Shane Warne has decided not to play in any of Victoria’s one-day games this season mainly because of the Ashes schedule.”As has been well documented, I haven’t had international aspirations in the one-day game for some time,” Warne said. “While managing my workload ahead of the Ashes is also a consideration, I feel it’s appropriate to step aside at state level and allow another Victorian to play and push for higher honours.”Greg Shipperd, the Victoria coach, confirmed that missing the one-day games was Warne’s suggestion. “But I should add if exceptional circumstance arose, such as last year when Cameron White and Brad Hodge were on international duty, Shane [Warne] would step in for a one-off as he did last season,” Shipperd told the , a Melbourne-based daily.Shipperd added that if White, the Victoria captain, was called up for national duty then Hodge was likely to take over captaincy of the state team. “He has grown into a leadership role and is now sharing his knowledge with the team,” Shipperd said. I’d be very comfortable with Brad leading the side.”Warne and Hodge though will be looking for some practice ahead of the Ashes as Victoria named a 15-member squad for their one-day and four-day matches against Western Australia (WA). With injury sidelining at least four players, Rob Quiney, an uncontracted left-hand batsman, has also been given the chance to play in Victoria’s opening matches of the season.”There’s been a massive build-up to this season, so we’re all raring to go,” said Hodge. “WA have a number of stars in their line-up, so it’s going to be great challenge for us. But we’ve put in the work and are confident of picking up valuable early points and paving the way for a top season.”Victoria’s opening fixture is a Ford Ranger One-Day Cup match on October 13 after which they meet Western Australia in the four-day Pura Cup encounter on October 15.While Warne will not feature in the one-day game on October 13, he will play one this weekend for St Kilda, his local Melbourne club. “This weekend Cricket Australia is promoting Long Live Club Cricket, which is an initiative I’m passionate about, so I’ll return to my grass roots and play for St Kilda, which is something I rarely get the chance to do,” said Warne.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today brokered what is being widely perceived as an uneasy truce between Greg Chappell, the Indian coach and Sourav Ganguly, the Indian captain, following a high profile, closed-door meeting of the committee that lasted four hours.The committee on Tuesday deliberated the standoff between the pair and finally decided that they must bury their differences “in the interests of Indian cricket”. This brings the curtain down – at least publicly – on more than two weeks of mutual recrimination between coach and captain, beginning with Ganguly’s disclosure to the media about Chappell wanting him to quit as captain, and the latter’s subsequent response in the form of a damning email.Addressing a chaotic, and often comical, press conference after the meeting, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, the board’s president, announced that Chappell and Ganguly had agreed to work together. He said: “Indian cricket must go forward”.There was major relief for Ganguly in Mahendra’s announcement that the committee had found no truth in the allegation that he had faked an injury in Zimbabwe. Mahendra sought to explain it away as a “miscommunication”. And there was a hint of support for Chappell in Mahendra’s assertion that players will be henceforth judged on the basis of performance.The other significant announcement by Mahendra was a ban on everybody involved – coach, captain and players – from speaking to the media on this issue. He warned players speaking out of turn of serious consequences.”The committee has heard Chappell, Amitabh Choudhury [the team manager] and Ganguly,” Mahendra told reporters. “After hearing them, the committee has discussed everything in detail and was of the view that cricket is to go forward. Both coach and captain have to work out mutually and a professional working relationship to be maintained, and for this performance will be the criterion. This applies to the captain, it applies to the coach and the players.”Even before the review committee met this afternoon at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai it was quite clear that tough decisions involving a change of captain or, alternatively, some kind of cautioning of Chappell was not on the cards. For one, the review committee comprising of the three former captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Srinivas Venkatraghavan as well as Mahendra, S K Nair, the board’s secretary and, of course, the ubiquitous Jagmohan Dalmiya, had only advisory powers. Second, the board itself is in the throes of an identity crisis, with the courts having had to intervene to decide when its annual elections are to be held.At the meeting both Chappell and Ganguly made their cases separately and then sat together for the final session. Mahendra later said both coach and captain are happy with the outcome and the committee was confident they would get along well. “We cannot presume that there is no trust. They [Chappell and Ganguly] are confident that they will do it,” is how Mahendra phrased it.Early signs had pointed to a showdown between the two principals. Ganguly apparently arrived armed with fitness certificates and detailed notes to make a point-by-point rebuttal on the scathing remarks Chappell had made about him in the email. And John Gloster, the team’s physio, was asked to be on stand-by to provide the necessary documentation to attest the coach’s claims about the captain’s reluctance to conform to tough training regimens.At the press conference Mahendra, embarrassingly evasive and bumbling in the way he fielded questions, seemed to come to life on the question of Ganguly’s faked injuries. “It was due to some miscommunication” was his curt comment, and if the force with which he said it was meant to preclude further questions it did just that.”Cricket should go forward,” was the discovery that Mahendra seemed to have made following the committee meeting, and it was the repeated rejoinder with which he sought to disarm the more trenchant questioners in the assembled media. “We have demarcated the difference in roles between the captain and coach. The captain has to control the game. The coach has to do his own job,” was all he would offer by way of further detail.Finally, Mahendra capped the hatchet job that the board had done on transparency by announcing a blanket ban on the players speaking to the media on the issue.The temporary reprieve that the board has engineered will help the team concentrate on the forthcoming home series against Sri Lanka, from October 25 to November 12, and South Africa, from November 16 to 28. Ganguly’s failing to come good in these games could well re-open the whole issue. This could also happen if the elections to the BCCI, scheduled to be held within two months, throws up a dispensation not controlled by Dalmiya, who has all along been the Indian captain’s guardian deity.
