Points tableDay 2 Matthew Walker’s superb 197, his 20th first-class hundred, led Kent to an imposing 440 on the second day against Lancashire at Canterbury. Walker was last man out, run out, but shared in a fine fifth-wicket partnership of 135 with Dwayne Bravo who clobbered two sixes in his 76. After his two wickets yesterday, Andrew Flintoff – in his comeback game following injury to his ankle – went wicket less today but nevertheless has come through 19 overs without alarm. Indeed he bowled with menace and pace, on a flat and lifeless pitch and in conditions more akin to the subcontinent than England. After Walker and Bravo’s fine partnership Walker found great support in Amjad Khan (38) with whom he put on 121 for the ninth wicket to further frustrate Lancashire. In reply, the visitors lost Ian Sutcliffe and Mark Chilton to end the day in the perilous position of 56 for 2, still trailing by 166 runs.Day 1 Michael Yardy and Chris Adams powered Sussex to a solid 374 for 5 on the first day against Middlesex at Southgate. Chris Silverwood struck two early blows for the hosts, trapping Richard Montgomerie for a three-ball duck and Carl Hopkinson for just 8. Yardy and the ever-prolific Murray Goodwin (67) stablised the ship in putting on 159 for the third wicket. Though Yardy fell three short of a deserved ton, Adams made amends to bring up his hundred from 156 balls with 12 fours and three massive sixes.Tim Bresnan and Jason Gillespie gave Yorkshire the honours on the first day against Warwickshire at Scarborough, sharing seven wickets to dismiss the visitors for 201 inside 66 overs. Bresnan removed Warwickshire’s top three before Gillespie cut inroads in the middle-order; Warwickshire were indebted to Heath Streak’s defiant unbeaten 68, from 100 balls with 10 fours, to take them up to a score of respectability. Though Warwickshire grabbed a couple of quick wickets in Yorkshire’s reply, the home side sprinted to 122 and trail by just 79.
Points TableDay 1 Michael Powell held the Glamorgan innings together against Essex at Chelmsford. He made an unbeaten 157 as the visitors reached 312 for 5 after winning the toss. Essex made early inroads to reduce Glamorgan to 40 for 3 with Andy Bichel striking twice in his opening spell and Darren Gough once. Powell then found solid support from Richard Grant, who contributed 44 to a fourth-wicket stand of 137. Powell’s chanceless ton came up in 154 balls with 15 fours – many of which were creamed through the covers. Alex Tudor came in for particular punishment but enjoyed some belated success when he bowled Grant with a delivery that jagged back into the righthander. James Middlebrook was rewarded for an accurate spell soon after tea when he had James Franklin caught by Andy Flower at slip but that was to be Essex’s last success of a soporific day. Mark Wallace (47 not out) ably assisted Powell to the close with little cause for alarm.Click here to read the bulletin from Guildford as Justin Langer hammered a double hundred for Somerset against Surrey.Hassan Adnan was at the helm of two rescues for Derbyshire today at Leicester – and he left them strongly placed by stumps, having made 117. Adnan shared a fourth-wicket stand of 88 with Marcus North and then put on 260 with James Pipe (87*) as Derbyshire made 355 for 8. Stuart Broad had the visitors in early difficulty, a double-strike setting them wobbling at 10 for 2 and he ended with four wickets, including that of Adnan. Nicholas Walker pounced to have them 67 for 3 but from Leicestershire’s bowlers took their foot off the gas as Derbyshire’s batsmen zoomed on. There was a sting in the tail of the day for Derby, though, as they lost three wickets for 10 runs just before the close.
New Zealand have chosen the same 14-man squad that convincingly beat Bangladesh as they prepare for a considerable step up in class for the two-Test series against Australia, which starts on November 18.Richard Hadlee, the manager of New Zealand’s selection panel, said that the players would be aware of the extra intensity needed to face the world’s best side. “It is one of the biggest challenges in cricket to play Australia on their home soil and the Black Caps are very much looking forward to the challenge.”Hamish Marshall had again been named ahead of the more experienced Craig McMillan. “Marshall has done the job asked of him, even though he has had just one Test innings in Bangladesh,” Hadlee said. “With Michael Papps injured, we have confidence in Mathew Sinclair and it makes sense for him to open the innings. It is good for Sinclair to have the opportunity to continue on from where he left off in the Tests against Bangladesh.”New Zealand play Australia at the Gabba from November 18-22 and at the Adelaide Oval from November 26-30.New Zealand squad Mark Richardson, Mathew Sinclair, Stephen Fleming (capt), Scott Styris, Nathan Astle, Hamish Marshall, Jacob Oram, Brendan McCullum (wk), Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Kyle Mills, Paul Wiseman, Ian Butler, Chris Martin.
