Bangladesh were left clinging on to strands of straws after being tormented by a record-breaking tenth-wicket partnership between Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan and were laid low by another devastating burst of swing bowling from Irfan Pathan. Pathan’s second five-wicket haul in the match and his first ten-for reduced Bangladesh to 170 for 8 in their second innings, still 172 behind, and only the last rites remained in the first Test.On another day when records tumbled and fielders fumbled, Tendulkar and Zaheer notched up their individual best scores, adding 133 runs for the last wicket in about two hours. They eclipsed the Indian record (109) set by Ghulam Ahmed and Hemu Adhikari in 1952 against Pakistan at New Delhi and equalled the second-highest partnership in Tests. A familiar script unfolded when Bangladesh batted and just like the first innings, the top order came apart in the face of Pathan’s inswingers. The Test seemed headed for a third-day finish with Bangladesh tottering at 36 for 5, but fighting half centuries from Nafis Iqbal and Manjural Islam Rana delayed the inevitable.Exactly one year earlier, on a sunny day at Adelaide, Pathan took his first steps on the international stage. Today he celebrated the occasion with a masterly display of swing bowling with a clear plan that was perfectly executed, and was rewarded with his first ten-wicket haul in Tests. He tortured the batsmen with a few menacing short ones before nailing them with fuller deliveries that curved either way.The Bangladesh batsmen revisited the horrors of the first innings with Javed Omar and Rajin Saleh coming down too late on deliveries that swung in, Habibul Bashar pulling a short one straight to the fine-leg fielder and Khaled Mashud hanging his bat out tentatively. Ashraful couldn’t reproduce his first-innings defiance and Saleh capped a woeful Test, including a dropped catch off Tendulkar, with a pair. Pathan’s fiery inswingers helped him win seven lbw verdicts in the match, equalling Abdul Qadir’s record for the most number of such dismissals in a Test. Qadir had managed them against England at Lahore in 1987.Nafis Iqbal was the only batsman who handled Pathan with any sort of assurance and his 54, laced with nine fours, was one of the few silver linings for Bangladesh. Once he fell, trapped lbw to a straighter one from Anil Kumble, Manjural pulled the trigger, swinging wildly while racing to his maiden Test fifty, and ended a gloomy day on a cheerful note.Pathan’s jolts, though, was only the final phase of Bangladesh being ground to dust. Earlier in the morning, Tendulkar nearly ran out of partners in the 190s – with Kumble and Harbhajan Singh not lasting too long – when he found an unlikely ally in Zaheer. The two went on a merry drive as several milestones were passed with Tendulkar reaching his fourth double-century in Tests, and his second this year. Staggeringly his last five hundreds have all been over 175, and unlike his restrained classic at Sydney earlier this year, this one had glorious touches of his attacking range. He also went on to his highest score in first-class cricket and along the way, he passed Ijaz Ahmed’s 211 against Sri Lanka to post the highest score at the Bangabandhu Stadium.
At the other end Zaheer not only survived, but began a party of his own. Along with Tendulkar he put on 133 for the last wicket – an Indian record for the last wicket – where he outscored Tendulkar by 15 runs and took much more of the strike. He didn’t need any shielding and was more than eager to let fly some bullets of his own. He swished and drove with complete confidence, raced to his first fifty in Test cricket and went past Ghulam Ahmed’s 52-year-old record for the highest score by an Indian No. 11. Soon he cruised past Glenn McGrath’s 61 with an assured pull before overtaking Richard Collinge’s 68 for the highest score by a No. 11 in Tests. A left-arm fast bowler himself, Collinge had made the score against Pakistan at Auckland in 1973.Zaheer fell for 75 but, like many others, was the beneficiary of some sloppy fielding. Bangladesh were ragged with their catching and repeatedly erred with their ground fielding. Kumble and Tendulkar got themselves into a bizarre mix-up when both batsmen should have been run-out by yards. Instead, a bad throw, some clumsy juggling by Khaled Mashud and some poor reactions allowed both batsmen to make their crease. The Indian dressing-room was in fits of laughter while Bangladesh continued to wallow in the daze. It’s been the story of this Test.
