Rajin Saleh On playing South Africa In a one-dayer, anything can happen, so we want to play good cricket.On being a young team We have some young cricketers who have come through and they’ve done welland I hope they do well tomorrow.On being made captain It was a suprise and it brings pressure. But I don’t feel the pressure because of the players around me.Dav Whatmore On Saleh being made captain He’s been vice-captain in our last three series and it was probably the logical step-up for him. In the past three series, there have been matches when he’s stepped up and captained the team. The support he’s got from the other senior players has been wonderful. He’s fully attacking and leads by example. This kid would run through a brick wall for you. It’s another game for him. It may be his first as captain and the youngest captain of Bangladesh. But we have a job to do tomorrow and he has to work at it.On South Africa Their confidence can’t be good. It’s not often they’ve played in a five match one-day series and lost all five, so it can’t be that good. But they’re probably pretty happy that they’re playing Bangladesh and no matter what we say, we’re still ranked down the bottom.On their own tactics We have our little reasons for playing and trying to perform as well as we can and to be as totally relaxed as possible. A lot depends on what we do first, batting or bowling. But in many ways it doesn’t matter, you just have to be up for the game and we’ve had five full matches, which was a pretty good competition lead-up, and lost the one against Scotland. But our boys are in competition-mode in pretty similar conditions. I want to win. There’re always positives to come out of any game, but we go out in every match to win. We feel if we totally relax, let our natural ability take over and enjoy the contest, we will be in good competitive frame of mind to push the opposition as much as possible.On the team spirit The spirit is good and the morale high. We exposed three youngsters through the under-19s and that’s been a wonderful knock-one effect for the whole team.
A quite superb 273 by Durham’s Martin Love, the ninth highest score ever against Hampshire, was the stepping stone that gave the home side the ascendancy at Riverside on the second day of the Frizzell County Championship match.His innings consisted of 38 fours and two sixes, the latter coming as he pushed for runs with his side 9 wickets down. He finally fell going for another big shot off Shaun Udal, having survived over 7 and a half hours.Love had good support at the bottom of the innings and Durham’s highest Individual score set up a formidable 515.Rain meant that play did not get under way until 12:15, but despite the overcast conditions Hampshire’s bowlers failed to make the breakthrough early enough.Batting suddenly became a different story when Hampshire began their reply needed an awsome 366 to avoid the follow on, and despite setting an opening partnership of 50, finished the day at 88 for 4.James Adams having batted for 80 minutes edged the seamer Mark Davies to the wicket-keeper, then after hitting three fours, Simon Katich celebrating his 28th birthday, was snared lbw by the same bowler.Robin Smith playing his first match for 6 weeks did not survive long falling lbw to Paul Collingwood, then skipper John Crawley top edged spinner Graeme Bridge.Bad light stopped play an hour early, much to the relief of the Hampshire batsmen, but they will have to do a great deal of back to the wall batting on the third day if they are not to suffer a third successive Championship defeat.
Damian Shirazi, whose 626 runs and 15 wickets helped BAT Sports win the championship, was named as the Southern Electric ECB Premier League Young Cricketer of the Year.
