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.”

Highlights of the day

Cheteshwar Pujara blasted his highest score in Twenty20 cricket, as Saurashtra thrashed Jammu & Kashmir by 73 runs in Kochi. Pujara slammed five fours and sixes each during a 55-ball 81, and shared a 70-run partnership with Chirag Jani, who stroked 38 off 19 balls. Their efforts lifted Sauarashtra to 157 for 7. J&K failed to string together a single meaningful stand in their chase, and folded for 84 inside 18 overs, with only two batsmen managing double-digit scores. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers, ending with figures of 3.1-0-19-3.Gujarat nearly made a mess of a small chase against Hyderabad in Nagpur, but Parthiv Patel’s 70-run blitz ensured the team had enough gas in the tank to register a three-wicket win. Set 132 for victory, Parthiv drilled eight fours and three sixes during a 40-ball 70, and added 99 for the opening wicket with Priyank Kirit Panchal. Parthiv’s dismissal in the 12th over triggered a slide, as Gujarat lost seven wickets for just 30 runs, but held on to complete the chase with three balls to spare.Domestic heavyweights Karnataka suffered their second defeat of the season, going down to Uttar Pradesh by five wickets in Cuttack. Karnataka, opting to bat, compiled a total of 160 for 6, thanks to a 40-ball 45 from Mohammed Talha, and handy lower-order knocks from CM Gautam and Aniruddha Joshi. UP, though, gunned that total down with relative ease, as their top and middle order all got in among the runs. The opener Prashant Gupta top-scored with 48, while Suresh Raina carried forward the momentum by smoking a 15-ball 28 with three sixes.Biplab Samantray’s maiden T20 ton went in vain, as Odisha failed to defend 183 against Maharashtra. Samantray thumped a 59-ball 102, and put up 155 for the third wicket with Govinda Poddar, but important knocks of 44 and 49 from Prayag Bhati and Ankit Bawne respectively helped Maharashtra to a last-ball win.

Other brief scores

A half-century from Vijay Shankar and an all-round performance from R Sathish propelled Tamil Nadu to a 37-run win against Andhra at the MRF Pachayappas ground. Having chosen to bat, Tamil Nadu moved to 101 for 4 courtesy useful contributions from their top order before Shankar (69 off 49 balls) and Sathish (32 not out off 14) combined to add 76 in just 41 balls to power Tamil Nadu to a total of 179 for 5.Sathish then dismissed both Andhra openers over the course of a tight four-over quota in which he only conceded 18 runs. Hanuma Vihari (37 off 34) and Ricky Bhui (61 off 44) revived Andhra with a 75-run third-wicket stand, but the asking rate was climbing steadily, and they needed 79 off 32 balls when Vihari fell. Andhra couldn’t keep up, and eventually finished on 142 for 6, with two of their last three wickets falling to run-outs.A stifling bowling display helped Karnataka defend 148 and hand Hyderabad their first defeat of the tournament at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. A 66-run opening stand between Tanmay Agarwal (22) and Akshath Reddy (42 off 32 balls) gave Hyderabad an excellent start to their chase, but they struggled to keep up with the required rate thereafter as the left-arm seamer S Aravind (3 for 25) and left-arm spinner J Suchith (2 for 18) struck regular blows. S Badrinath remained unbeaten on 37, but wickets fell steadily around him and he himself only managed three fours in a 31-ball innings as Hyderabad finished on 134 for 6.After they chose to bat, Karnataka’s innings was built around two significant contributions. Opener Mayank Agarwal made 65 off 55 balls, while their No. 5 Pavan Deshpande scored 32 off 24. The two added 63 for the fourth wicket after Karnataka had slipped to 49 for 3, and eventually set them up for a total of 148 for 7. Left-arm spinner Mehdi Hasan was Hyderabad’s most successful bowler with figures of 3 for 16.A three-wicket haul from the medium-pacer Basil Thampi and two wickets each from Jalaj Saxena and Raiphi Gomez helped Kerala bowl Goa out for 86 and beat them by nine wickets. Choosing to bat, Goa’s innings never got going, with only Swapnil Asnodkar (23) and Keenan Vaz (22) getting past 20. Their innings lasted only 18.4 overs.Kerala’s chase was even shorter, lasting only 7.5 overs. Vishnu Vinod plundered 35 off 13 balls in a 40-run opening stand with Mohammed Azharudeen (22*), who then finished the match in the company of Rohan Prem (24*).

