Allan Donald, the former South Africa fast bowler, has said he “can’t think of a more experienced coach” than Bob Woolmer to take over from Duncan Fletcher as England coach, should the position become available.Yesterday Woolmer, the Pakistan coach who played 19 Tests for England, told that he “will be open to offers after the World Cup,” and that he “would be foolish not to be”.”I have always been proud of playing for England and just missed out on coaching them [in the past] because the timing was not right. Coaching is my life,” he said. “It is what I do best and I am keeping fit through hitting catches and walking for 45 minutes every day, and swimming 1,200 metres every other day.”And Donald, who played under Woolmer during his tenure as Warwickshire coach in the 1990s, is certain England have a worthy replacement for Fletcher. “He is such a dedicated bloke,” he said, “very professional, he understands the England system very well and will set new challenges for an England squad.”Tom Moody, the Sri Lanka coach and John Wright, the previous India coach, are two other possible names England might consider. While both have played county cricket, neither is as experienced a coach as Woolmer.
ScorecardSara McGlashan hit an unbeaten half-century as Central Districts beat Canterbury by five wickets at Christchurch to claim their first State League title. Having dismissed Canterbury for just 150, CD coasted home with 17 balls to spare. It was just the second time that the unfancied CD side had beaten Canterbury in their history.After rain delayed the start, Canterbury opted to bat but struggled to get a partnership going and lost wickets at regular intervals to finish on 150 for 9 after 50 overs. Both Haidee Tiffen and Beth McNeill top-scored with 25. Zara McWilliams picked up 3 for 37 for Central Districts.In the second innings, Amy Satterthwaite picked up three quick top-order wickets to reduce Central Districts to 65 for 3 but McGlashan held the innings together with a well-made 55 and saw them through to the title.”Obviously, playing for New Zealand ranks very high but I think this is probably the best moment of my career,” said McGlashan. “I don’t think there’s a better feeling than this. It’s always been a team effort with us and everyone’s done really well throughout the season. We put them under pressure and they crumbled.”
Jamaica 316 and 274 for 6 decl. (Hyatt 64, Pagon 57) beat Trinidad & Tobago 303 and 145 (Kelly 83, Miller 4-27) by 142 runs Scorecard With three of their batsmen unable to bat, Trinidad and Tobago slumped to a 142-run defeat against Jamaica at the Alpart Sports Club. Shazan Babwah had returned home after the death of his father, while Imran Jan was resting a back injury, and once Sherwin Ganga retired hurt after being struck a painful blow on the chin by Daren Powell, Trinidad and Tobago were left with only seven fit batsmen. Chasing 288 in two session, they collapsed to 145 all out, despite a blistering 72-ball 83 from Richard Kelly who smashed seven sixes and three fours. For Jamaica, who registered a fifth successive win, Nikita Miller did the damage, picking up 4 for 27, including the wicket of Kelly, leg before wicket, as Trinidad and Tobago lost seven wickets in the final session. Earlier, Jamaica had declared on 274 for 6, with Powell making 45 and Carlton Baugh a quickfire 43.Barbados 224 and 4 for 0 trail Guyana 249 (Ramdass 57, Bennett 4-70) by 21 runs ScorecardThe Nagamootoo brothers, Mahendra and Vishal, inspired a rearguard action that gave Guyana a 24-run first-innings lead against Barbados at the Kensington Oval. Ryan Ramdass had compiled a painstaking 57 as Guyana reached 119 for 1 in response to Barbados’s 224, but but they then slumped to 175 for 7 before Mahendra Nagamootoo chipped in with 32 to complement his brother’s unbeaten 33. For Barbados, Jason Bennett took 4 for 70 to take his series tally to an impressive 21. When bad light stopped play 11 overs early, Barbados were still 21 runs in arrears.Winward Islands 279 for 3 (Smith 135*, Murray 61*) lead Leeward Islands 262 (Jeffers 69, Sammy 6-50) by 17 runs Scorecard Devon Smith compiled a patient and classy century as Windward Islands took charge of their match against the Leewards in St. Thomas. With Junior Murray chipping in with a defiant 61, Windwards dominated the final session after they had lost wickets either side of tea. Smith smashed 16 fours and a huge six off Omari Banks that landed on the roof of the commentary box. Earlier, Leewards were able to add just 10 to their overnight total, as Darren Sammy finished with career-best figures of 6 for 50.
