تحدث المدير الفني لفريق مانشستر سيتي، بيب جوارديولا، لأول مرة عن التقارير الصحفية التي تشير إلى اهتمام حامل لقب الدوري الإنجليزي بضم عمر مرموش، النجم المصري.

وارتبط مانشستر سيتي، في الأيام الماضية، بصفقة عمر مرموش وإمكانية الحصول على خدماته من صفوف آينتراخت فرانكفورت.

وتضاربت التقارير الصحفية حول توقيت إتمام تلك الصفقة، وما إذا كان من الممكن حدوثها في موسم الانتقالات الشتوي الحالي.

وظهر بيب جوارديولا في مؤتمر صحفي، منذ قليل، للحديث عن مباراة مانشستر سيتي وسالفورد في دور الـ64 من كأس الاتحاد.

وسُئل جوارديولا عن نشاط مانشستر سيتي في ميركاتو يناير، حيث رد في تصريحات نشرتها شبكة “سيتي إكسترا” الإنجليزية: “لا تسألوني عن ذلك لأنني لن أجيب”.

اقرأ أيضًا.. ترتيب هدافي الدوري الألماني بعد هدف عمر مرموش أمام سانت باولي

وأضاف: “ستسألون نفس الشيء عن كل ما يرتبط بنا في وسائل الإعلام، طوال ذلك الشهر، لذلك لن أتحدث، يمكنك الإصرار، لن أجيب لأنني لا أعرف الوضع”.

وواصل: “نعلم أنه لا ينبغي لنا الذهاب إلى نافذة الانتقالات، لا أحب ذلك كثيرًا، الموقف الذي حدث هذا الموسم مع العديد والكثير من الإصابات، لكن ماذا يحدث؟ لن أتحدث لأنني لا أعرف”.

واسترسل: “بالطبع لدي محادثات مع النادي، لا أعرف ما سيحدث لأنه صعب للغاية، ما سيحدث سيقع، وإلا فلن أستطيع أن أقول أي شيء آخر”.

وعن مرموش تحديدًا، قال: “اسمع، ألم أكن واضحًا في إجابتي؟ هيا! لقد كنت واضحًا في إجابتي، لن أتحدث، إنه لاعب من فريق آخر، لن أقول إجابة”.

اقرأ أيضًا.. رئيس إيفرتون السابق يحث مانشستر سيتي على ضم مرموش: مختلف عن هالاند.. وسيضيف السحر

وأوضح: “يمكنك أن تتحدث في كل مؤتمر صحفي عن سوق الانتقالات حتى النهاية، لن أجيب على سؤال واحد! لا تتعامل بهذه الطريقة! الأمر سهل، لا تعليق!”.

وشدد: “حدث نفس الأمر في الماضي، كنت واضحًا، أليس كذلك؟ يمكنك أن تحاول ذلك في أي وقت تريد، لا مشكلة على الإطلاق، لكنك تعرف إجابتي!”.

أشاد لاعب وسط الفريق الأول لكرة القدم بنادي مانشستر سيتي، إلكاي جوندوجان، بقدرة أكاديمية لا ماسيا على صنع النجوم داخل برشلونة.

ولعب جوندوجان مع برشلونة في الموسم الماضي قبل العودة من جديد إلى مانشستر سيتي، وذلك من أجل حل الأزمة المالية التي عانى منها النادي الكتالوني في الصيف لتسجيل اللاعبين الجدد.

اقرأ أيضًا | جوندوجان: لا أشعر بالندم للعب لـ برشلونة.. ولم أتوقع رد فعل جوارديولا

وتحدث جوندوجان أولًا عن أول مباراة للكلاسيكو خاضها مع برشلونة في تصريحات عبر البرنامج الإذاعي “BeerBiceps”، وقال: “كان التسجيل في الكلاسيكو شعور رائع للغاية ولكن للأسف خسرنا المباراة”.

وتابع: “أشعر وكأننا خسرنا تلك المباراة دون داعٍ، كان الأمر محبطًا بعض الشيء (كان كلاسيكو كامب نو في الدور الأول من الموسم الماضي)”.

وعن أكاديمية لا ماسيا: “انظروا إلى لامين يامال، الأمر واضح، لكن علينا ألا ننسى باو كوبارسي، في التدريبات تدرك مدى إمكانياته الفنية، أعتقد أنه يبلغ من العمر 21 عامًا”.

واختتم: “لكن عندما أخبروني أنه بلغ للتو 17 عامًا، شعرت بالصدمة، لأنه يظهر درجة كبيرة من النضج بالنسبة لسنه، لقد تحدثت عنه مع مساعد تشافي وقتها، أكاديمية لا ماسيا هي هوية برشلونة”.

اعترف روبن أموريم المدير الفني البرتغالي لفريق كرة القدم الأول بنادي مانشستر يونايتد، أنه المسؤول عن ما يقدمه الشياطين الحمر، مشيرًا إلى أن هذا هو أسوأ أداء في تاريخ النادي.

مانشستر يونايتد خسر بثلاثية مقابل هدف أمام برايتون في الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز مساء اليوم الأحد، ضمن منافسات الجولة 22.

