Somerset County Cricket Club have just announced that Championship opener at The County Ground against Yorkshire starting on May 8th has been nominated as the Golden Jubilee Match.Chief Executive Peter Anderson told me, “Somerset are putting a proposal to the Taunton Deane Borough Council Queen’s Golden Jubilee Committee that the match against the 2001 Champions Yorkshire should be the Jubilee Match.”The Chief continued, “To celebrate the Jubilee we are going to ask for nominations from clubs for people who have given their life to cricket on a continuos basis. We hope to have a silver medal designed by a local college to present during the course of the match.”The Jubilee match also coincides with the Somerset County Cricket Club Annual Church Service which will be held at St James’s Church on Sunday May 19th, before the Norwich Union League match against Yorkshire Phoenix.”We are hoping to get a famous ex cricketer to preach at the service in 2002,” Mr Anderdson said.
Dharamsala will host the World Twenty20 2016 match between India and Pakistan on March 19 while the tournament semi-finals will be played in Delhi and Mumbai, according to the fixtures released by the ICC on Friday. The men’s event will be played in two stages between March 8 and April 3, while the Women’s World Twenty20 is scheduled between March 15 and April 3.Chennai, which was in danger of being cut as a host city due to the disputed stands at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, has been allotted women’s matches.India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Australia are placed in Group 2 of the Super 10s stage while South Africa, England, West Indies and Sri Lanka are in Group 1. Two teams will join the Super 10s after the first stage of the tournament, to be held in Dharamsala and Nagpur between March 8 and 13.The eight teams competing in the first round have also been split into two groups. Bangladesh, Netherlands, Ireland and Oman have been slotted into Group A, while Group B comprises Zimbabwe, Scotland, Afghanistan and Hong Kong. The top team from Group A will join India, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand in Group 2 of the Super 10s stage, while the top-placed team from Group B moves to Group 1.The opening match of the Super 10s stage will be played between India and New Zealand on March 15 in Nagpur. The hosts will then play Pakistan on March 19, the qualifying team in the group on March 23 in Bangalore and Australia in Mohali on March 27.The top two sides from each of the Super 10s groups will move into the semi-finals. The semi-finals of the men’s and women’s tournaments will be played in Delhi and Mumbai on March 30 and 31 respectively, with the finals in Kolkata on April 3. Pakistan, should they qualify, will play their semi-final in New Delhi regardless of whether they place first or second in their group; the other qualifier from their group will play the semi-final allotted to Mumbai.This will avoid a scenario where Pakistan play in Mumbai, where a local political party, the Shiv Sena, has for several years “banned” Pakistan matches in that city. The most recent protest was in October, when Shiv Sena held protests at the BCCI office in Mumbai over talks between the India and Pakistan boards for a proposed series. Following the protests, the ICC withdrew Aleem Dar from the last two ODIs of the South Africa series [the fifth match was held in Mumbai] and former Pakistan cricketers Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar, who were in India on commentary duty, also returned home early.Defending champions Sri Lanka will begin their campaign against the qualifying team on March 17 in Kolkata, before playing West Indies in Bangalore on March 20. Their matches against England and South Africa will be played in Delhi on March 26 and 28 respectively.The women’s tournament will kick off from March 15 with India taking on Bangladesh and New Zealand playing Sri Lanka. The 10 teams in the women’s competition have been split into two groups. Three-time champions Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Ireland are in Group A, while Group B features England, West Indies, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The top two teams from each group will progress to the semi-final stage.
Wolves are not in the best run of form at the moment, having lost three of their last five Premier League games.
Looking ahead to the next few weeks and months, it seems as though the Midlands club will also have to make do without one prominent figure for the time being.
What’s the news?
In a recent tweet from journalist John Percy, Nelson Semedo is set to be out of action for four to eight weeks after picking up a hamstring injury during Wolves’ recent 2-1 defeat against Arsenal.
Described as being a “big blow for Bruno Lage”, the journalist also added that the defender’s earliest return could be in April after the international break, following scans this week.
Having started 23 of the Old Gold’s 26 league games so far this season, it’s safe to say that the Portuguese defender has been a pivotal figure for the team, explaining why Percy thinks his absence will be a big setback for his manager.