A spicy, green-tinged MCG pitch came under significant scrutiny after a 20-wicket Boxing Day blockbuster in which both Australia and England were bowled out cheaply.Matt Page, the MCG curator, said ahead of the fourth Ashes Test that he hoped to replicate the pitch he had prepared for last year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy fixture, which Australia won in the final session of day five. But this Test looks highly unlikely to last into a fourth day, let alone a fifth, after ball dominated bat in front of a record crowd.Page left 10mm of grass on the surface, 3mm more than he had last year, and fast bowlers on both sides found substantial seam movement throughout the day. England have not picked a frontline spinner all series, but Australia’s decision to play an all-seam attack was a reflection of conditions and both captains wanted to bowl first at the toss in unseasonably cool weather.Related

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Ex-players from both sides blamed the pitch – more so than the attacking approach or technical shortcoming of both sets of batters – for the fact that 20 wickets fell on the opening day, with Stuart Broad and Glenn McGrath leading the criticism.”The pitch is doing too much, if I’m brutally honest. Test match bowlers don’t need this amount of movement to look threatening,” Broad said, commentating on SEN Radio. “Great Test matches pitches, generally, they bounce, but they don’t jag all over the place.”Glenn McGrath told the BBC: “This pitch has got far too much grass on it… That pitch has got too much life in it for Test cricket… The Australians bowled well [but] it’s hard to apply yourself on a pitch that’s doing plenty because if you’re looking to defend, one’s got your name on it. You’ve got to find that balance between somehow keeping balls out while still looking to score.”MCG pitches have been far more sporting in recent years after the batter-friendly surface was heavily criticised during the 2017-18 Ashes Test, which saw 24 wickets fall across five days. Alastair Cook, who scored 244 not out in that match, said that the balance had tipped too far the other way.”The bowlers didn’t have to work hard for their wickets,” Cook said on TNT Sports. “It was an unfair contest. I don’t know how you hit it [the ball]. If this flattens out tomorrow then fine, it’s an even contest over three or four days. But I don’t think this is particularly even.”Brett Lee, another former fast bowler, joked on Fox Cricket that Pat Cummins “was almost going to go back to the hotel to pick up his spikes” after seeing the pitch, having ruled himself out of the rest of the series as he continues his rehabilitation from a back injury.Scott Boland claimed the big wicket of Harry Brook•AFP/Getty Images

“I think there’s a bit too much in it,” Lee said. “I wouldn’t be complaining at the end of the day if I was a [current] fast bowler. It’s a different surface: it’s that furry feeling. I rubbed my hand on the side of the wicket this morning, and you can feel the grass lift up.”This is the second time in the series that all 22 players have batted on the opening day of a Test match, after 19 wickets fell in Perth on a pitch that was ultimately rated “very good” by the ICC – though was described as a “piece of s***” by Australia’s Usman Khawaja.The ball appeared to deviate more off the seam at the MCG than in Perth, with several balls moving sharply after pitching – including Josh Tongue’s delivery to clean up Steven Smith, and Scott Boland’s nip-backers to Harry Brook (pinned lbw) and Jamie Smith (bowled through the gate).Michael Neser was Australia’s outstanding performer on the opening day, top-scoring with a counter-attacking 35 from No. 8 before taking 4 for 45 to help bowl England out inside 30 overs. He suggested that the pitch might yet flatten out, and defended the attacking approach that both sets of batters took.”The ball definitely nipped around a bit there with the new rock, so it was just a matter of trying to find ways to put pressure back on their bowlers – and knowing that, when we bowled, we had to just be patient and let the wicket do the work,” Neser said.”Going into it, you knew it was going to nip around with the amount of grass there, but traditionally it can flatten out here, so we’ll see how it pans out… I don’t want to go into tomorrow with the preconception of ‘the wicket’s going to be doing a lot’ because it can flatten, and we’ve just got to stick to our processes.”I think you have to change the way you approach it because bowlers are so good at just holding their length nowadays, so you have to actually put pressure back on them as a batter. I know it can look streaky at times, but at times that’s the only way to score: be brave and come at them.”

