Tag Futebol

SYDNEY, March 7 AAP – Steve Waugh, cricket’s patron saint of hopeless causes, today answered the prayers of the New South Wales’ faithful, scorned the “doomsday prophets” and heralded the new messiah in the form of Michael Clarke.With NSW needing an outright win in the Pura Cup match against Queensland at the Sydney Cricket Ground to secure its first state final in almost a decade, Waugh and Clarke scored emphatic centuries to put the home side well in control.At stumps on day two, the Blues were 3-343 with Waugh not out on 107 and Clarke unbeaten on 106 after raising his ton from 87 balls in an even 100 minutes.With a lead of 255, seven wickets in hand and two days to play, NSW is primed for a win which looked implausible 24 hours earlier when it trailed on the first innings by 88 runs after being bowled out for 102 before dismissing Queensland for 190 in return.With Victoria grinding its way to first innings points against Western Australia to take the edge in the race for the final against the Bulls, the Blues know an outright win will be needed if they are to play their first final since winning the old Sheffield Shield in 1993-94.Things looked grim for that prospect when Michael Slater (4) went in the second over and when Waugh came in at 2-96, the score was effectively 2-8.”There was pressure on, we had to get something happening,” Waugh said.Waugh responded by hitting his first two balls to the boundary and his early strokes had an aura of irritation about them – as if he was swatting away a horde of annoying flies.But he soon settled down to play a typically grafting innings, making his century in three hours off 158 balls with 17 balls.”I’ve been hitting the ball well – all those doomsday prophets weren’t right were they, I’m still playing OK,” Waugh said, referring to those who were calling for his Test career to end earlier this summer.While he was playing “OK”, Waugh said Clarke was something else all together.”It was a great innings, outstanding, the people who were here today will remember that for a long time.”Someone in the crowd said `he’s the new Doug Walters’ and he’s probably not far away from that.”While Waugh’s 73rd first-class ton was desperately needed by his floundering team it was set in the shade by Clarke’s afternoon assault on the tiring and injury-depleted Bulls attack.Clarke’s half-century came off 56 balls, with six fours and a six and his second 50 took only 31 balls, many of his late boundaries coming after Michael Kasprowicz and Ashley Noffke had taken the new ball.Clarke, with fabulous aggression, deft footwork and a flashing blade pounded every bowler and at one stage earned a backhanded compliment from Kasprowicz, who mimicked a defensive shot – non-existent in Clarke’s repertoire today – after yet another good ball had been smote to the boundary.Clarke said he’d been nervous when he came out to bat, mainly because he’d made ducks in his previous two innings.”All I wanted to do was get off the mark,” he said.Clarke said Waugh gave him the green light to attack once NSW was in a strong position.”I asked Steve Waugh what he wanted me to do and he said “you’re hitting them well, keep going”.”I felt comfortable so I just went for my shots.”The twin centuries from the master and the apprentice give the Blues a strong chance for a win, with the dual wrist spin of first innings destroyers Stuart MacGill and Simon Katich likely to be dangerous when Queensland bats again.”We were always pretty optimistic we’d be in a good position at the end of the day,” Waugh said.”We batted terribly on the first day – they bowled well but that was as bad as we could possibly bat and we know that Queensland is going to bat last on a wicket that’s going to suit us.”

Why did you decide to take the job? What was the attraction for you?Well I guess there are several reasons. One being that I have been in my current position for ten and a half years now and I guess there has been a bit of a sameness about what I have been doing and I feel as though I need a new challenge – not that it’s not challenging doing what I have been doing!I guess the thought of being able to start a programme. I did not initially start the programme in Australia, I came on three years after the programme started – the programme started in 1988 and I came on in 1991. So, there’s an excitement about starting a new programme.I also believe that it is important that in world cricket England is strong – and I am not suggesting that they aren’t strong – but I am suggesting that this Academy system has been fantastic for Australian cricket and I am sure that the same will apply to English cricket. It excites me to think that we can have a strong England team as a result of hopefully some of my labours.What are your targets for the job?This first thing you must understand is that it is not going to happen overnight. You have to show some patience. I guess what the major target will be for me over the next three years will be to develop some players that in three, five, seven years’ time there will be a base of perhaps 20 players that are very good Test Match and ODI players, so that when the selectors sit down to select a side it will be damn difficult for them – it will be difficult because these guys will have had a grounding which will be suitable for them to be successful at Test or ODI level. The more people you have in that base, then I think the stronger that nation becomes. That’s going to be the major push from me – to try and get 20-25 players or more that are really capable of performing consistently well at the highest level.It’s not rocket science. It’s a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication, from not only the coaching staff but in particular the players. The players get very good rewards and they have got to have a hell of a lot of pride in their performance and a hell of a lot of pride in their country – and yet at the same time realise that it is only a game and that games are there to be enjoyed. That’s very much part of it all, to get enjoyment from what they are doing. They have got to be positive and just play the type of cricket that will be entertaining. Funny part about the game of cricket is that you enjoy it more when you are winning!What has the National Academy done for Australian cricket and what can England gain from having an Academy?I think the biggest thing which comes to mind in recent years is that whenever there has been a retirement in Australian cricket the team seems to get stronger. That is what the Academy system has done.The players have had a hell of a good grounding in mostly playing matches against good strong opposition, playing matches away from their home country and getting the feel of what it is like to play good hard cricket on a consistent basis. That to me is how you improve – being pestered the whole time. If you are in the comfort zone and you know you can play well when you have to, against opposition that is `so-so’, I don’t believe that you ever really improve because you never really test your own barriers. But if you are put in a situation where you have to perform at your best, consistently, to be successful you become a lot harder and a lot more capable of performing at the highest level.How hard a decision was it to leave Australian cricket and come and work for the English?When you are playing the game, you are so determined and it becomes a do-or-die effort and you try to win for your team and win for your country. When you have finished playing you obviously want your country to win and you take an interest in it. But when you have been in the game as long as I have, the major interest becomes the game itself. I don’t think you necessarily think about that as a player.The greatest words I ever read on the game are from Sir Don Bradman and he said that it is the responsibility of everyone that has played the game to ensure the game continues – and I think that the game of cricket is more important than whether you come from England, India, Australia or West Indies.

