Johmari Logtenberg, who it’s no exaggeration to call a batting sensation, has surprised the world of women’s cricket by suddenly giving up the sport for golf. More unexpected still is the fact that the cricket star, who averaged 422.50 in a domestic season and has been instrumental in the international set-up since the age of 14, has only just taken up golf on a whim and she doesn’t know if she will be any good at it.”I didn’t plan to play golf,” she told the Times of South Africa. “It was just a spur-of-the-moment decision”It seems an extraordinary move for the girl, still only 18, who had the cricketing world at her feet with two one-day international centuries and five fifties under her belt. Then again she didn’t earn any money from it – English counties offered to pay her travel expenses “I would have ended up playing for charity” – while a successful women’s golfer can earn a lucrative sum.With great hand-eye co-ordination, the one thing that perhaps will not raise eyebrows is that she’s already got a handicap of 12 despite these being early days where golf is concerned.She has enrolled at Gavan Levenson’s golf academy to improve her game further but if it doesn’t work out she hinted there would be a chance she could go back to cricket. “We’ll only see after this year whether golf is for me.”
Marlon Samuels is available for selection to the West Indies squad for the World Cup, though his participation would depend on the results of the investigation he is currently facing, the ICC has said. West Indies are to announce their squad later today.Brian Murgatroyd, the ICC spokesman, told reporters in Nagpur: “Marlon Samuels is available to be selected for the ICC Cricket World Cup at this stage, although obviously that situation may alter depending on the results of the ongoing investigation being carried out by the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit.”The Nagpur police have claimed that Samuels passed on team information to Mukesh Kochar, an alleged bookie, ahead of West Indies’ one-day match against India in that city last month.A four-member anti-corruption unit (ACU) of the ICC arrived in Nagpur on February 12 to conduct a probe into the allegations. The ACU headed by N S Virk, its regional security manager, met SPS Yadav, Nagpur’s Police Commissioner, who had contacted the Indian board (BCCI) with the initial details.Samuels admitted he has known Kochar for the past six years but did not believe he was a bookmaker. Kochar told the Indian media he was not a bookie and that Samuels was like “a son” to him.
Vince van der Bijl isn’t about to claim the credit for South Africa’s successful scramble to retain the services of Allan Donald, but the public will give it to him anyway.Alarm bells rang across South Africa at the weekend when Donald, the country’s most illustrious bowler with 330 wickets from 72 Tests, announced he had applied for the position of England bowling coach.That came hard on the heels of Gary Kirsten’s resignation as South Africa’s high performance manager. Donald, it seemed, had become disillusioned with his role as a specialist bowling coach in the same structure.The nation held its breath as van der Bijl, Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) general manager of professional cricket, and CSA chief executive Gerald Majola met with Donald in Johannesburg on Friday.The thought of Donald in an England shirt, coming on top of South Africa’s loss to England in last summer’s Test series and umpteen defections by South African first-class players to English cricket, would have been almost too much to bear. “That would have been enough to make anyone cringe,” Kirsten said. “He’s such a high-profile South African, it would have been a bit weird.”But if anyone could persuade Donald, whose wife is English and who built up a strong bond with England during his years with Warwickshire, to stay put it was the passionate, articulate van der Bijl. “C’mon Big Vince,” went the silent prayer.Mission accomplished: Donald said after the meeting that he remained committed to South African cricket. What did van der Bijl say to help Donald reach his decision?”You’ll have to ask him what made up his mind, all I can say is that we sat down and had an open conversation,” said van der Bijl, who nevertheless did not attempt to hide his satisfaction at Donald’s choice.”He knows what he can do for South African cricket, and I’m delighted he’s staying,” said van der Bijl. “He can be of great value because of his amazing wealth of experience in the heat of battle, he can impart that atmosphere and the attitude that is required to go to the top.”van der Bijl said Donald would also be involved when international bowlers lost form. The planning for Donald’s future role, van der Bijl said, was already underway. “We spent a bit of time mapping out the way forward for the high performance programme,” he said, “and the national academy for the coming off-season.”Donald said personal considerations had tipped the balance for him. “I made the decision to stay in South Africa based on family commitments,” he said. “I have three young children and to take them back to England and then back to South Africa again once that job is over would not be good for them.”Impatience, he conceded, had prompted him to consider switching his allegiance. “Maybe I was a bit hasty, but when the England job came up I wanted it desperately,” Donald said. “I hadn’t really thought about the long-term implications. My time will come coaching-wise, I must just be patient. But in the meantime I’m just going to get stuck in with the high performance programme, it’s all looking very positive.”Donald was satisfied with the outcome of Friday’s meeting. “CSA did indicate they would try and get me more involved with the national team and give me more of a hands-on role,” he said. “I’ll be chatting to [South African coach] Mickey Arthur when he gets back from Australia and hopefully I’ll be able to work with the national bowlers much more during the home Tests here.”