طالع أيضًا | “غير مقبول ولن أتغير رغم معاناة المشجعين”.. أموريم يعلق على هزيمة مانشستر يونايتد أمام برايتون

صاحب الـ39 عامًا، يتوقع المزيد من المعاناة بعدما تعرض الفريق للهزيمة الرابعة في آخر خمس مباريات على أرضه ببطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

وقال روبن أموريم في تصريحات نقلها الموقع الرسمي للدوري الإنجليزي: “نحن ربما أسوأ فريق في تاريخ مانشستر يونايتد”.

وأضاف: “أعلم أنكم تريدون عناوين رئيسية، لكنني أقول ذلك لأننا يجب أن ندرك، هذا هو العنوان الذي يمكنكم أن تسخدموه، نحن نستحق ذلك”.

وأضاف: “لقد فزنا بمباراتين في 10 مباريات بالدوري الإنجليزي، تخيل شعور مشجع مانشستر يونايتد الآن، من حق الجمهور أن يشعر بالحزن”.

وأشار: “لقد تعاقد النادي مع مدرب جديد، ويخسر أكثر من المدرب السابق، لك أن تتخيل ذلك. نحن بحاجة إلى النجاة من هذه اللحظة، وأنا أعلم ذلك، ويمكنني تحمل المسؤولية”.

مانشستر يونايتد هذا الموسم سجل أسوأ سجل في تاريخه على أرضه منذ 131 عامًا، حيث لم يخسر الفريق 6 مباريات على ملعب أولد ترافورد في 12 مباراة افتتاحية، منذ موسم 1893-1894.

ويحتل مانشستر يونايتد المركز الثالث عشر في جدول ترتيب الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز بعد 22 مباراة، ويتواجد أقرب إلى منطقة الهبوط بـ 10 نقاط، أكثر من مراكز التأهل للأبطال بـ 12 نقطة.

جدير بالذكر أن أموريم مع مانشستر يونايتد في الدوري الإنجليزي، حصل على 11 نقطة في أول 11 مباراة.

Shane Warne spent five seasons at the Rose Bowl infusing “Happy” Hampshire with his star quality and competitive juices. How are the Hawks taking to life after the master?

