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Hamilton Masakadza, Zimbabwe’s opening batsman, believes his team have a better chance of success in Bangladesh than New Zealand, who were trounced 4-0 in a one-day series in October

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2010Hamilton Masakadza, Zimbabwe’s opening batsman, believes his team have a better chance of success in Bangladesh than New Zealand, who were trounced 4-0 in a one-day series in October. Masakadza also suggested that the focus of the tour, which includes five one-day internationals, would be preparation for the World Cup in the subcontinent early next year.”I think the main thing is to prepare for the World Cup as the guys will be returning to the subcontinent to play [in that tournament,] and obviously we will try for a series win,” Masakadza told reporters at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka upon Zimbabwe’s arrival on Friday.”Definitely Bangladesh are difficult opposition at home but still we are looking for a very competitive series. I think it’ll be a bit different series than the one against the Kiwis as we have had the experience to play in Bangladesh quite often. And I think we are better prepared than the Kiwis.”Zimbabwe visited Bangladesh twice last year, in January and November, and also hosted the Bangladeshis in a home series in August. Bangladesh won all three series by significant margins, although not without creditable performances from Zimbabwe in certain games. “We have been here a few times and we know what the conditions are and how the wickets behave,” explained Masakadza. “We are also aware about the dew factor and that’s why we are looking forward to the series.”Both teams will rely upon an army of slow bowlers in spin-friendly conditions. Zimbabwe have included Ray Price, Prosper Utseya and Graeme Cremer in their touring party, and could also turn to Keith Dabengwa and Brendan Taylor’s finger spin if necessary. Bangladesh have the spin of Shakib al Hasan, Abdur Razzak, Suhrawadi Shuvo and Mahmudullah in their ranks. “I don’t think there is too much difference between the teams in terms of strength because both teams depends on their spin bowlers and both teams have a few guys who can strike the ball hard up in the order.”The conditions are definitely different but it’s just a matter of adjusting and we have a few days in hand to practice before we start the series proper. We are hopeful that the boys will take the opportunity to get adjusted to the conditions.”Zimbabwe’s tour opens with a limited-overs warm-up match against a Bangladesh Cricket Board XI at the Krira Shikkha Protisthan Ground in Savar on November 29 before the first ODI at the Shere Bangla Stadium in Mirpur on December 1.

Newcastle United travel to Carrow Road this afternoon to take on bottom of the table Norwich City, with Eddie Howe hinting at changes to how he will set up his team in his pre-match press conference on Friday.

When asked about possible changes to his side in the clash, Howe told the press: “We may freshen things up. We’ll have a look at it on an individual basis but we want players that are 100 per cent fit and ready to give their best again physically.”

In terms of injury news, there doesn’t seem to be any immediate changes with Ryan Fraser, Kieran Trippier, Callum Wilson, Isaac Hayden and Jamal Lewis all remaining unavailable for selection in today’s game.

With that being said, this is how Football FanCast expect Newcastle United to line up…

We predict that Eddie Howe will make three changes to the team that beat Crystal Palace on Wednesday night, in the typical 4-3-3 formation usually deployed by the Magpies manager.

The first changes we expect to see are in the midfield three with Joe Willock and Sean Longstaff joining Jonjo Shelvey in the centre of the pitch to replace Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton.

The final change we expect to see is Jacob Murphy replacing Allan Saint-Maximin in the forward line this afternoon at Carrow Road, following Howe’s comments about potentially taking the opportunity to make changes in order to rest players ahead of the remaining games of the season.

Howe will likely axe the 25-year-old Frenchman – who was hailed “breathtaking” by Gary Neville and is reported to be valued at $78m (£61m) by the PIF – to give him a rest ahead of the clash with title challengers Liverpool at St James’ Park next Saturday, considering the left winger has played three games in the last 12 days.

Murphy will join Chris Wood and £74k-per-week ace Miguel Almiron in the forward line to complete the strike force against Dean Smith’s side, and Howe will be hoping that the Almiron can continue to be a goal threat.

