Ramdin dropped from WI squad for India series
Starc can take 300 Test wickets, if fit: Lehmann
Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber returns the ball to Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq during the ATP tennis match in Hamburg, northern Germany on July 12. (AFP)
ANTIGUA, July 12, (RTRS): West Indies have replaced wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin with Shane Dowrich for the fourTest series at home to India which starts in Antigua next Thursday.
Ramdin, a veteran of 74 Tests, said he had been dropped because the selectors did not think his batting average was good enough. He has scored 2,898 Test runs at an average of 25.87.
“New chairman says my avg isn’t Gud,” Ramdin tweeted, referring to new West Indies chairman of selectors Courtney Browne, who has replaced Clive Lloyd.
Ramdin’s comments earned a sanction from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for a breach of the terms of his retainer contract, the board said.
Dowrich, 24, has played two Tests, against Australia in the Caribbean last summer, though he was used then as a specialist batsman, with Ramdin keeping wicket.
Squad
The 12-man squad again does not include several of the most dynamic West Indies players, such as Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy and Kieron Pollard, whose focus is on Twenty20.
Fast bowler Jerome Taylor is also missing after becoming the laTest in a long list of players to quit the Test format.
West Indies’ fortunes have diverged in recent years, with the Twenty20 team winning the world championship in 2012 and 2016, while Test performances have deteriorated sharply.
Fast bowler Jason Holder captains the team, which also includes the two batting heroes from the recent World Twenty20 triumph, Marlon Samuels and Carlos Brathwaite.
Australia paceman Mitchell Starc can take 300 Test wickets and join the ranks of the nation’s great seamers if he can stay fit for long enough, coach Darren Lehmann said. Left-armer Starc, WICB President’s XI squad batsman Jomel Warrican plays a shot during the second day of a two-day tour match between India and WICB President’s XI squad at
the Warner Park stadium in Basseterre, Saint Kitts, on July 10. (AFP)
SYDNEY, July 12, (AFP): New South Wales are desperate to salvage some pride and send retiring captain Paul Gallen out in style in the third and final State of Origin match of this year’s series on Wednesday against Queensland.
The Maroons have already sealed their 10th rugby league series title in 11 years after a 26-16 win in Brisbane last month, which followed a 6-4 triumph in the opener in Sydney.
After yet another failed campaign, New South Wales have added James Tedesco, Wade Graham and Josh Dugan to a freshened side as they look to
who has 91 wickets from 25 matches, has replaced the retired Mitchell Johnson as Australia’s pace spearhead but a succession of foot injuries have stifled the 26-year-old’s output.
avoid a series whitewash.
Tedesco replaces Matt Moylan at full-back, while Dugan returns from injury. Graham has received his Origin call-up at the expense of Greg Bird, after returning from suspension.
The long-serving Gallen will line-up for his 24th and last Origin match, with a special video tribute set to be aired immediately before the game at ANZ Stadium.
Coach Laurie Daley said his captain would leave a legacy “of giving his best”.
“I don’t think anyone could ever question that. He goes out there and leaves nothing in the tank,” Daley said.
After a long lay-off following ankle surgery, Starc made a successful return in the Caribbean for the one-day tournament against West Indies and South Africa last month and will lead the attack for Australia’s three-Test tour of Sri Lanka.
Only four Australian seamers have breached the 300-wicket mark, with Glenn McGrath (563) topping the list ahead of Dennis Lillee (355), Johnson (313) and Brett Lee (310), but Lehmann said Starc had the qualities to join the club.
“If he stays on the park, he could,” Lehmann said in comments published by Fairfax Media on Tuesday.
“He plays all formats -- that is the hardest part for him.
“Managing him through that is going to be our challenge as a coaching staff and selection panel, and (for) high-priority Test tours, one-day tours, World Cups and all that ... making sure he is fit and available for those.”
Starc took eight wickets in the Caribbean at an average of 21.37 from his five matches and Lehmann was delighted with the return after the Sydney-born seamer had his home summer wiped out by injuries, forcing him to miss the World Twenty20.
“Happy he got through ... He said he was a little bit rusty early but felt better as the tournament went on. It’s a good sign,” said Lehmann.
“For us it was a pretty good tick-thebox exercise where he got through and we’re looking forward to the next phase of Test cricket.” Australia play the first Test against Sri Lanka at Pallekele from July 26
England should have gambled on seamer James Anderson’s fitness and included him in the squad for the first Test against Pakistan at Lord’s, paceman Stuart Broad has said.
Anderson, England’s most successful Test bowler with 454 wickets, was left out of England’s 12-man squad for the first match of the four-Test series beginning on Thursday. In his absence, Toby Roland-Jones or Jake Ball will make a Test debut at Lord’s.
“I would have been tempted to have Jimmy in the 13, then you have him around working with the bowlers, pushing his fitness to maybe play on Thursday,” Broad told British media.
“I saw him (last week) and he was doing OK. He was pretty certain he would be included. I don’t want to speak for him but he will be disappointed he is not in the squad.
“I think he has probably been told he has to play some cricket to be 100 per cent because the sensible thing is you do not risk him in the first (Test) and have him out of the rest, you get him right for Old Trafford (the second Test).”
The first Test at Lord’s on Thursday is likely to be a tense occasion as it marks the return of Pakistan’s Mohammad Amir to the scene of his spot-fixing scandal of 2010, for which he was given a five-year ban.