Andhra completely dominated the opening day’s play in the South ZoneCooch Behar Trophy (under-19) tournament match against Kerala at theUkku stadium in Vishakapatnam on Monday. After skittling out Keralafor 56 runs, Andhra replied with 164 for one wicket at stumps.Opting to bat after winning the toss, Kerala struggled for 37 overs tocompile their meagre total. Only NJ John (18) reached double digits.Three batsmen failed to score. Md Faiq was quite unplayable andfinished with the excellent figures of 13-5-15-5. He was wellsupported by Appala Raju (two for 10) and Gnaneswara Rao (two for 9).Kerala had the comfort of an early wicket when D Vinod was out fornine when the total was 27. But for the rest of the day, the otheropener Tahir Hussain (79) and Gnaneswara Rao (61) batted confidentlyto register 137 runs for the unbroken second wicket partnership off38.1 overs. While Hussain faced 175 balls and hit eight of them to theropes, Rao faced 94 balls and hit six fours and a six. Andhraoverhauled the Kerala total in 26.2 overs.

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Loads of Newcastle fans have been reacting to an update from Lee Ryder, who reports that Shola Ameobi is in the running for a new role at the club’s academy.

According to Lee Ryder of Chronicle Live, Ameobi is under consideration for one of three new roles on Tyneside.

According to the report, the Magpies are expected to employ “a loan coordinator, Under-23 boss and assistant Academy coach for a range of younger age groups”.

Pl>ymaker FC Exclusive: Jermaine Jenas reveals why Tyne-Wear is a more intense derby than anything London can offer – check out the video below….

Under-18 manager Dave Watson will leave the club at the end of the season, while Peter Beardsley left his role as the development manager last month.

Ameobi scored 75 goals and racked up 28 assists in 390 Newcastle appearances, but the formerly popular front man has blotted his copybook with fans due to his views on infamous club owner Mike Ashley.

The 37 year-old defended Ashley’s leadership of the club last year, so it does seem quite the coincidence that he is now in line for a job.

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Joyraz Sheik put on 135 runs for the opening wicket with Pinak Ghosh•WICB

While the seniors lost to South Africa by 52 runs in Dhaka, away in Durban Bangladesh Under-19s beat South Africa Under-19s by eight wickets in the first Youth ODI, to win their fifth match in a row.Asked to bat first, the home side made 184 for 9 in 50 overs with Wiaan Mulder top-scoring with 62 off 102 balls with four fours and a six. Opener Rivaldo Moonsamy chipped in with 27. The team’s highest partnership of 48 runs came for the seventh wicket between Mulder and Aaqil Ebrahim (19). Medium-pacer Abdul Halim claimed three wickets while captain Mehedi Hasan Miraz picked up two wickets.Bangladesh’s chase began on the right note with openers Joyraz Sheik and Pinak Ghosh adding 135 runs, Sheik scoring 50 and Ghosh making 60 off 113 balls with five fours and a six. Dayyan Galiem and Dean Foxcroft took one wicket each.”I think our disciplines let us down, we got into trouble early on with the bat, but I think we did well to get 180-odd,” South Africa coach Lawrence Mahatlane said. “I thought we were in the game with that score but we let ourselves down with the ball, to concede almost 40 runs in extras is criminal.”We’ll be working hard to rectify what happened today and I believe we can redeem ourselves, it’s still a long tour. If we can get our disciplines right, then the results will look after themselves.”The second Youth ODI will be held at the same venue on July 7.

