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.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
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
Gatorade Pacers’ Bangalore edition was successfully held at the National Cricket Academy ground, with two people chosen each in the Under-15 and Under-19 categories. The winners, who were among a field of more than 1300, will participate in the all-India final to be held in Delhi from January 21.The 2008 contest is the second edition of the talent hunt held in partnership with MRF Pace Academy and Cricinfo. The winners will join a training schedule at the prestigious MRF Pace Academy under Dennis Lillee and T A Sekhar, the Academy’s head coach.Unlike other similar hunts for fast bowlers, Gatorade Pacers is not purely based on speed alone but also the overall bowling prowess. R Vinay Kumar and NC Aiyappa – the new-ball bowlers for Karnataka – were the judges and they evaluated the boys over two days.In the final round, the bowlers were made to bowl at specific target areas. There were two boxes that were chalk-marked to indicate good length and short of a length. Additionally, the bowlers were also asked to bowl a yorker.In the U-22 category, David Mathias, who clocked a high speed of 118 kph, and Magiyhendan, who had clocked 122 kph on the first day, were chosen; R Prabhakar, with a highest speed of 108 kph, and Rehan Ali, with a high of 107 kph, were selected in the U-15 category. However, the criterion was not pure pace as the judges looked to select the most complete bowlers.
Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, has admitted that they were below par in all aspects of their game in the Commonwealth Bank Series. In a tournament in which Australia were far and away the best team, New Zealand were at least expected to sneak into the finals, but a resurgent England bounced them out of the tournament with a 14-run victory in the last league match, at Brisbane on Tuesday.”If you look at all our games in the tournament we’ve been just a few percent off the money at crucial times,” Fleming was quoted as saying by . “No one particular area, I think it was across the board.”New Zealand lost a couple of close matches to England and Australia early in the tournament, but seemed to be on course for a berth in the finals after beating England in their next two encounters. England, though, recovered with two wins in their last two matches, while New Zealand lost both the games in their last leg.”We should have won this game in a canter, two or three down,” Fleming said, looking back at their last defeat. “It’s maybe mental to start with but physically as well, with the ball we’re not quite nailing it and bowling one four ball an over; with the batting getting close to having a winning partnership then a run-out of a mis-hit, and England are back in the game. It’s not much to turn but we’ve got to get it turned pretty quick.”New Zealand’s batsmen, bowlers and fielders all had their moments in the tournament, but rarely did they all perform in the same match: in their first four games, the team totaled 184, 205, 218 and 210, and were occasionally bailed out by the bowlers. Then the batsmen found form – the totals rose to 335, 318, 290 and 256 in the last four matches – but the bowlers found it far more difficult to contain the opposition. “The wickets got a bit better and we had to ask a little bit more of our bowlers,” Fleming conceded. “We’re not quite there, just as the batting wasn’t quite up to scratch at the start.”The batting revival was mainly due to the performances of Jacob Oram and Lou Vincent – Oram comfortably topped the averages for New Zealand and struck a hundred and two half-centuries from five innings, while Vincent averaged more than 65 – but the rest of the cast was disappointing. Despite his century in the last match, Fleming only managed an aggregate of 231, while Nathan Astle scored 46 in four ODIs before announcing his retirement. The bowling was patchy as well, in spite of some inspired spells by Shane Bond and Daniel Vettori.Even more shocking, though, was New Zealand’s display in the field. Normally known for their outstanding fielding and catching, they were a shambles through most of the tournament, with plenty of dropped catches in the outfield. Three chances were spilled in the crucial last match against England, but Fleming chose to defend the fielding coach, Travis Wilson. “Travis hasn’t had a lot to do with our fielding patterns, more one-on-one stuff. It’s more attention to detail from our players.”New Zealand only have three more matches, against Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee Series, to find some form and confidence before the World Cup. Given their recent track record against that opposition – 19 defeats in the last 21 ODIs – it’s unlikely they’ll be going into these matches with too many expectations.
