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Andrew Miller’s plays of the day from Lord’s

Andrew Miller at Lord's07-May-2009Spell of the dayGraham Onions didn’t have a wonderful introduction to Test cricket. He was bowled first-ball by a low full-toss, and then dropped short with his maiden delivery to be pulled ruthlessly through midwicket. But then, in his sixth over, everything started to click. Lendl Simmons received a brutal lifter to be caught at slip for Onions’ maiden Test wicket, two balls later Jerome Taylor was strangled down the leg-side, then, to cap a memorable over, Sulieman Benn sliced a third-ball drive to third slip. Still Onions was not finished. He made it four in seven balls when Denesh Ramdin was pinned lbw one delivery, and had his Durham team-mate, Paul Collingwood, clung onto a sharp chance off Lionel Baker he’d have made it five in 12. Ultimately, it was 5 in 27, as Baker succumbed after a defiant cameo. Not a bad first day proper at the office.Innings of the dayRavi Bopara led the way on the first day, but he barely got a look in when play resumed today. Graeme Swann is not a man who lacks confidence in any department, and today he was on remarkable form. In all, he flogged eight of his nine fours on the up and through the off side, including six in the first hour this morning before Bopara had the chance to add to his own overnight tally of 14. Then, to cap his performance, Swann posted his maiden Test half-century by walloping Lionel Baker into the Mound Stand for six. By the time he was left unbeaten on 63, he had surpassed Ashley Giles’ Test-best 59, and restated his growing claims to an Ashes starting berth.Interruption of the dayEngland were motoring in the first hour of the morning, adding 24 handy runs in five overs as West Indies struggled to rediscover their first-day vim. So it came as a total surprise when the umpires wandered across to have a chat with the batsman, and gave them the chance to troop off for bad light. It seemed a senseless break in England’s momentum, reminiscent of Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher’s walk-off at Headingley 2003. But then, after a 15-minute hiatus, Swann resumed with three fours in five balls, and that was the end of that analogy.Poor example of the dayFidel Edwards was rightly aggrieved at the close of the first day’s play, having suffered at the hands, quite literally, of his team-mates, who spilled three clear chances in the final session to delay his richly deserved five-wicket haul. When play resumed he would surely have wished to set the fielding example for his errant colleagues to follow. Instead, from the first ball of the day, he went down into the long barrier, and let a gentle push to mid-on roll straight through his legs.Clanger of the dayAs Edwards himself admitted at the close of the first day’s play, it has been a long, long while since he’s bowled on a pitch that rewards his natural pace. That hasn’t, however, stopped him digging it in when the mood suits him, and one brute of a lifter struck James Anderson an ugly blow on the back of his helmet as he averted his gaze and braced for impact. After a lengthy delay and a switch of headgear – his old lid had a ball-shaped chunk taken out of the bottom edge – he groggily resumed and survived with some courage through to lunch.Stat of the dayAt the break, in fact, Anderson was 1 not out from 17 deliveries. Nothing remarkable in that, you might suggest. How wrong you’d be. By nudging the final ball of the session off his hip for a single to square leg, Anderson extended his world-record sequence of 47 innings without ever being dismissed for a duck. He has been unbeaten on 0 on ten occasions, and fallen for 1 seven times. But the dreaded blob remains elusive.Bowling change of the dayWhen England’s turn came to bowl, Broad took one half of the new ball – no surprise there. At the other end, however, Andrew Strauss pulled a complete fast one on the punters, pundits and West Indies players alike. With Swann on a high after his half-century, he was thrown the ball ahead of Anderson and both debutant seamers, Onions and Tim Bresnan, who didn’t get to feature in the first innings at all. Perhaps the decision was influenced by Yuvraj Singh’s over to Kevin Pietersen in Mohali, or KP’s own opening of the bowling in the IPL last month. More likely, it was inspired by Swann’s dominance of West Indies’ openers, Chris Gayle and Devon Smith, who between them accounted for five of his 27 wickets prior to this Test.Double whammy of the dayAnd sure enough, Smith soon succumbed to his nemesis, who has now claimed his wicket on four occasions in Test cricket. With the first ball of his second spell, moments before the tea break, Swann beat the inside-edge with one that zipped through the gate, and then, before West Indies knew what had hit them, he dealt Shivnarine Chanderpaul a knockout blow as well, which a beautiful tweaker that took the edge to slip. By the time their other sheet-anchorman, Brendan Nash, had fallen by the wayside as well, Swann had 3 for 16 in five overs, and the gravy-train had been set in motion. Over to Onions, to slice and dice the lower-order.

