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Graeme Smith called correctly at the toss, which had been delayed for several hours by persistent rain and gloomy conditions on a damp first morning at the Queens Park Oval, and decided to bat

The Bulletin by Liam Brickhill10-Jun-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
On a severely shortened day, Shane Shillingford picked up two wickets on his Test debut, removing both openers•AFPNever before has a Test match been played at the Queens Park Oval as late in the year as June, and after a day in which only 34 overs were bowled, it wasn’t hard to see why. When play was possible, a fascinating battle between South Africa’s batsmen and West Indies’ spinners – Sulieman Benn and Shane Shillingford – began to take shape. Graeme Smith and Alviro Petersen had negotiated a seam attack blunted by an unhelpful surface with aplomb to go to tea at 45 for 0. But the spinners came to the fore after the interval, with Shillingford removing both openers on his Test debut and Benn getting rid of the in-form Hashim Amla to leave South Africa struggling at 70 for 3 when bad light stopped play.Though Dwayne Bravo bustled in with characteristic enthusiasm, the quicker bowlers appeared unthreatening on a very dry wicket and it was no great surprise when Benn was brought into the attack early. He immediately found bounce and sharp turn off a tacky surface, although his length was slightly too short at first. He pushed the ball up in his second over and soon had Smith flapping awkwardly off the front foot and, coming round the wicket, he also had the right-handed Petersen poking nervously outside off stump.West Indies have suffered from a dysfunctional team environment in recent times, but good communication between Chris Gayle and his bowlers was evident today in some inventive field placements – a leg gully for Benn, and a close, straight mid off for Bravo. Indeed, Bravo could have had Smith for the sixth time on this tour when, shortly before tea, the South African captain drove in the air to that fielder as the ball plugged in the surface, but a leaping Narsingh Deonarine couldn’t quite get his hands underneath the chance.Denesh Ramdin couldn’t hold on to a clear edge off Petersen’s bat from Benn’s first ball after tea, but the assistance he was getting from the surface convinced Gayle to bring Shillingford on from the other end and he, too, found encouraging bounce and turn.With Shillingford operating from over the stumps, Smith was able to cover the turn and bounce with his body, the lbw shout totally negated by the line of delivery. The South African captain’s tactic was to play back and deep in his crease, and Shillingford responded by pushing his length forward. Smith, having made a habit of playing back, didn’t get a big stride down the wicket, the ball pitched, gripped and spun to take the edge and Bravo held on to the neck-high chance at slip.Where Petersen and Smith had attempted to counter the spin by, generally, staying deep in the crease, Hashim Amla responded by shuffling right across to the off side to Shillingford and was unafraid to use the sweep even at the start of his innings. But while that worked, briefly, to the offspinner, Amla had no answer to the ball spinning across him and edged his ninth ball – from Benn – to slip, where Bravo held on to a second chance, and South Africa were 60 for 2.With South Africa under pressure, men were positioned menacingly all round the bat, but they weren’t needed as Shillingford picked up his second wicket when Petersen’s attempted flick to leg was beaten by the turn and he was struck on the pad. With the UDRS referral system available for this match, Petersen consulted Jacques Kallis and asked for a referral. But, with insufficient evidence to overturn the umpire’s decision, he eventually had to go, and South Africa had lost three wickets for just 15 runs to be 70 for 3.Paul Harris was sent out as nightwatchman and was met with an ultra-attacking field, with slip, gully, silly mid-off, short leg and leg gully all in place, as well as Ramdin’s fidgety presence behind the stumps. He managed to survive until the light deteriorated once more, but with the flaky batting surface already showing signs of breaking up, both Benn and Shillingford – as well as Gayle himself – will surely have a very important role to play as West Indies try to lay a platform for their first win of the series. For their part, South Africa may well have missed a trick by omitting Johan Botha from their side, and even JP Duminy would have found some life in this track.

