Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has sought the services of Aravinda de Silva, the former Sri Lanka batsman, to help Under-19 players prepare for next year’s World Cup in Malaysia.de Silva, 42, said he was prepared to help any cricketer who needed his help. “When Sri Lanka Cricket sought my services I was glad to oblige them.” He will meet the squad on January 2 and assist them till February 9, before they depart for Malaysia. He will not accompany them on the tour due to some private commitments.Roger Wijesuriya, the Sri Lanka U-19 coach, was delighted to have de Silva as his team’s batting coach. “Our main worry has been the batting,”Wijesuriya said. “With Aravinda’s knowledge and experience I am sure the boys will benefit immensely. It is not so much from the technical side that they need guidance but on how to tackle match situations and playing under pressure.”Aravinda is a hero and the boys will be excited by his presence at practices. It is good for our cricket to have a person like him helping out at any level,” he said.Wijesuriya said that de Silva will be present for the two practice matches his squad was due to play against Colombo Cricket Club on January 2 and against Tamil Union on January 3. After the two games, the squad will be pruned from 30 to 20 players.Wijesuriya said he was happy with the fitness levels of the team and added that the fielding had improved tremendously as had the bowling. Apart from de Silva, Wijesuriya also plans to ask Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara to speak to the players before they leave for Malaysia.Just before they head for Malaysia, the U-19 team will play a triangular one-day tournament from January 23 to February 8. U-19 sides from England and Pakistan will join Sri Lanka in the competition which will be played in Dambulla.Under-19 triangular tournament fixtures: Jan. 23: Sri Lanka v Pakistan Jan. 24: England v Pakistan Jan. 25: Sri Lanka v England Jan. 27: Sri Lanka v Pakistan Jan. 28: Sri Lanka v England Jan. 30: England v Pakistan Feb. 1: Final
Paul Collingwood’s match-winning century at Melbourne was not your typical one-day starring role. He struck at less than a run-a-ball and managed only seven fours and one six but his mastery of a difficult situation earned him lavish praise from his captain Andrew Flintoff.Collingwood’s unbeaten 120 has put Australia on the back foot, needing to win the next two games to win a CB Series they never looked like losing. Flintoff said that, combined with the tough circumstances Collingwood found himself in – he came to the crease at 3 for 15 in the sixth over chasing 253 – made it a near-perfect innings.”In all my time playing one-day cricket for England, wearing the blue shirt, I think that’s the best innings I’ve seen,” Flintoff said. “The way he paced it, his stamina, his concentration was a lesson for everyone watching.” Flintoff, smiling occasionally but missing the slightly bewildered grin he wore permanently after leading England to their previous win over Australia, said it had also been Collingwood who rescued his team in the field.At 1 for 170 in the 31st over, Australia looked set for a mammoth total when a sensational diving catch by Collingwood at cover removed Ricky Ponting for 75. “That sparked us, that catch,” Flintoff said. “At that time Australia were on top of us, the bit of magic seemed to turn it around for us.”New Zealand might be out of the competition but Jacob Oram was still haunting the Australians. Collingwood credited Oram’s dropped caught and bowled on Tuesday with helping him find form again after a lacklustre opening to the series. Collingwood went on to make 106 against New Zealand and turned it into consecutive centuries at the MCG.”It’s amazing once you have a bit of luck out in the middle,” Collingwood said. “Jacob Oram dropped us on 18 the other day and just managed to get up to 30 and 40 and felt really comfortable in the middle again.”Luck was something that deserted Australia but they had nobody to blame but themselves for their below-average fielding and bowling performance. Ponting said it could have been game over had Glenn McGrath held a simple chance when Ian Bell was 18 and the score was 3 for 33. “He’s usually pretty safe under those high balls,” Ponting said.Ponting said the last 70 overs of the match were disappointing after Australia’s excellent start and he and Matthew Hayden, who made 75 and 82, “need a rap over the knuckles” for failing to convert their half-centuries into triple-figures.”You want to play your best cricket in finals,” Ponting said. “We probably played our worst game for a long time in a final tonight.” But Ponting would not concede the series was lost, pointing to last year’s come-from-behind 2-1 tri-series win over Sri Lanka as proof his team could yet claim a prize they considered rightfully theirs.
