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You can understand Arsene Wenger’s dislike, perhaps even disdain for the January transfer window. With it comes a mountain of expectation to spend, yet without any real concern for the quality being purchased.

Some have labelled it stubbornness to proceed with what he has, using those acquired during the summer window as his only buys of each particular season. But is it so stubborn, with considerations for the economic climate and the impeding rules set by UEFA, for Wenger to ignore over-priced yet under-skilled players for his Arsenal team?

Following Nicklas Bendtner’s goal in the 2-0 win over Hull last week, the immediate feeling within the club was that Wenger would persevere with what he had and properly strengthen in the summer. Problem? Well yes and no. The issue is that Arsenal, in a very good position to land a major piece of silverware this season, do need reinforcements. At least that’s the general consensus from those on the outside looking in. The second problem that clashes with the first is that January is hardly ever the time to buy top class players.

Luis Suarez may have been bought by Liverpool in the January window, but the Uruguayan is an exception to the rule. Further examples are that of Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra going to Manchester United midway through a season. However, both were brought in with views to the long term. Evra hardly had the best of times in those initial months in English football.

It’s not to say it can’t be done, it’s more to say that it’s exceedingly difficult. Karim Benzema may have been a high-end striker on the market next month, but the Frenchman has returned to form at Real Madrid, who may just decide now to hang onto him until the summer. Robert Lewandowski, of whom there is no doubt about his quality, will not move in January. Dortmund had the chance to sell and pocket a profit on the Pole in the summer, but they were clear in their message that they would not succumb to pressure from either the player or Bayern Munich. Why, then, would they sell in January?

The thing is Arsenal’s “depth problem” has been blown massively out of proportion. This is a club who are perennially hit by the injury bug – or plague, as is more fitting. But those who wish to discredit Wenger’s side for their credentials in this season’s title race have done so without any mention of Lukas Podolski, an international forward who is capable of playing through the middle, and Theo Walcott, who has just returned from long-term injury and who had the most purple of purple patches in an Arsenal shirt at centre-forward last season. What does that amount to? Four strikers at Wenger’s disposal. The issue is of quality, not of quantity.

Wenger will no doubt feel the heat from certain sections of the Arsenal support if he chooses not to buy in January – and I’m speaking specifically of a centre-forward. At Schalke, Julian Draxler may be the next high-profile signing for Arsenal. The German club have just secured Sidney Sam from Bayer Leverkusen, though with the transfer taking place in the summer, so further logs have been thrown onto that particular transfer fire. But it would be understandable if Wenger didn’t bring in the marquee striker so many are calling out for. Of course, the solution was to buy one last summer, whether it was shelling out an extra £10 million on Gonzalo Higuain or closing the deal on Stevan Jovetic. But importantly, Arsenal are not, at present, in crucial need of another striker in January.

The other issue is the World Cup in the summer. Not only will players not want to disrupt their preparations ahead of such an important tournament, but also think of the number of players who will become available during the summer window. First there are the players who rise to fame during the tournament in Brazil, but also those who they may be replacing at other clubs around Europe. The time to strengthen properly and with a player who is deemed a first-choice target is the summer, not in January, when few of required skill are available. Remember when Arsenal were linked with Mohamed Diame last January? In January, instead of getting a Karim Benzema, you get a Bafe Gomis; next summer, players like Mario Mandzukic will be available.

So what can Wenger do in January? The problem may not be numbers, but the team are likely to need a boost of confidence to get them over the line. A loan signing is an option. It’s hugely unlikely that Chelsea will buckle next month and loan Demba Ba to Arsenal after declining on that very deal in the summer. What about a younger, unknown player from one of the “lesser” leagues around Europe? The difficulty, though, is in finding a player who fits that description but who is also able to make a contribution this season. Finally, there’s the “Henrik Larsson move.” Manchester United brought in the Swedish veteran to aid in their title bid in 2007. It was a short-term, low-cost move that paid off. Arsenal could pursue something similar next month to help get them through to the summer.

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With Podolski on his way back and Walcott and Bendtner offering alternatives, there are options in house for Wenger. But despite the boost that the team and fans will get with a new face in January, I wouldn’t begrudge or bemoan Wenger’s decision to stick with what he has.

It’s not stubbornness. Considering the pressures of modern football, you have to praise the manager who chooses to avoid the costly, quick-fix option just to appease others.

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Tottenham are unlikely to rekindle their interest in Joao Moutinho in January, according to Andre Villas-Boas.

Spurs worked tirelessly on transfer deadline day to get a £22m deal secured for the Portuguese playmaker, but were thwarted in their efforts after failing to agree a deal with a third party owner of the Porto Player.

Villas-Boas believes that January proves an expensive time to conduct transfer business and also feels that the club are well covered this season:

“We were prepared for missing out on that player.