Leeds United journalist Beren Cross has labelled Burnley’s decision to sack Sean Dyche as ‘brilliant’ for the Whites.

The Lowdown: Dyche’s dismissal

Burnley are currently nine points behind Leeds with eight games remaining and are set to take on West Ham this afternoon.

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It looked as if Dyche would continue in the dugout for the trip to the London Stadium despite a 2-0 defeat to Norwich City last time out. However, the Clarets announced on Friday morning that they sacked Dyche and his coaching staff.

The Latest: Cross reacts

Cross took to Twitter on Friday evening, sharing a story for LeedsLive regarding Burnley’s dramatic call on Dyche.

He labelled it as an ‘appalling decision’ by Leeds’ relegation rivals but a ‘brilliant one’ for the Whites.

The Verdict: A gamble…

Leeds took a managerial gamble six games ago by bringing in Jesse Marsch for Marcelo Bielsa, a decision that has started to pay off with the Whites picking up 10 points from a possible 12 in recent weeks.

Burnley have now decided to follow suit later in the season, however, it doesn’t look as if they have a replacement lined up to come in.

That makes it a huge risk by the Clarets board, and with Burnley playing three times before Leeds are next in action, we’ll have a better understanding if their decision has been a smart one or not.

In other news: Leeds and Orta want ‘extraordinary’ ace in Bosman move; same agent as Bamford. 

Gladstone Dainty has said he wants USACA to hire staff at the regional level with money generated from the recent multi-million dollar deal that formed Cricket Holdings America

Peter Della Penna27-Dec-2010USA Cricket Association president Gladstone Dainty has said he wants his organisation to hire staff at the regional level with money generated from the recent multi-million dollar deal that formed Cricket Holdings America.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Dainty said he believed adding staff to represent each region would be an effective way to improve the country’s weak cricket infrastructure. “This is a very large country and just like USACA talks about a CEO and having full-time or part-time help, in every region we should have people thinking about cricket as their job, about weekends, what the pitches are going to look like, what the fields are going to look like and the number we’ll have participating.”USACA will have a minimum of US$9 million at its disposal over the next three years as part of its stake in Cricket Holdings America and Dainty hoped some of the money will be used to upgrade and initiate development programs, which have been put on the backburner for years. “What is necessary, and what is going to give us bang for the buck, is to immediately improve our infrastructure and that means getting more coaches trained and even getting coaches who are going to be paid on a part-time basis.”Cricket in America has been reliant on the service of volunteers for years, ones who aren’t able to dedicate the full-time resources that are necessary to focus on installing and building development programs. Asked if he wanted USACA to hire at least one full-time staff member for each of the eight regions, Dainty said that the organisation might not have the funds to do that, but at the very least each one should have a part-time paid person.”You call them whatever, regional development people, whatever, but that’s their job,” Dainty said. “They should have their job, they should be helping, and depending on what we can afford, they should be coordinating that. Every region should have that.” One of the reasons Dainty is reluctant to spend money on full-time staff is that he would like USACA to budget their newfound money to make it last longer.”Because this [investment deal] is driven by a business model, I would hope that we don’t go ahead and spend all the money right away or commit all the money right away,” Dainty said. “I think that we need to put aside some for a rainy day. But like I said the national programs need a little bit of better help.”Dainty’s plan goes in a different direction from the one laid out by former chief executive Don Lockerbie, whose main priorities were to hire a national coaching director and start putting national players on central contracts by the end of 2010. Dainty hinted that central contracts would not be a made a priority until the domestic Twenty20 league targeted for the summer of 2012 got underway.”United States cricket has had a chronic shortage of funds, and although this will not solve all the problems, it puts us in a better position to help grow the sport,” Dainty said. “The shortage of funds hurts grassroots development more than anything else because the little bit of funding we do get, the focus is on conspicuous things like putting national teams together. So when that’s done, there’s hardly anything left there for any type of organized or sustained grassroots development. So this then, I’m hoping that my colleagues will go along with a program of funding leagues and regions better, shoring up those administrations so that they can deliver in terms of having better grassroots programs and then from those grassroots programs we’d be able to substantially increase our talent pool and fan base.”In terms of the vacancy for the chief executive position, Dainty said he had not accepted any resumes or interviewed any candidates to fill the role since Lockerbie was relieved of his duties on November 19. “I would hope within the next 60 days or so we could have that done,” he said. “I think that’s going to be a priority in the beginning of the year.”USACA is also dealing with a lawsuit filed on December 10 in New York County court by the North American Cricket League (NACL). The suit is reported to be asking for approximately $90 million in damages, which falls within the $80-100 million range that Insite executive director Neil Maxwell placed the capitalised value of Cricket Holdings America at. NACL is claiming that it had entered into an agreement with USACA to promote and organise an official Twenty20 league in America.Sources said that NACL won the first bidding rights to USACA’s global tender for the formation of a Twenty20 league. However, NACL’s representatives were required to submit a $250,000 deposit by an unknown deadline in order to continue the process of negotiations. Sources said USACA’s position is that NACL failed to meet the deadline, which opened the door for USACA to negotiate with the consortium group that included New Zealand Cricket, Insite, Top Bloom and Podar Holding International.

