Andrew Flintoff, who stood in as captain for England’s drawn tour match in Colombo, has insisted that their preparations are going to plan ahead of next week’s first Test in Galle – despite another day that was cut short by rain in the mid-afternoon.”It’s a shame we couldn’t get a full match in as it starts raining about the same time every day,” said Flintoff. “But we have had some valuable match practice, all the boys had a bowl and we spent time in the middle. That is what we needed going into that first Test match.”Flintoff was unconcerned that England were unable to force victory, although they enjoyed much the better of the final day’s play as the Sri Lankan Cricket President’s XI reached the close on 135 for 4, an overall lead of two runs.”Obviously we wanted to win the game,” said Flintoff. “But it was also important that the batters got an opportunity and the bowlers got mileage in their legs.” With an unbeaten 151 for Mark Butcher, and a wicket apiece to James Kirtley and the three spinners, Ashley Giles, Gareth Batty and Robert Croft, England did just that.The first Test begins at Galle on Tuesday.
Somerset all rounder Ian Blackwell is beginning to feel the benefits of his new dietary regime.”Blackie” has been on a very strict diet since the end of the festive season on January 6th, during which he happily admits he “had a bit of a blow out.”Earlier today at the County Ground the 23-year-old, who is working in the office over the winter, told me: “Since I went on the diet a month ago I have lost six kilogrammes, which is very pleasing indeed.”Ian told me that he intends to stick to the new regime, and has been helped by the fact that his partner Clare is only buying foods that fit in with his new diet. “If it isn’t in the house then I can’t eat it, which is a great help,” he said.One of the downsides that “Blackie” is experiencing is the fact that many of his clothes don’t fit him now as well as they did before his diet. “Look at these trousers, I had them made for me when I went out to play in the Hong Kong Sixes, and now they are too big round the waist!” he said.”Blackie” has been joined on his diet by fast bowler Ian Jones, who was released by Somerset at the end of last season. Since then the 24-year-old has remained living locally, and is keen to try to find a new county for himself for 2002.Ian Blackwell said: “Ian Jones is also feeling the benefits of the diet that we are both following. It’s been a great help for both of us, it’s always good to have someone to help you along.”
Indian captain Sourav Ganguly on Sunday wanted his team to carry onthe good work after winning the first Test against Zimbabwe inBulawayo.”The boys are happy to have won a Test in 15 years outside the subcontinent. We have to build up on this now. It is good to have such astart but we have to be more consistent in winning abroad. We have tobe more consistent in playing good cricket,” Ganguly said.Asked if the second innings chase for his team was made easy becauseHeath Streak and Henry Olonga were missing from the Zimbabwean line-upGanguly countered saying that had Nehra not been banned they wouldhave got them out earlier.”If Nehra had not been taken off, we would have got them much earlier.There are no ifs and buts in cricket. Obviously they were a littlehandicapped without their two main bowlers. But these things happen ina game,” said Ganguly.Coach John Wright felt that Harbhajan Singh is developing his battingskills. “I think is he is developing his batting,” Wright said whenasked whether Harbhajan has the makings of an allrounder.Wright said he was pleased with Nehra as he fielded well and battedlong enough for the last wicket, adding 38 important runs. “It isgiving depth to our side,” the coach said.Wright did not feel that Sadagopan Ramesh, who made 2 and 17 in thematch, didn’t contribute in the game. “He took two outstanding catcheswhich actually turned the tide of the game."I am very pleased with the boys. We have the potential of winning onevery ground. I have always felt that. We coped very well. The processstarted in Bangalore and we took some outstanding catches in thisgame,” Wright said.Ganguly was not too upset with his own form. “Every time I get lowscores I think about the good scores I have scored in the past. I amnot worried, as long as the team wins. There is no point in doing welland the team not winning. I would love to score runs though”. he said.”The performance was satisfying. We took some outstanding catches inthe match and it means we have gone fitter which I think is veryimportant. We have tried to work hard on our fitness. We have tried toimprove the standards of our fitness,” said Ganguly.On Nehra’s ban, Ganguly said the warnings came quickly before he couldchange the end. “He was warned from the other side but these twowarnings happened very quickly. We could have got him from the otherend straightaway. But he kept telling me he would try and get off thedanger zone. I told him to come around the wicket but he was not toocomfortable around the wicket.”But Ganguly was not happy with the way India batted in the firstinnings. “We have played well but we could have done better in thefirst innings. We could have scored a few more runs in the firstinnings. Thanks to Bhajji (Harbhajan) and Sameer (Dighe) who addeduseful 90 runs, we had a decent total. Also, our bowlers could havedone a bit better, I thought they bowled short. We should have pitchedit up."Asked if he was worried whether Zaheer Khan would go the Nehra wayafter he was warned twice, Ganguly said that it crossed his mind. “Itdid cross my mind but Zaheer but was alright today. He came back overthe wicket and he was okay. We have a thought to carry back to Hararewhen we pick the team for second Test.”Wright too had his reaction on the matter. “I thought it was alearning process for all of us. Monitoring of the danger area istighter in Test matches. I should have monitored it myself but it is alearning process. As Sourav mentioned, it happened very quickly. Weknow we have time between this and the next Test match and we have towork very hard on it.”
