The frequent visits of former Australian offspinner Ashley Mallett has sent out a clear message that Sri Lanka are on the hunt for a successor to Muttiah Muralitharan. Four bowlers from the national spin academy will be sent to Australia for a month in February next year to undergo intensive training and to gain experience. The four spinners are yet to be finalised.Mallett was assigned as consultant spin bowling coach for Sri Lanka on a three-year contract since April, which commits him to four visits to the country each year, with each visit not longer than two weeks . His duties include coaching spinners from all levels and training coaches. Ruwan Kalpage, the national spin bowling coach, is also working alongside Mallett in setting up an ongoing structure for the development of spinners.”In the main we are also looking for a replacement for Murali,” said Mallett. “Just in case he falls over and breaks his leg, we’ve got to find someone pretty quick. We’ve got a number of people in the mix but nothing definitive yet. We’ve got a lot of terrific talent in the cubs and juniors. I like to see an ongoing structure which other countries have got. “Mallett said that he initially saw more than 600 spinners before pruning it down to four squads of 12 each – cubs, juniors, colts and seniors. He said that there were no age restrictions because he wanted it to be flexible.”There are still blokes we haven’t seen,” he added. “This time around we did a little bit more moving around from Colombo. Next time round in April, I want to work the four squads with the flexibility of adding and sometimes subtracting from them.”Tom Moody was talking the other day about the amount of talent he has seen in this country. He said it is the best in the world. It’s incredible. There is an incredible amount of raw spin talent that needs guidance. They spin the ball hard, but there are a few technical things that are inhibiting their progress. A lot of the guys are front-on; the arms of the leggies [legspinners] are a bit too high. These are things you can easily sort out especially when they are young. That’s why we are putting in a structure which will be an ongoing thing long after I stop coming.”Mallett’s recipe to become a successful spinner was to spin the ball hard and have a lot of patience.”You should also have a strong base to get the energy going up and over,” he continued. “The more time you can spend on the front foot the more raise you can get on the ball. Have a look at Warney [Shane Warne] and Murali. They spend a lot of time on the front foot. Saqlain [Mushtaq] spent so much time on the front foot you wondered when he was going to let go of the ball. He didn’t have rhythm in his run up. He ran like a duck but landed strongly, spent a lot of time and got a lot of rip. That’s for blokes who genuinely spin the ball. You don’t want fellows who wouldn’t spin flat off the pitch. We want blokes who genuinely spin. Monty Panesar is one good example.”Mallett said the understanding of spin bowling in the subcontinent was good, as was in Australia since the arrival of Warne.”In the mid-eighties if a fast bowler came along and was square-cut to the fence, they would say it was a great shot,” he said. “If the spinner got hit down the ground, that was a bad ball. That was the mentality. That mentality still exists in South Africa today.”In Sri Lanka the understanding of spin bowling is good. But there are blokes who need help in coaching to understand what’s required in young people coming through. It’s a very important part of our brief to touch the coaches and make sure that we are on the same wavelength in coaching expertise.”Mallett played 38 Tests between 1968 to 1980, in which he took 132 wickets. He runs the Spin Australia academy at the Adelaide Oval and has worked with spinners in the last 25 years in Australia, with stints in counties and academies in England and South Africa.
Auckland’s win over Northern Districts highlighted a topsy-turvy day in the State Shield. Auckland was aided by Mssrs Duckworth and Lewis after the only black cloud in the country perched over Eden Park late in the day. In fairness, Auckland looked comfortable chasing, being 188 for 2 in 37.4 overs after Paul Hitchcock (108) posted a hard-hitting century in 99 balls. When the downpour came the revised target was 177 so Auckland won by eight wickets. Earlier, Northern posted a competitive 267 thanks mainly to captain James Marshall’s stylish 87. He was run out on the last ball of the game attempting a cheeky bye. Twin brother Hamish looked untroubled getting through to 39. Mayu Pasupati was best of the bowlers with 4 for 46.Peter Fulton fell from a great height yesterday as part of a Canterbury team thrashed at home by lowly Central Districts. Fulton, the player of the recently completed series against Sri Lanka fell lbw third ball to Michael Mason for no score. Canterbury was dismissed for 109 as Ewen Thompson and Lance Hamilton both finished with figures of 4 for 22. Central had no problems knocking off the total in 24.2 overs, with Ross Taylor (55) and Geoff Barnett (52) not out after an unbroken 91-run stand.Wellington was taken for a wild ride at Carisbrook by Otago, which demolished the previously unbeaten team. Otago seamer Warren McSkimming took a match-winning 5 for 9 off 7.3 overs as Wellington was skittled for a paltry 81 in 28.3 overs. McSkimming dismissed Chris Nevin off the first ball of the match and things scarcely improved for Wellington thereafter. Otago passed the total in 19.3 overs with Neil Broom (18) and Jonathan Trott (7) the not out batsmen. Luke Woodcock top scored for Wellington with 20 while Aaaron Redmond scored 34 for the home team.
