Shoaib Malik, the captain of the Sialkot Stallions, could have put his place in the Caribbean-bound Pakistan squad in jeopardy, after deliberately conceding a gameto the Karachi Zebras in the ongoing Twenty20 tournament in Lahore.Speaking to Cricinfo, PCB Director Saleem Altaf said: “The principles of natural justice must apply now. There has been a breach of the playing code of conduct and this would be a Level II offence around the world. That results in either a 50-100% match fee fine or aone-Test or two-ODI match ban.”Malik is due to face a three-man disciplinary hearing on Saturday morning comprising the former Test cricketer and selector, Shafiq Ahmed; the former team manager, HaroonRasheed, and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) legal adviser, Asghar Haider, who will decide on the punishment.It could’ve been a lot worse, however, as sources within the PCB revealed to Cricinfo that the PCB Chairman, Shaharyar Khan, had been incensed enough by Malik’s actions to suggest dropping him from the touring squad immediately. “The chairman wanted himout straight away but he must be given a disciplinary hearing first.”The PCB had been trying to contact Malik for most of the day without luck, althoughsources said that Malik was keen to meet the chairman and apologise for his behaviour, adding: “He is repentant now.”Malik refused to speak of the incident when contacted but some reports yesterday suggested he had apologised to fans soon after the post-match ceremony, where headmitted he had lost the match deliberately. Malik claims he was protesting against an earlier result in the tournament, when the Lahore Eagles were controversially awarded a victory against his side due to a penalty imposed for slow over-rates.Newspapers reported that Malik had constantly asked the umpires whether they were behind the over-rate and had been told they weren’t. It was only later, after the matchwas over, that the Lahore Eagles manager complained to the match referee, who then overturned the verdict.Abbas Zaidi, Director Protocol and PR for PCB told Cricinfo that players had failed to read the tournament rules and regulations properly. “The penalties for slow over-rates are clearly laid out and if players don’t read them, then these sort of situations canarise.”The situation comes during a mixed time for Malik; it follows his successful tour of India where he ended the ODI series as Man of the Match in Delhi, scoring his third fifty of the series. In recent months, he has also been widely tipped as a future captain of Pakistan by, among others, Shaharyar Khan. But this has come amid continuing speculation abouthis bowling action. Until he started bowling again in India, his form and place in the side seemed uncertain. After this latest incident, it might be so once again.
Australia’s run of bad luck with injuries seems set to continue, with Jason Gillespie ruling himself an unlikely starter for Australia’s third Test against India, which starts on December 26 at Melbourne. Gillespie strained his right groin and was forced to leave the field on the last day of the Adelaide Test, which India won by four wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the series.”I’m feeling pretty good this morning, and the medical staff are pleased it isn’t too bad, but I’m not holding high hopes of playing at Melbourne,” Gillespie said. “My guess is I’ll be running and just starting to bowl by then, which will be good, but as for the rigours of a five-day match, I’m not sure I’ll be ready for that.” According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Gillespie could realistically be expected to return only for the fourth Test, at Sydney.”I’d obviously be very keen to play,” Gillespie added. “This is a great series to be involved in, and I’d want to play my part. I also felt that Adelaide was the best I’d bowled in Tests for about a year, though the rewards didn’t come my way.” Gillespie finished with match figures of 2 for 128.Talking about the moment when he first felt the injury, Gillespie said: “I hit my delivery stride and felt a twinge in my groin. I was going to try another ball but Stephen [Waugh] said I should go and get it checked.” Gillespie was in his 11th over of the innings.With Glenn McGrath already ruled out for the entire series and Shane Warne still serving a one-year ban, Australia’s bowling attack will be severely depleted if Gillespie is indeed ruled out. The good news is that Brett Lee is all set to return, while Brad Williams’s shoulder injury is expected to heal completely in a week’s time.Australia will name their third-Test squad on December 22.
