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Everyone with a fair knowledge of cricketing `greats’ knows that Bob Appleyard is the only player to capture 200 first class wickets in his first full season and that in the winter of 1954-55 he helped England bring back the Ashes for the first time in 22 years.Appleyard’s triumphs are common knowledge, yet the many tragedies either side of his epic feats were known to but a few until Stephen Chalke gently coaxed them out of him for this splendid biography, written in conjunction with Derek Hodgson.Born in 1924, Appleyard soon lost the innocence of childhood as one hard blow followed another – just as it continued to do in his adult life. When he was seven his mother left home; when he was 13 he lost his younger sister Margaret to diphtheria and when he was 15 his father, stepmother and two little sisters were found gassed in the bathroom of their home.The young Appleyard was taken in by his stepmother’s parents who were devout Christians. He did not turn away from religion but embraced it and has worshipped regularly ever since.The war years held back his development but when he decided to join the Bradford League and went for nets at Bowling Old Lane he immediately caught the eye of club president Ernest Holdsworth, a former captain of Yorkshire 2nds.His Yorkshire debut came in 1950 when he played in three matches and took 11 wickets but there was little indication of what was to happen the following season. A deep thinking cricketer, Appleyard could already bowl pace or off-spin but the addition of leg-cutters and off-cutters made him as lethal as he was unique.In the middle of that season he fell ill for a short while and was treated for pleurisy but the following Spring, after only one match, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis.With injuries bringing a sad and premature end to his cricket, Appleyard became a successful business rep and he was working for the British Printing Corporation in 1981 when it was taken over by Robert Maxwell. Appleyard quickly saw Maxwell for the crook that he was and when Maxwell dismissed him on the strength of trumped up allegations, Appleyard battled for a fair settlement and won, shrewdly taking his money out of the BPC pension fund at the same time!The death from leukaemia of his young son, Ian, and later the death of a grandson, John, from the same disease, have kept grief a regular visitor to Appleyard’s door but always he has battled on, fighting to bring Yorkshire back to Bradford Park Avenue for a while and being largely responsible for setting up the Yorkshire Academy on the ground as well.A shadow hangs over the future of Park Avenue again, but guess who’s determined that cricket will continue on the historic ground? The final chapter in the gripping Appleyard story may still be to write.

Australia v Netherlands:Adam Gilchrist (AUS) needs 134 runs to complete 5000 ODI runsAndy Symonds (AUS) needs 95 runs to complete 1000 ODI runsMichael Bevan (AUS) needs 111 runs to complete 500 World Cup runsAdam Gilchrist (AUS) needs 227 runs to complete 500 World Cup runs

Ed: Maria Naureen is our correspondent from Karachi, a FM 101 radio talk-show host, cricket radio commentator and sports journalist

Matt Doherty is looking like a man possessed at Tottenham Hotspur under Antonio Conte.

On Sunday afternoon, the north London outfit moved into the Premier League’s top four with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Newcastle United and the Irishman notched his second goal and fourth assist from his last six outings.

It’s been a complete turnaround for the 30-year-old, who has seemingly been on the chopping block until now. A prolonged run in the side has catapulted his name into the Italian’s starting XI on a regular basis recently – even out of position, as with this weekend, he has delivered.

Signed in a £15m deal from Wolves by Jose Mourinho in the summer of 2020, Doherty had struggled to truly make his mark at the club. By February 2021, his future at the Lilywhites was described as ‘uncertain’ by ESPN, who claim that the Portuguese was unconvinced by his progress.

Mourinho could even be heard berating Doherty throughout one encounter against Liverpool. And then under his former Old Gold boss Nuno Santo at the start of this current campaign, he still couldn’t get into the lineup, which is rather damning.

The Athletic believed he was one player that could’ve been sold by Nuno and sporting director Fabio Paratici.

It’s a very good thing they didn’t because he’s now thriving under Conte and the weekend’s impressive win displayed his true qualities, playing in a system that suits him right to a tee.

As per WhoScored, the £10.8m-rated Doherty has now made 11 tackles, six interceptions and seven key passes across his last six outings, proving to be a major influence at either end of the pitch for Spurs.

He was one of a few players to be graded a standout 9/10 by Evening Standard reporter Dan Kilpatrick in his post-match ratings column.