Manchester United are in a period of transition with a number of big changes coming up at the end of this season as the club attempt to rebuild the squad and bring in a manager that can lead the Red Devils back to victory.
Now a fresh transfer update has emerged that could be another big change for the club.
What’s the word?
According to the Mirror Online, Arsenal will offer a contract to the Old Trafford outcast Marcus Rashford this summer.
The Gunners are reportedly on the hunt for a new front-line striker and believe that the Mancunian attacker could be the answer to their problems after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang departed for La Liga this season.
With Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah also both out of contract, Mikel Arteta is said to be on a mission to rebuild his attacking line when the season draws to a close in a few months time.
Man United must axe Rashford
It is clear that Rashford’s long term loyalty and love affair with his boyhood club has finally come to an end as reports have been growing on his desire to leave Old Trafford this summer following inconsistent game time under Ralf Rangnick’s reign.
With that being said, it could be the perfect opportunity this summer for the player and the club to mutually part ways in the best interests of the squad and in the best interests of Rashford himself, who will be looking for a more consistent role somewhere else whilst he still has time to develop and thrive.
United could also make a hefty return on their youth player turned first-team star, as the player has hit the highest market value of his career, with Transfermarkt currently reporting the attacker’s value at £76.5m and making this kind of profit on him could certainly boost the transfer funds offered to the new manager coming in to add new key players for the season ahead.
The £180k-per-week dud who was branded “embarrassing” by Rio Ferdinand, has struggled to make an impact in Rangnick’s side this season, and has found himself either left out of the starting line-up or failing to impose a real threat on his opponents.
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He has only scored five goals and registered two assists so far, equalling a goal involvement every 194 minutes compared to last season where he was contributing every 115 minutes.
Ultimately whether Rashford is in decline or just in desperate need of a change of scenery, the best outcome for all parties could be for the player to depart, and if interest continues to grow there will surely be no doubt that the powers at Old Trafford will be willing to listen to lucrative offers.
In other news: “It’s true”: Romano drops big update on Man Utd’s manager hunt, Glazers surely worried
Queensland have regained Michael Kasprowicz after a minor hamstring injury as they prepare to take on Victoria in a one-day match at the MCG on Wednesday. Kasprowicz pulled up sore during the Bulls’ win over Tasmania ten days ago and his presence will be a significant boost as his team aims to keep its hopes of defending its FR Cup title alive.The trip to Melbourne will also continue a hectic week for Ashley Noffke, who was released from the Australian ODI squad when Stuart Clark became available. Noffke’s busy period has included playing for the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra last Wednesday, flying to Melbourne for Australia’s Twenty20 international on Friday, making his ODI debut in Brisbane on Sunday and now returning to the MCG.Queensland have also included Lee Carseldine and Chris Swan to replace James Hopes, who is with the national team, and Greg Moller, who has been omitted. The Bulls are fourth on the FR Cup table, equal on points with the third-placed South Australia and one behind Victoria, who are second.Victoria welcome back Brad Hodge – he was rested from Saturday’s victory due to a Cricket Australia regulation – and he comes in for Michael Klinger, who broke a finger in the win over Western Australia. The coach Greg Shipperd will be treating the match as a virtual semi-final.”We’ve played some scrambling cricket, some winning cricket, of recent times,” he said. “We certainly know we’re not playing at our best – we’re looking for that perfect game, hopefully it will come [on Wednesday].”Queensland squad Jimmy Maher (capt), Nathan Reardon, Clinton Perren, Craig Philipson, Chris Simpson, Aaron Nye, Lee Carseldine, Ashley Noffke, Chris Hartley (wk), Michael Kasprowicz, Chris Swan, Scott Brant.Victoria squad Rob Quiney, Aiden Blizzard, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Andrew McDonald, Cameron White (capt), Aaron Finch, Adam Crosthwaite (wk), Bryce McGain, Clint McKay, Darren Pattinson, Peter Siddle.
