In a dramatic about-turn Marvan Atapattu, the former Sri Lanka captain, has been included in the Sri Lanka squad for the tour of Australia following a request made by the sports minister Gamini Lokuge.Atapattu will join the team as the fourth opener – alongside Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga and Michael Vandort – increasing the tour party to 17 players. Atapattu was originally selected in the squad on the belief that he met the national selection committee and thrashed out his problems. But Atapattu refused to attend as long as Ashantha de Mel was the chief selector.The matter was then taken up by Lokuge who summoned the national selectors and the hierarchy of Sri Lanka Cricket to sort out the issue. The outcome of the meeting was that the minister would speak to Atapattu and, if he was willing to tour Australia, he should be included in the team.Atapattu asked for time to make a decision on the offer and was abroad on an official assignment in Rome. On his return on Thursday he met Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Duleep Mendis and informed him that he was available for the tour to Australia. “I met Duleep and we spoke about the terms and conditions under which I will be playing. I was satisfied with them and I told him that I was available for Australia,” said Atapattu.Atapattu’s return to the national team marks the end of a six-month ordeal which began with the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean where he, although being a member of the team, was not selected to play in any of Sri Lanka’s 11 matches in the tournament. He was then overlooked for the one-day series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi and when the selectors named him for the home Tests against Bangladesh, Atapattu pulled out saying that he was not mentally prepared to play Test cricket.Atapattu then wanted Sri Lanka Cricket to release him from his central contract and went onto play a season of league cricket in England with Lashings. He was subsequently left out of the inaugural World Twenty20 tournament and the recently concluded one-day series against England.”We would welcome Marvan into the team,” said captain Mahela Jayawardene. “He is experienced and has done so well for Sri Lanka that you always welcome a guy like that. It all depends on how keen and committed he is to the team. That is the most important thing.”Sri Lanka leave for Australia on Tuesday and the first Test starts at Brisbane on November 8.
With his hulking frame and that rare ability to belt the cover off a ball, Andrew Symonds doesn’t look like the sort of character to suffer from insecurity. After all, he’s played 154 one-day internationals over the course of an eight-year career, and was an integral member of the 2003 World Cup-winning side. But when it comes to Tests, he just can’t get it right. In ten attempts, he averages 19.06 with the bat and 45.44 with the ball, and admitted today that his selection for the third Test squad at Perth took him completely by surprise.”I was really shocked. In the last few weeks, I’ve been trying too hard, but then I got the call-up,” said Symonds, who was dropped at the end of the South Africa tour in April after managing just two fifties and a three-wicket haul in eight consecutive Tests against West Indies and South Africa. “I had the baggy green out a few days ago and I looked at it and smelt it and wondered if I’ll ever wear this again. And I suppose now I’m a couple of days away from finding out. I’m pretty excited.”Symonds famously flirted with England selection in the 1990s – a fact he was none too pleased to be reminded of today – but as he said at the time, he’s a fair-dinkum Aussie and his love for his baggy green is all the proof he could ever need. “I love the smell of it,” he said. “It smells of sweat and beer.” He loves it so much, in fact, that he wore it throughout Australia’s training session at the WACA this morning. “The boys were ribbing me a bit,” he said, “but I said I might not get a chance to wear it again. I’ll be wearing it whether I’m playing or not for the next couple of days.”The inability to translate one-day form into the Test arena is not a unique problem, but Symonds is one of the game’s most high-profile and talented sufferers. “You are just so keen to do well,” he said. “It’s sometimes hard to say ‘bugger it, I’ll go out and play’. You’re not playing backyard cricket, you’re playing for Australia and so it’s not necessarily that simple. You have to learn your game, and learn your psyche on how you play your game.”Just this morning I was in the bathroom putting sun-cream on, and the coach said: ‘I want you to play freely’. That’s what I need – a free spirit sort of attitude. Don’t worry about results. Results look after themselves if you just go out there to enjoy yourself.”
The feeling in the dressing room is very positive. I’d much rather be in our rooms than theirs
It’s ironic really, because Symonds has rarely been accused of being anything other than a free spirit. He was famously dropped ahead of Australia’s defeat against Bangladesh at Cardiff last year after an all-night bender which ended at 8am and culminated in him falling off a wheelie-bin during the squad’s pre-match warm-up. Now, however, it is exactly that sort of attitude that he now needs to fall back on, if and when he gets his opportunity at Perth from Thursday.”My mindset is that I need to be a little more carefree with my intensity,” Symonds said. “I guess the hype and the build-up [to a Test] is a bit more intense, and I probably tried a little too hard last year and ended up clamping up for whatever reason. I have to be careful with how I approach it. I play my best cricket when I’m not thinking too hard. I just watch the ball and hit it. Whether I play the one-day way or the Test way is irrelevant. I’ve got to find the way that suits me best.”Andrew Flintoff would doubtless agree with such an attitude. He and Symonds briefly played together at Lancashire and are kindred spirits in more ways than one. “The conversations me and Freddie tend to have aren’t about cricket,” Symonds joked. “But watching him, you can see from his successes that he’s probably a similar type of player. He’s instinctive. It’s about training hard and then going out there to react.”