Ramnaresh Sarwan reached the close of the fourth day in Trinidad on 93 not out, seven runs short of the seventh and, potentially, most valuable Test century of his 51-match career, as he and Dwayne Bravo added 78 for the sixth wicket in a crucial unbeaten partnership. Together, they batted out the final 32 overs of an extended final session, to ensure that West Indies would begin the final day with a fighting chance of saving the second Test.That prospect had seemed an eternity away at the mid-stage of the innings, when Nicky Boje and Makhaya Ntini instigated a dreadful collapse of four wickets for 13 runs in seven overs either side of tea. Facing a first-innings deficit of 51, West Indies had reached a state of relative prosperity at 79 for 1, when Boje spun one into Wavell Hinds’s pads to trap him lbw for 22 and open the floodgates.Three overs later, both Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul had fallen for single figures, and the teams were still digesting their tea when Donovan Pagon was the fifth man out, bowled by Ntini for 2 to complete a miserable match. Yet Sarwan remained phlegmatic throughout, and after his first-innings failure (in which he had top-edged a bouncer to fine leg) he was watchful and tenacious against pace and spin alike – save for one notable let-off.Poor Jacques Rudolph endured a day to forget in the field. First, he took his eyes off the ball while fielding at short leg, and failed to notice that Sarwan had lobbed an attempted pull over his right shoulder. Then, while fielding at square leg in the first over of Monde Zondeki’s new spell, he completely muffed a firm clip off the legs from Bravo, who had made just 12 at the time.Nevertheless, from the moment they grabbed massive scalp of Lara, six balls before the interval, the day belonged indubitably to South Africa. After falling for 196 in the first innings, Lara had glanced Andre Nel to the fine-leg boundary to bring up his 200th run of the match, but before he could progress further, Boje tempted him to shape for the cut and bowled him neck and crop as the ball spat hard and low out of the rough. It was a ill-judged shot, but given the success his attacking approach had enjoyed in the first innings, it was hard to criticise.
Lara’s demise was music to South Africa’s ears, but Graeme Smith was not satisfied and with one over remaining before tea, he recalled Makhaya Ntini to the attack to instant effect. Ntini, who had already accounted for Chris Gayle in a hostile new-ball spell, rapped Chanderpaul on the pads with his very first delivery, and umpire David Shepherd instantly upheld the appeal. Replays showed that the ball had pitched outside leg stump, but it was too late for recriminations.The collapse made ample amends for South Africa, after their best-laid plans had gone badly awry in the morning session. As if a precursor of what was to come, it was the unassuming offspin of Gayle that did the damage, as South Africa lost all four remaining wickets in the first 40 minutes of play. Had they managed another session of steady accumulation, their lead of 23 with four wickets in hand could have been translated into a matchwinning position. As it is, they were bundled out for 398 – a slender advantage of 51 – and West Indies had been allowed right back into the match.Gayle, who had wheeled away without success or scare for 33 overs on the previous two days, struck with his very first ball of the morning to remove Mark Boucher for 28, and when South Africa’s other overnight batsman, Ashwell Prince, fell in the very same over, Gayle mopped up the tail so efficiently that Chanderpaul did not even contemplate turning to the new ball. Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nel were both suckered by a lack of spin and bowled, as Gayle wrapped up the innings with 4 for 9 from 4.5 overs.The spin of Boje was South Africa’s greatest threat as well, looping the ball onto a full length from around the wicket to stifle West Indies’ run-rate and tempt them into indiscretions. But neither Sarwan nor Bravo – another man who had missed the first Test because of the sponsorship row – lost their nerve.However, the vagaries in the Trinidad pitch had been shown up during a hostile new-ball spell from Ntini and Nel, and the pair will be in harness on the fifth morning as well, when the second new ball becomes available after two overs. It will be the critical phase of this match. If West Indies can see it off, they may yet go to Barbados with the series all-square.How they were outSouth AfricaMark Boucher c & b Gayle 28 (374 for 7) Leading edge, easy return catchAshwell Prince c Chanderpaul b Gayle 45 (375 for 8) Checked drive, good tumbling catch at short coverMakhaya Ntini b Gayle 4 (384 for 9) Straight low long-hop, pegged back off stumpAndre Nel b Gayle 6 (398 for 10) Round the wicket, deceived by angle, missed a straight oneWest IndiesChris Gayle c de Villiers b Ntini 1 (14 for 1) On back foot, fenced lifter to gullyWavell Hinds lbw b Boje 22 (79 for 2) Played back to big turner, might have done too much?Brian Lara b Boje 4 (85 for 3) Ripped out of rough and kept lowShivnarine Chanderpaul lbw b Ntini 1 (86 for 4) Looked plumb, but pitched outside legDonovan Pagon b Ntini 2 (92 for 5) Trapped on crease, under-edged yorker onto stumps
David Gilbert, CEO, Cricket NSW is pleased to announce the following selections for NSW Breakers to play in the Women’s National Cricket League against Victoria Spirit at the Frankston Oval, Vic, on 20th & 21st December. Selectors have kept the same team who played against SA Scorpions in Bowral on 6/7 December.NSW and Victoria last met in the WNCL Final Series in 2002-03 at MCG and this season are currently on equal points, each winning 3 out of 4 matches and earning3 bonus points but NSW take top position with a better net run rate.Selections for NSW Breakers v Vic Spirit:
Looking out from his office overlooking the County Ground on a bright sunny morning earlier today, Somerset Chief Executive turned his thoughts to the new season which is only just over two months away.Mr Anderson told me, “Structured practice is now underway, and the attention is turning to the make up of our best side in all competitions.”The Chief Executive said, “The key to it all rests really on the unknown factors. On the batting front will Piran Holloway rediscover his form of two years ago, when he was the second highest run scorer in the National League in the country, will Peter Bowler in the autumn of his cricketing life continue with the form that he displayed in 2001, and will Keith Parsons develop into a top order County Championship batsman?”He continued, “Will our young bowlers Bulbeck, Tucker and Trego come through to fill what is perceived to be a bowling vacancy?”The Somerset Chief went on, “Further down the line the big question is will Caddick be discarded by England after the World Cup next winter and be available for Somerset for the whole of the 2003 and 2004 seasons? This factor alone clearly has an impact upon the expectations placed upon Bulbeck, Tucker and Trego.”Mr Anderson concluded, “The players as a group all feel that we are well positioned to challenge for one or more of the one day competitions, but in the championship we really need the gaps to be filled by people in form.”