Aaron Heal troubled Victoria with three wickets and gave Western Australia a good chance of taking first-innings points at Melbourne. The home side stumbled to 5 for 192 at stumps as Heal’s 3 for 35 left much work for Michael Klinger, who was on 8, and Andrew McDonald (11 not out).David Hussey and Nick Jewell each threatened a big score as the Bushrangers tried to overhaul the Warriors’ 8 for 372. Hussey was especially fluent, driving superbly and lifting Heal over long on for six. He fell for 58 when he flicked a Ben Edmondson half-volley to Marcus North, who took a spectacular one-handed catch at full stretch at midwicket.Hussey’s dismissal came at the tail end of a disappointing two sessions for Victoria, after Heal removed Lloyd Mash, Rob Quiney and Cameron White. Mash prodded to silly mid off, Quiney lazily drove back to the bowler and White played on with a poor attempt to punch through the off side.Jewell made a determined 141-ball 53 before he became the first victim for Danny McLauchlan, the left-arm fast bowler making his debut. Jewell, who was restricted by a sprained right ankle, miscued a pull that fell into the hands of Heal at mid on.Jewell sustained the injury when he took a terrific catch in the outfield shortly before Western Australia declared. Running back towards the boundary from mid off, Jewell made significant ground to take the high chance and landed just short of the rope with an army-roll but came up clearly in pain.His effort ended David Bandy’s innings of 53, as the Warriors comfortably added 108 to their overnight score. They finished just before lunch and no Victorian took more than two wickets as the Bushrangers once again struggled to finish off the tail, which has been a recurring problem all year.
Bangladesh have named an 18-man training squad to prepare for their series against Australia. The bulk of the party consists of the players who completed a 4-0 win over Kenya in the recent one-day series.The only notable omissions are Tushar Imran, the middle-order batsman, and Nazmul Hossain, the right-arm seamer, who have been involved in the recent series against Sri Lanka A.Faruque Ahmed, the chief selector, told the : “They were out of the list only because of their commitments with the A side to play three one-dayers. Actually it is completely an unchanged squad but this time I can assure you that we will be flexible. We can call one or two players out of the list if we feel the need to do so at any time during the tour.”Mushfiqur Rahim is retained in the squad after playing in the second Test against Sri Lanka and the selectors are confident is a important role to play in Bangladesh’s future. “He might have failed against Sri Lanka but we still believe that he has the potential to serve the country in the longer-version game,” explained Faruque. “We are trying to find a solid combination – that’s why we went for the same team.”True we were not fully successful against Sri Lanka in the home series but there were many positives. I think our one-day team has taken a shape following our performances in the last couple of months but we still have to work hard for the longer-version.”Habibul Bashar, the captain, said he was pleased to have an unchanged squad after the promising performances Bangladesh and produced in recent months. Prior to their win over Kenya they had showed signs of improvement against Sri Lanka, winning a one-day international at Bogra.”I think there is hardly any reason to bring changes in the team or call-up new players because we have been playing good cricket for the last few months,” said Bashar. “Yes, once again I want to say that it would have been nice if we had a very good off-spinner in the squad but there is no one to fill this desire.”Squad Habibul Bashar (capt), Khaled Mashud (wk), Nafees Iqbal, Mohammad Ashraful, Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh, Aftab Ahmed, Shahriar Nafees, Alok Kapali, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammed Rafique, Manjarul Islam Rana, Mashrafe Bin Mortuza, Tapash Baisya, Enamul Haque, Abdur Razzak, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain.
Twenty20 cricket should be played at future Commonwealth Games, according to Don Parker, England’s sports director for next year’s Games in Melbourne. The reduced form of one-day cricket has proved a huge hit in England during its first two seasons, and has now been taken up in South Africa and Australia.The 2010 games will take place in Delhi, and Parker believes Twenty20 is just the right format of cricket for the Games – if the top players were available. “If everything could be done to clear the cricket calendar for that period of time and everybody would be available, I think Twenty20 cricket would be great,” he told newspaper. “It would have attracted a lot of interest in Melbourne, and in India they’re even madder about cricket than in Australia, if that’s possible.”Cricket has been included in past Commonwealth Games, but has not become a permanent fixture. In 1998, South Africa won the gold medal, defeating Australia in the final in Kuala Lumpar. However, the matches did not have official one-day status – the likes of Jamaica and Barbados played as islands, not as the West Indies – and some of the teams were not at full strength. Australia were without Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, while England did not even send a side.International Twenty20 cricket is now becoming part of the calendar. New Zealand played Australia at the start of their current tour and England will take on Australia, at the Rose Bowl in Hampshire, on June 13.
