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A round-up of the first round of matches from the 2008-09 Faithwear Cup

Cricinfo staff01-Mar-2009All-round efforts from captain Hamilton Masakadza and Timycen Maruma helped Easterns beat Centrals at the Country Club. They each picked up two wickets and hit steady thirties in their team’s three-wicket win. Put in by Easterns, Centrals got off to a bad start, losing three wickets for 21 but wicketkeeper Richmond Mutumbami’s 53 helped them finish on 157 in 43.4 overs. He hit three boundaries and a six in his 97-ball stay before becoming the first of Donald Tiripano’s two victims. Easterns lost their openers early but Masakadza, coming in at No. 3, held the innings together with a composed 31, which included five fours. Maruma managed a patient 30 off 72 balls, before Steven Nyamuzinga’s breezy 31 clinched the victory in the 38th over.Captain Elton Chigumbura and Graeme Cremer helped Northerns to a five-wicket win against Westerns at the Harare Sports Club. Northerns, who opted to field, never let the batsmen settle down and they were shot out for 98 in 45 overs – Mark Vermeulen’s 79-ball 30 was the only innings of note. Chigumbura picked up 4 for 23 and Cremer 3 for 20. A slight stutter during the chase saw Northerns reduced to 66 for 4 at one stage but Keith Kondo and Ray Price ensured they reached the target by the 27th over.

Simon Katich isn’t super keen on bowling. Not often, anyway

Brydon Coverdale in Cape Town14-Mar-2009
Simon Katich: “It always helps bowling to the tail. They always try and slog you as a spinner so it was nice to get a few wickets in the end” © Getty Images
Simon Katich isn’t super keen on bowling. Not often, anyway. For one thing, his ageing body doesn’t handle the task quite as comfortably as it used to. And if he’s required it means the frontline attack isn’t working and the team is probably in a bit of trouble.But as long as Australia persist without a specialist spinner, Katich will be called on from time to time. The answer is occasional short spells at carefully selected moments. It certainly worked in Durban, where Ricky Ponting turned to Katich on the final day when Australia needed to end the resistance from South Africa’s lower order.”Ricky came to me about half an hour before lunch and said ‘get ready, you are going to have a bowl’ and I said ‘no worries’, ripped off my short-leg gear and got into it,” Katich said. “It always helps bowling to the tail. They always try and slog you as a spinner so it was nice to get a few wickets in the end.”Three wickets to be precise. Three immensely valuable wickets. Paul Harris, Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn are not the best batsmen in the South African side but they were handling the fast men with relative comfort and Ponting wanted a wrist-spinner. Bryce McGain was running the drinks.And so it was Katich or nobody. There wasn’t a great deal of turn but as old and wise a head as Katich was able to deceive the lower-order men, including with a handy wrong’un that caught the inside edge of Morkel’s bat and rocketed off his pads in the direction of Brad Haddin, who caught it between his legs.”I would have liked to have spun the ball a little bit more, but the wrong’un was coming out all right and I guess that was something that helped because a few of them couldn’t pick it,” he said. “It just spun a little bit and deceived him [Morkel].”There are batsmen, like Michael Clarke, who love to get the ball in their hand and are itching for opportunities. Subtly or not so subtly they’ll try and get the captain’s attention, perhaps with some shoulder exercises, maybe by bowling the ball to the next fielder instead of under-arming it on its way back to the bowler.”I have been a reluctant bowler in the past,” Katich said. “When there have been other guys who have been doing the job and doing well then I’m happy not to be used because we are going well. I chuck them down every now and then [in the nets]. It just depends on the scheduling because it takes me a little bit longer to recover from bowling than it used to.”That’s why Katich rarely uses himself in the Sheffield Shield. Last summer he sent down three overs for the entire domestic four-day campaign. Before Durban, he hadn’t bowled in a Test since the tour of India. He’s happy to do it if the time and place is right but the last thing Australia want is to begin tiring out a key batsman with a big workload in the field.Since his return to the Test team last May, Katich has struck five centuries, the most recent of which came at Kingsmead in an enormous opening stand with Phillip Hughes. The men enjoyed a pat on the back when Hughes scored the first of his hundreds but despite their five-day form, neither was included in Australia’s limited-overs squad.Hughes will surely get his one-day opportunity soon. But at 33, Katich knows his time in the green-and-gold clothing has long since passed. “No chance, no chance,” he said. “I don’t think at this stage of my career it is a wise move. You never say never but I would be very surprised.”

