It took the Pakistan Cricket Board Patron’s XI under an hour to wrap up a comfortable innings-and-38-run victory over the touring Zimbabweans, as both Iftikhar Anjum and Mansoor Amjad finished with three wickets apiece. Despite a maiden first-class hundred from Brendan Taylor, Zimbabwe had finished the third day just two wickets away from defeat, and there was to be no reprieve on the final morning.Taylor top-scored with 141 as Zimbabwe managed 324 all out in their first innings, but the Patron’s XI fast bowlers dominated day three, sharing the wickets as Zimbabwe then collapsed to 142 for 8, still 63 runs behind.Resuming 10 runs away from the milestone this morning, Taylor went to his century during a 42-run partnership with Tatenda Taibu, his captain. But once their stand was broken, wickets fell regularly, and Zimbabwe were 279 for 9 before a cameo innings from Graeme Cremer, the 18-year-old legspinner, took them past 300 to a fairly respectable score.However, Zimbabwe couldn’t escape the follow-on, and they were soon in trouble in their second innings, with the makeshift opening pair, Vusi Sibanda and Stuart Matsikenyeri, both dismissed before the score had passed 20. Obviously trying to give all his batsmen some time in the middle, Taibu played around with his batting order, sending Taylor down the order. Not that it mattered, as Taylor was soon at the crease anyway, with Dion Ebrahim, Alester Maragwede and Mark Vermeulen all making starts, but failing to capitalise. Taylor failed the second time round, though, and the Patron’s XI wrapped up a resounding victory.After this match, the next item on Zimbabwe’s challenging agenda will be the opening one-dayer of the Paktel Cup, against Pakistan, on September 30 at Multan.
As the champions Sussex struggled against MCC at Lord’s, Surrey, their likely title rivals, made an authoritative start to their season against Oxford UCCE at The Parks. A strong side racked up 452 for 5 with three players scoring hundreds. Mark Ramprakash made 113 before retiring hurt, and two of the younger faces, Scott Newman and James Benning, who were the other centurions.Meanwhile, Lee Daggett took 8 for 94 as Durham’s students made life difficult for their professional counterparts at Chester-le-Street. Daggett, 21 and on Lancashire’s books, had a previous first-class best of 2 for 95 and with an average of over 100. Today, though, he almost single-handedly restricted Durham to 311, with Andrew Pratt rescuing his side from 129 for 5 with 67. The students closed on 24 for 1 in reply.Loughborough UCCE also made a decent fist of things, against a Somerset side including Andrew Caddick at Taunton. They reached 257 for 6 with Christopher Nash leading the way. He ended on 54 not out as Caddick finished with figures of 2 for 62.Elsewhere, though, the university sides struggled. Nadeem Malik took 6 for 41 as Worcestershire blasted out Cardiff UCCE for 118 at New Road. The two Stephens, Peters and Moore, then progressed to 21 not out each as Worcestershire closed on 44 for 0. At Fenner’s, Will Jefferson stood out for Essex against Cambridge UCCE with 144, including 19 fours. Jefferson put on 144 with fellow opener Aftab Habib, who scored 54. Ronnie Irani, Essex’s captain, put an end to his side’s extended net, declaring on 292 for 5. Adrian McCoubrey then struck twice before the close as Cambridge faltered to 19 for 2.Christopher Taylor and Simon Guy ensured that Craig White’s first day as Yorkshire captain went smoothly. They put on 200, with Taylor scoring 150, to help Yorkshire to 401 against Bradford/Leeds UCCE at Headingley. John Blain and Victor Craven then grabbed two wickets apiece as the students lost their way, stumbling to 57 for 5 at stumps. Lucky for them it’s not first-class.
