Tag Futebol

Rahul Dravid doesn’t usually make emphatic statements at press conferences. Today was different. He hailed his pace-bowling attack for playing a significant part in the series victory and, in what was a fine tribute, said he hadn’t seen the like from an Indian attack since 1996. He also said that India had played the “better cricket” throughout the series, and added that it would have been very disappointing to go back without a win.”In the 10 years I played international cricket I’ve seen Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad bowl well throughout the series in England in 1996. This seam attack bowled well throughout this series, I have seen fine spells in my career but this is the best I have seen throughout a series since 1996. They are young and inexperienced, and yet they did it. Munaf [Patel] and Sreesanth played most of the games here, VRV Singh also did well, and Irfan [Pathan] did well when he played.”None of the great fast bowlers were great after six or seven Test matches, it takes time and experience to get better in Test cricket. Unfortunately expectations are too much, unfortunately people look at who is not here, rather than looking at people who are here and admiring the work done by people who are part of the team. That’s how you are going to inspire young kids, by talking about the people here.”Did he think 1-0 was a fair result? “We played the better cricket throughout the series, and if we had 90 overs in Lucia we would have probably won 2-0. We were one wicket away from winning in Antigua and three wickets away from winning in St Lucia. We had our backs to the wall in St Kitts but never looked like losing on the last day.”Dravid the batsman was in a different zone throughout the series, especially in the final Test at Kingston, but he insisted that team glory came ahead of all else. “Winning the series is the most important thing,” he continued. “We played the better cricket right from the first Test after the first two days. It’s sort of nice that it all bore fruit in the end and we won the series. Everyone contributed at various stages – Jaffer’s 200 helped us fight back in Antigua, Laxman’s 100 helped us save the Test in St Kitts, Sehwag’s 100 almost won us the game in St Lucia. Then there was Kaif’s 100 in St Lucia. Our spinners were brilliant right through. I have seen improvement in some areas and we need to improve in other areas, it’s never the finished article there is always scope for improvement.”In this Test, though, the difference between the two sides was Dravid’s two fifties, both varnished with gold. “These couple of innings are probably two of the best I have played,” he added, “it gave me a lot of satisfaction. It was not an easy wicket to bat, you needed a bit of luck, you are going to get beaten a few times, and you may nick one early on. One of the keys on this wicket is to get fully forward and fully back, to play as late as possible and with soft hands. I was trying to tell some of our guys the same thing to try and bat periods of time; every run was going to be important as we saw in the end.”One of the main debates that’s constantly resurfaced during the tour has related to India’s bowling combination. Dravid patiently explained the situation: “I would love to play the fifth bowler. There is no doubt in my mind that going ahead that would be the aim, we got two quality spinners so that helps us to play two and two. [Mahendra] Dhoni is playing his first international tour, he can’t be classified as a frontline batsman. Players like Irfan, [Mohammad] Kaif and Yuvraj are also learning their trade. Wasim [Jaffer] is on his comeback. We have to weigh all these options before picking the side. We have a bit of inexperience in the batting especially when it comes to batting in such conditions but they are going to get used to such conditions as they go along. Our domestic cricket is very different to this and one-day cricket is also very different from these conditions.”

