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Daryl Tuffey will miss the four-day games against Sri Lanka A © Getty Images

A minor shoulder injury has ruled out Daryl Tuffey from the remainder of New Zealand A’s tour to Sri Lanka. He will be replaced by Graeme Aldridge, a 27-year-old right-arm fast bowler, for the rest of the tour.Explaining the decision, Lindsay Crocker, the manager of the team, said: “We expected Daryl would have been fit enough to return to cricket in time for the last match, in two weeks. However, having Daryl out of contention for the next two games would have seen the squad one member short and with a busy season ahead, we decided it was sensible for Daryl to return home for rehabilitation.”Tuffey played just two of the five matches that New Zealand A played in the triangular tournament, which South Africa A won by beating the New Zealanders in the final. Tuffey missed out on the final, but did reasonably well in the two games he did play, taking four wickets at 20.75 apiece.New Zealand A will play three four-day games against their Sri Lankan counterparts, with the first of those games starting on October 7 at Kandy.

HD Ackerman: circumstances of his removal remain unclear© Getty Images

Despite a brief statement from Highveld Lions that HD Ackerman had resigned as captain and was being replaced by Neil McKenzie, it is now being sugested that he was sacked.An article in the South African Star said that Ackerman was given a "resign or be sacked" ultimatum at a meeting on Monday following the weekend’s 45-run defeat against Western Province/Boland in the Standard Bank Cup. The report explained that Ackerman had considered resigning there and then, but had been persuaded to think things over by Shukri Conrad, the Lions coach.But Ackerman was then summoned to meet with Alan Kourie, the Lions CEO, where he was given the ultimatum. Ackerman refused to quit, insisting that Kourie needed to make the decision, which he did. “I think a number of factors contributed to his decision, such as the team’s performances and frustrations," Kourie said. "He will stay as a batsman.”Ackerman’s own form has been sound, and the news of his removal emerged on the day he was asked to lead South Africa A against England this weekend.

All Today’s Yesterdays – August 18 down the years

August 17 | August 19

2000
An unforgettable victory for England at Headingley, and the first twoday Test in over 50 years. When West Indies began their second inningsmidway through the afternoon session, they were exactly 100 runs behindEngland. After 26.2 overs, they’d been demolished for just 61 – theirsecond double-figure score in three Tests – and England had beaten themby an innings for the first time since 1966. It was unforgettablydelirious stuff. The cherry on the icing came when Andy Caddick tookfour wickets in an over, the last three all castled by swinging yorkers.

1934
The end of one of the monumental partnerships. England needed only adraw at The Oval to retain the Ashes – but big Bill Ponsford made hislast Test a memorable one. His 266 achieved the rare feat of outscoringDon Bradman, who hit a mere 244. Their stand of 451, made in only fivehours, was then the highest for any wicket in Tests and is still in thetop four. England, understandably overwhelmed, lost by a whopping 562runs.

1920
One of the great wicketkeepers and characters was born. Extrovert andgenuinely brilliant standing back or close up, Godfrey Evans played in91 Tests for England, making 219 dismissals, both world records at thetime, and hitting two dashing hundreds. A vivid personality long afterhis retirement, with the most famous mutton-chop whiskers in cricket, hewas the Ladbrokes rep who quoted odds of 500-1 against England winningthe famous Headingley Test of 1981.

1974
Birth of Shiv Chanderpaul. When he made his debut against Englandat Georgetown in 1993-94, he was the first teenager to play in a Testfor West Indies since Elquemedo Willett in 1972-73. Chanderpaul’s slimframe encases the ideal temperament for a Test batsman – and West Indieshave missed it when his frequent injuries have ruled him out. He scoredonly two hundreds in his first 53 Tests, but improved that ratio bynotching three in four matches against India in 2002.

1926
After the humiliations of the early 1920s and the frustrations of thisrain-affected series, England made Percy Chapman captain, recalled the48-year-old Wilfred Rhodes, and regained the Ashes. On this the last dayat The Oval, pace bowlers Maurice Tate and Harold Larwood made the earlyinroads, after which Rhodes’s slow left-arm took 4 for 44. Australiawere dismissed for 125 and lost the series 1-0.

1920
The start of one of the alltime great careers. Wally Hammond made hisfirst-class debut for Gloucestershire against Lancashire at Cheltenham.Ironically, for a batsman of the highest possible class, he made a duckin his first innings. He went on to set any number of world records,among them becoming the first man to score 7000 Test runs and the firstto take 100 Test catches. Three of his big scores are in the Wisden 100:his 336 not out at Auckland in 1932-33, another Test record at the time- and two majestic double-hundreds against Australia. One of theundisputed legends of the game.

