The ICC has confirmed that funding to the USA Cricket Association remains suspended, despite the short-term truce between the USACA and the Council of League Presidents.The two parties have been battling for control inside the USA, and this has ended up in the courts. Earlier this month, an interim deal was announced to enable the USACA to administer the game pending the next court appearance on November 7. Critics of the USACA were quick to point out that this compromise gave all effective power to the current board controlled by Gladstone Dainty.There had been talk that the deal might persuade the ICC to release funding which has been suspended since June when it tired of the endless infighting. But the ICC has made it clear that money will only become available when a clear and undisputed body which can run cricket emerges.The interim executive is set to meet on October 29 – nine days before the court sits – and Cricinfo understands that a number of potentially contentious issues have been tabled. These include: –
Approving or rejecting the ProCricket agreement with Kal Patel signed by on behalf of the USACA by Dainty
A request to formally invite Gary Hopkins to discuss a written contract/arrangement
Appointing a two-person delegation to explore cooperative arrangements with Major League Cricket
Eliminating the notorious “background check” process for disqualifying candidates which has been at the centre of the current row
Putting in place “conflict of interest rules” to make sure that no board or executive member could serve on selection committees or act as team officersOne source close to the situation said the proposer of these items knew that the split of the board in Dainty’s favour made it almost impossible for any of these motions to succeed.Given that the USACA and CLP have told stakeholders nothing of their activities in recent months – a situation partly arising through a court gagging order, but one which appears to suit both parties – it seems unlikely that anything public will emerge until November 7.
Stephen Fleming, who entered the tour with a mystery illness picked up in Bangladesh, has spent the best part of three days trying to stop a “thumping”. Today he got a composed 83 but his side was again struggling as he faced the press. For Australia Glenn McGrath took four wickets for a career total of 461, passing the combined record of Dennis Lillee in Tests, World Series and Rest-of-the-World matches.
Stephen Fleming On his health in the heat It’s pretty draining for all concerned and making decisions adds to it. I’m still feeling pretty good when I bat because you have to. It was good to get through last night and start with a clean bill today.On how the heat is affecting the team Most of the guys are in bed by 9 or 9.30pm. It’s not a 100 [for me today] but I had plenty of energy left when I got out.On walking after edging McGrath I thought it was pretty obvious and didn’t want to hang around. I’ve got no real personal stance, some days I find myself walking off, some days I don’t. Some days it may equate to being obvious, other days I think I may try and get away with it. It just depends on the mood.On getting out between 50 and 100 The last two years have been pretty good, I’m four and two in the right favour. I thought [McGrath] bowled a brilliant over and it was a genuine dismissal. My concentration was good up to then, and I’m not going to turn out a hundred every time. In the last two years it’s been proper batsmanship.On how the day went for New Zealand It was another disappointing one on this tour. They played extremely well, the lengths they bowled were outstanding and they’ve got the variation in Shane Warne.On what sort of target they will face They’ll probably leave us 800 and we’ll probably knock them off in two sessions. I guess they’ll bat till lunch tomorrow. Paul [Wiseman] was getting a few to turn and Shane will always get turn, but something could be achieved if there are a couple of heroes in our side.On the ear infection to Scott Styris It is disappointing when you need all hands on deck and he’s batting so low down. It exposed the tail a lot earlier than we would have like but it couldn’t be helped. When you are down things tend to spiral on you.On the overall situation The bottom line is we are being outplayed. We are being thumped.Glenn McGrath On beating Lillee’s combined record Dennis was always a hero of mine when I was growing up and someone to look up to. Even people classing me alongside Dennis is a huge wrap, but I’d never class myself equal or above him. When you see Dennis’s record it shouldn’t be 355 wickets, it should be 459.On why Lillee was great He was a fast bowler’s fast bowler. Some people think I’m a bit boring and don’t have the same charisma and open aggression as him. Whether or not you’d get away with it now is a different thing.On his bowling today It was hard work and at 0 for 40 things weren’t looking too good. They seemed to be scoring runs, there were a few edges, the luck seemed to be going to the Kiwis. If I kept it in the right areas I thought it would turn sooner or later. To walk off the park with 4 for 66, I’ll take that any day. It was good to get a few wickets for confidence.On the pitch It was pretty flat, there wasn’t much sideways movement. When I was bowling to Fleming there was a bit of reverse-swing. Warney will come into his own in the second innings.On not enforcing the follow-on There’s still two full days to go in this Test. Just because we are 300 runs in front people think we should enforce the follow-on. The guys will get a rest, maybe two sessions to freshen up a little bit, and then come at them again when we’ve got [a lead of] 500-plus.On New Zealand’s performance Fleming and Nathan Astle looked comfortable and put on a decent partnership. We thought if we could knock one or both of them over that was the key. For the rest we just got the balls in the right areas. Jason Gillespie was the pick of the bowlers and we bowled well considering the conditions.