Australia’s controversial and disrupting one-day rotational policy is “dead and buried”, according to the selector Allan Border. Border said the panel would choose the best team for each match after the strategic resting of players affected the side’s VB Series continuity and contributed to Matthew Hayden’s slump.”As selectors we have to take a little bit of the blame,” Border said on Inside Cricket. “I think the rotation has not worked. We’ve had a fair bit to do with it and we’ve taken a bit of flak for it, but I think it’s dead and buried.” Border said if players needed a break they would be rested, but not be rotated. “I just think, going forward, we pick our best side.”The policy was first used in 2001-02 when Australia missed the series finals, and Steve Waugh was dumped as one-day captain. This summer the top players were juggled in the six preliminary matches before the panel picked their A-list for the deciders, which included Michael Clarke as opener instead of Hayden.Border said Hayden’s 42 runs in four innings and the overall below-par batting were examples of the disruption. “Hayden and Gilchrist only batted together once in that one-day series and they’ve been a pretty good partnership over a number of years,” he said. “From little things like that we didn’t get a continuity of team. [Instead of] blokes knowing their roles and getting used to them, they were all over the place.”Border said Australia, who were yesterday confirmed to play the World XI in three one-day matches in October, would have to lift for the five-game series against New Zealand, the No. 2-ranked team. The first match is at Wellington on February 19.
Rumours about Sourav Ganguly signing up with a new marketing agency have gained ground, with a rediff.com report suggesting that Nimbus, a sports production company, have clinched the deal with a Rs 60-crore offer (US$12.5 million approx) over a five-year period. Ganguly’s current contract, with Percept D’Mark, expires on September 22, and according to the report, Nimbus is likely to announce its deal with Ganguly on the same day. The report also states that Ganguly would be guaranteed the entire amount even if he does not remain captain of the Indian team over the five-year period.Rumours about Ganguly signing up with Nimbus have persisted for more than a month, even though Harish Thawani, co-chairman of World Sports Nimbus, had denied them in early August. The had quoted him as saying: “We have given no such proposal to Ganguly, nor are we contemplating to. There is no resolution even in the company board of taking cricketers on board for celebrity management.”
The drawn Test match in India prompted a lot of discussion amongst my friends and family and I am sure it did with you as well. So, this week we will have more of an international flavour as I try to give some insight into a captain’s dilemma regarding declarations.The timing of the declaration is key and there are several points you take into consideration. Enough time to bowl the opposition out is a major factor and although we gave ourselves a day and a bit, it is not nearly enough on a benign surface. Here lies another dilemma because if the pitch is still good for batting, it means you must set a very challenging total to avoid losing comfortably. This would have been the reasoning behind England’s extended second innings; they could not afford to lose. Very often the best declarations gives the opposition a chance of winning so their approach to batting is different and maybe not as cautious.Hussain also knew it was going to take a huge performance from his bowling unit to level the series so he would have looked at his options. Naturally, spin was going to be his main weapon and he had two in his ranks. Despite Giles’ five-wicket haul in the first innings the jury was still out on whether he could complete the Test with another big workload on the final day. His spinning partner Dawson was in his second Test match and although he has acquitted himself very well so far, he has only been playing first-class cricket for six months.There probably is enough there to make a captain uncertain but just in case there is not, he would have looked at his other options. Hoggard is leading the pace attack and is still very inexperienced particularly on an unresponsive pitch. Flintoff backed him up in a role that is foreign to him. Taking the new ball in international cricket is no easy task. Taking it in India is an unenviable one but taking the new ball with no prior experience is a huge ask for the young Flintoff. The reason Flintoff is there at all is because White is not fully bowling fit. It is enough to cast doubt even over the most adventurous captain.As Hussain pondered over his decision, some statistician would be emphasising how prolific the Indian batmen are on home soil and he would be thinking the series could be lost here and it would not be true reflection on England’s near dominance of the Test. Right, the decision is made. We will try to win but we will not give India even an outside chance because we cannot lose.I predicted this and knew that our only chance of winning was to be bowled out cheaply in our second innings leaving India a fairly modest total to chase. They would have been tempted and may have lost their top five in the bid to chase runs. Considering that they might be still 80 runs or so short of their target, I will then back the bowlers to clean up the lower order with some determined and `fired up’ fielders behind them.If the situation occurs again, I am confident that Hussain will be more adventurous and England will go all out to square the series. The difference is that England can afford to risk losing in an attempt to win.
