Middlesex have completed the signing of Murali Kartik, the India left-arm spinner, as their second overseas player for 2007. Kartik, 30, will join Chaminda Vaas at Lord’s as Middlesex look to recover from their disastrous season in 2006.”Kartik is a hugely exciting signing for the club,” Vinny Codrington, Middlesex’s chief executive, told the club’s website. “Over the past few seasons, we have lacked an international-class spinner and are delighted to have addressed that with Kartik.”He is a popular signing with our players and I am sure he will quickly become a favourite with our supporters.”Kartik represented Lancashire in 2005, becoming the first overseas player representing the club to take ten wickets on debut. He also made a brief appearance in 2006. Subject to international call-ups, Kartik will be available for Middlesex for the entire 2007 season.
David Hussey’s Nottinghamshire sealed the County Championship a week before the season closed with a 214-run victory over Kent at Canterbury. Jason Gallian, who was born in Sydney, scored 199 in Notts’ first innings to set a base, and after two declarations and six wickets to Andrew Harris the trophy was heading to Trent Bridge for the first time since 1987.Despite the team success, it was an unhappy game for Hussey with scores of 11 and 0. However, he has been crucial to the team’s success with his prolific batting, and will return to Victoria revitalised after being dropped by his state in 2004-05.Shane Warne and Hampshire will be pushing for second place during the final round this week despite their 75-run win over Glamorgan at Cardiff. Warne managed 4 for 50 in the first innings and picked up a wicket in the second, although Robert Croft was the most successful spinner with 10 wickets from the match.Simon Katich returned smoothly to the county circuit after the Ashes defeat with 50 and 49 off 60 balls, which allowed Hampshire to declare at 7 for 218 in the second innings. Croft’s performance didn’t help Glamorgan, who will be relegated alongside Gloucestershire and probably Surrey, who are playing the other contenders Middlesex at The Oval.Ian Harvey’s double of a century and seven wickets sealed Yorkshire’s return to the top drawer following the draw against Derbyshire at Derby. The result meant Yorkshire and Durham would join Lancashire as the promoted teams, and ensured a relaxed final round with all the important places already decided.Derbyshire, who will finish last, reached 523 in the second innings, Jon Moss adding 49 to his opening 19 and Harvey picking up two wickets to go with his first-innings five. Harvey, who will fly to South Africa instead of Victoria for the southern hemisphere summer, took 5 for 40 before slapping 103 off 145 balls with 14 fours and one six. Yorkshire posted 520 and held on for the important draw to finish at 6 for 114 on the last day.Durham, the leaders for much of the season, sealed their leap after drawing with Northamptonshire at Chester-le-Street. It was a bad match for Jimmy Maher, who scored 0 and 2, but Brad Williams chipped in with three wickets over two innings to finish the season for Durham, who don’t play in the last round.Durham won their second promotion of the weekend on Sunday by beating Somerset to spring into Division One of the National League. Maher made 15 in the five-wicket win while Williams picked up two victims as Somerset were knocked over for 140. Essex have already sealed the top league’s title.
