Justin Langer has dropped a clear hint that he is considering retiring from international cricket after the Ashes. Langer, 35, has thought long and hard about his future after returning home early from South Africa following a blow on the head from Makhaya Ntini in his 100th Test.”I have always said that the day you decide to retire, do it,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald. “Don’t announce it ahead of time, because it will just lead to huge distractions. I can’t say what the future holds beyond the Ashes. I would hate to say something now and it become a big distraction through something that is as big a deal as the Ashes. The last Ashes series really hurt. I would love to leave the game knowing that we had regained the Ashes, and the next Ashes team would have it in their possession.”He said several people close to him had recommended he quit immediately after the Ntini incident, but he had decided to carry on. “I promised that I would go away for three weeks and make a decision,” he said. “When I first came back home I thought that possibly it was the time to go. But I know that now isn’t the right time.”I don’t know if that means I’ve got one series to go or whatever, but I know that I really want to play in the Ashes. It would definitely be nice to leave the game with the Ashes in our possession.”
Langer’s departure, if he does go, could signal the breaking up of the current highly successful side, with several other players coming to the end of their careers. Although Andrew Hilditch, Australia’s new chairman of selectors, was keen to point out that improved diet and training meant players could go on for longer, Langer explained that the time spent away from home was a big factor.”We are compensated well and looked after well, but to be frank, the hardest thing for me now is the time away from home, and it has become excruciatingly hard,” he told the paper. “I am feeling it even more at the moment because I have just had three weeks of spending every day with my kids. It is the hardest thing ever to keep leaving them for long stints.”
A knee problem has forced Simon Katich to return to Australia a week early from a county stint with Hampshire. Katich suffered the injury while playing for the side, which is leading Division One of the County Championship for the first time since 1992, and a Hampshire spokesman said it was only a slight problem. “He’s being careful,” he told AAP.Katich was supposed to play one more match before flying back for a camp in Brisbane with the Australia squads. He will travel to England with the limited-overs outfit on June 5 in preparation for the two one-day tournaments against England and Bangladesh. The five-Test series begins at Lord’s on July 21.The injury did not stop Katich batting or bowling in the Championship win over Glamorgan, and he leaves Hampshire after five games with 445 runs at 44.94. Shane Warne, their captain, is also slightly injured, but his finger problem will not stop him turning out against Warwickshire.
After police had charged at disgruntled crowds buying tickets during the one-dayers, it was a change to see only a few dozen at the ticket counters before the second Test at Lahore. According to a report in Dawn, people were saddened by their team’s performance, and weren’t turning up. But one comment, from a presently disillusioned amateur local cricketer, summed up the feeling: “I have been disappointed from the performance of the team and I will again show any interest for the series if my team stages a comeback.”There’s a fifty-fifty chance of that happening, Wasim Akram writes in his column for The Times of India. But first, the pitch should have bounce and carry. Once that’s done, all Pakistan have to do is make sure their bowlers use it well. It’s the bowlers’ ability to move the ball both ways that can make the difference.By dropping Saqlain Mushtaq, Pakistan have signalled their intent to field four fast bowlers, like the West Indian team of the ’80s, Ravi Shastri writes in the same paper. “But to succeed,” he continues, “the Pakistan bowlers will have to show control and class like the West Indian greats.” He pondered whether the request for a green pitch at Lahore didn’t come too late, as the Indians had opened a large gap between the teams in the first Test – on a strip the Pakistani bowling attack didn’t look too happy about.”If the wicket is slow, how can you hit sixes in the third man region?” Javed Miandad comforted Andy Atkinson. According to Atkinson, even Sachin Tendulkar had given him a `thumbs up’ for the pitch. Atkinson fumed to The Times of India that even now no one had spoken with him about the kind of pitch they wanted. “And if they lose, then they will come and put the blame on me.” He added that Irfan Pathan and Mohammad Sami would move the ball around because they pitched it up, and that the strip would do a bit after the second day.”It will be faster than the wickets that you have seen on this tour so far. It will afford movement to the bowlers,” Shahryar Khan, the chairman of the PCB, said. Though this one would help the bowlers, the last pitch wasn’t bad. Pakistan lost not because of the wicket, but because they dropped catches.”The lack of urgency is pretty evident,” Shahryar said, helpfully adding, “Even a non-cricketing person like my wife can see that.”So could Rashid Latif, who attributed the players’ listless body language during the one-day series to matchfixing. Rameez Raja was fuming, according to . “Rashid only brings up the matchfixing issue when he is not in the team.” And then, he turned on Sarfraz Nawaz for his allegations. “Sarfraz must be the most irresponsible cricketer living today. He has been an embarrassment to the cricket establishment for many years.”Meanwhile, Pakistan’s foreign office had a more novel accusation to deny. The News reported that the Islamic Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alleged that the Test defeat was a gesture of goodwill from Pervez Musharraf, the president, to help Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India’s prime minister, win the elections. A spokesperson for the foreign office refuted the claim. “Winning or losing is not part of confidence-building measures.”Javed Miandad had a unique confidence-building measure for his own team. The Nation quoted Miandad as saying, “Some one should hit a six like I did in 1986 to make this contest more even.”
