Tag Futebol

It looks like the days of rumblings and grumbling are over. At least for the time being.The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) appear to be on the same page when it comes to contracts for players. In a brief conversation yesterday, Dinanath Ramnarine, president of the WIPA, told SunSport his organisation was satisfied with the pace of negotiations with the WICB as they look towards new retainer contracts. The last contracts expired at the end of last month.”We are working on new retainers and I can report that at the moment there are no major issues,” Ramnarine said. “We are satisfied with the way things are going and we remain optimistic.” Efforts to get a reaction from Barry Thomas, the WICB’s acting chief executive, were unsuccessful.In recent years, the players and their employer have been embroiled in a number of embarrassing public stand-offs which led on some occasions to the players withdrawing their services.However, since assuming the post of WICB president, Julian Hunte has struck a conciliatory note with WIPA. He appointed Ramnarine as a non-executive member of the board, so that WIPA, according to him, “can now be part of the solution instead of continuing to be perceived as part of the problem”. Hunte has also gone beyond Ramnarine’s formal appointment to bonding with the players themselves.The West Indies have a long list of assignments in the coming months. Next month they are expected in Zimbabwe for a series of one-day matches. They will play three Tests and three ODIs in South Africa between December and February. The Tests will be at Port Elizabeth (December 26 to 30), Cape Town (January 2 to 6) and Durban (January 10 to 14).The West Indies will host Australia and Sri Lanka between March and June, but the various boards have not outlined the itineraries as yet.

After a few months of relative calm, infighting inside Zimbabwe Cricket appears to have broken out again with news that Crispen Tsvarai has quit the interim executive and also stepped down as chairman of Bulawayo Metropolotan Cricket Association.Tsvarai’s decision is reported to have come after what sources inside ZC described as “a serious fallout” with Peter Chingoka, the board’s chairman, and Ozias Bvute, the managing director, at a meeting last week.It was also reported that Bruce Makovah, the chief selector, has stepped down from his post although the reasons are not clear. He is not believed to have travelled with the side to India for the Champions Trophy, leaving Kevin Curran, the coach, in sole charge of picking the team.

This past year has been quite a voyage of self-discovery for England’s one-day cricketers. It all began last November amid the vapid indifference of the Bangladesh tour; progressed to Sri Lanka and the ignominy of that 88-all-out debacle at Dambulla and a double washout in Colombo, and blundered blindly on through a rain-ruined Caribbean venture and a miserable NatWest Series campaign. And yet, by some miracle, the team has landed up in the final of the Champions Trophy, and are now favourites to secure their first global title, at the fourth time of asking.If it’s all a bit much to take in, then at least England can take comfort from the fact that their opposition will be feeling equally disorientated. West Indies have spent much of the past year being kicked from pillar to post and back again – by England’s cricketers on the field, but perhaps more damagingly by a legion of former Caribbean legends in the press-box, none of whom has required a second invitation to voice their scathing opinions. And yet, in the last gasp of an exhausting season, Brian Lara and his beleaguered team have earned themselves a chance at redemption. It’s enough to bring a tear to the eye.Two improbable contestants then, but one tasty final in prospect – and an unexpectedly fitting conclusion to a season in which England and West Indies have crossed swords so often, it is a wonder there is any steel left on either team’s blades. But there is no risk of this being written off as just another encounter, for it has been an eternity since either team made it to a final of this magnitude. England lost out to Imran Khan’s cornered tigers, Pakistan, at Melbourne in the 1992 World Cup, and though West Indies reached the final of the inaugural ICC Knockout in 1998-99 (in the days before it was as widely recognised as a mini-World Cup) they have not been seen on the big stage since 1983, when India’s bits-and-pieces heroes shocked them at Lord’s.Tomorrow, at least, the pain of defeat for the vanquished should be offset by the sense of achievement in simply reaching the final, not least for England, whose vanquishing of the Aussies at Edgbaston seems likely to enter the annals as one of those rare beasts – an “I was there” one-day match. But though they are undoubtedly the form team of this tournament, England cannot afford to be complacent about tomorrow’s challenge: this year’s Test tally may be 7-0 in their favour, but in one-day cricket, West Indies have won four matches to three, and it was they who secured the bragging rights by reaching the final of the NatWest Series in July, where they lost out to New Zealand in a one-sided final at Lord’s.England’s failure in that competition still sticks in Duncan Fletcher’s throat, and yesterday, he insisted that the only way his team would receive the recognition they deserve this year would be through victory, and victory alone. “Going through to this final is important for us,” he said. “When we beat West Indies and New Zealand in the Test series they were regarded as being rubbish and on the way out, but now people must appreciate that England have been improving and suddenly got our act together in the one-day game.”There can be little doubt about that now, after a 2-1 victory over India in the NatWest Challenge that was more emphatic than the scoreline suggests, and two handsome wins against Australia and Sri Lanka. The cornerstones of England’s success have been fairly easy to spot – Andrew Flintoff, the world one-day player of the year, towers above all comers, while Steve Harmison continues to translate his aggressive line in Tests into a frugal bat-jarring length for the limited-overs game.

