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The Irish Police is searching for Sharyce Saili, a Zimbabwe cricketer, who went missing after the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 qualifiers, which concluded in Dublin last week

Ger Siggins06-Aug-2013The Irish Police is searching for a Zimbabwe cricketer, Sharyce Saili, who went missing after the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 qualifiers, which concluded in Dublin last week.Saili, who has played 26 matches for Zimbabwe since 2008, was last seen in the team’s hotel shortly after their Shield final against Thailand on July 31. Saili, a right-arm fast bowler, was booked to fly home last Friday morning, but was reported missing.The Garda Siochana – the Irish Police force – says it has found no trace of the cricketer.Zimbabwe finished sixth of the eight teams in the qualifiers after losing to Thailand. It was soon after that game that Saili was last seen in Croke Park Hotel, where all the teams and officials were staying.Saili, who is a salesperson in her hometown Harare, finished second on the wicket-takers list, taking seven wickets in five matches, including a career-best 3 for 15 against Japan.Saili has not updated her Facebook page since her disappearance. On the day she was last seen, she posted the following message: ‘A strong woman is one who is able to smile this morning like she wasn’t crying last night.’

Ottis Gibson is looking forward to returning to Wales with his West Indies team during the Champions Trophy with fond memories of his time there for Glamorgan

ESPNcricinfo staff02-May-2013Ottis Gibson, the West Indies coach, is looking forward to returning to Wales with his West Indies team during the Champions Trophy, for what could be a group decider against South Africa, holding fond memories of his time there for Glamorgan.Gibson played for the county from 1994 to 1996 and remembers the support he received from crowds that have “passion and love” for the sport and hopes that can be replicated on June 14.West Indies play their opening two matches at The Oval in London, against Pakistan and India, where they will like to think they can latch onto the Caribbean community which used to support the team in force during their heydays of the 1980s but the fans have been a far smaller presence in recent years with the side struggling.However, the Welsh public have had few chances to see West Indies in their backyard – they have only played a single ODI, against New Zealand, in 2004 – and Gibson has asked them for a strong display of support.”I played for Glamorgan in the early stages of my cricket career and people welcomed me into the county. It was a really good time and the people of Wales were nice and good to me,” he said. “The people there are very passionate about their team. I believe if we can get there early and get the support of the locals that would be great for us”I had many highlights from my time there; I got over 60 wickets and made 700 runs in my debut season, so that was a very good start to my county cricket career in the UK. I had a very good time and great experience.”When I was at Glamorgan, we also had amazing support when we played around the county circuit and at Cardiff Wales Stadium and I know that support has continued over the years. It’s a wonderful place for sports and you always feel the passion and love for sports over there.”However, Gibson’s first priority will be to ensure his team still have a chance of progressing to the semi-finals when they reach Cardiff. October’s Twenty20 success gave the long-suffering fans in the Caribbean a moment to savour, but Gibson knows it is vital the team build on that especially with a World Cup to follow in 2015.”This is a good opportunity for us as a one-day team to see where we are compared to the other guys. This tournament format is similar to how the World Cup is going to be – you have to get out of the group stage to advance to the second phase.”We hope the success and the experience we had in Sri Lanka will help everybody to stay calm when the pressure is on. We believe we can win these big tournaments. So, this is something that we are really looking forward to.”

Barcelona and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry showed why he is referred to as one of the best strikers of all time while on punditry duty on Wednesday.

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Henry has a kickabout with RichardsStuns with Richards with body feintRichards left speechless after the trickWHAT HAPPENED?

Ahead of the Champions League clash between Arsenal and Lens, Henry and fellow pundit Micah Richards went head-to-head in a small kick-about, with the Frenchman showing levels to the former Manchester City defender with a very simple body feint that had Richards lose track of the ball. Richards was left shocked as he could not believe that he had just been done like that, while Henry simply passed the ball to Jamie Carragher and nonchalantly went to pick up his broadcast microphone.

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Henry has had a stellar footballing career having won the Premier League Golden Boot a record four times. He also boasts a World Cup and Euros to his name, won with France in 1998 and 2000, respectively, and a Champions League in 2009 with Barcelona.

