Shoaib Akhtar was left out of the Pakistan squad for the tour of West Indies on disciplinary grounds, Inzamam-ul-Haq has said. It was widely assumed that Shoaib had been left out because he was unfit. Akhtar, who had recovered from his hamstring injury, was asked to shed some weight to be fully fit.”Shoaib has disciplinary problems and I believe no player is bigger than the team,” Inzamam was quoted as saying by The News. “We’ve had these problems with him in the past and my concern is that it has a negative impact on other players also.” Akhtar has been questioned several times in the past for his off-field activities and his approach towards the game.Inzamam also brushed off the suggestion that the team would miss its spearhead. “What I learnt in India was that when every player contributes and you play strictly as a team, the absence of even the best player is not felt. In the West Indies to be successful we’ve to again play as a team and with spirit to do well. The strength of our bowling attack is not such a big issue.”Pakistan have never won a series in the West Indies and are scheduled to play in three one-day international and two Tests. The first one-dayer is on May 18 in St.Vincent.Younis Khan will lead the side in the first Test, in the absence of Inzamam, who has to serve a one-match ban for showing dissent in the third Test against India in Bangalore. Inzamam remarked that Younis would find no difficulty in captaining the side. “Even if I’m not playing I’ll be there involved in everything and the planning. As far as Younis Khan’s ability to lead the side is concerned, he is a good future prospect and will be an asset for the team in future.”
Another magnificent century by Jacques Kallis led South Africa to a dramatic four-wicket victory against West Indies at the Wanderers. After Chris Gayle helped his side to an impressive 304 for 2 with an unbeaten 152, South Africa sneaked home with only two balls to spare to take the series 3-1.The climatic ending was set-up by a wonderful penultimate over by Ravi Rampaul – in which he dismissed Kallis and conceded only one run. South Africa still required eight runs off the final six balls, but eased home, helped by some dreadful West Indian fielding. They will now fly home sick of the sight of Kallis, who hit six centuries against them on the tour.Kallis stroked 139 from 142 balls, his highest one-day score, including 11 fours and three sixes. His innings was an imperious mixture of orthodox strokes and savage blows, including one towering smack off Ryan Hurley, which landed 10 rows back beyond the longest boundary.Kallis paced the recovery to near perfection after West Indies were in the ascendancy, especially once Graeme Smith fell for an entertaining 58 off 60 balls. He was bowled trying to cut Gayle (133 for 2), ending a sprightly 102-run partnership with Kallis after the pair had come together following Herschelle Gibbs’s early exit (31 for 1). Boeta Dippenaar and Kallis were forced to consolidate and the required run rate rose towards eight an over.Yet the departure of Dippenaar, caught in the deep by Rampaul off Hurley (187 for 3), sparked a South African revival, led by Jacques Rudolph. He cracked three early boundaries and, crucially, was dropped on 20 by Merv Dillon at mid-off, from a Corey Collymore over that went for 12 runs.The tide was turning South Africa’s way and Kallis made hay, racing to a century – his 12th in one-dayers – off 115 balls. He accelerated further, heaping punishment on Hurley and Rampaul in particular, just as he had done to Collymore earlier in his innings. When Rudolph fell for 35, off only 28 balls, he and Kallis had put on 90 runs in little over ten overs (277 for 4).By then the required rate was down to a run a ball and victory was South Africa’s for the taking. However, a sensational catch by Brian Lara at midwicket dismissed Lance Klusener for only 4 (285 for 5), and two overs later Rampaul, who bowled well throughout, produced his marvellous late effort, during which Kallis holed out to Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the deep (296 for 6).
