In a setback to India’s chances in the final Test in Adelaide, RP Singh, the left-arm seamer, has been rendered out of action for at least two weeks. RP picked up a hamstring injury but the good news is that it is a grade 1 injury, which is the lowest possible hamstring tear. RP suffered the problem on the second evening, bowling the seventh over of the innings.RP Singh, India’s second-highest wicket-taker in this series with 13 victims in seven innings, had walked off the field on the second evening. He underwent a scan later in the evening and it was confirmed on the third morning that he wouldn’t take part in the day’s play, leaving India with four specialist bowlers. It left India relying on Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly bowling 12 overs between them.MV Sridhar, India’s assistant manager, later revealed the extent of the injury. “He will undergo a rehabilitation program, which will be monitored by John Gloster, the physio. He is under constant supervision. We will reassess his situation after two weeks.”Sehwag admitted that the side would miss RP Singh’s incisive bowling, given that they were pushing for a victory to square the series. “It helps to have five bowlers because the fast bowlers were tiring,” he said on India’s decision to play five bowlers for the first time since the Mirpur Test against Bangladesh in May 2007. “When the match started we went with five bowlers and it’s unlucky that RP is injured now. But we still have four bowlers and myself, Sachin and Sourav can contribute a bit.”India’s most-improved bowler in the last year, RP Singh played a big part in Sydney and Perth. He rattled Australia’s top order on the first day in Sydney before claiming six wickets in the memorable win in Perth. He has led the attack manfully, combining well with Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma, and managed to swing the ball in both directions.It’s also a blow for India’s chances in the forthcoming CB Series one-day tournament. He is surely out of the Twenty20 international against Australia and will mostly be out of the first three matches of the tri-series, starting on February 3. The earliest he will be expected to return is on February 14, when India take on Sri Lanka in Canberra.
Adam Gilchrist is unlikely to curb his aggression at the World Cup despite suggestions he should be more cautious at the top of the order. Ricky Ponting said Gilchrist’s break from the game – he has not played for nearly a month – was just what was required to restore his energy for the Caribbean.Gilchrist arrived in the West Indies on Monday to join his team-mates having stayed at home after the birth of his third child. Ponting said Australia needed a refreshed Gilchrist for their World Cup defence. “To keep right through the summer then open the batting, especially in the one-dayers, is hard work but he keeps himself physically fit,” Ponting told the .Gilchrist is expected to play in Australia’s second warm-up match, against England in St Vincent on Friday. It will be his first hit since the CB Series, when he averaged a disappointing 22.20. Mark Waugh, Gilchrist’s former opening partner, said last week Gilchrist needed to think about the way he played in the first few overs and ensure he was not too impatient.Ponting said he understood Waugh’s comments that Gilchrist should slow down but in reality it was impossible to control Gilchrist’s dashing nature. “I know what Mark’s probably talking about,” Ponting said. “He probably thinks that [Gilchrist] is going a bit too hard for too long, but that’s the beauty of someone like Gilly.”You can probably say the same thing about him in Test cricket. When he gets going, he just keeps going. I really think he just gets on a bit of a roll and really can’t tell himself to stop. You can tell him to pull the reins in a little bit and he does the opposite.”Ponting said Australia would post some huge scores on the small Caribbean grounds if Gilchrist could bat until late in an innings and there was no intention of resting him or dropping him down the order. “As far as I am concerned, Gilly is always our No.1 opener,” he said.
A four-wicket haul by the pace bowler Adam Griffith helped Tasmania trounce Victoria by 114 runs at Melbourne on Saturday. With this defeat, Victoria also squandered their chance of making the ING Cup finals.Victoria went into the match resting their key players – Shane Warne, Brad Hodge and Mick Lewis. Chasing 243, the Bushrangers got off to a disastrous start losing both openers to Griffith without a run on the board. Liam Buchanan fell shortly after, with the score on 14, and the Bushrangers struggled to construct substantial partnerships, the highest being 43 for the fourth wicket between David Hussey and Aiden Blizzard. Griffith claimed two more wickets to finish with 4 for 36, which were his best figures in the competition.Tim Paine and Michael Di Venuto built a strong foundation for Tasmania after Travis Birt fell early. After both openers were dismissed, Michael Bevan and George Bailey staged a useful partnership. Bailey, who made 42, struck a huge six which landed on the adjacent tennis courts as Tasmania ended on 7 for 242.
