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.
Groundsman Roy McLaren’s last Championship match at New Road appeared to be in danger of folding in two days as Gloucestershire crashed to 21 for 5 in their second innings.But McLaren, who is retiring after 18 years in the job, was spared an abrupt send-off when the West Country side rallied for long enough in a partnership of 35 by Jeremy Snape and Jack Russell.Kabir Ali came back to nail Snape for 25 and finished with a career-best 5 for 22 as the visitors were dismissed for 87. In two overs before the close Worcestershire safely made 14 towards a victory requirement of 70.Gloucestershire’s top-order collapse was the work of Andy Bichel and Kabir in exploiting a seaming pitch of uneven bounce. The new-ball pair bombed out the first five wickets in 39 deliveries, starting with a leading edge by Kim Barnett and peaking with two in successive balls for Bichel.Mark Alleyne became a first-ball victim for Bichel for the second day in a row and the Australian went on to take 4 for 32 for a match return of 10 for 86.Alleyne had some compensation for his “king pair” after claiming 4 for 30 when Worcestershire were dismissed for 240 after starting the day in an unbroken stand of 84 by openers Philip Weston and Anurag Singh.Ian Harvey had danger man Graeme Hick caught at slip in a morning spell of 10-7-12-2, but the other wicket-takers, James Averis and Ben Gannon, were much more expensive.Worcestershire finally scrambled a lead of 18 thanks to 45 by Paul Pollard in his first innings for a month and a rapid 25 by Kabir.
Wolves are reportedly interested in making a move for Valencia and Portugal winger Goncalo Guedes in the summer transfer window.
The Lowdown: Guedes excelling at Valencia
The 25-year-old is enjoying an excellent season at Valencia, having joined the Spanish club from Paris Saint-Germain back in 2018.
Guedes has scored an impressive 11 La Liga goals in 26 starts in 2021/22 to date, also chipping in with five assists and proving to be one of his side’s most important players, ranking first in average Whoscored rating at the Mestalla.
The winger’s current Valencia deal expires next year, meaning this summer could be the last chance for them to receive a good amount of money for him.
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The Latest: Wolves keen on move
According to Jornal de Noticias [via Sport Witness], Bruno Lage is personally keen on bringing Guedes to Wolves this summer, with Jose Mourinho also interested in taking him to Roma.
It is claimed that he is ‘on the way out’ of Valencia and Scott Sellars and co. have ‘positioned themselves’ for the winger.
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The Verdict: Exciting summer signing
Guedes could be an exciting summer addition at Molineux this summer, with Lage arguably in need of more firepower, considering his side have scored just 33 goals in 31 league games this season.
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He could provide strong competition for the likes of Pedro Neto and Daniel Podence out wide, coming in as a replacement for Adama Traore, should he move on permanently.
Guedes is valued at £36million by Transfermarkt, so Wolves could have to break the bank to get him, but his 16 goals contributions in the league this season suggest he would be worth it.
In other news, Tim Spiers has dropped a key Wolves injury claim. Read more here.
