All posts by h716a5.icu

Andrew Strauss sat at his post-match press conference looking drained and a little depressed. This is what captaining England can do to a man, especially when you have twice been within spitting distance of victories after previously being involved in a h

Andrew McGlashan in Trinidad11-Mar-2009Andrew Strauss sat at his post-match press conference looking drainedand a little depressed. This is what captaining England can do to aman, especially when you have twice been within spitting distance ofvictories after previously being involved in a horrendous battingcollapse.Strauss took the top job at the toughest time, but even he couldn’thave imagined what this tour would throw at him on and off the field.That he was able to say he was “enjoying” the role was a good signbecause, although only officially confirmed for this tour, he willlead England in the Ashes.”I’ve had a good series with the bat which helps and the players havebeen very supportive which didn’t have to be the case,” he said.”After what’s gone in the last 12 months with a lot of upheaval, certain players might have felt uneasy about another captain takingover, but they all reacted exceptionally well.”Andy Flower and the rest of coaching team have done an excellent job.Despite the scoreline, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed doing the job.Obviously, the longer I do it, the better I’ll become as a captain andhopefully in the future we can move together as a unit.”Although thousands of miles away, Australia’s upturn in fortunesprobably hasn’t escaped the attention of England. Not that it’shealthy to linger on the fortunes of others for too long, but theywill find it difficult not to hear of the positive impression made bythe likes of Phillip Hughes, Marcus North and Ben Hilfenhaus. Thisyear’s Ashes series will be contested by two evolving, developingsides and it’s a race to see who starts with their noses in front.At the moment it seems Australia are coming together in moreconvincing style, especially as their recent success has been againsttheir challengers for the top spot. England have a number of keyissues to resolve before the teams meet in July at Lord’s, not leastfinding a new team director to take overall charge.It is a tick in the box of both Strauss and Flower that the pairinghasn’t come across too strongly as a stand-in solution. Therelationship appears to have gelled well, but it remains to be seenwhether Flower is chosen for the main role.One of the key challenges for captain and coach (or team director)will be putting together an attack that can consistently take 20wickets. In most conditions that means five bowlers and Strauss hopesthat the tough lessons learned in this series will be valuable in thefuture.”We move back to England which will hopefully suit our bowlers a bitmore but if they are armed with the knowledge of how to bowl on flatwickets that’s going to help us in the long term,” he said.He singled out James Anderson for significant praise after his burston the final day was nearly enough to finish off West Indies. “Jimmyhas been threatening all series. He’s bowled outstandingly well and insome ways it is a travesty that he has not taken a five-wicket haulsomewhere along the way because he has troubled every single batsmanwith both conventional swing and reverse swing. He has come on a longway.”England’s immediate focus is the Twenty20 and ODIs against West Indiesbefore they return for the home season with some players making avisit (security permitting) to India first, for the IPL. They will havean immediate chance of revenge against West Indies when they visit fora short two-Test series in May and England would be well advised notto think too far ahead.”We’ve got a massive 12 months of cricket ahead of us, an Ashes seriesthat we are all desperate to win and a tour of South Africa which isas hard as anything at the moment,” Strauss said. “If we can get twovictories that would be an amazing achievement for any England side.There’s a huge amount of difficult cricket ahead but alsoopportunities and I think that’s exciting.”

Some Everton fans have been left gushing over the news that Moise Kean has now left.

As per the official website of the Goodison Park faithful, the Italy international has re-signed for Juventus on a two-year loan deal, with an obligation for the Serie A club to buy him permanently after that spell ends.

Kean failed to score in his first two matches of the 2021/22 term for the Merseyside outfit, and did not have a great time at the Toffees in general, scoring just four goals and supplying just two assists in 39 games in total over the last three consecutive seasons (Transfermarkt).

Nonetheless, it will have come as a relief to get the striker off of their books before the window shut, replacing his spot behind Dominic Calvert-Lewin with the arrival of Salomon Rondon.

Everton fans on Kean news

These Blues buzzed as the news on Kean was shared on Twitter, with one EFC supporter even going as far as to claim that they were ‘buzzing’:

“Won’t be missed.”

