Marvan Atapattu, the former captain, has not to been included in Sri Lanka’s 16-member Test squad to tour Australia after stating his unavailability; while Tillakaratne Dilshan, the right-hand middle-order batsman, has been replaced by Jehan Mubarak.Atapattu probably closed the door on his international career when he snubbed the selection committee for a second time by turning down an invitation to meet them. Earlier he had pulled out of the home Test series against Bangladesh stating ‘personal reasons’, and later went on to play league cricket in England.Atapattu has been out of the national team since the 2007 World Cup, where he did not play any of Sri Lanka’s 11 matches despite being a member of the squad. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament, where they lost to Australia.The selectors, who were to leave out Sanath Jayasuriya to accommodate Atapattu, were forced to fall back on Jayasuriya, who is expected to make the Australian series his final one in Test cricket.Thilan Samaraweera, 31, has earned his recall after playing the last of his 39 Tests in England in 2006.Chanaka Welegedera, the left-arm fast-medium bowler from Matale, is the only new face in the side. He forced himself into contention with some outstanding bowling performances in the past six months, notably his first ten-wicket haul to bowl the Sri Lanka Invitation XI to victory over Tamil Nadu in the four-day MJ Gopalan trophy tie in Colombo last week. Highly-placed sources said Welegedera is looked upon as a likely successor to the experienced Chaminda Vaas.Muttiah Muralitharan, who is recovering from an injury to his right bicep, also gets the nod. He is expected to play in the last two ODIs of the on-going series against England, but selection committee sources said that they would not rush him into playing. Murali is chasing Shane Warne’s world Test record of 708 wickets and will travel to Australia needing nine wickets from the two Tests to become the highest wicket-taker.The first Test will be played in Brisbane from November 8-12 and the second Test in Hobart from November 16-20.Sri Lanka Test squad [subject to Sports Ministry ratification]: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Michael Vandort, Chamara Silva, Thilan Samaraweera, Jehan Mubarak, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Farveez Maharoof, Chanaka Welagedera, Muttiah Muralitharan, Malinga Bandara.
Shane Watson must think carefully before trying one of his favourite pull shots in Sunday’s Champions Trophy final against West Indies, according to John Buchanan. Watson has been out pulling three times from his four innings in the tournament, including against West Indies when Ian Bradshaw had him caught at mid-on attempting a pull before he had scored.”There’s probably three or four times, if we go back to [the DLF Cup in] Malaysia, that Shane has played a cross-batted shot early in his innings,” Buchanan told . “Again it’s one of his strong shots, he cuts well and he pulls well and often your strength can be your weakness.”I think it’s not necessarily a case of putting it in the closet, it’s a case of actually using it at the appropriate time. Probably the times he has been dismissed on it have been very, very early in his innings. So maybe the decision making at that point in time, not necessarily the execution,” Buchanan said.Watson was again lured into a pull shot when he was yet to get off the mark in the semi-final against New Zealand and he was caught at mid-off. Ricky Ponting said Watson would learn from his mistakes. “He didn’t really know the pace and bounce of the [pitch],” Ponting said.”It was one of the first balls he faced for the innings, so opening or batting in the top order against the new ball you can be a bit surprised with the pace and the bounce. I think that’s what’s happened with Shane. He’ll learn. I’ve defended him right the way through and I’ll keep doing it. The way he played against India [scoring 50] is the way we know he can play, and I think long term for us he’ll be a very good option up there.”