“We set our sights on that player in the end of the transfer window – we couldn’t conclude the deal but we were ready if that failed.

“It’s not likeable that we go back in January. Generally the market is very difficult and very expensive, and it’s highly unlikely that we will continue to pursue that transfer because by then we will have Parker coming back, and he’s a player that we want to come back as soon as possible.

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“He’s a player who had maximum importance for this club last season and we feel that he can add so much to the squad that we are waiting for the moment when he can come back, so it’s just a question that we have to reassess at that time.” (Sky Sports)

Tottenham travel to the Madjeski Stadium tomorrow afternoon in search of their first win of the season.

Smith, Maxwell and Head lead the charge for Washington, who lost just one game in MLC 2024

Andrew McGlashan29-Jul-2024Steven Smith led Washington Freedom to the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2024 title as they romped to an overwhelming 96-run victory against San Francisco Unicorns in Dallas. Smith and Australia team-mate Glenn Maxwell dominated with the bat then Unicorns’ chase disintegrated with Marco Jansen claiming both openers among his three wickets.The result cemented Freedom’s standing as the team of the season having secured five wins in the group stage before progressing direct to the final with victory over Unicorns in the Qualifier. This contest turned their way through a stand of 83 off 39 balls between Smith and Maxwell as Freedom added 121 in the second half of their innings.Smith, who was overlooked for Australia’s T20 World Cup squad earlier this year, overcame a sluggish start in the powerplay to make 88 off 52 balls including six sixes. Having been 10 off 12 balls in the sixth over he sped to a 34-ball fifty and ended the season as the joint second-leading run-scorer, alongside Travis Head, with 336 at a strike-rate of 148.67.Head, who has struck at over 170 during the tournament, fell early to Pat Cummins when he edged to slip, where Finn Allen held on at the second attempt, having been given a life in the opening over. But Andries Gous gave Freedom’s innings impetus as Smith found his feet although when Haris Rauf removed Rachin Ravindra after the midway mark, it was an even contest at 86 for 3.Glenn Maxwell found form towards the end of the tournament•MLC

Then Smith and Maxwell, the latter having found form in the closing stages of the tournament, took charge included 28 coming off the 13th over from Juanoy Drysdale. Smith produced an outrageous scoop for six off Rauf and was in sight of a century when he got a top edge off Cummins.It appears likely that Smith’s T20I career is over following his World Cup omission and absence from the squad to face Scotland and England in September as the selectors look to the future, but it has been a profitable few weeks for him in the US.Though Maxwell also fell in the next over, superbly caught by Josh Inglis, Freedom were still able to cross 200.Unicorns’ chase never got off the ground. Jake Fraser-McGurk’s low-key tournament ended when he edged into the stumps against Jansen to leave him with 81 runs at 11.57 then both Sanjay Krishnamurthi and Allen also fell inside the powerplay to leave a daunting task. Sherfane Rutherford was superbly caught at deep backward square by Ian Holland the ball after being dropped and the rest of the batting fell away amid a huge asking rate.Freedom’s victory gave Ricky Ponting a title as coach a couple of weeks after leaving his role with Delhi Capitals.

The pace bowler joins New South Wales while McDermott returns to Queensland

ESPNcricinfo staff04-May-2023Jackson Bird and Ben McDermott will both return to their home states in significant off-season departures from Tasmania.Bird, the 36-year-old pace bowler who played nine Tests for Australia, has joined New South Wales on a two-year deal while top-order batter McDermott heads back to Queensland where he made his first-class and one-day debuts in 2014.Bird, who was born in Sydney but has played his entire Australian first-class career with Tasmania, joins a NSW side looking rebuild after a horror season which saw them finish bottom of the Sheffield Shield. He brings with him a first-class record of 455 wickets at 24.89. During the 2020-21 campaign, Bird took his career-best 7 for 18 against New South Wales as they were skittled for 32.Related

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Bird is the most prolific active bowler in the Sheffield Shieldwith 350 competition wickets having overtaken the now-retired Trent Copeland during last season.”I played all my junior cricket in NSW and like any other aspiring professional in the state I wanted to pull on a Baggy Blue,” he said. “My career took a different path and I am very grateful to Cricket Tasmania and everyone that I have played with and worked with down there for what has been an amazing experience, both professionally and personally.”Now it’s a fresh start in a place I am familiar with, and I am looking forward to being able to contribute on the field and also around the playing group. The Blues have some very talented young bowlers and I hope I can offer them some guidance if they need it.”Meanwhile, McDermott returns to the state where the family name is part of cricket folklore after the career of his father, Craig.Ben McDermott struggled last season after a promising tour of Pakistan•AFP/Getty Images

