Chandigarh Lions posted an easy 34-run win on the back of Tejinder Pal Singh’s brisk 38 and two wickets in an over which snuffed out Delhi Giants’ challenge in Panchkula.After opting to bat, the Lions made a competitive 153 with solid contributions from their top order. Lou Vincent and Matthew Elliot gave them a breezy start, scoring 44 before Vincent was bowled by former South African batsman Dale Benkenstein. TP Singh and Elliot then shared another 44-run stand to keep the run-rate up but the Giants hit back with three quick wickets.Sixteen runs came off one Benkenstein over as Chetan Sharma lashed a 9-ball 21 to boost the Lions’ total. For the Giants, Shane Bond bowled a tidy spell, keeping it tight in the beginning and getting TP Singh bowled in his second spell.The chase began in earnest, as 12 runs came off the first over, sent down by Lions’ captain Andrew Hall who had a poor day – going wicketless and conceding nearly 10 an over. Daryl Tuffey, though, was spot on and accounted for both openers as only eight runs were scored in the next three overs.Giants couldn’t recover from the poor start and the only batsmen to make significant contributions were Marvan Atapattu (29) and Abhinav Bali (31). With the required rate already at a challenging 13 an over, TP Singh came on and removed Benkenstein and JP Yadav in the space of four balls to end Giants’ hopes.The result means both teams now have one win and one loss after their first two encounters.
Andrew Flintoff is still targeting the first Test against New Zealand starting on May 15 as his return to the England team as he prepares to begin the domestic season with Lancashire following his fourth ankle operation. He is due to play two matches against Yorkshire next week before the opening Championship fixture at The Oval.Flintoff had the surgery in October and hasn’t appeared in a first-class match since August – his last Test was against Australia in Sydney 15 months ago – so the selectors will be wary of jumping the gun at a recall until his body has proved it can stand the rigours of constant bowling, especially with the first two Tests being back-to-back. Flintoff, though, is keen to push for his place in the first part of the season rather than wait until the one-dayers against New Zealand or the South Africa series.”There’s a Test match [against New Zealand] that I’d loved to be involved in,” he said. “I’ve missed a lot of international cricket through injury and I don’t want to miss any more, or as little as I have to, but I’m under no illusions that to get back into the side I’m going to have to be fit and playing well. That starts against Yorkshire and then the first Championship game. I’d love to put my name in the hat, but even if I am playing well they have just come off two wins so it’s not assured. I’d just like to be in the mix up.”Flintoff’s comeback has followed a measured regime laid out by the ECB and Lancashire. He has never been a player who gives less than 100%, whether his body is allowing him or not, and he has sometimes needed to be told when to stop. “He’ll say ‘I’m feeling good can I do 20 more minutes’,” Mike Watkinson, the Lancashire coach, said, “but we have to say no, that’s what you are doing today. Come back another time and do it again.”Flintoff’s workload is outlined up to the end of the second Championship match against Somerset. There won’t be any restrictions imposed on his overs although Watkinson did say they would be sensible. “I don’t see him bowling 25 overs a day but he’ll be out there and be a squad player like the rest of them. The limit in the games will be common sense and the match situation will dictate. You’ll probably see him bowling five-, six-over spells and no more than two or two-and-a-half spells a day.”Lancashire have had a close relationship with the ECB during Flintoff’s rehabilitation, something which has been appreciated by his club, who haven’t always seen eye-to-eye with how England players are handled, especially under the previous management. “It’s been teamwork really and it’s nice that we are trusted to look after Fred on a daily basis,” Watkinson said. “It hasn’t been an entirely free rein but we have done what we feel is right for Fred and we are mindful that his introduction into cricket, and bowling in particular, has to be gradual.”Since Christmas Flintoff has been through warm-weather training in South Africa, and spent time in India with the England Lions and Lancashire Academy. He returned to action during the pre-season trip to Dubai last month where he enjoyed “feeling emotions that I hadn’t had for a while. Being nervous when I went out to bat and the excitement of being out on the field.”He’d been expected to feature for MCC against Sussex next week, but after discussions between Lancashire and the ECB it was felt to follow that four-day game with the Championship outing against Surrey would be too much. He has been operating in five-over bursts in the nets – “he’s bowled with some good gas” according to Watkinson – and says he won’t be holding back when the serious action begins.”I’m aiming to start the season bowling a full pelt whenever the captain asks me,” Flintoff said. “At such a late stage it would be foolish to push it too much now, but Mike Watkinson and Dave Roberts [his physio] have got a programme and I ask Winker [Watkinson] on a daily basis what I’m doing and I just get on with it. I’ve probably been bowling five to eight overs a day. Everyone has been talking about working at 70-80% but I reckon I’m not far off bowling flat out.”