Steve Waugh has said that he would like to retire at the end of Australia’s tour of India in 2004. He then intends to devote more time to Udayan, the Kolkata home for children of leprosy patients which he supports.According to a report by The Press Trust of India, Waugh said in an interview in Sydney: “I would like to end my career in India.” He has long described India as the “final frontier” for the Australian team to conquer, and swore after Australia’s defeat in 2001 that he would be back to set the record straight.That is not, however, reason for Khaled Mahmud and his boys to relax – Waugh has not forgotten Bangladesh. “The India series is still a long way off,” Waugh said, “and I am focussing on Bangladesh at the moment.” One can imagine him rubbing his hands in glee as he says this.For all the brutality Waugh inflicts on the cricket field, though, at heart he remains a softie. His support – monetary and otherwise – for Udayan has earned him immense respect in India. Waugh does not stop at charitable donations – the girls’ wing at Udayan was funded by him – but visits the home regularly. He explained his commitment thus: “Udayan is my pursuit for life. It is not something you start and give up. I am committed to continued support to Udayan.”We are soon going to start another school for 200 needy children,” Waugh added. He admitted that despite being a celebrity, raising funds was a difficult matter, and said that “it would be good to get some funding from businesses in Australia and India”.Waugh had recently announced his plans to make a film based on Udayan, which has already been scripted, though, as of now, there is no director or producer. Waugh did not clarify rumours as to whether he would act in the film, but merely said, pithily, “I am a cricketer”.Until next year, when Australia come to India, he certainly is.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), today announced a 14-member squad for next year’s International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Under-19 World Cup which will be held in New Zealand.The Under-19 World Cup, which will be held in January, 2002 will feature some 16 teams, and see the West Indies drawn in Zone D. Other teams in Zone D are Australia, Kenya and Scotland.The West Indies team will leave on January 10 for New Zealand, in time for the opening ceremony which takes place on January 14 in Christ Church.While in New Zealand, the West Indies will play two practice matches versus local opposition. The West Indies’ first match will be against Scotland on January 21. Their remaining preliminary matches against Australia and Kenya will be played on January 23 and 24 respectively. The ICC Under-19 World Cup will played from January 12 to February 10, 2002.The full team is:Narsingh Deonarine and Ron Matthews – GUYANA Ryan Nurse and Alcindo Holder – BARBADOS Donovan Pagon and Lorenzo Ingram – JAMAICA Dwayne Bravo, Llendl Simmons and Ravi Rampaul – TRINIDAD & TOBAGO Gareth Matthew (St. Kitts), Tonito Willett (Nevis) andGavin Tonge (Antigua) – LEEWARD ISLANDS Shane Shillingford (Dominica) and Darren Sammy (St. Lucia) – WINDWARD ISLANDS Reserves:Danza Hyatt and St. Clair Searchwell – JAMAICA Denzil James – TRINIDAD & TOBAGO Derick Bishop and Marlon Clark – BARBADOS Jeremiah Harris – GUYANA Team Management:Courtnay Daley – Manager – JAMAICA Gus Logie – Coach – TRINIDAD & TOBAGO David Cumberbatch – Physiotherapist – TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Former West Indies captain Richie Richardson will join the ICC’s elite panel of match referees as a replacement for the retiring Roshan Mahanama.However, Richardson will not take up his new position until early next year, when he completes his current tenure as manager of the West Indies team. Mahanama last week announced his intention to step down from the ICC’s elite panel at the end of the year after more than a decade in the role.The appointment means Richardson will become the first West Indian to serve as a match referee in Tests since Clive Lloyd, who retired in 2007. He also follows fellow West Indians Jackie Hendriks, Cammie Smith, Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott, who all served as match referees in the past.”I am excited and honoured to have been selected for one of the most important jobs in cricket,” Richardson said. “Having been on