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On a slow pitch in Hamilton, South Africa were content with only one specialist slow bowler and AB de Villiers has defended the move despite a seven-wicket defeat

Andrew McGlashan in Hamilton01-Mar-2017AB de Villiers was frustrated that South Africa lacked a “spark” in the field in Hamilton but defended the team selection believing an extra spinner would not have made a difference.The opening match of the series had been played on the same ground (this was the game moved from Napier due to their outfield problems) and batting was difficult throughout. The latest surface, an adjacent strip, was not expected to be quite so helpful but spin and the use of cutters was still likely to be a key weapon.New Zealand played two frontline spinners, plus cutters from Tim Southee and James Neesham proved effective in the middle of the innings, but South Africa chose Chris Morris over left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi to replace Andile Phehlukwayo who had a groin injury. There was also less variation from the South Africa pacemen in conditions that de Villiers felt had eased up towards the second innings.”They played Imran Tahir, who is the No. 1 bowler in the world, very well tonight. I’ve no reason to think it would have been different with another spinner,” de Villiers said. “I tried to bowl JP Duminy, but it didn’t turn as much as I expected it to. I felt there was more turn very early on in the afternoon, which was weird because in the last game it turned in the evening. But all in all, the wicket played pretty well over the 100 overs and we were beaten by the better team.”Given memories of the previous game, where conditions prompted de Villiers to call them the toughest he had faced, he admitted thinking South Africa’s 279 for 8 – which included 100 off the last eight overs – would be a winning total only for Martin Guptill to make it look wholly inadequate.”I thought it was enough because of what happened in the last game. The wicket started breaking up, turned a lot, got really slow, it was exploding, but there was not a lot of that tonight which means it was a really good ODI wicket. We just came unstuck against a better team and didn’t play our best especially in the second half. I wasn’t entirely happy with our skills. While in the rest of the series we have been bowling really well, there wasn’t a spark in the field [on Wednesday] so we need to get our act together for the final now.”Throughout the series, South Africa have needed de Villiers and the lower to bail them out of middle-order wobbles. In Hamilton they lost for 4 for 30 to slip to 158 for 6 before Chris Morris and Wayne Parnell helped haul the innings around. Duminy, who was promoted to No. 4 in this game, and David Miller have had a lean time with 108 runs in seven innings but they retained the utmost faith of their captain.”They are world-class players and will come to the party when it matters most which is hopefully the next game. We all go through patches but luckily we bat deep. There is no need to panic. I believe our top order is the best in the world.”

Edu Gaspar is eyeing up an Arsenal move for Brazilian left-back Ayrton Lucas this summer as he plans to give Mikel Arteta the tools required to build upon their positive 2022/2023 season.

What’s the latest on Ayrton Lucas to Arsenal?

According to Italian outlet Calciomercato, Arsenal are keen on signing Flamengo defender Lucas this summer in order to strengthen their first team squad, although they could face stiff competition from Juventus.

With full-back Kieran Tierney heavily linked with a move to Newcastle United, Arteta will require someone to replace him as an alternative to Oleksandr Zinchenko and Lucas fits the bill.

The Brazilian isn’t likely to break the bank either as the report states he has a release cause of only €30m (£26m) and this is an attractive option for the Spaniard ahead of next term.

Could Ayrton Lucas replace Kieran Tierney at Arsenal?

Almost all left backs to emerge from Brazil get compared to the legendary figure that is Roberto Carlos, the former Real Madrid defender with thighs like tree trunks, although Lucas, according to journalist Andrew Sousa, has “embodied” Carlos and might Arteta have a reincarnation of the 127-cap hero?

This season in the Brazilian top flight for Flamengo, he averages 1.7 dribbles per game and 1.1 shots per game, suggesting he enjoys getting forward as much as possible, similar to Carlos – who bagged 97 club career goals and 125 assists – during his prime years, while he has even netted three goals.

The 25-year-old may not just replace Tierney in the squad, but he could well be an upgrade on the Scot ahead of a season which will see Arsenal take part in the Champions League group stages for the first time since 2016/2017.

Indeed, Lucas has registered more shots per 90 (1.23 to 0.79), shot-creating actions per 90 (2.09 to 1.36), successful take ons (15 to three), carries into the final third (19 to 12) and touches in the attacking penalty area (18 to 15) across roughly the same number of starts throughout 2022/2023 (8.8 to 8.1 90s).

This certainly suggests that the Brazilian could be a better-attacking option than Tierney, judging by his ability to push into the final third and create plenty of shooting opportunities, increasing his chances of scoring.

For the aforementioned fee of only £26m, Arteta would be signing a proven defender who has won the biggest tournament in South America (Copa Libertadores) while even claiming silverware from his spell at Spartak Moscow, winning the Russian Cup just last year, and he could well be another piece of the jigsaw for Arsenal heading into next term.

