Sir Donald Bradman was indisputably the greatest player the game has ever seen. He broke nearly all of cricket’s records, and most of its rules as well, with a wonderfully unorthodox technique that suggested that his eyesight must have been second-to-none.In fact, that assumption could not have been further from the truth. Bradman’s vision was so faulty that he was invalided out of the Australian Army during the Second World War. Instead, he owed his success to other attributes – namely his supreme concentration, nimble footwork and natural talent.The talent was God-given, but the rest he had to work at – and most of that work was done in his own backyard as a small boy, where he used to practise for hours on end, using a cricket stump to hit a golf ball against a galvanised iron water tank.”To me, it was only fun,” Bradman later admitted, “but looking back, it was probably a concentrated exercise in accuracy and wonderful training for my eyesight. The golf ball came back pretty fast and I had very little time … to get into position for a shot.”The training paid the richest of dividends. Bradman retired from Test cricket in 1948 after a 20-year career, in which he had scored 6996 runs in 52 Tests, at an average of 99.94. No player – past, present or future – has, or ever will, come close to surpassing his achievements.
Michael Vaughan has insisted that he has enough steel to be a successful England captain after Ray Illingworth accused him of "captaincy by committee" during the team’s crushing innings defeat against South Africa at Lord’s.Vaughan told reporters, “I ain’t soft. I can’t be soft, I play international cricket and I’ve scored quite a few runs against good teams.” The Lord’s match was Vaughan’s first Test as captain, and he found his relaxed style of leadership, much praised during England’s victorious one-day series, under scrutiny. The heavy defeat prompted Illingworth, who led England to an Ashes victory in Australia in 1970-71, to question Vaughan’s leadership skills. But Vaughan replied: “I’ll do the job my way. I’m a relaxed player and I believe people play better when they are relaxed.”He also insisted he had no problem captaining Nasser Hussain. “Lord’s was difficult for everyone. He [Hussain] didn’t get many runs, he dropped an easy catch. Anyone would be down in the dumps. But he gave a couple of rollickings to some of the lads in the field during practice and that’s the Nasser Hussain I want in the England team. He’s a hell of a role model when he’s playing well.”Vaughan was positive that England could turn the series around: “We’re only 1-0 down with three to play. Here and Headingley [the venue for the fourth Test] are result wickets." And to prove that the deficit was not insurmountable, he cited England’s series win against South Africa in 1998 when they came back to win 2-1 after being 1-0 down.On the final XI to start tomorrow, he confirmed that Ed Smith would make his debut in place of Anthony McGrath and that Gareth Batty had been released from the squad. But he was more cagey about his seam-bowling line-up, revealing that only Andrew Flintoff was guaranteed a place. That leaves James Kirtley and Glen Chapple competing alongside James Anderson and Stephen Harmison for the final spots in a four-man pace attack.
Brian Lara, temporarily at least, silenced his vocal band of critics onTuesday with a superb century on his return to Test cricket in the firstTest against Sri Lanka at Galle.Lara, who pulled out of the West Indies tour to Zimbabwe and Kenya in Julyand August with a long-standing hamstring injury, scored an unbeaten 117 asthe West Indies piled up 316-3 on the opening day.There are always going to be critics," he admitted. "But I have got to goout there and do my job. The coach asked me what I want to do this seriesand I told him that I want to make plenty of runs and spend a lot of time inthe middle."Critics voiced concern over his inclusion in the squad for Sri Lanka when itwas revealed that he was still suffering from his hamstring injury.Moreover, they argued that the 32-year-old Trinidadian batting genius hadlong lost his hunger for runs.He, though, claims that the emergence of new West Indian batting talent hasprovided the stimulus to develop his game."The competition within the side is greater than what it has been in yearsgone by," he said. "The young players like Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan andDaren Ganga are special and batting with them brings out the best in me.""I have been working on a few things in the last six weeks since I returned.I am looking to play bit straighter and show the full face of the bat. It isnice to go out there, work on something, and get the results"Ominously for Sri Lanka, Lara, the record holder for the highest scores inboth Test and first class cricket, maintains that he is not yet finished inthis match: "I’m very happy now, but I am going to come back tomorrow andlook for something really big.""It’s a very good position but it is very important that the second inningsis not a very important innings. We need to get 500-600 runs and put SriLanka under pressure. We cannot allow them to get back into the game."Hopefully, the wicket will crumble, as we are now playing three spinners.The longer we stay out there the better."Lara came to the wicket at the fall of Daren Ganga, with the West Indianinnings evenly poised on 95-2, but quickly took the came away from Sri Lankawith a 150 ball century in a 145 run stand with Ramnaresh Sarwan and anunbeaten 76 run fourth wicket partnership.He was dropped on 31 and 93, but was only consistently troubled byoff-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who rolled out 40 overs of testing spin."Muralitharan is a very good bowler and it’s a great competition betweenus," he said. "I appreciate his ability to bowl off-spin. He is somethingspecial in world cricket.Lara looked to play him positively, right from the start when he got off themark with a fine sweep for four."I think you have to keep him thinking," he said. "He is going to keep youunder pressure if you just look to stay there, so I think you need to keepscoring."