I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a small niggle at the back of my mind after four operations, but that’s inevitable, and I just hope that if you ask me in July with 150-200 overs under my belt that I’m still alrightAndrew Flintoff admits to a few nerves
His latest ankle surgery was carried out by Dutch surgeon Niek van Dijk after the World Twenty20 in September when bowling caused obvious pain. This time a chuck of bone was removed which Flintoff hopes will bring permanent relief and allow him to recapture the form that made him the No. 1 allrounder in the world.At times, especially during the pain he was suffering last year, Flintoff’s ankle occupied his mind whatever he was doing on the field. “I think the batting suffered more than the bowling. Batting with an ankle which was sore meant I wasn’t able get through my shots. And at times, too, all I was thinking about was my ankle and where I am going to go from here.”Although Flintoff has his eyes on the opening Test at Lord’s he is also learning from the past experiences of rushing the recovery process. “We’ve made a concerted effort this time not to rush things,” he said. “There’s been nothing like in the past when there has been an Ashes or a World Cup to get back for and this time we have taken our time and got it right.”However, even Flintoff concedes that he won’t be able to shed all doubt until the repaired joint has undergone some serious work. “I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a small niggle at the back of my mind after four operations, but that’s inevitable, and I just hope that if you ask me in July with 150-200 overs under my belt that I’m still alright. I’ve been OK coming back from the other operations for a few weeks, but this time hopefully I will be fine, not for weeks but years.” The next few months will prove whether time really has been a great healer.
Nottinghamshire have signed Luke Fletcher, a 19-year-old fast bowler from their second XI, on a one-year contract.Fletcher, who stands at 6ft 6in, plays for Papplewick in the Nottinghamshire Premier League alongside the club’s bowling coach, Phil DeFreitas, and was a regular for the county’s second XI last season.”Luke has worked very hard over the winter and has impressed all the coaching staff over the past 12 months,” Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, said. “He’s definitely someone we want to continue looking at over a longer period of time and will be expected to provide competition and pressure on the first-team bowlers.”It’s nice to have another local lad in the squad and I know how keen he is to make a career in cricket, and play for Notts.”Fletcher showed plenty of promise on Nottinghamshire’s pre-season tour to South Africa in the winter, but he revealed that he had “never really taken cricket seriously up to last year”.”Last summer I was a bit star-struck when I was around the dressing room but having spent time with the players on pre-season, I now feel settled in and a full part of the squad,” he added. “I can’t wait for the season to start and I’m determined to push on from here for a first-team place before the end of the season.”
The Australian Cricketers’ Association is encouraging Australia to develop a Twenty20 competition that is similar to the Indian Premier League and could run in conjunction with the main tournament. Paul Marsh, the ACA’s chief executive, has been in India to monitor the opening week of the IPL and said the expansion of the concept could follow soccer’s model.”The Indian league will be the Premier League, and then you have the Australian league as the second league, or even the English league,” Marsh said in the Daily Telegraph. “Over time players could go and play in one of these leagues and then you’ll have a situation where the ICC could license each league, get a return and distribute it to each of these boards.”The initial success of the IPL has other countries trying to think of ways to benefit financially from the concept. Support is also growing for the ICC to implement a set time each year for Twenty20 so it doesn’t overlap with Test and one-day internationals.”We need to find this window and then find how to get a return from it for each of the boards,” Marsh said. “We might find a window and it opens a door for a whole lot of these leagues.”Marsh is also interested in the idea of an IPL team based in Australia. Michael Brown, Cricket Australia’s general manager of cricket operations, has said the franchise idea would be considered.Brown told AAP on Tuesday the start of the IPL had been “outstanding”. “It’s fantastic for cricket – we’re here in Melbourne in an incredible AFL environment, yet people are talking up cricket,” he said. “That’s a real positive for the game and the little bits I’ve caught from our players, it’s been very successful.”
