Thieves have stolen jewellery worth £70,000 from the home of Ian Botham, the former England allrounder turned TV commentator. The jewels were snatched during a party at his luxury home in Ravensworth in North Yorkshire, and police have confirmed that they are investigating a “high value” theft in the area between July 23 and 24.According to a report in , Botham’s wife Kathy discovered the jewellery was missing after guests had left a party they were hosting. Botham is not the first English cricket personality to fall victim to thieves this year – a burglar made off with Michael Vaughan’s watch and wallet, containing more than £1000, and £300 and 17 credit cards belonging to Darren Gough after sneaking into the England dressing-room during a practice session at Chester-le-Street at the end of June.Besides the money, Vaughan’s wallet contained a match ticket from the Antigua Test last April, autographed by Brian Lara, who broke the Test batting record with an unbeaten 400 in that game.
Despite the arrival of emergency tarpaulins, which covered 90% of the ground, the around-the-clock mopping up operations of an army of groundstaff and, ironically, bright blue skies and blazing sunshine, no play was possible before lunch on the second day of his second Test at Kandy.The muddy brown outfield remains saturated after the early arrival of the southwest monsoon three weeks ago and after more overnight rain, the umpires, Daryl Harper and Simon Taufel, decided to inspect the pitch again at 1pm local time. In the meantime, both teams were packed off to their hotel, where they would spend another morning lounging by the poolside.A second successive full-day washout remains a distinct possibility with the umpires unlikely to be willing to risk injury to the players on a slippery outfield. The pitch and the inner circle are in good condition.New Zealand, who drew an attritional first Test in Colombo, are bidding to win their first series in Sri Lanka since Geoff Howarth’s side won 2-0 in 1983-84.
The County Ground was under siege on Saturday morning as members of the public tried to get their tickets for the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy semi-final between Somerset and Warwickshire on August 11th.There was a large numbers of personal callers, and four members of staff manning the telephones were hardly enough to cope with the volume of the demand.Chief executive Peter Anderson told me: “Tickets are going very quickly, and if they are not all sold today the remainder will be snapped up early next week.”This is the biggest match that we have hosted at Taunton since we beat Surrey in the Nat West semi two years ago, and we are expecting to win. People who are coming to the game are advised that no alcohol will be allowed inside the ground. Special parking arrangements are in the process of being finalised, and a press announcement will be made regarding this during the week. The advice to everyone is to get to the ground in plenty of time.”In front of the Ondaatje Pavilion, a temporary stand was being erected which is expected to increase the ground capacity for the match by an additional 1,000.The stand will be used mainly by the travelling Warwickshire supporters on the day.
As per ESPN, Manchester United are at a crossroads with out of form forward Marcus Rashford regarding a new contract.
The lowdown: Rashford’s demise at United
Having burst onto the scene in 2016 with a debut brace against FC Midtjylland, the academy graduate appeared to have the footballing world at his feet. Since then, the England international has accrued 93 times in senior football for his boyhood club, adding 58 assists in 298 matches.
As a remarkable 300th club appearance looms, the 24-year-old has endured a difficult 2021/22 campaign thus far and desperately needs to re-ignite a stalling career at Old Trafford.
However, where Rashford may ply his trade in the long-term remains in question…
The latest: Rashford contract confusion
According to sources who have spoken to ESPN, United ‘want’ the 46-cap England international – whose career is ‘at a crossroads’ – to sign a new deal with the club to replace his current contract, which expires in 2023.
It is claimed that United have an option to trigger a 12-month extension, although Rashford may decide to move on if the Red Devils aren’t ‘delivering’ for the versatile forward.
The report added that any newly-appointed manager could view the out-of-sorts attacker as a ‘problem’ and decide to cash in on him.
The verdict: Is it time to move on?
Whilst his ailing form would suggest that United would be wise to call time on Rashford this summer, it isn’t all that cut-and-dried given the proven track record and the history of the player.
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So far this season, the Manchester-born attacker has scored just five times and provided two assists in 27 appearances, way short of the 36 direct goal contributions from last term.
Once hailed as ‘unplayable’ by ex-United favourite Louis Saha, the £63m-valued star should have enough credit in the bank to stave off talk of a departure, although there is no immediate need for a new deal just yet given the 12-month extension option that the club hold.
In other news, Manchester United are closing in on a managerial target. Find out more here.