Gayle was charged with bowling the last over, only for his fielders to let him down. Shaun Pollock’s blast through the off-side should have yielded two runs at the very most, but Hurley comically slipped on the dewy surface and conceded a precious four. Next ball, Dillon contrived to turn a one into a two, allowing Pollock to smash a six over mid-off to clinch the match – and the series. All in all, as so often on the tour, West Indies’ fielding let them down when it mattered.Their loss was especially sickening for Gayle, who earlier lit the Wanderers up with his swash-buckling innings. He broke West Indies’ highest one-day individual score against South Africa, including 12 fours and three eye-catching sixes.Chanderpaul, who scored 85, offered deft support in a record-breaking opening stand of 193, before Ricardo Powell upped the ante in the last 10 overs, notching a searing 49 not out off only 24 balls.Lara would have been confident that a score of over 300 was enough to steal a draw in the series, especially after his comments that teams bowling second under the lights have an unfair advantage. However, rather than serving as a confidence booster ahead of the England series, this result capped a disappointing and ultimately forgetful tour.
Double-centuries from Shiv Sunder Das and captain Sanjay Raul helped Orissa pile on a massive 575 for four at the end of the second day of their all-important East Zone Ranji match against Bengal at Baripada on Sunday.Earlier, Orissa after winning the toss, lost opener BBCC Mohanty for no score. No. 3 Rashmi Ranjan Parida made 28 before he too was out. It was at this juncture, with the team score on 58-2, that Das and Raul began their grand stand. Das, who made 253 before he was run out, also had the pleasure of registering the highest Ranji score of the current season. Raul too must have been pleased at the end of a day which saw him register 210 runs against his name. The two men put on a massive 456 runs together before Raul was out. PM Mullick on 22* and P Jayachandra 30* were holding fort when stumps were drawn.
For the second consecutive game the Zimbabweans will go into the last day of the match with their backs to the wall and a draw their only realistic goal. Having gained the upper-hand in this match after bowling out the Sri Lankans for just 212 and then progressing to 142-4 in reply, they collapsed to 173 all out. Grateful for the lead, the Sri Lankan’s then extended it to 117 with an unbroken opening stand of 78.Spurred on by a May Day crowd of at least 38 locals, the Sri Lankan opening bowlers struck immediately in the morning. Suresh Perera, who is making his comeback to first class cricket after a layoff of 5 months due to a stress fracture, trapped Neil Ferreira (0) with the forth delivery of the day. Four balls later Gavin Rennie (1) chipped an easy return catch back to Dinusha Fernando and Zimbabwe were precariously placed on 2-2.The early wickets gave Aleser Maragwede (7) and Douglas Marillier (81) their first chance of a bat on this tour and an opportunity to push for their inclusion in the test side. With Andy Blignaut still suffering from a back injury and Mark Vermeulen having a wrist injury there could well be some changes for the match in Galle.It was an opportunity that Douglas Marillier didn’t waste. His presence on this tour a remarkable triumph in itself after a horrific car accident a few years ago, he compiled a fluent and entertaining half century. Unfortunately for his team only Craig Wishart (26) was able to give him support.Craig Wishart joined Marillier in the 26th over after Dion Ebrahim (18) was caught behind off the impressive left arm spin of Dinuk Hettiarachchi. After the lunch break the pair took the attack to the Sri Lankan bowlers, scoring 69 runs in an hour. However Wishart’s obvious skill and power was eventually undermined by some poor decision making. Immediately after cutting Priyanka Wickramasinghe to the point boundary he was caught at short cover trying to drive a ballfrom the same bowler that was too short in length.Having made the breakthrough the Sri Lankan spinners then applied the pressure with some miserly bowling, 11 runs being scored off nine overs. Stuck in the 80’s Douglas Marillier was then deceived by some extra bounce from Priyanka and was caught behind. Greg Lamb (10) walked straight in front of his stumps and was uncontroversially adjudged LBW and Peacock (2) popped up a simple catch to Suresh Perera just on the stroke of tea.Despite Angus Mackay’s attempt to launch something of a counter attack the tailenders cold offer little resistance. Dinuk Hettiarachchi (3-25) finishing off the innings with two quick wickets. It was just reward for a fine spell of bowling by the left arm spin. An energetic spinner of the ball he was prepared to give the ball and vary his pace. On the evidence of today he is currently Sri Lanka’s best left arm spinner.The Sri Lankan openers wasted no time in extending their small lead and were rarely troubled by the Zimbabwean bowlers. Shantha Kalavitigoda was the more attacking of the two: hitting eight fours and one six in a fine 49 not out. Ian Daniels (25*) looked equally impressive but nevertheless content to leave the acceleration to his partner.