Twenty-one wickets fell on the first day of the match between Central Districts and Auckland at Fitzhebert Park, Palmerston North.A treacherous pitch is making a lottery of a game that could go a long way to deciding the outcome of the State Championship.When Auckland began their second innings there was a real possibility that the match could be the first of first-class status anywhere in the world since 1960 to finish in a day.With a combination of positive play and the slice of luck that is essential for survival here, Mark Richardson (38 not out) guided Auckland through the final 20 overs to finish the day on 59/1, needing 43 more to make CD bat again.Upon winning the toss CD skipper Jacob Oram put the opposition in, just as Auckland captain Brooke Walker would have done had he called correctly.Auckland coach Tony Sail told CricInfo that concerns about the state of the pitch made the decision inevitable.”Both sides were going to put the opposition into bat on a dry pitch because they were worried about it. You were going to have a bowl because it was poor. Its an unstable surface, it looks like its got this year’s grass growing over last year’s thatch.”The result was a pitch with extravagant lateral movement and enough pace for the unstable bounce to provide threatening lift. All day, the unplayable delivery was potentially just a ball away.Sail thought that, though the pitch could not be considered dangerous, it was not very far within the parameters of safety.”Its a yard of pace short of being dangerous,” he said. “It has been bad for the players’ confidence.”Auckland were bowled out 15 minutes before lunch for 71, three less than their lowest-ever against CD, on this ground in 1952/53.An inside edge onto the stumps by Richardson off the fourth ball of the innings started the forlorn procession to and from the changing rooms.Left-armer Lance Hamilton caused most problems, bowling an intelligent length to finish with a career-best six for 36.Six of the first eight wickets fell to catches in the arc behind square on the off-side. The CD fielding was outstanding, making the most of the opportunities offered by the conditions.The best catch of all was the caught and bowled taken by Andrew Schwass to dismiss Andre Adams, who had predictably decided that aggressive batting was the answer. The ball spiralled through the air for an age, the howling wind that persisted all day changing its flight path a dozen times. Schwass waited until the last moment before diving full length to take the catch.At 24/5 the CD reply appeared to be going following the same path as Auckland. Chris Drum with three wickets, and Gareth Shaw with two, wreaked havoc with the new ball, four wickets falling in four overs at one stage.At this point Glen Sulzberger and Bevan Griggs came together to put on 57 for the sixth wicket, the best stand of the day and the most decisive factor in giving CD the advantage at its conclusion.Sulzberger made 61 from 139 balls with six fours, an innings that in this context was worth 150. CD coach Dipak Patel attributed Sulzberger’s success to playing straight.”He was very positive with his shot making and his shot selection was excellent,” he said.Salt was rubbed into Auckland’s wounds in the form of a partnership of 33 – the second-highest of the innings – between Schwass and Michael Mason for the tenth wicket. Schwass took 18 from a Shaw over, including two sixes over square leg, one of which almost cleared the grandstand. The first-innings lead was extended to 102.Sail admitted that Auckland’s back-up bowlers failed to build on the good work done with the new ball.”We let it slip a bit. Andre [Adams] would be the first to admit that he didn’t get line and length right. He was still bowling a one-day length and he struggled.”Adams finished with three for 44, but bought his wickets in a way that Auckland could not afford.Sail told CricInfo that the Fitzherbert Park pitch was the most demanding of a series of poor surfaces that his team have played on this year.”The standard of pitches throughout the country is bad. You keep it to yourself for a certain amount of time, but these guys are trying to do everything they can to show off their skills to the selectors as professional first-class cricketers and it’s a tragedy,” he said.The four batsmen from whom the top three in the CLEAR Black Caps order in the forthcoming Test series will likely be selected – Richardson, Matt Horne, Mathew Sinclair and Lou Vincent – are playing here. As preparation for them, and as an aid to selection, it has been an entirely useless experience.Consideration must be given for penalties for inadequate pitches in domestic cricket.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the PakistanCricket Board (PCB) are planning to jointly host a 13-matchquadrangular limited overs cricket tournament when Zimbabwe and theWest Indies visit the two countries in February-March next year.The Zimbabweans are scheduled to visit India for a two Test serieswhile the Windies are slated to tour Pakistan around the same time fora three Test series and the two host country boards are planning toscrap the five-match limited overs bilateral series scheduled afterthe Tests and convert them into a quadrangular tourney, BCCI sourcestold PTI in Mumbai on Tuesday.The final of the tournament, which is only in the planning stage as ofnow, would be held in Pakistan with India and Pakistan hosting sixmatches each to complete the 12-match double headed round-robin phaseof the tournament, sources added.Since it is a quardrangular event and not a bilateral series betweenIndia and Pakistan, the clearance from the Indian government toparticipate in the tourney should not be a problem, they said.Meanwhile, the BCCI working committee, which is scheduled to meet nextmonth, is to discuss the invitation received from the AustralianCricket Board (ACB) for the rescheduled three match indoor one-dayseries to be held after the Asian Test Championship league matchbetween India and Pakistan from September 13 to 17, sources added.
That move included an option to buy at the end of the campaign, with reports believing a fee to make a move permanent is worth £6.5m.
The two-footed left-winger has starred in Scotland under Ange Postecoglou, scoring ten times and registering ten assists in 32 appearances.
He has been a key performer for the Hoops in what has been an impressive season, with a domestic treble still on the cards.
The Latest: Sky Sports claim
Sky Sports shared a story late on Tuesday evening, looking at 50 players who could be involved in transfers this summer.
One of those was Jota, with the report addressing the player’s long-term future. They said that Celtic are expected to sign Jota on a permanent basis, once again reporting a £6.5m fee.
