Shane Warne’s regrowth has always been a style issue, but his baldness has forced him to join a campaign to get back his receding hairline. Warne, who is a perennial bottle-blond, has completed replacement treatment from Advanced Hair Studio in a bid to return his locks.”It’s great,” Warne, the Hampshire captain, said. “My hair is growing back and my hair loss has stopped.” While he hopes the program increases his thatch, the exercise also opens up a valuable box of sledges for England during the Test series starting on July 21.Warne told an international video conference from London that he was taking tablets to prevent the hair loss and when asked if they were acceptable under the sport’s drug rules he said: “Do I really need to answer that one? Of course I have. I have checked them all out.” reported that he was also quizzed about ditching his mobile phone, whether he was getting paid more than for his failed quit-smoking campaign with Nicorette, and if having hair was more attractive to women. “You can speculate all you like about that stuff,” Warne said. “The most important thing to me is to re-grow my own hair.”Warne, 35, said being blond was his trademark and he “wanted to feel young again”. He also said he would check out Ricky Ponting’s pate to see if his was thinning. “I’ll have to study him very closely in the change room,” he said. “I might have to pull him aside and have a quiet little word.”Turning on bald patches isn’t foreign for cricketers. The offspinner Greg Matthews led a high-profile “yeah, yeah” promotion and Graham Gooch and Martin Crowe have also endorsed the product. Warne had his first Advance Studio session late in the Australian summer and will use laser therapy and a special thickening shampoo to help his recovery.
Heath Streak has resigned as Zimbabwe’s captain. Streak made a series of demands to the Zimbabwean Cricket Union, threatening to quit the game altogether if they were not met: but the ZCU called his bluff, and he has been replaced by Tatenda Taibu with immediate effect.According to the ZCU, Streak presented their board of directors with anultimatum during their quarterly meeting. His demands included the immediate review of the selection panel, to leave a maximum of four selectors who would not be directors or commentators and who should have played first-class or Test cricket.Streak apparently said he had no confidence in the teams being selected, and added that he was under stress as he was doubling up as the players’ representative, and the players were continuously raising grievances to him. Streak had earlier said that he was not happy with the management of the team, or with Geoff Marsh, the coach, saying that he had misrepresented him to the selectors.But the acrimony between Streak and the ZCU became apparant when the ZCU issued a statement claiming that Streak had been sacked and that he had retired “from all forms of cricket”. This was denied by Streak. “I don’t want to say anything until matters have been cleared,” he said. “Things aren’t exactly as they have come out. What has happened so far is not my wish.”Streak, who is still only 30, has played 59 Tests and 183 one-dayers. He has had two stints as Zimbabwe’s captain but, despite the odd success, he was unable to change their fortunes. If indeed he has played his last game for Zimbabwe he will follow other big names, such as Andy Flower, Alistair Campbell and Henry Olonga, out of international cricket.Streak recently signed as one of Warwickshire’s overseas players for the coming county season. It may be that he will be available to play rather more often at Edgbaston than he originally expected.Taibu, the diminutive wicketkeeper, had been Streak’s vice-captain in recent series. He will take charge for Zimbabwe’s home series against Sri Lanka in two weeks’ time, when he will become their first black Test captain. He is not 21 until May 14, and so also stands to become the youngest Test captain of all – the record is currently held by Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, who was 21 years 77 days old when he first captained India, in 1961-62.