Glenn McGrath, the Australian fast bowler, has warned Graeme Smith, the World XI Test captain, that he can expect the same verbal aggression in the Super Test that he was subjected to in his Test debut.Smith, after his debut series against Australia at Cape Town in 2002, went public with his shock and dismay at the tactics employed by Steve Waugh’s side and named Shane Warne, Matthew Hayden, Brett Lee and McGrath as the chief intimidators in a magazine interview. Smith’s outburst angered the Australians, who claimed that what had occurred on the field should not be dragged into the open.McGrath has hinted at a similar reception for Smith. “I’m sure we won’t hold back. We’ll play as we normally do,” McGrath was quoted as saying by , the Melbourne-based daily. “It’d be nice to knock him [Smith] over cheaply a couple of times. He might have that in the back of his mind when he comes back over here.”Smith admitted last week that he should not have been so forthcoming in his statements in 2002, but added that he would still maintain the same attitude on the field and play in the same manner. South Africa are due to tour Australia later this season, and Smith intends on playing hard then as well. “I play the game the same way, I play it hard and I don’t think there will be anything held back in Sydney and again at the end of the year when I come back with South Africa.”For now though, Smith has the challenging job of marshalling a World XI side seemingly low on confidence after being whitewashed 3-0 in the one-day internationals that have preceded this week’s Super Test.
Upul Chandana, one of two frontline spinners in Sri Lanka’s 20-man training pool for New Zealand, has been flown to Singapore for an urgent medical check-up after failing to recover from a respiratory complaint.Chandana first complained of breathing difficulties during Sri Lanka’s recent tour of Pakistan and his failure to recover properly has prompted the Sri Lanka cricket board to send him overseas for medical assistance.Chandana, who has taken 35 wickets in 14 tests and 137 wickets in 132 one-day internationals with his legspin, has only a few weeks to recover before Sri Lanka depart next month for a Christmas and New Year tour of New Zealand.His absence would leave Rangana Herath as the sole spinner. Herath performed well in Pakistan, with 11 wickets in the two Tests, leading the spin attack in the absence of Chandana and Muttiah Muralitharan, who is expected to recover from injury in time for the Test leg of the tour.
Kuwait qualified for the semi-finals of the Youth Asia Cup after humbling Oman by six wickets at the Quaid-e-Azam Park in Karachi on Wednesday. In the other match of the day at National Stadium, Malaysia smashed Thailand by eight wickets.In the feature match of the day, Kuwait’s bowlers bowled out of their skins to dismiss Oman for a modest 85 in 35.3 overs. The fast bowlers Abdullah Iftikhar and Waqas Jamil picked up three wickets apiece conceding 13 and 19 runs respectively. Left-arm spinner Ali Shahzad maintained Kuwait’s grip on the match by also accounting for three Omani batsmen at the cost of 21 runs.
Kuwait faced few problems in overhauling the target in 19.5 overs with opener Saim Shibli hitting 31.After the league rounds, in Pool B Kuwait finished second behind an unbeaten Malaysia while Nepal topped Pool A with Qatar finishing runners-up. In Friday’s semi-finals, Kuwait face Nepal while Qatar take on Malaysia.At the National Stadium, Thailand managed only 108 in 48.5 overs and this was easily achieved by Malaysia in 16.2 overs losing just two wickets. The victory ensured that like Nepal, Malaysia also reached the knock-out stage with an unblemish record.Scores in brief: Oman 85 in 35.3 overs (Abdullah Iftikhar 3-13, Waqas Jamil 3-19, Ali Shahzad 3-21) lost to Kuwait 86-3 in 19.5 overs (Saim Shibli 31) by six wickets.Thailand 108 in 48.5 overs (Radzman Zabri 2-6) lost to Malaysia 109-2 in 16.2 overs (Suhan Kumar 35, Sathiswaran 33 not out) by eight wickets
The return of Evan Marshall and the selection of the promising Jordan Sheed are two of the features of the State Otago Volts team named for next weekend’s State Max tournament at the North Harbour Stadium.Marshall retired (prematurely) from the game five years ago but after a solid winter’s training and tutelage from Otago coach Glenn Turner is said to be raring to go.Sheed is an aggressive right-handed batsman who is pushing for a place at a higher level. He is in his first year out of high school.The team is: Chris Gaffaney (captain), Andrew Hore, Craig Cumming, Jordan Sheed, Craig Pryor, Scott Waide, Simon Beare, Evan Marshall, James McMillan, Kerry Walmsley, David Sewell and Martyn Croy.Unavailable because of injury were Brendan McCullum and Warren McSkimming.
Newcastle United have enquired about Villarreal wonderkid Yeremy Pino, according to Spanish sources (via Sport Witness).