The lack of confidence which almost pulled the rug from under West Indies yesterday threatened to return again in the second one-dayer at a soggy Kingstown. After being put in to bat by Bangladesh in a match reduced to 25 overs a side, they limped to 124 for 7. But then their fast bowlers got them out of jail with quick wickets, and in the end the margin of victory was a comfortable 23 runs.The outfield was wet and slow – the start was delayed by rain for almost four hours – and the ball did not come on to the bat. Dwayne Smith’s well-made 62 held West Indies together as all their front-line batsmen – with the exception of Chris Gayle – got in but failed to press home their starts. The manner of their dismissals was also rather subdued, with only Sylvester Joseph caught on the boundary. The rest all fell to half-hearted jabs and swishes. Smith, however, looked assured, sweep-pulling two lovely sixes in an assured innings.Bangladesh’s hero was Tapash Baisya who ended with 4 for 16, all his wickets coming in his last two overs as West Indies tried too late to inject some pace.Bangladesh’s confidence facing a below-par target lasted two overs. In the third, Fidel Edwards struck twice, and from 10 for 2 the brittle middle order never threatened an upset. West Indies didn’t bowl particularly well, but against such a fragile line-up they didn’t need to. Two of the top order – Habibul Bashar and Alok Kapali – were strangled down the leg side, and two fell to superb catches from Man-of-the-Match Smith. With the exception of Hannan Sarkar (36) and Manjural Islam Rana (33*), Bangladesh had little else to offer.But the large crowd who rushed to the ground once play started cared little, and were celebrating victory long before the end. At the moment, they will take what they can get.
Played on Saturday 29 March. The match between Old Georgians SportsClub and Takashinga was postponed due to a pending disciplinaryhearing involving Takashinga.OLD HARARIANS v UPRISINGAt Old Hararians Sports Club; 29 March 2003. Old Hararians won by 57runs at 23 overs (rain stopped play).OLD HARARIANSC H Brewer b Tichana 41R W Price c Zhuwankinyu b Chinyoka 0R W Sims c Senzere b Chiposi 27S M Ervine not out 31*P A Strang b Muteerwa 37G B Brent c Chiposi b Muteerwa 0D P Viljoen not out 3R E ButterworthH P RinkeC Ervine+S KhanExtras (b 1 lb 2 nb 2) 5(5 wkts; 29 overs) 144Chinyoka 6 0 18 1Chinhura 6 0 32 0Tichana 7 0 35 1Chiposi 7 0 42 1Muteerwa 3 1 14 2UPRISINGI M Chinyoka c Khan b Rinke 8A Gwandura c Khan b S M Ervine 1C Rizhibowa b S M Ervine 14I Senzere lbw b Rinke 2A Tichana b Rinke 0A Chihera b Brent 20J Muteerwa c Rinke b Brent 11S Rupiya not out 3I Chemhuru not out 1*G ChiposiG ZhuwankinyuExtras (w 2 nb 1) 3(7 wkts; 23 overs) 63Rinke 6 1 8 3S M Ervine 5 0 21 2Price 4 1 7 0Brent 5 0 16 2Strang 3 0 11 0
As expected, the Netherlands completed a seven wicket victory over Fiji at a windswept Ajax ground today, in conditions that were in stark contrast to the previous days of the tournament. After heavy rain prevented a prompt start, the match was reduced to 45 overs. Both teams helped the ground staff to clear water from the covers, not a familar sight on our Test grounds.The Netherlands won the toss, asked Fiji to bat, and made an immediate breakthrough when Rika snicked an easy catch off Khan’s first ball. Rika lingered at the wicket, more showing disappointment at his own shot rather than dissent at the decision. The Fijians found runs very hard to obtain against an accurate pace attack, with T Sorovakatini (9) taking as many as 46 balls for his score.The Fijians nonetheless showed more application than they had done against the Scots, and saw off the new ball attack, only for wickets to fall to the change bowlers de Leede and Kloppenburg. The run rate fell even further when spinner Esmeijer (1/12 from 9 overs) combined with left-armer van Troost (3/20 off 8 overs) to capture a flurry of wickets and leave the batting side at 79/7 in the 33rd over. Cakacaka and Seuvou added a useful 28, and the Fijians battled hard to take their final total to 127. The Dutch attack was accurate, albeit unthreatening, and Esmeijer bowled superbly in the difficult conditions provided by a strong cross-wind.The Fijians made the Dutch work hard for their win, with Batina in particular bowling a tight accurate line and Tawatatau bowling Zulfikar Ahmed to break the opening partnership. Neil Maxwell bowled four impressive and hostile