It’s good to have options. It can also be bad for your scalp. A whole lot of head scratching will take place between the end of this Test and the start of third and final one, beginning next week at Trent Bridge, with Liam Plunkett and Sajid Mahmood the cause. Both put in clinical performances on a good day for England; both had to. If, as expected, Steve Harmison recovers sufficiently from injury for the third Test, this match acts as a shoot-out for the two bowlers.Plunkett, 21, and Mahmood, 24, both impressed on a day when England played sensibly and dominated completely, but still seemed to lack the killer intensity we’d grown accustomed to. Plunkett finished with the better figures – 3 for 43 off 12 compared to Mahmood’s 2 for 25 – and he deserved his success.Plunkett will now be wiser to the fluctuating fortunes of Test cricket after Lord’s and this innings. Plunkett spent most of the first Test in a state of near-despair – his line was good, his length was fine but he left his luck in Durham. Today, he took two wickets in his first over – opener Michael Vandort (think Peter Crouch’s height and Simon Jones’ bulk) and danger-man Mahela Jayawardene.”Taking two wickets in my first over was a pleasure having waited for so long at Lord’s to get going,” said Plunkett. “I felt confident going in today and it all came out right. It was nipping around and swinging, so it was good to lose the toss and get the chance to bowl and pick up a few wickets. Throughout my short career, the plan has been just to kiss the pitch and try to get them to nick it through to the keeper. I think everyone bowled pretty well and we’re more than pleased with the day.”A full length was key to Plunkett’s success, and Mahmood took note. At times it was as if Sri Lanka’s batsmen were trying their best to play England’s fielders back into form, with shots that just weren’t there that would have made coach Tom Moody wince, and possibly kick stuff. Mahmood capitalised. Getting the most out of a slow pitch, he again showed the priceless ability to get batsmen scurrying to the shelter of the non-striker’s end.There is, however, only one slot for the next Test. Do the selectors go for Plunkett’s 80mph-an-hour accuracy, or Mahmood’s occasionally erratic pace and bounce? Both have secret weapons – Mahmood’s ability to reverse swing it and Plunkett’s potential as a genuine No. 8 batsman. It’s this batting ability that may see Plunkett retain his place, at least in the short-term. With coach Duncan Fletcher desperate to have a decent batsman to come in after Geraint Jones, Mahmood may struggle while Ashley Giles is still injured.
“Hopefully I can have a few more days like this,” says Plunkett. “I felt I did well today but I need to keep on taking wickets to keep in contention for the next Test. If I do that, then the selectors will have a tough job.”The future may belong to Mahmood, however. His height and bounce, his reverse-swing and his apparent fearlessness makes him perfect for England’s top mission – Retaining The Ashes. He also induces excitement from the crowd – something that seems to have been missing from this England side over the last two Tests.Nothing can live up to the Ashes Test at this venue last summer, so it’s unfair to compare. But, despite a commanding performance, there seemed to be a real lack of intensity. Two reasons for this are Harmison’s absence and Flintoff not quite recapturing his stirring form of last summer (his pace has dropped slightly as well).The biggest reason, however, seems to be Monty ‘Python’ Panesar. He is the Jim Carey of the England set-up, the fall-guy who offers comedic respite from the serious drama. His drop off Plunkett was bad enough, but his failure to pick up a ball that was going so slow across the grass that worms could have given it a real run for its money was head-smackingly bad.Watching the ball travelling towards Monty is like watching a loved-one making a drunken fool of themself in front of all of your friends. What the Aussie crowd will do to him is enough to make you shudder. What he’ll do when an Ashes-deciding catch is skied towards him is enough to make you lock yourself in your room until the Australians learn how to be good winners.
Muttiah Muralitharan, who is currently recovering from shoulder surgery, has signed for Lancashire in 2005, although he will only play the first half of the season because of international commitments.Muralitharan played for Lancashire in 1999 and 2001 with spectacular success, snapping up 116 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 15. In 1999 he was voted the Player of the Year by the club’s membership after taking 66 wickets in seven games.”It’s great to have Murali on board again; he is an obvious leader in world cricket and will provide an added edge to the early part of the season,” Mike Watkinson, Lancashire’s cricket manager, commented.Jack Simmons, the club chairman, added: “I’m highly delighted to have Murali at Lancashire for another season. He must be considered one of the best cricketers to have played the game.”Muralitharan was also chased by other clubs, including Middlesex, but he has retained a fondness for Lancashire after his previous visits and also developed strong friendships there, especially with Andrew Flintoff and Neil Fairbrother, his English agent.Muralitharan will be able to play until mid-July before having to return for a Test series with West Indies and tri-series also involving India in August. Sri Lanka will then tour Bangladesh in September.Several other Sri Lanka cricketers are keen to develop their games in England next summer, including Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who are working with Fairbrother to secure contracts.
