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ScorecardMark Footitt joined the England squad in the summer [file picture]•Getty Images

Mark Cosgrove scored his second century of the season against Derbyshire to raise Leicestershire’s chances of completing a championship double over their local rivals in the Division Two match at Derby.The Foxes skipper followed his hundred at Grace Road last month with an unbeaten 126, his highest score of the season, after the visitors had been in trouble at 55 for 3 and shared a fourth wicket stand of 144 with Aadil Ali who made 62Mark Footitt, who could be playing his last game for Derbyshire, was again the pick of the home attack, taking three more wickets to claim 10 in a match for the first time in his career but at the close Leicestershire were 284 in front on 307 for 7.The first part of the day had belonged to Derbyshire with Ben Cotton scoring a career-best 43, adding 65 in 14 overs with Tom Millns to give their side a slender 23 run lead before Footitt plunged the visitors into trouble with two wickets in three overs.Cotton defeated Ned Eckersley’s defence push to leave the batsmen with the worrying statistic of having been bowled in 14 of his 33 first-class innings this season and when Footitt had Dan Redfern caught at second slip and Angus Robson edged behind, Leicestershire were only 32 runs ahead.Another wicket at that stage would have left them in danger of losing in three days but Cosgrove has a good record at Derby, having scored a career best 233 for Glamorgan on this ground in 2006, and after a cautious start, he began to put his team back in the contest.Ali again showed impressive judgement and temperament to help his captain restore the balance, pulling Wes Durston over the long on boundary after Cosgrove had driven the off-spinner for six.Cosgrove drove Millns for four to take the stand past 100 and the intensity of the cricket led to the umpires speaking to both captains after an exchange between Cosgrove and Cotton just before tea.Perhaps that disturbed Ali’s concentration because he was lbw to the final ball of the session from Durston and when Niall O’Brien fell to Footitt without scoring, Derbyshire sensed another opening.But Cosgrove, who completed 1,000 championship runs for the season, was the key and he reached his fourth hundred and his third in eight innings when he drove a Durston full toss for his 18th four.Lewis Hill helped him add 61 in 15 overs and with Ben Raine chipping in with 27, Derbyshire have a lot to do to avoid going through a season without a home championship win for the first time since 2005.”After the morning session when we didn’t play our best cricket, the back end of the day was ours in the end but it’s probably 60-40 so there’s no real lead at the moment,” Cosgrove said.”It was an important partnership between me and Aadil because at that stage of the game we needed to dig in and bat time and knock it around. Aadil has been fantastic for us this year and it’s really good to see the young kids come through.”Cotton believes Derbyshire are still in with a good chance of finishing with a victory. “The sun’s been on the pitch for three days and it’s starting to flatten out a little bit so once you get through the new ball there’s not a great deal there although I thought we clawed it back in the last session.”It’s not one of those games that’s just going to fizzle out and we are going to try and be aggressive and take it all the way.”

Nic Pothas provided the sort of innings that was once a regular feature ofhis repertoire, but has been missing for the last couple of seasons, to takethe Highveld Strikers to a thrilling five-wicket victory with two balls oftheir 45 overs to spare.Pothas belted 79 off just 77 balls, the last 26 coming offjust 18 deliveries, to see his side through to their victory target of 226in 44.4 overs, after they had faced an asking rate of eight to the over inthe latter stages. Forty-eight were needed off the last six, then 31 off thelast four and 18 off the last two. That was when Pothas really came into hisown as Kenny Benjamin’s last over went for 14, taking the match away fromthe visitors.It was a bitter pill to swallow for the team from Benoni, just 35km away, asthey suffered their third defeat in six days to see their chances ofreaching the semi-finals diminish even further. Prior to their match againstBoland on January 5, Easterns had been sitting pretty with four wins fromfive matches. Now, despite gaining a bonus point in each of those threematches, they find themselves outside the top four with two difficultmatches, away to Eastern Province and at home to Free State, to come.In truth, the visitor’s defeat was partly of their own making. Having wonthe toss and chosen to bat, Easterns got off to a great start as Mike Rindeland new recruit Andre Seymore put on 120 for the first wicket, before beingseparated at the halfway mark of the innings, in the 23rd over, when Seymorewas bowled by Clive Eksteen for 46.At that point, they were looking good for a total beyond 250, but Rindel ranhimself out just 12 runs later for 60, made off just 63 balls, including 22off Eksteen’s first two overs, and after that, Easterns were never able tosustain the same scoring rate. It fell below five to the over, only gettingup to that mark again through some good late hitting and running by captainDeon Jordaan and Aldo van den Berg. That enabled them to reach 225 forseven, which proved to be just short of what they needed.For the Strikers, after a woeful season, the victory over a team includingmany former Strikers players salvaged some much-needed pride, given thatthey can no longer qualify for the semi-finals.

