Harbhajan Singh may have struggled with his bowling over the last year, but when it comes to a scrap, you want him in your corner

Sidharth Monga at Newlands04-Jan-2011Harbhajan Singh has come in for criticism for his bowling over the last year, not unjustifiably, as his average of 40.69 suggests. However, when it comes down to a scrap, you want him in your corner. And whether he was batting or bowling today, it was a scrap all right. There was no use hanging around with the bat, for Dale Steyn would have surely got him with one of those amazing outswingers, and Harbhajan took the sensible approach, getting his body out of harm’s way and slogging.To the day three years ago in Sydney, in another scrap, he gave Sachin Tendulkar similar support in securing India a first-innings lead. Today, he set South Africa thinking with one four down the ground off Morne Morkel and another huge hook off Lonwabo Tsotosbe that nearly ended up in the Newlands Train Station. That 76-run partnership with Tendulkar, 40 of which Harbhajan scored, set India on the road to sharing control of the game.”I always enjoy my batting,” Harbhajan said at the end of the day’s play. “I don’t have the technique to bat like Rahul Dravid or Sachin Tendulkar or Jacques Kallis. This is the way I play my cricket, and I knew [if the ball was pitched in certain] areas, it was going to disappear. I did hit a couple of big sixes today, but I am happy about it. Would have been nice to get another 50-60. I am always greedy.”He spoke about that Sydney partnership too, and how it has been great for him to have batted with Tendulkar and VVS Laxman. “When I have batted with Sachin and Laxman, they have been helpful. In Sydney I batted with Sachin and again today. They have a lot of things to tell me. When I was batting, Sachin told me to play my natural game and counter-attack was the best option. With the kind of technique I have, I could have got hit on my ribs or somewhere else. He told me just to play my shots. I felt I should play my shots, and they would try to do something else. I think that worked, and they didn’t bowl the right line to me.”When India came out to bat, South Africa got off to a solid start, but Harbhajan emphasised his presence with two late wickets. Given the way the pitch has behaved, Harbhajan could be a crucial factor on day four. “There is a bit of bounce, and it’s not even. Some balls are going down and some are bouncing little bit more than you expect. It’s good if you keep on hitting the right areas, you still have a chance of getting good batsmen out, like [Jacques] Kallis and [Hashim] Amla. Those are the two key wickets we need to get, and then we will be in the driving seat.”Another scrap where Harbhajan has been influential is in keeping Sreesanth calm. Sreesanth has courted controversy with his sledging and been taunted by the crowd, but Harbhajan has made a conscious effort to keep him in check. When Sreesanth got Amla’s wicket in the first innings, he seemed to want to run towards the crowd. Harbhajan, though, held him back. Physically. And mock-clapped at the crowd from afar.”Crowd tried booing me in Australia, it doesn’t affect me,” Harbhajan said. “Let them enjoy. They have come to see the game. And obviously Sreesanth is getting more famous with this. I have enjoyed in Australia, let him enjoy here. It is not a bad thing.”Regarding the general heating up of tempers in the series, Harbhajan suggested he was enjoying it. “This is how the cricket is being played. When No.1 and No.2 sides play, there’s a lot of competitiveness, but I think everything is under control. Yes, you have to play with aggression. You can’t just be quiet there and waiting for things to happen. If you feel this is the way to play, why not go out and express yourself? This is Test cricket, not some match in the park. You have to have aggression, and you have to have that thing inside you to win games for your country. They are trying to win games for their country; we are trying for our country. Whatever trouble it takes we will go ahead and make sure we get the result we are looking for.”

Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Danish Kaneria have been given till the end of December to submit their replies to the PCB’s integrity committee’s queries, in order to gain clearance to play for Pakistan.