In addition to his constant presence in the team, the 28-year-old has also shown with his performances how important he is for the club. WhoScored list him as the fifth-highest rated outfield player currently in Lage’s squad to has started more than two league games this season, with an overall rating of 6.8/10.
As a result of Semedo’s injury, Lage chose to play Ki-Jana Hoever in their previous league game against West Ham United, which they lost 1-0.
During the match at the London Stadium, the 20-year-old full-back lost possession of the ball 20 times and only won four of his 10 duels, ultimately earning himself an underwhelming overall match rating of 6.3/10 from SofaScore.
Taking into account how long the former Barcelona defender is going to be out of action, Hoever will need to improve his performances if he wants to stay in the team moving forward and show his manager that he has what it takes to fill in for his injured team-mate for the next few weeks.
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Lage and everyone at Molineux will undoubtedly be hoping that Semedo can make a speedy recovery and get back out on the pitch as soon as possible to help them try and secure European football for next season.
In other news – Fosun masterclass: £74k-p/w “weak link” has seen his value drop 40% after Wolves exit
Scorecard On a rain-affected day in which only 56 overs of play was possible, Barbados took control of their match against Guyana through centuries from left-hand batsmen Jason Haynes(111) and Ryan Hinds(101 not out). Resuming on 58 for 2, the pair kept the Guyanese bowlers at bay till the penultimate over of the day, when Haynes edged legspinner Leon Johnson to slip. They added 212 runs for the third wicket to leave Barbados in charge at 256 for 3 at stumps on the second day, a lead of 71. It was Haynes’ maiden first-class century, and contained 11 fours, while Hinds, who made 95 in the previous match against Windward Islands, capitalised on a dropped catch to reach his seventh century. Guyana used as many as eight bowlers but were unable to make much of an impact on a Kensington Oval track which was perfect for batting. Scorecard A solid batting performance gave Jamaica a 187-run first-innings lead and put them in charge of their game against Combined Campuses and Colleges. Former West Indies batsman Wavell Hinds top scored with 87 while Xavier Marshall contributed 69. Marshall, who started the day on 50, added 54 for the third wicket with nightwatchman Andre Russell(33). Fast bowler Jamal Nowell then removed both batsmen before Hinds and Brendan Nash were involved in a patient 85-run stand. However, the tail caved in meekly, with the last six wickets falling for 38, as Jamaica were bowled out for 286. Nowell was the highest wicket-taker with four, while left-arm spinner Kavesh Kantasingh picked up three, including that of Hinds. In reply, the visitors had reached 36 at stumps, losing the wicket of captain Shirley Clarke in the process. Scorecard Leeward Islands dismissed Windward Islands for 134 to gain a handy 67-run first-innings lead before their batsmen consolidated the advantage by reaching 179 for 5 at stumps. After being bowled out for a paltry 201 in the first innings, Leewards stormed back into the match with the help of former West Indies fast bowler Adam Sanford’s four wickets. Windwards lost their last six wickets for 41 runs to be bowled out at the stroke of lunch. Leewards’ captain Omari Banks led their batting with an unbeaten 51 to ensure they maintained the upper hand in the game. Montcin Hodge (21), Steve Liburd (24) and Javier Liburd (36) also chipped in with useful contributions.
Queensland have made two changes to their batting line-up ahead of their Pura Cup match against South Australia at Brisbane starting next Friday, promoting Ryan Broad and the uncapped Greg Moller. The team was humiliated by an innings and 45 runs in their game against Western Australia this week and now sit second-last on the Pura Cup table.Lachlan Stevens, the opener who averages 22 from his five games this season, has been dropped from the 12-man squad along with Grant Sullivan, the fast bowler who did not play the Western Australia match. Broad’s one-and-only outing in 2006-07 yielded scores of 1 and 2 but he was preferred to Stevens as an opening partner for Jimmy Maher for next week’s clash.Moller, 24, impressed the selectors with 120 and 97 for the Queensland Academy of Sport against the ACT last month. The season has got better and better for Moller, a right-hand batsman, after he missed the first four matches of Brisbane’s grade competition due to knee surgery. He will warm up for his potential first-class debut by playing alongside Shane Watson for Redlands in club cricket on Saturday.Pura Cup squad Jimmy Maher (capt), Ryan Broad, Shane Watson, Clinton Perren, Craig Philipson, James Hopes, Greg Moller, Chris Hartley (wk), Andy Bichel, Ashley Noffke, Daniel Doran, Nathan Rimmington.