He will be looking to rebound from a poor 2022-23 season where he lost his place in the Shield side having averaged 18.30 and managed two fifties at 25.14 in the Marsh Cup.Those numbers have stymied his international ambitions after a promising series against Pakistan in early 2022 which brought a maiden ODI hundred. Overall he has played five ODIs and 23 T20Is.”We’re very keen to work with Ben to help him realise his playing goals and no doubt his experience and skills will be welcomed by the playing group,” Bennett King, Queensland Cricket’s general manager of high performance, said. “He’s a seasoned player who has performed in all formats for Tasmania and Australia, and so it will be exciting to see him progress in the future.”McDermott joins what is a strong Queensland top-order when at full-strength although they are often hit by international call-ups. With the ODI World Cup in October and November they are unlikely to see much of Marnus Labuschagne although should get good service from Usman Khawaja and Matt Renshaw who are not in Australia’s white-ball set-up.

Former coach cites reported lack of support but writes of pride in what he has achieved

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Feb-2022Justin Langer has apologised if he came across as “too intense” in an emotional letter of resignation to the Cricket Australia board but said he hoped he had left the men’s team in a better position than when he arrived.The letter was published in the newspaper on Sunday, just over 24 hours after Langer had tendered his resignation as Australia men’s head coach, declining a short-term six-month contract extension that was offered to him on Friday.In the letter, Langer addressed the media speculation about his coaching style and said he accepted that the team wanted to head in a different direction.”There has been a great deal of media speculation on my future as the Australian men’s cricket coach over the last 12 months and this has taken an enormous toll on my family. I hope through this time, and throughout my tenure, I have held myself with integrity and dignity,” Langer wrote in the email to CEO Nick Hockley.”Last night I was offered a short-term contract until the end of the T20 World Cup in Australia, with the sentiment of ‘going out on a high’. After careful consideration I have decided not to accept this contract renewal, and as a result I believe it is in everyone’s best interests for the Australian cricket team to begin the next chapter immediately.”If media reports are correct, several senior players and a couple of support staff don’t support me moving forward, and it is now apparent the CA board, and you Nick, are also keen to see the team move in another direction. I respect that decision.””My life has been built on values of honesty, respect, trust, truth, and performance and if that comes across as ‘too intense’ at times, I apologise.”Related

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Hockley confirmed on Saturday that the six-month offer, unanimously endorsed by the board on Friday, would have been the end to Langer’s tenure with the view that it was time to transition to a new coaching era in the men’s team sighting unity as one of the key factors of the decision.Hockley also acknowledged that player relationships with Langer, which had come to a head last August before high-level talks patched the situation up to the extent that the World Cup and Ashes were won, were a factor in the board’s decision. Senior assistant Andrew McDonald has been appointed interim coach.Langer flew to Perth on Saturday having not been home in five months due to Western Australia’s border restrictions and began 14 days home quarantine.”It is said that in any venture, if you leave things in a better place than when you started then you have done your job,” he wrote.”Whilst it is not up to me to judge, I hope Australians respect what has been achieved over the last four years in Australian cricket. From day one I believed it was possible to both win and play the game in the spirit that is now expected from our supporters.”For the last four years it has been proven this can be achieved and I am very proud of the team for their efforts on and off the cricket field. I hope we have made Australians proud and earned respect from countries around the world.”In terms of ‘going out on a high’, I am blessed to have been a part of a T20 World Cup-winning squad, an Ashes winning squad, watched the Test team rise to #1 ranked team in the world today, been selected as the Wisden Coach of the Year and been elevated to the Australian cricket Hall of Fame; all this in the last five months.”I am grateful that today, I am going out on a high.”

Allrounder points to throwaway comments on skin colour and a lack of cultural training for professional cricketers