John Wright has been retained as India’s coach for a further year. Wright, 50, has held the job for four years and his extension lasts until September 2005. India have put in some good performances during Wright’s tenure, beating Australia in a home Test series in 2001 and drawing with them in Australia earlier this year, as well as reaching the World Cup finals in South Africa in 2003, and beating Pakistan in the first Test series between the two for 14 years.The extension to Wright’s contract was widely expected, but is surprisingly short-term. Jagmohan Dalmiya, the Indian board president, explained why this was the case: “It all depends on whether the coach wants to continue and if the players are comfortable.”Two other members of the coaching staff, Andrew Leipus, the team physio, and trainer Greg King have had their contracts extended until the end of the 2007 World Cup in West Indies.The national team left India today (August 16) for their European tour, which starts with the Videocon triangular one-day tournament in the Netherlands, involving Australia and Pakistan, followed by the NatWest Challenge against England, and the ICC Champions Trophy in September.
India A kick off their six-week tour of England with a one-day match against a combined British Universities XI at Durham today. Speaking to the press, coach Sandeep Patil said that the tour was an opportunity for many players to get a look-in into the national side, and that “it is up to these players to grab these opportunities”.Patil also stated that, except for Aavishkar Salvi’s torn webbing, all the players were fit and raring to go. “Even Salvi is also fit to play the first match, but we will take a decision on the day of the match.””I started my cricketing career here in 1979. Now I am here in a different capacity. It is a good challenge and good opportunity for all the 16 players,” said Patil. “We have a very talented and experienced team and 12 members have already played for the country in one-dayers or Test matches.”
The first semi-final of the Red Stripe Bowl competition, between Guyana and Jamaica, produced a thrilling tie. Batting first, Jamaica made 191 for 9 in their 50 overs. Guyana replied with 191 for 9 but go through to the final by virtue of having more wins in the qualifying stages of the tournament.Guyana won the toss and, not surprisingly on a moist pitch, bowled first. Jamaica lost two early wickets to Reon King. Captain Robert Samuels steadied the collapse with a half-century and he found a valuable partner in Gareth Breese to pull the innings round from 75 for 5.Breese had to retire hurt when on 15, struck a painful blow in the box when facing fast bowler Colin Stuart, returned to blast King for 14 in the final over of the innings before being run out for 42. That assault damaged King’s figures and he ended with 3 for 51 from 9 overs.In reply, Guyana lost opener Andrew Gonsalves for 3 in the second over and slipped to 58 for 3 when Shivnarine Chanderpaul was stumped for 12 after consultation with the third umpire.Guyana’s captain Carl Hooper with 31 and Ramnaresh Sarwan (35) pulled the innings round so that at 114 for 3 Guyana appeared to be coasting to victory. They looked to be coasting to defeat when both batsmen were out by the 35th over, but Neil McGarrell, batting at number 8, revived things with 24 not out from just 15 balls.The final over, bowled by Marlon Samuels, was a classic of the genre. 11 runs were needed for victory and, with the aid of some indifferent fielding and a missed stumping opportunity, the batsmen managed to level the scores with one ball remaining. Stuart was on 14 and went for the run that would have given his side the win but, for once, the fielders were up to their task and Stuart was run out leaving the match as a tie.The place in the final had to be decided by a count-back to wins in the preliminary stages of the competition – a calculation that came out in Guyana’s favour by 3 matches to 2. They will play the winners of today’s clash between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
