Tag Futebol

Saturday, March 1, 2003:::
“I don’t want to look at the political side. Just like playing Australia or South Africa it’s just another game and we’re approaching it in the same frame of mind.” Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, ahead of the game against Pakistan
Source: The BBC, UK
“Let’s hope there are a few scars there and let’s hope we can open them up again.” Australian skipper Ricky Ponting, on the match against England
Source: The Courier Mail, Australia”He has a lion heart, walks like a lion and has the strength of a lion.” Kenyan skipper Steve Tikolo, on Collins Obuya, the leg-spinner who spun Kenya to a shock win over Sri Lanka
Source: The Hindu, India”It has become obvious that, in the matches played under lights in this World Cup, teams winning the toss are getting an unfair advantage. I would say any team which wins the toss has won the match 75 percent (of the time) and that is grossly unfair.” Pakistan skipper Waqar Younis, after the loss against England
Source: CricmaniaWednesday, February 26, 2003:::
“We didn’t bowl well at the end. Brett Lee wasn’t at his best at the end – his yorkers weren’t quite there – there were full tosses and ‘hit me’ balls. So we have got to go away and work on that and make sure that it’s a bit sharper the next time we play.” Australian skipper Ricky Ponting, after the game against Zimbabwe
Source: The BBC, UK”I wouldn’t call him a mentor as such, that’s probably more Martin Crowe for me. But it’s the lessons I have learned out of cricket from him, from the way he plays the game.” New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming, on Steve Waugh’s influence on his career
Source: Stuff, New Zealand”Henry’s (Olonga) omission has nothing to do with his protest or politics. We needed to have more depth in our batting, hence the inclusion of Andy Blignaut ahead of Olonga. It was as simple as that – nothing else.” Zimbabwe skipper Heath Streak, after the match against Australia
Source: The Age, Australia”We’re grown men, we’re enjoying the country and we’re friends who’ve been together for a long time. We’re going to have fun – we’re not going to stop that – but we’re still here to play cricket very seriously.” Canadian skipper Joe Harris
Source: Gulf Times, UAE

Somerset County Cricket Club has been overwhelmed by the number of members wanting tickets for the Cheltenham and Gloucester Final at Lord’s on September 1st.The original allocation of 4,500 had all but sold out by late afternoon yesterday, and despite the office closing early, staff were at the County Ground until late into the evening to process all the applications that they had received from members during the day.The club has applied to Lord’s for a further 1,000 tickets, and if any of these still remain unsold early next week they will go on sale to the general public.Members of the public can also apply direct to Lord’s for their tickets by telephoning 0207 432 1066.According to a source at the Lord’s ticket office large numbers of Somerset fans have already obtained their tickets direct, which is likely to mean that when the ‘Cidermen’ walk out onto the pitch on September 1st they will be cheered on by as many as 9,000 of their fans.

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.

Durham have signed Shaun Pollock for the Twenty20 Cup in June. He will play alongside his former South African team-mate Albie Morkel and has joined the county as a Kolpak.Pollock retired from international cricket in February following the series against West Indies and is currently involved in the Indian Premier League for the Mumbai Indians.”When I got the offer from Durham I really jumped at the chance to get on board, they are determined to do well in the Twenty20 Cup and I want to contribute to that success,” said Pollock. “They proved themselves to be a force in the four-day and one-day game last year and I’m keen to help them replicate that success in the Twenty20 Cup.”David Harker, Durham’s chief executive, added: “Shaun is one of the biggest talents in world cricket and we’re delighted that he’s decided to join us. He’s got great experience in all formats of the game and we think he’ll bring a great presence to the team, both on and off the field. We’ve got big aspirations for success in the Twenty20 Cup this season and along with Albie [Morkel] I’m sure that we have recruited players with enough Twenty20 experience to help us progress in the competition.”Pollock has previously played for Warwickshire, where he made a stunning debut back in 1996 by claiming four wickets in four balls against Leicestershire in the Benson and Hedges Cup.