POTCHEFSTROOM, South Africa – Australia’s players were so tense duringthe early stages of the 1999 World Cup they couldn’t breathe … orplay.It was pure torture. The harder they tried, the worse they got, losingto Pakistan and New Zealand and struggling against a bunch ofmodestly-talented bravehearts from Scotland.It’s history, and something of a miracle, that Australia won the title.Those first few games were such an ordeal that Ricky Ponting’s sidevowed to avoid a repeat this time.They wanted to hit the ground running in South Africa, win the first twogames against Pakistan and India to blow off the cobwebs, then enjoythemselves.Mission accomplished.The Australians aren’t living and breathing the World Cup over here. Farfrom it. In fact, when they aren’t playing, or when they are about toface weak opposition like Holland on Thursday, they are being encouragedto let their hair down.Australia’s team hotel in Potchefstroom the last two days has beennoticeable for how many players have been absent.A large gang went to R&R heaven: Sun City. Others went back to thecapital, Johannesburg.Those who did stay in Potchefstroom did laps of the local golf course,swam, played table tennis, played pool, sipped the odd beer – anythingthat didn’t involve cricket, anything that would help clear their heads.It’s all part of a plan to keep the players fresh over a long two-monthtournament, enabling them them to peak at the right times. There’s noneed to be peaking now.The time will come soon enough when the Super Sixes, the semi-final andfinal roll around. There’s an energetic vibe in the camp that wasmissing at the same stage of the Cup four years ago.”I remember us having a very, very tough and hard meeting a couple ofgames in,” said Ponting.”We sat down in Headingley and locked all the doors and just tried toreally get to the bottom of why things were not happening for us.”It was a really open and honest meeting for us, we got everything outbut we haven’t had to do too much of that this time.”Things are going really well and I probably think part of that is thechance we’ve had to – not do our own thing all the time – but we haven’tplaced too much emphasis on this being a big tournament and a World Cup.”We’ve tried to make it a little bit the other way if anything, be alittle bit more low key and just go about our business day in and dayout. The guys are probably responding pretty well to that.”It was built up big-time in ’99 and that’s what we’ve tried to stayaway from. There’s going to be enough excitement and pressure around ongame day anyway to get the guys pumped up, so we’ve deliberately triedto make it as low key as we can.”Australia returned to the nets on the eve of the Holland game withbatteries fully charged.
Tottenham Hotspur have been tipped to make a move for Nicolo Zaniolo in the summer transfer window.
What’s the talk?
That’s according to Virtus Entella sporting director Matteo Superbi, who claimed in a recent interview with Calciomercato (via Sport Witness) that the Serie A side could be tempted into selling the 22-year-old this summer.
Superbi went on to state that, despite the Italy international having suffered a number of injury setbacks in his career, the likes of Tottenham, Manchester United, Manchester City and Juventus would all be interested in a move for the versatile winger – for whom Roma could demand a figure of around €50m (£42.5m).
Speaking about Zaniolo’s future, the 53-year-old said: “I think a [player born in] ’99 of that level could be worth €50m; I don’t think I’m saying the wrong thing. It will be more a choice of Roma, who will decide what to do with Zaniolo – but that’s the value.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he was bought by a top English team; the real unknown is that despite being very young, he has already had two major operations. I wish him well and that he has given his all in terms of injuries.
“Nicolo has excellent technique but great physicality. The ball is in Mourinho’s court and Roma’s court. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were clubs like Juve, Tottenham or Manchester interested. It’s still an investment for big teams.”
Forget Dybala
While it is true that, despite clearly possessing an enormous amount of ability, Zaniolo’s career has started to stagnate at the Stadio Olimpico somewhat, should Antonio Conte believe he can be the manager to help the 22-year-old go on to fulfil his undoubted potential, the Italian would be a fantastic signing for Spurs.
Indeed, after making a €4.5m (£3.8m) move to Roma back in 2018, the £29.7m-rated forward went on to score four goals and provide three assists over his 27 Serie A appearances in 2018/19, before following this campaign up with returns of six goals and two assists over 26 league outings in 2019/20.
This level of performance led to the youngster being showered with considerable praise, none less so than from Giallorossi legend Francesco Totti, who said of the attacker back in 2018: “Zaniolo is explosive and he plays with an unusual ease. If he continues this way he could become a great player.”
However, a cruciate ligament rupture saw the £75k-per-week Italian miss the entirety of Roma’s 2020/21 campaign, with Zaniolo only returning to the pitch at the beginning of this season.
And, despite still struggling with the odd injury here and there, the player who Mourinho claimed “there are few out there with this amount of potential” has started to show glimpses of his talent over his 23 Serie A appearances in the current campaign, scoring two goals, providing two assists and creating three big chances for his teammates, as well as completing an average of two dribbles per game – the joint fifth-most of any player in the top flight of Italian football.