Chappell on Dhoni – ‘I had foreseen a great future for Dhoni. He has proved his potential and as a leader he has been most impressive’ © Getty Images

Former India coach Greg Chappell has praised Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy and said the Indian team is shaping up well under him. Chappell quit as coach after the World Cup earlier this year, ending a two-year tenure with the team.Though his stint was mired in controversy, Dhoni was one of the successes and Chappell said he had seen a lot of potential in him. Dhoni led an inexperienced team to victory in the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa, his debut series as captain.”I had foreseen a great future for Dhoni,” Chappell told . “He has proved his potential and has been most impressive as a leader. The Indians are lucky to have a leader like him.”Chappell, currently in India as a consultant for the Future Cricket Academy of the Rajasthan Cricket Association, based in Jaipur, acknowledged India’s recent success.”The Indian team is now doing well,” he said. “When I was the coach, whatever I did stood them in good stead. It is up to the others to judge. They have a few exciting players and have already won the ICC World Twenty20.”The good thing about Indian cricket is that it has a varied environment in which players are groomed differently. The players, like those from far-flung areas, are an example of that.”The current one-day series between India and Australia, Chappell said, would be a close contest, despite a few senior Australian players retiring from the game in recent months.”The Australian team is in a transition phase. There is no [Glenn] McGrath or Shane Warne. But they are well prepared for the series. They have been working hard and they have to keep intact their supremacy. I believe it will be a hard fought series.”His work at the academy, Chappell said, would not necessarily replicate training methods used at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane. He inaugurated the academy with Ian Frazer, the bio-mechanics expert who also assisted him when Chappell was with the Indian team.”It is not right to compare it to Centre of Excellence because that has been running for years now. People like Allan Border [the former Australian captain] work and evolve new techniques for the trainees there. But I assure you that it will be different. We wish to make it one of the most reputed training centres of the world.”Twenty20’s growing popularity, Chappell felt, would be a challenge for coaches in adapting to different forms of the game. He did not, though, believe it would ruin a batsman’s technique. “There is no question of spoiling the technique. It has brought about a few changes which 50-over cricket too brought along. Now players use heavy bats, footwork is changing and they are hitting much harder than in my day.”

Damien Martyn says the team is disappointed in Lillee © Getty Images

Damien Martyn has told Dennis Lillee to shut up with his “Dad’s Army” criticisms of the home side ahead of the Ashes. Martyn, who arrived home on Tuesday from Australia’s Champions Trophy victory in India, said Lillee was in danger of losing the respect of current players if he continued to criticise the team.Martyn, one of three 35-year-olds in the side, slammed Lillee’s recent comments that an ageing top order could be the achilles heel in Australia’s bid to regain the Ashes. “I think Dennis Lillee should keep quiet as president of the WACA [Western Australia Cricket Association] – it is disappointing,” Martyn told reporters. “The team is disappointed in Dennis’ several comments over the last six months, which don’t need to be said. No [it doesn’t fire you up] … you just lose your respect.”In a column in the last month, Lillee said he saw danger signs for Australia as they prepared to take on the younger England team. “It’s worrying how Australia, after being outplayed in England last year, are going to turn things around with a decidedly older team,” he wrote.”Australia have some great players but even the greatest players get tapped on the shoulder by Father Time at some stage.” The side to begin the Ashes campaign at the Gabba on November 23 is likely to include Martyn, 35, Justin Langer, 36, Matthew Hayden, who will have turned 35, Ricky Ponting, 31, Adam Gilchrist, 35, Glenn McGrath, 36, and Shane Warne, 37.Ponting said the Champions Trophy win would serve as good preparation for regaining the Ashes. “Our last 12 months of Test cricket has been first-class,” Ponting told reporters at Sydney Airport. “We’ve raised our standards again from where they were, so I couldn’t be happier with the way we’re heading and to have this trophy and the month’s preparation in India and good hard training will be good.”We went away [after the 2005 Ashes loss] and had 15 months to try to rectify some things and with everything we’ve done – our training, preparation and the way we’ve played – we couldn’t have done much more. That’s been the really pleasing thing for me and I know every Australian cricketer is looking forward to getting the series underway – not long now.”

