Steve Waugh has said that England and New Zealand stand to lose the most from the rise of India’s official and unofficial Twenty20 leagues, as well as voicing his concern over the power of India’s administrators.Waugh was speaking shortly after Lou Vincent became the latest player to turn his back on New Zealand and sign for the ICL. “They have lost five or six players to the rebel Twenty20 and they can’t afford to lose their players,” Waugh said. “They haven’t got the depth. England are up and down, I’m not sure where they are going. Again, if they lose players to that rebel league it’s going to affect them.”You can’t have one or two sides dominating … no-one’s going to turn up and watch. If the rebel league continues, you are going to lose a lot of players from Test cricket and probably from county cricket as well because they are going to get offers, and that is going to affect English cricket.”With regard to India’s administrators, Waugh said they have power “because they have money and they have influence and they can determine what is being played where and against who. Whoever is running Indian cricket has a big responsibility to make sure the traditions of the game are kept as well.”
Pre-season friendlies are normally no more significant than batsmen getting time in the middle and bowlers building miles in their legs. However, Glamorgan’s early season warm-up match against Sussex at Hove marked a milestone for Simon Jones, the England paceman, who is completing his recovery from yet another knee injury.Since his starring role in the 2005 Ashes, Jones has barely set foot on a cricket field, and when he has it has usually resulted in him limping off. His comeback for Glamorgan during the 2006 season, following his aborted return on England’s tour of India, lasted four matches before he broke down against Ireland in the C&G Trophy.Now he is trying again, following a winter spent working on his knee at Loughborough, Glamorgan and latterly a warm-weather stint in Cape Town. Statistically the first results have been modest, eight overs for 27 spread over two spells not a full pace, but at this stage it is about the small steps.Ahead of his comeback, Jones said he was feeling confident: “I’m back to bowling at full pace occasionally. I hit 79mph off three steps last week and I’ll be back bowling at 90mph soon; I’m confident now as my knee feels strong. I’ve no negative demons. I’m probably in the best nick of my life.”However, despite the problems England’s pace attack has suffered in Jones’s absence the selectors will be wary of rushing him back into the side especially with the first Test against West Indies starting on May 17, only four weeks into the season. Glamorgan have two Championship matches and a University fixture during the opening stages of the summer, which will give a better indication of Jones’s long term prognosis.
Kerry Packer, the man responsible for World Series Cricket (WSC) and the explosion of the one-day game, has died in Sydney aged 68. Packer, a media mogul billionaire, was behind the damaging split from the Australian Cricket Board in 1977 in a fight over television broadcasting rights.Packer realised that cricket was in need of an image overhaul, and crucially that while the game was generating huge amounts of cash, little of that was going to the players. It meant that recruiting around 50 of the top cricketers was relatively straightforward. While WSC only last two years, it changed the game forever, and many of the things we now take for granted – coloured clothing, day/night matches – were Packer innovations. The other knock-on was that for the first time, players were paid a decent amount. And when peace was achieved in 1979 his Channel 9 coverage led the way in broadcasting innovation.A minute’s silence was held before the start of the second day of the Australia-South Africa Test and Cricket Australia said he was one of the most “influential men in its history”.Packer, who had a kidney transplant in 2000, had a history of serious illnesses and suffered severe health problems over the past couple of years. But until then he lived life to the full, and was renowned as one of the world’s largest gamblers, on occasion winning and losing millions in a day. Forbes magazine valued his wealth at $5 billion earlier this year. His interests also included mining and property.A statement from Channel 9 said he died “peacefully at home with his family at his bedside” on Boxing Day.
Ricky Ponting is certain that the upcoming Ashes series will not distract Australia during their six-week tour of New Zealand. The one-day squad left for the five matches today and Ponting made sure that his teammates knew the tournament was their priority.”We know that we have got this very big and vital series to play first,” Ponting said at Sydney Airport. “New Zealand are a very good side and they are hard to beat in Australia and a lot harder to beat over there.”Ponting said “a lot of media are talking about the Ashes”, but interest in the game’s oldest Test battle is not limited to holders of pens or microphones. The players have been lining up to discuss the series, which starts in July, since the end of the Pakistan Tests in the first week of January.Glenn McGrath yesterday pinpointed Andrew Strauss and Michael Vaughan as his focus this winter while overlooking any New Zealand batsmen for next month’s three-Test series. “It was intimidating enough when McGrath was naming his target, but this has got to be the ultimate insult – he hasn’t even bothered,” Adam Parore, the former Kiwi wicketkeeper, told the New Zealand Herald. “It’s a new low-point in Trans-Tasman relations.”
