All posts by h716a5.icu

Luke Butterworth swung Tasmania to a sensational one-wicket victory that was sealed with a six off Doug Bollinger

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Nov-2010Tasmania 125 & 9 for 167 (Butterworth 44*, Watson 5-39) beat New South Wales 97 & 190 by 1 wicket
ScorecardLuke Butterworth and Adam Maher celebrate their win in front of a frustrated Doug Bollinger•Getty ImagesLuke Butterworth swung Tasmania to a sensational one-wicket victory that was sealed with a six off Doug Bollinger at the SCG. In a match that swung as much as the ball over two-and-a-bit days, Butterworth and Adam Maher put on 31 in four overs after Shane Watson’s five-for seemed to set up the game for New South Wales.Maher was dropped by Nathan Hauritz at third slip with 12 still needed and Butterworth quickly sealed the success, finishing with a game-high 44. Bollinger was called to deliver the final over and was hit for three by Maher, before Butterworth picked up two to third man, a four to mid-on and then a six in the same direction. It ended a fine match for Butterworth, who took five wickets and top-scored in the first innings with 39.Tasmania began the day at 3 for 73, needing another 90 for victory, but they lost the captain George Bailey straight away, lbw to Trent Copeland. Copeland followed up to remove Mark Cosgrove and when Watson picked up Brady Jones (32) and James Faulkner the Tigers were in big trouble at 7 for 107.Jason Krejza added 12 and Shane Watson earned his fifth victim when Xavier Doherty failed to score. Watson had to be satisfied with 5 for 39 from 14 overs, while Copeland finished with 3 for 42 and nine wickets for the game. Hauritz did not add to his one over for the match as the fast bowlers were preferred, leaving him without an opportunity to gauge his form ahead of the first Test on Thursday.

Celtic are back in action tomorrow with another Old Firm clash, this time in the Scottish Cup semi-final as the Glasgow rivals face off for a place in the final.

Their last game saw the Bhoys pick up another three points thanks to a blistering 7-0 victory against St. Johnstone at Celtic Park.

As for Rangers, they were in action on Thursday as they took it to extra time to secure their place in the semi-finals of the Europa League, eventually defeating Sporting Braga 3-1 at Ibrox.

Looking ahead to this latest showdown, it seems as though the Hoops have been handed a big injury boost that could have a huge impact on whether or not they secure a win on this occasion.

What’s the news?

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s clash, Ange Postecoglou revealed in his latest press conference that Hoops midfielder David Turnbull is fit enough to play after picking up a knock in last weekend’s league game.

The midfielder had only just come back from a big injury last month before picking up this knock against Saints.

However, now that the Hoops boss has shared this news, it will be a huge weight off a lot of people’s shoulders at Parkhead.

Great news for Postecoglou

In terms of what the 22-year-old offers his side, having scored five goals and provided five assists in 21 league appearances this season, the midfielder is a creative and attacking threat from the middle of the pitch.

In those appearances, the former Motherwell star has earned himself an overall WhoScored performance rating of 7.56, making him the highest-rated player currently in the squad.

With Rangers in the way of seeing Celtic make it to the final, having a player who is able to unlock teams by creating goalscoring chances or scoring goals himself such as Turnbull could well be the difference between winning and losing.

To highlight how dangerous the Scottish international is, only Liel Abada (78) has made more shots at goal in the league than Turnbull (69), who has also completed the second-highest number of crosses (141) for the Hoops this season, behind only Jota (190).

Taking this into account, it’s safe to say that having the midfield maestro available this weekend is great news for Postecoglou and Celtic’s chances of getting to the final.

