SYDNEY: Australian Cricket Academy’s head coach Bennett King said yesterday that the West Indies Cricket Board had apologised to him for prematurely announcing that he would take charge of their national team.
King applied for the position last December and after an interview in early March, was on Tuesday told the job was his and the media had been informed. But no official appointment offer had been made and no terms and conditions had been agreed to by King. “I spoke to them this morning by phone about my disappointment regarding some of the processes and another couple of issues that are a little more personal and that may come to light later,” King said. “They apologised for the confusion and expressed regret for using the word ‘appointed’ in their announcement.”
King led Queensland to three consecutive domestic First-Class titles from the 1999-2000 season after succeeding John Buchanan when he took over the Australian team. King said the West Indies board want him to start the job in the Caribbean in the first week of July. “Any adventure is initially exciting, particularly with up and moving, but I know there will be a lot of trepidation down the track,” said King. “There’s a lot of angst, and nervousness bordering on fear.” Former West Indies player Gus Logie is serving as interim coach for this month’s home series against Australia.
BRIDGETOWN: Jamaica, the only cricket team to contest a hat-trick of regional International championships, have suffered two big blows ahead of the four-day Carib Beer International Challenge showdown against runaway Cup champions Barbados at Kensington Oval, starting today.
Opener Chris Gayle and fast bowler Daren Powell, both West Indies players, are out for contrasting reasons. Gayle, an exciting batsman and tidy off-spin bowler has opted to play in the US$175,000 historic Double Wicket World Cricket Championship in St. Lucia at the ultra-modern Beausejour Stadium, April 4-6. Gayle will now partner former West Indies captain Carl Hooper. All participating teams receive a consolation US$10,000. Powell, with a suspected bout of chicken pox has returned to Kingston en route here from the semi-final match in Berbice, Guyana. The Jamaica captain Robert Samuels announced the double blow after arriving here early yesterday following a hard-fought 24-run first innings lead at Albion in a high-scoring encounter.
Samuels said West Indies one-day specialist Ricardo Powell, who played in the recent World Cup in South Africa but missed the match against Guyana, ironically because of illness, was expected to fly in yesterday from neighbouring Trinidad where he now resides with his Trinidadian wife, and Maurice Kepple was due in from Kingston later the same evening as replacements in the 13-man squad. But the experienced Samuels, who has played at the highest level, indicated he still had the ammunition to prevent Courtney Browne’s buoyant side from an unprecedented double. Samuels conceded that Barbados would be tough to beat, especially at home. Barbados captain Browne said the absence of Gayle and Daren Powell would give his team a chance of going all the way. “It’s a plus because it will definitely be a setback for Jamaica but Barbados are playing very good cricket at the moment and we would be playing good cricket come tomorrow , so basically it is up to Jamaica to come here and play good cricket, wicket-keeper/batsman Browne said following a practice session at overworked Queen’s Park ground in the capital city. Dropped from the Barbados team is middle order batsman Dwayne Smith for the first time this season after scoring 221 runs at an average of 24.55 in eight matches this season.
TEAMS:
Barbados —- Courtney Browne (captain), Philo Wallace, Sherwin Campbell, Ryan Hinds, Floyd Reefer, Kurt Wilkinson, Ryan Hurley, Vasbert Drakes, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Tino Best. 12th man: Ian Bradshaw; 13th man: Dwayne Smith.
Jamaica (from) —- Robert Samuels (captain), Leon Garrick, Brenton Parchment, Wavell Hinds, Ricardo Powell, David Bernard Jnr, Keith Hibbert, Gareth Breese, Jermaine Lawson, Robert Taylor, Maurice Kepple, Ryan Cunningham.
To the chants of “Wine Dhanraj wine” former West Indies spinner Rajindra Dhanraj bowled Ceramic Merryboys to victory over Queen’s Park in the semi-final of the Carib Cup limited overs cricket competition at Inshan Ali Park, Preysal yesterday.
Queen’s Park, chasing 171 runs for victory in 30 overs at 5.7 runs per over, were restricted to 135 all out — by “Man-of-the-Match” Dhanraj who finished with the remarkable figures off five for 15. The Parkites got off to a good start with Trinidad and Tobago batsman Dwayne Bravo delighting the huge crowd with some pleasing drives and pulls to the fence. However the intervention of Dhanraj saw his downfall and Queen’s Park followed suit. Bravo after being well set, played across the line and was leg-before for 43 that included seven boundaries. His dismissal at 80 saw a collapse and Queen’s Park hopes were dashed. Deepak Kumar 20 forged a useful partnership with Bravo as he defied the Merryboys bowlers for a while but to no avail.