either side of the fence, first as a player and then as an administrator, I think I have the experience and insight to help me contribute positively alongside some of the finest and most experienced match officials.”Richardson played 86 Tests from 1983 to 1995, as well as 224 one-day internationals. He was appointed team manager of West Indies in January 2011 and will continue to serve in the role until the end of the Test tour of Australia, which concludes with the Sydney Test from January 3 to 7 next year.”Until the end of the Australia tour, I will remain fully committed and focused on my current assignment as the West Indies cricket team manager and I would like to thank the West Indies Cricket Board for its support over years as well as the encouragement it provided to me in taking up this new role,” he said.The ICC’s elite panel of match referees is made up of seven former cricketers who officiate in Test matches, and Richardson will join Ranjan Madugalle, Chris Broad, David Boon, Andy Pycroft, Javagal Srinath and Jeff Crowe. The ICC’s general manager of cricket, Geoff Allardice, said Richardson would be a valuable addition to the panel.”Richie is one of the greats of the game, who is admired for not only his accomplishments as a batsman but also the way he captained the West Indies when he embodied traits such as integrity, leadership and sportsmanship in his dealings both on and off the field,” Allardice said.”He is very familiar with the demands of international cricket through his experiences as a player, captain and now team manager, and he will bring a fresh perspective to the role. On behalf of the ICC, I congratulate Richie on his appointment and look forward to working with him. We have no doubt that he will make a strong and important contribution to ensuring the game continues to be played in the right spirit.”
We’ve all seen Fat Sam patrolling the touchline, Madonna live-in-concert mic tucked inside his lug‘ole, looking every inch the modern man we all know him to be. The most self-confident man in Britain is known to be just one of a growing army of managers to enlist the help of ProZone – a means by which to attain statistical analysis on everything from the amount a player has run in a match to his use of the ball when in possession to name but two minute points. But in this modern age of ours, can stats prove everything in football, or is there still room for differing perspectives and the use of the naked eye to dissect the beautiful game?
The truth lies somewhere in between. Stats are great. On a personal level, I’m a huge believer in them. They’re crucial in helping to disprove some of football’s accepted truths – such as Owen Coyle’s Bolton side play passing football, Man Utd’s defence is watertight and that Jermain Defoe is anything other than a deeply average striker. I’ll beat these drums until my last dying breath, and all with the help of statistical information.
However, stats can also be deeply misleading. They can distort an argument because for without applied in the ‘right’ context, they can change turn a point completely on it’s head. They are merely a tool to be used to disprove theories and assists in arguments for the casual armchair pundit.
Just the other day after Frank Lampard’s wonderful display against Bolton in their 5-1 drubbing of Coyle’s side at Stamford Bridge, which included a Lampard hat-trick, did I see such an instance of deeply misleading and reprehensible statitude.
It was over on Twitter (you can catch me at JamesMcManus1 if you’re asking @shameless plug #hangsheadinshame) where a fellow Tweeter, Twitterer or Twatter depending on your preference, in a state of euphoria confidently declared: “Lampard now has 175 league goals in 350 games for Chelsea. Brilliant.”
Now, I know he’s been a prodigiously prolific goalscorer in the Premier League for nearly a decade now, but that still seemed a bit off to me. A quick glance at Wikipedia then proceeded to tell me that Lampard had indeed played 350 Premier League games for Chelsea, but that the 175 goals came across all competitions, for he had only a measly, hardly worth talking about 119 league goals for the club. In 518 career games for the West London side he had indeed scored 175 goals, a fine record, but did it really need the falsities to make it stand out as particularly impressive?