The ongoing contract dispute which threatens to rip West Indies cricket apart will be at the core of discussions when the national selectors meet today. The issue is simple. Will the board back or sack the seven players who have personal deals with Cable & Wireless.The announcement of the West Indies squad for the first Test against South Africa, which was supposed to be announced on Friday (March 18), has been delayed by a day to allow the selectors and the board time to consider all options.In a brief press statement, the board said that it was discussing the personal contracts with its lawyers and it would "then be in a position to advise the selectors with respect to the eligibility of those players.” Apart from Lara, the six other players involved are Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Fidel Edwards and Ravi Rampaul.The key is whether the lawyers find that there is anything in the contracts which could result in a breach in the board’s four-year contract with Digicel. If there is not, and providing certain other conditions are met, then the selectors, who meet in Antigua, will probably be given a free hand.That will lead to sighs of relief across the Caribbean, but is unlikely to be the last word on the subject.
East Zone 227 for 9 (Kiran Powar 56) beat West Zone 226 for 8(Kanitkar 57, Paul 4-36) by 1 wicket with 1 ball to spare Scorecard The last-wicket pair added 10 crucial runs as East Zone squeaked home from the penultimate ball of their opening encounter against West Zone at Siliguri. Shib Sankar Paul and Saurasish Lahiri were the men who held their nerve in the final over, which was bowled by Ranjit Khirid, as the game peaked to a tense climax. Kiran Powar, who composed a 58-ball 56 and shared a valuable 50-run stand with Laxmi Ratan Shukla (28), had laid the platform. Munaf Patel was the most successful of the Mumbai bowlers with 3 for 34, including the vital wicket of Powar. Paul was instrumental in restricting the powerful West Zone batting line-up to only 226. Vinayak Mane consumed 56 balls for his 29, and it was left to Hrishikesh Kanitkar to hold the innings together with a sedate 57. Utpal Chatterjee bowled a tidy spell and West didn’t get the late-innings impetus that they could have done with.South Zone 217 (Ramesh 97, Venugopal 54, Abbas 6-25) beat Central Zone 155 by 62 runs Scorecard Sadagoppan Ramesh stroked a priceless 97 as South Zone recorded an easy 62-run win in a low-scoring game at Silchar. Ramesh’s innings was studded with nine fours, and his 111-run stand with Venugopal Rao should have been the ideal launching pad. But Ramesh fell in the 39th over, and then Syed Abbas Ali, the offspinner, began his torment of the batsmen. He finished with excellent figures of 6 for 25 as the lower order floundered against his wiles. But 217 proved to be more than enough, ash Central Zone, lost wickets at regular intervals. At 107 for 8 they were in dire straits, but Anup Dave, from Rajasthan, hit a gritty 36 and reduced the margin of defeat considerably. Tinu Yohannan snapped up 3 for 41 while Sreekumar Nair, his Kerala team-mate, bettered that with 3 for 12.
The old adage that fast bowlers ran in off quite a few paces, let the ball fly and followed it up with some well chosen lip, and death stares towards the batsmen, is a simplication of the work that goes into being a quick.Well, no, perhaps not entirely. The lip, and the death stares are essential but the idea that bowling is as simple as running in and letting it gothat’s where the problem needs to be mended.And the old school thought that fast bowlers are dumb and lack the brain capacity it takes to think is batsman out is, well, wrong.To help unravel the mystery and techniques of fast bowling, Australia’s fastest pace man, Brett Lee, with the help of New South Wales high performance manager Alan Campbell and New South Wales rookie Doug Bollinger, who has played in the NSW 2nd XI and two games for NSW proper, will shed some light on pace bowling and add a few new dimensions to what it takes to be a fast bowler.To bowl at any speed you need to be fit, but especially when bowling at great pace fitness is essential. But being fit is a loose word. Campbell suggests the fitness needed is more specific than say being able to run 1.6 km.”You need to be fit. That includes flexibility, strength, core strength and an ability to carry out the skill and a fitness level, which tries to prevent injury.”But the level of fitness must be high so that you can work your way back from the injury,” says Campbell.Lee is a testament to the level of fitness that is required from bowlers to maintain their place in a side. Lee has had to remodel his action, and work his way back to full fitness from back, ankle, arm and side injuries.After all these injuries, Lee has taken on a new initiative upon himself to help guarantee fitness and help keep him off the injury list.”During last year’s pre-season, we [Australian fitness trainer, Jock Campbell and Lee] basically did a lot of extra work. I knew that if I was to get back to where I was prior to busting my arm or having a sore back…I would have to be at that top fitness level again.”We did some studies to find that if a person who plays sport and drinks are 10-15 times more likely to be injured.”I never ever was a big drinker