India’s prospects of challenging Australia in the ongoing Test series were jolted when an injured Zaheer Khan was ruled out of the series. With Sreesanth on the sidelines, it meant that both of India’s new-ball bowlers from the previous away Test series – in England – would miss part of the action in Australia.The constant injuries to Indian fast bowlers, according to Javagal Srinath, are due to two reasons: Indian first-class cricket doesn’t prepare fast bowlers for the physical and mental demands of international cricket, and that the players are not good at injury management at a personal level.”The injury management has to start from the players themselves,” Srinath said. “Fast bowling is all about self-learning. Injuries will always be a part of a fast bowler’s career. It’s how you manage them. Once you play international cricket, especially undertake fast bowling which is unnatural to normal life, you have to work around the injuries.”Knowing your body is very important. Outsiders can’t read your body at all, you are the best doctor and physiotherapist. When you can’t really understand your inner voices or body, you look out for help.”TA Sekhar, the head coach at the MRF Pace Academy, has an interesting take on it. According to him, most of the injuries have root in technical faults in the bowling actions. And the bowling coach travelling with the team can’t keep a tab on technical deficiencies, as the game strategy is foremost on his mind. And there is no back-end support in India to work on bowler’s techniques, to understand the inner voices the bowler himself can’t hear.Working around the injuries, according to Srinath, doesn’t mean hiding them and playing on. “If you carry an injury into a match, which calls for more than 100% effort, you are hurting both yourself and the team. If a bowler goes through a match with an injury and doesn’t perform up to his best, his career will be in tatters. If somebody is doing that, he is doing at his own peril.”Srinath doesn’t buy into the argument about the increased workload. “The workload has increased for every team, and not only for India. Earlier too, people used to go play county cricket for six months and come back and play international cricket. Workload is kind of over-rated. The body can take breaks at the correct times and you will be doing fine.”But once a player does get injured, India, according to Srinath, is primitive in terms of sport medicine and physiotherapy. “That is also compounding the problems at Ranji Trophy level and below. Only international players get the top facility.”A Ranji player has to take a big leap when he graduates to international level. “The gap is too big. The cricket played in Ranji Trophy is not even 20% of what you play at international level. In terms of quality of wickets, batsmen, in terms of mental make-up.”The turnover of fast bowlers and the quality has definitely improved since Srinath’s retirement, but none of the bowlers has been able to sustain the quality for a consistent injury-free time. The search, as we speak, is still on.
Doug Bollinger’s career-best 5 for 57 put New South Wales in charge before Luke Butterworth and Damien Wright steered a wobbly Tasmania to 7 for 283 at stumps. The pair added 95 for the eighth wicket and reinstated Tasmania’s hopes of winning the Pura Cup for the first time.Wright was unbeaten on 57; it was his 14th time past fifty in his first-class career and he brought up the milestone with a daring slap over midwicket for four off Matthew Nicholson. Butterworth took a more patient approach and finished on 40 not out.Theirs was the second of two fighting partnerships after Bollinger’s efforts had the Blues on track to steal the title in an away final for the third time in five years. Tasmania were 5 for 94 when Dan Marsh and Sean Clingeleffer came together and advanced the score by 79.Marsh (44) initially struggled on his return having missed two matches with a calf tear and he took 52 minutes and 33 deliveries to get off the mark. Bollinger removed both batsmen through edges to slip within five overs of each other but he had limited support from the other bowlers.It was also Bollinger who snared two wickets in the first three overs after lunch to continue New South Wales’ early dominance. Michael Dighton (33) top-edged an attempted hook high to the wicketkeeper and George Bailey edged behind for 1.Bollinger had removed Tim Paine for 0 in the second over of the day with a ball that swung back slightly and clipped the offstump. Michael Di Venuto and Travis Birt were early victims of the movement, prompting questions over Marsh’s decision to bat.”The wicket had more moisture in it than I thought and probably than anyone thought,” Marsh said. “It did swing around a bit early. Generally what happens here on day two is it gets a bit quicker and even better for bowling so hopefully we can frustrate them for an hour or two and then have a bowl. We feel we’ve got the momentum now.”