Aiden Markram, the captain of South Africa’s Under-19 World Cup winning side in 2014, will lead a young Invitational XI against England in the opening match of their tour in Potchefstroom.The three-day match, starting on December 14, will not have first-class status so both sides will be permitted to use their full squads. For England it is one of two three-day games before the opening Test in Durban on Boxing Day. The second match, also against an Invitational XI, in Pietermaritzburg, coincides with the opening round of Sunfoil four-day matches so it remains to be seen what strength opposition England will face ahead of the first Test.Another eye-catching name in the Invitational squad side is paceman Junior Dala who has impressed since moving from Lions to Titans. He has taken 10 wickets in five one-day matches in the current South Africa domestic season and seven wickets in eight Ram Slam T20 outings. The 19-year-old fast bowler Andile Phehlukwayo, who has eight wickets in eight Ram Slam matches, is also included.”The squad consists mainly of SA Academy Players plus a few who have just started to make their mark at franchise level,” said CSA High Performance Manager, Vinnie Barnes. “It will be a wonderful opportunity for these players to show what they can do against world-class opposition.”SA Invitation XI Aiden Markram (capt), Gionne Koopman, Luthando Mnyanda, Zubayr Hamza, Somila Seyibokwe, Heinrich Klaasen, Simon Khomari , Andile Phehlukwayo, Johannes Diseko, Thandolwethu Mnyaka, Junior Dala, Ruben Claassen
Indian domestic cricket is not throwing up the finished product as it used to previously, MS Dhoni has said. On the eve of India’s five-ODI series against Australia, Dhoni was thankful he could use this time to groom the newcomers, but the noises were not very optimistic.A case in point was his mention of the absence of a seaming allrounder in the squad, and then another that there was no point just making up numbers until a really good one was found. Some might wonder if Rishi Dhawan, the allrounder who opens the bowling for Himachal Pradesh and batted at No. 4 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, needs to carry a placard to the nets to be spotted. Others might say Dhoni knows a thing or three about spotting talent, and that he has given Rishi chances in both the warm-up games.It is a time of transition for Indian limited-overs cricket. Dhoni is himself nearing the end. Yuvraj Singh is not there. Suresh Raina has been dropped. There are only five established specialist batsmen in the squad. The lower middle order and the lack of a seaming allrounder remain problems. In analysing the Australian team, Dhoni gave away what he thought India were missing.”If you see what makes life easy for an international team is the kind of domestic cricket… if you see the Australian first-class cricket, it is very good, which means the players who come up from the ranks of domestic cricket or first-class cricket have already got good exposure of playing cricketers who have played international cricket or are playing international cricket at that point of time. I feel that way Australian cricket is blessed.”The corollary came through when Dhoni was asked about how big a loss Mohammed Shami was, and if his replacement Barinder Sran was ready for international cricket. Sran has played only eight List A games, and not even a handful in the IPL. After expectedly praising Shami, Dhoni said: “As far as the newcomers are concerned, we will definitely feature them and see where they stand. Also we have to slightly get ahead of time. If you see Indian cricket, more often than not, we are used to getting the complete product. Right from the late ’80s onwards we have got cricketers who were ready to play international cricket. Once they made their debut they were there for like 10 to 15 years.”I think the trend is changing slowly. Even if you see the batsmen nowadays, they have been part of the side for quite some time and we have had to groom them. I feel the same applies to the bowlers. We may not have the luxury of just picking up the complete product to come into international cricket and start delivering from the very first game. It is important to identify talent and at the same time give them games quite quickly so that they get that exposure of international cricket. And we also see get to see how they handle pressure and the areas where they need to improve.”Rishi’s presence was ignored when Dhoni was asked for a possible combination. “Most likely it will be three-two [quicks-spinners],” he said. “Because we don’t really have a seaming allrounder so most likely it will be a three-two combination. Who are the players, we will wait and watch.” That most likely means R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, and a possible debut for Barinder Sran.Australia, on the other hand, have announced their XI, and it includes five quick bowlers. Dhoni again felt they could do so because they had seaming allrounders. “It’s not only about the pitch,” Dhoni said. “That is their strength. When they come to the Test series in India, they actually went in with four proper fast bowlers in the first game. Their strength is fast bowling so no good reason why they will go in with two spinners. One part-time spinner is enough for them. Also not to forget they have got seaming allrounders. We don’t really have… we are still looking for a seaming allrounder that can fit in that slot. Even when we are looking to play with four-fast-bowlers-and-a-spinner combination. Till we don’t find a really good one, there is no point playing somebody for the sake of it.”Another problem Dhoni has is that he wants a flexible batting order, but he can’t really play around with the top four. When Dhoni himself started out, he would bat anywhere between three and six. That was one of his main arguments against a fixed line-up. That you have batsmen ready to go out at any position in the batting order provided the number of overs left calls for their game. Yet the highest he can send a newcomer in is No. 5, which again leaves him playing at No. 6.”Yes I admit a lot of batsmen find it very difficult to do it [move up and down the order] but at the end of the day if everyone becomes very rigid with their batting order it becomes very difficult for the team,” Dhoni said. “If you see the success of the Indian team, a lot of it is down to batsmen who could bat at different numbers. If you see history, we have had batsmen who open in first-class but bat at 3 for us. They used to bat 4 or 5 for their first-class team but they end up being openers for the international side. That flexibility has to be there, and that adaptability has to be there.”I feel it’s very important that youngsters who get a chance get a good opportunity to bat. That’s why I have always been in favour of giving the youngsters a chance to bat at 5 because that’s the only place I have. That’s the only place I can trade. If they consistently bat at 6, on a very good day they will score 30-odd runs. On a bad day they will score 10 runs. After 15 games, the media will be like, ‘He averages only 15, get him out of the side.'”Now is the time, though, to throw all these youngsters into the deep end, for better or for worse, whether they are the finished article or not. For the selectors have not left Dhoni many options. Either Gurkeerat Singh or Manish Pandey will get a taste of what it is like. Sran, and even Rishi, might need to be looked at at some point in the series. When Dhoni spoke glowingly of Australian domestic cricket, he also said the ability to handle pressure mattered more than the talent. He will hope that the raw youngsters he has been given have that quality.
Usman Khawaja is a near certainty to be chosen in Australia’s squad for the World T20 in India despite being overlooked for both the upcoming T20s against India and the ODI squad to tour New Zealand. Australia’s national selector Rod Marsh said Khawaja would be better off playing a Sheffield Shield match to prepare for the Tests against New Zealand, though, rather than potentially being only a backup in the ODI group.Australia chose 17 men for the three T20s against India, starting in Adelaide on Tuesday, but Marsh said it was likely that several of those players would not make the final 15 for the World T20, a squad that will be named after the ODIs in New Zealand. Khawaja scored 345 runs in the Big Bash League at the phenomenal average of 172.50, and was Man of the Match in the final for his 70 in the Sydney Thunder triumph.”Well, would you pick him in your T20 side at the moment?” Marsh said when asked if Khawaja was likely to make the World T20 squad. “Three blokes [the other selectors] are going to have to give me a pretty good case to change my mind. Usman is right up there as far as being included in the T20 World Cup squad.”Khawaja is yet to make his Twenty20 international debut, but is in the form of his life and has not been dismissed for less than 50 in any format since October. Since then he has made Test scores of 174, 9*, 121, 144 and 56, and BBL scores of 109*, 62, 104* and 70. Marsh said there was nothing more Khawaja needed to do in the eyes of the selectors.”We tried our hardest to work him into the side,” Marsh said of the ODI squad to tour New Zealand. “But we just couldn’t find anyone to leave out of the side, because they’re all in fantastic form… It’s very disappointing to him, but he probably should make a phone call to Shaun Marsh and ask him how he felt being dropped after getting 182 [in the Hobart Test].”We’d love to be able to pick 16 or 17 because I think there are 16 or 17 players who actually deserve to be in our one-day side. But we’ve got two very important Test matches and there being no guarantee that Usman would have played if he was in the side, then he’s better off playing a Shield game. That’s the way we decided.”Another notable component of the ODI squad was the inclusion of the uncapped legspinner Adam Zampa, who has impressed the selectors in the shorter formats and picked up 12 wickets at 22.50 for the Melbourne Stars in the BBL season. He is competing with fellow legspinner Cameron Boyce, currently part of the T20 squad, for a place in the World T20 group.”That’s exactly what’s happening,” Marsh confirmed. “His accuracy, his competitive nature, his batting and fielding – he’s a pretty good package. Boycey is also a pretty good package. We’ll wait and see how he goes against India and we’ll wait and see how Adam goes against New Zealand.”
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.”
Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole is unsure whether he will be in Fabio Capello's 23-man England squad for the World Cup finals in South Africa when it is named on Tuesday.
Injuries have led the former West Ham United star to have a frustrating season at club level while doubts about his future at Stamford Bridge have dominated the headlines.