Daniel Brettig08-Sep-2020Casual racism within Australian cricket has been allowed to fester through a lack of adequate cultural awareness education for players, support staff and officialdom over the past two decades, leaving many to consider their past behaviour through the prism of the Black Lives Matter movement.This is one of many uncomfortable conclusions to be drawn from Cricket Australia’s first attempt to reckon with its past and present mistakes in dealing with Indigenous players and issues of race more generally. It takes the form of a series of discussion panels under the banner of Cricket Connecting Country that will air on the governing body’s digital platforms on Wednesday night, hosted by the CA board director Mel Jones.In a discussion featuring two noted experts on race and culture in Nyadol Nyuon, a commercial litigator with the Melbourne law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler, and Janine Mohamed, chief executive of the Lowitja Institute dedicated to Aboriginal health, the Indigenous Australian cricketer Dan Christian catalogued the extent of casual racism he had experienced, largely around ignorant critiques of his Aboriginality based on his appearance.”I think it is an issue in Australian cricket, I don’t think it’s as ‘in your face’ as you might see around the world or even elsewhere in Australian culture,” Christian told the panel. “I think it’s definitely there, it’s more of a casual racism, just little throwaway lines here and there, made to be jokes and a lot of that for me personally has been around the colour of my skin and the fact that I don’t look Aboriginal or whatever that means. That’s the most noticeable thing for me.”It’s just something that comes with a lack of education and an ignorance. I don’t think a lot of people say it with any kind of malice, it’s just that they don’t understand and don’t know. When all the BLM stuff came out in the last couple of months, one of the things I related to the most was Meyne Wyatt’s monologue on QandA, which I thought was absolutely brilliant. There’s one little section of that where he talks about being asked that question and his comment back to whoever asked it was ‘well what part am I, is it my foot, is it my arm, is it my leg’. I’ve had those kinds of questions a lot and it was a pretty good way to look at it.”However I’ve received a lot of messages over the past few months from people I’ve played with and against that have said ‘sorry if I’ve ever said anything to you that you’ve been offended by, please help, I’d love to know more about your personal story, your family story, things that I can do in the community to try and help out’ and so from that perspective I think it’s been a wonderful thing to have happened to be able to have that conversation and for people to want to make change.”Christian noted, somewhat ruefully, that he had received more education about cultural awareness and understanding of the many and varied racial backgrounds in Australian life during a brief stint in a public service job prior to his professional cricket career, than in any of the many seasons since.”Before I started playing cricket I was working for the government in the Indigenous employment branch in the department of employment and workplace relations in the early 2000s, and one of the first things I did when I had that job, and the whole department had to go through it, was cross-cultural awareness training,” he said. “So you learned all sorts of things about our own culture and other cultures and how to integrate, and all that stuff.”It was all really interesting, fantastic, relevant stuff. That was in the early 2000s. I’ve been playing cricket ever since, and not once have I ever been through any kind of training or heard about any kind of training like that throughout cricket. So that’s one thing we could at least do to raise some awareness and to educate people within our sport. I just don’t think that’s something we’ve ever looked at in the past, and I think, particularly now is a great chance to do something like that.”Australia’s cricketers are still on their own journey to a better understanding of the game’s rich Aboriginal history, including the 1868 tour of England by an Indigenous team that was the first ever overseas visit by any representative sporting team from this country. In many ways the women’s team has been able to progress more fully on the path towards proper understanding and connection than their male equivalents.Dan Christian in his follow-through•Getty Images

This was underlined by how, after the men’s limited-overs team captain Aaron Finch stated that the team would not be “taking a knee” in recognition of the BLM movement before their first T20I in England last week, the Australian women’s team vice-captain Rachael Haynes stated that a deeper understanding of Indigenous culture and its connection to cricket had made numerous observances, both last year and in planning for the season to come, so much more meaningful.”The great thing about being involved with it was that it wasn’t a superficial event,” Haynes said of the team donning Indigenous-inspired uniforms for the Reconcilitation match played against England last summer. “Quite often when we do things on the field, you walk out as a player and you’re just part of that one moment and then you move on and you play the game. One of the things I really enjoyed about being involved in it was it started perhaps six months before that moment.”CA came and presented to us on the whole concept and then spoke about the jersey that was going to get produced and we did some activities leading into it as well to get an appreciation of indigenous culture and for me as a player that was much more valuable than just stepping out onto the field and going through the ceremony and not perhaps understanding different moments you were part of.”I think that’s something sport has a responsibility to do, is just because the lights and cameras are out and flashing, that’s not just the moment you’re looking to capture. If you want to be impactful long-term, you’ve actually got to take the opportunity leading in to educate the players on what they’re doing and why they’re doing it and what the opportunity is as well. Rather than just getting them to step out onto the field and be part of a ceremony which is really symbolic and great to be part of, but that shouldn’t be where it stops and starts.”Nevertheless, Haynes acknowledged the fact that instances of racist language and behaviour were still far more frequent in Australian cricket than anyone should condone, citing a recent example she had witnessed personally.”When I did hear it I was really taken aback in the moment and the situation, because it came from a place where it didn’t come from a teammate or the team environment, it came from a place surrounding that, and in a moment where I didn’t envisage that would happen,” Haynes said. “I did say something to call it out, but it really hit home to me that much of the points that are being raised around casual racism, even how its ingrained in some younger children, not even really knowing that’s what they’re being taught.”There’s lots of things we need to do to overcome that, how we talk in the media, how we call out behaviour. I think there’s a huge role for sport to play in that. We’ve started to see that as well even with other codes, people are really starting to call out poor behaviour, we’ve seen that a lot on social media. So sport has a huge role to play in trying to make people accountable for some of the things they’re saying.”Nyuon and Mohamed concluded their own many insights by noting that any “allies” to the cause of Black and Aboriginal justice needed to be well stocked with resilience and willingness to struggle. This first episode of Cricket Connecting Country, to be followed by two others, helps CA to enter into the many difficult conversations that will entail.

