Even the mother of James and Hamish Marshall has said she has trouble telling them apart on the cricket pitch. They were born within 15 minutes of each other, have the same noticeable hairstyle and, according to those who know, have very similar personalities. So it was only fitting that they both scored centuries on the same day, albeit 150 miles apart in Bristol and Chelmsford.James said that even umpire Peter Willey and Essex fast bowler Alex Tudor didn’t realise who was who when he got to the crease. “I got out there and [they] thought I was Hamish. They didn’t realise that Hamish was a twin.” James was the first born, but was beaten to three figures by his brother. “He got there first this time,” said James.It is an insight into the changing state of the game that one came for an international side and the other a county with the player turning out under an Irish passport. While James is preparing to take over from Stephen Fleming at No. 3 for New Zealand, Hamish has turned his back on the international game after limited chances in search of financial security through county cricket and a stint in the Indian Cricket League.In the context of New Zealand’s future it is James’ innings which is most important. His team needed it, too, after they slipped to 96 for 4 against a steady Essex attack. But if the visitors had subsided against a county side, confidence would have taken a huge hit going into the final warm-up match and the Test series.”It’s nice to get a hundred early in the tour. I was just pleased with the way I constructed the innings on a surface that wasn’t easy to bat on,” said James. “There were a lot of shots that probably weren’t on today and you had to be mentally strong not to bring those out.””There will be a few calls home tonight,” Hamish told the at Bristol. “Dad is away duck shooting at the moment so I’m not sure when he will find out what has happened, but the rest of the family will be very happy.”Jamie and I are good mates and only wish the best for one another. He will be delighted to have got a big score so close to the first Test. I haven’t managed to speak to him yet, but I will this evening. I can’t recall us ever getting so many runs on the same day before at any level.”Not that James’ innings means all is right for New Zealand. Far from it. The five Indian Premier League players made 65 runs between them, showing that for all the talk about being match-ready after playing Twenty20 it will take time to adjust to a chilly English spring.”It’s not easy to come straight into conditions where it is seaming around and blaze the ball,” said James. “They will be working hard and maybe need to do a little bit of catch up. But they are class players and it shouldn’t take them long to get used to the conditions.”
For Mohammad Kaif, who is to lead the India A team for the tour of Kenya and Zimbabwe, this will be a great opportunity to make a comeback to the national side. Both Kaif and Irfan Pathan, who too has been in the wilderness for sometime now, are in the list of 30 probables for the Twenty20 World Championship, also announced on Saturday.The squad for the African tour also includes the likes of Piyush Chawla and VRV Singh. Parthiv Patel has been named the vice-captain for the tour.Recently, Dennis Lillee, under whose watchful eyes Pathan underwent training at the MRF pace foundation in Chennai, said that the fast bowler was close to being back to his best. Pathan would be hoping to prove him right, and with a strong showing on this tour, he can stake a claim for a berth in the Indian team for the elusive spot of a bowling allrounder.Apart from Kaif and Pathan, this tour can prove to be a stepping stone for youngsters like Chawla, VRV Singh, Robin Uthappa and Rohit Sharma. Especially since Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of the selection committee, had recently said that the rotation policy is the way to go, keeping in mind the packed international schedule ahead.The last time the India A team had toured Zimbabwe and Kenya was in July-August 2004 and players like Gautam Gambhir , Munaf Patel , MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik, who played in that tour, subsequently went on to play for India.The team will be coached by Chandrakant Pandit, the former India wicketkeeper. Pandit guided Mumbai to consecutive Ranji Trophy triumphs in 2003 and 2004. In August 2005 he took over as Maharashtra’s coach.The squad Mohammad Kaif (capt), Parthiv Patel, Robin Uthappa, Cheteshwar Pujara, S Badrinath, Rohit Sharma, Rajesh Pawar, Mahesh Rawat (wk), Piyush Chawla, Arjun Yadav, Pragyan Ojha, Irfan Pathan, V R V Singh, Yo Mahesh, Pankaj Singh, Niraj Patel
ScorecardIndia A stuttered in their first innings after Piyush Chawla’s five-wicket haul helped restrict New Zealand A to 332 on the second day of their Top End Series encounter in Darwin. Craig McMillan played the lone hand for his side, scoring 108, while Chawla plugged away, as India took the last five wickets for only 20 runs.Resuming from their overnight score of 4 for 257, the New Zealanders lost an early wicket when the accurate Rudra Pratap Singh got Mark Orchard to edge to Parthiv Patel. Having lost a wicket without adding to their overnight score, McMillan and Gareth Hopkins fought back with 55 for the sixth wicket before Chawla started the collapse. He bowled Hopkins for 17, and accounted for Jeetan Patel and Hamish Bennett to bag his fifth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.India suffered early setbacks as seamers Chris Martin and Orchard accounted for both openers. Parthiv showed some resistance with 35, before New Zealand struck with two wickets in quick succession to set India back further at 4 for 47. S Badrinath was the top scorer with 55, adding 53 for the fifth wicket with Reetinder Sodhi. India were in further trouble at 6 for 142, but Rohit Sharma and Tejinder Pal Singh combined to add an unbeaten 67, with both scoring 41 each.
