The most famous sparrow in cricket is to feature in “The Grand House Sparrow Exhibition” at the Natural History Museum of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.The bird was hit by a ball during a match between MCC and Cambridge University in 1936, as chronicled by Wisden. “TN Pearce, the batsman, managed to play the ball and the bird fell against the stumps without dislodging a bail.” It was subsequently stuffed and mounted on the ball which caused its fate.Dave van der Wal from the TV station accompanied Kees Moeliker who travelled to the Lord’s museum, and produced a short video of the journey with some misty-eyed music accompaniment.There’s more information on the bird’s flight at the Lord’s website.
Somerset are hoping to speak to Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith in a bid to get one of them to play next summer.Ponting’s brief spell at Taunton in 2004 coincided with a marked upturn in Somerset’s performances, while Smith led the county for part of 2005, guiding them to victory in the Twenty20 Cup.”We will be talking to the connections of both players,” Brian Rose, Somerset’s director of cricket, Was quoted as saying by the official website. “But we won’t commit ourselves unless either can play for a meaningful period. It could all come down to how long their respective cricket boards are willing to let them play county cricket for next season.”Ponting is due to lead Australia in Bangladesh at the start of the 2006 season and Zimbabwe at the end of the summer, while Smith and South Africa should be in Zimbabwe in August.
Andrew Leipus, India’s physiotherapist, has confirmed today that he will be standing down from his role after the forthcoming tour of Bangladesh. Leipus’s intentions were made public by Cricinfo at the beginning of November, but he has chosen not to confirm his decision until now. He now wishes to spend more time with his family, as well as pursue a professional course in sports physiotherapy.”I had asked the board to relieve me after India’s tour to Bangladesh,” Leipus told Cricinfo. “I want to take six months off for personal reasons. As for the future, we plan to sit down after six months and consider all options.”Leipus, who has been with the Indian team since late 1999, has become a hugely respected figure within the national set-up, and is widely credited for bringing the team’s levels of fitness up to the standards now expected of all international sportsmen. Both he and his sidekick, the fitness trainer Greg King, had been awarded contracts until 2007 – a period of time that was indicative of the respect they have earned – but Leipus now intends bowing out ahead of the visit of Pakistan in March.”After the Bangladesh tour, there is a decent break in play before Pakistan tours India,” Leipus told The Times of India. “The time is enough for the BCCI to finalise on another candidate.” In February, shortly before Pakistan arrive for their Test and one-day series, Leipus will begin a Masters course in sports physiotherapy at the University of Adelaide.In a letter to the Indian Board, Leipus suggested that John Gloster, the former Bangladesh physio, should be considered as a his replacement. Gloster, who has also worked with Surrey in the past, spent about two years as the physio of the Bangladesh team, but left them in October when his contract ran out.
Hampshire had dominated the first two days of this Frizzell Championship Division Two match against Gloucestershire at The Rose Bowl, but they were left hanging on to a draw at the end of the match after rain and some tight bowling went against the home side.Jonty Rhodes and Jon Lewis gathered a further 45 runs when play started after lunch. The morning two hours had been lost to heavy rain, and it was a tribute to the ground staff and the quick drying Rose Bowl that play managed to get underway. Rhodes finished 151 not out, hitting 13 fours and three sixes in a stay of 270 balls.Set 283 for victory in a minimum of 55 overs, Hampshire’s loss of early wickets put paid to any hope of making a challenge for the runs. John Crawley and first innings hero Derek kenway both fell to Aussie Ian Harvey’s seam bowling, and he shared the spoils with off spinner Martyn Ball.It fell to Dimitri Mascarenhas and Shaun Udal to put the brakes on their teams downfall, and on the formers dismissal Wasim Akram played an unusual role of defence, and the draw was comfortably achieved in the end.