Edward Craig12-Jul-2008
Warne: inspirational, never gave up, wanted to win each moment, changed the field every ball, never stopped thinking © Getty Images
Hampshire are playing Surrey at the Rose Bowl. The sun is shining, the sky is cloudless, the crowd is buzzing. Mark Ramprakash is seeking his hundredth hundred. Today could be historic. Surrey lose a wicket in the first over and Ramps is at the crease. Hampshire could gift him his hundred – their attack is depleted and young – but they are a tougher outfit, a tougher club than a decade ago. For half a century Surrey were the county that everybody loved to hate, but according to Steve James in the last year, that baton has passed to Hampshire.Rod Bransgrove, the chairman, sits with his back to the cricket being played on what his wife Mandy calls his “allotment” and explains the change in philosophy: “The old Hampshire used to be known as ‘Happy Hampshire’. I had a long lunch with Alec Stewart once. He said that you are not going to achieve anything with Hampshire till you can get rid of this tag. We all love coming down here, we all love the Hampshire boys – but none of us are frightened to come. That stuck in my mind. ‘None of us are frightened to come here’.” Bransgrove didn’t want them to be nasty, just more competitive, so when he got the chance he signed some big names: John Crawley from Lancashire, Kevin Pietersen from Nottinghamshire, and Shane Warne. Warne is gone now, yet he is still around, his spirit present at every turn.Feeling his wayRamprakash suffers a torturous time at the crease before nicking James Tomlinson to the keeper for 17. Norman Cowans, the former Middlesex and Hampshire fast bowler, happens to be walking round the Rose Bowl, enjoying the sun and the cricket. He’s talking about the changed face of Hampshire. When he played for Middlesex in the 1980s, Hampshire had great players like Gordon Greenidge, Malcolm Marshall and Robin Smith but they never delivered a Championship. “Gatt said that if we had that team, we would always win the Championship.”Everyone connected with Hampshire agrees Warne was inspirational. He never gave up. He wanted to win each decisive moment. He changed the field every ball. He never stopped thinking, and it was always interesting. Off the field he played the odd trick as well. The story goes that he would ask the groundstaff to make sure the jacuzzi in the away dressing room wasn’t working, make the opposition park their cars as far away from the pavilion as possible. When he first arrived in 2000 – as a player not captain – he was not like this.Giles White was an opening batsman who shared a house with Warne one winter in Melbourne. He is now Hampshire’s 2nd XI coach. He says: “He was feeling his way in the first summer, seeing how the county system worked. When he came back as captain, he wanted to put his mark on it and do it his way. He was great to play with but we didn’t get enough runs. It might have been the pressure of having Warne in the side. He found that frustrating because he had always played for great sides and now he’s playing for Hampshire. A couple of times he got frustrated but he was reserved and he didn’t want to do the wrong thing. He changed when he was captain – he definitely preferred being captain.”Time to chillBy now Hampshire have pegged Surrey back with two early wickets. New captain Dimitri Mascarenhas bowls to Usman Afzaal. He is bowling wide of off stump, ball after ball. This is a game of patience that is unfamiliar to the Hampshire players and supporters. This was not Warne’s style.Michael Brown is opening the batting for Hampshire this year and played four seasons under Warne’s captaincy. He describes the difference: “Our style of play has to change now, we have to be more patient. We have to bore batsmen out. Warne got frustrated when the game drifted – it was win or lose. He hated bonus points and would never play for them. He would take on targets.”Like Gower before him, Warne’s unique training regimes and his star quality started to create cracks. And that is where the exuberance, the excessive pressure and mind games that he brought to Hampshire, began to make players feel uncomfortable. Despite themselves, and almost unwittingly, they started to resent Warne The talk around the Rose Bowl is about his positive, imaginative captaincy. Placing fielders in strange positions for only one ball, talking to the umpire and the batsmen, keeping it interesting. Brown continues: “I remember against Warwickshire last year, they set us 331 after we had forfeited our first innings and missed out on potentially five batting points. I thought it was too much to chase at the Rose Bowl. We won with two overs to spare. Carberry made 192. After the game you thought: ‘He believed we could win.’ That kind of backing from a guy like him means a lot.”Not every member of the team was comfortable with the constant exuberance, noise and field changes. Brown admits: “Someone with such a personality, intensity and confidence can lead to extra pressure being placed on other players. That is good pressure in a lot of ways. He brings the best out of you – if you can’t take it, get out. So many times it brought good things. Occasionally it would be too much.”Because of his desire for wickets and to baffle opposition batsmen, there could be too many changes in the field and bowlers weren’t thinking the same way. It is a fine line. A lot of this confidence and intensity did bring the best out of a lot of players but there were times when we wanted to say, ‘Warney, chill out.’ Sometimes umpires would get riled or opposition players would rise to the challenge.”But his tactics worked most of the time and players could voice opinion: he might not listen but he was basically approachable. Brown adds: “These little faults of his leadership shouldn’t overshadow the greater good. You knew the brand of cricket he was going to play and everyone bought into it. It was the most intense and enjoyable brand.”Warne’s competitive instincts on the field were balanced by a spirit of generosity off it. White says: “One of his big sayings is, ‘Manners are for free.’ He was big on manners, treating people well. He spoke about treating the catering and bar staff with respect.” He never turned down autographs, sometimes spending hours after games signing for enormous queues of young (and not so young) Hampshire fans. He’d talk cricket and give help to any player who asked, whoever they played for.The partingSurrey are now 250 for 7. It has been a good day for Hampshire, keeping Surrey’s powerful batting line-up quiet with their weakened attack. They have dropped a few catches and are struggling to knock over the tail. There are a few grumbles in the press box: “This would never have happened in Warne’s day.” Even some of the locals admit they have been spoilt these last four seasons.But, for all his success, exuberance and entertainment, few people at Hampshire were surprised Warne left, and only Bransgrove thought it was too soon. He says: “I am sad that it’s finished; no one could not be sad. There is a part of me that wants to configure a deal that would have got him to play one more game, just so I could see him bowl one more time.” At the end of last season it was clear Warne had taken the club as far as he could. Frustrations were beginning to show.Warne was the star, he could do what he wanted. He did not practise hard. “I faced him three times in five years,” says Brown. “The first time I was out off two of the three balls he bowled.”Warne did not have much time for coaches, occasionally taking credit himself for improvements in certain players. Hampshire had been here before with David Gower. Past players remember accommodating his various whims. This works fine until the team starts to struggle. Although no one at the Rose Bowl admits it directly, this appears to have happened. Warne was not the bowler he once was, even if he was still the personality.Brown describes a moment last season: “I remember seeing him sat on the physio’s bench after the Kent game and we’d just got beaten. It was probably the moment we realised the Championship had gone. He looked like a man who was thinking this was his last shot. After all the energy that he’d put into it every year, trying to drag us to the top, deep down this was his last season.”
Michael Brown found Warne’s style ‘intense and enjoyable’ © Getty Images
Like Gower before him, Warne’s unique training regimes and his star quality started to create cracks. And that is where the exuberance, the excessive pressure and mind games that he brought to Hampshire, began to make players feel uncomfortable. Despite themselves, and almost unwittingly, they started to resent Warne. The players who stood up to him, the ones that were not in awe of him, were the ones who had problems with him.Bransgrove dismisses any concerns about players struggling under Warne’s leadership. He says: “They were the people who weren’t doing so well. Some of the lesser performers of the last two years might have found him harsh, but he was very honest in his assessments. The experienced players have all gained. The less experienced players might have been damaged, but if they had anything about them, they’d think about it and become better players.”But is this management style not a weakness? Bransgrove is having none of it: “I could not identify a weakness in Shane Warne as a cricketer. I have read all the stuff about what he was supposed to be like on the field, and he certainly pushed authority to the limit at times, but that was competitive instinct.”Brown paints a different picture. He used to live with James Bruce, a promising bowler and product of the Hampshire youth system who was making real progress in first-class cricket before he retired suddenly in February to work in the City. Bruce’s decision had little to do with Warne; he wanted a lifestyle change. But he had a taut relationship with his captain. Brown explains: “They weren’t the best of friends, but they weren’t enemies either. Brucey at times got upset at certain things that he shouldn’t have been getting upset at. And there were times when Warney could have handled Brucey better.”It was a clash of styles as well as personalities. “Warney, the larrikin Australian with his in-your-face style, to Brucey’s more reserved public-school style. I don’t think his relationship had anything to do with Brucey quitting, but if Warney had given him more belief, like he did with other players, it might have made a difference.” Chris Tremlett also admitted to the local paper that he bowls better without Warne forcing him to be aggressive. He said: “I’m a lot more relaxed now and am not trying to think about things too much.”In texting touchSurrey are bowled out for 278 and the day closes with Jimmy Ormond nipping out Hampshire opener Michael Carberry off the last ball. Despite the grumblings from journalists, the Hampshire faithful can have no complaints. Warne will probably know the score already. He still keeps in touch with most of the players by text message. He sent them all a good-luck message before the start of the season. He is on the phone to Bransgrove offering advice. He speaks to the coaches about selection, always challenging conventional wisdom. White says: “He has a very active mind. At times he’ll come back to the basics but he’ll always challenge any ideas. Shane was very involved when he was captain. Hampshire became his club. His heart is here and he still has a passion for Hampshire.”Any team he plays for he takes to heart, Bransgrove believes, and that includes his new club in the Indian Premier League: “I am sure Rajasthan Royals will benefit from that passion as well. Now he has another member of his club family and he’ll take a great interest in them moving forward.”