‘Forced out of position to left wing-back, he finished with a goal and an assist to continue his resurgence. Has shown tremendous character to rebuild his Spurs career,’ he wrote.

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Earlier in the year, Doherty was described as “utterly thrilling” by The Athletic’s Jack Pitt-Brooke, whilst analyst Statman Dave lauded him as “revitalised”.

Indeed, the £74k-per-week Mourinho flop is a completely different animal now.

AND in other news, Paratici could repeat Pogba masterclass at Spurs with “unbelievable” £36m-rated wizard…

	Chris Rogers, like Adam Gilchrist, was born in New South Wales but moved to Western Australia to play cricket © Getty Images

A light-hearted cheer went up near the Prindville Stand around six in the evening. Umpire Billy Bowden turned down a loud appeal from Mitchell Johnson, when he yorked Rahul Dravid, and a small section of the crowd responded with, “We want Bucknor, we want Bucknor”. It was one of the few noises made on a rather quiet day, one where a genteel wave swept across the WACA.It’s been a tumultuous week but the events of the first day – for most of it at least – were disconcertingly slow. The anti-climax surrounding the pitch didn’t help but you would still expect some noise, at least from the grass banks. Things picked up towards the evening, especially with Australia fighting back with wickets, and a few spectators were even warned. One cheekily held a banner that read, “No more monkey abuses” and was promptly told to pack it in. Another tried his best to stir up the crowd but was led out of the ground when he began to swear.A crowd of about 16,000 watched the first day’s play. It’s worthwhile pointing out what had to say about the very first Test in Perth, back in December 1970. “It was perfectly organised, and nearly 85,000 spectators saw it. That number was nearly twice that at Brisbane, and gate receipts in the region of £50,000 were almost three times as large.” Thirty seven years since and the atmosphere seems to have diminished.The Australian cricketers behaved like schoolboys sitting on the front bench. The ferociously quick Shaun Tait actually apologised to Sachin Tendulkar after appealing for a caught-behind decision. No-one else appealed since it had rapped his forearm. There was soon another appeal against Tendulkar, a really close shout from Andrew Symonds, but the reactions were a sight for the times: Symonds cursed himself, Adam Gilchrist and Michael Clarke turned around to chat about it, and Ricky Ponting let out a gentle apologetic kick.And if the atmosphere got heated at all, there was the quiz show to divert the attention. Through the day, every ten minutes or so, a question would be asked over the public announcement system, urging spectators to send in their responses. Just as Brett Lee seemed to be setting up Tendulkar in a fine spell, we were asked, ‘Which Australian fielder has the most number of catches?’ Talk of enjoying a good contest.It was a fine day for cricket: hot, bright and pleasantly windy. Justin Langer was out there first thing in the morning and subconsciously started to step towards the middle of the pitch, tempted to indulge in some shadow practice. Soon he realised he was in his leather boots, not spikes, and didn’t need to practice at all. “The umpire looked up at me in a funny way and I thought, ‘This is not your stage any more’. I then just watched Ricky Ponting go through the motions.”Half an hour before the toss Langer was in the thick of the action, presenting Chris Rogers with his baggy green cap. It’s been more than a year since he retired but Australia’s next crop of openers isn’t allowing us to forget his style: Phil Jaques turned into a like-for-like replacement and Rogers, in Adam Gilchrist’s words, isn’t attractive but effective.Kerry O’Keeffe, the former Australian legspinner who regaled the press and corporate guests during lunch, felt Rogers had shown how colour-blindness wasn’t an impediment to Test cricket. He also reminded everyone of how John Rogers, Chris’ dad, played a few games for New South Wales. “There’s Gilchrist from New South Wales and now Rogers,” he said with the distinctive laugh that’s thrilled radio audiences across the country. Wonder what O’Keefe thought of Clarke’s latest crew cut, in light of his recent comments about NSW players being given a bottle of hydrogen peroxide along with their state caps.

