All posts by h716a5.icu

Australia have arrived in Ireland for the opening match of their tour of the British Isles, but they will have to shake off some rust ahead of the ODIs against England

Cricinfo staff15-Jun-2010Australia have arrived in Ireland for the opening match of their tour of the British Isles, but they will have to shake off some rust ahead of the ODIs against England. They begin with a one-off one-day international against Ireland on Thursday and Cameron White conceded the Australians might be out of practice, having had a month off since the World Twenty20.”There probably will be a little bit [of rustiness], no doubt against Ireland,” White told AAP. “The important thing is by the time were down to Southampton we should be up and going and ready to go. The three or four weeks that everyone has had since the World Cup will be good and hopefully we can hit the ground running.”The five-match series against England begins at the Rose Bowl next Tuesday, before the Australians move on to two Twenty20s and two Tests against Pakistan. The Ireland game will be an especially useful warm-up for the six members of the squad who were not in the World Twenty20 group, including the captain Ricky Ponting.The pitch in Dublin is likely to be slow and low, which could help Ireland become more competitive. The Ireland veteran Trent Johnston said his colleagues were aiming to give the visitors as tough an introduction as possible on their six-week tour.”When we get out there and execute our plans the way we want to we can be a pretty dangerous team,” Johnston said. “The last thing they’ll want to do is play England after being beaten by Ireland.”We’re not going to kid ourselves, the 11 guys will have to play the games of their lives to be close to Australia. People didn’t give us much chance of beating England last August and we should have beaten them, we lost by three runs; that was quite disappointing. We’re going to get out there and give it a go, that’s all we can do.”

Everton are reportedly now in ‘pole position’ to land Steve Hitchen as their new Director of Football (DoF).

The Lowdown: Hitchen leaves Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur announced the exit of Technical Performance Director Hitchen on Wednesday evening, and football.london journalist Alasdair Gold revealed that he sent a heartfelt email to staff at the North London club explaining why he left.

The move was apparently due in part to the presence of new Spurs transfer guru Fabio Paratici, whose ex-Juve fingerprints are all over their deadline day moves for Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski.

With the Goodison Park faithful rapidly making changes of their own, as both Marcel Brands and Rafa Benitez have already left midway through this season, Hitchen is now being eyed for a role in Merseyside.

The Latest: Everton favourites

As per The Athletic journalist Jack Pitt-Brooke, Hitchen is now in ‘pole position’ to land the DoF job at the Toffees following his resignation from Spurs:

“Steve Hitchen in pole position for Everton DoF job after resigning from Spurs.

“- Signed Suarez for Liverpool in 2011

– Returned to Spurs 2017, close bond with Poch

– Convinced Poch to sign Lucas Moura. Got him Ndombele

– Tried to get Poch back in 2021.”

The Verdict: Shake-up needed

With the Blues lurking just outside of the relegation zone in the Premier League and the mood around the club at an all-time low before Benitez’s exit, a real shake-up is needed on the pitch and at boardroom level.

Described as a ‘shrewd operator’ by Pitt-Brooke, Hitchen does not seem to someone that would take anything lightly at EFC, and so could be the exact kind of character that they need to come in and shake things up from the outside.

Gold has claimed that he had little involvement in the Lilywhites’ last two transfer windows, with Paratici doing most of the work. Given the north London outfit’s failures to sign both Adama Traore and Luis Diaz in January, perhaps Hitchen is someone who should have been given more trust with regards to recruitment, something Everton in particular have been heavily criticised for in recent years.

In other news, find out which seven players will miss Brentford here!

A number of Liverpool supporters have reacted negatively to a claim that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will need a scan on an injury picked up against Brentford.

The Reds returned to winning ways in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon, picking up a much-needed 3-0 victory against the Bees.

Fabinho opened the scoring for Jurgen Klopp’s side just before half-time and Oxlade-Chamberlain headed home in front of the Kop to double the advantage midway through the second half. Takumi Minamino put the game to bed late on.