Crystal Palace will be without midfielder James McArthur against Manchester City, football.london’s Mark Wyatt reports.
The Lowdown: Injury problems
McArthur, labelled as ‘undroppable’ by Dan Cook, missed 11 Premier League games earlier in the season but made a return last month against Brentford.
He appeared to be over his injury problems after featuring in four successive league games but was missing against Wolves last weekend.
The central midfielder, who is out of contract in the summer, has joined Joel Ward and Nathan Ferguson on the injury table, and a return on Monday evening isn’t on the cards for the Scot.
The Latest: Wyatt’s report
Wyatt shared a story for football.london on Thursday evening following Patrick Vieira’s press conference earlier in the day.
He claimed that McArthur, who played a key role in the win at the Etihad back in October, won’t be available at Selhurst Park.
The Verdict: Not ideal
Palace have lost just one of their last eight games in all competitions, half of which have been without McArthur, but not having him available isn’t ideal for Vieira.
He captained the side on numerous occasions earlier in the season, so his leadership qualities could have come in handy, even it was just being part of the match-day squad.
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However, Vieira will now have to rely on his other midfield options against Pep Guardiola’s side, as he looks to do the double over the defending champions.
In other news: Palace and John Textor now hit with off-field blow as news emerges.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Ahmed Shehzad hit 10 fours and one six•BCCI
Comilla Victorians, who thrashed Barisal Bulls in their first meeting, produced another dominating display in the return leg to secure their place in the final four. After the bowlers, led by Ashar Zaidi, limited Barisal to 105, Ahmed Shehzad struck an unbeaten 63-ball 76 to seal a seven-wicket win.Still smarting from their 58 all out against Sylhet Super Stars, Barisal struggled to cobble together a competitive total after being inserted. Chris Gayle was the first to go, trapped lbw by Shoaib Malik in the fifth over after scoring only eight. Evin Lewis too failed as he holed out to deep midwicket for 17, four overs later. Ashar Zaidi then deepened Barisal’s trouble, his top-quality slower ball bowling Mehedi Maruf for a duck. Zaidi followed it with the wicket of Rony Taluklar to leave Barisal at 45 for 4 in 11.3 overs.Mahmudullah and Sabbir Rahman then got together and repaired the damage with a 43-run stand. Just as the pair shaped for a late flourish, Mahmudullah was bowled by Abu Haider for 26 in the 18th over. Soon after, Kamrul Islam Rabbi undid Sabbir with a beauty: a back-of-the-hand slower ball which yorked the batsman and bowled him between his legs, for 17. The double-blow meant that Barisal were kept to a low score again.Zaidi, who returned impressive figures of 2 for 12 in four overs, including a maiden, later played a supporting role in the chase. He made 20 off 18 balls in an unbroken stand worth 58, after Comilla were reduced to 48 for 3 in 9.5 overs. Liton Das was the first to go when he gave Sabbir a simple return catch off Sajedul Islam. Imrul Kayes was also out for a duck, edging Al-Amin Hossain behind in the fourth over, before Taijul Islam had Malik stumped.Shehzad, however, took up the lead role and helped his side surge ahead.He hit 10 fours and a six during his 63-ball 75 and profited from the pull and the cut when the bowlers erred short. Shehzad even lofted Taijul over cover and midwicket, which gave one an impression that he batted on a different track.
India A called all the shots at Nairobi today, winning the toss, bowling out Sri Lanka A for 165 and then easing to a nine-wicket win to clinch the final of this three-nation tournament. There were big wickets from the pace bowlers and seamers and positive innings from Cheteshwar Pujara and Mohammad Kaif as India reached their target inside 26 overs.Early morning rain meant the game got underway later than scheduled, and was consequently reduced to 39 overs a side, but the Indians wasted little time in getting stuck in. The last ball of the fifth over, from Irfan Pathan, swung away from Dilruwan Perera and the resultant nick was easily held by Parthiv Patel for the first of his six dismissals. Praveen Kumar continued his good series by beating Mahela Udawatte for pace, the batsman reacting late and losing his off stump for a brisk 35 from 27 deliveries.Pankaj Singh dealt the third blow when he forced Kaushal Silva to fend at a rising delivery outside off stump and edge to Kaif at first slip to make it 52 for 3. Gayan Wijekoon (38 from 42 balls) and Malinda Warnapura added 52 before Yo Mahesh dismissed Warnapura, and from there Sri Lanka were unable to string together and sizeable partnerships. Mahesh added Wijekoon and Sujeewa de Silva to his kitty. Pathan came back to get Kaushal Lokuarachchi and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha finished with 2 for 33 from his eight overs.India’s chase began with Pujara slashing one over the slips and to the boundary and edging another from Chanaka Welegedara that did not carry to the fielder but Kumar was not as shaky, hitting consecutive fours off Nuwan Kulasekara back past the stumps and over mid-off. Another flick to fine leg followed but Welegedara forced Kumar (26) to scoop a slower one back to him just after the 50 was raised in the seventh over. Kumar finished as the tournament’s leading run-scorer with a total of 165 runs.Pujara edged through the slips a second time and had to work hard for his runs but Kaif opened up with two pulled fours and one drive back down the ground. In one de Silva over he twice drove through the covers and slogged one past mid-on, raising the 50-run stand with Pujara in just 8.2 overs.A crowd of about 1000, mostly Indian, cheered loudly and made their players feel at home in the afternoon sunshine. Wijekoon erred in line slightly and Kaif pulled him for four; Pujara brought up his half-century, from 60 balls, with a drive for three down to long-on; Lokuarachchi tossed it up and Pujara hammered him over the infield. Kaif brought up his own fifty before hitting Lokuarachchi for a huge straight six. Pujara swept the same bowler for four take the partnership to a match-winning 115 runs.At the post-match conference, Warnapura, the Sri Lankan captain, conceded that his side batted poorly. Kaif said the toss was important as it set the tone for his game plan, and singled out his bowlers as key to this victory. He also thanked the fans and acknowledged his players’ commitment throughout the series in Zimbabwe as well as in KenyaPujara was awarded the Man of the Match and Kumar Man of the Series.
What was that like? It must have hurt? We suffered that defeat against Australia in the 1996 World Cup and that still haunts me up to this day. It is about the only regret I had in my career, not having a World Cup medal around my neck – it is the missing link and would have put the icing on the cake for me. The thing that hurt the most was that we had the game won. It was a strange loss by just five runs and there was nothing really we could have done. I still, up to this day, can’t put my hand on what caused the defeat.We were going along at a run a ball and suddenly we panicked and it all fell apart. I knew that if we had taken care of Australia there was no way Sri Lanka could beat us in the final. I was that confident. After the match there was complete silence in the dressing room. Not a man said a word. No one spoke because no one knew what to say. For once in my life I was down and out. You must remember that in that same World Cup we lost to Kenya, so we were bouncing back. I say it to this day that if we had just been able to get those other five runs my cricket life would have been complete.Richie Richardson once told me you never liked cricket. I still can’t believe that’s true. As a boy, I never liked cricket, and I was definitely not a fan of the game. My favourite sports were basketball and football. Cricket was too long, took up a lot of energy, was never on my list and to be honest I avoided it. Occasionally I would play with the lads in my village, Swetes, but that was just for fun. I played in school and sometimes for my village. But I was a very proud man and anything I did I made sure I did it well and put my all in, so when I had to play cricket, I gave 100 per cent.So how on earth did you get hooked on the game? I used to play tennis ball cricket on the beach and had fun and frolic with friends. Because of this people told me they believe I could play the proper version of the game. As I said I played at school, because people pushed me to. I was always a tall guy and they felt I could make it. I played in the national league for Swetes at age 21 for the first time, and yes, that’s starting late. But I like to tell people – it was not a late start, I just