The 28-year-old Paraguayan who was hailed “popular” by Don Goodman, scored the winning goal against Crystal Palace to put Newcastle on 40 points in the Premier League table, so we believe that Howe will reward the winger with a start in the team again against Norwich today.

Although Newcastle are likely to be safe from relegation, another three points would put them in a much more comfortable position, and potentially seeing them climb into the top half of the table – if results go their way this weekend.

AND in other news: Huge boost: Newcastle handed fresh injury lift that will have Eddie Howe buzzing

Liverpool have reportedly made contact with Braga’s Portuguese centre-back David Carmo.

What’s the word?

That’s according to O Jogo, via Sports Witness, who claim that Liverpool are once against showing interest, with the 22-year-old expected to leave the Liga Portugal outfit this summer.

The latest report states that Braga are “very likely” to sell and that the left-footed centre-back “has already been sounded out by several Premier League clubs, including Liverpool.”

The Anfield side are said to be “following closely” as a result of Jurgen Klopp’s “recommendation.”

Braga’s chief Antonio Salvador is reportedly not interested in a sale and has stated that the clubs who are interested in acquiring Carmo’s services will need to activate his €40 million (£33.7m) release clause.

The next Van Dijk?

Klopp tried to sign  Carmo throughout last year’s January transfer window, in a deal that would have seen the Braga starlet join the Reds on loan, with a €20 million (£16.8m) option to buy.

Braga rejected their offer and about a month later Carmo suffered a nasty injury.

Carmo has started just 29% of Braga’s games this season, thanks to the ankle injury that sat him on the sidelines for 351 days.

Since his return, he has played 3-1 Europa League loss against Rangers, in which Carmo scored his side’s only goal.

In comparison to Van Dijk, Carmo has notched up some defensive numbers that, whilst similar to Van Dijk’s, just give him the edge over the Netherlands international. Carmo’s 0.7 tackles per game out do Van Dijk’s o.4 tackles per game, though both share the same clearances per game metric with an average of three.

In possession, it is an entirely different story, with Van Dijk’s 70 passes per game placing him in the elite 95th percentile, according to FBref. Carmo’s average of 34 passes per game are not so impressive, considering his position – however, both metrics can be affected by the way the team plays, with Liverpool’s possession metrics much stronger than Braga’s.

Being left-footed, Carmo would offer Klopp a slightly different option in defence. Though, if his move to Liverpool comes to fruition, he will be looking to nab Van Dijk’s spot – which will be a tough ask for the 22-year-old.

In other news: Liverpool can unearth their new Gerrard by plotting bid for “outrageous” £50m gem…

Bangladesh have been awarded the rights to host the 2012 Asia Cup after an executive committee meeting of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in Dhaka over the weekend

Akhila Ranganna13-Dec-2010Bangladesh have been awarded the rights to host the 2012 Asia Cup after an executive committee meeting of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in Dhaka over the weekend. The tournament will be held at the Shere Bangla National stadium in Mirpur from March 1 to March 12. The last time Bangladesh hosted the Asia Cup was in 2000.”We are thrilled the 11th Asia Cup will be held in Bangladesh,” Syed Ashraful Huq, CEO of the ACC, told ESPNcricinfo. “It goes well with Mustafa Kamal’s presidency of both bodies [ACC and the Bangladesh Cricket Board] and we are confident the tournament will go well.”The tournament will involve Asia’s four Test-playing nations – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. “We are endeavouring to have more countries take part in future events [of the Asia Cup],” Shahriar Khan, media manager of the ACC, told ESPNcricinfo. “At this stage Afghanistan are the only real world-class challengers. We would like the other countries to come up and once they are ready, we would expand the Asia Cup in the years ahead.”China was one of the contenders for hosting the tournament but lost out due to questions over whether it had the cricketing infrastructure to hold a quadrangular one-day competition. “There are no floodlights, that are required, as all the matches [in the Asia Cup] have to be day and night games,” Huq said. The cricket matches of last month’s Asian Games were held in the city of Guangzhou in southern China. Guangzhou’s stadium has an 80-metre boundary and seven pitches, four of which were used to hold 30 Twenty20 matches during the Asian Games.India are the current holders of the Asia Cup, having beaten Sri Lanka by 81 runs in the final in Dambulla in June this year.

Liverpool should make a move for highly-rated defender Ronnie Edwards from EFL side Peterborough United this summer amid interest shown from several top clubs according to Liverpool.com.

Reports in the Daily Mail suggest several clubs are interested in completing a deal for the youngster who could fetch a fee of £15m which would be a record sale for Peterborough.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-liverpool-news-transfer-rumours-gossip-salah-gnabry-isak-romano” title= “Read the latest Liverpool news!”]

One of the tasks for Liverpool this summer will be to sign players for the future as well as any big names, and Edwards could make the perfect addition to Jurgen Klopp’s squad. He has been described as an “incredible talent” by his former manager Darren Ferguson.

The 19-year old joined The Posh from Barnet in 2020 and has been a regular starter for the side in the Championship this season. Unfortunately, they couldn’t avoid relegation, but that still didn’t stop Edwards from showing his quality.

He has been a shining light in a struggling side, averaging an impressive passing accuracy of 89% per game. He also wins 66% of his ground duels per game and has a 73% successful dribble rate.

These stats prove that he can be aggressive as well as great on the ball, this is a key asset needed if you want to be a success in a Klopp team that is confident in possession and wants to play out from the back.

Crystal Palace are among several clubs interested in the England U19 international. This will be tough competition for Liverpool, with Palace manager Patrick Vieira showing since his return to English football, just how good he is at getting the best out of young players.

Former Chelsea defender Marc Guehi is just one example of this, and Edwards could make a great partner for him.

However, it would be hard to say no to the opportunity to play under Klopp, experience the Anfield crowd and learn from one of the best defences in football.

Liverpool also have history when it comes to signing young talents from the EFL, in 2015 they bought Joe Gomez from Charlton Athletic for £3.5m when he was just 18-years old.

He has gone on to be a key part of their success in recent years, picking up a Premier League and Champions League medal amongst others in that time.

If Edwards does move to Merseyside then he could follow in the footsteps of Gomez and be a future star for the club.

IN other news: Liverpool now eye swoop for £67.5m-rated “full package”, he’s Klopp’s brand new Reus…

Ricky Ponting knows his case to hold on to the captaincy is not strong, but he is desperate to retain the job and lift Australia from their lowest period since the mid-1980s