Bradman’s image may be that of a stodgy, almost puritanical man, but his grand love and care for the game’s well-being were undeniable and would be useful now

Christian Ryan26-Aug-2008

Tell you one opinion we haven’t heard in the whole Twenty20 debate: Don Bradman’s.We haven’t even heard anyone wonder what Bradman would have thought about Twenty20 were he around to blow out his candles, unflashily but effectively, for a hundredth time. He’s Out, all right, out of our minds. Nowadays if an Australian under 65 offers to show you his Bradman impression, chances are he won’t fetch a hunk of wood and feign to tickle the first ball wide of mid-on for a single. More likely he’ll impersonate Ian Chappell’s impersonation of Bradman, as aired on the doco, a stern man uncrossing his arms and leaning bolt forward in his chair, a picture of weaselly unlisteningness, answering suggestions that players get paid a fairer share of the gate-takings with a gravelly whine. “Oh no, son, we can’t do that.”Almost as much as we remember him for 99.94, we remember him for what he didn’t do and wasn’t. Wasn’t a punter, wasn’t a beer drinker, wasn’t a joker, a swearer or a spinner of coarse dressing-room yarns. Wasn’t a human, almost – the 1931-32 South Africans believed he did not sweat. Unflattering is the image we now see emerging. A boy who’d sooner knock a ball against a rainwater tank than tramp Bowral’s streets with his pals and a kerosene tin for a wicket. A Masonic Lodge-going man, tirelessly meticulous, not unlike Australia’s last prime minister in his tastes and fancies, a man who too often for comfort used words like .”It behoves all of us to realise we are the custodians of the welfare of cricket and must guard its future even more zealously than its present.” Bradman wrote that, in 1939, a plea for cricket to adapt to the “quickening of modern tempo” and “more Americanised” way of life. What makes the most famous 30-year-old in the Empire write an essay like that? What makes him go to meetings? Cricket offers young men an outdoorsy alternative to the desk-bound drudgery of meetings. Bradman was 12 when he attended his first, the annual general meeting of Bowral Town Cricket Club. At 17 he was appointed the club’s honorary secretary. Honorary – that is, unpaid – was the nature of his four or so decades as a state and Test selector, as a national board delegate, as a two-time board chairman, as a state association president and vice-president, as an immovable fixture, like an old white sightscreen with flat tyres, on the Adelaide Oval’s ground and finance committee.What persuades a man to endure all those phone hook-ups, all those meetings? Care for the game’s well-being makes a man do that. It was Bradman’s overriding characteristic. It is not noticeably the overriding characteristic of the current lot of administrators.Bradman was not always right, but he was always there. He was there for chucking and the South Africa question. He was there the last time an undersized newcomer walked in and took over, confessing his love for 50-over cricket, for its faster running, nimbler throwing, readier risk-taking. It was not so grand a love as his love for Test cricket. And it was not a blind love, for he fretted about the easy singles in the middle overs – “one can get bored to death” – and about the easy money too: “With so much money at stake I doubt if the modern professionals enjoy their cricket as much.” But love it was.