After West Indies’ remarkable victory in Champions Trophy final at The Oval – their first in the finals of an international tournament for 25 years – the English and West Indian press was full of praise for Brian Lara’s underdogs. Apart from the heroics of Courtney Browne and Ian Bradshaw, there was also mention of Lara’s role – as a motivator, and in the field – and of how this performance may well have cemented, for the time being at least, his role as captain after a disappointing summer’s Test cricket.”How did England lose it?” asked Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph. He blamed their “unintelligent batting” – bar Marcus Trescothick – for a start. “Then while England’s fielding never wilted,” Berry continued, “Their bowling was too dependent on Stephen Harmison and Andrew Flintoff.”Browne and Bradshaw “were buoyed by their avowed determination to do something for the people of the Caribbean, especially Grenada, who have suffered in hurricanes. In any event they batted calmly and, with the help of too many extras, whittled the target down to 26 from the last six overs, and 17 off three.” And Berry concluded: “Whatever the quality of this tournament overall, it could not have had a more exciting finish.”In The Observer, Vic Marks also lamented England’s defeat: “They will never have a better chance of winning a one-day trophy of international significance”.He went on: “Bradshaw, the Man of the Match, and Browne were the heroes, but this result may well help to transform West Indian cricket. It certainly strengthens Lara’s hold on the captaincy. They could hardly ditch him now. Indeed Lara was inspirational. Maybe the chance to restore West Indies’ pride and to reassert his right to the captaincy spurred him on; maybe it was the decision of the team to dedicate this game to the victims of the Caribbean hurricanes. Maybe it was the bang on the head from Shoaib. For whatever reason, Lara was a man transformed.”Marks’s colleague, Will Buckley, carried on the theme of transformation: “A wonderful summer of sport finally came to an end in the gloaming in front of the gasometers at The Oval in south London last night. Despite the backdrop, though, there was no need to be gloomy. Only a churl would begrudge Brian Lara a rare taste of team success. Only a dullard would not take pleasure from an ending, at 6.36pm, so surprising as to defy all odds. If the heroics of tailenders Courtney Browne and Ian Bradshaw can inspire a resurgence in West Indian cricket it will be good for the game. And what a game it proved to be for a full house yesterday.”Lara has struggled so long and so hard that it was impossible not to delight in his belated and unlikely success. A match-winning century would have been a final feather in a remarkable cap. But winning a trophy meant so much more.”The Independent on Sunday‘s Stephen Fay described the “profound implications” the victory would have on Lara’s career, “never mind West Indies cricket. After the fourth Test, also at The Oval, four weeks ago, Lara was widely assumed to be captaining the Test team for the last time. Not any more. By leading a promising young team to the final of this Trophy by Twilight, Lara had probably delayed his own demise. Although he declined to discuss his own future after the game, he is now assured of the continued leadership of the West Indies team.”He said afterwards that, if this proves to be his last appearance in England, it was a phenomenal way to end his career here. So it was, and so it is likely to be. But no longer definitely. He will be in his late thirties when West Indies visit England again, and it must be improbable that he will still be around. But he said the win augurs well for the future. Perhaps it augurs well for his future too.”Elsewhere in the IoS Stephen Brenkley agreed: “The triumph – and in such circumstances – was precisely what Caribbean cricket needed, can hardly have dared hope for and never have expected. For long enough their players have been pushed from pillar to post in most parts of the world. But there has always been more than a suspicion that Brian Lara’s side possess richly talented cricketers. West Indies were worthy victors.”Praise for Lara and his boys was widespread in the West Indian media too, although in the Trinidad Guardian, Everard Gordon warned that it was too soon to be heralding a new era just yet. “The team was under pressure for underperformance and is suffering a string of defeats unmatched at any period in the history of West Indies cricket,” he said. “Believing that the sterling performance in this tournament heralds the return to the glorious days of West Indies domination is a danger to be avoided. However, there should be unstinting praise for the effort.”But Gordon admitted that while a full West Indian revival is still a long way off, the signs are at least pointing in the right direction. “It was the reply of a group of beleaguered young men to the doubters and to the many who have criticised them mercilessly, and sometimes unjustly, for their real and supposed shortcomings. They batted with intelligent determination to take the West Indies back to winning eventually with style. This is just the platform. On it the team must build the discipline, commitment and determination, the unity that must take them on the long journey to the top.”

The unease in the West Indies camp, which has been so clear to see for much of the first four days of the Test against Bangladesh, overflowed off the field yesterday when Brian Lara hit out at selection policies, as well as pitch preparation in St Lucia.In his syndicated column for the Trinidad-based Sunday Guardian, Lara revealed that he disagreed with the way that the side for the matchagainst Bangladesh had been picked. "The selection process is ademocratic one," he wrote. "This should be taken advantage of and hence more thought should be given by those contributing to the selection process." Although Lara is one of four selectors, it is clear that he was overruled in this instance.This is not his first swipe at the selectors. Back in January, it was widely reported that Lara changed the side in the minutes before the final Test against South Africa at Centurion, replacing Adam Sanford with his own choice, Merv Dillon. This was subsequently denied by both Lara and Sir Viv Richards, the head of the selectors, but the rumours lingered.What angered Lara this time was the decision to field an all-seam attack."It was evident at quite an early stage that leaving out the spinner was not in our best interest," Lara fumed. He said that while there was a tendency to hark back to the days of the all-conquering fast bowling era, he felt that "instead of relying on our dream team we should focus on the current situation".Lara made his opinions clear on the field where he bowled Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle for long periods in Bangladesh’s first innings where they took combined figures of 4 for 110. And yesterday, Sarwan grabbed 3 for 22 to leave Bangladesh struggling second-time around.Lara was equally scathing about the pitch preparation at Beausejours Stadium. "It is really disturbing when everyone involved in the preparation of the pitch knows the team we have selected, as well as the opposition we are playing against, yet a placid pitch is prepared."

