The lower-ranked Associates haven’t received the warmest of welcomes ahead of the World Cup, but that isn’t stopping Afghanistan and Norway planning for the 2011 World Cup.”I can see a very bright future for cricket in Afghanistan and maybe in the next ten years we will be able to have at least five good grounds,” Shahzada Masoud, president of the Afghanistan Cricket Federation (ACF), said. “The ultimate goal would be to play against Test-playing nations and maybe even qualify for the 2011 World Cup.”Both teams are in the lowly Division Five of the World Cricket League and would need to be promoted to Division One before even thinking about qualifying for the World Cup. Cricket is undoubtedly on the rise in Afghanistan, but sheer enthusiasm alone is an insufficient base on which to improve the sport’s standard in the country.They did, however, have a successful maiden tour of England last summer. Their opponents? The Officer Cadets of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, who were twice beaten.”When we visited the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst there were Afghan cadets in the academy who said that people were actually laughing about the fact that we were coming to play cricket against them,” Masoud said. “And then Afghanistan won. After beating the MCC in India earlier in the year this was good. The better the team, the better we play.”The country has little history with cricket. The Taliban banned the sport but now, with the regime now fallen – and their close proximity to Pakistan – the game is showing signs of flourishing.
“Even years ago while cricket was being played in Pakistan there was obviously no TV coverage and so most people got information and commentary only through the radio,” Masoud added. “I think it caught on during the 1987 World Cup in Pakistan where there was coverage. People who fled the Russian rule in Afghanistan went to Pakistan and either lived in camps across the border or assimilated into places like Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Lahore.”Many Afghans share a common heritage with people like Shahid Afridi who is a big hero to the Afghans, Younis Khan – even Imran Khan, who is believed to be an Afghan from his mother’s family.”Thousands of miles away in Oslo, Norway’s national team are sheltering from the freezing weather in a sports hall for their weekly practice. “So far, we have lost only six matches out of 40. As chief selector, I have done my job,” Khalid Mahmood, 47, proudly told AFP.The road will be long and arduous.
The Central Districts duo of Mathew Sinclair and Jamie How each scored centuries to set Otago a challenging target of 401 at the end of the third day of the State Championship match at New Plymouth. Central declared on 259 for 1 with Sinclair and How undefeated on 103 and 134 respectively – Sinclair following up on his first innings ton of 121. Earlier, Otago were bowled out for 275, adding 84 to their overnight score, as Minal Patel claimed three wickets with his left arm spin. Otago batted out seven overs till stumps, ending at eight for no loss.Riding on James Franklin’s double century and a five-wicket haul by Charles Shreck, the seam bowler, Wellington defeated Auckland convincingly by an innings and 60 runs inside three days at Basin Reserve. After Franklin was dismissed for 208, and useful contributions from the tailenders, Wellington declared at 547 for 8. Shreck rocked the top-order, finishing with 5 for 64 off his 18 overs. Tama Canning (67) and Matt Horne (52) were the only two batsmen to cross fifty.Tailenders Brendon Hiini and Paul Wiseman displayed their batting talents, hitting centuries and taking Canterbury to a commanding position against Northern Districts on the third day of their State Championship match at Hamilton. The Northern Districts bowlers struggled to dislodge the pair, finally managing to get Wiseman out for 130. Hinni remained not-out on 100 as his side declared their first innings at 515 for 9. Wiseman scored briskly, hitting three sixes and 14 fours. Faced with a deficit of 246, Northerns finished on 89 for 1, Chris Harris claiming Alun Evans’s wicket.