Indian coach John Wright singled out the happenings on the firstevening as the turning point in the first Test against Sri Lanka whichIndia lost by 10 wickets early Friday morning. “Those couple of latewickets in the first evening were crucial. That took the game awayfrom us. We should have at least put up 250 which would have been acompetitive score,” said the New Zealand born Wright who is with theIndian side on a one-year contract.Wright praised the Sri Lankan attack, “It’s a balanced attack andtheir bowlers bowled well right from the start to make thingsdifficult for us.”The Indian bowlers, for their part, though failedto deliver the goods when the Lankans were batting. “It makes thingsdifficult for the captain when you’ve got the best square cutter inthe middle and the bowlers keep on feeding him in his favourite area,” Wright observed.But he was hopeful that the side would bounce back in Kandy. “We have been in situations such as this before and we got to fight our way back.” He though admitted that restoring parity was not going to be an easy task for his team. “Sri Lanka are a difficult side to beat.”Muttiah Muralitharan once again was the wrecker-in-chief with a fivewicket haul in the Indian second innings. He claimed eight in thematch.Wright says his batsmen have to be more positive in handlingthe Sri Lankan off-spinner. “They have to play their natural game andback themselves. But I don’t think that there’s any secret formula toplay Muralitharan. You can’t say you got to play this way. You got tobe positive against everyone and not to be intimidated by hisreputation.”However Indian captain Sourav Ganguly took a different view on the subject, “Lot of players in this squad with the exceptionof me and Rahul are facing him for the first time. So they’ve got noexperience on how to handle him”Ganguly also paid tribute to the Sri Lankan team, “The Sri Lankansplayed really well. They came up with a good all round performance.”Ganguly, like Wright before him, blamed the batsmen for coming up witha pathetic performance, “After that opening partnership between Rameshand Das we just didn’t bat well. The middle order failed and 187 wasnever going to be enough”The skipper himself was dismissed by fast bowler Dilhara Fernando ontwo occasions in this game as his poor form with the bat continued. “Ihave to score runs. I have scored four hundreds previously againstthis side. I am making mistakes and getting out. I got a bad decisionin the first innings. I got a bad decision in the first Test inZimbabwe too. But this is part and parcel of game. I have been tryingto do everything and I just need to spend sometime in the middle.”
Leeds United goalkeeper Kiko Casilla will miss the Championship clash with Millwall at Elland Road at the end of the month after picking up a one-match ban for the red card he received against Sheffield United on Saturday, and it gives Bailey Peacock-Farrell an unexpected chance.
On the chalkboard
Despite being Marcelo Bielsa’s first-choice between the sticks in the first half of the season, the 22-year-old was cast aside almost immediately to accommodate former Real Madrid man Casilla following his arrival during the January transfer window.
The experienced 32-year-old had played every minute of league action since January 26 – until he saw red late on against the Blades at the weekend that is.
Peacock-Farrell looked as though he would be spending the run-in sat on the substitutes’ bench, but he now has a massive opportunity and he will know he needs to take it.
What could he do?
Despite what happened with the 6ft 4in stopper at the beginning of 2019, Bielsa has shown previously that he is willing to stick with a player in the starting XI if they are performing well.
Should the Northern Ireland international get the nod against the Lions – as expected – and puts in a stellar performance and gets a clean sheet for example, there is no reason why he may not keep his place the following weekend.
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If that happens and continues to happen in the remaining fixtures of the campaign, he could well be the Yorkshire outfit’s unexpected hero as they look to secure a top-two finish and a return to the Premier League.
The goalkeeper’s role in the team is vital, and if Peacock-Farrell can pull off saves and keep the ball out of the net, he could be the hero in May – that’s something he wouldn’t have thought was possible prior to last weekend.
Desert Vipers batter Shimron Hetmyer has been ruled out of the remainder of the ongoing ILT20 season due to a hamstring injury. Hetmyer got injured while playing against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (ADKR) earlier this week, and has been replaced in Vipers’ squad by former England batter Jason Roy.Hetmyer played in all seven games for Vipers so far this season, but had a quiet time with the bat. He scored just 111 runs in six innings at an average of 18.50, although at an impactful strike rate of 160.86. Hetmyer’s highest score was the 48 off 25 balls he smashed against ADKR on December 5.Roy, meanwhile, enters the ILT20 after three matches for Pokhara Avengers in the Nepal Premier League, where he scored 68 runs at an average of 34. Before that, he was at the Abu Dhabi T10, where he was Royal Champs’ captain. Roy also has previous experience of playing in the ILT20. In 2024, he played two matches for ADKR, while next season, he played 12 games for Sharjah Warriorz, and got 298 runs at an average of 29.80.”We are extremely disappointed to lose a player of Shimron’s quality and experience as he has played a positive role in our squad this season, but securing someone of Jason’s pedigree and experience certainly softens that blow,” Tom Moody, Vipers’ Director of Cricket, said.”Jason ticks all the boxes for us. He knows the format inside-out, he is a versatile batter who can go through the gears, he provides us options up and down the order, he has been playing recently and he has experience in the ILT20.”Vipers are currently at the top of the points table, with six wins in seven games. The one-run loss they suffered against ADKR this week was their first after six back-to-back victories to start the tournament. Vipers are next in action on Sunday evening, when they face Warriorz in Dubai, with their new recruit Roy having already arrived there.
