Matthew Elliott, who a week ago was diagnosed with a broken right wrist, has been chosen in South Australia’s squad for the ING Cup match against New South Wales at Adelaide Oval on Sunday. Elliott was cleared of a fracture and sustained only ligament damage while fielding against Tasmania last weekend, and he will test his fitness while playing for the club side West Torrens on Saturday.Greg Blewett, who is suffering from back soreness, is the other concern and he will be given until the morning of the game to recover. South Australia named a 13-man squad to cover their options and they will again be captained by Darren Lehmann in the top-of-the-table contest. A win would push the Redbacks to first for the Christmas break while a New South Wales victory would maintain their lofty position.Stuart Clark will be part of the Blues squad after Nathan Bracken was preferred by Australia for the first Test against South Africa in Perth. Clark was named 12th man and New South Wales expected him to be released for Sunday’s match.South Australia squad Matthew Elliott, Greg Blewett, Mark Cosgrove, Cameron Borgas, Darren Lehmann (capt), Callum Ferguson, Graham Manou (wk), Jason Gillespie, Daniel Cullen, Gary Putland, Mark Cleary, Trent Kelly, Paul Rofe.New South Wales Simon Katich (capt), Phil Jaques, Corey Richards, Michael Clarke, Dominic Thornely, Aaron O’Brien, Brad Haddin (wk), Matthew Nicholson, Aaron Bird, Doug Bollinger, Stuart MacGill, Stuart Clark.
Nine members of the New Zealand squad will turn out for their respective state sides in the domestic State Shield on Thursday, following the postponement of the one-dayer against Sri Lanka at Napier. The game has been rescheduled for January 11 as a mark of respect for the victims.Chris Cairns, Brendon McCullum and Kyle Mills will not participate in the domestic games because of injury concerns. Cairns rolled an ankle during the first ODI at Auckland, Mills suffered some stiffness in his back in the same game while McCullum will use the time for do rehab work on his injured knee.The New Zealand cricketers expressed their full support of the decision to postpone the second ODI. Ross Dykes, the acting team manager, said that the players’ thoughts were with the Sri Lankan team in their time of sorrow and grief. “The delay of a cricket match is inconsequential compared to what the people of Sri Lanka are going through,” he said. “So we will just fit in with what is required. Our sympathies are with the Sri Lankan team and their family and friends at this tragic time for them.”The New Zealand squad were scheduled to train when they reassembled in Queenstown on Friday afternoon. The selectors will still reselect the squad after the third match of the series, which will now be after the game at Jade Stadium on January 4, instead of Queenstown.
Habibul Bashar acknowledges his half-century, which came off just 49 balls
Bangladesh rode on a run-a-ball 71 from Habibul Bashar, and useful contributions from most of the top order, to reach 278 for 9 at the end of the first day’s play at the National Stadium in Karachi. Bashar’s 114-run second-wicket stand with Hannan Sarkar (41) put Bangladesh in control, but Pakistan chipped away with wickets in the last two sessions to pull things back.It was a fair effort by Bangladesh’s batsmen, especially considering the fact that they were asked to make first use of a pitch which had a fair smattering of grass, but it could have been much better had their batsmen not thrown away starts. Four of the top six passed 25, but only Bashar managed a half-century.Bashar’s knock was a chancy one – there were plenty of airy drives as he flailed at deliveries with minimal footwork – but his onslaught ensured that Bangladesh snatched the initiative after the early loss of Javed Omar, yorked by Umar Gul for 1 (9 for 1). It was Gul’s first Test wicket, but he marred his debut performance with plenty of loose balls later in the day.Even as Bashar tonked the ball around, Hannan Sarkar made an assured 41. Fresh from two fifties in the second Test against Australia, he was compact in defence and showed excellent judgment around the off stump. Bangladesh went into the lunch interval at a healthy 97 for 1, but spoilt all the good work with some reckless shots in the next two sessions.Sarkar gloved a leg-side lifter from Shabbir Ahmed to Rashid Latif (123 for 2), and four balls later, Bashar played a shockingly irresponsible stroke. A cross-batted swipe off Shoaib Akhtar presented Mohammad Hafeez with a simple catch at extra-cover.Shoaib then trapped Sanwar Hossain in front for 15 (146 for 4), and when debutant Rajin Saleh threw away a promising debut innings of 26 with a rash lofted shot off Danish Kaneria, Pakistan were on top (176 for 5).Alok Kapali put on a stubborn partnership of 55 with Khaled Mashud, and then decided that he was done with grafting. Another reckless lofted shot off Kaneria found Shabbir Ahmed at mid-off (231 for 6), and Kapali trudged back for 46.The lower order offered brief resistance, but with conditions getting increasingly murky – and Pakistan armed with the second new ball – the umpires called off play with seven overs still left in the day.Meanwhile, there was good news for the Pakistan camp when Latif’s finger injury, sustained while keeping wicket, turned out to be nothing more than a bruise. Latif had left the field after hurting a finger in his right hand, but x-rays revealed that he could return to his wicketkeeping duties tomorrow.