Damian Shirazi in action
Shirazi, 18, who is spending the winter playing for the University of New South Wales in the demanding Sydney Grade competition, hit six half-centuries and averaged 44.71 last season.”Damian is an ultra-competitive all-rounder who matured a lot as a player during the summer,” praised BAT vice-captain Richard Dibden.”He works very hard at his game and is very keen to learn, which is why he’s spending the winter in Sydney.”I think he has the fundamentals to do very well and, because he wants to listen and develop his game, he has the chance to go further.”Shirazi, who previously captained England at Schools and Under-17 level, has led various Hampshire YC teams, but seems to have missed out on a contract next season.”He’ll come back in March an improved and even more determined young player,” Dibden forecast.Shirazi saw off challenges from five other promising young cricketers to win the prestigious award, named in memory of Waterlooville’s John Millett, who died 20 years ago.He was pressed hard by Bournemouth teenager Chris Park, who notched 423 runs and snapped up 30 victims in his debut Premier League season at Chapel Gate.Park, 18, joins Northants on an Academy contract next summer.Ben Craft, with 760 runs and 14 catches for Lymington, Hampshire-bound left-armer James Tomlinson, with 21 wickets for South Wilts, Rowledge all-rounder Chris Yates (406 runs and 29 wickets) and promising New Milton all-rounder David Wheeler, with 582 runs and 22 wickets, were also in the frame. **** —- **** Your votes here on www.spcl.cricinfo.com did not match those of the committee. Cove’s Chris Benham, who has been awarded a summer contract with Hampshire topped the poll with 27%, with New Milton’s 16-year-old starlet David Wheeler taking 17%.Shirazi came a lowly fifth from the 11 names with 13%.HOW THEY POLLEDChris Benham (Cove) 27%, David Wheeler (New Milton) 17%, Neil Randall (Cove) 14%, Chris Yates (Rowledge) 14%, Damian Shirazi (B.A.T.Sports) 13%, James Tomlinson (South Wilts) 5%, James Hibberd (Calmore Sports) 3%, Chris Park (Bournemouth) 3%, Ben Craft (Lymington) 2%, Matthew Hooper (Andover) (2) 2%, Lee Beck (New Milton) (1) 1%.
Everton beat Newcastle 1-0 on Thursday night thanks to a late Alex Iwobi goal against the run of play, after Toffees midfielder Allan was sent off for a cynical tackle on Magpies winger Allan Saint-Maximin.
The goal, which sparked crazy celebrations which saw manager Frank Lampard break his hand, moved the Merseyside club three points clear of the relegation zone.
While Allan may appear to be the villain of the night for the eventual winners, it was Abdoulaye Doucoure who received the lowest match rating out of anyone who started the match, apart from Newcastle’s Joelinton, who was given a 6.0 rating by SofaScore, compared to the Frenchman’s 6.6.
Doucoure is Everton’s highest-performing midfielder this season with a 6.89 average match rating in the Premier League from Sofascore, completing 80% of his passes per game. However, last night he only managed 72%, also completing ten fewer passes than his seasonal average.
Not only did the 29-year-old lose 13 of his duels, he also lost possession 13 times and was dribbled past twice as Newcastle routinely looked to exploit the area of the pitch that Doucoure covered due to his poor performance.
Failing to complete any long balls forward or crosses in the game, he proved to be ineffective for Lampard last night; and with Andre Gomes waiting for opportunities on the sidelines, more performances like this may prompt the 43-year-old into potentially deploying other options.
However, having made six goal contributions in 20 Premier League appearances, the former Watford man remains Everton’s most creative midfielder statistically, posting the third-most goal contributions in the team.
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Among central midfielders in the top five leagues and continental competitions in Europe, Doucoure ranks in the top 10% for ball recoveries per game (11.86), top 8% for pressures in the defensive third per game (8.93) and top 12% for assists per 90 (0.17). This shows that he still has plenty to offer to Lampard’s team, but on Thursday night he let the manager down with his below-par performance.
In other news – Forget Iwobi: “Ultimate professional” made six key interventions which saved Everton last night
Scorecard File photo – Peter Fulton’s 55-ball 65 helped Canterbury chase down the target in 37.4 overs•Getty Images
Fifties from Peter Fulton and Henry Nicholls stretched Canterbury’s unbeaten run in this season’s Ford Trophy to five, as they collected a six-wicket victory against Auckland.Chasing 244, Fulton and Nicholls built on Ronnie Hira and Tom Latham’s strong start. The pair added 82 for the third wicket at a brisk pace before Nicholls fell to Lachie Ferguson with the score at 181 in the 32nd over. Fulton, however, continued his assault, smashing five fours and four sixes in his 55-ball 65. He was dismissed four overs after Nicholls, but by then Canterbury were just 28 runs away from the target with over 14 overs in hand. Todd Astle and Andrew Ellis took the visitors home in 37.4 overs, further strengthening Canterbury’s position at the top of the table.In the first innings, Auckland were guided to 243 for 7 by wicketkeeper Brad Cachopa’s 107. Cachopa walked in in the fourth over and dropped anchor for the hosts, batting till the last over of the innings. He was unable to build partnerships with the middle order as quick wickets reduced Auckland to 164 for 6. Donovan Grobbelaar then slammed an unbeaten 45, adding 75 with Cachopa for the seventh boost Auckland in the death.
