These are just more symptoms of an incurable illness.Not a terminal ailment, mind you, because West Indies cricket is not going to die just so. Yet as painful as it is to comprehend, the overwhelming evidence of more than a decade of struggle on the field and incessant turbulence off it virtually ensures that West Indies will continue to languish among the ranks of the mediocre for the foreseeable future.As per usual whenever some controversy erupts, as it invariably does almost every Monday morning, the public and media alike are obsessed with the personality clashes, so ignoring the greater reality that all of these convulsions are merely confirming that the slide from the summit shows no sign of slowing down and, in fact, may be accelerating to the level where the trials, travails and infrequent triumphs of the former champions will become increasingly irrelevant to a disillusioned populace.The responses to this latest episode are no different to ones of the past weeks and months, yet every time we seem to react with shock and disbelief, as if this was totally out of the blue and that all we need to do is make a really concerted effort to solve this particular problem and all will be well again. How short our memories are.Chris Gayle is either hailed for speaking out against the gross incompetence of the West Indies Cricket Board or dismissed as just another boldfaced Jamaican troublemaker who should never have gotten the captaincy job ahead of our boy Daren Ganga in the first place.Mike Findlay, the tour manager, is pilloried for his role in sanctioning the new captain’s tour diary entry, while everyone comes off the long run in hurling every conceivable insult in the direction of the WICB.It’s really true what they say about the more things change, the more they remain the same. The personalities and embarrassing fiascos may be different, but the theme remains steady: players and administrators at odds, nurturing a poisonous cloud of suspicion and mistrust that shows no signs of lifting anytime soon.How is it possible for any meaningful progress to be made in this environment? Yet millions, obsessed as they are with the cult of the personality that is so evident in almost every aspect of public life in these tiny territories, will hold fast to their belief that once this crop of incompetents is dispensed with and Ken Gordon is replaced by a favourite cricketing legend or a highly-touted visionary leader then, sooner rather than later, we’ll be well on our way back up to the top.Gordon is a failure, of course, while the integrity of some members of his inner circle at the board must be open to question given the ease, speed and regularity with which information from confidential meetings are leaked into the public domain.This betrays a house divided unto itself, with grown men pretending to accept collective responsibility only to be sneaking around like rats trying to undermine each other for their own parochial purposes.On principle alone they should all go, but that would still leave the same complex, archaic structure that is unworkable in a flourishing culture of selfishness and shortsightedness.Everyone keeps saying it is impractical to consider shutting down the whole thing for a couple months and developing an administrative system that is less cumbersome and more transparent. It is too radical, too impractical and, in truth, will not happen because enough influential people like things just the way they are.But have any of the many changes in personnel made any difference over the past 12 years? From former greats to successful businessmen, all have failed in various capacities, yet we keep waiting for that anointed one to lead us out of the valley of mediocrity.All of which makes the players and the Players Association look like valiant heroes battling the many world-class opponents out there on the field and the evil empire that would seek to enslave and humiliate them.Yet it is only against the backdrop of the gross incompetence of the WICB that WIPA and its membership have any substance. By any other metre rule they have been a consistent source of embarrassment at home and abroad, the four-Test series in England being just the latest of the many sound whippings administered to the Caribbean squad since 1995.Long before the Cable and Wireless-Digicel dispute and the agitation of Dinanath Ramnarine, the West Indies were being pummeled from pillar to post. The Brian Lara fanatics who would have us believe that it wasn’t so bad before the unexpected departure of the “Prince” are either deliberately dishonest or really know nothing of even the recent history of West Indies cricket. Conversely, the early evidence suggests that those convinced that his exit would herald a new, brighter era are way off the mark.Even if we were to wake up tomorrow to find the WICB and WIPA happy like pappy and everything settled once and for all, who really believes that a stable, united West Indies team will fare significantly better in South Africa at the end of the year and then at home to Sri Lanka and Australia in 2008? WIPA only looks good or has a bargaining leg to stand on because the WICB is just so consistently, unbelievably bad.This long, steep drop has been quite distressing. More disheartening, though, is the realisation that the bottom is nowhere in sight.
Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, hopes to have the services of Shoaib Akhtar during his side’s tour of England in July. Akhtar has not played cricket since he underwent knee surgery in February, but has been invited to a training camp later this month to determine his fitness for the tour.Inzamam, 36, remained confident that the fast bowler would be back to full fitness. “The reports about his rehabilitation are very positive. He is in the gym and has also started bowling in the nets,” he told Reuters. “We will invite him for the camp and hopefully he should be 100 percent fit soon.”Shoaib, with 165 Test and 199 one-day international wickets, went through a bad patch in early 2005 when he seemed to be betraying high expectations with a wayward work ethic. But later in the year he regained the trust, especially of Inzamam and Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, by taking 17 wickets in a 2-0 win over England at home. Having missed the one-day series against India earlier this year with fitness problems, Shoaib has been named a key figure in Pakistan’s progress as a Test side.”Shoaib is an important member of our attack. Conditions in England help the pace bowlers and we would like to go there with our first line pack of bowlers,” Inzamam said. “I see him forming a very potent new ball attack with Mohammad Asif. Then we will also look again at Mohammad Sami. We have a quality leg spinner in Danish Kaneria who has bowled a lot in their conditions. And we are planning to go at them with a top pace attack.”Pakistan play four Tests and five one-day internationals in England.
Darren Stevens and Matthew Walker each struck centuries to launch Kent into a strong position against Warwickshire on day three at Edgbaston. Stevens struck 163 and Walker 140 as Kent turned a slender overnight lead into a huge one. Replying to Warwickshire’s first-innings score of 252, they reached 569 and Warwickshire were 45 for 2 in reply at stumps, trailing by 272 runs with eight wickets remaining.Walker and Stevens carried on where they had left off on the second day, as they each posted a century. Walker’s knock included 14 fours and two sixes, and Stevens’ was similarly boundary-laden: he smote 22 fours and a six.Andrew Hall also chipped in with a handy 49, and the wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien as undefeated on 21. Hall then turned his hand to the ball, removing both Ian Bell and Michael Powell, the only two wickets to fall so far in Warwickshire’s reply.Bell failed for the second time this match – with the bat at least – as he added a duck to his solitary run in the first innings. Both he and Powell were bowled by Hall. Alex Loudon was Warwickshire’s most successful bowler, with three wickets but they came at a cost of 130, runs that the home side could ill afford in the face of an onslaught. The day belonged to the batsmen – and Stevens and Walker took full advantage.Knocking the champions off the top spot should go some way to soothing Kent’s mood after the ECB confirmed yesterday that they would be docking eight points for the provision of a poor pitch. There’s not much wrong with the pitch at Edgbaston, as today’s run-fest demonstrated, but Kent’s bowlers will nevertheless be hoping to take early wickets tomorrow and complete victory.
The United States of America claimed the final spot in September’s ICC Champions Trophy tournament, pipping Scotland by 0.028 on net run rate to win the Six Nations Challenge in Dubai.The USA overhauled Scotland’s 206 to win by five wickets in the 48th over, to scupper the Scots’ hopes. Meanwhile Holland, the tournament’s overnight leaders, blew their chances by losing to the United Arab Emirates. In an exceedingly close-fought competition five of the six teams finished up with six points (click here for the points table), but America squeaked home by virtue of a superior net run rate. Canada, conquerors of Bangladesh at the 2003 World Cup, lost all their five matches.The USA now take their place alongside the ten Test-playing nations and Kenya at the Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to take place in England in September. The Americans face group games against Australia, the world champions, and New Zealand. They will be the USA’s first official one-day internationals.