Celtic will be ‘delighted’ to bank £3million from the sale of Ryan Christie to Bournemouth.

That’s according to the former Leeds United and Aberdeen striker Noel Whelan, who was speaking to Football Insider.

The lowdown

Christie left Celtic to join English Championship promotion hopefuls Bournemouth on Transfer Deadline Day.

The Scot was into the final year of his contract in Glasgow and had recently rejected an offer of an extension (via Sky Sports).

He would have been in a position to strike a contract agreement in January and walk away from the club on a free transfer.

Christie racked up a total of 151 appearances for the Hoops during his time at the club, scoring 41 goals and providing 44 assists (via Transfermarkt).

The latest

Whelan accepts that Celtic will be ‘a little disappointed’ after failing to tie Christie down.

But he says they can be satisfied with securing a ‘bonus’ fee, which essentially covered the cost of £2.5million Odsonne Edouard replacement Giorgos Giakoumakis.

“They are probably a little disappointed, but you can’t allow the contract to get to that stage,” he said.

“To get a fee for him now is better than nothing in six months time. They would have liked to get more for him.

“But, unfortunately, the position they were in was not a strong one at that stage in his contract.

“It was something that was probably a bonus because he could have ended up going for nothing. They’ll be delighted with that.

“That fee has paid for the striker coming in, and a bit more.”

The verdict

Hypothetically, how much would Christie have been worth without the looming possibility of a Bosman transfer? Probably somewhere around the £10million mark.

Celtic, of course, found themselves in similar positions with Odsonne Edouard and Kristoffer Ajer.

That could be seen as poor business, and although the Hoops have done excellently in securing decent profits from their summer sales, they must ensure they are not left in a similar position with their new stars a few years down the line.

In other news, Kevin Phillips dropped this verdict on Giakoumakis. 

Former West Ham striker Frank McAvennie has admitted his concern for Leeds United star Diego Llorente after the development of yet another injury issue.

The Lowdown: Llorente suffers fresh blow

Marcelo Bielsa’s side were beaten 3-0 at home to Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, meaning they are still without a win in the Premier League this season.

Not only did Leeds lose, but they also saw Llorente suffer another injury setback, as he limped off in the first half.

The Spaniard has struggled to rid himself of constant fitness issues since arriving at Elland Road and he is now set for another spell on the sidelines.

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The Latest: Pundit concerned by ongoing issues

Speaking to Football Insider, McAvennie admits he is surprised Leeds even signed Llorente and didn’t pick up on something during his medical:

“I don’t understand that. Is this not something the medical team will have picked up on? How did he pass a medical?

“It can’t be something so simple as just warming up before games, surely?

“The same thing has happened to Llorente three times since he’s been at Leeds. That has to be a huge concern.

“That will always be a doubt now won’t it? Any time he plays people will be wondering if he can finish the game.

“You would think they would be able to sort it with all the technology they have, it’s a strange one. They don’t have a big squad either Leeds, it’s a worry.”

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The Verdict: Developing into a big problem

While Llorente is an excellent defender, his injuries are now becoming a genuinely major cause for concern, with the 28-year-old unable to string together a prolonged spell in the team.

He has now failed to finish a game three times in his last 17 Premier League appearances, which speaks volumes about how unreliable he is.

It may be that Bielsa has to start forging a centre-back pairing out of other squad members such as Pascal Struijk, Liam Cooper and Robin Koch, rather than relying on Llorente to stay fit.

In other news, one Leeds player has been tipped to leave the club. Find out who it is here.