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Dec-2010Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Danish Kaneria have been given till the end of December to submit their replies to the PCB’s integrity committee’s queries, in order to gain clearance to play for Pakistan. The three players have been excluded from the Test and Twenty20 squads for the tour of New Zealand but could still be selected for the 2011 World cup after the ICC extended till January 5 Pakistan’s deadline to name their 30 probables. reported that the three players, who are facing inquiries over their possible roles in spot-fixing, had been asked by the board to present details regarding their movable and immovable properties, and activities other than cricket. The players had asked for more time to answer the questions and the board has given them till the end of December.The PCB, who were supposed to announce their 30-man squad for the World Cup on December 19, asked the ICC for a later date and have been given till January 5.The three have not played for Pakistan since their controversial tour of England in August and were left out of Pakistan’s tour of the United Arab Emirates to play South Africa. Kamran and Malik have also been denied permission to play league cricket in Bangladesh. The PCB has remained fairly tight-lipped about the reasons for their exclusion.Kaneria had said, after a meeting with the integrity committee, that he was cooperating with the board and providing them with details of his bank accounts and assets in order to gain clearance to play for the national side. He was the subject of a criminal investigation in August by Essex police over allegations that he was involved in spot-fixing during a county game but was released without charge in September.Kamran and Malik had both criticised the board’s decision not to clear them for the New Zealand tour. Kamran had written to the ICC asking if he was under investigation and was cleared by them. The ICC had sent him and Salman Butt notices during Pakistan’s tour of England in August, seeking information about events related to the 2010 World Twenty20 held in the Caribbean in May.Last month, Pakistani news channel aired footage featuring alleged bookmaker Mazhar Majeed claiming Kamran was among seven players obeying his orders during matches. Kamran admitted Majeed was his marketing agent but denied that he had been involved in any wrongdoing.Malik claimed he had not even been part of any of the Tests which were under the scanner for spot-fixing. He was not in the team for the Sydney Test nor against England at Lord’s.

James Anderson hopes his return to the England team can help turn around their poor one-day form which has left them in a must-win situation heading into the fourth ODI at Adelaide

Andrew McGlashan in Adelaide24-Jan-2011James Anderson hopes his return to the England team can help turn around their poor one-day form which has left them in a must-win situation heading into the fourth ODI at Adelaide. Anderson arrived back in Australia at the weekend following a post-Ashes break back home that left the visitors with a second-string attack.Along with Anderson’s absence for the first three matches, Stuart Broad is also out injured while Graeme Swann hasn’t played the last two games due to a knee problem and has also suffered a back spasm. Tim Bresnan has now been forced out of the series with a calf strain so Anderson’s return will be a timely boost for the squad. However, he still has to show he’s over the effects of another long journey before taking his place.”To be honest we’ll just see how the next couple of days go,” he said. “I’ll practice tomorrow [Tuesday] and if I come through practice I’ll certainly be putting my name forward for selection.”I’d like to think I bring some energy with both my bowling and fielding. I don’t think we are that far away having seen the first three games. We aren’t far away from a win and turning the momentum around.”Energy has been a buzzword for England in this series. It’s one of the reasons Matt Prior was recalled to the World Cup squad because of the part he plays in the fielding unit and it was noticeable on Sunday, at the SCG, how Paul Collingwood, who replaced the injured Kevin Pietersen, tried to get under Australia’s skin.The end result, though, hasn’t proved very effective although the depleted bowling attack has done a reasonable job only to be let down by some poor batting in the last two matches. But despite the scoreline, and the prospect of conceding the series very early, Anderson insists the squad are as buoyant as when he departed in the afterglow of the Ashes.”I know we are 3-0 down but the dressing room seems just as positive as when I left,” he said. “They are still in good spirits. We know we are just one game away from turning the momentum around. We are looking to Wednesday to be a good all-round performance with both bat and ball.”Anderson has twice benefited from England’s rotation policy, firstly last winter when he missed the tour of Bangladesh and now this latest break. He was the stand-out bowler during the Ashes, sending down 213 overs in the five Tests for 24 wickets, so was grateful of the down time and believes the current injury problems show how important it is to factor in these periods of rest.”It was nice to get a break. My body certainly needed it after the Test series,” he said. “As you’ve seen we’ve got a couple of injuries at the minute. It’s crucial that we go into the World Cup with a full-strength squad. The management have made good decisions in the past resting players so I’m sure they are going to do exactly the same leading up to the World Cup.”England will again have to consider the balance of their side at Adelaide because, for two matches running, they have not had the ideal attack for conditions. In Hobart they were a quick bowler short then they strengthened that department on a slow pitch at the SCG where James Tredwell could have been useful.Spin is likely to play a role in this match, but Anderson has fond memories of what a swing bowler can do following his Test performance. His first-morning burst when he removed Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke to leave Australia 3 for 2 set England on their way to victory. They are desperate for something similar again from their leading bowler.