After the dazzling display of the 2003 ICC World Cup opening ceremony, the genius of Brian Lara managed to surpass the spectacle and enthrall a capacity crowd of 24,200 in the opening match of the tournament the West Indies and South Africa.Set a target of 279, South Africa spluttered along before Lance Klusener injected some belated life into the match with 57 from 48 balls, taking the hosts agonisingly close to victory.Fined an over for a slow over rate, South Africa ended on 275/9, three runs short. For West Indies it was a deserved and brilliant win, notching them four points on the log.Lara came to the crease with West Indies seven for two in the seventh over,and immediately gave a difficult chance to Jacques Kallis, diving away to his left at second slip, off Makhaya Ntini. Thereafter he never looked back. In anear-perfect display of batting he defended when required, drove with graceand pulled with timed aggression. The longer he stayed, the more menacing the little man with the high back lift became.His 50 came up off 78 balls, and included five fours and a straight six offthe bowling of Allan Donald. His next fifty came up in just 43 balls with thesame number of boundaries and another six, this time off Lance Klusener, neatly and cleanly flicked off the legs over square leg.The brilliance of Lara could only have been ended by brilliance. On 116 he tried to force Ntini to leg, only to get the leading edge and sky the ball into the gap between mid on and mid wicket. Shaun Pollock, running round from mid wicket and diving at the last moment managed to get two hands to the ball and held on as he heavily landed on the turf.A standing ovation from the Newlands faithful greeted a player who deservedevery accolade as he left the field, bat held aloft.Partnerships of 102 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (34), incisive in getting the innings back on track, and 89 with Carl Hooper (40) brought respectability to the West Indies total, after they had been on just 215/5 with four overs left.But a 63-run onslaught in the final four overs from Ricardo Powell and RamnareshSarwan saw the sparkle disappear from the South African eyes. A 23-run overfrom Pollock, twice dispatched for maximum, allowed the West Indies to reachan excellent total of 278/5.Apart for the one expensive over, Pollock was again on line and length, claiming the first two wickets in a six-over spell costing only nine runs. Ntini followed his captain’s example, finishing with 2/37 in his ten overs.For the rest, there is a lot of hard work before the next match against Kenya. Donald was wayward and never settled. Klusener was ineffective, while Kallis was left to bowl the final overs. Hooper never gave Nicky Boje a chance to settle.Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten got the South African innings off to agood start, adding 46 before Gibbs, on 24, pushed lazily forward to Mervyn Dillon to edge to keeper Ridley Jacobs moving to his right.Boeta Dippenaar got bogged down before clearing the ropes at cover for maximum, and then immediately shuffling past a Hooper delivery to be stumped for 20.Kallis edged to Jacobs for 13, and Jonty Rhodes (2) dragged one on from Hooper for South Africa to sit precariously on 117/4. Kirsten and Boucher moved the score to 155 before Kirsten popped a return catch to Dillon for 69 hard-earned runs.Boucher had made a good quick 49, at a run a ball, when he played over the top of a Gayle yorker after seeing Pollock fall to an excellent catch by Hooper at cover.Klusener, man of the series in the 1999 tournament in England, had been in a poor run of form. He could not have chosen a better time to regain his confidence. Five sixes and a four helped him to 50 off 43 balls.He should have been out on 31, but Collins, taking a catch on the boundary,inexplicably took two steps back, and trod on the rope.A good penultimate over, bowled by Collins, resulted in only five runs, leaving South Africa requiring nine off the last over, bowled by Vasbert Drakes. Klusener mistimed the third ball, lofting it into the deep for Hooper to take a low catch inside the boundary. South Africa were 271/8.Klusener, not bothering to run, left Ntini instead of Boje to face. Ntini hoisted the fifth ball into the deep for Ramnaresh Sarwan to speed around the cover boundary, taking a comfortable catch with the score still on 271.With eight runs needed off only one ball, Boje tickled it around the corner for four and West Indies had won by three runs. There were two wickets apiece for Dillon, Collins, Drakes, Hooper and Gayle, but centurion Brian Lara was made man-of-the match.The game had fluctuated continually and as far as entertainment value goes,was a fitting opener to the 2003 ICC World Cup. May the remainder of the games be as exciting as this one.
