Stephen Fleming, New Zealand’s captain, said he feared for the future of the game in Zimbabwe after his side had completed a crushing innings win inside two days at Harare Sports Club.”It’s good for us, but I’m not sure it’s good for the game,” he told reporters after the woefully one-sided first Test. “The mood was clinical out there. After the first hour the goal was to win this Test today.”To be able to turn the game around so quickly was a good effort. To get 20 wickets in a day you have to bowl well and this was some of the best cricket I’ve seen this team play.”But Tatenda Taibu, Zimbabwe’s captain, struggled to find any positives. “It was very disappointing,” he said. “I thought we would bowl them out on the first day and our batting wasn’t good enough. It’s not a good feeling.”Phil Simmons, Zimbabwe’s coach, said that the side would need to look at where they went wrong, especially on the first day when they had New Zealand 113 for 5 and let them amass 452 for 9 by the close. But he rejected the inevitable calls for Zimbabwe’s Test status to be reviewed. “I don’t think it makes sense to think like that, all we can do is try to improve our cricket. It’s always been hard for us. We are one of the smaller countries in Test cricket.”
England v New ZealandEngland (possible) Michael Vaughan (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Geraint Jones (wk), Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood, Anthony McGrath, Ian Blackwell, Rikki Clarke, Darren Gough, Stephen Harmison, James Anderson. New Zealand (possible) Stephen Fleming (capt), Nathan Astle, Hamish Marshall, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Chris Cairns, Gareth Hopkins(wk), Chris Harris, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori, Ian Butler.
New Zealand umpire Brent Bowden has been added to the International Cricket Council’s elite panel of umpires.While no official announcement has been made by the ICC, New Zealand Cricket announced the appointment at its annual awards night.Bowden is in Dubai for a meeting of the international panel and will head to Dhaka shortly for the TVS Cup tri-series involving home team Bangladesh, India and South Africa.It is understood that Bowden is one of three new appointments to the panel which has been extended from that first announced last year.Bowden was on the panel of umpires for the World Cup in South Africa and was awarded the fourth umpire’s role for the final between Australia and India.Bowden, who turns 40 on April 11, made his first-class umpiring debut in the summer of 1992/93, and was immediately recognisable for the variations he developed on the traditional umpiring signals, especially as Cricket Max was developed and varied, but also in one-day cricket.He has stood in three Tests and 32 One-Day Internationals.His first Test was the 1999/00 first Test between Australia and New Zealand at Eden Park. His most recent ODI was the World Cup semi-final between Australia and Kenya.New Zealand umpiring manager Brian Aldridge said: “We are extremely pleased for Billy [Bowden’s nickname]. He has worked hard for this recognition which is well deserved.”The quality of Billy’s umpiring impressed the ICC during the early stages of [the] World Cup. This lead to umpiring opportunities in later matches and culminated in the appointment.”The appointment has been a goal of Billy’s and is a significant achievement.”
Thanks to Stuart Law and James Foster Essex ended an abbreviated first day of their CricInfo Championship clash against Glamorgan atSophia Gardens in much better sorts than they had started it.Glamorgan’s seam battery had reduced Essex to 55-4 inside 22 overs despite Ronnie Irani winning the toss but by the close with 20.1 overs lost to bad light the bottom-placed side in Division One had recovered to 242-7.Law and Foster set about the repairs putting on 119 in 36 overs before the Queenslander perished to a slower ball from Darren Thomas nine short of what would have been his fifth first-class century of the season.Although Foster lost Law and subsequently Graham Napier, the Essex wicketkeeper carried on his rearguard action despite being dropped on 18, as Essex reached 212-6 at tea. But he perished six overs after the interval to leave Essex 224-7.Steve Watkin did the early damage on a pitch that looked a little damp before the start.Watkin struck with the third ball of the match finding the inside edge of Darren Robinson’s bat, which had helped the Essex opener to centuries in both innings against Leicestershire.From 0-1 Essex soon found themselves 16-2 10 overs later as Watkin struck again to have Stephen Peters caught behind.Andrew Davies earned Glamorgan an early bowling point when his fourth ball bowled Paul Grayson and a poor morning for the bottom-placed side was completed when Darren Thomas got a ball to rise off a length whichRonnie Irani gloved to third slip.