1956
Birth of dashing batsman and film star Sandeep Patil, who played in 29Tests for India. His four Test centuries included genuinely brilliantknocks at Adelaide in 1980-81 (174) and Old Trafford in 1982 (129 notout), when he hit six fours in an over from Bob Willis. His important 27in a low-scoring match helped India win the 1983 World Cup final.

1936
On the last day at The Oval, England captain and pace bowler Gubby Allencompleted figures of 7 for 80, the best of his Test career, to helpEngland beat India by nine wickets and take the three-match series 2-0.

Other birthdays
1879 Hugh Bromley-Davenport (England)
1908 Bill Merritt (New Zealand)
1923 Jahangir Khan Irani (India)
1923 Sadu Shinde (India)

A spectacular batting collapse, triggered in main by Iqbal Siddiqui(4/36), pushed England to 170 all out in their first innings. India ‘A’thus took a valuable first-innings lead of 63 runs on the second day ofthe three-day match against India `A’ at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium inJaipur on Wednesday. By the close of play, India ‘A’ had moved to 75 forthe loss of three wickets.After restricting India `A’ to 233/9 declared on the first day, Englandmust have hoped to get some valuable batting practice ahead of the firstTest at Mohali. On a lively pitch, Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcherhad negotiated the India `A’ bowlers for 11 good overs to reach 37 forno loss at stumps on Tuesday.But their good work suddenly seemed a distant memory on the secondmorning, which read more like a chapter from a gruesome horror story.With the 11th ball of the day, Siddiqui struck, claiming Mark Butcher’swicket. Butcher (37) could only add five more to his overnight scorebefore gifting a catch to Abhijit Kale in the slips.Trescothick (7) followed soon after, given out caught behind off thefirst ball of the next over by Dodda Ganesh. The batsman was distinctlyunhappy with the decision and stood his ground for some time beforemaking the long slow walk back to the pavilion.Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain then put together a scratchypartnership of 36 runs for the third wicket. Vaughan, who must by now bedesperate to get some runs under his belt, was lucky to be dropped byGautam Gambhir off the bowling of Ganesh. Hussain too enjoyed some luckthis morning, being dropped by Rashmi Ranjan Parida off Siddiqui.Vaughan struck five boundaries in his 22 before top-edging a pull offSiddiqui, only to give Vinayak Mane an easy catch in the covers.Mark Ramprakash and Andrew Flintoff both failed to open their account,gifting their wicket to Siddiqui. The medium-pacer from Maharashtra wassoon rewarded by the national selectors, who picked him for the firstTest squad. Craig White and Ashley Giles came and went, scoring two runseach. Hussain’s own defiant knock of 40 off 88 balls finally came to anend when he went for a wild heave off the bowling of his counterpartSunil Joshi. The English skipper hit five boundaries and a six to topscore in the innings.A clueless Richard Johnson (5) let through a ball from Joshi (3/39) onlyto find his stumps disturbed. England were in serious trouble at thatstage – 128/9. The last-wicket partnership of James Foster (32) andRichard Dawson (19), however, added 42 valuable runs for the lastwicket. Dawson was finally trapped in front by Reetinder Singh Sodhi(2/12) to mark the end of the English first innings. It was a remarkablylacklustre performance with the bat by the English players, especiallyconsidering that the first Test starts on Monday.In their second essay, India ‘A’ batsmen struggled to get the ball awayfor runs. The pitch was playing up badly, the ball keeping low andcreating all sorts of problems for the batsmen. A ball that stayed lowand shot through to hit the pads undid Mane, who must have been keen onimpressing the national selectors; he was given out lbw. Gambhir playedvaliantly to make 30 before being bowled by Craig White, who was puttingtogether a good spell. White tasted more success when he trapped GaganKhoda in front to claim all three wickets that fell in the evening(9-3-21-3).The match is very keenly poised now, with India ‘A’ leading by 138 runs.Brilliant bowling by the Indian bowlers has blown a big hole in theEnglish confidence. The tourists will be looking forward to an improvedperformance on the last day of the three-day match tomorrow.