Ranjith Fernando, Sri Lanka A team manager in South Africa and Kenya, hascriticised his young players for lacking professionalism. Fernando, speaking after the return of the team, worried about the future of Sri Lankan cricket unless the players accelerated their development by shouldering greater responsibility.He reserved praise though for the captaincy of Russel Arnold and describedthe batting of Nuwan Zoysa, who scored runs as an opener in Kenya, as arevelation. Both players are expected to be recalled to the national squadlater this week.”It is no use trying to fool yourself on the success we achieved in Kenyaand to some extent in South Africa. We have to look ahead and see whether wehave players for the long term,” said Fernando.Sri Lanka A lost the three-match one-day series 2-1 and the two unofficial Tests series 1-0 in South Africa. They followed it up with a 5-0 thrashing of the Kenyan national team in the one-day series, providing some compensation for the Sri Lanka team’s loss to Kenya in the 2003 World Cup.”We have players as short-term replacements, but on the long term theseplayers need definite improvement in their approach to the game. They musttry to take decisions and do things on their own rather than wait forsomeone to push them or tell them what to do. This is what is lacking in ourcricket culture,” said Fernando.”They are a fine bunch of cricketers who will develop with time. But thepace at which they are going now they will need at least another two yearsto get there. They’ll need to accelerate their development,” he said.A good example Fernando gave was that when the fast bowlers came up againstfast and bouncy pitches in South Africa, they were unable to decide on theirown how to adjust to the proper line and length.”The injury to Michael Vandort was the biggest drawback we faced in South Africa. He pulled a hamstring and was out of the two important four-day games,” Fernando said. “Michael was in excellent form and we were looking to him to hold the batting together.”Russell Arnold played very well in the one-dayers in Kenya. Although he didnot get any big scores he showed a lot of potential as a leader,” said Fernando.”Nuwan Zoysa’s batting was a revelation. He bowled well and his fitness hasimproved. But I think his potential as a batsman should be utilised to thefull,” he said.Fernando also said that Jehan Mubarak, who scored centuries in South Africa aswell as in Kenya, should be “ready to shoulder more responsibilities”, thatLanka de Silva “played well within his limitations”, Rangana Herath “bowledwell in conditions that suited him”, and that Prasanna Jayawardene kept wicket”brilliantly” but needed to improve his batting.Apart from the injury to Vandort, the other opener, Avishka Gunawardena, wasforced to return home with a fractured forearm that has put him out of action for at least 4-6 weeks. Fast bowler Omesh Wijesiriwardene suffered a shoulder injury while batting.
The Redbacks returned to Adelaide from Brisbane today after defeating Queensland by 9 wickets. The Redbacks were the first team to beat Queensland in Brisbane for almost three years.Last years Bradman Medalist Mike Smith received Man-of-the-Match honourswith figures of 9-138.The Redbacks now sit in 2nd place on the Pura Cup Table on 20 points, 2behind leaders the QLD Bulls.ING- REDBACKS v TIGERS – Adelaide Oval Friday February 1.The Rebacks will now take on the Tasmanian Tigers this Friday February 1 ina Day/Night match at Adelaide Oval. The Redbacks are in equal 3rd place onthe ING Table on 18 points with the Blues. The Queensland Bulls again head thetable with 23 points, with the Warriors on 22.The Redbacks squad for this Friday’s match is as follows:
Darren Lehmann (Captain)
Greg Blewett (V.Captain)
Nathan Adcock
Chris Davies
David Fitzgerald
Mark Harrity
Ben Johnson
Graham Manou
Paul Rofe
Mike Smith
Paul Wilson
Brad Young
The match will start at 2.30pm and finish at 10.15pm.JUNIOR REDS MOVIE DAY WITH THE REDBACKSOver 250 Junior Redbacks supporters will get the opportunity to mingle withtheir favorite Redbacks players this weekend. The players will attend aspecial screening movie at the Academy Theatre in the City at 3pm on Sunday.Country CarnivalThe BankSA Senior Country Carnival starts next Monday. Eight senior countryzone teams will come to Adelaide to compete over 2 weeks. The Team of theChampionships will then be selected to play in the Favell Woon game atAdelaide Oval No.2 against the Favell XI.