Bermuda are almost certainly going to lose a passionate coach who once believed his side had what it took to beat the best

Will Luke in Johannesburg10-Apr-2009Bermuda’s coach, Gus Logie, has attacked the lack of desire and professionalism with certain individuals, 48 hours after the country lost their ODI status and failed to qualify for the 2011 World Cup. Logie’s four-year contract expires in September and he gave the strongest indication yet that there would need to be widespread changes for him to even consider renewing it.”We, the board, have put a lot of things in place. We have had professional people come in from all walks of life to come and work in Bermuda, such as Mike Young, one of the best fielding coaches there is,” he told Cricinfo in Johannesburg. “And [ex] players come to Bermuda to offer their expertise. But the general interest has been so low, that these guys aren’t interested in coming back. No one seemed to really care that much.”But when you lose ODI status, it has hit home to everyone just how important it is. The government has put a lot of money [US$11m] into development of the sport on the island, and therefore they deserve to have some sort of success out of it. You can put as much as money as you want into it, but it comes down to the individuals and how much they desire, how much they want it. We plan as much as possible but if the desire of the players isn’t as high as it should be, then obviously it makes it very difficult.”Losing ODI status cuts off a vital financial artery from the ICC, but the downgraded standing has a greater impact: potential demotion to the ranks of an Affiliate nation. A team of bursars and baggage-handlers such as the UAE – a side of cobbled-together amateurs who forsake their jobs and cherished annual holiday just to play for their country – are, on paper, a side less equipped than Bermuda but who, like an untapped Sharjah oil reservoir, are bubbling rich with talent and desire, sufficiently so to qualify for the Super Eights of the World Cup Qualifiers.Bermuda, on the other hand, are a group of semi-professional cricketers with the backing of its government, one who invested $11m in the sport, but whose only consistent facet is failure. It isn’t too outlandish to suggest that Bermuda have been a four-year eye-sore of ICC’s attempt to laud and publicise its Associates.Their consistent lack of success is nevertheless a surprise given the investment they have had, and it may raise many eyebrows to learn that Bermudans’ interest in cricket, as a past-time, is greater than most other Associate nations. The sport is discussed by locals in cafes and bars. Their cricketers – in particular Dwayne Leverock – have reached a level of fame that the likes of the Irish, Scots and Kenyans can only dream about.”It annoys me, yes, that all the hard work and commitment, not just from myself but from many people, [has been wasted]. The board have tried to put guidelines in place – not just internationally but locally – and opportunities were given to players,” said Logie. “But over the past two weeks, we really haven’t shown that level of commitment, or hunger, or desire or focus from the individuals. Because that’s what it boils down to: on the field of play. We felt we let ourselves down tremendously, under tremendous expectations, and it hasn’t really and truly happened.”The reasons for their slip from grace are inexplicably numerous. As an indicator of the flat-lining development programme in place, their women’s team were last year bowled out for a comedic nadir of 13 . They lost in four balls. But Logie has another explanation, one which is far more deep-rooted.”We have had a lot of local problems. We talk about some of the individuals who would rather play County Cup instead of representing their country, which has never been in the forefront [of their minds],” he says. “We try to galvanise these individuals into playing for their country, but that has not always been the case [that they wanted to]. So we have always suffered in not having the best players available for our internationals.”We’ve not been able to play ODIs at home, that’s something else. We need the grounds to develop properly the batsmen and the bowlers, better pitches to play on and that hasn’t materialised over the years. There are a lot of things conspiring against us to make it very difficult. We’re always fighting against the odds.We have tried to sort it out as much as possible with what we’ve had, but we were always up against it. It made it even more difficult when we’d play teams who were much more professional in their approach and attitude, and their motiviation was different from Bermuda.”But perhaps the most telling indicator of a possible apathetic attitude was their captain’s reaction to the loss to Afghanistan. Irvine Romaine, calling upon all his hours of media training, attempted to shrug off the loss as a one-off on April 2. Unfortunately, his cheerful demeanour and perma-grin only added to the feeling that being totally outplayed by eleven refugees didn’t really matter. Nevermind, eh? There’s always tomorrow. Except that this time, there isn’t a tomorrow.Their future as a cricketing nation is hazy. Last year saw numerous controversies poke their head above the parapet – allegations of drug-use, players and umpires failing (or forgetting) to turn up for local matches and so on – which gave rise to the sense of hopelessness which has pervaded their international performances.”Allthough the board have tried to professionalise the squad, Bermuda is a unique little island because the living standard is a lot higher than most places. Young people don’t see cricket as a viable option, or as a future.”It has to take an effort from everyone. It’s not going to happen just through one or two individuals in charge of the board. It has to be a country-wide effort where cricket is seen as being important. Youngsters must see the game as a viable [career] option. Not just as a past-time. They can make careers out of it. They juts don’t see it as being viable so you’re fighting against a tide of what we really want as opposed to what you actually get.”Worst of all, they are almost certainly going to lose a passionate coach who once believed his side had what it took to beat the best. The next four years will determine whether Bermuda rise again, or continue to yawn lazily at the prospect of the hard graft required.

