Lisa Keightley kept Australia on course for the semi-finals with a brilliant 103 from 154 balls, as the hosts, South Africa, were swept aside by 97 runs at the de Villiers Oval in Pretoria. Australia, undefeated so far in the tournament, were asked to bat first but made solid progress throughout their innings, as Keightley added 61 for the first wicket with Belinda Clark, and 96 for the second with Karen Rolton. Johmari Logtenberg was the pick of South Africa’s bowlers, with 2 for 38 from eight overs.South Africa’s reply never really got started. Cri-Zelda Brits made a battling 49 but received stant support, with South Africa’s golden girl, Johmari Logtenberg, once again falling wastefully, run out for 3. South Africa had been fined one over for a slow over-rate, but translated that form into their batting as well, as they trickled along at barely three runs an over. At 118 for 7, the match was dead in the water, but South Africa’s tail at least gained some useful batting practice.India 141 for 3 (Chopra 64*) beat England 139 (Edwards 58, Brindle 51*, Goswami 4-27) by seven wickets Scorecard
Charlotte Edwards and Arran Brindle made a pair of vital half-centuries, but none of England’s other batsmen could even reach double figures, as India took the honours in the vital top-of-the-table clash at the Laudium Oval, Tshwane. After winning the toss, England made heavy weather of the conditions, and slumped to 56 for 4 before Edwards was joined by Brindle in a 38-run stand for the fifth wicket. But, before they could forge a true recovery, Jhulan Goswami returned to the attack to scythe down the tail with figures of 4 for 27.Needing just 140 for victory, India were made to work hard for their runs, as Lucy Pearson, Helen Brunt and Clare Connor maintained a tight line and length in the early part of the innings, and kept the run-rate to manageable proportions. At 35 for 3 in the 20th over, it was anyone’s game, but India stretched their legs as the change bowlers entered the attack, and with Anjum Chopra and Rumeli Dhar adding 106 for the fourth wicket, England’s resistance was finally broken. Scorecard West Indies boosted their prospects of a semi-final spot as Sri Lanka were overwhelmed by eight wickets in a one-sided encounter at Benoni. After winning the toss and batting first, Sri Lanka slumped to 152 all out, an effort that was marred by five suicidal run-outs. Dedunu Siriwardene stood out from the ruins with a classy 52, although she too ended up short of her crease with 11 balls of the innings remaining.West Indies never looked like handing back such an advantage, as Nelly Williams anchored the reply with a resolute 70 not out from 124 balls. She added 68 for the first wicket with Nadine George, and a further 74 with Juliana Nero, as West Indies won with more than 10 overs to spare. ScorecardNew Zealand kept up the pressure on the group leaders, by easing to a nine-wicket win over the winless Irish at Harlequins Oval. Ireland batted first and were bowled out for a paltry 91, with Helen Watson taking 3 for 19 as the pick of New Zealand’s attack, ahead of Louise Milliken and Natalee Scripps who both picked up two wickets.Only Caitriona Beggs, with a defiant 30 from 102 balls, put up much resistance, but it was in vain once Aimee Mason and Maia Lewis were into their stride. They added 83 for the second wicket to wrap up victory with more than 31 overs to spare.