but I thought I’ll give it a go because, I’ve had a few of them [injuries] in the past. I went a whole two months without having an alcoholic beverage and it is amazing how I felt- I felt so much better…It wasn’t a hard thing to do. It’s such a small sacrifice,” says Lee.So once the fitness side of the house is in order, a bowler needs to have what’s known as a “biomechanical sound action”.Campbell explains further: “They must have a biomechanically sound action, not only to prevent injury but so when they deliver the ball it will go where you want it to go for as many times as you like.”Bollinger agrees. While his action has never been under scrutiny, he had to improve and work on his follow through.”Before, I used to stop straight away and was jarring my pelvis because my action was not right.”Bollinger though agrees that everyone has a different action and just like a fingerprint it is unique.”Just because your neighbour or team-mate has a different action doesn’t mean that yours is wrong. Everyone has a different action, you just need to find what’s right for you,” Bollinger says.Even the run-up to deliver the ball is unique to each individual. Lee bowls off 24 paces or 23.30 metres whereas Bollinger takes 21 paces. The length of the run-up though is determined by an individual’s comfort level rather than a scientific answer.”I discovered my run-up by testing it out. I tried 20, wasn’t enough and then I tried more than 21 and that was too much, so it was more a process of trial and error rather than someone saying what I should bowl off,” says Bollinger.In the Australian camp these days, things are a bit more technical. Lee measures his run-up before the start of play with a measuring tape. This though has more to do with injury prevention and getting the run-up right rather than because Lee was told to run off 23.30m.”We [Australian cricket team] have a lot of things with run-ups lately. They did studies to say that a person who’s walking out their mark…if you think about it… if your hamstrings are tight and you try to pace out and then the next one you’re feeling a lot more flexible…each step could be two or three centimetres different and then that puts you out half a metre or so…we have just gone back to the old-fashioned tape measure,” says Lee.Although the physical aspects of a fast bowler are important so too is their ability to control the mental side of cricket. Cricket is very much a mental game and requires bowlers who are able to out-think their opponents.”There was the old school of thinking that fast bowlers are dumb. But this isn’t the case. They must have a mental capacity to work out a batsman,” says Campbell.”In fact, fast bowlers are fantastic thinkers. They must find the batsman’s weakness and then get them out.”But not everyone can spot the weakness and even if they can, they might not be able to sight and adopt a strategy to know how to get the batter out,” Campbell continues.From this mental capacity, the fast bowlers must have variation in their deliveries.”Variation in delivering different types of balls and not relying purely on pace.”Lee isn’t quite sure on how many deliveries he has due to variation.”There are slight variations and different techniques that can make one ball like 10 different types of balls. You’ve got your bouncer, yorker, slower ball, off cutter, leg cutter and then it comes down to different types of things with you – but it comes down to the big five I think,” says Lee.Bollinger, at 21-years-old, has not yet developed the range of deliveries that Lee has learnt. He relies on four major deliveries and the variations he can get from them. Bollinger’s four are the outswinger, inswinger, the leg cutter and he relies on the reverse swing with the old ball late in the innings.Along with all these components comes the nutrition side of things as well as adopting a healthy side to living. Campbell believes the Lee way thinking is correct.”As Brett Lee once said to a group of kids we had in here, `eat all things your mum tells you to eat, all the green things on your plate.’ But he also backed that up by telling them that MacDonalds and KFC should be eaten once a month not once a night.”Bollinger agrees saying decent sleep; lots of water plus all the fruit and vegetables can be of some benefit.Yet if they all had to recommend one thing out of all the components that go together to make a good fast bowler, they say it’s rhythm.Campbell thinks that rhythm and experimentation are the ways to becoming a good quick.Lee concedes the most important thins to work on is you rhythm and sometimes it something that cannot be taught.”The most important technique for bowling fast I would say is rhythm.”People think you have to have big muscles to bowl quick or you have to bench press 500 kilos. The most important thing about bowling quick is having a nice action, having a rhythmical action.”Bowling fast you have to have the momentum going to the crease and it’s a matter of controlled aggression. So I’d definitely put it down to rhythm.Bowling fast is an entirely personal experience.What is right for Brett Lee will not always be right for Glenn McGrath and so on. Being a quick comes down to hard work and dedication as well as an ability to want to learn and develop the techniques and skills that you have.
