Doug Bollinger has been included in Australia’s Test squad to tour the West Indies as a replacement for Ben Hilfenhaus, who is suffering from a recurrence of a stress fracture in his lower back. Bollinger will make the trip as part of the 15-man squad as long as he can prove he has recovered from a broken foot he sustained in February.The news came while Bollinger was on his honeymoon, and barely a week after he was offered his first Cricket Australia contract. “I’m just wondering if they might bump me up to first class,” Bollinger told AAP before leaving Sydney for Honolulu. “It’s probably been the best week of my life. I’m so happy that it’s happened and I’m just so excited at the moment.”Bollinger, who was married to Tegan Sutherland on Friday, was unlucky not to be chosen in the original group for the Caribbean campaign following a breakthrough Pura Cup season. He topped the wicket tally with 45 at 15.44 despite missing the last three games with the injury.”I’ve had a bit of a bowl,” Bollinger said. “I’ve been running and I’ve been in the gym, so I feel really well at the moment.”Alex Kountouris, the Australia team’s physio, said Bollinger should be fine to make the trip. “Doug has recovered well from his fractured foot,” Kountouris said. “He has been bowling for the last couple of weeks with no complaints and, as long as he completes the final fitness test, we believe he will be fully fit to take part in the Test tour of the West Indies.”Hilfenhaus’ injury means he cannot bowl for several months, which rounds off a disappointing year after he collected 28 Pura Cup wickets at 43.82 and struggled to have the same impact as in his outstanding 2006-07. However, he did retain his Cricket Australia contract and the selectors said he would remain in the frame for future series.”Obviously this is very disappointing for Ben,” Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said. “However, given the amount of cricket facing the Australian side in all forms of the game over the next 18 months, a conservative approach to the management of his back injury is best to ensure he makes a full recovery.”Kountouris said the aim was to have Hilfenhaus fit and fresh for the start of 2008-09. “Ben had some lingering back pain towards the end of the Pura Cup season and recent scans have revealed a possible recurrence of an old stress fracture to the vertebrae,” he said.”His recovery will involve not bowling for the next few months but continuing on with a rehabilitation and strength program. We believe this will be his best preparation for the beginning of the 2008-09 season.”The squad gathers in Brisbane for a training camp in early May ahead of the three-Test series against West Indies. Five ODIs and a Twenty20 international follow before the players return to Australia in July.
MCC is preparing plans to redevelop Lord’s and add an additional 10,000 seats according to .Keith Bradshaw, the newly installed Australian secretary and chief executive of MCC, which owns Lord’s, is keen to expand the capacity of the London ground whose space currently holds 28,500. This is dramatically short of most other grounds in the world, particularly those in Bradshaw’s Australia, but the additional concern is to retain Lord’s famed and unique atmosphere which, it is feared, might be lost.”We’ve been shown plans that could increase the ground capacity to 35,000 or 40,000 – although that might be too many in case the character and ambience of the ground is altered and it becomes difficult for people to circulate around the ground during a match,” Bradshaw told .Another of Bradshaw’s innovative plans is to relocate MCC’s museum, which holds the Ashes urn, to its own premises on St John’s Wood Road, thus opening up a section of the perimeter wall to enable easier access to the ground. And Bradshaw also revealed that Lord’s could be used for purposes other than cricket: apartments, an ice rink in winter and a restaurant are all plans being mooted.”The outcome will be a hybrid of everything presented to us and we have to engage the members,” Bradshaw said. “I am not for or against apartments and moving the museum will give the public greater access to it. We could start tours of Lord’s from there.”
