The Australian batsman Phil Jaques will join Yorkshire for the 2005 season after the county fought off competition from other clubs for his signature.Jaques, 25, has already played for Yorkshire this season, when he was brought in to cover Darren Lehmann’s international duties for Australia. And he established himself quickly, averaging over 58 in 19 innings in the Division Two championship, while he has also performed well in the one-day form of the game.”I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Yorkshire and I’m delighted to be going back next summer,” Jaques told the Stellar Group Website.”Everyone at the club made me feel very welcome and I was pleased to be able to repay them in some way with the runs I managed to score,” he added.”Hopefully next season we will be able to improve and launch a promotion challenge in both the four-day and the one-day games.”
Frizzell County Championship Division OneSussex 521 for 8 v Essex at Colchester Scorecard Murray Goodwin maintained Sussex’s momentum at the top of the County Championship with a superb 210, as Essex’s bowlers were thrashed to all corners of Colchester on a brutal day of run-scoring. Goodwin’s innings was the cornerstone of a puzzlingly all-or-nothing effort from Sussex. He opened up with a 202-run stand with Richard Montgomerie (97), and added a further 113 for the sixth wicket with Matt Prior (104 not out), but until Jason Lewry joined Prior towards the end of a tiring day, none of Sussex’s batsmen got a look-in. The main reason was the menacing presence of Mohammad Akram, the only Essex bowler with any bite, who took 5 for 98, including four batsmen in single figures.Nottinghamshire 177 v Kent 242 at Trent Bridge Scorecard Another astonishing innings from Kevin Pietersen, the Graeme Hick de nos jours, could not prevent Kent from taking a first-innings lead on another substandard Trent Bridge pitch. Twenty wickets fell in the day, five of them to Kent’s Martin Saggers (who on this week’s evidence can expect his long-awaited England call-up in roughly 2008), as Notts were bundled out for 177 in 40.5 overs, and Kent replied with 242, their last wicket falling to the final ball of the day. Nottinghamshire’s innings, however, owed everything to Pietersen, who thumped 18 fours and two sixes in his 99-ball 100. Only two other batsmen managed double figures. Kent were under no illusions about the state of the wicket, and sure enough they struggled when their turn came to bat. Mark Ealham fared the best, thumping 11 fours and a six in his 83, but once again there were only two other scores of note. But, if the recent Test is anything to go by, Kent’s first-innings lead is likely to be decisive.Frizzell County Championship Division TwoSomerset 296 v Worcestershire 86 for 2 at Worcester Scorecard Somerset’s captain, Michael Burns, top-scored with 89 to give his side a competitive total against the Division Two leaders, Worcestershire, on the first day of their match at New Road. By the close, Worcestershire had lost Anurag Singh and Graeme Hick, both to Aaron Laraman, but Stephen Peters had helped the score along to a healthy 86 for 2, with a composed 44. Somerset had earlier been bowled out for 296, with Nantie Hayward showing the sort of wicket-taking form that might, one day, earn him a recall to the South African Test team. He finished with 3 for 53, including Burns himself in a brisk second spell, and Matt Mason also impressed with 3 for 56. Gareth Batty, overlooked by England this week, took wickets and a bit of tap in his 25 overs, while Steve Rhodes picked up five catches behind the stumps.Derbyshire 138 v Northamptonshire 224 for 1 at Derby Scorecard Fresh from his unbeaten triple-century against Somerset, Mike Hussey continued his eye-popping vein of form with an unbeaten 103, to take his runs tally in his last three Championship innings to a Graeme-Smith-esque 534 (for once out). He was joined by the barely-less prolific Phil Jaques, who closed on 99 not out, as Derbyshire faced up to yet another drubbing at the Racecourse Ground. They had earlier been decimated for 138, the only resistance coming from their No. 3 Rawait Khan, whose 76 was his second Championship half-century. Andre Nel started the damage with the wickets of both openers, and Jeff Cook swung through the middle-order with 4 for 35.Durham 388 for 7 v Hampshire at Chester-le-Street Scorecard Martin Love converted his first century of the season into a magnificent unbeaten 181, as Durham took charge against Hampshire at the Riverside. Love’s labours tidied up a ragged start to the innings for Durham, for whom Paul Collingwood was making his first start of the season. He didn’t last long, making just 9, but Love and Gary Pratt (66) added 161 for the fourth wicket to swing the day away from Hampshire. Dmitri Mascarenhas kept plugging away with 3 for 59, but Hampshire have it all to do on the second day.Second Division – Day 2Gloucestershire 237 for 7 v Glamorgan 331 at Bristol Scorecard Glamorgan remained on top by the end of another tense day’s play in their Second Division promotion battle at Bristol, as Gloucestershire’s batsmen made heavy weather of their first innings. The morning session had belonged to Gloucestershire, after Jon Lewis had revived their prospects by wrapping up all four of Glamorgan’s remaining first-innings wickets in double-quick time, but runs were equally hard to come by in Gloucestershire’s innings. Phil Weston and Tim Hancock added a steady 98 for the second wicket after the early loss of Craig Spearman, but wickets fell at regular intervals thereafter. Hancock made 64, and Alex Gidman reached the close on a vital 63 not out.
