Sunderland showed a real squad togetherness away at Brighton and Hove Albion to collect a hard-fought point.

It wasn’t the prettiest display by any stretch of the imagination, as the Black Cats had to make do with a 0-0 stalemate on the South Coast.

But, with six figures in Regis Le Bris’ camp now out at the African Cup of Nations, it was still a positive sign that the Wearside battlers will continue to work hard for each other, even if their ranks are a little decimated.

In particular, Daniel Ballard stood out once more as a hard-to-break-down defensive presence, as the former Arsenal centre-back continues to impress this season for the Premier League newcomers.

Ballard's standout Premier League performances

In a summer of much change at the Stadium of Light in terms of incomings, Ballard has managed to stay put in Le Bris’ first team plans, having first joined the ranks during the 2022/23 season in the Championship.

Now, he looks every bit a Premier League-calibre defender, with a player of the match accolade even arriving his way at the close of the dull draw at the Amex, with Sky Sports’ Dougie Critchley hailing him as Sunderland’s “star player” on the day.

The numbers back up all this wild praise, too, as the Northern Ireland international trudged off at the end of the even contest with a mammoth 16 duels and tackles won, alongside only misplacing five of his 46 passes as a calming influence in the heart of the rock-solid Black Cats defence.

He even had two on-target attempts at Bart Verbruggen’s well-protected goal, with Ballard standing out all season long as “one of the big characters on the pitch” as per ex-Manchester United defender Phil Jones, when scoring two goals – one of which came against his ex-employers in Arsenal – and also winning a resolute 6.3 duels per league clash.

He has made the jump up from the Championship to the Premier League look a breeze; therefore, with Le Bris hopeful that he has another Ballard on his hands in this equally combative figure, who could become an even more crucial part of the Frenchman’s team, with the ongoing AFCON.

Sunderland's new Ballard

Having forked out £162m on new recruits this summer, there will be some delight on Sunderland’s end, too, that a large portion of their promotion heroes have taken to the step-up with ease, over these flashy signings stealing all of the limelight.

With Reinildo out in Morocco with Mozambique for the next couple of weeks, Trai Hume has a real opportunity to show Le Bris that he is also a Ballard-type figure; being an energetic and reliable defender cut out for the bright lights of the Premier League.

Hume’s numbers vs Brighton

Stat

Hume

Minutes played

90

Touches

53

Accurate passes

21/25 (84%)

Key passes

1

Accurate crosses

1/1

Tackles won

5/7

Interceptions

1

Clearances

4

Blocked shots

0

Recoveries

5

Total duels won

10/16

Stats by Sofascore

He has been Sunderland’s main starter in the right back spot this season, having been a dependable face to rely on during the Black Cats’ playoff journey, but his importance to the cause will go up even more now, to rival Ballard’s status as one of the first names on the team sheet, as he put in an admirable shift in the left-back spot against the Seagulls, in Reinildo’s absence.

Indeed, the versatile 23-year-old very much lived up to his tag of being a “warrior” that was handed to him by his manager in the second tier, having won 15 tackles and duels to preserve Robin Roefs’ clean sheet.

Moreover, he also had flashes of attacking impetus, much like Ballard, with one shot and one key pass registered, with the ex-Lorient manager surely feeling less uneasy now about the ex-Atletico Madrid defender not being present, knowing he has a fan favourite in Hume who can step up when required.

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Only costing a remarkable £200k to obtain from Linfield in early 2022, it’s clear that the £45k-per-week full-back is a bargain that was purchased while Sunderland decayed in the Championship, which has now paid off, with Ballard also only costing a modest £2m, too, to win from the Gunners.

Le Bris will want improvements in the attacking department, with Nick Woltemade’s own goal the only strike Sunderland have been able to cheer across the last two games.

But, he won’t be displeased by the Black Cats’ defensive acumen, as Ballard and Hume aim to start more games together across the busy winter period to come, to steer their well-drilled team to plenty more well-fought points.

Related Fewer touches than Roefs & only 9 passes: Sunderland star must be dropped

Regis Le Bris could look to drop this Sunderland star after his uneventful display in their 0-0 Brighton and Hove Albion stalemate.