Greg ChappellOn the batting collapse in the morningThe Sri Lankans bowled quite well, and we didn’t bat as well as we could have done. I thought we made it look a bit harder than it really was.On whether he would read too much into today’s eventsI wouldn’t. It was good practice for both teams. That’s about all you can say.On whether the batting was a concernI wouldn’t read too much into it. We’ve learnt some lessons from this game, and we’ll address them.On Sehwag squandering another startIf you want to make it a cause for concern, you can. We know that at some stage, he’s going to go on and play a big innings. It could be in Delhi. It’s not a big issue at the moment. And he was the top scorer.On what areas the teams needs to improveWe obviously need to make more runs. Hopefully the batting conditions will be different in Delhi. But I don’t think you can make too much of this. Things can change very quickly.On what he made of Sourav Ganguly making few runs, and no impact with the ballI wouldn’t [make much of it]. What can I say? We made 167 runs.Marvan AtapattuOn the batting conditionsIt wasn’t the easiest pitch to bat on. The ball kept low, and batting was hard work.On his team’s performanceI thought we did pretty well with the ball to restrict a very strong line-up to 167. We’re satisfied with how we played. It was important that we start well after what happened a month ago [in the one-day matches]. It was up to us to put things right in the middle.On what this meant to the teamLike Tom [Moody] said, we prepared very hard for this. Consistency is what we’re looking for, and this will give us a lot of confidence.On Chaminda VaasIt was an exceptional spell. To bowl 10 overs on the trot this morning without conceding a run, against such good opposition, tells its own story.On how his spinners bowledYou expect Murali to perform on any type of pitch. But for our legspinner [Malinga Bandara], it was a first wicket seven years after making his debut against New Zealand in Colombo. That shows you how tough Test cricket is, and how cruel it can be.On being missing from the field for most of the morningI sprained my right ankle yesterday and aggravated it this morning. We didn’t want to take any chances, so I went for an X-ray.Tom MoodyOn how he looked at the matchYou can see it in a number of ways. We’re pleased with the limited cricket that we got, and disappointed that we didn’t get five days. We’d prepared very hard for this, and it was a shame that the weather won in the end. But we’re looking forward to Delhi.On how Vaas, his former county team-mate, bowledChaminda’s worked very hard over the past few weeks. He was disappointed, as we all were, after what happened in the one-day series. I was really pleased that he could string a spell like that together, and produce such a performance against a strong side. He’s a vital member of our team, and it’s nice to see such hard work rewarded.
Adam Gilchrist is being rested for Australia’s next two matches in the one-day VB Series. His place will be taken by the New South Wales wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.The selectors decided to leave Gilchrist out of the matches against Pakistan at Sydney on Sunday (Jan 23) and West Indies at Adelaide on Wednesday.Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, explained: “Upon selecting the squad for this series, we said that certain players would be rested from time to time. That was the reason we opted for a larger squad. Matthew Hayden and Glenn McGrath have had short spells so far in this series, and we felt that it was in Adam’s best interests to have some time out prior to the end of the VB Series and the tour of New Zealand. Brad Haddin has been in very good form so far this season and deserves this opportunity.”Glenn McGrath, who missed today’s match against West Indies at Brisbane, rejoins the squad for Sunday’s match at the SCG.
Matthew Hayden, reportedly battling a back problem that almost prevented him from playing, unleashed a century of outstanding quality which contained all the elements of batsmanship that have made him one of the most dominant destroyers on the world stage over the last few years. By the close, Australia had marched to 372 for 3, with Hayden unbeaten on 183. The unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 173 with Steve Waugh utterly demoralised Zimbabwe, who had fought hard for a semblance of parity in the first two sessions.Hayden attacked early on, to gain the ascendancy, then anchored the innings through potential danger before finishing off the day with an assault that bordered on the sublime. He took 308 minutes and 210 balls to reach his 15th Test century, but needed just 32 more deliveries to speed past 150. It was a brutal decimation of an impotent attack, with the prospect of more punishment tomorrow.The day had started on an emotional note with 88 seconds of silence in memory of the 88 victims of the Bali bombings, which happened a year ago on Sunday. There was also a presentation of medallions to both teams in honour of the first match in Australia between these sides, and a special greeting for the umpires and the referee as part of the Australian Sports Commission’s Year of the Official.The way Australia started, it seemed as if they were on a time bonus to complete the match within three days. Hayden and Justin Langer scored at six an over with some audacious strokeplay, more in keeping with the final session of a day than the start. High risk brings greater demand for execution, and when Langer had made 26 he failed to cover a ball that he played defensively onto his stumps off an inside edge. Sean Ervine’s medium-pace had done what Heath Streak and Andy Blignaut’s superior speed had not been able to achieve.Further success came just after lunch when Ervine trapped Ricky Ponting in front for 37. Throughout