The Pakistan senate committee on sports has decided the process for Shoaib Akhtar’s appeal regarding his five-year ban should continue and that the appellate tribunal should be allowed to take its decision independently. The three-man tribunal, headed by retired High Court judge Aftab Farrukh and including former Test player Haseeb Ahsan and former federal minister Saleem Taseer, is scheduled to hold its first meeting on the appeal on April 17.Enver Ali Beg, a senate committee member, criticised the board for imposing the ban and called for a revamp of the cricket administration that handed down the punishment.”We have analysed the charges on Shoaib and [are] criticising the PCB,” said Beg after the committee meeting today. “[It] was not as big a crime that he was banned for five years.”The committee called up officials of the PCB and Shoaib and the meeting lasted for three hours and we feel that some people have settled their scores by banning Shoaib.”Shoaib said he hoped the appellate tribunal would do justice to his appeal and that Senate committee would take up the matter in his support.On April 1 the board banned Shoaib from playing cricket, for and in Pakistan, for violating the players’ code of conduct. Shoaib filed an appeal against the ban and lashed out at the PCB saying he was being “victimised”.On one news channel he alleged that the ban was punishment in return for refusing to give the PCB chairman, Nasim Ashraf, a share of his salary from the Indian Premier League. This claim prompted Ashraf to issue a legal notice seeking damages worth US$1.6 million for defamation. Shoaib also said he had been approached by individuals to underperform during the team’s tour to India and South Africa, offers which he refused.
The former South African fast bowler, Allan Donald, has been appointed by the England & Wales Cricket Board as a consultant to the England team, and will link up with the squad ahead of the third Test at Old Trafford on a short-term contract that will take him through to the end of the NatWest Series against West Indies.Donald, 40, had been linked with an England role ever since the start of the summer, and went public with his interest during last week’s Lord’s Test. Peter Moores, the new head coach, confirmed after the conclusion of that match that the board intended to sit down for discussions.”It’s a big positive that someone of Allan’s stature wants to come along,” said Moores. “I want to make sure that whoever we bring in fits our set-up and it’s the right person and we don’t just think that because it’s a great name we should just pull them in.”In a statement, the ECB said that Donald, who has over 200 Test and one-day caps to his name, will work with the England squad and with other elite England-qualified fast bowlers, and will fall under the direction of Moores and the ECB fast bowling coach, Kevin Shine.The performance of England’s pacemen has come under severe scrutiny since the team was drubbed 5-0 by Australia in last winter’s Ashes, but Moores was keen to ensure that the blame for the failings did not fall on the shoulders of Shine, who succeeded Troy Cooley at the beginning of 2006 and has now reverted to an administrative role at the National Academy in Loughborough.”Peter Moores and ECB have every confidence in Kevin Shine to lead the ECB fast bowling programme and to coach England’s elite fast bowlers,” said John Carr, the director of operations. “Kevin will continue to be involved in the preparation of England fast bowlers around international matches as well as being involved in any decisions to utilise the services of other fast bowling coaches with England teams or in other parts of the fast bowling programme.”
In a sign of how much of an issue fielding has become in Pakistan cricket – and it’s not as if the malaise is a new one – Wasim Bari, chairman of selectors, has said that cricketers intending to break into the national set-up will be considered only if their fielding is up to the mark.Speaking to the Karachi-based Bari said, “In modern day cricket, a player’s fielding ability has become a very important aspect and that is going to show in our selection process in the future.”Gone are the days when players could force their way into the national team entirely through batting and bowling performances.”After dispiriting performances in the field against India in the ODI series earlier this year, the seriousness of the issue has finally been acknowledged by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Bari’s comments are the latest recognition of how embedded the problem is.Jonty Rhodes, widely regarded as one of the best fielders of all time, is due to arrive in Pakistan in June for a two-week stint to work with the national team as well as coaches in the National Cricket Academy. Critics, though, have questioned the value a stint as short as this has for a problem that begins, essentially, at the grassroots.But Bari added that along with his selection committee, stricter guidelines would be adhered to when judging a player’s fielding skills when picking the national team. “I would like to tell our young cricketers that they should not expect a chance to play at the international level if they can’t field well. It is that important.”The whole concept of how you play cricket has changed in recent times. And it is not just the one-day version of the game. A team’s fielding performance is becoming a decisive factor in Test matches as well. Look at England, they failed to win against Sri Lanka because they fielded badly.”Though Bari tactfully refused to point out specific players in the team who were poor fielders, he pointed to the improvement in standards of almost every team in cricket as proof that even Pakistan can change. “Even teams like Bangladesh have achieved enormous improvement in this department of the game and that has really impressed me.”I am not saying this as a chief selector but as an ex-Test cricketer that one of the Pakistan team’s biggest flaws lay in it is fielding. Pakistan can become one of the world’s best fielding sides but that needs a lot of hard work.”
