Brett Lee will play his first match since the tour game at Mumbai five weeks ago against the New Zealanders at the SCG tomorrow.Lee, who spent the four Tests in India taking out the drinks or substitute fielding, appears likely to fill a similar role in the first Test at Brisbane on November 18. But Lee will get a run for New South Wales against the tourists, and is feeling fitter than ever after exhausting pre-season workouts in India.Simon Katich was expected to captain the side when he was left out of the Australian squad, but he withdrew after suffering a relapse of a virus he contracted in Mumbai. Brad Haddin will stand in as captain while Aaron O’Brien was recalled to replace Katich. Damian Wallace was dropped from the team that defeated Western Australia in the Pura Cup last week.New South Wales Brad Haddin (capt and wk), Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Phil Jaques, Jason Krejza, Brett Lee, Greg Mail, Stuart MacGill, Matthew Nicholson, Aaron O’Brien, Matthew Phelps, Dominic Thornely.
It’s amazing what a winter’s rest can do for a jaded fast bowler. At the end of last season, James Anderson was a shadow of the red-streaked menace who swept all before him in a meteoric rise to stardom. But eight months and several frustrating hours of net practice later, he has once again been allowed to make his mark on a first-class match.After being kept on the sidelines throughout England’s triumphant Test series in the Caribbean, Anderson marked his Old Trafford homecoming with a first-innings haul of 6 for 49, including four wickets in six overs this morning. His efforts paved the way for a day of Lancastrian dominance, which was underwritten by the coolest of centuries from the former West Indian captain, Carl Hooper.Anderson’s great strength as a bowler is his ability to conjure wickets from nothing deliveries – although when the magic deserts him, it can often be his greatest failing as well. But from the second ball of the day onwards, when Kadeer Ali wafted a leg-side delivery through to Warren Hegg, Anderson was pre-destined to produce one of those typically irrepressible spells. He followed up with a searing yorker that splattered Nadeem Malik’s stumps (88 for 6), before pinning Gareth Batty in front for 0 (94 for 7). Andrew Hall dented his figures with a push for four and a slash that just evaded second slip, but when Andy Bichel had his off stump detonated for 3, Worcestershire were a perilous 102 for 8, having lost their last six wickets for 26.At this stage, there was no indication of just how serene Hooper and his sidekick, Iain Sutcliffe, would find the batting conditions later in the day. Hall and Steve Rhodes rode what was left of Worcestershire’s luck to reduce the deficit to a manageable 41, but in an ominous foreshadow of what might await them on the fourth day, it was the spinner Gary Keedy who applied the coup de grace. Hall smeared a slog-sweep to midwicket for 34, before Matt Mason toppled out of his crease to be smartly stumped by Hegg. In two mesmerically brief spells, Keedy had helped himself to 4 for 20.Lancashire began their second innings in a trance, as if they couldn’t believe they had been handed control of the match. They reached lunch unscathed, but the early introduction of Batty paid instant dividends, as Mark Chilton played back and was rapped on the pads for 12. And with Mal Loye still recovering from his back spasm, Stuart Law had not got off the mark when he flicked his third delivery, a leg-stump half-volley from Mason, tamely to Kadeer at square leg. Perhaps he had heard rumours that the England selectors were sniffing around the ground.At 32 for 2, Lancashire were one wicket away from relinquishing their grip on the game, and their engine room of Hooper and Law had contributed all of nine runs in three innings. It could mean only one thing. Hooper avoided his duck by depositing Batty for a one-bounce four, followed up with an uppercut to third man, and then left his crease once again for another lofted boundary. But he wasn’t satisfied with just a statement of intent – he was determined to make a speech. With Sutcliffe chugging along contentedly beside him, Hooper reigned in his attacking instincts, just as the sun burst through the cloud cover to transform the match conditions.After six consecutive maidens, Sutcliffe broke the deadlock with a sweet cover-drive for four, before Hooper square-drove Hall to move into the forties. The pair brought up their half-centuries in quick succession – Sutcliffe with a piercing extra-cover drive, Hooper with a tickled single to fine leg that typified an innings of uncommon patience.Worcestershire were devoid of ideas. Batty’s lack of variety was in stark contrast to the flight and invention shown by his opposite number Keedy, while the seamers could do no more than keep a tight line as the pitch lost its venom and the ball lost its shine. The only sniff of a chance came with Hooper on 99, when he all but ran himself out while sizing up a quick single to short third man. Next ball, however, he found the gap he had been aiming for, and trotted through to complete a fine century.Three balls later, Hooper gifted Worcestershire a late breakthrough as he chased a wide one from Bichel, but Sutcliffe and Keedy shut out the rest of the day. With a lead of 241 and seven wickets in hand, it will take an improbable chain of events for Lancashire to squander such a position of strength.
