Tahir Mughal, the fast-bowling allrounder, fell six short of a well deserved century as Sialkot Stallions advanced to the finals of the Twenty-20 cup, beating Karachi Dolphins by 29 runs at the National Stadium in Karachi. Batting first, Mughal carried the Stallions innings, and shared a productive stand of 96 with Shoaib Malik (33). Mughal’s knock came to an end when he was bowled by Khalid Latif for 94, off 55 balls with nine fours and six sixes. Meanwhile, Irfanuddin, the offbreak bowler from Karachi, bagged the best bowling figures in the competition’s history, taking 6 for 25 and cleaning up the lower order. Chasing 199, the Dolphins started off confidently, putting on 67 for the first wicket. However, with wickets in hand, they were unable to keep pace with the required rate, finishing at 169 for 7 off their 20 overs. Barring the top order, the others failed to contribute anything substantial. Qaiser Abbas, who had a good outing with the bat for the Stallions in the previous match, took three wickets with his left-arm spin.Faislabad Wolves, the defending champions, gave themselves another shot at the trophy, beating Lahore Lions by six wickets and booking a spot in the finals of the Twenty-20 Cup. The Wolves chased down the target of 150 with ease, led by Misbah-ul-Haq (44) and Asif Hussain (34). The Lions failed to post a challenging total, despite the presence of powerful hitters like Abdul Razzaq and Kamran Akmal, both of whom failed. Samiullah Khan was the most successful bowler for the Wolves, picking up three wickets. They will meet Sialkot Stallions in the finals on Saturday.
The International Cricket Council has stated that India could host the Champions Trophy next year only if the tax-exemption issue was sorted out soon. Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, told Press Trust of India that despite discussing the issue with Indian officials last month, the ICC has failed to receive any response from the government or the BCCI on the matter.”The important point that we are going to discuss here is the Champions Trophy to be held in India, but India needs to clarify the tax position,” said Mani, who is in India for the ICC executive board meeting. “I met union finance minister P Chidambaram and sports minister Sunil Dutt – they were kind enough with their patient hearing but we are still waiting for their answers in the next couple of days.”Last year, the ICC had warned the Indian board that India’s chances of hosting a major tournament might be in jeopardy due to the high tax rates. “India is seeking to hold high-profile events including the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games besides the ICC events. India need to address this issue immediately. They must have absolute clarity on the issue.” He also added that the ICC was still facing tax-related matters from the 1996 World Cup which was held in the subcontinent.
Legspinner Stuart MacGill and Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin have both been ruled-out of the SpeedBlitz Blues line-up for the Pura Cup match against Western Australia at the SCG, starting on Tuesday November 4th. Both have leg injuries. MacGill has been replaced by Liam Zammit, who’ll make his 1st Class debut for NSW. Zammit is a former Australian under 19’s representative who has also played Colts and 2nd XI for NSW. Haddin has been replaced by Nathan Pilon.The SpeedBlitz Blues side is:
Stephen Waugh (C) Michael Slater Greg Mail Simon Katich Phil Jaques Mark Waugh Nathan Pilon Matthew Nicholson Stuart Clark Don Nash Liam Zammit Grant Lambert
India’s Under-19 World Cup team came back to earth with a heavy thud today after their demolition of South Africa yesterday, going down by two wickets to Bangladesh.In the ICC Under-19 World Cup battle of the subcontinent neighbours, the Bangladeshi opening attack of Ashiqur Rahman (three for 17 off 10) and Shafaq Al Zabir (two for 21 off nine) tore through the Indian top order, literally in the case of Paul Valthaty, the opener needing a trip to hospital after Shafaq got one through his visor.India never recovered from the early damage as the Bangladeshis, looking far happier with themselves than after they allowed Canada in for a tie on Tuesday, took full advantage of a two-faced Albany pitch and some tentative Indian batting.Only Stuart Binny (17), the last man Siddarth Trivedi (16 not out) and extras (18) managed