David Moyes’ West Ham United side secured their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup with what can only be described as an embarrassing 2-1 victory against National League North side Kidderminster Harriers after extra time on Saturday afternoon.

Indeed, a 91st-minute Declan Rice strike levelled the tie with essentially the last kick of normal time after Alex Penny had given the hosts a well-deserved lead in the first half. Jarrod Bowen then replicated his team-mate’s feat in extra time, with the 25-year-old’s 121st-minute winner with what was practically the last kick of the game just about enough to get the Hammers over the line.

However, as is to be expected after such a narrow victory against a team 113 places below them in the English football pyramid, a number of Irons players turned in extremely underwhelming performances against their non-league opponents. Issa Diop, who was hooked at half-time; Nikola Vlasic, who spent the afternoon in Penny’s pocket; and Andriy Yarmolenko, who yet again offered nothing going forwards, were arguably the worst of a bad bunch.

While both Diop and Vlasic will certainly be hoping to put their displays behind them as quickly as possible, it was Yarmolenko’s disasterclass which stood out the most this afternoon. The 32-year-old’s performance on the right wing was undoubtedly one of his worst in his time with West Ham, which is saying something in itself given his atrocious season so far.

Lost the ball every 3.6 touches

While it is true that the forward’s wayward strike ultimately led to Aaron Cresswell squaring the ball for Bowen to tap home the last-gasp winner, this was certainly not a conscious decision, although it was the only thing of note that the £100k-per-week Ukrainian offered his team at Aggborough Stadium.

Indeed, over the course of his 120 minutes on the pitch, the £3.15m-rated winger had 40 touches of the ball, just four more than Alphonse Areola between the West Ham sticks. He completed a mere 24 passes – 44 fewer than Rice, who came on at half-time – and ceded possession on 11 separate occasions, meaning the 32-year-old lost the ball once for every 3.6 touches.

The Ukraine international also failed to have a single shot on target, failed to find his man with his one attempted long ball and his three attempted crosses, won just two of his four duels and attempted to win his team a penalty with one of the most shameful dives imaginable – with Dion Dublin labelling this incident as “embarrassing.”

These returns saw Yarmolenko earn a disappointing SofaScore match rating of just 6.7, Considering that he was up against a non-league centre-back playing out of position on the left in Caleb Richards, that rating is completely unacceptable.

Indeed, if we were in Moyes’ shoes, the former Borussia Dortmund attacker would be getting nowhere near a matchday squad for the remainder of the current campaign, before being sold to the first bidder this summer. Yarmolenko simply does not deserve to play for the Hammers again after Saturday.