Ideas hit Bradman – and stayed hit – long before most others. Night-time Tests seemed sensible. Television assistance for umpires seemed practical, except on lbws. Lbw rules needed to be loosened to make the batsman’s life harder and the bowler’s plight less thankless. The emphasis on averages was a “curse”. (Easy, perhaps, for someone averaging as near as heck to 100 to say.) Back in the early sixties, when batting slugs were making the game a chore and scaring crowds away, he addressed the Australian players on Gabba Test eve. “The selectors,” Bradman told them, “will look in kindly fashion on players who play aggressively.”Four-and-a-half days of dashing strokes, daring field settings and mad haring between wickets followed. Then, at tea, with Australia 6 for 109 in pursuit of 233, Bradman asked the captain, Richie Benaud, what his intentions were. Win or draw?”We’re going for a win,” Benaud said.”I’m very pleased to hear it,” Bradman said.Two hours later a Test was tied and cricket seemed like fun again.Maybe, years after, he missed the coming menace of rising player dissatisfaction. Probably Chappell’s depiction of whiny, weaselly unlisteningness is about right. But once change bashed the door down, Bradman did not flinch. Bradman did not sledge Kerry Packer or his World Series Cricket or the couple of dozen Australians who signed up to play it. His first thought was to protect Test cricket’s brand, and one way of accomplishing that was to recruit a long-retired 41-year-old captain of upstanding character and limitless devotion. Bob Simpson went to lunch with Bradman feeling unsure. He left feeling honoured, flattered and largely persuaded.Even when Bradman was an old man, a selector of no one and chairman of nothing, cricket felt his caring hand. Players who met him memorised every second of it. Captains scoured his words for special meaning, and found it. Dining with Australia’s Test players in his eighties, unflustered by their raised hands and staring eyes, he urged them to do what they could to make cricket better, and proposed: “We are all custodians of the game we play.” Mark Taylor, as chivalrous a leader as any Australian captain of old, thought often of that.Steve Waugh went round to 2 Holden Street, Kensington Park a fortnight before Bradman turned 91. The same conversational traits that used to settle arguments and silence fellow boardmen struck Waugh: the knowledge, the opinions, the aura, the inquiring mind. Waugh made special note of the lack of Bradmanarama on display, just a painting above a fireplace, and the state of the old man’s hands – never once hit, apparently, in all his Test days.”How is that possible?” Bradman replied: “You only get hit on the hands if you miss the ball.”

Nineteen months later Bradman was dead, and Waugh was in Mumbai for the beginning of a Test series. Rather than cancel it, Waugh suggested they play it – and play it in the spirit Bradman would have wanted. India won 2-1, and the series, we now know, was as gripping and unpredictable as any since Australia hosted West Indies in 1960-61, another grand drama played out in the spirit and shadow of The Don.No shame to say we miss him. We are fools if we forget him – especially now, at the moment of massive upheaval. If he were still here, Twenty20’s rows of cheery spectators would surely please him. He’d see the enjoyment on the players’ faces, and he’d probably like that too, although he might wonder, as he did once before, whether people playing for such loot could possibly have as much fun as people playing for the pure love of it. Bradman himself, in 11,000 minutes at the Test batting crease, hit six sixes, a tally equalled in the 57th minute of the first Twenty20 international and overtaken in the 58th. Even so, you suspect he’d relish the risk-taking, the shots seemingly invented with a tennis racquet, or a meat cleaver, in mind.But Bradman’s favourite thing of all was Test cricket’s cut and thrust. Clout and tonk, which is the Twenty20 way, he’d perhaps find less fulfilling. Bradman was ever awake to the struggles of bowlers. So the trawling in, in, in of boundary ropes might irritate him. No matter how bedridden he was, for he’d have turned 100 this week, you fancy he would do something to stop today’s supersonic bats, a curse that makes bowling feel more like fetching and which no living administrator seems to have noticed.And if a cricketer ever demanded the wages of the European soccer pro, or wished that his board might stop sending him to places unglamorous and un-lucrative, like Pakistan, or decided that he preferred biff-and-pocket to cut-and-thrust so could the board please stop scheduling so much of the quaint five-day stuff… Well, if the day ever came when a player said that, you imagine Bradman might have seven words for him: “Oh no, son, we can’t do that.”It would be kind of refreshing, wouldn’t it, to hear an administrator tell a player that.

It took 12 teams 54 matches spread over 19 days to determine the best of the rest, the countries next in the queue for an ICC handout and those fortunate four who will play in the 2011 World Cup