Whilst the cricketing world sat and waited for a decision as to whether England would play their World Cup opener against Zimbabwe in Harare on Thursday, Somerset’s newest international star Ian Blackwell reflected on the opening ceremony that took place over the weekend.`Blackie’ who has burst onto the England scene during the winter with his all round performances after enjoying a successful season for the Cidermen in 2002 spoke of his pride in playing for his country.He told me: "The opening ceremony was really very impressive and the organisers certainly put on a very good show which must have taken months of putting together."He continued: "Opening ceremonies always create the sense of things actually happening. It almost seems a dream for all of this to be happening around me and it is most definitely a privilege for me to be representing my country in the biggest tournament in cricket."He concluded: "It made me realise just why I play cricket because you can’t pay for what I experienced the other night and it made the hairs on the back of my neckstand on end. It was really fantastic and lets hope we can start the tournament positively," a sentiment that will be echoed by everybody.I am sure that all website readers will be watching the fortunes of the Somerset trio with interest and send their best wishes to all three and hope that they have a very successful tournament.
Yorkshire’s debutant seamer Steven Kirby put CricInfo Championship leaders Yorkshire on the road to a nine-wicket victory over Kent at Headingley today with a sensational exhibition of bowling.After Kent’s sixth wicket pair had defied Yorkshire throughout the morning session, Kirby wiped away the remainder of the batting with five wickets for nine runs in just 29 balls, leaving him with the remarkable figures of seven for 50.Kent were bowled out for 250 which left Yorkshire to make 50 to extend their lead at the top of the table and they took just 12 overs to reach their target soon after tea.Kirby, who had dismissed openers David Fulton and Rob Key with consecutive balls yesterday after they had put on 93 together, began by trapping Martin Saggers lbw for a career-best 30 to end his 66 stand with Paul Nixon.In his next over he had Nixon lbw and James Golding caught behind off consecutive deliveries and soon after he smashed down Min Patel’s stumps with a yorker and gained another lbw decision to send back last man Ben Trott.Scott Richardson was quickly into double figures for Yorkshire before his opening partner Matthew Wood hit Trott for six and four off consecutive balls, only to be caught behind off the following delivery.Yorkshire by now, however, were well on their way towards their fourth win of the season and it came when Richardson found the boundary to leave him unbeaten on 29.An ecstatic Kirby said afterwards: “It was a dream come true to suddenly find myself called up to replace Matthew Hoggard when he was drafted into the England squad.”It was an honour just to play for Yorkshire and I can hardly believe that I have taken seven wickets and helped to keep them to the top of the Championship table.”Kirby’s figures were the best by a Yorkshire debutant in Championship cricket since Paul Hutchison had an identical analysis of seven for 50 against Hampshire at Portsmouth in 1997.Yorkshire achieved their win despite being without Chris Silverwood since he pulled up with a groin strain after tea on the third day.
Kaveh Solhekol has told Sky Sports one of the most sought after players in the January transfer window will join Liverpool if FSG make a move.
Liverpool set to pursue new forward in January
The Reds are expected to pursue reinforcments to their forward line in the winter window after a string of unfortunate events has left Arne Slot short of options.
Mohamed Salah, whose future is in doubt, has departed for AFCON, while Cody Gakpo is sideline with a short-term injury.
