times. If I can do that we could be well on our way to winning the series.”McGrath said he didn’t think the pitch would improve or change that much from its present condition overnight, and that it would be a big ask for Sri Lanka to score 312 – over 100 more than Australia managed in either innings – on it.”I think there will still be something on it with the new ball if you keep bowling in the right areas,” he explained. “It is still hard to score runs. It is a little bit slow and the ball is not coming off it. It’s hard work for the batsmen out in the middle with the new and the old ball. To win this match Sri Lanka’s got to bat very well.”Turning to Australia’s bowling, McGrath said: “We bowled pretty much to our plans on a wicket that is giving a little bit of assistance to the bowlers. We put enough pressure on them, put balls in the right area, and held our catches to knock ’em over for 97. It would be nice to do something similar in the second innings.”And he went on: “It is good to see a pitch being of some assistance for the bowlers. I think wickets around the world are getting good to bat on. When a side scores 400 runs in a day nobody says the wickets are not good for the bowlers. I don’t think many bowlers would be disappointed bowling on that kind of pitch.”McGrath said that he never doubted that he would regain fitness, and was confident that he could make a comeback from his ankle injury – although he admitted that at one point during the four-day warm-up game that preceded this Test he had seriously thought of retiring after he bowled disappointingly in the first innings. He said that it was his team-mate Justin Langer who got him thinking, when he told him that you don’t think of retirement until you hit rock-bottom.McGrath said that his comeback performance was inspired by the fact that he was only a few wickets away from passing fast bowlers Sir Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev’s individual records. “To get those five wickets and go past two legends of the game is a pretty big bonus to get my confidence back for the match,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for more.”Kumar SangakkaraSri Lanka’s wicketkeeper/batsman Kumar Sangakkara had a good day behind the stumps at Darwin, taking four catches and pulling off a run-out in the Australian second innings of 201. But he admitted that it was a big challenge for Sri Lanka to chase 312 and win the Test.”When you look at the totals the two teams have got on this track it’s not been high. It’s going to be a challenge and most of the guys are looking forward to it,” he said. “They all want to do well. Basically we want to do what we do best. See the new ball off and then play your own game. Be positive and play to win. The pitch is very hard to read. It is better to go and see what it does and play accordingly. It is drier than it was yesterday. The pacies have got a little bit more bounce, but the movement’s been the same. It is up to us now to get the total.”Turning to his persona;l performance, Sangakkara said: “It’s always nice to take some catches. I felt good. It was one of my best days, taking four catches in an innings. It’s always good to have a chat with Ian Healy. who is an all-time great wicketkeeper. Ian spoke to me in Zimbabwe and in Morocco. He told me to keep it very simple and very basic. I have taken the best out of what he has told me.”