England seem certain to face a much tougher match than that provided by Otago when they meet Canterbury in the last warm-up match before the first Test starting next week in Christchurch.In a departure from the norm, the result of rugby gaining precedence for use of Jade Stadium at the weekend, the England-Canterbury match will be played on Hagley Oval.The inner city ground is the home ground for several Christchurch senior club sides and while Hagley Oval is one of the oldest first-class grounds in the country it has not been used regularly for first-class play for many years.This match also celebrates 125 years of the Canterbury Cricket Association, just as the Otago match celebrated 125 years of Otago Cricket.Eight players with international experience have been included in the Canterbury side, including the match-winner from the last of the One-Day Internationals, Nathan Astle, world-ranked all-rounder Chris Cairns, Craig McMillan and Chris Harris.Fast-medium bowler Chris Martin could also play although he has to prove his fitness after a recent injury.Captain Gary Stead is a former international as is off-spinner Paul Wiseman. Warren Wisneski has played ODIs for New Zealand while Shanan Stewart and Wade Cornelius are graduates of last year’s New Zealand Cricket Academy intake.Both have made their mark in first-class play this summer while opener Robbie Frew has been in good touch this summer.Canterbury has disappointed in the State Championship this year but has had to play without its international players for much of the time.They will greatly strengthen the Canterbury side.England has had some good news however, Michael Vaughan is likely to play in the game. Vaughan suffered a shoulder dislocation while fielding in the fourth ODI in the recent series after playing one of the better innings of the series for the tourists.The injury has not completely recovered but by the time the match starts Vaughan is certain he will be ready and is keen to stamp his claim on a place in the Test side.Certainly after the batting embarrassments at Otago’s hands, an in form Vaughan would be greatly appreciated by England.The Canterbury team is: Gary Stead (captain), Robbie Frew, Michael Papps, Shanan Stewart, Craig McMillan, Nathan Astle, Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Gareth Hopkins, Paul Wiseman, Warren Wisneski, Wade Cornelius, Chris Martin.The match will start at 12 noon each day.
Cardiff: Inzamam-ul-Haq holds the key to stablising Pakistan and giving them a base to derail the supposedly all-conquering Aussies. Inzi’s useful knack of scoring much needed runs, at the hour of need, served Pakistan well at Old Trafford and thereafter at Edgbaston. That he may do so again at Cardiff against the Australians is not only a probability but also a very strong possibility for he has shown consistency. Yet one swallow does not a summer make, and if Pakistan has to prevail upon the Aussies, others like flamboyant Shahid Afridi, sedate but struggling Yousuf Youhana and the now timing Saeed Anwar will have to add something to Pakistan’s total.Fortunately, Pakistan’s bowling has shown both penetration and pace, with Wasim Akram bowling as good as ever and Waqar Younis able to revive the 1992-year of swing. Saqlain has his confidence restored through spells of magic at Old Trafford and Edgbaston and with a 100% fit Azhar Mahmood bowling at his best, Aussies beware.Razzaq has shown a tendency to bowl fast, if he keeps line and length in mind, he can improve upon his strike rate. Rashid Latif certainly is a bonus for Pakistan and if the need be, Shahid Afridi can tease the Aussies with his wristy spin and faster balls.The Astralians have a problem on their hands, except for McGrath, others have been outright ragged and their defeat by Middlesex was an eye opener for Steve Waugh. Add to this, the tied match with Northampton and one feels Australia take the field with a defeat on their minds. Certainly a demoralising factor. Yes, their batsmen have been scoring runs very freely, but runs on board can only come handy when one has bowlers to stall the run to the opponent’s winning post.Pakistan, on the other hand, takes the field with two very impressive wins behind them, and with very high morale. All they need is temper themselves, and even though the first five overs at Edgbaston were good, needed most was continuity for ten more overs. It should not be left to Inzamam alone to carry the innings, others should be up to the task. If they play with the same passion and commitment displayed at Old Trafford, Pakistan can win. If they so do, another win at Lord’s will more or less ensure a place in the final against Australia and a chance to avenge that 1999 World Cup loss.
ScorecardFile photo: Ellyse blasted 12 fours and a six during her fifty•Getty Images
Half-centuries from Elyse Villani and Ellyse Perry lifted Australia Women to 186 for 1, and set up a crushing 99-run victory against Ireland Women in Dublin to seal the series 3-0.Australia, choosing to bat, were aggressive right from the off, with Villani striking the very first ball, from Kim Garth, for four. Both Villani and Perry, her opening partner at the other end, found the boundaries with ease, as the pair blitzed a 121-run partnership from just 85 deliveries. Villani stroked 12 fours and a six during her 53-ball 80, while Perry scored 55 off 46 balls, with seven fours. Villani was eventually bowled by legspinner Elena Tice in the 15th over, but Grace Harris, the No.3 batsman, continued the carnage, blasting three fours and two sixes in her 21-ball 30 to ensure a total in excess of 180. Harris, whose seven-ball 19 had also given Australia much-needed impetus during the second T20I, was later named Player of the Series.Her surge left Ireland needing more than nine an over, and the hosts wilted under the pressure of a large chase. Clare Shillington and Isobel Joyce both fell for ducks in the first over of the chase, as Ireland struggled to put up any substantial stand. Gaby Lewis top-scored with 30, but neither she nor any of her team-mates could score with the desired acceleration, as Ireland were restricted to 87 for 7. Jess Jonassen was Australia’s best bowler, ending with figures of 4-2-7-2, while Megan Schutt and Grace Harris picked up a scalp each.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been speaking to the media ahead of his side’s first ever trip to the new Hill Dickinson Stadium to face Everton.