Ross Emerson took his three young children to the Perth Water Slides on Friday, as far away from the WACA and another confrontation with the Sri Lankans as he could find in his homecity and the perfect place to begin the rest of his life.The umpire at the centre of the latest crisis to hit cricket has experienced too much trauma and real danger to become worked up about the week that could end his involvement in the first-class game.Emerson is a man alone. For the last week the cricket world has been in a stampede as players and officials have sought to distance themselves from him. Yet the umpire who rocked the sportby deciding to call Muttiah Muralitharan for chucking in Adelaide last Saturday has no regrets. His decision, he insists, was something that “came from the heart”.Emerson is not prepared to go into detail about the events of the last week; about the shameful behaviour of Arjuna Ranatunga, the Sri Lanka captain, that shattered the calm of the Adelaide Oval; about the revelation that he has been on sick leave from work at the Ministry of Fair Trading in Perth for eight weeks; about the decision to stand him down for Friday’s rematch between England and Sri Lanka. And he will not comment about the arrogant way in which Ranatunga chose to bulldoze through the International Cricket Council’s code of conduct by threatening to drag cricket through the courts if he was suspended. Emerson is not prepared to jeopardise what little chance he still has of officiating in an international match again – but it is clear that he feels let down, angry and bitter.”I can’t imagine why you’ve rung me,” he laughed when he was tracked down on Friday just as Muralitharan was preparing to bowl his first ball at the WACA. While umpire Peter Parker stood inthe square leg position that was supposed to be occupied by Emerson, the former policeman was spending the day with his young family and was doing his best to get away from it all. “I’m not thinking about cricket today,” insisted Emerson. “When you’ve been through as much as me you learn to compartmentalise your life.”Emerson’s colourful background is the key to understanding theman. For whatever is felt about his motives for repeating hispublic humiliation of Muralitharan of three years ago and abouthis reputation as being confrontational, cocky and a’grandstander’, it is clear he has lived a fascinating life.It is one that saw him driven away from his Sydney home by deaththreats during a distinguished career as a police officer. He waseven praised in the Australian parliament as a “very fineofficer” for his part in investigating internal corruption in theNew South Wales force. More recently, however, his life hassuffered a new setback in Perth where the cause of his”stress-related” condition remains a mystery. It is said thatEmerson has clashed with his superiors over their failure toprosecute companies he has investigated and is furious with themfor revealing that he was away from his desk. He plans to returnto work this week for yet another showdown with his employers,after which he will discover whether he still has an umpiringfuture.Emerson, approaching his 45th birthday, has never officiated in aTest match and almost certainly never will. After a stormymeeting with Denis Rogers, chairman of the Australian CricketBoard, on Tuesday, even his place in Shield matches may now be indoubt. Apparently, the pair parted on poor terms after Rogerstold Emerson he was standing him down from England’s match onFriday, ostensibly on health grounds but surely related to theevents of Adelaide.But not everyone has turned against him. Since the events of lastweekend, Emerson, whose brother-in-law is the former Australianfast bowler Terry Alderman, has received a number of messages ofsupport, including a call from Geoff Marsh, the Australia coach.He also received words of encouragement from several Englandplayers who witnessed at first hand his bitter confrontation withRanatunga. All this is likely to count for little, though. It isalmost certain that the ACB and the ICC will decide that tore-appoint such a controversial figure would be simply too muchtrouble.Emerson, who shot to prominence when he called Muralitharan forthrowing seven times during his first international umpiringappearance at the Gabba three years ago, is not the only officialnursing private grievances. Darrell Hair, the Australian whostarted the Muralitharan ball rolling in the Boxing Day Test of1995 at Melbourne, is still waiting to hear when he will becalled to account by the ICC for bringing the game into disreputeby calling Muralitharan’s action “diabolical” in hisautobiography.The only communication Hair has had from the ICC since he wascharged was a fax at home telling him not to wear his ICCNational Grid panel jacket until the hearing. Australia will haveone umpire at this year’s World Cup, with Hair in theory the hotfavourite to fill the place. Do not be surprised, however, ifDaryl Harper, of South Australia, gets the nod instead.Law 24.2 stipulates that an umpire must call a bowler forchucking if there is any doubt in his mind that a delivery islegal. Looking at it in cold terms, it is easy to see why Emersonand Hair felt it necessary to no-ball Muralitharan. But they arepaying a heavy price for their conviction.England, meanwhile, arrived in Sydney last night after theirthumping victory over Sri Lanka on Friday with David Graveney,the manager, saying he felt “more emotional about watching thatEngland victory than any other game”. Graveney added: “We hadlost a couple of games and we had had a demanding few days. Then,at 34 for four, we were looking down the barrel. To then win bythe margin we did was extraordinary.”England have been given the next two days off by Graveney, nowthat they are on the brink of qualifying for the final of thetriangular series, and they will be back in action at the SCG onWednesday. Graveney will spend the time briefing the England andWales Cricket Board about his observations on the Adelaideaffair.”I am fully confident as a result of all this that theregulations of the ICC will be altered to try to keep lawyers outof disciplinary hearings,” he said. “The situation has to bemoved on from here.”
West Indies bowler Jermaine Lawson has been reported for a suspect bowling action, the ICC confirmed on Sunday. Lawson’s action was called into question by the match officials after the first Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo, and they immediately reported him.The report was submitted by the umpires Simon Taufel, Nadeem Ghauri, third umpire Peter Manuel and fourth official Ranmore Martinez who were concerned about the angle of Lawson’s elbow.”The match officials had concerns with potential elbow flexation when viewing the bowler’s action with the naked eye,” explained the ICC match referee, Mike Procter. “This assessment has led the team of officials to request the ICC to commission a biomechanical report into the bowler’s action in accordance with the new process introduced earlier this year.”In accordance with the ICC’s recently revised bowling review process, Lawson’s action will now be analysed by a human movement specialist at the ICC within the next three weeks. Video tapes of the match will also be submitted for analysis. After the analysis is completed, the biomechanical expert will report back to the ICC, confirming if the action is legal. Lawson will be free to play international cricket in the meantime.