Will Luke in Johannesburg20-Apr-2009Marks out of ten | Who got what from the Qualifiers | StatisticsKarim Khan went from a wicketkeeper-batsman to claim 11 wickets – just part of Afghanistan’s extraordinary story•Cricinfo/Ian JacobsIt took 12 teams 54 matches spread over 19 days to determine the best of the rest, the countries next in the queue for an ICC handout and those fortunate four who will play in the 2011 World Cup. The ICC World Cup Qualifiers lurked deferentially in the shadow of the looming Indian Premier League, yet held its own as the Associates’ showcase event and even inducted a war-torn nation as one of the sport’s own. Beat that, Mr Modi.With the favourites Ireland reaching and winning the final, it appears that the whole show went to form, and statistically that is true. Of the top six Associates, only Bermuda lost their ODI status, but we’ll come to that particular miserable tale later. Had Scotland lost their international ranking – they escaped by a cat’s whisker and performed poorly – the ICC would have had two countries into whom four years of investment and nurturing were practically wasted. Instead, bar the occasional flabbergasting upset, the top eight countries have all shown encouraging improvement to justify their rankings. The ICC is pelted with vitriol almost by default by world cricket, but its commitment and hands-on approach to developing nations deserves acknowledgement.Cricket being cricket, the tournament was not without incident. After all, the majority of these players remain amateurs, forsaking careers and families for national pride or simply their own love of the sport. Even Ireland – the envy of opposing coaches with their increasing professionalism – had their difficulties. They were outplayed by the romantics’ choice of refugees, Afghanistan, and the call-up by England of Eoin Morgan led to rumours of a split between him and the towering presence of his coach, Phil Simmons. Morgan is not, and cannot, be blamed for seeking pastures new, or pastures rich. International cricket is his ambition and, judging by his eight innings in this tournament, not to mention his form for Middlesex, probably his calling.Likewise Netherlands’ Ryan ten Doeschate, who cut short his international appearances to commit to Essex. To Netherlands’ credit, they survived without his sublime allround abilities, though ironically it was another ECB-contracted batsman, Alexei Kervezee, still only 19, who anchored many of their innings (461 runs @ 51.22). A brilliant fielder and increasingly mature batsman, it may not be long before he swaps Netherlands for New Road on a more full-time basis. These were the undercurrents of irritation which gently rumbled throughout this tournament, but it was ever thus for Associate cricket, never more so than for the European nations.The story of the past few weeks, however, came from a squad of men hailing from a country that most Europeans associate with two terrible Ts: terrorism and Taliban. Afghanistan stole the hearts, upset the odds and left several teams looking foolishly complacent. Ireland were rolled over by 22 runs, with Hamid Hassan – a fast bowler destined for county cricket one day – snaring five. Scotland, too, were shrugged aside quite comfortably, as were Bermuda. These were victories not of a squad of wannabes, but of cricketers whose ambition stretches far beyond this level.They blew hot and cold, expectedly, but several figures (and characters) enhanced their reputations handsomely. Alongside Hassan was Shapoor Zadran, a tall and accurate left-arm seamer. Karim Khan, too, hits the ball cleaner than most and when his injured finger prevented him from standing behind the stumps, he turned to offspin and picked up 11 cheap wickets.

The story of the past few weeks, however, came from a squad of men hailing from a country that most Europeans associate with two terrible Ts: terrorism and Taliban. Afghanistan stole the hearts, upset the odds and left several teams looking foolishly complacent

Many put their journey to the Super Eights down to fluke or fortune but, by the end of the tournament, opposing teams readily conceded Afghanistan as a talented team and potent threat to their World Cup push, however extraordinary their backgrounds may be. The funding they will now receive will transform their lives as people and cricketers, yet Afghanistan remains a country desperately seeking an identity other than one at war with the west. Some grass pitches would help, too, but now is not the time to pontificate negatively while the celebrations in Peshawar, Jalalabad and Kabul resonate raucously and justifiably.From the good, to Bermuda, whose performance was less a disappointment, more a depressingly predictable blight of underachievement. Poor David Hemp topped the overall averages with 557 runs at 185.66, batting and fielding with the professionalism and self-pride you would expect. With nobody for support, Hemp resembled a man with a bilge pump on a sinking ship while his crew had taken the lifeboats and champagne and were sailing to calmer waters.Gus Logie’s attack on the players’ lack of motivation and focus angered the players, some of whom would rather turn their arm over, gently, in domestic cricket than represent their country. Three opposing players told Cricinfo that their demotion was both unsurprising and deserved. For now, they are out of the limelight. That alone might be sufficient inspiration to breed a new, ambitious Bermuda. Just don’t hold your breath.Bermuda’s tribulations serve as a reminder to other nations and the ICC. With funding comes responsibility. In that respect, ICC is much like the managing director of a business. It is as keen to help these nations – apprentices, if you like – as they are themselves, and will spoon-feed them money, equipment, and create a structure upon which they will hopefully build. It can’t, however, breast feed them forever. The weaning process has to happen at some point.Richard Done, ICC’s High Performance Manager, cut to the chase at the beginning of the tournament when he outlined his and ICC’s blueprint for Associate cricket. Top of the list is professionalisation – a safety net for players who can then concentrate on their own performances without the burden of finding an employer willing to let them take four weeks off every now and then to play cricket. Amateur status still rules the roost. The UAE, for example, are entirely amateur yet are screaming with raw ability (their opening bowler, Amjad Javed, smashed 164). Were cricket to be their full-time career, with a proper managerial board in place, UAE and other countries would improve out of sight. There is no overnight solution, however; look what US$11m of investment by Bermuda’s government has had on the sport in their country.The top six have plenty on their schedule, and the next intriguing instalment is to see how Afghanistan fare as four-day cricketers in the ICC Intercontinental Cup. Ireland may have lofted the trophy on Sunday, and continue to stretch ahead of the pack, but there is no doubt which team has stolen their thunder these past three weeks. The next four years promise to be as exhilarating and unpredictable as Kabul itself.

