Australia’s injury problems deepened on Wednesday morning as Brett Lee’sankle injury flared up again after a training session the previous day. Tomake matters worse, Michael Kasprowicz also suffered a sprained shoulderinjury which prevented him from bowling again in Sri Lanka’s first innings.Lee had initially injured his left ankle during Australia’s practice matchlast week. X-rays revealed no structural damage and Australia hadbeen hopeful that he would be fit in time for the secondTest in Kandy next week. But post-training soreness forced the teammanagement to send him home.”Brett [Lee] is suffering from inflammation at the back of his ankle joint,”said Kontouri. “As a result we felt it was prudent for him to be seen bydoctors in Australia, rather than remain on tour where it is now apparentthat his condition is not improving.” Lee will have his ankle checked by Dr Martin Sullivan, a foot specialist.”Initially I felt pretty good after the training session but once the painreturned I knew I was in trouble,” Lee said in a statement. “I amreally disappointed. I guess it’s back to square one now to rectify theproblem. That’s tough but I need to be as positive as possible to get backas soon as possible.”Lee’s withdrawal paves the way for a possible return of Glen McGrath.McGrath failed to convince the selectors of his form or fitness when theTest squad was initially selected but he has now returned to first-classcricket and claimed he is ready to return to the national team.Kasprowicz, meanwhile, sprained his shoulder after colliding with a ball boyjust before close of play on the second day. Kasprowicz did not appear to haveinjured himself at the time but he suffered pain in his right shoulderafterwards and the team management decided not to risk further aggravation.
The in-form XXXX Queensland Bulls will know tomorrow whether they willfinally gain the services of fast bowler Ashley Noffke for Friday’s INGCup day/nighter against Victoria at the Gabba.Noffke has been on the verge of making his return from a broken rightindex finger for the past two weeks but has been ruled out prior to thepast two ING matches, which have resulted in handsome victories for theBulls.The right-arm quick made a comeback in Brisbane First Grade cricket onthe weekend, taking 1-31, and bowled in two separate sessions today.He will face a final check tomorrow at Queensland’s last session beforethe match.If Noffke is not given the all-clear to return, the Bulls will field thesame side that demolished the Bushrangers on Australia Day in Ballarat,dismissing them for 65 and claiming a 10-wicket win.The Bulls (22 points) currently lead the ING table, two points clear ofsecond-placed Tasmania (20 pts) with Western Australia (17 pts) and NSW(15 pts) bringing up the rear.Friday’s day/nighter will be the Bulls’ final home ING Cup match, withtheir remaining two matches against the Redbacks in Adelaide on SaturdayFebruary 8 and the Tasmanian Tigers in Hobart on Saturday February 15.The leading two teams will play in the Final on Sunday February 23, withthe top side earning the right to host the Final. The Bulls hosted lastyear’s Final that was won by NSW.Bulls pace bowler Michael Kasprowicz needs two more wickets to becomeQueensland’s all-time leading wicket-taker in the ING Cup.Kasprowicz (66 wickets) trails former Queensland allrounder ScottPrestwidge (67 wickets) on the all-time domestic limited overs list.XXXX Queensland Bulls v Victorian Bushrangers, ING Cup, Gabba, Friday,2.30pm start: Martin Love (c), Daniel Payne, Lee Carseldine, ClintonPerren, Stuart Law, Brendan Nash, James Hopes, Wade Seccombe, NathanHauritz, Michael Kasprowicz, Scott Brant, Damien MacKenzie, AshleyNoffke. (one to be omitted).
