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.
Senior officials from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the Indian board (BCCI) will have a meeting on June 3 in New York, to unveil plans for the one-day international series to be played in the United States and Canada.Ken Gordon, the WICB president, said on Friday that the meeting had been convened to iron out further details on the new tournament and profit-sharing agreement signed by the WICB and the BCCI. Officials from the Canadian Cricket Association and United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) will also attend the meeting, as they are the organising committee.Gordon said the venues for the matches have not yet been finalised, but one match will be played in Florida. The series is expected to go a long way in helping the WICB to solve its debt burden – presently standing at US$25 million.”There will be no fewer than three matches and no more than five matches,” said Gordon. “Once the BCCI heard that North America was ready, they were also ready and we found what looks like a convenient avenue period when both team were available. Now we have to work out the details. We will be looking to firm up what venues we will be using.”North America comes under the guidance of the WICB, as far as the ICC is concerned. North America is a fertile area for us to develop. The Indian diaspora is a large one and so is the West Indian. It makes all kind of sense for us to take advantage of that, because we have captive markets. It starts with good economic planning and then from there, [what] we have are other logical reasons why we want to partner with India.”
On Wednesday it appeared as if the dispute between the Kenya Cricket Association and the striking players had been resolved. But following talks yesterday, it looks as if it is more of a ceasefire than an armistice.The two stumbling blocks remain salaries and contracts. “We want all our oustanding allowances and the salaries from last month to be paid in full before we start everything on a clean sheet,” Steve Tikolo said. “We don’t want the same scenario to repeat itself in the future.”Tikolo estimated that each player is owed around $4000, and this includes bonus money still owed from the World Cup. Kenya were not expected to progress very far and so the board offered to let the players keep any prize money. As it was, they reached the semi-final. Almost all that money remains outstanding, even though it was paid to the KCA shortly after the event. The board maintains that there are tax issues which need resolving before it can pay out.This raises questions as to whether the KCA, which is known to be financially strained, can afford to meet this demand.Tikolo also said that the players wanted one-year extensions to their contacts which expired on September 30 – the board offered two-month extensions, explaining that it did not have sufficient funds to make any longer commitment.
Adam Gilchrist refused to wave the white flag, but admitted that Australia would need a monumental effort to ensure that Steve Waugh’s farewell Test isn’t remembered as an ignominious defeat. “We never give up hope,” he said with a wry smile. “And we always give it our best shot.”Gilchrist reckoned that Australia, who have set the standards for everyone else to match in recent seasons, would need to emulate India to stand any chance of salvaging something from the game. “When we do get the chance to bat, we need to learn from the way they batted … very patiently and watching the ball closely.”Despite acknowledging that the team had been physically and mentally taxed, Gilchrist said that there was no dearth of spirit in the team. “We’ve stuck to our task, but have been undone by some outstanding batting,” he said. “And a few catches have gone down, which has been one thing that’s let us down this series. I’ve been as responsible as anyone else.”He rated the Indians as the toughest opponents that he had faced. “It’s been the toughest home series I’ve played in. It’s been a real challenge to find ways to get these guys out. It’s one of the best batting line-ups in the world, going back a long way.”Asked what India had done differently to other sides, he said, “What they’ve done is been able to bat for long periods against us. You could point to the absence of McGrath and Warne, and also to their exceptional batting. I think it’s been a bit of both. [Virender] Sehwag and [Akash] Chopra have also done a great job opening the batting.”As for the two men who meted out the punishment today, Gilchrist didn’t hold back on the superlatives. “VVS seems extraordinary each time we play him. We can’t work out why he then goes away, and is left out of the team [for the 2003 World Cup]. As for Tendulkar, it was inevitable that he was going to come good. He looked a bit tentative yesterday, but was back in the groove today. He looked like the class act that he is.”There was some disappointment at the booing directed at Stuart MacGill after he dropped both Tendulkar and Laxman during the course of the day’s play. “I can understand that there’s a lot of frustration at not being part of a fairytale, after all the hype going into the game. But it’s the soft option to boo, the cheap option.”Gilchrist played one of the all-time great Test innings, 204 not out, at Johannesburg two seasons ago, to set up what Waugh termed two days ago as the most impressive victory of his tenure. A reprise is needed tomorrow, or the day after, depending on when India close their innings, if Australia – and Steve Waugh – are to leave the SCG with anything more than tears and regrets.
