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A round-up of matches from the Caribbean T20 on January 11

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jan-2012Trinidad & Tobago put in an impressive all-round performance in North Sound, Antigua, to dole out a 167-run defeat – the second-largest ever in Twenty20 cricket – to Leeward Islands. Kieron Pollard, who blitzed an unbeaten 56 off 15 balls that included five sixes in an over, was named Player of the Match. His knock helped lift T&T’s total to an imposing 211 for 3, following which the spinners, Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine, polished off Leeward for 44 – the second-lowest team total in Twenty20s.T&T’s new captain, Denesh Ramdin, chose to bat and the decision paid off as the top order clicked. Lendl Simmons and Adrian Barath, the openers, laid the platform with a solid century stand, before Darren Bravo and Pollard exploded. Leeward were behind from the outset of the chase, when Badree had Austin Richards caught behind first ball. He also got the other opener, Kieran Powell, for a duck and that set the tone for the innings. Badree finished with three wickets, while Narine ran through lower order with four scalps in one over. Ravi Rampaul and Bravo provided adequate support, claiming the remaining three wickets between them in very tight spells.”There is more to come. 56 off 15 balls, not bad! The best is yet to come,” Pollard said about his knock. “Everyone is fully aware that I’m not at full fitness but I had a job to do for Trinidad and Tobago. I’m able to bat but I can’t run around in the field and dive around and obviously I can’t bowl as yet either. I’m still working to try to get up to 75 percent (fitness level). When I do there will be more to come. The best is yet to come.”We got such a great start from Adrian and Lendl and it was a simple matter of me coming down in the middle and finishing off the job for the team at that point in time. After hitting the first four balls for six the thought went through my mind about hitting all six for sixes.”It didn’t happen but I hit the last one for another six and more important we got 30 in the over and that pushed us to 200. It was good that we were able to get a huge score and then bowl and field so well to bowl them out. We are a happy team.”In the second match of the day, Windward Islands eased to a nine-wicket win against Canada, with 21 balls to spare. Canada chose to bat, but could not get any momentum going in their innings. No one could make more than Ruvindu Gunasekera’s 38, and only Gunasekera and Zubin Surkari, who was out for 5, scored at quicker than a run a ball. As a result, Canada finished with a rather meagre 111 for 7 in their 20.Canada had a glimmer of a chance early in the chase, when Henry Osinde had Miles Bascombe cheaply, but thereafter Windward cruised. Opener Johnson hit an unbeaten 61, while Andre Fletcher made 38 not out to carry Windward home in the 17th over.

Australia’s fast men obliterated India with bowling of sustained hostility and direction to deliver a handsome 122-run victory to the hosts, on day four of the first Test at the MCG