Middlesex batsman Fran Wilson has been called up to the England women’s squad of 14 for the standalone Ashes Test next week in Canterbury. Wilson’s inclusion, in place of wicketkeeper-batsman Amy Jones, is the only change from the ODI squad that lost to Australia 2-1.Wilson was rewarded for her back-to-back fifties, 55 and 64, for England Academy Women in the warm-up matches against Australia. “Fran has been in excellent form with the bat for club and county this summer, and in particular has put in a couple of notable performances for the England Women’s Academy against the Australians during the 50-over and 2-day warm up matches,” ECB’s head of England Women’s Performance, Paul Shaw, said.Jones was dropped after producing scores of 0 and 15 in the two ODIs she played and her score of 18 in the two-day match against Australia in Loughborough last weekend. Wilson, uncapped in the Test format, has played two ODIs and five T20Is so far since her debut against Sri Lanka in 2010, but hasn’t scored any runs in the one-day format yet.Australia currently lead the Ashes four points to two. The Test, which carries four points for a win and two each for a draw, will be followed by three T20Is at the end of the month.England Women Squad: Charlotte Edwards (captain), Heather Knight (vice-captain), Katherine Brunt, Kathryn Cross, Georgia Elwiss, Lydia Greenway, Rebecca Grundy, Jenny Gunn, Laura Marsh, Natalie Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Sarah Taylor, Fran Wilson, Lauren Winfield.
Former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry has stated that the north London club will recover even if Robin van Persie leaves this summer.
The Netherlands international has confessed his will to leave the Emirates Stadium, and with an expiring contract the Gunners are considering selling their attacking maestro.
With Manchester United, City and Juventus circling, a departure for Van Persie has been touted, but Henry feels that Arsene Wenger’s men will be ok even if the PFA Player of the Year leaves.
“We hope he stays and that’s the way it is,” the Frenchman is quoted as saying in The Telegraph.
”I don’t know exactly what is happening but as an Arsenal fan I want him to stay. He is still an Arsenal player and the boss has to deal with it.
”I just want Arsenal to do well. Robin will do what he will do and we’ll see.
”When I left, everybody cried, but then the year after they went on a run of being eight points ahead. Everyone comes and goes,” he admitted.
Meanwhile Henry feels the return of injured Jack Wilshere will be a huge boost to the team.
“You want Jack Wilshere around. He reminds me of when I first arrived when the old guard was there.
”He’s an Arsenal fan in the first place and you need this type of player around in the dressing room.
”It’s not only that he’s an Arsenal fan, and not only an Englishman, but he’s a good player, it’s as simple as that.
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”What a shame that he stopped a bit because he was on his way.
”I just wish him all the best that he can come back quick and wear the shirt he loves so much,” Henry concluded.
On the 15th December 1995 Jean-Marc Bosman changed the face of football for the worse. The Belgian footballer fought for and eventually won the right to move from one club to another for nothing once their contracts had expired. Labelled the ‘Bosman Ruling’ it effectively shifted the power that football clubs once held over players putting them in the driving seat when it came to transfer dealings and contract negotiations. Player power has grown exponentially over the last 15 years and is continuing on a rapid incline towards an absurd level. But will this increase ruin the game we all know and love?
Looking at the transfer window that has just passed there were a number of cases that caught the eye and gave weight to the notion that player power is actually ruining the game. A couple of examples spring to mind with Samir Nasri, Jose Enrique and Charles N’Zogbia the obvious ones that come to the fore. Last season Wayne Rooney demanded to leave his club, leveraging his position to see his demands for a salary increase granted by Manchester United to prevent him from leaving Old Trafford. Quite frankly it’s disgusting that players now have the mind-set that they are bigger than the club, the owner and the fans. What makes them think they can bully the club into a corner and demand more money or dictate what they will do after their contract has expired?
The Rooney fiasco really did make my blood boil considering he is already paid handsomely by the club, is worshipped by those in the stands and is the poster boy of English football that many a young child look up to in awe of his footballing ability. If only they knew the truth about how greedy and conniving footballers are becoming. Rooney knew Man Utd would do everything in their power to keep him at the club and used that to grind them into submission. How can he accuse the most successful side in English football of lacking ambition? It was a paper-thin ruse that didn’t fool fans or the media alike. But it worked and he eventually got his pay rise because Man Utd were simply too afraid that they would lose him to a rival team.
