Mark Vermeulen, the former Zimbabwe batsman, has been banned from English first-class and league cricket for 10 years following an on-pitch bust up in the Central Lancashire League.The incident occurred when Vermeulen, playing as a professional for Werneth against Ashton, confronted opposition fans on Sunday. He was restrained by club officials before his captain ordered him off the field and he was led from the ground. Darren Shadford, the Werneth captain, then conceded the match.Jon Selby, who was playing for Ashton in the match, told Cricinfo the chain of events. “He’d been a bit wound up throughout the match. He hadn’t scored many – about 12 – and when we batted he came onto bowl, which he doesn’t do much of.”He got hit for a boundary then bowled a wide and someone from the crowd shouted ‘If you take your sunnies off you’ll be able to see where you are bowling.’ At the end of the over he marched towards the boundary and appeared to hurl a ball towards the spectators. It hit the railings so missed everyone, but it was an end-of-season match with plenty of women and children watching.”He then picked up a boundary marker, which are white discs with a steel spike, before being stopped by a Werneth member and marched back to the pavilion, still swearing and shouting . He was then driven away from the ground and took no further part in the match. “To add to the extraordinary story, it was the final match of the season and Vermeulen was due to fly home on Monday. One of the members who restrained him was meant to be giving him a lift to the airport.Police were later called to an incident at a flat near the Werneth club and a spokesman confirmed they arrested a 27-year-old on suspicion of breaching the peace but no charges were brought.Central Lancashire League officials were quick to impose the ban, which has been supported by the ECB. A statement said: “The management committee has received reports regarding Mark Vermeulen. Describing his violent and dangerous actions on the field of play, he has been banned for 10 years from the CLL and from all cricket played under the auspices of the ECB. This will take immediate effect.”Howard Donsfield, CLL chairman, and a former Werneth chairman, told the : “I was at the game and hope I don’t ever see anything like it again – it was a sad sight for cricket.”Discipline is a big issue for me at present and I’m determined to stamp anything like this out. It’s not just about spectators either – there was a 15-year-old boy among Vermeulen’s team-mates and it’s not the kind of example he should set.”Vermeulen, 27, has played eight Tests and 32 ODIs for Zimbabwe, and is no stranger to controversy. He was sent home during the second Test of the 2003 England tour after he ignored a management instruction to travel with the rest of the squad on the coach, instead choosing to leave the ground on his own.
Danish Kaneria, the Pakistan leg-spinner, has signed a two-year contract extension with Essex.Kaneria, 23, enjoyed a successful first domestic season, taking 63 Frizzell County Championship wickets in 11 matches, and he has been retained as one of the two permitted overseas players.”I really enjoyed my first experience of county cricket with Essex in 2004,” Kaneria told the Official Essex CCC website. “Essex is a very good county and I did my very best for them while I was here.”
Heath Streak, Zimbabwe’s deposed captain, has launched a stinging attack on Vince Hogg, the Zimbabwe Cricket Union’s outgoing managing director, accusing him of “failing to tell the truth” about a telephone conversation the pair had on April 2.Streak claims that the call triggered the ZCU’s decision to dismiss him, setting in motion a chain of events which led to the sacking of more than a dozen rebel players and which continues to threatened Zimbabwe’s future in international cricket.Streak said that he held Hogg, who stepped down from his role last week, responsible for the escalation of the crisis. “I feel Hogg has been too weak in his convictions as managing director and that is why he has become a puppet to others in the ZCU,” Streak told the AFP news agency.In the conversation the pair had on April 2, Streak says that he asked Hogg to present to the board his objections to two of the national selectors, who he wanted removed, and some of the choices they had made. Both parties agree on that recollection. But whereas Hogg told the board that Streak would resign if his demands were not met, Streak maintains that he merely said that he would consider resigning.”We have agreed to disagree on my telephone conversation. But my opinion is that he was confused in that and also with regard to my personal letter. He conveyed it poorly. Besides the appalling behaviour [of the board], which Vince will not deny, no-one, Vince included, tried to persuade them to rethink their decision concerning a figure who has served 10 years for his country.”Streak added that it took almost two months for the minutes of that meeting to be finalised, and that had only come about because one or two provincial boards threatened to take the ZCU to court.In his resignation statement, Hogg said that the rebel players had been wrong to take the course of action they did, and that contrary to what many have said, the ZCU had not at any time come under the political influence of the government.”Vince has managed to evade telling the truth about what happened prior to the strike and the appalling racial vitriol that ensued,” Streak concluded. “He has lost lots of respect for his weakness. I only hope he can rectify it all before he leaves.”Streak’s comments were broadly supported by Henry Olonga, the former Zimbabwe fast bowler who was forced to flee the country after last year’s World Cup. “He [Hogg] could have been more pro-active in forcing what was right and wrong,” Olonga told the BBC. “We didn’t hear too much coming out of Vince. In one sense he was reduced to having no real say in the big issues, but for all intents and purposes he wasn’t allowed the free rein he ought to have had. I’m not saying he was targeted by the ZCU, but he’s been fairly quiet over the demise of Zimbabwe cricket.”