The Report by Daniel Brettig at the MCG29-Dec-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
James Pattinson and Peter Siddle took six wickets each in the Test•Getty ImagesAustralia’s fast men obliterated India with bowling of sustained hostility and direction to deliver a handsome 122-run victory to the hosts, on day four of the first Test at the MCG.James Pattinson, Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle made a fearful mess of India’s batting, sharing nine wickets between them to bring a swift conclusion to a match that had fluctuated often over the course of the previous three days. In doing so they finished with the ball what had started with the bat – Australia’s tail deflated India in the morning by stretching the target to 292.Pattinson’s contribution on his home ground was telling, first stroking an unbeaten 37 then firing out Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman while also softening up Sachin Tendulkar for Siddle, who claimed him with his first ball after relieving the younger Victorian. The end arrived 70 minutes after tea, Australia claiming a 1-0 series lead in their quest to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.The result was a vindication of Australia’s team selection and the full length pursued by the team’s pacemen under the guidance of the bowling coach Craig McDermott. The captain Michael Clarke and the coach Mickey Arthur will now focus their efforts on ensuring the heights reached on day four in Melbourne are not undone by a poor follow-up in Sydney, as has been the pattern in recent Tests.By contrast India’s surrender exhumed the batting shortcomings exposed by the unhappy tour of England earlier this year. The difference at the MCG was that Australia had to counter a far stronger visiting bowling attack, on a well-prepared pitch that remained lively throughout the Test. It was watched by a 189,347 spectators, the most for a Test between Australia and India in this country.In the morning, Michael Hussey had added only 10 to his overnight 79 before receiving a blistering delivery from Zaheer Khan, but Pattinson and Hilfenhaus frustrated India’s bowlers with a stand of 43 that took the total to 240. Pattinson’s unbeaten 37 was his highest first-class score, and there are sure to be better days with the bat if he retains the technique demonstrated here.Hilfenhaus proved a worthy ally, playing one or two sparkling strokes of his own. The visitors slipped all too easily into run-saving mode against the hosts’ last pair until Hilfenhaus edged Ishant Sharma into the slips. The last team to achieve a fourth-innings target of such dimensions was South Africa’s 4 for 297 to beat Australia in 1953.Resuming with a lead of 230, Hussey and Pattinson began soundly, finding gaps here and there, and occasionally stepping out to attack bowling of high calibre. Pattinson’s good-morning cover drive to Umesh Yadav was the equal of anything managed by a batsman in this match.Hussey was fortunate to go past 80, flicking at a Yadav delivery that swung down the legside and getting the merest of touches – as revealed by Hotspot. Zaheer persisted, however, and soon he found a dastardly delivery that pranced at Hussey and moved away, clipping the outside edge on the way to MS Dhoni. An outstanding ball to conclude an outstanding innings.Pattinson leant into another consummate cover drive from Yadav, but on 15 he did not control a hook and offered up a swirling chance. Running in from fine leg but never sure of himself, Zaheer dropped it. From there each run accrued was painful for the visitors, the partnership assuming unsavoury proportions for India and making it past the drinks break. R Ashwin was introduced as Dhoni searched for the wicket, but it was ultimately collected by Ishant.Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir began the chase carefully, Sehwag even offering a rare forward defensive blade to Hilfenhaus. But he could not contain himself totally, and Hussey was delighted to grasp a sharp chance from a sliced forcing stroke as the interval beckoned.Gambhir’s angled bat outside off stump remains a source of considerable encouragement for bowlers taking the ball across him, and Siddle completed an unhappy match for the opener soon after lunch when a snick was held neatly by Ricky Ponting.Dravid and Tendulkar had provided the greatest resistance in the first innings, and in the second wanted to assume similar roles as Dravid dug in while Tendulkar was busy, scoring with pleasing freedom. But their union was to be split by Pattinson, who found a ripping delivery to seam between Dravid’s bat and pad, and have middle stump leaning at a drunken angle. Victim of two princely deliveries, Dravid was bowled in each innings for only the fourth time in his long career.Laxman completed a Test that returned three runs in 36 balls when he flicked heedlessly at Pattinson and presented a catch forward of square leg, Ed Cowan’s first in Tests. Australians with long memories held their collective breath while the umpires checked for a possible no-ball, but Pattinson’s foot had seemingly landed millimetres within the legal zone. So rarely has Laxman been dismissed so softly against Australia.By now the Australians had inexorable momentum behind them, and Hilfenhaus pinned Virat Kohli lbw first ball. Bat, pad and ball were all in close proximity, and Kohli lingered at the wicket upon his dismissal. However replays offered precious little evidence of an edge, even if India deigned to employ the DRS that might have saved him.Aghast at the chaos all around him, Tendulkar had been stretched by Pattinson’s speed, hostility and movement. Siddle relieved his younger club and state team-mate, and first ball gained the wicket Pattinson had so strived for. As dictated by team planners, the ball was full and moving wider, Tendulkar’s square drive was airy, and Hussey’s hands safe. At 6 for 81, evening flights to Sydney were being booked en masse, but Dhoni and R Ashwin picked off a few runs before the interval.Ashwin’s 30 gave him a more respectable batting contribution for the match than many of the rest, but he failed to ride Siddle’s bouncer, which skimmed off the wicket to produce a skier and a simple catch for Cowan moving around from short leg. Pattinson returned to the attack and became embroiled in a brief sledging match with Zaheer, the bowler striking a boundary over point and a steepling six over long on before squeezing another catch to Cowan under the helmet.Dhoni’s will to frustrate Australia ebbed away, and an unbecoming heave at Pattinson resulted in a drag onto the stumps. Ishant and Umesh Yadav resisted briefly, but Clarke called Nathan Lyon into the attack and Yadav obliged by swinging into the deep. David Warner held a smart catch to begin rich and deserved celebrations.