The club’s most exhaustive and extensive rebuild is on the horizon this summer, as Chelsea begins their quest to regain their status as one of Europe’s most elite sides.

The incoming Mauricio Pochettino has got a mammoth task to trim, refine and assess a horrendously bloated squad.

However, despite owning an absurd number of players, the Blues are still painfully lacking quality in some areas of the pitch and are targeting a new midfielder.

One player, who has been linked and would be a phenomenal addition to Stamford Bridge is Moises Caicedo.

What’s the latest on Moises Caicedo to Chelsea?

According to The Guardian, the 2021 Champions League winners are seeking to secure the Brighton titan to save their hugely underperforming midfield.

It is understood that the Seagulls could demand at least £80m to consider the departure of one of their prize assets.

Meanwhile, the west Londoners have already sold Jorginho, whilst Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are looking set to depart.

This has created space and solid funding to sign one of Europe’s most accomplished and promising youngsters.

Who can Moises Caicedo emulate at Chelsea?

Since the turn of the century, the centre of the park at Chelsea has been blessed with endless quality and dominance.

Michael Essien was a man who embodied this and during a nine-year spell in the capital, he forged an unbelievable reputation as a formidable midfield enforcer, renowned for his strength, athleticism, and indefatigable energy.

The Ghanian arrived in West London in 2004 for £24.4m to make the pivot Chelsea’s most expensive signing at the time. He would go on to make 256 appearances and was named the club’s Player of the Year in 2007.

A box-to-box adonis, aptly nicknamed “The Bison”, he ruthlessly combined a no-nonsense physicality with effortless technique, vision, and leadership.

Essien’s international teammate Derek Boateng has sung his praises, describing the former African footballer of the year as someone who “never lost form in his career.”

From a modern perspective, Caicedo mirrors many of the traits associated with the former professional, particularly his tough tackling and ability to protect the defence.

The 21-year-old ranks in the top 12% in Europe’s top five leagues among his positional peers for tackles and interceptions per 90, to emphasize his pivotal contribution to the backline.

For his age, the 30-cap international is a standout performer and has won possession in the midfield third the most times (142) of any U21 player this season.

South American football expert Tim Vickey has labelled the Ecuadorian sensation as a "terrific athlete who makes football look easy” and also hailed him as the “genuine article.”

If Caicedo continues on this frightening trajectory and his pathway to greatness, Essien’s achievements are not out of his grasp and his tenacity could make him a fan-favourite at Stamford Bridge.

In 90 minutes of outlandish clean-striking, Glenn Maxwell marked a monumental return to form, sent Sri Lanka into freefall, and stole their T20 world record from under their noses

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando06-Sep-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:01

Australia set new T20 record score

In 90 minutes of outlandish clean-striking, Glenn Maxwell marked a monumental return to form, sent Sri Lanka into freefall, and stole their T20I world record from under their noses.The scorecard says he hit nine sixes in his 65-ball 145 not out, but it felt like he had hit so many more. It says there were 14 fours in this Maxwell mauling, but so quickly did they come, one after the other, that who is to tell when one boundary ended and another began? It was a blur of bludgeoned sweeps, of wallops down the ground and, occasionally, of enterprising strokes behind the wicket. Australia made 263 for 3. This is the joint-highest T20 score, in addition to being the biggest score in T20 internationals, beating the 260 Sri Lanka had hit against Kenya.Maxwell had opened the innings in place of the injured Aaron Finch, and he quickly set about knocking Sri Lanka’s bowlers out of shape. So battered were they by the end of the Powerplay, in which Australia had cracked 73 for 1, that they soon became helplessly complicit in Maxwell’s plunder. Thigh-high full tosses were sent down with masochistic abandon. Errors bred further errors in the outfield. In the 18th over, a catch was dropped, though that was off Travis Head, who was the second-highest scorer with 45 off 18 balls. Each of Sri Lanka’s four main bowlers conceded at least 12.75 per over.Senanayake fined for breaching code of conduct

Sri Lanka offspinner Sachithra Senanayake has been fined for breaching the ICC’s Code of Conduct during his team’s 85-run loss in the first T20 international against Australia in Pallekele.
Senanayake, who took 1 for 49, was found to have been in violation of Article 2.1.7, which relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman upon his dismissal during an international match”.
Senanayake’s incident concerned his send-off for David Warner after bowling him in the fifth over of the match. Senanayake was docked 30% of his match fee.
Since Senanayake admitted to the offence and accepted the sanction imposed by Javagal Srinath, the match referee, there was no need for a formal hearing.

The hosts’ batting went much better, though they were never really in the hunt. The top three fell cheaply, but Dinesh Chandimal hit 58 off 43 and Chamara Kapugedera 43 off 25. Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland took three wickets apiece, as Sri Lanka finished on 178 for 9 – 86 runs short of the 264-run target.The first over had cost Sri Lanka only three runs, and though Maxwell hit the innings’ first boundary – smoking an overpitched Suranga Lakmal delivery through cover – it was David Warner who doused the scene with petrol, and began the raging fire. Warner eyed up seamer Kasun Rajitha, playing his third international, and banged four consecutive fours in the third over, three of those coming on the off side. It was not long before Maxwell matched that aggression. The first six of the match was a reverse-sweep off Sachithra Senanayake. A four followed next ball, off the same shot.Neither Warner’s dismissal by Senanayake nor the end of the Powerplay made much difference to Maxwell’s approach. Decent balls – like Rajitha’s slower one on the stumps in the ninth over – were whacked disdainfully over long-on. Then when the bad balls came, like the full toss from Rajitha immediately after, Maxwell biffed them over the boundary as well.The first of those consecutive sixes off Rajitha brought Maxwell his half-century, off 27 balls. He took a further 22 to reach his hundred. Sri Lanka rifled through bowlers in this period, trying offspin, left-arm spin, seam, and whatever it is that Thisara Perera bowls. None of this could make so much as a dent in Maxwell’s confidence, which by now was magnetic. Thisara, in fact, came closest to getting him out, in the 13th over, though that wasn’t particularly close: Kapugedera, who caught Maxwell on the deep midwicket boundary, had trod on the rope and had to abandon the catch anyway as his momentum was taking him over the rope.Having reached his first T20 century, and second in international cricket (both have come against Sri Lanka), Maxwell set his sights on the records. His first six in triple figures was perhaps the best of the lot, as he sliced Lakmal beautifully over the deep-cover boundary, immediately after having hit a four to fine leg. Finch, running the drinks in this match, holds the individual T20 record of 156, and Maxwell was in pursuit. When he biffed three consecutive sixes over long-on, off Senanayake, he moved to 134, with 19 balls still remaining in the innings. Head, though, indulged in some brutality of his own, hitting three sixes and four fours in his innings. One of those sixes came over long-on, off Thisara Perera. It was that shot which gave Australia the team total record.Tillakaratne Dilshan has led outrageous chases before, but when he was bowled trying to clang a Mitchell Starc ball through the leg side in the first over, Sri Lanka’s already slim chances became even slimmer. Kusal Perera was out slashing Boland to third man, soon after. By the end of the Powerplay, Sri Lanka had mustered 56 for 3, but with the required rate almost 15, the chase just became about limiting the severity of the loss.Kusal Mendis made an attractive 22 replete with a pulled six off James Faulkner, and an imperious, lofted off-drive off Moises Henriques, but he was out in the eighth over. Chandimal pulled his team through those early overs, scoring heavily with his horizontal bat shots, the flat-batted four down the ground off Boland in the fourth over the most memorable among them.Chandimal and Kapugedera put on Sri Lanka’s best partnership, taking a particular liking to the spinners as they made 44 from 29 balls. But they both holed out soon enough. Sri Lanka hit 100 runs in boundaries. Maxwell, who had been dropped from the squad entirely for the ODIs, struck 110 in boundaries by himself.

ScorecardMatt Parkinson claimed five wickets on debut to propel Lancashire into a strong position•Simon Pendrigh