President of Merryboys, Patrick Rampersad said afterwards: “We are extremely happy to be back at Guaracara Park for yet another finals. Rajindra Dhanraj was simply brilliant today and thanks to his great effort we have a chance to finally win a limited overs title.” Merryboys are the reigning Carib National league Division One champions but lost out to Preysal in the finals of the Carib Cup last year. Merryboys will now await the winner of the other semi-final between Clico Preysal and FCB Clarke Road next week.
CARIB CUP SEMI-FINAL
At Inshan Ali Park: Ceramic Trinidad Merryboys 170/7 (30overs)(Aneil Kanhai 39, Keno Mason 27, Lendl Simmons 19, Lincoln Roberts 18, Kenneth Hazel 17, Rajindra Dhanraj 17 n.o., Dale Douglas 16 n.o., Rishard Harris 4/35) def Queen’s Park CC 135 all out (27overs) (Dwayne Bravo 43, Deepak Kumar 20, Rajindra Dhanraj 5/15) —- By 35 runs.
“Man-of-Match”: Rajindra Dhanraj.
Trinidad and Tobago tennis stars face another major challenge to beat St Lucia in three straight matches today to remain in Davis Cup American Zone Group Three. The twin-island republic are battling for survival, after the highly-rated Shane Stone and national champion Ivor Grazette lost their singles encounters, to be followed by the inexperienced pair of Grazette and Dexter Mahase.
But they failed to find their rhythm and buckled under pressure, in the group considered fairly safe, to move forward to the promotion round. Playing on court one at the refurbished Jean Pierre Complex, Mucurapo yesterday, the TT players faltered terribly against the hyped-up El Salvadoreans who fought courageously for every single point as if their lives depended on it. The difference was the grit, the determination, the composure and sure-handedness for the big points and the Central American players proved superior.
El Salvador came up trumps with a convincing 3-0 win and clinched the second qualifying spot in Group “B” which was headed by the gutsy Puerto Ricans who remained unbeaten as they prevailed by a 2-1 margin over the equally determined Honduras team on court two. Puerto Rico and El Salvador join Group “A” leaders Jamaica and runners-up Bolivia in the promotion qualifying round which starts today. TT are now bracketed with St Lucia, Guatemala and Honduras in the relegation play-offs. Guatemala hold a 3-0 advantage over St Lucia and must fancy their chances of staying on in Group Three. But they will square off against Honduras on court three while TT and St Lucia will be firing away on court one. Jamaica take on El Salvador on court two while Puerto Rico challenge Bolivia on centre court. All matches start at 10 am.
Davis Cup- Third Day Results.
GROUP A
JAMAICA beat Guatemala 2-1.
Dustin Brown lost to Cristian Paiz 3-6, 6-7 (8); Ryan Russell bt Rodrigo Gabriel 6-2, 6-2; Russell and Browb bt Paiz and Jorge Tejada beat 7-5, 6-7 and 6-1.
BOLIVIA beat St Lucia 3-0.
Alberto Sottocomo bt Vernon Lewis 7-5 and 6-3; Javier Taborga bt Sirsean Arlain 6-0, 6-1; Diego Camacho and Taborga bt Alberton Richelieu jr and Yves Sinson 6-3 and 6-2.
GROUP B
EL SALVADOR beat Trinidad and Tobago 3-0.
Jaime Cuellar bt Shane Stone 6-2,6-1; Rafael Arevalo bt Ivor Grazette 6-3, 6-3; Jose Baires and Augusto Sanabria bt Dexter Mahase and Grazette 6-2 and 6-2.
PUERTO RICO beat Honduras 2-1.
Gilberto Alvarez bt Francklin Garcia 6-3, 6-3; Luis Haddock lost to Pablo Hernandez 6-2, 0-6 and 2-6; Gabriel Montilla and Alvarez bt Carlos Caceres and Garcia 6-2, 5-7 and 6-2.
BRIDGETOWN: Injury has forced Trinidad and Tobago’s Daren Ganga to withdraw from the Carib Beer XI, he was set to captain against the touring Australians for an opening match to their West Indies cricket tour this month, officials said yesterday.