Sean Dickson, Heino Kuhn shine with the bat as task proves too great for Surrey’s bowlers

Daniel Norcross at Beckenham23-May-2019By the end of this fluctuating, frequently fascinating match, 22 players and a couple of physios will quite definitely have earned their sleep. Whether Surrey’s bowlers, who threw everything they had at a Kent side that showed exceptional character to survive a turbulent fourth day and force a draw, will be able to achieve the sanctuary of somnolence, is an altogether different matter.Kent began the day needing an additional, and highly improbable 380 runs to pull off victory with nine wickets in hand. Had they succeeded it would have been the 12th-highest successful run chase in County Championship history. The fact that scribes were rushing around, consulting scorers and
archivists in search of this arcane statistic tells you how well Kent’s middle order negotiated the bulk of a terrific day.Adam Riley, the nightwatchman, survived what in retrospect was a crucial 35 minutes before Sam Curran uprooted his leg stump with a yorker speared in from round the wicket. But in what proved perhaps the pivotal moment of the match shortly after, Curran was forced from the field, clutching
his hamstring. Surrey have had wretched luck with injuries this season, and being a bowler down on an unresponsive track under glorious blue skies put an ultimately impossible burden on the pace bowling trio of Morne Morkel, Rikki Clarke and Conor McKerr. Throughout this match the new ball has been a disproportionately powerful weapon. To be deprived of their chief exponent of swing was a cruel blow so early in the day.What followed was the day’s first flashpoint. Clarke, twice in two balls was convinced he had Daniel Bell-Drummond. The first was a superb piece of umpiring by Graham Lloyd who adjudged that the noise everyone heard was in fact the ball brushing the back of the batsman’s leg. The second decision was perhaps a little tighter. Bell-Drummond looked to be trapped bang in front on the knee roll. He might just about have jammed the ball into his pad. If he hadn’t, he was stone dead.Clarke took the latter view and expressed his displeasure. The umpires convened. Words were spoken. We will find out soon enough if there are ramifications. Surrey have been reprimanded before, and rather too often for their comfort. They really don’t need an appearance before the Cricket
Disciplinary Commission. The sound and fury was soon forgotten as Bell-Drummond was adjudged lbw in Clarke’s next over.Three down at lunch and the game was still very much Surrey’s for the winning. By tea, thoughts had flipped to an improbable and spectacular Kent run chase as Surrey’s bowlers laboured with the older ball. Once again Sean Dickson defied the attack with a compact and organised display. He fell nine runs short of what would have been his second century of the match, edging Clarke behind.Between now and late July many eyes will be on potential England openers for the Ashes. Dickson might just be one to keep an eye on. His wicket was the only one to fall in that middle session and Kent went to tea requiring a further 193 to win from 35 overs with six wickets in hand. Six and a half really given Riley’s nightwatchman status.Morkel inevitably was entrusted with the new ball as soon as it became available. Immediately he picked up Ollie Robinson, caught at midwicket to end a stand of 70 with Kent’s captain Heino Kuhn, who was threatening to reach the parts that other diminutive South African-born middle-order batsmen can’t reach.Robinson’s departure was followed soon after, though, by Kuhn, who was at the very least dismayed, incandescent with fury perhaps, when Lloyd decided that a ball that leaped from Morkel and seemed to take his shoulder was judged to have grazed his bat en route.At 263 for 6 and with another 26 overs to be bowled, fleeting thoughts of Kent’s highest fourth-innings run chase were abandoned. It was all about the draw now. Had Clarke, who bowled magnificently throughout this game, not overstepped when enticing an edge from Wiaan Mulder (again umpire Lloyd the adjudicator) into the momentarily gleeful hands of Dean Elgar at slip, that draw would most likely never have come. Instead Mulder hung on to the end to register an unbeaten half-century on his Kent debut to go with his five wickets.Alex Blake and Darren Stevens negotiated 70 balls between them and Harry Podmore managed to see out the last four overs to bring home ten points for the home side.Promoted teams often struggle in Division One. This year only one side will be relegated. In the last ten years, an average of eight points per match has been enough every year but one to guarantee finishing above the bottom club. Kent have so far managed 43 points in four matches. More importantly, they have stood toe to toe with the champions and despite a poor session at the end of day two, have come out with honours even.Their fans needn’t fear relegation. After a performance like this, they can entertain loftier ambitions.