Regardless of how hard Symonds tries to loosen up this week, there is one aspect of the Perth Test that is sure to create a new knot in his stomach. Australia are just one win away from regaining the Ashes. “You can’t help but think about it can you?” he said. “The coach addressed us [about that] this morning. It’s a big part of all our lives, but if you look at it like that, does it become a distraction?”It’s okay to think about it, but we’ve just got to keep our minds on the job. The feeling in the dressing room is very positive. I’d much rather be in our rooms than theirs. Coming from behind is very hard, and there’s not that intensity of ‘must win, must win’.”Life, by all accounts, has been pretty relaxed in the Australian camp since the Adelaide Test. The squad enjoyed a barbecue at Justin Langer’s place last night, which was an opportunity to get to know the team’s newest squad member, Adam Voges. “We had a couple of beers, and he’s an easy-going sort of a bloke.”But, Symonds said, the abrupt retirement of Damien Martyn had left “a bit of a void” in the team. “He’s one of these blokes whose character slips in and out of the day. He’d come out with a little one-liner that’s quite funny. He’ll be missed. But we just hope he’s happy because we haven’t had much contact with him. It was a shock, but that’s Marto as well. We just hope he’s taking it easy.”Australia’s fans will hope that Symonds takes it easy this week as well. That way, his true Test character might finally be able to shine through.
The much-touted Major League Cricket Interstate Cricket Tournament which was due to be held next week in Florida has been postponed because of the destruction caused by Hurricane Wilma. The event will now start on November 30.The decision came after talks between MLC officials and Broward County officials. The local authorities explained that all their resource was committed to the local clean-up and that staging the festival was not really an option against that backdrop.Parag Harolikar, the MLC operations manager, said that while the news was disappointing, it would allow “all the teams to better prepare for the tournament and for better chemistry among team members.”
Border’s chief executive, Reunert Bauser, has resigned before the results of an investigation into alleged financial irregularities are made public later this week. Bauser had been in charge at Border for 11 years.Vido Mgadle, the president of the Border Cricket Board, confirmed the move. “He has resigned with immediate effect, and we [the board] have accepted his resignation as we felt it was in the interests of all concerned,” he told the South African Press Association. “Somebody else will be appointed and the post will be advertised via the normal channels.”Last month Bauser was accused of using some of the proceeds from the 2003 World Cup for air tickets to the UK worth R20,000 (£1800), and a further R400,000 (£36,000) that had been earmarked for the Border team. During his time as chief executive, Bauser had been responsible for East London becoming the headquarters of the Warriors, the East Cape cricket franchise, ahead of Port Elizabeth.
An unbeaten 111 Robert Croft allowed Glamorgan to recover from 93-5 to 337-9 at theend of the first day of their County Championship match against Somerset at Cardiff.The Glamorgan captain added 223 for the seventh, eighth and ninth wickets with DarrenThomas, Michael Kasprowicz and Alex Wharf, with the stand of 104 for the ninth wicketbetwween Croft and Wharf being a record for Glamorgan against Somerset, eclipsing the99 added by John Derrick and Terry Davies at the same ground in 1986.By the close, Croft had also added a further 30 runs with number 11 David Harrison, and thepair will be eager to press on towards another batting point tomorrow morning. Such richeslooked a long way off in the first hour as Glamorgan slumped to 35-3 after having won thetoss and electing to bat first with a side containing two overseas players – Maher and Kasprowicz- for the first time in a Championship match since August 1981 when Javed Miandad and EzraMoseley were in the Glamorgan side.Jimmy Maher was one of three early victims for spinner Ian Blackwell, who claimed 3-4in 24 balls. For a while, it looked as if the former England international was goingto run through the Glamorgan side. But Croft had other ideas and with resolute supportfrom the lower order, Croft steadfastly rebuilt the innings, and reached his century from 190balls after over four hours at the crease.Somerset were subsequently handicapped by injuries to Simon Francis, who left the fieldwith a side strain after bowling just 35 balls, whilst Nixon McLean had a hamstring niggle.
Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore believes it will be hard for West Indies tocomeback in the second Test starting Wednesday having lost by ten wicketsdespite scoring 448 in their first innings.”I think it is going to be harder for a team like West Indies in Kandyalthough South Africa, England and India have reversed their form inrespective series against us,” hoped Whatmore after Sri Lanka had won thefirst Test rather comprehensively by ten wickets at Galle on Saturday.He admitted that Sri Lanka’s record in Kandy was poor, but believes the teamwill overcome their poor run if they concentrate on the cricket.”We have to acknowledge that our record in Kandy hasn’t been good,” he said.”But a cricket match is not won or lost by any hoodoo, voodoo or horoscopesor whatever. But it is won or lost by what you do out in the middle.”There have been a number of reasons for losing in Kandy, but the bottom lineis that during occasional sessions we haven’t done very well at all. Whilstyou can’t win a game in that hour or two, you can sure go a long way towardslosing it. That’s what we have been unfortunately been guilty of.”Whatmore was delighted by the character shown by the Sri Lankans who carriedon fighting throughout the Test despite facing a large first innings score.”In other games, we won pretty convincingly like today, but in a differentway,” he said. “We batted first and put the pressure on the opposition. Thewickets turned more and became unpredictable. This one here, I thought, wasa full effort everyday on a better pitch. It’s tremendous for the team toknow what they can overcome.”All the batsmen contributed quite nicely and there were one or two whoreally performed for us. Without those contributions you can’t come close to448. I was very pleased with the boys because chasing a target of 448 is noteasy, no matter what conditions, but they stuck to their task for over 200overs,” he said.”Mahela’s was a class innings although he was bitterly disappointed, likethe rest of us, that he missed out on a hundred. He really showed his class.Kumar Sangakkara is falling nicely into a pattern of getting a fifty or ahundred in every third innings. We haven’t seen the best of Kumar. He’s gota long way to go. Early indications are that he’s got every chance of beingone of the really good players for Sri Lankan cricket.”Tillakaratne is a veteran, but since getting a hundred against India thisyear, his confidence has risen as well. He is a pretty solid middle-orderplayer,” Whatmore said.Whatmore said that although Sri Lanka had won four out of their last fiveTests they had still a long way to go.”I think if you are realistic, you have to keep performing like this for anumber of years before we can really say that we have turned the corner.Another fact that is that Sri Lanka can be competitive at home, but notaway.”We are mindful of that, and that’s one of the reasons why we areexperimenting and playing with some new pace bowlers. The big one is againstEngland next year. In our group of touring players there will be five or sixtough medium-pace bowlers who can get out there and compete,” he said.
India will be without opener M Vijay, their most consistent and prolific batsman over the last year, as they begin a three-Test series against Sri Lanka in Galle on Wednesday. A hamstring injury sustained in Zimbabwe, said team director Ravi Shastri at the media briefing this afternoon, had not healed enough. “He is still under recovery, not fully recovered, and we don’t want to take a chance with weather like this and slippery outfield.”Vijay will be replaced by KL Rahul, who produced two 40-plus scores in the Indian team’s tour opener in Colombo against the Board President’s XI. Shastri said Vijay’s omission would be a “big blow” as he was the “in-form player who has had a fabulous run in Test cricket.”Prior to India’s departure for Sri Lanka, there had been reports that Vijay had some injury concerns but captain Virat Kohli said he expected Vijay to be “match fit” even before the start of the only tour game, on August 6. “No, I don’t see any issues with Vijay’s fitness,” Kohli said. “As far as I know, Vijay is almost 100% straightaway and I am sure he will be match fit even before the warm-up game.”Vijay did not bat in the tour game, but that was expected as India looked to decide on who would partner him at the top of the order: Rahul or Shikhar Dhawan.Vijay turned up at the India nets this afternoon, batting only against the spinners and testing out his ability to stretch forward. While visible movement appeared not to be a problem against the spinners, Vijay was seen shaking his right leg between deliveries, and it is this doubt over the internal injury that has led the Indians to sit Vijay out of the first Test. Shastri said Vijay’s experience and his “ability to play the long innings” would be missed in a batting line up that will bat wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha at No. 6 in their drive to play five bowlers in every Test match and push for wins.In his last 10 Tests for India, from June 2014 onwards, Vijay has scored over 1000 runs in 19 innings with three centuries and six fifties at an average of 54.42. His solidity at the top of the Indian order, whether batting alongside Shikhar Dhawan or Gautam Gambhir in England and Dhawan or KL Rahul in Australia, gave India the platform that led to a far better batting performance in 2014-15, than on India’s previous tours to both countries in 2011-12.