Gulam Bodi is expected to respond to CSA charges of “contriving to fix, or otherwise improperly influence aspects of the 2015 Ram Slam T20 Challenge Series” by mid-week. There is no indication of whether Bodi will plead innocent or guilty, but his lawyer played down the hype around the matter.”We have got the charge sheet and we are preparing a response. We will have it done by Wednesday or Thursday this week,” Ayoob Kaka, Bodi’s lawyer, told ESPNcricinfo on Monday morning. “Everything is fine except that I keep getting phone calls from the media.”In a release issued by CSA last Thursday, the South African board said Bodi was cooperating with anti-corruption officials even though when he was initially suspended in mid-December, he also faced a charge of refusing to co-operate with the investigation.A legal case is also being prepared against several other players and an insider revealed that some of them “accepted money to fix”, while others failed to report corrupt activity.
Rafiqul Alam, the former Bangladesh batsman, has replaced Faruque Ahmed as Bangladesh’s new chairman of selectors, the Bangladesh Cricket Board announced today. Naimur Rahman, Bangladesh’s first Test captain, is the other change in the selection panel and he replaces Athar Ali Khan.The new selectors were appointed by a panel appointed by the ad-hoc executive committee of the board and will begin their duties from September 1. Akram Khan continues as selector. The changes were necessitated as the contracts of Athar Ali Khan and Ahmed expire at the end of the month.”We commended the previous selectors’ work over the past four years but we thought that there was a need for change,” Shafiqur Rahman Munna, the head of the sub-committee that appointed the selectors, told . “I think we have selected two competent individuals for the demanding job because they not only played for the national side but have adequate knowledge of the domestic and international cricket.”We will maintain the same salary structure for the selectors, something that was made by our previous committee, but there will be some changes in the terms and conditions. We met with both the new selectors before finalising their names. We want hundred per cent commitment in the job because now it is no more an amateur duty.”Alam said the focus will be on improving Bangladesh’s Test record. “I would not like to comment on the previous committee. What I must say is that we are quite a handful side in one-dayers now but are far, far behind in Tests and our focus should be on the longer-version.”Alam played two one-dayers during the tour of Sri Lanka in 1986. He is also a match-referee with the board and has been involved in coaching as well.Offspinner Rahman led Bangladesh in its first ever Test, against India in Dhaka in 2000. He played eight Tests and 29 ODIs and was the first Bangladesh bowler to take a five-wicket haul in Tests, incidentally in their maiden Test.
Post-match press conferences, at the best times, are a good study in contrast, the winners on the day beaming away, chattering excitedly, and the vanquished, heads down, answering in as few words as possible. But the second game of the Champions Trophy saw a particularly bad mismatch, on and off the field. Handed a sound thrashing, the Zimbabwe captain, Prosper Utseya, who might well consider a name change if he stays in his current profession, could only say, “We didn’t apply ourselves when we were batting. We tried to play too many shots early on. And at the same time there was some poor shot selection.”Brian Lara, of course, was meeting questions with a booming bat. “We came here to win this game emphatically, and we did that,” he said. “The bowlers had to get a run and they got five-six overs under the belt and performed well. We did well in the field too. It doesn’t matter what the opposition got – we went out and batted with purpose, which was important.”Lara didn’t have much work to do, only 16 minutes at the crease, but even in that he managed one classy square-drive, and put the last nails in the coffin with two big sixes. “I asked [Ramnaresh] Sarwan if I could have a knock, because I didn’t play in the practice game. I just wanted to hit a few balls with the middle of the bat, and I was happy to do that,” insisting that he didn’t come out to bat planning to finish the game off in style. “It just happened. I just thought I should play each ball on its merit. I took the field into consideration as well. Yes I could have gone out there and blocked a few. But I get more confidence from my innings if I approach it the way I did.”At the same time, Lara was not ungracious in defeat. He did concede that “something like 200-plus was definitely on the cards for a team like Zimbabwe,” on this pitch, but would not be drawn into suggesting that one-sided matches like this took the sheen off this tournament. “I think it’s very important to encourage the likes of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh and other lower-ranked teams. They want to get out there and play against the best teams in the world and it’s an opportunity for them to spring a surprise on anybody,” he said. “If Zimbabwe was not here for this tournament you might say Bangladesh shouldn’t be here as well, but they’ve beaten Pakistan and Australia and you have to give them the opportunity. It’s good for cricket on the whole and we just have to accept that.”Sandwiched between the strident Lara and the crestfallen Utseya was a jocular Chris Gayle, the Man-of-the-Match for his breezy 41. “I was feeling a bit weak so I started slowly, and later I tried to be a bit more positive and get it over as quickly as possible,” he said, not trying to be politically correct. When asked why he went for the third big hit, and was caught, despite being dropped twice, he choked down a chuckle and said, “It was a bit entertaining as well. You know Chris Gayle already. I like to entertain and be positive and play a few shots. I wasn’t taking anything for granted, though, just playing each ball on its merits.”But there was little merit in Zimbabwe’s cricket on the day, and Utseya was resigned to this. “It is quite difficult because the morale and the confidence of guys goes down,” he said. “To be honest we didn’t play to the best of our ability today. I’m sure we can do better in the matches to come.”
