Scorecard Photo galleryDay 1 Bulletin – Honours even despite Flintoff’s fireworks Verdict – Caught in two minds Roving Reporter – Practising what he preaches Day 2 Bulletin – Sri Lanka build towards domination Verdict – A swing and a miss News – Atapattu splits webbing of left hand Quotes – ‘I assumed he was signalling to someone behind me’ Day 3 Bulletin – Samaraweera and Jayawardene increase England’s woes Verdict – A red herring Roving Reporter – Inflatable SantasDay 4 Bulletin – Murali and Fernando blow England away Verdict – And the walls came tumbling down Tillakaratne quotes – ‘We played positively’ Vaughan quotes – ‘Murali beat us fair and square’
Gujarat notched up a quick-fire five-wicket win over Bengal in their 40-over tie during the ongoing HSBC National Cricket Tournament for the Blind, getting to their target of 187 in only 23.2 overs.Winning the toss, Bengal opted to bat first at the SPIC-YMCA ground in Chennai, but only one batsman was able to cross the 30-run mark. T Maity scored 53 off 47 balls, hitting three fours in his knock. The next highest score was made by number 10 batsman P Mondal, who hit an unbeaten 30 off 44 balls.Along with 58 extras, it was these two knocks that contributed the majority of the 186 runs that Bengal made in 37.2 overs. For Gujarat, 10 bowlers were used, with RP Bhola picking 3-30 off eight overs.Bhola then chipped in with the bat as well, hitting 60 off 51 balls, including six fours. His knock at the top of the order went a long way towards taking Gujarat towards a win, a task that SB Patel finished off by making 54 off 38 balls.Gujarat cantered to a five-wicket win off only 23.2 overs, ruining the bowling figures of each of six bowlers that Bengal employed.
Tony Richman smashed 71 not out off 28 deliveries, grabbed 4-56 and, just for good measure, took a stunning one-hand catch as Paultons pulled off a 32-run victory over Southern Electric Premier League Division 3 rivals Purbrook.The Paultons all-rounder launched into a blistering pre-tea assault on the Purbrook attack, smashing six 6s and six fours – and taking 28 runs off Colin Pay’s last over.Skipper Duncan Park (87) and Ollie Jenner (46) provided a 98-run start, but it appeared as though.Paultons might have to settle for a total slightly in excess of 200 … until Richman struck.But, at 140-2 (Mike Hennessy 43) off 27 overs, Purbrook were optimistic about overhauling Paultons’ 265-7 – but then Richman struck again, brilliantly catching Pay (30) before creating inroads with his medium-pace.Purbrook tumbled from a threatening 201-3 to 233 all out, with wickets tumbling all around South African Johnny Repsold (66), who was eventually run out.Predictably, Richman (4-56) and former Wellow & Plaitford captain John Robinson (4-45) initiated the Purbrook collapse.High riding Alton swept to a fourth successive win, beating Portsmouth II by 29 runs at St Helen’s, Southsea.Although Barry Stares (34) and Jamie Scott (25) opened with a half-century partnership, Alton’s 189-8 was never under serious threat.Alton, though, were in some difficulty at 95-6, but were revived by seventh-wicket pair Paddy Heffernan (43) and Howard Gadsby (32).Andy Tapp (3-28) spoiled Portsmouth’s early promise and gave way to Julian Ballinger (4-31) who ensured the hosts late revival – Andy Pitts (26), Doug Bellchamber (25) and Andy Griffiths (23) took the score on to 160 – was kept in check.Graham Barrett cracked an unbeaten 82 as St Cross Symondians thrashed newly promoted Flamingos by ten wickets at The Holt.Hampshire’s Jimmy Adams (3-26) enhanced his growing all-round status by ripping out Flamingos middle-order with his left-arm in-swing.Stuart Charman, Matt Perry-Lewis and Ben Adams all picked up a brace of wickets as Flamingos sank to 108 all out (Richie Manthorpe 26) and a thumping defeat.John Harris hit a battling 67 but was unable to save Hursley Park from a 57-run defeat by Waterlooville, whose 215-8 was built around Australian all-rounder Chris Baumann (65), Martin Shephard (42) and Paul Russell (35).Leckford slipped to a worrying 17-3 before Mike Howard’s unbeaten 77 set up an eventual six-wicket win over United Services II (180-8) at Portsmouth Grammar School.Miles Bulpitt (35) and Andy Cattle (42 not out) gave key support.Left-hander Steve Shaw carried his bat for a splendid 135 as Hook & Newnham Basics piled up 230-6 to outscore New Milton, who were going well at 99-1 (Lee Beck 42, Ben Edgell 42), only to slip to 199 all out.Havant II, facing defeat at 71-5, ralled to overhaul Rowledge’s 217 (Chris Yates 51), with Matt Ward hammering 76.