In other news – “All I can say is”: Moyes finally addresses transfer failures, West Ham fans won’t be happy

Rangers turn their attention away from Premiership action for now as they face the prospect of a UEFA Europa League semi-final clash.

The Gers play in the first-leg of their last-four meeting tonight in Germany as they look to set up a tasty second-leg at Ibrox under the lights next week.

Gio van Bronckhorst’s men come into the game off the back of four straight wins in all competitions, beating Motherwell 3-1 in their last domestic outing.

In their Premiership victory last weekend, one player let themselves down as Leon Balogun was given his marching order by the referee in the 28th minute. Although the red card does not rule him out of this clash, Rangers need as much positive momentum as possible heading into this match and playing a player off the back of a low like that could be a mistake.

Therefore, van Bronckhorst must bring Calvin Bassey back into the starting XI to play next to Connor Goldson at the heart of the defence.

Leicester youth coach Steve Beaglehole previously dubbed him as “phenomenal” and that is exactly what he has been for the Gers since the Dutch head coach came through the door. 

In the Premiership this term, he has averaged an impressive SofaScore rating of 6.95 and he has been rewarded for his form by winning the club’s Men’s Young Player of the Year award. He has shown that he can excel at left-back and centre-back and his versatility is another reason why he has been phenomenal for van Bronckhorst as he has been able to slot into multiple positions whilst maintaining a high standard of performance.

Journalist Josh Bunting has described his improvement this season as “ridiculous” as the £6.4k-per-week gem has gone from playing eight times in the league last term to 27 outings in the current campaign.

Bassey has also caught the eye in Europe with an average score of 6.91 in the competition. He has made 2.6 tackles and interceptions per game and won an impressive 70% of his ground duels – showing that he has been physically dominant for the Gers at the back.

The Nigerian brute has been a reliable, quality, player for van Bronckhorst in all competitions and that is why he must now be unleashed against RB Leipzig tonight. Balogun must be dropped after his red card and replaced by the 22-year-old, who has shown that he can put in excellent displays in the Europa League.

AND in other news, Huge boost: Gvb issues UEL injury claim that’ll leave Rangers supporters buzzing…

Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman have moved up in the ICC Test rankings after their superb performances in the Mohali Test, which India won by one wicket

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Oct-2010Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman have moved up in the ICC Test rankings after their superb performances in the Mohali Test, which India won by one wicket. Tendulkar is in third place, his highest ranking since the Hamilton Test against New Zealand in December 2002, while Laxman moves up four places to a career-best No. 8.Both batsmen starred in India’s thrilling win in the first Test against Australia. Laxman finished the run-chase in the fourth innings with an unbeaten 73, while Tendulkar top-scored in the first innings, scoring 98, and then contributed 38 in the second. He now trails Virender Sehwag – who is in second place with 851 points – by 13 points. Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, tops the rankings with 874 points. Tendulkar has scored 1003 Test runs this year at an average of 83. 58.There was also some good news for Zaheer Khan too, who won the Man-of-the-Match award in Mohali. He moved up to a career-best fifth position, thanks to his match haul of 8 for 137. (Click here for the top ten batting and bowling rankings.)

A round-up of the Caribbean T20 matches that took place at Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad on January 11