Sachin Tendulkar, laid low by an elbow injury, recently admitted that his style of batting had changed. “When you play for a long time, it is natural,” Tendulkar told Sambit Bal in a freewheeling interview from the October issue of Wisden Asia Cricket. “Changes are going to take place and you always try and make changes to become a better player. The basic idea is to cut down on the risky shots and try and be as consistent as possible.”But Tendulkar has not taken lightly to criticism about the way he has batted in recent times. During the Asia Cup he came out strongly against suggestions that he was not enjoying batting any more: “I thought too much was being said about it and unfortunately guys who have played cricket themselves were making too many rude statements. Someone who has played should definitely understand that there are things like team meetings and team plans. It’s not all about what my natural game is, but about executing a team plan. I should be doing what the team wants me to, and not what someone sitting 85 yards away in the commentators’ box feels. You can’t be talking about what the country should be doing and then focus on an individual. There is no question that it is a team game, and it is the responsibility of all 11 individuals to execute a team plan on any given day.”Tendulkar also disagreed with the suggestion that he was batting too cautiously at the moment. “I really don’t know how to put it across, because I can never make everyone happy. If I play a big shot and get out, some people will say, what’s the need to do that when there are so many strokeplayers around, can’t he just try to play 50 overs? I feel I should play the way I think I should play and not according to how XYZ feels. There might be a day when we need 100 runs in the first 15, and I will bat differently.”Whatever way Tendulkar bats, there will be some disgruntled fans about. “It’s very easy to say that you should go out and play your natural game, but sometimes you end up taking plenty of risks, and if you get out doing that, people start talking one way. And when you try to do what the team has planned, they think differently. So it is difficult for any player to keep outsiders happy. We have to think about what the team has planned. As long as I know I am doing the right thing, I don’t need to worry about what people are saying.”People keep saying, ah, he is not playing the same number of shots as before, but if you look at the strike rate you’ll see I’m scoring at the same pace, just scoring in a different way. As you spend more and more time in the team, your role changes. It cannot be what it was 15 years ago or seven years ago. I don’t think there is any player in the world who has played in the same gear throughout his career.”Tendulkar also looked back at his captaincy days with some regret. “The day I gave in my resignation [from captaincy], I have never thought of it after that. I felt we were not all heading in the right direction and it was affecting me as a person. I couldn’t switch off at all. Even ten days after a match I would still be thinking about why this happened and why that happened, and it started affecting me as a person. Not as a player, as some people pointed out, because I scored over 1000 runs in both forms of the game that last year. Also, I felt there was lack of support from every direction.”Tendulkar now admits that he did not see eye-to-eye with the selectors. “Yes. I was not happy with the selectors at all. It just didn’t work out. They had different ideas, I had different ideas. The only thing is, I had to go in there and play with their ideas.”And, while it might be the ultimate ambition for many players, captaincy isn’t that a big a deal with Tendulkar. “Captaining India was obviously a great honour for me, but it wasn’t the ultimate thing for me. The ultimate thing was to play cricket for India and at that time, when I was removed from captaincy, I said in my statement that you can stop me from leading India, but no-one can stop me from playing cricket. Playing cricket is the ultimate thing in my life.”
Stuart MacGill has been left out of Australia’s 13-man squad to play Sri Lanka next month and Shaun Tait brought in, with the selectors putting their faith in pace to unsettle Sri Lanka’s classy top order.MacGill had received assurances from Cricket Australia that his decision to stand out of last month’s Zimbabwe tour because of moral concerns would not count against his future selection prospects. But Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, said the nature of the pitches in Darwin and Cairns meant that there was no room for either him or the Victorian legspinner Cameron White, who went to Zimbabwe in MacGill’s stead.”Considering the type of wickets we’re likely to get in Darwin and Cairns it was highly unlikely that we’d play two spinners, which ruled both White and MacGill out of consideration,” Hohns said in an official statement.As expected Glenn McGrath, despite being publicly advised to pull his socks up, is one of an extravagant line-up of five fast bowlers. He is likely to lead Australia’s attack alongside Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz and Shane Warne, who – depending on whether or not Muttiah Muralitharan makes the trek to Australia’s tropics – might be chasing the all-time Test bowling record.Warne is currently sitting on 517 wickets, behind Muralitharan (527) and the retired West Indian pace great Courtney Walsh (519). Should Muralitharan tour, their encounter shapes as a classic to rival their most recent battle in Sri Lanka three months ago.Tait was selected as cover for Brad Williams, who was included in the squad despite coming home early from Zimbabwe with a sore back. “With Williams under an injury cloud and with McGrath still to play under Test match conditions, Tait’s selection will add significant depth,” said Hohns. “Should he play, he will give our attack that extra edge.”Zippy, raw and only 21, Tait previously filled in for Brett Lee – who is still recovering from ankle surgery – on the tour of Sri Lanka. In 14 first-class matches he has taken 53 wickets at 26.56.The first of the two Tests will begin in Darwin on July 1. The Sri Lankans will play one warm-up match against a Northern Territory Chief Minister’s XI, expected to be named later today. Australia’s squad Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting (capt), Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Simon Katich, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz, Glenn McGrath, Brad Williams, Shaun Tait.
