Lasith Malinga, the Sri Lankan fast bowler, has said he would like to bowl faster than he did on his last tour to Australia. “I have more pace now than last time we played here. I think maybe I can get around 140kph now,” Malinga told AFP. “I want more pace.”All fast bowlers like to do the bouncer and everything. I am the same. We are going to be very attacking.”Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, said Malinga had improved in the three years since Sri Lanka’s previous tour of Australia. Malinga made his Test debut in that tour and took 10 wickets at 26.40 in the two Tests.”He [Malinga] has learned to adjust to different conditions and batsmen,” Jayawardene said. “Now he’s got the ability to control his aggression, which is a good thing. He is one of our attacking options [but] we don’t want to put a lot of pressure on the young guys.”Asked about the recent rise in on-field verbal attacks, Jayawardene said it was important not to lose one’s cool. “You need to be aggressive but you should not go overboard. When you lose your composure, that’s when they [Australia] come back at you very strongly. It’s the seniors’ responsibility to guide the guys through periods in difficult situations.”
Nathan Bracken has bowled himself back into contention for the first Ashes Test with a solid performance in the Champions Trophy. Bracken has seven wickets in the tournament – second only to Glenn McGrath for Australia – and has thrown his name into the mix for the third Ashes fast-bowling place, which many believed was down to Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark.Bracken took 2 for 36 in the semi-final against New Zealand including the vital wicket of Stephen Fleming and earned praise from Ricky Ponting. “I’m sure his name will come up,” Ponting told . “We all know the ball is going to swing a bit in Brisbane, and he took his best Test figures in that game up there last year. He’s bowling well. He certainly hasn’t been pigeon-holed as a one-day player.”The former fast bowler Geoff Lawson said Bracken had shown enough at the Champions Trophy to suggest Johnson was not the only left-armer who could offer Australia variety. “Johnson is supposedly an express quick, but he’s been bowling at around 135kph. He’s not quick,” Lawson said in . “Bracken was bowling at 125-130kph and getting it to swing considerably. I thought Bracken bowled very well and should definitely be in the mix for the Test.”The first Ashes Test will start on November 23 at the Gabba, the only ground where Bracken has played two Tests. Last year at Brisbane, Bracken claimed 4 for 48 including the key wickets of Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. In 2003-04 he dismissed Virender Sehwag in each innings of the Gabba Test.Ian Chappell has also pushed for the selectors to consider Bracken.
A typically clinical bowling performance overcame a less distinguished fielding effort as Australia dismantled a star-studded World XI, winning the first of the three Super Series matches by 93 runs under lights, and a roof, at the Telstra Dome while it rained on the rest of Melbourne. Ricky Ponting’s men chose to bat, put 255 on the board, and then made it seem more like 355 with canny bowling.Kumar Sangakkara must have wondered if he was back in Colombo batting for Nondescripts Cricket Club as he ploughed a lone furrow, stitching together a stylish, yet occasionally streaky, half-century while all around him faltered and fell. The target of 256 appeared on the lower side, even accounting for a sluggish outfield, but Glenn McGrath showed why he is still the most lethal thing with a new ball in hand.Virender Sehwag found that you cannot pull McGrath off a length and get away with it, hitting straight to Michael Hussey at midwicket. Jacques Kallis was audacious enough to come down the pitch and hit McGrath over cover, but was soon trapped in front by one that swung in late. Then Brian Lara – a big draw in this team – drove Nathan Bracken straight to short cover. Rahul Dravid battled to steady the ship, but 50 for 3 became 75 for 4 when he mis-hit a pull off Brett Lee, who bowled with pace and bounce in his second spell.Kevin Pietersen, who tormented the Australians all through the Ashes summer, came upon a bowler who he had not taken apart, and was trapped in front by one that Shane Watson got to jag back in. Soon after Watson should also have had Andrew Flintoff, who pulled straight to Lee at deep backward square-leg, but the catch was floored. Watson barely had time to bemoan his luck before inducing another false shot – this time from Sangakkara who cut towards point – only to see Ponting, juggle, fumble and somehow manage to hold on to the ball.If the road ahead looked difficult