Kent dominated the second day’s proceedings at Canterbury to build an overall lead of 211 at the halfway point of their CricInfo Championship match with Lancashire.The hosts reached 77 for one in their second innings by the close, this after taking nine Lancashire wickets in the mid-session to dismiss the visitors for 214 and a first innings deficit of 134.England all-rounder Mark Ealham was the man to uproot the Red Rose middle order with figures of six for 64 – his best in Championship cricket for nigh on two years.Using sultry conditions to obtain swing and seam movement, the burly medium-pacer started to wreak havoc with his fourth ball after lunch when visiting skipper John Crawley pushed at an away-swinger to edge to David Fulton at slip.Mark Chilton went leg before to Ben Trott for 35, then Ealham removed Andrew Flintoff and Joe Scuderi in the space of three balls as the rot continued.Warren Hegg’s stubborn stay ended when Martin Saggers found the shoulder of the bat for another Fulton slip catch and when John Wood fell to an Andrew Symonds slinger the follow-on appeared likely.Gary Keedy and Mike Smethurst also succumbed to Ealham leaving Neil Fairbrother and last man Muthiah Muralitharan to score the 24 required to avoid following on.They achieved that courtesy of Fairbrother’s obdurate 39 and a Championship best 21 by Muralitharan, who was last out to Symonds.In the 34 overs remaining in the day Kent lost Fulton, the country’s leading run-scorer, for 17 but Ed Smith (30) and Rob Key (28) batted calmly thereafter to leave Kent in command going into the third day of four.
With games coming thick and fast over a frantic December period, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Arsenal’s performances have dwindled somewhat.
There was a week in which the Gunners scored a collective seven goals against Spurs and Bayern Munich but more recent displays have lacked the same firepower.
They lost to Aston Villa a few weeks ago and besides the 3-0 win over Brugge, have failed to score more than two goals across wins over Wolves, Everton and Crystal Palace.
That said, Mikel Arteta’s men have still only lost one game since August. They’re flying and well in the driver’s seat to win the Premier League title next May.
A big part of that has been due to the transfer business that Arteta and Andrea Berta have completed. It differs considerably from the days of Unai Emery. The current crop may have the Spaniard to thank for bringing William Saliba to the Emirates Stadium but beyond that, things were a bit of a disaster in the market.
Nicolas Pepe is proof of that.
What went wrong for Nicolas Pepe at Arsenal
Back in the summer of 2019 Arsenal decided to break their transfer record on a marquee addition.
They paid a colossal £72m to bring Lille winger Pepe to the Emirates. Remarkably, six years on, he is still the second biggest addition in the club’s history.
However, while the new record signing in Declan Rice has gone from strength to strength, Pepe flopped in Arsenal colours and is still remembered as a total disaster in north London.
It’s a peculiar tale, really. The Ivorian arrived in England off the back of a stunning season in France. He netted 22 goals across the 2018/19 campaign but never replicated that after his mega-money move.
It says it all that Emery didn’t even want him. Detailing the saga a few years ago, the former Arsenal boss commented: “Pepe is a good player but he needs time. When I was there he didn’t give me the performances. I was in favour of someone coming who knew the English league, more than anything so that he wouldn’t need a period of adaptation.”
Revealing who he wanted instead, the now Aston Villa manager said: “I had a meeting with Zaha. He was the player I wanted because I could see that he won so many games on his own. I saw 20 Zaha games, some incredible performances and I told them that this is the player that I want for this team. I spoke to Zaha. I had been with him personally. And he wanted to come.”
Alas, Arsenal were stuck with Pepe and while he flirted with delivering some strong performances, scoring 16 goals in 2020/21, he was more known for injuries and a lack of end product.
The fact he only found the net 11 times across his final two campaigns in red and white said it all.