Alexander Isak is set to be out for several months, with the Press Association reporting there are concerns within the club about serious damage to the striker’s lower leg.
Slot admitted the £125m summer signing’s situation did not look good after he was forced off in the 2-1 win over Tottenham on Saturday.
Isak has made 16 appearances since his British record move from Newcastle on deadline day but Saturday was only his sixth Premier League start, and now faces a lenghty wait to make his seventh.
FSG are expected to be active in the January transfer window, and Liverpool’s top target is Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo.
The Cherries star has a release clause of £65m which will only be active for certain teams for a short period of time at the beginning of the window, and Solhekol, speaking live on Sky Sports News on Monday afternoon, claimed the Reds are favourites.
Semenyo is "world class", says Kluivert
The 25 year-old Ghana international, who will not be at AFCON after the Black Stars failed to qualify, has scored eight times and provided three assists in 16 Premier League appearances this season.
Antoine Semenyo
Premier League 25/26
Appearances
16
Goals
8
Assists
3
Shots per game
2.4
Dribbles per game
1.6
Key passes per game
1.4
His Bournemouth teammate, Justin Kluivert, was full of praise for the winger back in October.
Subscribe for in-depth Liverpool transfer newsletter Curious about Liverpool’s January transfer strategy? Subscribe to the newsletter for expert analysis of likely targets like Antoine Semenyo, how injuries shape recruitment, and clear, evidence-based transfer coverage plus broader club context. Subscribe for in-depth Liverpool transfer newsletter Curious about Liverpool’s January transfer strategy? Subscribe to the newsletter for expert analysis of likely targets like Antoine Semenyo, how injuries shape recruitment, and clear, evidence-based transfer coverage plus broader club context.
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“He is incredible, he shows it every game now,” Kluivert told Sky Sports.
“He is just world-class. We are glad to have him and that is why I said we have a good team. He is the one that scores goals for us and we appreciate that. He’s doing an amazing job.”
Ekitike will love him: £65m PL star wants to join Liverpool over Man Utd
Liverpool are weighing up a winter bid for a forward with Mohamed Salah’s future unclear.
Derbyshire held on for a notable one-run win against defending champions Durham at Derby, although Ben Harmison and last-man Neil Killeen almost engineered a terrific fight back when Killeen was run out by Rikki Clarke off the final ball trying to level the scores. At 147 for 7, needing more than a run-a-ball, Durham appeared out of contention, but the lower order chipped away at the target while Harmison held firm to set up the thriller. Phil Mustard (45) gave the chase a positive start before the batting fell away to Graham Wagg and Charl Langeveldt. Derbyshire’s total was mainly due to an opening stand of 132 from Chris Rogers (72) and Steve Stubbings (52) and although the middle order failed to capitalise against a strong Durham attack they had just enough. The match was twice delayed by the setting sun, a common problem at the ground because of the East-West facing pitch.
South/West Division
Kevin Pietersen’s return to action wasn’t enough to inspire Hampshire as they went down by six wickets to Somerset at The Rose Bowl as he was overshadowed by an unbeaten 90-ball 112 from James Hildreth, one of the rising talents in the game. Pietersen cracked 62 off 59 balls and Sean Ervine 55 off 36 deliveries, but Somerset had few problems chasing the runs down despite being without Justin Langer and the loss of stand-in captain Marcus Trescothick for 1. Hildreth added 159 for the third wicket with Zander de Bruyn (79) and he ensured a minor wobble against Greg Lamb’s offspin was nothing more than a blip as the winning runs came with nine balls to spare. Hampshire were handicapped when Shane Bond limped off after five overs with a calf strain.