Sourav Ganguly was among the runs for Kolkata Knight Riders in a practice tie against South African domestic team the Eagles in Bloemfontein

Cricinfo staff09-Apr-2009The controversy over John Buchanan’s multiple-captain strategy for the Kolkata Knight Riders does not seem to have affected Sourav Ganguly, who was among the runs in a practice tie against the Eagles in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.Ganguly hit a brisk unbeaten 61 and was well-supported by Cheteshwar Pujara (66 not out) as KKR ran out winners by nine wickets, the Kolkata reported. With the IPL beginning on April 18, the pre-tournament form will come as a welcome boost for Ganguly, who was embroiled, before leaving India, in a controversy surrounding Buchanan’s theory.”I don’t wish to comment on the captaincy issue. But, yes, it’s nice to get runs in one’s first match in new conditions. However, there’s a long way to go, there’s plenty of work to be done,” the paper reported Ganguly as saying.Buchanan’s concept of having multiple leaders, later altered to ‘one captain, many strategists’ would redefine leadership in cricket. It has been on trial during these warm-up games, albeit with little success. The first two games against the same opposition on Tuesday, with Laxmi Ratan Shukla at the helm, resulted in heavy defeats – by 48 runs and four wickets respectively.Ganguly, who sat out both those matches, replaced Aakash Chopra on Wednesday. Although it remains uncertain if the side would have a regular or rotating captain, Ganguly would no doubt have made a firm claim.Ajit Agarkar and Charl Langeveldt also showed good form with the ball picking up two wickets apiece. However, an injury to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, who underwent surgery on his left thumb late on Monday, caused some concern.”Nothing can be assumed till the stitches are removed. For now, we’ve just got to wait and watch,” said Joy Bhattacharjya, KKR’s team director.

Aston Villa must avoid a major transfer disaster over Emi Martinez amid suggestions Atletico Madrid are now interested in signing him.

What’s the story?

Reports in recent from Football Insider initially suggested that Manchester United had set their sights on the Argentina international after having been impressed with his performances in his first season with Dean Smith’s side.

Now, Spanish publication La Razon (via Sport Witness) claim that Atletico have their eye on signing Martinez as a potential replacement for current number one shot-stopper Jan Oblak, whose contract with the Spanish side comes to an end in the summer of 2023.

The report adds that the fee for Martinez would likely be less than what they would recoup for Oblak, which would ease the strain on their finances.

Fans would be livid

The Argentine has been an absolute revelation for Dean Smith since joining from fellow Premier League side Arsenal last summer, keeping the third most clean sheets in the division with 15.

Described as a “phenomenon” and someone who “guarantees ten points per season” by Argentinian World Cup winner Daniel Bertoni, Martinez has been nothing short of outstanding for the Midlands club, so much so that he’s now a permanent fixture in his country’s squad too.

It’s no surprise then that rival clubs have sat up and taken notice of his performances, and Atletico’s latest interest is a massive compliment to just how well he has done.

As well as being one of the Premier League’s elite goalkeepers as shown by the number of clean sheets he kept last season, he represents the kind of signing that shows the state of NSWE’s ambition.

Villa are moving forward and are trying to push for that European spot and break into top seven, but they simply cannot do that by letting Martinez go – in fact, it would be a major backwards step and a telling sign that they aren’t able to crack into the elite.

It’s exactly why fans will be absolutely livid if Villa were to cash in on the £31.5m-rated Martinez.