Sharad Ghai, the ousted chairman of the Kenyan Cricket Association, continued to protest his board’s innocence in the light of comments from Ochilo Ayacko, the sports minister, that senior members of the KCA could be charged in relation to their running of the association.Opposition to the board claim to have unearthed evidence of misappropriated funds, but Ghai denied any wrongdoing, accusing the minister of accepting the word of the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association, a bitter opponent of the KCA, as the “gospel truth”. He asked for an opportunity “to meet the minister so that if there are unclear issues, we answer them to the satisfaction of all Kenyans.”Ghai also denied that the KCA had been blocking elections – none have been held by the board since 1997. “The KCA have always called for elections only to be blocked by court orders issued either to Coast Cricket Association (CCA) or NPCA,” he insisted. This is true, but opponents point out that the elections were blocked as the KCA were trying to use a new and unauthorised constitution which weighted the votes in their favour.”As the public is aware,” Ghai concluded, “we have no option under the rules of civilised society to defy judicial authority.”Meanwhile, the government-appointed Normalisation Committee will not take charge of Kenyan cricket until the court order suspending its powers for 21 days has been heard of overturned. The KCA obtained a stay last Tuesday following Ayacko’s decision to oust the existing KCA executive and replace it with a committee embracing many of Kenyan cricket’s stakeholders.

Percy Sonn, who has today taken over as ICC president from Ehsan Mani, has accepted an invitation from Zimbabwe Cricket to visit the country and see for himself the state the game is in there.”What I want is some degree of understanding of the issues that surround the administration of cricket within Zimbabwe,” Sonn told the ICC’s Business Forum at Lord’s on Friday. “I am delighted to say I will get that [understanding] following an invitation to visit the country from Zimbabwe Cricket.”I will hear first hand of the challenges that confront the sport there, how those challenges will be dealt with and, at the same time, we will discuss how the ICC can assist the game in Zimbabwe. Once I have done that I will then report back to the ICC’s Executive Board so that we, as an organisation, are better informed about what is happening there.”Sonn will make the trip with Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive.”Zimbabwe has seen many of its leading players walk away from representing the national side over the past few years and that has led to an inevitable weakening of cricket there,” Sonn added. “We are now at a stage where Zimbabwe has voluntarily stepped back from its Test commitments and, moving forward, they will only return to that arena when they are ready to do so.”By travelling there, talking and listening, I believe we will be in a better position to support cricket in Zimbabwe at a time when such support is clearly needed.”

Nottinghamshire will be without the services of Stephen Fleming during August as he will be captaining New Zealand in Zimbabwe. However, he will be back towards the end of the summer for the conclusion of the Championship and National League.Fleming said: “It’s unfortunate that I will be away from Nottingham at a crucial stage but I have my commitments with New Zealand. The Notts players have shown their qualities in the first half of the season and I have every confidence they will maintain and improve on those standards while I am away. We are in a group of five or six teams who have a chance of the title and I sincerely hope that I can help us finish top of the pile come September.”Fleming is currently sixth in the first-class averages with 727 runs at 72.7, including four hundreds, with a top score of 238.Mick Newell, the director of cricket, said: “We expect Stephen will be missing for five weeks, through August and early September, but he will still have an important part to play in our end of season run-in. We are looking to sign a replacement for the period he is missing and ideally he will be a high calibre batsman who can slot straight into Stephen’s place in the batting order.””We will need to give a lot of thought to the captaincy, but hopefully his influence over the side will still be felt as we aim for the Championship and fight tooth and nail to steer clear of relegation from the National League.”