at 101 for 6, it became next to impossible when Shahid Afridi, the Supersub, was trapped in front for 2 by a flat, quick offbreak from Andrew Symonds. Watson then capped off an excellent display on the field by swooping in from deep backward square-leg, picking the ball up one-handed and throwing the stumps down from outside the thirty-yard circle to find Shaun Pollock short of his crease.Flintoff, like Sangakkara had earlier on, battled on, but without support there was never any real chance of launching an assault on 256 from 118 for 8. Sangakkara’s 65 included some fine strokes as he uninhibitedly took the aerial route whenever offered width outside off, and flicked and drove wristily through the on-side when the ball was full and straight. But it was nowhere near enough. Flintoff kept the crowd interested with 38, but when he holed out to long-on with the score on 150, giving Watson his third wicket, the game was over.Australia’s batting could well have gone the World XI way, with wickets falling at regular intervals after a fine start. Adam Gilchrist and Simon Katich, opening the batting, put on 80, thanks mainly to Gilchrist, who went after the bowling while Katich was content biding his time. Gilchristhad rattled up 45 off just 48 balls before being cleaned up by a full one from Kallis that came in just a touch. Ponting said hello to Flintoff with a cracking pulled six, but played one shot too many and perished on 23, trying to come down the pitch and loft Pollock out of the ground.
Then Muttiah Muralitharan applied the famous Kandy choke. Big spinning offbreaks garnished with the odd fizzing doosra proved too much to digest for Damien Martyn, who tamely chipped to mid-on, and Katich (68) who closed the face of the bat early and popped back a return catch. What Murali began Daniel Vettori ended. The hallmark of quality finger spin is accuracy, and Vettori held the ball virtually on a string, varying his pace, trajectory and angle of delivery like an old master.Vettori accounted for Symonds, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey and Watson, but not before Symonds and Hussey had compiled invaluable 30s. When the Australian innings ended on 255, thanks to a late flurry from Lee, Vettori would have believed his 4 for 31 had put the World XI on track to victory. Then again, this is Australia, and dominating half the game is often not enough to ensure victory.
AustraliaAdam Gilchrist b Kallis 45 (80 for 1) Ricky Ponting c Lara b Pollock 23 (128 for 2) Damien Martyn c Lara b Muralitharan 0 (128 for 3) Simon Katich c & b Muralitharan 58 (142 for 4) Michael Clarke c & b Vettori 6 (154 for 5) Andrew Symonds c Flintoff b Vettori 36 (206 for 6) Shane Watson c Lara b Vettori 8 (223 for 7) Michael Hussey c Pietersen b Vettori 33 (231 for 8) World XI Virender Sehwag c Hussey b McGrath 6 (18 for 1) Jacques Kallis lbw b McGrath 8 (45 for 2) Brian Lara c Symonds b Bracken 0 (50 for 3) Rahul Dravid c Ponting b Lee 4 (75 for 4) Kevin Pietersen lbw b Watson 2 (82 for 5) Kumar Sangakkara c Ponting b Watson 65 (101 for 6) Shahid Afridi lbw b Symonds 2 (104 for 7) Shaun Pollock run out (Watson) 5 (118 for 8) Andrew Flintoff c McGrath b Watson 38 (150 for 9) Daniel Vettori c Ponting b Lee 15 (162 for 10)
England’s tour of Zimbabwe will go ahead as scheduled despite the media ban imposed on journalists. Thirteen English journalists, including those from The Times, the Daily Telegraph and the BBC, were yesterday denied entry into Zimbabwe to cover the series.The England & Wales Cricket Board felt that they could not abandon the tour as that might result in severe penalties from the International Cricket Council, whose rules do not cover matters related to media accreditation.Michael Vaughan condemned the ban, terming it “totally wrong”. Vaughan was quoted in the as saying, “I’m flabbergasted by the decision. Whether you like the media or not, they have a huge role to play in the game. Through giving the game exposure and with TV rights they bring the game 60% of its income.”However, he confirmed that the team wouldn’t pull out of the tour because of this ban. “There’s something very wrong if our media can’t get in to cover a tour,” he said. “I don’t know how a cricket tour can be called a cricket tour when our media aren’t involved. I wouldn’t pull out because of it, but I’m in contact with Richard Bevan, the Professional Cricketers’ Association rep, asking for advice.”Bevan, though, wasn’t sanguine about whether the matter could be solved. “We’re extremely disappointed in the decision to ban certain newspapers and broadcasters,” he said. “It’s an unacceptable position for the game to be in. I know there are significant discussions taking place but I’m not optimistic.”