Ben Brocklehurst, who briefly captained Somerset but went on to play a big role in the establishment of The Cricketer Cup and the National Village Knockout, as well as being a long-time proprietor of The Cricketer, has died at the age of 85.He had a brief county career, an amateur drafted in to lead a Somerset side that had finished bottom of the Championship in 1952 and who was one of the last amateur captains. The move failed and Wisden noted that “inexperienced amateurs could not solve their problems”. Somerset finished bottom by some way under his leadership in 1953 and 1954, losing 37 of the 56 games they played. Brocklehurst could lead by example either, struggling with the bat. “None tried harder than Brocklehurst,” observed Wisden, “but the county really needed a more experienced and talented leader.”But his lasting legacy came off the field. In 1967, he helped to set up The Cricketer Cup, a competition for the leading 32 public schools, and in 1972 the National Village Knockout, for village sides the length and breadth of the country. Brocklehurst and his family were hands-on organisers, and both competitions still flourish today. The village final at Lord’s every September is one of the highlights of the club-cricket season.A farmer by trade, he moved into publishing and took over The Cricketer in 1970 at a time the magazine was on the verge of closing. Through sheer hard work he kept it going, merging with Playfair Cricket Monthly in 1973 and subsequently adding a travel arm to the business. In 2003 it was sold to the John Wisden Group and The Cricketer was merged with Wisden Cricket Monthly to form The Wisden Cricketer.Brocklehurst’s daughter Charmaine married Richard Hutton and their eldest son, Ben, currently plays for Middlesex.
It’s quite lucky that Inzamam-ul-Haq, Bob Woolmer and Wasim Bari are men blessed with a plentiful mop of hair. After the performances of Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Sami on this tour and in this match, you suspect they’re likely to be pulling some of it out. Not in anger, mind – none are prone to exploding – just mere exasperation.Take Akmal first. Until this series began, Akmal had barely put even a toe wrong since cementing his place late in 2004; as a keeper, despite the odd blemish, he has been outstanding. And because of his extraordinary run with the bat, even those mistakes have been swept aside. But in this series, he has dropped catches regularly, been consistently untidy and to compound matters, the runs have dried up.Two more catches were dropped this morning, both crucial in the context of a tight Test, and takes were fluffed with alarming regularity through the day. All of which prompted one Pakistani reader to write in, desperately pleading the PCB to “SEND BACK KAMRAN AKMAL as soon as possible as we are sure any other alternative would be better than him.”This is where the hair-pulling comes in. Does the management drop Akmal after three very poor Tests? Or do they persist with him, in the hope that it is just a blip which he will soon overcome? Evidence from the last year suggests that dropping him might be folly. And, of course, if he is axed who replaces him? There is no obvious understudy; both Zulqernain Haider and Akmal’s younger brother Adnan are next in line, in theory, but untested in practice.There is the merest echo of England’s predicament before this Test with Geraint Jones, though they at least had Chris Read as an experienced back-up. It’s difficult to pinpoint what has gone wrong – Bari can surely provide clues – but with each passing error, his confidence has dipped. Whatever they do, it is clear an understudy needs to be groomed, sooner rather than later.The three will need to save some hair though, for the question of Mohammad Sami still floats. He has been abominable for much of the series. Very occasionally, he has riled himself but with the return of two frontline bowlers for the Oval likely, his dropping would have found unanimous backing. Yet he turns up today a different creature entirely to what we have seen thus far.His morning spell was threatening but the real eye-opener came during an 11-over burst either side of tea. There was bounce and purpose in his run-up and words and attitude in his follow through; in between wasn’t bad either, as he suddenly and mysteriously, located both reverse and serious pace, the two attributes which sprung him into the limelight to begin with. Above all, he was visibly more confident. Now for a man whose problems with morale are famously notorious, axing him just as he seems to be locating it is likely to be debilitating in the long-term. Paradoxically, it is justified; Mohammad Sami in a nutshell really.At least the three have a little time before the next Test; for the rest of us, the hair-pulling begins now at the prospect of a truly delicious final day. Sami and Pakistan battled fantastically hard and their best day in the field came – if I’m allowed to be devil’s advocate briefly – under Younis Khan. In truth, each member of the attack bowled with palpably more energy than they have at any stage so far.Ironically, tomorrow Pakistan will need to dip into Inzamam’s vast reservoir of calm if they are to chase down a score they haven’t ever done before. But it isn’t just the target they deal with. The new ball on a still indeterminate pitch brings it own issues but Danish Kaneria showed in a little passage of play that loopy spin might also play a part (his googly to Kevin Pietersen and the celebration thereafter are deserving of a separate piece altogether). Coincidentally, in another part of the world, another 300-plus target is being hunted down; there, a captain is already keeping at bay a left-arm spinner. What odds a similar scenario tomorrow?