Derbyshire have signed former Surrey left-arm spinner Nayan Doshi and Leicestershire batsman John Sadler as they continue to remodel their squad for the 2008 season.Doshi walked out of Surrey during August citing a lack of first-team opportunity and initially tried to sign for Sussex. However, he couldn’t obtain written permission from Surrey – required for a mid-season switch of counties – and didn’t play again during 2007.Sadler, the left-handed top-order batsman, played a key role in Leicestershire’s 2004 and 2006 Twenty20 titles.”I am delighted that we have been able to bring these two quality players in the prime of their careers to Derbyshire,” said head of cricket John Morris. “They will be outstanding additions to our squad in terms of their ability on the field but also what they will add off it.”Statistics don’t tell you everything but if you look at both of these players their careers were flourishing before disrupted seasons in 2007, even then they both managed to turn in some outstanding performances.”According to the the club are also hopeful of securing Rikki Clarke’s signature as their new captain and are still chasing Mahela Jayawardene as an overseas player.
Shane Warne has defended his Test team-mates against age-related problems and says Glenn McGrath should not be written off ahead of the Ashes. Australia’s older batsmen have been targeted by Dennis Lillee as concerns ahead of the summer while Geoff Lawson and Ian Chappell have questioned McGrath’s future after his slow comeback during the Champions Trophy.”The age only comes into it if you are not performing,” Warne, who is 37, was reported by . “We’ve performed pretty well, this group of players, for a period of time. Since the Ashes we’ve won 11 out of 12 Tests so I think we’ve been performing okay.”Warne was speaking at the Australian launch of his book and said McGrath “just needs a bit of bowling”. “I think Glenn McGrath’s had a fair bit of time out,” he said. “I wouldn’t be writing Glenn McGrath off, he’s a champion and I think Australia need Glenn McGrath.”The selectors decided McGrath’s best chance of reaching peak form during the Ashes was to bring him back through the Champions Trophy and last month’s Malaysia tri-series. However, McGrath has been below his best in matches against West Indies and England over the past week. Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell struck 27 from his first four overs on Sunday before he improved in the latter stages to take 2 for 36.
Mark Nicholas, the former Hampshire captain and renowned commentator, has been dropped from Channel Nine’s commentary team for the forthcoming Australian summer.Channel Nine took the decision to leave out Nicholas, who commentated during the recently concluded Super Series, from a “pretty full” commentary box as they prepared for the forthcoming Test series against West Indies and South Africa, as well as the one-day tri-series.Unlike last summer, when Nine decided to rotate one of its regular commentators out of the box for each Test, they took a decision to leave Nicholas out. “We just felt we’ve got a pretty full commentary roster,” Graeme Koos, the executive producer of Nine’s cricket coverage, told , “and to bring Mark in meant someone else gets pushed out and that’s a difficult thing. Still, these things can change.”Nine’s decision means that Nicholas, who was also part of Channel 4’s Ashes coverage, could be out of a television job, given that the England and Wales Cricket Board has sold the rights to all international cricket in England to Sky.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has stressed that the ongoing dispute between the two companies who own joint rights to broadcast Pakistan’s international cricket will not affect local viewers’ ability to watch the upcoming tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, and the Test series against Sri Lanka that follows.Reports in several newspapers yesterday suggested that the broadcast of the matches was in jeopardy after the Dubai-based Ten Sports initiated legal proceedings against ARY Digital. The two parties paid the PCB US$43million last year for a five-year contract to show all international matches. The Board expressed concern over the dispute, although it stressed that it remained a neutral party and was not cited for any violations of contractual obligations by either broadcaster, although it would be willing to act as a mediator.But Abbas Zaidi, a PCB official, confirmed to Wisden Cricinfo that “There is no possibility that the matches will not be shown. The parties involved are all