The Verdict: Good news…
Jota has been a revelation at Parkhead, so it seems to be a no brainer to make his move permanent. No player has registered more assists than the Portuguese attacker, with Jota also high in the rankings when it comes to crosses completed and average match rating. [WhoScored]
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He would become Celtic’s eighth most expensive signing of all time, should a £6.5m deal go through, but he has shown this season what he will bring to the club, and you’d expect he’ll only get better due to being just 23 years of age.
In other news: Sky Sports: Celtic have opened talks for another player as well as Bayern midfielder Scott.
Loughborough University has been named as the country’s first women’s University Centre of Cricket Excellence (UCCE) thanks to funding from the MCC.Loughborough, which currently has 35 players at its mixed UCCE, successfully applied for funding from MCC to support a dedicated women’s section and allow more female cricketers to access the world-class facilities and expertise available as part of the programme. MCC invested nearly £30,000 to allow the university to run a separate squad of up to 13 female students in 2008.Working alongside the UCCE head coach, Graham Dilley, will be his assistant, Nicky Shaw, the England vice-captain. They will benefit from a supported strength and conditioning programme, nutritional and psychological advice, video analysis, medical screenings and subsidised kit and equipment. In addition, they will have access to the ECB’s cricket performance centre.”MCC is proud of its involvement with the UCCE scheme and our investment in University cricket continues to grow each year,” John Stephenson, MCC’s head of cricket, said. “Loughborough have put a great deal of time and effort into women’s cricket and this funding is fully merited and well deserved. With Graham and Nicky leading the coaching, I have no doubt that we’ll see even more talented women cricketers emerge from the University and, we hope, challenge for a place in the national side.””We are very grateful to MCC for their added investment in our programme,” Dilley added. “Loughborough is a great advocator of women’s cricket and we have always taken the development of our female players very seriously and given them the same opportunities via the UCCE as our men.”This additional programme provides a fantastic opportunity for the girls at Loughborough and is a just reward for the work we’ve put into helping develop the sport and its players.”
More than half-way through the tournament and with their chances of advancing to the semi-finals diminishing after three heavy defeats in the Super Eights round, the West Indies players finally got clearance yesterday to sign their contracts for the World Cup 2007.It followed the second ruling by an independent arbitration committee that first met on February 11 to settle a disagreement between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) over certain terms and conditions.Details were revealed on Tuesday night in a statement signed by arbitrators, Chief Justice of Barbados, Sir David Simmons, former Attorney General of Barbados and Bermuda Elliott Mottley and management consultant Dr Aubrey Armstrong. Under the arrangement, players are expected to earn between US$110,000 and US$180,000 for the tournament, depending on experience.Although the rulings on February 11 were accepted as binding, the panel noted that “it was deemed expedient” to seek further arbitration on “new issues” that had arisen between the two parties in the interim. Some of those issues caused such disquiet within the team that there were reports of a threat to strike prior to the start of the tournament in Jamaica. As a result of the second arbitration, the 15 players in the World Cup squad would split their 22% share of the US$ 11.5 million the WICB is receiving from the International Cricket Council (ICC) “in accordance with a tiered, hierarchic formula as recommended by WIPA and accepted by WICB”, the arbitrators stated.They also determined that contributions to the players’ Provident Fund be made in accordance with the standard WICB Match/Tour Contract, as was argued by the WIPA. The division of the ICC money is known to have been a sensitive matter among the senior players since fees are normally paid according to experience based on their number of Tests and ODIs.The WICB had initially offered the players a 13% share of the US$ 11.5 million expected from the ICC but the arbitrators decided on 22% along with “an appropriate sum representing three per cent” to go to “a fund for the development of other regional cricketers”. The remaining 75% would be retained by the WICB.The panel also ruled that, in addition to its 25% management fee for certain sponsorship revenue, the WICB should deduct a further 40% of the sponsorship income “for its own purposes” and pay the remaining 60% to the WIPA.The WICB have contracted Slazenger, the bat manufacturer, and Mittal, the steel company, as two new joint sponsors for the World Cup.Digicel, the Irish-based mobile telephone operation that took over from rivals, Cable and Wireless, as team sponsors for home and away international series in 2004 is ineligible for the World Cup since Cable and Wireless is one of the official sponsors.