But there have been other factors as well. Paul Collingwood, who epitomises the team ethic that permeates the squad, has not allowed himself to get frustrated by a lack of opportunity in Test cricket, and instead has passed the time by turning himself into the best infielder in the world. Andrew Strauss and Ashley Giles have carried their confidence across from the Test arena, and though Michael Vaughan’s overall form has been a cause for concern, his iron-willed 86 against Australia was the clearest proof yet that he is a captain and a player who will bow to no-one.But talking of captains, there is one player who will relish tomorrow’s opportunity perhaps more than any other man on the field. It has been Lara’s misfortune to preside over an era of perpetual decline in West Indian cricket, and the rewards for his efforts have been few and far between. Tomorrow, however, he has the opportunity to deliver to the Caribbean their first piece of silverware since Clive Lloyd lifted the World Cup in 1979, and it is unlikely that he will be stepping back to let his young guns hog the limelight.Lara’s participation was in doubt after the semi-final against Pakistan, when he was struck a fearful blow on the back of the neck as he swayed into a 92mph bouncer from Shoaib Akhtar. Though he was soon passed fit, the warning signs are there that, at 35, his reflexes may not be what they once were. Harmison and Flintoff will have taken careful note, and it is unlikely that his innings will pass without one or two testers from the bowler’s half of the pitch.All year, Lara has insisted long and loud that West Indies is a team, not a group of individuals, and finally that argument is beginning to be taken seriously. With stars such as Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the depth and variety of the batting is the envy of many, more highly-rated sides, and though the bowling lacks the explosive menace of yesteryear, there is a solidity to the endeavours of Ian Bradshaw, Corey Collymore that ensures that few sides can ever take them apart.The main man, however, is also one of the youngest on show in this tournament. Dwayne Bravo is one of those players with the ability to make things happen, as demonstrated by his pinpoint throw to run out Yasir Hameed in the semi-final victory over Pakistan. He made his mark during the Tests with runs and wickets in a losing cause, but he is a winner at heart and tomorrow at The Oval might just be his stage to prove it. That’s if a certain other allrounder doesn’t get there first, of course.England (probable) 1 Vikram Solanki, 2 Marcus Trescothick, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Andrew Strauss, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Alex Wharf, 10 Darren Gough, 11 Steve Harmison.West Indies (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Wavell Hinds, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Brian Lara (capt), 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Ricardo Powell, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Ryan Hinds, 9 Courtney Browne (wk), 10 Ian Bradshaw, 11 Corey Collymore.

John DysonOn Sri Lanka’s day
I thought we had a fantastic partnership this morning between Mahela [Jayawardene] and Vaasy [Chaminda Vaas]. I’m very happy with how the day has gone. We are not too badly placed. We were expecting to get between the 350 to 400 mark.On Jayawardene’s innings
It was a magnificent innings. I can’t think of a single chance that he gave – he just batted beautifully. He was aggressive in his approach and he ran really well between the wickets.On the pitch
It is very difficult to read the pitch. You have a look at it on Day One and form an opinion about how it is going to play, but it can play completely differently. So far, I think the pitch has played very well. It seems similar to the one for the Australia series. One very important factor down here is that it is very difficult to predict the weather. If it comes out hot and sunny, then the character of the wicket can change. But if you get a lot of rain in the night and it is cloudy in the morning, then somehow it seems to play better.On the prospects for the third day
We will go into tomorrow morning with the plan to catch a few wickets and put them under some pressure. You are only ever one ball away from a wicket, and it is just a matter of forcing enough pressure for a mistake. It is not surprising that they got off to a start like that, because the pitch played well and they have some good players.Mark BoucherOn South Africa’s morning
Obviously it is not nice to lose your captain, the man that makes all the decisions. It was always going to be tougher this morning in these conditions and because our guys haven’t played much cricket in the last two months, so there were maybe a couple of stiff bodies. Having said that, I didn’t think we bowled too badly, they just came out and played a little bit more aggressively today. We thought that if we could knock them over for under 350 we would be in with a good chance to dominate the Test match, but things don’t always go to plan in Test cricket.On South Africa’s chances
I thought the guys [the openers] fought back really well. We are not out of the game and we can bat well and try to score 550 to 600, which we have done before. We can’t worry about what is in the past – we can’t control that any more. We have now got a good foundation.On playing spin
We said at the beginning of the series that if you go out there and wait for a ball to spit, you are fighting a losing battle. You have got to go out there with a game plan, and if the ball is in the area to hit you have to hit it. They did really well out there and had a nice balance between attack and defence. The last time we came here we did not play spin too well and we have looked a lot into playing spin in the subcontinent. It is still early on and the ball is going to start turning and bouncing a bit more.On tomorrow
We are not going to worry too much about the outcome of the game at this stage, we are just going to take it session by session.

New Milton realise a ten-year dream this season with a move to their new ground at Fernhill to the north of the town.The development is the first phase of an ambitious long term strategy to co-locate a number of sports onto the attractive parkland setting.The ground is in a quiet, secluded area, providing two cricket pitches and a modern, well equipped clubhouse. The main ground has been prepared to a high specification, and the Club is now able to offer facilities for representative and festival matches, as well as league cricket.Net practice facilities have been laid on, with New Milton-based Academy all-rounder David Wheeler passing on a few tips to local youngsters.Captain Steve Watts, paying tribute to the New Milton Town Council, said: "I cannot believe that there is another Council which provides so well for its sports community."In addition to the new cricket ground they have built a superb football stadium, supported the Bowls Club, and redeveloped our former ground at Ashley as a centre for rugby."They consulted us at every stage of the development. In return we have been able to make a major contribution towards the Clubhouse and the ancillary cricket facilities through grants and fundraising."The ground was formally opened by Ian Wooldridge, the highly acclaimed Daily Mail sports writer, on July 24, 2002.

Defeats for Cove and Lymington have established Portsmouth as firm favourites to win the Southern Electric Premier League Division 2 championship.Overnight leaders Cove were shot out for 72 and beaten by five wickets by Trojans at Stoneham Lane, while Lymington plunged to 81 all out and a promotion-ending fourth successive defeat against Old Tauntonians & Romsey.The results swept Portsmouth – easy ten-wicket winners over Sparsholt – into a commanding top place with three matches to go.Jamie Donaldson (3-27) and Pat Douglas (4-7 in 11 overs) routed Cove for a dismal 72 on a typical Stoneham wet top.But the Thames Valley League bound visitors took five wickets before Nigel le Bas (24) guided Trojans to the brink of victory.Left-hander Neil Stotart (59) and Charles Forward (42) provided the platform from which Max Smith’s undefeated 71 swept Old Tauntonians & Romsey to a powerful 246-8 (Glyn Treagus 3-37).Lymington, rocked by an initial burst by Mukesh Morjaria (4-31), sank to 81 all out, with clean shaven Geoff Stotart taking 4-22.New leaders Portsmouth made short work of Sparsholt, who were shot out for 108 (Bill Gunyon 33).Hampshire’s Lawrie Prittipaul took 3-19 before cracking a quick-fire 79 not out.Steve Green produced a stunning all-round performance, hitting 77 before returning figures of 6-30 in Easton & Martyr Worthy’s 58-run win over Hambledon.Easton rattled up 226-5 (Ian Butcher 41, Andy Birch 31) before Green’s left-arm spin reduced Hambledon from 53-0 to 168 all out (Mark le Clerq 38).Relegated Old Basing were skittled for 61 and beaten by nine wickets by United Services.