A round-up of the action from the ninth day of matches in the 2010-11 Vijay Hazare Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Feb-2011

East Zone

Bengal secured a place in the next round after thumping victory over Assam at the Maharaja Bir Bikram College Stadium in Agartala. Bengal were behind Orissa by a point in the East Zone table at the start of the last match day of the group stages, but took five from the game against Assam, and were also helped by Orissa’s loss to Jharkhand. Bengal’s bowlers ran through Assam’s line-up, bowling them out for 111, and the batsmen chased the score in 19.4 overs, giving them a seven-wicket victory. Left-arm spinner Iresh Saxena took three wickets, but it was Bengal’s seamers who did the early damage. Anustup Majumdar top scored with 32 off 36 balls.Jharkhand smothered Orissa’s hopes of qualifying for the next round, with a convincing win at the Polytechnic Institute Ground in Agartala. Two early wickets from Kuldeep Sharma, and a run-out, left Orissa at 15 for 3 after being put in to bat. The steady fall of wickets continued with only Paresh Patel’s 79 offering any resistance, and Orissa were all out for 176. Jharkhand took their time in the chase, eventually winning by seven wickets with eight balls remaining. Opener Akash Verma got a quick 49, but Ishank Jaggi and Saurabh Tiwary batted cautiously as both ended unbeaten with 48 runs each.

North Zone

Haryana beat Jammu & Kashmir by five wickets at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Una, in the final round of Vijay Hazare Trophy group matches, to top the North Zone points table. The match had been reduced to 32 overs a side and J&K, who were put into bat, maintained a run-a-ball run-rate for most part. But they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and finished on 191 for 9. Lower-order batsman Abid Nabi struck four sixes and top scored for J&K with an unbeaten 40 off 26 balls. The pick of the Haryana bowlers was part-time left-arm spinner Hemang Badani, who took 3 for 26 off six overs. J&K’s Ram Dayal dismissed Haryana’s openers off successive balls with the score on 46, but an 80-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Sunny Singh and Nitin Saini, all but sealed the game for Haryana. The game finished with an over to spare.Punjab finished the group stage of the Vijay Hazare Trophy with a five-wicket win over Himachal Pradesh at Sector 16 Stadium in Chandigarh, to finish second in the North Zone points table. Electing to bat, Himachal put up a sizeable 278 for 8 in 50 overs courtesy an 84-ball 72 from Vinit Indulkar and knocks of 40-plus by Manvinder Bisla, Hemant Dogra and Mukesh Sharma. Punjab were unfazed in their chase, knocking off the target with 11 balls to spare with five wickets in hand. Captain and wicketkeeper Uday Kaul controlled the chase until he was run out by Indulkar for 87 off 98 balls.Delhi defeated Services by 11 runs in a game that was shortened to 43 overs a side at the Dhruve Pandove Stadium in Patiala. Being put in to bat, none of the Delhi batsmen were able to churn out a big innings; the top scorer being opener Ankur Julka with 40 off 63 balls. Services’ medium-pacer Sumit Singh played a big role in restricting Delhi to 187, picking up 4 for 36 in nine overs. But the total proved to be enough in the end, as Services managed just 176 for 8 . Sumit Narwal caused most of the damage, knocking over four Services’ batsmen in an eight-over spell.

South Zone

Centuries from Abhinav Mukund and Dinesh Karthik sealed victory at the Perintalmanna Cricket Stadium in Malappuram and top-spot in the table for Tamil Nadu, leaving their opponents Hyderabad at the bottom. Karthik’s was a blistering knock, his unbeaten 154 coming off just 83 balls and ensuring Tamil Nadu reached a mammoth 376. Ravi Teja’s century helped Hyderabad make a fist of the chase, but he failed to receive support from the other batsmen as Hyderabad lost by 88 runs. Mukund (105) laid the platform for Tamil Nadu’s big total with a 129-run stand with Arun Karthik, who made 65. Mukund then played second fiddle to Karthik, who smashed 17 fours and seven sixes off the Hyderabad bowlers, as Tamil Nadu took 118 runs off the last 10 overs.Karnataka joined Tamil Nadu in the next round, after beating Kerala by five wickets at Fort Maidan in Palakkad. Karnataka’s bowlers set up the victory, bowling Kerala out for 194, and then the batsmen, despite three run-outs, finished the job in 40.5 overs. Raju Bhatkal was the most successful of Karnataka’s seamers, taking 3 for 16, while CM Gautam shone with the bat, scoring 65 not out off 59 balls.All the knockout matches will be played in Indore.

