Shivnarine Chanderpaul might have picked up a host of honours at the West Indies Players’ Association awards but in doing so he infuriated both his own team and his opponents in their ongoing Carib Beer Series match. Chanderpaul was unbeaten on 78 at stumps on the first day of Guyana’s home game against Windward Islands when he departed for the awards ceremony in Trinidad.However, neither Guyana’s manager Carl Moore nor their coach Albert Smith was able to explain Chanderpaul’s absence and he was deemed “retired out”. Smith said it was disappointing the batsman had not discussed the situation with the team’s management.”He is our most dependable batsman and has done so much for West Indiescricket as a top-class batsman,” Smith told . “But if he knew he was just using this game for some practice and would then leave the guys he should have at least informed me as the coach and maybe allowed one of the youngsters to play.”The situation so incensed the Windward Islands that when they started their innings after lunch they refused to let Guyana use a substitute fielder. The Windward Islands manager Lockhart Sebastien was furious at the seemingly blasé attitude to a first-class game.”This is not a curry goat match,” Sebastien said. “This is a first-class encounter and things like this are allowed to happen and we wonder why West Indies cricket is in the state that it is in.”Chanderpaul told Devon [Smith] yesterday [Saturday] that he was here just to take a knock but we assumed he was joking. If he knew he had to leave then he should not have played and given one of the other youngsters a chance.”
Darren Gough suffered a broken hand – and will be out for a month – after turning back the clock and taking his best figures for seven years as Yorkshire made Kent follow-on at Tunbridge Wells. Geraint Jones (62) and Andrew Hall (77) added 126 to give Kent hope of staging a fight back, but Gough ran through the lower-order having earlier claimed Neil Dexter. However, trying to stop a straight drive from Ryan McLaren, Gough suffered his injury although still managed to remove McLaren after the blow. But two balls into his 17th over was forced off as his hand began to swell. Trailing by 259, Joe Denly fell went for 9 before Robert Key and Martin van Jaarsveld responded with an unbroken stand of 135. Key, who reached 62 in the first innings, batted for another three hours but needs to continue his rearguard on the final day. “It is a sickening blow,” said Gough following the x-ray which proved a broken metacarpal, “and the only consolation is that we have just one Championship match against Sussex at Headingley next week before the start of the Twenty20 Cup. I think I should be fit to return once these games have ended.”Chris Adams’ blistering 103 set Hampshire an unlikely 500 to beat Sussex on the third day at Arundel. Murray Goodwin fell for 99, but Adams motored onwards cracking 11 fours and three sixes in his 95-ball 103 as Sussex declared on 360 for 5. The two Hampshire openers, Michael Brown and Jimmy Adams, both fell cheaply leaving Hampshire struggling on 133 for 2, with Michael Lumb unbeaten on 62, still requiring a further 367 to win.Lancashire set up the platform to have a final-day push for victory after building on a lead of 55 with a positive second innings, extending their advantage to 365, against Durham at Chester-le-Street. Another five-wicket haul for Muttiah Muralitharan secured Lancashire the useful lead then Paul Horton (56) and Mark Chilton opened with a stand of 92. The healthy progress was maintain by Stuart Law’s 69-ball 61. Durham, though, continued to chip away and at 215 for 6 there was a chance to keep the target down to something manageable. But Luke Sutton (41) and Dominic Cork (48) added 90 and the home side face a day of trying to repel the mastery of Muralitharan.Surrey’s middle-order collapsed on the third day against Worcestershire at New Road, slipping to 370 all out. Surrey were going nicely with Jon Batty notching 114 and Mark Ramprakash 84, putting on 165 for the second wicket. However, both fell in quick succession as Surrey slipped from 271 for 2 to 370 all out – still trailing Worcestershire’s mammoth 701 by 331 runs. Kyle Hogg, on loan from Lancashire, and Gareth Batty each took three wickets. Following on, Surrey lost Jon Batty for 13, going to stumps at 59 for 1 with one day remaining in which to salvage a draw.
