Malcolm Waller’s bowling action has been found to be legal upon reassessment, and the Zimbabwe allrounder can now resume bowling in international cricket, the ICC has announced.Following remedial work at the University of Pretoria earlier this month, Waller underwent reassessment, which concluded that the amount of elbow extension in his offspin deliveries was within the 15-degree level of tolerance permitted under ICC regulations.Umpires can report Waller in the future if they believe his action is suspect or that he is not reproducing the action that has been declared legal during this assessment.Waller was reported after the second Test against Bangladesh in Khulna in November 2014. Following an assessment carried out in December, his action for his offspin deliveries was found to be illegal, and he was suspended from bowling in internationals.
Tottenham are preparing for a crucial January window with the club hierarchy reportedly willing to back under-fire manager Thomas Frank with significant spending.
The Sun reports that Spurs could invest up to £150 million next month as they look to address clear weaknesses in both attacking and defensive areas following a disappointing first half of the campaign.
The north London club currently languish 14th in the Premier League after suffering five defeats in their last eight matches across all competitions.
Frank finds himself under mounting pressure after the club’s failure to build on the promising foundations laid during his first few months in charge, with supporters increasingly frustrated by the lack of consistency and identity in performances.
Wide attackers have emerged as the primary focus for recruitment chiefs ahead of January, with Spurs desperate to add pace, creativity and goal threat from the flanks to complement their existing options.
Tottenham officials sent to club as Spurs eye Hazard-like 'magician' after Semenyo snub
Spurs are craving a new left-winger.
ByEmilio Galantini
Antoine Semenyo was Tottenham’s top target for the upcoming window following his impressive performances for Bournemouth this season, with the Ghana international combining explosive pace with impressive output in the final third.
However, landing the 25-year-old has been far from straightforward given strong competition from Man City, who are understood to be in pole position to sign Semenyo and trigger his £65 million release clause.
Spurs now find themselves forced to ‘rethink’ their entire transfer strategy for January following Semenyo’s apparent preference for joining City rather than moving to north London, according to TEAMtalk.
Tottenham make 'fresh explorations' for Man City winger Savinho
The outlet and journalist Dean Jones have a fresh transfer update surrounding the Lilywhites’ plans today, detailing their Semenyo alternatives as Frank chases a quality left-winger.
The club recently touched base about Juventus star Kenan Yildiz, but early indications suggest they will not have much chance of signing the highly-rated Turkish winger either as he eyes a new contract in Turin.
Maghnes Akliouche and Yan Diomande have also been identified as ambitious transfer targets, though these moves are more realistically planned for the summer of 2026 rather than next month.
As per Jones, Tottenham have now made ‘fresh explorations’ around whether Savinho, who was chased during the summer, remains genuinely interested in departing Eastlands despite his recent contract extension.
The 21-year-old impressed during his time in France with Troyes and subsequently at Girona, attracting interest from multiple Premier League clubs before ultimately choosing to join Pep Guardiola’s squad.
Savinho penned a new deal at City last summer despite indications that he ‘fancied’ a move to Spurs, but he has struggled significantly to tie down a regular starting role in Guardiola’s loaded attacking lineup.
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The Brazilian’s limited opportunities have raised questions about whether he made the correct decision to extend, especially with the 2026 World Cup looming next year.
This situation could potentially open a door for Tottenham to revive their interest if the player becomes frustrated with his peripheral role.
However, before Spurs attempt to formally test the water with any offers for the ‘incredible’ City forward, they want to understand precisely how keen he would be on making the switch to north London.
Intermediaries are now expected to uncover what the future holds in the player’s mind, with Tottenham looking to bring in a standout attacking talent to bolster Frank’s squad.