Keith Miller, the most charismatic Australian cricketer of his generation, has died in a nursing home on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne. He was 84, and had been in poor health for some time.Miller enlivened the postwar years with his brilliant allround play, able to turn a match with an attacking innings, a fiery spell of bowling, or a superb piece of fielding. He is probably best remembered for his new-ball partnership with Ray Lindwall, but it was as a classical batsman that he first made his mark: the photograph (right) of Miller clipping a textbook square-drive adorned the office wall of the cricket-loving Australian prime minister Robert Menzies for many years.But “Nugget” – so-called because he was Australia’s “Golden Boy” – was more than a cricketer: along with his English soulmate Denis Compton he embodied the idea that there was more to life than cricket. Miller, who was named after two pioneer Australian aviators – Keith and Ross Smith – was a fighter pilot himself in the Second World War, and after some extremely close shaves was well aware of the importance of life. It meant that he could occasionally look disengaged on the field: at Southend in 1948, when the “Invincible” Australians were running up the record score of 721 in a day against Essex, Miller stepped away to his first ball and was bowled, since such an unequal contest held little excitement.This approach hardly endeared him to Don Bradman, the unyielding captain of that 1948 side who, possibly significantly, had not seen action during the war. Some mischievous hair-parting bouncers at the great man during Bradman’s valedictory testimonial match at home after the tour probably didn’t help either. Miller was initially ludicrously overlooked for Australia’s next overseas trip – to South Africa in 1949-50 – although he did eventually go, after an injury to another player and a petition from local fans. But with Bradman by then firmly at the helm of the Australian Board, Miller never did captain Australia, although he was a born leader who impressed for New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield, and would have been a better bet than Ian Johnson, who was persuaded out of retirement when Lindsay Hassett stood down. Miller did have an unusual approach to captaincy, though: he sometimes set his field by telling the other players “Scatter”. On another occasion, having omitted to nominate a 12th man, he found himself with 12 players on the field. He observed: “Well, one of you had better bugger off.”
Miller started as a batsman, hitting 181 on his first-class debut, for Victoria against Tasmania at Melbourne in 1937-38. And he first made a mark on the international game in 1945, with a sparkling 105 in the first “Victory Test” at Lord’s, followed by a stroke-filled 185 there for the Dominions against England at the end of August. Miller made his official Test debut the following year, and went on to play 55 times for Australia, scoring 2958 runs at 36.97, with seven centuries, three of them against England and four against West Indies, whose captain, John Goddard, once sighed, “Give us Keith Miller and we’d beat the world.”Bradman’s strong side needed Miller more as a bowler than a batsman, and he ended up with 170 Test wickets, at the excellent average of 22.97. He was the perfect foil to the smooth, skiddy Lindwall: Miller would trundle in off a shortish run, but could send down a thunderbolt himself if he felt like it. Or a legspinner. Or a yorker. Or a bouncer, an overdose of which led to his being booed during the 1948 Trent Bridge Test: Miller simply sat down until the barracking had subsided. What few people realised was that he had trouble with his back throughout that tour – he often pressed an errant disc back into place at the base of his spine before somehow sending down another screamer.Despite this Miller remained a fearsome proposition as a bowler, grinning down the pitch at the discomfited batsman, and returning to his mark, flicking back his hair, which was on the long side for that short-back-and-sides era. In 1956, on his third and final tour of England, Miller was rising 37 and hoping not to do much bowling. But his pal Lindwall pulled out of the second Test at Lord’s, and his replacement Pat Crawford broke down in his fifth over. Miller shouldered the burden, bowling 34.1 overs in the first innings and 36 in the second, and took five wickets both times to set up Australia’s 181-run victory, their only one of that Jim Laker-dominated series. Miller had scored 109 in the 1953 Lord’s Test, and remains the only man to have his name on both the batting and bowling honours boards in the visitors’ dressing-room there.After his retirement Miller remained in the public eye. The social contacts he’d built up – there were unsubstantiated rumours of a fling with Princess Margaret – made him a living as a journalist and columnist, but he was happiest at the cricket or at the races. Late in life he struck up a friendship with Sir Paul Getty, and the two of them would chat unselfconsciously in the Getty box at Lord’s, or at the beautiful Wormsley ground, where the cricket on display – serious but spiced with grins and gins – was exactly the type Miller would have loved to play.Neville Cardus dubbed Miller “the Australian in excelsis”, a notion to which the noted Daily Mail sportswriter Ian Wooldridge heartily subscribed: “By God he was right.”Keith Miller’s death was announced shortly after the news filtered through of the demise of the actor Christopher Reeve in America. As Tim de Lisle, the former Wisden editor, pointed out: “The world has lost two Supermen in one day.”Steven Lynch is editor of Wisden Cricinfo.