The lowdown
19-year-old Pino is predominantly a right winger but is also capable of playing on the left flank.
He’s made 34 appearances for Villarreal this season in all competitions, scoring seven goals and providing four assists.
The Spaniard is one of the most heavily-used teenagers in Europe’s top five leagues this season.
Valued at £27million by Transfermarkt, Pino still has more than five years remaining on his contract with The Yellow Submarine.
The latest
The report (via SW) states that Newcastle have ‘made contact’ with Villarreal over a potential deal for Pino.
They face competition from Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, who have also established a dialogue with the Spanish club.
Newcastle have not yet decided whether they’ll pursue Pino, but if they do so, they may have to pay his €80million (£67.1million) release clause.
The verdict
Pino underlined that he was a ‘special talent’, in the words of Fabrizio Romano, by bagging four goals in a 5-1 win over Espanyol last month. He became the youngest player in history to score a La Liga first-half hat-trick.
There is, however, an interesting sub-plot here. Newcastle, of course, came close to appointing Villarreal boss Unai Emery after they sacked Steve Bruce.
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Could that lead to some friction between the two clubs? Villarreal president Fernando Roig Sr was apparently left ‘upset’ by the situation, while some figures at the club were surprised by leaks to the UK press on the day of a ‘big’ Champions League game against Young Boys (via The Athletic).
Newcastle could, of course, simply pay the release clause, but that would mean obliterating their £39.6million transfer record. Ideally, they could negotiate a lower fee, but that may depend on the state of relations.
Elsewhere, Newcastle have received ‘really good’ news before Southampton.
Toby Radford has left his position as head coach of Glamorgan after two seasons in the role. He has departed with a year remaining on his contract as Glamorgan seek to restructure their coaching operation.There have already been calls for Robert Croft, a former England offspinner and a long-time Glamorgan servant, to be given a more central role – with the former England fast bowler Simon Jones among those naming him as a strong favourite.Both Croft and his former team-mate Steve Watkin, who is also on Glamorgan’s coaching staff, applied for the head coach role when Radford was chosen to replace the Australian Matthew Mott.Hugh Morris has been serving as both chief executive and director of cricket, an onerous task, but there are no indications he will step down from one of the roles.Radford will now return to specialist batting coaching, a role he performed both for the ECB at Loughborough and with the West Indies when they were crowned ICC World Twenty20 Champions in Sri Lanka in 2012.Glamorgan finished fourth in Division Two of the Championship last season, their second-highest position in the past decade, but a small squad faded badly in the second half of the season. They were also one of the few counties not to benefit from a general rise in T20 attendances, although they were not helped by a block of early-season matches in unfavourable weather.Radford admitted that he was disappointed with his departure, talking of “big strides” in developing a Welsh flavour in the side that Glamorgan again crave.”I am obviously pleased that the team showed major improvement in the past two seasons and it has been highly competitive across all formats and in all competitions,” he said.”It is disappointing for me not to be able to see the work through to its conclusion but I am confident that the wealth of home-grown young talents like David Lloyd, Aneurin Donald and Andrew Salter, all of whom are now first team regulars, gives the club huge optimism for both the immediate and long-term future. I would like to thank all of those who supported me in taking this club forward. Together we made big strides.”Morris said: “Toby’s hard work and commitment to the role has been evident for all to see and under his leadership we have made an important step forward in championship cricket. The coaching Toby has done with our young batsmen has been particularly important and I believe the players and the club will reap the benefits of this work in years to come. He leaves the club with our best wishes for the next stage of his coaching career.”