Steve Waugh admitted that he had his sights set on Sunil Gavaskar’s Test record tally of 34 centuries but said that even if he did wrest the top position for himself, it would be for a short time only.”There’s always a chance (of making 35 hundreds). It doesn’t really matter what I set, Sachin Tendulkar (with 31) is going to waltz past that one anyway,” Waugh told the media after going past Tendulkar’s tally with an unbeaten 156 in the second Test against Bangladesh.”I know once I got a hundred today I was pretty focused on getting 150. I knew I wouldn’t get another chance. I’m pleased with that. It’s nice to have that record,” said Waugh of his added distinction of having made a score of 150 or more against every Test-playing nation.Waugh is also drawing ever closer to Allan Border’s record for most Test runs, but this had hardly seemed possible late last year when a run-drought fuelled controversy over his retention in the Test team.”If I was going to finish up last year, I wanted to go out on my terms and that was playing some shots,” Waugh said. “Perhaps that may have released some pressure and I’ve gone out there and just tried to play the ball on its merits. Really, I just wanted to be positive. I knew I was good enough to play for Australia still and I wanted to prove that to myself and I wanted to come back and show people.”
Railways, who resumed on their overnight score of 381 for four againstMadhya Pradesh on day two, lost their last six wickets for theaddition of just 115 runs.Right-arm medium-pacer Sanjay Pandey, was the wrecker-in-chief,returning career-best figures of 8-132. Tejinder Pal Singh, theRailways top-scorer with a career-best 186, was his first scalp on aday that saw Pandey claim five wickets.Openers Devendrasingh Bundela and Chandra Prakash Sahu, by putting on90, ensured that Madhya Pradesh made a sound start but three quickwickets including the all-important one of Amay Khurasiya meant thatRailways were well on their way towards securing a healthy firstinnings lead.
One player that has now been linked with a move to Molineux Stadium is Tottenham outcast Cameron Carter-Vickers, who has impressed while on loan at Celtic this season.
What’s the news?
The USA international was reportedly available last summer for around £2.5m, but after having a sensational season in Scotland, his price tag is likely to soar beyond £6m, despite still being valued by Transfermarkt at just £2.7m.
At 24-years-old, his chances of playing Premier League football began to appear slimmer and slimmer in the summer, but after proving himself at Celtic, both Leicester City and Wolves are claimed by SBI Soccer to be very interested in acquiring his signature.
With just one year left on his Tottenham contract, the summer months will likely be when he finally leaves on a permanent transfer, and if Saiss is to leave the Midlands, the English-born defender could be a suitable replacement.
Like-for-like replacement
Wolves are currently set to lose Romain Saiss at the end of the season due to his contract expiring, which will be a big blow to boss Bruno Lage and the team, with the Moroccan’s impressive form this campaign seeing him average a 7.06 SofaScore match rating.
While Willy Boly and Yerson Mosquera are currently waiting for an opportunity to impress, Lage may opt to replace the 31-year-old star with a younger proven wide centre back to slot into the first team should Saiss’ contract not be renewed.