Posts ByKelan Sarson

Chris Cairns and Craig McMillan blasted hundreds as New Zealand cruised to an easy 127-run win over a Queensland XI in the first of two one-day practice matches at Allan Border Field, Brisbane, today.The matches have been arranged as preparation for the New Zealanders before they embark on a triangular one-day series against Pakistan and South Africa in Singapore starting next Sunday. Queensland have already played host to the Australian team for two matches over the past three days.While New Zealand had a comfortable win in today’s match, they suffered a blow with wicketkeeper Chris Nevin being unable to take his place behind the stumps after injuring a tendon. Nevin is being flown back to New Zealand and is out of the Singapore series. Adam Parore is replacing Nevin and will fly into Brisbane to join the New Zealand squad tomorrow morning.NZ captain Stephen Fleming won the toss and elected to bat first. Daniel Vettori opened the batting with Chris Nevin. Usual opening batsman Nathan Astle is playing for Accrington in the Lancashire League and will join the NZ camp in Singapore later this week.By the end of the third over both openers were back in the pavilion. Nevin made seven, while the Vettori experiment ended with his score on four, becoming Scott Muller’s first victim of the day.Muller claimed his second wicket and Queensland’s third with the score on 49, Stephen Fleming (15) hitting a catch to the waiting hands of Jimmy Maher. This brought Cairns to the crease, and in Muller’s next over Cairns moved into full cry with a four, a six and a six off successive deliveries. Twenty-two runs off the over saw Muller (2/56 from seven overs) removed from the attack, the second day in a row that he had taken a mauling.The scoring was in excess of a run a ball when Roger Twose (24) was the next wicket to fall, caught behind off the bowling of Matthew Pascoe. McMillan joined Cairns and after a brief settling in period the onslaught resumed.Cairns brought up his half-century in the 23rd over with a boundary off Lee Carseldine, having faced just 36 balls. He was severe on off-spinner Scott O’Leary, lofting him for sixes in consecutive overs.Cairns’ 100 came up on his 87th ball faced in the innings, but he failed to add to that score when he lofted O’Leary to a waiting Scott Muller. He hit seven fours and five sixes in his even hundred.McMillan brought up his half-century off 84 deliveries in the 43rd over of the innings, but with Chris Harris as his new partner, the scoring rate simply accelerated. The final eight overs of the New Zealand innings yielded 108 runs, McMillan bringing up his hundred on the second last ball of the fiftieth over from 108 deliveries. That’s 24 balls for his second fifty.McMillan was out off the final ball of the innings for 103 (nine fours, three sixes), while Harris (38* from 23 balls, three fours, two sixes) played one of the innings that has made his reputation as one of the finest late-overs batsmen in the world.New Zealand finished their fifty overs with a total of 7/321. Muller was the only bowler to take two wickets. Scott O’Leary (1/76 from ten overs) has yet to play for Queensland in a Pura Cup or Mercantile Mutual Cup match, and is unlikely to experience the same baptism of fire when the day of his competition debut does arrive.From the moment that Jimmy Maher (14) was given out lbw to Geoff Allott in the seventh over, Queensland were never in the hunt. Jerry Cassell made a fine 58, and Scott Prestwidge (31, including two sixes off Vettori) played a lively innings, but at the thirty-over mark the required run rate per over was already more than 10.Eight New Zealanders were giving bowling practice, and at least the Queenslanders can say that they lasted the full fifty overs, their score at the end of the innings being 9/194. Shayne O’Connor (3/24 from seven overs), Chris Harris (3/23 from eight) and Geoff Allott (2/26 from seven) were the best of the NZ bowlers.With Nevin unable to keep wicket, Roger Twose donned the gloves until Queensland Second XI keeper Gavin Fitness had been summoned to take over. Fitness, in his role as New Zealand substitute keeper, found himself in the unusual situation of stumping fellow Queenslander Brendan Creevey off the bowling of Vettori.New Zealand have one more practice match against Queensland tomorrow Tuesday. Parore is expected to keep wicket for the visitors, almost immediately after hopping off the plane.

ScorecardWes Durston was named Man of the Match as Derbyshire beat Yorkshire•PA Photos

Yorkshire’s fading hopes of reaching the quarter-finals of the NatWest T20 Blast were dealt another blow when they lost by four wickets to bottom-of-the-table Derbyshire in the North Group match at Chesterfield.They never recovered from losing three wickets to the offspin of Derbyshire captain Wes Durston in the first five overs and although Glenn Maxwell scored 45 from 29 balls and Jack Leaning 37 from 22, the visitors could only manage 146 for 9.Hamish Rutherford smashed 40 from 24 balls in front of a sell-out Queen’s Park crowd of 4500 and Wayne Madsen scored 41 from 38 balls as Derbyshire reached their target in the 19th over to end a run of seven consecutive home defeats against Yorkshire in T20 cricket.Yorkshire promoted Adil Rashid to open in place of Aaron Finch, who was ruled out with a foot injury, but made only 7 before he was stumped trying to hit Durston through the offside. Durston struck again in the same over when Alex Lees was bowled and Yorkshire were in serious trouble when Andrew Gale had his leg stump knocked back aiming to lift Durston over midwicket.Yorkshire’s first boundary did not come until Maxwell drove the last ball of the fifth over past mid-off and the batsmen struggled to get the ball away until Jonny Bairstow lifted Alex Hughes over long-off for six.Maxwell took two fours off fellow Australian Nathan Rimmington as Yorkshire reached 60 for 3 at the halfway point and he drove Hughes over extra cover for six before Bairstow was caught sweeping Greg Cork for 22. When Maxwell was bowled by Thakor , Yorkshire were 88 for 5 and in danger of falling well short of a competitive total and Tim Bresnan’s attempt to clear the ropes only ended in the hands of deep midwicket.Leaning and Liam Plunkett plundered 17 off the 18th over from Cork but three wickets fell in the final over leaving Yorkshire with what looked a below-par total on a small ground.Durston launched his team’s chase by lofting Maxwell’s second ball over midwicket for six and although Matthew Fisher knocked out his leg stump in the second over, Hamish Rutherford drove Maxwell over the pavilion in the fifth over.Chesney Hughes was lbw sweeping at Maxwell but the over cost 16, including five wides, and Rutherford took four fours from Josh Shaw’s first over as Derbyshire accelerated towards their target.The New Zealander drove a return catch back to Plunkett and although Shiv Thakor was run out, Derbyshire appeared to be cruising until Madsen was caught behind and Billy Godleman was needlessly run out in the 17th over. But Alex Hughes eased the pressure by pulling Plunkett for six and Derbyshire recorded only their second T20 win in 10 games at Queen’s Park with seven balls to spare.”That gives us a lot of confidence, to beat a strong Yorkshire side” Durston said. “I don’t think I could have gone through another meeting where we were talking about how we should have won. We know we’ve got the players to do it, it’s about having the belief and although I got the Man of the Match, that was for the team.”Yorkshire’s director of cricket Martyn Moxon said: “I felt we had a chance if we bowled and fielded well but we didn’t bowl well enough as a group, there were too many easy four balls and it was a pretty disappointing performance all-round. The bottom line is we are not playing well enough in this form of the game.”

ScorecardGareth Roderick’s hundred gave Gloucestershire a total that proved just enough in the end•Getty Images

Outstanding fielding made the difference as Gloucestershire made it two wins in as many games in an exciting finish to a wonderful Royal London Cup game at Grace Road.Leicestershire had looked dead and buried when they subsided to 128 for 5 chasing 316 to win, before a partnership of 96 in 13.3 overs between 20-year-old Aadil Ali (84 from 86 balls) and 21-year-old Michael Burgess (49 from 44) dragged the Foxes back into the game.Rob Taylor then hit an unbeaten 42 from just 23 balls, leaving Clint McKay required to hit three off the last ball to win the game. The Australian drove David Payne hard towards extra cover, but Gloucestershire captain Michael Klinger pulled off a fine diving stop and a run-out, restricting the hosts to just a single.Gloucestershire beat Derbyshire off the final ball in their previous game and Klinger said it was “nice” to win some tight matches for a change.“We lost our discipline a bit towards the end with our bowling, and we knew they could bat all the way down, but David Payne bowled a tight last over,” said Klinger, who had earlier lost one of his bowlers, James Fuller, who had to be withdrawn from the attack after bowling consecutive beamers – the second time this season the young pace bowler has had to be withdrawn from the attack.”James does not mean to bowl beamers, but it is the second time he’s done it this season and it gives me something else to worry about,” said Klinger.Gloucestershire scored quickly from the start after being put in by Foxes skipper Mark Cosgrove. Gareth Roderick, initially in company with Chris Dent and then with Klinger, paced his innings superbly, taking full advantage of some loose bowling and fielding by the hosts to go to his century off 114 balls.Geraint Jones took up the attack in style, hitting a List A career-best 87 off 61 balls in his 205th appearance before being caught at long-on off McKay, comfortably the pick of the Leicestershire bowlers with 2 for 31. Benny Howell kept the momentum going with an unbeaten 28 off 17.Cosgrove, Angus Robson and Ned Eckersley all gave their wickets away cheaply after getting in, but youngsters Ali and Burgess – the latter making his home debut – played without apparent nerves, and Ali looked unfortunate to be given out caught behind off after a half-hearted appeal.Taylor hit out strongly but lost the strike off the final ball, and Klinger’s excellent fielding saw the visitors home.”We know we’re going in the right direction, and it was tough not to get over the line, but the bottom line is we have to get results. Even so, we’ll take alot of confidence into the match against Yorkshire on Monday,” Burgess said.

Match facts

September 13, 2015
Start time 10.30am (0930GMT)1:54

‘Having to fake experience’ – Maxwell

Big Picture

If there were fears the English international season would limp to a conclusion – first of all in the wake of Ashes victory and then with Australia taking a 2-0 lead in this series – they have been emphatically put to bed by England’s back-to-back victories, which mean there is a winner-takes-all match at Old Trafford.The weather has played ball and the pitches have been terrific for one-day cricket: pace to encourage the likes of Pat Cummins, but which also allows attacking batsmen to prosper, enough turn to not make the spinners redundant coupled with fast outfields that have provided value for shot. Three-hundred has proved the benchmark, but England’s chase at Headingley to level the series showed that it can be overhauled.For both the teams, it is the beginning of a rebuilding process in one-day cricket. It will be interesting to see how closely the sides at the 2017 Champions Trophy – to be played in England – compare to what is currently taking the field.But the here and now is about winning on Sunday. If England pull off the comeback job to take the series, it will give Eoin Morgan a complete set of limited-overs success this season. For Australia, it is their last chance to take something from a tour which began with such high expectations, but that will largely be remembered for batting collapses and retirements.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
England WWLLW
Australia LLWWW

In the spotlight

Jason Roy has looked a million dollars in this series. He was the only one of the top six not to pass fifty against New Zealand, but has made two stylish half-centuries and not fallen for less than 31 in the four matches. He was named, alongside Morgan, as the key England batsman by Pat Cummins. The ease with which Roy drives through cover and clips off his legs – the latter with more than a hint of Kevin Pietersen – means it looks like a waste when a soft dismissal crops up. England clearly like what they see, but a match-defining contribution would cap his summer.With Mitchell Starc having earned a rest at Headingley, it means Steven Smith will be the only Australian to play every international of the tour and there is precious little time before his next task, in Bangladesh. He has made runs in all three formats and will leave these shores knowing it is on his shoulders to help shape the future of the team. Does he have one major innings left in him for this trip?

Teams news

England’s one decision is whether to recall Steven Finn, who was rested for the fourth match, in place of Mark Wood who, while bowling quickly, has struggled to take wickets (four in six ODIs now) and has a high economy rate. Although David Willey proved expensive at the death, his new-ball burst of three wickets was valuable.England (possible) 1 Alex Hales, 2 Jason Roy, 3 James Taylor, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Liam Plunkett, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 David Willey, 11 Steven FinnAustralia must decide whether to push out Starc for one more match on this tour, while they will most likely have to find room for Ashton Agar – probably at the expense of Marcus Stoinis. James Pattinson and John Hastings were both expensive at Headingley and one probably has to make way. Hastings offers more batting, while Pattinson has more of a future ahead of him.Australia (possible) 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Joe Burns, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 George Bailey, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Ashton Agar, 9 John Hastings, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Pat Cummins

Pitch and conditions

A day game this time, so some different considerations to the previous match on the ground which was under lights. It is also being played on a new surface. England exploited some early swing in Leeds with a 10.30am start, but the spinners will again expect some help. The forecast has improved with a dry day in the offing.

Stats and trivia

• If England win the deciding match, it will be their first bilateral one-day series win against Australia during an Ashes tour – as opposed to a tri-series or standalone series as in 2010 and 2012 – since 1997.
• Eoin Morgan needs one run to become just the second England batsman to score 600 runs in a home summer – Andrew Strauss made 745 in 210.
• If Pat Cummins takes two wickets he will equal the most scalps taken by an Australia bowler in a five-match one-day series. Clint McKay took 14 against Pakistan in 2009-10.

Quotes

“If momentum does exist then it is with us. We managed to steal a bit of it while we were in Manchester. I think confidence is a contributor to that. Going into Sunday the guys are full of confidence and we are really looking forward to it.”
“We really wanted to come here and finish off the series and give us some breathing space for Manchester.. We played it like a final, but the good thing is Sunday will be a final and we’ve played a lot of them and been quite successful.”

A week after Australia called off their tour to Bangladesh citing “security fears”, former Australia captain Ian Chappell has said the ICC needs to step in and coordinate security efforts. He also said he believed the decision might have been a “little different” had a similar situation arisen ahead of a tour to India.”The ICC and the cricket boards need to set up a committee, which has a security background,” he said on his bi-weekly show Chappelli Calls It on ESPNcricinfo. “It’s got to get information from all the countries and relevant parties but by doing that you are taking it out of the hands of the individual boards, who look at different situations differently.”Chappell said while it was easy to “say no” to a tour to Bangladesh, the prospect of “far greater ramifications” of a pull-out from India would make it “not so easy” to make a similar decision. “The obvious one is about India, they will be very reluctant not to tour India. If it was the IPL, for instance, and the decision was on the heads of the individual players, it would be interesting to see what decision was taken then.”I guess it’s very hard to ignore government advice on matters of security,” Chappell said. “The question I would ask is if the same situation was occurring on a tour to India, what would happen then? That makes me wonder if the decision might have been a little different. As long as you have the individual countries making that decision, whether we will or we won’t, you’re always going to have a situation where you are going to say for a tour to Bangladesh, it’s pretty easy to say no. For a tour to India, not so easy to say no, because the ramifications are far greater.”As the fate of the tour hung in the balance after Cricket Australia received specific information from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade about a possible security risk to Australian interests in the country, the Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan assured that Australia would receive “unprecedented levels of security” if they made the trip.Hassan went on to say: “Risks of untoward occurrences and threats are an unfortunate reality in today’s world and can happen anywhere. That is why we have placed utmost importance on preventive methods and action.” Chappell said he has sympathy for Hassan’s position and believes the episode should prompt the formation of a body that can make an independent assessment of a country’s security situation.”Whoever is saying that is quite right, we have had some terrorist incidents in Australia in recent times, that is the way of the world at the moment,” he said. “At the 1996 World Cup, Australia were reluctant to go to Sri Lanka. They were guaranteed head-of-state type security, it even got to the point where they talked about flying them in in the morning and flying them out in the evening, and still Australia refused to partake in that game.”

ScorecardJonny Bairstow was the biggest beneficiary on the opening day of England’s first warm-up match against Pakistan A, as he scored an unbeaten 66 to press his claims for retaining a spot in the middle order for the Test series.Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Adil Rashid also began with half-centuries, but Moeen Ali fell for 22 after being given the first chance to open. Jos Buttler also failed in his first innings since a lean finish to the English season.Bairstow was given the opportunity at No. 5 ahead of James Taylor, who had been tipped for a spot after his successful one-day series against Australia and prowess against spin. But Bairstow, who returned to the Test side against Australia at Edgbaston, took his chance after a sticky start where he reached 11 off 46 balls before hitting his first boundary. He ended with 66 off 112 deliveries.

Root enjoys being back in the hot seat

Joe Root is eager to get back into the thick of the action after his post-Ashes break and the time away appeared to have done little to disrupt his 2015 run-scoring form as he eased to 59 before retiring against Pakistan A.
“I definitely feel like I benefited from it,” Root said “It’s very important that you don’t drop off … lose performance through tiredness or over-playing. I feel really fresh now, and raring to go for this series. I’ll crack on now and make sure I’m absolutely ready for whatever Pakistan throw at us in that first game.”
England have been sweating it on the early days of the tour with temperatures in the 40s and Root said that to spend time in the middle in such conditions was priceless ahead of the Test series which begins in Abu Dhabi next week.
“Personally, it was great … very valuable – to get used to the surroundings, the heat, the surface and facing lots of overs of spin which, after an English summer, is not something you’re necessarily accustomed to.
“It’s going to be hard work. But there’s no point moaning about it – ‘poor me’ is not for our team. We’ve just got to get on with it. It was a pitch that did spin, from pretty much the start and I think we played it really well.”

The most fluent batting of the day came during the unbroken 103-run stand in 24 overs between Bairstow and Rashid, the latter skipping to a 78-ball fifty, while the pair opened up in the closing overs with a six apiece.Pakistan A, who were boosted by the late inclusion of national captain Misbah-ul-Haq as he sought some practice ahead of the Test series, gave England a taste of what is to come by sending down a large quantity of spin – 50 overs in all – with left-armer Zafar Gohar finding the most success. Gohar claimed 3 for 72, which included the wickets of Bell, who had been given a life on 5 by Adnan Akmal, Buttler and Cook.The first breakthrough of the day, though, went to pace when Moeen hooked Zia-ul-Haq to long leg where Ehsan Adil took a fine diving catch. Moeen had not always looked certain during his stay of just over an hour, but being given the first chance during the warm-up matches reinforces the view that he is the favoured route for the first Test.Bell was scratchy during his stay either side of lunch and eventually fell lbw sweeping at Gohar, although he clearly thought he had hit the ball. Cook then tickled the same bowler to leg slip having reached his fifty off 126 balls, the sort of anchor role England will need on this trip.Root had not batted in the middle since the final Ashes Test but soon found his groove. His fifty came off 84 balls and a short while afterwards he trotted off to allow others a chance before England’s batting time ran out at the end of the day.Ben Stokes could only manage 6 before he fell cutting at the offspin of Iftikhar Ahmed and Buttler was lbw to Gohar third ball. Buttler had problems against Nathan Lyon during the Ashes, a series where he made just 122 runs at 15.25, and it is not beyond the realms that his position as keeper in Tests becomes threatened by Bairstow if his returns do not improve on this tour.

The case of Andrew Fitch-Holland, the co-accused in the Chris Cairns perjury trial, has been reduced to the status of a “sideshow”, according to his lawyer, Jonathan Laidlaw, QC.Fitch-Holland denies perverting the course of justice, a charge he faces jointly with Cairns, after the pair allegedly attempted to secure a false witness statement from Lou Vincent, the disgraced former New Zealand batsman, in support of Cairns’ successful libel action against Lalit Modi in 2012.In the course of the six-week trial, Fitch-Holland has been characterised by the prosecution as a “star-struck” individual who had fallen so far under Cairns’ influence that he was willing to risk his career and reputation as a lawyer.However, Laidlaw argued that the prosecution had become so focused on securing a verdict against Cairns that they had allowed themselves to be taken in by the testimony of Vincent, a “deeply flawed individual” who “wouldn’t recognise the truth if it struck him square in the forehead.””The prosecution has become rather too Cairns-focused in this case,” said Laidlaw. “Have they overlooked that there is a second man on trial here?”The key evidence in the case against Fitch-Holland and Cairns, who also denies a second count of perjury, lies in a recorded Skype conversation between Fitch-Holland and Vincent, in which the defendant says: “Between you and I, we all know some of what is being said is clearly true”.Vincent, who was plainly uncomfortable in the course of the conversation, at one stage responds: “It’s a big ask from me to… in a legal document say something that isn’t true.”Well that’s right,” Fitch-Holland replies.Laidlaw dismissed the evidence as “the cursory, and unfair selection of six lines or so” and described the predicament of his client as being “the thing of nightmares for a practicing barrister”.”It can’t get much worse that to be accused of interfering with a system of justice you plainly respect,” Laidlaw said.Vincent, by contrast, had – in the QC’s estimation – “lied and lied and has literally escaped scot free”, having avoided either a jail sentence or a fine despite confirming last year that he had taken money to influence matches.”The word of a man who has committed umpteen criminal offences all over the world for which he has escaped with what? A ban, a life ban in cricket imposed at a time when he’d finished playing the game”, Laidlaw said. “If it weren’t so serious it would be laughable.”Throughout his testimony, Fitch-Holland maintained his belief that Cairns was innocent of match-fixing. Therefore, his lawyer added, if the jury believe that Cairns is not guilty then, by extension, the same ruling must apply to Fitch-Holland, because he cannot have contrived to cover up a crime that did not exist.The judge is expected to begin his summing-up of the case on Friday, with the jury likely to retire on Monday to consider its verdict.