Credit: @clarke__78

“Good riddance. Terrible attitude, had one good game for us. Glad to see the back of him”

Credit: @Adamefc1990

“Buzzing, you will not be missed”

Credit: @chl03efc”Good riddance he was never a Blue”Credit: @govitotravel”Glad to never see that pathetic dance routine again though wasn’t like we regularly got to see it. Brett Angell finished better.”Credit: @StetheH”Good riddance – petulant and disengaged! Most disappointing and happy to say goodbye, enjoy ‘trying’ to follow Cristiano”Credit: @DSteveFIn other news, find out what confirmed news has Evertonians buzzing here!

A round-up of the third day of the first-round matches in the 2008-09 Royal Bank of Scotland Cup

Cricinfo staff13-Mar-2009Group AWith five of their top six batsmen chipping in with useful scores Multan Tigers needed just 42 overs to chase Hyderabad Hawks’ 253 in Mirpur Khas. Babar Ali (36) and Shoaib Maqsood (48) gave Multan a 56-run opening stand after which debutant Fayyaz-ul-Hasan (52), Gulraiz Sadaf (49*) and Rizwan Haider (35) drove Multan to a five-wicket win that took them to the top of the Group A points table. Opener Aqeel Anjum scored 74 for Hyderabad but a middle-order collapse, where Hyderabad lost five wickets for 20 runs, nearly had them bowled out under 200 before Mohammad Urs’ unbeaten 40-ball 58 took them to a competitive total. However it wasn’t enough to stop Multan in their tracks.Half-centuries by Hammad Ali and Riaz Kail took the Abbottabad Rhinos to a 130-run win over the Quetta Bears in Karachi. Hammad scored 81 in only his second List A match and added half-century partnerships with Mir Azam (44 off 29) and Ghulam Mohammad (44 off 52) before Kail slammed 71 off 56 balls as Abbottabad reached 294. Quetta lost their openers with only six on the board and without any half-century stands they fell far behind the run chase. Umair Khan picked up 3 for 29 in his seven overs while Armaghan Elahi and Khalid Usman took two each. Taimur Ali top scored with 35 as Quetta were bowled out inside 37 overs.Khalid Latif’s century and 142-run opening stand with Ali Asad set up the Karachi Dolphins’ six-wicket win over the Rawalpindi Rams after debutant medium pacer Khalid Mahmood picked up 5 for 56 to restrict Rawalpindi to 268 at the National Stadium. Mahmood opened the bowling with Mohammad Sami and the two had reduced Rawalpindi to 4 for 24 before Usman Saeed (109) walked out to the middle and began a rescue effort along with Zahir Mansoor (74). The two added 156 together before Usman was bowled by Mahmood.The third-round matches for groups’ B,C and D were postponed because of the current political situation in Pakistan. The revised schedule for the groups will be released later.

Multan Tigers 2 2 00 0 8 +1.467 513/78.5 504/100.0 Rawalpindi Rams 1 1 0 00 4 +3.560 307/50.0 129/50.0Rhinos 2 1 1 0 04 +0.990 584/100.0 485/100.0 Karachi Dolphins 1 1 0 0 0 4+0.620 321/50.0 290/50.0 Quetta Bears 20 2 0 0 0 -2.161415/100.0 548/86.5 Hyderabad Hawks 2 02 0 0 0 -2.332 382/100.0566/92.0

Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz is once again attracting transfer interest from Serie A giants AS Roma.

What’s the story?

Reports in recent months had initially suggested that Premier League champions Manchester City were contemplating exercising their buy-back clause on the Brazilian, but that has not been the case.

Then, The Telegraph’s Mike McGrath claimed that Roma had entered the fray, with former Spurs boss Jose Mourinho keen to lure him to Italy this summer.

And while a move away did not materialise in the summer transfer window, Calciomercato now claim that the Italian side are keen to move on Amadou Diawara as they look to fund a move for either Luiz or Denis Zakaria come January.

Fans will be worried

Having played 33 out of the possible 38 Premier League games last term, Luiz was a cornerstone of a Villa midfield that saw them finish just outside of the top ten.