South Africa fought hard on the fifth day of the first Test against West Indies to draw the game, after being outplayed on the first four days. Bennett King, the West Indies coach, has expressed disappointment over the result and expects improvement in future matches.”We are not really enjoying a draw, we are all not as happy as we could be,” said King to Stabroek News. “I just think that there are a lot of times when the players are really working hard, and really trying to put plans together, and really are trying to come up with results other than bowling all day, and hoping. They [the team] are really trying to set some people up and get them out; and that is really encouraging.”South Africa were asked to follow on after getting dismissed for 188 in the first innings. Jacques Kallis’s unbeaten knock of 109 saved the game for them. “At the moment, not every ball goes into the area as we want, but the more we practise the better we will get.”Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the new captain, was fairly satisfied with his team’s performance, who were tipped as underdogs due to the omission of several players including Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle from the side. “It was a good five days. We came in as the underdogs. In batting, the guys went out and put up a pretty good total. The bowlers also came out and did well. I don’t think that there is much we would change from this here. Going into the next game, to be in a position like this, we would be happy.”Chanderpaul pointed out that the one area the West Indies would need to work on for the rest of the series is their fielding. “We were pretty much on top, just the fielding side of it [we need to work on].”However, spirits were high in the South African camp. Graeme Smith praised Jacques Kallis for his resilient knock which saved the match for them. “I am running out of words for Jacques [Kallis]. He is superb, rock solid, did what he had to do, carried the innings again. In the middle there, it is so important to have a solid batter, a guy you can rely on. And we relied on him [Kallis] today.”Smith felt that his team underestimated the Guyana pitch. “I think that we, maybe, underestimated the surface. I don’t think that our bowlers realised how low and flat it was going to be, and how much effort we would have to put in. And the batters, I think, kind of played with a little too much freedom.”Smith pointed out that South Africa needed to improve their bowling for the second Test in Trinidad. “I think that the batters are focused and have been scoring runs of late, and I think that the hardest thing is for the bowlers to get these wickets. You have to bowl differently, you have to be able to take 20 wickets to win Test matches. And hopefully, Trinidad offers a more even battle between bat and ball.”
Australia’s match with New Zealand in India today is rapidly shaping as a “best of the rest” match, so badly hit by injuries have the two sides been. The latest withdrawals from the game are Mike Kasprowicz, the replacement Australian fast bowler, and Chris Cairns, the New Zealand allrounder.Cairns, who suffered a hamstring strain in New Zealand’s last match, the rain-affected encounter with India, failed a fitness test yesterday and will be left to recover for New Zealand’s next game, against India in Pune on Monday. Kasprowicz has a sprained hip muscle according to Australian captain Ricky Ponting.Australia had already lost Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Darren Lehmann from their World Cup-winning side, with Shane Warne still unavailable due to his suspension. New Zealand went on tour without Shane Bond, and have sent Nathan Astle home for treatment for his recovering knee, while Cairns is now unfit.
In addition to the outside work that is being undertaken around the County Ground at Taunton, there is also a lot of work going on inside the Colin Atkinson Pavilion.Currently the bars and function rooms are closed to allow both areas to be completely refurbished.The work currently in progress in the bar and the function room includes fitting air conditioning and foul air extraction units, new carpets, curtains and new furniture.Mike Smith, who has been bars manager at the club for seven years, told me: “All of the work that is being undertaken is for the benefit of members and everyone who uses the pavilion throughout the year.”Very little has been done internally since the building first opened 20 years ago, so everything is being updated, including the fitting of a new public address system inside.”Upstairs the Somerset players’ dressing room has also been re-decorated and re-carpeted, and some of the furniture re-arranged to make more room to enable team meetings and discussions to be held more easily.The Colin Atkinson Pavilion re-opens for business on Friday March 1st, St. David’s Day, and the first function will, appropriately enough, be the Welsh Society Dinner the following day.