The International Cricket Council will not overrule match referee MikeDenness’ decision to fine and impose a suspended ban on Sachin Tendulkar for ball-tampering in the second Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth.TV evidence showed Tendulkar using a fingernail on the seam of the ball, andDenness, a former England captain, made his decision after a meeting with the Indian player.There has been outrage at the penalty in India, but the ICC’s communications manager Mark Harrison said today: “On the match referee’s judgement there is no right of appeal.”The Indian cricket board have demanded Denness’ replacement as match referee for the final Test in Centurion, but the ICC are playing the situationcautiously.”We’ll certainly be looking at the appeal,” Harrison said. “The Indian board have been requested to outline their position in writing to the ICC. As and when that arrives we’ll deal with it.”There’s no appealing against the penalties by the players or by the homeboard. The judgement is that the match referee has found Tendulkar guilty ofthat offence.”Tendulkar was fined 75% of his match fee and handed a one-match ban, suspended until the end of this year, while five of his team-mates were also punished.The most severe penalty was handed to Virender Sehwag, who was banned for the next Test and fined 75% of his match fee for excessive appealing. Shiv Sunder Das, Harbhajan Singh and Deep Dasgupta were fined the same amount and given suspended single-match bans for the same offence.India captain Sourav Ganguly was given a suspended ban for one Test and two one-day international games for failing to exercise control over his team-mates.
Had the DeLorean from been available to Australia’s pace bowlers in Brisbane, they’d have been about as disoriented by the sight of Ross Taylor’s double century as Marty McFly was by news the Chicago Cubs had supposedly won the 2015 World Series.Taylor’s monumental innings, described as “immense” by New Zealand’s batting coach Craig McMillan and “one of the best innings I have seen” by his batting partner Kane Williamson, was an achievement made all the more admirable by the fact he had started this tour in truly grim touch.In Brisbane, Taylor had battled through a truly tortured first innings, and looked only marginally more sure of himself in the second. A duck and 16 in his two warm-up innings were likewise scant indicators that Taylor had it in him to construct the highest ever score by a New Zealand batsman against Australia, and the only double hundred ever made by a visiting Test batsman at the WACA Ground.There is no doubt Williamson played a key role in showing Taylor the way forward, playing so fluently and assuredly both at the Gabba and here that others were shown how Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon could be successfully tackled on their home turf. But Taylor also showed his own development by scoring in zones his previously dominant bottom hand might once have cancelled out.Unbeaten on 235 at day’s end, Taylor will hope to take New Zealand into the lead and a position to pressure Australia – certainly Williamson and McMillan are hoping he can.”I think it would be one of the best innings that I have seen,” Williamson said. “The tempo that he batted and the length of time that he has been at the crease has been outstanding and moving our team’s position forward. I know it is a tough ask but hopefully he can keep going a little bit tomorrow, build a couple of partnerships would certainly help us a lot, but certainly an absolutely fantastic innings so far.”I thought he was really calm out there. He just went about his work in a reasonably aggressive way and that’s when he bats at his best I think. To get that momentum in his innings from pretty much the word go – there were certainly some tough periods but he was playing so well. It was such a nice thing.”McMillan was part of the New Zealand side that so nearly forced a match and series win over Steve Waugh’s powerful team at this ground in 2001, a performance built largely on a record stand between Nathan Astle and Adam Parore. Taylor’s union with Williamson eclipsed their record, before the former went on to heights McMillan said he had always been capable of reaching.”I think it was an immense innings and it had been brewing for some time,” McMillan said. “He’d been a little bit short of time in the middle and runs, but what do they say? Form’s temporary and class is permanent. That got shown today. His concentration in the first two or three overs of the day really set the tone for the way he was going to bat.”His tempo was superb, hitting straight down the ground was something he’s worked really hard on in recent times just to open up that area that probably hasn’t always been a strength of his, but some of those straight cover drives were some of the best you’ll see from any player in the world.”You’d have to rank it right up there as one of New Zealand’s best Test knocks, with the conditions, with the match situation, you throw all that into the mix and it’s one of the best. There’s still a lot more batting to be done. He can go as long as the concentration stays strong. We want more partnerships from that lower order, guys to hang in with him, bat as long as possible and see what happens from there.”Williamson and Taylor were both highly successful in picking off more or less every bad ball the Australians bowled, an efficiency that allowed them to dictate terms all day and prevent the hosts from gaining momentum. McMillan said he had encouraged his men to stay positive throughout, ensuring that the bowlers knew they would be hurt if they strayed from all but the most disciplined of lines.”They’re attacking bowlers who come after you, but the upside of that is there’s scoring opportunities,” he said. “One of the impressive things from our guys over the last two days is how efficient they’ve been when they’ve been offered a scoring opportunity. They’ve hit gaps well and they’ve really put anything loose away, which has put that pressure back on the Australian bowling attack.”That’s a key when you’re facing a good attack that’s got extra pace is that when they miss, you’ve got to make sure you hurt them, you’re not looking just to defend and survive, you’re actually looking to score, and obviously Kane and Ross in that partnership did that beautifully today but it flowed right through the partnerships in the order throughout the day, and that’s something we’ll continue to be looking for.”