Rahul Dravid believes day/night Test cricket can be part of the future having experienced first-hand MCC’s experiment with pink balls in Abu Dhabi

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Mar-2011Rahul Dravid believes day/night Test cricket can be part of the future having experienced first-hand MCC’s experiment with pink balls under floodlights in Abu Dhabi. Dravid hit 106 in the second innings against Nottinghamshire and was impressed with his first sighting of the different coloured ball as MCC continue their trials into floodlit first-class matches.Dravid’s first attempt ended with a second-ball duck on the opening day when he was trapped lbw by Luke Fletcher but he had much more success second time around. It was a valuable experience for Dravid, who is also part of the MCC World Cricket Committee which is pushing for day/night Tests.”There is definitely a future for day-night Test and first-class cricket,” Dravid said. “I think there are a few further tweaks that need to be made, and it would be beneficial to play some more trial matches at different venues and in different conditions, but as with any new innovation administrators and the players will need to take a leap of faith at some point.”When the pink ball was first used in the corresponding fixture last year there was criticism about the colour of the seam which has been modified by the manufactures Kookaburra. Dravid said for the most part he had no problems picking up the ball although, a little like day/night one-day cricket, the twilight period was a little tricky.”The 30-40 minutes when the natural light starts to fade, and the lights begin to take effect are challenging, and batting does become a little bit more difficult – but once you get through this period sighting the ball is quite easy,” he said. “If you are established at the crease it is not such a problem, and for a new batsman starting his innings, it is really just something to keep in mind. With practice players will learn to adapt to the challenge, and tactics will start to come into play, which can only add interest.”

Stuart Clark, the former Australia pace bowler, has been named the general manager of the Sydney Sixers, one of two New South Wales-based teams in the forthcoming Twenty20 Big Bash League

ESPNcricinfo staff11-May-2011Stuart Clark, the former Australia pace bowler, has been named the general manager of the Sydney Sixers, one of two New South Wales-based teams in the forthcoming Twenty20 Big Bash League. At the same time John Dyson has been unveiled as the GM of the Sydney Thunder, to be based at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium while the Sixers set up camp at the SCG.Dyson will step down from his present role as the New South Wales state talent manager and chairman of selectors in order to take the position, though Clark is yet to formally announce his retirement from first-class cricket. A week ago Clark had said he was “leaning towards playing cricket”, but in the end decided the administrative role was too attractive to pass up. Clark has been preparing for life after cricket for quite some time, studying commerce to bolster his previous experience in real estate.”I am thrilled to have this chance to be part of the Sydney Sixers and the Big Bash League,” Clark said. “Twenty20 is about embracing new fans and I believe it has the potential to grow cricket in the same way that one-day cricket did. It is the way forward.”Dyson, the former West Indies coach, was similarly enthusiastic about the chance to take a key role in the establishment and growth of a new team, after Cricket Australia’s decree that the T20 league required a marked shift away from traditional state-based identities. As finalists in the 2010-11 domestic competition, the New South Wales side will take a final bow as a T20 entity at the Champions League later this year, alongside the tournament winners South Australia.”I am extremely honoured to have this opportunity,” Dyson said. “There are a lot of challenges ahead for everyone to get this competition up and running. This is a very exciting time for Australian cricket and I am looking forward to a successful inaugural season for the Big Bash League and Sydney Thunder in 2011-12.”Concerns that the league’s organisation is lagging behind will likely be addressed at a Cricket Australia board meeting in Melbourne on Thursday and Friday, after which negotiations should resume with the Australian Cricketers Association over the terms of the new memorandum of understanding for player payments.CA and the ACA met in Melbourne on Tuesday for informal discussions about their differences, though a CA spokesman said the positions of the two bodies remained “180 degrees different from each other”.