According to Wisden Cricinfo sources, two USA-based candidates have applied for the post of chief executive officer of the USA Cricket Association.The two are named as S.M.X. (Bobby) Refaie, current Secretary of the USA Cricket Association, and Hassan Jalil, a cricket developer with extensive experience in South Asia and the USA. However, this could not be officially confirmed. Mark Waugh, former Australian Test cricketer, has been mentioned as a possible candidate, but this has also not been confirmed.US Cricketers are waiting with bated breath for the announcement from the ICC. The appointment of this CEO is expected to set the future direction of US cricket, and a lot is riding on the final outcome.
New Zealand Cricket is experimenting with couch-grass as a prospective grass for its pitches.High Performance Centre turf manager, Karl Johnson said an experiment will be done on one of the recently-built practice strips at Bert Sutcliffe Oval at New Zealand Cricket’s complex at Lincoln University.”We had some couch-grass loaded on a train from Auckland for a three-day trip to put down on the practice pitches to see how it will handle our winter,” he said.The appeal of couch-grass is its durability and the fact that because it is such an aggressive grass, it can allow the re-use of pitches within a month. That makes it of particular significance to Lincoln because of the volume of cricket played there.”It does take different management, but it is used right around Australia and former Auckland groundsman Richard Winter, who now works at the WACA in Perth, believes it should be able to be used in New Zealand.”The Legend variety of couch is used at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Melbourne has reasonably similar weather to us,” Johnson said.”The benefit to us at Lincoln is also that we don’t have winter sport on the ground,” he said.
Nottinghamshire kept alive their faint hopes of a late push towards the promotion places when they bowled out Worcestershire for 259 on the final afternoon to claim their second CricInfo Championship victory of the season.Set a victory target of 321 the visitors began the day at 9-0 but in a morning session interrupted by a sweeping storm they lost their opener Phillip Weston and their talisman, captain Graeme Hick.Hick fell just before lunch, to give Nadeem Malik, Notts’ young pace bowler, his first wicket in senior cricket.Hopes of a home success looked bleak as Anurag Singh and Vikram Solanki each compiled 43 in good time as Worcs entered the spirit of a final day run chase.Malik nipped out Singh but Andy Bichel and Steve Rhodes kept up the run-rate batting around the solid presence of Paul Pollard, who steadfastly refused to throw his wicket away against his former county.Tea was taken with the score on 193-5 with both sides still capable of forcing a result. Pollard’s run out half-an-hour after the resumption gave Notts the opportunity of attacking the lower order.Kevin Pietersen picked up a couple of wickets with his off-spin and victory was confirmed for Notts when Alamgir Sheriyar pushed forward at Greg Smith, who took a comfortable return catch to complete a 61-run win.After being bowled out for just 149 on the first day Notts second innings performance with the bat brought about the transformation and led to an eventual second win of the season against the same opposition.
Tottenham Hotspur’s spineless defeat against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground last weekend was a mess.
Thomas Frank has since been entrusted by the Lewis Family with the responsibility of turning things around, but it’s hard to see that Spurs have made headway after dismissing Ange Postecoglou at the end of the 2024/25 campaign.
That being said, Frank has what it takes to lift this project off the ground, having exceeded expectations in west London with Brentford. He is steadfast in his belief that he will make discernible progress soon.
The Danish coach needs time, but, more importantly, he needs results, and he must navigate through a number of obstacles down N17.