A stellar effort from the bowlers, coupled with a breezy fifty from wicketkeeper Anamul Haque helped Bangladesh Under-19 draw level in the youth ODI series against Sri Lanka Under-19 at the Shamsul Huda Stadium

Cricinfo staff04-May-2009
Scorecard
A stellar effort from the bowlers, coupled with a breezy fifty from wicketkeeper Anamul Haque helped Bangladesh Under-19 draw level in the youth ODI series against Sri Lanka Under-19 at the Shamsul Huda Stadium.Sri Lanka were off on the wrong foot after Dinesh Chandimal chose to bat first, with the captain himself falling in the first over. A 50-run stand between Udara Jayasundera and Banuka Rajapaksha propped up Sri Lanka before Bangladesh captain Mahmudul Hasan took two quick wickets.Another fruitful partnership followed, between Jayasundera and Angelo Perera. The two added 67 before Perera became Sabbir Rahman’s first victim, stumped after a gritty 36. Jayasundera fell one short of his fifty – his dogged effort coming off 105 balls and including just two fours. The slow pace took its toll on Sri Lanka when Sabbir quickly wrapped up the tail to restrict the visitors to 205 in the 47th over.Amit Majumder and Haque combined well to help Bangladesh recover from an early double-jolt during the chase. The two added 83 for the third wicket. When Majumder departed, caught behind off Imesh Udayanga, Haque continued undeterred. He strung together a 47-run stand with Mahmudul before retiring hurt. He hit six fours and three sixes and set the hosts on course.It was left to Sabbir (36) and Noor Hossain (23) to steer Bangladesh home with an unbeaten sixth-wicket stand of 40.

There have been plenty of surprises from Ange Postecoglou’s brief reign in charge of Celtic so far.

The form of Kyogo Furuhashi has to be one of the biggest plus points. After arriving as Odsonne’s Edouard heir in waiting, he has scored seven goals in nine outings for the Hoops.

Callum McGregor’s revival since becoming the club captain has also been eye-catching but nothing has been more pleasing than Anthony Ralston.

The Scot had only featured once in the entirety of last season but has enjoyed a breakthrough campaign so far under Postecoglou.

Ralston has missed just two matches all term and has become one of the new manager’s most important players.

On the chalkboard

Before the campaign got underway, you could quite easily make a case that he wasn’t good enough for Celtic.

Indeed, against Real Betis in the Europa League under a week ago, that was definitely the case.

Fortunately, there was a rare blip in the right-back’s remarkable season so far. He has scored three goals this term, including a wonderful solo effort on the opening weekend against Hearts.

There was a fresh slate for every Celtic player when the new boss was hired but Ralston is the player who has arguably benefitted from that the most.

It will provide hope to others on the fringes, particularly those out on loan, that their career at Parkhead is far from over.

That goes for Lee O’Connor. The defender is currently enjoying his second campaign away from Paradise with Tranmere and being a right-back, he could be their new Ralston.

He won’t get a chance to prove his worth in Glasgow this term but upon his return, he could provide a similar impact to the Scot if afforded an opportunity.

Like Celtic’s current first-choice option at right-back, he is full of quality, certainly in offensive areas.

After O’Connor signed for Tranmere last term, their former manager Mike Jackson commented: “He is a young lad with an excellent pedigree, and we are looking forward to him. He has a lot of ability, he is good on the ball, he will fit into the group well.”