Scotland coach Peter Drinnen has said solid performances from his players at the U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka could catapult them into contention for the senior event in the Caribbean next year.”It is all there in front of them,” he said in Colombo on Monday. “They have got a World Cup now and they have possibly got a World Cup next year if they can put their best foot forward and put their names up in lights. To compete in two World Cups would be pretty special for any young player and they know that is on offer.”If they can put together a couple of solid performances here and a solid domestic season back home then some of them will not be too far away from the West Indies next year which is pretty exciting for them,” added Drinnen, who recently took over the coaching role of the senior side.The Caribbean is, of course, in the future. In the present looms the immediate task of the Scotland U-19 side trying to compete with the hosts Sri Lanka and tournament favourites India as well as Namibia in what appears to be a very tough group for the Associate country. But far from being intimidated, Drinnen said he and his players were looking forward to the challenge those matches presented, especially their opening fixture against Sri Lanka.”It is exciting to play the home nation, it is fantastic,” he said. “Obviously they will be familiar with conditions and that is the biggest advantage they can have but we do not feel extra pressure.Everyone considers Scotland as underdogs and that is a fantastic title to have. We will look after our game, prepare very well and if the players do the jobs asked of them then I think we will put up some strong opposition.””I do not know whether the pressure is on Sri Lanka or us,” added Kasaim Farid, Scotland’s captain. “It is obviously big to be here and play India and Sri Lanka but all we can do is to take each game into consideration. Sri Lanka are the ones who have got to perform in front of their home crowd so it balances both ways.”Scotland’s biggest problem, even before they lock horns with two of the tournament’s big guns, is in adapting to conditions which are about as different from back home as it is possible to find.”It’s quite simple,” said Farid as he reflected on that difference. “Scotland is cold and Sri Lanka is hot – that sums it up.”Drinnen said the players had been training hard since September in an attempt to get ready for the heat and humidity and four of them – Farid, Richard Berrington, Gordon Goudie and Sean Weeraratna – had also spent 12 weeks at the ICC Winter Training Camp in South Africa. But he said the players would have to come to terms not only with the high temperatures but also the pitches, which are totally different to those they are used to in Scotland.”We have played one practice match and I thought we dealt with that quite well although the bowlers toiled more than the batsmen,” he said. “It is a case of finding the right length to bowl and that is something we are exploring.”One potential weakness in the Scotland line-up is their lack of a top-class spinner, which could be a crucial handicap in conditions that traditionally favour that style of bowling. “Our spinners are still learning, as are our seamers,” said Drinnen. “They have to come to terms with conditions quickly but if they [the spinners] can adapt I think they will do a very fine job.”Drinnen said pushing allrounder Goudie (who is on the playing staff with English county Middlesex) up the batting order to fill a pinch-hitting role was a possibility. “It is an option although I do not see Gordon as a pinch-hitter,” he said. “He may go up the top of the order and if he does he will play his game. The way he plays is pretty aggressive and he can get us away to a pretty positive start. I think he is a bit better than a pinch-hitter but it is an option and one we may well look to use.”Scotland open their campaign with a match against Sri Lanka on Sunday before facing up to India on February 8 and Namibia the following day to complete their Group C commitments.The top two sides from each of the four groups in the tournament will progress to the Super League stage, which consists of knock-out quarter- and semi-finals and a final on February 19.Scotland squad Kasiam Farid (capt), Robert Cannon, Richard Berrington, David Bill, Tyler Buchan, Gordon Goudie, Andrew Hislop, Moneeb Iqbal, Scott MacLennan, Calum MacLeod, Aamir Mehmood, Umair Mohammed, Rajeev Routray and Sean Weeraratna.Manager – Tino Weeraratna, Coach – Peter Drinnen, Asst. coach – Andrew Lawson, physiotherapist – Andrew Raselli.The ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup 2006 will take place between February 5 and 19. 16 teams are scheduled to play 44 matches in 15 days at five different venues in Colombo.