it all, Hayden was immovable. He reined in the aggression when Langer departed, and it wasn’t until after he had scored his century that he opened out.Damien Martyn came in and rattled off a quickfire 53 from 76 balls before he edged one to slip off Trevor Gripper’s gentle offspin. But with Steve Waugh settling in, there was no more respite for Zimbabwe. After a period of consolidation just after tea, Hayden and Waugh lifted the scoring tempo with imperceptible ease. Hayden reached his century, and then moved into another realm.Zimbabwe’s attack was ill-equipped to contain the power and intent of the Australians. If Streak thought the second new ball might rescue his day, and the decision to bowl first, reality was less than one over away. Hayden took 14 runs from the first over – a four to cover, another to midwicket and six over long-on. In between, he copped a severe blow to his left knee when he pulled the ball down onto it, leaving him hobbling in pain.For Ervine, there was some comfort with two wickets for 56 but, in all likelihood, Australia have already done enough to wrap up this match quickly. However, as long as Hayden maintains his desire, the prospects for individual records are limitless. And then there’s the small matter of Perth being the only current Test ground in Australia on which Waugh hasn’t scored a century … yet. The omens aren’t that great for Zimbabwe ahead of the second day.
Auckland openers Matt Horne and Tim McIntosh batted their side back into a strong position on day three of their State Championship match with Otago in the continuing run fest at Carisbrook today.Auckland were 275 for one at stumps, a lead of 274.Otago resumed their first innings still 87 runs behind Auckland on the first innings but wicket-keeper Martyn Croy and Craig Pryor made up for the early loss of Chris Gaffaney for his overnight score of 36.Croy scored 58 not out and Pryor 22 not out as Otago declared immediately upon passing the Auckland total with six wickets down.It has not been a match for bowlers and of the Auckland attack, Tama Canning did best by sending down 27 overs and taking two for 71 by bowling economically. Kyle Mills tended to be too short and took two for 90 from his 17 overs.Auckland started its second innings cautiously with Horne and McIntosh again its opening pair and not even the most optimistic Auckland supporter could have foreseen what was about to unfold.They put on 240 for the first wicket and in so doing broke the record for Auckland’s first wicket of 169 against Otago set in 1976/77 at Eden Park by Austin Parsons and Jim Riley.Horne was finally out for 127 from 139 balls which included 21 fours. McIntosh, who was on 113 at stumps, had played a subservient role to Horne while scoring his third century of the first-class season, but nevertheless it was a most valuable one and his timing particularly towards the end of the day was quite magnificent.Horne, the faster and more experienced of the two, registered his 21st first-class hundred, and he told Cricinfo, “It was great to have Tim McIntosh at the other end and for both of us to be scoring well.”It was great to be back at Carisbrook and to be batting on an excellent pitch,” he said.McIntosh said he enjoyed the experience of batting with the New Zealand opener and relished the occasion of them both scoring centuries.Auckland’s decision tomorrow should it look to push for outright points by making a challenging declaration will know that its hopes rest on the timing of the close on a pitch which has been another first rate Carisbrook track.The weather forecast is good and a result seems highly likely.
England Women produced another encouraging result in their preparations for the CricInfo Women’s World Cup as they beat South Africa by 9 wickets in a rain-affected match at Trent Bridge.The rain rules, bizarrely avoiding the reliable yet incomprehensible Duckworth Lewis system, played straight into England’s hands. Captain Clare Connor remarked as such as she won the toss and elected to bowl. Man of the Match Lucy Pearson produced a devastating opening spell from which the South Africans struggled to recover.England’s team spirit and fielding was electrifying throughout. Arran Thompson’s catch in the first over set the standard for all that was to follow. Every appeal was uniformly supported in the field, and every wicket greeted with genuine excitement. None more so that the run out of Cindy Eksteen just as South Africa were heading confidently towards a good total, with Jane Cassar gathering a wild throw as she fell backwards, rapidly recovering to whip off the bails.The South African batsmen were positive throughout, despite losing regular wickets. The sixth wicket partnership of 74 between Eksteen and Davies ensured a total that would have been competitive without the intervention of the now familiar Trent Bridge rain.Initially chasing 151 in 35 overs, Claire Taylor and Charlotte Edwards formed a contrasting blend of patience and panache. Edwards was quickly into her stride, timing a number of shots exquisitely, while Taylor played a solid supporting role.Then came the rain, and a dramatic change in the match situation. The target off the remaining seven overs was reduced to just 38 runs, but after one eventful over, decisive hitting and poor fielding put England well on top. Taylor was dropped three times as she attempted to set the pace, including an horrific drop at mid-on by Lewis. From then on, runs came easily, quick singles and emphatic boundaries saw England cruise to a comfortable victory.Edwards was dismissed just before the winning hit, and it fell to Barbara Daniels to deny Taylor a well-deserved 50 as she cut the winning boundary.England Women now require just one more win to ensure a series victory, and a valuable morale boost prior to the CricInfo Women’s World Cup in New Zealand.