Zimbabwe have announced the national and A squads to face Bangladesh.Zimbabwe A will play in a three-day warm-up match at the CFX Academy in Harare from February 14 to February 16. Alester Maregwede, the wicketkeeper, will lead the team, with Travis Friend as his deputy.Zimbabwe A Alester Maregwede (capt, wk) Stuart Matsikenyeri, Jordane Nicolle, Trevor Gripper, Blessing Mahwire, Douglas Hondo, Gavin Ewing, Vusumuzi Sibanda, Richard Sims, Douglas Marillier.Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe selectors have announced that they will finalise their starting eleven for the first Test, on Febraury 19, on Wednesday 18.Zimbabwe (from) Heath Streak (capt), Tatenda Taibu (wkt), Grant Flower, Dion Ebrahim, Stuart Carlisle, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Andy Blignaut, Raymond Price, Blessing Mahwire, Sean Ervine, Trevor Gripper, Douglas Hondo, Gavin Ewing.Bangladesh (from) Habibul Bashar (capt), Rajin Saleh, Khaled Mashud, Kumar Baishya, Hannan Sarker, Shahriar Hossain, Mohammad Ashraful, Aziz Khan, Manjarul Islam, Anwar Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahman, Alok Kopali, Mohammad Rafique, Alamgir Kabir, Monjurul Islam, Al Shahriar
Auckland snatched a thrilling last-over win from Wellington in their State Shield one-day match on a first-rate one-day pitch at North Harbour Stadium today and jumped from fifth to equal first on the Shield table.Aaron Barnes, the all-rounder who did not get a professional contract with Auckland after being granted a benefit season, and who only came into the team as a replacement, was Auckland’s special hero yet again, masterminding the unbeaten 85-run stand which lifted Auckland from 169 for five to the winning total 253 against Wellington’s 252.Auckland could also look with pride at the crash-bang innings of 65 by the opening batsman Llorne Howell which gave Auckland the top-gear start which allowed Auckland to muddle through the middle of the innings and still finish full of fight and success when Barnes and Kyle Mills (32 not out) fashioned their famous winning stand.But when regarded as a guide to how some of the players, and New Zealand as a team, may fare in the World Cup next month the game left several feelings of unease.When the New Zealand side was named the absence of Chris Nevin, the Wellington opening batsman and wicket-keeper was explained away by the need to stiffen the batting, with Mathew Sinclair being fitted into the top order.At the same time Paul Hitchcock, the medium-to-quick bowler and handy batsman was left out, and with the nagging thought that if Chris Harris did not play New Zealand might go into the World Cup with bowlers aiming to take wickets rather than have the balance of one or two medium-pace misers that might be just as vital to the New Zealand attack.Today both Nevin and Hitchcock played with the skill and craft of genuine New Zealand one-day players. Nevin batted close to two and a half hours when starting the Wellington innings with 82. It was a mixture of blazing strokes in his favourite mid-wicket and extra cover areas, and any number of tidy ones and twos which kept the runs flowing in.Compared with some of the opening batting that New Zealand players have offered in recent matches Nevin would win the race by a furlong or two.Hitchcock does not look like a five-star, award-winning player – but then again neither did Gavin Larsen or Harris in recent national sides. Hitchcock simply is a very organised all-round cricketer. On today’s evidence he would fit very neatly into a well-balanced one-day side.In the last quarter of the Wellington innings Hitchcock scored 39 from 35 balls as he and Mayu Pasupati mocked what was supposed to be a menacing “death” bowling attack from Auckland.Hitchcock bowled like a stingy tax-collector in the first two thirds of the Auckland innings and when he came back in a last-gasp four-over burst he flummoxed the Aucklanders by offering only three singles over two vital overs. It was a small masterpiece by a man who obviously knew exactly what he wanted to do with the ball.And it was in direct contrast to the final bowling flings by Andre Adams and Mills, the Aucklanders who are evidently regarded as key men in the World Cup bowling line.In the first half of the match Adams and Mills were workmanlike. In the last few overs, when there was a chance to peg Wellington back to the low 200s (after looking like 300 when Nevin was flourishing), Mills and Adams were awfully inaccurate.In their last five overs, when Hitchcock and Pasupati – not exactly world-class batsmen – were swooping on anything loose, Mills and Adams had the undying ambition that a diet of short-pitched fliers would put these Wellington upstarts in their place – apparently runless as they were busily ducking out of danger.Instead Hitchcock and Pasupati savaged those last five overs. Adams was hit to 11, six and 14, Mills for four and 14 – 49 runs in five overs by a couple of low-order battlers.Denis Aberhart, the national coach, was at the game. The three national selectors Sir Richard Hadlee, Brian McKechnie and Ross Dykes were not noticed among the few hundred spectators. They should have been, for there were some valuable lessons to be learned about some of the national or non-national players.