However, Cole came off the bench as a second-half substitute to set up the equaliser in England's unconvincing 2-1 win over Japan in Austria on Sunday, after which he said:"Do I have any nerves? You've got to be pragmatic about it.
"I came here ten days ago to try to enjoy my time back here, train well, and it's in the manager's hands about the squad.
"There are a lot of players who will be hoping, a lot of players have got a good case. But, whatever happens, we are all right behind England and hopefully this will be our time.
"Have I done enough? I don't want to go into that. I had a good finish to the season, I wasn't starting but I was having an impact coming off the bench.
"I came here and did my thing and I've enjoyed it because it has been such a long time. Croatia was my last game and I ended up with ten stitches in my head. It is just nice to be back around the lads and it feels great.
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"I don't know what I will do on Tuesday. I've never been in this position. I don't know. It is a funny atmosphere. There is nothing you can do.
"We've done everything we can do, we've trained hard, everyone has had an excellent week's training and that's all you can do. I'll wake up, have my breakfast and there we go."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Walking off the pitch at the end of England’s game against Algeria- a disappointingly drawn game in which he played particularly poorly- Wayne Rooney took the time to deliver a video message to the fans. You’ve probably heard about it; I imagine a few of the newspapers mentioned it.
“Nice to see your home fans boo you. That’s what loyal support is” he said and, yeah, good shout, Wayne. I mean that literally, too. In a tournament where it had been previously assumed impossible to even hear oneself about the drone of the Vuvuzeleas, even his toughest critics would be forced to concede that getting your words heard by the 21.3 million people ITV report were watching on Friday night is some achievement, even taking into account how many of those 21.3 million would have already switched channels by the time of Wayne’s to camera piece so as to avoid bumping into James Corden.
Rooney has evidently put a lot of thought in to getting his message heard, which is to his credit. Would, though, that he put similar thought in to the crafting of the message itself. For one thing, ‘home fans’? Wayne, you’re playing in South Africa- it’s going on 6000 miles from ‘home’. Even when they talked of you being miles off the pace afterwards, I don’t think they meant that many miles. Secondly, it seems disappointing to be resorting to that horary old crutch that peculiarly English comedy device, sarcasm, so early in the competition. It’s hard to imagine a Kaka or a Messi using such base wit when finding a camera at the end of a World Cup fixture- those lads seem more comfortable on the camera, more adroit and cavalier, always have a trick up the same sleeve Rooney probably keeps his written speech just in case he forgets anything- and even the French, not a team without their own problems at this tournament, have demonstrated a certain imagination in their insults that seemed beyond England’s brightest hope. Is this a problem with coaching? Should our lads be being taught to just get out there and enjoy their spittle leaden monologues from an early age, with less pressure on hitting marks and not treading on the feet of any ball boys in the vicinity handing out the energy drinks?
Further, to whom was the message addressed? His anger was visible and clearly meant for those in the stadium. But they couldn’t hear him. So presumably we were expected to relay his thoughts to them somehow, via, one can only conclude, people we know who’ve travelled out there. That’s going to put a strain on the old phone bill isn’t it? I suppose Wayne can be forgiven this oversight, given that he thought the game was being played at Wembley. But, even so, next time it would surely be easier for everybody were he to nip out during the second half and ask the people operating the P.A system if they wouldn’t mind squeezing his message in between the safety guidelines and the happy birthdays. It’s not like anybody would have missed him on the pitch and, as a bonus, he would have been able to extend his best wishes- and those of the rest of the squad- to the gaffer on his sixty fourth. But I suppose that way we’re back again to concerns regarding sarcasm and additional concerns, in this instance, of how well it translates.
And can I just make the suggestion that if our role in this exchange was the vital cog that transferred it from the speaker to its audience that he may want to consider his tone? Not shooting the messenger is a phrase usually only employed upon delivery of said message, something for the recipient to consider; the sender of the message usually needs no such advice with most realising that such an action would demonstrate, if nothing else, gross inefficiency.
He’s apologised for the statement, through the more stuffy method of a press release, which disappointed those among us who wanted the entire saga to play out, serial style, through a series of similarly shot post match reflections. He probably reasoned that the air time couldn’t take the strain of the narrative, which seems sensible given England’s performances thus far and how decent Slovenia look- one more thirty second slot was hardly likely to incorporate a proper storyline and character development. And such non development from Rooney would have felt, for the viewer, dramatically unsatisfying, no matter how symbolically apt.
Read more of Chris Mackin’s musings at his excellent site ‘Partially Deflated’
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
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