Gio van Bronckhorst will be hoping to guide his Rangers side to back-to-back wins as they return to Premiership action at Ibrox on Saturday.
The Gers ended a run of three straight draws in all competitions by securing a 1-0 win in midweek and now have the chance to build on that this weekend.
Glen Kamara scored the only goal of the game as they beat St Johnstone last Wednesday, and they are set to play host to Aberdeen in the league on Saturday afternoon.
Unleash Sakala
One player who Van Bronckhorst must unleash from the start this weekend is Fashion Sakala, after he was surprisingly dropped for the win over St Johnstone.
He put in an excellent showing in the draw with Motherwell but was dropped to the bench in midweek as Scott Arfield lined up in the front three instead of him. This may have been down to fitness or simple rotation from the Dutch head coach, but he should now bring the Zambian straight back into the starting XI tomorrow to play in the attacking trident alongside Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent.
Against Motherwell, Sakala was a constant threat to the opposition. As per SofaScore, he created three chances for his team-mates, completed one dribble and hit four shots at goal, one of which landed in the back of the net as he brilliantly swept home a cross from Kent to make it 2-0 at the time.
Over the course of the campaign, the 24-year-old has averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.01 as he has scored seven goals and provided one assist in 22 Premiership matches.
The “firework” – in the words of Alan Hutton, who also said that he “plays at 100 miles per hour” – has averaged 1.2 key passes per game and created four ‘big chances’ – suggesting that he deserves more than one assist – whilst missing three huge opportunities in front of goal himself.
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Meanwhile, Arfield has four goals and zero assists in 21 matches this term. He has missed a whopping seven ‘big chances’ and created none for his team-mates, which suggests that he is incredibly wasteful in front of goal whilst offering no creative threat for the other players in the team.
Therefore, Sakala is far better than the Canadian out on the right, as he is the better finisher out of the two and is able to deliver chances for his team-mates to finish off. The summer signing simply offers more in the final third and that is why he must be unleashed from the start against Aberdeen.
AND in other news, Forget Roofe: Van Bronckhorst can save Rangers millions in “big talent” who scores every 41 minutes…
Three of Bermuda’s squad members who should have appeared in their side’s Stanford 20/20 campaign are facing lengthy bans after failing a drugs test.”If any athlete has tested positive with us we then send a portion of the specimen to the government lab for confirmation,” Cathy Belvedere, a spokesman for the Bermuda Council for Drug Free Sports, told newspaper. “And if it is confirmed positive they then get a one year infraction.”They can apply for the domestic application whereas they won’t be able to represent Bermuda during that year but can go back to playing gymnastics, football, cricket or whatever sport they are involved in,” Belvedere added. “They would also have to agree to some counselling, but that’s only if there’s a positive find.”Although the identity of the players is not yet known, it was confirmed that two of the trio represented Somerset – one of Bermuda’s domestic teams – while the other is “a prominent member” of St George’s, the domestic champions.”All of the players [in the national team] were tested, but unfortunately not everyone cleared the process which has policies in place that all national bodies must adhere to,” Reggie Pearman, president of the Bermuda Cricket Board, said. “All of the players knew what was required of them and what the consequences were.”