Speaking last summer, The Athletic journalist Gregg Evans, said of him: “He’s an absolute joy to watch now and I never thought I would be saying that. Villa have got a fantastic player in Douglas Luiz now, he looks like an absolute star, he could have played in that Man United team.

“He was better than (Paul) Pogba, I thought. I thought he was brilliant, hardly did anything wrong, hardly put a foot wrong. He won so many interceptions and made so many important blocks. When he gets the ball, he passes it nicely. He’s the best player in that Villa team at the moment because it’s just not working for John McGinn.”

And, in a recent poll done by FFC, 73% of Villa fans who answered said that they would not sell Luiz this summer (1180 votes to 66) – an indication of just how concerning it would be were the Brazilian to make the move to Roma.

If Roma were to swoop in for Luiz in the January transfer window, it would rob Dean Smith of a first-team regular at a time where they were already looking to try and strengthen their options in the summer – a move for James Ward-Prowse being touted.

It would leave them even more short in the engine room, and Villa fans would surely be very worried at the prospect of Luiz going. It has the making of a potential nightmare for Smith if Roma push ahead with a move.

Meanwhile, new details have emerged over Villa’s summer swoop…

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former Leeds United midfielder Carlton Palmer cannot see his old side getting relegated this season.

It has not been the best of starts to the campaign for Marcelo Bielsa’s men, who have taken just two points from their first four games.

They have struggled at the back, conceding five goals to Manchester United in a 5-1 defeat and three to Liverpool in their recent 3-0 loss over the weekend.

It is still early days, though, while Manchester United and Liverpool are capable of scoring multiple goals against anyone. Considering that and how weak some of the other teams in the Premier League are, Palmer is backing Leeds to avoid relegation this term.

“Bielsa plays one way. That’s the only way he knows how to play,” the ex-Leeds star told FFC. “You know, I think this is a very important season for Leeds United.

“The one thing they don’t want to do is be playing catch up, but I certainly don’t see Leeds getting relegated. I think there are three worse teams than Leeds in that league, but I do feel that it’s going to be a tougher season for them.”

Next up for Leeds is Newcastle United, who have also had their struggles in this early part of the campaign. The Magpies are currently in the relegation zone with one point, so Bielsa may feel that this could be a good opportunity to really get the ball rolling.

In order to end the losing streak in Port Elizabeth, Bangalore Royal Challengers will have upset the Delhi Daredevils, considered by many to be favourites for the title