Concerned at the manner in which Australia lost the last three one-day internationals in the West Indies, Ricky Ponting has indicated that he won’t take anything for granted in the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh.”That hurt a little bit,” Ponting said of the losses in the West Indies. “I was particularly disappointed with the way we played those last three games and that was one thing we addressed this morning in the team meeting.”We made mistakes in those three games that you haven’t seen this team make for a long time. We didn’t respect the basics of the game and if you don’t do that in one-day cricket it’s going to come back and bite you every time.”We dropped a lot of catches we didn’t have batting partnerships, therewere a lot of misfields, those sort of things. Looking back we felt we’d let ourselves down big time.”Ponting indicated that Bangladesh’s batsmen would find the going difficult in the ODIs. Hannan Sarkar’s half-centuries in both innings of the Cairns Test didn’t go unnoticed, but Ponting reckoned that Sarkar would have to change his style of batting to score runs in the one-dayers.”He played Brett Lee as well as any top-class batsman in the past couple of years. He left anything that was short and if it was fuller he drove it through the covers.”But it won’t be easy to take that into the one-dayers. He played at his own pace in the Test and left a lot of balls – in the shorter version of the game he’ll have to come at us a bit more … if our bowlers can be patient and make them come at us I think we’ll get enough chances through the day."Australia have comprehensively won all three one-day internationals between the two teams, always bowling first and never needing more than 26 overs to overhaul Bangladesh’s total.
*Anirudh Singh grafts centuryHyderabad, building a good second-innings total, set Kerala a steeptarget of 327 in their Ranji Trophy league match at Cochin on Tuesday.Resuming at 124/2, Hyderabad’s batsmen did not allow a slide similarto their first innings. With Anirudh Singh playing the anchor role, anumber of small innings contributed to their final total of 334/9declared. Singh made 124 off 231 balls, with 16 fours, falling only asthe eighth wicket. For Kerala, Suresh Kumar took four for 115.Playing out 6.2 overs before stumps, Kerala reached 10 for no loss,with openers V Girilal and MP Sorab unbeaten on seven and onerespectively.*Vijay Bharadwaj wrests Tamil Nadu initiative awayTamil Nadu, looking to build a large first-innings total and then bowlKarnataka out quickly, were thwarted by Vijay Bharadwaj in their RanjiTrophy league match at Bangalore on Tuesday.The visitors’ innings ended on 468, with Robin Singh (58) and AshishKapoor (44) making quick runs and boosting their side’s overnightscore. For Karnataka, Mansur Ali Khan Ludi picked 5-81, including adeadly spell of 6.5-0-19-4.Karnataka started badly, losing both openers for just 16 runs.Barrington Rowland, the first-innings centurion, and Bharadwaj thencame together for a 202-run stand for the third wicket. Rowland made69 off 150 balls and was dismissed with the score on 218.The day ended with Karnataka on 233/3 and Bharadwaj unbeaten on 125off 160 balls, with 22 fours. He was accompanied by Thilak Naidu oneight.*Goa in dire straitsAndhra Pradesh had Goa against the wall at the end of Day Three oftheir Ranji Trophy league match at Vijayawada on Tuesday.Already in a position of strength when they resumed at 184/1, AndhraPradesh made a consistent string of scores all the way down theirbatting order. Skipper MSK Prasad made 96 off 233 balls before beingdismissed with the score on 221. Thereafter, IG Srinivas (52) and RVCPrasad (62) took the attack to the Goa bowling.Declaring at 373/9, Andhra Pradesh then blasted away Goa’s top order.Six wickets had fallen by the close of play, but the scoreboard readonly 57. RVC Prasad returned particularly fine figures of 7-4-8-3, andGoa were facing the spectre of an innings defeat on Day Four.
East Zone maintained their winning streak defeating North Zone bythree wickets in the Vijay Hazare (Under-16) Trophy Tournament atthe KL Saini Stadium in Jaipur on Friday. East Zone, who hadalready made sure of the trophy, registered their fourth straightwin and ended with eight points. North Zone finished with fourpoints from four matches.East Zone, chasing a target of 228, were struggling at 37 forthree in the tenth over. PJ Das (61 runs of 68 balls) was joinedby A Nandi (59 runs of 81 balls) and they put on 84 runs for thefourth wicket off 17.3 overs. Then N Behera (31 runs of 50 balls)and Nandi added 55 runs off 9.3 overs for the fifth wicket.Towards the end, captain M Talukdar (32 not out of 26 balls)hastened East’s victory, which came in the 47th over.Earlier, electing to bat after winning the toss, North Zone madea good start with M Kholi (39 runs of 69 balls) and R Jaswal (32runs of 34 balls) adding 75 for the first wicket in 14.2 overs.Then Rajan Singh (41 runs of 70 balls) and J Sharma (41 runs of62 balls) put on 87 runs in 20.1 overs for the third wicket. ButNorth Zone, plagued by four run outs, ended with a score of 227for 9 in 50 overs.
Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Pedro Neto is expected to be okay despite being absent for Sunday’s 1-0 win over Everton at Goodison Park.
What’s the story?
In a report from Birmingham Live, the 22-year-old was left out of Bruno Lage’s squad with a foot injury, despite travelling with his teammates to Merseyside.
However, the issue isn’t expected to be anything serious with it being an impact injury to the top of the Portuguese’s foot.
Neto has only recently returned to action after a lengthy spell out recovering from an ACL injury and signed a brand new five-year contract last week to keep him at Molineux until 2027.
Wolves supporters will be relieved
There would’ve certainly been a wave of major concern throughout the Wolves fanbase when it was announced that Neto wasn’t in the squad to face Everton, let alone being dropped to the bench.
Having made his first start since last April against Crystal Palace last weekend, the 22-year-old is slowly returning to action after being out for just shy of a year. However, having him back available for the Golden Boys’ crunch period is a major boost.
Last season, the winger netted five goals and registered six assists in 31 Premier League appearances, although that tally is more impressive when considering the fact that Wolves scored just 36 goals all season in the top-flight last term as they finished 13th.
Valued at £31.5m, the 22-year-old is certainly one of the West Midland’s club’s most valuable assets and will be key in the final weeks of the season.
Moreover, goals from out wide have been at a shortage this term, with Daniel Podence the only winger to have scored in the Premier League so far this term.
Bruno Lage’s men are still within a decent shout of securing European football for next season after their victory at Goodison Park on Sunday.
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Sat in seventh place, Wolves are just two points off the top-six with nine games to go with a relatively favourable fixture list remaining on paper.
Besides having to face Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea before the end of the season, the Black Country club will only play sides currently below them in the table with three of the current bottom five still to play in Leeds United, Burnley and Norwich City.
In other news: Possession lost 16x: Wolves lightweight who won just 20% duels failed Lage’s big test
S Badrinath has been retained as Tamil Nadu’s captain for the coming Ranji season. Apart from Badrinath and Dinesh Karthik, Tamil Nadu will have a largely inexperienced squad, with only five players who have played more than 10 first-class matches. L Balaji, the former Test medium-fast bowler, has been left out of the squad that was picked for the first two matches. The management plans to ease him back into competitive cricket as the season progresses.Even among the experienced players, Badrinath, Karthik and Yo Mahesh will be the first targets for India A teams, if not the national team in the case of the former two. Offspinner R Ashwin, who has taken 34 wickets in the five matches he has played, might be the one to lead in their absence.In the absence of T Kumaran, who was one of the seven players to have joined the Indian Cricket League (ICL), the pace attack will have to be spearheaded by Mahesh. C Ganapathy, the right-arm medium-pacer and Ramadoss Naresh, the left-arm medium-pacer, are the two other experienced pacers. Murali Vijay, the right-hand opener, who impressed in his debut season last year, will be the main hope in the batting department, along with Badrinath, Karthik and S Anirudha, who played in the Challenger Trophy.Squad: S Badrinath (capt), M Vijay, S Anirudha, Dinesh Karthik, Kuthethurshri Vasudevadas, R Prasanna, R Ashwin, C Ganapathy, V Yo Mahesh, R Naresh, R Srinivasan, P Amarnath, R Ramkumar, Abhinav Mukund and KH Gopinath
Scorecard Adam Gilchrist elbowed his way into form for next week’s first Ashes Test by hitting the second-fastest hundred in Australia one-day domestic history. His brutal 131 included 17 fours and four sixes as Western Australia reached 6 for 340 and trounced Queensland by 81 runs at Perth. Celebrations of his thrilling return to form were tempered, however, by an injury to Shane Watson whose chances of starting in Brisbane are now in doubt.Gilchrist and Justin Langer put on a thrilling 87 for the opening stand, in just 9 overs, with Langer registering WA’s fastest one-day fifty, from 28 balls. Indeed, Gilchrist was overshadowed in the partnership until Mitchell Johnson bowled Langer around his legs, poking Gilchrist into life. He made up for lost time with a brutal, uncompromising display of strokeplay which – until his recent form-slump – had been his trademark.After smashing Andrew Symonds for five fours in an over, Gilchrist was on 94 from 59 balls, needing two deliveries to beat Adam Voges’ record against NSW in 2004. With Chris Simpson bowling, he took three sighters before launching the fourth