Sports Shorts 27/04/06

an Sean Ervine took 2-21 off 10 overs and struck a rapid 31 as Hampshire overwhelmed Ireland by eight wickets in Dublin and compatriot Ray Price helped Worcestershire to a two-wicket win away to Nottinghamshire by claiming 2-17 off nine overs and then, batting at No. 9, hanging on in a tense finish.
– John Hughes

End of Shearer’s career
LONDON – Alan Shearer, the former England captain, has played his final match at the age of 35. The Newcastle striker’s knee ligament injury ended his superb 18-year career three matches ahead of schedule, leaving the Newcastle-born star on 409 goals, starting with a hat-trick on his full debut for Southampton at 17 and finishing with a record 206 for his hometown club.
Liverpool and West Ham will contest the FA Cup Final in Cardiff next month. Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-1 in the first semi-final with goals from John Arne Riise and Luis Garcia, while Marlon Harewood’s cracking finish clinched West Ham’s 1-0 defeat of Middlesbrough.
Substitute Thierry Henry’s late goal salvaged a 1-1 Premiership draw for Arsenal at home to Tottenham as the London rivals battle for a place in Europe. Kevin Davies scored twice as Bolton romped to a 4-1 home win over Charlton and a dramatic 88th-minute penalty by Matthew Taylor lifted Portsmouth out of the relegation zone with a 2-1 home win against Sunderland. It was Pompey’s first penalty of the season.
Carlisle’s remarkable fall and rise continued when the Cumbrian club clinched a second successive promotion two years after dropping into non-League football. Karl Hawley’s 90th-minute goal secured a 1-1 draw at Mansfield and promotion to League One. – John Hughes

Lambs to the slaughter
BULAWAYO – Like lambs to slaughter, new Zimbabwe skipper Terence Duffin flew out to the Caribbean week with his young and very inexperienced team to take on the Brian Lara led West Indies in seven One Day International matches.
The team will go via London before reaching their destination for the make or break series.
The national team were initially supposed to play two Test matches against the Calypso Kings but this had to be reduced to just one day matches after Zimbabwe voluntarily suspended their Test status following an exodus of senior players.
Players such as Heath Streak, Tatenda Taibu, former Under 19 captain Sean Williams, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Andy Blignaut and Stuart Carlisle to mention just a few have refused to play under the administration of Chingoka whom they blame for the decline of the once lucrative sport.
The Zimbabwe Cricket Board led by Chingoka are hoping that these young Turks put up a spirited performances against the West Indies in what would be the start of their rebuilding exercise.
However this is a tall order for the green young cricketers as it is unimaginable how they would match the talented Windies that have in addition to the world class Lara, hard hitting batsman Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
On the other hand, Brendan Taylor is the only experienced player in the Zimbabwe line up after the exclusion of young Matabeleland pace bowler Chris Mpofu owing to a loss in form after showing such promise in his formative years in the senior team.
The first and second matches are in Antigua on April 29 and 30 while the third fourth will be on May 6 and 7 in Guyana then St Lucia will host the fifth tie three days later before the curtain comes down in Trinidad where the last two one-dayers take place on May 13 and 14. – ZimOnline