AND in other news: Hammond howler: Celtic had a nightmare on “bizarre” flop who cost £1.1m per goal

Yorkshire put themselves right back into the race for the County Championship title with a deserved five-wicket victory over leaders Nottinghamshire

09-Sep-2010
ScorecardJonathan Bairstow cracked an aggressive, unbeaten 63, hitting the winning runs as Yorkshire got home by five wickets•Getty ImagesYorkshire put themselves right back into the race for the County Championship title with a deserved five-wicket victory over leaders Nottinghamshire. After bowling the hosts out for 413 in their second innings, with Ajmal Shahzad picking up four wickets to take his match haul to eight for 121, Yorkshire raced to their victory target of 209 inside 43 overs thanks to a sparkling unbeaten 63 from Jonathan Bairstow.There was a brief scare when they lost their top four in the space of six overs, but Bairstow put on 97 in 15 overs for the fifth wicket with Gerard Brophy (41), before taking a single to square leg to complete the win. The victory meant Yorkshire climbed to within seven points of Notts going into the final round of matches.Notts began the day 152 ahead on 357 for 6, realistically needing another 100 runs to stand a chance of an unlikely win after being bowled out for just 59 in their first innings. Nightwatchman Darren Pattinson advanced the score to 373 before misjudging the line of a delivery from Steven Patterson to be plumb lbw shouldering arms for 27, and Notts then saw the last three wickets fall in 12 balls.Steven Mullaney was bowled by Patterson with one that kept low, skipper Chris Read castled for 47 by an offcutter from Shahzad and last man Luke Fletcher deceived by a slower ball from the England seamer to also be bowled. Notts desperately needed early wickets to put any pressure on the visitors but instead openers Adam Lyth and Jacques Rudolph put on 65 in the 12 overs before lunch to deflate the hopes of the home fans.Pattinson briefly provided some inspiration either side of a half-hour rain break, Rudolph edging to gully and Anthony McGrath gloving a vicious throat ball to Read behind the stumps. The Australian quick then had Lyth caught at first slip for three wickets in three consecutive overs and when Andre Adams bowled Andrew Gale through the gate, Notts again had a sniff.But Bairstow and Brophy took advantage of the attacking field to charge towards the finish, Brophy falling with 17 needed to an edge to slip off Adams, before Bairstow finished things off in the company of Adil Rashid. Notts now travel to Old Trafford knowing a 22-point victory will guarantee them the title, having gained more wins over the season than either of their rivals, while Yorkshire must take maximum points from their home tie with Kent and rely on both Notts and Somerset dropping points.

The Indian bowling unit easily had its best day of the tour. At the heart of it was Pragyan Ojha

Sidharth Monga at the P Sara Oval04-Aug-2010This was perhaps India’s best day on the tour. You could argue that India dominated the fourth day of the SSC Test, but here both their wings worked. The bowling unit easily had its best day of the tour, taking six wickets for 132 runs, in 51.1 overs, bowling only two no-balls, compared to yesterday’s 11. At the heart of it was Pragyan Ojha, getting consistent turn, staying accurate, going for just 37 runs in 20 overs for the wickets of Angelo Mathews and Prasanna Jayawardene, and ending with his career-best figures of 4 for 115.”This is one of the best days for the bowling group [on the tour], because the way we planned we executed,” Ojha said. “We planned it out, and we were very strict on things. [We knew] we shouldn’t try too many things. We were just sticking to our basics.”It has been a steeping learning curve for Ojha. Right from the tour game, he has had problems with no-balls – not as much as Amit Mishra though – and the Sri Lankan batsmen have often tucked in to him. In this match he was part of India’s most inexperienced attack since the Chennai Test of 2000-01, against Australia.”When such a situation comes you can take it in a negative way as well as a positive way,” Ojha said. “I think I took it in a positive way, because it was a great opportunity to show your worth and why you are playing for the country.”After a much-improved bowling performance, a dominating Virender Sehwag then put India in a position from where they can negate the handicap of having to play the last innings. “He’s like playing on a different wicket,” Thilan Samaraweera, who finished his 12th Test century earlier in the day, said. “If he gets out, it looks like a totally different wicket. And lot of things turn around. He’s the key man for us to get out.”India will also know that they need a big lead in the first innings because Sri Lanka, already ahead in the series, won’t be too keen on a sporting declaration. Perhaps this is the first time in the series that Sri Lanka will be feeling any kind of pressure at the end of a day’s play. The next three days promise exciting cricket.