Peter English at the MCG29-Dec-2010Ricky Ponting knows his case to hold on to the captaincy is not strong, but he is desperate to retain the job and lift Australia from their lowest period since the mid-1980s. Ponting lost the Ashes away in 2005 and 2009 and he has become the country’s first leader since Allan Border in 1986-87 not to hold the urn at home.England celebrated as Ashes winners with their innings victory at the MCG and while the series can still be drawn in Sydney next week, the reality is Australia have lost. Ponting is no certainty to hold on to the leadership after being unable to inspire his team-mates with his batting or captaincy.”The fact that I’ve lost those three series is disappointing for me,” he said, slightly prematurely. “Hopefully I’m not only remembered as that guy, the guy that lost three Ashes series. There’s lots of other great things I’ve been lucky to be able to be part of as a player throughout my career. This result is not one of my proudest.”Ponting is second on Test cricket’s run list with 12,362, but he has added only 113 in eight bats in this series, which is more concerning given the damaged state of his side. Australia’s squad for the fifth Test will be named on Thursday and the selectors could point to Ponting’s broken left pinky if they want to ease him out. Ponting thinks he will be able to play but understands the situation might be taken out of his bruised hands.”It’s out of my control, I can’t think too much about it,” he said. “I’ve tried my hardest over the last couple of weeks to try to play well and try to lead the team as well as possible. I’ve felt I’ve led the team as well as I can. I haven’t performed the way I wanted to perform, but I certainly haven’t done it without trying, that’s for sure.”It seems the only way Ponting will be dethroned is if the selectors force him out, either publicly or privately, and if they do it now they risk upsetting him before his defence of the World Cup starting in February. Ponting has never lost a World Cup game as captain and Australia are pushing for a fourth consecutive success at the tournament.”Whatever decision I make, it’s really important it’s for the betterment of Australian cricket,” he said. “I want to keep playing, I would love to keep leading the team. I still think I’ve got a lot to offer in both those regards.”Ponting took over from Steve Waugh in 2004 and since then has developed an excellent record of 48 wins in 77 games, but over the past two years the change of personnel has resulted in the side falling to fifth in the world. However, the number of his team is not as painful as another below-par Ashes campaign.”I probably haven’t got much of a case at the moment,” he said of hanging on to the captaincy. “I’ve got a lot of knowledge on the game, the fact that I’ve played 150 Tests and won 99 Test matches.”I’ve captained a lot of winning teams. There is no doubt that the experiences I have in the game will hold me in good stead. I feel I am well equipped to bring on some young guys and we have got a few of them in the side now.”The resume is impressive but time is moving fast for Ponting, who is now 36, and the selectors must decide whether he is worth holding on to. Not having a ready-made replacement is one major issue, with Michael Clarke struggling with the bat and at times behaving like someone who doesn’t want the extra responsibility. Clarke is 29, enjoys an A-list lifestyle, and has a heavy influence over Phillip Hughes and Steven Smith, his young New South Wales team-mates.While there is currently strong public sentiment against Clarke and Ponting, the incumbent said he has received encouragement from the majority of people he has run into recently. “I’ve received great support in the last few weeks,” he said. “I’ve had other international players in the last couple of mornings send messages through to me about different things.”But there are growing elements of despair in the masses and Ponting does care what the public thinks. “Yeah of course, we all do,” he said. “But quite often there’s a perception out there which sometimes you can’t change. No matter what you do and how well you do things, sometimes you can’t change things.”I’m trying to do the right thing by my team and by Australian cricket. I think that right through my career I’ve been able to do that most of the time. I haven’t been able to do it in the last few weeks and for that I’m bitterly disappointed and so is the rest of my group. We will soldier on.”Australia lasted for only 83 minutes on the fourth morning and with Ryan Harris not batting due to his stress fracture, the end came when Ben Hilfenhaus edged Tim Bresnan behind. The mood of the hosts has swung dramatically over the past week with a huge high in Perth and now another low to match the one of the other innings defeat in Adelaide.”We weren’t doing handstands,” Ponting said of the post-match mood in the dressing room. “Only last week we were on top of the world. We didn’t do anything different this week than we did last week, we just haven’t played well.”

Brendon McCullum was satisfied with New Zealand’s efforts on the fourth day at the Basin Reserve, as the hosts set Pakistan 274 for victory in what promises to be an exciting finish to the two-Test series