The second day’s play began badly for India, the Zimbabwean tail wagging merrily and pushing the score on to 287. Travis Friend was the party-pooper-in-chief for the Indians, making an unbeaten 60. As the day proceeded, however, things looked decisively up for the home side. Opener Shiv Sunder Das made his second Test ton, Rahul Dravid made an unbeaten half-century, and India reached 209/2 – still 88 behind.One cannot ascertain whether Das has a marked preference for oranges, but he certainly likes the ‘Orange City’ of Nagpur. In the 66th over of the day, Das leaned back and punched a Trevor Gripper off-break through the covers to bring up his second successive ton at Nagpur. The victims the first time around were Zimbabwe as well, so perhaps it is just the bowling then, and not the venue. Dravid, who amassed 200 when these teams clashed at the same stadium the last time around, was happy to pick up an unbeaten 57.It was on November 25th 2000 that Das brought up his maiden Test hundred. Stuart Carlisle will have bad memories of that match, but this one is shaping up to be just as bad. With Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly still to come, on paper, the best of the Indian batting sat in the pavilion for the entire day. Das, with his knock of 105 (203 b, 19×4 ) has made sure that Zimbabwe are on the back foot already. Unfortunately for the youngster, he chopped left-arm spinner Ray Price to Alistair Campbell at slip just before the close of play.The scoring rate may be an unimpressive 2.82, but it will not bother the Indians too much. The bowlers are tired, the wicket still very much full of runs, and an all-out attack on the third day beckons temptingly.Dravid clearly is not the man to take part in any such move. The Karnataka middle-order bat knows his place in the side, and indeed his role, and he was content just waiting for the loose ball. The Zimbabwean bowlers, unable to attack on this wicket, made the mistake of straying on the pads far too often and were duly punished. Dravid struck Brighton Watambwa beautifully through covers in the 72nd over of the innings to bring up his half century. The knock, that comes after a lay-off due to shoulder injury, included eight hits to the fence and came off 141 balls.Deep Dasgupta, who did not have a particularly good time behind the stumps, contributed solidly with the bat. Never one to score very quickly, Dasgupta had just one departure from dourness when he stepped down the track and hit Price straight back over his head for a six. Apart from that, it was very much a slow plod from Dasgupta.His vigil at the crease was brought to an end by a fine piece of bowling by the only spinner in this Zimbabwe team. Price, bowling around the wicket, bowled a tidy line, just short of a length and outside the off, spinning away a touch. Surprising Dasgupta, Price floated in an arm ball, the batsman shouldered arms and watched in amazement as the ball clipped the off-stump. Dasgupta’s 33 saw India reach 79 for the fall for the first wicket.But between the dismissals of Dasgupta and Das lay almost a whole day of attrition. Tomorrow India should shift gears. With Tendulkar at the crease, you can be sure that there will be a full house baying for boundaries. Whether the little master will oblige or not depends on how tidily Zimbabwe can bowl. If the bowling on the second day’s play is anything to go by, Nagpur can be sure that the advertising hoardings on the boundary ropes will take a bit of a pounding.
On a Friday where tight bowling was the order of the day, South Australia ground out 6/240 at barely two and a half runs an over after a struggle against tight,disciplined bowling from Tasmania on the opening day of the states’ Pura Cup contest at the Adelaide Oval.That they made as many as that was thanks to a Greg Blewett (70) and Jeff Vaughan (63) union of 115 for the fourth wicket in 162 minutes which absorbed much ofthe middle portion of the day. Blewett, who has found runs in recent times harder to score than the current West Indian top order, started cautiously and responsiblyafter SA lost three wickets for sixty before lunch. Blewett’s timing became crisper the longer he batted and it was perhaps only a little loss of concentration thataccounted for his demise, as he edged the persistent Ben Targett (3/54) to gully off the front foot half an hour after tea.Vaughan played in a confident vain from the word go, which was a good sign given that he has, in the past, been a sometimes edgy starter. He drove nicely on bothsides of the wicket in his three-hour long effort, before succumbing to an attempted glide to third man which went straight into the hands of second slip. It was anuntimely wicket as his senior partner Blewett had just gone and SA had fallen to 5/189.Redback debutant Mick Miller avoided the duck immediately but went to a refreshed Damien Wright in the next over and, with the new ball pending, SA were6/190 with an hour to play. Graham Manou had some tense moments, playing and missing at three in row from David Saker with the second new ball before helpingraise the fifty stand with Ben Johnson, who in the main drove with authority in his stay.Late in the day, Johnson edged a ball through third slip and gully for a boundary and then between gully and point off the next delivery for two. A frustrated Sakercouldn’t penetrate his defences completely and the left hander went to stumps with 37 against his name.Earlier, Tasmania’s bowlers snuck out three of the home side’s batsmen before lunch, with Shane Deitz (14) and David Fitzgerald (26) edging behind as they droveat the line, rather than at the pitch, of the ball. The prized scalp of Darren Lehmann (5) fell just before lunch, to a long hop from Targett which he casually hit tocover point. This was more a product of accurate bowling rather than huge sideways movement.As far as Targett was concerned he would have been well pleased with his day. Likewise Saker (1/59) bowled in workmanlike fashion with little success andWright (1/34) hustled and bustled in with enthusiasm as the run rate failed to reach any great heights.Tomorrow shapes as an interesting day and a potential launching pad for some exciting cricket, given that neither side has many points to its name in a season whichhas so far dogged both states with injury.
Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic side return to Premiership action today, with the Bhoys making the trip to Edinburgh for a midday kickoff against Hibernian.
Following the Hoops’ disappointing exit from European competition in midweek, the 56-year-old manager will certainly be hoping for a much-improved result and performance from his side at Easter Road – especially as Celtic could take a six-point lead at the top of the table with a victory over Shaun Maloney’s outfit.
So, will Postecoglou make any changes that started the 2-0 loss to Bodo/Glimt on Thursday night? Here’s how we think Celtic could line up against Hibs, as well as the latest team and injury news…
With Celtic not appearing to have any fresh injury concerns ahead of Sunday’s clash, although Kyogo Furuhashi and David Turnbull do remain unavailable for selection, we predict that Postecoglou will make eight changes to the side that lined up against Bodo/Glimt.
Three of these changes come in the back four, with Liam Scales, Stephen Welsh and Anthony Ralston making way for Greg Taylor, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Josip Juranovic coming in at left-back, centre-back and right-back respectively.
There are a further two changes in the middle of the park, with Nir Bitton making way for club captain Callum McGregor, while Matt O’Riley – who Russell Martin dubbed a “two-footed” and “intelligent” player – gets the nod ahead of the Tom Rogic, and Reo Hatate also returns to the XI.
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In attack, Giorgos Giakoumakis is the only of the front three to retain his starting spot from midweek, with Daizen Maeda – who The Celtic Analysis dubbed a “great presser” – and James Forrest making way for Jota and Liel Abada on the left and right-wing respectively.
In other news: Huge blow: Ange drops fresh 5-word injury update, Celtic fans will be devastated
Kevin Pietersen has insisted no amount of money will tempt him to join the Indian Premier League (IPL). Despite offers coming his way to play in the multi-million dollar tournament, Pietersen says he’s focused on his England career, which is too important to him.No England player was involved in the first IPL auction as the tournament clashes with the start of the county season. However, interest was shown in a few leading stars such as Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff.”I know there is interest and, yes, there have been offers, etc etc, but it’s not something I’m particularly interested in,” Pietersen told . “Money’s not really too important, it’s not as if I need money right now,” he said. “I’m really enjoying doing what I’m doing. I love playing for England, I love playing for the spectators.””England has given me a fantastic opportunity to a fantastic life at the moment. So I’m fully committed 100% to playing for England, to winning games for England, to scoring thousands more runs for England.”Earlier, Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman and commissioner, had indicated that future editions of the tournament might be rescheduled in order to avoid a clash with England’s domestic season.
Gill Woolmer, the widow of late Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, has offered her good wishes to the South African team as they prepare to take on Australia in the World Cup semi-final in St Lucia. On the eve of the clash between the top two one-day sides, she urged the team to win it in memory of Bob Woolmer, quoting “do it for Bob – I hope they win”, referring to his stint as coach of South Africa in the 1990s.South Africa have a chance at redemption after they were lost out in a thrilling tie in the 1999 semi-final at Edgbaston. South Africa needed one to get off four balls with one wicket in hand before a farcical run-out ended their World Cup campaign, as Australia edged ahead on net run rate. The result left the South Africans devastated ,and Woolmer later referred to that moment as the darkest in his career. Woolmer, who later took over as coach of Pakistan, was murdered in Jamaica after Pakistan’s early exit from the World Cup.The team has been flooded with good luck messages from several supporters in South Africa, including ex-players. , a South African daily, forwarded over 1000 SMS messages of support from readers to the team.”They must play like they played against England,” Helen Zille, the Cape Town mayor, was quoted as saying on the website . “We’re all with them, behind them, holding our breaths and supporting them all the way.”Gary Kirsten, the former South African opener who also played in the Edgbaston semi-final, also extended his wishes, as did the father of current opener AB de Villiers. “It’s just going to be a mental battle,” Kirsten was quoted on the same website. “We’ve got the players. We chased down 438 not so long ago – and they’ll still have that in their memory.””AB said we have a very good chance of whipping them and they’re all in very good spirits,” said de Villiers senior. de Villiers slammed 92 against Australia in a group stage match in St Kitts recently.