Queensland’s Academy of Sport cricket team are set to provide cricket in Papua New Guinea with a significant boost later this month.The Papua New Guinea (PNG) side is touring northern Queensland as part of working relationship that has been established between Queensland Cricket and the PNG Cricket Association, a relationship backed by both the Australian Cricket Board and the International Cricket Council.Promising Toowoomba allrounder Peter Reimers will captain the Academy team in a one and two-day match.Matches will also be played against a Queensland Academy of Sport invitation team and Far North County and Far North City selections.The QAS teams will include several members of the regional academy program as well as other regionally-based players who have been identified as talented performers.The QAS side led by Reimers will include Queensland and Australian Under-19 leg-spinner Luke Davis from Beenleigh, Gladstone’s Queensland Under-19 pace bowler Matt Turich, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission chairman’s XI allrounder Damien Watts from Charleville and Queensland Colts batsman Aaron Maynard from Sunshine Coast.The tour opens in Cairns on May 23 with a one-day game against a QAS Invitation XII. Then at Innisfail on May 24, PNG will play Far North Country. The team will then play a two-day game against the Academy side at Bundaberg Rum Stadium on May 25-26. They will have a rest day on May 27 and then a one-day game, at the same venue, against QAS.The tour will end with a day/night game against Far North City on May 30.The QAS invitation team is: Sean Death (Townsville), Todd Schloss (Townsville), Anthony Eden (Kingaroy), Graham Ashburner (Mackay), James Spargo (Townsville), Mathew Groves (Townsville), Matthew Burton (Townsville), Dean Hanrahan (Cairns), Michael Salerno (Mareeba), Mathew Jones (Cairns), Trevor Roy (Mareeba-Townsville), Scott Wells (Cairns). Coaches: Steven Baker, Richard Done.The QAS team is: Luke Davis (Brisbane), Ryan Schulte (Bundaberg), Anthony Eden (Kingaroy), James Spargo (Townsville), Aaron Maynard (Sunshine Coast), Peter Reimers – captain (Toowoomba), Matthew Burton (Townsville), Graham Ashburner (Mackay), Reece Neyland (Mackay), Dean Hanrahan (Cairns), Tony Hampson (Toowoomba), Matthew Turich (Gladstone), Damiel Watts (Charleville). Coaches: Steven Baker, Richard Done.
* Tendulkar feeling better, another bone scan on August 10Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who skipped the on-goingtriangular one-day series in Sri Lanka due to a hairline fracture tohis right toe, is feeling better and is likely to go in for anotherbone scan on August 10.Sports medicine expert Anant Joshi, who is treating Tendulkar, toldPTI in Mumbai on Wednesday that Tendulkar sounded cheerful when hespoke to him. Saying that the 28-year-old master batsman was feelingbetter, Joshi added "I am hopeful that the injury would heal soon.Because it is a hairline fracture it can’t be seen on the X-ray andthat is why we are doing another bone scan."When asked when Tendulkar would be able to join the Indian team in SriLanka, Joshi said "it all depends on how soon the fracture heals. Thesecond bone scan will give us some indication. Sachin has also beenadvised to wear some protection on the injured area to release thepressure on it," he added.* MCA picks 42 probables for pre-season trainingSachin Tendulkar, who missed the ongoing triangular series in SriLanka due to a hairline fracture to his right toe, and Vinod Kamblifigure in the Mumbai Cricket Association’s probables list for thecoming domestic season.Mumbai’s new coach and former Test opener Lalchand Rajput said inMumbai on Tuesday that 42 players have been selected to attend thecamp by the chairman of the selection committee, former Indian captainDilip Vengsarkar. According to a press release from Mayank Khandwala,joint secretary, MCA, It is compulsory for the selected players toattend the camp to be held from August 1, the only exceptions being ifa player is injured (like Tendulkar) or doing duty for India (likeSameer Dighe and Ajit Agarkar). The release says the players have beenselected for pre-season training and the final probables will onlyselected by mid-September.The probables list: Sameer Dighe, Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Jaffer, AmolMuzumdar, Sairaj Bhutule, Paras Mhambrey, Rajesh Pawar, Ajit Agarkar,Vinod Kambli, Vinayak Mane, Jatin Paranjpe, Kiran Powar, SushantManjrekar, Pravin Tambe, Nilesh Kulkarni, Ramesh Powar, Sriram Kannan,Amit Dani, Swapnil Hazare, Musavir Khote, Rupam Malviya, Omkar Salvi,Vishal Tawde, Amol Rane, Abhijeet Shetye, Robin Morris, Sachin SawantKunal More, Hrishikesh Shende, Saket Adhikari, Avishkar Salvi, UsmanMalvi, Sinosh Panicker, V Yelligati, Rohan Bane, Bhavin Thakkar, PaulValthaty, Vineet Indulkar, Sahil Kukreja, Swapnil Patil, Raju More andSohan Dalvi.