There is of course still room for the naked eye. Otherwise coaches all over the land may as well just pack up and go on home. We shall indeed surrender to the machines just over a decade after the Terminator films correctly prophesised. But instead of Skynet, it shall be the almighty ProZone’s altar that we bow down to in hushed and humbled prayer.
OptaSports provide the shining light by which others should look to follow. They offer up little nuggets of statistical gold without any inherent bias towards this club or that club as is often the calling card of those that cry out ‘lazy journalism‘ at the drop of a hat (yes, I am fully aware of what I‘ve left myself open to now).
Stats aren’t everything in football, they’re merely there to apply the context amidst all the fawning and bias that takes place in the media today. You can’t keep a good stat down, no matter how hard you try. It may not be sexy, it may not be what gets readers reaching for the paper in the morning, but context is everything.
You can follow me on Twitter @JamesMcManus1
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Essex’s Championship-winning captain Ryan ten Doeschate has signed a one-year extension with the club, putting an end to speculation that he would follow Ravi Bopara out of Chelmsford.Ten Doeschate told ESPNcricinfo he would “take stock” before committing to a new contract at the club after leading them to a second Championship title in three years, saying he was “deeply aware there’s a time to move on.”But after his team-mate of 16 years Bopara left the club to join Sussex on Wednesday, ten Doeschate confirmed that he would spend the 2020 season at Essex.Ten Doeschate said: “I’m really pleased to extend my contract at the club and my affinity for Essex and the players just grows stronger and stronger.”We had an amazing season in 2019, but we’re constantly striving to improve and we want to build on our success.”I’m excited about the challenges and battles we’ll face in 2020, and I’m looking forward to giving my all in what will hopefully another successful year.”Ten Doeschate captained the club across formats from 2016 to 2018, but relinquished the T20 captaincy to Simon Harmer this year. He has represented the club 477 times in all formats, scoring 27 hundreds and taking more than 300 wickets in the process.He is currently in the UAE, where he will hope to play a key role in leading Netherlands through the T20 World Cup qualifier.Anthony McGrath, Essex’s head coach, said: “Ryan is a huge player for us, both on the field and in the dressing room, so we are all delighted that he will be staying for at least another season.”He’s a natural leader and has led this side to some fantastic achievements over recent years, and hopefully with any luck, there will be more to come.”
Administrators and selectors detest senior players who attempt topick and choose their matches and tours and many careers have come to amessy end as a result of them attempting to do so. However, if it is the same selectors and administrators who make that decision, then all is well, it would appear.So while Shaun Pollock may have been surprised and even upset by hisomission from South Africa’s first Test starting line-up, 24 hours ofquiet reflection have probably helped him realise that he will no longerbe required to flog his 34-year-old body on flat, unforgiving trackslike this one in Karachi. He is being saved for the juicy pitches onwhich his now modest pace can still be effective.While South African captain Graeme Smith and coach Mickey Arthur have bothbeen careful to speak with the respect that Pollock deserves, neither was mincing his words, either.”He certainly isn’t being rested. It is a tactical decision that wehave taken and Shaun has been incredibly mature in responding to what wehave asked him to do,” Smith said on the eve of the first Test. “It is vital that we find time to blood one or two youngsters. We really don’t want to find ourselves reaching the point where Shaun retires and we haven’t given a couple of people the chance to playinternational cricket.”We have a couple of young and very exciting fast bowlers comingthrough and a two-Test series seems to be the perfect chance to exposethem to unfamiliar conditions while Shaun, with all his experience, isstill on hand to guide them and advice them from the sidelines.”Of course, Pollock may yet play. Having endured the unfamiliarexperience of being an international 12th man just once – for the World XI against Australia a couple of years ago – he might avoid the role again if Morne Morkel fails to recover from anankle injury.”He certainly isn’t out of the running for the first Test now thatMorne is injured and he most certainly will be considered for the secondTest,” Smith said. “When we get back to South Africa he comes right back intocontention. We have a good nucleus of bowlers now and selection is aboutchoosing who might be best suited for the conditions as well as about who is fitand in-form.”Arthur felt that the South Africans should be excited rather thandisappointed that Pollock was no longer regarded as a must for everygame.”I felt it was slightly misreported although I can understand whythe emphasis was on Shaun’s omission,” Arthur said. “We have lacked a bit of variety inthe past and that’s what we’re looking to achieve now. Makhaya [Ntini] bowls well to left-handers, Morne bowls a good line and gets steep bounce, Dale Steyn bowls a fuller length with genuine pace and swings it away, Andre Nel is all thunder and in-your-face and then we have Jacques Kallis to complete the pace attack while Paul Harris isdeveloping nicely as a spinner.”So where does that leave Pollock? “He is very much in the mix but we are trying to operate a horses-for-courses policy now,” Arthur said. “There are some pitches and overhead conditions in which he’ll still probably be our first choice. But in conditions that favour the batsmen, we can probably do without the second allrounder and play an extra strike bowler to try and take the 20 wickets needed to win.”