Mashonaland Eagles are on the lookout for a new coach after it was confirmed that Chris Silverwood would not be returning to the franchise next season

Cricinfo staff05-Aug-2010Mashonaland Eagles are on the lookout for a new coach after it was confirmed that Chris Silverwood would not be returning to the franchise next season. They have, however, already filled the post of assistant coach, with Grant Flower set to take up the role when he returns to Zimbabwe at the end of the current English season.”Silverwood is not coming back and we are still discussing with the prospective candidates for the job and hopefully we will be announcing the name of the new coach soon,” Eagles’ chief executive Hugo Ribatika told in Zimbabwe.Flower, 39, is in his final season with Essex after spending six years at the county. As well as the post with Eagles, he is expected to become part of the national coaching set-up and work with Zimbabwe’s batsmen as part of coach Alan Butcher’s technical team.Mashonaland Eagles won Zimbabwe’s domestic first-class competition, the Logan Cup, last season, and were also beaten finalists in the Faithwear-Met Bank one-day competition and the inaugural Stanbic Bank Twenty20 tournament.Eagles’ captain Elton Chigumbura, who is playing county cricket with Northamptonshire, is likely to miss the opening matches of the forthcoming season, but the franchise has already begun its preparations and the squad will be travelling to Chimanimani in the east of the country for a pre-season retreat next week.”It’s a team building exercise. We have invited a number of professionals to come and talk to the players because we want to build strong individuals on and off the pitch,” said Ribatika.With several franchises making changes to their squads ahead of the new season – Matabeleland Tuskers have parted ways with Mark Vermeulen and Dion Ebrahim, while Tatenda Taibu and Stuart Matsikenyeri are moving from Mountaineers to Southern Rocks – Eagles have signed national Under-19 captain Peter Moor.”We have high chances because we have managed to retain most of our players and we are looking to add one or two,” explained Ribatika. “Negotiations are still going on. We also have got exciting prospects coming up as we have secured the national Under-19 captain Peter Moor to play first class cricket for Eagles this year.”

ExWHUemployee has dropped an update on the situation surrounding West Ham United goalkeeper Darren Randolph.

What’s the talk?

In a recent post on The West Ham Way, the club insider revealed that, while talks between the 34-year-old shot-stopper and Aston Villa regarding a transfer were taking place on Monday, the negotiations between the two parties subsequently broke down at an advanced stage – with the deal now appearing to be on hold.

ExWHUemployee went on to state that David Moyes’ side are actively looking to move the Republic of Ireland international on in the January transfer window, as his wages are extremely high for a third-choice goalkeeper, however, it no longer seems likely that the former Middlesbrough man will be making a move to Villa Park this month.

In his post, Ex said: “We can confirm that Darren Randolph was in talks with Aston Villa over a move [on Monday] although talks seem to have broken down at the advanced stage. The move is currently on hold and it is unclear whether Villa will look to resurrect the deal. West Ham are keen to move Randolph on, as he is on a large wage for a third choice keeper and his wages saved could be spent elsewhere.”

Moyes will be gutted

Considering just how little Randolph has featured for West Ham since his £4m return to East London in January of 2020, in addition to the fact the goalkeeper is reported to be earning a whopping £42k-per-week at the London Stadium, the news that the 34-year-old’s move to Aston Villa looks to have fallen through will undoubtedly have left Moyes gutted.

Indeed, in the last two years, the £900k-rated man has made just nine appearances for the Hammers, with only five of these fixtures coming in the Premier League.

As such, when taking into account the fact that the shot-stopper has cost the club around £4.3m in wages, in addition to his £4m transfer fee – meaning each league fixture Randolph has featured in has set West Ham back around £1.7m – it is clear for all to see that the veteran ‘keeper is not worth keeping on the books.

In fact, it would appear highly advisable for Moyes to simply offer the 34-year-old out for free this month, as, at present, Randolph has another year-and-a-half left to run on his contract – something that will only set the club back around a further £3.25m.