The biggest problems facing Frank at Spurs
Frank was visibly incensed as his Tottenham team trudged off after defeat at Nottingham Forest. After all, it was a display littered with issues.
The likes of Pedro Porro have been abject all year. The Spanish right-back is a creative expert, but he’s struggling to bring it all together, so flimsy and, it looks at times, disinterested.
Sofascore record that Spurs lost 57% of their aerial challenges against the Tricky Trees; moreover, only three of 19 attempted crosses found their target.
It’s not just a struggle to implement Frank’s vision. Individual errors are costing Tottenham dearly too. There are deep-rooted problems for the Lilywhites boss to wrestle with, but mistakes make up some of the biggest creases, and they need to be ironed out.
Premier League 25/26 – Most Errors Made
Club
Goals Conceded
Errors
Tottenham
21
20
Everton
19
19
Nott’m Forest
25
18
Wolves
20
17
Man City
16
16
Sunderland
17
16
Data via FBref
Perhaps this means certain members of the squad need to be evicted. We’ve seen before the hindrances that error-prone players can have, even against their natural talent, and Frank may have landed his own version of Serge Aurier in that regard.
Spurs' new version of Serge Aurier
Aurier spent four years in north London with Tottenham, enjoying highs and lows under Mauricio Pochettino and then Jose Mourinho’s wing.
An athletic and creative right-back, Aurier arrived from PSG for a hefty £23m fee, and while he boasted a suitable athletic and technical profile for the Premier League, the Ivorian defender was culpable of many “ridiculous and rash” decisions, making many an “elementary mistake”, as had been said by pundit Jamie Redknapp.
Talented but guilty of error-strewn displays? Tottenham may have their new version between the sticks, with Guglielmo Vicario having played an epicentral role in his side’s mistake-filled performances this season.
Vicario, 29, is into his third campaign in north London after joining from Empoli for an initial £17m fee, and while has saved 70.6% of the shots he has faced in the Premier League this term, putting him seventh in the standings for that metric, he has also blundered on several occasions, drawing the ire of Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher and many Spurs supporters besides.
Also branded “embarrassing” and “in a tough spot” by former Premier League forward Nigel Reo-Coker after blundering against Forest, Vicario’s job is not at risk yet, but he’s ostensibly entered the beginning of his prime as a shot-stopper and needs to be producing more convincing displays.
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He was at fault both times as Callum Hudson-Odoi worked his way onto the scoresheet, and it’s hardly as if that dour defeat stands as an outlier.
In fact, the Italy international has made a sum total of 11 direct errors since moving to the Premier League, including a woeful return of six from just 24 appearances last year.
Aurier had his uses in a Tottenham shirt, but his strengths did not outweigh the weaknesses that bogged Spurs down after that post-Champions League decline.
Now, Vicario is proving himself to be the new version, and if Frank is serious about making sustained headway, it might be that the shot-stopper needs to be cut loose down the line.
A better signing than Simons: Spurs hold talks to sign big-money PL star
Tottenham’s attacking additions from the summer have left something to be desired.
There is not much Brett Lee has failed to achieve this summer. He was a key man in Australia’s record-equalling 16 consecutive Test wins, was Player of the Series against both India and Sri Lanka, and collected his first Allan Border Medal. But to really cap off his outstanding season, Lee is desperate to deliver the Pura Cup to New South Wales.The Blues have won the title twice during Lee’s career but because of his higher commitments this is the first opportunity he has had to take part in a decider. Lee recalls watching his brother Shane play in domestic finals and he said beating Victoria in the match that starts on Saturday at the SCG would be extra special.”I’ve played in one-day internationals and in Tests around the world,” Lee told the . “But to get the chance to play in a Pura Cup final, and the chance to play for the team where it all started, I can’t wait.”The Vics are a team you love to hate. They’re a good bunch of guys, but you hate losing to them. They’ve been in good form and I’m looking forward to the final. They’re a strong side.”Lee is the spearhead in a Test-quality New South Wales pace attack that also features Stuart Clark and Nathan Bracken, while the spin option is provided by Stuart MacGill. Despite expectations the SCG pitch will offer plenty of turn, MacGill played down talk that the final would be a bowl-off between him and Victoria’s Bryce McGain ahead of the Test tour of the West Indies in May.”If Bryce is the right man for the job, he’ll be picked for Australia,” MacGill said. “If I’m the right man, I’ll be going. The current selectors are very matter-of-fact and if they see a role for me or Bryce or Dan Cullen, then they’ll choose me, Bryce or Dan.”