A round-up of the action from the second day of the second round of the Ranji Trophy Plate League 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Nov-2011Group B Maharashtra surged to a two-day innings-and-six-run win after a shocking collapse from Hyderabad at Uppal. Sixteen wickets fell in the day with Maharashtra first going from 63 for 4 to 184 and Hyderabad then getting skittled for 54 in a batting performance that would have induced memories of their 21 all out at the beginning of last season. Left-arm spinner Akshya Darekar was the chief destroyer, taking an incredible 8 for 20. Darekar had not taken a five-wicket haul in his seven previous first-class games but took two in the same match at Uppal. Only two of Hyderabad’s batsmen reached double figures and there were four ducks in the innings.Hyderabad had only managed 124 in their first innings but started the second day well, taking an early wicket to leave Maharashtra 67 for 5. Darekar then put together a 78-run partnership with Kedar Jadhav to give Maharashtra the first-innings lead. Jadhav was aggressive and hit 62 off just 43 balls including 11 fours. Offspinner Syed Quadri removed the last five of Maharashtra’s batsmen to finish with 5 for 28. Hyderabad had a 60-run deficit to contend with but did not even manage to make Maharashtra bat again.

Goa overcame a hat-trick by Abu Nechim to go ahead by 82 runs in their match against Assam at the Nehru Stadium in Guwhati thanks to an unbeaten century by 20-year-old Reagan Pinto. Nechim’s hat-trick, in the 32nd over of the day, left Goa 85 for 6 in response to Assam’s 195. Nechim got his fifth wicket to make it 101 for 7 and it looked like Assam would take the first-innings lead. But Pinto forged together partnerships with the tail to take Goa to 277 for 8 by stumps. Robin D’Souza, captaining in the absence of the suspended Swapnil Asnodkar, contributed 35 at No. 9 and shared a 95-run partnership with Pinto. No. 10 Amit Yadav then got 38 not out and had added 81 runs with Pinto by stumps. Pinto, who shot to prominence with consecutive centuries last season, now has three hundreds in his last five first-class games.

There was no play on the second day of the match between Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar due to a wet outfield. Only 11 overs had been possible on the first day in which J&K raced to 59 for 0.

Group AAndhra Pradesh secured a 61-run first-innings lead against Tripura at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Vijayawada by bowling Tripura out for 174 on the second day. Tripura then had Andhra 47 for 3 at stumps and will hope to force a collapse. Tripura began the day on 34 for 2 in response to Andhra’s 235. That was soon 50 for 4 as seamer Paidikalva Vijaykumar struck twice. Subhrajit Roy tried holding the innings together and scored 54 off 222 balls. But he could not find anyone to stay at the other end and was eventually the ninth man dismissed. A few contributions from the lower order pushed Tripura to 174 when they were 87 for 7 at one time, but they still conceded the first-innings lead. Andhra came out to face 19 overs, and were soon 15 for 3, but Bodapati Sumanth and Venugopal Rao shared a 32-run unbeaten stand at the end of the day.

Eighteen wickets fell in the day in Dharmasala and Vidarbha were left needing 241 more runs to beat Himachal Pradesh with all ten wickets in hand. It will be a tough task on a pitch where the highest score so far has been 200, by Himachal in their second innings. The hosts’ new-ball pair of Rishi Dhawan and Vikramjeet Malik took nine wickets between them as Vidarbha were bowled out for 142 in response to Himachal’s 195. Vidarbha started the day 40 for 2 and none of their batsmen scored more than 25. Dhawan finished with 5 for 60, his third five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.Then it was the turn of Vidarbha’s new-ball bowlers, Shrikant Wagh and Sandeep Singh, to help themselves to wickets. Sandeep took 5 for 41 to give him nine wickets in the match, as Himachal were bowled out for 200 in 50.1 overs. Their scorecard looked similar to Vidarbha’s with the exception of Sridharan Sriram’s 87 off 101 balls, easily the best individual score of the match. That left Vidarbha chasing 254 and they reached 13 for 0 in the two overs they had to play out before stumps.