John O’Shea is also a man who’s been full of praise for the Irishman. Speaking about the former Manchester United youth product, he once said: “Look he was quality, top quality on the pitch. He looked very comfortable, he went right-back to left-back in a breeze, it was no problem to him.”

With that adaptability in mind, O’Connor is certainly an exciting young talent.

Never seen in the Celtic first-team before, Ralston’s form and opportunities prove this year that the 21-year-old can’t discount his Hoops career.

After all, we all know how McGregor’s loan spell in the English Football League has helped his career.

AND in other news, Celtic suffer another big injury setback, Postecoglou will be gutted…

Australia recovered from an unconvincing start to their Ashes preparations against Sussex at Hove

The Bulletin by Andrew Miller at Hove24-Jun-2009Australians 349 for 7 (Haddin 69, Hauritz 65*) v Sussex
ScorecardBrad Haddin and Michael Clarke revived Australia’s fortunes after a top-order slump•Getty ImagesAustralia recovered from an unconvincing start to their Ashes preparations against Sussex at Hove, as the South African-born journeyman, Pepler Sandri, scalped their top-order with three prime wickets. Australia slumped to 114 for 5 shortly after lunch on the opening day, before Brad Haddin and Michael Clarke revived their fortunes with a counterattacking sixth-wicket stand of 114. Both men fell in the space of three balls, but Brett Lee and Nathan Hauritz carried their side through to the close against a tiring attack with an unbeaten alliance of 117.It was an arduous day’s work in an idyllic setting for Australia. They won the toss and chose to bat in front of a packed house and beneath clear blue skies, and when Phil Hughes marked his return to four-day batting with three fours in the first over from James Kirtley, it seemed as though their unscheduled training camp in Leicester during the World Twenty20 had served to sharpen their focus.But when Hughes mowed ambitiously across the line and lost his middle stump to a Sandri yorker, the complexion of the innings changed in an instant. Ricky Ponting punched a brace of fours off the back foot, but was never allowed to settle as Sussex’s second-string attack ploughed a tight furrow outside off. He soon became the second big wicket of the morning when Luke Wright found the edge of a back-foot drive, and the keeper Andy Hodd sent him on his way for 8.Mike Hussey entered the fray at No. 4, a man in desperate need of runs after a tally of just 85 in three Tests during Australia’s victory against South Africa in March. He and his fellow left-hander, Simon Katich, carried the score along to 90 for 2 at lunch in an eventual stand of 65, but after the break both men lost concentration and departed in the space of three deliveries. Katich fell one short of his half-century, as he steered a wide half-volley from Sandri into Michael Yardy’s midriff at gully, before Hussey was trapped half-way out of his crease by Kirtley, and adjudged lbw for 32.Australia’s wobble then became a full-blown collapse of 3 for 1 in ten deliveries when Marcus North, so crucial to the balance of their Test side at No. 6, prodded flat-footedly outside off to Sandri, and snicked a simple catch through to Hodd for 1. In the last month, Sandri – who capitalised on his EU passport to sign for the county in March – has failed to claim a single wicket in nearly 27 overs spread over three matches for his Sussex Premier League side, Hastings. All of a sudden he had three in nine overs against the mighty Australians. Go figure.Sandri, whose father emigrated from Piedmonte in Italy to South Africa as a 19-year-old, only heard he was playing in this match on Monday, having passed a fitness test on an abdominal strain the previous day. “The final place was between me and a spinner, so I’m glad it was 12 a side,” he said. “I must say that was first prize to play today, and fortunately it happened and I took the opportunity.”This was only his third game of an injury-interrupted season, and his first for the first team.”It was quite a contrast, but my rhythm was good this morning so I was very happy with that. I thought Hussey was in good nick, and Katich was very circumspect, but my favourite wicket was the first one – the young guy, Hughes, played a lot of shots. He’s a very attacking batsman.”Australia so nearly lost their sixth wicket when Clarke, on 6, edged Kirtley to second slip, but Ed Joyce spilled the opportunity, and sure enough Sussex were made to pay for the let-off. Haddin made the running with a cultured 69, including a sweet straight six off the spinner Ollie Rayner, followed by two more in the same over from Will Beer – the second a flat pull over midwicket that brought up his half-century from 108 balls.But with a century on the cards, Haddin miscued another big hit down the ground from Rayner and chipped a simple leading edge to Sandri at mid-on, and then three balls later, Rayner struck again to extract Clarke for 45 from 78 balls. At 232 for 7, Sussex’s thoughts doubtless drifted towards the prospect of batting before the close, but Lee and Hauritz repelled them with arguably the most comfortable stand of the day.”I think the purpose of the day was to get some competitive match practice and play under a bit of pressure, so it was a good day,” Haddin said at the close. “You get out of it what you need, so we’re not too fussed at all. It can get pretty tedious just hitting the ball out of the nets all the time, so the main point of this game was blowing some cobwebs out.”By the end of the day, even Sandri had been tamed, as Hauritz drove him exquisitely down the ground to move along to his half-century with his ninth four in 62 deliveries. At the other end, Lee provided a timely reminder of the valuable second-string to his bow – in 2005, his batting at No. 9 in the order proved invaluable, not least in the valiant run-chase at Edgbaston, and on this evidence it could well do so again. He was unbeaten on 47 at the close, after 80 balls of unyielding composure. Now it is all down to his bowling.

