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guyanatimesGY.com
wednESday, june 19, 2013
Amla memories make Cook sweat S
outh Africa at The Oval, with Hashim Amla in the line up: it’s a thought to make even Alastair Cook sweat.
tion they were hosting. But England have won their last two encounters in global 50-over tournaments ─ in Centurion and
Graeme Swann
Go back further and the ground played host to a onesided thrashing during the 1999 World Cup, the defeat so damaging in terms of net run rate that it went a long way to seeing England knocked out of the competi-
Chennai ─ and will take comfort from South Africa’s return to The Oval for an ODI last summer. Amla made 268 runs fewer than the 311 he amassed in the first Test, and was removed by no less a bowler than Jade Dernbach,
before Jonathan Trott’s patient half-century was followed by a brisker one from Eoin Morgan in a four-wicket win. Sounds like a good formula, doesn’t it? That the series finished 2-2 suggests these teams are reasonably well matched. Both have experienced a few malfunctions in progressing to the knockout stage. England, one-time hot favourites, have cooled like a custard left in the kitchen, their much-documented penchant for platform-building lampooned in various quarters. Wear and tear to Graeme Swann ─ though James Tredwell has proven an able deputy ─ and the bowlers’ inability to defend 293 against Sri Lanka mean they have long been usurped by India as frontrunners. AB de Villiers, meanwhile, has had to contend with injuries to his two strike bowlers, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel ─ the latter tournament-ending ─ plus familiar jiggery pokery with Duckworth-Lewis (though this time it came to South Africa’s aid). A sole group win over a hapless Pakistan is not the sort of form to fill opponents with dread, nor is a record in 50-over knockout competition that boasts just one appearance in a final, 15 years ago. At least they can take comfort in the knowledge that this match is un-
against India, before a muchimproved display gave them an all-important win over Pakistan. Steyn was the difference against West Indies but, on another night, Ryan McLaren’s three overs for 34 might have sent South Africa out of the competition. Bowling to England’s more orthodox batsmen could mitigate against similar trauma.
Team news
Hashim Amla
likely to go the way of their 1992 World Cup semi-final against England. At last year’s World Twenty20, de Villiers was able to utter the word “choke” and not be immediately carted off. On this occasion, however, it is perhaps England who are more likely to be dragged down by an albatross around their necks. They have never won an ICC 50-over event and this may still be their best chance. Cook’s men can’t afford any more mistakes. England’s lower middleorder has generally failed to live up to its billing in this tournament, a couple of Ravi
Clarke’s Ashes squad fragmented – strong show of unity needed
E
ven if some of the more scurrilous rumours abounding from within the Australian cricket team are discounted, it is impossible to escape the symbolism of their current disposition. Day one of the tourists’ Ashes campaign ended the same way it began, with the 16 chosen squad members and their shadows dispersed across the United Kingdom. Whether by accident or design, this is more a fragmented front than a united one. The majority, marshalled by the tour vicecaptain Brad Haddin, have assembled in Bristol, where Australia A will play a three-day match against Gloucestershire from Friday. But the captain, Michael Clarke, along with Shane Watson, David Warner, Mitchell Starc and James Faulkner remain at the team hotel in London, where they will train this week in low profile sessions destined to serve primarily as an elongated fitness test for Clarke’s back. On Wednesday they will be joined by the opener and Middlesex captain Chris Rogers, now excused from his county duties and readying himself for a final tilt at international recognition. Champions Trophy squad members not required for
Michael Clarke (left) and David Warner have already had to deal with several issues after just three weeks in England
the Ashes will drift away in dribs and drabs, some like Adam Voges and Glenn Maxwell contracted for English Twenty20 japes, others like George Bailey and Nathan CoulterNile heading back to the Australian winter. Then there is Ed Cowan, still in Nottingham on county secondment, and not likely to join his Australia colleagues until Monday in Taunton, dubbed the “official” starting point of the Ashes tour. All these players are eager to prepare for the Ashes. Save for Rogers and perhaps Cowan, all are in urgent need of strong first-class grounding for the battles to come, for confidence as much as familiarity with the Dukes ball and occa-