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While it was a good day at the office for Liverpool, Oxlade-Chamberlain limped off late in proceedings, in what looks like another injury concern for the Reds.

According to The Daily Mail’s Dominic King [via Anfield Watch on Twitter], the 28-year-old will undergo a scan to reveal the extent of the problem, in what is a worrying update given the ex-Arsenal midfielder’s dreadful record on the injury front since coming to Anfield in 2017.

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Liverpool fans react to Oxlade-Chamberlain update

These Liverpool fans provided their thoughts on the news on Twitter, with some Kopites’ patience wearing thin.

“Time to get rid of all these injury-prone players”

Credit: @emrysp

“Ox scored. Ox injured. Can’t believe this”

Credit: @ImChamikara17

“Big fan of Ox but availability is best ability. It’s time to cut our losses in the summer with injury-prone, unreliable mids and sell both Ox & Keita”

Credit: @Homes19LFC

“He’s been injury-free for the most part of a year now and he got injured rolling his ankle. How unlucky is that, this isn’t even about injury proneness”

Credit: @passingmfer

“Can’t catch a break can we sigh”

Credit: @l_manuel_

“We are getting very thin”

Credit: @CWinENC

In other news, some Liverpool fans have also responded negatively to a new transfer claim. Read more here.

On a list of cricket’s most glamorous destinations, Bangladesh doesn’t rank highly but fringe first-class players go where the opportunities arise. For Aiden Blizzard over the past month, that has meant domestic cricket in Dhaka

Brydon Coverdale30-Apr-2010On a list of cricket’s most glamorous destinations, Bangladesh doesn’t rank highly – Andrew Strauss didn’t even bother going there for England’s Test tour this year. But fringe first-class players go where the opportunities arise and for Aiden Blizzard over the past month, that has meant domestic cricket in Dhaka.Even by the standards of journeymen Australian players, it was an unusual move. But Blizzard, who did not have his contract with Victoria renewed this month and has been snapped up by South Australia, relished the chance to learn in unfamiliar conditions, even if there were some problems during his stint with Rajshahi Division.”The pre-match addresses were interesting, because they weren’t in English,” Blizzard told Cricinfo. “I had to use my own game-plan because I didn’t know what our actual game-plan was. They understood that. I missed a training session too – I missed the team bus because I didn’t know it was on.”Despite the language barrier, he finished the National Cricket League Twenty20 competition as the fourth-leading run scorer and helped his team win the final. He was one of a handful of foreign players in the league, along with a couple of South Africans and a few Sri Lankans including Nuwan Zoysa.The slow, low surfaces provided an added challenge for Blizzard, who was recruited after a successful appearance in the Port City Cricket League, which featured Bangladesh teams and was played in Dubai. While the big bucks were flying around at the IPL, Blizzard was taking a chance that was about more than money.”It was more about the opportunity and the experience,” he said. “I really struggled to get many first-class games here in Australia, so if the opportunity came to play in a tournament I was jumping at it.”If the opportunity arises next year, I’ll definitely put my hand up to go and play. It did clash with the IPL, so fingers crossed I can get a crack in the IPL, but if the opportunity does arise again I’ll grab it with both hands. It was a great experience.”A week after battling traffic in Dhaka, Blizzard was back home in Melbourne, preparing to pack up his possessions and move to Adelaide to join the Redbacks. Like the Bangladesh deal, it was a decision based on opportunity: he had managed only one innings in two first-class games during his three seasons as a fully contracted Victoria batsman.There had been a couple of remarkable Twenty20 performances – twice in three years he was Man of the Match in the Big Bash final – but Blizzard wanted to play four-day cricket. When Cricket Victoria didn’t offer him a first-round deal for next summer, he made the choice to join his former team-mate Michael Klinger, who is the newly appointed captain of South Australia.”Michael Klinger has been a close friend of mine since I got to Victoria,” Blizzard said. “I had a good chat to him about moving before the start of last season, not necessarily to South Australia, but just how it was for him. He had a big influence on my decision to go to South Australia.”I’m really looking forward to a fresh start. I was pigeon-holed here as a slogger and South Australia were quick to stress that they didn’t see me as a slogger and they wanted to give me an opportunity to play in all three forms. I’m looking forward to getting that opportunity. Whether it’s at the start of the season or the middle is probably up to me, but it should be a great experience.”It will mean giving up the chance to play in the Champions League Twenty20 this year, where he would have been a key man for Victoria. But at 25, Blizzard knew he had to give himself the best chance of fulfilling his potential. Just like Rajshahi, it was another opportunity too good to pass up. At least this time he’ll understand the team’s game-plan.