New South Wales 9 for 350 decl. and 4 for 299 dec. (Mail 152*, Phelps 62) beat South Australia 129 (Flower 44, Nicholson 5-36) and 495 (Lehmann 237, Manou 130, Higgs 50; MacGill 4-144) by 25 runs Scorecard
Darren Lehmann’s magnificent 237 – off just 238 balls – wasn’t quite enough as New South Wales held on for a thrilling 25-run victory at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday. Needing 521 for victory, South Australia were in the box seat at 4 for 434 midway through the morning, only to lose three wickets – including Lehmann’s – for five in an engrossing passage of play before lunch.Mark Higgs, who contributed two to a partnership of 64 with Lehmann, kept the momentum going after his departure with a fine 50, but when he played on to Matthew Nicholson, it was all over.Predictably, the morning was all about Lehmann’s one-man show, and his intriguing tussle with Stuart MacGill, who he had walloped with disdain the previous afternoon. Resuming on 149 not out, Lehmann raced from 150 to 237 in just 55 deliveries, slamming 14 fours on the way. It was an exhilarating effort that kept South Australia in the hunt to pull off the greatest run chase in first-class history – surpassing the 9 for 513 Central Province made to beat Southern Province at Kandy in Sri Lanka just over six weeks ago.But when Lehmann whacked a MacGill delivery to Steve Waugh at cover, South Australia stuttered. Lehmann trudged off, clearly furious with himself at having left the door ajar for New South Wales. When Michael Miller was leg before to MacGill soon after, and Nicholson trapped John Davison in front, the comeback was complete, with South Australia precariously placed at 6 for 439.Higgs put together useful partnerships with Mark Cleary and Shaun Tait, but they weren’t quite enough to drag South Australia across the line. For New South Wales, MacGill emerged with some credit after his mauling at the hands of Lehmann, finishing with 4 for 144.For New South Wales, the defending champions, the equation is now simple. If Tasmania fail to pick up any points in their final game against Victoria, and New South Wales manage an outright victory against Queensland, they will qualify to take on Victoria in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. For South Australia, only pride will be at stake when they play Western Australia in their final outing. Lehmann can console himself with a seat on the plane to Sri Lanka.
New Zealand are paying the price for their earlier success with the National Bank Series already in the bag.Captain Stephen Fleming said after tonight’s second to last ball thriller won by India by one wicket in Auckland that the New Zealanders had lost their oomph in the field and the bowling disciplines that served the side so well earlier in the series had departed them.He said it wasn’t a conscious thing but he felt the players knowing the series was in the bag had started looking toward the World Cup and that had resulted in a drop-off in performance.The positive to come out of the loss was that it had exposed more players to a last-over bowling situation and that could have benefits in similar circumstances at the World Cup.But he said it was the fielding that was disappointing because it was an area the side prided itself on and it was an area in which it would have to be much more successful if it was to perform well at the World Cup.”We know our fielding has to be top notch to beat sides,” he said.It was similar for the bowlers who, he felt, were in a “holding pattern”.There were disciplines to what the side was attempting to do and the loss of touch was more mental than physical.”We are in danger of losing our momentum,” he said.”There are some signs there that we are coming to the end of a campaign that we have won but we have got to be very sharp in the last game to go 5-2 up. We’re just missing on lines, we’re a little loose with the bat and they are signs that the edge is just off a little,” he said.The side was missing Jacob Oram who had performed a good role for the side with his bowling and who had been a good foil for the bowlers at the other end.”We gifted the game,” he said of New Zealand’s inability to take a fifth win from the series.Fleming had been happy with New Zealand’s score of 199 for nine wickets and said he could probably defend that nine out of 10 times.”We felt that was a very good score on that wicket,” he said.The side had responded well in the last few overs when they crept back into the game, but Fleming said the questions they were asking of themselves was where was the intensity in the previous 40 overs.”That is what we are focusing on now. We can operate pretty well when the team is under pressure, but creating that pressure is the key thing,” he said.