Western Australia remained in a strong position by the end of the second day’s play of its Pura Cup match against New South Wales here at the SCG today.The visitors, inspired by fine centuries from captain Simon Katich (131) and Mike Hussey (100), had reached a mammoth 6/511 by stumps andestablished a lead of 296 runs over the Blues in the process.The Warriors’ performance was cemented by their ability to produce consistently effective partnerships and to prevent frontline bowlers NathanBracken (1/51), Don Nash (0/69), Anthony Clark (2/101) and Stuart Clark (2/90) from restricting the flow of runs. Nor did they allow the quartetto scent many hopes of making inroads.The Western Australians produced five half-century partnerships in all and two of those continued on to ring in the century. In so doing, theWarriors were able to post the state’s second highest total in history against New South Wales.Western Australian captain Katich was delighted with the way his team had batted through the day.”We’ve obviously batted well in partnerships so far. To think that, at the start of the day, (we were) 2 for 140-odd and we’ve ended up at 6 for 500- I mean I’ll take that any day.”The Warriors surpassed the tally of 3/491 registered in 1974-75 shortly before stumps and are also potentially well placed to erase the score of6/594 – made in the 1968-69 season – from the record books.It was Katich who led by example today. The 26-year-old made a constructive century before falling lbw to debutant left arm spinner AaronO’Brien (1/134). The scalp of Katich handed O’Brien his first wicket in the Pura Cup competition.Before padding up to the 20-year-old, Katich played an intelligent innings, restricting his use of the hook and pull shot until after he reached triplefigures. The left hander serially hit the ball into gaps; pushed singles consistently; and relied on good running between the wickets to secure hiscentury.That’s not to say that he didn’t eliminate belligerent strokes from his artillery either, as his century included six fours and three sixes, including two insuccession off his eventual wicket taker.For his own part, Katich attributed the century to a touch of fortune and an improvement in concentration.”I was lucky today,” said Katich, who had edged a catch into the slips off a Bracken no ball when his score was only 28.”For most of the summer I’ve been getting starts – 30s and 40s – and I had a big game away today.”I got caught off a no-ball … you need luck in this game.”Katich’s innings was also a timely one, played as it was before national selector Trevor Hohns. He continues to be the man most likely to fill abatting spot in the Test eleven in the event of injury or a loss of form for one of the country’s current top six.Hussey also played his best first-class innings of the season and was a key force in constructing a platform upon which the visitors could assembletheir big lead. With Scott Meuleman (60), he had added an excellent 127 runs for the first wicket yesterday; today, another 139 came in a fineassociation with Katich.First innings points – as well as Katich’s half century – were duly obtained in the opening session.Hussey’s three figures were raised shortly after the break, though some of the gloss was taken off the achievement when Bracken upset his stumpswith the very next delivery.Like Hussey, young left hander Marcus North (26) fell shortly after an adjournment, though it wasn’t until after tea that he edged a flighted AnthonyClark delivery to Michael Bevan at slip.Brad Hogg (57*) and late inclusion Chris Rogers (36*) maintained the momentum on a golden two days for Western Australian batsmen in bothSydney and Adelaide. Wicketkeeper-batsman Ryan Campbell (57) also played effectively before driving a catch to Michael Clarke off Clark.New South Wales, meanwhile, used eight bowlers in its attempt to quell the flow of runs. Part timers Mark Higgs (0/9), Greg Mail (0/9) and Clarke(0/17) were even used late in the day in the hope of snaring an elusive wicket. Strangely, Bevan didn’t bowl himself on a pitch yielding turn andbounce at times.
Left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar’s second five-wicket haul of the match helped Uttar Pradesh seal a 155-run win over Gujarat in Valsad. Manpreet Juneja (91 off 101 balls) and Axar Patel (80 off 89) played gritty late-order knocks and added 142 runs off 153 balls for the seventh wicket, but couldn’t avoid defeat.Set a target of 431, Gujarat were reduced to 6 for 2 inside five overs by Saurabh and Praveen Kumar. Gujarat rebuilt via a 60-run stand between Bhargav Merai, who scored 54 off 77 balls, and captain Parthiv Patel. But, after Praveen dismissed Parthiv, Gujarat slid from 66 for 3 to 110 for 6 with left-arm spinner Ali Murtaza picking up two of the three wickets to fall.Juneja and Axar counterattacked, but Murtaza removed Juneja to claim his third wicket before Saurabh came back to clean up the tail. Saurabh finished with a match haul of 10 for 143. ScorecardHalf-centuries from Yusuf Pathan, Aditya Waghmode and Deepak Hooda, along with a useful hand from Swapnil Singh late in the innings helped Baroda secure the first-innings lead against Madhya Pradesh in Vadodara.Resuming on 188 for 4, the hosts lost their first wicket in the ninth over of the day when Waghmode was caught behind off offspinner Jalaj Saxena.Legspinner Mihir Hirwani, who finished with five wickets, first dismissed Yusuf, and a few overs later, removed Atit Sheth and Rishi Arothe off consecutive deliveries to reduce Baroda to 251 for 8, still 18 runs short of Madhya Pradesh’s first-innings total.However, Swapnil and Ajitesh Argal put on 33 runs to take their team past the visitors’ total, and eventually pushed the lead to 27 runs. Madhya Pradesh, in the second innings, went to stumps on 113 for 2. ScorecardSeamer Aswin Crist’s maiden five-wicket haul helped Tamil Nadu bowl out Railways for 164 and enforce the follow-on in Delhi.Railways, resumed on 129 for 7, lost opener V Cheluvaraj, who had batted nearly five hours, in the fourth over of the day when Crist had him caught behind. The hosts were bowled out soon after.Railways, however, put up a better show in their second innings, and once again Cheluvaraj was at the forefront. The team had got off to a shaky start and had slipped to 77 for 4, before Cheluvaraj, scoring his second half-century of the match, and captain Mahesh Rawat raised an unbroken 123-run stand to erase the deficit.
An injury expert has now dropped a big Newcastle United claim on Allan Saint-Maximin before they face Brentford away from home in the Premier League.
The Lowdown: Missed West Ham…
As quoted by The Chronicle, Eddie Howe revealed that Saint-Maximin got a ‘kick on his calf’ against Aston Villa, which subsequently ruled him out of the 1-1 draw away to West Ham United over the weekend.
He has recently posted a video of him in training after missing the game, suggesting that he could now be available again to face the Bees on Saturday afternoon, in what is another crucial match in the battle to avoid relegation.
The Latest: Injury expert reacts
Speaking to Football Insider, injury expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in medicine and data analysis, has now claimed that Saint-Maximin should be fit and available to play in West London after his latest injury setback:
“He took several whacks, which isn’t uncommon for Saint-Maximin.
“For the most part, he dusts himself down and gets on with it. His powers of recovery are great. Unfortunately, this time he didn’t recover as hoped.
“But I’m fairly confident we should see him back against Brentford this weekend. The fact it was just a knock, that’s huge for Newcastle.
“But Newcastle did show against West Ham that they aren’t a one-man team, in any case. On another day, they could have left with three points.
“But I fully expect him to be in and around that starting XI barring any setback on the training ground this week.”
The Verdict: Huge
As Dinnery claims, it is huge for the St. James’ Park faithful that Saint-Maximin only appears to have suffered a knock, and so should be ready to come back into the team on the weekend.
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There is no doubting his importance to the side, as he is their second-top scorer in the top flight so far this term with five goals, while his three assists are more than any of his teammates (WhoScored).
Saint-Maximin also averages more shots and dribbles than any of his teammates, and the Magpies will certainly need their shooting boots if they are to take all three points away from their trip down south.
In other news, find out which six-foot-three ‘Hercules’ NUFC have sent scouts to watch here!
ScorecardFile photo: Dishant Yagnik took Rajasthan home with an unbeaten 16•Sakshi Telugu Daily
Rajasthan stole a slender two-wicket win against Odisha by chasing down 230 in the last innings on the third day in Jaipur. Rajasthan turned things around despite being routed for 51 in their first innings, which is the second-lowest first-innings total to win a Ranji Trophy match.Rajasthan were 79 for 2 overnight, still 151 away, and lost Puneet Yadav (59) after he scored only three runs on the third morning. They lost two more wickets – Tanveer-Ul-Haq (21) and Ashok Menaria (20) – in quick succession and were struggling at 118 for 5 before Rajat Bhatia (31) and Siddharth Dobal rescued them with a stand of 76 runs to take them close to 200. However, Bhatia was dismissed by Basant Mohanty and Dobal went on to register a fifty before he too was removed by Mohanty for a run-a-ball 52. From 210 for 7, Rajasthan lost Aniket Choudhary too at the score of 223 but Dishant Yagnik (16*) and Pankaj Singh (8*) held their nerves to take six points. Scorecard Right-arm seamer Mukesh Kumar, playing his third first-class match, and Pragyan Ojha shared six wickets between them to wipe Assam out for 143 in 54.4 overs. Resuming on 1 for 4, after Ashok Dinda had scythed through the top order on the second day, Assam lost Amit Verma to Ojha to 9. Tarjinder Singh, aided by contributions from Arun Karthik (30) and Syed Mohammed (31), mounted some resistance but Assam were asked to follow on.They fared much better in their second dig, reaching 72 for 2 before bad light curbed another day in Guwahati. Opener Pallav Kumar Das (28*) and Gokul Sharma (8*) stayed unbeaten after Aamir Gani dismissed Rahul Hazarika and Amit. ScorecardRavi Jangid followed his third first-class century with figures of 4 for 44 as Haryana were bowled out for 241 and asked to follow on. Haryana’s steady opening partnership of 118 between Nitin Saini and Chaitanya Bishnoi showed only little of what was to follow.It was offspinner Akshay Wakhare who broke the stand when he got rid of Bishnoi for 47. Saini reached hid fifty but was bowled by Jangid soon after. He made light work of the middle order before Shamsher Yadav become the second half-centurion of the innings. However, Aditya Sarwate collected four wickets of his own to perform the final rites on the innings.Jangid was at it again, removing the openers in Haryana’s second innings. Saini had a good start again, but did not convert it into a big score. Mohit Hooda and Rohit Sharma managed to survive till stumps but Vidarbha are on course to seal their quarter-final spot. ScorecardFifties from Shrikant Mundhe and Rahul Tripathi set Karnataka a target of 293 in Pune. The double-treble winning defending champions lost R Samarth to Nikit Dhumal, who took his match tally to four, but Mayank Agarwal and Robin Uthappa scored at a fairly brisk clip as Karnataka closed the day at 61 for 1 in 15 overs.Earlier, Tripathi, who started the day on 31, went onto make 78 before he was undone by S Aravind. Kedar Jhadav and Vishant More failed to build on starts but Mundhe, coming in at No.8, struck 81 off 150 balls, including seven fours and two sixes to push Maharashtra to 260. Vinay Kumar was the pick of the bowlers for Karnataka, claiming figures of 4 for 71.