What was a rout on day three was harder graft on day four as South Africa’s fast bowlers, for the second time in as many days, worked their way through the West Indies line-up to deliver a comprehensive 163-run victory

The Bulletin by Sahil Dutta13-Jun-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Morne Morkel took two important wickets as South Africa completed a four-day victory•AFPWhat was a rout on day three proved harder graft on day four as South Africa’s bowlers, for the second time in as many days, worked their way through the West Indies line-up to deliver a comprehensive 163-run victory.For West Indies fans, the past fifteen years has been a case of dragging positives out the wreckage of defeat and today only Chris Gayle, who resisted stoically for 73, and Dwayne Bravo emerged with much credit. While in charge of England’s bowlers recently Ottis Gibson had twice watched South Africa denied by iron-willed resistance, but in his first Test as West Indies coach there were no heroics from the batting team.Instead it was Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn, the most incisive new-ball pair in the world, who took the plaudits. Fast bowling has suffered under the torrent of lifeless pitches and endless cricket in recent times, but the South African pair gave the few spectators at the Queen’s Park Oval memories of old as they efficiently chipped their way through the tired surface and West Indies’ top-order.Graeme Smith rewarded his bowlers with some rest when, on day three, he chose not to enforce the follow on and South Africa began the day by cautiously extending their lead to 456 before finally declaring after an hour this morning. It was an unnecessarily conservative effort first-up from the tourists but they still had more than enough time to complete their task.Morkel was the man who did the damage early on in the first innings, and he picked up from where he left off immediately second time round, trapping Travis Dowlin in front with his first ball of the innings. It brought Brendan Nash to the crease, batting at least two places too high at No. 3. Nash had forged a Test career on nuggety defiance but in circumstances seemingly made for him, he was instead intent on swiping his way to glory. Inevitably, he was soon found out, pushing loosely outside off stump to give Steyn an early wicket.At that stage it looked as though West Indies may fold quickly again, but Gayle found a willing partner in Shivnarine Chanderpaul and launched an entertaining counter-attack. Where in the first innings he tried to block and nurdle, this time round he reverted to his preferred see-ball-hit-ball method. There were some memorable shots as he raced to a half-century in 62 balls, none more so than a check-drive straight back over Morkel’s head for six. Yet throughout there was the feeling he was West Indies’ only hope. Gayle may well possess the broadest shoulders in the Test game but the burden of carrying this team must be taking its toll.He could only watch on helplessly as Chanderpaul lost concentration and fenced aimlessly at Jacques Kallis to end a 55-run stand and the home team’s best period of resistance. Thereafter South Africa steadily chizzled away as the game meandered to its inevitable result.Paul Harris did his best Ashley Giles impression, offering little more than accuracy as Smith rotated his pace bowlers from the other end. Gayle’s continued defiance lured optimistic West Indians into dreaming that he may be able to repeat his marathon hundred at Adelaide last year, but this time conditions were more testing and the task more futile.Eventually Morkel landed the killer blow, removing him for the second time in the match. Gayle was pinned on the crease as he played around his front pad and, knowing his team’s fortunes would depart with him, thought longingly about a referral before dragging himself off.Narsingh Deonarine, who had also impressed in Australia, looked fraught throughout his stay here. His movements were exaggerated and edgy and after a couple of well-timed drives, he could not withstand a round-the-wicket attack from Steyn. Hanging on the back foot he played around a full ball to become another West Indian batsman trapped lbw.It ended a useful stand with Bravo who, after surviving a close bat-pad shout, played with the exuberance and flair missing from his first innings. Having stroked his way to 49 he got embroiled, and eventually defeated, in a game of patience with Harris. Sticking with monastic commitment to a line outside leg stump, Harris frustrated Bravo and was eventually rewarded when Bravo chipped tamely to midwicket. Harris has a thoroughly unglamorous role in this side, holding up an end while Steyn and Morkel attack, but he did it well and deserved a reward.As has so often been the case recently, West Indies were left looking to salvage little but pride from a hopeless situation. Instead Dinesh Ramdin gifted Lonwabo Tsotsobe a first Test wicket. While lacking the gifts of his senior colleagues, Tsotsobe was accurate and cut his fingers over the ball effectively to restrict all the batsmen he came up against and deserved some luck.It was left to the spinning duo – Sulieman Benn and Shane Shillingford, who had done well earlier in the day to limit South Africa to 51 runs in 18.3 overs – to bring some cheer to the West Indies fans. The old ball had made survival easier and they batted merrily during a 66-run stand in almost 15 overs. Benn was finally undone by Alviro Petersen and Shillingford duly followed. Fittingly it was Steyn who finished the job, bowling Nelon Pascal off an inside edge to give South Africa their eighth successive victory over West Indies this tour.

