Deep Dasgupta and Mohammad Kaif are leading their respective sides in a Ranji Trophy final for the first time. Yet, both seem to be guarded, confident and wary of their opponent.For Kaif, even if the Lucknow pitch is a native one, he is not reading too much into it. “The wicket doesn’t make a difference. On the day how we play matters more,” he said at the KB Singh Babu Stadium today. Kaif’s morale-booster to his side, which he calls a “gel of experience and youngsters”, is three outright wins in their last three games, including the semi-final against Mumbai. “Our bowling is our strength and the fact that we have taken 20 wickets on three different occasions will hold in our favour.”Dasgupta, meanwhile, is banking on Bengal’s strong batting order to come good. “We definitely are confident in our batting considering that each one of us from one to seven in the batting order has scored a century this season, which proves there is not one person we are banking on.” As for the fast bowlers, he cites Shib Paul, Ranadeb Bose and Saurashish Lahiri as having enough ammunition to blow UP aside if they stick to the basics.Both captains acknowledge that due to the slowness of the Lucknow pitch, the patience of the batsmen could in the end single out the winner. At the same time, Kaif and Dasgupta are not overwhelmed by the successful run of the other’s team and instead are looking to play the final like any other game without putting pressure.
scorecardJai Prakash Yadav’s five-wicket haul devastated North Zone, limiting them to a meager 104 on the first day of the Duleep Trophy final at the Vidarbha stadium. After Mohammad Kaif won the toss and put them into bat, North Zone lost wickets regularly with only Ritender Singh Sodhi showing resistance with 27. Yadav’s 5 for 26 was well-supported by Rudra Pratap Singh and Murali Kartik, who chipped in with two wickets apiece. North got off to the worst possible start, being reduced to 34 for 5 in 26 overs. However, they fought back well to capture four vital wickets, leaving Central on 94 for 4 at stumps. The first to go was Sanjay Bangar, their opener, with no run on the board. Naman Ojha, also opening, was the highest contributor with 55. Gagandeep Singh, bowling medium-pace, claimed 2 for 36.
England A 100 for 3 (Lumb 30*, Gidman 21*) beat Malaysia CA 99 (Jones 4-22) by seven wickets ScorecardEngland completed a second win against a Malaysian Cricket Association Invitation XI at the Royal Selangor Club, Kuala Lumpur, with Simon Jones taking another important step back to full fitness. The Glamorgan pace bowler took four for 22 from his six overs as England A won by seven wickets with time to spare.It was perhaps a strange decision by the home captain to bat first on winning the toss, even though his side was bolstered by the inclusion of three members of the touring party. They were soon in trouble with Graham Wagg, who took three wickets in the opening game of the tour, claiming two wickets in the second over of this match when there was only a single on the board.Bilal Shafayat was one of the players guesting for the MCA, but he was bowled by Sajid Mahmood for four and Ed Smith was dismissed in similar manner by Graham Napier for 12. That was when Jones came into the attack to take the next four wickets in quick succession, including Simon Francis, bowled for a duck.Shaftab Khalid claimed the wicket of Sarath, the one Malaysian batsman who held up England A’s march through the opposition, before Mahmood claimed the final wicket and the home side were bowled out for 99 in 28.1 overs.England A took only 23.3 overs to knock off the runs. Although Scott Newman and Kadeer Ali fell cheaply, Kevin Pietersen set about the attack in muscular fashion with three fours and a six in his stay of 31 balls producing 30 runs. When he went, it was left to Michael Lumb and the captain, Alex Gidman, to knock off the required runs without further alarm.The match won, and with a full house expected for the afternoon, the sides then played an unofficial match of 25 overs a side. England A scored 198 for five in their innings, with MCA 90 for six when the rain came to force an abandonment.