Indian left-arm pace bowler Zaheer Khan, who has been such a success in the World Cup, has received an approach from Warwickshire to be the replacement overseas player for New Zealander Shane Bond during the first six weeks of the forthcoming English county season.There is quite a bit of activity as overseas players are taken by their national sides for tours and tournaments. While Essex have benefited from Andy Flower’s decision to quite international cricket, all the top Australians contracted to counties will be missing for the early part of the season as they are heading for the Caribbean on tour.Middlesex have signed 32 year-old pace bowler Joe Dawes in place of fellow Queenslander Ashley Noffke . Dawes will also fill in should Abdur Razzaq receive a call-up to the Pakistan squad for the one-day internationals in England in June.Meanwhile Northamptonshire’s pace bowler Darren Cousins is facing the grim prospect of an end to his first-class career. Cousins made quite an impact when arriving at Wantage Road from Essex, where injuries had hampered his progress. However, he has now been told that he cannot continue with stress fractures in both feet. Cousins is to seek further medical advice before making a final decision.

Winchester’s eight-match domination of Southern Electric Premier League Division 3 was ended by Rowledge, who shot the previously undefeated leaders out for 145 to secure a weather-cut seven-wicket win at River Park.Australian seamer Craig Eichler (4-34) and evergreen Chris Yates (4-25) did the damage as Winchester were dismissed for 145, with only Institute batsman Paul Davies (34) making his mark in the middle-order.Requiring a rain adjusted 98 off 27 overs, in-form Rowledge overcame two early setbacks – Stu Marks (3-46) removed Darren Mitchell and teenager Chris Yates in quick succession – with David Lloyd (55 not out) and Eichler (25) securing a seven-wicket win.Second placed Alton had reached 145-6 (Gary Chalkley 39) when the match against United Services II was abandoned after 38.2 overs.Havant II, chasing a rain trimmed 221 in 47 overs, got in off the third ball of the final over against Paultons at Whitmoor Lane.Lifted by an opening stand of 91 between Duncan Park (76) and teenager Mike Weaver (35), Paultons totalled 235 (Phil Mist 4-57), with Tony Richman (31) averting a late-order collapse.Matt Ward (67) fuelled Havant’s bid, but Steve Mitchell (3-44) and Paul Wilde (2-49) regianed the initiative as the visitors slipped to 170-6.But Havant, requiring 51 runs from eight overs, got in after a late flurry from Dominic Harland-Jones (25), Simon Turner and Richard Openshaw.John Harris hit a crucial 70 as Hursley Park successfully chased an abridged target at Leckford, where the Test Valley club’s 180-7 (Martyn Isherwood 54) was trimmed to 154.A century second-wicket stand between Harris and skipper Rob Lowe (47) eased Hursley home.Hampshire YCs prospect Kevin Latouf (40) celebrated his Flamingos debut with a key 40 as last year’s Hampshire League champions chissled out an important six-wicket win at lowly Lymington II.Peter Tapper (77) and Mark Jackson (52) guided Lymington to 200 – Dave Wright (4-50) and Adie Heath (3-24) grabbed the lion’s share of the wickets – but, chasing a reduced 136 in 34 overs, Flamingos toasted only their third victory, with Gary Fenigan (23) and Richie Manthorpe (21) giving Latouf support.Latouf scored an unbeaten 150 for Flamingos Sunday XI, who won at South Wilts.Still in deep trouble are Waterlooville, who lost by 93 runs at Hook & Newnham Basics, where South African Jan Kaminski (100), Keith Lovelock (65) and Steve Shaw (50) laid seige to the visitors attack. Veteran Stan Ruder saw his eight overs hit for 81 runs !Facing a towering 321-7, Ville reached 228-9 (Matt Slater 41), with Kaminski taking 4-42.Paul Stringer, defying a long-term shoulder problem, returned for St Cross Symondians and took 4-26 in the eight-wicket win at Bashley (Rydal).

Match facts

Saturday, May 3 2008
Start time 16.00 (local), 10.30 (GMT)

The Big Picture

It’s the tale of two captains under pressure. Rahul Dravid has tried everything – he has opened, moved down the order and come up again but without much success. VVS Laxman, after looking clueless in the initial encounters, is beginning to find some form but he has been unable to convert the starts into substantial scores. The captains’ desperation seems to have caught on to the teams. Bangalore should have won against the Chennai Super Kings but choked; they could have won against the Delhi Daredevils but couldn’t find that one big over that they desperately needed. Similarly, the Deccan Chargers have had their close encounters. Both teams have registered their solitary wins against fellow-strugglers Mumbai Indians.If the captains are under similar pressure, the teams, though, couldn’t be more different. Deccan were supposed to be the powerhouse team with attacking batsmen while Bangalore had batsmen who had great Test records but were not known for their big hitting. But both set of players have been unable to gel as a unit. In their last two games, Bangalore did seem to find some momentum but were unable to finish off.