The Asia Cup is back: the latest incarnation starts in Sri Lanka on Friday (July 16). In contrast to the past, when first India then Pakistan contrived to avoid taking part for one reason or another, all four of Asia’s Test nations will be there. Making up the numbers are the United Arab Emirates and, for the first time, Hong Kong, who made their way here via a qualifying tournament.There’s a fly in the ointment. The matches have been scheduled for a time when it invariably rains in Sri Lanka. (Click here and scroll down for a ten-day weather forecast for Colombo: “Scattered T-Storms” are predicted on each and every day.) Also, as if to make up for all the cricket that is likely to be rained off, the organisers scheduled rather too much of it. After all six teams play a league phase, the four qualifiers play another all-play-all round-robin to determine the finalists.But if the rains hold off, the Asia Cup could still serve up some wonderful cricket. Muttiah Muralitharan will be back in the playing arena, India will be looking to recreate the momentum of the last season at the beginning of this challenging one, Pakistan will play for the first time under their new coach, Bob Woolmer, and Bangladesh, coached by Dav Whatmore, will be out to inflict an upset or two. No offence to Bangladesh, but the tournament will certainly be won by one of the other three.Take a look at the ICC ODI table: Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India occupy places 4 to 6, within four points of one another, with Nos 2 and 3 not far ahead. In fact, all the teams barring Australia are bunched so close together that this season represents a great opportunity for one of them to string together some impressive wins and climb to No. 2, and establish a gap on the others. All of these three teams are capable of doing just that, and the Asia Cup will be a good place to start. This is not just another meaningless one-day tournament; it is a vital cog in the progress of each team.India are coming off some quiet months following the successful tour to Pakistan, and they will be quietly confident. Their batting has been excellent of late, and they have had a problem of plenty: so many fast bowlers were in contention for the squad that they were forced to leave out Ajit Agarkar, and a further quandary will present itself if they decide to play just one specialist spinner, and have to choose between Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, who is returning after injury. Sourav Ganguly has also dropped hints recently that the question of who will open the batting is not yet settled, so that will be interesting to watch. Virender Sehwag has indicated that he would like to score one-day international cricket’s first double-century against one of the minnows, and Sachin Tendulkar also has an eye for records – the India v UAE game on July 16 promises to be exciting for that reason alone.But once the tournament gets serious, India might face a problem if one of their batsmen is injured – there are no back-ups for them in the squad. Either Parthiv Patel, or an extra bowler, might have to come into the side then. Patel had been selected as a specialist wicketkeeper even after the team management had made it perfectly clear that they would ask Rahul Dravid to open, and the management and the selectors need to be on the same wavelength if India are to continue advancing in world cricket.Pakistan will also be a side to watch. My colleague, Osman Samiuddin, commented recently on Pakistan’s refreshing decision to opt for continuity, even after their defeat against India, and that, as well as their move to hire Bob Woolmer, indicates that they mean business. From the era of amateur coaches who beseech their team to “put 150% effort” to a professional age, under one of the finest modern coaches – if Pakistan continue on this road, which India embarked upon when they hired John Wright, it could transform their cricket. Will the first signs of change be visible in this Asia Cup? The world will be watching closely.Both India and Pakistan will be hard-pressed to beat Sri Lanka. At home, and with Murali in their ranks, Sri Lanka are a powerful side. Also, unlike their opponents, they come into this tournament with plenty of recent match practice behind them. Will they be sharp after their battles in Australia, or weary (surely that’s just wishful thinking)?And what can Bangladesh do? They almost won a Test in the West Indies, but beyond that, there are few signs that Whatmore has made much difference to a notoriously diffident side. But the process of becoming a contender from a minnow is a long one, and Whatmore has been down that road before, with Sri Lanka. Does he have enough talent available to repeat that process with them? Can Bangladesh cause an upset or two in this tournament? Well, maybe they can. But first, they must get past the even minnower talents of Hong Kong.Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India.
Northampton’s Wantage Road ground is gradually becoming synonymous as one where the batsmen are not relishing the prospect of playing at. And there was no change to that theory on the rain-affected first day of their latest Frizzell County Championship Division Two fixture.Even though 41 overs were lost, there was still time for Hampshire to be bowled out for 125 after being put in and for Northamptonshire to totter to an unsure 20-3 by the close of play. It was no surprise to see Peter Walker, one of the nominated ECB pitch inspectors, on the ground all day.But the damage was not done exclusively by the spinners, as had been the case in their most recent game against Derbyshire. Debutantes Damian Wright – Northants’ replacement overseas player while Andre Nel is on South Africa duty – and former Gloucestershire seamer Mike Cawdron making the Hampshire batsmen hurry.Hampshire included university returning trio John Francis, James Tomlinson and James Bruce to the starting lineup for rested Ed Giddins and injured Alan Mullally and Wasim Akram, whose bruised toe was declared unfit last night.Asked to bat first, Cawdron snapped up the first three wickets to fall before Robin Smith struck an excellent 41, including eight crunching fours to restore some order as he added 60 with skipper John Crawley for the third wicket.But their dual dismissal within a run of each other started a flow of wickets with Wright claiming Will Kendall and leading run-scorer Nic Pothas in successive balls before spinner Graeme Swann, the main protagonist in his sides’ controversial game recently completed, extracted plenty of turn to snare Francis, Dimitri Mascarenhas and Shaun Udal to pick up 3-11 from just 3.1 overs to finish the innings.Udal declared the wicket as “very much bowler friendly” is his post match considerations, especially after seeing the home side lose influential skipper Mike Hussey and fellow opener Mike Powell to James Bruce, on just his second championship outing. Jeff Cook also perished to become the 13th wicket of the day, all of whom were dismissed caught!Despite there being almost a third of the day lost to the weather, this game is already well progressed but it is certain that Shaun Udal will be looking forward to his bowl on this surface.