Services collapsed from their overnight 198 for 5 to 253 all out at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi. In response Kerala made slow progress, getting to 121 for 4 in 65.2 overs, leaving the match finely balanced. Sarabjit Singh was bowled off the second ball of the morning by Sony Cheruvathur, and captain Yashpal Singh followed followed two overs later in similar fashion. Muzzaffaruddin Khalid and Suraj Yadav added 43 runs for the eighth wicket but then the last three wickets fell for five runs. Kerala crawled in their response. They lost their first wicket in the 34th over but had only scored 54 runs. VA Jagadeesh scored 50 off 160 balls before becoming the second man to be dismissed. At that stage Kerala were 108 for 2 and had a firm base, but two quick wickets fell at the end of the day to bring Services back into the match.

Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has counselled the national selectors to be patient with fledgling spin bowler Nathan Lyon, and said that Lyon has plenty of development ahead before his talent can bloom fully

Daniel Brettig in Pallekele06-Sep-2011Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has counselled the national selectors to be patient with fledgling spin bowler Nathan Lyon, and said that Lyon has plenty of development ahead before his talent can bloom fully.Lyon, 23, scooped 5 for 34 in his first Test innings but struggled a little in his second, when, according to Haddin, fatigue affected his work. Until this year’s Australian winter, Lyon had never put his body through the rigours of pre-season training, and his slight, wispy frame can only grow in strength and durability.”I think it’s important that we’re patient with him,” Haddin said. “We can’t expect all these spinners to come in and be world-beaters. We’ve just got to make sure we’re clear in what we expect from them and what he expects from himself.”He’s only five games into a first class career but [from] what we’ve seen, he has got good shape on the ball. He is a work in progress so he’s only going to get better and better as time goes on. We all know we’ve got to be patient with the spinners and give them an opportunity to develop.”Haddin said Lyon’s drift was comparable to that of the England offspinner Graeme Swann, but also felt he had some distance to go before he was a fully-formed cricketer.”I think Nathan has obviously got something pretty special in him but he’s obviously got a bit of work to do on his bowling and he knows that,” Haddin said. “It was good that he got the rewards in the first innings; get that first ball out of the way, get his wicket and get into a spell.”From keeping to him, he’s got similar drift to what Swann has. He’s got quite a nice little shape on it … I think he’s got something there that’s going to be pretty good for Australian cricket.”Most of Lyon’s spin bowling apprenticeship took place in the Futures League second XI competition with the ACT, in three-day matches with over restrictions. The questions asked of physical recovery were less taxing; something Lyon discovered when he made his first-class debut for South Australia towards the end of last summer.”He obviously got a bit tired and that could come from the fact he actually hasn’t played that much four-day cricket at all,” Haddin said. “He’s just got to make sure he’s doing what works for him. Whether that’s going outside off stump or going tight into the stumps, because he’s got that natural drift.”I think in the future he’s going to be someone that’s very handy to us but he’s got to develop. We’ve all got to be sure we’re patient with that and not pushing him too quick or expecting him to jump over mountains straight away.”By contrast, Lyon’s childhood friend Trent Copeland looked ready for the physical and mental rigours of Tests, bowling with tremendous consistency throughout the Galle Test without much reward in the wickets column.”With Trent I thought we got exactly what we would have expected over the last two years. Seeing him for New South Wales, he’s very consistent in what he bowls,” Haddin said. “He knows he’s not going to blast anyone out but what he can do is shut a scoreboard down and build pressure from one end so you can roll the other guys from the other end. He did a good job there.”Haddin enlarged upon the tactical battles between Copeland and Sri Lanka’s batsmen, who sought to decrease his effectiveness by batting well down the pitch.”They were batting out of the crease and starting to walk into his line,” Haddin said. “The one thing Trent’s very good at is building pressure and he knows exactly where he wants to put the ball. We wanted to make sure we blocked that end, so we thought the best way sometimes was for me to go up to the stumps to stop them walking into his line, working the ball on the legside to get some pace on the ball.”It seemed to work for the last Test, whether we do the same for this Test, I’m not too sure. Because, especially with the old ball, the wicket was so dead, it just took one of their scoring options out of play and allowed us to build some pressure from that end.”