Scorecard

Brad Williams finished with superb figures of 3 for 36 against Victoria © Getty Images

Damien Martyn stroked a wonderful 110 to take Western Australia to a five-wicket victory after some early hiccups against Victoria in their ING Cup match at Perth and then took the opportunity to attack the media for its “unfair” treatment of Australian players. WA finished on 5 for 224 after bowling out Victoria for 222 in just 47.3 overs.Martyn was dropped from the Australian side after averaging just 19.77 with the bat during the Ashes series and came in for some strong criticism in the press. Martyn insists he hasn’t made any changes to his batting since arriving back in Australia: “It’s the same as England. No different. Better bowlers in England. When I got 1200 runs in a season people asked what was different, but I was batting exactly the same way. It’s just cricket. I had a run out and two bad decisions in the Ashes, so anything could’ve happened. Guys don’t bat differently. The game’s not easy.”Martyn said he was still available if the selectors changed his mind, but when asked if Simon Katich’s poor form for Australia would open the door for his return, Martyn launched an attack on the media: “I feel sorry for [Katich], I’ve been there. I feel sorry for what the media do to those players. It’s unfair in a way. It’s a tough job what they do. They’ve been fantastic for four or five years doing what they do, so you should give them a break and let them play cricket.”All Western Australia needed were a couple of good partnerships but they got off to a disastrous start after Gerard Denton dismissed Adam Gilchrist in the first over and bowled Justin Langer in the sixth (3 for 27). Damien Martyn then put on 76 runs with Mike Hussey (35) and 112 runs with Adam Voges (48 not out) as Western Australia recovered superbly to shut Victoria out of the game.Victoria couldn’t get a decent partnership going, after Cameron White chose to bat, as they lost regular wickets at one end while Jonathan Moss hit a fluent 70 at the other. Moss smacked ten fours and a six during his 84-ball innings but was beaten by a change of pace from Peter Worthington and hit a full toss straight to Mike Hussey at cover. Adam Crosthwaite hit a plucky 52 and built handy partnerships with Graeme Rummans and Gerard Denton to take Victoria past 200 before Brad Williams, who finished with an impressive 3 for 36, mopped up the tail.

To accept Shahid Afridi is to know that he will fail often, but when he succeeds, the joy he brings will be unbridled© Getty Images