Mike Powell and Alun Evans both scored centuries as Glamorgan’s batsmen dominated on the first day of their friendly against Cardiff Universities Cricket Centre of Excellence at Sophia Gardens.Powell, captaining a depleted county side, played himself back into form with a century off 140 balls with one six and 15 fours after Glamorgan were put into bat.Following CricInfo Championship scores of 0, 0, 1, 1, 7 and 16 in his last three games Powell was in desperate need of some runs.And against a rather tame student attack he didn’t disappoint as he and Evans added 218 in 46 overs. Powell started slowly but his second half-century arrived off just 59 deliveries.Between lunch and tea Glamorgan went to 115-2 to 311-4, but just before the interval Evans and Powell perished in consecutive overs.Glamorgan picked just three of the side who played in the first team that drew with Kent at Maidstone last week – skipper Powell, Mark Wallace and Simon Jones.Wallace was just one of three other batsmen to make notable contributions before Powell declared the Glamorgan innings on 373-7. Opener Ian Thomas made 38, Dan Cherry an unbeaten 34 and Mark Wallace supplied an impressive 19.The students were held up twice in their first innings by injuries. First wicketkeeper Adrian Shaw hurt a finger taking a leg side delivery from Simon Jones, who in turn hurt his foot forcing Alun Evans to bowl the last three deliveries.The Students finished the first day on 27-0, 346 behind Glamorgan, with the openers Alex French and James Cook having to survive some good new ball bowling from Owen Parkin and trialist Syed Bukhari.
The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards has delivered the latest update on Newcastle United’s plans for the upcoming summer transfer window.
What’s the story?
The journalist has claimed that contrary to what many people may have hoped or even expected of Eddie Howe’s side, the Magpies have “ruled out making expensive superstar signings this summer with (the) transfer budget likely to be less than the £90m spent in January”.
Then, amid some response from fans about the article, Edwards added on Twitter: “Reactions are mixed but I can tell most of the negative ones haven’t read the article. This is a sensible and pragmatic approach from #nufc who have been dismayed by ludicrous transfer stories since takeover. This is an accurate appraisal of things based on multiple sources.”
Newcastle fans will be gutted
After a run of form that has seen Newcastle well and truly climb out of a relegation dogfight, attentions will swiftly be turning towards the excitement of the summer transfer window and the kind of eye-catching business the Magpies will do.
The Tyneside club brought in the in-demand Bruno Guimaraes from Lyon for a big-money fee in January, and that deal certainly whet the appetite of many a supporter on Tyneside.
Indeed, speaking earlier this month, Frank McAvennie said: “The season’s over, they aren’t going to get relegated. I’m interested to see what they do in the summer. Some big, big players are going to come in. There isn’t much of a squad there, as we saw against Everton, so they need to strengthen their options.
“But they aren’t just going to sign average players to beef out the squad, they will be top, top players. I think Newcastle can fly up the table towards Europe next season because that squad will be so different.”
But, if Newcastle fans were hoping that this summer could see a massive spending spree to rival the real big guns across Europe, then it appears they are sadly mistaken.
Edwards’ update that the club may even spend less than what they did in January is extremely disappointing news not only for the club’s fan-base, but also for Howe, who no doubt would have been hoping and even dreaming of splashing the cash yet again.
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The Magpies boss not be happy at all with the club’s current plans.
AND in other news: Sold at £2.2m, now worth £90m: Ashley had a big NUFC disaster on “unstoppable” wizard
Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane led West Zone’s strong reply to England Lions’ 355 on the second day at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. West, needing an outright win to advance, ended the day on 187 for 1 with Jaffer and Rahane still unbeaten.Earlier, the Lions’ overnight batsmen, captain Michael Yardy (169) and nightwatchman Graham Onions (31) guided their side to a solid 322 for 4 before a dramatic collapse allowed West back into the game. The Saurashtra pair of Sandeep Jobanputra and Rakesh Dhurv shared five of the last six wickets to spark West’s fightback.Jobanputra accounted for the overnight pair; bowling Yardy and then removing Onions in his next over before wicketkeeper James Foster fell to Dhurv for a duck. Liam Plunkett swung his bat around for a 22-ball 19, scoring all the runs in a partnership with Adil Rashid, who ground out 9 off 55 deliveries.After the Lions innings folded, West’s reply got off to a poor start with Sahil Kukreja offering Foster a catch in the first over. There were no more successes for the Lions as the Mumbai pair of Jaffer and Rahane forged a 187-run partnership to keep West’s hopes of progressing still alive.Jaffer, who has been a regular Test opener for the Indian side over the past two years, ended the day on a patient 87, including thirteen boundaries while Rahane was a touch more aggressive, stroking 18 fours in his 93.With a strong batting line-up – including Parthiv Patel, Cheteshwar Pujara, the highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy this season, and Yusuf Pathan, who slammed a whirlwind century in his previous game – to follow, West will fancy their chances of racking up a big first-innings score to pile the pressure on the Lions.