In October 1978 on this very ground Indian cricket began a new chapter as a certain Kapil Dev Nikhanj played the first of his 131 Tests. Apart from spearheading the bowling attack for over a decade, Kapil captured the imagination with his spontaneity and brought to the crease a certain audacity, the likes of which hadn’t been seen before. So when Kapil calls someone his hero, you know that that someone needs to be taken seriously.Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who orchestrated a quite astonishing 148 under pressure, received that accolade and he admitted that it was the “best message” he had got till now. Kapil would have probably identified with his swagger and daring. Several Indian batting masters would have probably brought off those juddering pull shots off bowlers in the Shoaib Akhtar class, but few might have achieved it with such ferocity. The pressure was immense, the opponent brutal.Dhoni talked about the most engrossing passage of the series: “He was bowling very fast. It was actually the fastest deliveries I have played till now, both in the one-dayers and Tests. It was quite fiery. I believe he was bowling consistently over 148kph. It was really fast. It was a challenge for me and I accepted it. I just wanted to hang in there for a while and get used to the pace and bounce of the wicket but soon decided to take a calculated risk. I had to play my strokes at some point of time and I decided it was the right time to go for it.”It was no doubt his toughest test to date, one where he was up against electrifying pace against a team on the rise. He looked out of place in the first few deliveries and even got hit when he missed a short snorter. “It’s my best innings in Test cricket,” he added. “It was a good batting track but I don’t think it was very easy to score with Shoaib bowling at his best with the new ball. It was quite tough for me and I got hit.”Dhoni nearly got hit again this morning when Shoaib let rip a chest-high beamer, but was fortunate that it was not spot on, running away for four runs. “I would like to believe that the ball just slipped out of his hand,” he said, yet confirming that Shoaib hadn’t apologised for his action. “A beamer always surprises you, so I was a bit surprised. I don’t think anybody bowls a beamer intentionally.”Dhoni also acknowledged Irfan Pathan’s contribution and spoke about what he liked about their partnership. “Both of us have one thing in common,” he said, “we always look for runs. I was getting runs quite fast and he was playing the sheet-anchor’s role. That was the perfect thing in our partnership.”
India’s offspinner, Harbhajan Singh, has been cleared by the International Cricket Council of a suspect bowling action. Harbhajan was reported during the second Test against Bangladesh at Chittagong in December, when his doosra came under scrutiny from the match umpires, Aleem Dar and Mark Benson, and the ICC match referee, Chris Broad.According to Reuters, the ICC said they had received confirmation from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that the bowling action for both his offspinner and "doosra" fell within the tolerance threshold of 15 degrees, as prescribed in their new regulations. Unofficial sources at the time of the incident had suggested that the elbow-flexion was nearer 22 degrees.It was the second time that Harbhajan’s action had come under scrutiny. In 1998, he flew to Lord’s to work with the former England offspinner, Fred Titmus, but was cleared in just two days of remedial work. Accordingly, he had been less nervous about the investigation this time around, and back in December, he had even joked with reporters in Chittagong, saying that it would be "fun".This time, he worked with a biomechanics expert from the University of Western Australia, and has since been named in India’s squad for the Test series against Pakistan, which starts on March 8.
Victoria 1 for 312 (Elliott 162*, Hodge 115*) against Tasmania Scorecard
Another century for the in-form Elliott
Matthew Elliott and Brad Hodge passed 1000 runs for the domestic season as Victoria piled up 1 for 312 on the opening day of their Pura Cup game against Tasmania at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. They added 241 for the second wicket, with Elliott ending the day on 162 to Hodge’s 115.On a perfect batting pitch, Matthew Mott was the only batsman to be dismissed, caught by Shane Watson at mid-off from the bowling of Xavier Doherty for 32. For Elliott, it was the fifth Australian season in which he had tallied more than 1000 runs.Hodge batted with extreme circumspection between lunch and tea, but raced from 29 to 115 by the close with an array of attacking shots in a final session that produced 135 runs.Jamie Cox missed out for Tasmania with a back injury – Rhett Lockyear had to be flown in today – while Shane Warne, the cynosure of most eyes in his first four-day game on returning from suspension, will have to wait until tomorrow at the very least to make an impact.