TalkSPORTTalkSPORT presenter Laura Woods has claimed that new Leeds boss Jesse Marsch will likely be more defensive than Marcelo Bielsa.
The Lowdown: All change
The Whites decided to part ways with Bielsa on Sunday following three-and-a-half years in charge after the 4-0 defeat to Tottenham at Elland Road.
That defeat capped off a horrid month for Leeds, who became the first Premier League side to concede 20 goals in a month and have now let in 60 for the season.
Marsch was swiftly appointed as the Argentine’s successor, penning a deal to 2025, with his first game in charge at Leicester City on Saturday lunchtime.
The Latest: Woods’ comments
TalkSPORTTalkSPORT presenter Woods said this on-air regarding Marsch ahead of the trip to the King Power Stadium, claiming she’s heard the American might be more ‘defensive’ compared to Bielsa.
“I’ve also heard that [Marsch] might be a little more defensive. They do need to do something obviously to stop shipping those goals.”
The Verdict: Needed
Phil Hay shared a story on The Athletic on Wednesday, looking at what a typical Marsch team looks like. He identified similarities to Bielsa’s Leeds in regards to intensity and ‘passes per defensive action’, but it is expected that Marsch will deviate away from the man-marking system fans have become accustomed to at Elland Road.
Doing that may well help the column which reads goals conceded between now and the end of the season, which could play a big part in Leeds avoiding relegation.
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While it may dull the typical excitement of this Leeds squad, Woods’ claim about Marsch being more defensive appears to be needed, especially as the Whites have conceded at least three times in each of the last five games.
In other news: Leeds coach now set to stay at Thorp Arch alongside Marsch after Bielsa sacking.
Ere Sheshiah, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy of the Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, has told an inquest in Jamaica that he stands by his finding that Woolmer’s death was because of poisoning and strangulation.”In my opinion, Woolmer died from asphyxia due to manual strangulation associated with cypermethrin poisoning,” Sheshiah said, adding the chemical was used widely in many countries where cotton was cultivated such as Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. “I stand by my findings that Woolmer was strangled and, based upon additional information which I received, he was also poisoned.”Sheshiah said cypermethrin could cause symptoms including “salivation, vomiting, diarrhea and muscular incoordination”, which might have accounted for the mess that was found in Woolmer’s room. He said police pressed him to offer a conclusion in the case before he received the results of the toxicology report.His procedures in the post mortem were criticised by three other pathologists asked to review the case. All testified Woolmer appeared to have died of natural causes, probably related to heart disease.The inquest is expected to end on November 9.
Scorecard A career-best 90 from Shaun Marsh was not enough to set up a win for Western Australia as Victoria’s batsmen all contributed to their side’s last-over victory at Shepparton. Needing 235, the Bushrangers’ chase was led by David Hussey, whose 61 was his first one-day half-century of the season.The Warriors picked up wickets at regular intervals but were unable to spark the mini-collapse they needed to gain the upper hand. The openers Jon Moss, with 36 from 32 balls, and Michael Klinger (37) made important early runs before Cameron White kept his team on target with 33.Steve Magoffin (2 for 41) was the only Western Australia bowler to claim more than one wicket. He gave the Warriors one final chance when he bowled Hussey in the 48th over with 12 runs needed but Adam Crosthwaite brought up the win with a four from the first ball of the 50th over.Western Australia began poorly after electing to bat, and were 2 for 1 in the second over. But Marsh rebuilt the innings with help from Luke Pomersbach, whose 39 came from 46 balls, and Adam Voges (43). Marsh’s 90 included eight fours and one six but he fell in the 45th over and late wickets from Clinton McKay (3 for 41) restricted the Warriors to 234.
ScorecardThe tailenders Jason Gillespie and Paul Rofe survived 38 deliveries to achieve a nail-biting draw against Queensland at Adelaide Oval. To keep a rain-hit match alive both captains declared today and South Australia, who were chasing 353, were in desperate trouble when Dan Cullen was ninth out at 299, but the final pairing thwarted the Bulls’ charge, which was set up by the five-wicket effort of Mitchell Johnson.In a fine example of result-driven play, Darren Lehmann closed the Redbacks’ first innings at the day two stumps score of 3 for 89 – the third day was washed out – to give two points to Queensland, who batted aggressively for 19 overs before Jimmy Maher called his batsmen in. South Australia had 91 overs to reach their target and the chase was on track as Lehmann and Callum Ferguson combined for a 110-run partnership, but when Lehmann was bowled by Michael Kasprowicz for 51 and Ferguson departed to a Johnson edge for 65 an over later the team’s only thought was of a draw.Johnson, a left-arm fast bowler tipped as a Test prospect, then removed Graham Manou and Cullen as the home side lost their final three wickets for 10 runs before clinging on. Queensland had one narrow opportunity for victory when Rofe edged Andy Bichel just short of Clinton Perren with three overs remaining.The chase started steadily until Johnson claimed Shane Deitz and Greg Blewett either side of lunch to disrupt South Australia’s progress, while Matthew Elliott was dropped twice before missing a swinging yorker from Kasprowicz, who will join Elliott at the English county Glamorgan next winter. Gillespie finished his return to the first-class arena with 3 for 41 to add to his 2 for 40 on day one.
With the Mumbai pitch fracas still fresh in people’s minds, all eyes were on the Green Park wicket at Kanpur, where South Africa face India in the first of the two Tests on Saturday (Nov 20). But Rahul Dravid and John Wright didn’t dwell too much on the importance of the pitch as they spoke to the media after the first net session.Dravid acknowledged that crystall-ballgazing about pitches was not one of his strong points. “I am not good at reading wickets,” he said, “but it doesn’t bother me much, as at the end of the day we have to do well whatever the wicket.” But Wright elaborated, feeling that it would take turn at some point during the game. “The wicket doesn’t have a great deal of pace in it – that’s the feeling you get while standing in the nets. It’s going to take turn at some point of time definitely, but when that will happen is hard to tell.”Wright denied that the team had a hand in giving instructions to the curators about the kind of pitch they wanted. “Not as far as we are aware of. The only thing we have asked right throughout the season was wickets that were good batting tracks. Obviously against Australia we didn’t want tracks with lots of sideways movement: if you get it, you get it, but not play into their hands.”Wright said India shouldn’t repeat what “we did at Nagpur”: what he wanted was a good pitch that would last five days and then “allow the match to take its course so that both sides have the opportunity. Once you start messing around you’ve got a problem.”Wright was confident that India would pick at least spinners, although he acknowledged that the combination of three spinners and one seamer had worked in the last Test against Australia at Mumbai. “Whether or not an extra one [spinner] will play we will only decide tomorrow. I will have to say that the three-one combination worked well in Mumbai in those conditions, but here it’s different. It was sunny yesterday, but with the mist out this morning you might need the extra seamer, so we will have to look into it.”Neither of them wanted to comment on the Sourav Ganguly affair, pointing out that “the ICC rules don’t allow us to speak on the issue”. Ganguly, in fact, popped in for an evening batting session, raising the possibility that Mohammad Kaif, the local hero, might miss out if Ganguly does turn out to be available for selection. Wright admitted: “It would be nice if Kaif could play, considering that he is a local boy. Obviously he has done a fantastic job this year by coming in and playing really hard – he has battled well in all conditions, and it’s a hard decision to make.”Dravid felt that teams these days are arriving in India well-prepared for action, and that they wouldn’t be able to take the South Africans lightly. “We will also have to improve our game and realise that just because we are playing at home we can’t bowl sides out. We need to play better and be smarter.”Aware that his batsmen have been finding it difficult to score runs, Wright said that he was assured of the class of his players. And he denied ever raising a doubt over the mental application of his players. “Where did you hear that?” he asked. “My point was about being hungry, and you would say that about any side. When you are playing at this level you need to have the hunger, the attitude. We have reached a stage where we need that hunger and that attitude that keeps the team going.”