India’s tour of Pakistan has been delayed by a week due to logistical problems, and will begin no later than the second week of March.According to a report by Rediff.com, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the Indian cricket board head, announced that security was also a reason for the postponement.”The tour will be delayed by about a week,” Dalmiya said. “It shouldn’t start later than the second week of March, but the team won’t be able to go earlier because we are trying to fully cover all points, security as well.”The Indian cricket board is expected to announce the tour itinerary on Saturday. India is due to play three Tests and five one-dayers in their first full visit to Pakistan since 1989-90.
Shane Bond has made a lightning-like rise up the world Test bowling rankings after his seven-wicket bag in the first Test victory over India at the weekend.He is now ranked eighth in the world, the preserve of only Sir Richard Hadlee, Simon Doull and Chris Cairns in the PricewaterhouseCoopers rankings in the past.It is another acknowledgement of the influence Bond has made since coming into the side last summer. And while he missed the England series at home, he came back to play a key role in New Zealand’s success in the West Indies and his three-wicket blitz on Saturday effectively ended Indian hopes of winning the Test.Cairns is now at 12 on the bowling list, Daryl Tuffey has risen to 21, Daniel Vettori is on 24 and newcomer Jacob Oram comes in at No 75.Mark Richardson’s 89 has seen him move up the batting list to No 16.Of the other New Zealand batsmen, Nathan Astle is at 22, Craig McMillan at 29, Cairns is at 38 and Stephen Fleming at 40.
Hyderabad earned their second consecutive win in the South Zone Ranji Trophy One-day Tournament by thrashing Karnataka by eight wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.After having reduced Karnataka for 142, the Hyderabad openers Daniel Manohar (40) and A Nandakishore (62 not out) gave the team a rousing start adding 61 runs in 11 overs. Manohar was the more flamboyant of the two. During a 55 minute stay at the crease he belted the bowlers especiallyGanesh who went for 41 runs in his 7 overs.After the departure of Manohar, caught by Arun Kumar off Bharadwaj, VVSLaxman joined Nandakishore. Laxman (2) failed to impress and five runslater fell for a catch to Beerala off Yalvigi. But Nandakishore and VankaPratap (31 not out) made sure that the team romped home in 30.5 overs. Forhis unbeaten innings, Nandakishore faced 90 balls while finding theboundary ropes on 4 occations.Earlier, opting to bat, Karnataka came up against the willy guiles ofVenkatapathy Raju (4 for 36). Though stumper VST Naidu (30) and Yalvigi(25) had a good start in their innings they filed to capitalise on thatleaving the Karnataka bowlers to defend a paltry 142.
Taking to Twitter, London World reporter Rahman Osman has shared what Antonio Conte has now said at Tottenham Hotspur with some strong words from the Italian.
The Lowdown: Conte sends messages…
The former Chelsea boss has been the subject of animated, headline-grabbing press conferences in recent weeks – most notably after Tottenham’s 1-0 defeat to Burnley recently.
Conte openly hinted he could leave the club after his side fell to a narrow loss at Turf Moor, courtesy of defender Ben Mee’s late close-range effort.
After backtracking on those comments, Spurs’ fiery manager now has some strong words for the Lilywhites medical staff as Osman shares news.
The Latest: Conte fires shots at Spurs medical staff…
Taking to Twitter, relaying what Conte has now said at Spurs, Osman shares that the 52-year-old has stated that he wishes Tottenham’s medical team could meet the press and answer questions.
“Antonio really has had it with the medical team at Tottenham already,” Osman explains.
“Says he wished they could meet the press and answer questions about injured players and return dates.”
The Verdict: Impatience growing…
Conte’s frustration stems from the delayed comeback of midfielder Oliver Skipp, who has missed the last seven matches in all competitions with a groin strain.
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The Italian’s desperation to see Spurs’ starlet back in action may have resulted in more shots being fired at the club, this time at their medical team.
Amid Tottenham’s topsy-turvy run of form, it will certainly be interesting to see what Conte comes out with next if his impatience seemingly continues to grow.
In other news: Conte personally green-lights new ‘real star’ target who Spurs could sign for just £21m, find out more here.