Player signing up with the Indian Cricket League (ICL) will be banned for life, Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Indian board, has said.”Our stand is very clear. Players who take part in the ICL will never be eligible to play for the country again. It is up to the players to decide what they want to do”, Shah told PTI in Mumbai.Asked whether the ban would apply to players yet to represent the country, Shah said: “Definitely. It is applicable to all players,” adding that domestic cricket would also be out of bounds for such players.Shah said that the BCCI would take a decision on Kapil Dev’s chairmanship of the National Cricket Academy at its general body meeting on August 21.Kapil had joined the ICL’s executive board as its chairman and has been at odds with the BCCI ever since. He had called recent remarks made by Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, about the ICL, “shameful”.”If the board thinks that only the national XI can attract crowds, then it should stop conducting any domestic tournament,” Kapil told PTI.The ICL, which is scheduled for September, will feature six teams playing Twenty20 matches. Each team will comprise four international players, two Indian players, and eight upcoming players. Brian Lara is the only confirmed player on the ICL list.
Six South African grounds will compete to be one of the three venues for the Twenty20 World Championship in 2007. The decision will be made by the newly-formed Policy Committee which met for the first time on Wednesday after the ICC limited the number of grounds to three.John Smith will chair the committee and Steve Elworthy will be the tournament director, a press conference in Johannesburg announced. Smith hhas chaired the Ministerial Committee on Cricket Tranformation before, while Elworthy has already proven his worth as a commercial cricket director.Gerald Majola, the chief executive of the South African board, heaped glowing praise on both, calling Elworthy “the ideal tournament director” and Smith “an outstanding chair.” He added: “John is one of South Africa’s leading jurists and has an extensive knowledge of South African cricket and its vision.”
Michael Clarke has no plans to alter his aggressive approach after his stunning series in India. Clarke’s youthful style alongside his mostly 30-something team-mates is breathtaking and he will make his home debut against New Zealand at the Gabba on Thursday. “What’s worked for me has got me this far and I think it’s important to continue doing what comes naturally,” Clarke told the Daily Telegraph.Instead of resting since returning from India, Clarke has already trained with New South Wales and was considering a club appearance until named in the Test side. “It’s going to be pretty special playing on home soil in front of my family and friends in Brisbane,” he said. “This is my dream.”Clarke will reunite with Darren Lehmann, who was recalled after injuring his hamstring in the third Test at Nagpur. The role of Lehmann, preferred to Simon Katich, as a mentor and nurturer apparently sealed his place and kept his Test career alive. At 29, Katich is five years younger than Lehmann and has time to return. “I really don’t know what got me over the line but I have the experience factor,” Lehmann told the Courier-Mail. “I think my role is to help the young guys throughout their upbringing in the Australian team.”John Buchanan, the coach, said too much was made of the team’s average age of 31. Only Clarke, 23, Ricky Ponting, 29, and Jason Gillespie, 29, are under 30. “Whether you’re 23 or 38 it’s still about whether you’ve got the skills and whether you can apply the skills,” he said. “There’s no doubt Darren has got the skills and that he’s applied the skills very well over the last 12 or 18 months.”Steve Waugh, who retired at 38, said he was never concerned by age. “I don’t think 30 is old for a cricketer any more,” he said. “I know with myself in the last three years I felt the fittest in my whole career because you’ve got more people around to help you.”
Mike Hussey, the Australian batsman, will replace Jon Lewis as Durham’s captain next season. Durham will be Hussey’s third county side, after a successful three-year stint with Northants, and half a season with Gloucestershire this year.Hussey, who has also captained Western Australia and Northants, said he would relish the challenge: “There is a lot of young talent within the team and I’m really looking forward to helping them develop. I am convinced that Durham are more than capable of achieving promotion in both one-day and Championship cricket in 2005.”Martyn Moxon, the former Yorkshire and England batsman, who is now Durham’s coach, explained: "It was felt that a change in leadership would help the team’s progression. Mike will bring a new approach to the squad in addition to the wealth of experience he acquired as captain of Northants and Western Australia."Moxon praised Lewis, the outgoing captain, saying that he had done a superb job throughout his tenure, while David Harker, Durham’s chief executive, added that the club were looking to Lewis to support Hussey in his captaincy.There will be another Australian addition to Durham’s 2005 squad – yesterday they announced that Ashley Noffke, the 27-year-old Queensland fast bowler, was also being drafted in.