Sussex have signed Jason Voros, a left-arm seamer from Australia, on a one-year contract for next season. Born in Canberra, Voros’s parents are Hungarian, meaning he qualifies as a domestic player through the European Union regulations.Voros, 26, played for Sussex’s 2nd XI last season and impressed by taking 14 wickets in four games. He also played for Hull in the Yorkshire League, and captured 47 wickets and scored six half-centuries.Peter Moores, Sussex’s coach, said: "This is good news for Sussex as a strengthening of the bowling department was necessary after the departure of Paul Hutchison and Billy Taylor.""It’s a fantastic opportunity for me and the start of a new career," Voros said. "I’m grateful for this chance, and to be joining the county Champions is awesome. If you’re going to play county cricket then you might as well join the best and I’m looking forward to the challenge. My signing with Sussex shows that all club cricketers can aim at the top."
Nepal’s effort in reaching the final of the Plate Championship of the ICC Under-19 World Cup at Lincoln University has been one of the highlights of the tournament.Nepal were only a fraction away from qualifying from the Super League stage of the World Cup, and they had victories over Test nations Pakistan and Bangladesh.But in terms of their own development they were probably best suited to learning in a less harsh environment in the Plate.The real test for Nepal lies in maximising the benefits to its players from the tournament.Whether coach Roy Dias is part of that may be decided by the Asian Cricket Council. Dias was appointed to the side by them, but he has been approached by United Arab Emirates and it could be the ACC that decides what he does.”My personal preference is Nepal – I know these guys so well,” he said.Dias believes Nepal could play at the top level in 10 years.”This has been a good tournament for them. They have had facilities to work in they have not had before.”But we find it difficult to get the kids interested back in Nepal. Soccer is their main game. And there is no schools set-up for cricket. Rumesh Ratnayake has been going around Nepal encouraging kids and trying to get them playing.”They have the talent but it is a long road ahead. There is some club cricket but it is all one-day cricket and mainly only 40 overs, so they haven’t been used to playing 50 overs.”But watching these guys the last three months I thought they could cause some surprises here, especially the spin bowlers. I knew the strength of my players,” Dias said.
Bloomfield C&AC recorded their first win in their second match of the Premier Limited Over Tournament 2000 by beating Moors SC by 50 runs in Colombo today.The match was reduced to 36 overs after the start of play was delayed due to heavy overnight rain. Moors won the toss and, unsurprisingly, decided to bowl first, in an effort to exploit the moist conditions.Sanath Jayasuriya gave a boost to Bloomfield SC with his return to the side after his exploits in Sharjah but disappointed when Rangana Herath caught him in the covers off the bowling of Rasika Priyadharshana for just 8 runs.Pubudu Dassanayake followed soon after to leave Bloomfield in trouble on 24/2. Bloomfield skipper, Kumar Dharmasena, and T.M. Dilshan then batted cautiously to start with before taking the attack to the Moors bowlers. Until the 26th over the pair were content to work the ball into the gaps for singles and twos. However, Dilshan then took control to unleash his full array of strokes.The pair added 152 runs off just 161 balls for the third wicket before Dilshan was stumped for 88 off 77 balls. His knock included 11 fours and 2 huge sixes. Dharmasena scored 60 off 82 deliveries before Rangana Herath caught him on the boundary.Bloomfield finished with 222/4 in their allotted 36 overs. The only economical bowler was R. Priyadharshana who took one wicket for 20 in his six overs.In reply, Moors SC made just 172 for the loss of 9 wickets in 36 overs. Heshan Thilakarathna (38) and Rasika Priyadharshana were the only pair who managed to put on a decent partnership. They compiled 64 for the second wicket. When they were dismissed Moors SC’s hopes quickly evaporated as Sanath Jayasuriya picked up three wickets.
Aston Villa correspondent Ashley Preece believed that Leon Bailey wasn’t strong enough for his involvement in West Ham’s second goal in his team’s 2-1 defeat on Sunday afternoon.
The Lowdown: Bailey’s performance
Steven Gerrard brought on the winger shortly before the hosts went 1-0 up with 20 minutes to go through Andriy Yarmolenko. The Jamaican is yet to start a game this year due to injury but looked bright in the closing stages in east London.
As per SofaScore, the 24-year-old ended with a match rating of 7.3/10, creating one big chance, completing 100% of his dribbles and recording seven accurate passes.
However, with Villa looking to get back into the game, Bailey lost out to Declan Rice following John McGinn’s attempted pass, with Pablo Fornals doubling the hosts’ lead.
The Latest: Preece’s post on Bailey
Preece relayed the key moments from the London Stadium via Twitter on Sunday afternoon and believed that Bailey was ‘not strong enough’ in the build-up to the second West Ham goal.
