Stephen Fleming, the former New Zealand captain, has denied that he is on the verge of retiring after rumours began circulating during the second Test against Bangladesh in Wellington.Fleming stepped down from the one-day captaincy following the World Cup and subsequently lost the Test job to Daniel Vettori. However, he has retained his position in the Test team – hitting 87 against Bangladesh in Wellington – and was surprised to hear talk of him walking away from the international game.”Unless it has come from [Glenn] Turner or [Richard] Hadlee or [Dion] Nash or [John Bracewell], then it’s not the case,” he said after the Test.Fleming is now focussed on preparing for the visit of England, who arrive later this month for a tour that includes two Twenty20 internationals, five ODIs and three Tests. “I’m working hard on a couple of things batting-wise with that in mind. I’ve got three weeks now to work away at domestic level.”His 87 against Bangladesh was another example of Fleming failing to convert into three figures, something he has managed only nine times in 108 Tests. “It’s the story of my career really. The plan was to put that one into the Don Neely scoreboard, the next one into the scaffolding, and a single for the hundred.”It’s a short boundary with the wind behind me and I should be able to execute that better. My execution twice was poor. I could have sat on it and just played the percentages and got there.”Whenever Fleming does decide his time is over at the top level he admits that his lack of hundreds will be a disappointment. “That’s probably one of the regrets I’ll have with my 43 fifties – there are a lot where I look for the positive option and just don’t execute, or get carried away, get impatient.”
South Africa, inspired equally by their pace attack and opening batsmen, crushed a bedraggled Pakistan by ten wickets in the only Twenty20 international at the Wanderers. After Alfonso Thomas led the bowlers in restricting Pakistan to a meager 129 for eight, Graeme Smith and Loots Bosman launched a spectacular attack against a rusty-looking attack to see South Africa home with 8.3 overs to spare, an absurdly large amount in such a short game.The unbeaten stand between Smith and Bosman was the highest for any wicket in this form of the game and the margin of victory, the most emphatic in Twenty20 internationals. Ahead of a five-match ODI series, due to begin from Sunday, this was as forceful a statement of intent as any.Smith’s good work began early, winning a handy toss and inserting Pakistan in what appeared to be bowling-friendly conditions. Bowlers are meant to be fodder in this format, bowling straight and hoping for the best but they were liberated here. The ball swung and jagged so much, an attack of Shaun Pollock, Thomas, Roger Telemachus, Johan van der Wath and Albie Morkel effectively became spinners on speed.Pollock was beating the bat from the start, making Imran Nazir’s first over back in quasi-international cricket a particularly testing one. It was a brief return, as off the first ball of the second Thomas found Nazir’s edge.Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal, shorn of keeping duties, settled briefly for a 47-run stand. They mixed swipes with boundaries and singles before and when Hafeez pulled an easy six over square leg, Pakistan were progressing well. But that was only a precursor to an almighty totter.Hafeez fell to Pollock, having brought the fifty up. van der Wath came, bringing pretty outswingers with him and had Akmal edging one immediately, giving de Villiers another opportunity to make a difficult catch look simple instead.
Telemachus was getting movement Murali would’ve been proud and with one sharply incoming concoction, he struck Shahid Afridi a painful blow in the groin, forcing him to retire hurt. Just before he finished, Telemachus ended a promising 26-run stand between Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik, either side of a 20-minute rain break. The bowlers continued to swing it, the batsmen to miss it; Morkel kept up the good work a lovely and the remaining batsmen were wrapped up quicker than you could say tail-end bunnies.Whether it was the conditions or the bowling we’ll never know, but when Smith and Bosman came out, they tore into Pakistan. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Shabbir Ahmed began tightly but it wasn’t to last.Bosman sparked it, with a 16-run over from Naved-ul-Hasan, the fifth of the innings, inclusive of a fabulous pulled six. It rubbed off onto Smith who tonked 17 off the very next from Abdul Razzaq. Razzaq looked like a man who hadn’t played in two months, dragging the ball short, allowing a pumped Smith to merrily ransack him repeatedly over and through midwicket. Having been so willing an hour or so earlier, Pakistan’s bowlers found the pitch in no mood to be as friendly as it had been to their counterparts, offering little of the swing and none of the bite.As fours and sixes rained down, Pakistan disintegrated, bowling short, serving up no-balls and misfielding with alarming regularity. Akmal continued his appalling catching form, dropping Bosman at long-on, in the ninth over. It hardly mattered that he was an outfielder, the game was up anyway. The openers brought up their fifties, and the team’s hundred in the 10th over, and a few deliveries later sealed an emphatic win. Fittingly, they did so with another six.