The Preview by George Binoy25-Apr-2009Match factsApril 26, 2009
Start time 12.30pm (10.30GMT)Big PictureTime is running out for Kevin Pietersen to make an impression on the IPL•AFPA campaign that began so brightly with a 75-run victory for Bangalore Royal Challengers has gone into freefall. Since that victory against Rajasthan Royals, Bangalore have suffered three consecutive defeats and languish in the bottom half of the league. In order to end the losing streak in Port Elizabeth, Bangalore will have upset the Delhi Daredevils, considered by many to be favourites for the title.Bangalore’s worries stem from a top order that has failed to make use of the Powerplay overs by losing too many wickets. Their best performance during the first six overs was 49 for 3 against Kings XI Punjab on Friday. They are facing a problem similar to the one in the inaugural season where the overseas players failed to make a significant contribution. Their troubles have deepened with Rahul Dravid, their best batsman so far, having returned home on paternity leave.Bangalore’s bowlers haven’t been in top form either – they’ve managed to take only 20 wickets in four games, 11 in the last three – and they are up against perhaps the most in-form batting line-up of the tournament. Delhi suffered a crippling blow against Chennai Super Kings, losing both Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir cheaply, and few would have expected their overseas batsmen, AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan, to perform the way they did. They batted with methodical aggression and have reduced the dependency on Sehwag for posting huge scores.Form guideBangalore: The overseas players haven’t pulled their weight. Kevin Pietersen has scored 43 runs in four innings while Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor have 32 and 36 respectively from three. Robin Uthappa has been poor at the top of the order as well with 35 runs in four innings at a strike-rate of only 71.Delhi: Gambhir is the only top-order batsman from Delhi who hasn’t got going. Sehwag plundered Punjab in a rain-curtailed innings while Dilshan rescued Delhi after the loss of two quick wickets with a feisty half-century against Chennai. The innings of the tournament, however, was de Villiers’ 105 off 54 balls in his first innings of the IPL.Watch out forde Villiers v Bangalore’s South Africans: Bangalore’s squad includes Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn and Roelof van der Merwe and coach Ray Jennings, all of whom will have a fair idea of de Villiers’ strengths and weaknesses. Of the four, though, only Kallis and Steyn may play and they’ll strive to prevent the sort of damage de Villiers inflicted on Chennai.Team newsDelhi haven’t picked Glenn McGrath in their starting XI as yet, preferring the faster left-armer Dirk Nannes instead. Nannes, however, went wicketless against Chennai and Delhi might consider replacing him with either McGrath or the allrounder Farveez Maharoof.Delhi: 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Manoj Tiwary, 7 Daniel Vettori, 8 Dirk Nannes/Farveez Maharoof/Glenn McGrath, 9 Aavishkar Salvi, 10 Pradeep Sangwan, 11 Ashish Nehra.Bangalore’s main concern is replacing the reliable Dravid, but a lack of quality Indian Twenty20 batsmen in the ranks makes it a hard task. They had dropped Steyn for their last game and strengthened their batting by brining Taylor in but the move did not pay off. It might be time to consider using either Cameron White or Mark Boucher to bolster the middle order.Bangalore: 1 Wasim Jaffer, 2 Jesse Ryder, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Kevin Pietersen (capt), 5 Robin Uthappa (wk), 6 Ross Taylor/Cameron White/Mark Boucher, 7 Virat Kohli, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 R Vinay Kumar, 10 Pankaj Singh, 11 Anil Kumble.Head-to-head recordDelhi won both their contests against Bangalore in the 2008 season. The first match was a close contest with Bangalore falling short of Delhi’s 191 by 10 runs. Delhi’s margin of victory at the Chinnaswamy Stadium was five wickets with ten balls to spare.

The IPL’s technical committee has decided to add an extra hour, if necessary, to complete the league games, and two extra hours for the semi-finals and final

Cricinfo staff14-May-2009The IPL’s technical committee has decided to add an extra hour, if necessary, to complete the remaining league games in case of rain during the latter stages of the tournament. The semi-finals and final will have two extra hours but will not have reserve days.The early stages of the tournament were affected by bad weather with two games being washed out and a few others being decided by the Duckworth-Lewis method.The IPL technical committee also decided that a ball will be considered ‘dead’ if a batsman happens to hit the fly-camera which travels over the ground on cables suspended overhead.

Last season’s Carabao Cup finalists Tottenham Hotspur begin their quest to go one better this evening as they head to the Midlands to face Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.

Nuno Santo will be looking for a reaction upon his second return to his former hunting ground after his side endured a week of disappointing results, including back-to-back 3-0 defeats in the Premier League.

The Portuguese coach has plenty to ponder in terms of team selection, particularly with the north London derby on the horizon this weekend.

One player who has no business being part of his starting XI for the trip is Argentinian midfielder Giovani Lo Celso, who looked hugely underwhelming in the defeat to Chelsea, as explained by Football FanCast here.

He was recalled to the lineup for the first time since the international break, when he defied club orders and landed himself in hot water for his involvement in Argentina’s controversial clash with Brazil.

The £26m-rated playmaker has struggled to impress ever since his £55m move from Real Betis two years ago and there are no signs that it’s about to change anytime soon.

Across 70 appearances – the most at any team for which he’s played – Lo Celso has only managed to contribute seven goals and four assists at a rate of one every 359 minutes, or once every four games, via Transfermarkt.

That’s just not good enough for an attack-minded player who has previously been lauded as “technically gifted” and “phenomenal” by his current and former peers, Harry Winks and Jose Mourinho, respectively.

Spurs currently rank dead last in the Premier League for expected goals (xG) on the season, recording a total of just 4.42, whilst they have only created two big chances across their five league games, per The Athletic.

