Waqar Younis, who has been approached to be bowling coach of Pakistan for their tour against India, has indicated that he would be interested in performing that role for the long term. Speaking to the BBC, he said, "If it is only for the India series, it will be waste of time.”BBC’s website reveals that Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s captain, agreed with Waqar. "I support Waqar," he said. "He is not a magician who can correct things in a week."Inzamam added that the team needed a bowling coach like Waqar to help out the young fast bowlers. "When we had Wasim [Akram] and Waqar in the team," he said, "the new bowlers could learn a lot from them while playing with them. But now there is no senior bowler in the team, so we need an experienced fast bowler like Waqar as our bowling coach. We had many victories in the 1990s and that’s all because of two guys – Wasim and Waqar. They taught the whole world about reverse swing – that was our main weapon."I would like this weapon to be passed on to the juniors now."
When Steve Waugh said Australia would come hard at India, he wasn’t kidding. A team scoring 400 for 5 in a single day was not something the Adelaide Oval had experienced before. Australia went on a run-riot and overtook the 387 they scored against West Indies on the second day of the fourth Test of the Frank Worrell Trophy in 1968-69.A closer look at the scoring pattern lets slip an interesting ploy.
Session
Runs
Overs
Runrate
Morning session
135
27
5
Afternoon session
106
24
4.42
Evening session
159
39
4.08
Australia played to put India on the defensive as soon as the game began, and once the pressure was on, the batsmen could step off the gas, play a relatively safer game, and still end up with a huge total on the first day.
Batsman
Strike rates
Langer
80.6
Hayden
80.0
Ponting
71.5
Martyn
76.9
Waugh
56.6
Katich
68.8
Gilchrist
90.0
Ricky Ponting was unbeaten at the day’s end, with a score of 176 in 246 balls with 24 boundaries. His strike rate of 71.5% suggests a poor bowling performance, but on closer inspection, it was Ponting’s frame of mind and the pitch’s true bounce that attributed more to his final score. Ponting had an in-control percentage of 87.4, compared to the team total of 84%. His back-foot strokeplay was authoritative, and the number of runs he scored off the front foot reveals how consistent the bounce was.
Front foot
Back foot
Runs scored
99
62
Balls faced
169
60
When Ponting reached his hundred, he achieved the rare distinction of scoring all 16 of his boundaries on the offside. It had a lot to do with the line the Indians bowled.
Percentage of deliveries bowled to Ponting on the offside
Bowler
% offside
Agarkar
100
Pathan
88.2
Nehra
91.8
Kumble
82.4
For a large part of the day, India bowled a good length, and just short of a good length. The arrival of Steve Waugh, unsurprisingly, brought a change in tactics. Of the nine bouncers bowled in the day, five were directed at Waugh. Ironically, it took a half-volley – just the delivery the bowlers were trying to avoid – from Ashish Nehra to dismiss him.
A five-wicket haul from India seamer Iqbal Siddiqui helped Maharashtra reduce Saurashtra to 288 for nine on the opening day of the West Zone Ranji match between the two sides at the Nehru Stadium, Pune.The fact that most of the visiting batsmen failed to build on their starts after Maharashtra had put them in proved to be the former’s undoing. RV Dhruv who made 50 off 82 balls and opener PP Joshi who made 47 off 64 balls were the top two scorers for Saurashtra.For Maharashtra, Siddiqui, a left-arm seamer who made his Test debut for India in the recent Mohali Test, claimed 5 for 92, while Hrishkesh Kanitakar, claimed 2 for 41, with his gentle off-spinners. Suyash Burkul, the 20-year-old right-arm medium-pacer making his Ranji debut claimed the other wicket to fall on the day.
Warren Hegg may be something of a forgotten man in English cricket but thatfailed to stop him from playing an innings to remember at Headingley thisafternoon. Against a persistently accurate Yorkshire attack, Hegg was theone batsman to capitalise on a good start, his innings the differencebetween mediocrity and competitiveness as Lancashire’s soared to a mark of267 – against Yorkshire’s 4/0 – on another two-paced Leeds pitch.It was Hegg’s chanceless 75, spiced as it was with nine well struckboundaries, which proved the defining factor in a fightback much needed bythe visitors. With only a solitary half century to show from nineteenprevious appearances at the crease this county season, the former England’keeper chose an opportune moment to turn his form around in what shapes asone of the most crucial matches of the summer. Stern late resistance alsocame in the form of a painstaking 19 in a shade under two hours from GlenChapple (whose concentration on occupation of the crease enabled him toshare in a vital 88 run stand for the seventh wicket with Hegg) and a handyunbeaten 29 from number nine, Richard Green.Undone by some excellent bowling, principally from the redoubtable MatthewHoggard (4/70), the Lancastrians had looked to be tumbling deep into themire as they surrendered five wickets for fifty runs to find themselvesteetering at 128/6 an hour after lunch. Enter their enterprisingwicketkeeper-batsman, whose ability to tuck and chip the ball into gaps notonly slowed Yorkshire’s momentum but also evinced increasing signs offrustration. Michael Atherton (21), John Crawley (23), Sourav Ganguly(28), and a characteristically aggressive Andrew Flintoff (28), had allmade decent enough starts to raise hopes of a solid top order performance,but they failed to a man to continue on with a job that, in the end, was byfar best left to Hegg.