Close of play Scorecard and ball-by-ball details How they were out Uttar Pradesh ended the third day with a massive 416-run lead after Rizwan Shamshad paced his innings thoughtfully – playing the percentages when the bowlers were disciplined and exploding in the third session when he could manage some leeway. But despite the advantage UP currently enjoy the result is far from a foregone conclusion.When UP started batting today, the plan would have been simple. Put runs on the board at a fast clip, set up a target and push for a declaration in the last session. The plan was well under way in the pre-lunch session when Suresh Raina bolted off with a feisty fifty – 147 runs were rattled off in 35 overs – but hit a speed-breaker in the second session when they were pegged back by some niggardly bowling. But, post-tea, UP raced off again, thanks to the Shamshad show, to a position of strength from where they can apply pressure on the visitors.Never hurried into his shots, Shamshad, playing in his 105th first-class game, imposed himself in the last session in a serene manner, cutting and pulling Sarfraz Ahmed who didn’t hit the right areas. With one eye on the declaration, he dismantled Sarfraz before proceeding to tear apart the medium pace of Tahir Mughal. A fierce cut and a caressed cover-drive – he never looked ungainly even when going for the broke – was followed by a spanking pull as the runs leaked from both ends. Earlier, in the second session, when his partner Ravikant Shukla was strangled by the bowling, Shamshad had chosen to jog at an easy pace. Of course, there was a pull here, a lofted drive there, but for the main he chose to play quietly. Maybe, the plan was to run the bowlers to ground, preserve wickets and go for it in the last session. Jyoti Yadav was the ideal partner, rotating the strike with singles and slipping in a few biffed-hits to the fence. Shamshad fell, 12 runs short of what would have been his 20th first-class ton, to a very good tumbling catch by the substitute fielder Satvinder Singh, the local under-22 cricketer who had to take the field as Sialkot camp was hit by injuries, at square-leg when he top-edged a pull.The positive intent that Shamshad revealed in the last session was evident through the first session when UP came out attacking. Even, and especially, when a wicket fell, they counter-attacked. Rohit Srivastava took charge when Shiva Shukla fell after an innings that promised many more than what he ended up with, and when Srivastava departed, Raina imposed himself. Sadly, for a match named after Mohammad Nissar, the express Indian bowler of yore, Mohammad Asif, easily the best fast bowler on view, couldn’t showcase his bowling prowess due to a shoulder niggle. That not only would have disappointed the cricket romantics but also hurt Sialkot.Raina, who reached his 15th first-class half-century in the 42nd over of the innings, took time to settle down before the Srivastava dismissal sparked off the aggressive instinct in him. He waltzed down the track to the left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman and swung him over wide mid-on for two consecutive fours. But Rehman had the last laugh, dismissing Raina, at the stroke of lunch, by holding back the length when the batsman ran down the wicket and the ball spun to beat an intended flick shot.Shukla looked to be in a hurry right from the start. After a few airy wafts – he edged one past the slips in the first over of the day – he began to middle his shots. The straight drives and cover-drives were unfurled, and, just when it seemed he had the measure of the bowlers, Mughal produced a peach of a delivery to send him packing. The ball landed on a length on the middle and appeared to be heading straight on before veering away at the last minute. Srivastava took over with a vengeance – he dispatched Mughal for four fours in the space of eight deliveries. A fierce cut past point, just a ball after the