Australia’s touring party for South Africa is a sensible squad chosen with an eye to both the present and future

Alex Brown05-Feb-2009

This week, the prime minister Kevin Rudd announced a $42 billion stimulus package aimed at preventing the Australian economy falling into recession. A nation hopes.Sadly, there is no such optimism for Australia’s cricket team. Having posted negative growth figures for the past two quarters, and with no sign of an impending upswing, Australians have arrived at the realisation that the boom market of the Warne-McGrath era is a thing of the past.Opinion polls suggest Australians are supportive of Rudd’s move to revive the national economy. The same cannot be said for the stewardship of Andrew Hilditch. Over the past year, Australia’s chairman of selectors has alternated between roles of bull and bear, and the subsequent confusion has done little for the confidence of established players, the nerves of those on the periphery and the patience of supporters across the wide, brown land.But maybe, just maybe, lessons are being learned. Following an inglorious 2008, in which Hilditch’s panel was justifiably criticised for its shabby treatment of emerging spinner Beau Casson and its poor handling of Andrew Symonds, Australia’s selectors have begun the new year by displaying prudence and foresight in naming their 14-man squad for the three-Test tour of South Africa.Any line-up that contains eight players with a combined ten Tests to their name – four of whom are uncapped – is bound to raise eyebrows, but in reality, this is a sensible squad chosen with an eye to both the present and future. Retirements, injuries and suspension have ensured that Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey are the only survivors from the Johannesburg Test of three years ago, while the remaining selections form the framework for a solid cricketing stimulus package – loyalty to seniors, patience to emerging players and incentive to rookies.Australia’s cricketers have watched their stock price tumble in recent seasons, prompting major writedowns and revised forecasts across the board. It was only two years ago that Ponting – speaking on the eve of his first Test without Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer – boldly declared that his new-look Australian team would improve on the performances of previous squads. Similar levels of hubris could be detected among team management.But with regression has come humility, and with humility, sagacity. The move to retain all members from the victorious Sydney Test team (minus, of course, Matthew Hayden) sent the kind of reassuring message that was all but absent nine months ago, when Hilditch’s men named a 25-man contract list – ostensibly the best cricketers in the land – then all but ignored it over the series that followed.The elevation of the 20-year-old batting phenom Phillip Hughes is an acknowledgement of the need to develop players for the future, while the selection of the well-performed Bryce McGain, 36, represents a pragmatic move to address Australia’s spinning concerns in an Ashes year. McGain may almost qualify for a seniors discount, but he remains by some measure the best, attacking spin-bowling option in the country. He could yet play the generational bridging role for which Stuart MacGill had been earmarked.Marcus North, meanwhile, has been rewarded for a career of honest toil at the coalface of first-class cricket. At 29, and with 125 first-class matches to his name, the Western Australian left-hander provides solid batting support, and a handy finger-spinner option when required. His is a selection that should imbue hope into Sheffield Shield players across the country, indicating that national squad selection is no longer reserved to an exclusive clique ordained by Hilditch’s panel.Of course, none of this guarantees Australia victory in South Africa. The climb is steep. But there can be little argument that this 14-man squad represents the best Australia has to offer in this current credibility crunch.

India’s batsmen have an opportunity to slay a demon: batting to save a Test. It’s their third opportunity to pass such an examination in 2008. They would want to forget the first two efforts

Cricinfo staff12-Oct-2008
The key to India’s chances could lie with Rahul Dravid and his ability to bat time irrespective of whether runs are forthcoming © AFP
India’s batsmen have an opportunity to slay a demon: batting to save a Test. It’s their third opportunity to pass such an examination in 2008. They would want to forget the first two efforts.In January, Australia declared shortly before lunch on the final day in Sydney, a situation that is likely to recur tomorrow. India were one down at the break but all out in 70.5 overs with minutes to go before stumps. A few months later in Colombo, Sri Lanka made India follow on with a little more than five sessions to go. They didn’t even last two. At this venue in 2005, India were 103 for 1 at lunch on the fifth day against Pakistan. After Virender Sehwag’s dismissal, however, they batted in super-slow mode and collapsed for 214.The dangers they face in trying to keep this Test off that list include the vagaries of a fifth-day pitch, an accurate pace attack and customised field placements. In the 13th over of the Australian innings, Zaheer Khan trapped Matthew Hayden lbw with late swing; during the final session an offbreak from Harbhajan Singh spat off the pitch and bounced so high that Shane Watson and Mahendra Singh Dhoni were both beaten. The uncertainties in bounce, and the slowness of the pitch, helped exert control over the scoring rate. Both factors will be enhanced on day five.The Indian fast bowlers, Zaheer and Ishant Sharma, looked the most threatening in the given conditions. They swung the new ball, got the old one to reverse early and forced the batsman to play by bowling straight. Australia possess a four-pronged pace attack: Stuart Clark, elbow injury permitting, will attempt to contain at one end; Brett Lee and Watson will try to hit pads and stumps with inswing or reverse; Johnson’s deliveries slanted across the right-handers tempt them into driving on a slow pitch.The Indians have plenty of first-innings mistakes to learn form where they fell into specific traps. Gautam Gambhir played across the line to an inswinger; Sehwag edged a wide delivery; Sachin Tendulkar drove too hard at a slow ball and spooned a catch. VVS Laxman and Mahendra Singh Dhoni were unable to find new areas of opportunity once their strong zones were cut off.Harbhajan and Zaheer showed that aggressive batting could succeed in beating the pitch and the field. Their approach, blocking when they had to and trying to force the pace at other times, was not a one-off. Watson and Brad Haddin made it work as well. The Australians were scoring at just over two an over but the Watson-Haddin partnership went along at nearly four.The key to India’s chances could lie with the batsman who best dealt with the stifling conditions in the first innings – Rahul Dravid and his ability to bat time irrespective of whether runs are forthcoming. He has the best fourth innings – 57.41 since 2000 – among the Indian batsmen. Gambhir averages 55 but he’s played only four innings while Ganguly, Tendulkar and Laxman are below 40. Sehwag scored his only second-innings century earlier this year and averages 30 in the final innings.The examination of India’s much-vaunted batting line-up will begin the moment Ricky Ponting decides it’s time to declare on Monday.

