1st Innings – Dandenong

“It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing away of Mr. Dean Mervyn Jones,” the broadcaster said in a statement.

“He died of a sudden cardiac arrest. We express our deep condolences to his family and stand ready to support them in this difficult time.”

Jones, who played 52 Tests and 164 one-day internationals in the 1980s and 1990s, winning the World Cup in 1987, was one of Australia’s most popular cricketers.

In 1986, he famously struck 210 in the blistering heat of Chennai during cricket’s second-ever tied Test.

He coached in the Pakistan Super League and was also a widely travelled commentator.

“Shocked to hear about the tragic loss of Dean Jones. Praying for strength and courage to his family and friends,” said India’s skipper Virat Kohli on Twitter.

“Really shocking to lose a colleague and a dear friend — Dean Jones. Gone so young. Condolences to the family and may his soul rest in peace,” tweeted India’s head coach Ravi Shastri.

https://www.facebook.com/1819332434999684/posts/2224509311148659?sfns=cl 9 News Illawarra

Chaminda is a level 2 qualified cricket coach- Cricket Australia and  currently  Head coach of Chrinside Park Cricket Club. And he is a former assistance premier coach in Sri Lanka.

He has been coach of Sri Lanka test player Niroshan Dickwella, Sadun Weerakkody and Sri lankan womens player Sripali Weerakkody. So he has vast experience across all sections of the game including womens and juniors.

Michael Smith

As heavily armed law enforcement officers and bomb sniffing dogs patrolled the sprawling Billie Jean King Tennis Center, a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium with 9/11/01 stenciled into the court observed a moment of silence followed by a flyover of four F-15E Strike Eagles.

The U.S. Open’s Flushing Meadows home is just 10 miles to the northeast of the site of the former Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, the 2001 attacks left a mark on the sprawling facility and many players.

At the Open in 2001, a 20-year old Australian Lleyton Hewitt defeated American Pete Sampras to win the men’s final two days before the attack.

Several of the players in that year’s tournament left New York on flights in the days and even hours before the Twin Towers came down.

Over the years since, scores of top tennis players from around the world have made their way to the site of the Twin Towers. Spain’s twice U.S. Open champion Rafa Nadal, who was 15-years-old in 2001, has said he has gone to memorialize the 9/11 victims at least a half dozen times over the years. Serb Novak Djokovic, who played Swiss Stan Wawrinka in Sunday’s final, in 2009 invited several children of 9/11 victims to see him play at the Open. American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who began Sunday’s action on Arthur Ashe Stadium court partnering with Lucie Safarova, paid her own tribute wearing Stars and Stripes knee-high socks and wrist bands.

“It is an emotional day,” said Mattek-Sands, who won gold at the Rio Olympics in mixed doubles with Jack Sock. “I was going to retire my American flag socks after the gold medal match.

“I said, You know what? For the final of the U.S. Open, 9/11, have to bring them out.

“It was really special for me to win it here today in New York.”

In Lower Manhattan on Sunday morning, thousands gathered at the 9/11 memorial site to commemorate the 15th anniversary, as police, firefighters and rescue workers mixed with victims’ families and U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Clinton left the ceremony early after feeling unwell on a hot, humid day.

At the forefront is the situation regarding the limited-overs captain, Eoin Morgan, and the likelihood that he will not tour Bangladesh for the one-day series. Unless Strauss’ powers of negotiation have worked unexpectedly in allaying Morgan’s concerns, there does not appear much chance of changing his mind. Final confirmation is expected Sunday evening.

No Morgan, who turned 30 on Saturday, would mean a new one-day captain would be needed for the three matches in Bangladesh. Jos Buttler, as vice-captain, would head the list – he has led England once before, in a T20 against Pakistan – although, given his workload as wicketkeeper, longer-term Joe Root could be the likelier successor to Morgan when a permanent change is made.

Players have been assured that pulling out of the tour will not be held against them, but Strauss could not guarantee an open door straight back if others take their chance. If the player given a place by Morgan’s absence – Jonny Bairstow or Ben Duckett, for example – enjoys a prolific series against Bangladesh there will be a challenging situation for Strauss and the England selectors, although it seems highly unlikely that Morgan will not be England’s captain at the Champions Trophy. That could be the time it is considered whether he is the man to lead England all the way to the 2019 World Cup.

