The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) has been included on the National Heritage List, Australia’s highest heritage honour. The announcement was made by Peter Costello, the Federal Treasurer, during the lunch break on the first day of the Boxing Day cricket Test between Australia and South Africa at the MCG. Costello described the hallowed venue as the “spiritual home” of Australian Rules Football, and pointed out that it also had a long and proud cricketing tradition.In 1853, lieutenant-governor LaTrobe granted 10 acres of what was then called the Police Paddock for a cricket oval. That paddock became the MCG, now regarded as one of the great sports stadium of the world. It has been the home ground of the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) since 1853, and hosted the first interstate cricket match between the MCC and New South Wales in 1858. The MCG celebrated its 150th birthday in 2003, and was recently knocked down and re-built as a modern stadium for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Australia made a clean sweep of their Rose Bowl series with New Zealand, as they romped to a 3-0 whitewash on Sunday to confirm their place as World Cup favourites ahead of the tournament which starts next week. The drubbing will be a wake-up call to New Zealand, the World Cup holders, as both sides left for South Africa ahead of their first match on Tuesday (March 22).The favourites for the World Cup, Australia, won the final match on Sunday comfortably, easing home by three wickets with more than four overs remaining in a low-scoring encounter. The match was changed to a day-night fixture at the last minute, after sprinkler problems. New Zealand batted first and recovered from 6 for 31 to post 9 for 114, with Emma Twining taking 4 for 17 from 10. Australia overhauled the total with few difficulties.The second match of the series, on Saturday, was a closer contest – Australia won by just seven runs – with Haidee Tiffen’s career-best of 91 from 127 not enough to save New Zealand.
Graham Thorpe is at the centre of a police investigation after a row with his ex-wife Nicola and her new partner, at a house in Epsom, Surrey. Thorpe, who returned from England’s winter tour of Sri Lanka on Tuesday morning, was involved in a high-profile separation from his wife last year, and has only recently returned to international cricket.”Surrey Police were called to a domestic dispute at a house in Epsom at about lunchtime on December 26,” said a police spokeswoman. They added that nobody had been arrested, but an allegation of common assault was made and was being investigated.In 2002, the couple issued a joint statement appealing for privacy, following weeks of media speculation, asking that they should be allowed to “move on” with their lives. Thorpe, who was visibly affected by his off-field problems, pulled out of England’s tour of Australia, claiming he was finding it “difficult to consistently concentrate on cricket”.
The England coach, Duncan Fletcher, was quick to defend captain Nasser Hussain after he was criticised by Australia’s Justin Langer for standing his ground after Jason Gillespie had apparently caught him at mid-on off Stuart MacGill.As at Adelaide, when Langer himself believed he had caught Michael Vaughan during his innings of 177, the matter was referred to the third umpire. Hussain was ruled in when television replays did not show whether Gillespie had controlled the ball before it hit the turf.”It was within the rules, but in an ideal world I would like to see if a player says he’s out, he’s out,” Langer said. “It’s something we have got to look at. As it is now it takes a bit of the integrity out of the game. Jason was sure he caught him and I guess it’s disappointing the decision didn’t go his way.”But Fletcher insisted that Hussain was perfectly within his rights to stand, given the availability of television to prompt a firm ruling.”It’s very, very difficult,” Fletcher told Sky Sports. “With those decisions you don’t really know if you have caught it or not. It’s very difficult to see if the ball has touched the ground.”I think it should just be left to the third umpire. The technology is there so why not use it? It has proved he did the right thing by standing his ground.””I think there was a lot of intensity at the back end of today’s play,” Fletcher added. “The batsmen were put under a lot of pressure from some quality bowling.”Hopefully we can go into tomorrow and withstand some more. It’s going to be a huge battle and hopefully we can get that 350. The first morning session is going to be important.”It’s a difficult job – there are some really good bowlers there. They don’t seem to have any weakness – they have a good batting line-up and a good bowling line-up.”Langer scored a career-best 250 as Australia declared on 551 for six before taking three key England wickets before the close.We are in a great position,” said the Australian opener. “It looks like the pitch in going to spin a bit. England are in for a tough game from here on in. Hopefully we can put enough pressure on England and win the game.”Of his own innings, Langer said: “It was probably not the best I have ever hit them. I am thrilled. It was nice to capitalise and get the opportunity to get a really big score. I really wanted to take the opportunity to nail a big one.”It gets easier because the ball gets older and it loses a bit of extra bounce and pace but you are still facing world-class bowling. You can never afford to think it’s getting easier, otherwise you end up back in the changing rooms.Langer was also thrilled by Martin Love’s 62 on Test debut, adding: “He’s a very classy player. I haven’t seen him bat much before. He’s certainly in the mould of Mark Waugh in the way he bats and I’m sure he will be delighted with the way he played.”Love, 28, has already scored two double centuries against the England touring team. He said he would like to play against England every week.”It would be nice. I guess I’m seeing the ball pretty well against England at the moment. I’ve spent a fair bit of time facing their bowlers. I’ve certainly had a good run against them so far this year. Unfortunately you can’t keep following England around all the time.”Langer was also outspoken in his criticism of England’s Barmy Army, who picked up on suggestions about the legality of Brett Lee’s action, which was cleared by the International Cricket Council two years ago, to shout “No Ball” every time he ran into bowl.”I thought they were a disgrace – there’s no better sight on a cricket fieldthan Brett Lee or any fast bowler running in like that, it’s a magnificent sightand if it did help fire Brett up then all the better for us,” claimed Langer.”These people stand behind a fence drinking beer with most of them 50 kilos overweight making ridiculous comments. It’s easy for someone to say that frombehind a fence, they’re within their rights because they’ve paid their money,but there’s still some integrity in life, I think.”Barmy Army spokesman Paul Burnham said the chants were meant as a joke.”Watching the guys’ faces while they were no-balling Lee, you could tell they were smiling,” he said.”From what I saw it was in very good humour and if they can’t take a joke then shouldn’t be dishing it out so readily – we’ve taken abuse from the moment we arrived in the country about the performances and injuries England have suffered.”