The right-handed batsman injured a leg during the Carib Beer International Challenge semi-final against Barbados, which ended Monday, the West Indies Cricket Board said in a statement. “Ganga has been ordered to rest for 10 days,” and so is forced to miss the warm-up match against the Australians, beginning Saturday in Guyana, the release said. Ganga’s spot will be filled by fellow Trinidadian, left-handed opener Imran Jan, while Antiguan Sylvester Joseph will take over the captaincy. Former Guyana and West Indies off spinner Clyde Butts has been named manager. Carib Beer squad: Sylvester Joseph (captain), Imran Jan, Devon Smith, Dwayne Bravo, Aneil Kanhai, Narsingh Deonarine, Carlton Baugh Jr., Omari Banks, Dave Mohammed, Marlon Black, Adam Sanford. Reserves: Travis Dowlin, Rayon Griffith. Manager/coach: Clyde Butts.
MELBOURNE: Fast bowler Glenn McGrath left the Australian Test cricket squad en route to their West Indies cricket tour and was returning home for family reasons, the Australian Cricket Board said yesterday.
McGrath was on a stopover in London when he received medical advice about his wife, Jane. McGrath’s manager Warren Craig said Jane McGrath was not suffering a recurrence of breast cancer. She had a mastectomy after suffering from breast cancer for the first time in 1997. “It definitely is not breast cancer,” Craig told the Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday. “It is linked, however. The condition is basically a derivative of that, but it can be treated. It is serious without being overly serious.”
The Australian squad was due to arrive in Georgetown, Guyana yesterday for a four-Test series against the West Indies starting April 14. McGrath has taken 422 wickets in 91 Test matches and 277 wickets in 214 limited-overs internationals, including 21 wickets during Australia’s successful World Cup defence in South Africa last month. His seven wickets for 15 runs against Namibia is a World Cup bowling record.
LONDON: Defending football champions France are all but in the 2004 European Championship after a 2-1 victory over Israel, and England look like a better bet after beating Turkey 2-0. David Trezeguet and Zinedine Zidane scored first half goals yesterday after Omir Afek gave Israel a lead after only two minutes in Palermo, Sicily.
The victory gave the French a perfect 15 points from five matches. Only stunning losses in their last three matches against Cyprus, Slovenia and Israel would keep them from winning Group One. “It was hard, very hard, we showed two faces of our game tonight,” said French coach Jacques Santini. “But we managed to get three points. We had a lot of problems concentrating and were disorganised defensively and in attack.” “There was not much cohesion.” England suddenly seem bound for the finals in Portugal with their win over World Cup third-place side Turkey in the northeastern city of Sunderland. Darius Vassell scored the winner in the 76th with David Beckham adding an injury time penalty. The victory moved England atop Group Seven with 10 points —- one more than Turkey. It was Turkey’s first loss in 17 European and World Cup qualifying matches.
England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, criticised from his team’s lackluster play since reaching the quarterfinals in the World Cup, called the match “absolutely fantastic.” “If Turkey had won this match, they more or less would have won the group,” Eriksson said. “We played very well in the first half, and maybe even better in the second. We deserved to win.” In a key late match, Group Six leaders Spain were home against Armenia. The Dutch and the Czechs kept winning to lead Group Three with 10 points.
The Czechs stopped neighbours Austria 4-0 with two goals from Jan Koller (31st and 62nd) and others from Pavel Nedved (18th) and Marek Jankulovski (56th, penalty). The Dutch trailed at Moldova 1-0 behind Vadim Boret’s goal after 16 minutes. Ruud Van Nistelrooy (37th) and Mark Van Bommel (84th) saved the day. The shock of the night came in Group Two where Denmark were upset 2-0 in Copenhagen against Bosnia. The Danes hammered Romania 5-2 on Saturday. Norway took advantage and grabbed the group lead with a 2-0 win at Luxembourg.
Scotland saw their chances hurt with a 1-0 loss at Lithuania, leaving the Scots trailing Germany on goal difference in Group Five. Germany were idle. Tomas Razanauskas scored on a penalty in the 74th. Lithuania improved to seven points from five matches. Germany have played three and Scotland four. In Group Four, Poland hammered San Marino 5-0 and Sweden won 2-1 at Hungary. Poland improved to seven points, the same as Idle Latvia. Sweden improved to five points — the same as Hungary — as Marcus Allback scored two (34th and 67th). Kristztian Lisztes got Hungary’s (65th).
In Group Eight, Bulgaria stayed on top (10 points) with a scoreless draw at Estonia. In the other group match, Croatia moved into second (7) with a 2-0 win over Andorra on two goals by Milan Rapaic. Group 10 was scoreless; Albania 0, Ireland 0 and Georgia 0, Switzerland 0. The Swiss lead with eight points with idle Russia on six.
MADRID: Real Madrid midfielder Steve McManaman doubts Manchester United star David Beckham will join the Spanish giants this summer.