Division Two
4th dayDean Cosker took 5 for 69 as Glamorgan registered their first Championship win of the season, over Nottinghamshire, who they beat by 55 runs on the final day at Swansea. After bowling out Glamorgan for 263, Nottinghamshire were set 263 from 72 overs but collapsed to 207 all out. Jason Gallian and Bilal Shafayat fell cheaply before Mark Wagh (50) and David Hussey (63) gave hope of Nottinghamshire chasing down their target. However, from 115 for 4 they slumped dramatically, Wagh falling to Cosker and Robert Croft picking up David Hussey. Graeme Swann struck a fighting 37 before Alex Wharf wrapped up the innings with two quick wickets.Gloucestershire’s match against Derbyshire ended in a draw at Derby, after the visitors racked up an imposing 441 to deny Derbyshire’s push for victory. Hamish Marshall fell without adding to his overnight 120, and Alex Gidman couldn’t add another century, falling four short. But Mark Hardinges held up Derbyshire’s march and, finding useful allies in David Brown (43) and Carl Greenidge, posted his fourth first-class hundred. This left Derbyshire 200 to win from 28 overs, and they finishing on 40 for 1 from 15 overs.3rd daySomerset wrapped up the most comprehensive of wins over Leicestershire at Taunton with Charl Willoughby picking up the final two wickets. Stuart Broad and David Masters (31*) delayed the inevitable, extending their ninth-wicket stand to 48, but Willoughby yorked Broad for 35 to signal the end. Nick Walker, the No. 11, lasted eight balls, to hand Somerset an innings-and-259-run win.Essex continued to boss proceedings at Chelmsford and have teed up a winning position for the fourth day. Although rain washed out most of the morning, there was still time to bowl out Northamptonshire for 241 – James Middlebrook leading the way with 4 for 53 – and then take two more scalps as the visitors followed on. Northants face an uphill battle to save the match, still trailing by 297 runs with eight wickets remaining, and hopes will rest largely on Stephen Peters, who is unbeaten 51, and the in-form Lance Klusener, who was left stranded on 70 in the first innings.
Dinanath Ramnarine, the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) president, has said that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is slowing down the process of trying to conclude an agreement over long-standing issues.Speaking in an interview with CMC Cricket Plus on the fourth day of the Carib Beer Series final between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago at Guaracara Park, Ramnarine said a recent letter from Ken Gordon, the WICB president, appeared not to rubber-stamp an agreement that had been earlier reached with other WICB executives.”One of the constraints that we have is that you would have heard around February 6, the chief executive of the WICB basically saying we reached agreement on the collective labour agreement, the code of conduct and the memorandum of understanding,” Ramnarine said. “I recently received a letter from the president of the board basically saying those agreements were drafts. Our position is that we signed off on the agreement. There wasn’t a signature, but it was agreed across the table.”The two parties met last Thursday in an effort to try and resolve issues that have plagued West Indies cricket over the past two years. “What [has] frustrated the whole process in dealing with the WICB is every time we negotiate with them and you reach an agreement across the table, the next meeting everything changes,” Ramnarine said.Recently, Clive Lloyd, chairman of the WICB’s cricket committee, called on WIPA to try and reach an agreement over retainer contracts by mid-April. Ramnarine said, however, WIPA would not rush to sign a contract for the sake of signing.”The gist of it and the question we have to ask ourselves is if we sign the retainer contracts, are the players going to be better off. We are not going to be pressured by anybody into signing a retainer contract because we are the only team that does not have a retainer contract. We will sign the retainer contract once we believe that it is a fair and reasonable contract and it is in the best interest of the player,” said Ramnarine. “We are not going to be put under pressure by anybody. I don’t have any pressure from my members. They are well aware of what is taking place and are very supportive.”
Thilanga Sumathipala, the former president of Sri Lanka Cricket, will take up a new formal role as the board’s official representative to International Cricket Council this weekend. Sumathipala is scheduled to attend the ICC’s executive meeting in Lahore on October 16 and 17.”The executive committee unanimously decided to request Mr. Sumathipala to attend the ICC executive meeting in Lahore on October 16 and 17,” a media release said. “Sumathipala is the longest serving ICC executive board member, who has been handling the most important affairs in the international arena for Sri Lankan Cricket.”Sumathipala decided not to run for a fourth term as board president earlier this year, after an immigration scandal led to him being held in police custody for nearly five months. But he remains a powerful and influential figure in the current administration.The position as an international envoy had been offered earlier in the year, but Sumathipala, at the time under police guard in a private hospital, turned down the post. He was released on bail in June and has now been handed back his passport.The immigration case, however, still continues with the next hearing set for later this month. The case revolves around Sumathipala’s alleged assistance of Dhammika Amarasinghe, a man implicated in more than 28 murder cases, to obtain a forged passport and travel to London as a cricket board guest in 1999.
Traditional dances, callisthenics and spectacular fireworks lit up the opening ceremony for the Under-19 World Cup in the Dhaka. A full house of around 30,000 people packed the Bangabandhu National Stadium.Sixteen countries, including the 10 Test-playing nations and six associate members of the International Cricket Council, are participating in the biennial tournament that started in 1988.Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia formally opened the tournament, which runs from February 15 to March 5 and will be played at six venues. “Bangladesh is now ready to host World Cup Cricket and we are committed to cricket,” she said. “I hope our youth and organisers will strive to turn this pride into success.” Ehsan Mani, the ICC’s president, and Malcolm Speed, its chief executive, also attended the ceremony.
