Admitting that he was embarrassed by his on-field behaviour during the second Test against England at Trent Bridge, Sreesanth said he wanted to apologise to England captain Michael Vaughan for the body-barge incident.”To be honest, I’m embarrassed by what I did and I think I will have to change,” Sreesanth said. “I want to say sorry for that [the Vaughan incident] but no one should question my commitment,” said Sreesanth, who was fined 50 per cent of his match fee for the incident.”I am thankful to Rahul bhai [Dravid] for showing faith in me,” Sreesanth told ESPN. “He was upset with a few things, but after the game he came and told me when we were celebrating in the dressing-room, ‘Sree, after all this, after all the explanations I had to give for you, I still love you and want you to do well.'”Sreesanth said he did a few unwanted things during the second Test out of sheer frustration and wanted to make amends for that. “Frankly, that was the worst part, may be that’s the reason I did a few silly things like coming around the wicket to batsmen when I should have continued bowling the basic stuff.”I was really feeling sad that I haven’t contributed. I was trying too many things and last two nights of the Test match slept clutching my India cap thinking it will get me luck,” he said.However, Sreesanth said he did not hurl the beamer at Kevin Pietersen on purpose. “Nothing is more dear to me than the game itself and I swear by this game that I was attempting a yorker but my wrist position went horribly wrong and it went as a beamer.”See, I don’t stride to the wicket, I sprint. Ask any cricketer and he will tell you that it is impossible to bowl a beamer with a run-up like mine. I had bowled two deliveries on a good length and was trying to bowl a yorker which went horribly wrong,” he said.Sreesanth said he loved to play his game hard and a few errors could have emerged out of that.”Look, I’m a proud Indian and play the game hard. I’m still new to international cricket and can have an odd slip but that doesn’t mean I’m not putting that extra effort.”In fact, I was happy that I kept coming hard at the batsmen all day long but as an Indian I wear my heart on the cuff not even on the sleeve.”Sreesanth, who has an interesting habit of writing letters to God before every game, said that he had hoped to play a crucial role in India’s Trent Bridge victory.”Yes, I did write a letter to God before the fourth day of the Test. I wrote in that, ‘Tomorrow I will win the Test match for my country. I will be the one, God please help me.’ But it didn’t go that way. Well, maybe I didn’t write my name in the end and God thought it came from Zaheer bhai,” he said.
ScorecardThe final day of Nottinghamshire’s match against West Indies A was abandoned without a ball bowled. Heavy thunderstorms have been sweeping through the country and the umpires called the game off before the scheduled start. This was the last first-class match of the tour for West Indies, who now finish their trip with a one-day match against Hampshire, at The Rose Bowl, on Sunday.
Australia have rested five of their big guns for the second-Test warm-up against Worcestershire, but rain threatens to curtail the traditional Ashes tour fixture. Bad weather has forced the cancellation of the side’s final training session at the New Road ground and it is predicted to continue through the three-day match.Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Shane Warne have been rested after their success in the first Test at Lord’s, while Adam Gilchrist and Damien Martyn also have free time this weekend. The five will be replaced by the non-Test members, with Brad Hodge and Shaun Tait getting their first matches of the tour. Brad Haddin, whose only game was against Somerset, will stand-in behind the stumps and Michael Kasprowicz and Stuart MacGill will step into an attack led by the struggling Jason Gillespie.Worcestershire, who were the traditional opponents for the opening contest of an Ashes tour, have the international bowlers Shoaib Akhtar, Gareth Batty, Kabir Ali and Ray Price in their squad, but Shoaib has already been ruled out with injury. The game is due to start tomorrow.The Australian XI Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting (capt), Simon Katich, Brad Hodge, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin (wk), Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz, Shaun Tait and Stuart MacGill.Worcestershire Vikram Solanki (capt), Stephen Moore, Stephen Peters, Graeme Hick, Ben Smith, Zander de Bruyn, Gareth Batty, Kabir Ali, James Pipe, Matt Mason, Nadeem Malik, Ray Price (12th man to be named).
