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USA and Cayman Islands notched up victories on the opening day of the ICC World Cricket League Americas Division One Twenty20

Cricinfo staff05-Jun-2010USA prevailed over Argentina in a close encounter at the Sea Breeze Oval in Hamilton, winning by two wickets in a big chase. Struggling at 105 for 7, USA were boosted by a 67-run eighth-wicket stand between Timroy Allen (32) and Orlando Baker (28*). The pair gave their team a realistic chance of winning after a bulk of the line-up had faltered in its chase of 184. Allen struck two sixes in his 21-ball knock while Baker stayed through to the end to seal victory with 11 balls to spare. Argentina didn’t help their cause by conceding 25 extras, 17 in wides.The star for Argentina with the bat was Grant Dugmore who smashed 68 in 35 balls, including six fours and five sixes. He was supported by Tomas Francis (35) and Donald Forrester (32) as Argentina finished with a challenging score. But USA’s lower order stepped up to overhaul it.Cayman Islands eased to an eight-wicket win over Bahamas at the National Stadium in Hamilton. Ryan Bovell struck an unbeaten 50 to chase down a paltry target of 102 and was supported by opener Ramon Sealy in that effort. Only three Bahamas batsmen reached double-figures with each failing to push on. Ryan Tappin made a slow 23 while Marc Taylor chipped in with 20. Bowlers Marlon Bryan and Alessandro Morris bagged two wickets each to restrict the opposition to a woefully inadequate total.

Kent took an early lead in the battle to avoid the Friends Provident t20 wooden spoon by securing a 12-run win over fellow South Group strugglers Gloucestershire at Canterbury

Cricinfo staff04-Jul-2010
Scorecard
Joe Denly cracked four fours and a six in his 44 against Gloucestershire•Getty ImagesKent took an early lead in the battle to avoid the Friends Provident t20 wooden spoon by securing a 12-run win over fellow South Group strugglers Gloucestershire at Canterbury.In a re-run of the 2007 Twenty20 final, Gladiators soon lost their way when chasing Kent’s par-for-the-course total of 165 to suffer their eighth defeat of the campaign and allow Kent a fourth win in what has been a modest campaign.Gloucestershire lost their way in the chase as early as the sixth delivery when William Porterfield turned a leg-stump ball from Azhar Mahmood straight to Joe Denly at deep square-leg. The visitors re-gained some composure in reaching 42 before Alex Redmond drove the first ball of the afternoon from left-arm seamer Ashley Shaw, who was making his home debut, straight to mid-off.Hamish Marshall, having been dropped on six, added only 11 more before heaving across the line at a straight one from Simon Cook. Legspinner Malinga Bandara then took two wickets in three balls to cut down the Gladiators in full stride. Chris Taylor edged an attempted drive to the keeper before top-scorer James Franklin was deceived in the flight and picked out James Hockley at long-on. He had made 40 from 33 balls.Chris Dent chanced his arm against that of Denly to be run out for six then Richard Dawson miscued a sweep to deep square leg to give Bandara final figures of 3 for 27.Steve Snell (21) had two stumps plucked out after missing with a leg-side smear against Amjad Khan then, in the penultimate over Jonathan Lewis (26) holed out to long-off and, with 14 needed off the last over, Khan cleaned up Kirby to secure the win with four balls to spare.Batting first having won the toss, Kent initially made good use of the same firm pitch that they had used for Friday’s clash with Hampshire. Spitfires had 32 on the board within five overs before captain Rob Key (11) edged an attempted clip over midwicket to be caught at short fine leg.Denly survived a chance at mid-on when on 10 and raced to 44 from 31 balls with four fours and a six before he drove firmly to long-on where has was superbly caught on the run by Hamish Marshall to make it 89 for 2.Geraint Jones (8) soon perished when he slog swept straight down the throat of the man at deep square leg, then Alex Blake (5) naively skied a cover drive straight into the hands of Porterfield at deep extra-cover.After that, only Hockley with 13 at a run-a-ball and Martin van Jaarsveld, who top-scored with 59 from 40 balls, reached double figures as Kent, from 105 for 2, slid away to post 165 at an asking rate of 8.25 an over.Van Jaarsveld timed the ball superbly to collect six fours and a six until he drove over a full-length ball from Franklin to lose his off stump.In the Kent carnage that followed, left-arm seamer David Payne bagged 3 for 25 and Lewis 2 for 26 as Kent lost seven wickets for 60 runs in the pursuit of late runs.

