Damien Martyn says he has nothing to prove despite being told by Merv Hughes, the newest Australia selector, to re-find his form in state cricket. However, Martyn, who was dropped from the Test side on Tuesday, said something “extra special” was needed for him to add to his 61 appearances. reported that Martyn signed a two-year Cricket Australia contract before the Ashes and as a long-term figure in both Tests and ODIs was ranked its No. 5 player. “It hurts in the sense that I’ve been playing Test cricket in the last four or five years where I’ve done it all, particularly the last 18 months,” Martyn told the paper. “I was averaging almost a century every second Test so this has been my first hiccup in that period.”Martyn believed the five-Test series had made his slump stand out more than if it was over three matches. “This just shows that once you’re at a certain age that it’s an unknown,” he said. “I’m 34 next month and the World Cup is in 18 months so I don’t know what’s going to happen. You’ve got to be honest with yourself. It would almost be something extra special to get back [in the Test side].”While Martyn was shocked with his dropping – he felt he was more likely to miss the one-day team – he was disappointed with Hughes’ public comments. “I’m not going back to play for WA feeling I’ve got anything to prove,” he said. “I’m going back to WA hoping to help some young kids there, put back in, and hopefully see some of those young WA guys play for Australia. That’s the next stage for me.”
In today’s round of National League matches, Glamorgan clinched the title for the second time in three years after Robert Croft’s 106 set up a five-wicket win over Lancashire in front of a capacity crowd at the Rhos on Sea ground. Set 219 to win after a half-century from Dinesh Mongia and 48 from Chris Schofield had resurrected Lancashire following an early-innings slump, Glamorgan cantered home with almost five overs to spare.Graham Napier picked up four quick wickets to send Kent crashing to a 35-run defeat to Essex at Colchester. Set 268 to win after 97 from the in-form Will Jefferson and 98 from Ronnie Irani, Kent were restricted to 232 for 7 despite half-centuries from Alex Loudon and Michael Bevan. Alan Mullally, at his miserly best, and Shaun Udal, with four wickets, sent Northants crashing to 171 all out in pursuit of Hampshire’s 238 for 9.In Division Two, Scotland fell agonisingly short of Somerset’s 253 for 8 at Taunton. Scotland were bowled out for 246 with four balls still to be bowled in the last over despite an unbeaten 55 off just 40 balls from Yasir Arafat.National League Division One
Scorecard Match report: Croft ensures Glamorgan title – The Telegraph
Scorecard Match report: Kent find no response to Jefferson and Irani – The Times
Scorecard Match report: Swann is sunk – The Telegraph National League Division Two
Scorecard Match report: Wright performance but wrong result for Saltires – The Scotsman
The match at Quaid-e-Azam Cricket Park between Malaysia and Qatar was called off without a ball being bowled, and at the National Stadium, only 33 overs were possible – with Nepal reaching 110 for 5 against Kuwait.Nepal and Malaysia were awarded places in the final after securing more victories in the preliminary round matches. The final is slated for Sunday, with Monday being a reserve day.More monsoon rains are forecast for the coming week. If the final too is washed out, then Nepal will be adjudged winners of the competition, having accumulated 21 points to Malaysia’s 20. The winner qualifies for next year’s Youth World Cup to be played in Bangladesh.Scores in brief: Nepal 110-5 in 33 overs (Yashwant Subedi 42, Manjeet Shreshta 24*; Waqas Jamal 3-26) vs Kuwait. Match washed-out.Malaysia vs Qatar: match washed out.
New Zealand’s one-day king Chris Harris looked like stealing Wellington’s thunder during his innings of 70 in Canterbury’s State Championship match at Rangiora’s Dudley Park today.Scoring was always going to be slow after all the rain thrown at the country venue last week, but the Canterbury top order, Michael Papps apart, failed to come to grips with the slow pace of the pitch and it was left to Harris to resurrect the innings in his own inimitable fashion.Launching into anything in a reasonable position to be hit after coming to the wicket with Canterbury 59/3, he helped Papps advance the score to 110 before Papps, who had scored 50 off 133 balls, was out second ball after the afternoon drinks break when tickling a ball down the leg-side to wicket-keeper Chris Nevin.Seven runs later Aaron Redmond was out, caught low in the gully by Grant Donaldson for one.But after sharing a 58-run stand with Gareth Hopkins, Harris was beaten by the second new ball when also caught in the gully by Donaldson from Andrew Penn’s bowling.It was a shame for himself and for Canterbury, given his level of run scoring history at the ground. His sheer positiveness was a lesson to all other batsmen. He had four sixes and 44 runs before he hit his first four, and he also worked the singles to advance Canterbury’s score.No sooner was he out than Hopkins departed in the next over, bowled by James Franklin for 14 leaving Canterbury 175/7.Warren Wisneski and Stephen Cunis carried the score through to 187 before the rain came.Papps had earlier shown the benefits to be had from using his feet. He batted sensibly and positively to look to work the Wellington bowlers around the pitch before launching into some lovely straight drives. Once settled he started to play shots square of the wicket and he will still be lamenting his choice of shot to a ball he could well have left alone.Wellington’s bowlers were always in the best position to frustrate the batsmen. Accuracy was always going to frustrate them and at one stage during the first session runs were falling behind the number of overs bowled.Penn’s first 10 overs cost only six runs and even by the day’s end he had two for 20 from 19 overs.But the most effective of the bowlers was Franklin who had a productive spell to start the day when finally gaining Brad Doody’s wicket after a lengthy probing spell, and then immediately after lunch he had Gary Stead out leg before wicket.When the new ball was taken it was Franklin who had Hopkins also leg before wicket. He gained swing and while not bowling at express pace there were few chances for batsmen to lessen their concentration against him.Ash Turner gained his maiden first-class wicket when dismissing Redmond while Matthew Walker, who had a long spell of 18 overs and ended with one for 40.The only wicketless bowler was off-spinner Jeetan Patel. His influence on this match is not completed yet. He looks capable of having more of an impact with more wear on the pitch. There was a noticeable loop to his bowling and when getting conditions to suit, he has all the potential to cause genuine problems for batsmen.Wellington are in the box seat after the first day, and another encouraging aspect of their day had to be the briskness of their over-rate. This hasn’t always been a virtue for Wellington teams but had the game gone the full distance there was every chance they would have fallen within the required guidelines.However, once the Canterbury tail is eliminated tomorrow, the real challenge is ahead for the Wellington batsmen who, after watching the Cantabrians struggle, know they are in for a real battle to gain the first innings ascendancy.
Bangladesh’s national selectors have asked Al-Amin Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Kamrul Islam Rabbi and Jubair Hossain to return from the A-team’s tour of Africa, in order to prepare for the senior team’s home series against Zimbabwe next month. Bangladesh A begin officially begin their tour of Zimbabwe on October 30.The five players who will replace the returning six from the Bangladesh A team are batsmen Tasamul Haque and Naeem Islam, wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan, and pace bowlers Dewan Sabbir and Mukhtar Ali.Should Al-Amin be picked in the ODI squad for the Zimbabwe series, it will mark a return for him to the national fold for the first time since the 2015 World Cup. Al-Amin was sent home from the World Cup due to disciplinary reasons, and was subsequently ignored for the three home series against Pakistan, India and South Africa.Al-Amin, Sabbir, Soumya, Liton, Rabbi and Jubair will all return to Bangladesh after the A-team’s second and last warm-up fixture in South Africa, on October 29. While Sabbir, Soumya, Liton and Jubair were in Bangladesh’s last ODI squad in July against South Africa, the selectors are considering Al-Amin and Rabbi to replace the injured Rubel Hossain, who is all but ruled out of the Zimbabwe series after suffering a calf muscle strain last month.It is, however, likely that Taskin Ahmed and limited-overs captain Mashrafe Mortaza will return for the Zimbabwe series after recovering from injuries. Taskin suffered a side strain in June during the India series, and had a relapse during the A-team’s tour of India in September.Mashrafe was also hospitalised earlier this month with dengue. While Mashrafe has taken time to recover from the illness, Bangladesh’s team physio Bayjedul Islam Khan said that both he and Taskin were likely to be fit in time for the Zimbabwe series, with Mashrafe expected to start training from Monday.Shakib Al Hasan too is likely to be part of the ODI squad though he is currently in USA on paternity leave. Shakib was given leave till mid-November on the condition that he return on the wake of fresh international commitments.There are unlikely to be any other changes in the Bangladesh team as the selectors are inclined to continue with more or less the same squad that beat South Africa 2-1 in July.Bangladesh A squad for the tour of Zimbabwe: Shuvagata Hom (captain), Shadman Islam, Rony Talukdar, Dewan Sabbir, Tasamul Haque, Nurul Hasan, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Mahmudul Hasan, Mohammad Mithun, Naeem Islam, Mohammed Shahid, Muktar Ali, Abu Jayed, Saqlain Sajib, Taijul Islam
Brazilian side Corinthians have denied rumours they are preparing a summer bid for Manchester City star Carlos Tevez.