South Africa Under-19s registered a comprehensive win against England Under-19s in the fourth one-dayer of the seven-match series, winning at Arundel by 150 runs

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jul-2011
ScorecardSouth Africa Under-19s registered a comprehensive win against England Under-19s in the fourth one-dayer of the seven-match series, winning at Arundel by 150 runs to take a 2-1 series lead after the third game was washed-out. The South Africa innings was propelled by fluent knock of 124 by No 3 batsman Gihahn Cloete. Cloete was well supported by Quinton de Kock, who made 66, and Shaylin Pillay with 42, before some hard-hitting from the lower-middle order carried the team to 298 for five. The South Africa bowlers then produced tidy, incisive spells to bowl out England for 148 in 38 overs. First-change bowler Corné Dry was the pick, claiming 3 for 17 in a five-over spell. None of the England batsmen provided much resistance, No 8 batsman Peter Burgoyne top-scoring with 28.

William Porterfield, the Ireland captain, admitted his side had “let a few people down” by surrendering tamely to Pakistan in the first of two one-dayers in Belfast

ESPNcricinfo staff29-May-2011William Porterfield, the Ireland captain, said his side had “let a few people down” by surrendering tamely to Pakistan in the first of two one-dayers in Belfast, and put his side’s disappointing performance of 96 all out down to a lack of application with the bat. Opener Paul Stirling got them off to a flyer in the rain-reduced game, but once he departed, Ireland, to their detriment, did not rein in their strokeplay on a pitch that was offering the seamers a fair bit of assistance.”The way Paul started I think a few lads got caught up in that and thought it was a bit flatter,” Porterfield said. “It did seam about a bit and there were some poor shots. It was going to be difficult but I don’t think we acquitted ourselves as we should have.”There were too many bad shots and not enough application at the crease, especially after losing a couple of early wickets which can happen on any day. I think to keep losing wickets, we just folded too easily. We never put a partnership together. You never know on a wicket like that if you can scrap 160 or 170 in a reduced game you can contain teams and put them under pressure.”The series is a significant one for Ireland, as the ICC chief executive committee meets in a month’s time to discuss whether to overturn their decision to omit the Associates nations from the 2015 World Cup. Ireland’s impressive showing in the 2011 World Cup has garnered global support for their right to play in the next edition of the tournament, but their capitulation against Pakistan on Saturday suggested there is still a gap to be bridged between them and the top teams.”We’ve let a few people down today but we’ll be looking to turn that around come Monday,” Porterfield said. “We are disappointed in the way we performed today. We wanted to put on a performance for the fans that turned out and keep a buzz around Irish cricket.”He, however, stuck to the stand taken by him and coach Phil Simmons before the series began, in saying the ICC’s decision over the 2015 World Cup was not the top-most thing on their minds.”It is disappointing to make 96, but as I’ve said before it [the World Cup decision] is not something we think about or put in the forefront of our minds. We go out there with a plan to win a game and we didn’t do that today. We didn’t execute anything with the bat. We didn’t put any type of performance together.”The next one-dayer is at the same venue, the Civil Service Cricket Club in Stormont, on May 30, and despite the seven-wicket loss Porterfield was positive about his team’s chances of levelling the series.”I think it’s a mental think more than anything. It is something that will come together if everyone brings their A-game. We have to rectify that for Monday; we will do that.”