to reach double figures in a score of 77.While the rest of the Bangladeshi bowlers were left to share the crumbs deposited by their opening duo, there was time to glimpse the bowling skills of their Test batsman, Mohammad Ashraful, spinning a web around the Indians.His three overs cost just three runs for the wicket of Binny when the Indian all-rounder was threatening to become established.With a mediocre score to defend, the Indians were not about to lie down.Lift from a good length interspersed with low balls kept the Bangladesh batsmen watchful. Enthusiastic, if unsuccessful, appealing tightened the tension.The task was clearly not easy. A mixture of caution, occasional shots in anger and a liberal contribution from wides saw Bangladesh through to 50/4 at the lunch break.Despite Bangladesh needing just 28 after lunch, survival became just as important as runs.The Indian pace duo, Trivedi (three for 24) and Chandrashekar Atram (two for 24), took up where their Bangladeshi counterparts left off, enjoying a pitch that gave them considerable help. Fifty for four was soon 52/6.Their departure from the crease provided little relief as 63/6 became 64/8 before Ali Arman and Ashiqur saw Bangladesh through to the victory in the 33rd over.But what a struggle – the last 28 runs after lunch took 18 overs as the lower order withstood the Indian pressure – which at times tended towards over-enthusiastic.Their contribution was recognised with the Man of the Match award for Ali’s undefeated 12 as he led the crawl to 78/8 – of which extras contributed 27.Bangladesh picked up a bonus point for their two-wicket win, leaving their future in the tournament in the hands of the South Africa-Canada match tomorrow. India had already booked their ticket south but will make the trip with some trepidation.
The scheduled friendly floodlit limited-overs game between the West Indiansand the New Zealand A team at Bristol was abandoned without a ball beingbowled due to heavy continuous rain.The previous day similar wet weather had caused the friendly game between the New Zealanders and Zimbabweans on the same ground to be abandoned without a decision being reached on a minimum 25 overs. The opening match of the NatWest Series limited-overs triangular tournament is due to be played between West Indies and Zimbabwe at Bristol on Thursday, by which time, it is hoped, the rain would have moved on.
Kalvin Phillips will not join a club like West Ham United and will instead wait for a move to a top-four outfit who can offer him quadruple his current salary, BBC Radio 5 Live pundit Danny Mills has said.
The Lowdown: Phillips links with West Ham
On 21 March, Football Insider revealed that the Hammers are lining up a new bid for the 26-year-old, with the east London club are prepared to offer him an “enormous” salary to secure his signature.
However, The Times reported that Leeds will attempt to fend off the likes of the Irons and Aston Villa by offering the midfielder a new deal, with his current contract set to expire in the summer of 2024.
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The Latest: Mills’ claim on Phillips
Mills, who regularly features as a pundit on BBC Radio 5 Live, claimed that a move to West Ham or Aston Villa would be a sideways step for Phillips. Speaking with Football Insider, the former Leeds defender proclaimed:
“I’m not convinced that level would be enough for him to make a move.
“If Leeds offer him a decent new deal that is comparable to Villa or West Ham, is that enough to move? Perhaps not.
“If it’s a top-four, top-five side I think it’s different and Leeds fans won’t like that.
“He’s 26, coming up to 27, he’s only got one big contract left. At the end of this contract, he’ll be 29, nobody is going to spend fortunes on him at 29. That’s not going to happen.
“If he wants to stay at Leeds and the offers are comparable because they are a big club going places and could easily be in Villa and West Ham’s situation next season.
“But if you’re talking about Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool and even Man United or maybe Tottenham or Arsenal it becomes different.
“He’ll get four times as much money going there. People will say it’s not about money, well, it is.
“Say he’s playing as well as Declan Rice, for example, and he is getting paid four or five times more than you why would you not want that? Why would you not want parity?
