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Western Province and Easterns took advantage of batting paradises whileNortherns, Gauteng, North West and Natal had to watch the rain spoil theopening rounds of the SuperSport Super Sixes and Shield.

Wisden Cricinfo staff03-Jul-2009Super Sixes Day Two Reports
Griqualand West 185 (Bosman 34, Bossenger 68, Dawson 6-55) vWestern Province 300 for 3 (Bassage 48, Puttick 120, Ferreira 50)
ScorecardAlan Dawson made short work of the remaining batsmen to return the figures of 6 for 55, as Griqualand were skittled for 185. They managed to add just 56 runs to their overnight total of 129 for 4, with the only resistance coming from Wendell Bossenger, who produced a hard-earned 68.In stark contrast, Western Province made the ideal start to their innings with 100-run partnerships for the first and second wickets. Derrin Bassage and Andrew Puttick put on 118 for the first, before Puttick and Lloyd Ferreira added exactly 100 for the second. At the close Western Province had reached 300 for 3, a lead of 120.Border 153 and 126 for 6 (Gamiet 39, Bruyns 38) v Free State 196(Henderson 4-46, Langeveldt 3-42)
ScorecardFree State managed to hang on long enough to build up a 43-run first-innings lead, before being bowled out for 196. As was the case with the Border innings, it was the quick bowlers who held the upper hand. Tyron Henderson finished with 4 for 46 and Charl Langeveldt with 3 for 42.The Border second innings started much the same as the first with wickets tumbling at regular intervals. Mark Bruyns and Laden Gamiet both scored in the thirties, but that left a lot of work to be done on Day 3 if Border are to have any say in the outcome. When bad light stopped play, Border led by 83 runs with four wickets remaining.North West 255 v KwaZulu-Natal 159 for 4 (HM Amla 46, AM Amla45*, Roe 3-35)
ScorecardOnly 56 overs were possible in Durban before the rain came down with Natal on 159 for 4, still 96 runs short of North West’s 255. The two Amla brothers, Hashim and Ahmed, contributed scores in the forties to carry Natal through some difficult moments, as Garth Roe extracted plenty from the pitch to be rewarded with three of the four wickets.Shield Day One Reports
Easterns 313 for 4 (Seymore 102, Koenig 71, Z de Bruyn 84, P deBruyn 37*) v Eastern Province
ScorecardEasterns’ batsmen totally dominated the first day as they won the toss and elected to bat on a batting paradise that had the bowlers toiling all day. Sven Koenig eventually fell for 71 (135 for 1) and was later followed by Andre Seymore who struck 17 boundaries in his 102. A further 100-run partnership between Zander (84) and Pierre de Bruyn (37*) took the score to 313, before Easterns accepted an offer for badlight with five overs remaining.Northerns v Gauteng
ScorecardPlay was washed out without a ball beingbowled.

West Indies got their tour underway with a mixed day at Grace Road, bowling out Leicestershire for 182 in two sessions before rather losing their way and closing on 80 for 4

Cricinfo staff20-Apr-2009West Indians 80 for 4 trail Leicestershire 182 (Benn 4-31) by 102 runs
ScorecardDevon Smith cover drives for four on his way to 24•Associated PressWest Indies got their tour underway with a mixed day at Grace Road, bowling out Leicestershire for 182 in two sessions before rather losing their way and closing on 80 for 4. As if to spite Lalit Modi and his claim that the weather mitigated against holding the IPL in England at this time of year, the sun shone all day and even the tourists felt at home enough to risk sleeveless sweaters.The star of the show was the 6′ 7″ spinner Sulieman Benn who took 4 for 31, aided by two sharp slip catches from Devon Smith, as Leicestershire threw away a good start, losing their last nine wickets for 105.A below-strength West Indies side, without resting or IPL-committed big names, struggled in the field for most of the morning after Denesh Ramdin had lost the toss.Fast bowler Lionel Baker, who would have been playing for Leicestershire as their overseas player had he not been called up, trapped opener Tom New leg-before early on, but after that they looked listless. It was only in the penultimate over before lunch that Benn struck for the first time, bowling Josh Cobb with a quicker ball.After the break, Leicestershire, who were themselves missing some first-team regulars, were a different side. Matthew Boyce, who had looked good for his 45, slog-swept Benn to midwicket where Lendl Simmons held a hang-wringing catch, James Taylor fell fifth ball to one that kept low from Darren Sammy, and then Boeta Dippenaar edged Benn to slip. From 77 for 1, Leicestershire had slumped to 108 for 5.Carl Crowe and Wayne White cheered the decent crowd with a seventh-wicket stand of 37, but Crowe’s dismissal, the first of three wickets for Jamaican seamer Andrew Richardson, triggered another collapse as the last four wickets fell for 16.The West Indians had a visible spring in their steps as they headed off, but their batsmen found the going every bit as hard. The man who did the early damage was 18-year-old quick bowler Alex Wyatt with an opening spell of 2 for 15 off seven overs.Dale Richards fell first with a rather lazy cover drive which was easily held at point, and then Ramnaresh Sarwan, who had been in such good form against England in the Caribbean, nicked an outswinger to slip.Smith followed in slightly bizarre circumstances. James Allenby limped off with a side strain after one ball of his fifth over, and Jigar Naik was summoned to finish the over. With his second ball he had Smith leg-before back on his stumps.Simmons and Narsingh Deonarine appeared to have seen West Indians through to the close, only for Harry Gurney to remove Deonarine in the last over of the day.”We bowled poorly at the start but pulled it back,” John Dyson, the West Indies coach, admitted. “Early on, we bowled too many loose balls, and we learned we must put the ball into the right areas.”While most pundits thought the pitch looked full of runs at the start, Dyson was far less impressed. “It’s an early-season wicket which looked like it was going to be a flat one but there were too many balls which rolled along the ground,” he said. “There was variable bounce and no-one has looked comfortable batting on it. I wouldn’t call it a good cricket wicket.”We had some balls today from a very early stage that hit something and just rolled along the ground well wide of the keeper on both sides of the wicket, and there were other ones that pitch in the same spot and sit up.”