An unbeaten 137 from Mark Ramprakash and a century by captain Rory Hamilton-Brown helped Surrey into an imperious position as the hosts reached 430 for 5

20-Jul-2010
ScorecardAn unbeaten 137 from Mark Ramprakash and a century by captain Rory Hamilton-Brown helped Surrey into an imperious position as the hosts reached 430 for 5 on the opening day of their County Championship Division Two clash with Northamptonshire.While Ramprakash took four-and-a-half hours to post the 112th hundred of his illustrious career, Hamilton-Brown galloped along at a run-a-ball for his maiden championship century at The Oval and his fourth in all. He was eventually out for 103.Northamptonshire added to their own demise by dropping a catch in each of the three sessions and missing a couple of run out attempts against Ramprakash shortly after lunch. But otherwise the 40-year-old right-hander hardly put a foot wrong in collecting 17 boundaries in a near six-hour stay.Batting first after winning the toss on a steamy morning in SE11, Surrey lost opener Steve Davies in only the fifth over then, after a stand of 48, Championship debutant Tom Lancefield fenced at one from the impressive Zimbabwe pace bowler Elton Chigumbura to be caught behind for 31.Ramprakash and his rookie skipper Hamilton-Brown combined either side of lunch to add a third-wicket stand of 164 inside 32 overs – Surrey’s second best partnership this summer. With a sublime on-drive for four Ramprakash reached 14 and posted his 1,000th first-class run for the season. It was the 20th time Ramprakash has celebrated a four-figure season and the ninth successive summer in Surrey colours.Conversely, Hamilton-Brown, who is still looking to reach 1,000 first-class runs in his fledgling career, was a touch fortunate to survive at first and might have gone when David Sales edged a low slip chance off Chigumbura. The Surrey captain also picked up fortunate boundaries when nicking between first and second slip off Andrew Hall, then over the cordon with a flashing drive against Chigumbura as Surrey went in at lunch on 118 for 2.Ramprakash dug in after the interval allowing Hamilton-Brown a free rein to go for his shots, and he raced to a 56-ball 50 with nine fours as they added 100 runs inside an hour after lunch. Hamilton-Brown plundered 14 fours and a six, but his fun ended three runs and three deliveries later when he edged a push drive off Chigumbura throat-high to slip.Having reached a patient half-century in a shade over two hours, Ramprakash then lost Usman Afzaal to a toe-ended pull shot, then Stewart Walters who, after hitting 31 off only 21 deliveries, top-edged to the keeper to give Chigumbura his third wicket.Just before the close Ramprakash raised the 400 by drilling a trademark on-drive to the ropes as he and Matt Spriegel added an unbroken 146 for the sixth wicket. Spriegel contributed an attractive 85 not out with 13 fours and a straight driven six off James Middlebrook.

Australia were dealt a major blow just moments before the scheduled start of play with Brad Haddin forced out of the side with a suspected broken finger and Graham Manou called in for his Test debut

Alex Brown and Peter English at Edgbaston30-Jul-2009Australia were dealt a major blow just moments before the scheduled start of play with Brad Haddin forced out of the side with a fractured left ring finger and Graham Manou called in for his Test debut. Haddin sustained the injury while warming-up around the time of the coin toss, and his withdrawal will leave the Australians without the services of their first-choice wicketkeeper and leading run-scorer in this Ashes series.”He was catching the fast bowlers at the end of the warm up,” said Tim Nielsen, the Australian coach. “Knowing we were batting, he stayed out to catch a few extra balls, one dipped a bit and hit him on the end of the left ring finger. He’s got a fracture in the last part of his finger. At this stage we’ll send the pictures off to Australia tonight. When the doctor had a look, it was unstable, a real risk that if he played it was broken worse.”The injury invited comparisons to Glenn McGrath’s infamous ankle sprain at this very ground four years ago, which many felt changed the course of the entire Ashes series. On that occasion, Haddin was tossing a rugby ball with McGrath moments prior to his game-ending stumble, but this time it was the Australian wicketkeeper forced out with a potentially series-ending injury.England graciously spared the Australians a major dilemma by allowing them to substitute Haddin with Manou. Ricky Ponting, had already submitted the Australian team sheet, which included Haddin’s name, and team manager Steve Bernard sought permission from England team director Andy Flower and captain Andrew Strauss, as well as Jeff Crowe, the match referee to make the replacement. All acquiesced to the request.”The first thing I thought was, ‘How do we get to the match referee and then the English captain when they’re probably walking out on the field to allow us to change the keeper?'” Nielsen said. “It was a fine gesture. We did it all honestly. We used the English team doctor to assess Brad’s finger. The process went really well and for the game’s sake there are eleven fit blokes on each team.”Manou, 30, has played 88 first class games for South Australia, scoring 3.319 runs at 24.76 with the bat and claiming 299 dismissals. Haddin, meanwhile, is the second highest run scorer in the current series with 229 at 76.33, trailing only Strauss. He has endured a difficult series with the gloves, however, spilling several chances and conceding 53 byes at Sophia Gardens and Lord’s.Haddin is no stranger to broken fingers, fracturing a digit on his right hand in the first hour of his Test debut at Sabina Park last year. On that occasion, Haddin played through the pain in all three Tests against West Indies, before being rested for the limited overs portion of the Caribbean tour. He had played 17 consecutive Tests prior to his eleventh hour withdrawal on Thursday.”He was pretty keen to play,” Nielsen said. “We were concerned if he was going to play he would have had to have it injected pretty much every session because it was a pretty significant crack. The other issue is that it’s a fracture at the moment, so healing will be better than if it’s totally broken off. He could have made it worse if he kept. It’s hard to start a game knowing you’re going to get it shot up every two hours.”Manou becomes Australia’s 411st Test player, and the first debutant since Bryce McGain’s ill-fated appearace in Cape Town four months ago. Given the haste of his inclusion into the side, the Australians delayed the ceremonial presentation of his baggy green until Friday.”It was literally to the last minute,” Nielsen said. “Strauss was good enough to grant permission and from there is was a case of asking Graham to put the drinks down and get his keeping gloves out. “

Following the appointment of Steven Gerrard as Dean Smith’s replacement at Aston Villa, it was revealed that the owners at Villa Park would give financial backing to the 41-year-old during the January transfer window.

The first example of this could be seen in their recent loan deal for Barcelona and former Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho.

Looking ahead to the rest of the window, the Midlands club have plenty of time left to complete any deals that they think will improve Gerrard’s squad and enable them to end their season on a high.

However, one potential target who the Villans should definitely avoid this month is Norwich City’s Todd Cantwell.

With Villa having been linked with a potential £40m move for the midfielder last summer, The Athletic’s David Ornstein recently claimed that the Canaries would be willing to sell the 23-year-old for a reduced fee of £15m or more.

Despite this substantial drop in price, the Midlanders should still avoid making a move to sign him this month.

From a Villa point of view, even before the arrival of Coutinho, they have a significant number of midfield and attacking players in their squad, including youngsters Jacob Ramsey, Carney Chukwuemeka and Cameron Archer, who could end up being overlooked if Cantwell were to join.

In terms of what the 23-year-old – who is currently valued at £18m by Transfermarkt – could offer to Villa, he has not scored a goal or provided an assist in eight Premier League appearances so far this season. That suggests that the Englishman may not have the quality to get into the Villa team in the first place.

In addition to Cantwell’s lack of goal contributions in the league this season, his performances haven’t been much to shout about either. WhoScored give him an overall rating of 6.23/10, which would rank him among Villa’s lowest-rated players this season.

Having been accused of “getting above his station” by pundit Chris Sutton after walking down the tunnel at Carrow Road when he was substituted in Norwich’s game against Villa last month, the 23-year-old may not necessarily have the attitude that Gerrard would want in his squad either.

Overall, Villa must avoid a potential transfer howler and forget about securing a deal for Cantwell this month despite the apparent decrease in Norwich’s asking price.

In other news – Forget Coutinho: Lange can transform Gerrard’s Villa by signing “aggressive” £22.5m beast

The USA Cricket Association has announced dates and venues for its major competitions in 2010

Cricinfo staff07-Apr-2010The USA Cricket Association has announced dates and venues for its major competitions in 2010. The USACA Super League, to be played between November 12 and 14, will remain in South Florida, but new sites are proposed for other national tournaments.The main international tournament is the ICC World Cricket League Division Four, scheduled to take place between August 14 and 21 in Italy, and ahead of that there is the ICC Americas Division One to be held in Bermuda between May 29 and June 7.The Men’s Eastern and Western Conference tournaments will not be held until September – the Eastern Conference between September 10 and 12 at a venue yet to be allocated, and the Western Conference in Los Angeles between September 17 and 19.The Women’s Nationals are scheduled for June 4 to 6 in Cupertino, California, five weeks ahead of the ICC Americas Challenge Series in Toronto.The Under-15 Nationals are set for July 15 to 18, with the Under-19 event from August 6 to 9.

With only four wins under their belt in the Premier League so far this season with seven draws and eight defeats, the January transfer window could provide Leeds United with the perfect opportunity to make some changes to their squad so they can turn their fortunes around and have a strong second half of the season.

One player that Leeds could turn to that would improve the team is Chelsea midfielder Ross Barkley, who the Yorkshire club have been linked with a move for in recent weeks.

With just five appearances and one start in the Premier League so far this season, it’s safe to say that Barkley is not seen as an important player for Chelsea and shows why he has been touted with a move away from Stamford Bridge this month.

Even though he hasn’t managed to score or provide an assist in the 11 total appearances he’s made across all competitions so far this term, the attacking midfielder has shown in the past that he is capable of delivering when given a consistent run of games.

For example, in his first five starts for Aston Villa during his loan spell there last season, the 28-year-old managed to score two goals and provide one assist before a hamstring injury knocked him off course.

Labelled as a “first-class” player by former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard, Barkley could feasibly get his campaign back on track by making the move to Elland Road this month by getting some regular minutes under his belt in the process.

If Leeds are able to sign him in January either on a loan or permanent deal, this could give Bielsa the chance to get rid of Rodrigo given how the 30-year-old has not only managed to score just nine goals in 43 appearances for the Whites since his arrival. Considering he’s the club’s highest earner with a weekly wage of £100k-per-week and rather injury-prone, he hasn’t set the world alight.

It’s evident the Argentine manager hasn’t taken to the Spain international too well, with Gabby Agbonlahor delivering the following assessment following a time where he was substituted on and off the pitch in the same game.

“But in the game against Chelsea, he got taken off when he was brought on as a sub. It’s a bit humiliating from the manager.

“Sometimes you can lose players when you do stuff like that. I’m sure he won’t want to do that again,” he told Football Insider.

Moving forward, Leeds should definitely try and secure a deal for Barkley this month to add another midfield or attacking option for Bielsa in his squad, which could be very useful throughout the remainder of the season if they keep losing players to injuries.

In other news: Alan Nixon drops worrying Leeds transfer update, it could spell disaster for Bielsa – opinion

Keith Bradshaw, the chief executive of MCC and one of the main pioneers of the pink ball that is currently undergoing floodlit trials in Abu Dhabi, has conceded that further tests and research will be necessary before the ball is ready for use in Test cri

Andrew Miller31-Mar-2010Keith Bradshaw, the chief executive of MCC and one of the main pioneers of the pink ball that is currently undergoing floodlit trials in Abu Dhabi, has conceded that further tests and research will be necessary before the ball is ready for use in Test cricket, after a number of flaws were revealed during the ongoing MCC v Champion County fixture at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.”If you asked me for a rating I’d probably give it seven out of ten,” Bradshaw told Cricinfo. “We had hoped to be able to give it ten out of ten and that, at the end of the trial, we’d be good for Test cricket, but what we have discovered is that there are a couple of improvements that need to be made. Over the coming months we will be doing that, and then we’ll get ready for another trial so we can push ahead.”One of the issues raised by players during the match – including Michael di Venuto, who scored a first-innings century for Durham – was that the rotation of the seam was hard to pick when the spin bowlers were in operation. Bradshaw said that rectifying this would be a relatively simple process, but a trickier problem would be ensuring that the dye penetrates sufficiently deeply into the leather to prevent discolouration over the course of the ball’s 80-over lifespan.”Being in Abu Dhabi in such harsh conditions meant that 80 overs on that ball was very severe, so in some ways it really was the ultimate test,” said Bradshaw. “[In some places] it has scuffed off, and while it’s significantly better than the white ball, it would benefit from the dye being impregnated deeper into the leather. These are a couple of very useful findings, and we feel we’re a long way down the road.”The trials have been closely observed by the ICC, whose headquarters are in nearby Dubai, but their general manager of cricket, Dave Richardson, said that the empirical observations from the four-day match would need to be backed up by scientific data before any further steps could be taken towards the ultimate goal of day-night Test cricket.MCC had initially hoped to stage England’s Test against Bangladesh in May under the floodlights at Lord’s, but realistically any such aim will now have to be postponed by at least 12 months, after Richardson conceded that there was still too much doubt about the goals of the research for ICC to ratify any such plan.”Ball manufacturers are saying to us ‘you tell us what you need and we’ll develop it for you’,” said Richardson. “But the thing is we don’t know what we need. We don’t know if we want an orange ball against a black background or a pink ball against a white background. That is going to be the first step – the scientific approach, to go to these research guys or universities and get them to tell us what we should be asking for.”The data collected so far is all very much on a hearsay kind of basis – what did the wicketkeeper think, what did the fielders think, what did the TV guys think. Before we even start looking at those kind of projects we need to establish from a scientific point of view what makes sense, whether it’s pink or orange. There’s a danger in relying on ad-hoc, hearsay-type evidence. It’s good to have and it’s positive progress but it needs to be backed up by scientific evidence.”

Ricardo Pepi continued his remarkable run of scoring off the bench as PSV's USMNT contingent played their part in a 7-1 rout of PEC Zwolle.

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

PSV thump Zwolle 7-1Pepi scores off bench againUS players star in win GettyWHAT HAPPENED?

PSV moved one step closer to winning the Eredivisie with an emphatic win on the road, thanks to a Luuk de Jong hat-trick, a brace from Johan Bakayoko, an own-goal from Sam Kersen, and a late strike from substitute Pepi. The league leaders, who conceded through Eliano Reijnders to make it 2-1, were also helped by assists from American stars Malik Tillman and Sergino Dest on Saturday. Incidentally, according to Opta, only Twente's Ricky van Wolfswinkel (seven) has scored more goals than Pepi (six) off the bench this season in the top 10 European leagues.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

This win took PSV 13 points clear of second-placed Feyenoord in the Dutch top-flight with just 11 games remaining. Remarkably, Peter Bosz's side have dropped just four points in the league this season, with the Dutch giants winning 21 of their 23 games this season.

Getty ImagesDID YOU KNOW?

PSV won the Johan Cruyff Shield last August, beating last season's league winners Feyenoord 1-0 in a match where the victors in the Eredivisie and the KNVB Cup meet. The Dutch outfit, who lost in this season's KNVB Beker to Feyenoord, are also into the last 16 of the Champions League where they face Borussia Dortmund.

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WHAT NEXT?

PSV are next in league action on March 3 when they host title contenders Feyenoord in a top of the table clash, before travelling to Go Ahead Eagles five days later. The second leg of their Champions League clash with Dortmund is on March 13, with the tie currently at 1-1.

Mitchell Johnson has spied the doubts in the eyes of the England batsmen after regaining his powers as one of the game’s most potent fast bowlers

Peter English at the WACA19-Dec-2010Mitchell Johnson has spied the doubts in the eyes of the England batsmen after regaining his powers as one of the game’s most potent fast bowlers. Johnson responded from his dropping in Adelaide with nine wickets in the third Test, including a game-turning effort on the second day which Ricky Ponting called “one of the all-time great Ashes spells”.His inswingers to the right-handers at 140kph make him a brutal weapon and he was a constant threat to England’s batsmen during the 267-run victory. “I saw a bit of doubt in their minds throughout the second innings and when that ball is swinging around it puts a lot of doubt in people’s minds,” Johnson said. “But there are still two Tests to go and I’ve got to take it one at a time, keep trying to improve as a cricketer.”Johnson spent two weeks rebuilding his action in the nets with Troy Cooley, the bowling coach, before the contest and Ponting was hugely satisfied with the results. England were 0 for 78 in the first innings before crashing to 187 after Johnson’s stunning burst of 4 for 7 in the opening session of the second day.”The ball was swinging and Mitch’s spell was probably one of the all-time great Ashes spells,” Ponting said. “Him coming into the game under a bit of pressure as well, it was an amazing achievement and set up this victory and the series for us.”The spell has transformed him and transformed how they think about him in the English dressing room. Some of the deliveries he bowled will have them seriously thinking about how they play him. I heard rumours coming into the game that they had Mitch’s type of bowling worked out – I am not sure they think that now. You don’t end up with the record he has by fluke, you have to have a lot of skill and commitment.”After taking 6 for 38 in the first innings, Johnson backed up with 3 for 44 in the second as he and Ryan Harris knocked England over for 123. Harris matched his team-mate’s haul of nine wickets, finishing with a career-best 6 for 47.Harris’ collection included four of the five victims on the final morning, with the crucial breakthroughs being the lbw of Ian Bell and the edge of Matt Prior. He has played only four Tests but already has 20 wickets and has quickly become a key member of the developing attack.”He’s not put a foot wrong and is at home in the international game,” Ponting said. “It was great to see him get that reward. He has toiled away all week and to see him contribute the way he has is great for him and the team.”Harris’ only worry is the state of his right knee, which was operated on a couple of times during the off-season. The pain will stay with him for the rest of his career, but it is not going to stop him from taking part in the fourth Test on Boxing Day.”He’s just taken six-for in a Test match so he’s fine,” Ponting said. “He’s got a couple of extra days off now so that will help.”