Fazl-e-Akbar’s four wicket burst helped Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) take control of their second-round Patrons Trophy Cricket Championship Quadrangular Stage match against Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), on its second day at the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) Stadium on Sunday.After having extended their overnight score of 243 for 4 to a healthy looking 369, PIA had table leaders PTCL tottering at a poor 147 for 6 in reply by the day’s close. Akbar has now taken his season’s tally in first-class matches to 49 wickets with his haul of 4 for 32 yesterday. PTCL are now 222 behind PIA’s score and still need another 73 to avert the follow-on.At stumps, Shahzad Malik was at the crease with an unbeaten 62 to his name, having faced only 99 balls hitting eight boundaries. He was involved in a fifth-wicket stand of 57 with the left-handed Usman Tariq, who made 21.Earlier, Faisal Iqbal narrowly missed reaching his 13th century in first-class cricket. But the later order batsmen continued to prosper. Faisal’s fifth-wicket partnership with Mahmood Hamid (35 off 61 balls with three fours) was worth 72. Faisal’s 91 runs came off 178 balls in just short of four hours with 11 fours. Ahmed Zeeshan (35), the wicketkeeper, and Tahir Khan (44) the offspinner then added 68 for the seventh wicket.Naved Latif from Faisalabad scored a scintillating 123as National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) raced to an 89-run first-innings lead over Habib Bank, on the second day of their second-round Patrons Trophy Cricket Championship Quadrangular Stage match at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Sunday.In reply to Habib Bank’s rather modest score of 261 on Saturday, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) have now reached 350 for 8 and should be at least looking towards gaining the three points for the first-innings lead.Naved hammered his ninth century in first-class cricket, facing a mere 167 balls in just short of four hours with 13 fours and five sixes. He came in with his team’s score at 119 for 3 and then saw three more wickets fall as the total reached 174. Naved found Yasir Arafat an able partner in a big 164-run stand for the seventh wicket. Yasir scored 62, hitting nine boundaries.Earlier, there was a 78-run third-wicket stand between Imran Nazir (62 off only 58 balls with nine fours) and the young Shahid Yousuf (40).
The ICC has announced the suspension of their Project USA initiative, which was aimed at developing cricket in the United States, because of concerns about the governance of the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA).Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, said that the issues had not been dealt with in a satisfactory manner: “The ICC is not satisfied that the USACA is meeting its obligations to review and restructure its governance to meet the needs of Project USA, and as a consequence Project USA is now suspended.”Speed added that the future of the three-way initiative between the ICC, the West Indies Cricket Board and the USACA would now be discussed by the ICC Board.”We have witnessed the unseemly and public debate surrounding the USACA elections,” said Speed. “At this stage we are not able to recommend to the ICC full members that they participate in Project USA given the unsatisfactory state of governance in the USA. I will now be preparing a report on the status of this project for consideration by the ICC Board at its next meeting in March.”The initial phase of Project USA began in 2004 with a feasibility study into hosting one-day internationals in America, to raise funds for the development of cricket there.
Much has been made of the specific plans that New Zealand’s think-tank draw up for each opposition batsman, but in the case of Akash Chopra, Ashley Ross and Stephen Fleming clearly missed a trick. In the tour games, Chopra had been troubled by the well-pitched-up delivery, often playing with an angled bat towards gully. However, in this match, Daryl Tuffey and Jacob Oram continually pitched it short with the new ball, allowing Chopra the luxury of playing off the back foot.