Arvind Mann was the man of the moment for Rajasthan with an excellentall round display as they beat the host Madhya Pradesh by 7 wickets atCaptain Roop Singh Stadium, Gwalior on Sunday in the Vijay MerchantTrophy Central Zone League for the under-22.Being put in to bat first MP batting fell like a house of cards to thehostile bowling of V Yadav 5/31 and P Tiwari 5/29 and finished at 75all out in 25.1 overs. Wicket keeper B Ranjan took 5 catches behindthe stumps. There were as many as four ducks in the MP innings asShadab Khan top scored with 22. Rajasthan got off to a terrible startas three of the first five wickets to fall were run outs and one wasdismissed ‘handled the ball’. Rajasthan were 96/5 at that stage. Thelower order of Rajasthan batting chipped in with useful runs as theirfirst innings came to an end at 188 in 83 overs. V Bhatt was the mostsuccessful bowler with 3/46.MP had conceded a 113 runs first innings lead and got off to a goodstart in their second knock. An opening stand of 82 between ManasPisolkar and P Bhand came to an end when Bhand was dismissed for 26.Pisolkar made amends to the dismal batting display by the whole MPside in the first essay with a superb ton of 113 in 187 balls whichincluded 13 boundaries. Rahul Bakshi 29, Gagandeep Bhatia 33 andKirti Kapoor 26 helped MP score 285 all out in 96.4 overs. Arvind Mann4/76 and Vibhore Mathur were the pick of the bowling. Requiring 173for a win, Rajasthan went about their task with some finesse thanks toan unbeaten 96 (8 fours) by opener Arvind Mann. Mann was wellsupported by Vinod Chanwaria 27 (5 fours) and Sanjay Bharti 26 not out(3 fours) as Rajasthan cruised to 175/3 in 70.4 overs. Rajasthan tookhome all eight points leaving MP with none.
Journalist Pete O’Rourke has claimed that Everton manager Frank Lampard will be fearful of the sack even if the Toffees retain their Premier League status.
The Lowdown: Lampard’s results at Everton…
Since arriving at Goodison Park, the 43-year-old has struggled to make a positive impact. In his first seven Premier League matches in charge, the former Chelsea boss has won just twice, having lost the other five games.
As a result, the Toffees sit dangerously close to the relegation zone, just three points clear of Watford in 18th. Whilst Everton have two games in hand over the Hornets, their upcoming fixture list – including the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal – looks rather daunting.
O’Rourke believes that Lampard will be disappointed with his lack of impact upon taking over from Rafael Benitez and will be fearful for his future at Everton.
Speaking with GiveMeSport, the transfer insider was questioned over whether Toffees owner Farhad Moshiri could look to exercise the break clause in Lampard’s contract, whereby they could relieve the 43-year-old of his duties at Goodison Park at the season’s end without needing to pay any compensation.
In response, O’Rourke claimed: “It will be a real worry for Frank Lampard. It hasn’t worked out as he probably hoped when he took over in January from Rafa Benitez.”
The Verdict: Could be gone
Lampard was over the moon when his team beat a much-improved Newcastle side recently. However, any hope that it would spark an upturn in form quickly dissipated as the Toffees bowed out of the FA Cup last weekend after suffering a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Crystal Palace.
With such poor results, it would not be surprising to see the Merseyside club part ways with their manager, despite only appointing him in January. Whilst the situation may have been different if Lampard had been in charge from the start of the season, Moshiri could be hesitant to place his trust in the 43-year-old once again, even if he manages to keep them up this season.
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Having already gone through six managers (excluding caretakers) since David Moyes’ departure in 2013, the Everton chief is not slow to pull the trigger when he feels it is necessary, which could be a worry for Lampard.
In other news: Noel Whelan drops Richarlison transfer claim
Let’s play a quick ‘where are they now’ game together. Where does Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler ply his trade? How about World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro? Hernan Crespo? If you answered India (without using Wikipedia) then you’re correct.