Arsenal face Everton amid tricky Premier League spell
The Gunners hold a slender two-point lead over Man City atop the Premier League table heading into their trip to Merseyside, though they could drop to second if Pep Guardiola’s men defeat West Ham earlier in the day.
Arsenal arrive following a dramatic 2-1 victory over Wolves, secured via Yerson Mosquera’s 94th-minute own goal, though the performance raised concerns about their current form.
That being said, history overwhelmingly favours the visitors in this fixture.
Arsenal have registered 102 league wins against Everton—more than against any other opponent in English top-flight history—while scoring a record 345 goals against the Toffees across both Premier League and First Division eras.
The north Londoners’ dominance spans generations, with Arsenal legend Ian Wright scoring 12 times against Everton during his career.
Recent meetings, however, tell a different story.
Last season’s encounters produced consecutive draws – a goalless stalemate at the Emirates followed by a 1-1 Goodison Park draw that damaged Arsenal’s title aspirations.
Everton’s resurgence under David Moyes complicates matters. The Toffees sit ninth after winning four of their last six games, though last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Chelsea halted their momentum.
Moyes’ second spell has transformed Everton into genuine challengers for Europe, so they’ll be no easy customers this weekend.
The Gunners also face mounting injury concerns.
Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes, Cristhian Mosquera, Kai Havertz and Max Dowman all remain sidelined, forcing Riccardo Calafiori’s return from suspension into an already stretched backline.
Arsenal star now 'set to be sidelined' until 2026 after fresh injury update
It’s bad to worse for Mikel Arteta.
ByEmilio Galantini
Arsenal have kept just one clean sheet across their last six Premier League games while conceding first in each of their last three away matches.
Their weakened backline was compounded by reports that White will be out until mid-January after pulling up with a hamstring injury against Wolves, but Arteta has shared a ‘positive’ update on the Englishman and Gabriel.
Mikel Arteta shares 'positive' injury update out of Arsenal
While both White and his Brazilian teammate remain out, Arteta told reporters in his pre-match press conference that he expects the former to heal pretty quickly.
Arteta also says that Arsenal are ‘positive’ about Gabriel’s condition, and he’s evolving really well.
After Everton, Arsenal have a slew of difficult fixtures to contend with.
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Aston Villa and Liverpool are chief among the high-profile matches waiting for Arteta, and with City breathing down their necks, absolutely nothing but a win will do at Everton tomorrow.
The Kolkata Tigers squeezed past the Delhi Giants in Gurgaon to move into the semi-finals of the ongoing Indian Cricket League tournament. Lance Klusener carried his bat through for the Tigers, before the spinners choked the Giants to claw out a thrilling one-run win.In a virtual quarter-final, Craig McMillan chose to bat, and the Tigers’ openers – Deep Dasgupta and Klusener – gave their team the upper hand with a 50-run stand in seven overs. Dasgupta fell for 35 off 21 balls, but Klusener anchored the innings with an unbeaten run-a-ball 62.However, despite having wickets in hand, the Tigers could manage only 142; for the Giants, Shane Bond gave away only 15 runs in 3.4 overs before he was taken off the attack for bowling two beamers.Avishka Gunawardene and Monish Mishra blazed away during the Giants’ reply; after six overs, they were going at ten an over, and with nine wickets in hand. However, the Tigers cut down the run-rate in the next few overs, with spinners Upul Chandana and Shibsagar Singh scalping five wickets in six overs to leave the Giants stuttering at 105 for 6 after 16 overs.Chandana conceded only 15 for three wickets off his four overs, while left-arm bowler Shibsagar took two wickets for the same number of runs in three overs. It finally came down to 13 off the final over. Klusener added to the drama by bowling a no-ball on the penultimate ball – Bond ran two after holing out to deep midwicket, and smacked the free hit that followed over cover to make it three off one.They could manage only one leg-bye though, as the Tigers pulled off another nail-biting win, having pulled off a stunning one-run win over the Mumbai Champs in their first game of the tournament. They will face the in-form Lahore Badshahs in the semi-final on April 3, while the other semi-final will be contested between the Chennai Superstars, the defending champions, and the Hyderabad Heroes.