The West Indies Busta XI finished their four day match inTrinidad, against the touring Zimbabwe team this past Monday on avery strong note as Guyanese youngster, Ramnaresh Sarwan, slammedtwo centuries in a very comprehensive bid for West Indiesselection. Upon winning the toss, Zimbabwe captain, AlistairCampbell, asked the home side to take first knock on a Guaracarapitch that looked like a batsman’s paradise. The decision musthave delighted the Busta XI batsmen for when they were finallybowled out for 349, both Ramnaresh Sarwan and Sylvester `Bouncin’Joseph had compiled two even centuries of extremely high class.Both batsmen were perfect foils for the other as they wererelentless in their attack on the Zimbabwean attack. Henry Olongawas the main sufferer as he was milked for 103 runs from his 18overs. Bryan Strang was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 36.The Zimbabweans initially started badly as Trinidadian, MarlonBlack claimed two early wickets for just nine runs. However, themiddle order batsmen in Trevor Gripper (30), Murray Goodwin (30),Alistair Campbell (158) and Stuart Carlisle (86) pulled the fightback together as they established a formidable total of 394 allout. Campbell played a captain’s innings as he and Carlisleshared in a sixth wicket 160 run partnership. Marlon Black had astrong return of 4 for 87 and was ably assisted by Cameron Cuffy(3 for 70) who bowled with persistent aggression.In their second innings, the Busta XI decided to bat out for somemuch needed batting practice. At the close on the fourth andfinal day the Busta XI were all out for a formidable total of417. Sarwan once again played an innings of brilliance as heaccumulated his second century of the match, this time amasterful 111. He was ably assisted, as in the first innings, bySylvester Joseph who put together a solid 51. Darren Ganga (41),Rawl Lewis (62) and Cameron Cuffy (37) also aided the Busta XI’scause as they constructed a massive second innings total.Sarwan has obviously submitted a huge claim for selection, as theselectors can obviously not ignore these centuries. Such asituation is food for thought as the WICB announced that theywill not select outside of their 20-man squad, of which Sarwan isnot a member, for the two test series against the Zimbabweans. Itseems to be a poor move by the WICB as they are restrictingthemselves to 20 players in a home series. Why restrict yourselfon home soil? Restriction should be avoided as much as possible,especially ahead of a two test series, which starts thisThursday, in which a new captain, manager and coach are to embarkon a mission to revive West Indies Cricket.West Indies 13 man squad for first test to begin on the 16thMarch: Jimmy Adams (captain), Ridley Jacobs, Curtley Ambrose,Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sherwin Cambell, Adrian Griffith,Courtney Walsh, Wavell Hinds, Reon King, Franklyn Rose, NehemiahPerry, Chris Gayle, Ricardo Powell.Thanks: The Anguillian (https://www.sports.ai/)

JOHANNESBURG (October 13) – A masterful century from Sven Koenig guided the Highveld Strikers to a six-run victory over Border in their Standard Bank Cup limited overs match at the Wanderers on Friday evening.With regular opener Andrew Hall doing duty for South Africa in the ICC Knockout tournament in Kenya, Koenig stepped into the breach and engineered a dramatic victory over the same side they beat in last season’s final of the Supersport Series at this same ground.Batting with remarkable confidence so early in the domestic season, Koenig hit six fours on his way to 109 runs off only 118 balls as his side climbed to a total of 229.Border skipper Pieter Strydom led from the front with his superb 89 not out, and along with Steven Pope’s 63 helped steer the side to a credible 223 for the loss of seven wickets as their alloted 45 overs caught up with them following a pedestrian start by the visitors.Strikers captain Clive Eksteen won the toss and elected to bat first.Koenig, who walked off with the man of the match award, stood out head and shoulders above a Strikers top order that struggled to stay the pace with him.Adam Bacher departed for a mere 10 runs, and Zander de Bruyn also offered little in the way of resistance with his six runs.Daryll Cullinan also failed to deliver the kind of performance he was looking for to remind the national selectors that he is still a force to be reckoned with in the limited overs game. Cullinan seemed to be well on his way to doing just that as he raced to 39 off 36 balls, including six fours and two sixes. But the bowling of Steven Pope put a premature end to his performance.Ottis Gibson added a useful 30 runs, along with his figures of 3-44, before the collapse of the Strikers’ tail. The home side went on to lose five wickets for only 24 runs.Drakes was the predictable leader of the visitors’ bowling attack, taking two wickets, of which Koening was one, for 31 runs in his nine-over spell.