In a follow up to the betting and match-fixing scandal, the CBI hasdecided to provide further assistance to the International CricketCouncil to unravel the entire ramifications of the menace.A CBI team, which was recently in London, met the Anti-Corruption headof the world cricket body, Paul Condon, and discussed “certain thingsof mutual interest,” official sources said in New Delhi today. Theysaid the ICC has shown great interest in “picking up the threads” fromthe CBI investigations in the case of nine foreign players named byvarious Indian bookies.The CBI, in its 162-page report had named nine foreign players, whohad either been named or had allegedly accepted money from Indianbookies. The agency had clarified in the report that the probe againstthe foriegn players could not be completed as it was beyond itsjurisdiction.The sources said the ICC had assured the CBI that almost all cricketboards of the countries, whose players have been named in the report,were probing the role of these players at their end and the worldcricket body was constantly monitoring the developments.The CBI also shared some more information about the bookies questionedby it during the six-month long investigations into the case, thesources said.The ICC has sought addresses and telephone numbers of some Mumbaibased bookies which the agency has agreed to provide, the sourcessaid.In particular, the ICC has asked about the addresses of two Mumbaibased bookies, who have allegedly been involved with cricketers ofPakistan and Sri Lanka, the sources added.The ICC has also furnished to the CBI some names, which have come upduring the apex cricket body’s probe into the scandal, for locatingtheir whereabouts and the agency has assured necessary help in thecase, the sources said.They said the probe could be completed only with assistance from theinternational organisations like ICC and other countries. The sourcessaid that sleuths of Special Crime Branch had made some headway intothe investigations into the nexus and preliminary reports indicatedthat some bookies were acting at the behest of underworld mafia infixing cricket matches. They said the accounts and other importantbooks of bookies had been scrutinised but added this was a wide areaand needed a detailed investigation before fixing responsibilities.
The last few weeks haven’t all been smooth sailing, but Arsenal are now going to be top of the Premier League table for Christmas.
Mikel Arteta’s side had the challenging task of playing Everton at their new Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday night, a task made all the more difficult by Manchester City’s comfortable win over West Ham United earlier in the day.
However, while it wasn’t necessarily easy, the Gunners did come away with all three points, and deservedly so.
Moreover, while it wasn’t a vintage performance, there were a few starters who made their mark on the game, including one who was even better than Bukayo Saka.
Arsenal's standout stars vs Everton
Starting at the back, it was a good night for David Raya.
Now, the Spaniard only had to make one save in the game, but his performance was so impressive for two other reasons.
Firstly, he commanded his area masterfully, making five high claims in the match and coming out on top both times he ran out of the penalty area.
Second, the former Brentford star completed seven long balls throughout the game, and had the forwards been a little more on their game, those could have led to more chances.
Moving into the defence, and once again, Jurrien Timber is coming away from a game looking like one of the best signings Arteta has ever made.
The Dutchman was solid as a rock at the back, and combined with Saka on more than one occasion, ending the game having completed 44 passes and 100% of his dribbles.
Speaking of Saka, the Hale End star was, as he usually is, undoubtedly the Gunners’ best attacker.
He might not have scored, but the 24-year-old was a constant threat on the right-hand side and on more than one occasion moved over to the left to help out there.
By the end of the game, the winger had taken four shots, completed four of six dribbles, played one key pass, won seven of 11 ground duels, and generally looked every bit the attacking talisman he is.
However, as sensational as Saka was, one of his teammates did just about outperform him.
The Arsenal star who outshone Saka vs Everton
The good news for Arteta and Arsenal fans is that at least a few other starters put in reasonable performances.
Chalkboard
Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.
Viktor Gyokeres, for example, might still not be offering as much as some would like, but he did get his goal, and aside from the potential penalty shout, William Saliba had another stellar game at the back.
However, there was only one player in red and white who managed to just about outperform Saka on Tuesday night: Declan Rice.
Yes, the all-action midfield monster was just that on Merseyside, playing a role in all phases of play and looking every bit the £105m man he is.
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One moment, the “world-class” machine, as dubbed by journalist Tom Marshall-Bailey, was helping Martin Zubimendi protect that backline by winning the ball, and the next, he was marauding with it up the pitch and creating a chance for the team.
It was a brilliant display from the Englishman and one that more than justified David Moyes’ post-match claim that he’s “probably the best midfield player in the world” and the 8/10 match rating he received from the Standard’s Matt Verri.