Hunter S. Thompson observed that the truth in Washington is “never spoken over a desk or in daylight hours”. Those of us who report on cricket, terminally stricken as it is by that useless charade known as the press conference, can but nod in weary agreement.Except, that is, when Percy Sonn was at the podium. In fact, the International Cricket Council (ICC), which is so bent on squeezing the last buck out of the game, missed a trick by not selling tickets to its late president’s public appearances. There would have been many takers, this reporter included.Whether Sonn always spoke the truth will be disputed by those who did not share his politics and his drinking habits. He launched into both of those pursuits with an uncommon passion.But while Sonn invariably generated grumbling in cricket’s more reactionary quarters, much of it was muttered: his arguments were as watertight as the glasses from which he swigged his drink.Sonn, who died in Cape Town on May 27, was as sharp of mind as he was of tongue, and entirely entertaining besides. He was never boring, often inflammatory, and always quotable.When cricket reporters gathered in a pressbox it wasn’t difficult to see which of them had Sonn on the other end of a telephone line. They were the ones whose pens jerked into life across their notebooks as urgently as the needles of a Richter scale signalling a major seismic event.”Please, please, don’t call Percy,” became the bleated refrain of one United Cricket Board (UCB) media officer whenever a crisis erupted. Which, in Sonn’s time as UCB president, seemed to be every other day.”You’ve got my number – give it to him,” Sonn told a reporter who, in the aftermath of Hansie Cronje being banned for life, called to ask when last he had spoken to South Africa’s crooked captain.
The truth is that Sonn deserves a better legacy than he will no doubt be lumped with
It was Sonn who said that Cronje “won’t even be allowed to play beach cricket” after some of the latter’s dark dealings with cricket’s underworld were dragged into public view. It was also Sonn who was said to have been drunk enough to have “almost fallen out of his trousers” at a 2003 World Cup game in Paarl.Those familiar with the world according to Sonn were not a bit surprised when controversy followed him into the ICC president’s office. On who else but Sonn’s watch would a Test umpire offer to resign in exchange for a bung of $500,000? Sonn also melted perfectly into the mangle of events that surrounded Bob Woolmer’s death during the 2007 World Cup.The truth is that Sonn deserves a better legacy than he will no doubt be lumped with. He was one of the architects of unity in South African cricket, but the UCB he became president of in 2000 was, in large part, a clubby collection of recalcitrant reprobates who feared nothing so much as real change.So there was horror all round when Sonn had Justin Ontong inserted, at the expense of Jacques Rudolph, into the South African team to play Australia in the second Test at Sydney in 2002. Sonn’s argument, as usual, was irrefutable. Ontong was black, Rudolph was white, and the UCB policy held that black players were to be given preference over whites of similar ability in competition for places in the national team.In a world of grey suited little men who thought grey little thoughts and lived little grey lives, Sonn was a loud burst of the most garish neon. How terrified they must have been of him. As a South African, Sonn came from a country where the words “black” and “white” hold special significance. Perhaps that’s why he never dealt in shades of grey.Away from cricket, he lived in the entirely real world of crime fighting as a public prosecutor, an advocate, an acting judge, the deputy director of public prosecutions in South Africa, and as a legal advisor to the police.He was also the first head of the Directorate of Special Operations in South Africa – a police unit known as the Scorpions which is the country’s answer to the FBI. Sandra, Sonn’s wife, and the couple’s three children know that they are immensely poorer without him.Cricket doesn’t know that yet, but it will.