ScorecardHalf centuries from Mluleki Nkala, Matabeleand’s captain, and opener Terrence Duffin were in vain as Mashonaland remained in control on the second day of the Logan Cup match at Bulawayo Athletic Club. At the close, Mashonaland were 142 for 3 in their second innings, a lead of 253, after bowling Matabeleand out for 220.Matabeleand resumed on 16 for 2, and Duffin and Tawanda Mupariwa took the score to 60 before Mupariwa was caught behind by Tatenda Taibu off Chamunorwa Chibhabha for 26. Mark Vermeulen followed almost immediately for 6, cutting Chibhabha to extra cover where Tafadzwa Mufambisi dived to his right to take a brilliant low catch (68 for 4).Duffin was joined by hard-hitting Gregory Strydom who cracked two sixes and three fours on his way to a brisk 31 before he fell to Waddington Mwayenga, caught at mid-off by Kudakwashe Samunderu (103 for 5).Nkala and Duffin stabilized the innings, with Duffin reaching his half century off 128 balls in 188 minutes. Nkala’s fifty came off 62 balls and included ten fours. But when Duffin and Nkala were dismissed, the rest of the innings folded meekly.Chigumbura was the pick of Mashonaland’s bowlers with 4 for 38 from 9.3 overs. Chibhabha was close behind with three wickets while Mwayenga claimed two. Douglas Hondo finished with remarkable figures of 1 for 8 from 15 overs – including seven maidens.With a lead of 108, Mashonaland’s opening pair of Brendan Taylor and Bernard Mlambo started confidently before Taylor fell leg-before to Nkala for 24. gavin Ewing claimed his second wicket of the match when he dismissed Barney Rogers for 35, driving hard and low and Ewing took a difficult low return-catch (127 for 2). Mlambo fell the same way to left-arm spinner Keith Dabengwa for 48 (133 for 3).Shortly after the umpires offered the batsmen the light, heavy rain pounded Bulawayo and continued into the evening.
Yuvraj Singh’s 11th-hour inclusion in the North Zone squad for the Duleep Trophy final has led to speculations and rumours with Yuvraj making it clear that he had been forced to play the match despite a bad shoulder.Yuvraj had pulled out of the previous match for North Zone, citing a stiff shoulder, and was all set to sit out the final as well, until the selectors ordered him to turn up for the game. Talking to , Yuvraj made it clear that he wasn’t too happy playing. “My shoulder was stiff and I did not want to play. I had told my team I won’t [play], but the selectors asked me to,” he said.After scoring a cracking 106, without apparent discomfort, Yuvraj was run out due to a mix-up with Dinesh Mongia.Yuvraj’s name was not on the team sheet released to the media on the eve of the match and Mongia, North Zone’s captain, came to know of Yuvraj’s inclusion through the selectors and he had no hesitation about including him in the playing XI.”Yes, Yuvraj’s name was not there,” Mongia said. “But when we came to know [through the selectors] he is playing, we included him in the side because he is too good a player to be left out. Unfortunately, Pankaj [Dharmani], who is doing well, had to sit out.”Ashwini Kumar, who doubles up as North Zone’s manager and coach, said he was aware of Yuvraj’s impending arrival. “I knew on Wednesday that he [Yuvraj] was coming,” Kumar said. “So I included him in the squad.”But Kumar was less forthcoming about the reasons for Yuvraj’s inclusion after his name was left out of the 15-man team sheet circulated on Wednesday. “You are asking me something for which I am not the authority to answer”.Interestingly, while Syed Kirmani, who heads the selection committee, claimed he did not know what was happening, a board official said, “It’s time the players are pulled up for skipping domestic matches.”