“If one club will give you it and one club won’t, it’s easy to say he’ll stay because he’s Leeds through and through. He won’t unfortunately. That’s the harsh reality of football.”
The Verdict: Tough signing to secure
Whilst this would be a tough signing for West Ham to pull off, Phillips would be an amazing addition to David Moyes’ current squad.
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The Yorkshireman could slot into midfield next to Declan Rice, whom he partnered for the England national side during Euro 2020. It was during that tournament that the midfield duo were praised by Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez, who was left impressed with their performances throughout the finals.
Therefore, if the Irons can secure the lucrative signing of Phillips and recreate the Three Lions midfield partnership at club level, it would be a massive coup and would deliver quite the riposte to the doubtful Mills.
In other news: West Ham are interested in this Championship wizard
Adam Gilchrist says the Australian team is tired of the criticism from former players, which is mostly directed towards the former coach John Buchanan. In the past few days, Shane Warne and Ian Chappell have picked on Buchanan, with Chappell stating that his daughter might have done better than Buchanan and Warne labelling Buchanan “a goose”.”I must say there has been a lot said in the papers this week,” Gilchrist said. “I guess one of the traits that we have a lot of pride in wearing the baggy green is that we show a lot of respect. That’s what we have prided ourselves on. It is an elite club and we have always felt that a major characteristic of being in that club is to show respect. It just seems that some guys in retirement have lost that.”Gilchrist also hoped the Test series against India would be free of the tension that was around during the ODI series in India. “It will be hard fought,” he said. “They are a team that has said that they want to take the challenge to us in an aggressive manner. Hopefully we won’t go down that route again in terms of the amount that was written about and time it took. It all got a bit out of control in the one-day series early on in India.”We are both aggressive teams, we are talented teams. I think we will just be trying to play hard aggressive cricket and not go too far with it.”On Australia’s bowling combination for the Test, Gilchrist said it would depend on the conditions, but he preferred a spinner in order to have a balanced attack. “As a general rule, I have always thought a spin bowler in a Test team is very well balanced as an option. But I must put an asterisk – it depends on the conditions and that’s what we have got to weigh up.”We definitely have got the arsenal to warrant four quick bowlers if the conditions suit. We have got a world-class spin bowler in Brad Hogg. He has proven that in one-day cricket and he’s now very excited about the opportunity to try and prove that he deserves to play Test cricket.”Gilchrist was not concerned about his record against India. His career average in Tests is 49.27, but in the 14 matches against India it drops to 29.95. “There’s no sort of box left unticked,” he said. “I have scored a couple of hundreds against them in very very difficult circumstances.”
Bangladesh finally reached Harare on Thursday afternoon, at the end of a tiring journey from Dhaka via Doha and Johannesburg. They will play four ODIs during their 11-day stay, all at Harare Sports Club, although persistent rain throughout the last week has already raised concerns over the first match on Sunday.”It was a long and tiring journey here and irritating to say the least with the loss of luggage,” said Bangladesh coach David Whatmore. “But it won’t take long to get ourselves ready for the series. We need to consolidate our advantage.”Prosper Utseya, Zimbabwe’s captain, was confident that his young side could upset Bangladesh. “Morale in the camp is soaring. All the players are raring to go. We are out to do well, and if the sky holds we want to do just that,” he old a Zimbabwean website. “Our preparations have gone on pretty well and I am optimistic that the boys will deliver the goods. All it takes is for the top order to click like it did in the first game against South Africa A where Elton Chigumbura batted through our innings and senior players Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza chipped in with some worthwhile knocks.”Also, the playing conditions are on our side so all we need to do is pull in one direction as a team, stick to the basics and take our chances when they come,” he added. “The other thing that might just work in our favour is that we have retained the same team that beat Bangladesh 3-2 at the same venue last year.”
