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Mickey Arthur has said that he has been impressed with his first look of the local talent assembled by Dhaka Dynamites. The team’s head coach believes that hunger within the young Bangladeshi cricketers will help his side.Dynamites’ icon pick had to be Nasir Hossain as they were the last team to be drawn in the lottery in the draft last month. But they picked the sensational Mustafizur Rahman with their first pick and also took Mosharraf Hossain (Man of the Match in 2013 BPL final), Mosaddek Hossain Saikat (who made three first-class double-centuries this year), Shamsur Rahman, Shykat Ali, Farhad Reza, Nabil Samad, Abul Hasan and Irfan Sukkur.Shamsur, Farhad and Abul have played international cricket for Bangladesh while Shykat and Sukkur are impressive young domestic batsmen.This is Arthur’s first stint coaching in Bangladesh although he last toured as coach of the South Africa team in 2008. He was also impressed by how the Dhaka franchise contacted him and has so far run the team.”We have a good bunch of talented young players but T20 is all about one performance,” Arthur said. “Their work ethic has been outstanding, they work incredibly hard. It has been a pleasure. They are looking to make a name for themselves in Bangladesh cricket. If you have guys who are willed to learn and play, you have a recipe of some success.”What interested me are the good talented youngsters out here. The Dhaka Dynamites is very well organised, which also interested me. The communication with everyone was brilliant. They seemed like a professional outfit. I haven’t been let down, it has been a fantastic experience so far.”Arthur said that the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Yasir Shah and Ryan ten Doeschate will add experience to the Dynamites squad. Apart from these three, they have Mohammad Irfan, Nasir Jamshed, Sohail Khan and Shahzaib Hasan and it is understood that Zimbabwe batsman Malcolm Waller, who scored 68 and 40 in T20s against Bangladesh last week, could soon join them.”I have been really impressed by the local talent. I don’t want to single out anybody. We have Sanga, Yasir Shah and Ryan ten Doeschate; those guys just add the little bit of international experience to the squad. The young players have been trained extremely well and are hungry for success,” Arthur said.Arthur said that while coaching in the Caribbean Premier League he saw how the T20 tournament helped local cricketers learn more from the international players, and hoped the same would happen for the uncapped Bangladeshi cricketers.”It gives international exposure to all the young players that are playing with international superstars. The experience rubs off on them. It just provides them with such a good base to work from.”I coached in the CPL and just seeing what that does for West Indian cricket, I suspect the BPL is going to do exactly the same for Bangladesh cricket.”

Prosper Utseya is one of three spinners that Zimbabwe are likely to play against South Africa A © AFP

Zimbabwe Select will go into the second and final four-day match against South Africa A starting at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Wednesday with three spinners.Left-arm spinner Keith Dabengwa, legspinner Timycen Maruma and offspinner Prosper Utseya were all named in the starting line-up for the match as Zimbabwe coach Kevin Curran believed that the trio were the key to success. All three were also named in the squad for the Twenty20 World Championship which was announced yesterday.Tino Mawoyo was finally dropped together with fast bowler Tawanda Mupariwa and top-order batsman Chamu Chibhabha. Brendan Taylor made a return to the Zimbabwe colours and was set to open the batting with Hamilton Masakadza.Only one change looked likely in the South Africa A starting line-up. Opening batsman Alviro Petersen returned to South Africa because of illness and left-hander Ashwell Prince was expected to take his place.Meanwhile, Zimbabwe A will take on the South African Academy in a four-day match at Harare Sports Club. Mawoyo leads the A side which also included Sean Williams, who had recovered from a back injury. Other players in the squad were Chibhabha, Mupariwa, Kamungozi, Edward Rainsford and Graeme Cremer.Zimbabwe A toured South Africa last month and played two three-day matches against the Highveld Lions and the South African Academy and one-dayers against the same opposition. They performed dismally in the three-day matches, losing both of them before winning the limited-overs encounters. All the matches were played at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria.Zimbabwe Select Prosper Utseya (capt), Tatenda Taibu, Hamilton Masakadza, Gary Brent, Christopher Mpofu, Brendan Taylor, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Timycen Maruma, Vusumuzi Sibanda, Elton Chigumbura, Keith DabengwaSouth Africa A (probable): Boeta Dippenaar (capt), Johan Botha, Andrew Hall, Paul Harris, Charl Langeveldt, Hashim Amla, Andre Nel, Justin Ontong, Ashwell Prince, Thami Tsolekile (wk) Morne van Wyk.Zimbabwe A Tino Mawoyo (capt), Eric Chauluka, Chamu Chibhabha, Sean Williams, Alester Maregwede, Regis Chakabva (wk), Tawanda Mupariwa, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Trevor Garwe, Edward Rainsford, Graeme Cremer.