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA full house at the Kensington Oval turned up for Brian Lara’s farewell to international cricket but, although it was a low-key farewell with the bat, they were treated to one of the best matches of the World Cup as England completed a thrilling one-wicket win with one ball to spare. Kevin Pietersen’s second World Cup century carried England to within touching distance and the ageless Paul Nixon reduced the requirement to four off the final over. Nixon was bowled by Dwayne Bravo but Stuart Broad held his nerveWhen Pietersen was joined by Nixon, England needed a tough 112 in 14 overs but the pair added 80 in 63 balls. Pietersen went to his fourth ODI ton with a huge six over midwicket off Jerome Taylor only to miss an attempted repeat next ball and lose his leg stump. Nixon, who came so close to carrying England home against Sri Lanka, took the momentum forward and his three boundaries off the 48th over left England needing a run-a-ball for the final two.When Nixon was confounded by Bravo’s excellent slower deliveries it was down to Broad and Jimmy Anderson to find three from four balls. Off the penultimate delivery Lara, in his final gesture as an international player, brought the field in and Broad, at the opposite end of his career, scythed over cover.It had taken six weeks but finally there was a sell-out and the crowd were treated to the match they deserved. They’d been whipped up into a frenzy by Chris Gayle’s 58-ball 79 so by the time Lara walked in, through a guard of honour from the England players, they were in the mood for something special.A scorching square-drive and a deft leg glance hinted at one final onslaught, but Marlon Samuels wasn’t reading the same script. Pushing the ball towards mid-on he set off for a run, only to change his mind and leave Lara stranded by Pietersen’s direct hit. As he left the field, to another standing ovation and handshakes from his team-mates, his ODI figures read 10,405 runs at 40.48 from 299 matches.Although he couldn’t sign off with a major innings, Lara at least appeared set to end with a victory when England fell away to 189 for 6. But Pietersen was ticking and he timed his charge to perfection, expertly picking out the required boundaries. Third man was a profitable area, but he also threaded the needle on both sides of the pitch.Kevin Pietersen finally managed a one-day hundred in a winning cause for England•Rebecca Naden/PA Photos/Getty Images
West Indies’ fielding was the ultimate mixed bag. Three direct-hit run outs, two from the ebullient Bravo, were outstanding but the number of fumbles and general laziness elsewhere was staggering. Gayle had the chance to remove either Pietersen or Nixon in the 46th over yet made a complete mess of it as both batsmen were stranded mid-pitch. With the first ball of the next over Pietersen reached his century off 90 balls but his wicket, followed quickly by Liam Plunkett, put West Indies back in control until Nixon’s heroics.For the first half of England’s run chase it appeared that the captain’s innings everyone had hoped for from Lara would actually come from Michael Vaughan’s bat. Hopelessly out of form throughout the tournament he finally kicked on and almost matched Gayle with a 33-ball fifty. One shot, off Taylor, was vintage Vaughan as he launched a pull into the stands at square leg. Another six followed as he danced down the pitch to Gayle and his first ODI fifty for 14 matches was completed with a flick to fine leg.With Bopara, who was promoted to No. 3, Vaughan added 90 for the second wicket until both were beaten by Bravo’s laser-guided arm as West Indies reasserted their hold. Bravo was having an irresistible period, bowling Paul Collingwood off the inside edge, and when Andrew Flintoff tamely lobbed to long on the innings was dribbling away. But England have a habit off pulling off the unexpected and, in many ways, it was a fitting finish to Duncan Fletcher’s time as coach.In the final outcome, West Indies’ late collapse of six for 42 during the last 10 overs allowed England back into a match which had been rushed away from them by Gayle, who finally found his touch. After 16 overs Vaughan had used seven bowlers as the opening stand reached 131 with Devon Smith contributing a more sedate fifty. Collingwood’s breathtaking salmon-like leap to remove Smith was a moment of brilliance, but Samuels partially atoned for his party-pooping role with a flamboyant 39-ball 51, taking 24 off Plunkett’s seventh over. Vaughan’s offspin was the surprise package in pulling back West Indies and, importantly, England’s fielding standards remained high.But while Vaughan ended as the winning captain the day was still all about Lara. At the final presentation he asked “did I entertain?” The resounding cheers from the crowd, most of who stayed on after the finish, pretty much said it all.