Steven Price reports on the problems facing the average Zimbabwean wanting to watch his team play in the World CupIn the midst of growing civil unrest, now even watching our team in the World Cup is now considered luxurious for hard-pressed Zimbabweans who are suffering under an appalling economic environment and rigorous government oppression.On Thursday, as Zimbabwe fought out an enthralling tie with Ireland,thousands of Zimbabwean cricket fans and players here had to come to termswith the dismal reality of a World Cup blackout on the sole, state-runtelevision channel operating in the country.You don’t have to go further than this to search how Zimbabwe cricket hastumbled since the late 1990s when the committed and energetic administratorsat the time took a once “minority” sport to a higher level and a wave ofbroader participation and public interest. The only way to see the cricket was by subscription to the South African Supersports channel, something affordable to precious few, and even then the almost non-stop powercuts meant that only the handful of sports bars with their own generators – and who had enough cash for the fuel to run them – offered ball-by-ball coverage.Some of the main clubs – Harare Sports Club and Old Hararians are two – did show the games but one member reported that most people stayed away as they expected ZBC to show the matches. Anyway, given the times the matches are being played, only those with cars and a bit of cash to spare can afford to go to these bars. But even for most of them, its getting more difficult. Fuel prices are rising by the day.It is such a contrast with what has happened in the past. Zimbabweans were able to watch the World Cup in England in 1999 on the local channel, chiefly thanks to the efforts of the then capable and international-respected ZCU board andmanagement. Boosted by their team’s laudable performances in the tournament,cricket recorded unprecedented growth in Zimbabwe. In a country where signsof cracks were already appearing on the surface, it seemed then thateveryone wanted to be associated with cricket as the only positive facet ofZimbabwean life that was left.Then in 2003, Zimbabwe got five home games when South Africa hosted theWorld Cup. Those who were not privileged to watch the matches at the groundsin Harare and Bulawayo followed the action on local television. Again thanksto the old administrators, cricket has amassed a considerable following,many of them ordinary citizens struggling to afford a decent single meal aday, and living in fear of arbitrary arrest and torture by an insecure regime. Now there is barely anything worth watching on the propaganda-filled state channel.This leaves Zimbabweans depending on reports filed by two editors from thegovernment-controlled Herald newspaper, who are on a ZC-sponsoredvoyage in the Caribbean. The board has gone down this route before, and by paying for them to travel, criticism of the team can be minimised.As our team stuttered thousands of kilometers away at Sabina Park in Kingston, diehard Zimbabwean cricket fans slept the night pondering the future. They woke up Friday morning thinking how the match would have gone their way if they were afforded the privilege of watching their team’s opening World Cup match. They can be forgiven.One last thought. The two men running the game in Zimbabwe will have had no such problems. Peter Chingoka and Ozias Bvute reportedly flew to the Caribbean last weekend where they can relax in comfort with those within the ICC hierarchy who support them through thin and even thinner. It’s tough at the top.

Ricky Ponting says Damien Martyn deserves his place © Getty Images

Criticism of Damien Martyn following his dumping from the Test side was unwarranted, according to Ricky Ponting. In another bout of Ashes revisionism Ponting said Martyn, who scored 178 runs at 19.77 during the 2-1 series defeat, was treated badly by the selectors and commentators after the England tour.Martyn was picked instead of Brad Hodge on Tuesday in the 14-man squad that included Michael Kasprowicz, Michael Clarke and Shaun Tait, sparking a barb from Mark Boucher that Australia were relying on “Ashes rejects”. Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, was also shocked by the selections but said the looking-back policy gave his team confidence. “They realise it’s going to be a tough series out here,” he told .Ponting told the agency Martyn, who should bat at No.4 in the first Test next Thursday, was a quality player who deserved his place after his Ashes axing. “You’d think it [criticism] was pretty harsh,” Ponting said. “It was pretty harsh he was left out in the first place – I’m not sure if that fact was mentioned either. You look back to what happened through the Ashes series, he didn’t have the most luck of all our players through that series and he ended up missing out.”However, Ponting also described Hodge’s demotion as “harsh”. “He made a very good 60 in his first Test and a double-hundred in Perth, so that’s a really tough decision but one that to get the proper answer behind you will have to ask the selectors,” he said. “There will be opportunities that present themselves in the next couple of years, and if Brad keeps scoring runs then I’m sure his name will be at the top of the list.”Smith said it was surprising a player of Martyn’s age – he is 34 – was coming back into the Test team. “Knowing my luck I’ll say yes [he’ll be targeted] and he’ll go on to get 3,000 runs in the series,” he said. “We’ve got our game plans to him and they’ve worked well so far in the one-day series especially when we’ve got him early. Obviously he’s a class player. He’s got a really good record and you can never write someone like that off.”