South Africa have taken the First Castle Lager/MTN Test by the scruff of the neck as the visitors collapsed from 81/1 at tea to 120/8 when bad light brought another early end to proceedings in Durban.In just 16 overs the hosts tipped the scales completely in their favour, with the pace of Makhaya Ntini and Mornantau Hayward ripping the heart out of the Pakistan top and middle order.An excellent opening partnership from Taufeeq Umar and Saleem Elahi gave Pakistan a very good start. After seeing off the new ball they gradually upped the tempo, with Umar playing some graceful straight drives.Up to tea, the South African bowlers tended to bowl too wide and too short. They lacked penetration and did not cause any real problems. The pace of the pitch seemed to favour the batsmen and with the likes of Younis Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana to come South Africa’s 368 did not look to be a problem.Hayward had begun fairly ineffectively but the wicket of Umar, caught at slip for 39, injected some new live into the South African attack. The opening partnership of 77 had set the innings up for the batsmen following but they failed miserably.Khan shuffled in front of one from Shaun Pollock to be trapped leg beforefor one – 83/2. Elahi, who had batted so well, mistimed a pull from Ntini to be caught for 39 – 83/3.Inzamam, fending Ntini off the body, was caught for 18 – 107/4. Faisal Iqbal was run out by Pollock for six – 119/5. Youhana, fending Ntini off the body, was caught for 12 – 120/6.Abdur Razzaq, driving at Hayward, was caught at gully for one – 120/7, and Saqlain Mushtaq was clean bowled by Hayward without scoring – 120/8.The Test had been turned around, and Pakistan’s immediate target to avoid the follow-on is 169. With the South African bowlers looking forward to an overnight rest, there is no doubt that if Pakistan fall short, Shaun Pollock will ask them to bat again.The day had started well for Pakistan, dismissing Jacques Kallis for 105, only adding one to his overnight score when he shouldered arms and was bowled by a Mohammad Sami reverse swinger.Pollock looked comfortable enough in scoring 21 but it was Mark Boucher whoplayed a gem of an innings to reach his twelfth Test fifty, and in so doingbecame the eighth wicket-keeper to reach the milestone of 200 dismissals and2,000 Test runs. After the loss of Kallis, Boucher was mainly responsible forseeing South Africa to lunch and a final total of 386.Waqar used the four bowlers at his disposal well, with Saqlain taking 4-119 off 37 overs, Sami 3-92 off 26 overs and the captain himself 3-91 off 25. The only bowler not to get a wicket was Abdur Razzaq.For Pakistan the day ended with a nightmare that they will want to forget. Unless they sort out their technique against the short ball, they can kiss this Test and the series goodbye. To come back from this position will require a brilliant performance from one if not all of their batsmen.
Trent Alexander-Arnold could be fit for Liverpool’s vital Premier League clash with Manchester City, according to journalist James Pearce.
The Lowdown: Liverpool suffer Trent blow
The Reds are firing on all cylinders at the moment, with their quadruple chances still alive going into April, in what could be a legendary season at Anfield.
They suffered a blow recently, however, with Alexander-Arnold suffering a hamstring issue in the 2-0 win away to Arsenal in the Premier League.
It was reported that he would miss ‘weeks’ and therefore the potentially season-defining trip to City on April 10th, but that may have changed.
The Latest: Promising update emerges
Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, The Athletic‘s Pearce claimed that Alexander-Arnold could now be available, in what is a significant update:
“Trent Alexander-Arnold’s rehab progressing well. Chance he could be fit for crunch clash at the Etihad on April 10 – but that would be a quick return. Important hurdles still to clear. (Includes an update on Naby Keita too).”
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The Verdict: Potentially result-defining
Alexander-Arnold’s influence is absolutely enormous, so him starting at the Etihad a week on Sunday has the potential to alter Liverpool’s title chances.
The 23-year-old is the Reds’ main creative force, registering 15 assists this season, with so much of their play coming through his wand of a right foot, in terms of his passing, crossing and energy down the flank.
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Alexander-Arnold being fit would give City so much more to worry about than if Joe Gomez plays at right-back, with all due respect to the makeshift full-back, and it would enhance Liverpool’s hopes of picking up one of their biggest Premier League wins of all time.
In other news, Fabrizio Romano has dropped a key Liverpool transfer claim. Read more here.