After their dream start to the series, Sri Lanka tried to consolidate on thesecond morning. The pace of the game slowed with Australia’s bowlersproducing a far more disciplined display. They nipped out a couple wicketstoo, but Sri Lanka still had their nose ahead as they went into the lunch break on 3 for 162, just 58 runs in the arrears.Ricky Ponting handed the ball to Michael Kasprowicz and Shane Warne in themorning. The pair bowled tightly and Sri Lanka, clearly trying toconsolidate upon the advantage won yesterday, crawled along during the firsthour, scoring just 37 runs.Kasprowicz, who bowled five overs for 13, snatched an importantwicket, clinging on to a sharp one-handed return catch off a firm push-drivefrom Kumar Sangakkara. Sangakkara, who had started his innings the previousevening with a majestic six over midwicket off Stuart MacGill, had scored 22 (2 for 92).Atapattu, meanwhile, dug in on the slow pitch. He forced away one eleganthigh-elbowed back-foot drive behind square off Kasprowicz to the boundary,but was otherwise content to accumulate his runs with pushes and neat clips.But the entry of Jason Gillespie created more problems.Atapattu came within a whisker of being bowled as he shouldered arms to adelivery that jagged back from outside off stump. Next over, straight aftera sweetly timed legside flick, Gillespie found the inside edge as Atapattuchopped onto his stumps for 47 (3 for 123).Mahela Jayawardene (43 not out) showed more adventurous intent at the otherend, slapping Warne through extra cover on one occasion and also sweepingone for four. But Warne was also settling into his groove, probing away fromover and round the wicket, and keeping Jayawardene on his toes.Tillakaratne Dilshan’s arrival at the crease was followed byanother bowling change. Gillespie, who bowled a superb spell of 1 for 12 from six overs, was replaced by Kasprowicz. Dilshan had a couple of narrow escapes, surviving a close lbw shout off Kasprowicz and then getting into a tangle with a well-directed yorker. However, David Shepard, pale-faced under the scorching mid-day sun, kept his fingerfirmly down.MacGill, ignored until 15 minutes before lunch, finally entered thefray as Warne collected his cap after a long 13-over morning spell. MacGill made an inauspicious start, serving up a full-toss first up which was heaved to the leg-side fence.Jayawardene finished off the session on a positive note, steering away adelicate late-cut and then, next ball, slog-sweeping Andrew Symonds oversquare leg. The late boundaries sealed Sri Lanka’s morning but Australiaweren’t out of the game yet.
All-rounder Andre Adams was disappointed to miss New Zealand’s tour to his parents’ West Indies homeland last year but he made up for it with a superb display in the 20-run win over them at the World Cup match in Port Elizabeth today.New Zealand ripped through the West Indies top-order to take five wickets for 12 runs and to breathe life back into their Cup campaign. Their fielding level was outstanding and revealed a level of commitment significantly higher than in their opening match of the tournament.Winning was the only option for New Zealand after their loss to Sri Lanka in the opening game, and their refusal to travel to Kenya, but they made life much easier for themselves after reducing the West Indies to 46 for five wickets as they chased 242 for victory.The crucial blow was the run out of Brian Lara as he attempted to take a third run from Adams’ bowling. The ball was run down just short of the mid-wicket boundary by Lou Vincent. He fired the ball to Chris Cairns on the relay throw, and Cairns threw down the wicket with a direct hit and Lara well out of his ground.The New Zealanders celebrated in style because they knew the value of the left-hander’s wicket after his opening match century against South Africa.Adams proved the destroyer, this despite being hit for three successive boundaries by opener Chris Gayle. When he finished his first spell he had the wickets of Gayle, Wavell Hinds and Carl Hooper for 30 runs.He then came back and took the last wicket of the match when bowling Mervyn Dillon to end with four for 44 from 9.4 overs.Ramnaresh Sarwan and Ridley Jacobs ensured the game didn’t turn into a