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The Frenchman is now also the French U21 manager and has become a stellar pundit alongside the CBS cast of Kate Abdo, Carragher and Richards. Fans across the globe adore the group as CBS has posted record audiences for their Champions League broadcast – although Lionel Messi won't be attending anytime soon.

Leicestershire have had their plans for the new season shaken up by Ramnaresh Sarwan’s recall to the West Indies squad and they will seek to clarify his availability for next season.

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jan-2013Leicestershire have had their plans for the new season shaken up by Ramnaresh Sarwan’s recall to the West Indies squad and they will seek to clarify his availability.Sarwan had seemingly turned his back on West Indies, claiming he had been “mentally and emotionally” hurt by the coaching staff, when he signed a two-year extension to his stay at Grace Road which began last summer. He was then appointed captain of the County Championship side for 2013 in place of Matthew Hoggard.But he was recalled to the West Indies squad for the one-day series against Australia which begins on February 1, suggesting Sarwan could be part of West Indies’ future series against Zimbabwe in March and India and Sri Lanka following the Champions Trophy.”We will be making contact with Ramnaresh to see where this might lead to,” Leicestershire head coach Phil Whitticase said. “At this moment, the question of how it might affect us during the season is a bit unanswerable.”We are really pleased for him because we know that he has been striving to play for the West Indies again. He still has that passion and drive and we want all our players to play at the highest level. From our point of view, it does leave us a bit vulnerable and looking to come up with a Plan B.”Sarwan had an excellent summer for Leicestershire, helping them avoided consecutive wooden spoons in the Championship with 941 runs at 40.91. He also struck two centuries in the CB40.But he will now add to his 173 ODIs in which he has scored 5,644 runs at 43.41. Although he has endured a poor run of recent form in the Caribbean T20 with a highest score of 19 in seven matches for Guyana.

Adam Wheater has said he received no assurances of a first-team place as wicketkeeper at West End despite claims made by Paul Grayson

Ivo Tennant05-Mar-2013Adam Wheater, who last week bought out his contract with Essex in order to join Hampshire with immediate effect, has said he received no guarantees of a first-team place as wicketkeeper at West End, despite the claim by his former coach, Paul Grayson, that this was the reason behind his decision to move counties.”I think Paul was trying to cover his own back in saying that,” Wheater said during a press conference before flying to Barbados with his new team-mates for a pre-season tour. “I am on a two-year contract and have been given no assurances.” He will compete with Michael Bates for the gloves at Hampshire.In Essex’s press release, Grayson was quoted as saying Wheater was their “third-choice keeper”, behind James Foster and Ben Foakes, and that “Hampshire have given him assurances that he will be their first-choice at the club.” Nigel Hilliard, the Essex chairman, supported Grayson, however. “I have no reason to believe Paul was lying,” he said.Although Hampshire allegedly did not make a formal approach to Essex and had previously attempted to tempt James Foster to join them, Hilliard did not want to take issue with them. “All sorts of approaches are made for players and we would not want to stand in the way of a player who was keen to leave,” he said.Wheater, 23, saw little prospect of keeping wicket regularly for Essex given that he expects Foster, the club captain, to play on for several more years. “The attraction for me in joining Hampshire is that they have a young side who are going in the right direction and are not too far from my family in Epping,” he said. “I have been looking at places to buy round Southampton but haven’t found anywhere yet.”He said “three or four” other counties had been interested in signing him, but he had not had any serious discussions with any of them. He has joined Hampshire, he emphasised, to become a wicketkeeper-batsman. “I would have become more frustrated at Essex if James Foster had not been such an unbelievably good wicketkeeper. I talked to him before leaving – we were born in the same hospital and went to the same school – but he could not be seen to be advising me to go.” Wheater would not divulge the payment he had to make to Essex to buy out his remaining year’s contract.There is no doubting Wheater’s ability with the bat – he made 2,463 runs for Essex at 39.09, a significantly higher average than Bates has mustered – and his wicketkeeping can only improve under the tutelage of Bobby Parks, but his signing is nonetheless a controversial one. Hampshire pride themselves on the young cricketers they have brought on over the past few years, one of whom is Bates, who has kept wicket to Danny Briggs’ left arm spin since they were ten years old.Bates, 22, signed a two-year contract with Hampshire in the autumn and is arguably the most talented young wicketkeeper in the country. His batting is improving if not yet consistent – he made his maiden first-class century last season – and the acquisition of Wheater will do little for his self-belief or the confidence of academy cricketers who will feel a natural progression to the first team is constantly under threat. Nor will it please the members, who doubtless would prefer to see the club develop and promote their own players rather than sign up outsiders, as in football.Tellingly – and modestly – Wheater said that Bates remains the better wicketkeeper. “We know each other from playing against each other at regional level,” he said. “I have benefited from playing for Essex as a batsman, and I would be happy to play for Hampshire as a specialist batter, but my trade is a wicketkeeper-batsman,” he said.It could yet be the case that Hampshire will alternate between the two for first-class and limited-overs cricket. One particular match which would have heightened their interest in acquiring Wheater occurred at Chelmsford last year when Essex, needing 360 to win, slumped to 222 for 7 before his innings of 98 brought them to within two runs of victory.Hilliard, who believes that Foster is the best wicketkeeper in the world, let alone the country, feels the specialist stumper will return to prominence in due course, regardless of whether or not he can bat. Keith Fletcher, the great sage of Essex cricket, is not so sure. “Neil Smith, who played in our first championship-winning side, would not play now,” he said. “David East might struggle to get in, even thought he played some important innings.”And, he added – alarmingly for the likes of Bates – “even the days of Bob Taylor have gone.”