Hampshire announced this morning the signing of Pakistani all-rounder Wasim Akram as their second overseas player. Wasim made a flying visit to England and was met by Hampshire Cricket Officials in a hotel in London in the early hours of Wednesday morning after his flight was delayed, signing a one-year contract.After a few hours sleep Hampshire’s latest signing flew off again, this time to St.Lucia in the West Indies to play in a double wicket tournament.Wasim will join the Hampshire squad next Tuesday 9th April.
Bowling profile
Wasim Akram brings with him a wealth of experience, with 104 Test Matches and a stunning 356 One-Day Internationals, the left handed batsman and bowler, becoming the first player to reach 500 wickets in ODIs during the recent ICC World Cup. He has taken to date 1,022 First-class and 871 list ‘A’ limited overs wickets.Before jetting off, Wasim made the following statement.”I was impressed by the enthusiasm and ideas shown by Hampshire and am delighted to join such a progressive county. For me it is a fresh challenge and a new chapter in my career. The aim is for Hampshire to gain promotion in both competitions this year, and I hope to be able to play a part in that ambition”.Hampshire will make a statement later this week on the appointment of a captain, with Wasim coming into the frame alongside Will Kendall, Shaun Udal and John Crawley.More comment from Hampshire will appear here later today.
The Indian cricket administration is awaiting the report of itsVigilance Commissioner, K Madhavan in connection with thecontroversial Ahmedabad Test match in 1999, when India did not enforcethe follow on against New Zealand, despite being in a position to doso.AC Muthiah, President, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)told pressmen in Chennai on Sunday night that Madhavan had completedhis inquiry with batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar in this connection.Muthiah said Tendulkar was the third person to be questioned byMadhavan, who has been asked by the BCCI to probe into thecontroversial Test match. “But the officer has not completed hiqinvestigation yet," Muthiah said.According to Muthiah, Madhavan is to question two more persons beforesubmitting his report to the Board. He said that Madhavan’s reportwould be placed before the next Working Committee for a decision.Tendulkar, who was examined as a witness only by Madhavan before heleft for Zimbabwe along with the Indian team, was leading the team inthe controversial Test. The CBI also conducted a probe into the matchduring its investigations into the betting and match fixing scandal.Earlier, Madhavan had said that he would be submitting his report tothe Board by this month end after examining another person.
The most frustrating part is that Tottenham Hotspur are capable of flashes of brilliance. The commanding win over Manchester City, the powerful win on the road against Everton in the Premier League.
But Spurs can no longer calls themselves a team in transition, not with the New Year less than a fortnight away. It is time for Thomas Frank to get the tactics right, and for his players to wipe away the silly mistakes which are hindering progress.
The January transfer window is also drawing close, and while the London club have numerous vacancies that could be filled, there’s little question that improvements are needed in front of goal, with Richarlison leaving something to be desired.
Why Spurs need to upgrade on Richarlison
Dominic Solanke is into his second season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but he has been plagued by injuries and has only started one Premier League game under Frank’s wing.
Richarlison has been the leading man at number nine, but it’s clear that he’s not good enough to stand in Harry Kane’s old spot. Indeed, Richarlison might have scored six times in the Premier League this season, but his goals have come in bursts, toiling away at times and drifitng about at others.
In the words of Gabriel Agbonlahor, he is “one of the worst signings in Premier League history.” Injuries have not been kind to the 28-year-old, but he has also struggled to sustain a talismanic role in Tottenham’s starting line-up, ebbing and flowing in conjunction with the general form at the club in recent years.