rout with a World Cup record stand of 98 for the seventh wicket. They broke Stephen Fleming and Chris Harris’ record set against Pakistan at the 1999 World Cup.Sarwan batted beautifully for his 75 while Jacobs also scored a half-century, but the whole time they were batting they were unable to prevent the run rate required steadily climbing until it was just over nine when Sarwan was bowled by Daniel Vettori.Jacob Oram did an outstanding job of containment with an accurate, probing spell which saw him pick up the wickets of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ricardo Powell. He ended his 10 overs with two wickets for 26 runs. His catch of Jacobs was a great demonstration of the agility which he brings to the match, having to dive and then correct in order to pull off a startling catch.Cairns wasn’t so fortunate in his return to bowling at international level. His only over went for 21 runs and it included a wide and no-ball.New Zealand’s innings was notable for the lack of panic which so destroyed the side’s chase against Sri Lanka in the first match. With the pitch slowing up noticeably during the innings, and the West Indies having to employ part-timers Hinds and Gayle in a dibbly-dobbly-type role, it was clear that the 241 for seven wickets that New Zealand scored was a competitive total, even against the high-powered West Indian batsmen.Hinds proved the most successful of the West Indies bowlers with his career-best figures of three wickets for 35. Dillon was also a handful with one for 30 from 10 overs.The sight of Vettori opening the innings was not too surprising, but the sight of Fleming walking out with him rather than Nathan Astle was a shock.It was a reasonable ploy, considering the high risk factor involved in not having tried it out in recent times. While he had opened many times for his province Northern Districts in New Zealand domestic cricket, Vettori had only once before opened for New Zealand, in a match against South Africa in Singapore.They put on 42 for the first wicket before Fleming was out on 25 to a caught and bowled chance which Dillon accepted. Vettori followed at 60 having brought up 500 runs in his 100th ODI, and Scott Styris at 66.Astle, who came in at No 3, and Cairns regained some poise and added 64 uncomplicated runs before umpire Rudi Koertzen gave Astle out caught by wicket-keeper Jacobs for 46 when television evidence showed Astle never touched the ball. It wasn’t surprising Astle was disappointed, his 46 runs were his second highest score in World Cup matches, after the century he scored in his first Cup game in the 1996 tournament in India.Then after all the good work had been done, Cairns was caught on the long off boundary for 37 and Vincent was caught at close cover for nine, having scored his 1000th run. And at 147 for six wickets desperation was again the key.Forty-one runs were added by Harris and Brendon McCullum before Harris was bowled for 19 by Gayle in the 44th over.It was left to McCullum and Adams to hit New Zealand out of a fix, which they did with an unbroken New Zealand World Cup eighth-wicket partnership record of 53 runs off 43 balls. Adams hit two sixes and and a four in his 35 off 24 while McCullum showed great solidity in his 36 not out.New Zealand now play South Africa on Sunday knowing that the prize is even greater if they can win that one. The decision to return Vincent to the field was vindicated, not only with his performance there but for the role played by wicket-keeper McCullum, firstly with the bat but then behind the stumps.
Waqar Younis, the Pakistan captain, talks about his experiences in England.Why is it that the Pakistani batsmen freeze whenever there is a crunch game? ‘Well, this is the second time it has happened while I have been the captain (the first time in the ARY Cup final at Sharjah and the second at Lord’s in the NatWest Series final). We probably take a bit more pressure than we should, our batsmen are more tense on big occasions. That’s why we lose wickets early on, and then keep on losing them. The same happened in the NatWest final. I would want to work on this aspect, and I hope that in future things would improve and we would be mentally tougher than we have so far been.’