Beyond the difficulties presented by the Bangladesh tour, Strauss’ remit is also to keep thinking ahead. With that in mind, and the proximity of two major global one-day events in three years, there are likely to be some changes to England’s central contracts system when the new cohort are confirmed at the end of the September.

Since Strauss was appointed last May his mantra has been the importance of treating limited-overs cricket seriously. Led by the coaching staff, Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace, plus Morgan’s captaincy, England’s white-ball cricket has often been spectacular in the last 18 months.

That is likely to be reflected in the updated contracts system, which could give greater weighting to white-ball performances while an increased number of deals could be handed out in order to include one-day specialists ahead of the Champions Trophy; the likes of Jason Roy, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett and David Willey could benefit. Morgan holds one of the current 11 central contracts as does Buttler who has been a limited-overs specialist for much of the last 12 months.

Ian Bell is also in the current batch but will lose his barring an unlikely recall for the winter tours. Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes, two of England’s major successes in Test cricket this season, will be in line for significant central contracts having only been on incremental deals for 2015-16.

“I’ve spoken a lot about taking white-ball cricket more seriously and creating a balance between the formats,” Strauss said. “I don’t think our central contracts system as it stands does that and we’ve been working on a creating a system that reflects that better.”

There is also a focus on the coaching staff as well as the players. There will be rotation among coaches this winter with Andy Hurry, the U-19 head coach, Paul Collingwood, Graham Thorpe and Steve Rhodes all having spells with the senior side.

“We understand how demanding touring non-stop is and how important it is for the support staff to be fresh but it’s also a way of introucing people to the environment,” Strauss said. “What we are trying to do with our coaching staff is ensure they are working up and down the programme from U-19s up to the England team.”

In terms of the selection process there will not be changes in the immediate future. There appeared to be tensions earlier this season when a majority of the selectors, led by medical advice, overruled Bayliss’ and Alastair Cook’s desire to have James Anderson available for the first Test against Pakistan after he had suffered a shoulder injury in the lead-up to the series.

Strauss, who has attended most selection meetings this season but does not have a vote, said he remains happy with the panel headed by James Whitaker which includes Mick Newell and Angus Fraser as well as Bayliss. Strauss’ focus continues to be making the vast amount of information collected on players used more effectively in selection.

“In terms of the personalities, I think it’s working well,” Strauss said. “The selection process has worked really well in the time I’ve been there. For me the real focus is the information we give the people making the decisions. Better use of technology, analysis, making it easier to tap into the huge amount of data we have on computers.”

The final names those selectors come up with for Bangladesh and India, which will be announced on Friday, will no doubt provoke much debate.

After an extended season of white-ball cricket, it is back to the rigours of Tests for Australia, who open their season in the unforgiving climes of the sub-continent with a three-match series against Sri Lanka. Australia arrived in the island nation a full two weeks ahead of the first Test in Pallekele with an eye on getting acclimatised to the conditions at the earliest. One of the key challenges for the team, according to in-form batsman Usman Khawaja, is the need to transition quickly to playing with the red ball.

“We haven’t played red-ball cricket for a while,” Khawaja said on Saturday (July 16). “It is weird seeing the red ball coming down the first time when it did. But change is nice. I really enjoyed having that period of white-ball cricket. Now, I’m enjoying coming back to the Test mould. We were out on the field whole day yesterday, so you figure how tough being on the field is and you’ve to do it five days of it. Test match is hard stuff, so looking forward to it.”

Since their two Tests against New Zealand at the turn of the year, Australia played a limited-overs series in South Africa, the World T20 in India and an One-Day International tri-series in the Caribbean. Khawaja opined that the success on the tour will depend on how the Australian players adapt, both mentally and physically.

“[The transition] will involve a bit of both. It’s about making sure you’re doing everything right mentally and physically. Test match is always the toughest form of the game, more so in conditions like these for five days. You know if it gets that far, it is going to be tough.

“Everyone is training really hard so far and doing what they have to do. It’s always hard in little intra-squad match like this to replicate the full match conditions but it was nice for everyone to get out in the middle and get some time on a ground we’ll be playing in couple of days time,” he added.