Unsurprisingly, the former West Ham United captain’s statistics more than back up the praise.
Rice vs Everton
Minutes
96′
Touches
116
Accurate Passes
87/97
Key Passes
2
Big Chances Created
1
Shots
1
Tackles (Won)
3 (2)
Interceptions
3
Clearances
4
Recoveries
10
Ground Duels (Won)
6 (4)
Aerial Duels (Won)
3 (3)
Dribbled Past
0
All Stats via Sofascore
In his 96 minutes of action, he created one big chance, played two key passes, completed 87 of 97 passes, made three interceptions and four clearances, took one shot and 116 touches and won seven of nine duels.
Ultimately, the scoreline might have been a little close for comfort, but Arsenal were most certainly the better team against Everton, and Rice was their best player.
Bad news for Nwaneri: Arsenal have already agreed to sign their next Dowman
Nwaneri could have some serious competition for game time at Arsenal in the future.
The Pakistan board is set to send a formal proposal to the South Africa board for a three-Test match series to be played after the Champions Trophy in September, as it continues its push to fill up an empty international calendar. After Australia withdrew from their tour of Pakistan for March-April, the PCB has convinced Bangladesh to play a five-match ODI series and has a host of other commitments in the pipeline, but still a hole remains in their Future Tours Programme (FTP), especially with regards to Test matches.”We have had a verbal communication with them [South Africa] over a possible Test series and their response is encouraging,” Shafqat Naghmi, PCB’s Chief Operating Officer, told The News. The proposed series will be an arrangement outside the FTP.”Our first priority is to host the South Africans for the proposed Test series in October but if because of any reason they cannot visit then we will be willing to send our team to South Africa.”Naghmi said that the PCB scanned the FTP and tour commitments of the top Test-playing nations and found that South Africa were the only leading side that had a window big enough in their FTP to fit in a Test series. According to the FTP South Africa finish a tour of England in September, visit Pakistan for the Champions Trophy in the same month and are scheduled to host Bangladesh in November. South Africa toured Pakistan in October 2007, winning both the Test and ODI series.Australia’s pull out, due to security fears, meant Pakistan were left with only three Tests (against India) in 2008. Australia were scheduled to play three Tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 International. The PCB could not persuade India to visit for a one-day series and their plan to host Sri Lanka is likely to be jeopardised by the Indian Premier League.
Naved Latif and Sohail Tanvir struck centuries to complement Misbah-ul-Haq’s 175 and propelled Punjab to an imposing 576 for 9 declared on the second day at the National Stadium in Karachi. At stumps, Sind had moved on to 155 for 3, still trailing by 421 runs in the first innings.Punjab began the second day on 346 for 4 with captain Misbah on 157 and Latif on 54. Misbah, on 175, was the first wicket to fall with the score on 377. Latif was joined by Tanvir and together they added 106 for the sixth wicket. Latif was finally caught off Tahir Khan for 114.Tanvir marshaled the tail superbly and added another 93 runs with the last three batsmen. He finished on an unbeaten 124 and boosted Punjab to 576 for 9 before the declaration came. Anwar Ali was Sindh’s best bowler with 6 for 137 in 32 overs.Imran Farhat led Habib Bank Limited’s strong reply after Khan Research Laboratories were dismissed for 374 on the second day at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex. Farhat remained unbeaten on 109 at stumps as HBL finished on 204 for 3 at stumps.KRL were 277 for 5 overnight with Mohammad Wasim and Zulfiqar Jan at the crease. Both batsman got off to starts failed to convert them as Wasim fell for 40 and Jan for 42. Abdur Rauf stuck around for 46 and rallied with the tail to reach 374. Abdur Rehman was HBL’s most successful bowler with 4 for 110.Farhat gave HBL a superb start to their first innings as he formed the mainstay of a first-wicket stand of 94 with Taufeeq Umar. Saeed Amjal gave KRL two quick wickets but Hasan Raza and Farhat added another 68 for the third wicket. Aftab Alam and Farhat steered HBL to 204 for 3, still 170 adrift with seven wickets in hand.
