With the weather forecast looking grim and several logistical challenges to surmount, the organisation of the Videocon Cup will be the ultimate test for the Netherlands Cricket Association (KNCB). The tri-series – which features India, Pakistan and Australia – is a dress rehearsal for the Champions Trophy in England next month.Predictions of thundershowers throughout the tournament, from August 21 to 28, is one source of worry. According to PTI reports, with only two regular staff members, the KNCB is primarily relying on volunteers and contracted companies to spearhead the organisation of the tournament. The teams may also face a problem with commuting as they will stay in Amsterdam, play their matches in Amstelveen (a suburb of Amsterdam) and practice in another city, Utrecht.However, the organisers are doing their best to ensure a successful event. The cricket board sought the help of the Dutch Hockey Association for helping out with preparations since “they have a better experience of handling events of such magnitude.” Makeshift stands around the VRA ground were constructed in rapid time and the opening game between India and Pakistan is set to be played in front of a sell-out audience of 10,000.The profits from this tournament will be equally distributed between the cricket boards of the three participating nations, and the KNBC will not receive a share. The locals will have to rely on the gate revenue to cover their expenses. One of the main reasons for staging this event is to highlight Holland as a venue for future tournaments.The picturesque VRA ground in Amstelveen could turn out to be a batting paradise, with the straight boundaries just 57 yards long. In the only one-dayer previously played at this ground, South Africa thrashed Kenya by seven wickets during the 1999 World Cup.
Welcome to the return edition of Beyond the Test World, CricInfo’sregular round-up of news and events from the rest of the cricket-playing world, edited by Tony Munro. This week we report on the successes of the French national team, a mountain town in Italy which is sweeping all before it, and Namibia’s attempts to build on their exposure in this year’s World Cup.FRANCE: Blitz of Belgium means seventh straight win for France France recorded a record-equalling seventh consecutive international win at Thoiry, near Paris, on June 7-8, as Belgium were routed by seven wickets and 142 runs on consecutive days. It is only the second time that France have enjoyed a double-win weekend against their European rivals since the annual encounters between the two were revived in 1991 after 77 years.The victories continued a remarkable run of ODI success for France this season. In early April, they inflicted three heavy defeats on Morocco in Tangiers, before overwhelming Luxembourg by 121 runs in a rain-shortened game.In the opening fixture of the weekend, France’s hero was Valentin Brumant, their 41-year-old fast bowler from Guadeloupe, who took 1 for 19 in eight overs as a swashbuckling Belgian batting line-up was restricted to 200 for 9 in their 50 overs. At the other end of the experience scale, Abdul Rehman made an exciting debut with 2 for 25.France whistled through their overs in under three hours, a noteworthy performance in scorching heat of over 30°C, and they continued to singe the Belgians when it was their turn to bat. Peter Linton and Javed Ijaz smacked 16 from the first over, before Javed (72*) and his captain Shabir (77) added 153 in 20 overs to demolish Belgium’s target with exactly 20 overs to spare.King Albert of Belgium won’t have regretted opting for the Roland Garros stadium in Paris rather than the Thoiry cricket ground. His attentions on Sunday morning were centred on the first-ever all-Belgian ladies’ tennis final. And Justine Hénin-Hardenne gave her Flemish compatriot Kim Clijsters the sort of spanking that Linton (87) and Javed (31) were dishing out to the Belgian bowlers, who were smashed for 104 inside 14 overs. France’s eventual total of 260 was far too good for Belgium, who limped to 118 in 33.4 overs.Belgium’s captain, Wasiq, acknowledged that this was the most professional French side he had faced in over a decade. Belgium will need to tighten up on fitness and discipline if they are to qualify for next year’s European Championships at the ECC Trophy in Vienna in August. The new-look French, meanwhile, can face the future with increasing confidence.ITALY: Gallicano march towards titleThe Italian Championship has reached the halfway mark, but already there is little left to play for. The unexpectedly dominant Gallicano Monti Prenestini have swept all before them, winning all seven of their matches and dropping just four points out of a maximum 140 in the process.Gallicano is a small medieval town 40km