How Tuffey and Oram bowled to Chopra in the pre-lunch session
Daryl Tuffey
Jacob Oram
Front Foot
3
6
Back Foot
15
17
Min Footwork
5
8
Total Balls
23
31
Off the 23 balls that Tuffey bowled to Chopra in the morning session, only three times was he drawn forward; the corresponding figure against Oram was six out of 31. On a pitch which had neither the pace nor the bounce to aid the seamers, banging the ball in short was unlikely to meet with much success. The one chance that Chopra did offer was when he was drawn on the front foot by Tuffey in the third over after lunch. The ball pitched on a good length, just outside off – precisely the region where New Zealand’s bowlers should have attacked with the new ball – and Chopra obliged with an angled-bat defensive stroke. Robbie Hart made a hash of a regulation catch, but a look at the videos from today’s play might just prompt Fleming to chalk out a new plan of attack when New Zealand next bowl to Chopra. The way Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman batted in the last session, though, Tuffey and Oram might have to wait till the second Test at Mohali to get that opportunity.The Wisden Bulletin The Wisden Verdict: Planning’s not enough NZ View: Tuffey makes his point Roving Reporter: Screaming for Sa-chin Quotes
A decision whether the West Indies cricket team will tourPakistan or the series will be shifted to a neutral venue islikely to be confirmed in a couple of days.A Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman said onWednesday that thedecision could be taken at any moment in the next two orthree days.According to tentative programme, the West Indies team is toarrive here on Jan 25 to play Test and One-Day matches.The West Indies cricketing authorities were reluctant tosend their team to Pakistan due to security reasons in thewake of US led attacks on Afghanistan.Earlier, New Zealand had called off their tour to Pakistanin Sept due to the same reason. But recently, Sri Lankanunder-19 cricket team had toured Pakistan safely for a fiveone-day series which the host won 4-1.However, the ICC, in order to save its 10 year activityprogramme from further disturbance had decided that underspecial cirmustances a series could be shifted to anyneutral venue with the consent of both the countries.
Hyderabad had things their own way on the opening day of their RanjiTrophy semifinal against Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy stadium inBangalore on Tuesday. At close of play, the visitors were sittingpretty at 344/2 after VVS Laxman (163) and Mohd. Azharuddin (103)mercilessly punished Karnataka, with an unbroken 253 run partnership,for an apalling display in the field that saw three catches go downbesides several shocking misfields. Laxman’s seventh hundred in eightmatches this season and the 17th of his Ranji Trophy career also sawhim cross the thousand mark for the season.Combining power with finesse, Laxman played some exquisite squarecuts, leaning back and slicing the ball past point. He was also strongoff his legs and when the ball was pitched short, he pulled with regalauthority. Both batsmen made merry on a wicket which did not give thebowlers as much assistance as was expected.Both sides went in with three pronged seam attacks, with Hyderabadleaving out middle order bat D Vinay Kumar to accommodate Fiaz Ahmed,the third seamer. The left-right combination of Daniel Manohar andNandakishore opened the batting but the latter did not last long as hefell to Prasad for 11. There was a hint of outswing as the batsmanplayed defensively and the ball just about carried to Vijay Bharadwajat second slip who took a low catch to his left.Laxman started cautiosly, taking 23 balls to get off the mark with adisdainful pull to the square leg boundary off Mansur Ali Khan. Mansurwas unlucky when Laxman checked an intended drive and deposited theball in the no man’s land behind the bowler’s head. Hyderabad’s fiftycame up in the 18th over as both batsmen played the bowling withincreasing confidence.Laxman gave Ganesh a pasting with two charming pulls in one over tothe square leg and mid wicket boundaries. Sunil Joshi was brought onbut although keeping the batsmen on a leash, he did not pose anythreat to their well being. Suddenly however for no rhyme or reason,Laxman