Tottenham player set for January exit talks after returning from injury
Sreesanth gets lucky Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma introduced the first bit of cheek to a match that has seen a lot of pluck on the first two days. Edges, half hits, catches off no-balls, all added to South Africa’s agony today in a 46-run last-wicket stand that could have decisively taken the match out of South Africa’s reach. Nothing would have frustrated them more than the edge off Sreesanth in the fourth over of the day. It flew through the six-inch space between first and second slip, where both Neil McKenzie and Jacques Kallis thought it was the other’s catch, before McKenzie dived as an afterthought. But by then the ball had already passed him for four crucial runs.New ball, what new ball? It took a whole innings before Mahendra Singh Dhoni came up with a trademark surprise move in his first Test as captain. The South African batsmen would have expected spin pretty early on in the innings. They wouldn’t have been surprised had a spinner opened, but they wouldn’t have expected a short leg and a silly point from the first ball of the innings. Harbhajan has opened an innings four times before, but this time he was bowling the first over. To the South Africans’ credit, they handled him pretty well before he finally struck with Hashim Amla’s wicket in his seventh over.That’s all right, but where are the runs? Graeme Smith played a determined innings, cutting down any strokes that would fall prey to a ball that bounces unevenly. So much so, he seemed to have forgotten about scoring for a while. Smith swept Piyush Chawla from outside leg in the 25th over of the innings to score his first boundary. It was 67 balls coming, which has to be one of the longest waits for his first four. Smith’s score then: 21.Sehwag rolls over dangerously For more than 16 overs, Smith and Kallis ensured that there was no damage, scoring 38 runs and making sure no wickets fell. Given their 60-run lead, India hadn’t started feeling restless yet, but the third-wicket pairing were beginning to look comfortable. Dhoni then turned to Virender Sehwag. The first ball he bowled was a quick offbreak that kicked viciously and hurried Kallis into edging in onto his pad and then lobbing up for an easy catch for Wasim Jaffer. Sehwag was not done yet, he proceeded to bowl Smith round his legs off a fullish delivery, something he has a knack for doing.
After weeks without a coach, Canada have suddenly appointed two of them. One will work with the national squad, and another will assist a Canadian invitational XI scheduled to play UAE in two one-day matches in Toronto. Both appointments are on a temporary basis.Pubudu Dassanayake, an ex-Sri Lanka Test player and a recent previous member of the Canadian team, will coach Canada for their Intercontinental Cup games against Holland and UAE, plus the ODIs against Holland on July 3 and 4.In addition, Courtenay Gonsalves will coach the Invitational XI against UAE in the one-day games which also take place on July 3 and 4. Now resident in Canada, Gonsalves has played for Guyana, and has acted as a national selector in Guyana. He also holds coaching qualifications from the West Indies Cricket Board.The need for a second coach arose from a clash of matches – Canada and their invitational XI, who are effectively an A side, have to play at the same time in July following a scheduling change by the visiting UAE side.Both appointments relate to the specific games in question and are made pending the appointment of a full-time national coach in Canada.On a different subject, the CCA has announced that the hiring process is now underway for their first-ever full-time CEO.
Lasith Malinga took five wickets to stake his claim for a place in the second Test at Edgbaston, but the Sri Lankans were held up by a century on first-class debut from Oliver Rayner. Despite having a lead of 259, Mahela Jayawardene opted not to enforce the follow-on and Sri Lanka lost Michael Vandort before the close.It will be Rayner, though, who will remember the day. He came in with Sussex in all sorts of trouble at 98 for 6 following a fiery spell from Malinga that tore through the middle order. Rayner added 45 with fellow debutant Neil Turk, but the major stand came with James Kirtley, who helped combine for a ninth-wicket partnership of 71 in 26 oversRayner, 20, who was born in Germany, struck 12 boundaries and six – off Thilan Samaraweera – during his innings and became the first Sussex player since 1920 to score a century on first-class debut.From Sri Lanka’s point of view the performance of Malinga was another major plus to come from this match following the centuries by Thilan Samaraweera and Chamara Kapugedera. The Sri Lankan seamers at Lord’s lacked firepower so Malinga’s burst in the morning session, when he took three batsman in quick succession, has made his inclusion on Thursday all the more likely.The other bowling was less threatening, although Nuwan Kulasekara claimed a tidy three-wicket haul and Nuwan Zoysa a couple. Jayawardene went through eight bowlers – including himself – as the Rayner-Kirtley stand built.Faced with a short period before the close, Vandort missed the chance to press his own Test claims and it remains to be seen whether Sri Lanka use the final day for batting practice or decided to make a game of it.
