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Cricket Europe has reported that Graeme and Chris Davey, Netherlands’ South African-born twin brothers, were forced to sit out the opening match in the European Under-19 Division 1 Championship in Bangor after the board (KNCB) failed to complete the documentary formalities in time.The KNCB did not provide documents to show that the Daveys had fulfilled residence and development criteria as required by the ICC. The board has been reminded several times that all players needed to meet the ICC regulations and so the oversight was unforgivable.Graeme, who was appointed captain ahead of the tournament, had to sit out the opening game, an eight-wicket defeat by Ireland alongside wicketkeeper-batsman Chris. The necessary paperwork had been sorted in time for them to play in the second match today.

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Cameron White’s brutal 141 went in vain for Somerset who were beaten by Worcestershire with an over to spare thanks to an equally destructive 97 from Graeme Hick at New Road. White’s hundred broke the Twenty20 record which he himself had previously held, jointly, with Hick. It took White just 55 balls to register his hundred with 11 fours and three mammoth sixes; the other five Somerset batsmen made just 55 out of their total of 198.Though Worcestershire continued to lose wickets, the start Hick and Vikram Solanki – who belted 33 from 12 balls – gave the home side ensured they were comfortable winners by three wickets.Click here for the report from Lancashire’s game against Nottinghamshire at Old Trafford.

Rod Marsh, the ECB National Academy director and chairman of selectors for the Under 19 team, has named two squads for the upcoming Test and one-day series against Sri Lanka.Varun Chopra, from Essex, will lead both the Test and one-day teams, while Ben Harmison, the brother of Steve, is included in both parties. Worcestershire’s highly rated wicketkeeper Steven Davies continues his Under 19 career and Stuart Broad, the son of Chris Broad the former England batsman, is included after some promising performances for Leicestershire.Mark Footitt, the Nottinghamshire seam bowler who took five wickets on his Championship debut against Glamorgan, has earned himself a place in the Test squad.The team will play three four-day Tests and three one-day internationals starting on July 26. The one-day matches will be held at New Road and Old Trafford and the Tests at Shenley, Scarborough and Headingley.One-day squad Moeen Ali (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Leicestershire), Varun Chopra (Essex, capt), Steven Davies (Worcestershire), Joe Denly (Kent), Ben Harmison (Durham), Adam Harrison (Glamorgan), Nicholas James (Warwickshire), Kevin Latouf (Hampshire), Mark Lawson (Yorkshire), Andrew Miller (Lancashire), Steven Mullaney (Lancashire), Tom Smith (Lancashire)Test squad Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Varun Chopra, Steven Davies, Joe Denly, Mark Footitt (Nottinghamshire), Ben Harmison, Adam Harrison, Kevin Latouf, Mark Lawson, Tom Smith, Chris Thompson (Surrey)

The International Cricket Council has announced that it will oversee the appointment of a CEO for the United States Cricket Association.The news comes of the back of plans to organise a multi-national one-day tournament in the USA. The proceeds of the event would go towards furthering the development of the game in the country.”There is no suggestion that cricket is trying to take on the major American team sports in their own back yard,” Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, said in a statement. “There are already over 500 active cricket clubs in the USA and the aim of this project is to build on this solid foundation to help increase the reach of the sport. The plan is to focus on developing cricket as a successful niche sport in a substantial market.”Earlier this month, the USA team won the Six Nations Challenge in the United Arab Emirates and so qualified for this September’s ICC Champions Trophy in England.The USA has also been proposed as a possible venue to stage games during the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.