Crystal Palace are enjoying a comfortable season in the Premier League, currently 11th in the table but there is no doubt that Patrick Vieira will want to push for that top half finish in his first season in charge at the club.
The French manager’s team have been grinding out results as of late and are currently unbeaten in their last four league games in the Premier League, most recently holding the Premier League champions to a draw at Selhurst Park.
Vieira will now be hoping that he can inspire that final charge to get inside the top half of the table, especially when they are so close, just two points behind ninth-place Aston Villa.
Palace must seize every opportunity open to them in the final months of the campaign, and with that in mind, it might be a good opportunity for the manager to freshen up the attacking line with a player who is a proven and experienced goal-scorer.
Odsonne Edouard has not been given much time in the team for the last few months, despite only Conor Gallagher and Wilfried Zaha scoring more goals than him this season so far, but for some reason, he has only played 26 minutes of football in the team’s last five league fixtures. It’s a wonder why when you consider the attacking threat he offers.
The £79k-per-week star who was hailed a “special talent” by former manager Neil Lennon, has been effective in offensive play with six goals and three assists, creating two big chances and making 0.8 key passes per game, playing 52 minutes on average during his 23 appearances this season, according to SofaScore.
When he plays consistently in a team, his threat in front of goal only heightens which is something we saw at Celtic last season when he played in Lennon’s side week in, week out. He tallied up 22 goals and six assists in 40 appearances for the Hoops, which ultimately caught the eye of Palace.
Now with a highly competitive attacking line in Vieira’s side, Edouard has found himself pushed out of the team and unable to gain minutes.
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However, judging by the statistics in his previous performances and goal involvements for both Palace and Celtic last term, the centre forward could be the key to unlocking that top half finish come May.
In other news: Parish dropped big CPFC howler on “super talented” £20m machine
ScorecardJake Lehmann (pictured playing in the BBL) completed his second first-class hundred on the third day in Adelaide•Cricket Australia/Getty Images
Jake Lehmann completed his second first-class century on the third day of South Australia’s match against Queensland in Adelaide, but the Redbacks faced a huge task to push for victory on the final day. Set 418 to win, South Australia went to stumps on 0 for 29, with Tom Cooper on 18 and Mark Cosgrove on 10, and they needed a further 389 runs.The day had started with South Australia on 5 for 252 in their first innings and Lehmann was on 92; he moved into triple figures for the second time this summer and was the second-last man dismissed for the Redbacks, lbw to Peter George for 126. George finished with 3 for 50.Queensland’s 159-run first-innings lead ballooned in the second innings as Sam Heazlett scored 72 and Chris Hartley made 55, with Test squad member Chadd Sayers collecting 2 for 51. Test opener Joe Burns made 30 to add to his 35 in the first innings as he prepares for the series against New Zealand.
Steve Harmison’s hopes of playing in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Kandy next week were dealt a major blow when he limped off the field during England’s final warm-up match at the Nondescripts Cricket Club in Colombo.Harmison, who had earlier taken his first wicket of the tour in a much-improved performance, pulled up after bowling three balls of his 11th over. He paused for a while at the top of his mark, and appeared to clutch at the lower right-hand side of his back. After a brief consultation with Michael Vaughan, he left the field immediately and James Anderson completed the over.The initial fear among the England camp was that Harmison had suffered an aggravation of the muscular tear in his lower back that ruled him out of the end of the English season, but England’s coach, Peter Moores, said that the new problem was unrelated, and even held out hopes of Harmison featuring again before the end of the match.”It’s not something he’s had before,” said Moores. “It’s a bit of a twinge, a back spasm, and the physio doesn’t think it’s anything major. Hopefully it’s one of those things that settles down in the next 24 to 36 hours, and he’ll be able to play a part in the second innings.””It’s not exactly what you want,” said Moores. “Harmy’s disappointed because I think he found good rhythm. He started to really hit his straps a little bit and enjoy himself, and was looking forward to having another crack. But we’ve all had muscle spasms in the past – they hit you like an electric shock and if that goes away you can get right again as quick as it went.”However, with just six days to go until the Kandy Test, Harmison’s participation must be in severe doubt, not least because of the blow it will deal to his already fragile confidence. The injury occurred at the beginning of his fourth spell of the day, and though he was not sent for a scan, it came at a moment when he looked set to recapture some of his best form.”He was really happy,” said Moores. “When Harmy’s bowling well he attacks the crease and today he was doing it with confidence, with his foot half-and-half on the line. He was getting better all the time, and this has put a bit of a cloud on what was otherwise a really good effort.”In the aftermath of England’s first warm-up match at Colombo Cricket Club, Harmison had spoken of his determination to fight for his England place, but also rued the run of bad luck that had left him on the fringes of the squad. Prior to his back problem in August, he had undergone a hernia operation that had ruled him out of the Test series against India.”In the past we still had bowlers knocking on the door, but I went through a long period of not being injured,” said Harmison. “Now I can’t get rid of an injury without another one cropping up.”I need to spend some time on the park, and if I do that and bowl properly, I feel I’m as good as anyone in England. When I’m not bowling that well, and coming back [from injury] all the time, then there are better bowlers than me.”