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This trend is becoming all the more common in football with players in the final years of their contracts now more aware of the fact that they can hold a club to ransom by saying they’ll leave the following year for nothing unless they get an improved deal. This will either lead to a club selling the player on for a reduced fee (although on deadline day fees can soar) or giving into their demands and bumping their wage up to meet their requirements. Enrique left Newcastle for £6 million this summer despite being worth more than double that fee. But with the Spaniard refusing to sign a new deal and hankering for a move to Liverpool the Magpies had to sell otherwise they’d have an unhappy player on their hands that would be free to leave in 12 months time for absolutely nothing. It’s a dirty tactic but it works. Nasri is another example, refusing to sign a new contract and forcing Arsenal to sell him to Man City.
But who are real losers in all of this? The fans! They are the ones who are hit hard in the pocket when these players decide they want a pay rise or a move elsewhere. Whether a player pockets more zeroes on their weekly wage or decide to leave on a free causing their club to shell out money on a replacement, fans will be the ones left covering the cost. Ticket prices, merchandise and food has slowly risen in tandem with transfer fees and wages that players are now commanding and it’s having a serious effect on attendances. With the economy in the perilous position the clamour for players to earn the highest wage possible is sucking money out of clubs and the pockets of fans.
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These players are simply tearing the heart right out of football forcing more and more fans away from stadiums and into their armchairs or local pubs. Their selfish approach to earning money is killing football slowly but surely and ruining a game that was once built on respect and principles. If this problem isn’t nipped in the bud and rectified quickly, football will eventually cease to be as these players will become too powerful and too expensive to maintain.
Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri believes his side, and not fierce rivals Inter Milan, should have advanced to the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia.
The Azzurri had several chances to score during the match but eventually bowed out at the quarter-final stage after a heartbreaking 5-4 penalty shootout loss on Wednesday.
“All one needs to do is look at the amount of shots on goal by Napoli to see how wrong this result is,” Mazzarri said.
“I also have some serious doubts over some of the refereeing decisions. There was a handball against [Hugo] Campagnaro which wasn’t awarded. As for the offside goal, it was offside, but only by a few millimetres.”
“These are situations that a coach cannot control, therefore it is useless to speak about them. I am disappointed how the match went, but not with my players. I have nothing to tell them off for, but we did deserve to win.”
Inter boss Leonardo admitted his team had struggled at times but was thrilled to set up a last-four clash against either Juventus or Roma.
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“I am very satisfied with the performance of my team, on several occasions they coped with being on the back foot. I think our win on penalties is highly deserved,” he said.
“I saw a very even game. At certain points Napoli tried to win the game as they were playing at home. It’s true, at one point we were struggling in the middle of the field but I didn’t see a big difference between the sides.”
With the 19 match unbeaten run left on a cliff hanger by the spectacular day at Wembley in late May, the two-month lull between seasons will be characterised by the eagerness of Crewe fans waiting desperately to try their newly resilient hand at the stronger proposition of League One.
The gap from the 2-0 win over Cheltenham in the sun to a home date with Notts County on the 18th August coming a week after a Carling Cup assignment at home to Hartlepool, will be infested with a growing sense of the usual excitement and optimism that will have tailed off from the back end of the extraordinary last season to a feeling that this time such fanfare will not be false.
This is a new, vibrant Crewe waiting with desperate anxiousness to put the validity of the Steve Davis resurrection on the line in the bustle of the third tier.
It will be done of course without the influence of the talismanic precociousness of Nick Powell who has left for Manchester United on the basis of last season’s heroics, but just like the departures of Dean Ashton, Rob Hulse, Danny Murphy, Luke Varney as well as countless others that epitomised Crewe Alexandra as a selling club, it will not prevent the natural progression of a club that values youthful evolution over dramatic revolution like no other club in the Football League pyramid.
The 17-year-old Max Clayton lurks in the shadows to seize the Powell beacon on the promise that he displayed in numerous cameos last season, and Davis’ enthusiasm for youth will see no qualms with the potential of the youngster partnering the impressive Ajay Leitch-Smith without drafting in the lower-league stereotype of the big-man striker that so many managers see as the natural route.