east of Rome, and 500 metres above sea-level in the heart of the Prenestine Mountains. The team has modelled itself very much on the mighty Pianoro, the defending champions and winners of seven of the last nine titles.Although football dominates Italian sport, minority games such as cricket clearly find it easier to emerge in small towns, where local authorities are much happier to give space and help to less-publicised events. With this in mind, Gallicano’s dynamic president, Gianni Moscatellini, has not only put together a competitive team in the space of two seasons but, even moreimportantly, has built a ground which will be completed next September and will be unrivalled throughout Italy.The remainder of the clubs in the league have suffered a mixed season. Pianoro and Trentino were in the hunt early on, but Gallicano trounced them both and they lost their way completely. The gap at the top between Gallicano (136 points) and second-placed Pianoro (94) is greater than that between Pianoro and the bottom team (Murri, who are eighth and last with 55). It has been a year of total domination.NAMIBIA: Continuing the development process Namibia are hoping to maintain their development by inviting ICC full members to play them, after not being invited back to play in the Standard Bank League, South Africa’s premier domestic one-day competition. Laurie Pieters, the president of the Namibia Cricket Board (NCB), said talks were presently taking place with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, and they were keen to court other countries as well.According to Pieters, Namibia’s exclusion from the SBL stemmed from the United Cricket Board of South Africa’s determination to “restructure their cricket” to produce a consistently higher level of play. There is understood to be a belief among South African policymakers that too many domestic teams reduce the exposure of potential Test players to an acceptable level of competitive cricket.Namibia, a “foreign” side which lost all of their five matches by comprehensive margins, were always going to be at risk. Typically for an associate-member country, Namibia’s strengths were in their fielding and bowling – only once, in the last match against Gauteng, did their opponents score at more than five an over.Bjorn Kotze, who took two wickets against Pakistan during the World Cup, finished the South African season with 13 wickets at 13.61, and picked up a wicket every 18 balls. And Lennie Louw, now 43, nabbed 11 wickets at a fraction over three runs per over. The batting, sadly, was less successful. Namibia twice failed to reach 100, and Danie Kuelder’s 51 against Free State was their only half-century in the five matches.Pieters was disappointed that Namibia would no longer be taking part in the Standard Bank League, but remained upbeat. “We are still part of the ICC’s High Performance Programme, which has some very exciting proposals including the Intercontinental Cup.” There is still a possibility that Namibia could compete in South Africa’s second-division competition, the UCB Bowl.The future does seem bright for Namibia. Last week their Under-17s won an ICC-sponsored regional tournament, remaining undefeated against Botswana, Lesotho, Zambia and Malawi.The purpose of this page is to publicise cricket at the non-Test level in asmany countries as possible, from Test aspirants down to scratch matches inan embassy compound with a piece of wood and a tennis ball. If you would likeyour country’s news to appear on this page, please email Tony Munro [email protected].
There are old school adherents who believe that education is best achievedwith sharp cane and plenty of punishment, but one fears that the severebeating being handed out to Bangladesh in this Asian Test Championship matchcould seriously undermine the long-term confidence of their aspiringplayers.Yesterday they faced the humiliation of being bundled out for 90 and todaythey suffered terribly under a scorching sun as Sri Lanka’s batsmen went onan embarrassing run spree, before Muralitharan quickly plucked out the rumpof their top order in the evening.The home team, who started the second day on 246-1, clobbered anastonishing 190 runs in the morning session and a relatively sedate 119after lunch before declaring on 555 for five.Bangladesh, facing a mountainous first innings deficit of 465 with more thanthree days remaining in the match, then lost four wickets before the closeto finish on 100 for four, still 365 runs in arrears. At least they had thesatisfaction of surpassing their lowly first innings effort.The scorecard says that they claimed five wickets, but the truth is theyonly took three because the Sri Lankan captain made the unprecedented decisionto retire two batsmen `out’ when he felt that