Carter-Vickers is a ball-playing defender who was once described by former Spurs star Jan Vertonghen as a “beast” due to his ability in the air and on the ground in one-on-one situations.
Having achieved an average match rating of 7.35 this season in the Scottish Premiership and keeping 13 clean sheets so far, his distribution has been arguably most impressive, having completed 89% of his passes, as well as four long balls per game and 17 passes per game in the opposition half.
With that in mind, he’d complement Max Kilman and Conor Coady superbly well, especially when you consider their own reputation as ball-playing defenders. Wolves have one of the best defensive records in the top-flight this term but the addition of Carter-Vickers could make them even better. After all, the thought of him playing alongside the two English centre-halves is a mouth-watering one.
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Possessing superb physicality and aggression, he is naturally suited to the wide centre back role and could be a bargain replacement for Saiss.
AND in other news: Adama 2.0: Lage must now unleash £3m Wolves bargain with sheer “explosiveness”
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsColin Munro smashed one four and seven sixes in his unbeaten 14-ball 50•Getty Images
An abject Sri Lanka collapse full of witless batting, a clinical performance by New Zealand’s seamers, and a fast start from Martin Guptill, all featured in Sri Lanka’s final heavy defeat of the tour. Their embarrassment was enhanced a little here for having come in front of an Auckland crowd of over 17,000, and by Colin Munro, who bludgeoned the second-fastest half-century in T20s to close out a match that had never really been in doubt for New Zealand. He was unbeaten on 50 from 14 balls, having hit seven sixes and a four. Sri Lanka’s 142 for 8 on a flat track, and on one of the smallest grounds in the world, was gunned down with nine wickets and ten full overs to spare.Seduced by the short boundaries, Sri Lanka’s batsmen aimed slog after slog at the straight fence, and fell predictably, and in quick succession. New Zealand put zippy balls just short of a length – a clear bowling plan, given the ground’s odd dimensions – and the visitors just failed to adapt. Grant Elliott was the most accurate bowler, and took 4 for 22 from his full quota, but so intent did Sri Lanka’s batsmen seem on holing out, almost anyone could have taken those wickets.Angelo Mathews played a familiar lone hand, sporting a familiar look of frustration at his teammates’ incompetence. His 81 not out from 49 balls comprised well over half of Sri Lanka’s score. He was the only batsman to attempt to build an innings, instead of bash one.It’s not often that a batsman hitting 63 from 25 balls in a modest T20 chase will be outshone, but a rapid Guptill was made to look almost pedestrian by Munro. Having arrived at 89 for 1 in the seventh over, Munro blasted his second ball, off Thisara Perera, into the stands beyond wide long on, then savaged the legspin of Vandersay. Kane Williamson gave Munro the strike in the first ball of the eighth over, and he sent the ball hurtling over the deep midwicket boundary three times in four balls. That over cost 27. Having already been at the end of Guptill’s brutality, Vandersay had earlier bowled an over that conceded 20. His two overs went for 41. None of Sri Lanka’s four bowlers had an economy rate of less than 11.Munro wrapped up the victory with a four and two more sixes in Dushmantha Chameera’s third over. He reached fifty and moved New Zealand to their target with his last six, over deep midwicket. His 14-ball half-century is only slower than Yuvraj Singh’s 12-ball fifty against England, in the 2007 World T20.Sri Lanka’s spectacular nosedive began in the second over. Danushka Gunathilaka had earlier made room to scythe Adam Milne through the offside, but aimed an ungainly heave across the line soon after. The ball passed some distance from the bat and splayed his stumps.At the other end, Dilshan was playing his own ugly innings, mistiming and top-edging slogs, and missing attempted scoops over the shoulder. But he survived longer than two incoming batsmen, which is to say, until the 10th over. Before Dilshan was out reverse-sweeping, for 28 from 26 balls, Dinesh Chandimal and Shehan Jayasuriya had both been caught attempting expansive strokes for 2 and 3 respectively.Milinda Siriwardana – who has usually been an intelligent reprieve from Sri Lanka’s batting madness this tour – could not resist a slog himself as he was out first ball. He was caught just outside the circle at long on. With the score at 66 for 5 in the 11th over, Mathews might have expected a little help for rebuilding from Kithuruwan Vithanage and Thisara. They were both caught at the straight boundary for single figure scores, off Elliott’s bowling.Mathews had moved his innings into gear with two straight sixes off the spin of Mitchell Santner, but largely respected the quicks until the back end of the innings. Even then, he picked the hittable deliveries intelligently. He launched Trent Boult down the ground in the 15th over, then when Boult return to close out the innings, Mathews made room and slapped him through the offside twice. By far the largest partnership of the innings was Mathews’ 39-run stand with no. 10 batsman Vandersay.