Former India captains Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev have criticised the appointment of Duncan Fletcher as the coach of the national team, saying the BCCI should have instead picked former India players

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Apr-2011Former India captains Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev have criticised the appointment of Duncan Fletcher as the coach of the national team, saying the BCCI should have instead picked a former India player.”Someone like [Mohinder] Amarnath would have been a better choice for the simple reason that the core of the Indian team today is from the Hindi-speaking belt,” Gavaskar told the news channel. “He would have got on brilliantly with this group as well as the seniors. It would have been a lot easier for Amarnath to understand and interact with the players.”Apart from that he has got a fabulous record of making comebacks, he knows what it is to be down and then come back up. There is a perception and a wrong one that an Indian [coach] can be influenced and that he will get involved in politics. You are presuming that he cannot be a strong person.”Kapil said Robin Singh and Venkatesh Prasad, who were fielding and bowling coaches of the side for more than two years until October 2009, should have got the nod again. “Who is Duncan Fletcher?,” Kapil, who played against Fletcher in the 1983 World Cup, asked the newspaper. “That happened almost 30 years ago. I don’t remember much of him as a player. I would like to see Prasad and Robin as coaches of the Indian team. Not because they are Indians but because they did a great job at the T20 World Cup in 2007.”The BCCI have not appointed an Indian coach since the era of John Wright, under whose watch India began to win consistently abroad and made the final of the 2003 World Cup. Greg Chappell, who took over from Wright, endured mixed results, including an ignominious first-round exit at the 2007 World Cup. Gary Kirsten, who was recommended by a panel that incidentally included Gavaskar, oversaw another turnaround, taking India to the top of the Test ranking table before ending his stint with a win in the 2011 World Cup.

Somerset posted a mammoth 235 for 5 on their way to a 40-run victory over Middlesex in the Friends Life t20 at Taunton

05-Jun-2011
ScorecardSomerset posted a mammoth 235 for 5 on their way to a 40-run victory over Middlesex in the Friends Life t20 at Taunton. The hosts scored at nearly two-a-ball to post the fourth highest total by any county in the short history of the format, led by the returning Craig Kieswetter, who scored 59 in 22 balls.Gemaal Hussain and Lewis Gregory then took three wickets apiece as Middlesex could only reach 195 for 9, meaning John Simpson’s 60 off 27 was in vain.Having missed his county’s opening two matches in the competition through injury, Kieswetter wasted little time getting started after Somerset were put in, lofting his first ball to the mid-off boundary. The fifth ball Kieswetter hit high over cover, where Steven Crook caught the ball but stepped over the boundary, giving the wicketkeeper six.In the third over, bowled by Ryan McLaren, Kieswetter hit three fours and a six to bring up Somerset’s 50. Trescothick hoisted Crook into the Somerset Stand, but next ball was caught at midwicket for 20 by James Dalrymple.Kieswetter went to his half century off 18 balls but was bowled by Crook soon after as he looked to flick the ball away. New batsman Roelof van der Merwe smashed Tom Smith for six and four to bring up the 100.The South African then took three sixes off Dalrymple, as the score moved onto 139 after 10 overs. Van der Merwe brought up the 150 with a four to midwicket and he went to his half century soon after but was caught by McLaren off Anthony Ireland for 51 after a stand of 81 with Peter Trego, who was run out for 31 in the next over.An unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 54 from James Hildreth (35no) and Arul Suppiah kept the runs flowing for Somerset.In reply, Paul Stirling claimed two sixes off Steve Kirby as he hit 34 in 14 before falling to Hussain, who had also removed Chris Rogers. Scott Newman top edged Lewis Gregory to Kieswetter and bowled Dalrymple first ball to reduce the visitors to 50 for 4 after five.Murali Kartik and Van der Merwe kept things tight, the former having McLaren caught by Van der Merwe at long off, then having Dexter stumped by Kieswetter off a wide for 35. Hussain claimed his third victim when he bowled Crook in the 16th over, leaving Middlesex 139 for 7.Simpson led a late rearguard action and brought up his 50 with a boundary off Trego, reaching the milestone in 22 balls. Simpson was dropped twice in the next over but it mattered little as wickets continued to fall at the other end.