overs, and was very unlucky not to break the useful second wicket partnership between van Oosterom and Kloppenburg, having an easy catch put down at gully, and several close lbw appeals turned down.The dropped catch apart, the Fijian fielding was keen and effective but the Dutch batted solidly and took advantage of some incosistent line from change bowlers Kamikamica and Sevou to accelerate the run scoring rate. Tukana bowled Kloppenburg for a solid 40 but, by the time van Oosterom was superbly caught on the boundary shortly after reaching an accomplished half-century, the Dutch only needed another 10 runs. It was a measure of the Fijian’s keeness that it took them 6 overs to get them.The hard-working Fijian team was then put to work again assisting the ground staff in the hazardous task of covering the square in a wind so forceful that the sightscreens had blown over.Both teams performed well under the difficult conditions, with the difference between them being the quality of the upper order batting.
The win is ultimately all that matters, but that was a painful watch for Chelsea fans.
Enzo Maresca’s side travelled to the Welsh Capital to take on Cardiff City in the quarter-finals of the League Cup on Tuesday night, but didn’t look two divisions better off than the hosts.
The Blues looked way off the pace from the first minute, and aside from Alejandro Garnacho and Pedro Neto, it’s hard to think of any other players who could leave the pitch with their heads held high.
In fact, it’s easier to list those who stood out for all the wrong reasons, including one starter who took fewer touches than Filip Jørgensen and simply has to be dropped.
Chelsea's poor performers against Cardiff
Starting in the back line, and while it sounds harsh, not one of the starting back four had a good game, albeit Josh Acheampong was the best of a bad bunch.
Chalkboard
Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.
The others all looked rushed in possession, failed to read the game and lost the ball 25 times between them, which would be bad enough against a top side, let alone one in League One.
In particular, there was another concerning display from the most senior defender of the lot, Tosin Adarabioyo.
Chelsea’s back four
Player
Lost Possession
Acheampong
9x
Adarabioyo
13x
Badiashile
5x
Hato
7x
All Stats via Sofascore
The 28-year-old looked the most shaky on the ball, completing just 86% of his overall passes and losing the ball the most out of anyone – 13 times.
Moving into the middle of the park, and while Moises Caicedo was one of the West Londoners’ better players, he is now going to miss the first leg of the semi-final due to the yellow card he received for petulantly clapping the referee.
If the Blues get drawn against one of the top sides, that could be a seriously costly error.
Finally, up top, it just wasn’t Marc Guiu’s night.
The young Spaniard wasn’t able to cope with the Welsh side’s physical nature and ended up missing the one he had in the first half.
The former Barcelona gem was replaced at the break, having taken just a single shot on target, failed to play a key pass, and lost 66% of his aerial duels.
However, there was a starter who was even worse than the striker, someone who simply has to be dropped for the next game.
The Chelsea flop Maresca must drop
For those Chelsea fans who had the misfortune of watching the game, it will come as no surprise that the player who must be dropped is Jamie Gittens.
It’s no secret that the Englishman has had a tough start to his Blues career following his mega-money move from Borussia Dortmund in the summer.
In the 19 matches before Tuesday night, the 21-year-old had scored just a single goal and provided five assists, so there might’ve been hope from the management that a game against a third-tier side would offer the perfect chance for him to bolster his statistics.
Unfortunately, it didn’t pan out that way, and the winger once again looked way out of his depth.
Gittens’ game v Cardiff
Minutes
66′
Shots on Target
0
Goals
0
Assists
0
Crosses
0
Accurate Passes
21/25 (84%)
Touches
41
Lost Possession
10
Dribbles (Successful)
2 (0)
Ground Duels (Won)
8 (2)
Aeria Duels (Won)
2 (0)
All Stats via Sofascore
For example, in his disappointing 66 minutes of action, he failed to take a single shot on target, didn’t attempt a cross, completed just 84% of his 25 attempted passes, lost the ball ten times, failed in 100% of his dribbles and lost 80% of his duels.