Dinesh Karthik, who contributed a crucial 38-ball 69 in Delhi’s victory against Rajasthan, is pleased with his batting form and believes he is ready to take over the role of finisher in the India’s limited-overs teams

Cricinfo staff04-Apr-2010Dinesh Karthik, who contributed a crucial 38-ball 69 in Delhi Daredevils’ victory against Rajasthan Royals, is pleased with his batting form and believes he is ready to take over the role of finisher in the India’s limited-overs teams.”I can proudly say that I can be a good finisher. I would take that role of a finisher any day, it’s a high-pressure job; MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh have been doing it for sometime now and I want to take over that job,” Karthik told the . “I have been able to finish a few games for Delhi Daredevils and I want to do the same for the Indian team as well.”Karthik is second only to Virender Sehwag in the list of run-getters for Delhi so far in IPL 2010, with 210 runs at an average of 30.00, and a strike-rate of 140.93. His form in the middle order, in addition to his wicketkeeping skills, has been crucial to Delhi’s cause in the tournament.”I do feel that I have been batting very well recently. It’s tough for me to compare how I was batting before and now, but I am obviously very happy with the way my batting is shaping up and with the way I’m hitting the ball.”For me, it has never been about being flashy, or about telling people how many shots I have in my kitty. When I am playing those shots I am just reacting to what the team requirements are. Over the years you learn and it comes through sheer experience. I also spend a lot of time at the nets – in fact, I have been working a lot with my coach Jayaram [former Kerala captain] but I think some of the decisions to play the shots come with my mental strength,” Karthik said.Karthik has had a tough time at the highest level, where he faced reasonable success as a Test opener before MS Dhoni displaced him, first behind the stumps and later from the starting eleven. Since then, he has cemented his place as India’s second-choice keeper, and in recent times, forced his way back as a specialist batsman. Karthik attributed his comeback to his ability to take stock of things and improve on his weaknesses.”When you get dropped, you do sit down and try and reassess. After I was dropped two years back after the Sri Lanka series, I had a serious rethink on my game, and the way I was going. When you are down or you get out cheaply, people talk about you, one needs to make a note and sit down patiently and assess the merits and demerits.”I realised that there was a problem with my mindset – I used to get worked up very easily and I needed to improve my keeping. I made a conscious attempt to rectify those mistakes and I can confidently say that I have improved drastically since then,” Karthik said.Karthik was not too concerned that his wicketkeeping was not required by the national side. “I don’t think too much about keeping when I am with the Indian team. Obviously I am only there as a back-up for Dhoni and I concentrate on my batting. When I get back to the domestic circuit, it does take a while to adjust back, because I haven’t kept for a while. But that’s a bargain I am willing to take to play for India,” Karthik said.