Andrew Flintoff linked up with England’s one-day squad in Adelaide in the hope and belief that his recent fitness problems are behind him.Flintoff has been undergoing extensive rehabilitation in England since before Christmas, when he was sent home after making a slower-than-expected recovery from a double hernia operation in September.”I have just been on an intense four-week programme under the guidance of (ECB medical officer) Dr Peter Gregory and I spent anything from three to six hours a day training,” Flintoff said.”A range of building up the groin area, a lot of leg weights, a lot of running, rowing, cycling, cross training and running around hills in Bolton. It’s been a hard few weeks but I am probably as fit as I have ever been.””The time-spans we were talking about meant I should have been fit, it was just unfortunate that I took a bit longer to heal. I did all the rehab that was asked of me before I came out and I have done rehab since then. I just needed time to get fully fit.”I have worked hard since I had the operation and looking forward now, everything else is behind me. I am probably as fit now as I have been for 12 months.””My weight is the same I have just lost body fat. I have not put a pound on since the tour of New Zealand last year. A lot of it was to do with the series in India and New Zealand, bowling long spells.”Before that I had never bowled those type of overs before. Also my diet is probably better and I have spent a lot more time down the gym. There was a spell when I was younger, between the age of 14 and 22 where my back was playing up so I didn’t do a great deal of running because of that.”Now I am on the treadmill, running outside and the back has been good for two years, touch wood.”Flintoff confessed to extreme frustration at missing the Ashes series, but now feels fit to challenge for a position in England’s World Cup team after securing a place in England’s 15-man squad.”Before it was a case of being in pain and there wasn’t a lot of confidence in my groin because of it, it was nowhere near the level it is now. I feel fully fit, have every confidence the groin is going to hold up and I am pain free.”Bowling is such an unnatural action; if you talk to bowlers a lot of them have had hernias and I think with the amount of cricket played that it’s inevitable from time to time that you are going to pick up injuries and hernia is quite a common one.”I was obviously disappointed and frustrated not to be involved in the Ashes. But there was not a great deal I could do, I had to look forward and look at the World Cup and get fit for that.”I have not played international cricket now since the Headingley Test match so that’s four months gone and I am definitely fresh and raring to go.”
Hemang Badani, the stylish left-hander from Tamil Nadu has come a longway since he started off as a medium pacer in the under-12competitions a decade ago. During his teens, one would have been hardpressed to call him a batsman since he hardly contributed with thebat. There was a stage at the junior level where he suffered from anidentity crisis in the sense that he belonged to no particularcategory. It was not until he came into the under-19 level did hediscover his potential as a batsman. Incidentally Anil Kumble startedas a medium pacer and Dravid began as a keeper but later on in theircareers they have reached their pinnacle in different departmentsaltogether.Badani made a scintillating hundred for Rest of India under-19 andthis earned him a slot in the India under-19 side. He scored twocenturies against the South African under-19 team which wasspearheaded by Hayward and Ntini. It was in this series that hedisplayed the rare ability of playing the faster bowlers with a lot oftime to spare. Madan Lal the then junior coach was vociferous thatBadani should be picked in the senior team. But still Badani had toprove himself at the senior level in order to convince the fraternity.In my opinion the transformation from junior level to senior level isthe most important phase in a cricketer’s career. Quite oftencricketers tend to lose their way and Badani also lost his way a bit.In his first two seasons in the Ranji Trophy, he hardly did anythingof note and doubts started creeping into the minds of Badani and alsohis mentors. It was during this phase of his career that he startedplaying for the same club that I did and this gave me an opportunityto help him with his game. One of the significant mistakes he wascommitting then was that he did not watch the ball right from the timethe ball was released and until he made contact. He watched the ballonly either in flight or after it pitched. As a result, his judgementof line and length was faulty and this resulted in poor shotselection. His willingness to learn came to the fore and he rectifiedthis flaw in a jiffy.The biggest turning point in his career came when he got a big hundredagainst Mumbai in the semi-final in the 1999-2000 season. That knockalone was responsible for bringing him into the Indian team. If I waspleasantly surprised about one thing in the case of Badani, it was thematurity that he showed when he played in the one-dayers. It wasreally astonishing to see Badani change temperamentally for the betterin a short span of time. Today he has made a mark for himself but hewould do better if he stops walking into the line of the ball, whichmakes him play across the line off fuller length deliveries. Thismovement is more pronounced early on in his innings which makes him anideal candidate to be trapped in front of the wicket. It will berelevant to mention here that his rightful place is in the middleorder and one hopes the team management will stop considering him forthe opener’s job.
According to a report from TEAMtalk, Southampton are interested in signing RSC Anderlecht midfielder Josh Cullen in the summer transfer window.
The lowdown: Making of the man
Signed for £900,000 from West Ham in October 2020 (Soccerbase), the 25-year-old has rapidly become a regular feature in Vincent Kompany’s side.
Having come through the academy in east London, Cullen struggled to break into David Moyes’ first-team plans and only made ten outings as a Hammer.
Instead, the previously eternal loanee headed for Belgium and could now have earned another move in a career on an upwards trajectory.
The latest: A ‘dream’ move beckons?
As per the report from TEAMtalk, the Saints are in the mix to bring Cullen back to England.
It’s claimed that Southampton, along with Wolves, Norwich City, Crystal Palace, Southampton, Leeds United, Burnley, Fulham and Sheffield United have all been ‘following’ the development of the 12-cap Republic of Ireland star.
Furthermore, West Ham are believed to be eyeing a reunion with the midfielder who has previously admitted to harbouring a ‘dream’ to return to the Premier League.
The verdict: value for money
Valued at £3.15million and under contract until 2023 (Transfermarkt), signing Cullen would likely be a relatively inexpensive deal for the Saints.
Currently, Ralph Hasenhuttl can only call upon the likes of James Ward-Prowse and Oriol Romeu when it comes to experienced central midfield options within the St Mary’s ranks, so adding the man once hailed as a ‘machine’ by former manager Lee Bowyer would be a smart move.
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This season, Cullen has played 41 times across all competitions for Anderlecht, missing just 22 minutes of league action, proof of some outstanding and much-needed durability.
In other news: EPL club tipped to make move for Southampton star. Read more here.
Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladesh’s captain, believes his young side can give New Zealand a run for their money in a three one-day international contest later this month. Bangladesh also play two Tests in New Zealand but its in the limited-overs format that their captain feels they can win, provided they get runs on the board.”Our bowling attack is reasonably good. If we can post a good total, it will not be impossible to win one or two games in the one-day series,” Ashraful told the before the team’s departure. “We are not too concerned about the Test matches right at this moment. First of all we will try to put a good show in the one-day series.”Bangladesh, who have only played two Tests previously in New Zealand, are scheduled to begin their tour with a warm-up match against Northern Districts starting on December 19. The first one-dayer is on December 26 in Auckland, followed by fixtures Napier (December 28) and Queenstown (Dec 31).”If we can do well in the one-day internationals, the spirit in the Tests will be high automatically,” said Ashraful. “No doubt it is going to be a tough tour … but we have confidence in ourselves. We are not going to be easy prey for New Zealand.”Mashrafe Mortaza has been named Ashraful’s deputy; the tenures of both the captain and vice-captain have been extended until December 2008. “As a bowler I might get some advantage from this kind of condition but overall it’s a very tough tour for us” said Mortaza, Bangladesh’s pace spearhead.Jamie Siddons, Bangladesh’s coach, kept it simple. “I have already talked a lot about this tour. Nothing could have been better then if we can win some matches. But my main desire is to see my boys playing as per their potential.”
Shane Watson will on Thursday take a small step forward in his bid to prove his fitness and regain his place in the Australia team, having been recalled to Queensland’s one-day team. Watson will line up for the Bulls in their Ford Ranger Cup match against Western Australia after returning to Brisbane club cricket on the weekend.Watson, who originally hurt his hamstring in a state game before the Ashes started and then re-injured it in a Pura Cup match in mid-December, will be keen to impress as Australia’s top-order line-up remains uncertain ahead of the World Cup. He will be joined in his return by Michael Kasprowicz, who was last week set to play his first game for Queensland in 2006-07 after recovering from back and groin injuries but was a late withdrawal due to the birth of his second child.Western Australia will regain the services of Brad Hogg, who has been temporarily released from the Australia squad for Thursday’s game. Hogg, who has not played in the CB Series and faces a battle to take back his place in the national team from Cameron White, has replaced Aaron Heal in the Warriors’ 12-man outfit.The Australia selectors are keen for him get some time in the middle and he will fly to Adelaide on Friday morning in time for Australia’s next match against England. Western Australia have named an unchanged squad for the Pura Cup match against Queensland at Brisbane starting on Saturday.Queensland FR Cup squad Jimmy Maher (capt), James Hopes, Shane Watson, Craig Philipson, Clinton Perren, Aaron Nye, Michael Buchanan, Chris Simpson, Chris Hartley (wk), Andy Bichel, Ashley Noffke, Michael Kasprowicz.Western Australia FR Cup squad Justin Langer (capt), Luke Ronchi (wk), Shaun Marsh, Marcus North, Adam Voges, Luke Pomersbach, David Bandy, Darren Wates, Brad Hogg, Brett Dorey, Ben Edmondson, Steve Magoffin.Western Australia Pura Cup squad Justin Langer (capt), Chris Rogers, Marcus North, Adam Voges, Luke Pomersbach, David Bandy, Clint Heron, Luke Ronchi (wk), Aaron Heal, Brett Dorey, Ben Edmondson, Steve Magoffin.