Ian Bell, the England and Warwickshire batsman, has spoken of his hunger to rectify his disappointing series against Australia last year and insists he has nothing to prove.Bell enjoyed a superb second half of the summer with England, with three hundreds in successive Tests against Pakistan and 375 runs in four Tests after missing the Sri Lanka series. This followed a consistent run of scores in the winter against India and Pakistan; it has been a marked contrast to the nervous figure who appeared against Australia last summer.”I’ve got 18 Test matches under my belt now compared to three last time I faced Australia. I’ve played a winter on the sub-continent,” said Bell. “I’ve got some experience of playing against the top players in the world and can go to Australia with that in the bank and I’ve also got three hundreds in the last four Tests.”Have I anything to prove in Australia? I don’t feel as if I have to prove anything to myself. I would like to score runs against Australia. But I don’t think I need to go and prove too much to anyone. They would have seen I’ve scored three hundreds in the last four Tests. They will know that. A lot of Australians play county cricket as well so I don’t think I have to prove too much to anyone.”But it would be nice to go out there and score some runs. I was chuffed to bits to be a part of the Ashes side but would like to do more with the bat this time,” he said. “To be part of England retaining the Ashes would be pretty special, especially in their own back yard. That would be great.”I feel I belong more in the Test side now and am mentally stronger. That has come with a bit of experience. I’ve had some ups and downs. I’ve been left out a little bit and then got back in.”In what was generally a disappointing one-day summer for England, Bell’s batting was a lone highlight and, next month, he travels to India for the Champions Trophy.”A lot of cricket is about momentum and, if we can take what we’ve done in the Test matches and the one-dayers at the end of the summer, it will stand us in good stead for the ICC.”If we can win the games well in the ICC, it will also give us some good momentum for going into the World Cup. That’s important and every game for the one-day side, which is sort of emerging with young players, is important.”
James Sutherland, the chief executive officer of Cricket Australia, has expressed worries about the effect increased professionalism is having on the lives of Australian cricketers.”We send mixed messages,” said Sutherland in the 2004-05 edition of , which is published today. “We tell players: `We want you to be the best you can be. You need to do this, this and this to improve. We’ve got a training session at 6am and we’ll be back together at 3pm.’ But if it prevents players developing in other ways, what is that doing for them in real life?”Sutherland rejected suggestions that modern players do not have time to develop life skills beyond cricket. “That’s absolute crap,” he said. “These guys, they do not know what busy is. That’s a great pity. Players at state level shouldn’t go round thinking themselves in clover to the extent that they can simply fritter the winter away not furthering themselves.”But Sutherland did admit that only “10 to 20 players at any one time” earned enough money to justify the sacrifices they make in becoming cricketers. “That means there are 120 to 130 players making significant sacrifices that mean their transition when their cricket career is over will be difficult,” he said. “We haven’t got it right yet.”Sutherland’s interview with marks the 100th anniversary of the inaugural meeting of the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket, now called Cricket Australia. In it, he defends Australia’s controversial decision to tour Zimbabwe last May as “the lesser of two evils”.Sutherland said that if the Australian government did not approve of the Australian side playing against Zimbabwe – whose team was selected partly on the basis of skin colour – then it should have asked them to stay home. “If they’d said that … then we wouldn’t have gone,” Sutherland said. “If the government was serious about that and about the issues in Zimbabwe and an association by Australia as a country … then clearly it should have taken a much stronger stance.”Sutherland also revealed his thoughts on the Prime Minister John Howard’s claim that Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan throws the ball because “they proved it in Perth with that thing”. “I think it [Howard’s comment] would have been better left unsaid,” Sutherland said. “Needless to say, a Prime Minister’s comment will inevitably get airplay, and those about Muralitharan especially so. But I’m not sure the comments were directly responsible for Murali not touring. I don’t think he wanted to come.”Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack Australia 2004-05, edited by Christian Ryan and published by Hardie Grant Books.