Tasmania’s attack suffered the same fate as the WACA’s fast-disappearing Players Stand as century makers Damien Martyn and Murray Goodwin set the Tigers a 244 run final day target.The pair posted a state record fourth wicket partnership of 321 before the home side declared at 7-594 with a 257 run first innings lead.In reply the Tigers were 0-13 at stumps, with Jamie Cox on eight and Dene Hills five.Goodwin and Martyn put on 321 to push the score to 3-554, before the Tigers took a rash of late wickets.But while the stand is being torn down with heavy machinery, Martyn and Goodwin were more meticulous in their demolition.At no point were they forced to slog for runs as they kept the scoreboard ticking over with an array of risk-free shots to all parts of the ground.Martyn followed up his 108 from Wednesday’s ING Cup clash here with his first Pura Cup century of the summer.His 189, his tenth ton against the Islanders from just 18 matches, came from 250 deliveries and included 23 fours and a six.Goodwin, who played the anchor role throughout the first 200 runs, cut free late in his innings when he advanced from 100 to 141 in just 16 balls.His 141 was his best return for the Warriors since returning from a stint in the international arena with Zimbabwe last year.Goodwin fell with the score on 554, bowled while attempting to hit Shane Watson (1-126) out of the park.The need for fast runs also brought about Martyn’s downfall 16 runs later when he lofted Daniel Marsh (2-111) to Damien Wright at cover.Marcus North (1) and Adam Gilchrist (19) also fell in the hectic final five overs.Martyn confirmed after the match that Gilchrist had set the side a target of building a 250 run first innings lead, but also wanted ten overs at the Tigers before stumps.”We’re hoping we don’t have to bat tomorrow and if we do hopefully we won’t be chasing too many,” he said.”The wicket’s flat in periods once the new ball goes, but there’s cracks there and there’s variations still so if we get the ball in the right slot tomorrow it should be good.”Martyn also revealed his thigh had come through the marathon 320 minute knock unscathed.”It’s not bad, it’s still a bit sore but it handled the work load and came up pretty well after four or five hours batting,” he said.
Erik ten Hag is set to leave Ajax for Manchester United in the summer, should the Red Devils make their move, according to journalist Mike Verweij, as relayed by Sport Witness.
The Lowdown: Preferred candidate
It looks set to be a summer of change at Old Trafford, with interim boss Ralf Rangnick expected to move into a consultancy role at the end of the season.
One of his first tasks will be to help bring in a new full-time manager, with Samuel Luckhurst believing that Ten Hag is the preferred candidate at this moment in time.
The 52-year-old has been in charge of Ajax since 2017 and has averaged an impressive 2.35 points per game in charge of the Dutch giants. [Transfermarkt]
The Latest: Weekend update
Sport Witness relayed comments from Verweij regarding Ten Hag on Saturday, claiming that the Ajax boss had an agreement with Marc Overmars to leave the club if he were to receive a tempting offer.
Overmars is no longer at the Johan Cruyff Arena, although the journalist believes that the agreement would still be honoured by former United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who is the Amsterdam club’s chief executive.