Aston Villa supporters in the Football Transfer Tavern are hoping to hear news that Tim Sherwood is on the verge of signing a replacement for Christian Benteke, but reports from the Daily Mirror suggest the Villa boss is still hung up on his former striker, despite Villa beating the odds and turning over Bournemouth at the weekend.
Benteke completed a £32.5million move to Liverpool last month, and stated this week he hoped to prove the claims of his former boss wrong during his debut season at Anfield.
Sherwood claimed Benteke’s move to Anfield didn’t make sense as the Belgian international is a player who thrives on crosses, and Liverpool are a side ‘who don’t cross the ball’.
Benteke hit back at Sherwood’s comments earlier in the week, and now it seems the Villa boss has entered a war of words with the 24-year-old, having responded to the man who fired 13 goals in 16 games to save Villa from relegation last season.
Sherwood responded: “I can’t remember ever saying that, he must have dreamt that one.
“I would try anything to make him stay but I don’t remember ever saying he shouldn’t go and play for Liverpool. I wouldn’t be that disrespectful to that football club.”
Sherwood also hit back at claims he had taken the credit for the Belgian’s revival during the second half of last season.
He added: “I took no credit, people gave me credit, I didn’t take it, I didn’t ask for it.”
A bunch of Aston Villa fans over by the pool table here in the Transfer Tavern are deliberating this news, and feel that Sherwood needs to forget about Christian Benteke, as the club have replaced him well with Rudy Gestede!
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Our landlord feels the same way as the Villa fans here in the Tavern and admits that the Villains have replaced Benteke will, with Rudy Gestede already looking like he will do a job in the Premier League for the midlands club this season!
Aston Villa fans, who is the man to replace Christian Benteke at Villa Park? Let us know your thoughts below!
Look Sir Curtly Ambrose in the eye (you may need a ladder) and tell him the West Indies have no hope of beating Australia.Tell him this first Test in Hobart will be over in two days – three, if Jason Holder’s men are lucky – and that more humiliation will follow in Melbourne and Sydney.Tell him that David Warner and Steve Smith will feast on a modest bowling attack and that Australia’s greenest bowling line-up in years will embarrass the West Indies batsmen.Tell him any of this and you’ll be on the wrong end of the fearsome glare that terrorised many a champion batsman throughout his celebrated career as one of the game’s very best fast bowlers.”You as reporters have got to report what you see,” Ambrose said. “So I’ve learned over the years to, I won’t say ignore, but know what to take from the reports and what not to take. But we’re going to be focused. We’re not going to worry about what has been said about us not being a good team or not going to compete … At the end of the day when we perform and beat Australia, then the reporters will have to change their tune.”We played against Australia not so long ago in the Caribbean and even though we lost 2-0 there were moments or periods when we had them on the back foot and had their backs against the wall. And we never really finished them off. So we believe we can compete and not only compete but we believe we can beat them and that’s our focus to beat Australia. Not just to compete but to win and, being the underdogs, sometimes it’s good to be that way.”We have nothing to lose. As far as I’m concerned the Australians are the ones under pressure. They have to beat us because Australians and cricket in general expect them to steamroll us. So they’re the ones who are under pressure, not us. And we’re going to put up a good show.”They are fighting words and there are few who can deliver them with as much conviction as Ambrose, the giant quick who generally let the ball – and his eyes – do the talking on the field.It’s two decades since Ambrose and Steve Waugh conducted one the most famous stare-offs in cricket’s history, the flint-eyed Australian stoic in the face of a blistering spell from Ambrose in Trinidad during the third Test in the 1995 battle for the Frank Worrell Trophy.20 years may have passed since his man-of-the-match performance, but Ambrose’s gaze has lost none of its intensity. And now, as West Indies’ bowling consultant, he wants to use the predictions of impending doom to fire up his charges after an insipid showing in the tour match in Brisbane.”Well first of all we’re not going to be distracted by those comments,” said Ambrose. “We’re here to do a job and we’re going to make a good job of it.”Being here alone should be more than enough motivation for the players but having heard or read those comments should be added motivation for them to prove the critics [wrong], if you will. We are not really distracted. We’re focused and in light of what happened in the warm up game, we are confident that we can put up a good show against Australia.”On its own, the West Indies’ 10-wicket loss to an inexperienced Cricket Australia XI side ahead of the series was a heavy