Habib Bank Limited (HBL), lifted the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) one day Cricket Cup, defeating Khan Research Labs (KRL) by 19 runs, in an exciting finish at the Gaddafi Stadium Lahore on Thursday.The KRL Captain Nadeem Abbasi (a former test player) won the toss and invited HBL to bat first on warm sunny late spring day at Lahore. Led by the former Pakistan Captain Saleem Malik, HBL were all out for a modest total of 182 runs. Hasan Raza who had at one time created the record of being the youngest test player in the game, was the top scorer with 57. Incidently, the two former stars of Pakistan, Saleem Malik and Ijaz Ahmed were out for a duck each. With 4 wickets for 31, Yasir Arafat was the most successful bowler for KRL.In reply, the KRL were bundled out for 163 runs in 47.5 overs. Imran Farhat, an upcoming leg spinner had caused the rout by claiming 4 wickets for 57 runs. Naseer Ahmed was the highest scorer with 41.HBL, one of the leading teams in the tournament thus clinched the trophy. The tournament sponsored and organised by the National Bank of Pakistan having offered attractive prize money as well as other awards, was participated by the best teams in Pakistan’s domestic cricket.Chairman PCB Lt. Gen. Tauqir Zia was the Chief Guest, who in the company of NBP President Mian Mohammad Soomro awarded the Championship Trophy and a cheque of Rs.100,000 to the HBL Skipper Saleem Malik, while the KRL Skipper Nadeem Abbasi received the Runners-Up prize of Rs. 50,000. Imran Farhat, deservedly, won the Man of the Match award.Among the other players, Iftikhar Hussain (KRL) won the best batsman of the tournament award for scoring 497 runs while Fazl-e-Akbar of Customs, was declared the best bowler of the tourney with 19 wickets. Taufeeq Umer (HBL) and Aamer Iqbal (Customs) were declared the best fielder and the best wicket keeper respectively. Each one of the players received a cash award of Rs. 5000.

West Brom have been fairly active in the transfer market over the past few years in terms of bringing new players to the club and moving some out the other way.

However, one player that the Baggies were linked with a move for that they didn’t end up securing which will now be seen as a big mistake from the Midlands club is striker Alfredo Morelos.

Back in September 2020, a report from Football Insider claimed that West Brom had been in contact with Rangers about the possibility of signing their Colombian forward, ultimately to no avail.

Since he arrived at Ibrox back in the 2017 summer transfer window from HJK Helsinki, the 25-year-old has gone on to make a total of 164 combined goals and assists across 222 appearances across all competitions.

This season has seen the £11.7m-rated centre-forward rack up 11 goals and seven assists in 25 SPFL games, earning himself an overall performance rating of 7.35 from WhoScored, making him the second-highest rated player in Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s squad.

Additionally, this rating would make him the highest-rated player at West Brom by the same metric.

Had the Baggies managed to bring Morelos to the Hawthorns back in the 2020 summer transfer window, there’s every chance that they would have scored more than the 35 they managed to bag in the Premier League last season.

Even if they had signed the striker when they were reportedly after him and still got relegated from the top flight, they would surely be in a better position than they are now and would have more than the 40 goals in 37 games they’ve managed to get in this campaign.

Labelled as a “brutally ruthless” player than can be a real “fighter” on the pitch by Aki Riihilahti, the CEO of the Colombian’s previous club, Morelos would have been a great signing for West Brom if he’d have been able to bring the same sort of goalscoring prowess that he’s shown in Scotland to England.

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All in all, it’s safe to say that Luke Dowling made a big error by not bringing the Rangers forward to the Midlands club when he had the chance, as the striker could have proved to have been very useful for the Baggies in terms of scoring some much-needed goals.

In other news: Sold for £10m, now worth £2.7m: Dowling sealed WBA masterclass on £60k-p/w “disaster” – opinion

Australia’s decision to hand substitute fielding duties to Grant Baldwin, the team’s massage therapist, has been a subject of criticism over the first two days of the day-night Test in Adelaide. His performance was scrutinised by television commentators after a couple of fumbles in the field.At the end of the second day, Australia said they would not use Baldwin as a fielder any more and had drafted in South Australia’s Sam Raphael for substitute duties.Baldwin, 28, is also the assistant to the Australian team manager, Gavin Dovey, and replaced the injured Mitchell Starc midway through the second session on the opening day of the Adelaide Test. Baldwin had played for Victoria’s second XI between 2006 and 2008, and is a regular participant in Australia’s fielding sessions at the nets.The decision to use Baldwin was made after both James Pattinson and Steven O’Keefe were released from the Test squad to play for their respective states and, with a full round of Sheffield Shield matches taking place, Australia were left with the choice of fielding a current state second XI player, or drafting in Baldwin.Three local cricketers, none of whom have first-class experience, were available but the Australians were concerned the pressure of fielding in this Test may have been too much for inexperienced players. The fact Baldwin was already with the team and considered capable of doing the job were the deciding factors.”Grant’s played second XI cricket for Victoria and he’s fielded for us before on tours,” said Josh Hazlewood after the second day. “We’ve got three young guys here who haven’t played first-class cricket, I think we’re getting a guy in tomorrow who has played for SA, so it’ll be good to get him out there. We thought Grant was probably the best option. It’s quite a pressure situation out there in front of 40,000, so with those other three guys not playing first-class cricket before, we thought it was the best case.”