Not only would they be losing a top-class goalkeeper and giving them an absolute headache in trying to replace him, but they would also lose some of the significant progress they have made in the past couple of years to catch up to the division’s best clubs.

Meanwhile, Villa are eyeing a fresh move for this midfielder…

Liam Kennedy has now revealed some promising insight from sources close to the Reuben brothers on the potential takeover of Newcastle United.

The Lowdown: Cases await

As per The Chronicle, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) case over the stalled takeover deal between Mike Ashley and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium is set to take place this month after a delay in proceedings.

This follows the delay of the separate arbitration case filed by the North East club against the Premier League over their decision-making process with regards to the bid, which is not set to take place until early next year.

The Latest: Takeover insight

Writing in his latest piece for Newcastle World, Kennedy has now revealed that close sources to the Reubens have recently made it known that they remain ‘supremely confident’ that they will get a deal done for the St. James’ Park faithful.

However, the journalist claims that the protracted takeover is ‘up in the air’, and that an appeal is ‘likely’ to follow the end of the CAT case, which could well take ‘as long as 12 months’.

The Verdict: Promising

It is certainly promising to hear of the Reuben brothers’ confidence in getting a bid pushed through, especially after the delays that the Toon Army have had to face.

With the CAT case expected to take place this month, they will gather at least some answers over the direction of where the deal is heading.

A positive result would bring real hope on Tyneside, and if they can follow that up in the arbitration hearing, then the takeover dream will still very much be alive.

In other news, find out what takeover claim has been made involving the prospective new owners here!

Express and Star journalist Luke Hatfield doesn’t believe that Jayson Molumby will walk straight into the West Brom starting XI. 

The Baggies signed Molumby on a season-long loan deal from Brighton and Hove Albion during the summer transfer window.

The 22-year-old has plenty of Championship experience having played 51 times for Millwall and Preston North End combined and has scored one goal and provided two assists in the division.

Molumby played three first team matches for Brighton last season in both the Premier League and the Carabao Cup and Hatfield believes after his move to Albion, he is going to have to work hard for a starting birth in Valerien Ismael’s team.

Hatfield told Transfer Tavern: “He’s another player Ismael would have liked, I think. I don’t think he’ll walk straight into the starting XI, I think he’ll be a player that comes in and really competes with Jake Livermore and Alex Mowatt for them starting spaces in midfield.

“He offers plenty of hard-working abilities, he’s one of those players that might not be the flashiest in the world, but he certainly puts in a shift and that’s exactly what Ismael wants in those midfield roles.

“He doesn’t necessarily need them to produce goals and assists, I think he’s hoping his front three will do that. Molumy is one of those players who will run his socks off for the team and I think the fans will appreciate that as well.”

West Brom have had a brilliant start to life back in the Championship as they have accumulated 13 points from a possible 15 and currently sit second in the league table, only behind Fulham on goal difference.

Valerien Ismael and all connected with West Brom will be hoping to maintain this run of form and be in the promotion picture come May and make an immediate return to the Premier League.