Two days out from the Oval Test, a familiar figure looked on amongst the usual assortments of players, coaches, photographers and journalists. The former captain Mark Taylor was at the ground to see Michael Clarke and wish him a fond farewell from the game ahead of his 115th and final Test match, 47 of them as captain.Taylor has long been a defender of Clarke, whether it be in television commentary or in the Cricket Australia boardroom. A few days have passed since Clarke announced his retirement, and in that time the mix of reaction has been more varied than for any Australian captain in recent memory.Irrespective of what the detractors had been storing up, Taylor said Clarke’s legacy as a champion of bright, aggressive cricket was undeniable. He also viewed Clarke as a man of his times, and an advocate for greater individualism and freedom of expression within the Australian team at a time when the weight of earlier eras had been heavy.”Looking at his legacy to this team, it’s aggressive, entertaining cricket, and that’s a great thing to have said about you,” Taylor told ESPNcricinfo. “That’s what the game’s about at the end of the day, to have people a) enjoy playing and b) enjoy watching, and I think Michael has done a very good job with that.”He’s had his critics and we’ve heard from them over the last couple of weeks, but all in all he’s definitely his own man, but he’s provided excellent entertainment for his team and the people who’ve watched them.”He’s been a different sort of captain. That’s where people I think have struggled sometimes to understand Michael. He’s not your typical Australian captain, conservative and boring like me, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting. You knew what you were going to get from us, and with Michael you knew what you were going to get from him, but you’ve got a different sort of guy.”He was unmarried when he first took over, most of us have had a wife and kids when we take over the captaincy. So Michael was more your 21st century captain, he was single, he was flashier, lived a different life to some of us in the past, but that doesn’t make him a bad person, nor a bad captain. What people have seen through his career is he’s a very fine captain, and I’ve enjoyed watching him captain the Australian cricket side.”Michael Clarke is retiring from the game at the age of 34, just as Mark Taylor did in 1999•Getty Images

Plenty of comparisons have been drawn between Taylor and Clarke over the past four years, and there is another in the timing of retirement. Clarke exits the game at the age of 34, just as Taylor did in early 1999 after finding he had lost the motivation to keep going. For that reason he believes Clarke’s final match will be a challenging one.”I wanted to wish him well, hopefully he can enjoy his last Test match,” Taylor said. “It hasn’t been a great series for him or the Aussies, and it’s not going to be easy for him to get up for the last game, and I know that from a personal point of view. I wanted to let him know I think most Australians want him to do well.”Clarke will finish his international career on the losing side in England for the fourth time out of four, and Taylor said there were plenty of lessons to be gleaned from the series, whether it be batsmen showing greater respect for the conditions or bowlers learning that the high pace they strive for in Australia is less important in England than nagging consistency and subtle movement.”On the pitches and conditions that have been presented here, we probably could have been a little bit more conservative with our play,” he said. “But we haven’t made enough runs either and I think if you look at the way we’ve bowled in this series we’ve generally tried to chase it too much because we haven’t got runs on the board.”I think you can still be aggressive to play over here, but being aggressive doesn’t necessarily mean scoring 400 in a day. With our bowling we can look back at the types of bowlers who’ve been successful here in past Ashes series – McGrath, Alderman, Ryan Harris – consistent line and length bowlers.”The bowler of the series to me has been Stuart Broad. Even early in the series when he wasn’t getting a heap of wickets, he still bowled the most consistent line and length of all the bowlers, and at the end he got his reward. Our bowlers, the Hazlewoods, Starcs and James Pattinson, who’s here now, they have to learn from what they see from Stuart Broad at the moment, so next time they come here in 2019, it’s not always about bowling 150kph, it’s about hitting the top of off stump over here.”Whatever has been learned by those young enough to return to England in 2019, they all know Clarke will not be among them. Once Taylor had finished speaking with Clarke he spent time with the next man Steven Smith – it is time for another generation to step up.