Andrew Fernando at Basin Reserve18-Jan-2011Brendon McCullum was satisfied with New Zealand’s efforts on the fourth day at Basin Reserve, as the hosts set Pakistan 274 for victory in what promises to be an exciting finish to the two-Test series. New Zealand began the day at 9 for 0, and McCullum, Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor all chipped in with half-centuries, keeping the New Zealand total moving even as Pakistan made regular breakthroughs, before they were bowled out for 293 at stumps.”It’s set up for what could be a great day of Test cricket,” McCullum said. “[A target of] 270 was what we were looking at, in a day anyway, so regardless of whether we were bowled out or not it’s probably around the score we wanted.”I guess the other option could have been if we had been able to continue at the top of the order and gone on to get 350 in a real hurry. Maybe if Martin, myself or Ross had been able to bat a bit longer, we might have been able to score a bit quicker, but in the end 280 runs in the day sets up tomorrow quite nicely.”The New Zealand bowlers will have to attack on the fifth day, as they attempt to take 10 wickets against an opposition who have the option of playing conservatively, since they are currently leading 1-0 in the series. The seamers are likely to abandon their line-and-length approach from the first innings and bowl more aggressively in their efforts to square the series after two disappointing tours to the subcontinent in recent months.”Everyone in the changing room is incredibly excited about what tomorrow brings,” McCullum said. “Turning up on the fifth day of a Test match not knowing whether you are going to win or lose, and have the opportunity to go on and win is pretty exciting. With where this team is at the moment, I think you’ll see a real desperate show from us tomorrow.”New Zealand’s ambitions of victory, on a pitch that has worn to offer substantial bounce and turn for the slow bowlers, will rest largely on the shoulders of Daniel Vettori. Pakistan offspinner Mohammad Hafeez, in particular, proved that there was plenty for the spinners, as he extracted considerable bite on the fourth evening to pick up the wickets of Jesse Ryder and James Franklin. “I think we saw tonight that the pitch did take some turn,” McCullum said. “I know Dan is chomping at the bit to get the ball in his hand and we’ve got a couple of other bowlers who have performed pretty well in this series. They’re all extremely excited about the opportunity and I know the fielders will be backing them up too.”McCullum also praised his captain for his efforts earlier in the game, when Vettori narrowly missed out on a rare double of five-wickets and a century in the same innings. “I thought he [Vettori] did a really good job in the first innings. He’s never going to run through a team in the first innings; for him it’s more about controlling the run-rate and allowing the seamers to operate from the other end. The fact that he picked up four wickets is testament to how good a bowler he is. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll see Vettori in full cry and us being able to go on to get a Test win.”Pakistan were defensive in their approach today, often employing fielders in the deep instead of pushing for wickets to force a win, until a late burst of scintillating reverse-swing from Umar Gul set the team alight. Gul polished off the New Zealand innings in style, as he troubled all the batsman in his final spell and finished with his second four-wicket haul in the match.McCullum, though, was unsure whether Pakistan would choose to push for their fourth consecutive victory at the Basin Reserve, or opt to secure the series through a more defensive approach. “You’d do well to predict the approach from the Pakistanis. We’ve seen so far in this series that their batting has the ability to be defensive and see off periods of attack from our bowlers, but it also has the ability to fall over if we do get it right. So we have to make sure that the latter is what we come up with. If we can get into their reasonably inexperienced No. 6, 7 and 8 with the ball still new, it gives us our best opportunity.”The visitors had also failed to maintain an acceptable over-rate throughout the day, extending their drinks-breaks well beyond five minutes and strolling languidly in-between overs to slow down play. McCullum though, claimed it had not been a major issue in the New Zealand camp. “I didn’t really notice it. There wasn’t much talk about that. I guess that’s just a bit of gamesmanship on their part.”Pakistan coach Waqar Younis claimed his side were eyeing a 2-0 result on the final day. “The game is pretty even at the moment and we are excited about coming out tomorrow and going for the win.”

Sunderland are heading into a crucial period of their season as they aim to once again force their way into the Championship and put their days in League One behind them.

Tomorrow evening sees the Black Cats in action at home against Sheffield Wednesday for their first-leg semi-final play-off showdown before facing the Owls at Hillsborough on Monday.

Their previous outing saw the Wearside club secure a 1-0 victory over Morecambe thanks to a tenth-minute goal from striker Nathan Broadhead.

On the chalkboard

One Sunderland player that featured in last weekend’s win that should not be in the team to take on Darren Moore’s side tomorrow is Patrick Roberts.

Since arriving at the Stadium of Light back in the previous January window on a free transfer from Manchester City, the Englishman has made 14 appearances in League One.

In those appearances, the 25-year-old has only scored one goal and only provided one assist.

Looking at his display against Morecambe, the attacker had 55 touches of the ball in total throughout the 90 minutes but could only complete 15 passes.