Sri Lanka A 301 for 3 (Arnold 96*, Jayantha 92) beat India A 300 for 8 (Gambhir 113) by 7 wickets Scorecard The things confidence can do. Sri Lanka A, buoyed by a gritty victory in the recent third Test, ran all over India A at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens in the first one-dayer of the Kenstar Tournament, which also involves Pakistan’s A team. A target of 301 was achieved with two overs – and more emphatically, seven wickets – to spare.Russel Arnold (96*) and Saman Jayantha (92) could not quite reach centuries, but they scored rapidly, and helped the team achieve a monumental target with ease. Naveed Nawaz, who captained Sri Lanka A in the Tests, highlighted the inadequacies of the Indian attack, slamming 57 in 44 balls with three sixes and four fours.An early breakthrough by Sanjay Bangar – dismissing Shantha Kalavitigoda – when Sri Lanka A were on 39 was an encouraging start, but it all went downhill from there. Jehan Mubarak came out and toyed with the bowling, putting 25 on the board before Sairaj Bahutule struck him on the pads in front (76 for 2). Jayantha and Arnold then went about scoring runs as if they were going out of fashion until, 126 runs later, Jayantha fell to Dinesh Mongia’s part-time left-arm spin (202 for 3). Then came Nawaz, and there went the game.The Sri Lankan innings, from start to finish, was one continuous assault and nothing anyone did could stop the flow of runs. Consider this: Amit Bhandari bowled six overs for 41 runs, and his replacement, Munaf Patel, gave away 49 in five. Bangar went at five an over, and Bahutule’s legspin close to that. Even Sarandeep Singh went for 54 in 10 – no matter who bowled, the runs wouldn’t stop.Earlier Gautam Gambhir had scored a sparkling century to power India to 300, but even that was a below-par total considering the phenomenal start. With 11 hits to the fence, and one beyond it, Gambhir stamped his authority on the bowlers, while Mohammad Kaif (71) ran a lot, not bothering too much about the boundaries. The rest of the batsmen didn’t do a great deal, though Mongia did hold the tail together and was unbeaten on 23 at the end of the innings.Nuwan Zoysa, opening the bowling for Sri Lanka A, took the wickets of Hemang Badani and Bahutule, but gave away 81 runs, 24 of them through extras (18 no-balls and six wides). Rangana Herath was the hardest to get away, going for only 45 in 10 – very economical in the context of such a high-scoring game – and dismissing Kaif in the process.Sri Lanka A take on Pakistan A at Kolkata tomorrow in the next match of the series.
On February 10, 2002 during the second Test match (no. 1588) betweenPakistan and West Indies played in Sharjah, Waqar Younis became the 13th bowlerto claim 350 wickets when he captured the wicket of Ryan Hinds. By achievingthis landmark in just 78 matches he became the fastest Pakistani to reach 350wickets in Test cricket. In this regard, Imran Khan, who achieved this featin 79 matches in 1989-90, held the previous record.
Waqar took just 14928 balls to take his 350th wicket. This places him at thetop of the list, above the late West Indian fast bowler Malcolm Marshall whoneeded 16340 balls to reach his 350 wickets in his 75th Test in 1990-91. Waqarbettered him by 1412 balls.
Waqar Younis who made his Test debut against India at Karachi took 12 yearsand 87 days to achieve this milestone at the age of 30 years and 86 days.