It’s just seventeen days until Bangladesh step out to play their first Testmatch. But as the momentous day approaches, it seems nothing is going right.Bangladesh just completed a demoralising three-game one-day series against aSouth African Invitational squad.A short two-week tour of South Africa intended to give the Bangladesh teamvaluable match practice prior to their inaugural Test has ended up assomething of a nightmare. The Test debutants suffered crushing defeats inback-to-back one-day games in the past two days.On Sunday at Pietermaritzburg, the Bangladesh side were dismissed for 51,losing by ten wickets in a match which was all over before lunch. Last nightat Kingsmead, Durban, they were bundled out for 57, losing by 202 runs.Last week, Bangladesh were beaten, though not humiliated, by Griqualand Westin the only first-class match of the tour, and their only multi-day game ofcompetitive cricket as a team since January. On Wednesday, they went down byseven wickets to the SA Invitational team in the first of the three-matchseries.With only two of the invitational squad having full international experiencefor South Africa – namely Dale Benkenstein and Nic Pothas – it was 25 yearold Boland seamer Charl Langeveldt who did the damage on Sunday, taking 5/7in four overs as Bangladesh collapsed in 18.3 overs. Mark Bruyns (18*) andGraeme Smith (28*) scored the required runs without the loss of a wicket, andthe game at Pietermaritzburg was all done in less than forty overs.Yesterday’s day-night encounter at Kingsmead lasted longer simply because theSouth Africans batted first, sent into bat by Naimur Rahman. The Invitationeleven made 259 for 5 in their fifty overs, with half-centuries to Smith(56), Ahmed Amla (68) and Martin van Jaarsveld (62). The Bangladesh bowlingwwas by no means disgraced. Left-arm spinner Naimur Rahman, probably the bestbowler on the tour, took 3/45 from nine overs, while Hasibul Hussain claimed2/33 from eight overs.The Bangladesh batting had no answer against the seam attack of CharlWilloughby and Mfuneko Ngam and slumped to 27 for 7 in the fourteenth overbefore reaching 57 after 27.2. Akram Khan batted for ninety minutes to remain10 not out in an attempt to preserve some dignity in proceedings, but thesupport was not there. Ngam finished with 4/20 from eight overs andWilloughby 3/9 from his eight.With no further competitive cricket until the historic opening day of theTest against India on November 10, the current slump could not have come at aworse time. A team that has never played so much as a single five-day matchhas been dismissed twice in two days in a total of 46 overs.Nonetheless, the Bangladesh Cricket Board are already planning ahead to theirnext Test opponents after India. BCB secretary Syed Ashraful Haq is reportedin today’s “Independent” (Dhaka) as saying that plans are afoot for a two-Test series against Pakistan in January if India’s tour of Pakistan iscancelled.There will be a problem, however… Bangabandhu National Stadium, the venuefor next month’s game against India, will almost certainly be unavailable, asit will be heavily in use for football once that Test is over. Alternativevenues, possibly the BKSP ground outside of Dhaka, or grounds at Rajshahi orChittagong, may come into play.The Bangladesh team are scheduled to enter a training camp at the BKSP groundwhen they return from South Africa this week, to begin their finalpreparations for their historic meeting with India. Judging from theirperformances over the past fortnight, they will need all the help they canget.
Everton have had a difficult season in the Premier League this time around, having won just seven of their 27 played games, drawing four and losing 16 along the way.
One other worrying factor of their campaign is the lack of goals they’ve managed to score, with the Toffees finding the back of the net just 29 times, leaving only Norwich City, Burnley and Brighton & Hove Albion with fewer goals.
This could be down to the fact that the Merseyside club have had to go through the majority of the season with striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin on the sidelines through injury after he managed to score 16 league goals in the previous campaign.
To make things worse for Frank Lampard’s side, recent reports have claimed that the club are willing to sell their English striker in the summer, with fellow Premier League sides Arsenal and West Ham United reportedly interested in him.
With that in mind, if Everton were to cash in on the 25-year-old in the coming months, this could pave the way for the club to make a swoop for another striker that they have been recently mentioned with.
According to a recent report from Spanish media outlet AS (via TEAMtalk) Real Madrid are looking to get rid of Luka Jovic in the summer, with Everton being mentioned as a potentially interested party to sign the striker, who has been dubbed as “magical” by Lionel Messi.
Having scored just three goals in 49 appearances for the La Liga giants since his arrival back in the 2019 summer transfer window, it’s easy to see why they would be looking to move the 24-year-old on.
However, having found the back of the net 40 times in 93 appearances with Eintracht Frankfurt, the £16.2m-rated ace has shown that he is capable of being a consistent goalscorer, which is something that the Toffees have desperately needed in this campaign.
Moving forward, if Calvert-Lewin does end up making a move away from Goodison Park this summer, then Farhad Moshiri could then use the money raised for the Englishman to potentially give Jovic the chance to put an end to his nightmare in Madrid and have a go at playing in the Premier League, which could be a very tempting prospect for the Serbian.
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From Lampard’s point of view, having a fairly young striker in his ranks that has experience of playing across Europe and scoring goals that can be a long-term feature at the club, this should be a dream deal for the club to complete.