Cricket Australia has made a written complaint to Cricket South Africa about taunts largely directed at the partners and families of Steven Smith’s team

Daniel Brettig in Cape Town23-Mar-2018Personal abuse directed by Newlands spectators at the Australian side during the third Test has been labelled “disgraceful” by the coach Darren Lehmann, as Cricket South Africa responded to a written complaint from Cricket Australia following taunts about the partners and families of Steven Smith’s team.David Warner’s post-dismissal exchange with a spectator on day two was the visible tip of an iceberg’s worth of abuse over the first two days of the match, with nine spectators ejected on day two, after three had been blocked from entry on day one for wearing offensive t-shirts on the opening day. None of the ejected spectators have been banned from returning later in the match.Lehmann said the abuse, typically directed at the nearest Australian fielder to the boundary when the South African side was batting on days one and two, was the worst his team had witnessed anywhere in the world. “We accept it all around the world, but as soon as they cross the line and they talk about players’ families the whole time and getting abused like that, it’s just not on,” Lehmann said. “There’s been various incidents throughout the Test series but this one has taken the cake.”I think it’s been disgraceful. You’re talking about abuse of various players and their families and personal abuse, it’s not on at a cricket ground anywhere around the world, not just here, it shouldn’t happen. You can have the banter, that’s fine, banter is good-natured, fun by crowds but they’ve gone too far here. We’ve written to Cricket South Africa, Cricket Australia have done that, we’ll see their response, but it’s been poor. We’ll see what happens, hopefully something.”In response, South Africa’s acting chief executive, Thabang Moroe, said fans on both sides needed to behave. “Cricket South Africa and the players appreciate the fans’ passionate support displayed at all our games,” he said. “However the events that transpired today were not tolerable and something that we don’t want to see at any of our Test matches.”We have since taken it upon ourselves to beef up our security personnel to ensure that players from both sides don’t have to endure such unfortunate behavior. Both CSA and the players encourage supporters to continue rooting for their teams and also to behave in a decorous manner that will allow this Test series to be played in true spirit of the game.”Australian touring teams have long acknowledged that they receive some of their harshest treatment from spectators in South Africa, although up to this point Warner’s tour had involved more exchanges with opponents than fans. In Durban he was captured on CCTV cameras exchanging words with Quinton de Kock, then responding angrily to the response from the South African wicketkeeper and needing to be physically restrained by team-mates as he climbed the stairwell at Kingsmead.That incident saw Warner fined and handed three demerit points under the ICC code of conduct, meaning he is one further disciplinary infraction away from a ban. De Kock was also fined over the episode, albeit on a lesser charge. Warner had alleged that his aggression was sparked by de Kock making personal remarks about his wife Candice.Between Test matches, offensive masks were distributed by fans in reference to her brief bathroom encounter with the rugby league player Sonny Bill Williams years before she and Warner became a couple. Two Cricket South Africa officials, Clive Eksteen and Altaaf Kazi, were suspended by the home board after allowing fans wearing the masks to be admitted to St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth and then posing with them for a photograph. In Cape Town, the t-shirt fans were barred from wearing into the ground stated “Warner where’s your wife? She’s just gone to the toilet for a minute”, while abuse of other players and their partners ramped up.”Yep it was personal and it was poor and he wasn’t the only one,” Lehmann said of the taunts at Warner. “There’s always going to be banter, as long as it doesn’t get personal, but it has gone too far with the crowd here and they’ve got to be better than that when they’re coming to international arenas to watch a game of two quality sides playing against each other. They go hard on the ground, there’s no doubt about that, but off the ground you don’t expect that when you’re leaving the ground or you’re having a go at someone’s family. It’s just disgraceful.”David Warner’s stump goes cartwheeling•AFP

Morne Morkel, who took his 300th Test wicket on day two, stopped short of criticising the Newlands crowd, and stated he had been on the receiving end of abuse from crowds in Australia.”We can’t control that. Unfortunately, there is a bit of alcohol and there’s hot sun and we expect that,” Morkel said. “When we play in Australia, I have played in Melbourne, I have copped the same sort of abuse. It’s part of the game but there is a line and its important not to cross that.”The crowd here is always amazing. They come out and support us all the time. Tomorrow is going to be even louder being a Saturday. It’s always special playing here at Newlands. It’s the marquee event and the way they get behind the boys and lift us up when we are out in the field is special.”South African teams playing in Australia have a history of facing verbal abuse or worse, dating back to the spin bowler Pat Symcox having a cooked chicken thrown at him on the SCG outfield during a limited-overs match in 1997. On more recent tours, other members of the South African side, including Hashim Amla, have been subjected to racial taunts. In 2005-06, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Ashwell Prince, Garnett Kruger and Shaun Pollock were among players racially abused.”None of the team minds any form of abuse because it happens in any country, the home side really gets behind it,” South Africa’s then coach Mickey Arthur said at the time. “But we feel once it becomes a racist taunt then the boundaries are being overstepped and the South African team categorically deplores that type of behaviour. I don’t think we can do too much more other than just make our point that we categorically deplore it and we do feel that boundaries are being crossed when that sort of thing transpires out there.”The events of that summer brought a fiercer focus from CA on crowd behaviour at grounds, including a “zero tolerance” policy for racial abuse, which could attract a life ban from venues. Advertising campaigns were also devised to educate spectators as to what was appropriate and what was not.Asked about crowd behaviour in Australia, Lehmann said improvement was needed across the board. “That’s not good enough from an Australian crowd point of view either,” he said. “We’ve just got to get better at watching the game of cricket, actually supporting both teams generally, and that’s something that both boards have got to get around.”