Australian captain Steve Waugh carried out his threat to lead his playersoff the field on Tuesday after a fan threw a firework onto the field duringthe Australia-Pakistan Tri-Nations game at Trent Bridge.With Pakistan at 250 for six off 45 overs, a number of fireworks went off inthe stands. Supporters scrambled away and stewards and police moved in.But one of the fireworks, which didn’t appear to go off, landed on the fieldclose to fielder Brett Lee and Waugh, who had threatened before the game hewould take his players off the field if there was any further misbehaviourafter Sunday’s crowd invasion at Headingley, led them off.After an 18 minute delay, during the which the Australians agreed to resumeprovided there was no further trouble, the match resumed.The security at Trent Bridge had been beefed to prevent a repeat of Sunday’sscenes at Headingley where stampeding Pakistan fans left a steward withbroken ribs, a broken nose and a damaged spleen.More than 350 stewards were on alert and temporary, plastic fences just hungover the advertising hoardings in case anyone decided to run on the field.The measures have been taken by the local club to avoid a repeat of the twopitch invasions that have marred this 10-match series. After celebratingPakistan fans ran onto the field at Headingley on Sunday and the steward layinjured on the field, England skipper Alec Stewart took the unprecedentedstep of conceding the match to Pakistan to for safety reasons.Steward Stephen Speight, 31, said he had been trying to hold on to thestumps when he was kicked in the face and chest by a group of fans.”My head felt like it had just been kicked around a football field,” Speightsaid.In an emergency the plastic fences will be hoisted by the stewards to stopthe invading spectators and anyone caught running into the field will bearrested, according to the local chief executive David Collier.Thousands of Pakistan fans, who appear to have outnumbered the Australiansupport, made it virtually a home match for their side, sounding horns andcreating the sort of atmosphere that has become a typical Pakistan games inthis series.There had been no trouble until the fireworks went off in the Radcliffe Roadstand housing most of the Pakistan fans. Most of the fans moved away fromthe area where they were going off and some were cowering in their seats.Waugh took his players off while the two Pakistan batsmen, Rashid Latif andAzhar Mahmood, initially stayed out on the field before they also left thefield.
While Leeds United are a completely different outfit to the side which finished 15th in the Championship back in 2014/15, with Victor Orta, Andrea Radrizzani and Marcelo Bielsa working wonders both on and off the Elland Road pitch over the past three and a half years, there were nevertheless a couple of decisions made during the darker days of the Whites’ history that will still be haunting the Premier League side.
One such call will undoubtedly be Massimo Cellino’s decision to pass up the chance to sign Harry Maguire back in the summer of 2015, with Leeds having been reported to hold an interest in the then-Sheffield United centre-back, only for the defender to ultimately secure a £2.5m move to Hull City.
Cellino had a nightmare on Maguire
Since then, the now-29-year-old has gone from strength to strength, playing a promotion to the Premier League with the Tigers back in 2015/16, as well as highly impressing for Hull over his 29 top-flight outings in the following campaign – earning a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.11 in 2016/17.
This form led to Leicester City splashing £17m on the signing of the England international in the summer of 2017, with Maguire further establishing his reputation as a top-level centre-back over the next two seasons with the Foxes, earning a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.03 in 2017/18 and 7.05 in 2018/19.
Maguire was once again on the move in the summer of 2019, with Manchester United breaking the world record transfer fee for a defender via their £80m signing of the centre-back – since which, despite widespread criticism, the £190k-per-week man has generally done an admirable job for the Red Devils, earning seasonal SofaScore match ratings of 7.13 in 2019/20 and 7.13 in 2020/21.
As such, regardless of the general opinion of the £60m-rated player who Jurgen Klinsmann dubbed a “mustang” – while, admittedly, hindsight is a wonderful thing – it is undeniable that the Cellino had a nightmare when failing to cough up a mere £2.5m for Maguire back in 2015, as this decision cost the Whites a massive payday.
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AND in other news: Huge boost: Double Leeds United injury update emerges, Jesse Marsch will be buzzing
Shoaib Malik’s initiation in to the captaincy has been a mixed one. He begansmoothly in May last year with an ODI series-win over Sri Lanka, and led ayoung side to the final of the ICC World Twenty20 in September.Since then, the going has been rougher, with four consecutive series losses (ODI and Test) to South Africa and India cranking up the pressure on him. Talk of newcaptains hasn’t been far away, despite the Pakistan board appointing him captainuntil December 2008.But as he prepares to lead Pakistan in their first assignment of 2008, againstZimbabwe, he is hoping a new year might bring new results. “I am more confident nowas captain,” he told reporters days before the first ODI in Karachi.”The senior players are supporting me and I’m happy the board has placed itsconfidence in me. I don’t worry about how much time I have. I admit mistakes weremade in the last seven months, but this year there will be no repeat.”Poor results bring their own pressure, often putting personal performances out ofcontext. Malik’s ODI numbers since taking over as captain aren’t bad – from 13matches he averages four runs more than his career average of 34 – yet he was stillasked about a dip in form.”I don’t think my recent record is that bad if you look at it. In my last match inJaipur, I was player of the match [for an all-round performance]. I just want to makesure that the consistency is there,” he said.Malik also asked for more time to be given to Geoff Lawson, who took over as Pakistan’s coach last August, stressing that this was his first international assignmentin that role. Though not overtly criticised, Lawson’s impact has been repeatedlyquestioned and some officials have been privately underwhelmed by his contributionso far.”Bob Woolmer had his own skills, Geoff has his own,” Malik countered. “Bob came with a lot of top experience with South Africa and Warwickshire while this is Geoff’s first international role. It takes time to settle in to that and we should give him that.”There was doubt over Malik’s participation in the run-up to the Zimbabwe series dueto an ankle injury sustained in India, but he believes he has now fully recovered.”I am fit. I came through my rehabilitation, passed a fitness test and am doingeverything the others were at the camp.”With Australia scheduled to arrive soon – to provide the sternest test yet to hisleadership – Zimbabwe offers Malik the perfect platform to chalk up somemorale-boosting wins, ideally on the back of some impressive personal contributions.”This is a good opportunity to try out some young talent and to work out plans aheadof the Australia series. You can’t underestimate Zimbabwe, but we will put all ourefforts in to it.”