Arsenal’s transfer business since then has been a lot more impressive but might a new Pepe be emerging during the Berta and Arteta era?
Arsenal's new Nicolas Pepe
Everything about the Pepe move was a nightmare, not least because they paid over £70m, but because they ultimately ended up seeing him leave on a free transfer.
From a financial point of view, it was a mess. He will go down as one of the biggest flops in Premier League history.
It’s too early to judge any of Berta’s signings in that light but it does feel as though Arsenal may have wasted a bit of cash during their huge summer of spending.
Viktor Gyokeres may well have scored against Everton last weekend but he has still only bagged seven times since arriving from Sporting in the summer.
Chalkboard
Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.
That said, he’s arguably had a better time of it at Arsenal than Noni Madueke. Signed for a whopping £52m, including add-ons from Chelsea, many questioned and many protested the signing.
In the early stages of his career with the club, he proved people wrong. Bukayo Saka endured a period on the sidelines and Madueke certainly came into his own.
He notably caught the eye during starts against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. The 3-0 win over Forest was a particular highlight, completing five dribbles and supplying five key passes. It was a Saka-esque performance from a player who was signed to deliver exactly that. He is here to ensure Saka isn’t missed when he’s injured.
To his credit, Madueke has been impressive in spurts. His first goal against Club Brugge in the Champions League a few weeks ago was a spectacular strike from range. Meanwhile, his goal against Bayern Munich – his first for Arsenal – was rather timely.
The Gunners needed an extra spark to get over the line and he delivered. Saka was surprisingly brought off but Madueke stepped up to the plate by scoring at the back post from Riccardo Calafiori’s cross.
However, like Pepe, he’s struggled for end product. This is a player who is still yet to score a goal or assist one in the Premier League this season.
Meanwhile, his performance against Crystal Palace on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup was particularly wasteful, spurning two OPTA-defined ‘big chances’.
Madueke vs Crystal Palace
Minutes played
67
Touches
41
Accurate passes
14/21 (67%)
Successful dribbles
1/1
Possession lost
14x
Shots
5
Shots on target
3
Big chances missed
2
Duels won
1/4
Stats via Sofascore.
One came in the 22nd minute when Gabriel Martinelli lofted the ball over the defence into Madueke. Rather than shooting first time, he decided to take the ball down and then fire an effort at goal. From a few yards out he hit it straight at the keeper.
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It felt like Madueke had countless opportunities in that first half, striking another effort straight at the Palace ‘keeper towards the end of the opening 45 minutes.
You sense that Saka, even though he is not prolific himself, would have found the net from at least one of those opportunities.
Madueke, on the other hand, continues to produce inconsistent displays. Like Pepe, he’s got a moment of magic in him. That goal against Brugge said it all. Pepe also had that in his locker. Remember that free-kick in the Europa League?
There are more parallels beyond that. Their playstyle is also similar. Left footed right wingers, they enjoy cutting inside to influence play from central zones. Their dribbling style is also similar, and they both sadly have a lack of end product to boot.
Madueke, perhaps, in that regard, is even worse. Pepe did, at least, have that barnstorming campaign with Lille to shout about.
While the former Chelsea man thankfully did not cost quite as much as the Ivory Coast international, there are some worrying similarities.
Madueke has been tipped to explode under Arteta and Kai Havertz is evidence that we must not write off a player too soon. We hope he will still come good.
For now, however, the Pepe comparisons will stick until he produces end product on a consistent basis.
Worse than Eze: Arteta must drop 5/10 Arsenal flop who lost 75% duels
It really was a night to forget in the League Cup for Eberechi Eze and one of his Arsenal teammates.