New Zealand’s decision to hand Daniel Vettori the Test captaincy after ten years with Stephen Fleming at the helm was a fair call, according to several former New Zealand players. The consensus was that although there could have been benefits in leaving Fleming in charge, appointing Vettori would bring a freshness to the team.Martin Crowe said Vettori would need to learn quickly and would face challenging decisions over how often to bowl himself. “Stephen’s had a pretty good whack and at end of the day it is sport,” Crowe told the . “I don’t have a major problem with the call.”But I just wonder whether Fleming would have got more out of Vettori as a bowler in the upcoming Test matches than Vettori will out of Vettori, just in his first year. They are big shoes to fill for Dan and things will need to go his way. Flem was a scientist in the one-day game and Dan will need to learn that. You can’t go five overs umming and ahing.”Ian Smith said the writing was on the wall for Fleming when he quit the ODI captaincy after the World Cup as split leadership would not work. “If you have sides that are six or seven players different then two captains might work,” Smith said.”But I can’t see how the same sides can have two different leaders in a dressing room. It just wouldn’t work. As far as Dan goes I have no problem. He is a great student of the game and he is genuine allrounder whose place in the side is never in doubt.”Adam Parore described Fleming’s captaincy as outstanding and said the only other leaders who had come close to matching him were Steve Waugh and Michael Vaughan. “He was the best going around,” Parore said. “It’s inevitable with age and time that you get sameness no matter who you are. It is not a problem you can fix.”
The second annual ICC winter training camp begins in South Africa next week with 24 players from the six top Associate countries coming together for intensive coaching, training and tactical analysis of one-day cricket with some of the leading coaches.Players from Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands and Scotland will arrive at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria on October 2 for a seven-week camp that will aim to boost their form and skills ahead of the World Cup in West Indies next March.Last year, the camp concentrated on fitness and technical improvements but, according to the Richard Done, the ICC’s high performance manager, the emphasis of this year’s camp will be slightly different.”The success of last year’s camp has been really encouraging. Several of the players who attended the WTC in 2005 have gone from strength to strength within their own countries”This year though, with the World Cup so close, it is especially important to focus on one-day skills,” added Done. “So as well as fitness and technical sessions, we will program a lot of match scenarios to recreate specific situations that players will face during one-day games.”William Porterfield, the 22-year-old Ireland batsman, is excited by the opportunity of the camp: “This is a great opportunity for me to improve my all-round game. I can’t wait. I’m looking forward to working with the coaches they have lined up and the programme looks really interesting.”It is also important that we continue the season. I feel I finished the summer quite strongly so I want to maintain that momentum heading towards the World League and World Cup next year. It is also important to spend some time in the hotter climate and learn to adjust to that.”Dewald Nel, the Scotland pace bowler, knows what to expect after attending last year and says it has come and just the right time. “I think it will be very beneficial to work on specific cricket skills and game scenarios with coaches who, as players, performed at the highest level. Part of this, too, is that I want to keep match fit and match aware.”The tendency at this time of year is to relax too much and although you might keep fit, you lose a certain sharpness that you only get from playing and pushing yourself on a regular basis.”The coaching staff at the camp will be led by the current Leicestershire and former England Under-19 coach Tim Boon and will be co-ordinated by Mark Lane with specialist input from former international players including Gary Kirsten, Kepler Wessels, Eric Simons and Rod Marsh.In the final two weeks of the camp the players will a chance to put into practice the skills they have picked up with two matches against Gauteng at the Wanderers, four against Northerns and two against Western Province.However, the camp is more than just about bat on ball as the players will also undergo comprehensive physiological testing, strength and fitness training, biomechanical testing, psychological/life skills sessions, nutrition advice, and video analysis.
Ken Gordon, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board, has been appointed chairman of the ICC board that will handle arrangements for the 2007 World Cup, to be staged in the West Indies.The appointment follows the resignation of Rawle Brancker as chairman. The other board members who were present when Brancker quit also offered their resignations to allow the new president of the WICB an opportunity to reconstitute the board.Gordon recently visited the head offices of the 2007 World Cup organisers, meeting the team responsible for the planning and execution of the tournament, which is to be staged in the West Indies. According to a press release, Gordon met Chris Dehring, the managing director and CEO, Don Lockerbie, the chief operating officer and venue development director, and ICC host liaison Chris Tetley last week.Saying that the meeting was arranged in order to familiarise the new president with the preparations for the event, Dehring said the visit also provided him with a first-hand look at the “engine room” responsible for the delivery of the tournament. Dehring also introduced Gordon to the “cosmopolitan and enthusiastic CWC team” drawn from the region, who will work in tandem with the talents and resources at the Local Organising Committees (LOCs) in each host venue.