Are you happy with the way the combinations developed during this tour? Where do you feel the improvements are needed? ‘Well, generally speaking, it was a good tour, and apart from Lord’s and in the NatWest final, most of the youngsters and experienced hands combined well. But we definitely need to improve, and for this I think it is imperative to bring in some young guns, some fresh legs. In my opinion, a lot of work needs to be done in the fielding area. That is one segment of the game where we are well below the international standards.’How big a problem is it that the opening slots remain unsettled, and the one permanent opener, Saeed Anwar, never really comes good in big matches? ‘I think you’re right in pointing out the problem of the openers. That has really bugged us for a while. Partnering Saeed Anwar, Saleem Elahi did reasonably well in the latter part of the NatWest series (he actually scored 70-odd in one game and nothing much in the final). Mohammad Wasim was actually very disappointing and Shahid Afridi too was not getting the runs.As far as Saeed Anwar is concerned, I believe he has played well. Probably he has been unlucky in the finals or maybe he is getting good balls. But he is an asset and can be of real good value to the country in the next two to three years. Hence, he should not be talked about in disparaging terms.I suppose we would all be working on our weaknesses in the break that we’ve got before the Asian Test Championship. There is also a month of camp training prior to that, and it would be a definite help in doing away with the chinks and generally improving our cricket.’
But as far as the NatWest Trophy was concerned, Shahid Afridi and Imran Nazir were sent as openers. Imran Nazir never got a game. Not playing him was a bit unfair on the youngster and detrimental to the cause of the team. Don’t you think that logically, if Afridi was not delivering, Nazir should have been tried? ‘Well, I concede that we need to work on Imran Nazir and some other youngsters, such as Imran Farhat. Nazir, we thought, was a little too young for big-time cricket. But Nazir and Farhat are the two future prospects, and we have to stick to them till they are mature enough.’Under pressure all the time, how did you feel about captaining an unpredictable team in a high-profile England season? And wasn’t the finale hugely disappointing? ‘WeIl, losing the First Test inside three days, and then coming back into the series was not easy. It really took some doing, and I really appreciate everybody keeping their heads down and lifting their game to a level where we could wrest back the initiative and draw the series. Trust me, it wasn’t easy. Once we had squared the series we took our form to the one-dayers and I was very pleased with our performance other than the final. In the final, had we scored as many as 230-odd we may have put up a good fight; 150 was just not good enough. It was really very disappointing…’Would it have been slightly better had the team gone over to England a trifle earlier than it did to acclimatise better? ‘Yeah, it may have helped; we were there in the wetter part of the summer, in May. It’s never easy in those parts at that time of the year. If we had some more practice, it may have made a difference in the Lord’s Test. But I suppose that we’ve done well despite the odds being rather tall. When we started the tour the English press was mostly talking about us only being there to provide them with some warm-up for the Ashes. By the time we were through with them we had silenced our critics by proving to them that we still were one of the best sides in the world.’
And the number of injuries too was pretty high, wasn’t it? ‘Yes, it was, but that somehow has been the case for the previous few tours. I suppose the incidence of too many injuries also had an impact.’Are you still looking forward to continuing as a player and captain till the 2003 World Cup?: ‘Well, I’ve got no idea for the moment… I really don’t know. I’ve not spoken to the PCB Chairman, Lt. Gen. Tauqir Zia and I would be leaving for Australia to be with my wife who is expecting our first-born. So hopefully things would be clearer once I come back and have a talk with him.’Thirteen wickets in two matches must have been a great morale booster…? ‘Yes, of course. As a captain it is always important to lead from the front, and provide the team with crucial wickets. As a fast bowler too, it was very satisfying. I think I really bowled well both in the Test Matches and the one-dayers. I am very pleased with the way I’m bowling these days. I just hope and wish to continue like this.’Do you feel the pressures of captaincy have had any effect on your performance as a bowler? ‘Well, on the contrary, my individual performance has picked up. After all, I was named Man of the Series in the NatWest Trophy. In my own assessment, I think I’ve done quite well as a bowler while as a captain, given the circumstances, my performance has been quite good.’Do you believe the crowd behaviour took a considerable bit of gloss off your better displays? ‘Of course, it did. But what could we have done about it? We tried to communicate as much as we possibly could to avert such incidents. I suppose there has to be greater awareness about such things amongst the expatriate Pakistanis. While we greatly value their support, when they indulge in such activities it only ends up giving us a bad name and puts us under unnecessary pressure.’What are your thoughts on the next home season, which is a bit heavy in terms of schedule, as the Test Championship is scheduled in September, followed by home series against New Zealand and the West Indies, and also a quadrangular. Would you demand from the PCB that it make, unlike the previous season, wickets that are livelier? ‘As I told you, we have a month-long camp before the Asian Championship. If I stay on as captain, we would assess where our strengths and weaknesses lie, and also those of our opponents and then decide what our requirements are and take it from there.’
West Ham United are aboard a sinking ship in the Premier League this season, and Nuno Espirito Santo is struggling to get a tune out of this crop of players, whose 3-0 loss at Manchester City kept them in the relegation zone.
It’s not looking good. That’s now back-to-back defeats in the top flight for the Hammers, whose winless run has been extended to six matches.
Falling to Pep Guardiola’s Man City at the Etihad Stadium is hardly a world-ending result, but there’s no question that the manner of the loss, West Ham’s performance, is gravely concerning.
Too many players flattered to deceive.
West Ham's worst players vs Man City
West Ham owner David Sullivan faces overseeing relegation from the Premier League, with Nuno’s crop of players all flattering to deceive.
Against City, there wasn’t much to write home about, though there was something to be said of the cranked-up attack on the hosts’ goal after the interval. As per Sofascore, the entirety of the Irons’ xG total of 0.99 came during the second half.
It was a tough afternoon at the office for homegrown talent Ollie Scarles, with prominent fan voice Martyn Hobbs even asserting that the 20-year-old left-back “is nowhere near Prem standard”.
Scarles is a young and inexperienced player, though, and he was let down by his senior peers, with one in particular doing little to suggest that West Ham shouldn’t have sold him when they had the chance this summer.
West Ham should've sold 4/10 star
There’s no question that Lucas Paqueta is one of the most talented players in West Ham’s modern history, and he’s achieved some high points indeed, but he’s also struggling this season, and isn’t exavctly pulling his weight.
Against Manchester City, he toiled away to little avail without ever playing with the sparkle and drive that we know is within his capacity.
The statistics outlined some success on the Brazilian’s part, but metrics can be deceiving, with this another frustrating display that left much to be desired.
Indeed, the 28-year-old won nine duels and completed two dribbles before being replaced by Tomas Soucek with 78 minutes on the board, but he also ceded possession 14 times, losing the ball every 4.4 touches without crafting much of note. Sofascore data shows that he created two chances.
Paqueta’s Last Two Premier League Seasons
Stats (* per game)
24/25
25/26
Matches (starts)
33 (27)
15 (15)
Goals
4
3
Assists
0
0
Shots (on target)*
1.2 (0.2)
1.3 (0.6)
Accurate passes
33.6 (79%)
35.6 (78%)
Key passes*
1.1
1.3
Big chances created
4
5
Succ. dribbles*
0.6 (50%)
1.0 (38%)
Ball recoveries
4.5
4.4
Tackles + interceptions*
2.5
2.5
Duels (won)*
6.0 (48%)
6.9 (47%)
Errors
6
1
Data via Sofascore
The fact that Paqueta has failed to create an assist since the 2023/24 campaign is telling.
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Claret & Hugh certainly weren’t impressed. The Hammers-focused site were scathing in their criticism of the ‘disinterested’ Brazilian, handing him a 4/10 match rating and remarking that they had had enough of such a talented playmaker continuing to punch below his weight.