The USA have missed out in their bid to host matches during the 2007 World Cup, after the eight selected venues were announced in a press conference by the International Cricket Council. Bermuda and St Vincent were the other unlucky bidders, while a second Jamaican venue was also turned down.The USA is a major untapped market for cricket’s development, and Lauderhill in Florida had been widely tipped to host matches. But despite their expansionist aims, the ICC eventually decided to keep the World Cup an all-Caribbean affair, as it anticipated entry problems for players, and since no reassuarances were given to the ICC that travellers would not face problems entering the country. The decision is good news for St Kitts & Nevis, which had expected to be squeezed out in the final decision, but now have the chance to play host at the biggest sporting event ever held in the region.”Based on the strict criteria used for this event, [the USA] was eliminated,” said Ehsan Mani, the president of the ICC, although he added that the Lauderhill ground could still be used to host warm-up matches, along with Bermuda and St Vincent. Mani has been a driving force behind the globalisation of world cricket, although the need to resuscitate the game in the Caribbean was the tournament organisers’ first priority.”For many years, West Indies were the powerhouses of the sport, giving much joy and inspiration to the game around the world,” said Mani. “They deserve this opportunity and honour. There will be some disappointment among those venues not selected, but hosting the tournament is not simply about individual venues, but how the countries unite together to stage the event.”The cricket community is fully supportive of the West Indies and it is confident that the enthusiasm, commitment and energy of the West Indian people will unite with a collective effort to host a most successful tournament in 2007.”The eight venues were selected following a vigorous vetting process by the ICC’s Venue Assessment Team, which took into account various aspects including the stadium, operations, security, medical facilities, spectator facilities, finance, accommodation, political environment, local organising resources, media facilities, communications and marketing support.Teddy Griffith, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board, described the quality of the applications as “outstanding”, and believed they would leave a strong legacy for cricket in the West Indies. “We were highly impressed with the work done and the efforts made by the respective countries,” said Griffith. “The future of cricket in the West Indies can be sustained beyond 2007.”Of the eight venues for the tournament, six will be upgraded to seat an average of 20,000 spectators, while new venues will be built from scratch in Guyana and Antigua. The 2007 tournament will be the biggest World Cup yet, with 51 matches to be contested between 16 teams, two more than played in 2003. There will be four first-round groups, with the top two from each progressing to a new “Super Eight” second-round format.The schedule for the tournament, which begins in April 2007, will be announced at a press conference in the Caribbean on July 13.The venues Antigua & Barbuda Barbados Grenada Guyana Jamaica I St Kitts & Nevis St Lucia Trinidad & TobagoThe losers Bermuda Jamaica II St Vincent & Grenadines USA
County cricket’s new Twenty20 Cup competition received a major boost with the announcement of new commercial sponsors for the tournament.At the Twenty20 Cup launch at the Kensington Roof Gardens in London today, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced that Philips has entered into agreement to sponsor the competition while Nectar, the UK-wide loyalty card programme, has become a marketing partner. The two brands join npower, which was announced as the competition’s first `Official Partner’ in April, and which will, as the UK’s premier energy provider to business, take the lead in marketing the competition through the workplace channel.Tim Lamb, ECB Chief Executive said, Philips has committed to the Twenty20 Cup for an initial two year period with a substantial six figure investment. In addition to actively promoting the Twenty20 Cup, Philips will be a central part of the unique entertainment experience at Twenty20 Cup matches this summer, with Philips Vidiwall LED replay screens being used to provide in-stadia match audiences with replays of all the action.These state-of-the-art replay screens will also be used by the ECB at all international matches to enhance the in-stadia experience for spectators. The ECB and Philips are exploring other areas in which Philips’ world-leading technologies can help the development of cricket in England and Wales.The ECB’s link with Nectar will help to drive awareness and interest in Twenty20 Cup. Customers will be able to gain entry to Twenty20 Cup matches by redemption of three Nectar vouchers (1,500 points). The offer will be promoted to Nectar collectors via a targeted e-mail and by inclusion in marketing materials.This is the first time ECB tickets have been redeemable via a loyalty programme and will assist counties in attracting a family audience to Twenty20 Cup matches. Further competition details and a fixtures list will appear on the Nectar web-site.Nectar customer offer
One adult entry to any Twenty20 Cup match = 1500 points (3 vouchers)
One U16 entry to any Twenty20 Cup match = 500 points (1 voucher) or free (if counties are not charging for U16)
Philips Philips is Europe’s largest electronics company with global sales in 2002 of over £20 billion (EUR 31.8 billion). Philips employs 166,000 employees including 6,600 in UK and has 60 global businesses covering consumer electronics, medical systems, semiconductors and Philips Lighting which lights 55% of the world’s soccer stadia.In sport, Philips is an official sponsor of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany and has been involved with the Wimbledon Tennis Championships for 25 years, one of the longest sponsor associations in global sport.Ticket information
Tickets are now available for all Twenty20 Cup matches – details here
Tickets for the opening game at the Rose Bowl can now be bought Tel: 0870 243 0291. Ticket prices are £15 for adults and £10 for under 16s.
