Saturday, April 26, 2008 Start time 16.00 (local), 10.30 (GMT)
The Big Picture
The top-of-the-table Kolkata Knight Riders have made a rousing start to their IPL campaign, but they will face a stiff challenge from the Chennai Super Kings, who, like them, are unbeaten after two rounds of matches. The feature match of the weekend assumes added significance as both teams stand to lose out on their trans-Tasman recruits at the end of the month as commitments to their respective national teams bring their Indian sojourn to an end.
Watch out for …
… another highly productive day for the batsmen. Kolkata’s thrust will be led by Brendon McCullum, who will want to wrest the ‘orange cap’ – worn by the highest cumulative run-scorer in the tournament, from Kumar Sangakkara. Ricky Ponting is yet to fire, and his probable duel with Muttiah Muralitharan will be one to watch. Ishant Sharma has lived up to his US$950,000 billing but he faces his first real test against a formidable batting line-up. Chennai’s captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, will be keen to match the batting exploits of his peers. Matthew Hayden, after his masterly 81 against the Mumbai Indians, is another potential match-winner.
Team news
This will be Kolkata’s penultimate match where they can use the services of McCullum and Ponting, but David Hussey will stay on as he is not part of Australia’s Test squad. While Kolkata have the option of using Umar Gul, the Pakistan seamer, Mohammad Hafeez’s all-round abilities may ensure he retains his place.Kolkata: 1 Sourav Ganguly (capt) 2 Brendon McCullum 3 Ricky Ponting 4 David Hussey 5 Mohammad Hafeez 6 Laxmi Ratan Shukla 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk)8 Ajit Agarkar 9 Ashok Dinda 10 Murali Kartik 11 Ishant SharmaMichael Hussey and Hayden, along with Ponting, will leave India on May 1 for a preparatory camp ahead of the West Indies series. Chennai’s batsmen have clicked in both matches, but their bowlers have been on the expensive side. P Amarnath, the right-arm seamer, was taken for a record 57 runs in his four overs by Mumbai, and he may be benched in favour of the offspinner, R Ashwin.Chennai: (probable)1 Parthiv Patel 2 Matthew Hayden 3 Michael Hussey 4 Suresh Raina 5 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt and wk) 6 Jacob Oram 7 S Badrinath 8 Joginder Sharma 9 R Ashwin 10 Manpreet Gony 11 Muttiah Muralitharan
Kolkata’s bowlers figure in the top three slots for the best overall economy-rate, strike-rates and averages in the IPL
Gul, with 13 wickets, was the highest wicket-taker in last year’s World Twenty20
Quotes
“I made it a point to mingle with all the youngsters here and pass on my knowledge of the game to them.” Ponting plays a mentoring role within the Kolkata team
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsStephan Baard struck a 26-ball 39*•ICC/Sportsfile
Persistent rain forced the match between Namibia and Nepal to be abandoned after only 7.4 overs of play in Bready in the World T20 Qualifier. The start to the game was delayed to the weather and the match was first reduced to 17 overs a side. The weather relented for a brief period as Namibia, who were inserted in to bat before the interruption, kicked into gear immediately.Stephan Baard and Gerrie Synman hit five fours and two sixes together and added 36 runs in 29 balls before Synman was caught off the bowling of Paras Khadka. Baard and Raymond van Schoor took Namibia to 54 for 1 in seven overs as rain forced another break in play. They managed to get on for another four balls, but unrelenting rain finally forced the game to be called off.
Sheldon Jackson smashed a second hundred in two days as Saurashtra romped to a 10-wicket win over Goa in Rajkot. Jackson, who had scored 111 in his side’s tournament opener on Friday, struck an unbeaten 150 off 106 balls, with 22 fours and four sixes, as Saurashtra chased down a target of 200 in 26.3 overs, without losing a wicket. Avi Barot, their other opener, finished unbeaten on 49 off 56 balls.Sent in to bat, Goa were bowled out for a below-par 199, with Sagun Kamat scoring 95 (141b, 8×4) but no one else making a substantial contribution beyond Swapnil Asnodkar’s 30 and Reagan Pinto’s 29. Medium-pacer Saurya Sanandiya was Saurashtra’s most successful bowler with three wickets, while Ravindra Jadeja had figures of two for 31 from his ten overs.