It’s evident that Lo Celso is just not the creative solution that Nuno needs if Tottenham are to put an end to their troubles.

Based on several months of evidence over the past two seasons – he has just one goal from 49 Premier League appearances – the 25-year-old midfielder has no place in the starting XI, especially if Spurs want to go one better than last year.

Nuno must be bold and ruthless by axing Lo Celso tonight.

AND in other news, Watch out Winks: Nuno has a rising star in unseen 19 y/o “fantastic talent” at Spurs…

After being slaughtered in the middle overs, a target in excess of 170 loomed for Mumbai Indians but the last five overs witnessed a comeback as Rajasthan Royals were restricted to 145 – a competitive total but perhaps a touch unsatisfactory given the imp

The Bulletin by Kanishkaa Balachandran 14-May-2009
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outShane Warne got the all-important wicket of Sachin Tendulkar when the match was slipping away from Rajasthan•Associated PressThe spectators at Kingsmead were treated to yet another humdinger as the Rajasthan Royals prevailed by two runs in a see-saw encounter with the Mumbai Indians. Rajasthan were in control of the game for 14 overs before Sachin Tendulkar and Abhishek Nayar opened out and gave Mumbai hope. It all came down to the final over when Mumbai needed four runs but a combination of some incredible death bowling by Munaf Patel and panic running resulted in three wickets, incredible scenes and a third-place spot for Rajasthan.When Nayar made room and lofted Johan Botha over deep extra cover in the penultimate over, Mumbai – who battled required rates crossing nine an over – suddenly needed six off nine deliveries. The following delivery, Nayar played all around a yorker, lost sight of the ball and ambled out of his crease, only to be run out by the keeper. The dismissal was as untimely as Mumbai’s revival, which came a little too late and resulted in a last-minute scramble for the required runs.Munaf had leaked 14 off his previous over but Warne was brave enough to toss the ball back to him for the final over. Munaf beat Dhawal Kulkarni off the first ball and then slipped in a yorker to trap him lbw. Chetanya Nanda pushed the third, a full toss, to mid-off but perished to a direct hit. That put Harbhajan Singh back on strike but he could only squeeze a single off the next ball. Three were needed off two balls when Lasith Malinga took strike but yet another suicidal single, this time to cover, closed out the match.It took a good 15 overs for the chase to actually come alive. Mumbai were kept on a tight leash by some excellent restrictive bowling by Rajasthan, particularly the slower bowlers. The duo of Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar – with 20 years of experience behind them – were silenced, to the extent that they had to settle for singles and an array of dot balls when the situation demanded at least a boundary every over to keep with the rising asking rate.Much of that had to do with the early loss of wickets. At 23 for 3, Mumbai looked to their most explosive pair to give the innings a shove but the ball somehow just didn’t find the boundary. The spinners were spot on target, varied their pace and slipped in the odd yorker. The boundary drought lasted 45 balls, before Tendulkar chipped down the track and lofted Warne over extra cover.Prime Numbers307Number of runs scored by Sachin Tendulkar in the tournament, highest for Mumbai 16Number of wickets for Lasith Malinga, becoming the joint highest wicket taker at this stage of the tournament18Extras conceded by Rajasthan, joint second-highest in the tournament21Runs conceded by Harbhajan to Jadeja1Number of times that a team has won by 2 runs in the tournamentJayasuriya tried to break free by slog sweeping the spinners but those heaves met thin air. When he connected, the ball ballooned off the bottom half of his pad and skied to short midwicket where Yusuf Pathan took a diving catch. JP Duminy barely had enough time to settle in before he chopped one from Siddarth Trivedi onto his stumps. It was a smart bowling change by Warne, who decided to bring in a seamer after Tendulkar charged Yusuf and carted him over long-on for a massive six. The anxiety levels in the Rajasthan camp shot up when Tendulkar slammed Ravindra Jadeja down the ground for three consecutive boundaries.Warne let out a war cry when he trapped Tendulkar fell lbw trying to sweep him but the game was far from over, at least in Nayar’s mind. With a stance as imposing Lance Klusener, he took his left leg out of the way to mow Botha for consecutive fours over the on side and the following over, he did the same to Munaf. The equation had come down close to a run-a-ball before panic set in.There were doubts as to whether Rajasthan had made enough especially after Rob Quiney and Jadeja had given the innings the impetus with a stand of 61 in six overs. Rajasthan Royals’ shoddy batting effort against Deccan Chargers demanded a few changes at the top of the order and Quiney responded positively to his recall to the side in place of the inconsistent Swapnil Asnodkar. In his earlier games, Quiney often made starts, only to throw it away. Tonight, he seemed determined to stay at the wicket and play the dominant role in the stand with Jadeja, who matched Quiney in his powerful shots over the on side.The spinners had held the initiative with some tight bowling to pressurize the top order but the pair chose attack as the best form of defence. Between overs 12 and 15, Rajasthan managed 50 runs and the batsman who started the domination was Jadeja, who cut Harbhajan past point and slog swept over the on side. Quiney was particularly strong over the onside, slog sweeping Duminy high over deep square-leg before tonking Bravo for 19 in an over. The power behind his strokes stood out as he sent the ball sailing at least half a dozen rows back.An excellent legstump yorker by Malinga sent back Quiney for 51 and after his departure, the runs dried up. Rajasthan managed only 22 off the last five overs and lost three wickets in the final over of the innings, bowled by Jayasuriya. Mumbai also lost three wickets in the final over of their innings but it was Rajasthan who had the last laugh.