chose my time correctly. I gave it a big go and it paid off. Many people don’t know it, but I still don’t watch a lot of cricket to this day. I would follow the game and the fortunes of the West Indies and my other favourite teams, but watching cricket is still tough for me. When I retired I said that was it. I decided I would never play another cricket match again.You were lucky to have a great career, how was it at the start? I tell people my career took off like the Concorde. In 1984 I was playing for Swetes. In 1985 I was playing for Antigua and Barbuda. In 1986 I got picked for the Leeward Islands, alongside Richie, Viv Richards, Keith Arthurton and other great guys. Then by 1988 I was in the West Indies team with great men like Maco (Malcolm Marshall) and Cuddy (Courtney Walsh) and in just those short few years everything just took off. Maco was the top bowler in the world when I came in and he was a world beater. They were some other good guys around and I didn’t want to be the weak link so I had to learn very fast. At first people used to say we’ll see off Maco and Cuddy and then take our runs off that “other guy”, so I was forced to improve quickly. Maco and Walsh were great to me. They offered the world of advice.You certainly learnt very fast. By the 1990 home series you were taking 8 for 45 and sending England packing. How was that? A: Yeah, that was in Barbados and I really enjoyed it. We were 0-1 down in the series, with a match to go and the England team was holding on for a draw. Jack Russell had stuck in our teeth and it didn’t look like we would ever get him out. Jack could be a very stubborn guy and I had to pull something out of the bag for my side. I managed to get him with one that kept a bit low and that was what the doctor ordered. It was a good performance and I enjoyed it. We went on to win the match and we won the next one in Antigua by an innings and pulled off the series. We just couldn’t let England beat us at home.
Then there was another great showing. A spell of seven for one at the WACA against Australia? It’s not often that you get such good figures. To be honest, it came out of the blue. I didn’t bowl very well before lunch. Both wickets that fell went to Ian Bishop. I didn’t have a particularly good spell and I wanted to come back out and get back in there. Then suddenly everything just fell into place. I sent down some top deliveries, which even surprised myself and there were some brilliant catching in the slips. Everyone was delighted and suddenly Australia were all out for 120-odd.It was another moment in my career, which I was extremely proud of. WACA was a good ground for me and the pitch reminded me of those back in the Caribbean – bounce and pace – and every fast bowler loves that. Was it one of my favourite grounds? I never had a favourite ground so to speak. I was a professional and whatever pitch I encountered I knew I had to put in that big effort.There was that incident when Dean Jones asked you to take off your wristband in a one-day international during the 1993 World Series Final. Did that tick you off? To this day I found it strange that he asked me to take off my wristband. I was using wristbands all through my career and out of nowhere he asked the umpires to ask me to take it off. I think he said something about the white wristband and the white ball which was disrupting. It didn’t make sense and I was reluctant to take it off, but Richie told me to just get in with the game and avoid the distractions. I was mad, really mad. But as I told them you should never wake a sleeping lion. It was just a one-off situation, but it was a warning to batsmen all over the world. What Dean Jones did was a bad mistake, which backfired. I blew them away.Then there was the incident with Steve Waugh in the Caribbean, during a Test in Trinidad, went you two went face to face. What happened there? That was a one-off situation and there was no love lost between Steve and myself. We still have mutual respect for each other and it did not go beyond that day. On that day, he said something that I didn’t like and I felt I had to respond. I felt I deserved more respect than that and I had to give him a piece of my mind as well. It was nothing racial, just a spur of the moment something. Each man said his piece and the game went on. Today, we have the greatest respect for each other.Waugh rated you as the supreme fast bowling machine, and better than Marshall. That’s a huge compliment. Thanks Steve (laughs). As I said there was great respect from Steve towards me and from myself towards him. He was a great batsman and very tough to get rid of. I had to have a big bag of tricks to outfox and outwit Steve Waugh – a giant of a man.And finally, what keeps Curtly Ambrose going nowadays? What’s life like? Music has always been my passion. I am involved in the band Big Bad Dread and the Baldhead, where I play guitar and Richie plays bass. It’s sort of a roadshow, and everyone – fans and the members of the band – has been loving it. Enjoying is not the word. I’m absolutely loving the music business. Music has always been one of my passions and I see myself as a musician. I was a fast bowler, I’m now a musician (laugh). We will be in England for a number of performances and we are also working on a CD to be released in the upcoming weeks.