stepped down the track and tried to hoist Joshi over mid on. Hedidn’t get the intended elevation and the ball went at shoulder heightto Rowland Barrington, who dropped it to the universal disbelief ofthe fielders and the crowd. Laxman was then on 30 and the score at89/1.One run later, Prasad struck again as Daniel Manohar presented theblade in a defensive posture and got a tickle through to Thilak Naidufor 39 (95 balls). Prasad didn’t have a mid wicket to Azharuddin andhe was tempted soon enough to flick one into the gap only to get aleading edge that landed short of gully.The cup of the woe continued to fill for Karnataka as Akhil at secondslip grassed Azhar, then on 16, low down to his right. Akhil’s luckdid not change when he came on to bowl with Laxman taking threesucessive boundaries in his first over. Azhar had a lapse ofconcentration just before tea when he flailed at two balls outside offstump from Mansur Ali Khan. Vijay Bharadwaj got a hand to the firstbut could not hold on as it raced to the fence while the secondbisected Bharadwaj and Prasad at first slip just over their heads.Laxman got a couple of gift boundaries as Mansur Ali Khan let one slipthrough his legs at mid off and later Mithun Beerala fired in a throwat the bowler’s end which Joshi, daydreaming at mid on, failed tocollect. Laxman’s hundred came when he drove a ball into the groundwhich bounced over the bowler’s head and went down to the long offboundary. The umpires had to caution the Karnataka players shortlyafter when Mansur Ali Khan had expressed his displeasure over a legbefore appeal against Azhar that had been turned down.Dodda Ganesh was also upto his antics with some uproarious appealsfollowed by a trot down the wicket to stare at the batsman. But he wasput in his place as Azhar ferociously hooked him to the square legfence to go into his nineties. He finally got to his century off 167balls with a push past cover and Laxman’s 150 followed with a slicebetween gully and point that raced to the pickets. His career bestscore of 301 against Bihar should come under threat on themorrow. With the wicket expected to deteriorate later in the game,Karnataka have to pull out all the stops to prevent Hyderabad frombatting them out of the match tomorrow.
The Athletic’s Patrick Boyland has slammed Everton’s defence after their performance in the Toffees’ 5-0 loss to Tottenham, claiming that the club need a total overhaul there in the summer.
The Lowdown: Relegation-threatened
Frank Lampard’s start to life at Everton has not gone as he would have planned, as his side have lost four of their five Premier League matches with the ex-Chelsea man in charge.
As a result, the Toffees remain dangerously close to the relegation zone. They currently lead Burnley by one point, with just one game-in-hand over Sean Dyche’s side.
Everton still have to play West Ham, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal – who are all battling it out at the top of the table. Therefore, the possibility of relegation has never been more real than it is right now.
The Latest: Boyland’s claim…
Following the Toffees’ embarrassing display against Tottenham, Boyland took to Twitter, claiming that Everton need a complete overhaul of the defence:
“There is a soft centre to Everton which is preventing them pick up points on the road. Without Mina, the spine looks weak & they played into Spurs’ hands.
“A defence in urgent need of overhaul this summer.”
The Verdict: Defensive overhaul essential
With Yerry Mina still side-lined, fans will be worried by the lack of a strong presence in the Toffees’ back-line. Everton’s win percentage this season with the Colombia international in the team is monumentally different to the percentage without him: 40% with, 13% without.
During Sky Sports’ broadcast of the Spurs game, Jamie Carragher described Everton’s defence as “a Championship back four”, before later saying that was being harsh on some second-tier sides. Having conceded 46 league goals already, this seems hard to argue with.
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Therefore, it is crucial that Everton commit to a defensive overhaul in the summer transfer window, otherwise they may find themselves in the same situation next year – if they avoid relegation this season.