The West Indies Cricket Board has issued a media release countering “misleading information in recent media reports” which indicated that the board had entered into a tri-nation series to be staged in Malaysia and Singapore without discussing the proposal with the players.On Sunday, the Indian board (BCCI) announced the series, although on Monday Cricket Australia was more cautious, indicating that talks were still taking place regarding exact arrangements.The WICB statement said that it had been invited to participate in the series and was talking to players’ representatives before making any commitment to take part. The first of those meetings took place today and the the WICB is expected to provide more details of the proposal in the coming days.The West Indies Players’ Association is known to have been trying to get clarification from the WICB about matches proposed outside the Future Tours Programme for several weeks but has been unable to make any headway until now.Earlier this month, revealed that a deal had been signed between the WICB and BCCI to stage matches in North America, but plans to hold games in the USA and Canada broke down after it proved impossible to find acceptable venues. “It is only when those efforts on the part of North America failed in the last two weeks that BCCI has been making subsequent efforts to arrange a series in the Far East,” the statement concluded.

Full tournament schedule

The 2007 World Cup logo © ICC

West Indies, the hosts, will play the first match of the 2007 World Cup against Pakistan, in Jamaica, on March 13, 2007. The match, from Group D, will be staged at the newly renovated Sabina Park in Kingston.Australia, the defending champions, will open their tournament against Scotland in St Kitts on March 14. Overall the tournament will involved 51 matches in 47 days and the final will take place on April 28 in Barbados.Trinidad & Tobago will host Group B. Matches will commence on March 15 when Sri Lanka meet Bermuda, India and Sri Lanka meet in the group’s showpiece game on March 23.St Lucia, which is hosting England’s group for the round robin stage of the tournament, starts its matches on March 14 with Kenya taking on Canada. Kenya will also close out the group by playing England, who’s first match is against New Zealand on March 16.The round robin play will see six games over a period of 11 days in each of the four groups. The winners and runners-up from each group will earn the right to advance to the Super 8 stage of the tournament where teams will play each of the other teams advancing – except the team which advanced from their own group – for a total of six games each.The Super 8 stage of the tournament, which begins on March 27, will be played in four countries: Antigua, Guyana, Grenada and Barbados. The last match of this segment of the tournament will take place on Saturday 21 April.For the semi-finals the four remaining teams will travel to Jamaica and St Lucia. On Apri 24 Sabina Park in Kingston will be the venue for semi-final one, where the second and third place finishers from the Super 8’s will square off against each other.On April 25 the Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia will stage semi-final two, pitting the first and fourth place finishers from the Super 8’s against each other.The event logo and event mascot were also unveiled at an event in Trinidad and Tobago. The event mascot is a teenage character called `Mello’ who embodies the lifestyle of the region.