The attack-line has been bolstered with an unexpected move for Wrexham’s Mathias Pogba, scorer of 12 goals in last season’s Conference, but he is more adept at playing between the lines with a nature to provide. There can also be a temptation to forget Shaun Miller who has seemingly lost his way since his bourgeoning potential, a run of 6 goals in 9 games, threatened his coming of age at the start of last year. Clubs have registered an interest, but there will be a reluctance to abandon the talent that tallied 19 goals the season before he slipped into a pain-staking indifference, it will be an inviting test for club and player to rediscover his form.
Davis’ main priority however, has been to initiate the preparation from the back, possibly indicative of the age of pragmatism that has been a transient feature of the Steve Davis/ Neil Baker era. Rather unforgivingly, out went play-off winning captain David Artell together with the notion that sentimentality will play no part in future plans, and firstly, in came Torquay’s Mark Ellis, eight years Artell’s junior, to promise more mobility and speed alongside Adam Dugdale at centre half.
The club has also managed to realise once more the need for a natural left-back in signing Chesterfield’s Gregor Robertson, which will bring to a pleasant conclusion the numerous use of stop-gaps in the position, plus some valuable experience with the Scot standing at the ripe age of 28. Behind them, goalkeeper Steve Phillips will have pleased supporters by extending his deal having solidified the number one jersey after a year littered with some strong performances.
There will still be some lingering anxiety in the defensive positions as the club awaits Kelvin Mellor’s verdict over a new one-year deal amidst speculation linking him with a move to Derby County following an impressive breakthrough year which ended on being entrusted with a starting position in the Wembley crescendo in just the 21 year old’s 17th appearance. The manager’s so Harry will remain to provide cover whilst the management team see enough promise in teenagers George Ray, Andy White and Oliver Turton to be handed professional terms ahead of the upcoming campaign, the versatile Mellor has proven himself to be a deputy of the utmost reliability in marked surprise given his inexperience and it is hoped he continues his progression in the familiar setting of Gresty Road.
Transfer plans will also hinge heavily on the decision Byron Moore faces over his future. Offered a fresh 2 year deal in the aftermath of an impressive season in which he answered a few dissenting voices about his commitment following his indecision over a new deal last summer. The winger has been linked with a variety of clubs north of the border in Scotland but Davis remains hopeful on agreeing a new deal for his dynamic right-sided creative talent. After the club narrowly missed out to Torquay on the signature of last season’s loanee Billy Bodin, a slight concern over the wide berths have been nullified by a move for Ebbsfleet’s winger Michael West who comes with impressive reference from a productive talent stream that have churned out Joel Byrom, Michael Bostwick and Stacy Long, who al now reside in League One. Davis will be desperate however, to avoid having to address the right-flank by tying down Moore, with a hope that the enthusiasm he displayed in the final months of last season being indicative of his approval of this bright new era, to the immediate future with reasonable haste.
Davis has gone to lengths to allay some fears over the futures of Mellor and Moore by saying that he expects them to sign after lengthy discussions with the duo over the past week, but some discontent will remain until they give concrete committal. With the squad beginning to take shape, assuming that Moore and Mellor do pledge their future to the promise of a new-look ambitious Crewe, Davis’ last assignment of the summer will be to address a void in the central-midfield positions left exposed somewhat, by the release of Lee Bell. Fears over a medical problem have seen the club renege on a two-year deal for Jamie Lowry who has deviated to Plymouth, so an active alternative comes in the form of former Northampton defensive-midfielder Abdul Osman who will be handed a trial in the first two games of pre-season, starting this coming weekend. The management team have been enthusiastic over Osman as a result of his past links with the club and an athletic ball-winner sounds an exciting proposition and again, a further indication of the more solid approach that the club is now adopting.
There may be some value in likening the Alex’s transfer dealings this summer to the new pragmatic edge that Davis has brought to the table in his eight months in charge, it was after all, a rather salient characteristic of the enduring unbeaten run the new tightening up at the back and it has been further shown by a willingness to build on the defensive areas rather than sign up to the chase for the flair signing that Powell’s exit may have necessitated. Ellis and Robertson in so far, it hasn’t been the most blasé of transfer activity from Davis and Baker, but it’s just the settled way they would want it as they build up to the ever-looming visit of Notts County in the middle of August.
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No panic, just a quiet assurance that has underlined the unbeaten run to date, one that remains in suspension until the big kick-off on the 18th. Crewe fans wait with eager anticipation to League One for a chance to negotiate the next chapter of this bright new era with what is shaping to be a well-rounded, sensible squad.