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jan-2013
ScorecardDerone Davis, a 20-year old CCC spinner, stunned Barbados by taking a hat-trick off the first three balls of the chase and bowled his side to their first victory of the Caribbean T20 in four games. Davis, who played the 2012 World Cup for West Indies Under-19, took a career-best 4 for 5 in his third T20 match.For Barbados, it was their second consecutive disappointment in a chase of a low total, having been dismissed for 66 by Guyana. In a chase of 112, Davis had Dwayne Smith and Ryan Hinds caught by Kyle Corbin, before trapping Sharmarh Brooks lbw to complete the hat-trick with the third ball of the innings. From 0 for 3, Barbados slipped to 12 for 5, with Davis picking up his fourth wicket in his second over and Jason Holder getting rid of Justin Brathwaite.Kyle Mayers, who was Davis’ team-mate at the U-19 World Cup, revived Barbados a little, leading them to 51 before he lost his partner Shane Dowrich in the 14th over. The asking-rate was not unmanageable but after Carlos Brathwaite and Mayers fell with the score on 66, the Barbados innings fizzled and ended on 99 for 9.CCC had also had a shaky start to their innings, with Tino Best cutting through the top order to leave them at 13 for 3 in three overs. Wickets fell regularly but Floyd Reifer scored 37 and Ryan Wiggins 28 to prop CCC up to 111 for 8. Best finished with 4 for 19.
Jamaica won the one-over eliminator
ScorecardJamaica fast bowler Krishmar Santokie bowled an outstanding over in the one-over eliminator, conceding only two runs and taking two wickets to set up his side’s victory against Leeward Islands, after the match had ended in a tie.Santokie dismissed Chesney Hughes and Devon Thomas, and Rahkeem Cornwall was able to score only 2 off four deliveries for Leeward Islands. Andre Russell hit the first ball of Jamaica’s chase, off Tonito Willet, for a four to seal victory.It did not seem like the match would end in a tie when Leeward Islands, chasing Jamaica’s 110 for 8, slipped from 49 for 1 to 64 for 5 at the end of the 15th over. The equation boiled down to 36 needed off 18 balls before Thomas and Cornwall turned it on. Cornwall hit three fours – two cuts and a scoop – and Thomas cleared long-off, leaving Leeward Islands needing 13 off the final over, from Russell.Only five runs came off the first four balls, before Cornwall carted Russell over the straight boundary. With two to get off the final delivery, though, Cornwall failed to connect but the batsmen stole a bye to level the scores.Jamaica had looked set for a more substantial score after they chose to bat and reached 62 for 2 in 12 overs. They then lost a set batsman Tamar Lambert for 34 and Andre McCarthy also fell before another run was scored. Both had been dismissed by Cornwall, who finished with 3 for 10. The Leeward Islands bowlers did not allow any acceleration and Jamaica went from 104 for 5 to finish on 110 for 8.

Sachin Tendulkar has surged to the top spot in the ICC Test rankings for batsmen, for the first time since 2002, following a prolific run of form, culminating in his performance in the Bangalore Test

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Oct-2010Sachin Tendulkar has surged to the top spot in the ICC Test rankings for batsmen, for the first time since 2002. Tendulkar’s heroics in the Test series against Australia earned him 82 rating points, taking him to 891, 17 clear of Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara in the second spot. Virender Sehwag, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Mahela Jayawardene completed the top five.List of dates when Sachin Tendulkar claimed top spot

November 18, 1994 (34 and 85 v West Indies in Mumbai)

March 6, 1998 (4 and 155 v Australia in Chennai)

October 15, 1998 (By default, above Steve Waugh)

December 26, 1998 (47 and 113 v New Zealand in Wellington)

January 28, 1998 (0 and 136 v Pakistan in Chennai)

May 18, 2000 (By default, above Brian Lara)

February 21, 2002 (176 v Zimbabwe in Nagpur)

August 22, 2002 (193 v England in Leeds)

October 13, 2010 (212 and 53* v Australia in Bangalore)