After losing his first game as Leeds United boss at the weekend, Jesse Marsch faces a quick turnaround when his side take on Aston Villa at Elland Road on Thursday night.
The Whites fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat to Leicester to further bring them into a relegation dogfight, and Marsch will need to quickly find a way to inspire some change.
And, one way he could potentially do that, is by turning to one of the club’s brightest academy prospects: Sam Greenwood.
With just 12 minutes of Premier League football to his name this season – his sole outing came in the 4-1 defeat to Arsenal at Elland Road towards the back end of last year – it’s fair to say the 19-year-old hasn’t exactly had much of a look-in.
And, considering the Whites’ top-flight status is in serious jeopardy, it would certainly be a bold call for Marsch to throw Greenwood into the deep end, but it might be the kind of exciting gamble that just gives everyone around the club, including the fans, a much-needed lift.
According to Football Insider previously, the teenager is someone who has been making waves behind-the-scenes, and that he left a great impression with former boss Marcelo Bielsa.
The report said: “But one of the cheaper, less-heralded signings of last year has the United coaching staff at Thorpe Arch increasingly convinced he has a massive future ahead of him.
“A Leeds source has told Football Insider that teenage forward Sam Greenwood has blown Marcelo Bielsa and his backroom team away with his promise and potential to be a bona fide Premier League star.
“To say the 19-year-old is highly thought of is an understatement, with the word “phenomenal” regularly used to describe him behind the scenes.”
In his debut season campaign at Elland Road, Greenwood bagged 12 goals in just 18 games, playing in a number of different roles, including up front, behind the striker and further back as a central midfielder.
And, he’s got a big fan in former Leeds ace Noel Whelan, who said: “(He’s) another player who possesses an immense amount of ability. To have a weapon like that in your side is great. You can see the ability he has but the free-kicks are about the hard work he puts in on the training ground and for that he deserves to be praised.”
Given his deadly ability from set-pieces, and his versatility in playing a number of roles, Greenwood possesses a number of characteristics that mark him out as a very intriguing prospect for Marsch to develop at Elland Road.
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While Gelhardt of course is the name on everybody’s lips, it’s his academy teammate who may be the more exciting out of the pair given just how well he seems to have impressed behind-the-scenes.
If given the chance, he might even overtake Joffy in the pecking order.
No play was possible in the fourth T20I between India and South Africa because of poor visibility in foggy Lucknow. Leading the series 2-1, India are now assured of taking their unbeaten streak in T20I series to 15. The decider of the series is scheduled to be played in Ahmedabad on Friday.While the AQI in Lucknow hovered around the early-to-mid 400s, which is hazardous, the concern for the umpires remained visibility. During their inspections, one of the umpires would go to a square boundary to see if he could spot the white ball held up by the side of the pitch. Six inspections took place before play was finally called off at 9.26pm.Cricket in north Indian winters has long been a contentious issue, and not just for visibility. The BCCI had scheduled a Test for South Africa in Delhi before better sense prevailed and Delhi was given a Test before Diwali, which is when the air quality in north India starts to fall to poor and dangerous levels.South Africa’s tour comes to an end on Friday in Ahmedabad. In what has been a hugely successful tour, they blanked India 2-0 in the Tests and forced a decider in the ODI series, which India won 2-1. India have registered two comprehensive wins in what remains their strongest format to go 2-1 up in the T20Is, but they didn’t get a chance to seal the series before the finale because of the bad light in Lucknow.Jasprit Bumrah, who missed the last match for personal reasons, was with the team in Lucknow, which should be a boost for India ahead of the last match, which will be played in Bumrah’s hometown.