Gloucestershire have signed 26-year-old fast bowler Gemaal Hussain on a two-year contract.

Cricinfo staff19-May-2009Gloucestershire have signed 26-year-old fast bowler Gemaal Hussain on a two-year contract.Originally from Nottingham, Hussain played club cricket in the Bradford League for four years and studied Sports Science at Leeds University. In recent years he has been involved with London County Cricket Club, run by Neil Burns, which included two tours to Cape Town, South Africa.Since then Gemaal has played in the Birmingham League. He was spotted by Jack Russell and Stuart Barnes during the winter and was invited for a trial with Gloucestershire earlier this season.”I am very grateful that Gloucestershire have given me this opportunity,” Gemaal said. “It’s something that I have been working towards very hard for the last four or five years. I am very keen to embrace the challenge and perform to the best of my ability.”

The name Jan Stander may not mean much to South Africans, but in Scottish cricket it has caused no shortage of consternation. Stander, 27, has become the latest African-born player to represent Scotland as they prepare for next month’s crucial World Cup Q

Cricinfo staff10-Feb-2009The name Jan Stander may not mean much to South Africans, but in Scottish cricket it has caused no shortage of consternation. Stander, 27, has become the latest African-born player in the Scotland contingent as they prepare for next month’s crucial World Cup Qualifiers in Johannesburg.”It was definitely a surprise for me,” Stander told .”I did feel I had to prove a lot because I didn’t play for the A side last year. It’s a good thing there’s pressure because I think one of my strengths is thriving under it. I definitely felt it sub-consciously because a lot of people have their opinions on foreign players turning out for other countries.”Stander, who is not eligible for a British passport until 2011, joins Ryan Watson and Dewald Nel as one of Scotland’s African contingent, but the man himself has no concerns over his allegiances.”I came to Scotland as an amateur in 2003 and 2004,” said Stander, who is to marry his Scottish fiancée this summer. “If it had been my aim to come here and represent the country, then I would have made sure I stayed for 186 days of the year. Because then I would have qualified two years ago. I stayed here because I liked the country. There was nothing to go back to in South Africa. I was given the opportunity in coaching here and I’ve been loyal.”The fact that I can speak the mother tongue might help us getting some information from local people there. It will be my first tournament and the key for me is to focus on my own game and performing if I get the opportunity.”

Derby County lost their first game of the 2021/21 Championship season on Saturday afternoon, with Wayne Rooney’s side putting in a rather turgid performance against newly-promoted Peterborough United.

In what was a particularly cagey affair, with both sides managing just two shots on target over the first 45 minutes, Derby looked to have stolen all three points when Ravel Morrison set up 19-year-old Jack Stretton shortly before the 80-minute mark.

However, a Harrison Burrows goal in the first minute of injury time, as well as a 100th-minute Siriki Dembele strike, ensured that it would be the hosts who secured victory at the Weston Homes Stadium, sending the Rams back to Derbyshire empty-handed.

Indeed, there were not too many standout performers in the Derby County ranks, with goalscorer Stretton, who only managed 38 minutes on the pitch, receiving the highest SofaScore match rating of any of Rooney’s players on the day, with the centre-forward earning a score of 6.9.

A rather damning sight.

On the other hand, there were plenty of below-par displays, with Festy Ebosele earning a 6.2 match rating and Max Bird a 6.1. However, the worst of the lot was Nathan Byrne, who received an extremely disappointing 5.8.

It is not difficult to understand why the 29-year-old was given this rating, as, over his 90 minutes on the pitch, he completed just 62% of his passes, won just four of his nine duels (a 44.4% win rate), gave away possession of the ball on a whopping 23 occasions (joint-most) and made one error that led directly to one of Posh’s goals.

Indeed, The Athletic’s Derby correspondent Ryan Conway said that Byrne was “caught at the back” for Burrows’ equaliser, as well as making an “absolute pig’s ear” of trying to defend Dembele’s late winner – even dubbing the right-back, as well as his fellow Rams defenders, “appalling.”

As such, should Rooney wish to have any hope of his side remaining in the Championship come next summer, he will certainly need Byrne to up his game over the coming weeks and months, as the defender should be one of the 35-year-old’s most reliable players.

In other news: Morris heading for grave Derby error over “excellent” beast, Rooney would be fuming

Sialkot survived some anxious moments before clinching their second Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in three years by beating Khan Research Laboratories by four wickets

Cricinfo staff07-Mar-2009
Scorecard
Sialkot survived some anxious moments before clinching their second Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in three years by beating Khan Research Laboratories by four wickets.They had started the day needing another 118 runs with seven wickets in hand. Nayyer Abbas struggled for an hour to make 10 and Mohammad Ayub managed only 4, both batsmen falling to medium-pacer Yasir Ali. Overnight batsman Ayaz Tasawwar resisted with a half-century before being caught behind off Yasir to leave Sialkot at 108 for 6.Haris Sohail, who has been one of Sialkot’s highest run-getters this season, and Bilawal Bhatti however ensured there was no further drama, taking Sialkot through to victory.

Andrew McGlashan presents the plays from the third day in Trinidad

Andrew McGlashan in Trinidad08-Mar-2009
Paul Collingwood dropped a sitter at first slip but, fortunately for England, it wasn’t too costly. Ramnaresh Sarwan departed not long after © Getty Images
Oh Colly…
He is normally one of the safest pair of hands in the team, but Paul Collingwood made an awful mess of a regulation edge early in the day, and of all the batsman to drop, Ramnaresh Sarwan wasn’t the best one to pick. Sarwan drove at a well-flighted ball from Monty Panesar and sent a comfortable nick through to slip, but Collingwood couldn’t hang on by his left knee. He held his head in his hands while the other fielders consoled Monty, but England were already fearing the worst.…Amjad to the rescue
But they needn’t have panicked, because to the rescue came their great Dane. With his fourth ball, Amjad Khan got one to shape back into Sarwan’s pads and the batsman, in such good form, tried to whip it through midwicket but missed. Amjad’s appeal was huge, loud and long and eventually Daryl Harper’s finger went up. Sarwan stood for a moment, but Chris Gayle – his non-striking captain at the other end – signalled that it was too plumb to waste a referral and the TV replay showed it was, indeed, very out.Hometown pressure
Lendl Simmons received a loud cheer as he came to the crease on his home ground. West Indies crowds love to see one of their own appear in a Test and willed him to get off the mark. But it took a while as Stuart Broad tested his defensive technique and Panesar tried his patience. However he passed both examinations and finally opened his account off the 24th ball he faced to the excitement of the locals.Bittersweet century
Gayle is certainly going about this match in his own way, from the team selection to tactics in the field and then his batting display. Yesterday evening he threw caution to the wind and attacked England, but on the third day he was far more circumspect as he settled down for a major innings. However, his century turned from a moment of joy into a moment of anguish, as after sprinting for a tight single that nearly caused his run out, he stayed on the ground in pain and could barely stand up to celebrate the milestone. A few moments later he hobbled off with a torn hamstring with his job far from complete.Premature celebration
It sounds like one of those spam emails that fill your inbox, but this refers to Amjad thinking he’d removed Shivnarine Chanderpaul. The delivery was well wide of the off stump and Chanderpaul could barely reach it, but the keeper, slips and bowler were convinced they’d heard something. Amjad didn’t even bother appealing, sprinting instead towards fine-leg in celebration where he was eventually caught by Andrew Strauss. Only then did they realise umpire Harper had said not-out, and replays showed he was entirely correct as bat had hit ground. Harper then had a quite word to Amjad, presumably about showing the umpires a little respect.KP feels the beat
In an interview with the , Kevin Pietersen spoke about how he is finding fielding the most difficult task now he isn’t captain. “When I go out and stand in the field and I’m not telling anyone where to go and not having to think. I’m just standing there going ‘Phewwww! When’s lunch?’,” he said. To fill his time today he got into the rhythm of the catchy beats coming out of the Trini Posse Stand, starting a little jig in the outfield at the start of the final session much to appreciation of the fans.