The tension between Shivnarine Chanderpaul and the WICB appears to have eased slightly, with the batsman set to play in the Test series against Pakistan starting next week

ESPNcricinfo staff05-May-2011The tension between Shivnarine Chanderpaul and the WICB appears to have eased slightly, with the batsman set to play in the Test series against Pakistan starting next week. The West Indies side for the first Test has not been officially released, but ESPNcricinfo has learnt from a reliable source that the squad includes Chanderpaul, who was axed for the one-day series that concludes in Guyana on Thursday.The Test squad will also include the fast bowler Fidel Edwards, who hasn’t played for West Indies since the tour of England in mid-2009. The uncapped batsman Kraigg Brathwaite, 18, is also expected to be named, after an impressive few months of first-class cricket, which was followed by his unbeaten 168 for West Indies Under-19s against Australia last month.During the past two weeks, Chanderpaul and the West Indies board CEO Ernest Hilaire have been involved in a war of words over the batsman’s treatment after the World Cup. Chanderpaul claimed he had been asked by the West Indies selectors to retire at the end of the World Cup, and that he was dropped from the ODI squad when he refused to quit.He was also upset at Hilaire’s comments that for 15 years, the West Indies side had lacked discipline and application. Chanderpaul took that as a personal affront, and said he was concerned that, having just been dropped from the side, it would create the impression that he was an indisciplined individual, had not applied himself and considered himself to be bigger than the team.Along with Chanderpaul, the senior batsmen and former captains Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan were left out of the squad for the first two one-dayers against Pakistan, and Hilaire said West Indies needed to build a new team for the future. However, Sarwan returned for the fourth ODI on Monday and Chanderpaul will be welcomed back during the Tests.

Graeme Smith has said he is satisfied with the way his team have adapted to different conditions across India, but he still thinks there have been negatives in every game, which need improvement

Firdose Moonda at Eden Gardens15-Mar-2011Relief is not an expression South Africa cricketers have worn often in World Cups, which may explain why Graeme Smith was donning it with such pride at his post-match press conference in Kolkata. South Africa’s 131-run win over Ireland makes them the first team in Group B that is certain of a quarter-final spot. They also have a game in hand before the knockouts start.”It’s fantastic to have qualified already,” Smith said. “Our group is pretty tense this week and it’s nice that we don’t have to deal with that tension for a change.” Bangladesh, England, West Indies and India will fight it out for the remaining three spots, with India all but assured of a place.It leaves South Africa with the clearest path to topping the group, which will mean they will take on whoever finishes fourth in Group A, currently Australia, but that could easily change. Smith is not allowing himself to get flustered by the permutations, saying that doing so is futile. “It doesn’t matter who you play in the quarters, you have to win that game. It’s pointless trying to nitpick and plan.”Instead, what he wants to work on is South Africa mastering the art of playing the perfect game, something he feels they haven’t managed in the five matches they’ve played so far. “In every game there’s probably something you can say we haven’t done well. The first 10-14 overs against India with the ball and we didn’t finish with the bat against England.”In the match against Ireland, it was again the batting that Smith was not happy with. “We got ourselves into a bit of trouble today, with some stupid run outs.” His own form is also a concern with the 45 he scored in the first match against West Indies in Delhi still his top score. Smith has looked scratchy in his other knocks but it hasn’t mattered for the team as a whole because someone in the line-up has always contributed. Smith insists that a big innings is imminent. “I have been hitting the ball well in the nets. When I do come right, I will make it count and I look forward to contributing.”Graeme Smith: “We got ourselves into a bit of trouble today, with some stupid run outs.”•Getty ImagesEven though he hasn’t been able to play a major role with the bat, it’s his leadership that the team are blossoming under. “In every game we’ve fixed what we did wrong in the previous game. Now, we need to play a full 100 overs.”Their remaining group match against Bangladesh presents them with an opportunity to do that. South Africa have been clear that they are not using any matches to experiment, and that any juggling of the starting XI is based solely on conditions and suitability. “We’ll go to Bangladesh with a mindset to win but we’ll also have to look at our injuries.”Legspinner Imran Tahir should be available for selection after completing his 10-day rest period for a fractured thumb and AB de Villiers should have recovered from a thigh muscle strain. Dale Steyn, who felt discomfort in his side in the match against Ireland, should also be fit, but Smith said they “will consider using Lonwabo Tsotsobe or Wayne Parnell.”The options available to South Africa leaves the selection committee spoilt for choice but also with a tough task, since juggling players who are all performing is as difficult as juggling those who are searching for form. It’s exactly the situation South Africa wanted to create for themselves as they approach the crescendo of their tournament – which is still some time away. “If you have a team where everybody can contribute on the day, you are not reliant on one or two people,” Smith said.It’s not just the performance that Smith is satisfied with, it’s the responses that the team have had in the various situations and surfaces they’ve played on that he is happy with too. “Everywhere we have played in India the surfaces have been so different and we’ve adapted well. We’ve hung in there when we needed to, we’ve been able to pounce when we needed to and that’s been very exciting to me.”