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As such, while Spurs have been heavily linked with a move for another Serie A sensation in the form of Paulo Dybala in recent weeks, it would appear extremely advisable for Conte to first consider a move for the Roma starlet this summer.
Indeed, not only would Zaniolo’s impressive positional versatility make him a much better fit for the 52-year-old manager’s system at Spurs, but the fact the nine-time capped international is six years Dybala’s junior also means he is a player with a much higher ceiling, not to mention a much more sellable asset further down the line.
AND in other news: Conte could unearth a £100m-rated talent in THFC sensation who can “always turn it on”
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) is expected to fill up two spots in its list of centrally contracted players – which fell vacant after Lou Vincent and Shane Bond joined the unofficial Indian Cricket League – before June.Justin Vaughan, the NZC chief executive, said Bond’s contract had been offered to another player while no replacement had been found for Vincent yet.”Shane’s contract has been offered to a player but I haven’t heard whether that player has accepted it yet,” Vaughan told . “[About] Lou’s contract, we are working through the process for that at the moment but a decision is probably about a week away.”Iain O’Brien, the right-arm fast-medium bowler, is likely to be named in place of Bond, the newspaper suggested, while Tim Southee – who took 17 wickets and was the Player of the Tournament at the recent Under-19 World Cup – and opening batsman Matthew Bell have been marked as the candidates to replace Vincent.Meanwhile, Richard Hadlee, currently New Zealand’s convenor of selectors, will be involved in handing out the 20 central contracts and in selecting the squad for the tour of England – which begins late next month – despite his announcement last week that he would step down as a selector.John Wright, the former India coach and currently high performance manager of NZC, is tipped to take over the role from Hadlee, who has served as a selector for eight years. However, Hadlee is likely to be replaced only later this year.
The ICC intercontinental Cup final between Ireland and Canada will now not be held at Chelmsford after discussions between the ICC and Essex stalled.A fortnight ago the Irish Cricket Union announced that the County Ground would host the four-day match starting on May 21, but a spokesman for Essex today told Cricinfo: “When we were originally advised about the opportunity of staging the final we welcomed it. We have been in discussions with the ICC over the last couple of weeks but now understand they have decided to stage it elsewhere.”The ICC are now understood to be looking for an alternative venue.
Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, says that the inexperienced one-day side must be given time to develop. England, after drawing the Test series in India, are trailing 0-3 in the one-day series with four games to play. “From our point of view it’s been quite a difficult series,” Fletcher told BBC Radio Five Live. “People must be a little bit patient with this squad. On Monday, there were six changes from the side which played very successfully against Australia.”England are without Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Ashley Giles. Kevin Pietersen missed the third ODI at Goa because of a stomach bug.”It makes it more difficult for the younger players, who don’t have that experience, to come in and perform,” said Fletcher. “When you look at the Indian side there’s quite a few players who have played over 100 games – we haven’t got one player who’s played 100 games. It shows you they are a very experienced side.”It’s very important that these players do learn and I think this series is a good experience for some of them. As long as we learn from our mistakes – and we’re going to make mistakes – it can only do them good for the future. We’ve still got a chance. There are four games to go and I still believe we have a positive attitude.”