South Africa Cricket Association (SACA) chief executive Tony Irish said South Africa could lose two of its premier fast bowlers, Charl Langeveldt and Andre Nel, because of political interference in selection.”Charl Langeveldt’s request to be removed from the squad to tour India is the desperate unhappiness of a player who knows that he has been selected for this tour for quota reasons,” he said.Langeveldt, absent from the Test side since early 2006, replaced Nel, who took 13 wickets at 26.23 in the three Tests against West Indies earlier this year, under Cricket South Africa’s transformation policy, which mandates at least six players of colour in a 14-man squad.”As players we all have a good idea of when we are clearly in the running for selection and when we aren’t,” Langeveldt said. “You just have to look at Andre’s Test record compared to mine and the fact that he has been part of all the Test match plans while I haven’t played a Test match for two years.”I have always fought for a place in the team but I don’t want to be put there because of my colour. Up to now I have been very happy in my role in the ODI team and I know my value there. I’m quite upset by this now and I’m going to need a bit of time to consider my future.”Nel also expressed his unhappiness with the situation. “I’m as upset for Langes as I am for myself,” he said. “We are good team-mates and I have a lot of respect for him. We are both passionate about playing for South Africa and neither of us deserves to feel like this. It is hard to just shrug it all off.”Irish reiterated SACA’s stance that there should be no “veto, interference or involvement in the selection of the Proteas by anyone who is not a selector”. “The players believe in the goals of transformation but all of them, black and white, are adamant that this should not be achieved by interfering in the selection of the national team,” he said.No replacement has been named as yet for Langeveldt in the squad, which arrives in India later this week.
Lancashire put the seal on a one-sided win against Surrey at Old Trafford, wrapping up proceedings in the afternoon session. Glen Chapple prised out two wickets; Tom Smith removed James Benning who had resisted to make a top-score of 36, and then Oliver Newby bowled Jimmy Ormond for 20 as Surrey subsided for 120. Lancashire were in a brief flicker of trouble at 8 for 3, but they powered to their target of 90 without further alarm.Younis Khan struck a magnificent unbeaten 202 as Yorkshire piled on the runs on the third day against Hampshire at The Rose Bowl. Younis and Matthew Hoggard, who made an obdurate 61, put on 152 for the third wicket before Gerard Brophy hammered a brisk hundred from just 113 balls, with Yorkshire declaring on 439 for 4. Chasing 443 Hampshire lost Michael Brown just before the close and trail by 427 going into the final day.Graeme Hick and Ben Smith both struck two fifties each, on the third day against Warwickshire at New Road, but Worcestershire still trail by 171 with seven second-innings wickets left in hand. In their first innings Hick struck a forceful 91, receiving good support from Smith (50), but there was little resistance from the middle and lower order who collapsed to 288 all out. Capitulation was in store second time round, too, with Dale Steyn rocking their top-order with two quick wickets. But Hick and Smith again combined to stave off a collapse and remained unbeaten going into the final day.
Division Two
Charlie Shreck’s six wickets for Nottinghamshire rocked Glamorgan at Trent Bridge, dismissing them for 205 to win by an innings and 8 runs. Resuming on 14 for 2 they were reduced to a perilous 57 for 5, with Shreck removing all five. Ben Wright (66*) and David Hemp briefly delayed the inevitable but Shreck returned to pick up his sixth, before Paul Franks and Graeme Swann chipped in to sink Glamorgan midway into the afternoon session.A disciplined display from Northamptonshire’s bowlers left Essex limping on 180 for 8 on the third day at Northampton. Johan van der Wath (94) and David Wigley (53) took their stand to 110 but, shortly after lunch, Steven Crook removed Alastair Cook for 37 to start Essex’s slide, but it was Jason Brown who did the damage with four late wickets, causing a slump in which Essex lost 6 for 56 before bad light stopped play. Essex lead by just 98 going into the final day.Cameron White’s 138 and good support from Somerset’s lower middle-order staved off a slide on the third day against Derbyshire at Taunton, though they went to stumps on 497 for 9, still trailing by a mammoth 304. White’s hundred came off 158 balls with 13 fours and a six, and there were fifties for Craig Kieswetter, Wes Durston and Peter Trego. Unless the pitch begins to break up tomorrow, this match is heading towards a draw.Tom New fell two short of a fine maiden hundred as Leicestershire conceded a first-innings deficit of 131 on the third day against Gloucestershire at Bristol. Marcus North took 3 for 53, and Steve Kirby 3 for 75, to dismiss Leicestershire for 376. Though the visitors hit back with two quick wickets, Gloucestershire extended their lead to 277 going into the final day.