Jackson Bird and Chadd Sayers have been included as specialist seam bowling role players in Australia’s Test squad for the tour of New Zealand next month.In an assignment that can earn Steven Smith’s men the No. 1 Test ranking, Bird and Sayers have been included as pace support for Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson and Peter Siddle, in expectation of well grassed and seaming pitches. Steve O’Keefe and Scott Boland were dropped from the 14-man squad for Australia’s most recent Test — the rain-marred draw in Sydney against West Indies — to make room for Bird and Sayers.Bird played his most recent Test for Australia in Durham on the 2013 Ashes tour, while Sayers has never played for the national team. However he has turned out for Australia A, including on the tour of the British Isles that preceded the Ashes three years ago. The selection chairman Rod Marsh said Sayers had been in the frame for some time, excepting time out last season due to injury that also cruelled his chances of making the 2015 Ashes tour.”Chadd’s got a terrific record in Sheffield Shield cricket, he was injured most of last summer but he started well again this summer,” Marsh said. “The season before he was rewarded with A team status in the side that went to England and did very well there. And it’s a matter of horses for courses, we think the conditions in New Zealand will suit Chadd as much as anyone. He’s a good bowler under conditions that nibble around a little bit, and we’re very happy for him to be chosen.”Even last summer when he played earlier in [2014] against India A at Allan Border Field you remember that game where it appeared thousands of runs were scored. Chadd bowled a lot of overs and got five-for and his figures outshone any other bowler. He can bowl, he thoroughly deserves his selection.”Under normal New Zealand conditions I think you have to bowl line and length, you’ve got to be patient. It’s something we haven’t always been good at, but we’ll have to get good at it if we want to win this series.”As for the contention that the selection of Bird and Sayers was a deviation from the “pace is power” mantra adopted by the coach and selector Darren Lehmann, Marsh demurred. “I haven’t deviated from anything, because what I always thought is you pick the best bowlers for those conditions,” he said. “To me speed is not everything … there’s no point bowling 150kph if you bowl half volleys and wides. Good bowling is good bowling, you pick your best bowlers. I don’t care what speed they bowl, as long as they bowl beautifully.”The batting line-up arrived as expected following a strong showing by Australia’s top order at home this summer. Mitchell Marsh remains the selectors’ allrounder of choice. “I’m not totally surprised but I’m very happy,” Marsh said of how the batting line-up had settled. “That’s the bottom line, they’ve done exceptionally well. Make hay while the sun shines. Their confidence is obviously up and it’ll need to be up, because New Zealand are a very, very good cricket team.”Australia’s most recent Test tour of New Zealand was in 2010. Of that touring party only Smith, who was then a young and uncapped project player, will be making the trip again. I don’t know what we’re going to get in New Zealand, but if you just look at the pitch they played on in the World Cup game in Auckland that did a bit,” Marsh said. “And the Sri Lankan series those did a bit, so you’re assuming they’re going to do a little bit.”It’s exciting at the moment because if we win in New Zealand we could well go to No. 1, if we play decent T20 cricket we could well go to No. 1 there, and I think we’re that far ahead in one day cricket on the ratings it could be that we could get to No. 1 in all three forms.”Australia squad: Steven Smith (capt), David Warner, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Chadd Sayers, Jackson Bird.
Kumar Sangakkara attributed his double century to an excellent team effort as Sanath Jayasuriya hinted to pile on more agony on Pakistan when play resumes the third day Friday.”It’s a team game. It’s give and take. If the batsmen at the other end hadn’t stayed there, I would have never scored a double century. I think in the end it was a nice team effort,” Sangakkara said in a post-match conference Thursday.Jayasuriya, while praising the knock of Sangakkara, ruled out declaration prospects. “I don’t think we will declare. Three days are still left in the game and I think we should just try to play normal. We have been positive in our approach and would like to keep things that way.” “It’s still a long way to go in the Test.”While the Sri Lankans were happy to attend the press conference, the Pakistanis preferred to keep themselves away from the media. It’s very normal in the Pakistan camp to escape the scribes when the performance is not up to expectations.Jayasuriya felt his bowlers made better use of the conditions on the first day than the Pakistanis on the second. “We bowled to a plan and exploited the conditions while on the second day, the batters batted better than the Pakistanis. “I think the Pakistanis bowled at both sides of the wicket, but we batted really well.”
Bill Shankly once said of Everton: “If they were playing down the bottom of my garden- I’d draw the curtains.”