The Supreme Court, in a significant reprieve to BCCI and state office-bearers, has allowed them to serve separate nine-year terms at central and state level

Nagraj Gollapudi20-Jan-20171:58

Ugra: Attorney general’s intervention a sign of government backing BCCI

The Supreme Court, in a significant reprieve to BCCI and state office-bearers, has allowed them to serve separate nine-year terms at central and state level, permitting a total of 18 years in cricket administration. The clarification on Friday contradicted the Lodha Committee’s interpretation of the court’s order on January 2, when the committee said an office-bearer would be ineligible to continue if he had served nine years in total, whether at BCCI or state level or combined.The confusion over tenure arose after the court modified its January 2 order, which had originally said: “A person shall be disqualified from being an Office-Bearer if he or she has been an Office-Bearer of the BCCI for a cumulative period of 9 years.” On January 3, the court modified that to: “Has been an Office-Bearer of the BCCI or a State Association for a cumulative period of 9 years.”The original Lodha Committee recommendation regarding eligibility, which was passed by the Supreme Court on July 18 last year, had made it possible for an individual to serve nine years each at both BCCI and state level. A BCCI office-bearer’s cooling-off period could have been a three-year term at their state association, after which they could once again contest an election for a BCCI position. And if they won the BCCI post, the ensuing three-year term would serve as their cooling-off period from holding office at state level. An individual could therefore have spent 18 years in Indian cricket administration between the BCCI and his state association.Such a scenario was possible once again after the Supreme Court clarified the uncertainty that arose following the order on January 2 and 3, and reverted the terms of tenure to the original recommendation of the Lodha Committee.The purge of the existing BCCI and state leadership may not be as severe as previously thought•PTI

The Supreme Court also put off finalising the committee of administrators (COA) to supervise the BCCI to January 24. The court had asked amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium and senior legal counsel Anil Divan to nominate people for the COA, which they did by submitting nine names in a sealed envelope on Friday. The court asked the parties not to disclose the names, and pointed out a nine-member panel was “too big”.Upon studying the names, the court asked Subramanium if any of the candidates were over the age of 70, because the Lodha Committee had recommended that BCCI and state office-bearers should be under 70. Subramanium said a few names were over 70 and that the reasons for their inclusion were also listed.On January 2, the court had dismantled the existing power structure of the BCCI by removing the board’s president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke for impeding the implementation of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations. The court said the board would be supervised by a committee of administrators until new office-bearers were elected once the BCCI implemented the recommendations. The court had directed the COA to supervise the administration of the BCCI through its chief executive Rahul Johri.The COA’s other key function was to ensure that the Lodha Committee’s recommendations passed by the court order on July 18, 2016, were implemented by the BCCI and state associations.Last week RM Lodha, the former chief justice of India and chairman of the Lodha Committee, said the COA would issue a fresh set of guidelines for the BCCI and state associations to adopt the new constitution in accordance with the recommendations. “There has to be [fresh timelines], but that will be done by the administrators. We said we don’t have that much of time, and that there has to be layers of administrators,” Lodha said. “The changes will happen. We will be there to supervise and guide the administrators.”The Lodha Committee was formed in January 2015 to determine appropriate punishments for some of the officials involved in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal, and also to propose changes to streamline the BCCI, reform its functioning, prevent sporting fraud and conflict of interest.In January 2016, the committee released its report, which recommended an exhaustive overhaul of the BCCI’s governance and administrative structures. On July 18, the Supreme Court of India approved the majority of the recommendations and directed the Lodha Committee to supervise the BCCI’s implementations of the same. However, despite the Lodha Committee laying out timelines and other directives, the board did not cooperate because it said that its state associations objected to the recommendations. This impasse eventually led to the Supreme Court removing Thakur and Shirke from office on January 2, 2017.

While the bowlers have been central to Zimbabwe’s plans, Afghanistan have relied heavily on Mohammad Shahzad so far. Having come back from a 2-0 deficit, Zimbabwe start off as marginal favourites

The preview by Shashank Kishore05-Jan-2016

Match facts

Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Start time 1500 local (1100GMT)Zimbabwe’s bowling attack has shown better adaptability on slow Sharjah decks, with Nevill Madziva and Graeme Cremer central to their plans•Chris Whiteoak