Wolves are looking set for a busy summer transfer window, with a number of players expected to leave the club, like Fernando Marcal, who is reportedly set to move to Brazilian outfit Botafogo in the summer upon the expiry of his contract.
Meanwhile, Ruben Neves, Morgan Gibbs-White and Max Kilman have all been linked with moves away too, and Joao Moutinho and Romain Saiss have both still not signed new contracts.
To compound the misery on Wolves fans, Barcelona could trigger a clause that will see Adama Traore move permanently to Catalonia, after impressing so far in his loan spell with the La Liga club, setting up four goals in ten appearances.
With Francisco Trincao also just on-loan in the West Midlands, and having not entirely convinced fans of his quality yet, as well as new signing Chiquinho still adjusting to England, it would make sense if the club heads into the transfer market to find a replacement.
Valencia star Goncalo Guedes and Benfica ace Rafa Silva have both been heavily linked this week with summer moves to Molineux, but should the club decide upon spending their cash in other areas of the squad, they may look to their academy to find a replacement right-winger, and exciting young talent 18-year-old Lee Harkin could be that man.
A former Republic of Ireland U16 international, the teenager first turned heads when he helped County Londonderry to a sensational 2-1 victory over Manchester United in the Super Cup NI, scoring two sensational lobs against a team which included the likes of Charlie Savage, who made his senior debut for the Red Devils in the Champions League earlier on this season.
Despite claiming to not watch much football and not have a favourite team, Harkin looks set to have a successful career at a professional level, after being promoted into Wolves’ U23 side this season and impressing, scoring three goals in 12 Premier League 2 appearances.
With that in mind, it’s clear to see why reporter Josh Bunting once labelled the teenager as “such a good talent.”
Being their joint-second top scorer in Premier League 2 behind Chem Campbell and alongside Harry Birtwistle, it’s clear that he is highly rated at the club, and if he has a good pre-season and impresses first-team manager Bruno Lage enough, he could receive chances at senior level next season in cup competitions and from off the bench.
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In the process, he’d also potentially help supporters forget all about Traore.
In other news: Neves 2.0: Wolves could save millions by unleashing 19 y/o who “works his socks off”
Former Tottenham player Alan Mullery has told the White Hart Lane club to get tough with Luka Modric over his future, and tell him he cannot leave north London.
The Croatia international is one of Harry Redknapp’s top players and attracted a number of transfer bids from Chelsea last summer.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy stood firm in light of interest from the west London team, and the eastern European playmaker had no choice but to stay with his current employers.
With Tottenham missing out on next season’s Champions League due to the Blues win in Munich on Saturday, rumours are starting to formulate in the press once more over Modric’s future.
However, Mullery has insisted that Levy must be firm with his star players such as Modric and Gareth Bale, which will make them stay at the club.
“The situation is the same as last season but Luka is under contract,” the White Hart Lane hero told The Sun.
“I don’t see why Levy would be anything but as resolute as he was then. The chairman has been there before and I’m sure he’ll be there again.
“Gareth is still a young man learning his trade and has lots of years to play in the Premier League, with Tottenham or somewhere else.
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“But I don’t think he will leave,” Mullery confessed.
Michel Platini’s plans for financial “fair play” in European football has garnered great debate over the past year or two, and I won’t say much more on that. But it has struck me that there might be an unwelcome consequence of these plans that wasn’t part of his remit.