ScorecardFile photo – Stiaan van Zyl scored 96 off 193 balls•AFP

India A’s spinners – Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav and Karn Sharma – engineered South Africa A’s lower-order collapse as the visitors lost their last seven wickets for 56 runs to finish with 260 on the first day.While Axar picked up his third five-wicket haul in first-class matches, it was offspinner Jayant’s double-strike that first threw South Africa off gear. Jayant bowled Stiaan van Zyl for 96 in the 72nd over, when South Africa were cruising on 204 for 3, and two overs later, had Quinton de Kock stumped for a duck. Axar then sliced through the lower order, picking up four of the remaining five wickets that fell in a little over eight overs. Jayant and Karn finished with three and two wickets respectively.South Africa would not have anticipated such an end to the day, given the steady start provided by their openers, Reeza Hendricks and van Zyl, after they elected to bat. The opening stand of 58 was broken when Hendricks was dismissed by Axar in the 22nd over, B Aparajith taking the first of his three catches.Van Zyl’s, however, was an assured presence, as he stitched together partnerships of 49 and 78 with Gihahn Cloete and Omphile Ramela for the second and third wickets respectively. But, once van Zyl’s 193-ball effort, comprising 13 fours and a six, came to an end, India’s spinners were all over the visitors.In the morning, the game was interrupted for a few minutes after Jiwanjot Singh spotted a snake in the field. reported that one of the umpires had to jump when the common krait, a venomous snake, made an alarming movement. However, the snake was soon whisked away by the ground staff.

ScorecardJames Hildreth made his fourth first-class hundred of the season•Getty Images

James Hildreth helped himself to a fourth first-class century of the season as Somerset batted themselves into a strong position against Worcestershire on the first day of their LV= County Championship game at Taunton.The 30-year-old batsman began the season in fine form with centuries in April against the MCC and Middlesex, but this was his first since scoring a fine 115 against the touring New Zealanders on May 11 and it helped Somerset to 349 for 5 at stumps.Having chosen to bowl first, Worcestershire briefly thought that day one would belong to them when Jack Shantry trapped Johann Myburgh lbw for nought, at 8 for 1.However, on a wicket that gave the Worcestershire seamers plenty of early encouragement, Marcus Trescothick and Tom Cooper added 108 for the second wicket before the latter edged Joe Leach to Alex Gidman at 116 for 2.Cooper might have been short of first-class runs this season, but he struck the ball positively and was understandably miffed when he picked out the former Gloucestershire captain Gidman at first slip, three balls after lunch.Trescothick continued to bat with due care and attention and having passed 23,000 first-class runs during the morning session and 50 from 94 balls, shortly before lunch, he was eventually bowled by Brett D’Oliveira for 85, at 209 for 3.It was not only an innings of significance in terms of the game, but one that rolled back the years. The 39-year-old county captain took precious few chances throughout his 175-ball stay at the crease, but punished anything that was either too full or short and wide.Hildreth picked up where Trescothick left off and passed 13,000 first-class runs in between lunch and tea. His half-century came off 63 balls with ninefours and with Jim Allenby providing solid support at the opposite end, Somerset edged ever closer to maximum batting points.The fourth-wicket pair took 18 overs to post their 50 partnership, with Hildreth reaching three figures off the fifth ball of the 80th over. He faced 143 deliveries and hit 17 fours.To their credit, Worcestershire continued to bowl with purpose, but with Hildreth looking better and better by the over, Somerset continued to make hay. Hildreth and Allenby registered the highest partnership of the day, with the latter becoming the fourth batsman to pass 50, with eight overs remaining.Shantry eventually found the outside edge of Allenby’s bat at 331 for 4, but that disappointment apart, it was a decent day for Somerset.

ScorecardFile photo: Shreyas Iyer is currently the leading run-scorer in the tournament•K Sivaraman