How many players has Pakistan wasted over the years? How long is a piece of string? So many have come as quickly as they have gone, so many we have been bewitched by, and so many we have despaired of that we have become numb to the lost talent. For every Yasir Hameed, there is an Imran Nazir, a Mohammad Wasim or an Ali Naqvi, for every Mohammad Sami, a Mohammad Zahid or a Mohammad Akram. It doesn’t seem to matter any more, for someone will always emerge and perhaps that is the way of things. But sometimes, every now and again, you stop and wonder how we have become so blasé about them. And instead of trying to understand why they failed, you try to appreciate what they can bring to the game, no matter how sparingly.Shahid Afridi’s ebullient contribution to Pakistan’s win over India on Saturday was the latest in a series of one-offs. Not many players who have exasperated as much as him garner as much attention – even in disappointment there is eminence – but then Afridi has always had something about him, a sense of cricketing decadence in the gloriously neglected manner in which he has frittered his unique gifts. That he has done it so extravagantly, perversely, has enamoured him to some of us. The chances that he will suddenly discover the discipline and the judgment he has lacked for so long are slim. But should that overlook the allure – intermittent, as it is – that he possesses?There isn’t much that is tangible about it, certainly not his career figures; but at its essence his game is an unbridled, almost raw, joy. Much of the charm of Afridi is of a rustic sort, he provides the romance in the game, and all good ones are doomed to failure anyway. There is such a foolish abandon in the way he bats that you wonder whether he has progressed from batting on a potholed street, protecting not stumps but mango crates. He is, in local parlance, a lapaytoo – a street-slogger, but with less technique and discretion. In the gallis their job is to swing at almost every ball, and that Afridi does it still at international level is absurd. He has had so many comebacks that he qualifies as a fully paid-up resident of the last-chance saloon, living fastidiously by its fatalistic ground rules.He reacquainted himself with us on Saturday with a buoyant second-ball six, out of the ground for good measure. It could have been on any street in Karachi, and it could just as easily have been mishit to mid-on. There followed a couple of audacious boundaries and a diabolical dismissal – one that confirmed for most Pakistanis that he might never learn. But he came back, and picked up four wickets, taunting us and daring us to doubt him. Along with Shoaib Malik he turned the match, as if to the manner born. In the field, he was Pakistan’s chirpiest outfield presence since the days of Javed Miandad.But it isn’t even the bits ‘n’ pieces of his batting or bowling, it is instead the whole. He is blessed with a presence; he can make things happen, and around him, things happen. The problem is that he doesn’t know when and how it happens and neither do we. In that way, a comparison with Virender Sehwag – as there was in Pakistan earlier this year – while not obvious, is not entirely untenable. And watching Andrew Flintoff perform this summer can’t help but invoke a tinge of regret at what Afridi has squandered.Of course, his appeal lies partly in his failure to emulate these standards. Maybe there isn’t a permanent space for him in the modern game, reliant as it is not only on extravagant natural gifts, but on self-discipline and the ability to harness that talent as well. He seems out of place and out of touch with the work ethic of today’s players, as well as lacking their willingness to learn and improve. He will argue, as he has done, that the team has never used him properly, and he does it with some justification. Even before this tri-nation series, the team management was unsure as to how to utilise him most effectively. His critics will argue that he has simply refused to learn in over seven years with the national team.But surely there is room for an ephemeral rogue, if only because occasionally, and unexpectedly, he adds another dimension to any game. As he did against India at Peshawar earlier this year, he may very well embark on another disastrous run of failures after this latest encounter. But maybe that is OK; we know what we get with him, and if he deigns to provide it to us when he feels fit to – or is allowed to – then why not admire it for what it is? Why live in the hope that he will come round and start doing it all the time? It is only sporadic moments of beauty he provides, but it is beauty nonetheless and for that alone it should be treasured.

Nicky Boje has undergone surgery after fracturing his left fibula while fielding in the NatWest Series one-day international against England at Edgbaston on July 8. Boje, who was substituting for Martin van Jaarsveld, also suffered medial-ligament damage in his ankle, and is expected to be out of action for at least four months.Boje had come onto the field at the drinks break and was fielding at extra cover. His immediate reaction was one of pain as he screamed to the dressing-rooms for assistance, and, after a swift assessment by the physiotherapist, he was carried from the field by his team-mates before being taken by ambulance to the Selly Oak West Midlands hospital.South Africa’s coach Eric Simons reflected the feelings of the tightly knit squad: “I feel desperately sorry for Nicky. He has had injury problems before with his shoulder, and now this. I just hope he will recover quickly, as he has made a positive impact on the squad both on and off the field.”And what was the injury to van Jaarsveld that necessitated the substitution that brought Boje on to field? Gerald de Kock, South Africa’s media spokesman, put it this way: “van Jaarsveld got hit in the box before play and during his innings and that got more and more painful.”Well, at least his fibula’s still all right.