The latest England squad announcement has thrown up few surprises, and you can guarantee there was a whole host of players left disappointed at the decision of Fabio Capello, as they were overlooked once more. It has been suggested in the past that there is somewhat of a ‘big club’ bias in regards to England selection, but does it really matter what club you play for?
Scott Parker suggested that his recent move to Tottenham was down to his need to be selected for the England Euro 2012 squad. He made huge strides with the international set-up last year, despite the fact that West Ham finished bottom of the table, but he believed that he needed to play Premier League football to be a genuine contender for selection. The gulf is not really that massive between the two divisions, but history does suggest that not many players from the Championship have earned an England call up. However, playing Premier League football is no guarantee that you will get a chance with the international side, even if you merit a place, as players from certain clubs seem to be continually overlooked.
Parker was selected in the latest squad, but others have faced rejection once more and will wonder what more they can do to impress Capello, and get a chance at international level. Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross has been exceptional for the last two seasons, yet he has never received an international cap. He has captained his side into Europe, dominated and led from the back during their superb start to the season, and has been playing consistently well for the last two years, but he has seemingly not impressed Capello. You have to wonder if he had moved to Liverpool-one of the clubs linked with him over the summer-whether Capello would have come calling.
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Shawcross believes that his clubs success this season could push him into Capello’s Euro 2012 squad, but past history would suggest he is destined to miss out. Unfortunately players at certain clubs just don’t seem to get the recognition they deserve. It is also interesting to note that Peter Crouch has been overlooked in the latest squad and it will be interesting to see if he gets a look into the squad if he impresses at Stoke.
Capello seems to have prioritised youth with his selections, with players like Phil Jones and Danny Welbeck selected in the squad. Going with youth and giving the future players a chance is definitely a good move, but the players must at least merit their place. When players like Tom Cleverley and Chis Smalling were called up after barely any time on the pitch for Manchester United, you have to question if there is a ‘big club’ bias, especially when you have the excellent Roger Johnson, Scott Dann and Matt Jarvis who barely get a look in.
Players who are in form and playing well should be picked, regardless of who they are playing for. Sitting on the bench at a top four club should not give you a divine right, or pass into the England squad. Surely it is better for Capello to select somebody like Shawcross, who is playing week in week out and impressing, than someone who is constantly in and out of their side, or someone who is not in form.
It seems as though players at the bigger clubs have an automatic path into the England squad, while players at other clubs can have years of good form and often get overlooked, or take considerably longer to earn a call up. If they were to play for a bigger club, they would be considered on a much more frequent basis and it is a shame for certain players that they never get a chance with England, because of where they play their football.
Do you think there is a ‘big club’ bias with regard to England selection? Let me know your thoughts by commenting below, or following me on Twitter @LaurenRutter for more comment and debate.
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A wonder goal from Wayne Rooney sealed victory in the Manchester derby and extended their lead at the top of the Premier League. Elsewhere West Ham came back from 3-0 down to grab a point at the Hawthorns, while Tottenham’s 3rd win on the trot sees the North Londoners move back into the Champions League places.
In the papers this morning there have been a mixed bag of stories that include Fergie out to land his man this summer; Chelsea eye Arsenal’s chief scout to replace Arnesen, while Julian Dicks to join the Hammers coaching staff.
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Fergie out to land his man – Sky Sports
Chelsea want Arsenal scout to replace Arnesen – Daily Telegraph
Manchester United’s £1.8bn asking price a put-off for Qataris – Daily Mail
Dicks to join Hammers staff – Sky Sports
Spurs lead the way in summer fight for Ipswich starlet Connor Wickham – People
Massey walks line again – Daily Telegraph
West Ham to face Olympic Stadium fight over moving into Orient’s patch – Daily Mail
Roma lining up Ancelotti as Ranieri eyes Prem return – Mirror
Exclusive: FA Cup Final switches to 5.30pm start in 2013 – People
Baines focused on self improvement – Daily Telegraph
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West Ham are set to try and lure Liverpool striker Andy Carroll to Upton Park by offering him £100,000 per week, Mirror Football report.
The England international forward is thought to be surplus to requirements at Anfield, with Brendan Rodgers willing to part with the burly frontman.
The Hammers want to bring Carroll to London, but it is believed that the player rejected the opportunity to move to Sam Allardyce’s men on loan.
However, West Ham are not taking no for an answer, and will return with a transfer bid for Carroll, and will try to convince him to join by upping his current wages to £100,000 per week.
Meanwhile, West Ham are also closing in on a move for former defender James Collins, The Sun report.
The Wales central defender left the Hammers to move to Aston Villa, but is set for a return to the club in a £2.5 million deal.
A deal for Collins is thought to be on the verge of completion, with confirmation expected on Wednesday.
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