It swung one way, then the other, then back again only to be further prodded and nudged back and forth on an intriguing first day at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy. Every moment one side sensed an advantage, the other seized it back and as play came to an end, it settled neither here nor there. Mohammad Asif’s first five-wicket haul, backed by Danish Kaneria’s wiles, was cancelled out by another stirring hand from Kumar Sangakkara and some Thilan Samaraweera stodge and meant neither side would be too ecstatic or too despondent at the close with Sri Lanka 267 for 8.It would be cute to suggest that Asif swung the match Pakistan’s way in the morning, but it wasn’t so much swing he relied on as seam. Asif bowled as if on a different pitch, with a different ball to different batsmen than his medium-pace partners, Umar Gul and Rao Iftikhar Anjum. His 12-over spell, unchanged and five minutes short of two hours, was similar to that of a spinner’s in its duration, perseverance and probing. The speed gun betrayed tiredness, possibly from an increased burden, but luckily for him speed guns don’t measure movement and cut, the real currency of his bowling. That remained and by the time he finished, it was too late already for Upul Tharanga, Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene.The first innings of Jayasuriya’s last Test promised, with an upper-cut boundary, a pulled six and a dropped catch, all the ingredients for a gargantuan special. Asif disagreed, cleaning him up with one that nipped back subtly but sharply. Tharanga had already fallen by then and when Jayawardene, beaten thoroughly just before, was finally good enough to touch one but only to slip, Sri Lanka were 61 for 3; not in as much trouble as in Colombo, but in strife nonetheless.The first shift in balance came with Sangakkara and compared to much of last week’s century, this innings was luminescent throughout. Rao might have thought, after a maiden debut over, that Test cricket wasn’t such a difficult thing but as Sangakkara took three boundaries off his next over, he understood otherwise. One more arrived in his next over, on one knee, as Sangakkara began numerically on 0 but mentally on the 185 from Colombo.Sangakkara glided through the morning untroubled, picking on Rao and Umar Gul for his many boundaries and smartly leaving Asif alone. With the firm belief that the knee has been given to him to rest on while driving, Sangakkara scored between third man and straight relentlessly. Three overs after lunch, with his 10th boundary, he brought up a stirring 20th fifty. Two overs later, as Pakistan’s medium-pacers toiled to make any impression in the afternoon sun, he hit his first boundaries on the leg side, and that too only marginally, driving an errant Gul just past mid-on.At that stage, Sri Lanka were coasting and Thilan Samaraweera was more than just propping up. He had been lucky not to edge his first ball before lunch, even luckier that it didn’t clip his off-stump but survived with typical adhesiveness. After that, he picked up the pace as both Rao and Abdul Razzaq struggled to emulate Asif. He announced his intentions with a punched boundary off the back foot and soon after, as the fifty partnership with Sangakkara was registered, Sri Lanka were scoring at four an over since the break.Immediately after the drinks break in the afternoon, the balance tipping in favour of the hosts as Samaraweera clipped Rao through midwicket and then drove straight for four, Kaneria finally emerged and, fittingly, another twist. His results were both immediate – Sangakkara fell third ball of the over to end a valuable 81-run stand – and more embedded, as he tied up Sri Lanka’s scoring over the afternoon. Tillakaratne Dilshan survived Asif’s cut and, on 22, soon after tea, was suggesting pugnaciously, another counter thrust to match that in Colombo.But in the third over after tea, Kaneria, who had been scheming away, struck with a ball that many choose to cut for four; short, wide and spinning wider, Dilshan chose to edge it to Kamran Akmal. Farveez Maharoof fell soon after to a Kaneria googly, unlucky and unsure as to whether he was leg-before or caught off his forearm. With Gul finally providing worthy support at the other end, Pakistan tightened their grip. Imran Farhat unfortunately didn’t do likewise around a chance Malinga