Watch out for …

… Herschelle Gibbs. This could be the format to showcase his game, which depends a great deal on hand-eye coordination. His paddle-scoops, his pulls off the front foot and the innovative adjustments can make for a fascinating viewing experience. Also, look out for Misbah-ul-Haq. With Ross Taylor leaving for England, Misbah, the man who burst into prominence with his showings at the World Twenty20, should get a chance here. A veteran of domestic Twenty20 games in Pakistan, he has the nous and the wherewithal to shine in this format.

Team news

Bangalore are stuck with a problem more than one team has faced in the IPL: which foreign player to play and whom to bench. They have had starting problems, but if they play Shivnarine Chanderpaul, they might not be able to pick Misbah. Jacques Kallis is wanted for his all-round skills, Mark Boucher is the wicketkeeper and you can’t drop Dale Steyn. Dravid said that Anil Kumble will replace Sunil Joshi and either J Arun Kumar or Bharat Chipli could get a chance.Bangalore (likely): 1 Praveen Kumar, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Misbah-ul-Haq, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Rahul Dravid (capt), 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Virat Kohli, 8 Zaheer Khan, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Anil Kumble, 11 R Vinay Kumar.Deccan came close to playing the aggressive Hyderabad opener Ravi Teja but have chosen to stick with the tried-and-failed Venugopal Rao. There is also Arjun Yadav who could slot into the middler order in place of Rao. The team landed in Bangalore only late on Friday evening and they will have a light practice session on the morning of the match.Deccan (likely): 1 Adam Gilchrist, 2 VVS Laxman (capt), 3 Hershelle Gibbs, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Shahid Afridi, 6 Arjun Yadav, 7, Sanjay Bangar, 8 Nuwan Zoysa, 9 D Kalyankrishna, 10 RP Singh, 11 Pragyan Ojha.

IPL form

Bangalore Royal Challengers: LWLLL
Deccan Chargers: LLLWL

Stats and trivia

Quotes

“You have to challenge yourselves to fight back when you have your backs to the wall. Playing Deccan (who are struggling) doesn’t make any difference because in Twenty20 the team that executes their plans best wins. They have a very good players, any one of them can crack the game open. But we have started gelling as a team in the last two games.”

Division One

Ryan McLaren has put Kent within touching distance of a thumping victory over Warwickshire at Canterbury with eight wickets in the match, as the visitors were made to follow-on. After watching Kent pile up 550, Warwickshire collapsed in feeble fashion against McLaren’s brisk swing bowling, picking up 5 for 24 in 11 overs. Following on, Ian Westwood and Darren Maddy past the first innings total in an opening stand of 122, but there followed another dramatic collapse of 5 for 23 against McLaren, again, and James Tredwell. Darren Maddy held firm with an unbeaten 115, but Warwickshire will be looking to the heavens for an escape route.Adil Rashid was left stranded on 91 – an innings which spanned three days owing to the poor weather – but Yorkshire posted 307 before reducing Surrey to 87 for 3 on the third day at Headingley. Darren Gough swung with characteristic vigour in a brisk and brief 28 – which included two sixes and a four – before Deon Kruis offered valuable support to the senior Rashid in an eleventh-wicket stand of 55. Gough then nipped out the Surrey openers, Scott Newman and Jon Batty, and Mark Butcher for 11 in a tight eight-over opening spell in which he conceded just 14 runs.Ottis Gibson became the 79th bowler to take all ten wickets in an innings when he skittled Hampshire for 115 to pick up 10 for 47. A full report of Durham’s third day at Chester-le-Street can be read here.