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, batting with the obvious discomfort of an injured hip and assisted by a runner, carried Wellington within sight of an outright win over Northern Districts by the end of the second day of their State Championship match at the Basin Reserve today.Fleming was severely restricted in his movement and still in some pain after being hit on the tip of hip bone by his young international team-mate Ian Butler near the end of the game’s first day.On a few occasions and out of habit, Fleming stumbled forward as if to complete a run and it was then the extent of his injury and the measure of his discomfort was most obvious. He was reduced at times to a shambling walk and when he turned or lunged precipitately, he often gritted his teeth in pain.But Fleming said after the match that he felt well and that his injury was not of major significance, that he had undergone a variety of treatments including acupuncture and that he expected the knock to be of no major inconvenience to him in the coming Test series against England.Fleming said he felt in good batting touch in spite of his injury and his performance today, in a match in which most batsman have struggled on a seaming pitch, supported that view. While his movements were limited he batted with considerable freedom and his unbeaten 40, made in 88 minutes, included 34 runs from boundaries – seven fours and one six.With Fleming when stumps were drawn last night was young left-hander Luke Woodcock, playing his third first-class match, who had been at the crease 137 minutes when stumps were drawn and was camped on his highest first-class score, 30 not out. Woodcock also made 30 in his first first-class innings against Otago two matches ago.Fleming and Woodcock had added 70 in 88 minutes for Wellington’s third wicket and Wellington was 123/2 at stumps, needing 87 more runs tomorrow to post their fifth outright win in consecutive games, their third in successive matches at the Basin Reserve.Wellington began their second innings needing 210 to win after Northern had failed to fully capitalise on a 69-run first innings lead. Northern was out for only 140 in their second innings, leaving the gate open for Wellington to win this match and to retain its place at the top of the State Championship table.If Wellington completes its win tomorrow, and the odds are now heavily in its favour, it will have achieved all of its outrights this season after trailing on the first innings.Northern could have played Wellington out of the match today. Wellington resumed its first innings this morning at 81/6, replying to Northern’s 185.Northern took only 13 overs and some 65 minutes to wrap up Wellington’s innings for 116 – achieving a 69-run lead which is commanding in the context of recent low-scoring matches on this ground. The victory target Wellington is now chasing – 210 – will still be the highest score any team has achieved at the Basin Reserve in the last three games.Northern should then have batted Wellington out of the match but an early onslaught from Wellington left-armer James Franklin, which cost them their first four wickets for 15 runs, immediately weakened their control on the game.Franklin claimed the wicket of James Marshall for one in his second over then shook Northern when he claimed the wickets of Matthew Hart, Joseph Yovich and Hamish Marshall within a single over – his fourth, the eighth of the innings.Hart was lbw for five, matching his first innings score, Yovich caught at first slip by Matthew Walker for five, improving by one on his first innings, and Hamish Marshall was lbw for 0. Two balls separated Hart and Yovich’s dismissals and a further three accounted for Marshall.Michael Parlane and first innings hero Scott Styris then revived the innings and the balance of the match tipped again in Northern’s favour. The pair put on 61 in 85 minutes for Northern’s fifth wicket and Northern was briefly 76/4, 145 ahead with six wickets standing.But in a manner sadly typical of this match Parlane and Styris then threw away their wickets recklessly within eight runs of each other. Parlane was out lbw for 41 to Walker, then Styris – who had batted superbly in the first innings for 87 – contrived to pull a short delivery from Mark Gillespie through 180 degress and onto his own stumps. He was out for 27 and Northern was 84/6.The only light in the remainder of the innings was a quick 29 from Daryl Tuffey – taken from 28 balls – which lifted him near the end.Wellington could still have lost. A total of 210 would seem imposing in the light of recent matches and persistent batting failures by both Wellington and their opponents.There were qualms when Richard Jones was out for 15, bowled for the second time in the match for Butler who had beaten him repeatedly before his dismissal.Wellington then lost their captain Matthew Bell for 28 and were 53/2 but there were few alarms after Fleming came to the crease to join Woodcock, who had dug in impressively.The performance of the youngster and his experienced partner pointed an accusing finger at many of the other batsmen who have been cheaply dismissed over the past two days. When Woodcock made his mind to stay he did so with relative ease, as long as his concentration and technique were sound. And when Fleming made up his mind to play shots he also did so without difficulty.The ball has seamed throughout the match but any first-class batsman should be able to cope, technically, with a seaming ball. That so many have struggled to do so is an indictment on their technique and attitude.