Greg Chappell, India’s coach, was confident and positive in the pre-departure press conference ahead of India’s campaign in the forthcoming World Cup in the Caribbean. “We’re all looking forward to the World Cup. It’s the showpiece tournament in one-day cricket and we are in as good a position as we could have been,” he said. “The pieces of the jigsaw puzzle have fallen into place in the last few weeks. There is a good balance, good experience and youth in the squad, and a good variety in bowling and batting. That will give us a wide range of options no matter what the condition and no matter what the opposition.”Over the recent months India’s journey in limited-overs cricket has been far from smooth, and the fielding has come in for specific criticism. But Chappell did not think the fielding would be a major worry. “The fielding in the last few games has been good,” he said. “We have worked hard on it and will continue to so in the World Cup. The positive side is that we have got some 1900 ODIs between the group and that hopefully will offset any deficiencies anywhere.”The one aspect that Chappell and Rahul Dravid have been insisting on over the last year and more has been the need for flexibility within the squad, and Chappell was happy with how this side of the game had shaped up. “We have cover for pretty much all the key players and key positions. We have got flexibility in bowling and batting. We have got a squad that we can expect to do well with,” he said, adding a note of caution. “Obviously now it is down to execution. We can do all the preparation that we have done and continue to do in the Word Cup, but now it is up to the performance on the day and each game and that’s where the pressure is going to be.”But Chappell, who has come in for some criticism for changes in the batting order, would not be drawn into saying who would open the batting in the World Cup. “We cannot really talk about that at the moment because a lot of it will depend on the conditions and opposition. We have some plans and ideas on which we have been working towards in the recent months,” he said. “We have got the options to do a number of things and to mix the batting order in a number of ways but we have some strong ideas of where we play players and what sort of role that they will have. We will be sitting down with players and reinforcing them once we reach the West Indies. To talk about that will be a bit premature at this stage.”Chappell also said that India could take some pointers from their recent trip to the West Indies, although they lost the one-dayers 1-4 on that tour. “Obviously we have some experience in West Indies. We are not playing on some of the grounds that we played last year and will play on some new grounds,” he said. “I do not expect the conditions to be very different from what I have experienced in the last 30 years. In a World Cup the intention will be to get the best possible batting wickets and that certainly doesn’t do us any harm as batting is our strength. It’s really a matter of what we do on that day and execution can be the decider. If anyone is going to have an advantage you will think it will be the home team. But then again the hosts have never won a World Cup.”When asked about the terms “process” and “systems”, which are common enough and yet have taken some rather negative connotations vis-à-vis the Indian team, Chappell said there was always work to do and ways to improve. “They have come along well from the point that we have come to this, where we have a fit and in-form team ready to go for the World Cup. It’s been successful but it’s a never ending process and you try to improve the group and each player tries to improve himself,” he said. “The coaching staff is trying to expand its vision and range and in all ways and will continue in the World Cup and after the World Cup. I suppose we will be able to answer that question definitively after the World Cup.”Chappell also did not want to read too much into Australia’s recent run of losses. “It shows that New Zealand is a good side. It shows that England has made some progress. No doubt it will effect Australia’s balance if [Brett] Lee and [Andrew] Symonds are not going to be there, but I am sure they have got good cricketers there. Stuart Clark has come in and maybe he will be the player of the series for them,” he said. “The loss would have made them a bit hungrier and determined to play well. I would have preferred that they won all the matches and gone to the West Indies overconfident. Now they will be right on the job. We will have our job cut out.”