Tickets for the Finals Day at Trent Bridge go on sale on Monday 19 May. Tel. 0870 168 8888. Ticket prices are £20-30 for adults and £10 for juniors accompanied by an adult.
Worcestershire needed only 20 minutes on the last morning to wrap up a 112-run victory over Hampshire at New Road.The game only spilled into the final day because Alex Morris smashed 44 from 26 balls to wrecked Worcestershire’s ploy in claiming the extra half-an-hour last night.Play finished at 7.20pm with Hampshire hanging in the twilight at 186 for 8 but they added only eight runs today before their dismissal for 194 – the lowest total of the match.Andy Bichel applied the finishing touches for Worcestershire by taking the last two wickets for two runs in 17 balls for match figures of 8 for 126, not to mention from 113 runs in his two innings with the bat.Adrian Aymes got the score moving by bottom-edging Chris Liptrot for four, but Morris was out to a flying catch by wicketkeeper Steve Rhodes from the first ball of Bichel’s second over.Aymes, unbeaten with 28, and James Schofield then picked up two singles each before the last man was caught low down at first slip by Vikram Solanki.Bichel was the obvious candidate for man-of-the-match after another high-class all-round performance. The Australian has now taken 63 Championship wickets and scored 572 runs as an outstanding successor to Glenn McGrath.Worcestershire’s fourth win of the season is unlikely to lift them into contention for promotion, but Hampshire stay in the top three with every chance of returning to the top-flight if they can put this performance behind them.
Tottenham Hotspur journalist Charlie Eccleshare noted that Rodrigo Bentancur endured a ‘tough’ spell in the first half of the Premier League clash with Manchester United on Saturday.
The lowdown
Bentancur made his fifth start for Antonio Conte’s side since his January move from Juventus.
He partnered Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in central midfield in the Italian’s 3-4-3 shape.
The two sides, who no doubt have equal aspirations of finishing in the top four, looked to be edging towards a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford as Spurs twice came from behind, but Cristiano Ronaldo wrapped up his hat-trick with a thumping header late on.
The latest
Eccleshare, Spurs correspondent for The Athletic, wrote on Twitter that Bentancur had been ‘absolutely done’ by Paul Pogba’s ‘drop of the shoulder’ in one passage of play, and also noted that United midfielder Fred outwitted £22.5million-rated Bentancur in the build-up to Ronaldo’s long-range opener.
The verdict
It was a mixed evening for Bentancur, as reflected by his SofaScore rating of 7.1/10.
On the ball, he performed well, completing 59 out of 64 passes to notch an accuracy of 92%, and he made those passes count, creating three chances (including one big chance).
However, as you might assume from Eccleshare’s comments, it’s off the ball where an improvement is required.
The 24-year-old won barely over 50 per cent of his duels and was dribbled past twice.
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By contrast, partner Hojbjerg prevailed in eight out of ten duels, whilst still maintaining a 90% passing accuracy.
In other news, an Italian source has dropped a big update on Dybala.