Gareth Batty took six wickets but Surrey lost late wickets against Warwickshire to keep the match wide open

Jon Culley at The Oval24-May-2012Surrey 233 and 144 for 4 (Roy 71) lead Warwickshire 247 (Chopra 78, Batty 6-73) by 120 runs
ScorecardGareth Batty brought Surrey back into the match with a six-wicket haul•Getty ImagesInviting schoolchildren to spend a day at the cricket is always a bit of a gamble. If being hostage to the weather gods is not risk enough, there is always a chance that the cricket will be interminably dull, at least to the undiscerning eye. Little wonder, then, that Surrey’s marketing folk were grinning widely.Not only did they have the good fortune to pick a gorgeously warm day to usher somewhere approaching 3,000 schoolchildren through the gates of The Oval, they were blessed with entertaining cricket. As a bonus, given that all of the invited young guests were from Surrey or south London, the team on top – at least until most of them had gone home – was the one wearing brown hats.Then again, the cricket is seldom dull when Surrey are involved. Dismissed for 223 in 60 overs on the opening day, they responded by bowling out Warwickshire, the Division One leaders going into this round for 247, six wickets going to the offspinner Gareth Batty, who finished with his best return for Surrey.Given that Warwickshire had gone into day two only one wicket down and thinking in terms of 400, perhaps even 500 on the board in what had seemed to be ideal conditions, Surrey could congratulate themselves on an entirely acceptable half day’s work when the last wicket triggered tea almost 30 minutes hour early.When Jason Roy, in his preferred manner, raced to 71 off 85 balls, they appeared to be putting themselves in complete control, a position they might well have retained and enhanced had Roy and Rory Hamilton-Brown, a batsman with a similarly destructive approach, not both been out in the space of four deliveries.Those two blows put the brakes on Surrey’s progress rather emphatically, forcing Jacques Rudolph and Tom Maynard to adopt a much more measured approach to what remained of the day. The last 13 overs added 36 to the total and Surrey lead by 120 going into the third day, with six wickets in hand. The outcome, as you always hope at this stage, is in the balance.A drying pitch is beginning to play increasingly into the hands of the two principle offspinners, with Jeetan Patel’s success or otherwise on the third day likely to be an important factor, although not perhaps as influential as Batty could be when Warwickshire bat for a second time.Batty has had to contend himself with playing second-fiddle at key moments in his career, which has been to the detriment of his total of Test caps. When he won the last of his seven, against Bangladesh in 2005, it was only because Ashley Giles was injured. He was called into the one-day squad that toured the West Indies in 2009, but only to replace Samit Patel, who was omitted because of fitness concerns, with Graeme Swann injured.At 34 he is an experienced and difficult opponent, nonetheless, and it was by dismissing both Will Porterfield and Varun Chopra inside the first hour that he began to seize the initiative for Surrey. Porterfield squandered his wicket somewhat, edging to slip after going down the wicket but failing to get to the pitch of the ball, ending a partnership with Chopra that had put on 117 in 44 overs.Warwickshire suffered another setback when Jim Troughton’s bad run continued. The captain, yorked by Stuart Meaker, has scored only 40 runs in eight Championship innings so far. But it was Batty’s removal of Chopra for 78 that changed the face of the innings.He earned the wicket, too, with a fine piece of bowling, inviting the opener to claim his 10th boundary by offering him some width outside off stump before bringing the next one in just a little straighter and then catching him by surprise with a quicker, fuller delivery that bowled him.At 182 for 4 at lunch, there was still an opportunity for Warwickshire to secure a workable advantage. Instead they lost their next five wickets for 27 runs. Darren Maddy and Rikki Clarke were leg before to Meaker and Batty respectively, in between which Hamilton-Brown, a reluctant purveyor of offspin, took his first Championship wicket since last May to stilt Tim Ambrose’s progress.Batty subsequently took two in two balls, having Keith Barker stumped and taking a return catch to remove Patel before Chris Wright repelled the hat-trick ball. His success persuaded Surrey to delay taking the new ball until the 90th over, with the scores level, at which point, slightly ironically, Wright and Chris Woakes began to score more freely, with the ball coming on to the bat a little quicker. The last 20 balls of the innings yielded another 24.