The troubles don’t seem to abate for the Bangalore Royal Challengers; off-field controversies plagued the bottom-placed side going into the match against Kings XI Punjab, and a nine-wicket mauling in Mohali leaves the second-most expensive franchise in the IPL all but out of the semi-finals.On a hard deck suited for strokeplay, Bangalore’s batsmen once again failed to fire, and after they were restricted to 143, the chase was a mere formality. Shaun Marsh, though, didn’t show any mercy on a hapless opposition, and his unbeaten 74 completed an emphatic nine-wicket win, pushing his team to second place .After Rahul Dravid, an under-pressure Bangalore captain, decided to bat, Misbah-ul-Haq and Virat Kohli gave a glimmer of hope that the side’s top-order woes had come to an end. But unfortunately, both batsmen failed to capitalise on their starts.Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan got the ball to swing early: Pathan’s first over was a maiden, while J Arunkumar was done in by some extra bounce from Sreesanth. That brought in Misbah, who managed to hit two short balls from Sreesanth for four, though not convincingly. At the other end, Kohli dispatched Pathan for successive fours. Misbah then launched Sreesanth just over the long-off boundary, but the four that followed was among the best in the tournament, as Misbah made room to a full delivery on middle, got down on his knee and majestically drove the ball square. But next ball he was out in bizarre fashion, as he somehow trod onto the stumps while pushing a Sreesanth delivery to the off side.Yuvraj took a gamble by bringing Piyush Chawla in the final Powerplay over, and though he started by straying on leg, he bowled Kohli after the batsman had swept him twice to the boundary. Once Misbah and Kohli exited, Bangalore failed to keep up the momentum. VRV Singh slipped in a couple of economical overs, and Chawla got his second wicket when he ran towards midwicket to complete a splendid catch off a top-edge from Cameron White.Dravid once again was unable to improvise as required in the Twenty20 format, and his 27-ball 29 will do little to silence the critics. As in the previous game against Chennai Super Kings, Punjab’s bowlers were largely right on the mark at the end. VRV followed up his miserly first spell, in which he gave just eight, with an exceptional second, conceding one less than in his first. He mostly kept it straight, putting in the occasional short delivery, and towards the end he relied primarily on yorkers.Bangalore needed to strike early to put pressure on Punjab, but the Australian duo of Shaun Marsh and James Hopes got the home side off to a confident start. Hopes gave the innings the early momentum, hitting three sixes, but another attempt at clearing long-off against Vinay Kumar was caught by a diving Dale Steyn.Marsh, the in-form player, was quiet during the Powerplay overs, and he was lucky as substitute fielder Bharat Chipli grassed one at mid-off when he was on 12. He took on Anil Kumble in his first over, sending one over long-off, as Punjab motored to 70 for 1 after ten. Steyn was brought back to stem the flow, but leaked more runs: Marsh smashed the first delivery through extra cover for four, lifted the next over the square boundary, and then swatted one straight over mid-off’s head. A frustrated Steyn then got one in the blockhole, but Marsh deftly sneaked it past the wicketkeeper.Marsh’s fifty came off a single in the same over, and a deflated Bangalore side could do nothing much to stop Punjab from then on. Luke Pomersbach, playing his first game, also took a liking for Kumble, carting him for two sixes and a four. Kumble, who is yet to take a wicket in the IPL, even resorted to seam-up, but Marsh late-cut it delightfully.With victory in sight, Marsh and Pomersbach didn’t relent, each hitting two boundaries as Zaheer Khan’s final over, the penultimate of the game, went for 18. Marsh took a single to seal the deal with 4.2 overs remaining. With his unbeaten 74, Marsh now has a Bradmanesque average of 98.33 in the IPL, and if he continues in the same vein, a semi-final slot shouldn’t be a headache for Punjab, who are already sitting pretty at 12 points from nine games.