He tweeted: “Goal, West Ham, Fornals! Leon Bailey not strong enough to receive McGinn’s pass as Rice nicks in, drives forward, plays Benrahma who checks it back to Fonals who fires home. Villa done on the break. Clinical from the hosts.”
The Verdict: Hard done by?
Villa came into Sunday’s clash in fine form, winning their previous three games without conceding, and Gerrard may feel that his side should have taken something from the capital today.
The visitors had more efforts on goal, a greater share of possession and also hit the woodwork, as per SofaScore, with Bailey helping towards those stats with his all-action display upon coming off the bench.
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Unfortunately, Gerrard’s side have nothing to show for it, and they’ll be looking to put that right next time out against Arsenal, where we may see another cameo from the bench from Bailey – or possibly even from the start.
In other news: Big Villa update emerges; NSWE may not need to find £33m to sign Coutinho
The Indian cricket board has decided to serve a show-cause notice to Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors for defying an official gag by continuing to write his weekly column and giving an interview to , a Mumbai-based newspaper.Rajiv Shukla, vice-president of the Board for Control of Cricket in India told PTI that the decision to serve the notice was taken by Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president. “An explanation will be sought from Vengsarkar for the columns which have appeared in Hindi and Marathi dailies,” he said. His column appeared in a Marathi paper, , and Hindi daily, .”The BCCI is of the view that if he wants to continue as a columnist, he can give up the post of the chief selector,” Shukla said. However, the board secretary Niranjan Shah said that the notice hadn’t yet been served. “It will be done some time by today,” he told Cricinfo. “We have decided to issue it, maybe by evening.”The BCCI had earlier imposed a seven-point diktat to the national selectors, and one of the main points of the directive was to restrict them from airing their views by writing newspaper columns or even interacting with the media.Vengsarkar had earlier flouted an oral directive by the BCCI after a piece carrying his byline appeared in , a Marathi daily run by the brother of Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president. That prompted the board to seek an explanation from Vengsarkar as well as impose further restrictions on all the national selectors by banning them from accompanying the team on foreign tours.Vengsarkar has been writing his columns ever since he took over as chairman. There is a view, especially with selectors enjoying only a honorary post, that Vengsarkar shouldn’t be asked to sacrifice what is effectively a regular salary.In his latest interview, Vengsarkar spoke of India’s Test captaincy issue, following Rahul Dravid’s resignation after the England tour. He hinted that Dravid’s batting form may have contributed to his decision and the selectors felt it was best to give him a break by dropping him from the one-day squad.”I feel he [Dravid] is a very sensitive person and I guess too much media pressure affected his batting,” Vengsarkar told the paper. “Dravid looked mentally down when we gave him a break. At such a time, it is always better for a player to play domestic or even club cricket to get his confidence and rhythm back. Dravid has done that and I’m sure he will score loads of runs in the future.”On the appointment of separate captains for Test and one-dayers, Vengsarkar said the selectors were in favour of an experienced candidate for for the Tests keeping in mind India’s challenging tour of Australia next month. He added that Mahandra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh were close contenders for the one-day post.”It is really difficult to differentiate between the two because both have some great qualities to take Indian cricket to the top,” he said. “I guess Dhoni’s cool demeanor in a crisis tipped the scale in his favour.”Kumble is highly respected by his team-mates but also by the opposition. Most importantly he knows how to handle the Aussies in their own backyard.”
Duncan Fletcher claims to have the confidence of the England players and will continue to review his position on a six-monthly basis despite the crushing Ashes loss in Perth. England’s playing defence of the prize they won in 2005 lasted only 15 days and Fletcher has been seen as a crucial figure behind the loss.However, he said he would not rush a decision on his future and believed he was capable of improving the side. “I still have the players’ confidence, they still come to me on numerous occasions and still talk to me about tactics,” he said. “I have the respect ofthe players and that’s very important.”Fletcher will speak to David Collier, the ECB chief executive, when he arrives in Melbourne next week and will continue to judge his suitability for the position every six months. The only problem is that he’s not sure when the period starts or ends. Fletcher usually considers his role at the conclusion of the English domestic season and the beginning of the next campaign, but today he spoke of a “moving sixmonths”.”I’ll look at it when I feel like I’m enjoying the job or not enjoying the job, as simple as that,” he said. “I am enjoying it. You have your ups and your downs and as long as there are more ups than downs you enjoy the job.”England suffered a severe trough on Tuesday when they lost by 206 runs at the WACA to hand over the urn and Fletcher did not take individual responsibility for the series defeat. “There is blame on all of us,” he said. “Everyone has to be blamed. How we performed, how we selected it, if they feel they want to blame us in those areas we have to take thoseresponsibilities.”Despite the speed at which England handed over the Ashes, Fletcher said he was happy with the squad’s preparation for the series and would not have changed the teams for the first two matches. The selections of Ashley Giles, James Anderson and Geraint Jones were scrutinised as they underperformed while Monty Panesar, who came in for the Perth Test, made an instant impact with eight wickets.”The decisions aren’t easy and to select is very, very difficult,” Fletcher said. “From our point of view the people criticising now are the ones who run with the foxes and hunt with the hounds. All we can do is run with the fox. At the end of the day all we can do is make these very difficult decisions.”