West Ham United will sanction the exit of Issa Diop in the summer amid heavy interest from Lyon, according to former Premier League striker Noel Whelan.
The Lowdown: Diop’s West Ham career
The 25-year-old arrived at the London Stadium in 2018 after the Hammers agreed a then-club record £22m fee with Ligue 2 outfit Toulouse. However, since arriving in east London, the defender has often struggled to adjust to life in the English top flight.
As a result, Diop has played just 11 Premier League games this season, with David Moyes favouring a centre-back partnership of Kurt Zouma and Craig Dawson.
According to L’Equipe (via Get Football News France), Lyon are interested in bolstering their centre-half options with the addition of the £10.8m-rated defender.
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The Latest: Whelan’s claim on Diop
Whelan, who used to regularly feature as a pundit for the BBC, believes that West Ham will let the Frenchman go in the summer.
Speaking with Football Insider, the 47-year-old claimed: “I think they can afford to let him go.
“They have Zouma now and Craig Dawson has provided quality and consistency this season. He has been the standout player out of all of the centre-halves for me. David Moyes knows how important Dawson is at the back. He’s a leader and a competitor. He’s their rock at the back.
“Diop is not getting in the side so I think they’ll let him go and look elsewhere. It doesn’t surprise me to hear he might leave. I think they will let him if the right offer comes in.”
The Verdict: Time to sell
Given Lyon’s apparent interest in the player, this may be the time for West Ham and Diop to part ways.
Despite the huge promise he showed when he first arrived at the club, the move hasn’t really worked out for the Frenchman, given his sparsity of game-time this season despite the Irons being far from stacked in his position and the meagre impression he has made whenever called upon.
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The 6 foot 4 defender has displayed glimpses of brilliance during his four-year stay in east London, with Jose Mourinho even referring to him as “a monster” after one of his performances against the Portuguese’s Manchester United side in the early weeks of the 2018/19 season.
Therefore, whilst this news may come as a disappointment to some West Ham supporters, the move would probably be in the best interests of both parties, and it’s little wonder that Whelan is predicting that Diop’s four-year stint with the Hammers could soon reach its denouement.
In other news: Whelan has also made this transfer claim regarding a potential London Stadium incoming
Glamorgan have turned to Australia to help ease their middle-order problems.They have signed Nick Selman, a 20-year-old from Brisbane with a dual passport, on a one-year contract ahead of the 2016 season.Selman represented Queensland in both cricket and Australian Rules football at age grade levels before choosing cricket as his first choice sport.Following spells with Kent and Gloucestershire 2nd XIs in 2015, Selman has joined Glamorgan after impressing in two late-season 2nd XI matches.”I’m very excited to be joining Glamorgan, coming to Wales and helping the county to build on their performances of 2015,” said Selman. “I’m looking forward to the challenge of helping the club push for promotion into Division One.”Glamorgan began the season well in Division Two but fell away badly and they were also one of the counties unable to surf the trend of rising attendances in Twenty20.Glamorgan chief executive and director of cricket Hugh Morris said: “We identified we needed more depth to our batting department and Nick is a talented young player who will have an opportunity to score runs for the county as he has done in grade cricket in Australia and in Second XI cricket over here.”Nick has played through the age groups for Queensland and has spent some time in county cricket already, so knows what to expect. I’m sure he will have a big future with Glamorgan.”