Having been fairly active in the previous January transfer window, bringing in the likes of Dele Alli, Donny van de Beek, Nathan Patterson, Vitaliy Mykolenko and Anwar El Ghazi, Everton certainly have the means to back their managed once again in the summer, if they manage to avoid getting relegated.
In other news: Lampard may have found Everton’s new Rooney in “top quality” £7.2m-rated “boy wonder”
A sense of deja vu prevailed amid the light mist engulfing the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. Zimbabwe won the toss, stumbled at the start, Tatenda Taibu and Sean Williams put on a rescue act, a stutter followed and they ended at least 50 short of a competitive total. The script was very similar to that of the second match in Hyderabad where Zimbabwe had let the initiative slip.Early successes in the field followed, but the shallowness of their bowling attack, and a lack of pace and penetration resulted in their fifth successive loss of the tour.Disappointed by his own performance as well as the team’s overall show in the field, Hamilton Masakadza, Zimbabwe’s stand-in captain, said his bowlers simply didn’t create enough chances.”Sean and Tatenda provided a great start once again but, as before, we failed to capitalise on that,” Masakadza said. “There is a lot of disappointment but by not creating opportunities, we made things difficult for ourselves. We have a match to go and we need to improve our bowling in order to get a result out of it.”The failure of the top order has been a worry for Zimbabwe. Vusi Sibanda and Masakadza have managed starts of 45, 16, 10 and 7 so far in the series. The pressure, as a result, fell on a middle order that has coped remarkably well. Taibu has three half-centuries in the serieswhile Williams followed up scores of 51, 3 and 71 with an attacking 48 off 56 balls today.”Our strength is our middle order and they have been staging the recovery in light of our poor performance at the top,” Masakadza said. “I think it is a matter of playing as many matches as possible to gain the required amount of experience and not repeating the same mistakes again.”Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan captain, was all smiles after a Man-of-the-Match winning performance with three crucial wickets and a 99-ball 88 at No.3, in place of the rested Younis Khan. Malik praised a fine team effort, as well as an enterprising century from Mohammad Yousuf, and was confident of completing a 5-0 whitewash with his young side.”The youngsters have been really impressive in the series so far,” Malik said. “Winning is not easy even if you are playing a weaker side and it has been a commendable effort from the young bowling attack to restrict Zimbabwe.”Shrugging aside calls that his team, especially the debutantes, have not been tested thoroughly by Zimbabwe, Malik argued that the players performed impressively in conditions which tested them.”The pitch was on the slower side today and the ball wasn’t really coming on to the bat. Yousuf played a gem of an innings but the good start was given by our bowlers early on.”Pakistan will get another opportunity to test more new players in Sheikhupura where the final match of the series will be played, on Saturday. For Zimbabwe, it will be a chance to put a disappointing tour behind them and deliver the performance that their captain and coach have long been talking about.
Shane Bond believes he is fit enough to get through the rest of the CB Series in Australia, despite his latest reoccurrence of his back problems.”I never thought I was going home, I didn’t think it was that major,” Bond said, after being hampered during New Zealand’s 90-run victory over England at Adelaide this week.”It still aches, it did ache in the last game,” Bond said. “I can deal with the pain, but when that pain diminishes my back spasms and almost locks right across the back and once that happens it becomes a little difficult to bowl.”Bond underwent a scan after the Adelaide match, and the New Zealand media speculated that his tour could be over, but no stress fracture or structural problem was detected. Instead, he has arrived in Perth for the next round of matches, still reveling in the capture of his 100th one-day international wicket.”I’m stoked because the 100-wicket thing is not a very big group of people and even though I’ve had injuries it shows a degree of longevity to get to 100,” said Bond, who needed just 54 games to reach the mark – one more than the record-holder, the former Pakistan offspinner Saqlain Mushtaq, but one fewer than Australia’s spearhead, Brett Lee.”I knew I was in the running for the record but the rain out in Hamilton [against Sri Lanka] killed it,” added Bond. “I knew in the last game if I got a wicket I could equal it but I’m just pretty happy to get there.”