they had gorged themselvesenough. Jayasuriya is a strict Buddhist so he may have reasoned thatover-indulgence was inadvisable.Batsmen have retired `out’ in first-class cricket on a smattering ofoccasions, usually in early-season games on England’s university fields, butnot in the 1,560 Test matches that have preceded this game.In fairness to Jayasuriya the decision was entirely sensible in the case ofMarvan Atapattu, as he had already scored his fifth double hundred and theretirement gave new-boy Michael Vandort his first taste of internationalcricket.Atapattu, who had started the day on 99, scored 201 off 259 balls, to take hisplace in a select band of cricketers. Only Australian Donald Bradman (12),England’s Walter Hammond (seven) and Pakistan’s Javed Miandad (six) havescored more than four double-centuries in Tests.There was no respite after Atapattu returned to the pavilion as the in-formMahela Jayawardene scorched his way to an utterly dismissive 150 off just115 balls, which included 26 fours and one lofted straight six.Bangladesh’s bowlers paid heavily for their inability to maintain aconsistent line and length. Each over was littered with a boundary ball andJayawardene needed no second invitation to unveil his complete repertoire ofstrokes.It was Jayawardene’s third consecutive Test century, having scored 104against India in the Second Test at Kandy and 139 in the Third Test atColombo in his last two matches.It looked like he was destined to smash Ian Botham’s 220-ball record for thefastest double ton in Test cricket, but Jayasuriya pulled him back into thedressing room to let Hashan Tillakaratne have a quick run in the middle before atea-time declaration after Vandort was caught on the long off boundary for36.Earlier in the day, Kumar Sangakkara, 49 overnight, had reached his fifthTest half-century, but then missed out on the run feast as he cut loosely ata short ball from medium pacer Hasibul Hossain and was caught at backwardpoint for 54.Bangladesh opener Javed Omar started with a flurry of boundaries andJayasuriya waited just eight overs before he reintroduced off spinnerMuttiah Muralitharan. Once again he conjured up the wickets for Sri Lanka.Mehrab was the first to be dismissed as he was deceived by Muralitharan’sarm ball and was trapped leg before wicket for four to end a defiant 31-runopening partnership.Omar continued to bat positively, but two balls after he charged down thewicket to loft the off spinner over the top Muralitharan trapped him legbefore wicket for 40.Next over off-spinning all rounder Thilan Samaraweera trapped Al Shahriarleg before wicket for seven with his first delivery to leave the tourists on54 for three.Habibul Bashar and Aminul Islam then added 27 runs for the fourth wicketbefore Muralitharan grabbed the wicket of Habibul Bashar, caught by Jayawardene for 19, to leave Bangladesh in the bleakest of positions.
West Ham United host Wolverhampton Wanderers this afternoon with both sides in the hunt for European football come the end of the season.
The Hammers are in sixth but can be leapfrogged by Wolves who are just two points behind in eighth.
It’s a game of major importance for both sides, with the hosts particularly shaky of late. But who will David Moyes entrust from the off?
Here is how Football FanCast thinks West Ham will line up.
In goal there are no changes as number one stopper Fabianski keeps his place but there is a change at the back.
At right-back in comes 22-year-old Ben Johnson for his first Premier League start since New Year’s Day.
The Englishman played the second half in last weekend’s 1-1 draw against Newcastle United after Ryan Fredericks had picked up a yellow card and had a genuine possibility of being sent off. However, the youngster’s appearance against the Magpies was his first in the league since the trip to Crystal Palace on 1 January.
With first-choice right-back Vladimir Coufal set to be on the sidelines after groin surgery, Johnson, who was labelled as “fabulous” by his manager in October, will be keen to return to the side on a regular basis, having started eight consecutive league games between October and December.
The defensive midfield duo of Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek is a given whilst Pablo Fornals and the red-hot Jarrod Bowen start on the flanks, either side of Manuel Lanzini, who replaces Said Benrahma.
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This week, Moyes confirmed that Lanzini was back in training this week and is in contention to start, having missed the Newcastle match.
Up front is, of course, Michail Antonio, who is the Hammers’ only senior striker. The Jamaica international will be looking to break his recent duck, having not scored since the trip to Palace almost two months ago.