Worcestershire’s abandoned County Championship fixture against Kent at New Road has been rescheduled for the end of July, and their floodlit Pro40 fixture against Hampshire on Friday will now be played at the County Ground in Derby, after the ECB exercised discretion in their enquiry into last week’s washout.Following the devastating floods that left Worcestershire’s ground under water for several days, the ECB recognised that “exceptional efforts” had been made by the club to get the match underway, including the recruitment of an army of volunteers to clean away the detritus. Kent had offered to host the game at Beckenham well in advance of the start of the match, but Worcestershire declined, and provided assurances that the ground would be fit for first-class cricket by July 8.The ECB concluded that Worcestershire’s decision to go ahead with the match had been made in “good faith” but was “highly optimistic”. “The board recognised the exceptional circumstances and the severe financial issues caused to Worcestershire CCC by the flooding, [but] the opinion of the match officials present at the ground was that there was serious doubt that the playing area would be fit in time for the NatWest Pro40 match scheduled for July 13.””The object was to try and get cricket played on Friday,” Mark Newton, Worcestershire’s chief executive, told Cricinfo. “The day/night game is one of the most important matches of the year for the club. Other than the financial considerations we have a contract to keep with Sky Sports. The bottom line is that we are a business and we have to ensure our financial future.””Despite all the best efforts of my colleagues and the members who volunteered to help last week, we cannot 100% guarantee that the outfield will be playable. This match is scheduled as the competition opener so it must be played and we feel, in consultation with the ECB, that this is the best way.”On July 3 it was decided that the ECB would allocate £75,000 to assist in the restoration of New Road, but Worcestershire face further losses if they cannot get the ground back to working order soon. The ECB have advised the county to prepare contingency plans for their next home Championship match against Lancashire which is scheduled to get underway on July 20.Worcestershire’s rematch with Kent will begin on July 30, but will involve a mid-match trip to Chelmsford on August 2, when Worcestershire are scheduled to take on Essex in a televised Pro40 match.
Scorecard Phil Jaques replicated his immaculate county form with a dominant and unbeaten 199 as Australia A’s batsmen pounded into India A at Cairns. Jaques, who played his first two Tests last summer, is targeting more top-level action during the Ashes series and after posting 921 runs at 102.33 in six County Championship appearances for Worcestershire, he enjoyed another prolific day that ended with his side in control at 2 for 361.With rain hitting the north Queensland city over the past couple of days, the India A side hoped for early movement from the Cazaly’s pitch after winning the toss in the four-day game, but Jaques and Chris Rogers defused any threat with an opening stand of 171 at more than four runs an over. Rogers collected 55 in a patient performance before the visitors threatened to hit back through Piyush Chawla and Shib Paul.Chawla removed Rogers when he misjudged a sweep and an over later Paul, who could not finish his 14th over due to injury, had Mark Cosgrove caught behind by Parthiv Patel to drop Australia A to 2 for 172. The double burst was India A’s only success of the day as Jaques was joined by Tasmania’s Travis Birt in a 189-run stand that completed a superb performance by the hosts.Jaques struck 19 fours in his 284-ball stay and needs only a single on day two to post his second double-century in two months following the 244 against Essex in the County Championship. Happy to pull and cut in the early stages, he reached three figures from 155 deliveries shortly after drinks in the second session and narrowly missed his second major milestone before stumps. Birt, who also played some crisp cross-bat shots, finished with 82 and will push to add a fourth first-class hundred for the Australian winter after picking up three with his county Derbyshire.
Last Friday’s appointment of Ray Jennings as South Africa’s new coach caused a few raised eyebrows. Jennings has a reputation for blunt talking, and his first interview since the announcement did not disappoint.He told reporters that he was not going to be a touchy-feely coach and that if his players needed “a good kick up the backside” then that’s what they will get.Jennings forged a reputation as a hard man both as a player – he was South Africa’s leading wicketkeeper for more than a decade during the era of isolation – and a coach. In the past he has made bowlers run laps of the field for bowling no-balls, and on a recent A-team tour of Zimbabwe, he moved the fridge out of the changing room and made his players drink warm fluids.”If the players expect soft drinks, I will make sure there are none,” he told the South African newspaper Rapport. “They will go to a tap and get on their knees and drink water until they realise that it is an honour to play for South Africa.”Jennings has made it clear that he feels South Africa are at rock bottom. “Either the players work with me, or I leave,” he explained. “The UCB put its faith in me to jack up the team. In order to do so, five things must be re-introduced: passion, respect, image, discipline and fun. These five things are inseparable. One will never have discipline if people don’t respect you. If the players are not honest with you and don’t respect you, there won’t be discipline There isn’t enough respect in the SA team.”There are fears that this confrontational, controlling style might backfire, both with the players and opposition.”Cricket seems to be moving more towards the spirit of the game, and Jennings’s appointment is almost swimming against the tide of playing cricket according to the spirit of the game,” commented Ray White, a former president of the South African board. “I wonder how popular he will make the team while he is in charge.”But Jennings appears to have little time for any niceties such as popularity. “I know there are players in the team who are in a comfort zone and might feel the game owes them something,” he added. “We can’t have one coach after the other. The players’ attitude will have to change.”The relationship he has with some of the senior players – Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis spring to mind – will be worth watching. “I don’t think he is going to behave like a school teacher,” Boucher told Wisden Cricinfo. “I think he will understand that he is dealing with professionals who have been around for a while, and he will treat them with the respect they deserve.”That might be wishful thinking on his part.