A brief history compiled by Dr.Andrew Hignell (Hon. Statistician and Historian to Glamorgan CCC)Pontypridd entered the first-class cricket calendar in 1926, asGlamorgan`s officials tried to boost the club`s membership bytaking county cricket into the valley communities. YnysangharadPark still stages an annual fixture, either a championship gameor a one-day game. However, in 1994 the South African touristsvisited the ground, followed in 1996 by the Pakistanis. Thesegames came about as a result of generous sponsorship fromTaff-Ely Borough Council , and a lot of hard work by theofficials from Pontypridd C.C. However, as in the match with thePakistanis, it seems that every time county cricket ventures upthe Taff Valley to Pontypridd, the heavens open, and the gamesend in rain-affected draws.Cricket in Pontypridd dates back to 1858, and like many otherclubs in these industrial communities, its origin was the resultof the influx into the Valleys of English born and educatedmigrants. A few barriers existed to the development of the gamewith the shortage of suitable land and long hours of work at thebooming iron foundries and steelworks, and the earliest gameswere often just glorified practice sessions. Things had improvedby May 1870 when a formal club was established, and fixtures weregained with other recently formed teams from other valley towns.These games were initially staged in the grounds of GelliwastedHouse, before a move in 1873 to a more spacious area of farmlandowned by Gordon Lenox, the resident director of Brown Lenox, thetown’s largest ironworks.Over the years, there has been a very close link between BrownLenox and Pontypridd C.C. Gordon Lenox oversaw the laying of adecent wicket in one of the fields at Ynysangharad Farm (looselytranslated as Angharad`s Isle) alongside the River Taff. Thecompany, who manufactured anchors, chains and cables for theAdmiralty, also acted as generous philanthropists by giving thecricket club money to buy equipment and also kit, knowing thatmany of the club`s members were men of quite modest means. Giventhis help, the number of members increased and in 1897 Pontypriddwere able to enter the newly-formed Glamorgan Cricket League,playing fixtures with clubs from Treherbert, Treorchy, MerthyrTydfil, Ferndale and Mountain Ash.The farmland home of Pontypridd C.C. was transformed into anattractive parkland after the Great War, when hundreds ofsoldiers and servicemen from the town were killed. When the Warfinally ended, plans were set in motion for the creation of a WarMemorial for Pontypridd, and in keeping with their role asgenerous patrons to the town, Brown Lenox offered their farmlandat Ynysangharad. Public subscriptions and grants from the MinersWelfare Fund helped to finance the conversion of the farmlandinto a spacious park and public recreation ground. The WarMemorial was opened on August Bank Holiday Monday 1923, and overthe next few years a bowling green, rugby pitch, swimming pool,tennis courts and bandstand were added to the already existingcricket pitch and small pavilion.The Park proved to be a popular attraction, and it was nosurprise that when Glamorgan were looking to tap new supportduring the late 1920`s, they should choose the Ynysangharad Parkground. The attendances at the earliest county games were sogood, that in 1929 Pontypridd was allocated the prestigioustourist match with South Africa, plus two other county games withNottinghamshire and Leicestershire. Indeed, in the latter game,George Geary recorded the best ever bowling figures against theWelsh county, taking 10-18.As Glamorgan took county cricket into Monmouthshire andCarmarthenshire, Pontypridd`s allocation was limited to oneannual game. In recent years, this has been a limited overscontest, but in 1994 sponsorship from the Borough Council andlocal businessmen, saw South Africa return to Ynysanghard Park.During the previous winter, the old single-storey pavilion hadbeen replaced by a modern two-storey brick building, and althoughGlamorgan have to install temporary seating and other facilitiesat the Park, the games at Pontypridd have been well attended.For further information about the history of this, and othergrounds used by Glamorgan, you may be interested in purchasing”The Cricket Grounds of Glamorgan”, written by Andrew Hignell andpublished in 1985 by the Association of Cricket Statisticians andHistorians. For further details, please consult the A.C.S.homepage on CricInfo, send e-mail to [email protected] or write toPeter Wynne-Thomas at 3, Radcliffe Road, Nottingham.