Mahela Jayawardene believes Sri Lanka made the right decision not to play Muttiah Muralitharan in the five-ODI home series against England. Muralitharan has not played cricket since suffering a bicep injury playing for Lancashire this summer, and Jayawardene said keeping him fit for Test series against Australia and England later this year was more important.”Murali wanted to play from the first game, but it would have been a big risk,” Jayawardene told . “The physios and the doctors were against him playing in the first three games, but we could have considered him for the [fourth] game. He bowled six or seven overs in the nets, but the intensity he bowls in the nets is quite different to what he would bowl in the middle and we didn’t want to take that chance.”Sri Lanka had never lost an ODI series against England at home until now, but Jayawardene insisted it would have been a gamble playing Muralitharan in the contest. “If he bowls in a tough situation and bowls flat out he could aggravate his injury. [Then] he might be out for another six or seven weeks, and we didn’t want to take that chance right now.”Jayawardene said having a fully-fit Muralitharan for Sri Lanka’s two-Test tour of Australia next month and the return Test series against England was better for the team. “It has been the sensible decision to make. The important thing is that he needs to be ready for the longer version of the game as well – he needs to be bowling 25 or 30 overs a day in a Test match so he has to be 100 per cent.”The final match of the series takes place in Colombo on October 13.
End of innings Scorecard How they were outA disciplined bowling performance and a rollicking start in the run chase saw Rest of India march inexorably towards victory by the end of the second day. ROI hustled out Uttar Pradesh for a meagre 166, before setting off in style in pursuit of the 114 runs needed for victory. Wasim Jaffer and Gautam Gambhir racked up 45 in no time and barring a minor miracle, ROI was all set to lift the Irani Trophy.UP’s collapse began after Zaheer Khan removed Praveen Kumar for a first-ball duck and Tanmay Srivastava committed hara-kiri by running himself out. Lakshmipathy Balaji prised out Shivakant Shukla, the first-innings top scorer, to rock the top order before VRV Singh harassed the lower-middle order with his pace and lift. ROI’s march was only briefly stymied by a late-orderresistance between Jyoti Yadav and Amir Khan. The duo stitched together a55-run partnership – third highest of the match, for the seventh wicket toput up a semblance of fight but that might have succeeded in only delaying theinevitable.Earlier, Subramaniam Badrinath was left stranded , twenty runs short of adeserved hundred, but his 46-run partnership for the last wicket withPragyan Ojha was enough to steer ROI to a vital 53-run lead. In thecontext of the low-scoring game and coupled with the fact that UttarPradesh’s strike bowler, Ashish Winston Zaidi was indisposed, it proved bea valuable lead.It was a day when ROI’s bowlers incessantly kept the pressureon, and the wickets came surprisingly quickly on a pitch that was stillnot unplayable. ROI’s attack was on the money and maintained a consistentline and length during the early passage of play, with Zaheer, inparticular, being nippy. With the UP batsmen almost eager to combust, Zaheer and Balaji kept it simple. Invariably, with three slipsand a gully prowling, the ball would land on a length in the channelaround the off stump, and push the edgy batsmen towards making the fatalwaft. After Kumar, who had dazzled with a 59-ball 42 in the first essay,perished, poking outside the off stump, and Tanmay was run out by a direct hit by Gautam Gambhir, Shivakant and Ravikant Shukla held firm. However, just