Percy Sonn’s funeral took place in Cape Town on Saturday, six days after the ICC president died from complications following colon surgery.Leading members of world cricket, including South African captain Graeme Smith, government figures and judiciary attended the service at St George’s Cathedral.”It is amazing that Percy, the boy from Bellville Cricket Club, became the boss of world cricket,” said ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed.Pall bearers into the cathedral included Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Peter Chingoka and Gerald Majola, Cricket South Africa’s CEO.
Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”) Streaming Audio: Real :: WMAIndian cricket has changed fundamentally in the last five years, and there is no one who can place these changes in a historical perspective better than Ramachandra Guha, the cricket historian and author of A Corner of a Foreign Field. In this interview with Cricinfo Audio, Guha tells Amit Varma about how “the absence of parochialism” was the seminal shift that set Sourav Ganguly’s side apart. Among the many reasons for this shift: the appointment of a foreign coach, and crowded international cricket itineraries.Guha also speaks of the decentralisation of cricket in these years – the rise of the small towns – and the role that television played in this process. He also talks about the last few months, and why Indian cricket needs Rahul Dravid now just as it needed Ganguly once. He holds that the gains to Indian cricket are irreversible, but there is, nevertheless, something that worries him.Listen in!Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”) Streaming Audio: Real :: WMA
Vincent Hogg, who resigned as managing director of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union in August, has until now kept his silence over the whole rebel-player crisis. But AFP are reporting that he was ready to tell all to the ICC hearing into allegations of racism levelled against the Zimbabwe board.As the hearing was cancelled, Hogg will instead write to the ICC outlining several incidents involving black ZCU directors, explaining that these led to his decision to stand down at the board’s AGM.”I am going to write to the adjudicators describing some of the things that were done and said to me during the dispute with the players,” he told the agency. “For instance one director told me that whites have no right to be in the country at all … and that was during a formal meeting.”Some of the directors were totally out of order in this regard and it was extremely upsetting to have to listen to that sort of racist language,” he continued. “I was hoping to give this evidence orally to the two adjudicators when they were here last week, but I did not get the chance.”The news that Hogg is willing to speak out will be a blow to the Zimbabwe board. Whereas it believed that it could counter the players’ evidence, the testimony of Hogg, who was privy to most board meetings, will be harder to dismiss. Hogg was embroiled in several incidents towards the end of his tenure, and whereas those would have been recounted to the hearing third hand, his testimony could be far more damning. He added: “Some of the things said to me at that time were just terrible.”But Hogg said that he did not agree with the rebels that the national selectors acted improperly or favoured coloured players over whites.
One of the players in dispute with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union has claimed that a leading official threatened to dig up the pitch for a recent international match if more black players were not selected for the series against Sri Lanka. Another local player told Wisden Cricinfo that the official had also said that he would orchestrate a pitch invasion if his demands were not met.Australia’s newspaper reported that the player, who chose to remain anonymous, explained to Ross Barrat – the chief executive of Albion, who make helmets and other cricket clothing – that the rebels had made it a legal matter. He claimed that the official has a track record of erratic behaviour, and last season allegedly assaulted an opposing player during a match.”Things have gone mad here,” wrote the player. “We’ve had non-stop meetings … for the last three weeks. We’re forcing them into arbitration, which they don’t like because they’re so guilty. It’s a dangerous move, but we’re doing it to try to save Zimbabwe cricket.”The report added that the letter (written before the latest round of negotiations) claimed that a number of individuals were considering joining the player exodus, with Australia the favourite destination.The signs that a settlement might be on the way, which came when four rebels were picked for the A-team match against the Sri Lankans, soon disappeared when it emerged that the other 11 rebel players were not being considered for selection in the squad for this week’s first Test. The Zimbabwean board – via the government-controlled Herald newspaper – said that the 11 were all “unfit”.This claim was met with a shrug of the shoulders by one senior player: “We all passed our fitness tests,” he said. He added that the ZCU again appeared to be trying to find a way out of the mess with a combination of half-truths and slyness. Whether this will work depends on the attitude of the four – Streak, Trevor Gripper, Sean Ervine and Ray Price – and whether the board meets the Tuesday deadline imposed by the rebels.One interesting aside was that Streak was given the biggest ovation of anybody by the all-black crowd at Takashinga when he went out to bat against the Sri Lankan tourists on Saturday. This is an indication of the respect he is held in by all sections of the community. The local press’s decision to label him as a racist clearly left the crowd unimpressed.
