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| Lancashire sign Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara as their overseas player • Moores: Kumar is hot property at the moment and rightly so• 'I had no hesitation in joining Lancashire' says SangakkaraPeter Moores, sacked as England coach almost a year ago, has marked the approaching anniversary with a personal coup by pulling off the signing for Lancashire of the Sri Lanka captain, Kumar Sangakkara.Sangakkara will join Lancashire as an overseas professional next summer, although his early-season involvement will be disrupted by the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies and also a potential involvement in the Asia Cup, which is scheduled for 15-25 June but which has been one of the more unpredictable tournaments in the cricket calendar.Sangakkara has always been a reluctant performer in county cricket, Sri Lanka's heavy schedule limiting him to a low-key appearance in a fractured Warwickshire dressing room two years ago. But he has a healthy respect for Moores's detailed and intense coaching style and this has been a key factor in his decision to give county cricket another go.Lancashire have signed Sankakkara as a batsman, with minimal wicketkeeping responsibilities, and although it is his Test average of 55 that wins him most worldwide respect, the prime intention is to tap into his knowledge of the rapidly evolving one-day game.Moores said: "Kumar is hot property at the moment and rightly so. He is arguably the most consistent batsman in international cricket with an outstanding average in all formats, making his signing a real coup for Lancashire."His experience and knowledge will be invaluable. Kumar has an excellent record in the traditional form of the game, but he is also at the fore when it comes to the rapidly evolving Twenty20 format having played in the IPL since its inception."Mike Watkinson, Lancashire's cricket director, did not rule out signing another overseas player as cover for Sangakkara during the early weeks of the season, which is particularly crammed with championship cricket next summer to make room for the relaunch of county cricket's Twenty20 competition."The first part of the season is full of championship cricket, so we are looking at our options in terms of cover for Kumar during this period," said Watkinson. "We do have some talented homegrown batsmen in our squad but it's important we start the season off as strongly as possible and if the right overseas player is available then that would be an ideal solution."Lancashire's bond with Sri Lanka has previously been seen in the signings of Muttiah Muralitharan and Sanath Jayasuriya. "Murali always talks fondly of his times at Lancashire so I had no hesitation in joining them," Sangakkara said.LancashireSri Lanka cricket teamPeter MooresCricketCounty Championship Division OneDavid Hoppsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Urban Meyer continues dodging questions about his health The great dodging act continues for Florida coach Urban Meyer. After first resigning then taking a leave of absence because of health issues ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Fergie, sign him up – City crowd celebrates after Carlos Tévez hits the goal trail again The modesty of their victims means that praise, for now, must come with a small caveat, but as Manchester City moved into fourth place in the Barclays Premier League by extending their 100 per cent record under their new manager last night, thanks to a Carlos Tévez hat-trick, it seemed that the Roberto Mancini effect was taking hold. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
England look to the heavens for salvation after Graeme Smith's century At 2.15pm a sepulchral gloom descended on Johannesburg, through which not even the ground’s floodlights could make an impression. It was brightened only by the occasional flash of lightning, as the most magnificent electric storm, apocalyptic in its intensity, reduced the ground to a lake within minutes, thus stopping South Africa’s victory charge for more than three hours. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
South Africa sack entire selection panel • Procter says decision was shock to selectors• No rift between coach Arthur and captain SmithCricket South Africa has sacked the country's entire selection panel, a day after head coach Mickey Arthur resigned ahead of a tour to India. Mike Procter, convenor of the selectors, said that "a meeting held last week with CSA bosses did not go well"."Whatever transpired at that meeting led them to get rid of Mickey and also the selectors," Procter said. "[CSA chief executive] Gerald Majola called me up and told me that the selection panel was dysfunctional. It was a huge shock to us all."He said this selection panel would not be required in future ... I think we had too short a time in the business: as selectors we always gave our own thoughts, we never ended up voting on issues, we talked around issues, we enjoyed each others company and I think we were doing pretty well. The time we had was too short but we did introduce some new players."The former South Africa and Gloucestershire all-rounder disputed earlier reports that Arthur's departure was due to a clash with captain Graeme Smith – reports which also upset Smith."Yesterday was a tough day for me," said Smith, who sat next to Arthur at today's news conference, and at one stage rested his head on Arthur's shoulder."Mickey brought a lot of stability and calmness to the team and, having worked so closely together, it was disappointing, it hurt me, to hear the media telling everybody our relationship had broken down. I can tell you we spoke a few times on the telephone yesterday, so much for our relationship being irreparably damaged, we had a very healthy relationship and I gave him my full support."Other reports had suggested that the surprise resignation of Arthur, together with the dismissal of the selection panel, was linked to the contentious issue of quotas for more black players in the national team.Procter said that only CSA could answer the question of whether quotas and racial transformation of the team was the reason the selectors were fired.An interim selection committee, which will replace the one led by Procter, comprises Majola, high performance manager Corrie van Zyl, who has also been appointed as interim coach, and former captain Kepler Wessels.Craig Matthews, a member of the sacked selection panel, told Cricinfo: "We weren't given any reason for the decision [sacking]."All that was said was that the board felt the selection process was flawed and that they want to restructure it. It might be a transformation issue, but they didn't give us any reasons, all they said was that the process needs to be reworked. I have been part of South African cricket for many years, nothing really surprises me anymore."Arthur later blamed "differences" between himself and CSA for his departure."I've decided to resign as I feel it is of the best interests of me and the team. Differences have arisen between the board of Cricket South Africa and me and I don't believe I can take the team forward under the present circumstances."There comes a time when you have to move on and I know in my own mind that I've taken the right decision."South Africa cricket teamCricketguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |