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Andre Adams swished a crucial, unbeaten half-century from No. 9•Getty Images

Durham, their title challenge under pressure after Lancashire knocked them off top spot last week, face a difficult task if they are to emerge from this match with a win after 2010 champions Nottinghamshire let it be known that while the Championship may have slipped from their grasp they can still play a role in determining which way this year’s contest goes.Nottinghamshire, who restricted Somerset to just six points from their rain-affected draw at Taunton last week, made Durham suffer this time as Riki Wessels and Andre Adams mastered difficult conditions to leave Phil Mustard’s side to chase a challenging 321 in the fourth innings.Wessels scored 84 from 68 deliveries, his highest score since joining Notts earlier in the season, before Adams, batting with his customary all-or-nothing approach, hit seven fours and two sixes in a 48-ball unbeaten 53, an innings that may have taken the game away from Durham, who had done themselves no favours earlier in the day by failing to secure a single batting bonus point.Adams, whose 68 wickets with his canny swing bowling were the key to Notts winning the title in 2010, has been a revelation with the bat this season.The 36-year-old New Zealander, who had managed only two half-centuries in four seasons at Trent Bridge before this one, has hit five during the current campaign and his aggregate of 508 first-class runs includes a staggering 174 in sixes, of which he has hit 29.In an illustration of his phenomenal hitting power, he managed to clear the enormous boundary on the Fox Road side with one huge blow off Callum Thorp that sailed over the head of a hapless boundary fielder and landed several rows back.Mitch Claydon finished with five wickets for 54 but Durham missed their absentees, with Steve Harmison, who might have been deadly on this track, missing through injury and Graham Onions and Ben Stokes on England duty.At the start of the day, Durham had been their own worst enemies after resuming their innings at three down for 44. Dale Benkenstein and Ian Blackwell put on 91 for the fifth wicket, yet from 135 for 4 they somehow failed to pick up a single batting point.Within two balls of the start they were four down without addition. After Luke Fletcher had completed the over left unfinished on Monday evening, Andre Adams fed Paul Collingwood a gentle away-swinger that the former England all-rounder, with negligible foot movement, edged to third slip.Thus Benkenstein and Blackwell were left with a substantial rebuilding job on a pitch that, while no minefield, was not without hazards, mainly caused by the inconsistency of bounce. It might have prompted some batsmen to proceed with caution but these two decided attack was the better option and had added 91 in 20.1 overs before the former pushed at a ball from Fletcher that climbed on him and Steven Mullaney took the catch at second slip, diving across first, denying Benkenstein a half-century.Mullaney then dropped a chance offered by Phil Mustard on 12 for which he again needed to fling himself. It was a difficult one but he had both hands on it, and Durham would have been 149 for 5.But it was a let-off rather wasted by the visitors with more than a hint of carelessness given that this is such a crucial match in their quest to take the title back from Nottinghamshire. The guilty party was Blackwell, who had looked ominously well set when he completed a run-a-ball half-century but, with lunch only minutes away and Notts turning for the first time to Graeme White, somewhat threw his wicket away, giving the charge to his fellow left-armer spinner’s sixth delivery but succeeding only in smacking the ball straight back at him.White took a stunning catch, but then he needed to; had he missed he would probably have woken up in the Queen’s Medical Centre, minus several teeth.The 24-year-old former Northamptonshire bowler is given few opportunities in first-class cricket. Indeed, this is only his 13th first-class match and he is playing here only because Samit Patel is unavailable. Yet, despite being under pressure not to waste his chance, he produced an intelligent spell, limited to just 32 balls but yielding three wickets as he and Adams combined to finish off the Durham innings.White found some turn to have Mustard caught off bat and pad, then Adams moved the ball away enough for Mark Wood and then Mitch Claydon to edge into the slips before Callum Thorp, having taken a lavish swing-and-miss at White, was so casual about getting back into his crease that Chris Read was granted as easy a stumping as he will make. With only five more runs needed for a batting point, it was a brainless dismissal.From Durham’s viewpoint, Notts’ second innings started in the best possible way when Alex Hales, the first-innings centurion, fell first ball, following one from Claydon that climbed on him and edging to wicketkeeper Mustard. Karl Turner, released by Durham last season, perished to the same combination, driving loosely.Darren Bravo, as in the first innings, shaped as if he would make an impact, but after a relatively watchful 30, hit straight to Benkenstein at mid-off.Steven Mullaney fell to another ball that climbed from the pavilion end as he nudged a catch to second slip but Wessels took a heavy toll on Ian Blackwell as well as the debutant Mark Wood, who at least could claim a measure of revenge, although only by association, when Benkenstein held on to a second catch – this time a brilliant, leaping one-handed effort – at midwicket.Paul Franks was bowled by Claydon, as was White, who offered no shot, but just as Durham began to contemplate a target in the 250 range, Adams began to change the picture. With support at first from Chris Read, who became a fifth victim for Claydon when he slashed at a wide delivery to be caught behind, and then Darren Pattinson, who added a valuable 15 after being dropped by the ‘keeper on one, the veteran all-rounder did enough damage perhaps to have ended Durham’s hopes of a third title in four years.

Neil D’Costa, Michael Clarke’s mentor and coach, has said Australia’s growing preference for Twenty20 could lead to Test cricket getting sidelined in the country

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jun-2011Neil D’Costa, Michael Clarke’s mentor and coach, has said Australia’s growing preference for Twenty20 could lead to Test cricket getting sidelined in a country already struggling to rebuild a team which has slipped to No. 5 in the rankings. ”A lot of junior state cricket in Australia is now Twenty20 cricket and that could kill Test cricket in this country,” D’Costa told the .D’Costa has been Clarke’s mentor since he was seven and has been coaching state-level juniors in India for some years now. He contrasted Australia’s preference with the relative lack of Twenty20 cricket in India at the junior level, which he says allows young players to learn the basics of the game better.”In India, it’s very different. There is no Twenty20 in the junior state programs. We don’t train for it, don’t play it, don’t promote it and the players have nothing to do with it. It’s only at the higher levels, where there are players who have learnt their game and can make improvisations, that Twenty20 is introduced. The job of all junior coaches in India is to teach players the fundamentals of batting.”The energy that’s being put in, the planning that’s going into the development of Indian cricketers, is amazing. At the same time, Australia’s spending time and money just trying to work out our problems.”D’Costa said he was surprised when he met several of his young Australian students who just wanted to score faster and hit the ball harder. ”It’s a real concern because everything in Australian cricket at the moment seems to be about Twenty20. It’s all about the Big Bash, how we can get more people to the games, how we can make money out of India. It’s not really about how we can make better cricketers.”D’Costa also raised concerns about the direction of the Centre of Excellence program, saying more players were being taught to become ”clones” instead of their individual needs being attended to. D’Costa cited the example of Phil Hughes who started his career with twin centuries in his second Test only to have his technique questioned, especially against the short ball.”The stuff that he was told was not in sync with how he’d made runs all his life,” D’Costa said. ”The fact that he scored a couple of centuries early on showed there were some skills there. He had to refine them within his way of doing it. But the information given to him didn’t take into account his way of preparing and playing.”You don’t coach a Premier League soccer player how to kick a ball. And you don’t get a landscape artist to paint portraits. They are coaching our most talented players with the same principles as you should coach a junior. These guys are past all that. It’s as though they’re trying to create clones. They’re not coaching players according to what they specifically need.”

MatériaMais Notícias

Ainda sem vencer no Campeonato Brasileiro, o Ceará coloca suas fichas no duelo contra o Flamengo, no próximo domingo. A torcida confia no elenco e já adquiriu mais de 20 mil ingressos para acompanhar o confronto.

Dentro do time, a expectativa é gigantesca para receber um dos maiores times do país, mas apesar do respeito demonstrado ao rival, todos acreditam que o Vozão pode sair de campo com três pontos.

O zagueiro Valdo, um dos mais experientes do time, gostou da atuação do Ceará no último fim de semana contra o São Paulo e pede que seus companheiros mantenham a mesma pegada contra o Fla.

“Sabemos do grau de dificuldade que tem a 1ª divisão. É o campeonato mais difícil do País. Não tomar gol em uma partida desse nível diante do São Paulo, para nós, é uma conquista. É como se o nosso trabalho diário estivesse surtindo efeito. Soubemos nos impor durante todo o jogo. Criamos dificuldades para eles. A vitória está bem próxima. Estamos nos empenhando ao máximo e ouvindo todos os conselhos do professor Chamusca durante os treinamentos”, afirmou o defensor durante entrevista coletiva.

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Ceará e Flamengo se enfrentam no domingo, a partir das 16h (horário de Brasília) na Arena Castelão.

There have been plenty of mismatches so far in this World Cup, but whenever England have taken the field something extraordinary has occurred

The Preview by Andrew McGlashan05-Mar-2011Match FactsMarch 6, Chennai
Start time 9.30am (0400 GMT)James Anderson has struggled throughout the World Cup•Associated PressThe Big PictureThere have been plenty of mismatches so far in this World Cup, but whenever England have taken the field something extraordinary has occurred. Firstly Netherlands pushed them close, then there was the epic tie against India before they were humbled by Kevin O’Brien’s stunning hitting. What happens next is anyone’s guess, but matches against South Africa are rarely dull affairs.It’s not quite do-or-die for England but it’s getting close after they reached the half-way point of their group campaign with three points instead of the expected four. Two wins should take them into the quarter-finals, but that’s not an easy task with Bangladesh and West Indies to follow this game. South Africa have far fewer concerns after two clinical victories set up their campaign nicely.As with every meeting between these two teams there will be the pre-match talk of England’s contingent from South Africa. Kevin Pietersen has often lifted his game against the country of his birth, but South Africa have yet to see the best of Jonathan Trott. Despite the strong performances from England’s top order there are still issues over the batting, both in terms of soft dismissals like Pietersen’s against Ireland and the lack of impact from the middle order which twice cost them dear in Bangalore.They will be up against the most rounded attack of the tournament. The threat of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel was well known, but the inclusion of Imran Tahir has given South Africa an additional edge. Not that they are short on batting, either, and AB de Villiers has started the World Cup with back-to-back hundreds; the one against West Indies was elegant, the ton against Netherlands brutal.Under Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower, England have shown an ability to bounce back following shocking defeats. Often the sight of formidable opponents focuses their mind in the way that being favourites against the likes of Netherlands and Ireland doesn’t. However, all aspects of their game will have to fire on the same occasion – which it hasn’t at any stage of the tournament – otherwise an early flight home will be an even greater possibility.Form guide(completed matches, most recent first)
England LTWLL
South Africa WWWWLWatch out for…Although Steyn and Morkel form the best new-ball pair in the world, it’s Imran Tahir that England need to watch out for. He was held back by South Africa as a surprise weapon for the World Cup and so far it has worked perfectly. He started with a match-winning 4 for 41 against West Indies and helped himself to some cheap scalps against Netherlands. An attacking spin bowler, and especially a legspinner, is something South Africa have long lacked and Tahir is making a huge difference. England are better than they used to be against leg spin, and most of the batsmen will have seen Tahir in county cricket, but unlike previous occasions when facing South Africa it’s about more than just seeing off the quicks.Kevin Pietersen has looked in fine form during the tournament which makes his three innings of 39, 31 and 59 even more frustrating. His move to the top order was two-fold; to give England a brisk start and to allow Pietersen to build an innings. At the moment he’s only doing half the job. His reverse-sweep against Paul Stirling was just one of many sloppy pieces of cricket England produced at the hands of Ireland and, as much as Pietersen may shrug it off as ‘the way he plays’, it’s a waste of his immense talent to not be building hundreds in such favourable batting conditions. No better place to perform than at the against South Africa.Team newsPietersen, Graeme Swann and Paul Collingwood picked up niggles against Ireland but are expected to be fit. However, Collingwood’s place could come under pressure from Ravi Bopara with England needing power in the their middle order or Michael Yardy could be replaced. James Anderson continues to struggle so Ajmal Shahzad is an option.England (possible) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Kevin Pietersen, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Ian Bell, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Ravi Bopara, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Graeme Swann, 11 James AndersonMorne van Wyk was a surprise selection against Netherlands, prompted by the cloudy morning in Mohali, and ended up keeping wicket with de Villiers having strained his back. Johan Botha was left out against the Dutch but his experience could be useful against England and he may be preferred to Robin Petersen.South Africa (possible) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers (wk), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Morne van Wyk, 7 Francois du Plessis, 8 Johan Botha, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran TahirStats and trivia The last time these two sides met in one-day cricket England secured their first series win on South African soil with a 2-1 success in 2009-10. South Africa knocked Michael Vaughan’s team out of the 2007 World Cup with a crushing nine-wicket victory in the Super Eight clash in Barbados after England were skittled for 154.Graeme Smith hasn’t scored an ODI century for 23 inningsQuotes”The Ireland game would have hurt them a lot. It was terrific for the spirit of the World Cup but they will be looking to bounce back.”
Graeme Smith”It is very dangerous to think about how much cricket we have played in the last couple of months. I think the breaks in between games were enough for people to be able to recover and to perform.”
Jonathan Trott

Steven Smith made a handy 59 but the rest of Australia’s Test squad members struggled in three matches around the country, including in Hobart, where England were on top after one day against Australia A

The Bulletin by Brydon Coverdale at Bellerive Oval16-Nov-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSteven Smith’s half-century helped Australia A reach 230•Getty Images

Australia’s plans for the first Ashes Test are in a mess after a woeful day on which eight specialist batsmen in their Test squad failed in three matches around the country. Steven Smith was one of only two men in the 17-man group for the Gabba who shone with the bat, making 59 against England’s second-string attack in Hobart, but he is unlikely to make the starting line-up next Thursday.Smith and his fellow spin-bowling allrounder Steve O’Keefe rebuilt Australia A’s innings at Bellerive Oval, where they pushed the total to 230 with some lower-order fighting. England lost Andrew Strauss early in the reply for 10, caught by O’Keefe at gully off Mark Cameron, and at stumps they were 1 for 22 with Alastair Cook on 10 and the nightwatchman Monty Panesar on 2.Most significant was the failure of Usman Khawaja and Callum Ferguson, who were named in the squad for the Gabba Test but struggled on a green-top under cloudy skies. They were not alone. At the MCG, Michael Hussey was caught at slip by his brother David for an 18-ball duck, and his Western Australia team-mate Marcus North also departed cheaply for 17, but Mitchell Johnson finished unbeaten on 82.Further north in Sydney, Simon Katich, Shane Watson and Brad Haddin all failed to get past 10, as New South Wales were demolished by Tasmania in their first innings for 97 on a horribly difficult SCG surface. When Tasmania replied, Ricky Ponting came in for the third ball of the innings and managed only 7. Michael Clarke must be thankful that his sore back ruled him out of that match.It was the worst possible warm-up for Australia’s batsmen eight days out from the first Test, especially as the selectors wanted to use these games to settle on a starting line-up. Hussey is the most vulnerable, but neither Khawaja nor Ferguson grasped their opportunities at Bellerive Oval, where it took Smith and O’Keefe to rebuild with half-centuries.England sent their frontline bowlers to Brisbane early to prepare for the Test, but the weakened attack had no trouble causing problems for the top order in helpful conditions. Chris Tremlett finished with 4 for 54 and Ajmal Shahzad, who was flown in from the performance squad to bolster the group, bowled very well for his 3 for 57.Khawaja was caught behind for 13 off a thin edge when Shahzad’s persistent fullish length and angle finally paid off, and Ferguson followed soon afterwards for 7. He was caught behind off Tim Bresnan (2 for 65), and soon the home team was struggling at 5 for 66. Smith and Tim Paine (27) began the rebuilding process until Paine edged behind while trying to hook Tremlett down leg side.But Smith, renowned as a dasher, continued to play sensibly with just the occasional moment of aggression thrown in to satisfy his urges. A hook for six off Bresnan looked more like a forehand smash, and he also pulled confidently in front of square. Smith eventually played on to Shahzad, but O’Keefe pushed on to get the total past 200.O’Keefe was the last man out, caught by Matt Prior when he skied a swipe against Tremlett, and it was a decent recovery given Australia A’s early wobbles. Tremlett backed Andrew Strauss’s decision to send the hosts in by having Phillip Hughes caught behind for 2 in the third over. Tremlett also accounted for Cameron White, who was bowled for 5 attempting an aggressive drive.The only man who looked comfortable early in the challenging conditions was the local opener Ed Cowan, who worked hard for 31, only to see the improbable sight of Monty Panesar hurling himself in the air to take a stunning one-handed catch at midwicket. When Panesar pulls that off, you know it’s not your day. And nor was it Australia’s day anywhere around the nation.

MatériaMais Notícias

Por meio de seu perfil no Twitter, o presidente da MRV, Rafael Menin, comunicou que o processo de escolha da empresa de engenharia que assumirá a obra da Arena do Galo está perto do fim. A expectativa é de que o contrato com a construtora seja assinado ainda em março.

– Terminamos hoje (quarta-feira) mais um etapa que antecede o início das obras da Arena MRV. Realizamos um workshop com as três construtoras participantes do processo competitivo da construção da Arena MRV, chegando assim na reta final desta etapa. A assinatura do contrato deve ocorrer neste mês – publicou Rafael Menin.

Parceira do Atlético-MG, a MRV tem grande participação na construção do estádio que levará seu nome. O terreno onde será erguido a Arena, o bairro Califórnia, em Belo Horizonte, foi doado pela família Menin. Rafael, presidente do grupo, é um dos responsáveis pelo processo de escolha das empresas que estarão envolvidas na construção do estádio.

O projeto da Arena MRV foi aprovado pelo Conselho Deliberativo do Galo em setembro de 2017. Dos 389 conselheiros que participaram da votação, 325 foram a favor e 12 contra. Sendo assim, a maioria concordou com a proposta de venda de 50,15 do Diamond Mall para a Multiplan, pelo valor de R$ 250 milhões, que serão destinados a construção do estádio onde serão investidos R$ 410 milhões.

O resto do montante será dividido entre investidores de forma que R$ 60 milhões sejam pelos naming rights comprados pela MRV e R$ 100 milhões adquiridos com a venda de cadeiras cativas, sendo que 60% deste valor já foi acertado em negociação com o Banco de Minas Gerais (BMG).

Ainda é necessário que a Câmara Municipal de Belo Horizonte aprove o projeto para que as obras sejam iniciadas. O documento foi enviado à prefeitura e o pensamento é otimista, já que os vereadores são favoráveis a construção da “casa” do Atlético. Com capacidade elevada para 47 mil lugares, a Arena MRV será o 10º maior estádio do Brasil neste quesito, de acordo com apontamento do Superesportes.

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Manchester United are moving ever closer to appointing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s long-term successor at Old Trafford with Ralf Rangnick’s interim contract ending shortly.

What’s the word?

Man United have had two primary candidates when considering who to replace Solskajer with Mauricio Pochettino and Erik ten Hag in the running.

However, it looks as though it will be the latter who wins the race to become their new manager.

That’s according to Fabrizio Romano and David Ornstein, with the Italian journalist taking to Twitter on Monday evening to reveal the following news:

“Sources close to Erik ten Hag confirm @David_Ornstein report: his appointment as new Man United manager is at final stages. Nothing signed yet – back room staff to be decided. No announcement expected this week. Ajax and Man Utd will be in contact about €2m clause.”

Fans will be buzzing

At long last, the wait now finally appears to be over.

It has been a turbulent campaign for the Red Devils, moving from an outside bet for the Premier League title after signing the likes of Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo, to a club now who are unlikely to even secure a place in next season’s Champions League.

As a result, to rid the club of those scars and bring in a new manager, especially one as exciting as ten Hag should be incredibly exciting for supporters.

Pochettino has long been admired by the United hierarchy and it was always going to take someone special to leapfrog him in their thoughts.

However, that’s exactly what ten Hag is; special.

The 52-year-old has only ever coached a senior team in the Netherlands so a move to the Premier League, and in particular United, will be an arduous task.

Yet, this only feels positive. The Dutchman was asking for assurances over the amount of say he’d have with incoming transfers and considering he is now close to being appointed, it must mean he is going to play a leading role in proceedings not just in the dugout, but behind the scenes too.

Considering the mess that Man Untied are embroiled in, having a boss with more of a say can only be a good thing for the progression of the club on the pitch.

Combine that with his winning mentality – he has secured two Dutch cups and two Eredivisie titles with Ajax – and this seems like a hire that United have done their due diligence on.

Fans will be elated to finally put this saga to bed.

AND in other news, Ten Hag can become instant hit if MUFC sign £100m “animal” who’s better than Haaland…

Rashid Latif’s has returned to a coaching role with Afghanistan days after stepping down as the Pakistan national academy’s wicketkeeping coach

Cricinfo staff15-Sep-2010Rashid Latif has explained that his aim during his tenure as Afghanistan’s coach will be to take the national team towards Test status “within the next two years”. Latif’s turbulent relationship with Afghanistan cricket took a new twist after he returned to a coaching role with the national team days after stepping down as the Pakistan national academy’s wicketkeeping coach, and barely a month after resigning as Afghanistan’s batting coach.”Cricket is now more popular than the bullet in Afghanistan and I am moved by the interest and the available talent in Afghanistan,” Latif told AFP after confirming that discussions with the Afghan cricket authorities had led to his coaching placement. “Some of the Afghanistan players are so talented that they can break into any international team and my target will be to guide them to Test status within the next two years.”Latif resigned as the PCB’s wicketkeeping coach after being issued a showcause notice by the board for remarks the former captain made about the ongoing spot-fixing scandal on a TV show. Latif had also worked with the Afghanistan national side as batting coach but he stepped down after a month in the post in August following coach Kabir Khan’s sacking, citing irreconcilable differences with officials in the Afghan board.”They are an exciting team and my thinking and mentality, as a straightforward person, matches that of the Afghan players. They, like me, cannot tolerate wrongdoing. I will leave if my chemistry doesn’t work there.”Afghanistan needs cricket to heal the scars of more than 30 years at war. It is my experience that with more and more cricket, the scars of war will be healed. A lot of people tried to dissuade me from travelling to Afghanistan but it is just like Karachi and I had no fear in Kabul or Jalalabad.”

Australia’s Test against Pakistan at Lord’s this week will be a historic occasion for a number of reasons, not least as the first neutral Test in England since 1912. But when the teams take the field on Tuesday, it will also be a special moment for Australia’s smallest state; for the first time three Tasmanians will be playing together in the Test team.Tim Paine, Ben Hilfenhaus and Ricky Ponting will ensure more than adequate representation for the state, which accounts for only 2% of the nation’s population. It has been a long road to this point, for over the first hundred years of Test cricket, Tasmania produced only three Test representatives: Ken Burn, Charles Eady and Laurie Nash, although others like Sam Morris and Max Walker had been born there before moving to the mainland.Now the state has that many in one team. It’s not surprising that it took so long, for until the late 1970s, Tasmania wasn’t included in the Sheffield Shield. They won the competition for the first time in 2006-07 and have lifted the state one-day trophy three times in the past six years, so it was only a matter of time before their numbers in the Test outfit grew.

Tasmania’s Test cricketers

• Ken Burn

• Charles Eady

• Laurie Nash

• Roger Woolley

• David Boon

• Greg Campbell

• Ricky Ponting

• Shaun Young

• Colin Miller

• Jason Krejza

• Ben Hilfenhaus

(Players who were representing Tasmania at the time of Test selection)

“I think it is a great thing for Tassie cricket,” Paine, who will make his debut on Tuesday, said. “The last few years we have started to win some titles down there and I suppose with more team success there has been more individual success so we are starting to build a good group down there. There were three or four guys playing for Australia A last week so it is good that the Tassie boys are starting to be recognised.”In the 1980s, men like Roger Woolley and Greg Campbell broke into the Test team, but David Boon was the man who really put Tasmania on the world cricket map. At the tail end of his career, he handed over to the Launceston boy, Ponting, and they played three Tests together in 1995-96 before Boon’s international career ended.At that stage, Hilfenhaus was 12 and Paine was 11. They’d grown up with Boon as their state hero and watched as Ponting went on to become one of the game’s undisputed modern champions.”Seeing them do really well, it was a goal to look towards,” Hilfenhaus said. “[Ponting] definitely gives you a bit of belief, doesn’t he? He is one of the greatest players of all time so obviously him being a Tasmanian has been a good thing as well.”For Hilfenhaus, the Lord’s Test will not only be a Tasmanian milestone but a personal achievement as well, the culmination of a long period of recovery from knee tendonitis that has kept him out of action since November. He bowled 13 overs in the tour match in Derby, where he collected 1 for 32, and after the match he said he was learning to push through the pain barrier.”I wouldn’t say there’s no soreness,” Hilfenhaus said. “There’s still a bit of a niggle there, and from the reports from the experts it’s probably going to hang around for another six to twelve months. But it’s at the stage now where it’s very manageable and can cope with the workloads.”

Virender Sehwag, as economical with words as with his technique, is not looking for any excuses after his side lost 15 wickets in 124.3 overs

Sidharth Monga in Galle21-Jul-2010Virender Sehwag, as economical with words as with his technique, is not looking for any excuses after his side lost 15 wickets in 124.3 overs and is still 63 runs behind Sri Lanka’s first-innings total, with a full day’s play to go. He said they were aware that their shot selection wasn’t good, that they were now hoping for rain to go with the best efforts of VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni.”Fantastic that we are getting a result even after losing one day’s play,” Sehwag said. “But it is bad for the Indian side. We are on the losing side unless VVS Laxman can play [well] tomorrow, and we are hopeful that after lunch or before tea, rain will come and the match gets washed out as a draw.”Asked about his shot to get out in the first innings, an attempted cut to a delivery that would have otherwise been called wide, with three fielders deep in the off side, Sehwag said: “That’s my scoring shot. If you look at the 7000 runs that I have scored, more than 3000 runs have come through the cut shot. In coming matches too, I will play the same shot. Sometimes you get out, sometimes you score runs. Almost every time, I score runs with the cut shot.”But aren’t India in the position because several batsmen played ill-advised shots? “Everybody is aware of that, but you can’t control certain things,” Sehwag said. “Sometimes you play that shot and you get away with that, sometimes you get out. That’s Test cricket where everybody has played enough matches. They are experienced. It happens in cricket.”Sehwag conceded the pitch hadn’t deteriorated enough to justify the scores and that it was “still a good track to bat on” which made him confident that India could still save the Test. “If you look at the last Test match that we played against South Africa, MS and VVS scored hundred-plus and remained not out and batted really well,” he said. “So they can do that. Laxman and Dravid did that against Australia in 2001, so we have the hope. Still we have one more pair of batsmen, they will go tomorrow and try and their best.”