MELBOURNE, Feb 26 AAP – Shane Warne’s statement announcing his decision not to appeal his suspension and responding to criticism of his evidence by the ACB doping committee.”After much advice from a lot of different and various people I have decided not to appeal the 12 month suspension.”Although I find this penalty very harsh and I am extremely disappointed that this has happened, I have decided that I no longer want to put my family under even more stress. Enough is enough.”This has been the toughest two weeks of my life and I have decided that it is best for all concerned to try and move on the best way we can.”I have made a simple and innocent error of judgement. I take full responsibility for my own actions and yes, I should have checked with someone, I should have known better.”Not appealing is a very, very tough decision for me to make because I have been a professional cricketer for the best part of 15 years and would love to be back playing as quick as possible. But in the end to go through this again every single day for possibly the next three weeks or so is just too much.”I have decided to accept the decision of the committee on the chin and try to move on and deal with it the best way I can.”I want to repeat again that I have never taken performance enhancing drugs and never will.”It was proved by expert evidence in the hearing that fluid tablets do not enhance performance. They would not have aided recovery from the type of shoulder injury I had and would not mask any other substances.”I am also disappointed that the committee has said that my evidence was vague and unsatisfactory. Both my mother and I gave honest accounts under oath to the best of our recollections. The fact that this has been brought into question is unfair.”As I said I have been playing professional cricket for the best part of 15 years and will now be looking at other work opportunities over the next 12 months.”Looking to the future I can say that I am definitely going to give it my best shot to get back to the top and will continue to train hard, work on my bowling and experiment with new deliveries.”One positive out of this situation is that I hope no other athlete makes the same innocent mistake as me.”I will try to get through the next 12 months the best way I can and try to move forward at this very difficult and tough time. The people who know my know what I am about and that I am strong enough to get through this. The support of my family, friends, team-mates and sponsors has meant a lot to me and I would like to express my gratitude and thanks.”

It hasn’t been often of late that an opposing captain has acknowledgedhis team was beaten batting, bowling and fielding by the West Indies.They was how Zimbabwe’s Grant Flower put it after the Lara-less WestIndies had overcome their shocking build-up form and the suddenabsence of their unpredictable superstar to comfortably win the firstmatch in the triangular Coca-Cola Cup on a day of bright, cloudlesssunshine here yesterday.Announcing his withdrawal from the tour on Friday, Lara charged theyoung batsmen to use the chance to establish themselves. They took himat his word.Chris Gayle and Daren Ganga overcame some anxious early moments topost an opening stand of 113 in the first half of the innings that wasthe platform for an eventual total of 266 off the set 50 overs.Wavell Hinds, who would not have played at all had Lara not pulledout, provided the necessary momentum with urgent running between thewickets and several thumping strokes in 37 from 44 balls at No.3.When the two remaining stalwarts of the batting came together, theWest Indies were already 180 for three with 18-and-a-half overs left.Captain Carl Hooper and especially Shivnarine Chanderpaul applied thefinishing touches with a partnership of 62 from nine overs.Chanderpaul’s 51 from 46 balls, with a six and three fours and severalimprovised strokes, was just the finale required, leaving the hometeam a demanding target.They never had it in sight.They lost opener Dion Ebrahim and Stuart Carlisle by the 12th over for44 to two stunning catches and could make little headway againstCameron Cuffy who smothered them with another opening burst of tenimpeccable overs that cost 20.He later added a smart run-out from the outfield and earned the Man ofthe Match award, as he had done against South Africa in front of hishome crowd at Arnos Vale, St Vincent, last month Wicket-keeper RidleyJacobs flew high to his right to snare a spectacular right-handed taketo remove Ebrahim off Reon King’s bouncing outswinger.Hooper matched it six overs later with a tumbling, two-handed catch atshort extra-cover from the dangerous Stuart Carlisle off Merv Dillon.When Andy Blignaut, a belligerent left-hander promoted in an effort tolift the flagging scoring rate, was run out by Cuffy’s swooping,right-handed pickup and laser-point return to Jacobs for 25 from 26balls, the result was all but decided.Any victory these days is welcome for the West Indies and this waseven more so in view of Lara’s departure last night and the heavy lossto the aging Country Districts team on Wednesday.As satisfying as it was, it needs to be put into proper perspective.The loss of Andy Flower, after an incredible, unbroken sequence of 72Tests and 172 One-Day Internationals, weakened Zimbabwe every bit asmuch as Lara’s did the West Indies. To compound matters, Heath Streak,who had led them since last September, gave up the captaincy justbefore play, reportedly over the selection of the XI in which he hadno say.Grant Flower, Andy’s brother, found himself thrust into the positionbut admitted afterwards there were problems within the team. His firstact as skipper was to win the toss and bowl. He would have expected atleast an early wicket or three for his decision but had to wait untilthe 25th over for his first.Gayle, the tall, 21-year-old left-hander, and right-handed Ganga, 22,got through a testing period against the swing of Streak and AndyBlignaut to raise the highest West Indies opening stand since SherwinCampbell and Ridley Jacobs put on 111 against New Zealand in Aucklandin January, 2000.Gayle, inclined to the backfoot as always, escaped a chance to secondslip off Blignaut when 14 but still thumped seven boundaries, mostlythrough the off-side, in 53 off 76 balls before he chipped the legspinner Brian Murphy to long-on.Ganga was even less secure than Gayle early on but became increasinglyconfident. He had 66 to his name, from 98 balls with five fours, whenhe inexplicably charged down the pitch at Murphy and was swiftlystumped by Tatenda Taibu, Andy Flower’s diminutive, 18-year-oldreplacement who looks a natural.By then, Hinds had helped him add 58 from 10 overs and had shaken upthe Zimbabweans with his rapid running between the wickets.It eventually cost Hinds his hand.

Everton forward Richarlison could move to Arsenal when the transfer window opens, transfer insider Dean Jones has told GiveMeSport. 

The lowdown

Everton agreed a deal worth up to £50m to sign the Brazil international from Watford in 2018. He has gone to make 143 appearances for the club, scoring 47 goals and providing 13 assists.

The Brazilian has just over two years to run on the £90,000-per-week contract that he signed upon his arrival at Goodison Park.

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He is something of a fan favourite among Evertonians, having been voted Player of the Season by the club’s supporters in 2020. He also appears to be well regarded within the dressing room – Demarai Gray dubbed him ‘a character’ and ‘a good guy’, adding that he is even a ‘crazy guy’.

Everton are at risk of being relegated from the Premier League, with just three points separating them from 18th-placed Watford. Theoretically, at least some of the players could seek to leave the club if they go down.

The latest

From the information that he’s received, Jones believes that Richarlison moving to Arsenal is a possibility ahead of the summer window.

Speaking to GiveMeSport as he explained that the Gunners are interested in the 24-year-old, the journalist said: “It’s been mooted before and, as I understand it, it’s something that could actually happen in the summer as well.”

The verdict

Richarlison isn’t the only Everton attacker with whom Arsenal have been linked. According to The Athletic, former Blues midfielder and now Gunners boss Mikel Arteta is also interested in Dominic Calvert-Lewin, so what would be an acceptable fee for the duo?

The Brazilian is valued at £45m by Transfermarkt, which may seem steep in light of his relatively meagre four-goal haul this season, but reflects the fact that he is still only 24 years old and has racked up 34 caps for Brazil, for whom he has a decent scoring record.

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Calvert-Lewin is a year older than Richarlison and is rated slightly lower in the marketplace at £37.8m. That would be the third-highest sum Everton would receive for one of their players (behind Romelu Lukaku and John Stones), and it seems fair given that he bagged 29 Premier League goals in two seasons before he hit injury trouble in the early weeks of the current campaign.

The summer transfer window is another bit away yet, but we will have to wait and see if Arsenal try to test Everton’s resolve for Richarlison.

In other news, Everton could also sell another South American

Sturdy, strident and implacable, the graven image of Ricky Ponting now overlooks the nets at Bellerive Oval. His pull shot is frozen in time as it is in the minds of the millions who watched his storied Test career.Sadly for Hobart, the place of its Test match in the Australian cricket calendar is nowhere near as certain, with a concerted push for other venues such as Canberra to forge ahead next summer. For Ponting, the unveiling of his statue was thus a moment of bittersweet duality – on one hand the acknowledgement of his many achievements and Tasmania’s role in shaping them, on the other a very desperate battle to keep Hobart on the Test match roster.It is some years since Ponting lived in Hobart. He relocated to Sydney at the height of his international playing days, and in retirement has shifted down to Melbourne, about an hour’s flight away. But his memories of the Tasmanian capital, and also his hometown of Launceston in the north of the state, remain exceptionally fresh, and he is adamant that Bellerive should remain a part of Test match scheduling in future.Moreover, he thinks the ground deserves a better allotment of matches than currently offered. Only then, Ponting thinks, can Hobart’s cricket worth be truly measured.”There will be Test cricket here as far as I’m concerned – I think some of the criticism has been a bit unfair,” Ponting said. “What I would like to see is that Hobart and Tasmania get a Test match every year. It’s pretty hard to make assumptions on Tasmanian cricket or people coming to watch Test cricket in Australia when there’s no continuity about where the games are.”The Tasmanian public are being judged on Test matches against lower-ranked teams. Let’s have an Ashes Test match, let’s have a Test match against South Africa, let’s have a Test match against India here and then we can start making some judgements and comparisons with other venues around Australia. I’ve got my Tasmanian hat on obviously, but I think that’s really fair. And hopefully the Hobart and Tasmanian public turn out over the next few days.”Part of Ponting’s argument is that of the federalists who emanate from Australia’s smaller states. Any purely economic argument about cricket scheduling will invariably settle on fixtures in New South Wales and Victoria. Ponting echoed nothing so much as those who argued successfully for each state to retain some sort of representation on the CA board in order to prevent a drain of cricket from Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland.”I think that’s vitally important in Australia,” Ponting said. “One of the great things about playing Test cricket in Australia is that you get to sample different conditions in every state – every state has their wicket conditions and characteristics are all different and that’s the great thing about the world game. It’s the same when you go to India and South Africa, the different conditions in the states and provinces – you’ve got different pitch conditions everywhere.”I hear the business side of it but as far as I’m concerned it’s more than that, it’s about the fabric of the game in our country. And we’ve got to do what we can to support the more traditional hosts, if you like, around our country. Let’s do whatever we can to help them out along the way.”One of Ponting’s wider suggestions was for greater consultation of what fans of the game desired in each state and country. “What we need to do is get out there to the public and ask them what they want out of a day’s Test cricket. Have we actually done that?” he asked. “Have we been to India and asked them what they want and why they’re not going to Test match cricket? I think that’s a good starting point.”We would love to see more people come to this game. And it’s not like Tasmanians don’t love their cricket, the Hurricanes’ Big Bash games they have here are sold out every game. So once again let’s get out and ask the public what they want out of a day’s Test cricket. Is it lower ticket prices and cheaper food at the ground? Let’s ask them what it is.”To that end, the Cricket Tasmania chief executive David Johnston outlined one of Hobart’s major problems – unlike Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney in particular, it lacks a set place in the cricket calendar. So it is that Tasmania and Hobart have an ever greater number of tourists every year, but no sort of cricket pilgrimage tradition as enjoyed by many of the other states.”In general terms, if we can get a consistent place in the Test match or international programme in November or December every year, we can plan around it,” Johnston said. “The Big Bash is very successful, but it’s a different market, young families, mothers and children, so Test matches are more for traditionalists, we want to give both markets what they’re looking for.”One potential pathway forward is a day/night Test, something the state duelled for with South Australia before Adelaide Oval was awarded the honour. Ponting has been an arch traditionalist in many ways, but in the cause of retaining Test cricket at Bellerive, even his fixed ideas were more flexible about hosting floodlit matches at the ground.”I think Hobart and Adelaide were the last two for the day/night Test match we’ve just played,” Ponting said. “If that’s what it’s going to take down here then absolutely. We’ve heard from Cricket Australia the last few months about the right time, the right place for day/night Test cricket, and if attendances are down the next few days then it might be exactly what Hobart needs.”We’ve got unbelievable facilities here now, it’s world class with the stands, with the lights, it’s what you’d expect for an international cricket venue, so why not?”

South Africa announced a packed international and domestic 2007-08 season, which includes as many as seven international tours for the national team, the inaugural World Twenty20 Championship as well as the regular domestic calendar.The season begins with South Africa’s first tour to Ireland, which begins this week, for a series of ODIs against the hosts and India. The squad, captained by Jacques Kallis, includes a number of new players.Subsequently, there are tours to Pakistan, Zimbabwe, India and Bangladesh, while New Zealand and West Indies are due to visit South Africa. In September, before the tour to Pakistan, they host the first Twenty20 championship.Gerald Majola, CEO Cricket South Africa, said, “This is going to be a bumper season for South African cricket, both domestically and internationally. The new season, which kicks off with the tour to Ireland this month, will include seven international tours and the hosting of the inaugural World Twenty20 South Africa in 2007.”We believe that the Twenty20 format is going to bring in a new audience for cricket, and we believe this interest will spread to other forms of the game. On the international front, we will be using this season to increase the pool of Proteas players so that we can meet the challenges of this busy 2007/8 season.”