The following chart is a graphical representation of his career on a wicketsper match basis followed by detailed tabulations:
Waqar Younis Career Statistics 21-02-2002
Country-wise break-up of Waqar Younis’s bowling
Opponents
Mt
Overs
Mdns
Runs
Wkts
Avg
Best
B/w
R/o
5w
10w
Australia
9
264.2
54
825
24
34.38
4/69
66.08
3.12
–
–
Bangladesh
3
54.2
8
181
18
10.06
6/55
18.11
3.34
1
–
England
11
404.1
70
1352
50
27.04
5/52
48.50
3.35
3
–
India
4
107
19
390
8
48.75
4/80
80.25
3.64
–
–
NewZealand
12
482.3
123
1313
68
19.31
7/76
42.57
2.72
5
2
SouthAfrica
5
23.90
149.2
30
478
20
6/78
44.80
3.20
1
1
SriLanka
12
330.3
51
1150
55
20.91
6/34
36.05
3.48
4
1
WestIndies
13
363.2
48
1283
55
23.33
5/46
39.64
3.53
3
–
Zimbabwe
9
332.3
66
1004
54
18.59
7/91
36.94
3.02
5
1
Home
31
997.4
3106
159
19.53
7/76
37.6
3.11
11
3
Away
45
1437
4674
185
25.26
6/34
46.6
3.25
11
2
Neutral
2
53.3
9
196
8
24.50
4/44
40.1
3.66
Overall(9)
78
2488.0
469
7976
352
22.66
7/76
42.41
3.21
22
5
Bowlers with 350 or more Test wickets (13)
Bowlers
Career
Tests
Overs
Mdns
Runs
Wkts
Avg
Best
B/w
R/o
5w
10w
CAWalsh
1984-01
132
5004.2
1143
12684
519
24.44
7/37
57.8
2.53
22
3
KapilDev
1978-94
131
4623.2
1057
12867
434
29.65
9/83
63.9
2.78
23
2
RJHadlee
1973-90
86
3460.4
809
9611
431
22.30
9/52
50.8
2.63
36
9
SKWarne
1992-**
98
4563.1
1323
11493
430
26.73
8/71
63.6
2.51
20
5
WasimAkram
1985-**
104
3771.5
869
9777
414
23.62
7/119
54.6
2.59
25
5
CELAmbrose
1988-00
98
3683.5
1001
8502
405
20.99
8/45
54.5
2.30
22
3
MMuralitharan
1992-**
72
4025.2
1044
9510
404
23.54
9/51
59.7
2.36
33
10
ITBotham
1977-92
102
3549.3
788
10878
383
28.40
8/34
56.9
2.99
27
4
GDMcGrath
1993-**
81
3247.4
956
8297
377
22.01
8/38
51.6
2.55
22
3
MDMarshall
1978-91
81
2930.4
611
7876
376
20.95
7/22
46.7
2.68
22
4
ImranKhan
1971-92
88
3106
727
8258
362
22.81
8/58
53.7
2.54
23
6
DKLillee
1971-84
70
2834.1
652
8493
355
23.92
7/83
52.0
2.75
23
7
WaqarYounis
1989-**
78
2488
469
7976
352
22.66
7/76
42.4
3.20
22
5
**- players currently active in Test Cricket
Bowlersreaching 350 Test wickets in least matches
Bowlers
Mt
Balls
Runs
Avg
B/w
Vs
Test
Season
M Muralitharan(SL)
66
21633
8678
24.79
61.81
BD
1st
2001-02
RJ Hadlee(NZ)
69
17858
7874
22.43
50.88
WI
3rd
1986-87
DK Lillee(Aus)
70
18288
8405
23.95
52.10
Pak
5th
1983-84
GD McGrath(Aus)
74
17581
7449
21.28
50.23
Eng
4th
2001
MD Marshall(WI)
75
16340
7326
20.81
46.42
Aus
4th
1990-91
Waqar Younis(Pak)
78
14928
7976
22.66
42.41
WI
2nd
2001-02
Imran Khan(Pak)
79
18738
7953
22.66
53.38
Ind
4th
1989-90
SK Warne(Aus)
80
22419
8946
25.56
64.05
Ind
2nd
1999-00
Wasim Akram(Pak)
82
18534
7981
22.74
52.80
Zim
1st
1998-99
IT Botham(Eng)
83
18852
9332
26.51
53.56
WI
4th
1985-86
CEL Ambrose(WI)
84
18737
7442
21.26
53.53
SA
4th
1998-99
CA Walsh(WI)
96
20440
9093
25.76
57.90
Pak
3rd
1997-98
Kapil Dev(Ind)
100
20784
10140
28.89
59.21
Pak
1st
1989-90
Bowlers reaching350 Test wickets with least balls and best strike rate
Bowlers
Mt
Balls
Runs
Avg
B/w
Vs
Test
Season
Waqar Younis(Pak)
78
14928
7976
22.66
42.41
WI
2nd
2001-02
MD Marshall(WI)
75
16340
7326
20.81
46.42
Aus
4th
1990-91
GD McGrath(Aus)
74
17581
7449
21.28
50.23
Eng
4th
2001
RJ Hadlee(NZ)
69
17858
7874
22.43
50.88
WI
3rd
1986-87
DK Lillee(Aus)
70
18288
8405
23.95
52.10
Pak
5th
1983-84
Wasim Akram(Pak)
82
18534
7981
22.74
52.80
Zim
1st
1998-99
Imran Khan(Pak)
79
18738
7953
22.66
53.38
Ind
4th
1989-90
CEL Ambrose(WI)
84
18737
7442
21.26
53.53
SA
4th
1998-99
IT Botham(Eng)
83
18852
9332
26.51
53.56
WI
4th
1985-86
CA Walsh(WI)
96
20440
9093
25.76
57.90
Pak
3rd
1997-98
Kapil Dev(Ind)
100
20784
10140
28.89
59.21
Pak
1st
1989-90
M Muralitharan(SL)
66
21633
8678
24.79
61.81
BD
1st
2001-02
SK Warne(Aus)
80
22419
8946
25.56
64.05
Ind
2nd
1999-00
– balls calculatedto the end of that particular match in which the bowler took his 350th wicket – All data updated to 21-02-2002