ScorecardWith Charl Langeveldt injuring his back, David Terbrugge gave the South African selectors a timely reminder of his form as his 5 for 42 bowled the Titans into submission at Potchefstroom. Batting first after winning the toss, Daryl Cullinan (70) and Justin Kemp (42) briefly stopped the Titans’ slide with a 83-run fourth-wicket partnership, but the Lions were evntually bowled out for 204 – Werner Coetsee and Garth Roe shared the remaining wickets. The Lions were 9 for 0 when bad light ended play 11 overs early. ScorecardAt Newlands, the Warriors pace duo of Mornantau Hayward and Monde Zondeki proved too good for Western Province-Boland, with only Herschelle Gibbs and Derrin Bassage coming to terms with a difficult pitch. Batting at No. 4, Gibbs joined Bassage at 0 for 2, and they added 123 runs before Bassage was caught behind for 45. Gibbs followed soon for 76, an innings that included 52 runs in sparkling boundaries. A further 50-run partnership between Conde Lange (37) and Rory Kleinveldt (24) assisted in getting the home team to 206. At the close, Warriors had progressed to 40 for 2 with Klienveldt bagging both wickets. ScorecardAt Durban, the Dolphins’ bowlers were made to work hard as the Eagles crawled to 254 for 7 when bad light stopped play three overs early. The hard-hitting pair of Davey Jacobs (83) and Loots Bosman (65) proved troublesome, stroking 25 fours between them. Klusener and Russell Symcox each picked up two wickets with Mfuneko Ngam improving with every outing.
The West Indian allrounder, Dwayne Smith, has been forced to withdraw from next week’s Champions Trophy, after injuring his right shoulder during the final Test against England at The Oval last month. Ryan Hinds, the Barbados allrounder, has been called up in his place.Smith reported pain while bowling during the Oval Test, and a furtherexamination at the West Indian training camp in Bermuda revealed marked swelling and tenderness in the muscle, with limited movement due to pain. The injury has not responded to treatment, and he will return home to Barbados.Hinds, his replacement, has also been in Bermuda, but with a touringBarbados team. He will return home immediately, in order to leave for England on Sunday. West Indies are pitted against South Africa and Bangladesh in the group stage of the tournament, with their first game on September 15.
Dominic Cork has been given a three-match ban, suspended for 12 months, and fined £1000 at an ECB disciplinary hearing at Lord’s. Cork, Derbyshire’s captain, admitted he was in breach of ECB regulations after calling an opposition player a cheat.The incident occurred during Derbyshire’s fractious Twenty20 Cup match against Leicestershire at Grace Road. Derbyshire lost by one run, a result which cost them a place in this Saturday’s semi-finals, but the match was effectively decided when Brad Hodge took a catch in the deep, and then carried the ball over the boundary rope.A six ought to have been awarded to Derbyshire, who immediately lodged a protest, but the ECB refused to reverse the result. Cork had called Hodge a cheat after the teams left the field, which the ECB accepted was understandable in the heat of the moment, but then compounded the matter in an interview with the Daily Mail.”I blame the win-at-all-costs culture of cheating which is taking cricket down the road that has made football such a sleazy game," Cork was quoted as saying. "In football it’s diving, shirt-pulling, conning refs and feigning injury. In cricket, it is claiming catches on the bounce, pretending that the ball hasn’t gone over the rope and players standing their ground when they’ve thick-edged it to slip.”His statements were a clear breach of ECB rules 4.2 and 4.3, which prohibit players and officials from making any statement which constitutes a verbal attack on another individual who is subject to the same jurisdiction. Although Michael Vaughan and Dicky Bird both provided character references, Cork was handed a suspended sentence and fined £500, as well as a further £500 in costs.Meanwhile, Hodge is threatening legal action. Leicestershire’s general manager Kevin Hill told BBC Sport he expected to discuss the matter with Hodge on Tuesday. Any decision, however, would rest with the player.