England striker Emile Heskey says that there is far more to his game than goals, having found the net a mere seven times in 58 appearances for his country.

The 32-year-old Aston Villa frontman is a key member of Fabio Capello's squad for the World Cup finals in South Africa and Heskey is confident that he has much to offer to the cause.

He told reporters:"As a striker you're judged on goalscoring. I know people will look at that.

"But I'd like to think I bring a lot more to the game than just that, even though I know people will look at that and I have to take it.

"I do take as much pleasure in assists, even if I am self-critical. I like to be part of a winning team and that is what my job is about.

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"I do sometimes think 'I could've done better and got a goal myself', but I guess that's part and parcel of the game."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger expects to make a defensive signing before the World Cup is over.

France pair William Gallas and Mikael Silvestre are both out of contract this summer and appear to be on their way out of the Emirates Stadium.

Meanwhile, veteran centre-half Sol Campbell is also yet to put pen to paper on a new one-year contract and is reported to be interesting Celtic.

That would leave the Gunners short on numbers in defence heading into the new Premier League season.

However, Wenger has revealed he is closing in on the signing of a new defender and expects to complete the deal before the end of the World Cup in mid-July.

"We are not close (to signing anyone) at the moment," he told the club's official website.

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"We are quiet. But there will be something happening before the end of the World Cup – certainly on the defensive side."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

The signing of Joe Cole has brought renewed optimism at Liverpool football club and suddenly all those pundits, ex players and supporters who were predicting all doom and gloom are suddenly smiling once again. It is amazing what one signing could do to lift the whole place and it makes you wonder whether fans were all simply buying into the negative tripe that is being spurted out by the media.

Negativity sweeps through football clubs like the plague and the media do everything in their powers to ensure it continues. By taking a step back and assessing the simple fact that in signing one player like Cole has seen the club’s perception from a club well and truly on the decline to suddenly one whose aspirations are slightly beyond simply regaining the Champions League spot; it is absolutely laughable in truth and just highlights how wrong we were in buying into the doom in gloom. The fact of the matter is that the reason we struggled last season was not simply the loss of Xabi Alonso, but Rafa’s clear failure to replace him with someone suitable. Joe Cole is the playmaker that we have been craving for the past 12 months and somebody who can restore the balance to the midfield we have been missing.

It is somewhat ironic that one of the reasons for our discontent has been the lack of money available from the yanks for new players and yet it is two freebies in Cole and Jovanovic that has restored hope and pride ahead of next season. Rafa use to moan about the lack of resources, but the free transfer and loan market is something he should have looked to utilise a lot more during his time at Anfield. I accept that he initiated the Jovanovic deal, but over the years he failed to take advantage of some potential coups.

One thing that has been positive is the player’s reaction to Roy Hodgson and Steven Gerrard in particular has been quick to shower praise. Gerrard has also dropped the hint that his future remains at Anfield as rumours have been abound that he has played his last game for Liverpool. I guess we can only hope that Fernando Torres is equally impressed by Roy and the signing of Cole, to ensure we have every chance of success next season.

Click on image to see a gallery of the BEST BABES at the World Cup this summer

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Ashley Cole will not be leaving Chelsea this summer, according to determined manager Carlo Ancelotti.

The 29-year-old has been linked with a £30million move to Real Madrid following Jose Mourinho's appointment as coach of the Spanish giants.

Cole's future in England has come under scrutiny following problems in his private life.

The left-back has been vilified in the press following the break-up of his marriage to pop-star wife, Cheryl.

However, Ancelotti insists Cole is not for sale and will not be leaving Stamford Bridge.

"Ashley is a Chelsea player and nobody wants to sell him," he declared.

"We want to keep him in our squad. I am 100 per cent sure he will be at Chelsea this season.

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"I consider him to be the best player in his position in the world.

"I don't need to talk to him. He is happy to stay at Chelsea. He never said he wanted to go. There is no chance he will go. No way."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email