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Moreover, the youngster took only 41 touches, 17 fewer than Jørgensen, which just goes to show how limited his impact was.
With statistics like those, it’s hard to disagree with the Express’ Tom Parsons, who gave him just a 4/10 match rating, writing that he was ‘was dispossessed too easily’ and ‘lucky to stay on at half-time.’
Ultimately, there is still plenty of time for Gittens to turn things around at Chelsea.
However, if he keeps on putting in performances like the one against Cardiff, then it’ll become harder and harder to disagree with one analyst’s claim that he’s been a “pointless signing.
Dream for Estevao: Chelsea want to sign "one of the best wing-backs in the PL"
The Premier League star would be an incredible signing for Chelsea and would help get even more out of Estevao.
Bazid: Even Younis will rate it as one of his finest knocks
Younis Khan’s epic, unbeaten 171 led Pakistan to their highest successful chase, the second highest in Asia for any side, and the sixth highest in all Test cricket. It also gave them their first series win in Sri Lanka since 2006, and catapulted them to third in the ICC Test rankings.The feat required the highest fourth-innings partnership for Pakistan, 242 between Younis and Shan Masood, who fell on the fifth morning for 125. Misbah-ul-Haq arrived with 122 needed, saw off Sri Lanka’s quicks till lunch, and opened up after that to reel off an unbeaten 59, finishing the match with a six.Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers put in a spirited effort, especially with the second new ball, but could not break down Younis and Misbah.Pakistan needed 147 more at the start of the day, and Masood and Younis’ record partnership grew by 25 before the former fell to his nerves. Masood had been tied down by Sri Lanka’s accuracy, and was itching to break free. No release was provided by Angelo Mathews and the specialist seamers. When the offspinner Tharindu Kaushal was introduced in the 11th over of the morning, Masood, eyeing some runs, jumped out, but was beaten by the turn to be stumped.Sri Lanka’s specialist spinner had begun promisingly after a wayward return of 0 for 92 in 20 overs on day four, but again, he failed to sustain the pressure. He did shift his line wider outside off and spun it in sharply with men waiting in the leg trap, but was too inconsistent with his lengths. Misbah and Younis used the sweep frequently, and put away the regular full tosses with ease.It was a different story against the quicks. The first boundary of the day came only in the tenth over, when Younis forced an edge through the vacant slip region off Nuwan Pradeep.There was little in the pitch by way of variable bounce to suggest it was a day-five subcontinent wicket. Despite their discipline at the start, Sri Lanka were dependent on the new ball. Pakistan needed 101 more when it was taken, and they had the personnel in the middle to get them through.Misbah was happy to deny himself against the new ball, going 22 balls without a run. Batting on a big hundred, Younis was eager to move across and play as much as he could. There was an unsuccessful review for leg-before against Younis, on 128, by Dhammika Prasad, replays returning umpire’s call for points of impact on pad and stumps.As Mathews tried Kaushal again at the stroke of lunch, Misbah stepped out to lift him over mid-on. Sri Lanka’s challenge fell apart after lunch, Misbah and Younis raining boundaries on the hapless Kaushal, who had played ahead of veteran Rangana Herath, and was to end with figures of 1 for 153 in 31 overs.The winning runs came again from Misbah’s bat, as they had come during their Sharjah chase of 302 against Sri Lanka in 2014. Younis ended with the fifth-highest score in a chase.
South Africa’s Emerging Players team has arrived home after winning the one-day tournament in Brisbane, where they defeated New Zealand in the final. The side, led by Johan Botha, came out on top by 82 runs and defended the title they won last year.Vernon Philander, the allrounder who made his ODI debut against Ireland in June, was the star performer in the final with a 50-ball 59 and 3 for 20. New Zealand included four players with international experience while the South Africans included six players with full caps.”I think it was a good all round effort from everyone. The guys were on the ball from the time we arrived despite of the jetlag,” said Botha. “Vernon had an awesome tournament with both bat and ball. Our seamers did a good job of dominating the opposition batsmen and helping Thandi Tshabalala and myself to play the role of attacking off-spinners.”The tournament was a good experience for all and I hope we can take this form into the season ahead and take the lessons learnt into our future careers. The coaching and support staff are to be commended for the hard work they put in and making it possible for us to defend the title.”