After two sessions of dour batting, which left Zimbabwe at 105 for two attea after 69 overs, the batsmen began to come to life after the break, withAndy Flower leading the way in an all too brief cameo. They finished theday on 185 for four (Campbell 37, Wishart 10).Zimbabwe made a cautious start to the day, the first run coming in thefourth over, and after ten overs they had only eight runs on the board. Nodoubt in view of Zimbabwe’s recent failures at the top of the order it wasfelt that caution should prevail.Grant Flower enjoyed three boundaries through extra cover during McMillan’s spell as first-change seamer, while Rennie concentrated only on survival, no doubt following instructions. Vettori finally broke the stand with a ball that spun sharply to take the shoulder of Flower’s bat to be very well caught by Parore at the second attempt. He scored 24 and Zimbabwe were 40 for one. Carlisle, replacing Goodwin at three, settled in for lunch, when Zimbabwe were 51 for one.After lunch the pair continued steadily, with Rennie progressing to 36 in 207 minutes before he drove at Wiseman and was well caught low down by the diving McMillan at short extra cover; 91 for two in the 59th over. Campbell continued the war of attrition, despite looking a far more confident batsman in Test cricket than he has done for over a year.The waiting game eventually eroded Carlisle’s concentration when on 38, after tea, as he went on a big hit against Wiseman without getting to the line, and skied a catch to Horne at extra cover; Zimbabwe 120 for three.Andy Flower obviously decided that the time had come to carry the attack to the tourists. After playing himself in for a few minutes, he swung Wiseman over midwicket for two successive sixes. New Zealand responded by taking the second new ball, but Flower switched his assault to Cairns, taking ten off an over. Cairns got revenge, though, by having him caught at second slip by Astle for 29, driving outside off stump, and Zimbabwe were 157 for four. Once again a batsman had laid a firm foundation but failed to build on it; nevertheless he had raised the tempo of the game.Wishart looked positive from the start and survived with Campbell to the close. Zimbabwe’s position was perhaps no better than average considering the excellence of the pitch.

Twenty fours and four sixes were struck between them, but “smart cricket” was the cornerstone of the searing opening stand between himself and Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson said.The pair hit a world record 171 in each other’s company, to make light work of Pakistan’s 168 for 7. Williamson said it had been he and his partner’s ability to account for the asymmetrical dimensions of the Hamilton ground, and the particular strengths of Pakistan’s bowlers, that allowed the stand to flourish.Damage to the Seddon Park square during the recent Test match featuring Sri Lanka had meant a surface towards the eastern end of the block had to be used for this T20. This in turn brought the eastern boundary to 52 metres, while the square boundary on the other side of the pitch was lengthened to 75 metres.Williamson in particular targeted the short side of the ground during his career-best 72 off 48 balls, memorably shuffling towards the off side to hit consecutive legside fours off Mohammad Amir, in the fifth over.”No T20 is the same, and here at Seddon Park you’re not just taking the opposition into account, you’re very much identifying the dimensions of the ground, the pitch and using that as part of your planning,” Williamson said. “That comes into your thinking as a bowling unit and a batting unit.”With one boundary very small, naturally there’s going to be the odd boundary hit there. Then there’s the wind going to the long boundary which also helps hit to that side of the ground.”New Zealand hit 59 from the Powerplay, but were unusually reticent against Shahid Afridi in that period, scoring only 11 off his two overs. Williamson said there had been purchase and turn for Afridi on the pitch. Afridi was also generating significant drift.”Afridi is a world class legspinner,” Williamson said. “Today on that surface it was holding and turning a little bit, so for us it was making sure that there’s smart cricket at times amongst Guptill’s sixes and fours.”All Pakistan’s bowlers are danger men – they are all very good bowlers. Depending on the surface, some more than others. It was important that Guptill and I communicated and played some smart cricket. I think we were a bit better at doing that today than we were in the last match.”Williamson and Guptill’s stand surpassed the 170 made by Loots Bosman and Graeme Smith against England. New Zealand’s highest T20 partnership before this game had been the 137 against Zimbabwe by the same pair in 2012.”Records are not something that we set out to do,” Williamson said. “We set out to lay a platform and play to the gameplan. If records come that’s nice, but more importantly, we got across the line to set up a nice finish to the T20 series.”Corey Anderson had played as a specialist batsman during the Sri Lanka series, as he continues to recover from a back injury. He has now begun bowling in matches, and was effective for New Zealand on Sunday, taking 1 for 26 from his four overs. He had been cheap with the new ball, conceding only 12 from his three Powerplay overs.”The likes of Corey standing up after not playing much cricket, and opening the bowling as well, was a superb effort from him,” Williamson said. “He bowled some tough overs at the top.”