Leicestershire are in a desperate financial position after a Twenty20 campaign officially described as “gruesome.”

George Dobell10-Jul-2012News that Leicestershire’s captain and chairman are to throw themselves out of a plane might, at first glance, be suspected as a response to the desperate financial position in which the club finds itself after a Twenty20 campaign officially described as “gruesome.”As it happens Matthew Hoggard and Paul Haywood are not jumping out of a plane as an act of despair, but as an attempt to raise money for an impoverished club which is fighting to remain solvent in increasingly testing times.The pair, plus Greg Smith, Michael Thornley, Josh Cobb and his father, former Leicestershire player and coach Russell Cobb, will undertake a sponsored parachute jump at Langar Airfield on Monday September 17 as part of a benefit year for the club itself.Leicestershire have endured a Friends Life t20 campaign that their chief executive, Mike Siddall, described as “gruesome.” Not only did their defence of the title never really get off the ground – they won just two of their 10 qualifying games and finished bottom of the group – but spectator numbers were hugely disappointing. The club fears that it achieved only around 40% of its budget from the competition.Such figures will only increase the clamour for a change to the domestic T20 schedule. Siddall, for one, endorses the view of Richard Gould, the chief executive of Surrey, that the competition should be spread across the summer and played, where possible, at a regular time so spectators are able to predict forthcoming games.”Without a doubt, we need to be playing T20 over a longer period,” Siddall told ESPNcricinfo. “We need to have an appointment to view on Friday nights, with one or two midweek games to keep the broadcasters happy.”We all understand the reasons behind the short window, but they haven’t worked. It leaves us at the mercy of the weather and the idea that we might be able to attract the most exciting overseas players has not been borne out by experience.”Leicestershire’s problem this year was not that games were abandoned. Had they been, insurance payments would have covered the club for their losses. Instead, it was that matches took place in the sort of gloomy conditions that deterred spectators from attending.”A typical example came in our game against Derbyshire,” Siddall said. “It rained until 2.30pm and, while we eventually had an 8-over a side game starting at 7.35pm, no-one had hung around to watch it. It’s hit our catering budget, it’s hit our sponsors and it has left us with some very difficult budget decisions to make in the coming weeks. Times are very tough and they’re not getting any easier.”After a terrible 2010, when Leicestershire lost over £400,000, they returned to profitability in 2011 with a surplus of nearly £300,000. Much of that was built on some exceptional items: £135,000 in donations; £43,000 in extra hospitality income thanks to their T20 success; £60,000 thanks to a sell-out T20 game against India and an increase in £282,000 from the ECB. There is little prospect of a repeat this year.”We have little prospect of making up the T20 losses,” Siddall admitted. “We have three CB40 games and four championship games to come. All the CB40 games are at a weekend or on a Bank Holiday, which is good for general spectators but not good for corporate hospitality.”The club at least have a fine record of producing players – Stuart Broad, Luke Wright, James Taylor and Darren Maddy are among those to have developed through the club’s youth system – and spirits have been buoyed by the recent selection of Ben Collins in England’s U19 World Cup squad. Test-hosting clubs such as Hampshire, Middlesex, Surrey and Yorkshire were all without representatives in the squad.Long term the club have “embryonic plans” for a ground redevelopment that might revolutionise their business plan. In the meantime, however, Leicestershire are overly reliant on the continuing goodwill and generosity of their supporters and initiatives such as this parachute jump. It is not a comfortable position.