In other news: £1m per appearance: £42k-per-week West Ham dud has been rinsing Moyes for 110 weeks
Gujarat joined Jharkhand in the knockouts from Group B after brushing past Kerala by seven wickets. Gujarat and Jharkhand finished with 20 points each from six games. Having chosen to bowl, Gujarat bowled Kerala out for 102, with Axar Patel picking up three wickets and Rush Kalaria, Rohit Dahiya and Jasprit Bumrah taking two each. For Kerala, it was a second successive batting failure, having been shot out for 49 by Karnataka on Thursday. Sachin Baby (41) was their only batsman to cross 15.Gujarat had a slight wobble when they lost both their openers in the space of two overs – with only one run coming between the two dismissals – to slip to 21 for 2. But the target was modest, and Himayala Barad (24), Rujul Bhatt (35*) and Chirag Gandhi (20*) ensured they got there comfortably, with 17.1 overs remaining.The result ended the qualifying hopes of defending champions Karnataka, even though they ended their campaign with a 207-run thumping of Jammu and Kashmir. Sent in to bat, Karnataka powered their way to an imposing 349 for 5, riding on the back of a CM Gautam’s unbeaten 102-ball 109. Gautam added 145 for the fifth wicket with Manish Pandey (79 off 70 balls), and 91, off only 37 balls, with Vinay Kumar, who smashed an unbeaten 51 off 20 with three fours and five sixes.Chasing 350, J&K made a poor start, losing both their openers within the first four overs. Bandeep Singh (42) and Ian Dev Singh (35) kept them interested for a while with third-wicket stand of 78 at 8.06 runs per over, but collapsed after Sreenath Aravind dismissed both of them in the same over. J&K lost their last eight wickets for 50 runs, their innings ending as early as the 28th over.Karn Sharma’s five-wicket haul helped Railways end their campaign with a 106-run win over Haryana. Chasing 220, Haryana were bowled out for 113, inside 36 overs, as the legspinner Karn finished with figures of 5 for 13 in 9.1 overs. Only Nitin Saini (20) and Rohit Sharma (26) got past 20 among the Haryana batsmen.Sent in to bat, Railways made 219 for 7 in their 50 overs, with Arindam Ghosh anchoring their innings with a 118-ball 76. Ghosh struck five fours and a six, and added 77 with Karn (29) for the fifth wicket.
Essex beat the PCA Masters by four wickets at Chelmsford on Thursday to win the Twenty20 Floodlit Cup.Having already won their first three matches in the round-robin competition, also featuring Derbyshire, Essex went into their final match with the knowledge that another win would secure the Cup for the second year in a row.Their opponents pushed them hard and it was only a late flurry from James Foster (65*) that ensured Essex reached their target of 157 with one ball to spare.The Masters produced an innings that gathered momentum, after winning the toss, with four batsmen reaching 20. Azhar Mahmood top-scored with 36 off 23 balls, including a savage pull through midwicket off Ryan ten Doeschate for six to bring up the 100.Essex’s reply began disastrously when Mark Pettini was caught by Phil Simmons at second slip off Mahmood’s first ball. Grant Flower went the same way in the third over as Essex lurched to 15-2.James Middlebrook (25) and Ryan ten Doeschate (39) then upped the tempo in a stand of 43 with the latter hitting three leg-side sixes in Martin Bicknell’s third over to bring the 50 up in the sixth over.After Middlebrook was run out attempting a second run to midwicket the stage was set for Foster to see his team home. The Essex wicketkeeper lost partners at regular intervals but he kept his head to reach his 50 with a straight six and four off Dean Headley.Graham Napier played a useful supporting role in an unbeaten stand of 40 for the seventh-wicket as the six runs needed off the final over from Chris Lewis were duly reached off the penultimate ball when Foster straight-drove to the boundary.Friday’s last match in the competition between Derbyshire and the PCA Masters at Derby will now decide the minor placings with the hosts looking to register their first victory in the competition at the fourth attempt.
Having finally chalked up one in the win column, Rahul Dravid was in a muchmore relaxed frame of mind going into Friday’s DLF Cup match againstAustralia, a semi-final in all but name given that West Indies havealready sealed a place in Sunday’s final. And though India have been atthe receiving end of some real beating from the Australians in recentyears, most notably in the 2003 World Cup final, Dravid reckoned that hisplayers wouldn’t be intimidated going into the match.”A lot of the young guys haven’t played against Australia, so they don’thave that experience of losing to them,” he said, referring to playerslike Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina and Sreesanth.”Australia have done really well over the last few years. Their recordagainst any team in the world is good, not just against India. Having saidthat, it’s a great opportunity and challenge for us. I thought we did wellin the first 50 overs of the last game against them, and we do believethat if we play well, we can get the right result.”For Ricky Ponting, who comes back into the side after sitting out the lastgame, the tournament has been as much about assessing the bench strengthas it has been about preparing for the Champions Trophy. Admitting thatAustralia were expected to win every match and that there would be noexcuses if they missed out on the final, Ponting looked to return tobusiness as usual against India. “Every time you put on the green andgold, you should be able to give your best,” he said. “I wasn’t surprisedby the result yesterday, India