Shreyas Iyer continued his fine form in the Ranji Trophy by stroking his third century of the season to underpin a dominant batting display from Mumbai against Uttar Pradesh. Iyer, who is currently the leading run-scorer with 633 runs from five matches, blasted 137 off just 110 balls, with 14 fours and five sixes. He received ample support from Akhil Herwadkar and Rohit Sharma, with who he added 106 and 98 respectively. Iyer was eventually dismissed in the 63rd over, but Rohit carried on to hit his 19th first-class ton, an unbeaten 110, to drive Mumbai to 407 for 4. Rohit and Siddhesh Lad were at the crease when stumps were called.
ScorecardDT Chandrasekar, the left-arm spinner, starred in his second first-class match for Tamil Nadu with figures of 4 for 41 as Andhra failed to justify Mohammad Kaif’s decision to bat first at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.AG Pradeep top scored with 78 in Andhra’s 203 all out, with the highlight being his 121-run third-wicket stand with DB Prashanth Kumar, the opener, who made 56. The only other contribution of any kind came from Ricky Bhui, who made 35. Tamil Nadu were yet to open their account in one over they batted, before bad light forced an early end to proceedings.Tamil Nadu’s selection was surprising as they left out Aswin Crist, who picked up six wickets in team’s demolition of Railways last week. But J Kousik, the seamer, ensured they did not miss Crist as he removed Kaif (0) and Prashanth at vital times. Chandrasekhar was also complemented well by the experienced Malolan Rangarajan, who had three scalps.
ScorecardPriyank Kirit Panchal’s third century of the season and fifties from Smit Patel and Manprit Juneja put Gujarat in a strong position against Baroda in Valsad. Gujarat, who chose to bat, ended the day at 281 for 4, with Juneja (50) and Rush Kalaria (1) at the crease.Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel’s return to first-class cricket after eight months was much anticipated from Baroda’s point of view. On the day, while Munaf went wicketless, Irfan had two wickets, including that of centurion Panchal, to show for his efforts. Parthiv Patel, who came into this game on the back of two half-centuries and a century, made just 1 before falling to allrounder Hardik Pandya.
ScorecardAs many as 12 wickets fell at the Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior, a venue traditionally known to be a feather bed, as the opening day between Madhya Pradesh and Railways ended on an even keel. Railways, who were bowled out for 256, struck back to remove the openers as the hosts ended the day at 7 for 2.That MP managed to dismantle Railways was due to the efforts of Jalaj Saxena, the offspinner, who returned career-best figures of 8 for 96 to undo the good work done by Saurabh Wakaskar (73) and V Cheluvaraj (50). That they eventually crossed the 250-run mark was because of Anureet Singh’s unbeaten 35 at the end.

Air India hardly broke into a sweat in romping past South Zone byseven wickets for their third successive victory in the CricInfo RaniJhansi tournament at the SRMC ground in Chennai today. South Zone putin a richly soporific display with the bat, scraping together 84/9 in50 overs after winning the toss and batting. Opener Vanita Viola wasthe lone lass who managed to stay put at the wicket for any length oftime but her 46 not out (129 balls) in 50 overs was just a shadebetter than Sunil Gavaskar’s infamous 36 in 60. In the post noonsession, GS Lakshmi again bowled her heart out, grabbing two earlywickets, but a 54 run fourth wicket partnership between Mithali Rajand Anju Jain steered the Air India women home with 22 overs to spare.Keeping in mind the formidable batting reputation of Air India, Southdared not tempt fate by putting them in and the match as a spectaclewas killed at that very moment. The openers just did not make anyeffort to score. At the very least they could just drop the ball attheir feet and run but here they were patting the ball straight to thefielders, refusing to be hurried. New ball bowlers, Smitha Harikrishnaand Kusumlatha gave away just 15 runs in the first twelve overs beforeoff spinner Seema Pujare was brought on from the pavilion end.She struck with her third ball to as Karuna Jain stepped out to oneoutside off stump and missed the line to be stumped by keeper AnjuJain. New batswoman Harsha was brilliantly caught by Mamtha Ranade atslip in Seema’s third over as she drove lazily at one outside offstump. And Sejal then gifted a dolly catch to Smitha at mid off togive Seema three out of three and leave the score at 23/3 in the 19thover. Kusumlatha had bowled out her ten overs on the trot to finishwith the fabulous figures of 10-6-6-0, which speaks as much for heropponent’s ineptness as much for her own skill.Left arm spinner Usha Bogade was introduced in the 22nd over whilePurnima Rao’s off breaks were seen in action from the otherend. Vanita Viola and Sudha Rani then added 32 runs for the fourthwicket before Purnima got rid of Sudha Rani, caught behind by AnjuJain. Amsavalli hit a full toss into the arms of backward square legand Kamakshi ran herself out going for an ambitious second run throughthe covers. There was a spell between the 40th and 45th overs when norun came off the bat for 29 balls and the last ten overs produced allof 17 runs. Seema finished with 3/13 in 10 overs and Usha, 2/17 butthe most successful was Purnima Rao who mopped up the tail to bag ahaul of 4/29. There was not a single boundary in the innings, not evena three, although on one occasion the batswomen ran two byes off awide to get three runs from the delivery.The batting order was turned over its head once more by Air India,with Anjum Chopra and Smitha Harikrishna opening the innings. Anjumstruck the first boundary of the match in the fourth over, with astraight drive off Mamtha. But South captain GS Lakshmi had not thrownin the towel yet, and sent back Smitha Harikrishna and Manju Nadgodain successive overs with the score stationary on 16. Mithali Rajjoined Anjum and the scoreboard began to tick away once more but notwith the usual fervour that Air India bring to their game.With the score at 31 in the 15th over, Anjum hit a full toss fromNooshien to midwicket and was run out by an accurate throw fromShobana as she scrambled for a third run. Anju Jain, the regularopener for Air India, came in at No.5 and the urgency in her approachhelped instil some much needed life into the game. Brisk runningbetween the wickets produced twos and threes in profusion as the fiftywas posted in the 21st over. Sejal was brought on in the 22nd over andher flighted donkey drops were taken for ten runs including four widesand the second and last four of the match, struck straight down theground by Anju Jain. It was all over six overs later as twosuccessive misfields off Nooshien spelled finis to themismatch. Mithali was unbeaten on 25 (68 balls) and Anju on 26 (35balls).