Victoria’s big-name batsmen are back in the run into the Sheffield Shield final

Cricinfo staff25-Feb-2009
David Hussey has returned to Victoria’s Sheffield Shield side after his time with the national team © Getty Images
Victoria’s big-name batsmen are back in the run into the Sheffield Shield final, but the injury-hit side has also included a rookie in its line-up for Thursday’s game against Tasmania in Hobart. With Dirk Nannes and Clint McKay both suffering from side strains and Shane Harwood carrying an ankle injury, the selectors have called Steve Gilmour, a right-arm fast bowler, into the 12-man squad.Gilmour, an uncapped 22-year-old, will join an outfit including the batsmen Cameron White, David Hussey and Rob Quiney, who missed the innings win over New South Wales due to their international commitments. Damien Wright, Darren Pattinson and John Hastings, who took five second-innings wickets on debut last week, are the other fast bowlers in the squad, which has cut Lloyd Mash and Adam Crosthwaite.”I’m thrilled to be heading to Hobart with the squad,” Gilmour said. “Obviously a few injuries have created an opportunity for me, but my involvement with the Bushrangers this season has improved my cricket enormously.”Victoria will host the final at the Junction Oval from March 13 – the MCG has been booked for a bushfire concert – but will have to recover from their demoralising 12-run defeat to Queensland in Sunday’s one-day decider. “Cricket is all about challenges and as a group we’re facing one now,” the coach Greg Shipperd said. “We can’t dwell overly on what has been. Our focus has to be to moving forward and making the most of our upcoming opportunities. We’re very determined to do that.”Tasmania have made one change to their squad with the batsman David Dawson coming in for Rhett Lockyear, who scored 12 and 18 in the tight win over Western Australia last week. The Tigers sit in second, two points ahead of Queensland, and can confirm their place in the final with wins in the last two regular games of the season.South Australia will attempt to keep their slim finals hopes alive with a victory over Western Australia in Perth. The Redbacks beat Queensland last week to sit on 14 points, six behind the Warriors, who are fourth. Liam Davis, the opener, will replace Marcus Stoinis for the hosts and will turn out in his first Shield match since being struck in the face by a Peter Siddle delivery in November.Victoria squad Cameron White (capt), Steve Gilmour, John Hastings, Brad Hodge, Jon Holland, David Hussey, Nick Jewell, Darren Pattinson, Rob Quiney, Chris Rogers, Matthew Wade (wk), Damien Wright.Tasmania squad David Dawson, Dan Marsh (capt), George Bailey, Luke Butterworth, David Dawson, Gerard Denton, Alex Doolan, Chris Duval, Brett Geeves, Jason Krejza, Tim Macdonald, Tim Paine, Jonathan Wells.South Australia squad Graham Manou (capt, wk), Daniel Harris, James Smith, Michael Klinger, Mark Cosgrove, Callum Ferguson, Aaron O’Brien, Daniel Christian, Cullen Bailey, Mark Cleary, Jake Haberfield, Peter George.Western Australia squad Adam Voges (capt), David Bandy, Liam Davis, Brett Dorey, Ben Edmondson, Michael Johnson (wk), Steve Magoffin, Josh Mangan, Luke Pomersbach, Drew Porter, Wes Robinson, Luke Towers.

Test debuts don’t come much more rewarding than the one JP Duminy experienced in Perth

Brydon Coverdale22-Dec-2008
JP Duminy: “It’s something that definitely I will cherish for the rest of my life” © PA Photos
Test debuts don’t come much more rewarding than the one JP Duminy experienced in Perth. He struck the winning runs in the second-highest chase of all time and with the same cover-driven three went to 50 not out, an invaluable innings that helped South Africa forget about their past heartbreaks against Australia. Duminy could have been forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about.At 24 and having never played an international of any format against Australia, Duminy was free of the memories of South Africa’s previous failures. The significance of the triumph certainly hit home as the squad celebrated that night. Veterans like Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher have spent more than a decade trying to get one up on these opponents, while many other great names have faded into retirement without tasting that success.”A lot of the guys got text messages from guys that have been here and they sort of understand what this victory means to everyone,” Duminy said. “I think we understand what it means to everyone back home and we’re grateful for it. Hopefully we can pull off another victory.”But if Duminy didn’t know the pain of losing to Australia he at least knew the disappointment of being a teenage fan of South Africa during some of their lowest moments. As a 15-year-old cricket nut, he watched on in horror as Allan Donald was run-out in the semi-final of the World Cup, leaving the match tied and sending Australia into the decider.”I’ve lived through all those days of just near, nearby,” Duminy said. “Definitely the World Cup in ’99 [was the worst], especially with the run-out, I think I watched every ball of that game, so it was a bit painful.”Now Duminy is doing his part to help write a new chapter in South African cricket. The value of his innings at the WACA cannot be underestimated. When he came to the crease at the fall of the fourth wicket they still needed 111 and he was due to be followed by Boucher and then one of world cricket’s less convincing lower orders.He had also managed only one run in the first innings. Talk about pressure. But he was batting with AB de Villiers, a man he had grown up playing with in under-age representative teams, and rarely did Duminy look flustered as he calmly bunted away danger-balls, lofted the spinners with confidence down the ground, and cut with precision. He didn’t look tense. He was.”I just made sure that I didn’t want to portray a sort of nervous, uncomfortable feeling out there,” Duminy said. “I was definitely feeling the pressure but my main objective was just to soak up everything and take it ball by ball. Myself and AB spoke a lot in the middle about just facing it ball by ball.”When Duminy left the field the hugs from his team-mates were tighter than those afforded to de Villiers, whose century earned him the Man-of-the-Match award but whose calmness was less surprising as he was in his 47th Test. The captain Graeme Smith could not have been happier with Duminy’s effort.”It’s incredible,” Smith said after the match. “He’s travelled with us for a period of time now, he’s watched so many Test matches with us over the last year-and-a-half from the sidelines, probably gaining a bit of experience, seeing what it’s all about. He’s played his fair share of one-day games now so he’s had a taste of it.”As I said to him now in terms of the pressure he faced today, he’s not going to get any worse probably ever in his Test career so he played superbly. A guy at this stage of his career, an innings like that can only really do wonders for him as a person.”His opportunity arrived only because Ashwell Prince hurt his thumb and while Prince is no certainty for the Boxing Day Test, Duminy is resigned to losing his spot whenever the more experienced man is ready. His position may vanish but nothing can erase the mark he left on Test cricket in his debut match.

