Ticket sales for the opening ODI of the five-match series between Pakistan and India at Karachi had to be suspended when fans broke through security cordons causing mayhem, and ending with police having to restore order.The number of people trying to buy tickets caught the authorities by surprise, and the situation became more serious when frustrated fans started throwing stones at the police, who in turn retaliated by using batons to disperse the crowd. Several people were hurt, none seriously.Onlookers blamed the Pakistan Cricket Board’s handling of the sales, pointing out that it only opened three sales booths – with a total of eight windows – despite the massive demand which should have been forseen. The PCB has previously used a variety of outlets, including banks, to sell tickets but opted to restrict sales to the stadium box office on this occasion.”We will resume the ticket sale from Monday and in an orderly manner by increasing the number of booths and will have outlets other than the National Stadium,” Rameez Raja, the PCB’s chief executive, told reporters. “We have only 20,000 tickets for sale after 20 percent have already been sold on the internet and in a city of 140 million people such minor incidents take place due to over-demand."
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ADELAIDE, Jan 7 AAP – The lights were hours from being turned on and those planning to head to the cricket after work were still at their desks when Australia A defeated Sri Lanka at Adelaide Oval today.The match was over by 5.16pm (AEDT), just three hours and one minute after it started, including a 10-minute break between innings, as Australia’s second-string side humiliated a self-destructing Sri Lanka by 10 wickets.The tourists’ inability to cope with a bouncy, but true, Adelaide pitch was exposed as they were skittled for 65 in just 25 overs, with veteran Hashan Tillakaratne (11) the only Sri Lankan batsman to reach double figures.All-rounder Ian Harvey took the stunning figures of 3-2 from four overs, after opening bowlers Brad Williams and Nathan Bracken took two wickets each to lead the destruction.In reply, Australia A openers Greg Blewett and Jimmy Maher both made 28 not out as their side reached the target in 11.5 overs and less than an hour, in one of the most emphatic victories imaginable.Only an Australian Cricket Board (ACB) decision to stage a second, 25-overs-a-side exhibition match gave the 10,224-strong crowd and television viewers the chance to see cricket under lights.Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, it also gave them a chance to record another loss.In the second match, Australia made 171, Andrew Symonds starring with 81 from 59 balls, before Sri Lanka made 8-146 in reply.Sri Lanka’s performance provided little hope it could improve its winless record so far in the tri-series against Australia and England, when the competition resumes with Sri Lanka meeting Australia at the SCG on Thursday.Australia A captain Darren Lehmann said he was surprised at how difficult Sri Lanka found batting on what he thought was a good pitch.”Adelaide Oval’s not traditionally a fast wicket, when we get on some fast wickets obviously we play really well against them, but they didn’t play well at all today,” Lehmann said.Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya was also baffled.”It was very disappointing, especially the batting, nobody seemed to occupy the crease today, it was a big problem,” Jayasuriya said.”We need some confidence in our batting, we need the batsmen to get some runs.”Remarkably, Sri Lanka’s total could easily have been far lower, if not for some wayward bowling in the early overs by Williams and Bracken, with several wides which went to the boundary contributing to the 26 extras, by far the biggest component of the meagre total.That saved Sri Lanka from recording its lowest ever limited overs score, which was 55 against the West Indies in Sharjah in 1986/87.In some positive news, star off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is expected to play on Thursday, after recovering from a hernia operation.But Lehmann, who is recovering from a bacterial infection, said he was very tired after the match and not sure whether he would return to the Australian side on Thursday.”We’ll just have to wait and see really, see what the doctors say,” he said.”I had some more blood tests today … I won’t know until the team’s announced on Thursday, I suppose.”
The Indian cricket team for the triangular series involving India, Zimbabwe and West Indies to be played at Zimbabwe, from June 23 to July 7 would be picked in Mumbai on June 12 or 13.The BCCI secretary and convener of the selection committee JY Lele told PTI in Mumbai on Saturday that a few changes would be made from the team which is already in Zimbabwe after the two-Test series.”By June 17 the players selected for the triangular series would reach Zimbabwe,” he said. “The exact date for the selection committee meeting would be known only after consulting its chairman Chandu Borde, who is busy with his daughter’s wedding arrangements”, Lele added.Lele said that if the government clears the team to play in the Asian Test Championship then India will not take part in the Indoor one-day three-match series in Australia as the dates of both the tournaments were clashing.
Newcastle United’s January business looks set to save the club from relegation as their terrific recent form has sent them flying away from the drop.
The Magpies have only lost one of their last ten Premier League matches and have gone from being in the bottom three to nine points clear of Watford in 18th place in the table.
Chris Wood, Kieran Trippier and Bruno Guimaraes all scored on this run, whilst Dan Burn and Matt Targett played their part at the back. All of these players arrived through the door in January and look poised to secure top-flight survival.