A protest by the Shiv Sena, a regional political party, has muddled the fate of discussions between the BCCI and the PCB over the proposed India-Pakistan series in December.On Monday, talks between PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan and BCCI president Shashank Manohar were deferred after 50 workers from the Shiv Sena stormed the BCCI office in Mumbai, shouting anti-Pakistan slogans and demanding that the BCCI cancel the series.Neither Manohar nor Khan spoke with the media after the Shiv Sena protests. But conflicting statements came out of the BCCI. While the IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said the meeting would be held in Delhi on Tuesday, the BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said there would be no official meeting.”The talks have not been called off,” Shukla told . “Mr Manohar and Mr Khan will speak to each other in evening today and tomorrow they are coming to Delhi for another round of talks. “In no way the dialogue will be stopped. BCCI has never compromised with national interests.”Thakur, however, contradicted Shukla a few hours later.”Officially there is no meeting scheduled in New Delhi,” he told reporters in Delhi. “If the talks happen, they will take place in Mumbai at BCCI headquarters. The BCCI and PCB have some outstanding issues. The PCB chief wanted to meet the Board president to discuss those things but those have been cancelled now.”Manohar is supposed to be in Pune for a family function on Tuesday.The protest occurred soon after Manohar reached the BCCI office on Monday. Shaharyar, along with Najam Sethi, the head of the PCB’s executive committee, were advised not to leave their south Mumbai hotel, which is a five-minute drive from the BCCI headquarters. They were supposed to meet Manohar there to discuss the possibility of India’s scheduled series against Pakistan in December.Later in the afternoon, the PCB delegation headed to the airport to leave for Delhi amidst heavy police security. Minutes after their departure for the airport, Manohar left the BCCI office and reached the same hotel, where he had also been staying.The Shiv Sena has also threatened to stop the Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar from officiating in the fifth and final ODI between India and South Africa to be played in Mumbai on Sunday.The party has a history of anti-Pakistan protests. In 1999, it dug up the pitch at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi before the start of the India-Pakistan series, and in 2006 threatened to disrupt Pakistan’s Champions Trophy matches in Jaipur and Mohali.In April this year, Pakistani pop singer Atif Aslam’s concert in Pune had to be called off in the wake of such protests, and singer Ghulam Ali’s concert, scheduled to be held in Mumbai on October 9, was also cancelled after party workers threatened to disrupt it.Last week, Shiv Sena activists smeared columnist and writer Sudheendra Kulkarni with black ink, during an event he had organised to launch a book written by the former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.

Morne Morkel has rubbished a story in the South African media which claimed AB de Villiers intends to retire from Test cricket at the end of the England series., an Afrikaans newspaper said several of de Villiers’ current and former team-mates revealed to them “events in recent years have led him to seriously reconsider his Test future,” but Morkel indicated that was not the case.”I think it is a story. He is still very keen to play for South Africa and to break records,” Morkel said.He did not go into any further detail about the newspaper’s claims which cited the selection controversy at the 2015 World Cup – in which Vernon Philander was inserted into the semi-final XI, ahead of in-form Kyle Abbott, despite carrying a hamstring injury for most of the tournament – as one of the incidents which has contributed to what the publication called de Villiers’ “unhappiness,” with the current South African set-up.The extent to which the selection for that game was influenced by a conversation between de Villiers, the coach, Russell Domingo, and Haroon Lorgat, the chief executive of CSA only became clear in the weeks following the tournament. However, sources close to the team revealed de Villiers was reluctant to play in the match because of what was perceived as interference.A similar incident took place in the three months before Graeme Smith retired in March 2014, when CSA denied that the then-captain was considering quitting over transformation pressures.In the time since Smith’s retirement, CSA’s transformation has been enhanced by greater guidelines at franchise level – which now require at least six players of colour in each team, of which three must be black African – and has extended to the national team as well. Since the World Cup semi-final, South Africa have fielded at least one black African in their team in every match in every format.Factor in de Villiers’ workload – he is now keeping wicket as well as batting a place higher in the Test team – and it’s easy to see why the pressures of international cricket may be becoming too much for him. But that did not show on the second day in Kingsmead, when his 49 held together a line-up once again troubled by a misfiring top order.Morkel explained how de Villiers’ role was not limited to what he did on the field and that his behind-the-scenes contributions remain crucial to the South African changeroom. “AB is the ultimate sportsmen. He is the rock of our batting line-up,” Morkel said. “Even though there was a lot of pressure on him, he has seen this movie before and he knows how to play it. The talks he gives in the dressing room give us a lot of hope. It’s very inspiring and every dressing room would love to have him.” also claimed Dale Steyn, who made his debut alongside de Villiers at Port Elizabeth during the England tour in 2004-05 but who has been plagued by eight injuries in the last two-and-a-half years, is considering hanging up his boots, as is Philander, who is currently sitting out the first two Tests against England as he recovers from ankle ligament tears. However, Morkel was not asked about the fates of either of his pace-bowling partners.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