Regarding ticket prices, Manchester City’s owners could have done something wonderful. They could have provided cheap tickets to all, filled the ground every week and brought back those that have been priced out of the modern game. I’m not saying they would have done, but they could have done, and having already put in place many positive changes to the match day experience, they may have done. And why? Well, they own the club not for profit, but to expand their “profile”. Ideally a club pays for itself, but I doubt City’s owners would have lost much sleep if City had continued to run at a loss.
Either way, we’ll never know. Because now, thanks to Platini, City, like every club will be looking at maximising income, in every possible way. Most clubs do anyway of course, but a wealthy owner, for all the criticism they receive, removed the need to generate every penny they spend. You might think this is how it should be morally, but in the end it will be the fans that pay the biggest price, as always. Because while City would always have looked to expand globally anyway, and sought out the biggest commercial deals they could possibly get, it is only natural that they now look to the fans as well for even more income. While income from tickets is but a small slice of how clubs generate money, it is an important slice nevertheless.
Not that all Premiership teams are definitely going to put up their prices. Last week, Everton announced a freeze on ticket prices for next season, a surprising move for a club in a perilous financial position. My season ticket has only gone up £40 over the past five years, following City’s own recent price freeze. The changes are creeping in at City though – the owners are pushing their marketing towards children and executives. So while the children still get in cheap and the whole of the north stand has been adapted to suit their needs, around the middle tier the fancy executive areas are beginning to spread outwards towards the corner flags, and as the seats get plumper and the facilities plusher, the prices have already started their march upwards. As we all know, corporate fans bring in far more money than your typical working class man who wants a pie and a pint and a seat anywhere. Thus we see the situation where City have sold out their limited allocation for the Chelsea away match this month, but you can still buy tickets if you want to spend quadruple the amount and go corporate.
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City’s decision makers know of course that there is a tipping point, that prices cannot rise too much as people will simply stop going to matches, hence why Cup tickets have remained cheap as chips (even cheaper if it’s the chips sold inside the ground), and then there’s the special offers for group purchases and the sale last summer of £250 lucky-dip season tickets. Even this hasn’t filled the ground up, but with the City of Manchester stadium hosting a minimum of 28 games this season, it is an expensive passion following a top-level team, however cheap the tickets are. In a survey sent out to City fans recently by the club, there was a rather ominous question that asked how much we were prepared to pay for a season ticket. This doesn’t sound like a club that plans to freeze season ticket prices. I know many City fans though that won’t pay over £500.
What’s more, it’s something of a false economy for a club to only look at how much they have made on ticket sales. It’s better for a club to sell 40,000 tickets for £10 pounds than 20,000 tickets at £25, as a large percentage of those 40,000 fans will eat burgers, drink beer and potter round the club-store.
I write with a premiership bias of course, as I usually do. Cheap tickets will still exist, further down the football pyramid. The question remains that if tickets continue to rise in the top leagues, will fans abandon their teams and stop watching football, or perhaps go and watch lower-league football instead? Plenty already do, but attendances in the top divisions don’t show any signs just yet of tailing off.
Many, many clubs have often spent beyond their means, because the general rule is you have to spend to be successful. And once you become successful at the highest levels, the financial rewards mean you tend to stay successful. This is why so called well-run clubs like Everton and Aston Villa are absolutely riddled with debt, Aston Villa’s announced at a cool £70m just this week.
My fear is that rather than stop spending, clubs in the Premiership who are not duking it out with the elite of Europe will keep looking to spend to ward off the financial nightmare that is relegation. So they’ll look to make more money, and the only way they can do that is through the likes of you and me. Even Arsenal, the epitome of a well-run club (so everyone tells me), generate a large slice of their income through a huge match-day income. I think I am right in saying they generate more on a match-day than any other club on the planet, and recently introduced for their match against City the first ever non-corporate £100 match ticket.
There is one other scenario – one that some tabloid journalists have mentioned, so its veracity is unclear. And that is that clubs will take a gamble in dismissing the idea that UEFA would go as far as excluding clubs from European competition, and thus have no intention of meeting the criteria. It’s also worth noting that the sanctions UEFA can impose only apply to exclusion from European competitions. So if a team is not in Europe and it isn’t looking likely that they will be in the short-term, then they won’t be overly worried about meeting UEFA’s criteria.
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But if a club running at a loss is to meet the criteria set out by UEFA, then they have three options. Spend less, or generate more money. Or both. I don’t agree with UEFA’s new rules, but it will be interesting to see how clubs react.