Free State moved to the top of Pool A with a comprehensive innings and 52 run victory over the North West Dragons inside three days at Goodyear Park on Sunday.The 18 points from the victory leap-frogged Free State from third placeabove leaders Northern Titans although the latter can reclaim their placeshould they overcome Boland in their current match.For the second time in the match Victor Mpitsang was the chief destroyer.The quickie followed up his first innings figures of four for 33 with fivefor 24 to take nine wickets in a SuperSport Series match for the second timein a fortnight.His wickets came in only 12.4 overs and in all the Dragons capitulated injust 36.5 overs. Altogether it took the Eagles just 79 overs to bowl themout twice.The four points taken by the Dragons moved them eight clear of GriqualandWest in the race for the fourth Super Eight berth from Pool A.Both teams have one match to play. The Dragons are at home to pace-settersNortherns while Griquas meet Boland in Kimberley.The Dragons will have to get off to a better start to their innings thanthey did in this match however.Having been reduced to 10 for three in the first innings they foundthemselves effectively reduced to 34 for four in the second.Victor Mpitsang sent back opener Andrew Lawson and number three MorneStrydom for ducks and with Hendrik de Vos having to retire hurt after beingstruck the Dragons faced an uphill struggle just to make Free State batagain.Mark Lavine (28), Glen Hewitt (26) and Craig Light (22) all got starts butnone could hang around long enough to worry Free State and the onlypartnership of any note was for 35 for the fifth wicket between Light andLavine.Mpitsang – who took nine for 107 against the Titans a fortnight ago – wasnamed man of the match for his nine for 67.
Everton have struggled to score this season, with strikers Richarlison, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Salomon Rondon netting just eight league goals between them – a disappointing return for a trio worth a combined £93.6m according to Transfermarkt.
The Goodison Park faithful have been crying out for one of their strikers to take responsibility upon themselves and become more clinical in front of goal, with the team lingering just above the relegation zone and Championship football next season a real possibility.
One player they most likely won’t face next year in the event of relegation is Aleksandar Mitrovic, who has just broken the record for goals scored in a single Championship season with 14 games still to go, as his club Fulham look like they will be heading back to the Premier League for next season.
However, the clinical Serbian may not have had the chance to break the record, had Everton followed through with their interest in him back in 2019 and completed a transfer, but now there is no chance of such a deal happening for the £16.2m-rated striker.
The idea of a partnership between him and Calvert-Lewin would surely leave Toffees fans drooling due to the 27-year-old’s exceptional development as a player and recent form, earning the highest average match rating in the second tier this season so far with 7.71.
With 35 goals in 33 Championship games, the striker has also missed 18 big chances, which shows how often he gets into good positions and creates space for himself. He has also demonstrated a creative side to his game, contributing seven assists during the campaign and making one key pass per match.
Mitrovic, who was branded an “animal” by his former Fulham boss Scott Parker, has also put any concerns over his attitude behind him, earning him the captain’s armband on a number of occasions for club and country.
His ruthless aggression and strength make him almost impossible for defenders to handle, and former Everton striker Louis Saha has likened him to a “old-fashioned” centre-forward. That is understandable as Mitrovic is the type of player who will put the ball in the back of the net, as well as the defender, the goalkeeper and sometimes himself too.
Everton have lacked that type of determination in the final third to score any type of goal no matter how scrappy it may be and have suffered as a result, while Mitrovic has thrived and now looks ready to become a prolific striker in the Premier League too.
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Right now, Toffees fans can only but wonder what it would have been like to witness him playing alongside Calvert-Lewin at Goodison Park, had they only gotten that prospective deal done three years ago.
In other news: Everton must desperately offload “tireless” £48k-p/w outcast, Lampard doesn’t rate him
In one of the biggest telecast deals in Indian cricket, the consortium of India’s Sony Television network and the Singapore-based World Sports Group (WSG) has secured the rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the officially-sanctioned Twenty20 league, for ten years at a cost of more than US$1 billion. As part of the deal, the consortium will pay the BCCI US$908 million for the telecast rights and US$108 million for the promotion of the tournament.Announcing the deal, BCCI vice-president and IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi said, “We are absolutely delighted … we have what we believe to be the best deal for the Indian Premier League and Indian cricket fans.”While the programming and ad sales strategy has yet to be worked out by Sony and WSG, Kunal Dasgupta, CEO of Sony Entertainment Television India, told , “WSG will explore the international market while Sony will cater to the subcontinent.” Sony’s previous big foray into cricket broadcasting was when it signed a five-year deal in excess of US$200 million with the ICC in 2002.Modi said that initially 80% of the revenues from the sale of media rights will go to the IPL franchises, gradually tapering down to 60% over the subsequent years. He also revealed that the bids for the franchises, the base price of which is US$50 million, will be opened on January 24 while player auctions would follow around February 7.The IPL has a pool of at least 78 cricketers with international experience from which the franchises can sign on players. Shane Warne will be the most expensive player, costing US$400,000 for a franchise to employ him. The next highest fee is for Glenn McGrath and Stephen Fleming, of US$350,000.IPL matches are likely to be held in the late-afternoon or evening in a bid to attract larger television audiences. Floodlighting in Delhi and Hyderabad, which are the only cities among the twelve earmarked for hosting matches in the inaugural season to not have floodlights installed, would be completed by March 30, he said.Modi was unconcerned that several players might not be available for the the first year of the IPL due to international commitments. “Not all of them may be available … but we have a number of other top players available to us,” he said. New Zealand’s tour of England and Australia’s tour of West Indies are both scheduled to commence in the second half of May.The IPL is a BCCI-backed Twenty20 league involving eight franchises and its inaugural season will consist of 59 games and is scheduled to start in April 2008. Each franchise will play the others on a home-and-away basis, with the top four sides going through to the semi-finals. The two IPL finalists will also advance to the new Champions Twenty20 tournament, which features the best teams of the domestic Twenty20 tournaments, tentatively scheduled for October 2008.