“At 10 for 2, I’ve done it for you,” said Nasser Hussain earlier this week, in response to the various calls for his removal from the side. Well, at 35 for 2 and with his head on the chopping block once again, Hussain rose to meet the vultures with a glorious unbeaten hundred, adding 108 for the third wicket with Andrew Strauss and 139 more with Graham Thorpe, as England overcame New Zealand to win the first Test at Lord’s by seven wickets.In a match of sustained drama, Hussain provided a climax that rivalled Steve Waugh’s epic career-saving century at Sydney two winters ago – and the denouement, like Waugh’s, was pure theatre. With nine runs required for victory, Hussain produced a lofted drive off Chris Martin to go to 98, then brought the scores level and the house down off the very next ball, with a crashing cover-drive that took him to his 14th Test hundred. One more cover-drive later, it was all over, and the celebrations could really begin.Up until that thrilling climax, it had been a typical Hussain innings – one that ended in triumph but flirted with disaster throughout; not least when, in a deliciously ironic twist, he ran out Strauss, England’s golden boy and the man tipped to replace him in the team, just as Strauss seemed destined to complete the second century of his debut Test. But in harness with his old ally Thorpe, Hussain overcame his embarrassment and dug in to provide the final and decisive act of a wonderfully fluctuating Test match.It was only in the final half-hour of the match, when New Zealand took the new ball in a last roll of the dice, that Hussain finally pulled out the stops and began to middle his shots. Up to then, he had been seeing the ball more like a peanut, and owed many of his 103 runs to the fleet-footedness of Thorpe, who managed to turn any old inside-edge onto the box into a quick single. But as Mark Richardson had already demonstrated, the style of his runs did not matter. Context and content were all that mattered.As with so many of his innings down the years, Thorpe’s contribution was immense but understated. He finished unbeaten on 51, having first guided a crestfallen Hussain out of the doldrums after the run-out, and then, with the runs required ticking down, he served up the singles and turned down the big shots to give his old mate every chance of reaching his hundred. Five years ago, on New Zealand’s last visit, Thorpe had been widely criticised for leaving Alex Tudor stranded on 99 not out, but today he was altruism personified.The day had begun inauspiciously for England. They resumed on 8 for 0, still needing another 274 for victory, but that prospect looked pretty distant as Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher both fell cheaply inside the first hour. On 2, Trescothick mistimed a drive to be caught by Daryl Tuffey, reaching to his right in his followthrough (18 for 1), before Butcher squirted Martin’s fourth delivery to Stephen Fleming at second slip for 6 (35 for 2).
In the circumstances, therefore, it was quite right that the Man of the Match went to Strauss, whose second Test innings was a performance of such sang froid that victory appeared a formality while he was at the crease. As Middlesex captain, he is familiar with the conditions at Lord’s, and in the morning session he produced an imperious display that befitted his status, moving along to 52 not out with the pick of his strokes a brace of sumptuous cover-drives.Strauss did have his awkward moments, however. Vettori managed to hit him under the grille of his helmet as he missed a sweep, and after lunch he suffered a dose of the jitters as Jacob Oram and Scott Styris repeatedly tucked him up from around the wicket. But a couple of loose deliveries from each bowler was all the medicine he needed, and he was well on his way again, when disaster struck.Hussain had added just 10 runs in an hour, and had even been missed by Brendon McCullum off a Chris Cairns no-ball, when he dropped the ball at his feet and hared off for a quick single, screaming “run, run, run!” as Strauss hovered uncertainly. Hussain belatedly realised the run was not going to happen, but by then Cairns had swooped from point, and McCullum had flicked off the leg bail. Strauss meanwhile had crossed, and left the ground to a standing ovation while Hussain was left to ponder the error of his ways.Fortunately there was a friendly face coming out of the pavilion. The Hussain-Thorpe partnership has been central to several of England’s greatest wins of the past decade, most notably Edgbaston 1997 and Karachi 2000-01. Together they rebuilt the innings, to ensure that Lord’s 2004 can be bracketed with those triumphs.