ScorecardMohammad Kaif hit a furious 131-ball 151 to help Uttar Pradesh amass 365 before Shalab Srivastava and Praveen Kumar shared seven wickets between them to bowl UP to a crushing 197-run victory over Rajasthan. Kaif launched a ferocious assault on the bowlers, smashing 10 fours and five sixes in his 184-minute stay in the middle. Anshul Kapoor, playing in his sixth game, gave Kaif able support with a career-best 87 and Suresh Raina too joined in the carnage with a 39-ball 50. For Rajasthan, Anshu Jain hit a career-high 95 but he was the only batsman to cross 25 as the seamers wreaked havoc. ScorecardIn a low-scoring encounter the Delhi bowlers shared the spoils equally to bowl out Himachal Pradesh for 68 to secure a win. Earlier, Virender Sehwag, batting in the middle order, hit 54 and Abhishek Sharma contributed an unbeaten 34 in the lower order to take Delhi to a fighting 170. Amit Bhandari rocked the HP chase with three early wickets after Ashish Nehra got a wicket in the first over. Pradeep Sangwan joined in the fun as HP slid further towards defeat. ScorecardKaran Goel and Dinesh Mongia came to the party again as Punjab posted 269 and coasted to victory as Rajesh Sharma grabbed a four-wicket haul to polish off Jammu & Kashmir for 185. Goel was involved in two century stands – 106 for the opening wicket with Ravneet Ricky and 141 with Mongia – to lift Punjab to a healthy total. J&K lost wickets at regular intervals, with their chief tormentor Sharma, the offspinner, ending up with figures of 4 for 25. ScorecardHaryana rode on an allround effort from Amit Mishra, 45 runs and 4 for 29, to beat Services by 112 runs at Ludhiana. Mishra put on 114 runs for the opening wicket with Sumit Sharma before Mahesh Rawat, the wicketkeeper-batsman, and Dhruv Singh added an unbroken 92-run stand to lift Punjab to a huge 294. Services started off confidently courtesy, a 72-ball 73 from Yashpal Singh, and reached 110 for 1 when Mishra got into the act. He struck twice is quick succession, including the wicket of Yashpal, to reduce Services to 115 for 3. Vinay Singh, the other spinner, got two wickets in two balls to push Services to 128 for 5, a position from which never recovered. ScorecardSunil Dholpure grabbed a career-best five for 44 to spun Madhya Pradesh to a 72-run victory at Indore. Put into bat, MP rallied through fifties from Syed Abbas Ali and Shadab Khan to reach 246. The Railways chase seemed to going smoothly at 86 for 2 when Dholpure, the offspinner, derailed them, ripping through the middle and lower middle-order. Railways collapsed to 124 for 8 and only a dash from the tail helped them reach a decent 174.