One of the 5,000 performers (c)Getty Images
Some 5,000 performers of Bangladesh Army, Navy, Rifles, Ansar, Shilpakala Academy and Rifles School took part in the two-hour-long opening pageantry. It also featured a march past by the 16 teams.The teams now have five days to acclimatise with warm-up matches, before the tournament opens on Sunday with hosts Bangladesh playing New Zealand at the Bangabandhu.
On the eve of 2003 Somerset County Cricket Club received another boost when they heard that they have the two best qualified cricket coaches in the country.Kevin Shine and his assistant Mark Garaway who recently completed the first ever ECB level 4 coaching course have just heard that they have come out as the top two in the group.For the past thirty months Kevin Shine and Mark Garaway have been attending the ground breaking course amounting to fifty days in total, in addition to carrying out their normal workload.Earlier this week the Somerset head coach told me: "This was the pilot course and it’s been tough covering twelve different modules and a massive time constraint. We were both lucky enough to be selected to take part in this and once we were, we were determined to stick with it."He continued: "The course was not just about batting and bowling but covered all aspects of life. It is really all about giving the players different options. There isn’t just one way because it’s all about what is best for the player and the club.""Now it’s our job now to spread the word and hopefully the players at Somerset and English cricket will feel the benefit of this course and help the E.C.B. achieve their aim which is to become the top cricket playing nation by 2007."Chief executive Peter Anderson said: "It is very satisfying to know that we have the top two qualified coaches in the country, and I’m sure that this will enhance our chances of making sure that the most talented young players get the best possible coaching and hopefully develop into top class players."
It was surprising that, with one hand apparently firmly on their first overseas Test series victory since 1986, India should relax their grip and allow Zimbabwe to scrape home to level the series in the Second Test match.Well though Zimbabwe played at Harare Sports Club, the result was perhaps due more to India’s failures with the bat than any other factor. Both Test matches had in common the fact that the team winning the toss wasted that advantage by batting badly and eventually lost the match. In Bulawayo it was Zimbabwe; in Harare it was India.India’s 237 on the first day of the Harare Test was a poor effort that reflected on the lack of application of their batsmen, most of whom fell to soft dismissals. They fought back with three quick Zimbabwean wickets before the close.The first turning point of the game came when Grant Flower dug in and shared fighting partnerships with the all-rounders in the team, earning Zimbabwe what was really no more than a useful lead of 78 on first innings. The pitch was sound for batting, even if the ball did not come on to the bat as well as the players would have liked, and with India’s batting power it was quite possible that in the second innings they would be able to set a target that was beyond Zimbabwe’s reach.The Zimbabwean team is still not as confident with the bat as it should be. The Flower brothers and Heath Streak have shown they can handle pressure, but the rest, for the most part, have too many failures under pressure behind them or were untested in that kind of situation. 63 all out when chasing 99 against West Indies last year, under admittedly more difficult circumstances, is an example of what can still happen all too easily under pressure. I said at the time that if Zimbabwe failed to bowl out India for less than 200 in the second innings, they could be in trouble.One over from the end of the fourth day, Zimbabwe were indeed heading for trouble. India were 197 for three in their second innings. The second new ball was available for just one over before the close, and Zimbabwe took it. This was the second turning point of the match. Andy Blignaut had Rahul Dravid caught at the wicket, and they followed it up in the first half-hour of the fourth day with four more wickets for just 10 runs.Zimbabwe were set 157 to win, in theory not a difficult target under the circumstances. But, with Zimbabwe’s past record, it was not a foregone conclusion, and it was indeed to prove a tense struggle. The final turning point of the game was the innings of Stuart Carlisle.Carlisle has no great record in Test cricket, with an average in the twenties and, before this innings, only four fifties to his credit, the highest of which was 58. He often stabilized an innings at number three with a solid twenty or thirty, before getting out just as he was looking well set. But the Zimbabwean players and selectors know him as a man with a big heart, one who is dedicated to his game and a wonderful trier.On this day Carlisle got his reward with what must, under the circumstances, go down as one of the most vital innings ever played for Zimbabwe in a Test match. With Andy Flower suffering a finger injury, the team as a whole must have suffered a psychological setback in chasing their target. But Carlisle was the man who put his hand up, with an innings of superb temperament and judgement. He played scarcely a false shot in seeing his team home with a new Test best of 62 not out. Single-minded determination was the hallmark of his innings, evident in every ball he faced. It is to be hoped that this innings will give him the confidence to go on to greater things and higher scores in future.There was much good bowling from both sides. Zimbabwe had to struggle for runs throughout the match against the Indian pace attack of Javagal Srinath – below his best in the first innings but magnificent in the second – Ajit Agarkar, who was most unlucky, and Ashish Nehra, perhaps the find of the tour for India. Then there was Harbhajan Singh, who was never mastered by the Zimbabweans, but neither did they let him intimidate them.Zimbabwe, for their part, also benefited from fine bowling by Heath Streak, Travis Friend, on his debut, and Andy Blignaut, who won the Man of the Match award and was often superb. They bowled a tight off-stump line, perhaps a little too defensively at times, but it kept the Indian batsmen in check during that crucial second innings when they looked ready to take the game out of Zimbabwe’s reach.Both sides fielded superbly. Zimbabwe have always been known for this virtue, but India often matched them. The Indian close catching in the series has frequently been brilliant, with Shiv Sunder Das, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman all worthy of special mention.It has been a good series, and it was a pity the Zimbabwe Cricket Union were unwilling to play a three-match series, for financial reasons, so there could be a decider. The series draw will no doubt increase India’s desire to win the triangular tournament, starting on Saturday, so as to salvage a rare triumph from an overseas tour.