This is the ninth time Tendulkar has become the top-ranked Test batsman in the world, and the first since the new ratings system came into place. He held the position for the first time in 1994, ahead of consistent runs at the top in the late 90s and early 2000s. His ascension comes close on the heels of his winning the ICC Cricketer of the Year award.Tendulkar has enjoyed a watershed 2010, topping the run charts with 1270 runs, inclusive of four centuries and two double-hundreds. With India set to play three Tests against New Zealand at home and three Tests in South Africa in the immediate future, Tendulkar has the opportunity to better his career-best rating of 898 and become the 26th batsman to cross the 900-point mark.Rahul Dravid held on to the 22nd position after a patchy series where he managed only one half-century in four innings. VVS Laxman retained the eighth spot despite missing the Bangalore Test, while M Vijay’s maiden century helped him jump 29 places to 57th.Ricky Ponting’s inability to convert starts into centuries may have hampered his side, but his three 70s in four innings helped him climb three spots to the 16th position. Michael Clarke struggled for runs through the series, resulting in him dropping out of the top ten, while Simon Katich also slipped two spots to 14th. Shane Watson, who scored 271 runs in the two Tests, moved up to 24th, while Marcus North’s fifth Test hundred lifted him to 46th.In the bowler ratings, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Ben Hilfenhaus have all gained one place each. Zaheer, who picked 12 wickets in the series and impressed with his reverse swing, surged to 744 rating points, tied fourth with England’s James Anderson. Johnson moved up to the seventh spot, one clear of Harbhajan who in turn pushed Doug Bollinger to ninth. Dale Steyn, Graeme Swann and Mohammad Asif continue to hold the top three spots in the bowling table.

Many Arsenal fans have been left slamming the display of Takehiro Tomiyasu in their 2-0 loss at home to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Thursday night.

The Japan international was run ragged by Diogo Jota at times, as the former Wolves winger left him in the dust to slot in the away side’s first goal of the night.

Jota then made a clever outside to inside run off the back of Tomiyasu before chipping the ball over Aaron Ramsdale for his second.

The right-back had a poor game in general by his standards, losing out on eight of his duels in total, while he also failed to block any shots or make any tackles or crosses.

He gave possession away 18 times, the joint-second most out of any player on the pitch (SofaScore).

Arsenal fans slam Tomiyasu

These members of the Emirates Stadium faithful slammed his performance on Twitter, with one Gunners supporter even going as far as to claim that he was ‘horrible’:

“Smith-Rowe was HORRIBLE, Tomiyasu too”

Credit: @_HenryHP

“How bad were we defensively today though? Tomiyasu was poor from the get go”

Credit: @Levanja

“Tomiyasu looked like he was pulling a caravan tonight”

Credit: @jakefox_90

“Smith Rowe and Tomiyasu dropped a disasterclass”

Credit: @jormzyy

“Tomiyasu looked scared of the ball.”

Credit: @collindbaxter

“Tomiyasu so poor today, looked almost amateur at times.”

Credit: @11Kanna

In other news, find out whose display in the first leg was slammed here!

Some Liverpool supporters are delighted after Jurgen Klopp provided a positive injury update on the progress of youngster Harvey Elliott.

The 18-year-old is one of the most exciting young players in the country, having arrived at Anfield from Fulham back in 2019.

Elliott was a key player for the Reds at the beginning of the season, starting three Premier League matches and performing well every time, registering seven shots and creating five chances across those starts.

[freshpress-quiz id=“375258″]

Unfortunately, the teenager suffered a broken ankle in the 3-0 win at Leeds United back in September and he has been recovering ever since.

It now looks as though Elliott’s return could be close, however, with Klopp confirming in his pre-Crystal Palace press conference [via James Pearce on Twitter] that he ‘should be ready’ after the upcoming international break.

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Liverpool fans love Elliott injury update

These Liverpool fans were over the moon with the update, taking to Twitter to react to Pearce’s update.

“O.M.G.”

Credit: @AyandaLFC

“I’m not ready for this”

Credit: @unimpedance

“I’ve never seen him this excited about a player, he wasn’t even this excited about Trent”

Credit: @notcoolbruh_

“YESSS”

Credit: @louuuuuu_lfc

“Like a new signing FC. Good to hear he’s back”

Credit: @Badgameuh

“Good to hear!”

Credit: @MyFavoriteAlpha

In other news, some Liverpool fans have bemoaned a Reds exit rumour. Read more here.