Kerala opening batsman MP Sorab was in his elements on Saturday as heguided his team to make a fitting reply to Andhra’s 355 at close ofplay on the second day of their three day match in the Coca ColaTrophy South Zone (under-25) tournament at the MaharajaJayachamarajendra Wodeyar Sports complex in Bangalore. Unnerved by thechallenging Andhra total, Kerala piled up 311 for five wickets atstumps with Sorab still going strong on 157.Kerala were given an excellent start in the morning with Sorab andVarun Girilal putting on 188 runs for the first wicket off 56.3overs. Girilal who batted a shade over four hours, faced 174 balls andhit nine fours and six. C Sanju (3) and skipper NA Kudua (5) did notlast long and Kerala slid to 218 for three. But Sorab and KPK Nambiar(50) then added 89 runs for the fourth wicket off 21.2 overs. Nambiar,who dominated the partnership faced only 69 balls and hit six foursand a six. Nearing stumps, off spinner Vatekar who was the only Andhrabowler to be effective, bowled Nambiar and CM Shyam (0) in successiveovers. But Sorab carried on till close of play and at the end he hadbatted 396 minutes, faced 296 balls and hit 22 fours. Vatekar finishedwith the impressive figures of four for 64 off 30 overs.

An unbeaten stand of 100 runs between the Ranatunga brothers, Arjuna and Sajeevwa, for the third wicket, ensured Sinhalese Sports Club their first victory in the Premier League One-Day Tournament match against Bloomfield Sports Club at SSC grounds today. Both brothers scored 63 runs and the victort target was reached in the 36th over.Arjuna, who was making his first appearance since his retirement frominternational cricket in August, showed that there is still plenty of cricket leftin him. He scored his runs quickly, from just 57 balls, and hit four boundaries and four sixes.Sanjeewa, who narrowly missed a half-century yesterday, played a more sedate innings and faced 95 deliveries.Prasanna Jayawardene (46), who opened the innings, was also in the runs, for the first time for his new club, having recently left Sebastianites. His 46 came from 51 balls and included seven boundaries.Earlier, Bloomfield SC elected to bat first having won the toss. They started well as the openers, Chaminda Ruwan(42) and Pubudu Dassanayake(27), shared a 66-run partnership in 12 overs.However, they the lost two wickets with the score on 66 and never recovered thereafter. Only skipper, Kumara Dharmasena, was able to settle, scoring an unbeaten 57 runs from 90 balls.Off spinner, Suranjith Silva (4/40) was the chief wicket-taker while SSC’s inform fast bowler, Dilhara Fernando, chipped in with three for 22.Bloomfield having lost their two opening games in the tournament are lookingforward to the return of inform national skipper Sanath Jayasuriya to givethem a boost in next weeks matches. SSC will be boosted by the return of four national players.