reasonable and I am sure they will come to a solution that pleases everybody.”Zaidi added: “We don’t want to make any other comment on the nature of the dispute, it is a legal issue and it is a matter for the courts to decide.” Some reports had alleged that the PCB might look for alternative broadcasters if the dispute threatened to go unresolved, but Zaidi said that he had been misquoted in some newspapers. “I said no such thing, and we are confident they will be able to sort this out.”, a Karachi-based daily, reported today that an official spokesman for one of the channels had also played down fears that the matches would not be broadcast. The newspaper quoted him as saying, “The broadcast will not be affected at all by our problems. All the matches would be telecast as per schedule. We are committed to abiding by our contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board. The dispute will now be decided in the court.”The nature of the dispute, it seems, lies in the agreement. ARY entered into the partnership with Ten Sports in order to benefit from their cricket expertise and financial muscle, in trying to establish a presence in the Asian market. Ten Sports, meanwhile, is setting its sights on the European market, where ARY is already well established.An industry source explained: "The joint agreement covers basically those matches held in Pakistan, organised by the PCB. They are broadcast simultaneously off the same feed. But for the recent tri-nation tournament in Holland, Sony Setmax bought the rights and then sold them to ARY Digital. Setmax and Ten Sports are competitors in India, and Ten were not happy, after having failed to get the rights for the tri-nation tournament, that ARY bought them off their competitor. Their partnership is based on mutual trust – that Ten Sports will help ARY out in Asia and ARY will assist them in Europe – and Ten Sports feel that their trust has been breached to an extent, by ARY dealing with their competitor." The source added that while this doesn’t form the central basis of the ensuing legal proceedings, it is the underlying reason for what has occurred.This dispute is reminiscent of the broadcast-rights dispute between Pakistan TV (the state broadcaster) and GEO TV, a local cable channel, last November. That disagreement led to the first one-day international between Pakistan and New Zealand not being broadcast – the first time in Pakistan’s television history that a home international was not shown live. At the time, the PCB was forced to bear the brunt of much of the criticism for the fiasco, and it was suggested by some at the time that the PCB’s then-chairman Tauqir Zia was forced to step down due, in part, to the dispute.
Hampshire Hawks moved to the top of the National league Division II table for the first time following a record breaking performance at Taunton on Sunday (10 August). Their score of 335 for 6 beating their previous record of 313 scored in 1998.Winning the toss on a hot sunny day proved crucial, as the Hawks made hay in the heat. Simon Katich led the way with his first National League century for Hampshire, smiting some 10 fours and three sixes in his 88 ball stay. He shared two half century partnerships before his dismissal, first with Hamblin, then Kenway glad to get off the mark after two successive zeros. Kenway looked in fine fettle before he cruelly lobbed a slow full toss straight to mid-wicket.The two John’s, Crawley and Francis are getting used to each other out in the middle as they shared a 96 run partnership, following on their 78 run affair at Hove last Monday and their unbeaten 126 against the Scottish Saltires. John Crawley probably batting at his best this season hit an exhilarating 92 in 64 balls with 9 fours and two sixes. None of the Somerset bowlers were spared including former Hampshire favourite Nixon McLean. John Francis also chipped in with a half century off 39 balls, as the visitors swept past the 300 and beyond, as the Sabres who had spent the afternoon chasing leather even had the ignominy of conceding 6 penalty runs for a slow over rate.With the daunting task ahead of them Somerset received two early blows when Chaminda Vaas removed star batsman Jamie Cox for 0, and Chris Tremlett then removed the other opener Carl Gazzard also caught behind.At 2 for 2, Keith Dutch and Ian Blackwell attempted to up the tempo, which included 50 runs in just 5 overs, both they and skipper Michael Burns were dismissed and the inevitable was in hand.Shaun Udal shot out three more Sabres as Hampshire coasted to victory with 8 overs plus to spare.