While that may have been true from every Liverpool manager’s benchmark, the prospect of the Netherlands training in my ‘garden‘ made me do anything but draw the curtains.
Staying in Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg for the duration of the World Cup, I was informed that the Dutch team would be training in the stadium next to my block.
Despite a trip being organized by the tutor who’s leading the newsroom I’m working on for the next four weeks, which involved looking at Lions and Elephants, I decided I could always see Elephants anytime, but how often do you get the chance to see Dirk Kuyt miss from 2 yards?
So after grabbing a ticket from the University office- which was for the Grandstand seating no less- I joined the many assembled Dutch fans in the queue as we waited to be let in.
Holland are well supported here in South Africa as many white South Africans or Afrikaans are descended from the Dutch.
The Dutch fans mainly seemed to be South African residents although there were still a few who’d made the trip from the country that gave us legalized weed and clogs.
After two Wits Uni’ students and I had taken our seats in the Grandstand- think Unibond Prem- we waited for about fifteen minutes before the team arrived on the pitch.
Looking out into the ‘Sea of Orange’, sorry I promised myself I wasn’t going to say that but couldn’t help it- it struck me that there must’ve been at least a few thousand who’d turned up to see Bert Van Marwijk’s men.
As the team walked onto the pitch the sound of vuvuzela’s –which had already been blaring intermittently- rose to a crescendo –with the shouts of ‘Robin’ or ‘Ryan’ or ‘Manchester United’ -for some inexplicable reason- barely audible.
The training session itself was fairly routine stuff, a bit of jogging and sprinting followed by passing and a bit of ‘keep ball.’
While the players had a bit of a breather I spoke to a couple of fans to see how they viewed their team’s chances.
After finally finding three lads from Holland- at the tenth time of asking- I got the lowdown on just whether they thought they really could go all the way.
Moike Sovavacs – I think that’s its name but to be honest he’s a little drowned out by vuvuzula’s – from Rotterdam.
When asked how well he thinks Holland will do he says he believes they will be champions, pointing at his friend before adding he is from Brazil and even he thinks Holland are the best.
Speaking about the group he says with a big smile that he thinks it’s very easy and not until the second round does he expect any difficulty.
When I ask him which is the best Dutch player his smile fades slightly : “Robben….but he don’t come here.
“Other than him Van Persie, he is the best one now, he will make the goals now.”
When I ask him which teams he’s wary of, he lists Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Spain.
Jose Antonio is one of Moike’s friends and he tells me that he believes Holland will go far stating he’s “90 per cent confident we will win.”
Again he believes the group stages will be easy and laments the loss of Robben but believes Wesley Sneijder is good enough to shoulder the burden, he also expects to meet Argentina in the final.
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It’s now time for the Dutch team to play a match against each other so after the player’s move the goalposts to the edge of the 18 yard box, the game kicks off.
It was a fairly routine affair, with Dirk Kuyt volleying wide from two yards, Robin Van Persie looking a tad rusty to be perfectly honest and Sneijder holding onto the ball well. Klaas Jan Huntelaar rifled a first half winner, while Rafael Van Der Vaart hit the bar from twenty yards with the last kick of the game. There was a slightly shaky moment for the assembled fans when Sneijder started limping and holding his foot after a challenge but he soon ran it off. Overall the Dutch looked pretty impressive with Sneijder and Van Der Vaart being particular stand-outs.
I grabbed another fan just before the end and asked him the same questions I’d posed earlier- he was a little bit more pessimistic than the previous two, stating that he was worried about Argentina and Brazil- although he felt confident that they’d get through the group easily.
The team then did a lap with much of the crowds chanting seemingly reserved for Robin Van Persie- although it was difficult to hear much as there were a few vuvuzela battles going on near me.
It struck me that none of the fans I’d spoken to, including the two South African students I’d gone to the session with, rated England as one of the top teams, maybe that’s a good thing, but who knows?
The sun was shining as we left the stadium to the sound of more vuvuzela’s- yes they do get very annoying and I’m dreading to think what several thousand are going to sound like- all in all not a bad way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.
After winning promotion to the Championship last season Leeds have already been busy recruiting four new players on free transfers, but will it be enough for the upcoming season?