Like a squirrel getting out and gathering nuts to store away for winter, former New Zealand cricket captain Jeremy Coney has been storing cricketing gems for the summer and an in-depth series of television documentaries to be screened by SKY Television.While documentaries have been done on the history of New Zealand cricket before, Coney has focused not so much on the matches and the feats but more on the characters and stories of those who have played the games.The series is called The Mantis and the Cricket and is scheduled to start on December 18, the day New Zealand opens its domestic international cricket season with the first Test against Bangladesh in Hamilton.Several players have been interviewed on tape for the series which was originally intended to be done in eight shows but which is already looking like it will be extended.Restraints have meant that Coney hasn’t been able to talk to as many players as he would like but there is a chance that he will yet get to talk to more veterans of the Kiwi game.”Getting them to tell their stories has been what I have been after. There’s not a lot in terms of footage that hasn’t been seen before, but there are some nice stories that haven’t been heard,” Coney said.As a former Test player Coney has found the exercise something of a voyage around the game he played, stimulating and informative, and he hopes his series will be the same for cricket enthusiasts.”It has given my appreciation of our history a lot of depth and has rounded it out. I was not one to be immersed with the history of cricket when I was younger.”But to meet and talk with the people who made the history has been special.”It was a privilege to go and see the old players and they have answered everything I asked them.”Some have been quite straight about they felt about things at the time,” he said.Coney said Walter Hadlee and John Reid had been invaluable as they spanned so much of the first era he is pursuing in the series. There was also film of the late Bert Sutcliffe that was made in the year before he died, as well as some archive material SKY held that had not been seen before.Others like Matt Poore, had some lovely stories to tell about the 1955/56 tour of India and Pakistan, including the fact that the players had their own servants on the tour, and the occasion on which one of the servants did his work as the team left the hotel one morning and later the same day walked out to umpire a Test match.Historian Don Neely and former commentator Iain Gallaway had been other well-known identities who had been involved along with Jack Kerr, the 1937 tourist and manager of the 1953/54 team to South Africa and a chairman of the New Zealand Cricket Council, and Tony MacGibbon, who toured with the New Zealand side during the mid-1950s and Johnny Hayes and Merv Wallace.New Zealand had struggled to find its way in international cricket to start with, and had made decisions almost against itself in the early days, such as when deciding professional players would not be included in the 1937 tour of England.But there were other occasions when the part-timers from New Zealand made people sit up and take notice such as when the 1931 side dismissed the MCC for 48 at Lord’s and managed a significant victory which immediately resulted in the side’s one scheduled Test being lifted to three Tests.”The whole project is very much in its infancy but I have enjoyed it. If it works well it may be continued.”I think it is quite important from a historical perspective. There have been enough examples of why that is the case in the last couple of years,” he said.One aspect that did come through to him in talking to players related to the 1949 tour.”I didn’t realise the strength of feeling and character of the 1949’ers. Other New Zealand teams are envious of the position they hold in our game, and the 1999 side call themselves the 99’ers after going through England and winning two Tests and the series.”But there was a real feeling of family in that 1949 side. It was after the war and they were going through that country, almost out of the trenches, it was an age of austerity and they were meeting each night and discussing their cricket and each was wanting each other to do well.”Those sorts of values have changed now, but the series will be good for young people to learn about the game.”I hope people will enjoy it,” he said.