Big picture

The series was nearly dead and buried when Afghanistan, cruising high and happy on a 2-0 lead, reduced Zimbabwe to 45 for 7 a short distance into the third ODI. Then Afghanistan took their foot off the pedal and slipped into their comfort zone in anticipation of a second successive series win. Half an hour’s indiscretion followed, and before they realised it, Zimbabwe had put up 175. Then they came out playing to the gallery, only to be brutally exposed against the swinging ball to give Zimbabwe an opening, which they tore into on Monday courtesy Chamu Chibhabha’s allround show. As a result, Afghanistan, who slipped at the first sign of turbulence, find themselves vulnerable, with plenty of doubt lingering over the temperament of the batsmen heading into the series decider.Cricket is often a confidence game, and there is little doubt as to which is the happier camp at the moment. For every step taken, Zimbabwe have often found ways to go back two steps. One such instance was their series loss to Afghanistan at home in October. Having started 2016 with two successive wins, the onus is on them to ride the momentum and make amends for that loss, for a slip-up here could also mean they will be edged out of the top 10 in the ICC ODI rankings.Afghanistan have relied heavily on Mohammad Shahzad with the bat and their plethora of spin options with the ball. The lean patch of Asghar Stanikzai and Mohammad Nabi hasn’t helped, and has put more pressure on Shahzad to alter his natural style of play and transform from an attacking batsman to an accumulator. Zimbabwe have been a little more rounded. Chibhabha aside, Graeme Cremer’s loopy legspin and Nevill Madziva’s late swing have accounted for a bulk of the batsmen in the middle overs. Hamilton Masakadza’s form has somewhat covered up for the inability of Sikandar Raza and Malcolm Waller to notch up scores of substance. Wednesday will be another chance to correct that.

Form guide

(Last five completed matches, most recent first)
Afghanistan LLWWW
Zimbabwe WWLLLL

In the spotlight

In the fourth ODI, Chamu Chibhabha became only the sixth Zimbabwean after Prosper Utseya, Andy Blignaut, Neil Johnson, Gary Crocker and Duncan Fletcher to achieve the double of a half-century and four wickets. He showed all the virtues of a good opener – left well, played late, held his composure initially, put away the loose deliveries. The disappointment of not carrying on was writ large on his face when he mistimed a pull to midwicket. He later admitted his batting was still a work in progress, particularly when it came to pacing his innings. He will have another opportunity to make amends in a crunch clash.Mohammad Nabi, Afghanistan’s highest run-getter in ODIs, has scores of 17, 33, 0 and 11 in his four innings so far. He has been unusually subdued and hasn’t been able to express himself in the manner that has brought him a bulk of his 1443 runs. With Samiullah Shenwari also being left out, Nabi’s return to form is vital for a predominantly top-heavy batting line-up. While Mohammad Shahzad’s belligerence is capable of ensuring they don’t miss their most accomplished batter, Afghanistan could be found wanting if law of averages catch up with their wicketkeeper-batsman.

Team news

The move to send Malcolm Waller in at No. 3 in the fourth ODI didn’t pay off. More importantly, it disturbed Masakadza’s rhythm. Zimbabwe’s most accomplished batsman could slot back in at his preferred slot, especially if Zimbabwe bat first on what is expected to be another slow Sharjah deck. With the team winning two games on the bounce, the only change they could possibly ponder is the return of Craig Ervine, who has fully recovered from a flu that kept him out of the third ODI, in place of Waller. That would mean somewhat countering Afghanistan’s spin threat by having a left-hander in the middle order.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Peter Moor, Chamu Chibhabha, 3 Hamilton Masakadza, 4 Craig Ervine, 5 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 6 Sikandar Raza, 7 Richmond Mutumbami(wk), 8 Luke Jongwe, 9 Graeme Creamer, 10 Neville Madziva, 11 Tendai ChisoroWith Stanikzai and Nabi not in the best of nick, there is a case to push Karim Sadiq, a regular opener till not too long ago, up the order. But two successive batting meltdowns would have invited a fair amount of soul-searching. If they want some experience in a crunch clash, they could go back to Nawroz Mangal, the former captain.Afghanistan (probable) : 1 Noor Ali Zadran, 2 Mohammad Shahzad (wk), 3 Mohammad Nabi, 4 Asghar Stanikzai (capt), 5 Rashid Khan, 6 Hashmatullah Shahidi, 7 Najibullah Zadran/Nawroz Mangal, 8 Mirwais Ashraf, 9 Dawlat Zadran, 10 Amir Hamza, 11 Shafiqullah

Pitch and conditions

Captains winning the toss have had no hesitation in batting first so far. The trend is unlikely to be disturbed, considering both sides will not want to fall back on the pressure of having to chase in a must-win game. The ball has nipped around under lights too, and cooler weather conditions at this time of the year should help the fielding side in the second session.

Stats and trivia

• A win in the fifth ODI will give Afghanistan only their second series win against a Full Member and strengthen their position at No. 10 in the ICC ODI rankings
• Peter Moor and Chamu Chibhabha’s 92-run opening stand is the highest of the series from both sides.