Ricky Ponting might have been 20,000 kilometres away in St Kitts, but he kept up to date with Tasmania’s maiden Pura Cup win at Hobart. And it could have been a suggestion from Ponting back in November that helped them to their 421-run victory – he advised Tim Coyle, Tasmania’s coach, to give Luke Butterworth more opportunities.Ponting played a one-day game with Butterworth for Tasmania against Victoria at Melbourne and was impressed with what he saw. Butterworth was Man of the Match in the Pura Cup final, scoring 66 and 106 and taking 4 for 33.”I said to the coach then [in November] that I thought he should play him for the rest of the Pura Cup season,” Ponting told . “I watched the way he bowled and he looked pretty capable with the bat and I thought he could slot into our side really nicely, especially on a wicket at Bellerive that might have assisted the seamers.”He has got a hundred in the final and he got 60 in the first innings as well. More importantly he has taken a lot of wickets in the last five games. He’s only a young bloke as well. He’s got a very bright future.”Ponting said the 15-hour time difference did not keep him from getting regular updates on Tasmania’s progress. “I’ve had a chat to the boys and I’ve been speaking to Michael Di Venuto who is a good mate of mine,” he said. “I haven’t had my phone off for the last two nights, especially last night when we were racking up all those runs.”Ponting, who is technically the Tasmania captain although he rarely plays for them, said Coyle had done well to get the most out of his young squad. “Full credit to the coach and what he has done down there,” he said. “He has stuck by a lot of the young blokes and given them opportunities. They have been the best team all year.”
The office of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 has expressed disappointment with the situation which has seen cement shortages across the Caribbean affecting preparation for the tournament. Don Lockerbie, the venue development director for the tournament, said the Caribbean was “let down” by the cement industry and called for something to be done immediately to `rebuild the situation’.”The Cricket World Cup office is very seriously monitoring the situation and we have made demands to the Local Organising Committees as to the nature and seriousness,” Lockerbie said. “We are aware of the shortages – there were shortages in nearly every territory. I am personally quite surprised that the industry could let down the region, when in the region of (US) $300 million has been invested in this project. The stadium development for the tournament deals with cement and blocks should have been a major one on everyone’s agenda.”Lockerbie said that the Cricket World Cup has called for reports from all the nine countries – with 13 stadiums, which will be hosting matches. He said Jamaica and Guyana have been the worst hit, but other countries also faced difficulties.The other countries hosting matches are Barbados, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, St Kitts, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.Lockerbie said the situation was especially worrying as the senior assessors from the ICC will be touring the venues at the end of April to determine readiness.”Here we are, one month before the ICC’s tour, and the time where I wanted to see the greatest progress, is now hampered by an industry we needed the greatest help from. It’s a major let down,” Lockerbie said.”At this point it’s not unsolvable, we are far enough along and we hope the tournament is important enough that the Cricket World Cup project and the stadium development will be given priority, but this is an annoyance.”
The Green Park in Kanpur has been a lucky venue for India – they have won six out of eight games, and every one of their last four matches. The last time they lost a one-day international here was more than ten years back, in October 1994, when West Indies beat them by 46 runs. Since then, the Indians have beaten Zimbabwe (twice), England and West Indies. Pakistan haven’t played an ODI here. (Click here for all the results from ODIs at Kanpur.)
Going by past record, the Indian captain might be tempted to field first if he wins the toss. Five of India’s six wins here have come when chasing a target, and they’ve all been very convincing wins too – the closest margin was by six wickets with 11 balls to spare against England in the Nehru Cup in 1989-90. That was the match in which Krishnamachari Srikkanth, the Indian captain, made what turned out to be an inspired change to the batting line-up – chasing 256, India were 65 for 2 when out walked Chetan Sharma at No. 4. He blasted 101 from just 96 balls, and India were home in a canter.
Winning the toss isn’t such a blessing here – in nine games, the team losing the toss has won on seven occasions, including the last five ODIs.
And this should cheer up the bowlers from both camps – the highest score by the team batting first is 257, made by West Indies in 1994, and only twice has 250 been topped. In fact, that match against West Indies almost 11 years back is still remembered for the infamous go-slow tactics by Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia. Both dawdled at the crease instead of going for the runs – Prabhakar’s unbeaten 102 spanned 154 balls, while Mongia was not out on 4 from 21 – as India finished up on 211 for 5. In the last four ODIs here, the team batting first has scored 218 (in 39 overs), 165, 222 and 247.
Both seamers and spinners have done reasonably well here. Since 1996, the fast bowlers have 30 wickets at 32.43, with an economy rate of 4.89, while spinners have accounted for 16 wickets at 38.44 (economy rate 4.57). The Indian spinners have done much better, though, averaging only 28.69 and conceding only 4.12 per over.
Kanpur has been one of the more prolific venues for Sachin Tendulkar, who has scored 312 from six games at 78, including one century and two half-centuries.S Rajesh is assistant editor of Cricinfo.