If AB de Villiers was less experienced, South Africa might have lost the series to England on Sunday. If AB de Villiers was less experienced, 22 for 3 would have been a hole too deep for him to dig his team out of. If AB de Villiers was less experienced, 237 would have been too much to chase. But AB de Villiers was playing in his 200th ODI and knew exactly what to do: embrace the situation and then overcome it.”You live for those pressure moments,” de Villiers said. “Through an international career, you have ups and down but you always feel you are gong to be tested in moments like that. It has taken me years to feel comfortable and to feel like I have good composure in those situations.”De Villiers knew that after a top-order tumble South Africa needed cool heads. Luckily, he had his calmest team-mate, Hashim Amla, on hand to provide that.”The chat between us was not to worry about the runs and to make sure we get in and not lose another wicket,” he explained. “We’ve done it before. I felt it was really important to take it 10 runs at a time and get to a fifty-run partnership.”After 58 balls together, de Villiers and Amla had that. They’d also survived a squeeze, punished some poor balls and given themselves some breathing room. After another 48 balls, that stand had doubled and South Africa were safe. The captain’s decision to drop himself one lower than the No.4 position he usually bats looked like a stroke of genius and the victory target was well within reach.”I like to push myself a little bit down when we are chasing. I feel I handle the pressure situations well and that’s why I want to be there at the end,” de Villiers said. And if he is there at the end, the South Africans always feel they have a chance.More than his ability and audacious strokeplay, it’s de Villiers’ attitude that keeps his countrymen and, in the space of the last week, his team-mates hopeful. With South Africa 2-0 down, de Villiers rallied his troops and asked them “to keep believing”.He admitted that in facing the prospect of a second series defeat at home in the same summer, they were in a “really dark space”, but that he wanted them to snap out of it.”I asked them to keep spirits up. I asked them to keep believing and have the faith we can come back,” he said. “We showed inspirational videos here and there but we tried to focus on the basics and do the small things right and well, and created more pressure than England and then things went our way.”South Africa also made key personnel changes when they realised the precariousness of their position. They stopped relying on JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien, to operate as the fifth bowler and brought in an allrounder to give them 10 overs. They shortened their batting line-up from a specialist point of view but added two genuine finishers and seemed to find a better balance, even if it’s not something they will stick with long-term.”I like to think we haven’t moved away from that seven-batsmen option,” de Villiers said. “But David (Wiese) and Chris (Morris) brought a different dynamic. Change was needed after the first two ODIs and they breathed an air of confidence into the side.”Wiese has been the more consistent of the two but Morris will be remembered as the hero after his match-winning innings of 62 at the Wanderers. His knock there kept South Africa alive. It gave them the belief de Villiers sought but they still could have drowned in the wave of emotion that match swept over them. That they didn’t only shows how desperate they were to finish the job.”We took a lot of confidence from that but after an emotional game like that, it’s easy to lose your fighting spirit,” de Villiers said. “We were just maybe a bit more hungry than England to really nail it down.”Even so, he praised the opposition for giving South Africa a wake-up call and a warning for what they will offer in tournaments to come. “They are a fantastic one-day team,” he said. “To come back from rock bottom in that 2015 World Cup. The talent was always there but mentally they had to get through a few obstacles.”Morgs played a big part in that. Even though he didn’t have a great series with the bat, he still had the right body language. He is the right man to take England forward. They will be a team to deal with in the next few years, especially at the 2017 Champions Trophy and 2019 World Cup.”If de Villiers keeps performing like he did at Newlands, so might South Africa.