“Beckham only renewed his contract with Manchester United a short while ago. He is a good friend of mine, he is an excellent person and a great football player, but I don’t pay much attention to rumours,” McManaman said in an interview with the sports daily As yesterday. McManaman added that if Beckham moved to Madrid, he would find his right-sided midfield position already occupied by Portuguese international Luis Figo. “It would be difficult. They both play in the same position and Luis is a good friend of mine as well as being a fantastic player,” he said.
The speculation about Beckham began last week when Madrid’s sports director Jorge Valdano said the midfielder “would fit into our project”. Madrid president Florentino Perez, who since his election in 2000 has signed Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo in successive summers, described the transfer talk on Monday as “unfounded” and said it showed disrespect to both the English club and his own players. However, the leading Spanish daily Marca added to the rumours yesterday, claiming that Beckham and his wife, the former Spice Girl Victoria, were already looking at schools in Madrid for their first son Brooklyn.
McManaman also said that Madrid was the favourite in the glamorous Champions League quarterfinal encounters against Beckham’s side on April 8 and 23. “We have the best team in the world. However, it will be difficult and the hardest thing will be to play at Old Trafford. The crowd there pressurise you a lot,” the former Liverpool player said. McManaman, whose contract with Madrid runs until the end of next season, gave no hint of his future plans.
TORONTO: Lenny Wilkens tied the NBA record for most career coaching losses, suffering his 1,106th defeat on Tuesday as Richard Hamilton scored 20 points and Ben Wallace had 20 rebounds to lead the Detroit Pistons past the Toronto Raptors 92-85.
Wilkens, already the most successful coach in league history with 1,291 victories, tied Bill Fitch’s record. Wilkens is in his 30th year as an NBA coach, whereas Fitch coached for 25 seasons. Chauncey Billups scored 15 points, including six free throws in the final minute to help Detroit win their fifth straight match over Toronto. Former Raptor Corliss Williamson added 19 points off the bench. In Indianapolis, Peja Stojakovic scored 26 points and Chris Webber added 22 points and 14 rebounds as Sacramento beat Indiana. The Kings trailed by 13 points early, staged a comeback in the third quarter and then exchanged the lead with Indiana eight times in the fourth quarter.
Webber sealed the win for Sacramento with six straight points, including a tip-in that made it 88-86, in the final 2:44. Jermaine O’Neal led the Pacers with 24 points and Ron Artest had 23. The Pacers had their regular starting five — Reggie and Brad Miller, O’Neal, Artest and Jamaal Tinsley — together for the first time since March 8. In Los Angeles, Karl Malone scored 25 points and Matt Harpring had 17 as Utah beat Los Angeles to spoil Elton Brand’s return. Brand, the Clippers’ leading scorer and rebounder, returned to action after missing 18 matches with a stress fracture above his right ankle. Brand, who helped the Clippers end a 26-match winless streak against the Jazz in Utah earlier this season, finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds in 31 minutes. John Stockton had 12 points and 10 assists, helping lead the Jazz to their seventh win in eight matches and 21st in their last 24 meetings with the Clippers. Utah are sixth in the Western Conference playoff race, one and a half matches behind Minnesota and a full match ahead of the seventh-place Lakers.
BOMBAY: Injuries and withdrawals by senior players forced India’s cricket selectors to make five changes to the national squad announced yesterday for this month’s tri-nation limited-overs series in Bangladesh.
Sachin Tendulkar, vice-captain Rahul Dravid and seam bowler Ashish Nehra all sustained injuries during the World Cup in South Africa, where India lost the final to Australia. Veteran medium-pacer Javagal Srinath and legspinner Anil Kumble withdrew from the Dhaka tournament for personal reasons. The April 11-20 series in Dhaka features South Africa and hosts Bangladesh. The Indian cricket board’s secretary SK Nair told reporters that the selectors decided to use the opportunity to give exposure to five youngsters, who have been rewarded for their consistent performances in domestic cricket and for the India “A” side.
Opener Gautam Gambhir, middle-order batsman Abhijit Kale, medium pacer Avishkar Salvi and spinners Sarandeep Singh and Amit Mishra were all drafted into the squad. Off-spinner Singh is the only one among them to have played international cricket. “The selectors have picked the best available team. The youngsters have earned the place with their consistent show,” Nair said. “It is an opportunity for them to come good at the international level.” Skipper Sourav Ganguly gets a new deputy in attacking opener Virender Sehwag, who has been named vice-captain.
India squad: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Mongia, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Abhijit Kale, Sanjay Bangar, Parthiv Patel, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Sarandeep Singh, Zaheer Khan, Avishkar Salvi and Amit Mishra.