Who will pay for washing the Indian cricketers’ linen?An SOS on this issue has gone all the way from Mutare to Chennai.The laundry bills are a source of bother for the Indian cricketers whohave just begun a 45-day tour of Zimbabwe.Some of the players have made millions from the game but their dailyallowance on this tour is 32 dollars (approx 2,000 Zimbabweandollars). Laundering one set of clothes will cost about one-sixth ofthat allowance, leaving very little for food and other expenses.When the Zimbabwean team toured India last winter, the Indian CricketBoard provided for free laundry of six clothes a day for them.Now the Indian cricketers, who have yet to receive any payment fromtheir Board on this tour, want the Zimbabweans to reciprocate.The tour management has now sent a letter to Board President ACMuthiah requesting him to take up the matter with the Zimbabwe CricketUnion.After all, the team wants to turn out smartly. The ball is now in theBoard’s court.The popular team is flooded with invitations to dinners, felicitationsand shop openings from the local Indians in Zimbabwe. That distractsfrom their basic mission of preparing for the series but they wouldn’twant to disappoint the local fans.So, in a compromise of sorts, the team has decided to selectivelyaccept such invitations without the players turning up en masse.”We have made a decision before we embarked on this tour,” said vicecaptain Rahul Dravid. “The visit to these functions is optional andnot everyone has to turn up and show his face. It is important for usto satisfy the desire of a billion back home rather than cater to thedesire of a hundred on an overseas tour,” he said.”We understand their feelings but we have the job of winning in frontof us and we want to be well-prepared for every match,” Dravid said.Sure enough, there was a function by the Indian community here onMonday evening and very few from the team attended it. Coach JohnWright, captain Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar were among thosewho preferred to stay in their hotel rooms and mentally prepare forthe next day’s play.Despite a big hundred earlier in the day and niggling pain in hisright thigh muscle, Dravid did make it to the function to cheer up theexpatriates who had come in from as far as Harare and other parts ofZimbabwe.”You would notice it on this tour – we will keep (attending) suchfunctions to the minimum,” Dravid said.After all, the team has the job of reversing the trend of not winninga series abroad in the last 15 years. In its seven decades of Testcricket history, India has won only five series abroad – two rubbersin England, one each in West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. It hasyet to win a series in South Africa, Australia and Pakistan.Zimbabwe presents an excellent opportunity to reverse the currenttrend and there is little doubt the team wants to do it badly.The Indian Cricket Board, it seems, is finding it difficult to keeppace with the new-found professionalism of its cricketers and thepresent squad must be the cleanest to have left the Indian shores inthe last decade – if not on laundry then at least on the match-fixingaccount.Board secretary Jaywant Lele visited Zimbabwe earlier this month toinspect facilities, wickets and thrash out small details with ZCU.If he, or the Board he was representing, had taken care to discuss itwith the cricketers before finalising things, Lele would have heard aresounding no on the hosts’ plan to have 105 overs a day for the twofirst-class games preceding the first Test.This was an experiment which the South Africans had carried outagainst the Indians during the tour of 1997 and it had been roundlydisapproved.The Indian cricketers were again unhappy at the extra hour they weremade to play against Zimbabwe A here yesterday. The odd thing is,whatever overs are short for the day will be added to the next day.
Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira must unleash Eberechi Eze against Arsenal with star man Wilfried Zaha at risk of missing out due to injury.
The English attacking midfielder moved to Selhurst Park for £16m in 2020 from fellow London club Queens Park Rangers.
His form in the Championship got him the move as he tallied 22 goal contributions in his final season at Loftus Road, this was more than Palace’s Zaha, Christian Benteke and Jordan Ayew at the time.
Sky Sports commentator Daniel Mann has described him as a “showman” since his move to the Eagles and it’s evident to see why.
It could’ve been a risk spending that amount of money on a player from the second tier, with no guarantee that he will replicate his numbers in the Premier League.
However, history goes to show that players who have performed to that level in the EFL are worth taking a gamble on.
Both Mason Mount and Dele Ali replicated their form at Chelsea and Spurs after having stand out seasons in the Football League for both Derby and MK Dons respectively.
And in his first season in the top-flight Eze hit the ground running gaining ten goal contributions.
Despite having not played much this season, his stats over the past year continue to be impressive. He ranks in the top 1% for assists per 90 minutes in Europe’s top five leagues for instance.
Part of the reason he’s not been featured is due to missing the start of the season through injury, and because of this you could understand why Vieira perhaps doesn’t know yet just how good a talent he has on his hands.
But with top scorer Zaha in doubt for tonight’s game against Arsenal, will the French manager give Eze the opportunity he deserves?
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His main competitor for a place in the team is likely to be Odsonne Edouard, the forward arrived from Celtic in the summer for £14.6m but he hasn’t yet hit the heights expected of him. He’s been averaging just 2.4 shots per 90 minutes which Vieira hasn’t been too impressed with.
Ultimately the £18m-rated Eze has a really bright future ahead of him, and starting him against Arsenal will surely give the Eagles the best chance at securing victory.
IN other news: Sold for £25m, now worth just £608k: CPFC struck gold on dazzling 32 y/0 – opinion…
The Pakistan-Australia series scheduled to start in March could be relocated to Australia if player safety cannot be guaranteed in Pakistan, according to a report in the . The paper quoted an unnamed Pakistan board member who said the PCB would consider swapping hosting duties with Australia.That would mean that if the switch went ahead the next scheduled Australia home series between the two sides, listed for November 2009, would be held in Pakistan. “It is only the last resort, only a worst-case scenario, but if something happens and Australia can’t come, then the board will discuss playing the series in Australia,” the board member told the paper.”If worst comes to worst, then perhaps [playing in Australia] is a better idea, as long as we swap. That would be an acceptable scenario. I would like the Pakistani spectators to watch Australia in their own stadiums, now or next year. But the first priority is that Australia comes here.”A neutral venue is out. It doesn’t help anybody to play at a neutral venue, if it is played in a third country those spectators wouldn’t be interested, and we would rather entertain Australian crowds than fans from other countries.”Pakistan are still keen for Australia to visit despite the political unrest in the country, and Cricket Australia are planning to send a security delegation to assess the conditions next month. Switching the games to Australia would pose logistical problems with most of the major venues packed with rugby and Australian rules football matches from late March onwards.Phil Jaques, who has twice toured Pakistan with Australia A in recent years, said the players had full confidence in whatever Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association decided. “There’s obviously a few issues there at the moment,” he told , “which Cricket Australia will have a look at closer to the time. Cricket Australia and the ACA will have processes in place and we will go by what they say.”I’ve been there before and people have always been good but they’re in a different time in their whole make-up at the moment with elections on. I was a little bit uneasy before I went I suppose but everything went to plan, everything went smoothly.”It’s a little bit confined to the hotel, that’s how we approached it last year. Generally speaking, the security is pretty tight and they give presidential-style security. The processes will be in place this time around, so we will see what the climate is like over there.”