Premier League Soccer (PLS) launches next month, and it has attracted veritable who’s who of late 90’s, early 2000’s stars. The league is looking to follow in the tradition of many other ‘new leagues’.
From Qatar, to Australia, to China, these new leagues seek to sign up big name older stars to boost the leagues profile. Sometimes it has flourished to the firm establishment of a solid league (J-league), other times it has been nothing more than a flash in the pan, marketing driven failure (NASL). Which way the PLS goes remains to be seen, however there is one thing complicating the issue for the PLS, the I-league.
You see India already has a top flight league, one that has been running since 2007, and is itself a ‘new league’. Theoretically there should be no conflict as the PLS is a regional league for the state of West Bengal.
However there are many complicating factors. Although the PLS may theoretically not be in conflict with the I-league, it is clear it is seeking to usurp the league, in profile and entertainment, if not at the actual top of the league structure.
The I-League has few big names stars (unless you count former Rangers striker Alan Gow) and in truth its TV and attendance figures are low. It will not be hard for PLS to beat these figures. These league’s schedules also overlap, with the PLS running February to April and the I-League October to May.
It is another small sign that the PLS organisers are not scared to face the I-League directly.
However this does not mean things for the PLS will necessarily be plain sailing. The PLS is based in the state of West Bengal, India’s footballing hotbed. This state is already home to India’s ‘Big 2’ East Bengal and Mohun Bagan.
This should mean the area is prime location for a Football extravaganza, however EB and MB both have a loyal fan-base and it remains to be seen to what degree these fans will embrace the new teams, especially when the schedules clash. India is also a nation of regions, and Indians themselves proudly regionalist. Will those from outside West Bengal tune in? Probably, but these will be TV viewers, and whether they will actively support or take to heart any of these teams seems less likely.
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The PLS will certainly be a show-piece, but long term, it seems it and the I-league will struggle to live alongside each other.
Yaya Toure scored the only goal as Manchester City won their first trophy for 35 years after deservedly overcoming Stoke City at Wembley.Roberto Mancini’s side went into the game as firm favourites against Stoke, who had never reached the final before, and it appeared they would regret failing to make the most of numerous first-half chances.
But Ivorian Toure, who scored the winner in City’s semi-final victory over local rivals Manchester United, blasted home when a loose ball fell to him with just 16 minutes left to give City the win that their performance merited.
Both managers fielded their strongest line-ups as Carlos Tevez came through a late fitness test for City, as did Matthew Etherington and Robert Huth for Tony Pulis’ Stoke.
And it was the favourites who started the stronger.
Tevez took just five minutes before he tested Thomas Sorensen in the Stoke goal with a low drive, with Ryan Shawcross was fortunate not to score an own goal as he deflected a low Aleksander Kolarov cross into the side netting.
It was all City in the opening half-hour as Toure fired a shot inches wide from 35 yards, before Sorensen produced a sensational save, somehow pushing Mario Balotelli’s curling effort past the far post when it appeared the Italian had surely scored from just inside the area.
Yet City should have taken the lead after 35 minutes.
Tevez started the move, playing the ball over the top for Balotelli to chase, and when the Italian was denied by Sorensen it seemed David Silva had to score, only for the Spaniard to volley the ball into the ground and watch in horror as it bounced over the unguarded net from just seven yards out.
It was a poor miss, and City must have wondered if they were going to regret their profligacy, especially when Silva failed to even have a shot at goal when Tevez played him through on goal early in the second-half.
Stoke were much improved, though, and City were indebted to Joe Hart for saving well when Kenwyne Jones had a shot from six yards out after chasing a long ball and getting the better of Joleon Lescott.
It appeared certain that the game was going to go into extra-time as neither side was able to make any real impression going forward as full-time drew near.
But with 16 minutes left, City made the breakthrough.
It was a scrappy goal in truth – not that City will mind – as Silva looked to combine with Tevez down the left.
When the ball was played into the box Balotelli’s effort hit Marc Wilson and fell perfectly for Toure to run on and smash a left-footed effort past Sorensen from eight yards.
The goal sparked scenes of wild celebration in the City end and appeared to knock the wind out of Stoke, who never looked likely to recover as Mancini’s men hung on to claim the first trophy of the Sheikh Mansour era.