Aston Villa are back in action on Saturday with an early afternoon Premier League clash against Arsenal at Villa Park as Steven Gerrard’s side will be looking to bounce back after their 2-1 defeat against West Ham United last weekend.
The north London club will also be heading into Saturday’s match off the back of a defeat after losing 2-0 at home to Liverpool in midweek.
As things currently stand, the Gunners are five places and 15 points ahead of the Villans in the league table, with one game in hand on the Midlands club.
On the chalkboard
In terms of which players Gerrard could select in starting XI to take on Arsenal, one man who didn’t start at the London Stadium last weekend but we feel should be in from the beginning this time around is Leon Bailey.
Since arriving at the Midlands club last summer from Bayer Leverkusen in a £25m deal, the Jamaican has started just four of his 13 league appearances, having struggled with injuries at times.
However, since recovering from a thigh injury in February, the £28.8m-rated winger has only appeared in four of Villa’s six previous league games, coming off the substitutes’ bench on all four occasions, which shows that he has struggled to get in the starting XI.
His latest performance off the bench against West Ham saw him make the most of his time on the pitch by making eight passes (including one key pass) and setting up one big chance for his team, also having one shot on target, completing one dribble, winning four of his six duels and making one tackle for good measure.
This 21-minute display ultimately earned the attacker – who has been claimed “can do anything” by former Leverkusen coach Heiko Herrlich – an overall match rating of 7.4/10, which is higher than nine of the Villa players who started the game according to SofaScore.
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With this in mind and after Villa’s defeat last weekend, that could persuade Gerrard to make some changes to his team tomorrow, paving the way for Bailey to come back in and show what he can do against tough opposition rather than someone like Emi Buendia, who the Villa boss may see as an impact substitute once again after providing the assist for Jacob Ramsey last Sunday.
In other news: NSWE had a lucky escape on “complete” £82k-p/w dud whose value has collapsed £25.2m
Michael Dighton has been dumped from Tasmania’s Pura Cup side as the Tigers search for a way out of second-last spot. David Dawson, who has not played a state match since 2005-06, has been recalled to the top of the order.Tasmania, the defending champions, have only won one match this season and they have decided to shake up their regular opening partnership for the bottom-of-the-table clash against Queensland starting on Monday at the Gabba. Michael Di Venuto, who announced during the week that this would be his final summer with Tasmania, is set to partner Dawson.Dighton has averaged 20.50 from his six matches this campaign and has had the least productive season of all Tasmania’s specialist batsmen. Dawson was a standout in the Tasmania Second XI side this week, scoring 105 and 53 against the Western Australia Second XI in Hobart.Tasmania squad Michael Di Venuto, David Dawson, Travis Birt, George Bailey, Daniel Marsh (capt), Dane Anderson, Tim Paine (wk), Luke Butterworth, Jason Krejza, Brett Geeves, Chris Duval, Ben Hilfenhaus.
South Africa will be forced to go into their opening World Cup fixtureagainst Netherlands at Basseterre without any last-minutepractice, after persistent drizzle in St Kitts left the team with nooption but to call off their training session and return to theirhotel.”It’s not ideal and unfortunate,” said South Africa’s coach, MickeyArthur, “but we have worked hard in the last few days and the guys areon top of their game so there was no point in just going out andrisking a possible injury.”South Africa’s preparations were slightly complicated by the latearrival of their chief strike bowler, Makhaya Ntini, who stayed hometo attend the birth of his first daughter. He has now landed in StKitts, but is not expected to take part in tomorrow’s match.But, after a week dominated by the war of words between South Africaand the Australians whom they recently superceded as the world’s No. 1side, Arthur was looking forward to getting on with the competition.”I think we are comfortable with where we are with our preparation atthe moment,” said Arthur, who added that his players were not takingthe Dutch challenge lightly. “We have actually dug deep on theNetherlands, and have got a lot of information and video analysis. Wemanaged to trade off with Ireland – they gave us info about theNetherlands, and we gave them info on Pakistan.”Arthur added that he was particularly impressed with the top three inthe Dutch batting line-up – Darron Reekers, Bas Zuiderent and, inparticular, their South African-born Essex allrounder, Ryan tenDoeschate, who has it in him to be one of the stars of the tournament.”ten Doeschate is their best player,” said Arthur. “He’s a goodcricketer and he bowls good areas.”Arthur confirmed that, to neutralise Netherland’s two “big units”,Reekers and Zuiderent, South Africa would emulate Scotland’s strategyof standing their wicketkeeper, Mark Boucher, up to the stumps. “I thinkit’s something that all keepers expect when they come to the WestIndies,” said Boucher. “When it’s subcontinental conditions you haveto do that sort of thing.”Boucher added that he was unfazed by the lack of practice his team hadgot for tomorrow’s match. “We’ve had four years to practice,” heshrugged. “Getting the job done is what matters. We’ve learnt somehard lessons in past World Cups, so we want to be clinical andprofessional.””We’re a lot better side than them [Netherlands] on paper,” added Boucher.”They’ve got two or three dangerous players, but if we go out thereand concentrate on what we can do, we should have no problem in goingthrough.”