Transfer insider Dean Jones has now dropped a ‘big’ claim on Newcastle United’s summer plans, and also gave some injury news on Kieran Trippier.

The Lowdown: Trippier boost

Eddie Howe has confirmed that he is hopeful that Trippier will play again this season, after it was originally feared that he could be out for at least six weeks.

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Thankfully they have not needed him, as they look to have secured their safety in style, and the right-back will no doubt be looking forward to working with whoever they now bring in this summer.

They have been linked with exciting moves for the likes of Darwin Nunez and Philippe Coutinho, and are really starting to build a top squad.

The Latest: Jones update

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Jones has revealed that the St. James’ Park faithful are ‘optimistic’ that Trippier will be back ‘very soon’, and added that they will try and convince other ‘big names’ to join the former Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid star in the summer:

“I know with Trippier, they’re really optimistic that he’s back very soon. And they’re really keen that he does get a few games in before the end of the season, not just for himself in terms of fitness, but because for the last couple of games of the season, they want to have their strongest team out there.

“They want to end the season with the best team they possibly can, with the best results they possibly can, to go into the summer full of optimism, and then try and convince some big names to come and join them. So, they’re really optimistic that Trippier is going to be part of that.”

The Verdict: Exciting

With Trippier coming back to full fitness, safety in the top flight and a big summer ahead, these are no doubt exciting times for the Toon Army.

Adding to the win away at Norwich City this afternoon, Eddie Howe and his team will want to finish off the term strongly, and so gather momentum for a rebuild this summer.

They have the money to get some potentially huge deals done, but the real challenge will be to try and get those big names to buy into the long-term project.

In other news, find out what ‘frustrating’ NUFC injury blow has now emerged here!

Jacques Kallis produced the innings of the series to prevent India from taking a grip on the deciding Test at Newlands

The Bulletin by George Binoy03-Jan-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Jacques Kallis muscled several boundaries through the off side while batting with the tail•AFPJacques Kallis produced the innings of the series to prevent India from taking a grip on the deciding Test at Newlands. His 39th Test century, which had shepherded South Africa out of difficult conditions on the first day and helped them survive a stern examination against the second new ball today, was a lesson in tight defensive technique. It was also an exhibition on how to bat with the tail, and score abundantly while you’re at it. Kallis dragged South Africa beyond 300 under trying circumstances, for at one stage Sreesanth had threatened to skittle them for fewer, and scored the bulk of the 79 runs he added with the last two batsmen, prolonging India’s time in the field.Kallis’ innings grew in value during the course of India’s reply. Like South Africa, India also lost two wickets early – Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid – as Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel hustled with seam, steep bounce and that extra bit of pace, which can make the difference when a pitch is easing out. India could have been in further strife but Lonwabo Tsosobe, the most unheralded of the pace attack, had three edges dropped. Gautam Gambhir, who sat out at Durban because of a hand injury, used his two reprieves to compile a half-century that was edgy in phases, while Sachin Tendulkar batted solidly apart from his one let-off to lead India slowly, inch by inch, towards relative comfort. They batted with extreme caution through the final session, taking India to 142 for 2, trailing by 220 with eight first-innings wickets in hand.The second day had begun in contrast to the first, with an azure sky replacing the grey of the opening day, and burst into life as soon as MS Dhoni handed the second new ball to Sreesanth. He struck consecutive blows in his first over, bowling Ashwell Prince through the bat-pad gap and getting Mark Boucher caught behind with the next ball, and South Africa had soon lost 51 for 4 on the second morning.Sreesanth troubled Kallis as well with balls that swung and seamed away. Kallis countered, though, punching powerfully to the long-on boundary and whipping through midwicket when the lengths were too full. He had begun the day on 81 and those boundaries took him to 99, but he watched Dale Steyn fend a short ball from Zaheer to the slip cordon before he had the strike again. And when he did, Kallis flicked Sreesanth to fine leg to bring up an invaluable century, in the process drawing level with Ricky Ponting.When Morne Morkel also fell cheaply, giving Sreesanth his third five-wicket haul, the responsibility of prolonging the innings was now Kallis’ and his task got harder when an attempted pull strained his side. He winced as he held his rib cage with a hand that was already bruised, and got on with the job.Smart Stats

Jacques Kallis’ 161 was his 39th century in Tests, moving him level second with Ricky Ponting in the list of batsmen with the most Test centuries.