Wally Langdon, an early giant of West Australian cricket and one of the unluckiest batsmen never to play for Australia, has died in Perth at the age of 81.A classy left-hander, Langdon was judged by the legendary Test opener Arthur Morris to possess "an ideal temperament for big cricket". He hailed from the gold-mining town of Boulder, and stockpiled his runs most effectively in the summer of 1952-53, when centuries against Queensland and the touring South Africans were not enough to win him Test selection.WA fans, suspecting yet another eastern-states conspiracy, were miffed. Their sense of injustice rankled further when Langdon missed out on Lindsay Hassett’s 1953 Ashes squad behind Graeme Hole, from South Australia, and the New South Welshman Jimmy de Courcy – "and Wally Langdon," his old team-mate Ken Meuleman noted last night, "was a long way better than Jimmy de Courcy."Meuleman told The West Australian newspaper: "There is no question that had he played for Victoria or New South Wales he would have played Test cricket. If he had played today he would be the equal of Justin Langer or Damien Martyn."Langdon’s lack of baggy-green recognition did little to diminish his legend in WA. He was an integral member of their inaugural Sheffield Shield-winning side of 1947-48 when WA, to widespread bewilderment, pilfered the prize at their first attempt. Twenty years went by before they repeated the feat, in 1967-68 – and Langdon was again at the forefront, this time as coach.A schoolteacher by profession, Langdon went to war in 1944, flying over Germany in a Lancaster Bomber. Returning home, he was 25 and considered an automatic selection when WA were at last granted Shield status. He starred against Don Bradman’s 1948 Invincibles when they detoured to the WACA en route to England, hitting 112 – and so impressing The Don that he was invited to play in Bradman’s testimonial match the following season.Batting in front of around 60,000 people, hordes undreamed of by a young man from the WA bush, Langdon distinguished himself with 60 and 42. He went to India in 1949-50 as part of the Commonwealth team led by Jock Livingston, playing in two of the five unofficial Tests. In 1952-53 he was put in charge of the WA side, despite never having captained even his club team. Alan Edwards, another Langdon contemporary, described him last night as "a helluva fighter".Despite his latish entry to first-class cricket, Langdon scored five hundreds for WA and averaged in the mid-thirties. A useful left-arm medium-pacer, he also played two seasons in England for Burnley in the Lancashire League. For more than a decade he commentated for ABC Radio, cementing his household status among Sandgropers. He cut a dapper and familiar figure around the WACA right up to his death.It was Langdon who brought a young Barry Shepherd to the big smoke, luring him from the small country town of Donnybrook to play grade cricket in Perth. Shepherd eventually went on to become the first WA-born batsman to represent Australia. Of his own failure to achieve that mantle, Langdon did not like to grumble. But Anthony Barker, in his book The WACA: An Australian Cricket Success Story, wrote: "He was devoid enough of false modesty to believe that he was at least as good as one or two of the batsmen who toured in Hassett’s Ashes-surrendering team of 1953."Langdon had suffered from kidney problems in recent times, and passed away on Sunday night. He is survived by five members of WA’s shock all-conquerors of ’47-48.Christian Ryan is the Australasian editor of Wisden Cricinfo.

With the new cricket season just around the corner invitations have been sent out recently by Andrew Moulding the Somerset Cricket Development Officer to all cricket clubs in the county asking them to send a representative along to attend a Cricket Groundsmanship course later this month.The course, that is entitled `Spring Preparation and Summer Maintenance’ has been arranged jointly by the Institute of Groundsmanship and the E.C.B., will take place at the new home of Taunton Cricket Club which is situated in Gypsy Lane, Staplegrove on the outskirts of Taunton and will take place on Saturday 22nd March.The letter that has been sent to all clubs states that the course is suitable for everybody who has an interest in ground maintenance whether as a club groundsman, volunteer, school groundsman or contractor.Tuition at the course will be from a fully qualified instructor and those who attend will be supplied with a set of resource material containing all elements of the course and an attendance certificate.The cost of the course is £50 but to affiliated clubs this is subsidised by the Somerset Cricket Board to the tune of £35 meaning that they only pay £15 to send along their representative.Mr Moulding told me: "The invitations have gone out to all clubs and already several clubs have responded. Any club or individual who wants to find out more about this opportunity or who has not yet received their invitation should to make contact with me at the Centre of Excellence at the County Ground on 01823 352266."

Hampshire field an almost full strength side to meet the Australians in a 3 day match starting at the Hampshire Rose Bowl on Saturday, 28th July.There are three genuine ommissions from the squad. Wicket-keeper Adi Aymes has a swollen cartiledge and has been advised by the club physician to rest. His place is taken by Iain Brunnschweiler playing only his second first-class match for the county. Alex Morris is still troubled by shin splints and is ommitted. Chris Tremlett is away on England Under 19s duties. The side play three one day internationals against their West Indian counterparts over the weekend.The twelfth player will be chosen between James Hamblin who has already shown great promise with the NUL team this season, and second eleven leading wicket taker James Schofield, the Blackpool born 22 year old, who learnt much of his cricket in Perth, Australia. Schofield on a summer contract with the club, is yet to make his first class debut for Hampshire.Tim Tremlett, Hampshire Cricket manager said, “The ECB would like to see counties putting out their best available sides, and this is what we have done. It is only fair to our members and supporters that we try and compete with the best team in the world, and some say the best Australian side of all time”.A large crowd is expected to see the return of Shane Warne and Matthew Hayden to the Rose Bowl, two Australians who graced the colours of Hampshire in recent years.Hampshire twelve: Derek kenway, Giles White, Will Kendall, Robin Smith (captain), Neil Johnson, Laurence Prittipaul, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Shaun Udal, Iain Brunschweiler (wicket keeper), Alan Mullally, James Hamblin and James Schofield.