Danish Kaneria has admitted he fears for his one-day international career following the disappointment of being left out of Pakistan’s squad for the triangular VB series in Australia.The leg spinner Kaneria believes he could come to be thought of as a Test bowler only after he was dropped for the tournament, which starts on January 14 and also features West Indies. He took 15 wickets as Pakistan were whitewashed 3-0 by Australia in the recent Test series, and believes he could have used the experience of bowling to top batsmen to great effect in the forthcoming one-dayers.”It is disappointing not to be retained for the one-dayers because I think I can be effective in limited overs cricket as well,” Kaneria, 24, told the Reuters news agency on Sunday. “Having bowled to the world’s best batsmen I have gained a lot in confidence and ideas. But the team management told me I needed to rest before the tour to India in February.”But Kaneria, who has played ten one-day internationals, remained upbeat about his chances of making a return to the limited overs arena, and vowed to try hard to gain a place in the forthcoming tour of India in February, which includes five one-day internationals.”Leg spinners have played an effective role in one-dayers in the past,” he argued. “Shane Warne, Anil Kumble… they all won matches for their country. I will just have to work harder to convince everyone they can rely upon me in limited overs cricket.”
Bangladesh 97 and 178 (Bashar 54, Al Sahariar 36; MacGill 5 for 65) lost to Australia 407 for 7 dec Australia, as expected, won their first Test against Bangladesh by an innings. They weren’t quite at their ruthless best, but they didn’t need to be. Bangladesh showed a singular lack of application in their first innings, though they showed some spine in the second before a sudden middle-order collapse brought them to their knees. Steve Waugh was in a relective mood after winning his record 37th Test as captain; Dav Whatmore could only watch in despair as Bangladesh lost his first Test as their coach; Stuart MacGill, the chief architect of Australia’s domination on the final day, picking up his seventh five-wicket haul, was exhilarated. Here is what they had to say:Steve Waugh On what makes Australia special: It’s about our scoring rate and how quickly we can get our runs and put the opposition in. it’s a positive way of playing the game and we like to win in quick time.It helps when you have someone like Adam Gilchrist batting at number seven who can make the game go forward so quickly and put a lot of pressure on the opposition. We score so quickly that we have extra time to take those 20 wickets and we can put a lot of pressure on their batsmen.That’s the way cricket should be played and if all the countries can take a leaf out of that book then it’s good for world cricket.On how Tests involving Australia hardly ever last five days: A lot of the games are finishing early, but I think the quality of cricket we put out in that period of time is much better than five dull boring days. I’d rather have three exciting days and make the spectators enjoy the cricket we play; we rather play that way as well. I hope the public appreciate the way we play and I think we’ll continuethat way.Dav Whatmore On what he makes of the team he’s just taken charge of: I’m just being a little patient to make assessments given the class of opposition that we faced here. It will take a bit more time to really separate and go on and I think we have to be patient before making any firm assessments.The positives from the game: There were indications of fight here and that’s promising and, really, the game, for me, wasn’t about winning or losing. It’s about being to see what we can do under pressure and try to match the opposition and be as competitive aswe possibly could.There were times when I thought Australia had to fight for their runs – the first 100-150 runs it was a real struggle for them. If it was any other team I believe there was enough pressure applied to pick up more wickets, which has a stabilising effect when you come to chase runs in the second innings, but it wasn’t to be.On how he felt at the end of the game: I don’t think any coach is satisfied – maybe [John] Buchanan [Australia’s coach] might be a bit more satisfied. I’m not sure if I will be satisfied for a long while yet, but it’s a matter of identifying areas where we need to improve -it’s a fairly easy area to identify for us – and going ahead and working on it.Stuart MacGill: On the seventh five-wicket haul of his 24-Test career: I’ve learned through my career that when you get a chance with the ballyou have to make the most of it, so I’m really quite satisfied with how it went today.On how so many of his wickets in this game came from the wrong `un: Normally 90% of my wickets come from my legbreak and even in the first innings I got both my wickets with something different. In this game I felt if I was consistent with my legbreak perhaps thevariation was a chance and it was.On how county cricket has helped his bowling: I’ve been playing for Nottinghamshire in the English county championship and we play on really slow wickets and I think it’s improving my bowling because the margin for error is much smaller over there and I have to work alittle bit more on my consistency.On Mashrafe’s Mortaza’s slog against him (14 runs in an over): That last six I got hit for was definitely one of the biggest sixes off my bowling.Click here to read day 2 quotes.