Staying in the division will then offer PIF the chance to make the next step and attempt to make signings to push further up the table next season.
Forget Fraser
One area in which they could look to strengthen is out wide. Ryan Fraser has one goal and two assists in his last four matches but is yet to show that he can consistently deliver quality performances over the course of a campaign.
He has two goals and three assists in 23 league games this term, after managing zero goals and two assists in 19 matches under Steve Burce last term. This means that he is yet to prove his long-term value to the Magpies and that is why reported target Moses Simon would be an excellent signing in the summer.
PIF can light up the wings at St. James’ Park by bringing the Nigerian international to Tyneside as he has been in fantastic form for Nantes in recent campaigns.
Since the start of the 2020/21 season, Simon has produced nine goals and 12 assists in Ligue 1, taking his tally to 18 for the club. This term, he has averaged a brilliant SofaScore rating of 7.07 as he has created a whopping ten ‘big chances’ and averaged 2.4 key passes per game for his side – picking up seven assists for his efforts.
Former Nigeria head coach Gernot Rohr previously heaped praise on the winger, saying: “I really like this player, he has a foolproof mind.
“He is small (1m68) but he has a big heart. He is very talented technically, physically with his speed, despite his size. With me he can play right back, and he does! He has a lot of strings to his bow.”
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One of those strings appears to be the ability to frighten defenders to death, with the Nigerian described as “unstoppable” for his performances at AFCON by journalist Oma Akatugba and as a “menace” after scoring in Ligue 1.
The flyer is consistently stepping up and putting in top-quality displays and creating openings for his teammates to score and this level of consistency is why PIF must sign him. His statistics suggest that he will be a better option than Fraser out wide over the course of an entire season and light up the wing with his ability to score goals whilst delivering chance after chance for the side to get fans off their seats in excitement.
AND in other news, Fewer touches than Dubravka: NUFC liability with 45% passing should never start again…
Tendulkar recovering from injury The Indian Premier League is nearly half over but its biggest draw Sachin Tendulkar is yet to play a game because of a groin injury. However, he is optimistic of joining the resurgent Mumbai Indians soon. “I can tell you roughly that I’m targetting the next match [against Chennai on May 14], Sachin said while watching Mumbai play Rajasthan from the sidelines. “If I’m in the middle, I should be able to compete, for if I’m not able to compete, I’ll be letting the team down.”Charu out, Brijesh in After five defeats, a visibly rattled Bangalore Royal Challengers are wielding the axe. The first victim is Charu Sharma, the CEO of the franchise, who was held responsible for the team’s poor performance. Sources close to the team claim he was asked to step down by Vijay Mallya, the franchise owner, but the team spokesperson however said he stepped down due to “personal reasons.” Sharma has been replaced by Brijesh Patel, the former India Test player and secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association. The players are reportedly shocked by this move. The question is, who’s next?Was slap-gate premeditated? According to a report in the , Sudhir Nanavati, the BCCI’s commissioner to look into the slapping incident involving Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth, told its sources in the Indian board that the attack seemed to have been premeditated. This was supposedly based on the reaction of the Mumbai Indians’ coach, Lalchand Rajput, immediately after the incident. Navanati, however, denied making such a statement. “The report that appeared in a newspaper is completely false. I can tell you I neither saw him [Rajput] neither clapping nor laughing when Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth from the video footage shown to me yesterday”, Nanavati told Cricinfo.No more games for DY Patil? The 40 km commute from the team hotel to the DY Patil Stadium in Nerul is getting to the Mumbai players and the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has stepped in, suggesting Mumbai’s last two matches – on May 14 and 16 – be moved to the Wankhede Stadium. The franchise owners, Reliance Industries Limited, are yet to confirm the move. Today’s game against Rajasthan Royals, however, stays at the DY Patil stadium.Fat wallets Players can look forward to bigger earnings once the second season of the IPL gets underway, with the governing council deciding to scrap the $5 million cap on earnings. The move was prompted by the success of the current season, and players can look forward to an increase of upto a massive $15 million. “I can tell you that our players would already be the highest-paid across any sport in the world,” Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman and commissioner, was quoted as saying in .One more chance Harbhajan Singh, who has been banned for 11 IPL matches for slapping Sreesanth after an IPL match in Mohali, has appealed to the Indian board to give him “one final chance” before taking further disciplinary action against him. “Along with accepting my most sincere and heartfelt apologies over this incident, I would like to appeal to the board’s sense of fairplay and ask for one final chance before taking any disciplinary action against me over this incident,” Harbhajan said a letter to the BCCI. The disciplinary hearing will be conducted commissioner Sudhir Nanavati, who was appointed by the BCCI, in Ahmedabad.