The main reason for not recommending the renewal of Aravinda De Silva’s contract was the comparatively small number of Test Matches involving Sri Lankathis season, one of the members of the selection committee has revealed.Sri Lanka’s contracted players’ names were published recently but SriLanka’s 1996 World Cup hero’s name was not among them.Sri Lanka will play only six Tests in the next six months and onlythe series against England has been confirmed until May next year but in that time there are many One-Day Internationals. Aravinda, the highestrun-getter for Sri Lanka in both forms of the game, has not been a regularmember of Sri Lanka’s one-day squad since Sri Lanka’s dismal performance inthe 1999 World Cup in England.Though he has not been contracted, Aravinda is among the pool ofplayers training for the Indian tour. That means if he plays in any of thegames, a payment will be made to him according to the number of his appearances.It is believed that Aravinda’s attitude has also counted against him. Last year when Aravinda was called to join the tour party in South Africa in place of the injured Upul Chandana halfway through the tour, he said he was not prepared to go due to lack of match practice. However, later he agreed to go and played in the last two ODIs and the the last Test in South Africa.This season he has played in just four Premier League games for his club NCC, scoring 197 runs at an aveage of 39.40.
Rangers’ title hopes suffered a hammer blow on Sunday as they lost 2-1 to their Glasgow arch-rivals at Ibrox.
Aaron Ramsey put Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side in front after just three minutes, but Tom Rogic quickly pegged the hosts back before Cameron Carter-Vickers scored what proved to be the winner shortly before half-time.
The defeat leaves Rangers six points adrift of the league-leading Hoops with just six games left to play.
Here at The Transfer Tavern, we delve into the three worst-rated starting outfielders for the Gers as per statistical specialists SofaScore, with players required to feature for at least 45 minutes for ranking. This trio were dribbled past six times and collectively lost possession 60 times on an afternoon to forget.
Leon Balogun – 6.4/10
Balogun made just his second league start in the Gers’ last seven matches, but the figures suggest that he failed to deliver on the big occasion.
He lost half of his ground duels (two out of four) and half of his aerial battles (four out of eight), with Celtic players able to dribble past him on two occasions. He also gave away possession 12 times and misplaced 10 of the 52 passes that he attempted (nearly 20%).
John Lundstram – 6.6/10
Unlike Balogun, Lundstram has been very much in favour recently, with this his sixth start in seven league matches. Perhaps his place in the team won’t be as secure after this showing, though.
The headline for the midfielder was that he made the error leading to Carter-Vickers’ goal. The former Sheffield United man was unable to clear, and Rangers were duly punished.
Beyond that, he was dribbled past once, lost three ground duels (42.8%) and turned the ball over 10 times.
James Tavernier 6.7/10
Gers captain Tavernier is generally one of the first names on the teamsheet but he didn’t quite make the impact that he would have desired on Sunday.
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The right-back gave the ball away a whopping 38 times, at least 15 more than anybody else on the pitch, while only two of the 17 crosses he attempted during the game were accurate.
Unfortunately, he also led the way in the undesirable ‘dribbled past’ stakes (on three) and lost eight of his 15 duels overall (53%).
In other news, Rangers have also been dealt an off-field blow.
With the India-Pakistan ODI series over, a lot of exciting players will come back to represent their Ranji sides in the matches starting tomorrow: Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir for Delhi, Rohit Sharma for Mumbai, Irfan Pathan for Baroda, Robin Uthappa for Karnataka, and Praveen Kumar for Uttar Pradesh. The flip side: Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble (Karnataka), Dinesh Karthik (Tamil Nadu), VVS Laxman (Hyderabad), Wasim Jaffer (Mumbai), and Munaf Patel (Maharashtra) have joined the Test squad. Here’s how the Super League matches stack up:Mumbai v Delhi at MumbaiThe joint leaders in Group A meet at the Wankhede Stadium. Delhi will be bolstered by the return of Sehwag and Gambhir, Mumbai by Rohit Sharma. Read Nagraj Gollapudi’s preview here.Hyderabad v Baroda in Hyderabad Baroda are on a high after having beaten Bengal by an innings, while a depleted Hyderabad side have held their own in their first two games too. Read Sriram Veera’s preview here.Himachal Pradesh v Maharashtra at Dharamsala Maharashtra have had a good start to the season, with an outright win against Rajasthan in the second match. Himachal, though, are looking to find their feet in the Super League, coming off an innings defeat to Karnataka.Rajasthan v Saurashtra at Jaipur Rajasthan are at the bottom of Group A without any points while Saurashtra have fought out two draws to get themselves four points. Rajasthan will want to open their account here, otherwise they will be prime candidates for relegation.Tamil Nadu v Karnataka in Chennai They are both traditional powerhouses in Indian cricket, but Tamil Nadu field a young, depleted side this year. Accordingly, they have had a fairly ordinary start to the season with only one point after two matches. Karnataka, riding high on the innings win against Himachal, have seven points from two matches and will look for the maximum points here.Orissa v Andhra at Cuttack Orissa are coming off a break after they were walloped by Uttar Pradesh in the first match, while Andhra have played out two draws to reach four points. Orissa will want to do better than Himachal, the other team to have been promoted to the Super League.Punjab v Uttar Pradesh at MohaliPunjab have been struggling with injuries to their strike bowlers – Gagandeep Singh and VRV Singh. Yet had they avoided a lower-order collapse against Hyderabad, they would have had six points from two games. UP, after a blazing start against Orissa, played a tame draw with Andhra. They currently leading the Group B, but they have played one game more than the second-place Baroda.
Scorecard Scotland suffered an inauspicious start to their tour of Bangladesh, going down by 33 runs to a Bangladesh Cricket Board Academy XI in a warm-up match at Chittagong. Scotland’s lack of firepower with the ball cost them dear, with young opener Tamim Iqbal striking a century in the hosts’ formidable total of 252 for 6.Navdeep Poonia of Warwickshire scored 63 in Scotland’s reply, with Dougie Brown and Neil McCallum also contributing, but it was not enough and they fell well short of their target. Mosharraf Hossain took 4 for 32, and although McCallum’s late hitting had given Scotland hope, with his dismissal went their chances of victory.Iqbal had earlier reached his century off 133 balls before being dismissed for 105. He received valuable support from the captain Nadhif Chowdhury, who scored a rapid 76-ball 68 to help rebuild the innings after Scotland captain Craig Wright had struck twice in quick succession early on.Scotland used eight bowlers in a match where they used 13 players and the hosts 12, and while things did not go to plan they will see it as valuable acclimatisation to the conditions ahead of the first one-day international against Bangladesh tomorrow. However, the comments made by Chowdhury after the game are bound to be of some concern: “They [Scotland] lacked real strike bowlers and as a result failed to pose any threat for us”.
Greg Chappell, the Indian coach, believes that his Pakistani counterpart Bob Woolmer has helped turn the Pakistan team into an organised unit.Talking to reporters on Sunday at the Bagh-e-Jinnah here, Chappell also made it clear that the coming series between Pakistan and India was not a contest between him and Woolmer.He said, “It is all about the captain and the team. The captains are the ones who extract the best performances from their players. Our job is to guide them as best as we can and ensure every player plays to his potential.”Pakistan would be confident after their series win over England and their recent performances. And they have some very good bowlers but we also have the players to play them well. The series will be a very close and good contest and if all the players play to their potential we are in for some wonderful cricket.”Chappell said on a personal level he was excited to be directly involved in such a high-profile series and see up close how the players reacted to the pressures.He stated, “The way I see it this series is all about performing under pressure and expectations of the people.”Woolmer, talking to reporters at the Gaddafi Stadium where the Pakistani players trained, said he was upbeat about the coming series but refused to name any one player who he believed could play a vital role in the series.Asked about Shoaib Akhtar, Woolmer said that while Shoaib had performed extremely well against England and was bowling well he would still not single him out as the main performer. “All our bowlers have to perform with discipline if we are to do well against India, it is not about any individual it is about a team performance.”Woolmer said that Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, would have a lot on his hands in the series but expressed confidence that he had the experience and skills now to lead the side well.
The Pakistan Cricket Board anxiously awaits the resolution of the TV rights issue in India’s courts. Recent news reports which suggested that the series might be postponed if the BCCI was not allowed to decide on rights left the PCB perturbed and considering their options.A news release stated that cricket fans on both sides of the border were eagerly awaiting the series and that another postponement would be highly disappointing for the public. It would also lead to severe loss of revenue for both boards and dislocation in logistics for a postponed tour.A further postponement would also be difficult, given that Pakistan would be touring the West Indies in early May.