A number of Wolves supporters were unhappy with Daniel Podence’s performance against Southampton, even though they won the game.

Bruno Lage’s side faced an important Premier League match on Sunday afternoon, having only won once in five outings in the competition before kickoff.

It may not have been the most entertaining game, but Raul Jimenez’s superb solo effort clinched a vital 1-0 victory at St Mary’s, taking Wolves into 14th place in the table.

There were a number of strong performers on the day for the visitors, but one player who never seemed at his best was Podence, who lost possession nine times overall.

The 25-year-old is still looking for his first league goal or assist of the season and Wolves could do with him going up a gear.

Wolves fans unhappy with Podence display

These fans took to Twitter to criticise Podence’s performance after the game.

“Podence. Did he make a successful pass?”

Credit: @Pep30692329

“Imagine my surprise when Podence contributed nothing today”

Credit: @RK13REF

“Great support, fabulous for Raul to score just a shame that Podence and Marcal couldn’t find an away shirt to pass to. Adama and Ayt Nouri please Bruno”

Credit: @andrewhos

“Though we were overall very poor, wing-backs both dreadful, midfield missing, Podence terrible. Hwang meh, didn’t even think the centre-halves were particularly good, some bad positioning at times & gave up passing from back. Bit of magic saved us, but Jimenez poor up to that point”

Credit: @jamiewalters23

“Thought we were by far the better team 1st half but picked wrong option time and time again. Podence had a nightmare, Raul edge of box chose not to shoot. After we scored I thought we were horrific”

Credit: @Thesilencedjuan

“Hwang finding his feet in the league maybe but Podence believes his own hype and Marcel thinks Wolves are his Pension. Totally inept performance from the last two”

Credit: @DingleBal

In other news, one Wolves player’s first-half performance at Southampton was also criticised. Read more here.

Malik said losing to India in the 2007 World Twenty20 final was bitterly disappointing but he felt elated now

Cricinfo staff25-Jun-2009Shoaib Malik, the former Pakistan captain, has praised his successor Younis Khan’s leadership skills. He said Younis’ leadership as well as sessions with a sports psychologist helped Pakistan win the World Twenty20.”I think those sessions helped as the doctor used the power of hypnotism to drill it into our minds that we were going to England to become the World Twenty20 champions,” quoted Malik as saying. “It helped us a lot to play to our true potential.”Malik said losing to India in the 2007 World Twenty20 final, when he was captain, was bitterly disappointing but he felt elated now. “I think our victory over South Africa in the semi-final showed that we could beat anyone on our day.”We had the momentum with us and with [Shahid] Afridi finding his batting form, it was almost like we were destined to win. I am happy just like the rest of the nation over this victory. It is a big honour for our country and we needed it now.”Pakistan’s next assignment is a tour of Sri Lanka which includes three Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20s between July 4 and August 12.