In other news: Everton: Pickford, Coleman and Keane’s nightmare performances vs Spurs
Karnataka‘s Shreyas Gopal took five lower-order wickets to dismiss Hyderabad for 136 on the second day of their Group A clash in Shimoga. Hyderabad returned strongly once again, taking four top-order wickets, all bowled by left-arm spinner Mehdi Hasan, as Karnataka finished the day on 127 for 4, with a lead by 174, courtesy an unbeaten 70-run partnership between Karun Nair (37*) and Stuart Binny (26*).Hyderabad started the day on 51 for 3, trailing by 132, but after Bhavanaka Sandeep (19) and Ashish Reddy were dismissed in the morning, Gopal’s legspin ran through the rest of their batting, taking career-best first-class figures of 5 for 17 in the space of 25 runs. Hyderabad wicketkeeper K Sumanth was the only one to display any resistance with the bat, scoring a 150-ball 68.KL Rahul (23) failed for the second time in the match, the first Karnataka batsman out in their second innings.In Lucknow, Saurabh Kumar added three more wickets to finish with career-best figures of 7 for 110. That helped Uttar Pradesh bowl Maharashtra out for 312 from an overnight total of 274 for 4. Ankit Bawne, who started on 107, was out for 119 as Maharashtra lost their last six wickets for 38 runs.In reply, Uttar Pradesh crumbled from a position of strength to finish the day on 232 for 7, still trailing by 80 runs. Their captain Suresh Raina fell for a two-ball duck.UP started their innings well, with the second-wicket partnership between Almas Shaukat (63) and Shivam Chaudhary (50) producing 101 runs. But Maharashtra offspinner Chirag Khurana – who finished the day with four wickets – pulled the advantage back towards his team. UP stumbled from 131 for 2 to 152 for 6. Saurabh then scored 27 with the bat, assisting Eklavya Dwivedi (40*) to reduce the deficit before stumps.A 144-run opening stand between Saurabh Wakaskar (80) and Shivakant Shukla (86) gave Railways the upper hand against Assam in Guwahati. Railways ended the day on 224 for 2, only twenty runs behind Assam’s first-innings total of 244.Wakaskar and Shukla batted for almost 44 overs, smashing 21 fours and two sixes between them. Shukla was the second wicket to fall, with the team at 179, which was followed by an unbeaten 45-run partnership between Nitin Bhille (18*) and Arindam Ghosh (30*). Assam started from an overnight score of 216 for 8, but could add only 26 more runs to their total. Railways’ Deepak Bansal finished with figures of 4 for 61 after Assam’s innings.
Trevor Bayliss, Sri Lanka’s coach, has termed the first Test between Sri Lanka and England an evenly-poised affair at the end of the second day and said that either of the teams can win the contest if they play well from now till the end of the match.”We obviously didn’t have a great day yesterday. But I thought we fought hard and got ourselves back into the game today,” Bayliss said.”On a wicket that suits spin bowling, we knew if we could keep England down to areasonable total even if they passed us, we can hopefully match them in our secondinnings as chasing 180 to 200 in the final innings will turn out to be a tough job.”Bayliss expressed disappointment that Muttiah Muralitharan could notbreak Shane Warne’s world record of 708 Test wickets before play was called off for the day due to rain.”It was a bit disappointing for everyone watching and I am sure for him as well. Hewould have liked to have got it out of the way today. But all along our focus hasbeen on the team’s performance. Everyone knows it that Murali will take thosewickets somewhere in one Test or another.”Bayliss, however, did express his disappointment at Sri Lanka’s failure to post big first-innings totals.”They [the Sri Lankan batsmen] do a lot of hard work and it’s not from lack of trying, that’s for sure. We were here early this morning working on the batting and we are hopeful that in thenext two Test matches we can turn that around in the first innings.”We are going through a little bit of a transitional period with the team. There are a number of inexperienced and younger players in the team trying to learn the firstclass game of cricket in the international arena. In that case they are not going tobe as consistent as we might like it to be. Hopefully, with the experience of playingteams like Australia and England, some of these guys will step up to the mark prettyquickly.”Questioned on the impending retirement of Sanath Jayasuriya, Bayliss said: “Hehasn’t said anything to us at this stage. Obviously he is getting close, exactly howclose we are not very sure.”