Muttiah Muralitharan wants to end his career on a high note© AFP

Muttiah Muralitharan, the world’s highest Test wicket-taker, has said that he wants to go out of the game on a high note, and cited the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean as his swan song.”I want to play till the next World Cup and try to win it and go off on ahigh note when I am retiring,” Muralitharan said after becoming the new record holder. “The world record means a lot to me and for Sri Lanka, but winning the World Cup in 1996, I would say, was the biggest achievement of my career. The World Cup was something different. You can’t forget that easily. It was tremendous. It is bigger than my individual performance in Harare.”At Harare, Muralitharan broke Courtney Walsh’s world record of 519 wickets from 132 Tests – which had stood for three years – when he took eight wickets in the first Test against Zimbabwe on Sunday. Sri Lanka won the Test by an innings and 240 runs inside three days to take a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series. But he was aware that his mark would be surpassed. “Records are meant to be broken. Somebody else may break my record. It won’t stay for a long time.”But for the present moment he can relish the ‘world champion’ title, despite the fact that his bowling action has always been clouded with uncertainty.Muralitharan’s doosra had been reported to the ICC by Chris Broad as beingillegal and not within the laws of the game. But since the incident flaredup at the end of the three-Test series against Australia in March, Muralitharan made perhaps his first public statement on it.”The doosra has always been at the back of my mind. People have questionedme about it. I have done all the tests that are required and the reportshave gone to the ICC. At the end of the day what matters is what the report,the expert, my cricket board and what the ICC says.”Curiously, Muralitharan’s action has evoked rabid criticism or fanatical support since the first time he was called for throwing in Australia in 1995, a few months before Sri Lanka, led by Arjuna Ranatunga, beat Australia in front of a packed house at Lahore to lift the World Cup. Although Sri Lanka undertook two unsuccessful World Cup campaigns after that, Muralitharan has been devastating in the shorter game, and is gradually catching up on the400-wicket mark. With 360 wickets in 232 matches, he lies third behind Wasim Akram (502 wickets from 356 matches) and Waqar Younis (416 wickets from 262 matches).But it’s in Tests that Muralitharan has caused more damage. With his present average of nearly six wickets a Test, cricket pundits and experts predict that by the time he retires, he will have gone past the 600-wicket mark. To put the matter into perspective, if he carries on at his current wicket-taking rate, in 132 Tests (the number Walsh took for his record), he will have claimed 772 wickets.And with Shane Warne right behind Muralitharan on 517 Test wickets, the battle is on between the two great turners of the ball to become the leading spinner of all time. Australia comes to Zimbabwe after Sri Lanka’s second Test to play two Tests, following which they play Sri Lanka in two further Tests at home in July.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has joined forces with BBC Sport to promote two exciting grass roots initiatives designed to inspire more people to get into the sport.The BBC Sport Kwik Cricket tournament is a national cricket competition for primary school children. Last year’s tournament attracted more than 5,500 teams from across the country and it is hoped that over 60,000 year six boys and girls will take part in this year’s event, the final of which will take place on 15 July 2003 at Trent Bridge.The second initiative concerns Play-Cricket, the ECB Cricket Network found at www.play-cricket.com, a system which provides all ECB affiliated clubs and leagues with free administration systems and web-sites. The network hosts a rapidly growing base of over 1500 clubs and 150 leagues around the UK. BBC Sport will have a significant presence on the site, which is at the forefront of sports administration.Play-Cricket is also developing extensive links with the BBC’s network of local “Where I Live” web-sites. This partnership brings together the BBC’s commitment to reflecting grass roots sport activity on its growing local web services, with the ECB’s drive to raise the profile of local club cricket. In addition, BBC Sport will sponsor a club cricket ‘Player of the Month’ competition.The deal forms part of the ECB’s broadcast contract with BBC Sport which runs until 2005, and follows the BBC’s successful support of the ECB’s campaign to ensure wider provision of children’s cricket safety helmets.Tim Lamb, ECB Chief Executive, said, “We are delighted to have obtained BBC Sport’s support for Play-Cricket as we see the system as a major tool to help the development of club cricket. Since its launch, the site has gone from strength to strength and has without doubt dramatically improved the efficiency of cricket administration at club level.”Kwik Cricket has been one of the ECB’s real success stories over the years. Launched in 1988, over 61,000 bags of Kwik Cricket kit have since been distributed and millions of children have been introduced to cricket this way. BBC’s involvement will help to give the tournament the additional prestige and publicity it deserves.”Peter Salmon, Director BBC Sport, said, “BBC Sport is dedicated to supporting sport at the grass roots level. The ECB’s initiatives are vitally important for the game and we are delighted to be involved with them.”Play-Cricket.com is a network of cricket websites and administrations systems. It provides all clubs, leagues and County Boards with customised cricket applications to make cricket administration and club management more efficient. Standard Administration systems are free to clubs and leagues with upgrade features available starting from £25 per annum per club.The benefits for users are substantial. As well as facilitating communication amongst club members, there is significant time saving potential by offering online alternatives to existing processes (e.g. team e-mail, automated league tables, player availability etc). In addition, due to reduced telephone and post requirements, administrative costs can be reduced by between £400 – £1000 per year for the average club.Schools wishing to enter the BBC Sport Kwik Cricket Tournament 2003 should contact their local Cricket Development Officer. Details of the CDOs can be found here or by calling the ECB Development information line on 0800 214 314. The competition is run jointly by the ECB and the English Schools Cricket Association.