Israel will host Croatia in a European Division Two play-off game in November.As part of the new ICC World League structure, the Croatians, as winners of the European Division Three tournament played over the summer, have the right to challenge Israel, who finished second from bottom at the Division Two tournament in 2006, for the right to participate in Division Two in the 2008 tournament.According to the new ICC structure, each regional division is to consist of six teams. Division One consists of Ireland, Holland, Scotland, Denmark, Italy and Norway, who received promotion having won Division Two. Israel will need to defeat Croatia to remain in Division Two, which includes Gibraltar, France, Germany, Jersey, and Guernsey.The match, to be played on either Sunday November 11 or 18, with the Monday set aside as a rain day, is being embraced by the Israel Cricket Association, with chairman Stanley Perlman delighted at the opportunity to host an international match. “We have been trying to host international cricket in Israel for many years now, and hope that the visit of the Croatian team will pave the way for other countries to tour in the future. We will invite the Croatians to play a couple of friendly matches before the game against our national team as well.”Croatia defeated Spain by four runs to win Division Three in August, which included teams from Isle of Man, Belgium, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus and Finland.
Rudi Webster, the Grenada-based psychologist, is currently with the Indianteam for a short stint and is eager to carry on the interaction that beganon India’s tour of West Indies earlier this year.”This is my first visit to India,” Webster told Cricinfo after the team’spractice session at Jaipur in the Rajasthan Cricket Academy, “and I’menjoying it thoroughly. I enjoyed working with a few players when theywere in West Indies and can hopefully get some more time here.”One of the players who Webster closely interacted with during the WestIndies tour was Virender Sehwag, who’d been going through a lean phase atthe time. In his 19 innings before he met Webster, he’d crossed fifty justthree times and his lack of fitness was a serious concern. It’s fair tosay that the three-hour session transformed Sehwag during the tour and hehimself admitted, to at the end of the series:”If I hadn’t met Rudi on this tour, I was struggling. We spent aroundthree hours and I’ve never spoken to anyone so deeply.”It was surprising that Sehwag, who’d turned down an offer to interact withAustralian psychologist Sandy Gordon, felt so strongly about the meeting.”There’s a lot of difference between Sandy and Rudi,” he statedmatter-of-factly. “Rudi played county cricket for many years and workedwith great players. He knows more than Sandy about the game and players.He knows about the way sportsmen think. He’d worked with great playerslike [Brian] Lara, [Viv] Richards, great footballers, golf players . and it helped me alot.”The results were there for all to see. Post Webster, Sehwag spanked 95 inthe final one-dayer at Trinidad, a game when none of his team-matescrossed 30; thundered 180 on the opening day of the second Test at StLucia (reaching 99 in the opening morning and admitting he’d “not hit theball more cleanly than in that session”); chipped in with vital wickets inthe Tests, playing the role of a genuine fifth bowler; startled a few with hisemphasis on fitness; and, most significantly, appeared to settle into amantle of leadership.So what had prompted the change? “I needed to remind myself of some littlehabits,” Sehwag continued, “my thinking before a game, my mindset beforethe bowler bowls. There are certain things I used to visualise when thebowler was at the start of his mark, when he was running in, when he wasabout to deliver the ball. All your routines should be in place, for aparticular bowler, for a particular team, for a particular series.”Rudi was just chatting to me and I began recalling several things – ‘Iremember doing this in Pakistan’, ‘I did the same thing in Australia’. Iunderstood that I need to do these things for a longer time, need to do itcontinuously. He was telling me things I had done in the past, and I’dforgotten that. He told me how important it was to remember these things,said it would help if I wrote it down on a paper and read it over and overagain.”It helped that Webster had been following Sehwag’s career closely. “I’vebeen watching him play over the years,” he beamed, “and have been terriblyimpressed with his ability to hit the ball. Not many players have thatability. Viv Richards, who probably had a few more shots, comes theclosest. All great players have very simple methods and I was veryimpressed while watching Veeru.”Webster admitted that Sehwag had opened out to him. “My track recordprobably helped me to establish a rapport with him,” he revealed, “andonce he found that I was speaking his language, there was a belief that hefound. Once you establish a trust, and he believes in your credentials youwill find you’ll share a very good relationship with him. He discussed thingsthat he would probably not discuss with others.”Usually when people go into a little slump, a simple technique they usegoes through the window,” he continued. “All sorts of negative things gothrough their minds. They doubt themselves because of pressures from mediaand fans. Their thinking becomes negative. They forget some basic routinesthat brought them success.”