over the bowler’s head for six to bring up a remarkable 63-ball hundred.Queensland were further dispirited when Watson limped off after bowling the first ball of his sixth over, to put doubt into his chances of playing the first Test next week.After a dominant batting display, WA’s bowlers rose to the challenge and never let Queensland get away. Brett Dorey and Steve Magoffin each took two wickets, reducing them to 4 for 80 in the 15th over, but Clinton Perren and Craig Philipson gave Queensland brief hope with a fine 125-run partnership in 20.4 overs. Philipson was particularly severe, reaching fifty from 45 balls and crashed seven fours and a six in his 73 before falling to the impressive Shawn Gillies who finished with 3 for 51. Queensland’s resolve collapsed and, but for Johnson’s brisk 23, WA romped home by 81 runs.
Ramnaresh Sarwan and Glenn McGrath were once at each other’s throats, but now they are the best of friends. Sarwan, the West Indies vice-captain, and McGrath went toe-to-toe in an ugly shouting match in Antigua in May 2003.McGrath, Test cricket’s third-highest wicket-taker, was rebuked by Cricket Australia for his actions following an outraged reaction from the Australian cricket community. The incident was sparked after Sarwan, on his way to a match-winning second-innings century, reportedly reacted to lurid taunts from McGrath by telling him he should get the answers from his wife, who was recovering from radiation therapy for secondary cancer.But more than two years on and Sarwan said the incident was in the past and they had patched up their differences after the match. “That’s behind us now,” Sarwan said ahead of the tourists’ opening tour match against Queensland, starting on Thursday. “We spent some time in Antigua and we’re the best of friends. I thought what happened in Antigua was unfortunate and it’s not going to happen again.”The opening Test, beginning at the Gabba on November 3, will be the first time the teams have met over five days since the match at St John’s, which the West Indies won by three wickets. Sarwan is treating an injured shoulder and upper back, but said he would play against a full-strength Queensland.At 25, Sarwan is seen as the man to replace Brian Lara as their top batsman. Sarwan, the No. 3, averages 40.87 with eight centuries in 55 Tests but is intent on lifting his game. “Bennett [King, the coach] wants me to take up that role and I’ve been trying my best to do that,” he said. “Obviously Brian is 36 and we don’t know how long he is going to go on for. We have to try and make the best of use of him [until then]. But it is going to be a challenge and I’m looking forward to that challenge.”
Ray Jennings, South Africa’s coach, was keen to downplay any suggestion that his team had gained a psychological advantage ahead of the first Test at Port Elizabeth, following England’s emphatic seven-wicket defeat against the South Africa A side at Potchefstroom on Monday.The England camp was in a bit of a lather after that game. Michael Vaughan described the result as a “kick up the arse”, while the players took part in an emergency middle session after the early finish, to put their undercooked batsmen through their paces. Jennings, however, was dismissive of the result, claiming that points scored in practice matches counted for nothing, and that the only relevant battle was the one that begins at St George’s Park on Friday.”We can take nothing out of that game that we didn’t know already,” Jennings told reporters at South Africa’s training camp in Pretoria. “It wasn’t a positive factor for us. England are the type of guys that struggle on quicker wickets, and they are coming off the back of a quiet period at the end of their season. Nothing jumped out [of that match] to say: ‘hell, we didn’t know that.'”Jennings even went so far as to suggest that the result could be bad news for the senior side which, in the course of a chaotic few weeks, has begun to cultivate an image of plucky underdogs ahead of this series. “It could be a bad thing from our point of view,” he admitted. “The public’s expectations will be higher, along with those of the players. But from a positive aspect, England didn’t occupy the crease for any length of time, and it is exciting to see pressure for places being created in South African cricket. The A guys wanted to do well, and there’s nothing better than beating the opposition.”South Africa’s build-up to Port Elizabeth has not been without its complications, with Jacques Kallis rated “80 percent to play, and 50-50 to bowl”, after his slow recovery from an ankle injury, and several players including Thami Tsoleleki (tonsillitis), and Graeme Smith, Zander de Bruyn, Andrew Hall and Boeta Dippenar (food poisoning) all under the weather in recent days. Furthermore, Nicky Boje seems unlikely to recover in time from an operation on a cancerous growth in his neck, even though he bowled for 40 minutes at the nets, and declared himself optimistic at the end of it.
But, following a tough tour of India last month, Jennings was looking forward to unleashing his charges on home soil. In particular, he hopes to unveil his exciting young pair from the northern Limpopo Province; the fast bowler Dale Steyn, and the batsman AB de Villiers, who is set to open the batting alongside his captain, Smith. “Both Dale and AB are very confident and organised cricketers,” enthused Jennings, who explained why he resisted the temptation to blood them in India. “There are too many unknowns over there – the pitches, the people, the food, for example. Here it is more comfortable for them. They know the players, the grounds and the opposition, and their fear factor comes across as excitement instead of apprehension.”That subtle shift in mindset could be enough to change South Africa’s whole approach to the series, and Jennings believes that de Villiers and Steyn have what it takes to carry the attack to England’s cricketers. “If we turn on the gas, it could take England’s bowlers all series to find their right areas,” he suggested, pointing out that India’s Virender Sehwag had done just that to his own bowlers in the series just gone.”AB is a Sehwag type of guy,” added Jennings. “He plays with freedom, just like Herschelle Gibbs. I’m not asking him to change his technique, I’m only here to smarten it up and make him understand what ball to hit and when. Likewise, I’m not going to ask Steyn to slow down and swing the ball. Pace is his strength and I want him to reproduce it.””We may be underdogs for this series,” concluded Jennings, “in terms of the world ratings, and in terms of the number of caps in the team as well. But England are playing in our own back garden, and we are not going to allow them to play their own game. This is a new phase in South African cricket. We want to beat the world No.2 in front of our home crowds, and we intend to win convincingly.”Andrew Miller is assistant editor of Cricinfo.
Sunil Gavaskar renewed his verbal rivalry with Dennis Lillee, blaming him for an infamous walkout during the 1981 Melbourne Test “It was triggered by personal abuse on Lillee’s part,” said Gavaskar.After being adjudged dubiously lbw, Gavaskar said that he further faced abusive comments from Lillee. In protest, Gavaskar almost led his opening partner Chetan Shauhan off the field before being placated at the boundary by wing commander SA Durrani, the team manager.”If you look at the video, I am walking towards the pavilion. I turned backonly on hearing the abuse and then took Chauhan away,” Gavaskar told .”Had there been no abuse, I would have vented my anger out in the dressing-room. I expressed my regret about the incident then itself and againduring the Cowdrey lecture.”In the lecture, Gavaskar had accused Australia for harming the game’s image with their sledging. In response, Lillee had stated: “I think it’s funny coming from someone who took his bat and went home when an umpire’s decision went against him.”Sledging has gone on since WG Grace and it will go on as long as any sport is played, not just cricket,” Lillee had said. “If they think it’s too bad, the authorities are there to stop it.”Gavaskar warned that players may come to blows if personal abuse was not stopped immediately. “Those who are defending sledging are those who practice it,” said Gavaskar”If personal abuse is part of the game, then it’s a different game thatI’ve played. The West Indian players never did it. Courtney Walsh, the world’s highest wicket-taker, never uttered a word,” Gavaskar added. “They may have induldged in eyeball-to-eyeball tussles, but that’s not the same as personal abuse. That’s not what the fans want to see.”Gavaskar did, however, agree with Lillee that his brother-in-law Gundappa Viswanath was a better batsman than him. “I agree with Lillee that Vishy was better,” Gavaskar said. “In fact, I’m on record about this and I repeat that Vishy was the best batsman of my generation because of the quality of the bowling that he faced and the conditions under which he made runs.”