Scorecard Anthony McGrath’s dominant unbeaten 165 helped Yorkshire to chase an unlikely 404 and pull off a dramatic victory against Leicestershire at Grace Road with six wickets to spare. In completing their mission improbable, Yorkshire posted their highest-ever fourth-innings score to win a match. It also gave them their third win in four matches. A confident Leicestershire had declared on the third day at 267 for 9, but an opening stand of 94 between Matthew Wood and Phil Jaques set up what was, in the end, a comfortable win. The openers fell within six runs of each other, but McGrath went on to add 84 with Michael Vaughan for the third wicket and 133 with Ian Harvey for the fourth as Yorkshire coasted home in style. McGrath’s epic innings came from just 218 balls and included 20 fours. Scorecard Graeme Hick launched a boundary blitz on the Derbyshire attack to speed Worcestershire to their target in less than 17 overs on the final morning. Hick blasted 62 from 48 balls with 13 fours, adding 96 with Stephen Moore as Worcestershire, claimed a full-points victory. Ian Hunter dismissed Stephen Peters early but that was the lone success for Derbyshire as their miserable start to the season continues. Reducing Worcestershire to 151 for six on the first day will now be a distant memory. It is difficult to see anything other than more struggles ahead unless the batsmen can build significant innings and give their attack something to bowl at. Scorecard A career-best 195 from Alastair Cook and an unbeaten 142 from Andy Flower guided Essex to a draw against Northants. Cook further enhanced his blossoming reputation with his eight-and-a-half hour innings, striking 27 fours, before he was caught by Martin Love off Ben Phillips. When Ronnie Irani fell quickly Northants still had hopes of running through the lower-order. But James Foster provided solid support as Flower remained steadfast. Flower’s century took 209 balls, so his last 42 runs took 121 deliveries, but his job was to save the match for Essex. They had been completely outplayed over the first two days but showed admirable fight qualities and will be stronger when Darren Gough and Alex Tudor return. Northants will feel they missed an opportunity, but the pitch was very good for batting, and although the bowling attack persevered it did not have the strike power to dismiss Essex twice.
Barbados 285 and 372 beat Trinidad & Tobago 265 and 146 by 246 runs Scorecard Champions Barbados completed their seventh straight victory, crushing Trinidad & Tobago by 246 runs at Pointe-a-Pierre. T&T, 60 for 4 overnight, subsided for 146 on the final day, with only Gibran Mohammed, their wicketkeeper, holding Barbados up for long with an undefeated 39. Daren Ganga, the T&T captain, didn’t add to his overnight 16 before falling lbw to Fidel Edwards, and Edwards ended some last-wicket fun from Marlon Black, who clubbed 16, by having him caught behind to finish with 4 for 48.Close 3rd day Leeward Islands 190 and 76 for 1 need another 329 runs to beat Jamaica 200 and 394 for 3 (Gayle 219, Lambert 60*) Scorecard Chris Gayle clattered 219 at St. Elizabeth and Jamaica raced to 394 for 3 at almost four runs per over. Maurice Kepple and Tamar Lambert helped themselves to half-centuries and Leeward Islands were set 405 for victory. They began their chase solidly, and were 76 for 1 at stumps with Wilden Cornwall unbeaten on 42.Close 3rd day Kenya 139 (Patel 59, M Nagamootoo 5-45) and 172 for 7 (K Otieno 70) trail Guyana 444 by 131 runs Scorecard Kenya found themselves in a deep hole at Georgetown, as they crumbled to 172 for 7 after being asked to follow-on. They had collapsed in the first innings too, in the face of some fine legspin by Mahendra Nagamootoo. Beginning the third day 104 for 5, the Kenyan lower order didn’t offer any resistance. None of the last five batsmen reached double figures and Kenya followed on, still 305 runs in arrears. Kennedy Otieno anchored the innings with a fine 70 and Hitesh Modi chipped in with 44. But the rest didn’t improve on their first-innings efforts with Neil McGarrell, the left-arm spinner, snaring three wickets. Nagamootoo finished with 2 for 37 and only the final rites remained at the close of play.Close 3rd day West Indies B 197 and 175 for 6 (Richards 59) trail Windward Islands 427 (Smith 154, Sammy 61) by 55 runs Scorecard Windward Islands were in a comfortable position at Grenada, as West Indies B were battling for survival. Having secured a 230-run lead, Windward Islands consolidated their position by reducing their opponents to 175 for 6 at stumps on the third day. Fernix Thomas (3 for 19) and Darren Sammy (2 for 31), the two opening bowlers, took all five wickets between them, as only Austin Richards passed the 25-run mark. All the other batsmen managed starts, but couldn’t kick on to a big score. Earlier in the day, Sammy had impressed with the bat with his 61 proving vital in propping up the Windward Island’s total. He got good support from Rawl Lewis (45) and Lindon James (36). Kenroy Williams was the most successful of the West Indies B bowlers and finished with 3 for 86.