ScorecardZimbabwe plumbed new depths on day one of their game against Bangladesh A at Mirpur when they subsided to 146 all out, mesmerised by the spin of Enamul Haque jnr.By stumps, Bangladesh A had reached 69 for the loss of Javed Omar and Gaza Salahuddin. After their dismal performances in the recent one-dayers, Zimbabwe were looking to gain some confidence with a strong performance against weaker opposition, but things did not go to plan as they were ripped out in just 58.5 overs.After they lost Tinashe Hove in the first over of the innings, the story of the day was the inability of the middle order to cope with Haque. Zimbabwe, who have lost 12 ODIs on the spin, lost four wickets for 15 runs in the middle of their innings, collapsing from 44 for 2 to 59 for 6. Only the strokeplay of Sean Williams and some defiance from the tail saved them from further embarrassment, with Haque finishing with 5 for 21 from 16.5 overs.Zimbabwe needed to take early wickets, and a double breakthrough from Anthony Ireland gave them hope, but Rajin Saleh and Tushar Imran consolidated before the close to leave the visitors with a lot of work to do tomorrow.
David Hussey, the Victoria batsman, has warned the new domestic Twenty20 competition could harm the games of players as they swing from four-day matches to the abbreviated contests. Hussey is a veteran of 14 matches after playing mostly for the English county Nottinghamshire and his message came as Cricket Australia launched its Twenty20 Big Bash, which starts in January.”All players should be wary of it,” Hussey told . “It’s not easy to transfer your game from Twenty20 into a four-day competition. They’re both very different competitions and both are very difficult.”Hussey came second behind Dominic Thornely in a big-hitting contest at the Junction Oval yesterday, with Thornely striking a ball 130 metres. Thornely, the New South Wales batsman, told the paper he expected Twenty20 specialists to become a feature of the competition.”The separation of the one-day and Test teams was a big deal, but since then selectors have picked specialist teams for not only different versions of the game but also for different grounds,” he said. “The style of player in Twenty20 may not be the style of player you would pick in a Test or even a one-day team, so you would have specialist teams for that game as well.”James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said the competition was aimed at attracting new audiences and was one of the most revolutionary steps in Australian domestic cricket since the introduction of a limited-overs competition in 1969-70. “New rules, fast paced, action packed – the Twenty20 Big Bash will be a fun and easy way to connect with the sport for both the uninitiated and ardent cricket fans,” he said. The Big Bash, which has each state playing two preliminary matches, starts on January 6 and the final will be held on January 21.
Scorecard Auckland’s domination of the State Championship continued with a comfortable seven-wicket win over Central Districts at Eden Park’s Outer Oval. Auckland now sit at the head of the points table having taken maximum points from their three games.Resuming at 274 for 8, CD lost their last two wickets within the first four overs of the day as Bevan Griggs was left stranded on 77. Tama Canning turned out to be the most effective bowler with 4 for 65. Chasing 222 for a win, Auckland were never in any sort of trouble as Richard Jones and Matt Horne combined in a 172-run opening stand, a record opening partnership for Auckland against Central Districts, and steered them towards the target. Jones stroked 16 fours in his composed 110, his sixth first-class century, and Horne supported him with a steady 72. Both batsmen fell to Jamie How but by then the game was all but sealed. Scorecard Greg Todd helped extend Otago’s lead to 352 before Jeff Wilson’s four-wicket haul helped them pull off a 114-run win over Canterbury in Dunedin. Todd, who smashed eight fours in his 59, received good support from the tailenders as Otago stretched their lead in the morning session. The bowlers then responded to the call and wrapped up the Canterbury innings just before the overs ran out.Craig McMillan played the lone hand for Canterbury with a fighting 82 but the Otago trio of Jeff Wilson, he will play for New Zealand against the FICA World XI, James McMillan and Brad Scott completed a fine win.