One can pull out the thesaurus and combine different adjectives to describe Sachin Tendulkar’s 95 at the Gaddafi Stadium at Lahore, but nothing may convey the influence it had on the course of the run-chase. A buoyant Rahul Dravid, speaking at the post-match press conference, described Tendulkar’s effort as “absolutely incredible” and went on to add that it was “one of his best innings”.”I think he assessed the situation beautifully,” he said. “He realised there was something happening with the ball, realised we needed to keep wickets. The way he controlled the game, played positively without doing anything risky, was great to watch. He scored at a great pace on adifficult wicket in difficult conditions. I thought it was one of his best. There are so many he has played but this was really a special one.”Tendulkar’s knock was one of the three main components of India’s run-chase, with Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni complementing him admirably. “Sachin, Yuvraj and Dhoni all played critical parts in this win,” he continued. “All three played different kinds of knocks in different stages. Yuvraj’s maturity in stepping back, after playing positively initially, when he realised he needed to be there till the end shows that he’s a very good cricketer. He’s always been one and has had a lot of success in the one-day game. This tour has taken him to another level.”Dhoni was outstanding too. It’s terrific for someone new in international cricket to handle the pressure so well. He can adapt his game to the situation, knows what his team requires, and has got a good head on his shoulders. His performance over the last 6-8 months has been critical in our success.”Dhoni himself admitted felt that this was one of his best innings, putting it above his whirlwind maiden hundred at Vishakapatnam. “My 148 helped my team to win and it was at a crucial time. It was an opportunity to grab for me but the amount of pressure here was much more. This was a much better innings that way.”Dravid was candid when speaking about his decision at the toss and felt it didn’t matter at the end of the day. “Even I was unsure about the toss because we’re not used to the 11:00am start,” he added. “Playing in the evening, we had doubts about the twilight period and whether we couldsight the ball then. I don’t think toss was that important. We were chasing well so we decided to field. The new ball helped in both innings so it didn’t make too much of a difference.”While refusing to find fault with Pakistan, he thought his side had been the better on on the day. “I don’t think there was any problem with Pakistan. They played well and their batsmen put on 288. I don’t think there was any fault. We need to be given the credit for doing well.”What really heartened Dravid, though, was the improvement his side had shown in the last few months, winning 10 of their last 14 games. “Every game is different and we need to keep performing. Pakistan are not an easy team to beat at home and we need to play well to win. We’re leading 2-1 and a couple of games to go. Irrespective of the results, the strides andprogress we’re taking as a ODI team is really heartening.”
Shahid Afridi has said that he harbours ambitions of making a century while batting in the lower order and has cited Adam Gilchrist’s fantastic 113 at Sydney recently, against Pakistan, as a knock that inspired him. He added that he was not planning to change his dare-devil approach to batting, which brought him success on the tour, and hoped that he could boost Pakistan’s chances of upstaging India in the much-anticipated forthcoming rubber.”I think I’ve been selected for this tour as a bowler who can bat instead of 1999 when I was picked as a batsman who could bowl,” Afridi told the Press Trust of India. “Which means batting down the order and bowling more than before.”Afridi had a scorching run in the VB Series, where Pakistan lost in the final, with 231 runs at a stunning strike-rate of 167.39. His power-hitting proved crucial in a number of games, he even notched up the record for the most sixes in ODIs, as fielders were reduced to spectators in the big Australian grounds. “I want to continue with my style of batting which is extremely simple: hit the ball back with same force,” he added. “I like hitting the ball into stands and want to hear the cracking sound that comes out of my bat. I don’t know why but that sound [of wood] and sight of seeing the ball land in enclosures gives me immense pleasure and satisfaction.”Afridi has had success in India earlier: he scored a matchwinning 141 in the Chennai Test in 1999 and helped Pakistan clinch an epic encounter. He has tormented India regularly and has one century and four fifties against them. The last tour of India saw Afridi the opener display his destructive ability. This series, though, may see Afridi the legspinner and lower-order dynamite prove a point or two.