Jagmohan Dalmiya, the former Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) president, has strongly denied the charges of financial irregularities made against him by the current BCCI regime. Addressing a press conference in Kolkata today, Dalmiya said he had replied to each of the charges to to the BCCI’s marketing committee.The BCCI had last week asked Dalmiya to clarify certain financial transactions made during the 1996 World Cup by the PILCOM (Pakistan-India-Sri Lanka), the organising body which Dalmiya was the convenor secretary. The charges included the transfer of certain amounts to the Cricket Association of Bengal.”Nobody has lost a single paisa — be it BCCI or Cricket Association of Bengal”, Dalmiya today said.”The new convenor secretary of PILCOM (Niranjan Shah) has made a wild, defamatory charge through innuendo. I wish to state categorically that I am not aware of any amount being due from TWI … It is expressly reiterated that not a single penny was misappropriated and the BCCI received the entire amount with due justifications.”Asked if he was contemplating any legal action, he said, “I have already given the papers to my lawyers, once I find things are going too much beyond control, I will not hesitate in moving the judiciary.”He added that he had some revelations to make about the current regime. “I have a lot to tell. I will come to you very soon. Only I know what kind of transparency they have. I have nursed the BCCI like my child. If something grossly wrong is being done, I’ll come back to you. You have to just wait.”Turning to the goings-on in the February 21 meeting, Dalmiya said that a ten-page document was circulated and he was asked to answer without knowing the contents. “I wanted seven days’ time. But such was the aggressiveness of some of the members, that they wanted me to reply then and there,” he continued.However, Dalmiya praised Sharad Pawar, the board chief, for not bowing to the pressure tactics of those members. Releasing to the media his reply to Shah’s note as also various other documents pertaining to the PILCOM, Dalmiya clarified that it had only one account maintained by Pakistan and India at Citibank, London. “It has no other account anywhere, be it Kolkata or any other place.”
On his record against Pakistan My aim is to score against anybody whether it is Pakistan or anybody else. My aim is to just play my normal game and score runs.On the difference between his Mohali century and here About 25-30 runs. You try and learn from your mistakes from other innings and when you play a long one like this then it feels good.On the state of the match The wicket is still very good for batting. It depends on how we play tomorrow, if we bat well till tea for example then the pressure will be on Pakistan whether they want to play for a draw or go for a win. If we get near 500 quickly enough then the pressure will be on Pakistan.On getting out to Danish Kaneria I think after I reached my 200 it would have helped if there was a gap of about one over in between. I lost my concentration a little bit. My aim was to stay and bat throughout the day but I was very sad at getting out so soon after my double century.On whom he found most difficult to face I found no-one difficult today.On adapting between one-day and Test matches I don’t want to change my game whatever the situation or the type of match. If you are performing well and scoring runs then you don’t need to adapt your game. You don’t need to change your thinking if you are doing well.On his confrontation with Mohammad Sami I think I handled it well enough. He was trying to bowl short into my ribs and I just defended it. I just knew that I wasn’t getting out to his bowling. He was trying to put pressure on me by having a chat, trying to distract me but it wasn’t interesting enough for me to repeat it here.On who he dedicated this innings to My wife, she was here today.On the pace of his batting I don’t think about the pace of my batting. The only thing in my mind is that I have to hit the loose balls to the boundary. If I miss out, I always think I can do it off the next ball.On becoming the fastest Indian to reach 3000 runs I didn’t know I was the fastest but I knew I was going to reach the landmark today.On the wicket I don’t think it is a good Test-match wicket. Pakistan made nearly 600 runs and we have made nearly 400 runs. So many runs in three days of cricket can’t be a good wicket for Test match cricket. Pitches have to help both bowlers and batsmen to make it interesting.
Robert Croft, who announced his retirement from international cricket yesterday, has warned that England won’t produce a match-winning spinner unless there are drier pitches at county level.Croft, who took 49 Test wickets at 37.24, said, “I know there’s an instruction from Lord’s saying that pitches must start dry, but it either gets ignored or it’s because of the climate we have in this country, but it doesn’t happen.”Because of that, a lot of the spin bowlers don’t adopt an aggressive or positive attitude towards bowling spin in this country,” he continued. “We tend to get used a lot to hold up an end while the seamers have a break. Then you’re expected to go away and bowl on turning pitches. If you haven’t got a positive mindset it’s very tough to do.”Croft, who took 35 wickets overseas, compared with 14 at home, added, “We have to develop more of a positive attitude towards spin bowling and the only way we can do that is to start producing drier pitches. When you do play on a pitch that is dry and get some wickets, if you come up against a green pitch in the next game you’ll spin it more.”If you play on drier wickets on a regular basis then I’m sure you would see a vast improvement in spin bowling.”