The placid contours that had marked the first two World Cupcompetitions were disturbed quite markedly in the third editionin 1983. The competition, held in England for the thirdsuccessive time, started with a couple of upset results and endedin the biggest shock of all. At the end of it, West Indies hadbeen dethroned from their pedestal and surprisingly, the newchampions were not Australia or England but India who had beenranked 66 to one outsiders on the eve of the tournament.The format was once again the same as the eight teams were placedin two groups. While group A comprised England, Pakistan, NewZealand and Sri Lanka, group B comprised West Indies, Australia,India and Zimbabwe. By now Sri Lanka had joined the ranks of Testnations and Zimbabwe were the only associate member to make thegrade. But one important change in the format was that each teamwould be playing each other at the preliminary stage twice. Thismade each group quite competitive and had an impact on thesurprising results.The opening round itself was marked by two surprising resultswith Zimbabwe defeating Australia and India upsetting the WestIndies.Zimbabwe’s defeat of Australia was easily the biggest upsetresult in the history of the World Cup. The African nation hadbeen listed as 1000 to one outsiders to win the competition butwith a highly professional performance they won by 13 runs. Thebatsmen played Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Rodney Hogg and GeoffLawson with more than a degree of confidence while the bowlerswere able to restrict Kepler Wessels, Graeme Wood, Kim Hughes,Allan Border, Graham Yallop, David Hookes and Rodney Marsh.India’s victory over the West Indies was almost as big a shock.For starters, India had won just one of six matches in the twoprevious competitions. Secondly, West Indies had never previouslybeen defeated in 1975 and 1979.India had served notice that they might be coming to termsfinally with the intricacies of the limited overs game bydefeating West Indies at Berbice dur ing their tour to theCaribbean a few months earlier. But few expected a similar resultin the World Cup where West Indies had reigned as undisputedchampions.The two matches set the tone for some more surprising results tofollow and a few days later, Sri Lanka surprised hotly fanciedNew Zealand in a group match. But the tournament was not allabout surprise results.West Indies won their next five matches totop the group. England likewise won five and lost only one intopping their pool comfortably. But there was a keen tussle forthe second semifinalist spot from each group. Finally, India gotthe better of Australia in group A while New Zealand, underpressure because of their upset loss to Sri Lanka, were edged outby Pakistan in group B.The semifinals pitted India against England and West Indiesagainst Pakistan. Not unexpectedly, a second successive finalbetween England and West Indies was freely predicted. But Indiaupset the calculations even if Pakistan could not. It was anunexpected bonus for the sub-continent to produce two of thesemifinalists and Kapil’s Devils as they were now christenedproceeded to make the pundits scratch their heads in disbelief.The captain himself had played one of the great one-day knocks inthe return game against Zimbabwe. Entering when the scoreboardread nine runs for the four wickets, Kapil first extricated histeam from the dicey situation and then went on to launch into afurious counter attack that ultimately saw him get an unbeaten175, the highest score in a one-day international with the helpof 16 fours and six sixes. Inspired by their captain, the teammembers put up a splendid show.India’s advantage was that they had a number of utility players,so very essential in the limited overs game. Still it waspredicted that a confident England side playing at home would getthe better of India. England did start well with the 100 comingup for the loss of only two wickets but they then flounderedagainst Mohinder Amarnath and Kirti Azad who bowled 24 oversbetween them for just 55 runs and three wickets. India neversurrendered the initiative that they obtained with England beingbowled out for 213. Sensible batting by every one of their mainbatsmen Sunil Gavaskar, K Srikkanth, Amarnath, Yashpal Sharma andSandip Patil saw India home with six wickets and 5.2 overs tospare.
India were now one steep step away from the summit. But theystill had to get the better of the West Indies who in the othersemifinal coasted to an eight-wicket victory over Pakistan.Despite the impressive showing by the Indians, the West Indiesremained firm favourites on the eve of the title clash at Lord’son June 25. And a hat-trick of title triumphs was taken forgranted when India were all out for 183. The feeling gainedmomentum when West Indies were 50 for one with the incomparableVivian Richards in commanding form.Then followed an amazing turn about. Within a few overs, WestIndies had slumped to 76 for six and suddenly India were headingfor an astonishing title triumph. Kapil took a fine catch todismiss Richards, Madan Lal took three quick wickets and it wasleft to Jeff Dujon and the long tail to try and retrieve thesituation. The wicket-keeper and Malcolm Marshall did give therampaging Indians some anxious moments in putting together a 43-run seventh wicket partnership. But now Amarnath did the starturn. He broke the partnership by getting rid of Marshall andthen took the last wicket to herald Indian cricket’s greatestmoment. West Indies were all out for 140 and the whole of Indiaerupted in a riotous celebration. It was a well-deserved triumph,for after all India had beaten the West Indies not just once buttwice and had also added England’s scalp for good measure.The Indians got six man of the match awards and these includedtwo for Mohinder Amarnath for his all-round display in thesemifinal and final, while Roger Binny, with 18 victims, emergedas the leading wicket-taker.
India’s batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar suffered a foot injury duringthe final of the tri-nation series against the West Indies on Saturdaywhen his right foot spiked his left foot while fielding, forcing himto withdraw from the first part of the coming Sri Lankan tour.”Though an X-ray has ruled out any fracture, the injury is extremelypainful and the foot has to be rested for at least two to three weeksas there is an aggravation of muscles”, the Indian Cricket Board(BCCI) sources said in Mumbai today.His right foot, with spikes, landed between toe and heel of the leftfoot, resulting in a sesamoid bruise, sources added.However, the BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele or any of the selectors whomet here yesterday to finalise the team for Sri Lankan tour were notable to describe the nature of injury to Tendulkar’s foot butannounced that the Mumbai star would be joining the team for the lastleague tie against New Zealand on 2 August.
When Marcelo Bielsa looks back on his time at Leeds United, last summer’s transfer window may be the one he looks at as the beginning of the end for him.
The Whites’ squad was already razor-thin as it was, but the Yorkshire club failed to get a number of their targets through the door, including one of the most eye-catching in Club Brugge’s Noa Lang.
Indeed, it was suggested that the Whites had even agreed personal terms with Lang ahead of a potential move to Elland Road, and all that was left to be discussed was the actual fee involved.
Of course that didn’t materialise in the end, and Lang has simply gone from strength to strength with Brugge this season, and now has the likes of Arsenal monitoring his progress.
In fact, with reports claiming he could be available for £33m in the upcoming summer transfer window, it does feel like Leeds really missed the boat with the flying Dutchman.
Hailed as a “phenomenon” by Belgian journalist Peter Vandenbempt, the 22-year-old made history when he became the first player in more than 50 years to mark his debut for Ajax by scoring a hat-trick – something that left manager Erik ten Hag waxing lyrical about him in his post-match press conference.
He said: “He showed (his talent) today and I am very happy with that. Noa shows (his ability) it during training and during the reserve matches. And today he has also clearly shown it at the highest level too.”
And, after a particularly fine performance against KRC Genk, Belgian analyst Filip Joos, said: “He is currently the best player in the league, I think. That‘s really pure class. He sees it, makes eye contact with Mechele who finishes it fine. Fantastic goal, because that pass is also ideal. He is constantly moving, he swings across the field, he likes to dribble, but he will always play it at the right time.”
This year has seen him net eight goals and provide another 13 assists in 40 games across all competitions, including picking up an assist in the Champions League against PSG earlier in the group stages.
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Given how fellow winger and summer signing Dan James has fared since his move from Manchester United – the Welshman has managed just four goals and four assists in 28 Premier League matches and 31 games in total – Leeds will surely be ruefully looking at Lang and wondering what could have been.
Missing out on the Brugge dynamo is one that would have left Bielsa no doubt gutted.
AND in other news: Orta set for Leeds disaster as terms agreed for £63k-p/w “storm” who’s “a level above”
England 286 for 6 (Vaughan 63, Strauss 43, Pietersen 42, Collingwood 41*, Martin 2-53, Vettori 2-60) trail New Zealand 470 by 184 runs Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary How they were out
On a day that was the antithesis of Twenty20’s thrill-a-minute cricket, England’s progress was, at its most exciting, pedestrian and at times they almost ground to a halt. They closed on 286 for 6 with Paul Collingwood and Tim Ambrose well set, still 184 in arrears, and in 93 overs they managed only 199 runs. Is it any wonder that crowds for Tests in New Zealand are so poor?While England got dogged defence down to a fine art, they forgot that to defend successfully, you need to score runs as well. For almost an hour in the afternoon the run-rate hovered at around one an over. Incredibly, that was while Kevin Pietersen was at the crease. The result was that although New Zealand only took four wickets, their lead remains large enough that if they can bowl England out cheaply tomorrow and score quick runs, they will have at least a day for their bowlers to win the match.New Zealand bowled superbly until weariness took hold in the last hour. The seamers offered little, the spinners tormented the batsmen, and Daniel Vettori tightened the noose with intelligent field placing that choked England’s usually aggressive middle order.Resuming on 87 for 2, England pressed on for much of the morning as Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss made slow, steady and untroubled progress, and when Vaughan brought up his half-century with a deliberate steer to third man off Vettori, the chatter was all about how a draw was almost inevitable.Even when the breakthrough came from Jeetan Patel, it seemed only a brief hiccup. Patel, who visibly grew in confidence as the day progressed, found a modicum of turn outside off stump and Vaughan feathered a sharp chance through to Brendon McCullum behind the stumps. Three balls after lunch and Strauss fell, undone by a sublimely-flighted ball from Vettori which fizzed out of the footmarks outside off and ripped through a loose drive.Vettori then turned the screw. When not bowling himself, he placed his field to choke the batsmen’s strengths, especially when Pietersen was on strike, reducing one of the game’s great strokemakers to a plodding grafter. Pietersen thumped the third ball of his innings before lunch for a towering straight six; in the entire afternoon he managed 26 runs, and eight of those came off the last two overs of the session. It wasn’t until the brink of tea that he hit his second boundary.
Ian Bell, seemingly untroubled by the injury to his hand sustained on the first morning, never really settled, and with Pietersen rendered almost impotent, runs almost totally dried up – 56 came off 31 overs in the afternoon session. So effective were the spinners than Vettori delayed taking the new ball for almost an hour. When it did arrive, Kyle Mills nipped one back between bat and pad to bowl Bell, and the possibility of a follow-on, until then at the back of the mind, became a real possibility. Whether Vettori would have enforced it is another matter.Pietersen’s uncharacteristic vigil – he was at one stage given an ironic cheer for a single – ended soon after tea when a thin edge into his pads carried back to a diving Vettori, but as the shadows lengthened Collingwood and Ambrose finally started to hit out, their unbeaten seventh-wicket stand of 41 coming at heady two an over. The diminutive Ambrose showed no sign of nerves in his debut innings.England should have done enough to ensure that unless this pluperfect surface suddenly falls apart, this game will end in nothing other than stalemate. But watching the way Vettori and Patel whirled away in the afternoon, and imagining how many more questions they will ask on a wearing fifth-day pitch, it would be foolish to write New Zealand off quite yet.
When England’s Kevin Pietersen bats against South Africa in a crucial World Cup Super Eights match on Tuesday he will be short of neither motivation nor confidence. That Pietersen reserves his best against the country of his birth can be gauged from his average of 151.33 against South Africa, and 56.55 overall.Pietersen is currently in good form, having scored England’s only century of the tournament against Australia in the Super Eights. England supporters hope he continues in the same vein in a match they need to win to sustain their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals. If South Africa are successful, they will be in the last four.Lurking beneath the surface is a bitter relationship between Pietersen, who was condemned as an opportunist when he decided to qualify for England after protesting against the quota system in South Africa, and the opposition captain Graeme Smith. The two have been engaged in a torrid war of words for two years.”Everyone knows we don’t get on for whatever reasons, but that’s gone,” Pietersen said. “It’s not about myself, Smith, Andre Nel or Michael Vaughan on Tuesday, it’s about producing a big team performance.”I wouldn’t say that it is the game that matters to me more than the others because the match against Australia is big as well, but it’s an important game for me and I look forward to it. It’s going to be a big game with a lot of needle. I don’t know why there is needle between the two sides other than there are some really world-class players on both the sides.”
Smith was furious when Pietersen switched allegiances. “I’m patriotic about my country, and that’s why I don’t like Kevin Pietersen – the only reason that Kevin and I have never had a relationship is because he slated South Africa,” Smith has said in the past.Pietersen tried to diffuse a potentially explosive situation on Monday. “I saw Smith in India and I saw him in the world series and we said hello,” he said.Smith and Michael Vaughan, the England captain, will both face the added pressure of needing to get their sides off to strong starts. England’s top three has struggled during the tournament and Vaughan is determined to lift to improve their chances of a semi-final spot.”It is a mixture of reasons for the struggle at the top of the order and definitely form is one of those,” Vaughan said. “We need to spend some time in the centre. We have to improve in some areas.”South Africa lost to New Zealand on Saturday but Smith was confident of a quick recovery. “It is a crunch game for us and it always was going to be,” he said. “We’ll bounce back. We have a lot of experience and we’ve got a lot of big players looking forward to the England game.”
Sean Williams has ended speculation over his future by signing up with Clara Vale Cricket Club in Newcastle, England, as their overseas professional.Williams signed his contract on Monday and is now waiting for his work permit to enable him to apply for a visa to enter the United Kingdom, and he expects to leave in two weeks time. Williams, 19, got offers from a number of English clubs, but Clara Vale put forward the best deal.The latest developments mean that Williams will not be able to go to the South African National Academy where he had been offered place, because the Academy runs at the same time as the English domestic season.”My goal is to play county cricket next season and I am going to work hard to achieve that,” he said. “I have not made up my mind on whether I still want to play for Zimbabwe … it’s not an easy decision to make.”In March, Williams, a left handed batsman who is also effective with his left-arm spin, rejected a contract offer from Zimbabwe Cricket as he set his sights on a career outside the country.He represented Zimbabwe in two Under-19 World Cups, the first in 2004 held in Bangladesh and captained the team to a Super League finish at this year’s event in Sri Lanka. Williams has played four ODIs for Zimbabwe.