Afghanistan hope to achieve Test status by building on the success they have had in the Twenty20 format, allrounder Mohammad Nabi has said

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Mar-2012Afghanistan hope to achieve Test status by building on the success they have had in the Twenty20 format, allrounder Mohammad Nabi has said. Afghanistan have qualified for the World Twenty20 for the second time running, and Nabi said the next step was Test cricket.”We really hope that we are granted Test status as we are playing so well and also we have such a fanatical following in Afghanistan,” Nabi told . “We will try our best by playing good cricket in the coming months to show the world and ICC that we deserve Test status.”Afghanistan have also shown progress in four-day cricket; they won the last edition of the Intercontinental Cup, and beat Canada before drawing against the UAE in the ongoing edition.After winning eight straight games in the World T20 qualifiers, Afghanistan will make an appearance in the main event, which will be played in Sri Lanka in September-October 2012. In the 2010 World T20, Afghanistan had failed to win a single match, and Nabi said the immediate challenge on the road towards long-term goals would be to compete with the stronger opposition in their group. They will play the final of the qualifiers on March 24, against Ireland, and Nabi is hoping for a win, which would put Afghanistan in Group B in the World T20, along with Australia and West Indies.*”Of course, we will try our best to win the tournament but realistically we would like to win against Australia and West Indies; give them as tough a time as possible and, god willing, qualify for the next round and then take it from there.”A loss in the final would mean Afghanistan would be in Group A, with India and England.Nabi said the success in cricket had brought joy to the masses in Afghanistan and was a widely discussed topic across the country.”This is the second time we have qualified for the ICC World T20 event and everyone at home is happy; we have made our nation proud and are very proud of our achievements. People have been calling me from the UAE and Afghanistan to tell me that they have been praying that we win; everyone is so happy that they have no words to express their joy.”*12:30 GMT, March 24, 2012: This article originally said Afghanistan were in Group B in the World Twenty20. It has been corrected to reflect that their group will be decided by the final of the World Twenty20 qualifiers Edited by Devashish Fuloria

A blistering 85-run opening stand between Imran Nazir and Ahmed Shehzad and a cool finish from Angelo Mathews helped Nagenahira Nagas overhaul Kandurata Warriors’ 159 for 7 in the final over

Andrew Fernando at the R Premadasa Stadium13-Aug-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThisara Perera clobbered 72 off 33 balls and yet ended up on the losing side•Ron Gaunt/SPORTZPICS/SLPLA blistering 85-run opening stand between Imran Nazir and Ahmed Shehzad and a cool finish from Angelo Mathews trumped perhaps the innings of the tournament so far, from Thisara Perera, as Nagenahira Nagas overhauled Kandurata Warriors’ 159 for 7 in the final over. Nazir blasted five sixes and four fours in his half-century, and left his side needing just 75 from 68 at his dismissal – a task Mathews ensured never got out of hand.Fleet of foot was the key to Nazir’s success, as he routinely skipped down the track to change the lengths of both the spinners and the quick men, as well as backing away in his crease on occasion to line up the extra cover fence. Sohail Tanvir’s second over cost 20, as both Nazir and Shehzad took full toll of some hittable lengths, before the next over, from Perera, disappeared for 15 to get Nagenahira well ahead of the required rate.Kaushal Lokuarachchi beat Nazir in the flight in consecutive deliveries when the batsman was on 41, only for the wicketkeeper Kaushal Silva to fluff both straightforward stumping attempts, losing sight of the ball as it passed between bat and pad. Shehzad had been dropped on the boundary earlier too, and the mistakes continued to stack up for Kandurata, who bled at least 15 more runs through misfields alone, leaving aside the runs they might have saved had those chances been taken. When Mathews arrived at 110 for 2 from 12.3 overs, he showed off his improving knack for finishing innings by calmly taking his side over the line to make it two wins from two.In the Kandurata innings, Perera arrived at the crease with his side stagnating at 61 for 4 from 10.5 overs, and though he took seven balls to get going in earnest, when the explosion came, it was dramatic and effective. A towering six over midwicket, followed by a scorching boundary to the same area set the tone for his assault; the Nagenahira bowlers would continue to offer him length throughout the innings, and he rarely missed an opportunity to pepper his favourite midwicket boundary. Amid the heaves to cow corner there were clobbered fours down the ground and to third man as well, but few balls cramped him for space or posed a genuine threat to his technique. When he fell at 149 for 6, he had contributed 72 of the 88 runs scored during his stay. In the end, Kandurata’s total wasn’t enough to challenge their opponents.