Division Two

Leicestershire’s match against Middlesex finally got underway, on the third day at Grace Road as the rain at last relented. And in spite of the dreadful conditions to have blighted the match so far, it was a good track on which to bat with the hosts, who were put in by Middlesex, racing to 305 for 2. Tom New and John Maunders put on 104 for the first wicket, taking a particular liking to Chaminda Vaas who leaked 72 runs from his 13 overs. Like Vaas, Tim Murtagh proved a little too expensive but he did trap New in front for 56. The breakthrough couldn’t restrict Leicestershire’s bristling momentum as Maunders received excellent support from HD Ackerman who remained unbeaten on 93. Three shy of his own hundred Maunders were stumped by Ben Scott off Jamie Dalrymple, but Arno Jacobs joined Ackerman to take Leicestershire past the 300 mark.Andy Bichel blew Somerset away for 145 to put Essex in command of their match at Taunton, with Ravi Bopara continuing his excellent form in making 126. Somerset’s innings was a stuttering affair; Justin Langer struck four fours in his 24 before his former Australia team-mate, Bichel, trapped him leg-before. And James Hildreth was brisk in his 38, cracking seven fours before handing James Foster the first of three catches. In reply Essex raced to 294 for 6, Bopara adding to his 69 in the first innings with a 128-ball hundred in the second. Essex lead by a daunting 431 going into the final day.A sporting declaration from Simon Katich, the Derbyshire captain, might have injected life into their match against Glamorgan at Derby, with the visitors leading by 167 runs with nine second-innings wickets remaining. Derbyshire bowled Glamorgan out for 298 – David Hemp struck 14 fours and a six in his 97 – and Derbyshire went on the attack, smacking 150 before Katich declared in the 31st over. Tom Lungley then nipped out Jimmy Maher for 3 but, going into the final day, it will take something special from seamers on either side to force a victory.

Leicestershire have signed Adam Griffith, the Tasmanian fast bowler, as cover for Mohammad Asif, who is away on national duty, for the remainder of the domestic season.Griffith, 28, was the leading wicket-taker in the 2005-06 Pura Cup season with 45 from nine matches, an aggregate that earned him the state’s Player of the Year accolade. Overlooked by Australia’s national selectors despite his impressive domestic statistics, Griffith’s accomplishments overshadowed the likes of Andy Bichel, Jason Gillespie, Stuart Clark and Michael Kasprowicz.Tim Boon, Leicestershire’s coach, pointed out that Griffith had a point to prove. “Adam still has strong ambitions to play international cricket and believes that the chance to play county cricket gives him the ideal opportunity to strengthen those claims,” he told the ECB’s website. “He is a bowler of proven calibre, but he is hungry to achieve more success to push himself into the frame for a call-up. All the coaches we have spoken to about Adam gave us the green light to proceed with our interest and his Tasmanian team-mate Michael Di Venuto gave him a glowing endorsement.”He will be training with us this week before heading back up north to play his final match for St Annes in the Northern League, but the fact that he has made it his business to get to know his new team-mates really demonstrates his determination to perform well here.”Griffith takes over from Asif, who returned home to attend a training camp ahead of Pakistan’s forthcoming tour of England. Griffith has been slated to make his Championship debut against Gloucestershire at Grace Road.

Thilanga Sumathipala, the former president of Sri Lanka Cricket, will take up a new formal role as the board’s official representative to International Cricket Council this weekend. Sumathipala is scheduled to attend the ICC’s executive meeting in Lahore on October 16 and 17.”The executive committee unanimously decided to request Mr. Sumathipala to attend the ICC executive meeting in Lahore on October 16 and 17,” a media release said. “Sumathipala is the longest serving ICC executive board member, who has been handling the most important affairs in the international arena for Sri Lankan Cricket.”Sumathipala decided not to run for a fourth term as board president earlier this year, after an immigration scandal led to him being held in police custody for nearly five months. But he remains a powerful and influential figure in the current administration.The position as an international envoy had been offered earlier in the year, but Sumathipala, at the time under police guard in a private hospital, turned down the post. He was released on bail in June and has now been handed back his passport.The immigration case, however, still continues with the next hearing set for later this month. The case revolves around Sumathipala’s alleged assistance of Dhammika Amarasinghe, a man implicated in more than 28 murder cases, to obtain a forged passport and travel to London as a cricket board guest in 1999.

9.55am England 285 (Flintoff 102*) and 145 for 0 (Trescothick 74*, Vaughan 61*) trail West Indies 751 for 5 dec (Lara 400*, Jacobs 107*) by 321 runs
Scorecard

Brian Lara may have scotched England’s prospects of a whitewash, but Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick will still have history in their sights as they resume on 145 for 0 in the second innings this morning. If England can bat out the remaining 90 overs of this match – and last night’s efforts suggest it ought to be a formality – then they will have inflicted West Indies’ heaviest home series defeat for nearly half a century.Only one side in history has pulled off a 3-0 away win in the Caribbean – Ian Johnson’s 1954-55 Australians, whose team included such luminaries as Richie Benaud, Keith Miller, Ray Lindwall and Neil Harvey. Mind you, the West Indies weren’t exactly a bad side either, boasting the three Ws and a young Garry Sobers among others.Last night’s evening session was a joyous occasion for the massed banks of England fans, who had already witnessed a third Test century for Andrew Flintoff, and were in fine voice as Trescothick and Vaughan produced their best form of the series. England dare not relax yet – they are still a massive 321 runs from avoiding an innings defeat – but this series is, quite literally, all over bar the shouting.