blow. That they avoided an innings defeat thanks only to a stubborn partnership between Holder and Kemar Roach has given former players and current commentators ample fodder to question how the West Indies could take any confidence into the first Test. However, Ambrose pointed to frank discussions in the wake of the match as a potential turning point for the tourists.”We had a meeting, we had a talk about it,” Ambrose said. “And I explained to the guys in no uncertain terms that that’s unacceptable and if we’re going to struggle against an Under-19 team how do we expect to compete against a strong Australian line-up?”But we had a good meeting. Coach Phil Simmons called a meeting and we talked about a lot of things and I expect that, going forward, what’s gone already cannot be changed. So we’ve got to stay focused and move forward. I believe strongly that we’re going to put up a better show against Australia.”Ambrose took up his consultancy role in February 2014 and admits it took time for his charges to “bind” to his concept for their approach to bowling. His status alone ensured the players listened – “Well, I am bigger than most of them so they have to,” he joked – and, while their lack of patience was initially the biggest stumbling block, Ambrose has witnessed an improvement in the control and consistency he believes is necessary to succeed in Australian conditions.West Indies will look to Jerome Taylor, whom Ambrose dubs “the leader of the pack”, to replicate his best spells from the second Test of Australia’s 2-0 series victory in the Caribbean earlier this year. Taylor’s impressive first-innings haul of 6 for 47 off 25 overs in Kingston offered a spark of hope for renewal in his side’s heavy defeat and Ambrose is confident a Taylor-led attack has the ammunition to take 20 wickets, particularly if they can account for Warner and Smith.”Of course they are in some good form at the moment,” said Ambrose. “They are two good batsmen as well, they are going to be key. If you can get them out pretty early for not too many runs and get into the middle as quick as possible, I believe the middle order for Australia is not that solid at the moment.”Once we get them out early that is going to give us some leeway to get into the middle and really test them.”Ambrose isn’t the only member of the 1995 side that defeated Australia in Port of Spain – but, ultimately, lost the series – trying to inspire the current crop of players. Richie Richardson, Courtney Walsh and Stuart Williams all have roles within the West Indies set-up.But whether or not their defiant words can inspire a Test side ranked above only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh to victory over Australia remains to be seen. It will certainly take more than a withering glare. If West Indies manage to pull off an unexpected victory, they will need all the self-belief and passion of their predecessors.”I’m going to do whatever I can, and the coaching staff of course, to put up a good show here,” said Ambrose. “And I believe, once the guys are focused, we’re going to do well.”We’re going to do much better than you think.”
New Zealand are closing in on a series win after an emphatic eight-wicket victory against England under the lights at Derby. Aimee Mason (81) and Sara McGlashan, who made an unbeaten 97, were the chief destroyers as they chased down their target of 241 with more than 12 overs to spare.Mason and Suzie Bates built a rock-solid platform with an opening stand of 42 inside five overs, and then Mason trowelled on further runs with McGlashan cementing a second-wicket partnership of 161. McGlashan and Haidee Tiffen (19*) then saw them home.They now have a 2-0 lead heading into the fourth of six matches leaving England in need of winning the next one, at Blackpool this Saturday, to stay in the series.On a flat pitch with no seam movement or spin runs were there for the taking, but then so were some early chances in New Zealand’s innings. Dropped catches – allied to some poor bowling – cost England dearly, although nothing could really be taken away from the performance of an assured New Zealand.Claire Taylor’s century and Charlotte Edwards’s unbeaten 95 weren’t enough for England. The old firm put on a third-wicket stand of 177, brushing aside the early losses of the openers Sarah Taylor (1) and Jenny Gunn (11), to reach 240 for 3.Edwards’ return from injury showed England just what they had been missing and, after choosing to bat, she just missed out on her fifth one-day century – scoring all round the wicket – as the overs ticked out.Taylor’s 110, her sixth one-day ton, came from 133 balls and included 12 fours. She scored strongly through the off-side and also cut and pulled once she settled. She eventually fell to the part-time medium pace of Haidee Tiffen, who had shuffled her pack before finally bringing herself on as the eighth bowler in the bid to break the deadlock. It worked.New Zealand’s confidence will be ever growing in line with their momentum, but England can take some heart from their batting and Edwards’s return. But they will need even more spirit at Blackpool.
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.