The franchise for Eastern Cape will continue to be based in East London till the end of the 2005-06 season, after which it will move to Port Elizabeth for the next two seasons. This was decided by the General Council of the South African board after a meeting in Johannesburg. The council also stated that at the end of that period, the Eastern Cape Franchise Board will pass a resolution to decide on where the franchise will be based thereafter.Among the other resolutions passed was the agreement that domestic cricket in South Africa would continue to be played by six regional teams till the 2007-08 season. The teams are Southern Gauteng, Northern Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Central and Eastern Cape. The council also agreed that there would be no changes to the agreements pertaining to the franchises for the first four teams.The council also announced that since Griqualand West and Free State had not been able to reach an agreement regarding franchising for the Central region, status quo would be maintained for that region.Ray Mali, the president of UCBSA, was pleased that the franchise issues had finally been sorted out. “Our organisation has been temporarily paralysed by the uncertainty regarding the franchise system and these resolutions will allow us to progress operationally in the best interests of South African Cricket.”The decisions taken by the council were based on findings and recommendations made by the Franchise Review Committee, a group appointed by the General Council.
Group D ScorecardPakistan became one of only two sides to emerge from the group stage unbeaten, completing their stay at Khulna with a thumping 163 victory over West Indies. In front of a packed crowd, Pakistan scored 251 for 9 in 50 overs after being put in. Jahangir Mirza top-scored with 92, and Usman Saeed contributed 40 against a West Indies attack that was without Ravi Rampaul, who was feeling unwell.The West Indies reply was over in 27.3 overs due mainly to a devastating opening burst from Riaz Afridi, who took 5 for 28 runs with Tariq Mehmood and Mansoor Amjad providing able support as West Indies were skittled out for 88.”We simply have to improve our batting as we have not been consistent enough,” said Denesh Ramdin, West Indies’ captain. “We have enjoyed out time in Khulna, it has been fantastic here.”Aqib Javed, Pakistan’s coach, said he thought his side were in good shape going into the Super League. “We stuck to our game plan today and performed well,” he said. “I was pleased with our batting and bowling and I am looking forward to the Super League in Dhaka.”
A cavalier 151 by Corey Richards helped NSW scrape into Sunday week’s ING Cup final after a nailbiting win over Western Australia at the WACA ground tonight.The Blues held off the Warriors late batting charge to win by three runs with quick Shawn Bradstreet (2-39) the hero having tail-ender Michael Clark (7) caught behind with just three balls left.It continues the Blues’ recent dominance over the Warriors, winning their last three matches by the slimmest of margins, including last year’s ING Cup final at the WACA ground.But a nervous NSW brigade appeared to be cracking under pressure with some sloppy bowling and fielding in the final overs as the run chase climaxed.And despite an excellent knock from allrounder Brad Hogg (39no) for the home side, he ran out of partners in the end.It was the Warriors who eventually folded under the pressure with their last four wickets going for 29 runs.Richards earlier rode his luck being put down three times as he registered the fifth highest innings in domestic one-day cricket off 147 balls.He guided the Blues to 9-267 off their 50 overs but the Warriors made 264 in reply.NSW will play the winner of the match between South Australia and Queensland in Adelaide this Sunday.Richards’ glorious innings overshadowed big Jo Angel’s (3-53) record-breaking feats as the West Australian quick became the leading wicket-taker in domesticone-day cricket.But it was a bittersweet evening for the veteran as he watched his state’s outside chances of making the final slip away.Angel moved past former teammate Tom Moody’s mark of 70 wickets when he had a scratchy Michael Bevan (40) caught at mid-on by Clark.But it was the dropped catch by Kade Harvey from a full-blooded cover drive when Richards was on 68 that came back to haunt the Warriors.Richards seemed to edge his way towards his ton before accelerating the innings after key batsman Michael Clarke (18) and Shane Lee (2) fell in one Brad Williams over.In reply, wicketkeeper Ryan