Northern Districts is top of the Shell Trophy table after two rounds of the competition, the only team with a hundred per cent record.An eight wicket victory over Central Districts was completed shortly after lunch on the final day. It was ND’s seventh successive victory in the Shell Trophy.CD resumed this morning on 180 for eight, a lead of 97.Any lingering hopes of victory for CD were ended when the last two wickets managed only two runs between them. The first wicket was the run out of Ewan Thompson following hesitation over a short single, a disastrous start to the day.Needing exactly 100 to win, ND lost two early wickets to left-armer Thompson. Mark Bailey and Neal Parlane remained together for the rest of the innings, Bailey finishing one short of his half century.A note of drama was added at the end, as thunder and lightening appeared around the Taupo area and rain began to fall. It is possible that had Parlane not hit the winning runs when he did, a long delay might have ensued.ND Coach Chris Kuggeleijn was understandably happy with his team’s performance. He cited the performances of Neal Parlane with the bat and Grant Bradburn with the ball as being key to ND’s success, but stressed that it was a good all round team performance.”All the bowlers got wickets and most of the batsmen contributed too.”Kuggeleijn’s only worry was that the thunder and rain would end the game before the win had been sealed.ND’s next Shell Trophy game is against Canterbury in Rangiora. As Kuggeleijn says, “that’ll be a big one.”The decisive passage of the game was CD’s descent from 240 for two to 289 all out on the first day. Kuggeleijn’s judgment that CD left themselves at least seventy short on first innings was proved correct. The visitors wasted the advantage given them by some top class batting by Ben Smith and Mark Douglas, whose 130 was the only century of the match.ND had to fight for its lead, having given away wickets early on. Neal Parlane played a disciplined innings of 89, well supported by Grant Bradburn. Even so, it was left to the resilient ND tail to take the team to a significant lead.CD made heavy work of batting in the second innings, falling exactly a hundred short of coach Dipak Patel’s idea of a fourth innings target that would test the home side.Apart from the batting of Douglas and Smith there were a number of positives for CD to take away from the game. Its young attack stuck to its task well, with off-spinner Haydn Morgan impressive on debut.Ewan Thompson showed himself to be an accurate fast medium bowler who has the ability to bring the ball back into right-handed batsmen. Michael Mason proved that it is an unfair world by bowling superbly for one wicket.The game at Rangiora will be Grant Bradburn’s one hundredth for ND at first class level. Later this season he will expect to break Andy Roberts’ record of 104 appearances. His contributions in this match were typical of his career as a whole; unflashy, understated, but vital.His off-spin slowed CD down when Smith and Douglas were racing away, while his first innings partnership with Neal Parlane was the core of ND’s first innings. Three wickets followed in the second innings.Bradburn takes the unofficial CricInfo MVP award.This has been a fine game of cricket in which Central Districts has shown itself to be a talented young team. But the experience and all round talent of Northern Districts was decisive in the end. It will be hard for any of the other five teams to beat them to the Shell Trophy this season.
Rangers won 2-1 in their last Premiership match ahead of the international break on Sunday as the Ibrox giants remain in the race to win the title this season.
The Gers are currently three points behind their arch-rivals in the table as it stands and face off against them in their next league outing in just under two weeks.
Gio van Bronckhorst’s side let a lead slip at the Premiership summit in recent months but still have a chance to turn it back around before the end of the campaign.
Difference-making
One player who played a part in the club dropping off the top of the table was veteran goalkeeper Allan McGregor, who has been at fault in the league of late.
Ross Wilson played a disasterclass in January as he failed to provide van Bronckhorst with a replacement for the experienced Scot. The club were linked with a pre-contract swoop for Benjamin Siegrist, who could have then been signed on a bargain deal in the winter market, but failed to secure a deal for his services.
He has only made one error leading to a goal in the entire campaign for Dundee United and has averaged an excellent SofaScore rating of 6.96 across 27 appearances – making 3.0 saves per game at a success rate of 72%.
McGregor has, meanwhile, made three errors leading to goals and one error leading to a shot whilst averaging a SofaScore rating of 6.80. He has made 1.8 saves per game at a success rate of 68%, which suggests that the United man has been the superior – less error-prone – shot-stopper out of the two.
Although, it is also worth noting that these statistics do not encompass all aspects of goalkeeping. For example, Dundee FC’s goal on Sunday would not go down as a direct mistake by the 40-year-old despite some fans potentially seeing it as one as he watched a cross sail across his six-yard box before being bundled in as he watched on.
The ex-Hull ‘keeper’s failure to keep out a low shot at his near post in a recent 2-2 draw with Motherwell – costing the Gers two points – would also not count as an error, despite his mistake letting the side down.