Kallis’ knock was his 12th score of over 150 in Tests, the most by a South African batsman. He is level sixth in the list of batsmen with the most 150-plus scores in Tests.

Kallis has now aggregated 389 runs in five innings in the series, which surpasses his previous-best aggregate of 354 runs in a three-match series.

Kallis’ knock was the sixth-highest by a South African batsman in Cape Town and the highest against India in Tests in Cape Town, surpassing Brian McMillan’s 103 in 1996-97.

The 52-run stand between Kallis and Lonwabo Tsotsobe was the 11th fifty-plus partnership for the last wicket for South Africa since their readmission in 1991. The highest remains the 107-run stand between AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel against Pakistan in 2010.

Sreesanth’s five-wicket haul was his third in all Tests and his second against South Africa. He has 27 wickets in six Tests in South Africa at an average of 25.62.

Rahul Dravid became the fifth player to play in 150 Tests. Of the five players, three are Australians and two are Indians.

Dravid was run out for the 13th time in Tests , one short of Ricky Ponting, who holds the record for being dismissed run out most often in Tests.

The century stand between Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir is the first for the third wicket for India in South Africa.

Kallis had support from Paul Harris and did not farm strike during a 27-run partnership for the ninth wicket, which took South Africa past 300. That association ended when Ishant bounced Harris from round the wicket and the defensive fend ended in leg slip’s hands. With only Tsotsobe remaining, Kallis dominated both the strike and the attack. South Africa scored 103 in the first session.Kallis resumed after lunch by pulling a 116-kph short ball from Sreesanth to the boundary. He would block the first few balls of an over and slam boundaries off the last deliveries, when the field came in to try and deny him singles. Consecutive square-driven fours off the last two balls of a Sreesanth over took Kallis past 150, and India’s frustration grew when Tendulkar fumbled the first ball of the next to let Tsotsobe off strike. This routine played out a couple of times before Kallis chased and edged Zaheer, falling for 161. The Cape Town crowd gave its hero a rousing ovation as he walked off after a job supremely well done.Kallis was nursing his strained side in the dressing room when Sehwag, having driven Steyn to the cover boundary the previous ball, mis-timed a drive towards extra cover, where Graeme Smith dived forward to take a low catch. Gambhir could have been dismissed on 10 but he watched his edge get dropped by Alviro Petersen at gully. South Africa were soon celebrating, though, for Dravid had risked a single on the dropped catch. AB de Villiers pounced on the stray ball, slid, turned quickly and hit the stumps at the batsman’s end. Dravid did not sprint, he did not run in a straight line, he did not dive and he did not wait for the third umpire’s decision.India were 45 for 2 at the start of the final session, and Gambhir and Tendulkar batted with determination. Tendulkar was let off on 8, when a thick edge off Tsotsobe flew high towards third slip. Ashwell Prince jumped but didn’t go for the catch. Morkel tested Gambhir with deliveries that rose from a good length. One crashed into his unprotected ribs and had Gambhir wincing in pain.Tendulkar then flicked Morkel in his compact style to bring up the 50-run partnership but shortly afterwards, on 24, he survived a close lbw shout against Harris as he missed the steer to square leg. A ball later, he skipped out and drove fluently to the cover boundary. Gambhir brought up his own fifty with a flick off Tsotsobe to the boundary. Soon after, on 60, he was dropped at second slip by South Africa’s best fielder – de Villiers – with Tsotsobe groaning in frustration.India’s focus then shifted to survival and the run-rate decreased steadily as Tendulkar and Gambhir blocked and left outside off stump. They scored 93 runs in the final session but the real prize was that no wickets were lost.