Michael Ball has called for Everton for bolster their midfield by winning the race for Denis Zakaria.

Rafa Benitez got his Toffees reign off to the perfect start by securing a 3-1 win over Southampton on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.

The ex-Liverpool and Newcastle United chief, who was appointed as Carlo Ancelotti’s successor in June, has made three signings since taking charge.

Andros Townsend joined after his Crystal Palace contract expired, while Demarai Gray has returned to his homeland following a stint with Bayer Leverkusen.

Asmir Begovic will provide competition for Jordan Pickford, having moved from Bournemouth, but former Everton left-back Ball feels Benitez must strengthen his midfield options ahead of the transfer window closing at the end of the month.

According to German media outlet Bild, the Toffees are in the running to sign Borussia Monchengladbach defensive midfielder Zakaria, who would add a real presence to their midfield with his 6 ft 3 stature. The report suggests Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are also courting the £27m-rated Switzerland international.

The 24-year-old made 32 appearances for the Bundesliga side last term and Ball thinks he would be the perfect signing.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, Ball said: “He’s 24 and got good experience in the Bundesliga, which is a good league to learn and develop your abilities.

“If that’s a deal Everton can get over the line, I’m all for it.”

Aston Villa would not have paid £50m for James Ward-Prowse before he signed his new Southampton contract, says Express & Star journalist Luke Hatfield.

Manager Dean Smith was keen to bring Ward-Prowse to Villa, with Sky Sports reporting back in July that the Midlands club had made an unsuccessful £25m bid for the player.

Ward-Prowse has since put pen to paper on a new five-year deal, ending Villa’s pursuit for the summer.

However, prior, The Athletic reported that a sale was possible if the Villans offered half of the money they received for Jack Grealish, now of Manchester City.

According to Hatfield, though, Villa were never going to offer that kind of money. He told FFC:

“I don’t think Villa would’ve met the £50m asking price if I’m being brutally honest.

“Dean Smith’s always been after Premier League experience and players he thinks could help Villa. But at that price, it would’ve been very hard to see Villa splashing the cash and doing that one.”

From Southampton’s perspective, they will be relieved that they have managed to keep hold of Ward-Prowse.

The Saints have already lost Danny Ings and Jannik Vestergaard this summer, sanctioning sales to Villa and Leicester City respectively. To lose Ward-Prowse as well would have been a devastating blow.

Zimbabwe Cricket has denied that Robin Brown was sacked as coach, insisting that his contract was up at the end of July and had not been renewed

Steven Price in Harare08-Aug-2008Zimbabwe Cricket has denied that Robin Brown was sacked as coach, insisting that his contract was up at the end of July and had not been renewed.The net result is that Zimbabwe now have to look for their third coach in a year, but few doubt that Brown has paid the price for not doing as influential figures inside the board demanded.Rumours of heated exchanges between Brown and senior ZC officials over selection have been circulating for some time. Almost inevitably, race is at the heart of the dispute, with Brown accused of favouring white players by elements inside ZC who are pressing for more black cricketers in the side.What is clear is that Brown did not pay for bad results. Early in his tenure, Zimbabwe beat Australia in the World Twenty20, and while they failed to win subsequent one-day internationals, performances had been marked better than under his predecessor, Kevin Curran. Zimbabwe’s last international outing was in February.Brown was seen as a calming buffer between players and board at a time the relationship between the two was poor. The exodus of experienced cricketers has continued, however, and the actions of board officials has been at the heart of that.Although no official statement was made, a carefully-leaked source looked to blame the players. “The issue is his bad working relationship with the players,” the source told the Independent. “He also treats players differently. We decided were not going anywhere with him.”That was denied by one player speaking to the same newspaper. “We were used as smokescreen. It’s not fair on the players and on ZC itself because they keep being as projected as being weak and succumbing to player power.”There were no major issues with Robin in the players’ camp. After all, it’s not the players’ prerogative to chose who they want as coach. If there were issues with Robin it wouldn’t be justified because we’ve had the same problems with the last three coaches and what has changed? The common denominator here has been the players. Player power is not desirable in a situation as ours where we have a very weak international team.”It is hard to see where Zimbabwe look for Brown’s replacement. No credible international figure would want to take charge of a side which plays increasingly rarely and be subjected to pressure from the board. The shredded economic and social climate inside the country is almost certain to deter almost all foreigners who might otherwise have still been tempted.Few experienced coaches remain inside the country, and the Independent suggested that former Under-19 coach Walter Chawaguta was being lined up to replace Brown. He had been in the frame when Curran was appointed in 2005, and is regarded as a promising young coach, although he lacks experience both in that capacity and as a player. Whether he has what it takes to stem the decline of the national team, or to stand up to powerful influences such as ZC managing director Ozias Bvute, is also a major uncertainty.