He arrives a minute before his team-mates and sits on the grass to do some stretches. The camera crews close in immediately. Even when he’s not hurtling in to bowl his thunderbolts, Shoaib Akhtar is news. After his latest misadventure at the T20 World Cup, he’s also on his best behaviour.This is the tour where he wants his bowling to make the headlines. Having made his name at the Kolkata Test on Pakistan’s tour here in 1999, he missed the 2005 series through injury. With the schedules being what they are, this could be his final tour of India, and he wants to leave his mark in front of the biggest audience of all.”I’m fit and feeling good,” he says. “Everything’s gone well so far on this tour.” He certainly looks relaxed enough, laughing and joking with team-mates during fielding practice and then walking across to the nets humming an old Hindi tune. He doesn’t really strain himself at the netseither, but after five one-day games packed into 14 days and a Test match just two days away, you don’t expect him to.It’s the identity of the men who will partner him that remains a bit of a mystery. Umar Gul looks certainly to share the new ball, which leaves Sohail Tanvir and Mohammad Sami to contest the third pace slot. Sami was outstanding at times on the last tour of India, and has been in red-hotform in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy back home, but Tanvir, in addition to being a handy batsman, offers a left-handed option that Pakistan haven’t had since Wasim Akram departed the scene.On a flat, low pitch, they should also go in with two spinners, even if that means a rather long tail. In conversation with journalists during the net session, Talat Ali Malik, the team manager, seemed to hint that the team management would keep faith in specialist openers. That should mean that Yasir Hameed, who played a superb innings in Bangalore on the 2005 tour, gets a chance to build up a partnership with Salman Butt.The middle order is where there are fewest problems, with Faisal Iqbal joining the old firm of Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf. Yousuf’s Grey-Nicholls bat is almost incapable of inelegant strokes and he went through almost the entire repertoire in the nets this morning, whileYounis was at his ebullient best during the throwing games organised by David Dwyer, the fitness trainer.Dwyer is the nephew of Bob Dwyer, who coached the greatest Wallaby side of all time to the rugby World Cup in 1991. But working with some of these players is a far cry from training superb athletes like Tim Horan, Jason Little and David Campese. “It’s certainly a challenge,” he says with a smile. “In Australia, you grow up with such a strong sporting culture. You play cricket or rugby or Aussie Rules, and if anything else, you pop down to the beach for a spot of surfing.”One of his drills has the batsmen up against the bowlers, with the ball being thrown around before someone from the other team can tag you. Initially, it’s done with throw to hand, and after that with throws on the bounce. The players enjoy it, and there’s plenty of camaraderie withinwhat is largely a young group. After India’s dominant displays in the one-day games and their series win in England, they’re clearly favourites for the Tests, but as Pakistan showed the last time they journeyed across the border, these tags count for very little.
The powerful Asian bloc is set to nominate Sharad Pawar, the Indian board’ chief, for the ICC presidency, a top BCCI official said on Wednesday. At its annual meeting in July next year, the ICC will vote on a successor to Percy Sonn of South Africa for a two-year period from 2008 .”It has been decided that Sharad Pawar will be our candidate,” Niranjan Shah, the Indian board secretary, said. “Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are in favour of Pawar and we hope to elicit the support of the West Indies too.” Nominations for the elections will close on January 1, 2007 at the ICC’s headquarters in Dubai.David Morgan, the English Cricket Board chairman, is also reportedly in contention following backing from Australia and New Zealand.Pawar, 66, is a powerful politician who is also the federal agriculture minister. The decision to support Pawar was taken at a meeting of officials from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in New Delhi last week to finalise plans for the 2011 World Cup, which the four countries will be co-hosting.
Billy Bowden, the high-profile elite umpire, has had his feathers ruffled of late. He was well below-par while officiating the Australia-West Indies Test series, and a recent poll among Australia’s 25 contracted players revealed that almost three-quarters of them rated him as the worst umpire on the circuit.The criticism led to Bowden, usually an out-and-out self publicist, refusing to talk to the media last week, although that didn’t last too long as he soon broke his silence to tell reporters that he wasn’t worried by the flack. “I am happy,” he said. “I can look at myself in the mirror.”Bowden became embroiled in a row after some questionable decisions went against West Indies, leading to their board making a formal complaint about the overall standard of umpiring during the series. The West Indies’ frustration boiled over on the final morning of the third Test when they repeatedly ignored his direction to stop talking in the field.Bowden arrived in Australia straight from officiating in the Pakistan-England series where he was again subjected to less than flattering reviews in the media. BSkyB analyst Bob Willis branded him a “show pony”.Bowden has been accused of being in awe of the Australians, and by having such a flamboyant and eccentric persona, he attracts more than his fair share of attention.But in New Zealand, Bowden has found support. Adam Parore, the former wicketkeeper, told the New Zealand Herald that he was by no means the worst on the circuit. “Billy’s problem is that he sets himself up, as all showmen are prone to do, and, at times, players find it hard to take him seriously. That said, it’s only the opinion of the Aussies, who had just come off an Ashes defeat when guess who was one of the umpires? Grain of salt Billy, I would suggest.”And in the same paper, columnist Chris Rattue was even more outspoken, labeling the poll “a disgrace, an arrogant response from spoilt brats smarting after losing the Ashes.”
Rudi Koertzen was rated the best umpire in the poll with a 53% approval rating