Denesh Ramdin and Ramnaresh Sarwan kept their cool in a tense finish to hand West Indies a 1-0 series lead after a rain-hit game in Christchurch

Cricinfo staff03-Jan-2009
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Ramnaresh Sarwan shepherded the chase with a calm half-century © Getty Images
Denesh Ramdin and Ramnaresh Sarwan kept their cool in a tense finish to hand West Indies a 1-0 series lead after a rain-hit game in Christchurch. New Zealand were favourites when the West Indies needed forty off the last four overs, but Ramdin knocked off 21 runs off his next ten balls to put the visitors on course for a win in the match shortened to 28 overs a side.The equation had boiled down to four runs off the last over, after offspinner Jeetan Patel leaked 14 off the penultimate one. Tim Southee, who had sent down an outstanding final over in the tied Twenty20 game in Auckland, was again given the responsibility of bowling the final six deliveries. He gave away only two of the first three balls, but a couple of scampered singles finally broke New Zealand hearts.While it was Ramdin who applied the final touches, it was Sarwan who kept West Indies in the game, anchoring the innings with a calm half-century. Captain Chris Gayle had biffed a 31-ball 36, but two deliveries after launching Daniel Vettori over midwicket for six, he was bowled by a quicker one, leaving Sarwan to shepherd the chase.The wickets kept tumbling at the other end but Sarwan refused to panic. He collected the singles, punished the loose balls, and didn’t buckle under the pressure exerted by a tight spell of bowling from Vettori and Jacob Oram. New Zealand had seemed in control for much of the chase until the final onslaught from Sarwan and Ramdin.West Indies may be pleased with the win but one cause for concern was that there was little contribution from the younger batsmen in the side. In the absence of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who missed the game with a hand injury, the team look too reliant on their two senior batsmen, Gayle and Sarwan.By contrast, New Zealand posted a competitive 152 despite the failure of Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor, with four batsmen reaching 25. After opting to field, the visitors got the dangerous McCullum early before rain came down in the seventh over just as Jesse Ryder was beginning to cut loose. Play was held up for four hours.Ryder and Jamie How kept the runs flowing on resumption before Ryder holed out to deep cover off Nikita Miller in the 12th over.New Zealand struggled to regain momentum after that dismissal; they were unable to score more than five off any of the next ten overs. The pressure created by Miller and Jerome Taylor led to the dismissal of several New Zealand batsmen and the hosts slid to 97 for 5 in 22 overs.Oram pulled them out of the rut, taking 17 off a Gayle over, and Grant Elliott’s big-hitting towards the end boosted New Zealand beyond 150. However, with Elliott not having bowled in both matches of the series, the hosts must work out whether they need a specialist batsman at No. 7.