Given the tough opposition and their recent divisive problems, the West Indies will suffer for the lack of “a father figure” to lead them on their forthcoming tour of Australia, Ian Chappell, the former Australian captain, cautioned on Thursday.”They really need someone like Clive Lloyd at this time, a father figure who can hold the team together and get the best out of them,” Chappell said. Based on what he saw of the West Indies team on the tour of Sri Lanka in July and August, Chappell did not believe Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the West Indies captain, could provide that kind of leadership. “Chanderpaul was predictable and reactive in Sri Lanka,” he said. “The only time you felt there would be a wicket was if there was a good ball or the pitch did something, not from anything creative from the captain.”Chappell noted the difference when Sylvester Joseph took over in Chanderpaul’s absence in the one-day series. “Things started to happen because Joseph was proactive,” he said. “The players aren’t stupid. They know when the captain has ideas and is confident enough to put them into practice. It’s a pity he isn’t a good enough batsman to be in the team because he was always looking to make something happen.”Chanderpaul, who was played 88 Tests, took over as captain when Brian Lara opted out of the team before the first Test of the home series against South Africa last April in solidarity with six players who were omitted because they held personal endorsement contracts with former sponsors Cable & Wireless, direct competitors of the new sponsors, Digicel.He led a team of mainly replacement players when ten of the originally chosen 13 refused to tour Sri Lanka because of the ongoing row over tour contracts between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA). The return of most of those players, Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan, the reappointed vice-captain, among them, is a potential flashpoint that would test Chanderpaul’s leadership qualities.Chappell acknowledged that the reunification of the West Indies team after the split caused by Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket (WICB) almost 30 years ago was different to the present case in many respects. But he maintained that Lloyd’s captaincy was a major factor in ensuring that there were no residual problems and that the team developed into one of the strongest the game has known.”The West Indies at present don’t have that kind of experience and class and they’re coming up against an Australian team that has regained its confidence after the defeat in the Ashes series and haven’t lost a series at home in ages,” Chappell said. “They need strong leadership more than ever.”
Graeme Smith, South Africa’s captain, has started training again following a minor operation on his stomach almost two months ago.”I am starting to push myself, but I might be a bit low on strength because I am behind on my weight-training schedule," Smith told in South Africa. "It was quite sore where they cut through the stomach muscles and I had to go slowly when I started training again. I’ve had to learn to eat more slowly, because the op has made my stomach smaller."Smith had the operation, at Kingsbury Hospital in Cape Town, to reconstruct a defective stomach valve. He has had the defect, which affects his body’s ability to filter stomach acids properly, since birth. While it is not debilitating, the faulty valve had caused him discomfort for several years, particularly during times of stress.”It got uncomfortable at times, especially when I was under a bit of stress. It got quite bad before and during our tour of New Zealand,” he said. “We have had a bit of a break so it seemed the best time to get it sorted out.”Smith will now join the South African squad at the Tukkies High Performance Centre in Pretoria on July 19 for a four-day training camp ahead of their five-week tour of Sri Lanka.
John Crawley has been named Hampshire’s captain for the 2003 season, finally bringing to an end the speculation and conjecture over the appointment to replace Shane Warne.31 year old Crawley who joined Hampshire last season, captained his former county Lancashire from 1999 until his departure two years later.Crawley replaces Robin Smith who retired from that post after five years in the job.Team manager Paul Terry also announced that there would not be an appointed vice-captain. “We have a number of experienced players within the squad that could fulfill the roll, should it be required”, said Terry.John Crawley will start his duties immediately by leading out the team in the opening pre-season friendly match at The Rose Bowl today (Monday) against Somerset.