The tickets for the World Twenty20 are likely to go up for sale by the end of this week, with the BCCI saying it doesn’t think it is too late for the tickets to be made available.The first qualifier starts on March 8, but the Indian board is happy to have the tickets up for grabs a little under two months from the first match of the “main” tournament on March 15. However, when the schedule of the World Twenty20 was announced, the ICC insisted that the qualifying part of the tournament be called the first round of the tournament.At any rate, India have set the record for putting the tickets up for sale with least amount of planning time available for the fans when it comes to world events.For the World Cup co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in February-March 2011, tickets went up for sale on June 1, 2010. In 2012, Sri Lanka offered World T0 tickets six months before the event. The West Indies provided a five-and-a-month notice for the World T20 in 2010. Bangladesh, who hosted the World T20 in March 2014, started the sale of tickets on November 7, 2013. Even South Africa, who hosted the first World T20, put up tickets for sale three months in advance.The ticketing process is always the host board’s responsibility. In an emailed response, the ICC has refused to be drawn into any criticism of the ticketing process. “It will be inappropriate to compare the ICC WT20 India 2016 with any previous event as the preparation for every event is different,” the ICC said.However, a source in the ICC, closely involved with the organising part of the event, told ESPNcricinfo that everything from announcing venues to making tickets available has been handled in the usual ad-hoc manner. “The BCCI pays no heed or provides reasons for delays,” the source said.That the venues were announced only three months before the event were already a source of frustration for the travelling fan who usually looks for bargains by booking air tickets and accommodation well in advance. The fans looking to travel to India will be left even more frustrated because the tickets are not readily available, especially for an event in India, and you ideally don’t want to make travel plans before securing tickets for the matches you wish to attend.The BCCI, though, doesn’t feel it is late. A BCCI official said the dynamics of hosting an event in India were different, and it shouldn’t even be compared with the 2011 World Cup, which was co-hosted by three nations. “There is still two months to go,” he said, “The first match of the main tournament is on March 15. And it works differently in India anyway. The anticipation in the public only builds up closer to the event, but if the tickets are made available well in advance, those asking for complimentary passes make your life difficult.”Tickets in India generally go up for sale less than a week before international bilaterals or smaller tournaments. A huge chunk of the tickets is anyway not put up for sale with local associations handing them out for free to their members and influential people in their constituencies.
David Dwyer, Pakistan’s new fitness trainer, has said that he expected his team to reach its peak fitness level in time for the tour of India. “The current fitness level is okay and I have been watching enough to know that I can see what their levels probably are, and the target is to reach the top level before the important series against India,” he said.”Basically we work with these guys so that we improve the area that they are weak in, trying to get rid of the limitations that they may have,” Dwyer said, adding that he would adopt a tough rugby-style fitness regimen.”The idea of having a rugby coach is not new in cricket, things are quite the same but they are put in a different way so that these guys get something new which they have not done before.” Dwyer, who has previously assisted Geoff Lawson, Pakistan’s coach, vouched for the regimen’s effectiveness. “I have worked with Lawson at the University of New South Wales cricket club in the year they made the grand final and won the one-day series, so the rugby style training has worked before.”Dwyer is on a two-year contract and has replaced Murray Stevenson, the South African trainer whose contract was not renewed after Pakistan’s first-round exit from the World Cup.
When Carlton Baugh was trapped in front of the stumps by one of those typical Farveez Maharoof deliveries – a ball that just failed to come on a touch as the fingers had been dragged on it – Maharoof fell to the ground. It’s not clear whether he was touching his forehead to the ground, as devout Muslims sometimes do, or whether he was kissing the turf, as devout cricketers often do, but any which way, the message was clear – thank you for this pitch, thank you for these wickets.But it wasn’t as though the pitch was madly up and down and batsmen were forced to take extreme measures to survive. Maharoof admitted as much in the post-match press conference. “It was a good pitch,” he said, and why wouldn’t he, after picking up career-best figures. “It didn’t do a lot. It’s just that we bowled well as a group. There were some bad shots as well, but overall we bowled well. I don’t find any bad things about the wicket, it was a good track.”Maharoof was no doubt helped along by some bad West Indian shot selection, but he chose not to dwell on the manner in which the opposition played. “We don’t know what their gameplan is. We had to bowl to our strengths and wait and see what happens. Luckily we bowled well and it paid off.”In the last game, life was not quite so easy for Maharoof. Zimbabwe took him for as many as 37 runs from four overs, at close to 10 runs per over. But Maharoof was sensible enough to learn from that game, and he explained how. “I just assessed my bowling with respect to the wicket. I thought in Ahmedabad I gave a bit too much width, and got driven through the off side,” he said. “Here I set a goal for myself to bowl wicket to wicket. Mahela and Tom [Moody] spoke to me before the match and really backed me up. I just went out there and kept it simple.”Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, was quick to praise Maharoof for the manner in which he turned things around. “He worked with Tom on his run-up, looked at videos of his bowling, worked hard and today bowled nice and straight,” he said. “These guys know that it’s their responsibility to improve themselves.”Ironically, it was always as a batsman, and now as a bowler, that Maharoof caught the eye as a young cricketer. That he had potential with the bat was unmistakable – he batted at No. 4 for Wesley College, and scored 1000 runs in a season twice in succession, including a highest of 243 – but would he turn out to be another of those bits and pieces cricketers that Sri Lanka tried and discarded?It was not quite the search for the next Ian Botham, but there was a certainly a concerted effort to find a first-or second-change bowler who could bat a bit and shoulder Chaminda Vaas’ burden. For a time Suresh Perera seemed to fit the bill, but with his action coming under increasing scrutiny, Sri Lanka had to look elsewhere, and they found Maharoof. And on the day – some people are already referring to it as a coming of age – he returned with 6 for 14, the best-ever figures in the Champions Trophy. “Fantastic. You can’t ask for more,” said Maharoof. “I’m just overjoyed with my performance. I didn’t have a good time in the last match but my hard work paid off and I’m really happy for my team.” Sterner tests await, and though he is yet to make that one big score with the bat, he has at least ticked off the bowling department.