Shukla dismissal, set him rolling and, in a blink, three pull shots were unleashed. However, he fell, going for yet another pull.After the aggression in the morning Sialkot attempted to come back in the game with a disciplined bowling performance in the afternoon. Although wickets didn’t fall in a heap, the run-rate slowed down. Sarfraz Ahmed harassed Ravikant Shukla with his probing line in the corridor of uncertainty. Time and again, Ravikant was beaten by the movement, once edging it short of second slip, as he kept playing away from his body. However, luck continued to favour him – he might well be tempted to buy a lottery ticket after the day’s play – as edges fell either short or were, when they carried, put down. Sarfraz dropped a dolly, when Ravikant was on 28, at mid-off in the first over upon resumption while another chance went down in the slips after he had gone past his fifty. To his credit, Ravikant didn’t let all this affect him and reached his half-century before he fatally flirted at a delivery outside the off stump.Going into the final day the match is intriguingly poised. Sialkot have the firepower of Imran Nazir, who dazzled in the first innings, and the experience of Shoaib Malik, who can either force or slow the pace as the situation demands, and would be quietly confident of saving the game and, maybe, even pulling off an unlikely victory. UP seems to be aware of this potential danger as evident by their decision not to declare even after Shamshad fell in the 88th over of the innings. Following Shamsad’s dismissal UP eked out only 35 runs in the 10 overs that were possible.There were two options for the hosts, either dangle the carrot of a possible chase or bat the other side out of the game and hope the task of playing for a draw proves an unbearable burden. Clearly they have chosen the latter. But with the wicket likely to break further on the last day, if UP can prise out some early wickets, they could be in business.
Shiva Shukla c Khalid Mahmood b Tahir Mughal 36 (57 for 1) Rohit Srivastava c Mahmood b Shehzad Malik 33 ( 95 for 2) Suresh Raina b Abdur Rehman 55 (165 for 3) Ravikant Shukla c Majid Jahangir b Tahir Mughal 64 ( 238 for 4) Rizwan Shamshad c Majid Jahangir b Mansoor Amjad 88 (326 for 5) P Kumar c Majid Jahangir b Tahir Mughal 1 (336 for 6) Piyush Chawla c&b Majid Jahangir 8 (361 for 7)
Ricky Ponting“Apart from when we won at Lord’s (first Test) we were never as good as England and they deserve to win the Ashes.”Michael Vaughan“Kevin Pietersen was outstanding, but there have been a load of individual performances throughout the summer. It has been a hell of a lot of hard work but they believed in themselves and they expressed themselves out on the pitch.”Kevin Pietersen“It is fantastic. The boys have been amazing. I’m speechless really, and the last two months have been fantastic. Wearing the earrings its not going to make me cover drive any differently. I showed today that I am not just a glamour boy. Its amazing to have my mum and brother sitting up there. It is just special.”Andrew Strauss“It has been seven weeks of emotional turmoil. I am proud to be part of this team. Everyone has contributed this season. It makes you proud to be representing your country. We have just been on the very edge of our nerves all summer. It was a great privilege to watch Kevin today.”Andrew Flintoff“We witnessed one of the great innings today. His support from Ashley Giles (who made 59) epitomised what this side is about. Everyone in the dressing room plays a part from the captain to the coach. We go out there and play as a unit.”Duncan Fletcher“It has taken a long time but I would date it back three to four years when I spotted some good young players who could play for England. We have to keep on improving if we are to keep winning.”Shane Warne“England were better than us; it is as simple as that. We had a great battle but we were never as good as England throughout the series.”