Inzamam-ul-Haq and Bob Woolmer refused to speculate about their futures after this humiliating defeat, but Pakistan cricket can certainly expect a night of the long knives similar to that which followed the debacle in 2003. Both men suggested that winning the toss had evened up the contest, though neither was prepared to make excuses for a diabolical batting display that reduced them to 72 for 6 before a late flourish took the total to 132.”We have to wait and see what happens next,” Woolmer said. “Basically, our World Cup is over. I didn’t think their bowling was anything special. From my perspective, we just didn’t score enough runs.” Inzamam chose to sing from the same sheet, but he wasn’t quite as dismissive of Ireland’s bowling effort. “The pitch was difficult, they bowled well and we batted poorly,” he said, face downcast after what he called “the worst day of my cricketing career”.For Inzamam, whose World Cup adventure started back in the halcyon year of 1992, it will all end with a meaningless outing – for Pakistan anyway – against Zimbabwe. But even in this darkest of hours, he didn’t lash out at those who had let him down so badly. When asked if Mohammad Yousuf’s dismissal could be cited as the moment when the tide turned to swamp Pakistan, Inzamam said: “He was set, and we needed a big score from him. But when everyone has flopped, it’s not right to pinpoint any one thing as a turning point.”Before taking charge of Pakistan in 2004, Woolmer was closely associated with the ICC’s High Performance Programme, which has endeavoured to improve standards of play in the Associate nations. And while he didn’t think that such countries were ready to mix it with the big boys on a day-to-day basis, Woolmer reckoned Ireland’s triumph was vindication of the effort put in.”I’m not going to say that they’ll close the gap soon,” he said. “There were extenuating circumstances today. It was a grassy pitch, and the toss was important. But I’m fully in favour of 16 teams. Playing against such teams can be a banana-skin, and you saw that today, with Bangladesh beating India as well. I think you can say that March 17, 2007 will be a historic day for cricket.”Woolmer’s contract runs out after the World Cup, and an extension is unlikely after this reverse. He wouldn’t say whether this was the end of the road as far as coaching international teams was concerned. “I’d like to sleep on my future as coach,” he said. “I’ve had bad days before, the worst of them was at Edgbaston in 1999 [when his South Africa team missed out on the final despite the game ending in a tie]. Things like this happen in cricket.”
Inzamam too had no idea what the future would hold. “It’s only been a few minutes and I can’t say what I’ll do,” he said. “Since we haven’t performed, changes are likely and needed too.” Asked if it was a heartbreaking way to end his World Cup innings he said: “Every player has to go some day. I’ve had my innings, and you can’t really choose the way you leave.”To add to Inzamam’s woes he was fined 50% of his match fee for Pakistan’s slow over rate, which fell four short. Inzamam pleaded not guilty to the level two offence, but Chris Broad, the ICC match referee, ruled against Pakistan’s captain and each player was also docked 20% of their payment.Despite the setbacks, there was still time for a droll moment, as someone asked what sort of reaction he anticipated when the team arrived home. “In my view, there won’t be a reception,” said Inzamam poker-faced, as a laugh escaped Woolmer’s lips.When asked what went wrong, Woolmer didn’t sugar-coat his words. “We hit balls in the air to fielders, we stopped balls with our pads in front of the stumps, that’s what went wrong. We’re sorry we performed like we have. We didn’t mean to do it.”It’s unlikely that such an explanation will wash with a nation in mourning. And with India also humbled, more than half the subcontinent certainly won’t be engaged in any St Patrick’s Day revelry.