With Sheffield Wednesday having racked up three draws in their previous three League One matches, Darren Moore’s side are back in action this afternoon with a clash against Cheltenham Town to try and secure a win rather than yet another draw or a defeat.

On the chalkboard

Looking ahead to the fixture, one player who we think should be in the starting XI for the Owls is on-loan winger Theo Corbeanu, who Moore has praised in the past for being able to get into “wonderful” positions on the pitch.

Predominantly due to Wednesday’s three previous league results, we feel that Moore could do with shaking up his team in some way. Whether that’s with the personnel he’s using on the pitch or the formation he’s asking them to utilise, they just need something fresh to turn their form around.

Therefore, given how Corbeanu has yet to start a League One game for the Owls since joining the club back in August from Wolves’ under-23 side and has only played eight minutes from one appearance in their past seven league games, we feel that now is a great time for Moore to unleash the winger from the start against Cheltenham to see what sort of impact he has on the team and this game in particular.

Despite having yet to register a goal or assist for Wednesday, we think that starting Corbeanu against Cheltenham could be a gamble worth taking at this point in the season to see if he can change the Owls’ fortunes in terms of results, as well as his own record in his first loan spell away from Wolves.

In the two Papa John’s Trophy matches where he has played 90 minutes for Wednesday, the 19-year-old – who is currently valued at £900k according to Transfermarkt – has had eight shots (five on target) and two key passes, along with an average passing accuracy percentage of 80%. That shows how much of an attacking threat he can be, albeit against lower opposition like Newcastle United’s under-21 side and League Two outfit Mansfield Town.

Looking ahead to the match against Cheltenham, in terms of who Corbeanu could come into the team and replace, we feel that Moore should take Saido Berahino out of the line-up considering that he hasn’t managed to score a goal in his last six league appearances for the Owls.

In other news: Moore must ruthlessly axe Owls disaster with the “wrong mentality” for Cheltenham clash

Manchester United have made an offer to sign Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele, according to El Chiringuito journalist Darío Montero (via Sport Witness). 

The lowdown: Big-money player

Signed from Borussia Dortmund in 2017 for what was then second-biggest transfer fee in world football (£135.5m, as per BBC), Dembele has struggled to recapture his best form in Catalunya.

Despite directly contributing to 64 goals in 147 outings for the Spanish giants, the 24-year-old has also missed 96 matches through a variety of injury issues since arriving at Camp Nou.

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With Dembele set to become a free agent at the end of the season (Transfermarkt), a fresh update has emerged from Spain…

The latest: Offer made for Dembele

As per Montero, as translated by Sport Witness, the Red Devils and Paris Saint-Germain are both keen on signing the 2018 World Cup winner.

It is claimed that United are ‘offering’ Dembele a salary between €10m and €15m (£8.4m-£12.6m) per year.

Hailed as an ‘exceptional player’ by team-mate Dani Alves upon the Brazilian right-back’s return to the La Liga club, the 27-cap forward could yet remain at Barcelona should Xavi and the club act quickly.

The verdict: Worth the risk

It is an undoubted gamble to pay such high wages to a player who is so prone to injury, but without the expenditure of a transfer fee, the signing of Dembele has the potential to be a masterstroke for United if they can pull it off.

So far this season, the versatile forward has scored twice and provided 11 assists in 29 appearances across all competitions, highlighting his wizardry with a league-high 2.8 successful dribbles completed per match whilst earning the second-highest overall rating in La Liga with 7.61 (Sofascore).

Considering that the Spanish top flight is Europe’s second-highest ranked league in UEFA’s association club coefficient, it is no mean feat to be a performance leader at that level of football.

Incoming United manager Erik ten Hag will have to choose between Jadon Sancho, Anthony Elanga and Marcus Rashford for the wide attacking berths at present, leaving ample room for a player of Dembele’s proven quality.

In other news: Red Devils in pole position to sign Premier League star…find out more here

After making no mistake in picking up all three points in their previous Premier League outing against Norwich City, Aston Villa are back in action once again this weekend with a home clash against Burnley next up for Steven Gerrard’s side.