Aston Villa have been one of the more proactive clubs in England when it comes to being busy in the transfer market and seeing new players make the move to the Midlands side.
The previous January transfer window was a prime example of this as Steven Gerrard’s side brought in four new faces to help strengthen their squad.
Looking ahead to the upcoming summer window, it seems as though the presence of one of Villa’s recent recruits could put the club in a good position to secure a big name once the next window opens.
What’s the news?
Speaking to GIVEMESPORT about the future of Atletico Madrid striker Luis Suarez, who has been linked with a move to Villa Park in recent weeks and months, journalist and transfer insider Dean Jones had this to say on the matter.
He said: “He will have seen what it’s done for [Philippe] Coutinho, playing under Gerrard.
“He would love the chance to come back into the Premier League again and be that impact player that makes a big difference in a squad.”
Villa must sign Suarez
Since arriving at Villa Park, the Brazilian attacker has scored four goals and provided three assists in ten league games, showing that it didn’t take him long to get back into the swing of things in England after leaving Liverpool in 2018 for his mega-money move to Barcelona.
With this in mind, it’s easy to see why Jones has suggested that not only would Suarez be tempted to follow in the footsteps of his former Liverpool and Barcelona teammate and make a return to England with Villa but also to have another one of his former teammates as his manager in Gerrard.
Labelled as a “phenomenal” player in the past by Jordan Henderson, the Uruguayan has racked up a total of 435 goals throughout his senior club career, including 82 in 133 appearances with the Merseyside club, highlighting why he was dubbed a “killer” in front of goal by Luis Enrique and what he’d offer this Villa side if he did join them in the summer.
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If Suarez, who is currently picking up a weekly wage of £263k-per-week according to Salary Sport, is keen on making a return to the Premier League, then Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris should jump at the chance to get the striker in a Villa shirt and potentially firing in lots of goals for Gerrard’s side to give the manager his dream transfer.
In other news: Lange plotting crucial summer deal that will leave Villa supporters jumping for joy
South Africa’s coach Mickey Arthur played down concerns that the team will be under-prepared for the Test series against India, which they go into without any practice games.A scheduled warm-up game against India A was cancelled but Arthur said South Africa’s tours of Pakistan and Bangladesh in the last six months have given them enough experience of subcontinental conditions. “There have been a lot of noises about not playing a warm-up match, but we’ve been in the subcontinent a huge amount lately and the guys are sound in terms of the different techniques required,” he told .”Warm-up games tend to be good for the first day and a half, and then the intensity wanes,” he said. “We believe we can replicate a warm-up game quite easily with some intensive centre practices.”Coming home (after the successful Bangladesh tour which ended on March 14) has allowed the team to be refreshed and re-energised, and we thought it was the best way to re-focus on getting back into the swing of things. We know it will be hard work, but it’s a mental shift more than anything else.”After a week which saw Charl Langeveldt pull out of the India tour saying he did not want to be included on the basis of his colour, South Africa’s captain Graeme Smith admitted the team had been affected by the selection controversy. “The evidence of this week shows that the off-field stuff does have an effect on the team,” Smith said. “There are a few things we need to work through, they can’t be left undealt with. We need to find a way to deal with these issues so we can concentrate on the cricket.”The first Test of the three-match series starts in Chennai on Wednesday.
Matthew Maynard, who was axed as England’s assistant coach on Sunday, has been offered a role at his home county, Glamorgan. He will return to Sophia Gardens in 2008, where he will be the director of cricket – but not until next season.Maynard, who scored 22764 first-class runs in his 20 years with the club, plans to have a rest this summer and spend some time with his family, although he has been linked to a role with India’s academy.Glamorgan chairman Paul Russell told newspaper, “It is no coincidence that we have not replaced John Derrick [as director of cricket] and I believe Matthew would bring a lot to that role.”Maynard will not give up his dream of becoming England coach, and working alongside Adrian Shaw, Glamorgan’s coach, next season will give him the chance to have county experience which is another route to the top role.