sionally capricious English pitches. And all would wish to distance themselves from the horrid start to the tour, featuring as it has an injured, absentee captain, a timid first encounter with England, a drunken punch thrown by a foolish opening batsman, and a group quite happy to go out on the town until the small hours immediately after a bad defeat. Problems on the field, off the field and in the spaces between will not repair themselves. Whatever has been said publicly by Clarke, Warner, Bailey and others, this is a team in desperate need of time together under firm leadership, to heal the ructions apparent over the past two weeks, and to re-focus on the steep task
at hand. Early Champions Trophy elimination had afforded the team on tour a chance to assemble a week earlier than planned but it does not appear one that will be taken up. Though this can mainly be attributed to reasons of back-related convalescence, Clarke has so far spent more time away from most of his team than he has done with them. The importance of a tour’s early days to establish standards of behaviour and performance has been stressed by many, including the former England captain Michael Atherton. In this case there was an unmistakable sense of ‘while the cat’s away...’ about the drinking transgressions in Birmingham. (Cricinfo)
Bopara cameos aside. While Cook, Ian Bell and Trott have been assiduously accumulating ─ and are accordingly England’s three leading scorers ─ Morgan and Jos Buttler have 51 runs, from 50 balls, between them. Cook has hit twice as many sixes (2) as both put together. The bang-to-buck ratio has been kept respectable by Bopara’s death hitting but another failure to launch could be costly. Much may rest on Steyn individually but it is South Africa’s bowlers as a group that will be under the microscope. The injured Morkel aside, they went missing
Cook said that Swann’s calf problem means he won’t be risked unless 100 per cent, as England keep an eye on challenges ahead. Tim Bresnan didn’t train at The Oval on Tuesday, having left to visit his pregnant wife, now a couple of weeks overdue. He is likely to be replaced in the XI by Steven Finn, who has risen to number 2 in the ODI bowler rankings despite having yet to feature in the tournament. Steyn has a “good chance” of being fit, according to de Villiers, despite a groin problem that has superseded his previous side strain. Rory Kleinveldt or Aaron Phangiso are the likely back-up options, depending on the pitch, while Farhaan Behardien could be brought in to strengthen the batting, giving JP Duminy’s offspin more of a role. South Africa have used three different number three in the tournament so far and further experimentation can’t be ruled out. (Cricinfo)
French football star’s trial for soliciting minor adjourned
T
he trial of French footballers Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema on charges of paying for sex with an underage prostitute has been adjourned in Paris. After the opening, the judge agreed with defence lawyers that another court must first consider whether the law was too vague to be applicable. Both stars deny the allegations, and the girl involved has said neither player knew she was not 18 at the time. Zahia Dehar, now 21, is a household name who has her own fashion label. Under French law, paid sex with someone under the age of 18 is regarded as sex with a minor ─ punishable by three years in prison and a 45,000-euro fine (£38,600). Six other people have been charged over the affair, which broke before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Some of them are accused of “aggravated pimping”.
Prostitution ring
Ribery and Benzema were not present at the short session in the Paris court. Defence lawyers for the two footballers had challenged the legal basis for the charges against their clients and the judge later agreed. The case was then adjourned until January. Ribery, a Bayern Munich midfielder, escaped his childhood deprivation in northern France to become
one of Europe’s highestpaid footballing stars, the BBC’s Christian Fraser in Paris reports. He cultivated a wholesome image as a family man, married to his childhood sweetheart, and also as an observant convert to Islam, our correspondent adds. But in 2010, he and Benzema, a Real Madrid star, were arrested as part of an investigation into a Paris prostitution ring. Ribery has since admitted he had sex with Algerian-born Zahia Dehar in Munich in 2009, when she was aged 17.
Payment
The footballer maintains the 700 euros he paid her, covered transport, hotel and food costs. Dehar said it was his 26th birthday present to himself. Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema is alleged to have met Dahar in 2008 in a Champs Elysee nightclub and to have taken her back to his hotel where he paid 500 euros to sleep with her. He denies there was any encounter. In France, the age for consenting sex is 15, but soliciting a prostitute under 18 is a crime. Dehar told investigators that neither footballer had known her real age ─ because she had lied to them. The state prosecutor had asked for the case to be dropped in November 2009, but the investigating judge said Dehar looked so young that they must have known.