It was minnow bashing at its best as Sri Lanka, led by Sanath Jayasuriya, pulverized Kenya, beating them by 172 runs at the Wanderers. Jayasuriya’s whirlwind 88 and Jehan Mubarak’s late fireworks lifted Sri Lanka to a record team score of 260 for 6, a target way out of reach for the opposition as Kenya managed just 88.Records tumbled as the victory margin of 172 set the record for the biggest ever in Twenty20 internationals. Mubarak and Mahela Jayawardene – who made 65 – came within striking distance of recording the fastest fifties and the score of 260 foretold the result of the match even before the Kenya openers took guard.Steve Tikolo’s decision to insert the opposition proved costly as Sri Lanka began with the intent of scoring over 200. The openers – Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga, flayed at just about everything in the opening overs. Tharanga was the only one to miss out, owing to a lapse in concentration as he played across the line to a Thomas Odoyo delivery which hit the middle stump. While Odoyo bowled with control in his opening spell, the support bowlers suffered.Jayasuriya batted with characteristic freedom, shuffling across his stumps and disturbing the bowler’s rhythm at the delivery stride. Despite a few hits and misses early in the innings, it didn’t take long for him to find the meat of the bat. He set the ball rolling with the first six of the match, pulling a good length delivery drifting in over square leg and through his innings, he kept the fielders in the arc between square leg and long-leg on their toes.Sangakkara’s brief knock of 30 was characterised by technically correct strokes along the ground and his stand of 75 with Jayasuriya ensured that a record score was on the cards. Wicketkeeper Maurice Ouma stood up to the stumps to curb the batsmen from using their feet but it was to no avail. Jayasuriya unfurled the shot of the match, a short-arm jab across the line off Nehemiah Odhiambo which just landed over the square-leg rope.Sangakkara fell sweeping to Jimmy Kamande and the passage of play following his dismissal was forgettable at best for the Kenyans. Jayawardene announced his arrival with a slog-sweep six and batting never looked easier as swept and scooped while staying rooted to the crease.The carnage played on the minds of the fielders and a series of comical errors in the field followed. Fielders at the deep midwicket region struggled to time their jumps and a collision between Lameck Onyango and Odoyo gave Jayawardene a life as the catch was spilled.Jayawardene fell trying to sweep Jimmy Kamande and that brought Mubarak to the middle. Mubarak took to Onyango, carting three consecutive sixes and then a four over deep extra cover and the over was worth a whopping 29. He fell short of beating Mohammad Ashraful’s record for the fastest fifty but that record hardly mattered as the target seemed unassailable.

The Kenyans showed no semblance of a fight as half the side was back in the pavilion with the score on 50. Chaminda Vaas demonstrated the right line and length to bowl on the pitch and bagged the first two wickets with his nagging line at the stumps.Tanmay Mishra broke the shackles with a thundering six over long-on against the run of play. However, boundaries were few and far between and at the end of the 10th over, Kenya struggled to push the run-rate up to six an over, let alone match Sri Lanka’s.Lasith Malinga, brought in as the second change bowler, prised out a couple of wickets. Captain Steve Tikolo failed to inspire his side as he was caught in the slips for four while Collins Obuya fell to a tame loft, giving Malinga one of the easier return catches.Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Gayan Wijekoon took a wicket each as the Kenyans struggled to get close to 100. The innings was wrapped up after the fall of the ninth wicket as Odoyo was unfit to bat owing to the collision earlier on.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) plans to send Shabbir Ahmed, the fast bowler who is undergoing a one-year ban for a suspect bowling action, to Australia for lab tests on his bowling action before the ICC reviews his ban again.”Shabbir is at present playing league cricket in England and we are in touch with him. We have already worked on his action which has shown improvement,” Saleem Altaf, PCB’s director of cricket operations, told Reuters.”We are hopeful that by the time the ICC reviews his ban that his stint in Australia under bio-mechanic experts would strengthen his case for a return to international cricket.”The board had appealed to the ICC this January to review Shabbir’s case, but the ban was upheld by an independent bowling review group in Dubai. The group’s decision meant that Shabbir became the first bowler in international cricket to be banned for a period of 12 months on account of a dodgy action.The PCB must appeal to the ICC once the term of the ban is over. As per the ICC’s directives the bowler must submit evidence from experts that his bowling action has been corrected, only then would the ICC inform umpires that the ban had been lifted.Altaf also revealed that the ICC had rejected Pakistan’s proposal to organise six-day Tests for the home series against West Indies in November and December this year. “We had made a suggestion to have six-day Tests to save lost playing hours due to weather conditions in winter. But it didn’t come through,” he said.But he was hopeful that not too much time would be lost during the Tests. “They are being held in November and we also have the option of extending play under lights,” he added.West Indies will play three Tests in Pakistan beginning November 7 – one each at Lahore, Multan and Karachi.