ScorecardHalf-centuries by Michael Papps, Mathew Sinclair and Craig McMillan took New Zealand A to a reasonable position at the end of the first day of their four-day match against India A at the Gardens Oval in Darwin. The bowlers managed to keep the runs in check, restricting the scoring rate to less than three an over as New Zealand ended at 4 for 257.After winning the toss, the New Zealanders suffered an early setback as Matthew Bell was dismissed by Siddharth Trivedi for 1. Sinclair joined Papps and the two added 148 for the second wicket. Piyush Chawla, the legspinner, then dismissed both batsmen in quick succession, leaving New Zealand at 3 for 157. Craig McMillan, the captain, and Rob Nicol settled down to add 83 for the fourth wicket, till Nicol was run out for 36. McMillan remained undefeated on 62 at the close of play. For India, Chawla was the most effective bowler, taking 2 for 56 off 28 overs. Rudra Pratap Singh, the left-arm seamer, bowled economically, giving away only 41 runs off his 19 overs with nine maidens.
After playing in all 30 of Bangladesh’s Tests until now, Habibul Bashar has been forced to miss the first Test against New Zealand, which starts at Dhaka’s Bangabandhu Stadium on Tuesday. Bashar, who had been to Melbourne to undergo surgery on his broken right thumb in September, injured it again during practice last Thursday. Though X-rays indicated that the blow hadn’t worsened the injury, a report in The Daily Star, a Bangladesh newspaper, said that Bashar didn’t participate in the nets afterwards.Bashar’s absence is a huge blow to Bangladesh’s hopes of making a match of it against New Zealand. By far their most successful Test batsman, Bashar has an aggregate of 2079 runs at a respectable average of 35.84, and has scored three of his team’s eight Test hundreds.The selectors have decided to reappoint Khaled Mashud as captain in Bashar’s absence. Mashud stood down after Bangladesh’s disastrous World Cup campaign in 2003, while the captaincy went to Rajin Saleh for the recent Champions Trophy. But this time, Saleh has been left to concentrate on his batting, and Alok Kapali looks set to replace Bashar in the middle-order.For New Zealand, meanwhile, the two-Test series is an opportunity to break their horrible recent run in Tests: in their last 12 matches, they have lost five, drawn six, and won just one. Stephen Fleming admitted that it was a record he wanted to rectify: “Bangladesh haven’t performed well in Tests and they’re looking for their first win – it’s our job to not let them do that and win this series comprehensively, but we have to play good cricket and that’s what we’ve come here to do,” Fleming told the New Zealand Press Association. “The first three days are status quo. Play good percentage cricket, build up some runs on the board and then we can take it to them. It’s a simple game plan, but the key thing is not getting impatient, and giving them respect.”Fleming will certainly be satisfied with his team’s display in the warm-up match against a Bangladesh Cricket Board XI. The only player who missed out in both innings was Mark Richardson, but given his outstanding record in Tests, Fleming won’t be too worried about a rare failure in a practice match. The bowlers had a pretty good workout too, with all five who are likely to play in the Test getting among the wickets.Regardless of the kind of pitch on offer, New Zealand have enough weapons in their bowling ranks to worry Bangladesh. If a turner is on offer, Daniel Vettori and Paul Wiseman could be as much of a force as Mohammad Rafique, Bangladesh’s left-arm spinner and by far their most effective bowler.Rafique himself was in high spirits after a practice session on the eve of the match: “They have very good batsmen but it will be tough for them to cope with the conditions here. Yet I cannot say whether this wicket will help the pacers or the slow bowlers, because we will be playing here after a long time [away]. My target is to take wickets and I am confident I’ll do that.”New Zealand have also announced a short-list of 12 for the Test, omitting Chris Martin and Kyle Mills from their original 14-man squad. If they decide to go ahead with five bowlers, Hamish Marshall is the player who will almost certainly miss out.Bangladesh (from) Javed Omar, Hannan Sarkar, Nafis Iqbal, Alamgir Kabir, Mohammad Ashraful, Rajin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Mushfiqur Rahman, Khaled Mashud (capt and wk), Manjurul Islam, Tapash Baisya, Mohammad Rafique, Tareq Aziz.New Zealand (from) Mark Richardson, Mathew Sinclair, Stephen Fleming (capt), Scott Styris, Nathan Astle, Hamish Marshall, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum (wk), Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Paul Wiseman, Ian Butler.