A quickly taken free-hit was nudged on by Calum Giles to Crutchley who fired
A quickly taken free-hit was nudged on by Calum Giles to Crutchley, who fired in.Earlier in the day the South Koreans, who beat England 3-2 in their opening game, beat the Dutch – the holders of the trophy as well as the world and Olympic champions – by the same score despite the Korean manager calling his players to a sideline to protest against a sending-off decision which only came from the Australian umpire after Dutch protests.ENGLAND: Mason (Reading); Johnson (Cannock), Wyatt (Reading), Bertram (Bournville), Waugh (Southgate); Garcia (Harvestehuder, Hamburg), Garrard (Teddington), Woods (Southgate); Sharpe (Cannock), Hall (Guildford), Pearn (Reading). Substitutes used: Giles (Southgate), Humphrey (Cannock), Crutchley (Cannock), Wallis (Teddington).AUSTRALIA: Dreher; York, Duff; Gaudoin, Livermore, Sproule; Elmer, Stacy, Davies, Brennan, Elder Substitutes used: Holt, Vivian-Taylor, Commens, Victory.. BRIAN LITTLE has resigned as manager of Stoke City. Little arrived at the Britannia Stadium in May 1998 and Stoke had a flying start to last season, winning their opening eight Second Division games. But their form slumped before Christmas and they eventually finished in eighth place in the table, missing the play-offs by seven points.
Little, who quit Aston Villa in February 1998, has been linked with the vacant manager’s post at Nottingham Forest. Stoke’s chief executive, Jez Moxey, confirmed that Little had resigned for “personal reasons”.”We have accepted the manager’s resignation with immediate effect,” Moxey added. “But Brian has not lost his appetite for the game and is now free to seek his footballing career elsewhere.” John Rudge, who lost his job as manager of Stoke’s neighbours, Port Vale, las season, is a leading candidate to replace Little.
Other contenders may include Bobby Gould and Terry Yorath.Another man linked with the Forest vacancy, Martin O’Neill, has ended speculation by committing himself to remain as Leicester City’s manager until 2002.Birmingham City’s manager Trevor Francis has also ended queries over his future by signing a new three-year contract which will tie him to the club until 2002.The former Sunderland manager, Malcolm Crosby, has been confirmed as Derby’s first-team coach He had been assistant manager at West Bromwich. He replaces Ray Harford, who left the Rams this week by mutual consent.The Norwegian international defender Gunnar Halle has become Bradford City’s first signing of the summer in a pounds 200,000 move from Leeds. Huddersfield Town have bought the central defender Chris Lucketti from Bury for pounds 750,000.. THERE ARE not many sides who combat adversity with all-out attack but, of the ones that do, Pakistan are undoubtedly the most exciting.
Hapless and disorganised one minute, they can come together like a Stockhausen symphony; a whole seemingly at odds with its parts. Sometimes, as Saeed Anwar proved with his 16th one-day century and Saqlain Mushtaq showed with a belated hat-trick, all it takes are a few weighty contributions for the combustible mix to be stabilised. The same cannot be said of their supporters, though, and as the umpire Steve Bucknor raised his finger against Zimbabwe’s last man to secure Saqlain’s hat-trick, the Oval was engulfed by hordes of fans delirious at their side having made the semi- finals. Saeed’s hundred, if a tad overdue, could not have come at a better time and his team-mates can thank him, along with one or two of the bowlers, for a berth with South Africa in the semi-finals. Before this win three successive defeats had caused their self-belief to plummet, this win will have seen it soar once more. Zimbabwe are a limited side who may yet qualify, a situation that will be decided on run-rate should New Zealand beat India today.
Chasing 272 to win, Zimbabwe never got close as all but Neil Johnson were exposed by Pakistan’s bowling prowess.
Johnson, who scored 52 before falling to a dubious lbw decision, has had a fine tournament all-round. Unable to bowl yesterday, on account of a damaged foot and thigh, he has, nevertheless, taken 12 wickets and scored 367 runs at an average of 52.4, an aggregate second only to Rahul Dravid.Off the mark with a boundary, Johnson got an early wake-up call when his first ball from Shoaib Akhtar clanged off his helmet It should have been called a no ball. Once he was out, in the 29th over, even Zimbabwe’s hopes of maintaining a decent run-rate disappeared.Saeed, the holder of the highest ever one-day score of 194, has been slow to ignite. Having once suffered with chronic fatigue syndrome, an ailment that caused him to miss 18 months of cricket in 1996-97, he is no doubt careful not to rush into anything these days. Apparently it came on after eating pizza in Australia, so last night’s celebrations would probably not have included anything promising a crispy crust or extra toppings.In hindsight, Zimbabwe would probably have kept their skipper Alistair Campbell supplied with whatever he wanted had he managed to cling on to the chance Saeed offered when on only 20.