Although, another game in which he cost the club two points did consist of two ‘errors’ leading to goals. He gifted two strikes to Ross County in a 3-3 draw at the end of January, which suggests that Rangers could be four points better off – and top of the table – with a better goalkeeper between the sticks.
This is why it was a disaster from Wilson in opting against a deal for Siegrist and deciding to keep 40-year-old McGregor as the club’s number one in both the Europa League and Premiership, as his displays in the latter have been letting the side down.
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The statistics suggest that the 6 foot 4 Swiss stopper would have been a difference-making signing that would have the Gers at the top of the table, as his form for United suggests that he would not have made the point-costing errors that the current Gers first-choice has made.
A costly one that got away but they will have the chance to swoop the SPFL gem, who Micky Mellon dubbed a “monster” and “one of the best in the country”, up for nothing at the end of the campaign if he does not sign a contract extension with Dundee United.
AND in other news, Gvb must brutally axe £14k-p/w Rangers liability, he’s one of Wilson’s big “let downs”…
Aston Villa are reportedly weighing up a £7million move for Heerenveen striker Bas Dost.
The Netherlands under-21 international is the top goalscorer in the Eredivisie this season, and has also been linked with a move to Valencia this summer.
Dost is 6ft 5in, and after scoring 23 goals in the league this season has been described as the ‘Dutch Peter Crouch’.
The attacker has admitted that he has heard of interest from Alex McLeish’s side, but will not discuss his future until the campaign ends.
“It is positive news,” he told Voetbal Primeur, translated to English by Sky Sports.
“You hear this and of course it is nice to know they are interested.
“Aston Villa is a club I don’t know very well, but they look good.
“I have spoken with my agent and we won’t be discussing anything during the season,” he concluded.
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Villa have already raided Dutch football for one summer signing, as AZ Alkmaar midfielder Brett Holman has signed a pre-contract agreement with the Midlands outfit.
Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets has been cleared to play in the Champions League final against Manchester United.Busquets was found not guilty of the charge he racially abused Real Madrid’s Marcelo during last month’s 2-0 victory in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
Marcelo alleged Busquets called him a ‘monkey’ during the clash, but a statement on Barcelona’s website confirmed the charge had been dropped and that the 22-year-old is free to play in the final.
“Sergio Busquets will be able to play in the Champions League final,” the statement read.
“UEFA has informed FC Barcelona that it rejected the complaint filed by Real Madrid.”
A statement on the UEFA website read: “The chairman of the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body, acting as a judge sitting alone, has today (Monday) decided to dismiss the complaint lodged by Real Madrid CF for racial abuse against its player Marcelo by FC Barcelona player Sergio Busquets in the UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg between the clubs in Madrid on 27 April, due to a lack of strong and convincing evidence.”
The Champions League final will take place at England’s Wembley Stadium on May 28.
Manchester United have recorded an £83.6million loss despite posting operating profits in excess of £100million for the last financial year.
The latest financial figures have revealed that United are the first club to have broken through the £100million operating profit ceiling.
However, the hefty losses for the year ending June 30 will again bring the subject of the Glazer family's controversial ownership to the fore.
Last year United's debt was listed at £716.5million and the annual interest payments of £40million will lead to further criticism from disgruntled supporters.
Media and commercial revenues both grew during the last financial year, but supporters will point to a lack of transfer investment as further reason for disquiet.
Sir Alex Ferguson spent less than £20million on three new players – Chris Smalling, Javier Hernandez and Bebe – which accounts for around half of the sum which left the Old Trafford coffers to service the club's debts.
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United, commonly regarded as the richest club in the world, were debt free before the Glazer family took over in 2005.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Andre Villas Boas has stated that he hopes that Frank Lampard stays with the club next season, despite the relationship between player and manager being strained.
The veteran midfielder admitted this week that his relationship with the Portuguese coach has not been ideal, amid rumours that he may leave the Stamford Bridge outfit in the summer.
Despite this, Lampard started the game against Bolton on Saturday, and scored a goal in the 3-0 win.
Villas Boas wants to keep the England international in West London, and was full of praise for him after the game.
“I hope so,” the tactician told reporters when asked if Lampard would stay.
“It does not depend on me. It depends on three parts – I want him, the person wants to stay and the club wants him.
“Frank goes on and on breaking the club’s records and that is important for him. I congratulate him for that.
“He is a player who has been involved with all managers before and played in most of the games.
“The only difference this year from the years before is that we have more competition in midfield and things become more difficult for everybody.
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“But Frank is now in the top five of players most used so he is up there with the best,” he concluded.