Pakistan will tour England for the first time since the spot-fixing scandal of 2010, with next summer’s schedule for four Tests, five ODIs and a T20 confirmed by the ECB. Sri Lanka are England’s other opponents and will arrive in early May, a time of the year that regularly leads to a clash with the IPL.Both touring sides will play ODIs in Ireland ahead of limited-overs series with England – a development that goes towards Cricket Ireland’s attempts to secure more regular fixtures against Full Member opposition.England’s Test series against Pakistan will be squeezed into little more than a month, with two sets of back-to-back Test matches separated by an eight-day gap – during which Pakistan will play a tour match against Worcestershire. They have also been given three-day warm-up matches at Taunton and Hove before the first Test at Lord’s begins on July 14.The Test will Pakistan’s first at Lord’s since the events of 2010 that led to Mohammad Amir, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif being banned for a scheme to bowl deliberate no-balls. Amir could yet be part of the touring squad, having recently begun to play domestic cricket again in Pakistan. The bans on all three will expire next week.Sri Lanka also have two tour matches scheduled, against Essex and Leicestershire, before beginning the three-Test series with back-to-back matches at Headingley – scene of their series-clinching victory in 2014 – and Chester-le-Street. A Lord’s Test in the relative warmth of June follows, then two ODIs in Ireland, five ODIs against England and a single T20.Trent Bridge will not host a Test for the first time since 2009, while Bristol will hope to see the return of international cricket after five years, having suffered a washout during the visit of India in 2014.Sri Lanka in England and Ireland 2016
May 4: Sri Lanka arrive
May 8-10: Essex, Chelmsford
May 13-15: Leicestershire, Grace Road
May 19-23: 1st Investec Test, Headingley
May 27-31: 2nd Test, Chester-le-Street
June 9-13: 3rd Test, Lord’s
June 16: 1st ODI v Ireland, TBC
June 18: 2nd ODI v Ireland, TBC
June 21: 1st Royal London ODI, Trent Bridge
June 24: 2nd ODI, Edgbaston
June 26: 3rd ODI, Bristol
June 29: 4th ODI, Kia Oval
July 2: 5th ODI, Cardiff
July 5: NatWest T20, Ageas Bowl
Pakistan in England and Ireland 2016
June 29: Pakistan arrive
July 3-5: Somerset, Taunton
July 8-10: Sussex, Hove
July 14-18: 1st Investec Test, Lord’s
July 22-26: 2nd Test, Old Trafford
July 29-30: Worcestershire, Worcester
Aug 3-7: 3rd Test, Edgbaston
Aug 11-15: 4th Test, Kia Oval
Aug 18: 1st ODI v Ireland, TBC
Aug 20: 2nd ODI v Ireland, TBC
Aug 24: 1st Royal London ODI, Ageas Bowl
Aug 27: 2nd ODI, Lord’s
Aug 30: 3rd ODI, Trent Bridge
Sep 1: 4th ODI, Headingley
Sep 4: 5th ODI, Cardiff
Sep 7: NatWest T20, Old Trafford

Liverpool look set to undergo some major surgery to their playing staff this summer as new boss Brendan Rodgers addresses the issue over whether certain players fit in with his ‘philosophy’ or not, and one player that immediately springs to mind as being under serious threat is Jay Spearing, so what does the future hold for the central midfielder?

Spearing was undoubtedly the main beneficiary of Lucas Leiva season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury last term, and played the majority of the side’s game under Kenny Dalglish towards the end of the season, making 16 league appearances and 25 across all competitions.

However, when you look at the sort of manager Rodgers is and the sort of players that he likes for his central midfield roles, Spearing sticks out like a sore thumb as being the antithesis to anything even approaching a ball-playing midfielder.

The problem with him is that he’s caught between two stalls; he’s neither an exceptionally gifted tackler, nor energetic enough to cover ground quickly and for once in the modern-game, his relative lack of size is a determining factor. He has a decent passing range, but is still capable of the odd huge gaffe, as was best shown by his quite simply diabolical showing in the FA Cup final against Chelsea where his poor cross-field pass directly led to Ramires’ opening goal.

Gylfi Sigurdsson looks set to sign for the club, while Steven Gerrard has proven while on England duty so far at Euro 2012 that he’s extremely capable in a deeper-lying, more reserved and disciplined holding role as he comes to terms with accepting that he’s not quite the box-to-box midfielder he once was.

Add into the mix the return of the hugely missed Lucas, Jordan Henderson and Jonjo Shelvey, who began to show a degree of promise with an extended run in the side towards the back-end of last season and Spearing’s chances already look limited before a spending spree even begun.

Rodgers midfield triumvarite of Allen, Britton and Sigurdsson at Swansea worked well, and with the Icelandic international set to follow his mentor Rodgers to Anfield, even someone with as much experience as Alberto Aquilani begins to look surplurs to requirements, let alone Spearing.

Rumours that the club are in the hunt for former Wigan holding man Mohamed Diame refuse to go away, as the club kept in place the deal set up before Dalglish departed, as they seek to add more steel to their engine room, with the side guilty of letting the opposition play far too much in front of them at times last term.

If truth be told, if he wasn’t a local-born player, Spearing’s time at Liverpool would have been up some time ago, but the crucial currency of geography has afforded him more opportunities than his ability is worth. Even as a squad player, he may survive for the time being but he’s simply not good enough to be kept around the club in the long-term and he looks to be operating on borrowed time.

Do you think Spearing will be kept at the club much longer?

You can follow me on Twitter @JamesMcManus1

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