In other news: Jacob Steinberg reveals big January transfer twist that’ll leave West Ham fans fuming

Here’s something that might surprise you. Simon Katich is statistically Australia’s most successful Test opener of all time. Not Matthew Hayden, not Bill Ponsford. Simon Katich

Brydon Coverdale at Lord's13-Jul-2010Here’s something that might surprise you. Simon Katich is statistically Australia’s most successful Test opener of all time. Not Matthew Hayden, not Bill Ponsford. Simon Katich. As Katich shuffled off to the Lord’s pavilion having been caught behind for 80, he sat atop the list of averages for Australians who have opened in at least 20 Test innings.Loping out to the crease to replace Katich was Marcus North. The Australians were hoping Katich’s consistency would rub off on North, who stalls on start-up more often than a learner driver. Three balls later, he was heading back from whence he came, bowled for a duck by a high-class inswinger from Mohammad Asif.How North must envy Katich at the moment. The bookends of Australia’s top six share much in common – they are unfashionable left-handers, they learnt their trade on the bouncy WACA pitch and they’ve each scored four hundreds since the beginning of last year – but consistency isn’t one of those traits.While it’s been a feast-or-famine year for North, Katich has been dining out on opposition attacks and scoffing down every last scrap of a score he can find. Australia’s opener has been so dependable that when he slashed a typical Katich boundary, an uppish cut through gully to reach his half-century, it meant he’d passed fifty in nine consecutive Tests, stretching back to The Oval last year.The innings was pure Katich: barely a memorable shot until he’d reached a half-century, then a few boundaries crunched off loose balls, especially against Shahid Afridi. As he crab-walked across his stumps he was opening himself up to a Pakistan attack hooping balls around corners, but aside from a lucky let-off when he should have been trapped on 2, he was Australia’s rock on a difficult day.”There’s no doubt that it was a tough day all the way through, given the conditions,” Katich said after Australia reached 229 for 9. “At no stage did the clouds break and the sun came through. We knew that it was going to be a hard day out there with the ball swinging around consistently. It would have been nice to get more but at the same time we’ve got nearly 230 runs in the bank.”None of those runs came from the No. 6. Undoubtedly, North deserves his place in the team after rescuing his career with a century and a 90 in New Zealand, but in addition to his four Test centuries, he has been dismissed for 10 or less in more than half of his Test innings.His high backlift makes him especially vulnerable to full, swinging deliveries and that’s precisely what Asif served up. North was lucky to avoid a golden duck, when he could have been lbw had Pakistan noticed the ball hit pad before bat, and two deliveries later his stumps were shattered by a peach of an inswinger. It was that sort of day for the Australians – get your eye in rapidly or get out even quicker.”If you get in, it can certainly be a great place to bat because the outfield is quick,” Katich said. “Once you get used to the pace you can really get set. But vice-versa, there’s always enough happening on days like today where it can be hard for the new guy. I don’t think we saw too many poor shots or anything like that.”It’s true that North was done in by superb bowling, and his position is rightly not in danger on this tour. However, he is the man with the most to lose if Steven Smith performs with the bat in his debut series. Should Smith convince the selectors that he is a viable top-six option – and with a first-class average of more than 50, it’s possible – they will be tempted to push him up and enjoy the luxury of an extra specialist bowler.Fortunately for North, there were no such signs on Smith’s first day of Test cricket. Smith was lbw for 1, one of six Australians who failed to reach double figures. They all needed a little of Katich’s consistency to rub off.

A round-up of all the action from the Clydesdale Bank 40

21-May-2010Essex beat Holland by just one run as the hosts came close to causing a huge Clydesdale Bank 40 upset in Amstelveen. Set 219 runs to win, the Dutch finished on 217 for 6 as Eric Szwarczynski provided the bedrock of their brave chase. Despite seeing Nick Statham (five) and Michael Dighton (nine) depart cheaply to leave the hosts 37 for two, the South Africa-born right-hander remained unflappable as he fashioned a recovery.A Chris Schofield half-century guided Surrey to a two-wicket win over Glamorgan in their Group A game under the Swalec Stadium floodlights. Surrey were set 224 to win but looked in trouble until Schofield and Gareth Batty rescued their side from 126 for 6 in the 26th over with a 53-run partnership.