Bandara offered at gully when he hadn’t scored and considering it was the second chance he had spilled off Gul – the first was Jayasuriya – a soft drink might await the lanky Pathan, courtesy the stocky Lahori.Samaraweera was still jealously guarding one end although having brought up his 13th fifty in over three hours and from 123 balls, he was nudging, rather than yanking the balance away from Pakistan. Bandara, reprieved further in a close run-out call, was providing a comic lower-order cameo until the new ball arrived, bringing the tireless Asif and a final shift in the day’s fortunes. Samaraweera was bowled in the first over and Bandara provided Asif with his first bowling landmark. That Asif and Kaneria shared the wickets won’t have escaped the attentions of Maharoof and Muttiah Muralitharan.How they were outUpul Tharanga c Younis b Asif 10 (18-1) Sanath Jayasuriya b Asif 14 (27-2) Mahela Jayawardene c Farhat b Asif 4 (61-3) Kumar Sangakkara c Iqbal b Asif 4 (142-4) Tillakaratne Dilshan c Akmal b Kaneria 22 (178-5) Farvez Maharoof c Younis b Kaneria 7 (195-6) Thilan Samaraweera b Asif 65 (238-7) Malinga Bandara c Akmal b Asif 42 (256-8)
Scorecard Sunny Singh gritted out an unbeaten 62 on a damp opening day in the Ranji Trophy Plate Group semi-final in Chandigarh. Only 51 overs were possible in the day owing to fog in the morning and rain later in the day. Jharkhand, who elected to field, struck in the third over, when Shankar Rao removed Chetan Sharma. But Bagheshwar Bist and Sunny added 108 and revived the innings. Scorecard Play was abandoned without even a ball being bowled due to heavy showers at Dharamsala.
Thilanga Sumathipala, the president of Sri Lanka’s cricket board and adirector of the International Cricket Council, was charged under theImmigration and Emigration Act on Friday and remanded in custody until thestart of his trial on Feb 10. Sumathipala pleaded not guilty to the charges.Sumathipala has become embroiled in a complex passport fraud scandalinvolving an underworld gangster called Dammika Amarasinghe, who allegedlytravelled to watch the 1999 World Cup in England as a guest of the cricketboard in 1999. Amarasinghe, the first suspect in the case, was gunned downin a Colombo courthouse on Jan 9 before being charged.Sumathiapala, also the chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom, has been held incustody at the Colombo National Hospital rather than Welikada Prison sincebeing being first remanded. According to his lawyers, he’s suffering fromacute kidney problems and a painful spinal condition that has left himunable to walk. He attended court in a wheelchair.After lengthy submissions from Sumathipala’s legal team, who argued thatthere was insufficient evidence to frame charges, and the prosecution, thejudge fixed a trial for Feb 10, 13, 17, 19 and 20.
Among the various goals that New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming still has in cricket is to spend a couple of years captaining an English county side.The first New Zealand men’s skipper to hold aloft a winner’s trophy in a one-day tournament, the 2000 ICC KnockOut tournament trophy in Kenya, Fleming made the comment when discussing the New Zealand players taking part in English county cricket this year when having injury problems at home.Chris Cairns is to play for Nottinghamshire this year, Shane Bond for Warwickshire and Nathan Astle to Derbyshire.”Everyone is concerned when they are carrying injuries with what they can do and what they can’t. But what we have found is that the counties are very accommodating in terms of the programme that can be put in place.”I’ve found it very beneficial to have our players in their and involved and I’m sure the three players concerned can get benefit out of it. Chris Cairns is a little bit different, he’s played a lot more in the past and he knows his body a bit better.”His is probably going to be more of a batting role than an all-rounding role for Notts but the guidelines laid out by the medical panel have been pretty clear.”There’s always concern when you send players off, but there’s also benefits if they are managed right.”Fleming said he would like to play county cricket but possibly not for a couple of years.He felt he needed time to recharge mentally after three or four seasons on the track but in the future he would like to have a crack at captaining a county.