Four women umpires will officiate in the Women’s World T20 Qualifier in Bangkok from November 28 to December 5. The ICC said in a release that New Zealand’s Kathy Cross, Australia’s Claire Polosak, England’s Sue Redfern and West Indies’ Jacqueline Williams have been picked for the tournament, in which Bangladesh, China, Ireland, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Thailand and Zimbabwe’s women teams will compete for two spots in the 2016 World T20.Cross, the most experienced of the four, had become the first woman to be named in an ICC umpires’ panel in 2014, having been added to the Associate and Affiliate panel. She umpired in the Women’s World Cup in 2000, 2009 and 2013, the Women’s World Cup Qualifier in 2011 and the Women’s World T20 Qualifier in 2013.Polosak is the youngest of the four at 27, and recently carried out the duties of third umpire in the Matador One-Day Cup, becoming the first woman to officiate in Australian List A cricket. Redfern has played cricket for England, bowling left-arm spin in six Tests and 15 ODI’s from 1995 to 1999, after which she took up umpiring. Williams, who is from Jamaica, recently made her international debut, standing in the first ODI and T20 between West Indies Women and Pakistan Women in the Caribbean. She is set to become the first woman to officiate West Indies’ first-class tournament, the WICB Regional Four-Day tournament, once she returns home from Thailand.Cross said she was happy to finally get the opportunity to officiate with other women, a big step for women in the game. “Each tournament brings something new for women’s cricket, and this latest development hopefully shows that the quality of [women’s] umpiring is getting better and better, as the calibre of [women’s] teams is certainly improving,” Cross said. “I have enjoyed the experience of officiating in different parts of the world, but I have been alone, as a woman, in the middle for quite some time.”So, it’s great for all of us to have this opportunity in Thailand this week at such an important tournament. I think that the selection of four females can set down a pathway for more people to come through the system.”Also officiating in the tournament will be umpires Allan Haggo and Nigel Morrison, and match referee Graeme Labrooy.
Bangladesh’s National Cricket Academy will tour Australia for five limited-overs matches as well as a three-day and a four-day fixture from August 27 to September 13. The teams they will face include Western Australia, Queensland and last year’s domestic first-class champions Tasmania.Mehrab Hossain jnr, the academy captain, was optimistic about the opportunities the tour would present his side. “We will face strong opponents and obviously we are going to play better [level of ] cricket than our domestic competitions,” Hossain told the , a Dhaka-based daily.Khaled Mahmud, the academy coach and former Bangladesh captain, felt it was important to play cricket in a different environment. “I believe that our players can learn many things both on and off the field,” he said. “There are a lot of questions about our technical skill at the highest level and we can take this opportunity to improve our technique.”But not everybody is convinced the tour is a positive step for Bangladesh cricket. Abdul Latif Khan, the chairman of the Bangladesh board’s games development committee, said organising the tour was proving to be very costly for the board and was convinced a better, less expensive, tournament could have been arranged in the subcontinent. According to reports, the board is spending over eight million taka (US$116,449) on the tour.”The new committee was not in a position to rethink the tour but I can assure you [the committee] will be careful about this kind of tour in future,” Khan said.The academy side will play two Twenty20 games and a limited-overs match against the national team on August 21 and 22 and leave for Australia the next day.National Cricket Academy: Mehrab Hossain jnr (capt), Nasiruddin Faruque, Jahurul Islam, Imrul Kayash, Raqibul Hasan, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Sahgir Hossain (wk), Dolar Mahmud, Talha Jubair, Nazmul Hossain, Mahbubul Alam, Mosharraf Hossain, Dhiman Ghosh and Naeem Islam
Chris Dehring, the World Cup managing director, has called on Caribbean nationals in the United States to fully support the region in hosting international cricket’s global event next year. “There’s no need to hold back support,” he told reporters during a promotion event in New York. “The rest of the world is seeing an incredible event taking shape in the Caribbean, and we want them [Caribbean nationals in the United States] to be part of it too. Therefore, please make your plans to come to the Caribbean or to watch what we’re doing in 2007.”Apart from requesting unconditional support from his countrymen, Dehring thanked CARICOM (Caribbean Community) leaders for their support in hosting the World Cup. “They have come together because they want to make sure that we shine when 2007 comes,” he said. “And it has been fantastic to see that type of cooperation, perhaps unprecedented in the history of the Caribbean.”Dehring added that skepticism about the region’s ability to host the event had been dispelled by the strong organization and managerial proficiency shown at home.”As we’ve seen concrete and steel come out of the ground, stadia construction schedule being met on time, operational plans being developed and rolled out and information provided to various stakeholders, I think that scepticism has started to dissipate,” he said. “And people are looking on with a certain amount of admiration for these little countries in the Caribbean coming together and taking on Goliath. The point is, this Cricket World Cup train is gathering a tremendous head of steam, and is very much on track.”