Jeremy Snape has been named the new captain of Leicestershire following the surprise decision of HD Ackerman to stand down. Snape, who played 10 one-day internationals for England, will form a new management team with Tim Boon, who has recently been appointed as coach.Snape admitted to being surprised by his promotion, having featured primarily as a one-day specialist last season. “It’s been a surreal few days for me in considering this new role,” he said, “but I was very impressed with the ideas which Tim and chairman Neil Davidson put forward and it’s a fantastic opportunity for me to be involved in shaping the club’s future.”Snape has been preparing for his life after cricket by studying for a Masters degree in sports psychology over the last two years. He now hopes to put that knowledge to good effect with Boon.”I was certainly very impressed with Tim’s work as a coach when I was playing for England. He’s been working with the most improved and successful team in world cricket in recent years and Tim’s attention to detail and technical analysis means he will bring very high expectations to Leicestershire.”Ackerman, who joined Leicestershire under the Kolpak ruling in 2005, has said he wants to concentrate on his batting, despite scoring 1027 Championship runs last summer and topping the Twenty20 run chart.”It’s with great regret that I’m standing down from the captaincy, but I feel that freeing myself from the burden of responsibility in the coming season will enable me to make a bigger contribution with the bat.”However, apart from reaching the Twenty20 semi-finals, Leicestershire had a poor season. They finished second-bottom in Division Two of the Championship, were beaten in the second round of the C&G Trophy and narrowly missed out on promotion in the National League.Now, Ackerman feels it is the right time, with a new coach on board, for the club to start afresh. “I strongly applaud Tim Boon’s appointment and both he and the new captain will have my wholehearted support. My decision to step down means Tim can start with a clean sheet.”
Brett Lee’s pace teammates may be fighting to keep him out of the Test side, but the incumbent trio is united in defending him in the beamers controversy. While Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie added their views to the on-purpose versus accidental debate, Lee believed the uproar over his waist-high full toss would not affect his push for a Test return.”I know there’s a lot of talk from a few journos back home and obviously I’ve copped a fair bit over here,” Lee told the Sydney Morning Herald. “I wasn’t under any pressure [on Tuesday] to go out there and prove anything. I had nothing to do anything different.”Lee’s teammates encouraged him to remain aggressive despite the criticism from John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach, and former players such as Rodney Hogg. “If Brett was fair dinkum and wanted to hit someone, they would be at the throat but they’re down at the waist,” Gillespie said. McGrath told the newspaper he was unhappy with the way Lee had been viewed in Australia, but “you expect it from the New Zealanders”.The four bowlers named in the 13-man Test squad are jostling for three positions in the first Test at Christchurch, which starts next Thursday, and the condition of the wicket is likely to determine who misses out. “We want to keep this four going forward for the Ashes and for a couple more years to come,” Lee said. “We want to make this our group.”Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, hinted yesterday that Lee was not an automatic selection despite his intimidating one-day form and McGrath said that the only difference between the four bowlers was that Kasprowicz didn’t have a Test half-century. “Only one of us doesn’t dye his hair,” was the quick reply of Kasprowicz, whose top score is 25.
CloseCanterbury 443 and 58 for 1 beat Auckland 403 on the first innings ScorecardAn interesting finish had been building for the Canterbury-Auckland showdown, but it was negated by Christchurch’s weather. Only 1mm of rain fell in Canterbury over the month of December, but some welcome relief for parched grasslands meant there was an early end to the game at Hagley Oval.Two periods of four overs and six overs were possible before misty drizzle set in and forced the umpires to abandon the match soon after the lunch break. Peter Fulton was 28 not out at the end with Shanan Stewart 15 not out.There is a break in the Championship now while the annual one-day domestic series, for the State Shield, is played. It begins on January 9.CloseCentral Districts 350 and 291 beat Otago 209 and 298 by 134 runs ScorecardOtago were looking for a substantial total to beat Central Districts at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth. They were set a target of 433 to win, but in spite of some hard hitting by their lower-order, they were unable to get any closer than 134 runs short.It was a deserved change of fortune for Central Districts who, in earlier games in the competition have been unable to finish off opponents. But this time Jamie How’s career-best bowling of 3 for 55, Lance Hamilton’s 3 for 45 and Michael Mason’s 2 for 34, allowed CD to take maximum points from the game.Marcel McKenzie (58), Nathan McCullum (53) and Warren McSkimming (32) offered some defiance but ultimately it wasn’t enough and Otago finished the fifth round, second from the bottom and CD were fourth.CloseWellington 250 and 190 beat Northern Districts 125 and 221 by 94 runs ScorecardWellington moved into second place in the State Championship after claiming maximum points from Northern Districts on the final day at Westpac Park. Wellington started the last day needing only three more wickets, and conceded only 31 more runs in doing so.In a low-scoring game, the requirement of 316 to win was always going to be tough for Northern Districts and they were unable to dominate a competent Wellington attack. James Franklin continued his good allround season by taking 3 for 65. Matthew Walker’s ability to tie down an end was a useful weapon throughout the game and he took 2 for 18 in the second innings, from 21 overs.Mark Gillespie added 2 for 50, Luke Woodcock 2 for 44 and Jeetan Patel 1 for 18. Wellington took their points to 14, six behind competition leaders Canterbury.