Campbell lived dangerously before Mark Higgs had him caught by Bevan for a quickfire (42) to leave the Warriors at 1-71 inthe 14th over.Chris Rogers (28) followed just three runs later when quick Stuart Clark (1-35) had him caught behind by Brad Haddin.But it was when skipper Simon Katich (18) was caught behind off Bradstreet that the home team looked in deep trouble at 3-109 in the 22nd over.Michael Hussey revived the innings with a dashing 45 which included a $200,000 sweep shot which hit the sponsor’s sign at square leg.The 26-year-old, who is expected to keep $80,000 of the bounty and share the rest with teammates, could only manage another 14 runs after the money shot.But a fifty-run partnership between Hogg and Harvey (29) for the seventh wicket put the heat back on the Blues.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), earlier this week announced that it was in a good financial position despite experiencing a financial loss of US 5.4 million dollars for the fiscal year ending 30th September, 2000.The increase in the Board’s positive cash flow (US 2.03 million dollars), was due mainly to a new television rights agreement with BskyB during the year under review, which included an upfront signing advance of US 5 million dollars.According to the Board, the losses experienced were due mainly to the expansion of the development programme (an expanded Under-15 and Under-19 tournaments, along with the hosting of two West Indies “A” tours). The loss was further compounded by an unprofitable tour of England last summer along with the television production expenses for the home tours of Pakistan and Zimbabwe. These productions did not earn the commensurate revenue from those weaker television markets.The Board accepted that the change in the tour guarantee system implemented by the International Cricket Council (ICC), and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) revised payment terms, which emanated from it, led to last year’s unprofitable tour of England.It was also accepted that while the WICB was committed under the existing television contracts to produce television for every home series, there are losses in some years. These are however, compensated by the substantial revenues from television rights when the West Indies plays England, India and Australia at home.The Board also agreed to continue its efforts to increase revenue sources and reduce costs so that funds can be made available to meet the developmental needs of the WICB and its member territorial boards.
Match referee Javagal Srinath was forced to suspend play for half an hour in the third ODI between Sri Lanka and Pakistan after a rock was thrown onto the field at the Premadasa Stadium. The incident came after fights had broken out in the terraced section of the south-eastern stand during Sri Lanka’s innings.”There was an issue between two factions in the stands,” SLC secretary Prakash Schaffter said. “The police sorted that out. There was a stone that found its way to the ground – outside of the boundary line though. Nevertheless it was on the ground. They temporarily stopped play and then the police brought the situation under control. When we confirmed that to the match referee, the match commenced. Play was stopped partly because of an abundance of caution, because player security is paramount.”The lower tier of the stand was temporarily evacuated after the fights began, but objects continued to be thrown – in many instances by people who were being evicted from the ground. Several rocks were thrown through the back of the open south-eastern stand, and these were seen cascading down the terrace steps.Policemen had swarmed the area early on during the incident, but while they were able to control the violence within the stadium, they were less effective outside it. People throwing rocks were seen fleeing the stadium through the small alleyways that surround the venue.The interruption came at around 9:35pm – Sri Lanka were at 158 for 7 in the 34th over of their chase – and the players were asked to leave the field soon after. The entire eastern stand was evacuated and once match officials were satisfied that police and riot police had quelled the violence, play resumed at 10:05pm with no reduction in overs.Mahela Jayawardene, the former Sri Lanka captain, was among those to react to the incident. He tweeted: “Tough game for @OfficialSLC . Heard what happen with the spectators. We as a nation don’t believe in this kind of behaviour.”Pakistan went on to complete a 135-run win, and take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.