Out-of-favour Tottenham midfielder Harry Winks has handed Nuno Santo a fresh selection headache ahead of this weekend’s return to Premier League action.

The north London outfit eased past Slovenian outfit NS Mura in the UEFA Europa Conference League on Thursday night, defeating them 5-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and the Englishman excelled upon his return to the side.

Winks has struggled for game time over the past year or so, having started only nine league games last season and just once under the Portuguese so far this campaign.

There was talk during the summer transfer window that the 25-year-old was up for sale, with the likes of Everton and Aston Villa interested in his signature.

He was handed just his fourth start of the 2021/22 campaign on Thursday night and he clearly played with a point to prove.

The ten-time England international is neither an anchorman nor a playmaker, he’s the sort of no.8 who will sit in the hole and look to dictate play from the engine room. Former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino once described him as the “perfect” midfielder and compared him to Spain greats Andres Iniesta and Xavi.

But in recent times, his career in N17 has been called into question. The Times’ Gary Jacob suggested only last month that Winks’ career was at a crossroads and his performances had been ‘stale’.

Handed a rare appearance against Mura, Winks not only did his job to great effect, but he also displayed characteristics we’ve not seen in a very long time.

“[He] made Lo Celso’s goal with fine forward pass and had plenty of possession as Spurs tried to build attacks through the midfield, rather than bypassing it,” claimed the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick in his post-match ratings column, where he graded the Englishman a seven out of ten.

SofaScore rated him a little higher at 7.7, which was the fourth-best of the 16 Spurs players to feature on Thursday night.

Winks recorded the most touches (104) of anyone on the pitch in north London, meaning he was certainly a key cog in Nuno’s setup and a lot of their play ran through him.

As a result, he provided a whopping three key passes from his 92 successful distributions (96% accuracy rate). Of course, the opposition are no great shakes, but considering his career average is 0.5 per game, it’s a rather astonishing return.

He did his defensive duties, too, as he registered two tackles, one clearance and one interception, whilst he also won seven of his nine battles in the heart of midfield (77.7%), via SofaScore.

The £18m-rated midfielder, who is thought to be earning around £75k-per-week, will now surely be on Nuno’s mind heading into the weekend when they return to Premier League action.

Spurs have suffered three straight heavy top-flight defeats and face Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon. One of the Portuguese’s biggest problems has been finding the right balance in midfield and now Winks’ surprisingly creative display poses a fresh and pretty big dilemma over team selection.

Does Nuno stick or twist with the Hotspur Way dud? Only time will tell, but what is certain is that the Englishman has thrown his name into the hat ahead of kick-off.

AND in other news, Forget Kane: £18m-rated Spurs beast who won 75% duels ran the show for Nuno vs NS Mura…