The venue for New Zealand’s Twenty20s against England will be switched, the New Zealand board has announced.The Twenty20 to have been played in Christchurch on February 5 has been switched to Auckland, and the Twenty20 on February 7 originally scheduled for Auckland will now be in Christchurch in a direct switch.”The change to the schedule has been made in response to the scheduling of Classical Sparks in Hagley Park on February 5,” said Peter Dwan, NZC’s commercial manager. We were concerned about the effect on resources of holding two large events in Christchurch on the one night.”By making the switch Christchurch audiences will have the opportunity to both attend Classical Sparks and a Twenty20 match against England. We acknowledge that this change may cause inconvenience to some England supporters which we, of course, regret. We are working to minimise disruption to those affected.”
Ricky Ponting has called for a greater effort from the Australia batsmen after his side was seriously challenged in their last two CB Series games. Michael Hussey carried Australia home in both matches after the top order struggled to chase small totals.At Brisbane last Friday, Australia were 4 for 48 chasing England’s 156 and two days later at Sydney, the score fell to 3 for 17 in reply to New Zealand’s 218. Although Australia won both games, the form of players like Matthew Hayden and Ponting himself was a worry.”I think we’ve got a bit of work to do, to tell you the truth, the last couple of games we’ve played we haven’t been chasing big totals and we’ve managed just to scrape across the line both times,” Ponting told . “Although we’ve been winning I think we’ve got a lot of areas for improvement, and all of that for us will start today.”Ponting was speaking ahead of Australia’s training session at Adelaide a day before they faced England in the seventh match of the CB Series. The players have had four days’ break in between games and Ponting said he hoped that would freshen them up and ensure they were at their best against England.”We’ve had a couple of days at home after the last game,” he said. “We’ve tried to tailor our training that way so we get some time at home, but when we hit the ground today it’s flat out getting prepared for a big game tomorrow and areas we’ve been deficient in.”
Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain, dodged a question whether Sourav Ganguly’s name would be in the team list he would exchange with Inzamam-ul-Haq before the two players go out for the toss in the first Test starting at Lahore on Friday.Dravid told reporters, “We haven’t thought yet about the playing eleven. At present all the squad members are up for selection. We would wait till we see the wicket and then decide on the matter.”Greg Chappell, the coach, refused to comment on who would open the Indian innings but said it was a pleasant dilemma. He said, “We have three very good openers and it’s unfortunate one of them would have to be left out. But that’s a welcome sign. It’s always better to have a dilemma on who to leave out rather than who to include.”Zaheer Khan, Wasim Jaffer and Parthiv Patel, all of whom are staging comebacks, hoped they would do well if given a chance.”I plan to contribute to the team’s success whether I’m playing or not,” said Zaheer, who was ignored for the three home Tests against Sri Lanka and 12 ODIs before being named in the touring party.Jaffer, who last played for India in 2002, said, “I am happy to be part of the team. Hopefully I can play a part.” Parthiv Patel also expressed his happiness to be back and said, “When I get an opportunity I will look towards making the most of it.”Anil Kumble expressed happiness at being back in Pakistan for another series and felt his counterpart in the rival team, Danish Kaneria was a much improved bowler now. Kumble dismissed the suggestion that the weather in Lahore might be a deterrent. “I have bowled in cold conditions in the past and after 15 years of international cricket, I don’t think it will be a handicap,” he said.
South Africa have named an unchanged squad for the last three matches of the Standard Bank one-day international series.Speaking to the media after South Africa’s comprehensive 108-run win in the fourth game at Newlands, Haroon Lorgat, the convener of selectors, said: “Our job as selectors becomes a lot easier when the guys perform as well as they have in the last three matches. With the players settling down well in their roles it is important to show confidence in them and maintain continuity.”The only possible change to the squad was the return of Charl Langeveldt, but that was ruled out by the fact that he was still unable to bat after breaking his left hand during the Test series.South Africa lead the seven-match series 2-1, with the next ODI to be played at East London on February 9.South African squad Graeme Smith (capt), AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Adam Bacher, Jacques Rudolph, Ashwell Prince, Andrew Hall, Justin Kemp, Mark Boucher (wk), Shaun Pollock, Nicky Boje, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini.