Ahead of their County Championship tie against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham, Yorkshire have dropped Yuvraj Singh from their middle order, bringing in Gavin Hamilton instead.Yuvraj has struggled in the County Championship, making only 137 runs in 10 innings. His big knocks for Yorkshire came only in the Twenty20 Cup.Geoff Cope, director of cricket for the county, said: “Yuvraj has come over here and has not found it easy. Pressure has been coming from the second team, with Gavin Hamilton in good form and scoring runs, and we felt the time had come for a change.””Yuvraj is struggling,” Cope added. “He has accepted the decision and we all hope that he will find his touch and show everyone what he is capable of.”Yuvraj Singh in county cricket
New Zealand’s Cricket Academy made full use of the head start it made to the season last week, and the batting skill of Chris Cairns, to beat Central Districts by 79 runs in a 40-over match at Lincoln Green today.It was the only day of four scheduled days for CD at Lincoln University after bad weather in the Canterbury region.The Academy side batted first at CD’s request and lost Brendon McCullum who misjudged an inswinger from the fourth ball he faced, from Ewen Thompson, while fellow opener Jamie How was defiant for 50 minutes before being trapped leg before wicket by Brent Hefford.However, Shanan Stewart and Nick Horsley regained some initiative for the Academy in a 66-run third wicket stand in only 52 minutes. Stewart was first to go when caught at deep backward square leg on 31 when picking up a ball from off spinner Campbell Furlong.Horsley was in full cry however, and he put together 86 at almost a run a ball before he was out to Thompson’s bowling having hit two sixes and 10 fours.Any hopes CD had that they had gained the breakthrough were soon allayed when Cairns took control. Michael Mason was on the receiving end at one stage when in the space of seven balls, Cairns scored 22 runs, including three sixes. He raised his 50 off only 33 balls with four sixes and five fours.Cairns finished 84 not out, scored off 41 balls and he ended with seven sixes and seven fours. He found a solid ally in Nathan McCullum who scored 28 off 24 balls as 83 were added off 47 balls.It took only 19 minutes for the Academy side to move from 200 to 250 and at the end of 40 overs the Academy were 266/6. All of CD’s bowlers took a pasting with Thompson the only bowler to take more than one wicket with his two for 48 from seven overs.The Academy bowlers were miserly in their approach and only 30 runs came in the first 10 overs and by 20 overs the score was only 61/1. David Kelly and Peter Ingram scored 98 in 78 minutes for the second wicket. Both batsmen fell to Nathan McCullum’s spin bowling for 50 runs while Furlong retired on 35, scored off 30 balls.Time and overs ran out for the CD batsmen and the score was 187/5 when the 40 overs were completed. Nathan McCullum finished with two for 34 from his six overs. Cairns had none for 19 from his five overs.
Journalist Dean Jones has been left confused with Bruno Lage’s decision to drop star striker Raul Jimenez, speaking in the build-up to Thursday’s clash against Watford.
The Lowdown: Jimenez’s omission
The Mexico international has been the talisman since arriving at the Molineux Stadium on loan in 2018, before joining the club in a permanent deal worth £30 million a year later.
The 30-year-old has netted an impressive 53 goals in 137 appearances, 39 of which have come in the Premier League.
However, Jimenez seemingly appears out of favour under Bruno Lage, who dropped the striker to the bench for their recent fixture against West Ham, bringing him on for the final nine minutes of action.
More surprisingly, he was dropped once again in Wolves following league clash against Crystal Palace. Again, he was brought on as a substitute, featuring for 27 minutes.
The Latest: Jones’ claim…
Jones has weighed in on the situation, having been left confused with Lage’s decision to drop his star man, who has scored five Premier League goals this season.
Speaking with GiveMeSport, he claimed:
“Even if Jimenez isn’t scoring goals, you have him in the team as an outlet if nothing else. You can’t play Podence through the middle.
“As a defender or even midfielder sometimes you want an out ball and a guy you can stick the ball up to hold the ball up, bring others into player and the next phase begins from there.
“Jimenez is one of the best at that, so it’s very strange [he has been dropped].”
The Verdict: Likely to start again soon?
Whilst Jimenez’s tally this season has not compared to either of his previous two double-figured seasons in the Premier League, the Mexican offers far more to the team than just goals.
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The striker has added defensive attributes to his game to add to Wolves’ style of play. According to FB Ref, over the course of the past year, Jimenez ranked in the 81st percentile for tackles, the 89th percentile for interceptions and the 85th percentile for blocks made for players in Europe’s top five leagues.
With Wolves failing to score in the previous two games that the 30-year-old didn’t start, it may be likely to see Jimenez lining up for his side’s upcoming fixture against Watford, as the Wanderers continue their push for European football.
In other news: Wolves: Journalist concerned about star duo’s contract situation
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFour specialist bowlers and one of them succumbing to injury. For Kagiso Rabada, an up-and-coming fast bowler acting as spearhead one moment, workhorse the next, it was an onerous burden. But Rabada was up to the task, producing the most redoubtable display of his fledgling career to leave South Africa anticipating victory in the final Test in Centurion.Radaba’s return of 7 for 112, his finest figures in a Test career only five matches old, presented South Africa with a first-innings lead of 133 which they extended to 175 for the loss of Dean Elgar by the time bad light fell upon the third day.With reason to expect that this surly surface will become more indifferent as the Test progresses, South Africa retain strong hopes of a consolation victory which would reduce the series margin to 2-1 and enable them to claim their first victory in 10 Tests.Rabada tore through England’s batting line-up with three quick wickets on the stroke of lunch, removing Joe Root, James Taylor and Jonny Bairstow in succession to turn the Test heavily in South Africa’s favour. With Kyle Abbott leaving the field as tea approached for intensive treatment on a tight hamstring, South Africa’s four-strong attack was under heavy strain and Rabada, at the tender age of 20, bore most of it.By the time he led South Africa from the field half an hour after tea, his figures were the third best ever recorded at Centurion, outdone only by two other outstanding displays of recent vintage – Abbott’s 7 for 29 against Pakistan in 2013 and Mitchell Johnson’s terrorising of South Africa to claim 7 for 65 a year later.The accolades were thoroughly deserved for a display of great control, nous and stamina. His best Test figures followed a return of 5 for 78 in the third Test in Johannesburg. His achievements so young are rarely achieved. An unrewarding Test introduction on spin-friendly surfaces in India has been well and truly put behind him.His progress this series has been swift, his speeds around 145kph until fatigue took a hold and he sensibly throttled back, and his control of line excellent. He caresses the pitch – the antithesis of Hardus Viljoen who in Johannesburg tried to deep mine it. At 20 years old, he is a prize asset but he is still physically developing and South Africa will have to nurture him with care as they prepare for a future – not too distant now – without Dale Steyn.Alastair Cook, the first wicket to fall on the third day, must wait for the potential accolade of the youngest player to reach 10,000 Test runs – and as he watches England flounder after losing an influential toss he must be ageing by the minute.Cook, 67 not out overnight, began fifty runs short of the record, but he added only nine runs in an hour before he was unpicked by Morne Morkel, an excellent delivery from around the wicket which bounced and seamed away to take the edge. The wicket stirred Morkel, whose signal has come and gone like a mobile in an iffy reception area.Cook has one more innings in South Africa to secure a record that looks inevitable, barring injury, as he still has a full English summer to achieve it. He has ticked off the record thousand by thousand since his Test career began to evolve, the youngest batsman at every measuring point.The removal of Root, the mainstay of England’s batting line-up, was a huge breakthrough for South Africa. Root had launched England’s challenge by taking three back-foot boundaries off him in an over, the first of them thick-edged wide of gully, but he became the first victim of the morning when Rabada produced one that shaped away a tad around off stump for Quinton de Kock to hold a simple catch.Rabada struck again when Taylor was too early on a pull shot that was both too wide and high for the shot, especially with wickets falling and lunch approaching, and cue ended the ball to the wicketkeeper. Taylor might have been defeated by the inconsistent bounce, but it was an unwise shot with a short leg and two men back for the shot.Three balls later – the last before the interval – Rabada added Bairstow for nought. It was a dismissal that emphasised he is already a bowler of craft, an offcutter bouncing back at Bairstow who failed to withdraw from the shot to catch the glove and give de Kock his fourth catch of the innings.South Africa had squandered two reviews in the morning session. Morkel’s belief that he can get Cook caught down the leg side is all very well, but not when South Africa review an appeal – as they did when Cook was 70 – that missed the bat by several inches. The noise must have been that made when a theory collides with reality.There was over-eagerness, too, in de Kock’s belief that he had held a leg-side tickle from Root off the offspinner, Dane Piedt. Such considerations were soon forgotten as Rabada made deep inroads into England’s order, reducing them to 211 for 6 – still 63 short of avoiding the follow-on.Rabada added the wicket of Ben Stokes, picked off at second slip with only the second delivery with the second new ball, a success Rabada greeted with nothing more aggressive than the gentlest of smiles.England would have sensed an unlikely escape route, especially with Moeen Ali fashioning resistance with his usual languid unpredictability, leaving South Africa eminently grateful for the charitable departure of Chris Woakes shortly before tea.JP Duminy, a notional fifth bowler, whose confidence impaired by an injury in India when he split the webbing of his bowling hand, looks in bad shape, bowling wise, and seems to have adopted a strange, whirly Harbhajan Singh impression.He did nothing more than slip a straight one across Woakes, who edged it into the pads of the wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock and from there to first slip where Dean Elgar held a simple chance. Woakes had also been dropped on 1 when de Kock failed to hold a one-handed catch above his head off Morkel.After tea, South Africa threw the ball to Rabada once more. By the time he added his seventh – Stuart Broad obligingly pulling to deep square leg – he was running on empty, about 10kph down on his speed at the start of the Test, unable to summon the energy to run and congratulate the fielder.Moeen’s departure to Morkel, for 61, driving on the up to extra cover, finally gave Rabada release. His 29 overs had revealed a few home truths about the arduous nature of Test cricket. In another 24 hours or so, perhaps even less, he would be doing it all again.
The road to the 2011 World Cup continues for six teams with the start of the ICC World Cricket League Division Two in Windhoek, Namibia this weekend. The hosts, as well as Argentina, Denmark, Oman, Uganda and United Arab Emirates will battle it out over a week of action at three venues around the city.And at stake are four places in the World Cup Qualifier (formerly the ICC Trophy) in the UAE in 2009, the tournament that will determine which of the leading ICC Associate and Affiliate teams will go to the World Cup in the Asian subcontinent two years later. For five of the teams in Windhoek, it is a road they have travelled down before as Denmark, Namibia, Oman, Uganda and the UAE all played in the ICC Trophy in 2005 but failed to reach this year’s competition.However, Namibia (2003 in Southern Africa) and the UAE (1996 in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) have both reached World Cup finals so they should know exactly what is at stake and what sort of rewards are on offer to the successful sides.The new kids on the block are Argentina, a country basking in the glory of its success in the recent rugby World Cup where they reached the semi-finals and finished third.The cricketers have done just as well in many senses because, as late replacements for the United States of America in the ICC WCL Div.3 event earlier this year in Darwin, they were not expected to make many headlines. On paper, at least, the likes of Fiji, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea and the Cayman Islands all looked likely finalists alongside the fancied Uganda, and there were also Italy and Tanzania to consider.But Argentina proceeded to rip up the formbook and won through to the final before losing out to Uganda, the other side to earn promotion from that event which gave both line-ups their tickets to Windhoek. It will be fascinating to see if Argentina can continue their journey or whether they will get stopped in their tracks by some of the more experienced sides on show.Explaining the significance of the World Cricket League and how the Windhoek tournament fits in, ICC global development manager Matthew Kennedy said: “The idea of the WCL is to give each of the ICC’s 91 Associate and Affiliate Members a clearly defined pathway to progress and develop in world cricket. Apart from Division 1, which involves the top six Associate sides, the next best teams from the ICC Trophy 2005 have been allocated to Division 2 and 3 events along with the top teams from each of five regional qualifying events.”It means that regular global one-day cricket opportunities are no longer confined to just the top sides in the LG ODI Championship table and this tournament in Windhoek is an example of that. Our belief is that by exposing these sides to different opponents and different conditions they will improve and take that improvement back into their own domestic structures thereby helping our strong sport grow even stronger by broadening its base to a significant degree.”With places up for grabs in the World Cup Qualifier, the incentives and rewards for teams to improve have never been greater and I wish all the sides in action in Namibia the best of luck in what should be a terrific tournament and a great advertisement for Associate and Affiliate cricket.”
Australia 1 for 28 (Ponting 11*, Hayden 12*) trail England 6 for 551d (Collingwood 206, Pietersen 158) by 523 runs Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary How they were out – England How they were out – Australia
It has happened again. Down 1-0 after a first-Testthrashing, England have been revived for the secondAshes series in a row by batting first in the nextmatch. Through brilliant returns from Paul Collingwoodand Kevin Pietersen they grabbed the momentum fromAustralia, posted 6 for 551 and promptly declared infive-star luxury. The series gained further life whenJustin Langer edged Andrew Flintoff, who decided toopen the bowling, and the home side were 1 for 28 atstumps.Collingwood clipped a superb 206 and Pietersen backedhim up with a sensible 158 as England enjoyed anotherwildly successful day on a pitch offering nothingencouraging to the fast bowlers. Together they etchedthemselves into Ashes history with England’s highestfourth-wicket stand against Australia, passing the 288of Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe at Edgbaston in1997.Individually they coped well with Australia’spersistent tinkering in the field, the attempts atregular containment and Shane Warne and Stuart Clark,the biggest dangers in an ineffective attack.Collingwood closed a 70-year double-century droughtfor England Down Under when he became the first sinceWally Hammond to achieve the milestone. It was anoutstanding all-round innings that has sealed his spotat No. 4. Pietersen has been criticised for sitting aspot lower in the order but the move has workedspectacularly in this game.The top four blunted Australia and then Pietersen andCollingwood were allowed to capitalise, driving theirside into a position that was unthinkable for even themost positive England supporter over the past week.They narrowly avoided going three sessions withoutAustralia’s hyped attack taking a wicket and thechilly wind that blew between lunch and tea was morebiting than Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee.It took an edge from Clark, who was easily the leadingfast man with 3 for 75, to end Collingwood’s stay of392 balls and signal the tea break. India havepunished Australia at home like this recently, butonly occasionally do they allow themselves to betreated so badly in their own conditions.Adelaide is not Warne’s favourite ground and he hasnever given up as many runs against England as his 1for 167. Struck for centuries in consecutive inningsby opponents who usually shake whenever he flicks hiswrist, he has started to look like a 37-year-oldinstead of a vibrant 20-something. Spin has been greatbut slow and his first wicket didn’t come until his47th over. He barely acknowledged it.Age is also telling for McGrath and his left heel. Hewas on and off the field in the opening session for boot treatment and was belted for three fours by Pietersenin his first over of the morning. Clark was preferredto start proceedings and McGrath was only called for athree-over spell. He delivered 12 in the day, most ata speed in the mid-120s, and the decision to passhimself fit is in the process of back firing.
England have no such concerns thanks to the 310-runpartnership between Collingwood and Pietersen thatrattled at 3.68 an over. Collingwood’s century arrivedfrom his second ball this morning and he was measuredin the first session before outscoring Pietersen by 27runs in the second.The most spectacular of his 16 fours were lofteddrives to bring up his 150 and 200 as he corrected hiserror on 96 in Brisbane. Warne was the first to watchthe ball sail over his head while Michael Clarke wasthe victim when Collingwood joined Hammond and REFoster as the only Englishmen to scoredouble-centuries in Australia.Until his dismissal Collingwood came closest to losinghis wicket on 109 when Michael Hussey had a chance ata direct hit and missed. As Collingwood walkedfollowing his edge 97 runs later Pietersen ran over tohis team-mate to join the loud applause and the BarmyArmy sang his name.Australia had shut down Pietersen by employing Warnearound the wicket, sometimes with five men on thelegside, but he was happy to let the ball thud intohis pads and occasionally used his feet to attackhalf-volleys. Lee was hammered by Pietersen on acouple of memorable occasions; one thumping straightdrive was just out of the bowler’s reach and a finehook shot sped to the short square boundary. However,Lee was convinced Pietersen nicked him on hisovernight score of 60, but Steve Bucknor ruled not outand was supported by the technology.A quick single from Clark brought up Pietersen’ssecond century against Australia and his double-armraise paid particular attention to his fiancée andLiberty X singer Jessica Taylor, who was standing andsmiling in the Sir Edwin Smith stand. A similarattempt at a run caused his downfall when Ponting under-armed sharply from midwicket. By then England’sgrip on the match was as secure as Pietersen’s bearhugs of Collingwood.
Short cuts
Shot of the day Paul Collingwood’s lofted four over the head of ShaneWarne to bring up his 150. He tried a similar shot inBrisbane last week and failed, but stayed true to hisaggressive instincts and was rewarded.Highlight of the day Collingwood again. His double-century was only thefifth by an Englishman in Australia. Wally Hammondscored three, the last in 1936-37, and RE Foster’s 287came in 1903-04.Partnership of the day Collingwood and Pietersen gave Justin Langer andMatthew Hayden a target to aim for this summer for themost hugs in a liaison. There was a lot of love on theoval as they produced the highest fourth-wicketpartnership for England against Australia.Surprise of the day Bored of Pietersen andWarne’s battle, the Boony Army tried to start aMexican Wave in the middle session, but the Barmy Armywere gripped by the action and refused to haveanything to do with it. How times change.Wave of the day Glenn McGrath has never given up as many runs withouta wicket as his 107 in this innings, but theperformance did not steal all of his humour. When theBarmy Army cheered his century McGrath gave a thumbsup as he walked back to his mark.
Ed Cowan, the New South Wales batsman, has been ruled out of the ING Cup and Pura Cup matches against Western Australia at Perth this week. Cowan hurt his toe in grade cricket and could be out for four to six weeks after doctors ruled that he needed surgery. He has been replaced in the one-day squad by Craig Simmons, a 22-year-old left-handed opener, while Greg Mail has been named as Cowan’s replacement in the Pura Cup squad.Simmons was with Western Australia till last season, but moved to Sydney in the hope of furthering his first-class career. The match against his former state will be his first one for New South Wales.Meanwhile, Aaron O’Brien has also been picked in the Pura Cup squad after scoring an unbeaten 227 in a second XI game against Victoria. O’Brien, an allrounder, has been a member of the one-day squad this season.
Durham have signed Ashley Noffke for the English season in 2005, making him the second overseas player in the team, after Mike Hussey. Noffke is no stranger to the rigours of county cricket, as he took 45 wickets in eight games for Middlesex in 2003. His consistency with the ball and reliability with the bat in the lower order – averaging 25.86 – made him a target when Durham were recruiting.Noffke was keyed up about the appointment, and spoke of performing well enough to help earn Durham promotion: “I am really excited about joining Durham. Their performance in the Totesport League this year indicates that there is huge potential in this squad and promotion should be in our sights for both forms of cricket next season. I am looking forward to playing a major role in helping the squad to achieve this.”Durham, for their part, were happy to have signed Noffke. “We are delighted that Ashley will be joining the squad next season,” said Martyn Moxon, their coach. “As well as being a superb bowler he is an enthusiastic fielder who will contribute immensely to our team in the field and to next year`s assault on the leagues. Ashley is an experienced cricketer who will bring an element of leadership to the squad that will help our local talent flourish.”David Harker, Durham’s chief executive, felt the same way: “Ashley and Mike’s commitment to Durham certainly brings us a step closer to becoming a strong force in domestic cricket. Between them they bring a great deal of talent and a wealth of knowledge to the squad which will undoubtedly help us to progress in a positive direction.”
Test cricket came to Australia’s Top End today, when Steve Waugh won the toss and put Bangladesh in to bat on the drop-in pitch at the Marrara Oval, a cosy oasis of green in the dry old Northern Territory.It’s normally an Australian Rules football stadium, with cavernous dressing-rooms beneath the big concrete grandstand. Notices on the walls beseech players not to spit (or worse) on the floors.After a quiet start it was business as usual for Bangladesh, who lost wickets in clumps after being put in. Punters with money on at 14/1 that the match would be all over inside a day are going to be disappointed, but the local TV station, which is only broadcasting the fourth and fifth days live, must already be looking out a few more repeats of Neighbours or Home and Away.There were extra-loud cheers for Jason Gillespie, especially when he struck to remove Javed Omar and start a slide in which four wickets tumbled for 14 runs. Gillespie, you see, is part-Aboriginal, and up here in NT the indigenous Australian peoples make up 30% of the population, compared with around 2% in the country as a whole.Gillespie is proud of his Aboriginal heritage and has traced his forebears back to the Kamilaroi tribe. “I’m an interesting mix because I’ve got Aboriginal blood and on my Mum’s side it’s mainly Greek,” he said. “I was never really brought up as an indigenous person. But I’ve really started reading about it and where that my side of my family comes from.”In a country just coming to terms with the retirement of Olympic champion athlete Cathy Freeman, who was famous for brandishing the red-and-black Aboriginal flag on the track, does Gillespie see himself as a sporting ambassador? “I don’t know how comfortable I’d be, to be honest … technically I guess I’m the first [with Aboriginal blood], but I think there’d be a lot of former Test players with indigenous blood and just didn’t know about it.”The ground at Marrara, near Darwin’s airport, is in the town’s sporting park. Bowling greens and clay-pigeon galleries jostle for position. But the cricket holds sway today – the authorities were expecting a crowd pushing the capacity of 11,500 - and that includes provision for a “Small VIPs Car Park”. Next door, obviously catering for the more comfortably built, is the Large VIPs Car Park.Among the larger VIPs for Darwin’s big day was Clare Martin, the chief minister of the Northern Territory, who is a distant relative of Victor Trumper, one of Australia’s early greats. And John Ah Kit, NT’s minister for sport, was a genial presence in the grandstand, showing off one of the day’s brighter shirts.Over on Channel 9, one familiar face was missing. Richie Benaud, taking a break in France from commentating duties in England, was not there to don the off-white blazer for a home Test for the first time in most people’s memories. Instead Simon O’Donnell, another former Test allrounder, took over the hot seat. But his “Morning everyone” just wasn’t quite the same …Steven Lynch is editor of Wisden CricInfo.
A target of 273, constructed largely and painstakingly by Nayan Mongiaand Himanshu Jadhav, stared Rest of India in the face as they startedtheir run-chase. With one day to go and 213 runs still to get, DayFive of the Irani Trophy promises to be a humdinger.Mongia, unbeaten overnight, retained his mode of sedate play. Hittingseven fours in a restrained knock, his 52 off 165 balls ended whenBaroda still had considerable distance to traverse to a challengingtotal.Wickets fell at regular intervals; after Mongia was snapped up bySarandeep Singh, Rishikesh Parab was caught behind off HrishikeshKanitkar. Tushar Arothe and Umang Patel fell in quick succession,leaving Baroda reeling at 199 for six.It was then that Himanshu Jadhav started farming the strike, ensuringthat the lower middle order faced as few balls as possible. Thedeparture of Rakesh Patel and Valmik Buch immersed Baroda further inthe mire, but Irfan K Pathan provided Jadhav stout support.Jadhav left finally with the score on 269, making 42 off 109 balls.The Pathans added a few more to the tally before Irfan K Pathan wasbowled by Tinu Yohannan for 32 off 45 balls, ending Baroda’s inningsat 285.Rest of India started disastrously, losing both openers with the scoreon six. Kanitkar and VVS Laxman then built the score up steadily,rotating the strike frequently; Kanitkar, however, was caught behindoff Irfan K Pathan for 21 off 45 balls.At the close of play, skipper Laxman, hoping to revive his battingfortunes ahead of his departure for South Africa, and Dinesh Mongia,the first innings hero, were unbeaten on 26 and 6 respectively.Knowing Laxman’s penchant for long innings and Mongia’s form, it isentirely possible that Rest of India reach 273 with little fuss. ButBaroda’s bowlers, inspired by a pitch that is falling apart, will belooking to skittle Rest of India out for far less.