Verweij also had information with regards to who could move with Ten Hag to Manchester, saying: “I don’t think so [Ten Hag’s entire backroom staff will leave]. I heard that [assistant] Mitchell van der Gaag is nominated to go.”
The Verdict: Rangnick set to get his way
It looks as if Rangnick will get his way when it comes to the search for a new manager, with reports suggesting that the interim boss wants to pursue the Dutchman.
Should he arrive at Old Trafford, Ten Hag may inherit a smaller squad than the one Rangnick currently has, with five players out of contract at the end of June, one of whom is Paul Pogba.
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It appears that the Ajax boss is the main target, though, and following this update, it seems as if a deal is there to be done between the two clubs.
In other news: Deal until 2025: Romano reveals Man Utd have secured ‘intelligent’ move ahead of summer shake-up.
The three-match one-day series followed a predictable script asSri Lanka wrapped up the second ODI and the series at the R PremadasaStadium in Colombo with a five-wicket win. The victory was fashioned by aruthless bowling performance, starting with Lasith Malinga’s incisiveopening burst, followed by Sanath Jayasuriya’s finishing touches,restricting Bangladesh to 137, a score few teams can realistically defend.Under overcast skies, the Bangladesh batting imploded for the second gamein succession. It was a good toss to win for Mahela Jayawardene as theseamers uitilised the damp pitch and overcast conditions to repeat theirdemolition of the top order. With their backs to the wall in terms of theseries, the start was hardly auspicious as the openers failed to lay thegroundwork, failing to adapt to the ball swinging in both directions andkicking off a good length.Malinga prised out both openers in quick succession, varying his length inboth dismissals. Shahriar Nafees’s patience ran out when he attempted acheeky glance down to third man off a good length delivery outside offstump, resulting in an edge which was taken comfortably by Jayawardene atsecond slip.Tamim Iqbal was subdued for 16 deliveries for his three and was dismissedwhile playing all around a Malinga yorker, beaten for pace. The strategyof promoting Mushfiqur Rahim up the order didn’t pay off as his stintlasted a mere four deliveries. A victim of another rude wake up call byMalinga, Rahim was caught off guard by one that kicked on him just shortof a good length and a big outside edge was snapped up acrobatically byKumar Sangakkara to his right.The second Powerplay produced just six runs, as the batsmen failed to getthe ball past the infield and the runs came at a crawl. The miserlyMaharoof gave no freebies in his opening spell – conceding just 11 runsoff eight overs – accounting for Tushar Imran.Aftab Ahmed and Mohammad Ashraful dropped anchor and added 61 afterBangladesh had tottered to 26 for 4 in the 15th over. Aftab’s knock of 47was one completely out of character given his propensity to attack fromthe word ‘go’. When Ashraful departed for 29, Aftab and Shakib Al Hasanseemed to get another partnership going, pushing the singles withregularity once the spinners came on.However, indiscretion on Shakib’s part brought Sri Lanka back in businessas he was bowled by Malinga Bandara while attempting a slog sweep. Aftabsquandered an opportunity to get a fifty when he pulled straight tomidwicket, giving Jayasuriya his second scalp.