Inzamam-ul-Haq has refused to represent the World XI in next month’s Super Test against Australia, after an apparent mix-up in communication with the Pakistan board.”The Pakistan Cricket Board had given me an understanding that I would be in both the World XIs (ODI and Test),” the Pakistan captain told the Press Trust of India on Monday from Lahore, “but till today, they have not conveyed to me about my selection. I have already read about my selection in the newspapers.”The Pakistan board announced that Inzamam would be in both teams on Wednesday, but two days later the ICC said that he would feature in the six-day Super Test squad only, and as a replacement for Sachin Tendulkar at that. He was omitted from the one-dayers, with the ICC instead naming Chris Gayle and Rahul Dravid as replacements for Sachin Tendulkar and Herschelle Gibbs.”At this stage of my career, I deserve respect and nothing else,” said Inzamam. “I am not pleased at all with whatever has happened. Having played cricket with respect and distinction, I don’t deserve this at the fag end of my career.”He added that if he was not representing the World XI in the Test match, there was no question of his participating in the Captains Conference and 2nd ICC Annual Awards. “I will not go to Australia for just one match. I have not conveyed my decision to the cricket board and there is no need for this because they have not yet communicated to me about my selection.”
South Australia have announced their squad for the 2004-05 season, and it includes three of the most promising players from grade cricket. Jack Smith and Dan Cullen (both Adelaide) and Matthew Weeks (Port Adelaide) have been offered senior contracts for the summer.Smith, a right-hand batsman who captained the Adelaide Buffalos to the A-grade premiership earlier this year, scored 739 runs at 49.27 during 2003-04. He is not only an outstanding batsman but has been identified for his exceptional leadership qualities.Cullen, a 20-year-old offspinner, had an impressive year, taking 41 wickets at 20.98 for Adelaide and contributing 17 wickets at 29.82 in five Cricket Australia Cup matches for South Australia.Weeks, a talented 21-year-old allrounder from Port Adelaide, enjoyed a successful season which saw him poll 24 votes in the tightly contested 2004 Bradman Medal – only four behind the winner Shane Deitz. Weeks made 572 runs at an average of 44 in his 11 A-grade matches for Port, and took 24 wickets with his fast-medium bowling.The SACA’s general manager, Harvey Jolly, said all three players have an appetite for success. “These three young players all have strived to be recognised by producing outstanding performances at grade level and have been rewarded with a state contract as a result,” he said. “We look forward to seeing them replicate their success at state level next season.”South Australia’s highest first-class runscorer in 2003-04, 19-year-old Mark Cosgrove, has also signed for another year. Cosgrove made 639 runs at 45.64 last season.Rookie contracts have been awarded to 2003-04 rookie and fast-medium bowler Chris Duval, the Sturt legspinner Cullen Bailey and Shannon Hurn, an up-and-coming 16-year-old batsman from Northern Districts.South Australia squad Greg Blewett, Ben Cameron, Mark Cleary, Daniel Cullen, Mark Cosgrove, John Davison, Shane Deitz, Jason Gillespie,Callum Ferguson, Andy Flower, Ryan Harris, Mark Higgs, Trent Kelly, Darren Lehmann, Graham Manou, Mick Miller, Paul Rofe, Jack Smith, Shaun Tait, Matthew Weeks.Rookies: Chris Duval, Cullen Bailey, Shannon Hurn.