New Zealand’s bowlers will have a valuable two-hour stint following captain Stephen Fleming’s declaration at tea on the final day of their tour match against the Queensland Academy of Sport at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane.Fleming called a halt to New Zealand’s innings straight after wicketkeeper Adam Parore brought up his century with a boundary.The Black Caps finished at six for 296, Parore unbeaten on 100.Earlier, Parore and Fleming put together a 158-run partnership to rescue the side after it teetered at 5-110.The unlikely winning target for the QAS is 327.
For once, Steven Smith had other people to talk about. Joe Burns, tick. Usman Khawaja, tick. David Warner, tick, tick, boom. So much went perfectly for Australia in this win over New Zealand that it was easy to overlook one thing that didn’t: Smith himself didn’t so much as score a half-century. It mattered not. In fact, it was kind of a good thing. It meant others had carried the batting load.This was Australia’s tenth Test victory since the start of last year, and just the second time in those ten games that Smith had failed to pass fifty – the lowish-scoring win over West Indies in Dominica last year was the only other. In fact, in seven of them, Smith had scored first-innings hundreds that helped set up the wins: 115, 100, 162*, 133, 199, 215, 143.It was not surprising, then, that Smith’s decision to move down the order from No.3 to No.4 for this series was a subject of much debate. The lack of experience in the top three could have been the source of some hope among the New Zealanders: Burns opening in a Test for the first time, Khawaja having a third crack at Test cricket at first drop.The result? A first-innings ton for Khawaja, a second-innings hundred for Burns. Not to mention a century in each innings for Warner. It meant there was little for Smith to do except suffer a case of pad rash. He came to the crease at 2 for 311 in the first innings and struck 48, and walked out at 2 for 254 in the second and fell for 1.”They did a terrific job,” Smith said. “It was tough early on day one and for Davey and Joe to get through that period was really crucial for us. The partnerships we had in the top three were crucial to our success for this Test match. It enabled me to come out and play quite freely at No.4. I thought they really set the game up for us.”The numbers were quite staggering. It was the first time in Australia’s 781-Test history that they had raised century opening partnerships in each innings of a Test. More than 80% of Australia’s runs in the Test came from their top three batsmen alone. Life without Chris Rogers and Michael Clarke could hardly have started in a more positive fashion.Of course, it will not always be this easy. More revealing will be the future occasions when Burns and Khawaja have to scrap against an attack on top of its game. Here, they faced a New Zealand attack lacking any sort of bite. Tim Southee’s new-ball spell on the first day featured a few good balls that beat the edge, but that was about it. It did not help that Southee later sat out with a back injury.New Zealand’s lack of fight was not the only disappointing thing about the match. Australia’s fielding was sub-standard, with catches dropped at slip, point and short leg. And although Australia had no trouble claiming 20 wickets, their work with the new ball was also inconsistent. New Zealand’s opening batsmen were able to allow too many deliveries to sail by without using their bats.”I think we improved this morning on our line and length,” Smith said. “I thought our new-ball bowling in this game needs a bit of improvement. I thought we bowled a little bit too short. That’s what we normally don’t do out here, we usually get the ball up and make the batters drive and I think that is going to be important for us leading into Perth, which are probably going to be similar conditions.”Crowd numbers at the WACA will also be closely watched; a record crowd attended for Australia-New Zealand contests at the Gabba but the numbers became lacklustre as the game wore on. The 1373 who attended the final day – which began with New Zealand still having seven wickets in hand – was the size of a Sheffield Shield crowd, not a Test attendance.”There wasn’t many out there today, it’s obviously disappointing as we would like everyone coming out and watching us play,” Smith said. “Both sides play a very aggressive brand of cricket and a good brand to watch, so it was disappointing not to have the crowds out here and hopefully we get a bit more support at the WACA.”