Sydney’s 100th Test pitch should offer plenty to the fast bowlers on the first day, as the curator Tom Parker said he wanted to emulate the surfaces prepared for the previous two New Year’s matches

Daniel Brettig30-Dec-2011Sydney’s 100th Test pitch should offer plenty to the fast bowlers on the first day, as the curator Tom Parker said he wanted to emulate the surfaces prepared for the previous two New Year’s matches, against England and Pakistan.Each surface was full of life on the first day before settling down and turning later, and Parker said those characteristics epitomised what he has wanted to do with the SCG surface since taking over from Peter Leroy in 1997. Twelve months ago Australia battled to 4 for 134 on a rain-interrupted first day on the way to an innings defeat, while in the first week of 2010 the hosts were bundled out for 127 before recovering to record a dramatic victory over a dysfunctional Pakistan side.”I was happy with that [pitch for the game against England] and I was happy with the previous year’s as well [against Pakistan],” Parker told ESPNcricinfo. “The last two years we’ve really got it together and it has really come up well. I’m hoping to have a pitch somewhat similar to that.”That’s the ideal scenario and that’s what we’re aiming for. I don’t see why that won’t happen. The weather’s been kind to me and the forecast is for hot sunny days in the lead-up to the Test and the first couple of days of the Test, so I don’t see why it shouldn’t be perfect for us.”Parker’s expectations will add intrigue to the questions of selection, as Australia mull over the possible inclusion of fast bowler Ryan Harris. Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, has not ruled out the use of four fast bowlers after the quicks did the lion’s share of the damage in Melbourne.As it did last year, Sydney has spent much of spring and summer cloaked in heavy cloud and frequent rain, only occasionally enjoying the sort of sunshine Parker would prefer. But in the lead-up to the New Year’s Test the forecast has improved, allowing groundstaff to get some sun onto the wicket and outfield.”There’s been a lot of rain around but we have the covers on as well; we’ve had a lot of matches up to date and it hasn’t affected our preparation too much on the centre,” Parker said. “The thing that’s been a bit of a downfall for us is the overcast conditions more than the rain.”The hours of direct sunlight have been fairly minimal on several days, and that’s been a bit of a pain as far as grass growth goes. In saying that, the outfield’s in tip-top condition, as is the centre square.”The arrival of the centenary Test has coincided with the return of Sydney’s more traditional type of pitch, offering help to batsmen, fast bowlers and spinners in equal measure. The often lively surfaces of the 1950s and 60s gave way to slow turners in the 1980s and parts of the 90s, before Parker took on the long-term project of returning the track to its classical attributes.”That’s what I’ve always aimed for. It has always been my goal to produce pitches with an even coverage of grass and pitches that were going to play consistently over the period of the match. We’ve got that mix pretty well right now.”As long as you’re going into the match with great preparation and good grass coverage, nice even moisture throughout the pitch, it usually pays off and the pitch will play consistently. I like to pride myself on the pitches playing consistently without the balls being one up and one down. Over the course of the five days the pitch changes and the pitch should change, but as long as it is consistent I’m pretty happy with that.”As for the centenary, Parker is delighted to be preparing pitch No. 100 at the grand old ground. “It is a tremendous honour. Not a day goes by that I don’t feel privileged to work here. When you look at the history of the SCG, it is fantastic, and to be a major part of that is a great honour. I’m really looking forward to preparing the 100th Test pitch at the SCG I can assure you.”