Stats highlights from the second Test between New Zealand and India, which ended in a high-scoring draw in Napier

S Rajesh30-Mar-2009Gautam Gambhir’s 643-minute innings is the seventh-longest by an Indian batsman•Associated Press

• India batted 180 overs in their second innings, which is the eighth-highest number of deliveries they’ve batted in the second try. The first six of those instances had all been before 1980, which indicates how the nature of the game has changed. The last time they batted more overs was also against New Zealand, in 1999 in Mohali, when they scored 505 for 3 in their second innings after being bundled out for 83 in their first. Surprisingly, seven of the top nine such efforts have happened overseas.
• It’s also the second-highest number of overs they’ve played when following on – the only occasion they batted longer was at Leeds in 1967 against England, when they faced 209.2 overs to score 510 in a match they ultimately lost by six wickets. Of the 30 games when India have been asked to follow on, they’ve saved eight, lost 21 and won one.
• India managed to draw a Test after conceding a lead of over 200 in the first innings for the tenth time. Overall, such a feat has been achieved on 78 occasions.
• For New Zealand, it was the first instance of not winning a Test after enforcing the follow-on at home. Before this match, they had a perfect 7-0 record in games in which the opposition followed on. Overall, of the 14 occasions they’ve asked teams to follow on, New Zealand have won ten and drawn four.
• Gautam Gambhir’s 436-ball 137 was easily the slowest of his 15 fifty-plus scores in Tests. His innings spanned 643 minutes, which is the seventh-longest by an Indian. (Click here for the entire list of longest Test innings in terms of minutes.)
• Gambhir’s knock is the slowest by an Indian, in terms of balls faced, for an innings of less than 150. His strike rate of 31.42 is still better than Sanjay Manjrekar’s strike rate of 24.64, when he scored 104 off 422 balls against Zimbabwe in Harare in 1992.
• There were 12 scores of 50 or more in this Test, which equals the record in New Zealand for most number of 50-plus scores in a match. The only previous occasion when this happened in New Zealand was also in a Test against India, in 1999 in Hamilton.
• This is the ninth drawn game among the last 25 when captains have enforced the follow-on. Eight of those games involved Zimbabwe or Bangladesh, all of which the minnows lost. Exclude them from the equation, and there have been nine draws out of the last 17 Tests which have involved the follow-on.
• VVS Laxman’s unbeaten 124 contained 25 fours, which is the highest by any batsman in an innings of 125 or less. Extend the filter to 150 runs, and still only six batsmen rank above him. Laxman’s century was also his first in New Zealand, and his second against them in six Tests.

England seethed after they found Daryl Harper hadn’t heard a nick off Graeme Smith’s bat because the volume on his system was not turned up

Cricinfo staff18-Jan-2010″I am not surprised he didn’t hear it, because he didn’t turn the volume up on his speaker. I find it strange if you are listening for a nick you don’t turn the volume up on your speaker.”
“It’s not my job to discuss what the third umpire heard. We all knew what technology was available in this series, so to be crying over spilt milk now is not right.”
“If the audio level had been increased above its optimum level, distortion on the audio feed would have occurred and the feed might not have given a clear indication of the true sound.”
“Until the technology is applied correctly we are better off with our oldest method. If the umpire is as deaf as a post and as blind as a bat, at least it’s the same for both sides.”
“If you want an argument in favour of the review system, put Harper on the field; if you want an argument against the system, put Harper in the third umpire’s booth.”
“There is room for further improvement in the available technology and this investigation will be conducted in that light so the system becomes even more reliable.”
“The review system is a little clunky… but the game is better for new technology and that will become more obvious in due course.”
The “It’s a pity there’s no ‘Snicko’, which would have given Harper another means of checking. Hotspot isn’t being used here as there are only a couple of pieces of available equipment in the world that do the job and both are booked.”
“This is why FIFA and UEFA have served the game well by resisting demands for a referral system and “goalline technology”.”
Times’