Andrew Flintoff will probably return to support the good start by James Anderson and Stuart Broad © Getty Images

A month ago Old Trafford was swinging to the , an English rock band. But, while they thrilled the crowd with numbers like “I bet you look good on the dance floor”, the outfield at the Stretford Road End of the ground was turning messy.So devoid of grass was one corner of the ground that the opening day of Lancashire’s home fixture against Hampshire last week had to be called off. The patches continue to pose a worry but Andrew Flintoff, a Lancashire local, felt there had been considerable improvement.Flintoff arrived at the nets with a sense of purpose, something that was missing in his pre-match routine at Edgbaston. Not only did he bound in with the ball and flay about with his bat, he also imparted a genuine joie de vivre. England played so well at Edgbaston that it would be tough to drop anyone – Flintoff’s “hopefully I’ll get a go” wasn’t out of place – but it’s almost certain that he will be in.”You don’t want to miss out at any venue but this one more so than any,” Flintoff said about the ground he has been visiting since he was nine years old. He has taken part in only four one-dayers here, the last in 2003. “I’ve not done a great deal of it [play at Old Trafford] so obviously I am keen to play tomorrow and hopefully I’ll come through. I fully expect to run in and bowl. A few runs wouldn’t go amiss. I feel I am close, but a bit of time in the middle and a score would be ideal.”Coming on as a third seamer in the two games he has played this series, Flintoff has continued the good starts that James Anderson and Stuart Broad have provided, and he’s taken pleasure in watching the two work in tandem. “When Stuart got the wicket the other night, you saw Jimmy at mid-off running around, leaping around. I think that’s a theme throughout the camp as well. Everyone is enjoying playing, enjoying each other’s company and that’s for all to see out there.”Flintoff’s return and England’s growing confidence as a one-day unit is bad news for India but the ‘Arctic’ outfield might be the bigger concern. Chandu Borde, their manager, and Venkatesh Prasad, their bowling coach, have admitted that India’s fielding effort at Edgbaston wasn’t up to international standard while Robin Singh, the fielding coach, felt it was a case of being over-eager.”Sometimes people get over-anxious, rather than being safe and doing the right things,” Singh said. “We have to make sure they’re relaxed on the field. Sometimes when you try too hard, things go wrong. I find some of the boys trying too hard rather than relaxing much more. It’s like going out to bat. You can’t hit every ball for six. You need that control. We can only instill as coaches, it’s up to the players to execute it out in the middle.”The pitch at Old Trafford is one of the quickest in the country and that could prompt India to play an extra batsman. Considering the makeshift, low-lying floodlights, the teams might prefer to bat first, put up a total and pile on the pressure in the evening.Visiting football teams rarely leave the other Old Trafford with a smile, yet India have had two famous triumphs on this ground – the semi-final win over England in the 1983 World Cup and a victory against Pakistan in the 1999 edition – and will want to leave with the series level.England (likely) 1 Alastair Cook, 2 Matt Prior (wk), 3 Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood (capt), 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Ravi Bopara, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Chris Tremlett, 10 James Anderson, 11 Monty Panesar.India (likely) 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Sourav Ganguly, 3 Dinesh Karthik, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Rahul Dravid (capt), 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 7 Ajit Agarkar, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Ramesh Powar, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 RP Singh.