The former Manchester United and West Ham forward has scored 72 goals in 139 appearances for City since his arrival in 2009, helping them lift the Premier League and the FA Cup.
However, he has also endured some turbulent moments in a blue shirt, most notably when he spent six months in limbo after a bust-up with boss Roberto Mancini during a Champions League game at Bayern Munich.
Tevez has also been vocal in the past over his struggles to settle in England and his desire to move closer to Argentina, sparking rumours of a move to a host of top South American clubs.
Despite those reports City officials revealed in March that they would like to extend Tevez’s contract, which has 18 months to run.
World Club Cup champions Corinthians, where Tevez enjoyed a two-year spell earlier in his career, emerged this week as a possible destination for the 29-year-old, with a summer bid mooted.
When quizzed on the rumours the club’s director of football, Edu Gaspar, says they are not planning on buying Tevez – or any striker for that matter – any time soon.
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“At this moment we have no interest in Tevez, we’ll sign players for the positions we need,” he told Terra. “We don’t seek a player because he is or might become important. If we need a player and we see that is someone who we need, we go after him. We will fight to sign him.”
Ashar Zaidi, the former Sussex allrounder, has joined Essex on a one-year deal, and will be available in all three formats after impressing in the recent Bangladesh Premier League.Zaidi, 34, a left-handed batsmand and a slow left-arm bowler, was named as Player of the Tournament after scoring 215 runs at 53.75 and taking 17 wickets at 10.41. His first-class averages of 36.89 with the bat, and 30.32 with the ball, also augur well for his new team.”We’re pleased to be able to bring Ashar in for 2016 as we look to strengthen the bowling attack,” said Chris Silverwood, Essex’s head coach. “When you consider his batting abilities, this really makes sense at this moment in time.”We have a number of young players coming through, so someone with Ashar’s experience will be invaluable to the group. We believe he can make an impact across all three competitions this coming season.”Zaidi was enthusiastic about the move: “I am delighted to have agreed terms with Essex for the 2016 season. I look forward to continuing my county career following two enjoyable years with Sussex.”I hope to be able to continue my good form from this winter into the new season. Having spoken to a few of the players at Essex, I know they are all excited for the new season under Chris Silverwood and I look forward to linking up with everyone over the next few weeks.”
Eager to embark on his first Test series next month, Sri Lanka’s coach Trevor Bayliss has said it will be strange being on the opposite side of the fence while taking on Australia, his home country.”Everyone’s excited about Australia. For me, it will be strange having been involved with them for so long,” Bayliss told the . “But that’s just the nature of the game these days, and I can’t wait to be involved in my first Test match in this position.”Bayliss, 44, a former New South Wales batsman who went on to coach them, was appointed as Sri Lanka’s national coach for a two-year term beginning in August. His first one-day series ended in Sri Lanka going down 3-2 to England.Over the past few weeks, there has been debate in Sri Lanka’s political circle to overturn the selectors’ decision to drop Marvan Atapattu from the touring squad. But Bayliss hoped it won’t have a major impact on their campaign in Australia. “We have a captain in Mahela [Jayawardene] who I would put right up there with the Waughs and Mark Taylor as far as leaders go. The influence he has on his players is as great as anyone I’ve seen in the game. He has the complete respect of the players, and I’ve found him to be a quality bloke.”At the moment, I’m just learning about the system here. Over time, I will let the board know if I have any ideas about how to improve things.”Bayliss was optimistic about Sri Lanka’s chances against Australia, despite them having a poor record there – losing six of the eight Tests. He was also confident that Muttiah Muralitharan would be fit for the two-Test series, starting on November 8. “He’s obviously crucial to us, and we’re just trying to make sure he’s 100%.”Murali was ruled out of the one-dayers against England due to a bicep injury but is expected to make the tour to Australia, where he has a chance of breaking Shane Warne’s record as the leading wicket-taker in Tests.”Between him, Mahela and some of the veteran players, they have a very good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of the Australian players. I might be able to give a little bit more insight in terms of some of the guys I’ve coached, but for the most part, I think they’re in a really good position as it is.”Bayliss also said it had been difficult adapting to life in Sri Lanka. “The traffic, the smog, the food – it’s all very new to me. I still can’t shake the feeling at dinner time, ‘Is this the meal that’ll do me in?’. As any of my old team-mates will tell you, I love a good steak and potatoes, but now it’s getting used to the hot curries.”I have a new-found respect for the blokes over here, with the facilities they have to work with. Australians really don’t know how good they’ve got it. But our [Sri Lankan] guys get on the job with no complaints and, as we’ve all seen over the years, have done a tremendous job despite the massive challenges they face.”Meanwhile, Jayawardene denied he had told the chairman of selectors Ashantha de Mel that Atapattu had not supported him once he was made captain. “I didn’t make such comments. What I said was what I have been telling ever since I took over as captain,” Jayawardene said. “I have been telling that if we are getting a player back, the selectors need to tell him why he was dropped earlier. I definitely said so, but I never said that he [Atapattu] didn’t support me.”I told the selectors that we should speak to him and see how he feels because he is a damn good player.”
Shane Watson feared he was having a heart attack when he was rushed to a Chandigarh hospital with chest pains that turned out to be severe gastritis. He said thoughts of his former Tasmania team-mate Scott Mason, who died last year from a heart attack aged 28, were running through his mind when the illness struck on Tuesday.Watson suddenly felt sick after a team meeting and said he was “just about crumpled up on the floor” of his hotel room before he was taken to a hospital specialising in heart treatment. “We’d had a team meeting and I went back to bed for an hour or so before we were leaving to go to training,” Watson told . “I just started to get really bad pains in my chest and it gradually got worse and worse.”The things that were going through my head were that my Dad has already had a triple heart bypass, so I was hoping my heart was right. I was also thinking about my mate Scott Mason. I’d never had chest pains before, so I didn’t know what it was.”He said Mason’s death last April had deeply affected him. “That was really hard because Dad had a bypass and he was fine after it,” he said. “After Scott had his heart operation, I thought that everything would be fine with him as well, like it was with Dad.”Watson, who has opened in the previous two games, said one positive from the timing of his illness was that he had time to recover before Australia’s Champions Trophy clash with India on Sunday. “There’s no reason why I wouldn’t play,” he said. “The great thing was that it happened a fair way out from the game so I can get a bit of rest and make sure everything is right for the game.”
Thilan Samaraweera’s return to Sri Lanka’s one-day squad after a three-year absence was the only notable change as Sri Lanka announced their ODI and Test squads for their forthcoming series against Bangladesh.Samaraweera, now 28, was one of nine batsman picked in a 15-man ODI squad as the selectors rested Nuwan Zoysa due to fitness concerns and left out Lasith Malinga from the victorious India Oil Cup squad. Avishka Gunawardene was the other batsman to have been recalled; Sri Lanka now have four specialist opening batsmen. Samaraweera, who last played one-day cricket in the VB Series in Australia just prior to the 2003 World Cup, has a Test average of over 47 and has been seen as less of a one-day prospect. Zoysa’s surprise omission was due to general physical fitness concerns. According to Lalith Kaluperuma, the chairman of the selectors, he was “rested”.Sri Lanka will face Bangladesh in three one-dayers, starting on August 31, before playing two Tests from September 12-16 and 20-24. Bangladesh, coached by former Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore, arrive on Wednesday and will warm up for the one-day series with a practice match against a Sri Lanka President’s XI in Moratuwa on Sept 28.One-day squad Marvan Atapattu (capt), Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Russel Arnold, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Upul Chandana, Farveez Maharoof, Muttiah Muralitharan, Avishka Gunawardene, Dilhara Fernando, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Thilan Samaraweera.Test squad Marvan Atapattu (capt), Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Thilan Samaraweera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Rangana Herath, Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga, Russel Arnold, Gayan Wijekoon, Dilhara Fernando, Shantha Kalavitigoda.