Greg Blewett’s second century of the season, both against Durham, allowed Nottinghamshire to make a very bold declaration, setting their hosts a target of 315 in 102 overs at Chester-le-Street. In six overs’ batting in gloomy light Durham reached 16 without loss.Blewett, who made 133 at Trent Bridge five weeks ago, hit 137 not out off 191 balls in Notts’ second innings total of 219 for five.Opening the innings because Darren Bicknell had a side strain, Blewett reached a 93-ball 50 with a swept six off Nicky Phillips and also hit 16 fours.The lack of solid support probably delayed the declaration, along with the loss of seven overs to the day’s only rain shortly after tea.Blewett became the second player of the day to pass 500 Championship runs following Paul Collingwood, whose 91 not out took his tally to 515 at an average of 73.6.In his last match before joining the England one-day squad, Collingwood began the day on 49 with Durham on 205 for six.They lost Ian Hunter and James Brinkley to edges off left-armer Greg Smith before they had added the 17 runs needed to avoid the follow-on.Collingwood hammered Richard Stemp over mid-wicket for six and also hit 11 fours in his 187-ball knock. He put on 58 for the last two wickets with Nicky Phillips and Steve Harmison. Durham were all out for 276, 95 behind, Smith and Stemp taking three wickets each.

Celtic B reporter Lewis Laird has shared some exciting reaction to Josh Dede signing a professional Celtic contract.

The Lowdown: Dede profiled

Dede is just 16 years of age and is a right-sided full-back who appears to be making great strides in Glasgow.

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He has already featured for Tommy McIntyre’s Celtic B side and has made significant progress in the club’s academy after joining in 2017.

Dede as now joined fellow youngster Daniel Kelly in penning professional terms with the club, with the Hoops fending off interest in the creative midfielder from Arsenal.

The Latest: Journalist reacts

Dede posted the news of his first professional Celtic Park deal on Instagram. Laird, who covers all things Celtic-related, but with a focus on B team and youth matters, relayed the news on Twitter and gave his thoughts on the announcement.

“Great to see another youngster signing their first professional deal with the club – this time, 16-year old right-back Josh Dede Has recently come into Tommy McIntyre’s Celtic B side and played in the back 4 regularly over the past month Congratulations to him.”

The Verdict: More good news

It seems as if the news of Ben Doak’s move to Liverpool has shot Celtic chiefs into action when it comes to offering other highly-rated youngsters professional terms.

Dede has now become the latest to do put pen to paper on a Parkhead deal after Kelly, and we wouldn’t be surprised if there was more to come before the summer.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

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Reports last month claimed that Celtic are rethinking their approach when it came to their academy talents, and we are starting to see signs of that with two new contracts.

In other news: Spotted: ‘Fantastic’ Celtic gem now drops major hint he won’t be available for title run-in. 

Scorecard1:08

Clarke leads Australia on low-scoring day

If day three in Chelmsford produced more mixed fortunes for the Australians, the forward strides made by two of their most spinal contributors was enough to obscure other more ambiguous outcomes against an Essex side that is far from the most threatening combination in county ranks.Mitchell Starc, indifferent in his initial spells, returned to the sort of rhythm and swing that made him the player of the World Cup, as his six wickets hurried Essex from 291 for 1 late on the second evening to 414 all out on the stroke of lunch. Then the captain Michael Clarke played his most substantial innings since braving a bad back, torn hamstring and the emotional weight of Phillip Hughes’ death to compile a memorable hundred in Adelaide last December.These two performances provided a reminder of Starc’s danger and Clarke’s value, while also ensuring the pair will be feeling confident and settled entering into the first Investec Ashes Test against England in Cardiff, with wickets and runs behind them. Clarke’s crisp knock was especially timely, going some way to proving he will be capable of something more than the flashy cameos he has indulged in since returning from hamstring surgery.Michael Clarke made his first substantial score of the tour•Getty Images