The ICC has finally taken over responsibilities for running the women’s international game, as expected, after the International Women’s Cricket Council (IWCC) ratified the proposed merger at their AGM. The move is set to have a massive impact on a sport which has struggled in administrative and financial terms.The IWCC, which ran for nearly fifty years after being founded in 1958, will be replaced by an ICC advisory committee and its former vice-president, Betty Timmer, will chair the new body. England’s Gill McConway will represent Europe, Joan Edwards will represent South Africa, West Indies’ coach Ann Browne-John and New Zealand’s Catherine Campbell are also on the special committee. Australia’s captain Belinda Clark has been co-opted on to the committee.Timmer recognized the significance of the move: “It’s great and exciting,” she told BBC Sport. “Hopefully we will get in a few years an Under-21 World Cup and more development of women’s cricket. Now we can use all the 94 ICC members in the development programme. I hope we can use the ICC sponsorships and, in selling television rights, women’s cricket can be a part of it.”A media representative for the ECB, Andrea Wiggins, also realizes the potential. “If it follows the model of the ECB, the merger could be massive,” Wiggins told Cricinfo. Significant improvements in the English game have already been seen since the ECB took over from the Women’s Cricket Association as administrators for women’s cricket in England: the international side benefit from Lottery funding, increased sponsorship and personalized coaching.With a view to the merger, the ICC had already appointed a women’s project officer whose principal role is to integrate the bodies.

Peter Chingoka: desperate to persuade England to tour © Getty Images

The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will wait at least until mid-March before deciding whether its controversial tour of Zimbabwe should go ahead this October.Earlier this month it had been suggested that England’s final decision would be made in February. But at a meeting on Thursday, the ECB reviewed the “many concerns” that have been raised about the tour, including those expressed by the British government. At the request of the ICC, any decision will now be taken after consultation with its executive board in March.The ECB clarified its latest decision in a statement: “[We] decided to respond positively to this request [from the ICC] in the hope that it offers an opportunity to explore with all interested parties, all of the prevailing circumstances surrounding the planned tour, in order to establish whether they constitute and exceptional case.”The ICC is clear on its stance where cancelled tours are concerned. Ehsan Mani, the president, reiterated earlier this week that all Test-playing countries have a binding commitment to each other, and that political considerations should not be a factor “when reviewing playing obligations”.Nevertheless, Mani seemed resigned to an England postponement earlier this week, when he was reported by the Times newspaper to have said: “I think the reality is that England will not tour”.In response, Peter Chingoka, the ZCU chairman, e-mailed the 18 first-class counties on Tuesday, explaining why he believed the controversial tour should go ahead, and warning them of the possible financial consequences if the tour is cancelled. However, it is thought that the majority of the counties are behind the ECB on the matter.”The position is very straightforward,” explained Mark Newton, Worcestershire’s chief executive. “The counties have allowed the management board to make that decision for us because we believe they are the best qualified to do that.”You can always put pressure on people if you want to, but that doesn’t mean they will necessarily respond to it and I fail to see how sending an e-mail like this is going to help Zimbabwe cricket at all.”

Victoria finished on top of the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) ladder and will host the grand final at the MCG this Friday (17/01/03) and Saturday (18/01/03). Victoria will play New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) Blues in a three match limited overs series. The third game, if required will be played at the Bill Lawry Oval in Northcote on Sunday January 19. Games commence at 10am and entry is free.The final is a rematch of last season’s WNCL final series, which the NSWIS Blues won 2-0. Victoria Spirit are on the front foot ready to break the winning streak of titles already won by NSWIS Blues. NSWIS Blues have won six titles consecutively.Left arm medium pace bowler, Natalie Wood, is a new inclusion into the Spirit attack. She played her first game this year against Qld Fire last Sunday and was player of the match, bowling 3/18 off 8 overs.VICTORIAN SPIRIT: Belinda Clark (c), Cathryn Fitzpatrick (vc), Clea Smith (vc), Kelly Applebee, Louise Broadfoot, Jodie Dean, Jane Franklin, Megan Foster, Amelie Hunter, Melanie Jones, Brooke McFarlane, Shannon Young, Natalie Wood.