Richarlison’s Tottenham Career (Prem)
Season
Apps
Goals + Assists
25/26
16
6 + 2
24/25
14
4 + 1
23/24
28
11 + 4
22/23
27
1 + 4
Stats via Transfermarkt
Perhaps a tad harsh, that, but there’s no denying that the Lilywhites have failed to receive bang for their buck after signing the Brazilian from Everton for a whopping £50m figure. Tottenham need to sign an upgrade, but the transfer purses aren’t bottomless, and funds need to be directed elsewhere.
Luckily, Solanke is returning to fitness, and ENIC Group have already signed a young striker who could become a sensation down N17.
Spurs already have the perfect Richarlison upgrade
It’s easier said than done, but Tottenham really need to replace Kane at centre-forward. They need an elite goalscorer, and a leader besides.
Well, ENIC have attempted to complete that big feat with the signing of Mason Melia, who completed his already finalised transfer from Republic of Ireland side St. Patrick’s Athletic at the start of January.
Melia, 18, has already racked up the appearances in his homeland, scoring 21 goals and assisting six more across 71 Premier Division fixtures. Hailed by analyst Ben Mattinson as a “relentless” striker whose under-the-radar emergence has made him a “hidden gem”, Tottenham will begin to see him on the senior stage before the term is out, if he catches the eye for the U21s from the outset.
An athletic and fleet-footed forward who likes to drive through the lines and into space, Melia has spoken of his isolisation of Kane, albeit playing a different brand of attacking football, more direct, less creative.
There is a lot of hype around this young man’s name, and it’s clear to see why. Melia might be a goalscorer first and foremost, but he’s not one-dimensional. Sofascore actually record that he created five big chances across only 29 starts in the league in 2025, complementing his impressive return of 13 goals.
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Richarlison is a pesky forward for defenders to deal with, but he is inconsistent and will not make drastic improvements to his game at this stage in his career.
While the step up to the senior stage in the Premier League is a big one, and has seen many hopeful prospects trip over when making the climb, Melia’s limber frame and powerful running suggests he has what it takes to succeed.
He wouldn’t be the main man from the off, but he has shown a clinical edge and natural athleticism that could see him be the perfect Richarlison replacement.
He's like Saka: Spurs open talks to sign "the most direct winger in Europe"
Tottenham have left much to be desired from an attacking standpoint this season.
Andrew Flintoff was content with his return to first-class cricket but insisted that his fragile left ankle will require constant supervision for the rest of his career.Flintoff’s ankle was operated on over the winter and he made his comeback for Lancashire in their drawn match against Surrey at The Oval over the past four days. He only made 23 with the bat but returned the encouraging figures of 1 for 72 from 28 steady overs in Surrey’s mammoth 537 for 5 declared.”From a fitness point of view I thought I kept my pace up all the way through my spells, maybe there is a little bit more in there but not a great deal,” Flintoff said at The Oval, when the fourth and final day was washed out. “It was quite a placid pitch and it was about focusing on getting it in the right areas given the players they’ve got in their team.”I have always been confident coming back but when you’ve had four operations you have a bit more knowledge about your ankle. I just turned up here to play a game of cricket under no concern about how my fitness was going to be.”I just turned up here to play a game of cricket under no concern about how my fitness was going to be.”In the past, Flintoff has rushed his comeback from ankle surgery. Combined with his heavy workload this has caused a recurrence of the injury but, this time round, he hopes it might be fourth time lucky.”Coming out of the operation, hopefully it is cured clinically but then probably from a workload point of view – I have come back from the previous operations and played for a period of time – maybe if I played for a period of time, for 10 or 12 months, and break the cycle of bowling 150 overs, 200 overs and breaking down I will be happy,” he said. “But I am going to have to keep working on my ankle, my left leg and calf in particular.”So I will probably be on some sort of rehab programme now for the rest of my career.”With the first Test against New Zealand only a month away, Flintoff admitted his keenness to be selected but remained cautious about his chances.”I would love to be involved on May 15, there is obviously no change there, but I know I have to perform,” he said. “It’s nice to get 28 overs under my belt and bowl quite nicely but I have to score some runs as well, which I am working hard to do and fully aware of.”
Upul Tharanga has been ruled out of the first two Tests against Bangladesh after injuring his foot in a practice session.”Tharanga was hit on his foot by a Lasith Malinga delivery this morning”, Kangadaran Mathivanan, the secretary of the Sri Lankan board told AFP.Tharanga, the left handed opener, is now the second player to drop out of the original 15-man squad for the three-Tests after Marvan Atapattu, the former skipper, dropped out citing personal commitments.Mathivanan added that Sri Lanka A team members Thilan Samaraweera, Michael Vandort and Jehan Mubarak, who are engaged in a three-day warm-up match against Bangladesh; are in line to take Tharanga’s place.Sri Lanka host Bangladesh for three Tests and three ODIs. The first Test begins in Colombo on June 25.