By then, Bangladesh hardly looked like crossing 150 and the nature of thedismissals that followed was just a sad reflection of an innings which hadlittle entertainment value. A run-out, followed by desperate loftsstraight down fielders’ throats ended the innings in the 47th over.Jayasuriya reached a personal milestone when he wrapped up the tail,reaching 300 ODI wickets.Chasing a modest 138, Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga were off in a rush,adding 43 for the first wicket and it was wayward fare from the Bangladeshseamers which contributed to the racy start. Syed Rasel and ShahadatHossain failed to land the ball on a good length roundabout the off stumpunlike their Sri Lankan counterparts and instead sprayed it wide and toofull.Fielders patrolling point and cover were given an early work-out asTharanga drove and cut with privilege and freedom. Shahadat wasn’t sparedin one over in which he conceded three consecutive boundaries offTharanga’s blade, all square of the wicket in the off side. However, hewas rewarded the minute he landed the ball on the right length – short onoff stump – forcing Tharanga on the backfoot and getting it to slantacross the left hander with a faint edge going through to Rahim.Jayasuriya meanwhile took on Rasel and lofted him for successiveboundaries, down to long-off and long-on respectively, and the targetseemed one mighty blow away. Rasel then had his moment, albeitcontroversially, when he beat Sangakkara’s bat with a full deliveryoutside off and the look on Sangakkara’s face suggested that he wasn’t toopleased.Bangladesh’s spirits rose again after a double strike sent back Jayasuriyaand Jayawardene. Bowling short and wide, left-arm spinner AbdurRazzak bowled to his field and got Jayasuriya to slash hard outside theoff stump straight to point. Agile catching at midwicket by Aftab sent back Jayawardene and for a change, the heat was on Sri Lanka.After a few quiet overs – Tillekaratne Dilshan was scoreless for 16 balls- Chamara Silva cut loose. He lashed two boundaries off medium pacerFarhad Reza, including a fierce slash over backward point and waltzed downthe track to Razzak. The sparse crowd in the high-capacity stadium turnedvocal as Sri Lanka strolled home with 113 balls to spare.
Pakistan’s cricketers made a big mistake on Sunday at The Oval in London. Having refused to take the field immediately after tea in the aftermath of umpire Darrell Hair’s decision that the ball had been illegally tampered with by the tourists, Inzamam-ul-Haq and his men should have abandoned the fourth and final Test against England then and there.But by belatedly emerging from the dressing-room some 45 minutes later, at a time when Hair and Billy Doctrove had already ruled that England were the winners by virtue of their opponents’ forfeiture, they had significantly weakened their own principled position, ultimately succumbing to pressure from within or without that playing a cricket match, and more than likely going on to win it on the final day, was more important than dignity and integrity.If the Pakistanis were really serious with all of the post-match comments about their country’s honour being at stake, they should have boarded the team coach back to their hotel and left the officials to wonder what to do next. Being vilified in the British press or roundly booed by thousand of blind loyalists is a very small price to pay for making an emphatic statement that enough is well and truly enough.What is it about us former colonials that we feel compelled to measure ourselves by our one-time masters’ yardstick of what constitutes civility and fair play? Giving up a Test match is as legitimate a protest as any other, especially if the degree of the perceived offence goes beyond issues of umpiring incompetence, or even bias. Those strident defenders of Victorian values, who will tut-tut and mutter disapprovingly about such behaviour being just not cricket, need to come to terms with the reality that this is only a game, and if it means being disrespected and insulted – as the Pakistanis claim – then it isn’t a game worth playing.It is of course not unprecedented for a team to threaten to abandon a Test. The all-powerful West Indies side came extremely close to walking out on the second match of the turbulent 1979-80 series in New Zealand, so incensed were they at what are generally accepted to be a litany of blatantly biased umpiring decisions against them (I say that on the basis of not just having read about that tour, but listening to the comments of those who saw it “live” or were actually involved during the West Indies trip there earlier this year).Unlike Pakistan, Clive Lloyd’s team eventually took the field after a similarly prolonged tea interval before it was too late. Everything continued as before: the bad decisions, the West Indian complaints, the New Zealand rebuttals about poor sportsmanship. The chance to make an attention-getting statement had been lost.Would it have made any significant difference to the future course of the game if the West Indians had walked out in the middle of the match more than 26 years ago? More than likely not, just as you would usually say that this latest raging controversy will probably run its swift course before it’s back to regular programming, courtesy of some creative negotiating, all for the sake of ensuring that the lucrative global business of cricket is not significantly interrupted.But the conciliatory mood might just be changing, especially as this latest issue comes in the midst of allegations of terrorist plots and a deepening mistrust between two distinct cultures. Will the players rally behind Inzamam and refuse to play in the scheduled limited-over series against England if he is slapped with a ban at Friday’s hearing for his team’s ball-tampering and then bringing the game into disrepute?There seems to be no easy way out this time, especially as the umpires have clearly drawn the line in the sand by first penalising Pakistan on the field and then apparently standing by the decision that the match was over as far as they were concerned when the visitors chose to stay in the dressing-room immediately after tea.On the evidence of those two issues alone, Inzamam is guilty, and if the International Cricket Council is consistent in applying its Code of Conduct, then some sort of ban is inevitable.What this matter has also highlighted is the continued polarisation of the traditional cricket establishment and the increasingly assertive and aggressive nations of the Indian subcontinent, never mind the best public relations efforts of the ICC.While Hair is being mocked and ridiculed in the streets of Karachi and Lahore, across in his native Australia, he is being hailed in the media as forthright and courageous. Not for the first time, there is no definitive border between right and wrong, especially as that line is so often blurred by the perceptions of different people conditioned by the mores and standards of very different societies.In the modern era of sport, of course, the common denominator is not fair play, but money, and while Pakistan will complain long and often about being insulted and humiliated yet again, they will also be made aware of the severe financial consequences of failing to fulfill their contractual obligations should the heavy hand of cricketing law come down on Inzamam in two days’ time.What price, if any, will they determine is too high to pay in defence of their honour and dignity?