A captain’s knock by Haidee Tiffen helped New Zealand defeat India by five wickets in the second ODI at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln. Tiffen’s 66 came at more than a run-a-ball, as New Zealand easily chased 158 in only 28.2 overs and gained a 2-0 lead in the series.Sent in to bat, India struggled to put up a challenging score after a steady start, with the openers Karu Jain and Jaya Sharma putting on 57. After Sharma’s dismissal for 30, India lost wickets at regular intervals and were unable to step up the run-rate and finished on 157 for 7 in their 50 overs.Anna Dodd, the offbreak bowler, bowled a tight spell, returning with the economical figures of 2 for 19 from 10 overs. In reply New Zealand set out on their chase scoring at a brisk rate. Tiffen, who struck six fours in her innings, missed her chance to score the winning runs, stepping down the track, only to be stumped by Jain off Devika Palshikar when the scores were level.
Wellington 222 for 8 (Parlane 70*, Adams 4-37) v Auckland ScorecardAn unbeaten 70 by Neal Parlane saved Wellington the blushes and carried them to a somewhat respectable 222 for 8 on the first day of the State Championship final at Eden Park in Auckland.Wellington won the toss and chose to bat, but were soon regretting that decision as Kerry Walmsley and Andre Adams, Auckland’s new-ball bowlers, reduced them to 15 for 3. One of those dismissed was Matthew Bell, Wellington’s captain, for just 10. Parlane steadied the innings, adding 65 for the fourth wicket with Jesse Ryder (30), and then putting together 54 with Chris Nevin, who contributed a quickfire 35. Wickets continued to fall at the other end, but Parlane kept going, consuming 158 balls for his knock, which included 11 fours.Adams was the most successful bowler for Auckland, taking 4 for 37, while Walmsley took 3 for 75.
Henry Olonga has repeated his call for international teams to boycott Zimbabwe on moral grounds.His comments were a reaction to news that the England & Wales Cricket Board had delayed making any decision on its planned tour next year. “What is important is not just cricket but the continuing repression of the people in Zimbabwe,” Olonga told the BBC. “The country will lose as a whole if opportunities like this are not taken to try and highlight the plight of the people of Zimbabwe.”It would be pertinent for all countries that have a cricketing relationship with Zimbabwe to acknowledge the situation in Zimbabwe now. But I don’t think we’re going to get a strong stance from any other country than England.”Olonga admitted that were England to withdraw then the already precarious finances of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union would suffer, but he said that with other countries prepared to visit, it would survive.”It will have a financial impact on Zimbabwe cricket, but Zimbabwe is more than just a cricket team. It’s more than just television rights,” he explained. “It’s about five million people potentially facing starvation and that cause to me is more important than any cricket tour.”
The Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) has been accorded the privilege by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to conduct the third one-day international between India and Zimbabwe at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi, on March 13, 2002. This is the third one-day international that the KCA is conducting at this venue.The fixture will be a day match, played with coloured clothing and white ball.The KCA has made elaborate arrangements to make this event a success.Tickets this year have been priced reasonably and are currently in the process of being printed. The rates are as follows:Patron: Rs 1000 Chair: Rs 600, Rs 400, Rs 250 Gallery: Rs 100 Students Gallery: Rs 80 Both teams will arrive in Kochi on March 12. They are expected to have a practice session and pre-match press meet in the evening.The State Bank of Travancore has been appointed as official bankers for the event. Tickets will be available at their branches throughout the State.This year the KCA has awarded rights of in-stadia advertising to 21st Century Media Publications, New Delhi. All interested advertisers should go through them to place in-stadia advertising.As in previous years, extra effort has been made to provide suitable amenities to the public on the day of the match. Toilet facilities, drinking water, and food at reasonable prices will be made available at various points in the stadium.