He also missed one big chance and failed five of the eight dribbles he attempted, showing how ineffective he was on the ball.

Even off the ball he wasn’t much use as the former City winger lost 10 of the 19 ground duels he was involved in as well as getting dribbled past on one occasion and giving two fouls away.

This performance ultimately earned him a rather underwhelming overall match rating of 6.2/10, making him the lowest-rated Sunderland player on the day according to SofaScore.

Chronicle Live also picked up on his uninspiring display by saying that he “got forward whenever he could but too often his final ball was lacking.”

Having previously been slammed by Neil Warnock when the duo were together at Middlesbrough for just trying to do the “unbelievable pass” every time, it seems as though his passing of the ball is still an issue for him.

Taking all of this into account, Sunderland can’t afford to have a player such as Roberts holding the team back once again given the importance of these next two games.

With that in mind, Neil should take the decision to not start the £1.3m-rated dud on this occasion.

In other news: Neil can blow SAFC supporters away with £3.4k-p/w gem who was made “in a laboratory”

Liverpool have been dealt a major blow regarding their pursuit of RB Leipzig forward Christopher Nkunku.

What’s the word?

According to L’Equipe [via Liverpool Echo], not even a bid of £85m for the Frenchman would be enough to take him off the Bundesliga club’s hands this summer.

Liverpool aren’t the only club linked with the 24-year-old either, with the likes of Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid all looking to sign him.

Jurgen Klopp might be priced out

Klopp is steering Liverpool to potentially their greatest-ever season, with an unprecedented quadruple bid getting closer to realisation every week. He already seems to be planning for the future too, with several of his players on the wrong side of 30, and replacements could well be signed sooner rather than later in order to bed in quickly.

However, the manager may need to look elsewhere for attacking options after the news regarding Nkunku, with the asking price for him approaching ridiculous levels.

At first glance, the Frenchman would make an excellent signing, having scored 32 goals and grabbed a further 20 assists from 49 matches this season.

freshpress-quiz ]

These are truly phenomenal figures, especially when you consider that he isn’t an out-and-out centre-forward but can play in a variety of positions, which include attacking midfield and featuring as a second striker.

The 24-year-old is one of Europe’s finest talents at the minute and former Leipzig manager Jesse Marsch described him as a player “who has no weaknesses”; and judging by Nkunku’s performances this season, it’s hard to argue against that notion.

Liverpool might just have to make do with moving towards other targets unless they feel that a fee of close to £100m is justifiable for the French predator.

Given FSG’s reputation for frugality at Anfield, it seems highly unlikely that such an amount will be spent on one player, so the news of Leipzig’s lofty asking price could leave Kopites gutted that their hopes of signing the prolific 24-year-old appear very slim.

AND in other news, Liverpool plotting mega offer for “dangerous” £19.8m-rated gem, he’s Klopp’s new Firmino

New Zealand allrounder Jacob Oram, who missed the final one-dayer against Pakistan after injuring his ankle while warming up for the game, has been cleared for the World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Feb-2011New Zealand allrounder Jacob Oram, who missed the final one-dayer against Pakistan after injuring his ankle while warming up for the game, has been cleared for the World Cup. Oram was relieved to get the go-ahead following an MRI scan, x-ray and independent medical assessment.”I developed ankle pain and although it didn’t feel serious I wasn’t able to bowl without discomfort,” Oram said. “The medical staff got the necessary assessment done and I was sweating on the results but pleased when the doctor let me know that I was fit to travel with the team to the World Cup. I have inflammation around the joint so not a significant tear or break.”I’ve worked hard over the last six months to get fully fit so it is extremely disappointing to pick up another niggle. However I am confident it isn’t too serious and am determined to do everything I can to be fully fit for the first match.”New Zealand Cricket medical staff will continually assess and treat the ankle while Oram is in India. He is expected to be available for selection for the warm-up match against Ireland on February 12. New Zealand play another practice game, against India on the 16th, before kicking off their tournament against Kenya on the 20th.