ScorecardSourav Ganguly tore into the top order while Ranadeb Bose took care of the tail as Bengal, opting to bowl first on a green top, bowled out Tamil Nadu for 218 before struggling against the medium pace of Rajamani Jesuraj to reach 32 for 3 by the end of the opening day’s play at the Eden Gardens. “I’ve never seen such a wicket while playing in India”, Dinesh Kartik, TN’s wicketkeeper, had said on the eve of the game and nearly all the batsmen struggled on it. Only Hemang Badani who stepped down from the captaincy, giving way to Subramaniam Badrinath, to concentrate on his batting, offered the lone resistance with a fighting 67 to lift TN to a competitive total. Ganguly, who was ordered by BCCI to play in this tie, trapped all his three victims in front before being suspended from bowling in the rest of the innings for straying on to the danger area too often. Bengal, with nine points from five games, will be hoping to grab as many points as they can and secure a semi-final spot while Tamil Nadu, will try to get at least two points to avoid being relegated to Plate. For Tamil Nadu Yo Mahesh, the India under-19 player, made his debut. ScorecardA 97-run partnership between Barrington Rowland and Balachandra Akhil lifted Karnataka from dire straits at 134 for 5 to 231 for 6 by the end of opening day’s play against Delhi at Bangalore. Virender Sehwag, ordered by BCCI to play in this game, struck twice to push the hosts on the back foot before Rowland came to the rescue with a patient 81. However, he fell late in the day to bring back Delhi into the frame; Sehwag will be hoping to bowl out the tail quickly on the second day while Karnataka’s hopes of a big first-innings score rested on Akhil. It’s a crucial tie for Delhi as they have only 6 points in five games and need at least 2 points from this tie to avoid the relegation. ScorecardLed by Ramesh Powar’s four-wicket haul and assisted by twin blows from Aavishkar Salvi and Swapnil Hazare, Mumbai reduced Gujarat to 190 for 9 by close of the opening day at Ahmedabad. Parthiv Patel, who was picked for the India tour of Pakistan, shored up the Gujarat innings with a valiant 47 before Hemal Watekar’s unbeaten 46 lifted Gujarat to a fighting total. Salvi and Hazare picked up the four of the top six in the order before Powar, who had removed Parthiv, came back to rip the tail apart. ScorecardShalabh Srivastava and Ashish Zaidi rocked the top order while Piyush Chawla blew the tail away as Uttar Pradesh shot out Hyderabad for 142 before riding on Shukla’s unbeaten half-century to reach a position of relative strength at 101 for 1 by stumps on the opening day at Lucknow. A stunning scoreline considering Hyderabad, with 9 points from four games, are placed second in the Group B table while UP are wallowing near the bottom of the table. Shashank Nag, the left-hand opener, took Hyderabad to 70 before becoming the fourth wicket to fall, triggering a collapse. ScorecardOff the 32 overs that were possible due to a delayed start owing to rain Maharashtra reached 55 for the loss of Abhijit Kale, the opener, in the crucial tie against Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. Railways, with only 4 points in five games, lie at the bottom of the table along with Maharashtra and face the threat of relegation. Maharashtra have an overseas coach in Darren Holder, the Australian, but the results have been pretty disappointing so far. Scorecard</aOnly 26.2 overs were possible on a rain-affected day as Pinal Shah steered Baroda to 82 for 1 against Services by close at Palam A Stadium in New Delhi. Baroda are perched on top of the Group B table with 13 points from four games while Services are at the bottom of the pool, yet to earn a point. ScorecardPunjab, competing for the second semi-final spot, plodded their way to 190 for 4 by the end of the opening day against Andhra at Visakhapatnam. Pankaj Dharmani and Dinesh Mongia, the captain, put up a 91-run stand for the third wicket to lift Punjab from a shaky 99 for 3 to a position of relative strength. “We need to go all out and we are confident of doing it. Our team is well balanced. However, we don’t underestimate Andhra, which is doing well”, Inthikab Alam, the Punjab coach and former Pakistan captain, had said on the eve of the match. If their tedious progress today is any indication, they have a battle on their hands.