There are many things that go into making a great team: a good opening pair, potent strike bowlers, a wicketkeeper who can bat, a captain whoinspires from behind and leads from the front. But the most importantfacet of a winning team, the one that is indispensable, is a culturalone: a burning desire to win.This Indian team, which aspires to greatness, does not have enough ofthat desire. These are not unduly unkind words for a team that wasthwarted by worthy opponents: the evidence was there to see atdifferent points during the Test.Consider the third day’s play. India made 129 runs in 60 overs betweenlunch and close of play. And in the afternoon session alone, they made59 runs in 29 overs. This from a team, mind you, that was on top inthe Test, that had only to drive home the advantage. And althoughPakistan’s bowlers, especially Abdul Razzaq and Danish Kaneria, bowledwell in that post-lunch session, it was not of such a class that theIndians couldn’t handle it. Sachin Tendulkar, who has evisceratedbetter attacks than this, batted as if Geoff Boycott and not VivRichards was his hero. Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman alldawdled, as if they had to play out time to save the Test. Indiashould have ended that day with 100 more than they did. Those runswould have made the difference.Then, consider the fifth day’s play. Pakistan began the day with theirtop six batsmen out, just 53 ahead, and you’d imagine that the gamewould be over, at the latest, by an hour into the afternoon session.Instead, Pakistan added 239 more. Kamran Akmal and Abdul Razzaq battedwonderfully, but the Indians never looked like getting them out. Theydid not have a man capable of running through the tail. Or rather,they did have the men, but those men didn’t do the job.Being a fast-bowling strike bowler doesn’t just mean that you run inwith the new ball and make it swing and seam and get early wickets. Italso means that when there is no help from the conditions, you run inand bend your back and use your brain and, with the sheer fire in yourbelly, burn the opposition. Wasim Akram, the West Indian quartet, AllanDonald, they could all do that. do that? Strike thatfirst word; they do that, time and again.India once looked to Zaheer to play that role, but he blows hot, blowscold, and sometimes doesn’t blow at all. He was outstanding with thenew ball on the first morning of this game, and woeful on the lastmorning. You can’t blame a guy who gives it his all, but Zaheer didn’teven bowl accurately, and his line and length was wayward. Ditto IrfanPathan, who was far slower than his usual self. Had he picked up aninjury during the Test? Perhaps. He had done so Chennai againstAustralia as well, a few months ago, and India had struggled to getthe lower order out then as well. Such familiar themes should not bereprised, and the team management must be blamed if they are. Thesemen are capable of much more, and they did not deliver. The questionmust be asked: “Why?”Virender Sehwag, in fact, told reporters after the third day’s playthat it was team strategy to “play out time”, and to not bother aboutthe pace of run-scoring. Such a safety-first strategy befits teamsthat struggle to compete, as India did for a few decades. It isunseemly now, for a team aspiring to be top of the heap. There areplayers in this team who epitomise the attitude that the entire sideneeds to get: Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid. (Kumble didn’t breakthrough either on the fifth morning, but at least he tried his hardeston a pitch that offered him little.) But the entire team must imbibethat attitude, and the change has to come from the top.If not, a change has to come the top.
Harbhajan Singh will undergo surgery on his injured right index finger on Friday (Dec 19). Harbhajan, along with the Indian team physiotherapist Andrew Leipus, flew to Melbourne to see Dr Greg Hoy, a finger specialist, who advised an immediate operation.Harbhajan sustained the injury during the one-day in Dhaka earlier this year. He had opted to avoid an operation and continue playing with the injury. Since then he has not had a great time with the ball, and had to drop out of the Adelaide Test.The team management hope that he will be ready to play again during the tour of Pakistan in late February next year – but that will depend entirely on his recovery and rehabilitation after the operation.