Can Chris Gayle continue his splendid form against tougher opposition? © AFP

“But how allyuh could advantage the people so?” The query on Wednesday night from someone who really isn’t a fan of West Indies was intended to be provocative and I was only too happy to take the bait.”When you have a side to mash up, you mash them up!” I responded. “These days we take what we could get, and by the way, how come nobody does feel sorry for we when we getting licks all over the place?” It was like an early goal silencing a hostile crowd.It is only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, but it’s good to revel in performances that emphasise the gap between the Champions Trophy holders and, believe it or not, the two teams immediately behind them in the international rankings. Those one-sided matches on Sunday and Wednesday were really just a tune-up for the real business of defending the title, and the Caribbean side will have to be firing on all cylinders tomorrow because Sri Lanka, who also brushed aside the same two opponents in the qualifying phase, are equally as keen to emphasise that they must by no means be considered among the ranks of the underdogs in India just because they had to play preliminary matches.Both sides are assured of places in the main tournament, which begins on Sunday with the hosts taking on England. However, there are several reasons why this encounter in Mumbai will be fought with the intensity befitting the final itself in three weeks’ time. For the victors will be placed in the group comprising South Africa, Pakistan and New Zealand, while the losers move into the pool for which favourites Australia, India and 2004 beaten finalists England were already drawn into.In other words, there is no easy group and finishing in the top two to earn a place in the semi-finals will involve considerably more intense competition than in any of the opening round groups of next year’s World Cup. For the team that would be on a roll with three consecutive wins after tomorrow’s encounter, Group A offers the chance to maintain that momentum as their three matches against the Pakistanis, New Zealanders and South Africans (in that order) will all be played in an eight-day period beginning next Tuesday.In contrast, the losers will take on the might of the Aussies next Wednesday and are not in competitive action again until October 26, when they take on the Indians, before rounding out the schedule against England two days later. More than that, especially for a team so inconsistent as West Indies, maintaining a winning momentum is almost essential to the quest to retain the title that was won so memorably at The Oval in London 25 months ago.Lara has restated the point (he really didn’t need to after what happened in his team’s last preliminary match of the DLF Cup in Malaysia) that there will be no fooling around against the Sri Lankans. The only concern, it seems, revolves around the health of the players. On a personal level, success tomorrow will present an opportunity to put New Zealand in their place next Friday. The Black Caps are a well-drilled, disciplined unit led by one of the finest captains in contemporary cricket, Stephen Fleming. But even if the players aren’t too concerned about it, some of the comments that West Indies endured on the tour of New Zealand earlier this year bordered on insulting and demeaning.From writers sounding the death knell of West Indies cricket to allrounder Scott Styris accusing the visitors of a lack of compassion when New Zealand batsmen were hit by short-pitched deliveries, you would have thought that the game was only now being mastered in the island territories.Almost everyone, not just in New Zealand, have had their chance to bemoan the decline of West Indies cricket on the global stage while also offering their own solutions, although, by their utterings, it is clear that very few understand the complexities of this place we call home. Such sanctimonious sermonising really rankles with those who experienced the days of near-invincibility by the West Indian juggernaut, yet were never so presumptuous as to pass judgement or prescribe solutions to the teams that they were hammering into submission.I suppose it is a matter of different attitudes: one conditioned by historical experiences and self-appointed privileges to determine what is good and bad or right and wrong about the other. One day, boy, one day. It may not be at this Champions’ Trophy or the World Cup next year or for another 10-15 years still, but one day those global pundits will regret ever directing their condescending tone towards the West Indies and wish for the return of the days when the visit of the Caribbean cricketers was an eagerly awaited opportunity to beat-up on a fallen giant.In the meantime, we will live in hope, not so much for the turnaround (that is still a long, long way off, especially in Tests) but for the reawakening of the consciousness and awareness of all who wear the burgundy cap of their responsibilities as representatives of their people on the world stage. Then again, maybe the turnaround has begun, at least off the field.”I always know you was the blight on the fellas,” my verbal combatant shot back. “The longer you stay here, the better their chances out there!” Final score: 1-1.

Bankstown’s Corey Richards has been rewarded for some good early season form with selection in the New South Wales squad for the first ING Cup match of the season against Queensland. Brad Haddin will captain the side, which also includes Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark and Phil Jaques, all of whom are on the fringes of national selection.Richards, 30, scored 122 for Sydney Central against the A-C-T in State League Cup in Round Three, and has previously played 47 one-dayers for New South Wales, scoring 1172 runs. He made one appearance for Australia A, but a string of poor performances meant that he was dropped from the state side after 2002-03.Squad Brad Haddin (Capt), Nathan Bracken, Doug Bollinger, Stuart Clark, Ed Cowan, Phil Jaques, Matthew Nicholson, Aaron O’Brien, James Packman, Matthew Phelps, Corey Richards, Dominic Thornely.