South Australia will be vying for their third ING Cup win since 1969-70, and the first since 1986-87, against New South Wales on February 26 at the Adelaide Oval.Greg Blewett, who charged SA to a place in the final with a century against Queensland last week, sounded upbeat ahead of Sunday’s game. “NSW is very competitive but their ins and outs and our solid side may tell in the final,” he told . NSW enter the final sans three of their stars – Michael Clarke, Nathan Bracken and Stuart Clark, who are away in South Africa on national duty.SA will field a settled side, with possibly Dan Cullen, the offspinner, coming in for the legspinner Cullen Bailey. “Our past couple of games have been really pleasing. We dominated in Brisbane and I think we will go in with the same mentality here in Adelaide,” Blewett said. “We are really excited. It’s nice not only to be in the final but to host it. It’s a big advantage. NSW has beaten us twice this year so we think we are pretty much due.” The Adelaide Oval will be hosting the domestic one-day final after 22 years.NSW lost the opportunity to host the final through their one-run loss to Western Australia but will be boosted by their 100% record while playing away – they have won all their five away-games this summer. Prior to last Christmas NSW were the dominant side in both the Pura and ING competitions, but have performed rather indifferently this year. But Brad Haddin, the captain, is hoping the excitement of of a big occasion like the final will inspire his men.”I think this has come at a perfect time for us. We need something different, and a final might just be what we’re after,” Haddin told . “It’s no secret we haven’t been playing that good over the last month or so, but a final’s a different occasion – it brings out different emotions and feelings, and qualities you do see in earlier-round games.”What we’ve stressed to everyone is that what’s gone before us means bugger-all. We’re in a final and whoever turns up ready to play takes the points away. It’s a totally different game in a final. We’ve also won every game we’ve played away, so there might have been something in that.”NSW will look to Phil Jaques to lead the way with the bat and will rely on their spin twins – Stuart MacGill and Jason Krejza – to do the honours with the ball. Jaques is the competition’s record-breaking leading run-scorer with 662 runs, including four centuries, who, however, failed in his three state innings since being overlooked for the South Africa tour. Haddin will be hoping Jaques comes back with a big score when it really matters.South Australia too will be looking to Mark Cosgrove, who has been second behind Jaques with 542 runs, to fire. Their attack will be centred on speedster Shaun Tait and former Test paceman Jason Gillespie, who has recently been on a comeback trail.With both teams having different reasons to be happy about, the final promises to be a keenly fought encounter.TeamsNew South Wales: Phil Jaques, Craig Simmons, Matthew Phelps, Corey Richards, Dominic Thornely, Aaron O’Brien, Brad Haddin (capt, wk), Moises Henriques, Jason Krejza, Grant Roden, Aaron Bird, Doug Bollinger, Stuart MacGill.South Australia: Greg Blewett, Cameron Borgas, Mark Cosgrove, Darren Lehmann (capt), Callum Ferguson, Daniel Harris, Ken Skewes, Graham Manou (wk), Mark Cleary, Jason Gillespie, Daniel Cullen, Cullen Bailey, Shaun Tait.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details 5th day Bulletin – Ntini’s 13 wickets rout West Indies Commentary – Lara’s Saturday of brilliant sunshine Stats- Ntini rules against the Windies4th day Bulletin – Sarwan and Bravo keep West Indies afloat Quotes – Sarwan: ‘We need another 100 runs’ Big Picture – Death knell for Nel Big Picture – Sarwan takes a tumble3rd day Bulletin Smith hundred puts sloppy West Indies on the back foot Big Picture – Digicel delight2nd day Bulletin – Smith leads South Africa’s reply Quotes – ‘I’m sure we can bowl them out again’ – Nel Big Picture – High five1st day Bulletin – Brilliant Lara stands alone Quotes – Lara targets double-hundred at home Big Picture – A hug for LaraPreview West Indies back to full strength
After their short and soggy one-day international series against Sri Lanka, England now turn their attention to the three-Test series, starting at Galle on December 2.However, after the last two ODIs were wiped out by the bad weather, Duncan Fletcher has warned that the squad are under-prepared for the Tests. And with only one three-day match against a Sri Lanka Cricket President’s XI on Wednesday before the first Test, Fletcher is understandably concerned about England’s lack of match practice.”We want the Test-playing guys to get a good three-day game and the practice in, so there is concern that the rain could leave us a little unprepared,” said Fletcher. “Our plan for this week’s game was going to be to leave out Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick, but because of the weather Michael now wants to reconsider that.”The specialist Test players – Nasser Hussain, Graham Thorpe, Mark Butcher, Geraint Jones, Matthew Hoggard and Robert Croft – arrived in Sri Lanka three days ago and have been practising on their own. All apart from Jones are expected to play in the warm-up match, with Croft, in particular, eager to prove his worth and fight Ashley Giles and Gareth Batty for a place in the Test side.”He has come out here and joined the squad with the other spinners,” Fletcher said, “obviously the other two have got the inside rail at the moment and we will have to make an assessment after the three-day game.”The good news for England is that James Anderson is now walking without crutches and there is a slim possibility he may now be in contention for Galle.