Zimbabwe’s government has reacted angrily to news that John Howard had banned Australia from touring the country in September.In a ferocious outburst, Bright Matonga, the junior information minister, slammed Australia’s human rights record and accused Howard of being part of a “racist ploy”.”The Australians are mixing politics with sport and the decision shows how desperate the Howard government is to isolate Zimbabwe,” Matonga told AFP. “Australia is one of the worst human rights violators in this whole world. Look what they have done to the aborigines and yet they have the audacity to stand up and claim to have the moral authority to condemn us.”This is also a racist ploy to kill our local cricket since our cricket team is now dominated by black players as we slowly transform cricket from being an elite sport. But still we will not lose anything because cricket is not a major sport here.”Matonga was a journalist for the BBC before being summoned back to work for the ministry of information in Zimbabwe. Ironically, BBC reporters are among those banned by the ministry from entering the country.
Cricinfo was unable to get a response from Zimbabwe Cricket as it refuses to answer any questions put to them by us as it objects to our coverage of cricket in the country.
Races against time at the Oval on a Saturday have become something of a feature of late. Worcestershire, of course, recently chased down a mammoth 285 inside in 32 overs.Surrey had no fears of killing off Leicestershire today, and they duly removed the last four wickets for 67 runs to complete a thumping win by an innings and 158 runs. But, like the rest of the country, they had another match on their minds.As Ian Salisbury confirmed just as play began: “We want to do it before the football.” In the end they had an hour to spare.He himself made two fairly swift incisions, removing Leicestershire’s vital organ Darren Robinson who feathered through for 106 and then Stuart Broad for 12 with a screaming return catch, held low. By this time Leicestershire were clinging on by a sinew, at 259 for 9.Salisbury then had a hand in the final wicket, catching Mohammad Asif for a duck off Nayan Doshi to wrap up proceedings. Mohammad Akram had made the first cut of the day, removing David Masters for 12, a convincing lbw (292 for 7).Salisbury finished with 4 for 64 from 33 overs and headed in delighted with a job well done and time to put his feet up ahead of kick-off.
After the crushing loss to Australia at Nagpur, much of the attention has turned to the pitch in Mumbai. The strip at the Wankhede Stadium has evoked mixed reaction from the various people who have examined it closely.MS Rao, the curator in charge of the ground, said: “I will describe it as a good batting wicket,” to The Indian Express newspaper. “We have meticulously watered and rolled it. It will also have bounce and turn as the match progresses.” He is also supposed to have called it a “typical” Indian pitch.Conversely, Paras Mhambrey, the former India medium-pacer and Mumbai captain, told Mid Day that this was anything but a typical Mumbai pitch. “It is not a typical Wankhede wicket. If this wicket would have been given in Nagpur, which I feel they should have as one has the right to capitalise on home advantage, the series could have been 1-1 and then this match the decider.”Mhambrey recalled a time when he had played an Irani Trophy match on a similar pitch, and said the ball gave the spinners plenty of assistance in that case. “Normally there is something in it [the pitch] for the seamers as well, but this looks a completely different track and the spinners will come into play early.”Mhambrey drew attention to the reddish appearance of the pitch. “You can make out the difference between the main pitch and the practice wickets,” he said.Either way, with an unassailable 2-0 lead with one match to play, the Australians have the edge.
Chief Executive of Cricket NSW David Gilbert has announced the SpeedBlitz Blues squad to play Queensland in a Pura Cup match at the Gabba starting on Sunday February 1st, 2004.
Steve Waugh (c) Greg Mail Phil Jaques Dominic Thornely Mark Waugh Brad Haddin Aaron O’Brien Stuart MacGill Grant Lambert Matthew Nicholson Stuart Clark Nathan Bracken (subject to fitness) Doug Bollinger
CricInfo has recorded an outstanding week of Internet traffic during the first National Bank Series Test match between New Zealand and India at Wellington.According to Hitwise, which measures Internet usage, CricInfo achieved a 92% share of visits to all cricket sites by New Zealand users between December 7-14.Paul Hashfield from Hitwise said: “The site showed a massive increase in category share in the global Sports parent category in the days leading up to the National Bank Tests, and it has now been consistently placed at No 1 for several months.CricInfo commanded more than 15% of all New Zealand visits to the global sports category on Saturday, December 14. This category covers over 1400 sport sites monitored by Hitwise.CricInfo’s own traffic reports show that on the first day in Wellington there were 4.2 million page impressions made, which was more than for all of the second or third Tests against England earlier this year.Preliminary internal CricInfo figures show that there 1.2 million page impressions for the Super Max International, 3.4 million impressions for the Central Districts tour match and 10.2 million for the first Test.