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© CricInfo

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.

© CricInfo

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

	Kyle Mills pumps his fists next to the broken stumps after bowling Ian Bell © Getty Images

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.

	Daniel Vettori clings onto a fine caught-and-bowled low to his left to dismiss Kevin Pietersen © Getty Images

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.

Kevin Pietersen’s century against Australia was the batting highlight of England’s campaign © AFP

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.”

Graeme Smith: “We have a lot of big players looking forward to the England game” © Getty Images

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.

Scorecard

Ali Brown on his way to his hundred © Getty Images

A sparkling and characteristically boundary-strewn 152 not out by Ali Brown gave Surrey a slim first-innings lead on an overcast day against Middlesex at Lord’s. With only one day left, the odds are still on a draw, but Surrey could still force an improbable win if they were to bowl Middlesex out fairly cheaply tomorrow. Although only 20 wickets have fallen in three days so far, the pitch showed a few hints that it might be getting a little more inconsistent.The beauty of Brown is you know what you are getting, and he was soon into his stride after Alan Richardson had removed Richard Clinton without adding to his overnight 73. Brown was in no mood to be subdued, and from the moment Richardson struck again, Jonathan Batty holing out to Paul Weekes at third man, Surrey took firm control.Brown and Dominic Thornely feasted on Middlesex’s all-seam attack cutting and driving with power and authority. Thornely, who a week ago was chilling out doing a little fishing in Australia, found his stride and hit the shot of the day, a straight drive which shattered a window in the refurbished pavilion.

Dominic Thornely hits out © Getty Images

Their stand of 184 in two-and-a-half hours was ended when one from Scott Styris kept low and crept under Thornely’s jab, but the veteran Martin Bicknell hung around with Brown long enough to finally deflate Middlesex’s hopes. With Mark Ramprakash out of the match with a cracked thumb, the tail had beckoned.Bicknell eventually fell for 33 to a questionable leg-before to the occasional seam of Ed Joyce, the eighth bowler used by Ben Hutton, and as Brown cut loose, Surrey’s tail fell away in the hunt for quick runs as the gloom descended.If Brown dominated with bat, it was yet another successful day for Richardson whose six wickets took his season total to 38, the same as his previous best in a whole summer.

Mumbai 613 drew with Tamil Nadu 294 and 353 for 4 (Badrinath 110*, Badani 77*) and won the Ranji Trophy by virtue of a first-innings lead
Scorecard
Mumbai won the Ranji Trophy – a staggering 36th triumph – by virtue of their first-innings lead, as their final against Tamil Nadu petered out to a tortuous draw. Any hopes of a competitive match had ended on the third day, so by the close of the fifth, Tamil Nadu’s batsmen were consoling themselves with personal milestones.Subramanium Badrinath crawled to his fourth century of the season – without doubt the least meaningful of the lot – and Hemang Badani was equally painstaking in compiling an unbeaten 77, as Mumbai’s part-time bowlers sent down 49 overs between them. Their season had long resembled a walk in the park, but in the final session of the day, they took it literally. At least Vinayak Samanth, the wicketkeeper, ensured that nobody dozed off completely with his bursts of raucous appealing, although on most occasions, the bat was nowhere close to the ball.Badrinath took 37 balls to move from 98 to his hundred, and a soporofic air enveloped the empty stadium. Barring a flurry of boundaries after lunch, the scoring rate was largely stagnant. Badani’s innings was the antithesis of his century in the previous year’s final, which had given his team a faint chance of victory. This time the match was already long gone.Badrinath and Badani’s partnership lasted for 349 pride-salvaging minutes, and came after Sadagoppan Ramesh had fallen plumb lbw in the fifth over of the morning (180 for 4). But at least Tamil Nadu redeemed themselves after their shoddy showing in the first innings. “We had a great chance to put up a big score after winning the toss,” admitted their dejected captain, Somasetty Suresh. “We also had the home conditions favouring us. It was a really disappointing show on the first day. We learnt a lot when Mumbai batted and showed so much application. We tried to bat like that in our second innings and we did that pretty well. But it was all too late.”Having backed their batting strength and prepared a shirt-front of a pitch, Tamil Nadu lost the game on the very first day. From a spectator’s point of view, the match finished on the third, after Mumbai ground Tamil Nadu out of the contest. After witnessing this drab encounter, the need for sporting pitches could hardly be more pressing, but with the notable exception of Dinesh Karthik, Tamil Nadu’s batsmen simply gave the final away.For Mumbai, though, it was a culmination of a great couple of years. As soon as play was called off, there were shouts and huddles all around. Like a philatelist adding one more to his collection, they neatly pouched their 36th stamp – a full 30 more than their nearest rivals, Delhi and Karnataka.

JOHANNESBURG – West Indies manager Ricky Skerritt made a telling observation on his team following their World Cup defeat against New Zealand at Port Elizabeth four days ago."It was a very good test for the lads and perhaps a reminder that we haven’t gone as far forward as we would have liked to have gone," he noted.Skerritt was not taking a swing at anyone, but rather touching on the point that the West Indies team still needs to be more analytical in their approach and clinical in the execution of their duties.The West Indies let the Kiwis off the hook at the death of the innings, and then could not find the resolve to reach what was a challenging but not insurmountable target."We have the opportunity still to show we can do well in this competition and we now have the real test ahead," Skerritt added.Many observers believed the West Indies turned the corner from their barren run when they played brilliantly on recent tours of India and Bangladesh.With the return of Brian Lara and the excellent win over South Africa in the opening match, the Windies announced themselves as a good bet for at least the semifinals.The manager noted that the team is mentally very strong and the defeat against New Zealand served as a reminder that the other sides are very competitive and hard work must be put in to gain the necessary results.Some of this hard work was put in yesterday morning when the team had an intense three-hour net session at the Woolmore Stadium in Benoni, 20 kilometres outside Johannesburg.The only worry is a back complaint to left-arm fast bowler Pedro Collins, and he is being well looked after by physiotherapist Suzette Liebenberg, who has been hired on contract for the World Cup.She is the wife of former South African wicket-keeper Gerhardus Liebenberg and has worked with the Free State team for the past six years.The West Indies also have other South Africans in their camp. Russell Metzer, a young business graduate who is pursuing a degree in physiotherapy and who has worked with Eastern Province, was hired as massage therapist for the duration of the World Cup. An architect is the baggage officer and a business manager is liaison officer.Today, the team goes to Actonville for a coaching clinic with junior players from Guateng, but it will be Tuesday’s match against Bangladesh at Benoni which will be foremost on their minds.

India had a slight scare ahead of their triangular one-day seriesmatch against West Indies tomorrow with captain Saurav Ganguly runningmild temperature today.Ganguly, who ended his run-drought with a 85-run knock in the previousgame against Zimbabwe, did not come out for practice today but teammanager Chetan Chauhan was confident that the captain would be fit fortomorrow’s game. “He should be alright tomorrow,” Chauhan said.However, VVS Laxman, who sat out in the previous game with a fingerinjury in the first match against Zimbabwe, has been ruled out fortomorrow’s game as well. “He is not 100 per cent fit. He can stillfeel the pain in his finger and we would give him rest,” Chauhan said.”He should be fit for the remaining two games of the competition, onJuly 4 and the final on July 7,” he said.Chauhan confirmed that pacemen Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar wouldskip tomorrow’s match.”All the others who have not played so far will get a game tomorrow.Debasish Mohanty, Reetinder Singh Sodhi and Harvinder Singh are all inthe starting line-up,” he said.West Indies captain Carl Hooper said his side was looking forward totake on India who appear a very strong team at the moment.”Obviously, the way the competition has gone, Zimbabwe is down at themoment and we want to do well against India,” Hooper said.”We expect India to be a strong opposition, certainly better thanZimbabwe – without meaning disrespect to the latter – and we willfight all the way,” he said.Hooper said it has been apparent in the tournament that the teamwinning the toss puts the opposition in to bat.”It is because it is winter here. There is heavy dew in the night andthe wicket has early moisture. The ball certainly does a bit in thefirst hour and that’s why the opposition choose to insert the otherside in to bat,” the skipper said.But West Indies won their first match against Zimbabwe by a convincing27-run margin after being put into bat.”We have gained confidence from that win and I feel these are goodtracks to bat provided you can see off the first 8-10 overs,” he said.Hooper said he would not mind playing two spinners against theIndians, even though the latter have the reputation of havingoutstanding players against spin bowling. “Spin or seam, we got tobowl well on these tracks. We have got two spinners to be thrown atthe opposition should the need arise,” Hooper, who himself is aneffective off-spinner, said.Hooper said even though two of his fast bowlers, Reon King and MervynDillon, did not bowl well in the opening match, he did not want to beharsh on them. “I do not want to be harsh on them. They are stillfinding their feet. Reon has come after a long gap into the side whileDillon has had problems with his line and length in one-dayinternationals,” he said.