Andy and Grant Flower are still not interested in returning to theZimbabwe cricket team as long as the present administration remains. TheEssex pair spoke to Cricinfo on Monday while turning out for the World XIagainst a West Indies All Star team as part of the reopening of theKensington Oval on Saturday.”I walked away because of the state of affairs and not much haschanged,” said Andy Flower, the former Zimbabwe captain. “Since then it hasgone further downhill. I don’t believe things will change unless thegovernment changes, so that’s the stage we are at.”The brothers left the Zimbabwe team in 2003, disenchanted withgovernment policies and how the ZC cricket body led by Peter Chingokawas rife with financial mismanagement, bias and infighting. Dozens ofnational players have quit the side since, and Zimbabwe stopped playing Tests morethan a year ago because it wasn’t competitive enough.It has a conditional return to Test status in November, but considering thecountry has had no first-class competition for two years the talk of areturn to Test cricket may be premature.Chingoka was reportedly trying to attract former players for the Zimbabwe squadfor next month’s World Cup in the Caribbean to avoid embarrassment. Grant Flower, two years younger than Andy, called for a change of administration in the country. Otherwise, he said, the game would perish.”As Andy said, a lot needs to be done to save the game of cricket inZimbabwe. We would love to help, but we can’t work under the presentbosses,” said Grant. He also predicted a tough time for the team in the WorldCup.”Zimbabwe has been forced to field a team of kids and we have all seenthe results. It’s not the players’ fault but I don’t see them doing verywell in the World Cup out here.”
Ian Chappell believes Australia must start thinking of the Ashes by reinstating Michael Clarke instead of Brad Hodge for the three-Test tour of South Africa. Chappell, writing in his column for , said the selectors had to find a way for him to return after he was dropped for the third Test against West Indies in November.”Clarke is one of the six best batsmen in Australia – ahead of Brad Hodge – and his skill and flair will be an important ingredient if the Ashes are to be regained,” Chappell said. “Clarke is better equipped than Hodge to cope with the bounce and swing of a strong English attack and somehow the selectors have to have him back in the side before the first Test at the Gabba comes around.”The South Africa series and a two-match contest in Bangladesh in April are the only Tests Australia have before the Ashes starts at the Gabba on November 23. “Clarke is a player with a long-term future and also a potential Australian captain,” Chappell said. “He has had a kick in the backside and now is the right time to bring him back into the touring party.”The magazine also looks long term with Shane Warne predicting the South Australia slow-bowling duo of Cullen Bailey and Dan Cullen will go on to great things. Cullen, the offspinner who is currently recovering from a broken finger, was named the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year at the Allan Border Medal while Bailey, the legspinner, is his full-time replacement.”If you can have an offspinner and a legspinner bowling together it always tests the batsman with different sorts of techniques, good variation,” Warne said. “They are going to be hard work in South Australia, those guys, and, who knows, down the track they could form the Australian spin bowling combination.”