Tom Moody, the Sri Lankan coach, has ruled out resting his key players for the second one-dayer against Bangladesh tomorrow, hoping to complete a clean sweep. Sri Lanka lead the three-match series 1-0 following their emphatic 88-run victory in Colombo.”We certainly do not want to go lightly,” Moody said. “We have got faith in all the guys in the squad, but our aim is to win all three matches and, with that in mind, we do not want to weaken the side [by experimenting].”Moody said Sri Lanka still had room for improvement despite winning the first match comfortably. “There are few areas we would like to improve on,” he said, “and we hope to work on them during the next two matches. One of the areas where we want to do well is to make sure we score maximum runs during power plays.”We did not score as many as we would have liked in the first game, but we are still learning like any other team. We would also like to be consistent with the ball and then we have observed that our top-order batsmen got starts, but did not go on to make big scores.”Habibul Bashar, the Bangladesh captain, said he was looking forward to an improved allround performance from his team. “We certainly can field much better than what we did in the first match,” said Bashar, whose side missed four catches and a stumping in the first game. “That is a definite area where we need to improve along with our top-order batting. We lost too many wickets in the first 15 overs. Instead of batting longer, we played too many shots too early.”
The Indian board today announced the six Test venues for the forthcoming series against Australia and South Africa later this year. Kanpur, Nagpur, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai all made the grade, but there was no place for Delhi.Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the board, confirmed the venues after the first day of the working committee meeting at Delhi. He said, “Delhi said that it could not host a Test match. So we have decided on these six venues besides a couple of stand byes in case there is any casualty.”Dalymiya added that the dates of the matches for these venues would not be decided until tomorrow, but did confirm that Hyderabad and Jaipur would host the warm-up matches. Australia are due to play four Test matches between September 30 and November 7, while the South Africans are scheduled to play two Tests in November.Dalmiya also discussed other issues such as increasing the pension for former Test players and umpires. “The major decision taken today was that under the Platinum Pension Scheme, the Test players and umpires who retired prior to 1976 would be getting Rs 10,000 per month instead of Rs 5,000," he said. "But those who retired after 1976, would continue to get Rs 5,000."Another topic for discussion was a change in format of the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy, which will now be played in the same structure of the Ranji Trophy. “The Elite and Plate format in the Ranji Trophy is extremely successful. Now the same will be applied to under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy from this year," Dalmiya said. “It was decided that two teams instead of the existing one team would now qualify for the knock-out stage of the Ranji Trophy one-day tournament.”It was further decided that the proposal to do away with the toss before the start of matches would not be implemented now and that there would be a financial penalty for pitch doctoring.”Lastly, Dalmiya revealed that to mark 75 years of Indian cricket, they would host a one-off one-dayer against Pakistan: “The date for the match against Pakistan has not been finalised. We would be deciding on the venue and date in a few days time.”