afternoon, Ravikant was given out when he poked at a Zaheer delivery and Balajimoved one away to catch the outside edge of Shivakant to lift ROI’sspirits.Vikram Singh came on to his own in the second session, mixing his back-of- length deliveries with a few well-directed short-pitched balls. Hepushed Rizwan Shamshad – who promised much more than the meagre 10 hemanaged – back with a bumper and extracted a weak slash off the next onethat was pitched on a length.But his harassment of Gyanendra Pandey was the highlight of the secondsession. He repeatedly pinged Pandey, who looked to be perennially late inmost of his shots against the seamers, with bouncers at the body andslipped in slanted deliveries on a length that teased the outside edge.But to his credit, Pandey didn’t throw in the towel. He shrugged off threepainful hits to his chest, only calling for the physiotherapist afterSingh was taken off the attack after six incisive overs, and sought reliefand revenge at the other end where a spinner operated. He swung MuraliKartik twice over deep midwicket and square-cut Ojha. However, Kartik hadthe last word – which, in fact, was a shouted thank you to the batsman,when Pandey went for one heave too many and holed out at the deep.Then came the resistance by Jyoti and Amir which, however, might prove to be too little and toolate. While Amir, the slim and wristy wicketkeeper-batsman, took hischances, driving and flicking, Jyoti sewed one end up with a patient effort.He defended stoutly against the seamers – stole five hits to the fencewhen Balaji and Vikram Singh erred. But just when the partnership threatenedto grow into something more substantial, it ended under slightlycontroversial circumstances. Amir steered Balaji to second slip whereMurali Kartik stooped low and came up with a tumbling catch. Amir tarriedbriefly before walking off after getting confirmation from the umpire, whodidn’t refer it to the third eye. However, TV replays seemed to suggestthat the ball might have grazed the ground before settling into Kartik’s palms.Yadav joined his partner soon, when he fell to an acrobatic one-handedcatch by Robin Uthappa at gully. UP’s mutiny was over and Vikram Singh wenton to clean up the tail.ROI, overnight on 131 for 7, looked up to Badrinath to stretch their lead.He started off in a conservative manner, reposing trust in Balaji’sability with the bat. But when Balaji fell chasing a wide one and Singhcombusted on arrival, Badrinath went for the jugular. It was a lovelymixture of conventional and innovative shots, hooks and square-drivesdished out with dollops of cheeky lap shots and steers over slips.UP fell into the age-old quandary, whether to attack the main batsman or solelyconcentrate on taking out the last man. They chose the latter and paid forit. Badrinath not only farmed the strike – refusing to take singles in theearly parts of the over – but also hit out when the field closed in at theend. Ojha grew in confidence and chipped in with useful singles to helprotate the strike before he fell to the spinner Avinash Yadav. By then,however, he had done his bit to push UP on the back foot.
Rest of India Lakshimipathy Balaji c Shamshad b Srivastava 15 (155 for 8) Vikram Singh b Srivastava 0 (155 for 9) Pragyan Ojha c Shukla b Avinash Yadav 3 (201) Uttar Pradesh P Kumar c Kartik b Khan 0 (0 for 1) Tanmay Srivastava run out 0 (4 for 2) Ravikant Shukla c Karthik b Khan 8 (39 for 3) Shivakant Shukla c Jaffer b Balaji 33 (54 for 4) Rizwan Shamshad c Karthik b VRV Singh 10 (55 for 5) Gyanendra Pandey c Zaheer b Kartik 32 (90 for 6) Amir Khan c Kartik b Balaji 26 (145 for 7) Avinash Yadav c Karthik b VRV Singh 0 (159 for 8) Jyoti Yadav c Uthappa b VRV Singh 38 (159 for 9) Ashish Winston Zaidi b VRV Singh 1 (166)