Some Wolves fans have been left buzzing as a transfer update emerged involving a potential swap deal.

As per SER Deportivos Valencia, the Midlands club are exploring the possibility of offering both Romain Saiss and Rafa Mir in exchange for Goncalo Guedes and Lee Kang-In.

Guedes is a player who has an eye for both a goal and an assist, having scored seven times and made a further seven assists in 34 games in total over all competitions in the 2020/21 term (Transfermarkt), while Lee can play in a wide variety of different positions across the front line and in midfield, and at just 20 years of age has a lot of potential.

On the other hand, Saiss is a player who has already been heavily criticised by the Molineux faithful during pre-season, while Mir has only played in a total of four senior games for the Wanderers throughout his career so far.

Thus, a swap deal involving these four players does look very appetizing from WWFC’s point of view.

Wolves fans on swap deal

These Wolves supporters buzzed as the transfer update was shared on Twitter:

“Let’s just beat sides 7-6, I’m all for it”

Credit: @calwwfc_

“Start the car”

Credit: @toddo08

“No brainer”

Credit: @jacobbwwfc

“Get. It. Done.”

Credit: @CrockfordJack

“If Mendes pulls this off”

Credit: @PortuWolves

“Yes do itttt”

Credit: @Matt123525

In other news, find out what transfer update has Wanderers fuming here!

The Plays of the day for the third day of the first Test between Australia and New Zealand in Brisbane

Peter English at the Gabba22-Nov-2008
Brett Lee became the fourth Australian to 300 wickets © Getty Images
Another wide for the Gabba
Steve Harmison’s wide in the Ashes two years ago was matched by MitchellJohnson after tea on Saturday. Johnson had switched to the Vulture StreetEnd and his first ball to Ross Taylor swung before homing in on RickyPonting at second slip. It was so wide Brad Haddin had no chance ofintercepting the delivery, but Ponting calmly accepted the ball and sentit on its way back to the bowler. This time the ground didn’t groan.Umpiring hits and misses
After benefiting from Rudi Koertzen’s caught-behind mistake involving MichaelHussey on Friday, New Zealand suffered the pain of cricket’s revenge inthe second innings. Both Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum were on thewrong side of tight decisions that turned the target of 327 into animpossible one. Ryder was hit high by Mitchell Johnson and Billy Doctrovegave him out lbw while Koertzen ruled the same way when McCullum paddedup. However, Taylor seemed to benefit shortly after from a caught-behinddecision that convinced all the Australians but not Doctrove.Fourth to 300
The final stages of Brett Lee’s journey to 300 wickets were slow, but hefinally became the fourth Australian to the milestone with the third ballof the second innings. Lee went to India with 289 and after four Testsreturned home still three short. Two victims on Friday pushed him to 299and Jamie How’s edge to Ponting at second slip sent Lee into a relievedcelebration.Tail between his legs
Lee’s day was not all smiles after he found an unorthodox way to get out.Facing Daniel Vettori, Lee went back to defend, collected an inside edgeand the ball went through his legs on to the stumps. He left slowly for 7but by then Australia’s lead was more than 250, and there were soon morereasons to smile.Southee receives a jolt
Hand injuries have been common lately – Lee and Anil Kumble both split thewebbing between their fingers during the India series – and Tim Southeeadded to the list while making a fabulous save. He left the field fortreatment but returned shortly after with his wrist strapped, finishingthe innings when Stuart Clark drove him to mid-off.And now to the weather
After the torrential rain and the burning sun of the past week the windcame. A severe weather warning was issued predicting gusts of up to 100kphand the boundary markers struggled to cope with the blustery conditions.Either side of lunch there was the opportunity for some easier runs on theeastern side of the ground as the sponsor’s ropes blew in. A few steelpegs were needed to return the field to an oval shape.