Regular wickets at the other end meant that the tourists needed Clarke to stand up, on a very good Chelmsford pitch that was showing welcome signs of deterioration late on day three, as all good first-class surfaces should but few enough contrive to do. Chris Rogers, Adam Voges and Shane Watson all completed matches without major scores, while David Warner and Mitchell Marsh were unable to follow-up their first-innings success.It is fair to assume Rogers, Voges and Watson have all done just enough to maintain their spots in the Test team, leaving Shaun and Mitchell Marsh as the unfortunate men to miss out. That being said, the final day of this fixture will provide the opportunity for Watson and the younger Marsh to again match wits as bowlers, leaving the selection chairman Rod Marsh and the coach Darren Lehmann to deliberate on who best to choose.Essex’s vim in the field ensured that Clarke’s men could not skate away to an unassailable lead, meaning the final day should provide decent entertainment on a July Saturday as Tom Westley and Ravi Bopara attempt to reprise their first-innings heroics against a touring team now eager to get to Cardiff. None more so than Starc.At one point on the first evening, Starc’s figures of 11-3-26-0 were flattering, for he had barely made the batsmen play and more often challenged the reserve gloveman Peter Nevill to limit a mounting tally of byes. But a move around the wicket had him swerving through Westley and the nightwatchman Jamie Porter, and there was more the following morning.Swung around to the River End by Clarke after Bopara had taken further toll on the finger spin of Nathan Lyon, Starc zoomed through the final four wickets of the innings in the space of 20 balls at a cost of five runs. Thus did 0 for 26 become 6 for 51, a turnaround reminiscent of a tour match two years ago in Taunton, but also the sort of damage once wrought by Wasim Akram for Pakistan and Lancashire. The need for Starc to find his best with regularity during the Ashes grows with every minute team medical staff fret over the state of Ryan Harris’ right knee.Batting a second time, Australia’s batsmen looked a little hazy in focus, something reflected by Warner’s drag on to the stumps, Rogers being dropped on nought before edging behind at 32, then Voges and Watson both missing straight balls – the latter’s a full toss he would have expected to make solid contact with. Clarke’s gaze looked rather more fixed, and in the company of Marsh he ensured the avoidance of embarrassment.As the close of play drew near, Clarke appeared good for a century, only to be done in when a flatter delivery from Aron Nijjar skidded through low to disturb the stumps. Frustration passed understandably across Clarke’s face, but it was doubtless leavened by the thought that he was now tracing towards a three figure score in the matches that matter most of all.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Dinesh Karthik hooks to fine leg but India had to negotiate a testing passage of play before winning by seven wickets to go one up in the three-match series © Getty Images

After all the excellent work done over the last four days, India needed only to complete the formalities on the final morning but they were made to work hard to polish off the remaining 63 runs. Led by a fiery spell from Chris Tremlett, England fought with plenty of heart, and India needed 21 overs before finally completing a seven-wicket victory, their fifth Test win in England and the first at Trent Bridge, to go 1-0 in the series.Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik resumed the Indian innings at 10 for 0, and motored to 47 fairly comfortably. Karthik played a couple of handsome backfoot punches square on the off side, while Jaffer played his trademark effortless flicks. Both played and missed a few times off Ryan Sidebottom, but a ten-wicket win was on the cards when Tremlett struck – not once, but three times. England’s only hope of gaining some brownie points was to take a few top-order wickets before the Oval Test, and Tremlett did that, nailing both openers with short balls that bounced more than the batsmen expected – Jaffer top-edged a pull to gully while Karthik nicked a beauty which bounced and seamed away.Buoyed by those successes, Tremlett and James Anderson let rip at India’s two most experienced batsmen. Both bowlers liberally dished out short-pitched deliveries, and then mixed it with pitched-up, awayswingers. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid played and missed a few times, before Tendulkar pushed at a short one off his hips straight to Alastair Cook at leg gully, who had been cleverly stationed for that stroke.Dravid, though, patiently swayed out of the way of every short ball that came his way, and with a target of 73, victory was only a matter of time. The winning runs came when Tremlett bowled an inswinger that beat Sourav Ganguly and Matt Prior and raced down for four byes.The victory means India have now won at least one Test in ten of their last 12 tours, but have only won two of those series against a team other than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. With the last Test at The Oval – a venue which has traditionally produced belters – India have an excellent opportunity to go on and get that rare overseas series victory. England, on the other hand, haven’t lost a series at home since the 2001 Ashes, which sets up the last game of this series quite splendidly.