had everything to play for and the WestIndies had nothing. Tomorrow happens to be a really big game for bothteams, and the sides should have their skills at a better level than atthe start of the tournament.”While the Australia XI had been decided much earlier, with the in-formMichael Clarke and Shane Watson sitting out, India could gamble on playingfive bowlers once again. Ajit Agarkar and Yuvraj Singh were feelingslightly unwell on Thursday, but both were expected to figure in thematch.Dravid said that his team composition would be dictated by the nature ofthe pitch. “Ideally I’d love to be able to five bowlers, but that’s whenall your batsmen have had a lot of batting and are coming into thetournament in good form. That’s where Irfan was doing a great job for uswhen he was bowling well and batting well through Sri Lanka and Englandand Pakistan. But you can’t go in with a set formula. You have to keepweighing it depending on the kind of personnel you have, the kind of formthey are in, and be flexible.”Ponting was bullish when asked about Stuart Clark, who’s being persistedwith despite going for 87 from seven overs against West Indies. “He had areally good workout yesterday and got some rhythm, that’s what he thoughtwas lacking the other night,” he said. “He knows his game very well and isexperienced. I expect him to bounce back.”The rotation policy employed by the selectors for this tournament also hadPonting’s full support. “There could be a lot of positives to come outfrom the experiments,” he said. “We’ve seen that Mitchell Johnson was afine force, and Shane Watson at the top of the order could be one morething that could happen at some stage down the track. It’s good to get alook at guys in different positions; otherwise you bring your squad of 13or 14 guys and don’t look at the younger ones. When the World Cup comesaround, if you have a few injuries, you’d be going into the tournamentwith inexperienced players.”For Dravid, most of the concerns were to do with the batting. SachinTendulkar has scores of 141 not out and 65, but there have been few othersizeable contributions. “Two matches back, we had made 309,” said Dravid.”We definitely want to do better, we know that. The top six or seven mustmake runs and bat out the full 50 overs.”His own lack of runs at the top of the order has made it hard to judge thesuitability of the decision to open with Tendulkar. “It would be nice toscore some runs,” he said. “But then, I am desperate to score every time Igo out to bat, irrespective of whether I have scored in the previous gameor not.”India’s batting frailty had certainly caught Ponting’s eye. “The Indianswill worry about their batting, but we could be worried about it as well,”he said. “We know they are all good players, a lot of them exceptionalone-day players. If we can put them under pressure for long periods oftime, then I think everything should be coming our way.”That pressure was bound to be applied from the start, with Glenn McGrathand Brett Lee slated to share the new ball. Dravid, though, refused tofocus only on those two, harking back to the debacle against West Indieson Wednesday. “I don’t think we can focus on just McGrath or Lee,” hesaid. “They have got a quality bowling attack, so we will have to playwell right through the 50 overs.”That showed yesterday with someone like Dwayne Smith bowling really well.You wouldn’t have thought of him being one of their strike bowlers whocould remove four of the top order, but he did that. It just shows that ifyou bowl in the right areas, anyone can be a threat.”Though being rolled over for 162 had dismayed him, Dravid was satisfiedwith the manner of the riposte which sealed that elusive first win of theseason. “To come back strongly the way we did showed a lot of resilienceand character,” he said. That’s a good sign. It also showed that there areareas of the game that we can work on. But it’s just been the first fullgame of the season for us. We have been on the road quite a bit and tohave had just one full game is quite strange.”Ponting suggested that he would analyse the previous games and the pitchconditions before deciding whether or not to bat first once again. He alsosaid that the pitches at the Kinrara Oval had been challenging for thebatsmen. “I think it’s hard work starting on that wicket, particularlywith the new ball when it is up and down. But once you get set, you canaccelerate. We’ve seen some batsmen get on and make big scores. It’s about15 or 20 balls that you have to get through, and make adjustments.”The team that adjusts best will extend their preparation for the ChampionsTrophy by one more game. For the losers, early flights home beckon, not tomention the disappointment of dropping a game in a rivalry that hascaptured the imagination like few others over the past decade.
All reigning domestic Twenty20 champions from around the world will take part in a six-team tournament at Leicester between September 15 and 17. Pakistan’s Faisalabad Wolves and Sri Lanka’s Chilaw Marians will both participate in the inaugural International Club ChampionshipOrganisers are pleased with the levels of interest in the event, and the aim of getting all the major club sides appears to have been fulfilled. In addition to the Pakistan and Sri Lankan sides, two other domestic champions – Somerset (England) and Titans (South Africa) – will be taking part.The number will be made up by Leicestershire and a PCA Masters XI which will feature a number of England players, both past and present.In the first round group stage teams will be awarded two points for a win and one for a tie with the top two teams in each group going through to the semi-finals.
Phil Russell will begin a second stint at KwaZulu-Natal’s coach in2004-05, it was announced today.Russell, who played 170 matches for Derbyshire and also coached them,takes over from the West Indian Eldine Baptiste, who became anincreasingly unpopular figure with the players over the course of histhree seasons in charge. Baptiste’s tenure was preceded by Russell’sfirst – two-season – period as coach, in which he led the Dolphins fromeighth place in the first-class SuperSport Series in 1998-99 to theone-day Standard Bank Cup title in 2000-01. Russell was widely creditedwith laying the foundations for KwaZulu-Natal’s triumph in both theone-day and first-class competitions in 2001-02.Graham Ford,the former South African national coach, was widely tippedto get the job, but his insistence on continuing to run his privatecoaching academy was unacceptable to the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union(KZNCU). “We were willing for him to retain ownership of his academy,with a manager in place,” said Sathie Govender, the KZNCU president, whoadmitted that Ford had been the union’s first choice. “Unfortunately heneeded this to be a part-time position. The coach of the Dolphins is animportant position, and we can’t afford for it to be a part-time one.”Russell spent most of June in England on holiday, and returned homethis week to a pleasant surprise. “I’m quite excited, actually,” Russellsaid. “They’ve given me a new lease on life. When I went on holiday toEngland, it seemed that Fordie was going to get it. When I came back,circumstances had changed.”The president [Govender] asked me if I would do it, and I thoughtabout it for half a second.”Russell, who has served KwaZulu-Natal cricket as groundsman, directorof playing affairs and academy manager, has signed a two-year deal, andwill bring a far lighter touch than Baptiste, whose perceivedinflexibility cost him his job. KwaZulu-Natal reached the SuperSportSeries final in 2003-04, but were thrashed by 108 runs by WesternProvince. They finished eighth in the Standard Bank Cup, and fifth inthe inaugural Standard Bank Pro20 Series.That record prompted Dale Benkenstein to resign the captaincy aftereight years in charge. He has been replaced by 21-year-old Hashim Amla.”I’m ecstatic about that,” Amla said of Russell’s appointment. “He hasso much experience, and I’m really looking forward to working with him.I have the highest admiration and respect for him, and I’m quite surehe’ll do a great job.”
England v Pakistan, NatWest Challenge, Match 3, Lord’s
Chris Read and Marcus Trescothick: laying their ghosts
So, England have won the inaugural NatWest Challenge, and today’sdecider at Lord’s was a fitting finale to an uplifting trio of matches. First and foremost, it’s a memorable start to Michael Vaughan’s reign – he may not have contributed much with the bat, but his attacking approach and calm authority in the field were pivotal to his team’s efforts, and he deservedly becomes the first England captain to win his first series in charge since Adam Hollioake in Sharjah in 1997-98.Nine balls separated England and Pakistan at the end, but in truth, the difference between the sides was much, much less. For if Pakistan had fielded half as well as they bowled, then it would surely have been Rashid Latif lifting the trophy.At this stage of their redevelopments, however, results are less important than resolve. Both sides are rebuilding and inexperienced, which was one of the main reasons why this short series was such fun to watch. Each match had more crash, bang and wallop than a Tom and Jerry cartoon, and it was that very youthful exuberance which brought the games to life. Australia are the only side in the world with a team of grown-ups who have been there, done that and won the trophy: everyone else has to do the best with what they’ve got.England’s victory was an especially sweet moment for Marcus Trescothick and Chris Read, who not only carried England home, but laid their Lord’s ghosts to rest in the process. Trescothick’s 108 was his third century in four ODI innings at Lord’s – but the first time he had ended up on the winning side. For Read, this was his first innings back since that embarrassing infamous blunder against Chris Cairns’s slower ball, two post-World-Cup-reshuffles ago in 1999.But while those two lead England’s celebrations at the start of a new era, you have to feel sorry for Latif. As captain he has restored spirit and unity to the Pakistani cause since the World Cup, and he captained and kept admirably in this series. It was Latif who defused a potentially unpleasant situation by informing the umpires that a slip catch off Jim Troughton had not carried, and it was he who sparked England’s mid-innings collapse with two smart dismissals in quick succession.So it was unfortunate that it was Latif, of all people, who arguably lost the game – and the series – for Pakistan when he spilled a crucial chance off Trescothick late in the piece. But it just goes to show that even the most experienced member of the team can make mistakes. So here’s to youthful exuberance – it’s certainly the way forward. Just ask that spring chicken Darren Gough.Click here for today’s Wisden Bulletin