MS Dhoni has said that he would have loved to have had those extra overs that were lost to bad light, but his team weren’t too disappointed that they couldn’t force a result

Sriram Veera at the Kensington Oval03-Jul-2011India needed three West Indian wickets in about 11 overs when bad light forced the Barbados Test to be abandoned. The loss of Darren Bravo and Darren Sammy in quick succession, gave India the advantage at that late stage, but they couldn’t press on because of the conditions. MS Dhoni has said that he would have loved to have had those extra overs, but his team weren’t too disappointed that they couldn’t force a result. “We are not disappointed, because it [the draw] happened due to things that are beyond our control, like rain and bad light,” he said. “We wanted to bowl around 80 overs, but unfortunately we were not able to do so. But we tried our best, so there’s no reason to be frustrated.”The game could have meandered towards a dull draw if Dhoni hadn’t declared in the morning. He is not known for generous third-innings declarations: his previous declarations have set oppositions targets of 516, 403 and 617. So why did he choose to declare today at that stage? “It is a difficult target to achieve, if you are batting for around 80 overs to get around 280 runs,” Dhoni said. “The outfield was also very slow, so we thought that was a good enough target and that’s why we declared.”You will not know how much rain you going to get during the course of the game, so we thought 80 overs are enough to bowl the opposition out. We started with an attacking field straightway, and that’s why they got a few boundaries initially. That’s why we thought of 280 and didn’t declare at 240, so that we can have close-in fielders for those extra five-six overs.”West Indies lost three quick wickets at the start, before they rallied through a 54-run partnership between Darren Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and then a 69-run stand between Bravo and Carlton Baugh. At one stage, West Indies needed 100 runs from 18.3 overs when rain intervened. Was Dhoni worried then? “It was pretty balanced then. They were five down, and we needed just two more wickets. We got them towards the end, and from that point it would have been difficult for them to get 70-80 runs. So the declaration was a right decision.”Dhoni had words of praise for Ishant Sharma who made that declaration look really good with a four-wicket haul. “Right from IPL, Ishant has been bowling well. If you look at his performance in the IPL, he was doing everything right – like the seam position – and he has been pitching the ball in the right areas, that’s why he’s able to get pace and bounce. The time he spent with Zaheer Khan has been very useful for him, because Zaheer has shared his experience with him.”On a day where India pushed hard for a series victory, some youngsters learnt that they were dropped from the squad that will begin to tour England later this month. That couldn’t have been easy situation to handle for the captain, in the middle of a Test… “That’s a difficult one, because we need to interact with the players to see what’s happening with them and make sure they are not bogged down,” Dhoni said. “Selection is really not in their hands. But they [those who are dropped] need to take positives out of a series or match, and go back and work on their game.”

Seamer Jon Lewis will end his 16-year association with Gloucestershire at the end of this season, having signed a two-year deal with Surrey

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jul-2011Seamer Jon Lewis will end his 16-year association with Gloucestershire at the end of this season, having signed a two-year deal with Surrey.Lewis, 35, played one Test for England against Sri Lanka in 2006 and also appeared in 13 ODIs and two Twenty20 internationals. He has taken more than 770 wickets in first-class cricket and his experience will surely be a valuable asset to Surrey.”I have had some wonderful times with Gloucestershire, been privileged to captain the club, play with many fantastic players and enjoy terrific backing from the supporters over seventeen seasons, which have brought many highlights,” said Lewis.”I am very grateful for all the opportunities the club has given me. Now I am looking forward to an exciting new challenge with a team I feel is ready to step up to the next level. Surrey has some hugely promising players and I hope I can add some experience to their squad and help their young bowlers progress.”Lewis will strengthen an already impressive bowling line-up at Surrey, joining the likes of Chris Tremlett, Jade Dernbach, Stuart Meaker and Tim Linley – alongside young bowlers such as Matthew Dunn, Tom Jewell and Chris Jordan.”Jon Lewis has been the most consistent seam bowler in English Domestic cricket for some time now and is exactly the right character and personality I have been looking for,” said Surrey Professional Cricket Manager Chris Adams.”We have a developing group of very exciting young quick bowlers and it is fantastic to know that Jon will be leading that group in the heat of the battle. He will bring a host of qualities on and off the field and is a terrific addition to the squad; I am delighted he has decided to join us.”