Paul Nixon will captain Leicestershire in their remaining County Championship matches this season, taking over from Darren Robinson whose form has been poor in the first half of the summer.Nixon’s first match in charge will be against Glamorgan, starting on Sunday, as the Championship resumes following a two-week break for Twenty20.”I am delighted to be working with Paul as captain. He has consistently been a high performer on the field and as well as being one of the fittest members of the squad, he is a role model to all,” said coach Tim Boon. “His appointment will help us to develop our policy this year of giving the most promising young players at Grace Road a chance to stake a claim for a regular first team place alongside other senior players.”Boon added that the club needed some fresh ideas after a slow start to the season, which has seen them miss out on the Twenty20 quarter-finals due to the wet weather.”The first half of the season has been indifferent for a number of reasons,” he said. “We have had a catalogue of injuries, international call ups including RP Singh to the Indian touring team and latterly the weather”Despite the adversity in the first half of the season, I have been very encouraged by the way Jeremy Snape has led the one-day team and look forward to the Pro40 in the second half of the season.”Snape will continue to lead the one-day side and Robinson is due for a run in the second XI as he tries to find his form.
Pakistanis 97 for 3 (Younis Khan 50*) trail Northants 269 for 3 dec (Peters 142, Afzaal 71*) by 172 runs ScorecardPakistan’s preparations for the second Test went far from smoothly as they struggled with both bat and ball on the first day against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road. At the close, the Pakistanis were 97 for 3 in reply to Northants’s 269 for 3.Of most worry to the tourists will be that their openers once again failed, as they had done at Lord’s in the first Test. Salman Butt and Imran Farhat both fell for 4, Butt failing to survive the first over for the second innings in succession as he nicked Charl Pietersen to Riki Wessels, the wicketkeeper. Farhat lasted longer but perished when he drove at Ben Phillips and was well taken by Stephen Peters at backward square leg.The Pakistanis soon found themselves on 50 for 3 when Taufeeq Umar snicked David Wigley to give Wessels his second catch. But with Younis Khan completing an unbeaten fifty, they reached stumps with no more alarms.Peters had earlier laid into the Pakistanis’ second-string bowling attack, cracking an impressive 142 as Northants scored with ease. Peters and Usman Afzaal shared a third-wicket stand of 170 after coming together shortly before lunch. Although Northants could have batted on, they declared as soon as Peters had holed out to long leg not long after tea.
Kent closed the third day against Sussex at Canterbury needing another 89 runs to climb to the summit of Division One of the County Championship. But they will have their work cut out, after slumping to 97 for 6 on a day in which 20 wickets tumbled. Kent had begun the day on 323 for 6 in their first innings and handily placed to claim a first-innings lead. But the Pakistani pairing of Mushtaq Ahmed and Naved-ul-Hasan cut them down for 348, a deficit of 30. Sussex in reply stumbled to 155 all out, with Amjad Khan taking 4 for 39, but they were back on top by the close. James Kirtley whipped out two early wickets before Mushtaq and Naved struck twice each.
Danish Kaneria took 6 for 74 in Northamptonshire’s second innings at Chelmsford, to set Essex up for a ten-wicket win. Northants were always up against it after conceding 506 in Essex’s first innings, and though Ben Phillips and Damien Wright delayed the inevitable for a while with a pair of half-centuries, as soon as the follow-on had been enforced the end was nigh. At 202 for 2, Northants were looking decent prospects for a draw, but Usman Afzaal and Bilal Shafayat fell in quick succession and the rest came meekly. Essex needed just two deliveries in the fourth innings to wrap up their win.
North Zone 249 and 2 for 0 need another 115 to beat Central Zone 154 and 211 (Saxena 51) Scorecard The North Zone bowlers gave their team a great chance of posting an outright victory over Central Zone in Gurgaon. Having conceded a vital 95-run lead, Central Zone managed only 211 when they batted again a set North a simple target of 117. Barring Vineet Saxena, who compiled a dogged 51, none of the batsmen managed a sizeable score. Wickets fell at regular intervals and 211 was all that they managed. Amit Bhandari, Gagandeep Singh and Joginder Sharma – the three medium-pacers – picked up three wickets each and put North on course to winning their opening game. The North Zone openers, Aakash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir, had to face only one over before stumps were drawn.