Manchester United have been linked to many different players rumoured to make a move to Old Trafford during the transfer window, however, there are also many players who are touted with a move away from the club, despite Ralf Rangnick being brought in over the last few months to change the direction the side were heading in.

What’s the word?

Popular transfer insider, Fabrizio Romano, was interviewed by fan YouTube channel, The United Stand, on Tuesday to answer some questions on the most pressing topics surrounding Manchester United’s transfer window.

Romano spoke on Dean Henderson’s current situation at the club and stance on his place in the squad, saying:

“He’s going to push for a move, because he wants to go, he wants to play, he needs to play and Man United are open to do it.”

“But it’s not easy, it’s definitely not easy, because for goalkeepers everything is still quiet around Europe.”

The 24-year-old has been linked to Ajax and Spurs over the last few weeks, for a move during this transfer window, but there has been no official interest in the keeper as of yet.

Fans will be gutted

Henderson showed so much potential last season, playing 26 games for Manchester United in all competitions, with 13 clean sheets, picking up points from an impressive 19 of the 26 games he featured in goal for the club.

As a result, it wouldn’t be a surprise if plenty of the Old Trafford faithful were left gutted by his departure from the club. One fan even questioned the lack of selection for the Red Devils player on social media, Tweeting;

“I would love to know why Dean Henderson never gets a chance at United. All those players in the squad who consistently show they are not good enough for United keep getting a chance … again and again.”

Indeed, it’s clear to see they’d be left rather sad and disappointed at his exit, especially at this stage of the season.

With the number of competitions the club is still involved over the next few months with the squad competing in the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup, with many important games coming up, it would not be ideal to lose any players that can add quality depth to the side, given the large number of fixtures Manchester United face should they thrive in the tournaments.

Additionally, they’d be losing one of their best homegrown prospects, somebody who could don the gloves for United over a multitude of years.

In other news: Rangnick could axe Martial by signing Dembele

Sachin Tendulkar, the Mumbai Indians captain, remains uncertain for the IPL final on April 25, after he injured his finger on his right hand while attempting a low catch at slip

Cricinfo staff21-Apr-2010Sachin Tendulkar, the Mumbai Indians captain, has injured a finger on his right hand during the semi-final against Royal Challengers Bangalore, making him uncertain for the final on Sunday. Tendulkar, who was bleeding after attempting a low slip catch, rushed back to the dressing room and had five stitches.Despite the injury, Tendulkar hoped to feature in the final. “My right hand is not too great. Split my webbing and got five stitches. But hopefully I will recover for the final,” he said.Tendulkar sustained the injury in the fourth over of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s chase, when Rahul Dravid edged Zaheer Khan. Replays indicated a part of the ball had touched the ground as Tendulkar clasped it, and the batsman was ruled not out. Tendulkar was injured in the process, bleeding from his right hand, and immediately made his way to the pavilion for some medical attention.Zaheer, who led Mumbai in Tendulkar’s absence on the field, said his team will take a call on his participation in the final in two days. “We are little bit worried but we will take a couple of days to decide (on his availability for the final),” Zaheer said. “Every team he has played for has relied on him. It was unfortunate he got out early today and got injured. But we have reached the final and all the credit goes to him. I hope he plays in the finals. We all expect him to play. We just have to remain patient.”Tendulkar’s was not the only injury worry for Mumbai Indians. Man of the Match Kieron Pollard injured his knee while batting, but came back to bowl an exceptional spell to pick three wickets. He was confident of being ready in time for the big game.”After running the first two runs, I twinged my knee. But it feels good now, and hopefully I should be fit for the final,” Pollard said.