How much longer can this continue? Paqueta is quite happy to pull strings when West Ham are firing on all cylinders, but he lacks the tenacity and desire to play a talismanic role when the tide is against him and his team. And the tide has been unkind to United for quite some time now.
Flamengo tried to sign Paqueta this summer after he was cleared of misconduct charges, and Manchester City were said to have revisited their interest earlier in 2025 too.
Now, Paqueta’s stock has diminished, and will diminish further still if West Ham are relegated. Unfortunately, all is not well at the London Stadium.
Shades of Rice: West Ham planning talks to sign £18m "leader"
The up-and-coming young star could be as much of a game-changer for West Ham as Declan Rice once was.
Canada have joined the Twenty20 bandwagon and will host their first tournament in Toronto on May 17 and 18. Eight teams from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia will compete.”In the light of what is happening in the IPL in India at the moment, what we are undertaking in Canada is a major step to restore this sport to its former glory which it enjoyed till ice hockey replaced it,” the board’s CEO Atul Ahuja said.Ahuja was present at the launch of the IPL in Bangalore last month and said that the owners of the franchises had indicated a willingness to send teams to Canada. “All of them … promised to send Twenty20 teams to Canada in the summer to help us groom players. We have a huge talent from the South Asian and Caribbean communities in Canada.”However, if they do, the sides are unlikely to bear much resemblance to those playing in the IPL at the moment and most of the high-profile players will be on international duty elsewhere.
Hong Kong booked their place in the semi-final of the ACC women’s tournament with a six-wicket victory over Thailand at Johor.Thailand put up a gutsy performance, but Hong Kong’s class and composure saw them through.Winning the toss, Hong Kong captain Neisha Pratt put Thailand in under cloudy conditions. The Thai top order confidently negotiated the new ball and scored runs against one of the best attacks in the competition. Hong Kong were guilty of bowling short on the rather slow ‘moonchong clay’ surface.Pratt got an early breakthrough for Hong Kong, after which Chan Sau Har picked up the critical second wicket in the 14th over, of opener Arissa. From then on, the Hong Kong bowlers dominated, with the last eight Thai wickets accounting for only 12 runs. Fifteen-year old Godiva Li bagged three wickets in her second spell, all three deliveries being yorkers.In reply, Hong Kong had a jittery start, losing an early wicket. The Thailand team, marshalled by captain Sornnarin Tippoch, were enthusiastic in the field as they defended their total of 40. The shuffled Hong Kong batting line-up looked wobbly against the Thai attack, and wickets tumbled.At the fall of the fourth wicket came Pratt – who had to change in a hurry after opting not to open – and she steadied the chase with Keenu Gill to eventually take them home.Lal Jayasinghe, the Hong Kong coach, said after the win: “All of our bowlers with the exception of Neisha Pratt are under 18 and their lack of experience of bowling on turf showed at the beginning but once they worked things out, they made things happen.”
One of cricket’s most famous paintings – Albert Chevallier Tayler’s picture of the Kent v Lancashire match at Canterbury in 1906 – has been sold at auction for £600,000.I was purchased by Andrew Brownsword, whose Charitable Foundation buys selected works of art in order that they can be retained for public viewing.The painting, which was commissioned by the county to commemorate their first Championship in 1906, hung in the pavilion at Canterbury until 1999 when it became too expensive to insure. It was then loaned to MCC and displayed at Lord’s.”The decision to sell the painting was a difficult one, but the finances of county cricket clubs are becoming increasingly fragile and, since it was no longer possible to display it at Canterbury, we took the view that the proceeds should be used to help to ensure the longer-term future of the club,” Carl Openshaw, Kent’s chairman explained. “From Kent’s point of view, this is the ideal outcome, since I understand that this unique painting will in the short-term at least continue to hang at Lord’s where it can be seen by future generations of cricket lovers.”Click here for the story of the painting’s origins.