While Australia haven’t enjoyed the greatest of returns in spinning conditions – they lost in India in 2013-14 and then faced another series loss to Pakistan in UAE in 2014 – Khawaja believes that the players are now more in-tune with the demands of playing in such conditions, thanks to their limited-overs outings in largely similar environments.

“Yes, the weather’s a big challenge. It’s very hot and humid. That’s a challenge on its own. The conditions are different but you get similar (conditions) in the Windies and India. It’s not too foreign. But obviously very different from what we get back home. One of those places, if you get in and score a few runs you’ll feel really comfortable. At the some time, if the wicket deteriorates, it can get tough to score on.”

The three-time world heavyweight champion, who had Parkinson’s disease for 32 years, died aged 74 from “septic shock due to unspecified natural causes” according to his family.

“The last week has been particularly tough,” said Abraham Lieberman, who was with Ali only hours before he died.

“It became apparent God wanted him and we all became reconciled to it.”

Lieberman said Ali had been supported by his family throughout his illness.

“His Parkinson’s got worse, but he had a very devoted family who really treasured him and gave him as much quality of life as you could have,” he said.

Lieberman, a director of the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center in Arizona, rejected suggestions that boxing was solely responsible for Ali’s illness.

“I can’t tell you boxing didn’t have a role, but I think he had regular Parkinson’s disease,” he said.

“People that develop Dementia Pugilistica are usually dead within three or four years. He’s had Parkinson’s for over 30 years.”

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Lieberman told BBC Radio 5 live’s Sportsweek that Ali was “not an ordinary person” and “stood up” for he thought was right.

“He treated everybody – from the humblest person to the biggest celebrity – the same,” he said.

“You could not believe how nice he was outside the ring compared to the way he was inside the ring.”

Lieberman recalled a story from many years ago, when an elderly man in a nursing home mistook Ali for another great boxer, Joe Louis.

“Muhammad said: ‘If it gave that old man pleasure to think he met Joe Louis, then I’m Louis.’,” said Lieberman.

“I think that summed up Muhammad. He was a great personality but really a kind person, with tremendous feeling of sympathy for people.”

Former boxer Joe Bugner fought Ali twice and described him as “unique”.

He added that he was not just “a great, great boxer” but also a very intelligent person.

“Nobody could outwit him as far as the words were concerned,” said Bugner.

World number one and top seed Djokovic, who turns 29 on the opening day of the tournament on Sunday, needs a Roland Garros title to complete a career Grand Slam after losing three finals in four years, including last season to Stan Wawrinka.

Should Djokovic and nine-time French Open champion Nadal meet in the last-four it will be their 50th career clash in a rivalry which began in 2006 at Roland Garros.

Djokovic has the edge at 26-23, claiming the pair’s last seven encounters.

Fourth seed Wawrinka is scheduled to take on second seed Andy Murray in the other semi-final.

Top seed Djokovic, bidding for a 12th career major, starts his campaign against Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun, the world number 100 who made the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2010.

Djokovic is seeded to face Tomas Berdych in the last-eight while he could tackle volatile Australian Bernard Tomic in the fourth round.

Tomic was accused by the Serb of lacking commitment after a tame exit at the Madrid Masters last month.

Nadal, who lost to Djokovic in the quarter-finals in 2015, had originally been set to be seeded at five until 2009 champion Roger Federer withdrew through injury on Thursday.

Nadal starts his French Open against big-serving Sam Groth of Australia with a potential quarter-final against home hope, and two-time semi-finalist, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

With his 30th birthday just around the corner, Nadal has arguably the toughest draw of the top men but will be buoyed by a recent return to form which saw him claim the Monte Carlo and Barcelona titles.

Italy’s Fabio Fognini, who came back from two sets down to beat Nadal at the US Open last year, is a possible third round opponent.

Rising Austrian Dominic Thiem, the man who knocked Federer out in Rome, is lying in wait in the round of 16.

– Serena eyes 22nd Slam – SUB HEAD

Murray, fresh from beating Djokovic in the Rome Masters final, will meet a qualifier in the first round with a potential quarter-final against Japan’s Kei Nishikori.

Murray has been handed a relatively smooth path although a mouth-watering clash with Nick Kyrgios of Australia is a potential last-eight match-up should Nishikori stumble. AFP