On the chalkboard

In terms of which players Gerrard could select to be in his starting XI to take on Sean Dyche’s side, one player that featured in their midweek victory that should be in the team to face Burnley is Jacob Ramsey, who is currently earning a weekly wage of £15,000-per-week according to Salary Sport.

In the 90 minutes he was on the pitch for against Norwich, Ramsey showed Gerrard just what a significant midfield player he can be for the Villans by showing his ability in both an attacking and defensive sense.

Going forward, as well as scoring Villa’s opening goal in the first half, Ramsey managed to make two key passes, have a total of three shots at goal and complete one successful dribble.

In a defensive regard, Ramsey managed to win seven of the 10 duels he was involved in and make two tackles in the game, showing how much of a well-rounded midfield player he is.

This performance earned the 20-year-old an impressive overall match rating of 8/10 from SofaScore, making him Villa’s second-highest rated player on the day as he was deservedly called “outstanding” by Gerrard.

Birmingham Live also picked up on his solid performance against Norwich by saying that it was a “coming-of-age performance from the 20-year-old who looks every bit a Premier League player,” as well as adding that Ramsey is “growing into a proper player.”

With this in mind and the fact that Villa have the likes of Morgan Sanson, Anwar El Ghazi, Leon Bailey, Bertrand Traore and Marvelous Nakamba out for the weekend’s game, even though Gerrard may have little option but to start Ramsey, his performance against Norwich certainly showed that he should be in the team based on his quality alone, not the inavailability of others.

Even though Carney Chukwuemeka managed to grab an assist in the match against Norwich after coming off the substitutes bench, the fact that Ramsey has more minutes in the league under his belt this season suggests that he would be the better fit to start against Burnley rather than Chukwuemeka on this occasion.

In other news: AVFC handed big injury boost ahead of Burnley clash that’ll have Gerrard buzzing – opinion

An Ibrox insider has made a Rangers claim regarding manager Gio van Bronckhorst…

What’s the talk?

Former Gers boss Alex McLeish, who knows exactly what it is like to be inside the club, has claimed that the Dutchman’s priorities will be on getting results on the pitch. The Scot believes that the 46-year-old will wait to establish his playing style before delving into the academy and other areas of the side.

He told Football Insider:

“He’s just ticking the boxes at the moment for Rangers.

“Of course, he will say he’s not going to ignore the academy right now, but he’s not going be launching himself into a full-depth study of it.

“At the moment, his priority will be with that first team. The first thing he has to do is get that Rangers side winning again, get those good performance levels in the style he wants to play.

“Once he establishes that he then can ascertain these players’ strengths and weaknesses in the coming weeks.”

Delighted

Rangers fans will surely be delighted with these comments from McLeish, particularly as a man who knows what it takes to manage the club. He understands what makes the club tick as an insider and he appears to believe that van Bronckhorst will make good decisions and focus on the right areas in his first few weeks in the job.

Supporters, first and foremost, will surely want to see results on the pitch and McLeish believes that the Dutchman will focus on that initially. The ex-Feyenoord man may want to nail down his principles and style of play to ensure that the results are ticking over and Rangers continue on their way to a second successive Premiership title, before then focusing on other aspects of the role.

He still has just over a month until the start of the January transfer window and may not need to focus on incoming or outgoing transfers within the senior squad for a couple more weeks. In terms of academy players, however, he could begin to integrate them into the team after he has made sure that the current crop of senior players understand what he wants.

It could be detrimental to throw an academy player in halfway through the transition period as they would be playing catchup in comparison to the first-team performers who are also still learning what van Bronckhorst wants. Whereas, the older heads could nurture the young players and teach them along the way if they are already accustomed to what the manager wants to see in training and in games.

Therefore, fans will be delighted with McLeish’s claim that van Bronckhorst will focus on results in the Premiership and Europa League before focusing on other areas at a later date. It certainly seems as if he’s got his priorities in order early doors.

AND in other news, Gio must avoid 1st Rangers disaster with £21k-p/w “student” who’s a “joy to work with”…