The players Leeds have signed are goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, defenders Federico Bessone and Paul Connolly and striker Billy Paynter. Schmeichel comes after winning promotion from League 2 with Notts County; he was named in the PFA League 2 Team Of The Year and was one of the key reasons County gained promotion. He looked able to hold his own in the Premiership when he was given his debut by Manchester City three years ago aged just 20, but he never got a fair chance at City as goalkeepers Shay Given and Joe Hart overtook him in the pecking order. Schmeichel could turn out to be a good goalkeeper and Leeds have done very well to sign him.
As for the defenders both Bessone and Connolly are experienced Championship defenders, Connolly more so having spent most of his career there. The right back joins from Derby where he has been a solid performer and even had as spell as their team captain. Bessone is an Argentine left back who spent there last two years with a successful spell at Swansea where the club were unlucky to miss out on the play-offs twice. Leeds have had a few problems at left-back with Ben Parker suffering injuries and midfielder Andy Hughes having to deputise there in his absence, so the signing of Bessone was very much needed.
Upfront they have recruited Billy Paynter as the man to replace last season’s top scorer Jermaine Beckford who has left the club for Everton. Paynter scored 29 goals for Swindon last season who reached the play-off final with the help from his goals. However last season has been his most and only prolific season and with him also going up a division it will be interesting to see whether or not he can cope with the weight of expectation.
All the signings have been shrewd and as it stands you feel that Leeds will be good enough to stay in the division and perhaps more. They also have a few players that were too good for League 1 last season like Patrick Kisnorbo, Johnny Howson, Robert Snodgrass and Max Gradel. If they can add a few more players in particular another striker and make one or two clever loan signings then they could be capable of making a push for the play-offs. One player in particular they might want to look at signing is Gary Hooper, the Scunthorpe striker has scored 50 goals in the last two seasons and at just 22-years-old could be one for the future. Bringing in another striker will also take the pressure off Billy Paynter and at the same time give them more options in attack.
No doubt manager Simon Grayson will be looking to add more recruits to his squad so depending on just who he gets in it could have a big say on their season. It’s hard to tell at the moment where Leeds will be challenging next season but the fans can rest assured that the team they have is at least good enough to stay up.
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It was a successful season for Newcastle on the pitch last year, winning the Championship title and bouncing back to the Premier League at the first attempt. Manager Chris Hughton got the Magpies playing good football, and a team that included Kevin Nolan, Alan Smith and Steve Harper was far too experienced for the other Championship sides. England U21 international Andy Carroll was banging in the goals as well, but off the pitch he was earning a bad reputation for himself. The major incident of the season came when the striker was alleged to have punched Newcastle teammate Steven Taylor and broken the defender’s jaw. Well Taylor is back in pre-season training for the Toon and here he is in Ireland, sharpening his boxing skills with youngster Tamas Kadar for a rematch in the future perhaps?
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Chelsea fear that first-choice goalkeeper Petr Cech could miss the start of the season after the Czech Republic international sustained a calf problem during training.
The 28-year-old has had to have a scan on the problem that he suffered while training at Cobham on Tuesday and the club is currently awaiting the results.
The Blues fear that it is a recurrence of the muscle tear that ruled Cech out of action for four weeks in the second half of the 2009-10 season.
He tore the muscle in his calf during the Champions League last-16 first-leg clash against Internazionale in February and was forced to miss his club's next five matches, including the return game against the Serie A outfit.
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In better news for the Blues, Yury Zhirkov was able to take part in training for the first time as he battles back from a knee injury.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Wigan Athletic manager Roberto Martinez has played down talk of a rift between himself and winger Charles N’Zogbia, who continues to be linked with a move away from the DW Stadium.
The 24-year-old France international, who has been heavily linked with Sunderland and Birmingham City, was left out of the squad for the clash with Blackpool last weekend, following a reported bust-up with Martinez.
However, the Spaniard has hinted that N’Zogbia could yet feature against Chelsea next weekend.
He told the Evening Post:“Mentally and physically Charles has to be right to help the team, but he has been back to himself in training this week. And when he does that, he remains a special player for us.
“There has always been a good communication between Charles and myself and we have maintained a respectful manner.
“He did not storm out of training before the Blackpool game and you don’t get a fine when you don’t have an outburst.
“You are going to get a lot of media talk and rumours that can get placed in the press by interested parties. But it was all dealt with behind closed doors.
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“Charles didn’t do anything wrong but express his feelings and it was only the timing that was wrong – just before the start of the season. But that is a world away from what was reported.”
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