‘Mutare vel timere sperno’, as they rarely say in Horwich. And the Bolton School motto – ‘I scorn to change or to fear’ – carried a rich resonance on the third day of this game at Emirates Old Trafford.For it was one Old Boltonian, Matt Parkinson, who displayed unwavering accuracy as he took five wickets on debut to give his side an advantage; and it was another, Haseeb Hameed, who exhibited no fear as he sought to preserve that advantage with an unbeaten 81 against a strong Warwickshire fightback led by the Manchester-born seamer Keith Barker.By the close, Lancashire had extended their 45-run lead on first innings to 215 but they achieved that slight advantage only at the cost of five prime wickets. This quite marvellous game remains finely balanced going into the final day and perhaps it is only right that two 19-year-old cricketers have played important roles in the four-act drama.For although thousands of children did not reappear at Old Trafford on Wednesday, a childlike simplicity lingered on. It was best expressed at 12.35 when Parkinson turned the ball through a gap between Olly Hannon-Dalby’s bat and pad which was not so much a gate as a portico. That wicket completed the leg spinner’s first five-wicket return at a cost of 49 runs from 23.1 beautifully disciplined and skilful overs.The recent history of English cricket is strewn with the reputations of promising young leggies. Some are now specialist batsmen; others are selling VHS recorders. Leg spin can be a thankless calling. So let us murmur a quiet prayer as we say that Parkinson is one to watch. His accuracy, his economy and, more than anything else, his ability to turn the ball suggest he has a fine future.On Tuesday he removed Jonathan Trott and Varun Chopra. On Wednesday he had Barker, who made 64, caught by Neil Wagner at short fine leg when sweeping and he then mopped up the tail. Each wicket saw him embraced by his team mates and the members rose to him as he walked off into the distant dressing rooms at Old Trafford, still clutching the ball with which he had become only the second leg-spinner to take five wickets on Championship debut since the war. In less than a day Lancashire supporters have gone from: ‘Who’s this lad, Parkinson’ to ‘Parky’. If he takes more wickets in the second innings, there may be folk songs.But this game has been the finest entertainment because both Lancashire and Warwickshire have played excellent cricket, albeit spiced with occasional fallibility. Tim Ambrose’s undefeated 70 in the visitors’ first innings was a tribute to understated, professional efficiency and when Lancashire had progressed smoothly if slowly to 87 for the loss of Tom Smith, Ian Bell’s bowlers proved for the third time in this match that this is a wicket on which one wicket often brings four.In the third over after tea Luke Procter’s defensive push merely edged a catch to Chopra at slip. Four overs later, Alviro Petersen came down the wicket to the same bowler but only chipped a catch to Rikki Clarke at a slightly short cover. Croft, perhaps knackered by leadership, his first-innings century and over a hundred overs’ wicketkeeping, played a tired defensive shot to his first ball and nicked off to Ambrose. And when Patel had Karl Brown caught at the wicket for one just three balls later, Lancashire had lost three wickets in five balls and four batsmen had been swept aside for 17 runs in five overs.Hameed watched all this from the other end with no doubt increasing concern yet his technique remained quite unaltered. At its most serene the Lancashire opener’s batting is as calming as a Chopin nocturne, as reassuring as the late-night shipping forecast. There were boundaries in his innings, five of them, in fact, and not all of them behind the wicket. Pulled fours off Barker and Rankin provided evidence of attacking capability yet Hameed’s first instinct is, as yet, to make his wicket hard to take. ‘Something there is that doesn’t love a wall’ wrote Robert Frost. But then he never saw the great Rahul Dravid.And in the last 90 minutes of play Hameed was joined by Livingstone, whose lovely ability to hit the ball very hard made him a perfect foil for his partner. This pair added 66 in an unbroken stand that left Lancashire slightly ahead in this game, if only because they have the runs on the board. Livingstone’s 39 not out has already included cover-driven boundaries off Patel and a wondrous pick-up for six off Clarke which sailed deep into the crowd at long on.Hameed, for his part has batted 268 minutes, faced 223 balls and is 19 runs short of what will be the first of many hundreds. When he returned to the dressing room, he no doubt received the congratulations of Parkinson, the happy courtesy of earlier in the day equally happily returned.And perhaps it is not surprising that Parkinson and Hameed should join forces. This area has never been short of effective double acts: Jack Simmons and David Hughes, David Lloyd and Barry Wood, Minnie Caldwell and Martha Longhurst. And now they have Has ‘n’ Parky, appearing soon at a cricket ground near you.Some would counsel caution, of course. They would say that to be a young cricketer is to receive a crash course in life’s turbulence. They might echo the final words of another Boltonian, the grumpy and troubled Ezra Fitton in Roy Boulting’s 1966 film “That’s life, son. At your age it’ll make you laugh but one day it’ll break your bloody heart.”But no. It would be better for both Hameed and Parkinson to pay no attention whatever to the words of that rather miserable old bugger. For the moment, they live in the green world of debuts, new grounds and first experiences. But maybe we all do, if we would only open our eyes…and look.

Gujarat Lions guaranteed themselves a top-two finish on the IPL league table after a 96-run partnership between Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina set them up for an six-wicket win over Mumbai Indians

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy21-May-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDwayne Bravo’s end-overs bowling played a key role in restricting Mumbai Indians to 172 in excellent batting conditions•BCCIBravo fined 50% of match fee

Dwayne Bravo has been fined 50% of his match fee for breaching the IPL code of conduct during Gujarat Lions’ match against Mumbai Indians on Saturday. Bravo has admitted to the Level 2 offence of “inappropriate and deliberate physical contact with a player in the course of play during a match”.
While the IPL’s media release did not detail Bravo’s code violation, the incident may have occurred during the 14th over of Mumbai’s innings, when Bravo, after fielding a defensive shot off his own bowling, walked up to the batsman, Kieron Pollard, and shoulder-bumped him.
“Ridiculous outcome…!! Again I have seen worst happen obscenities used no outcome but @DJBravo47 fined,” Pollard tweeted, in response to news of the fine. “It’s slowly turning into a robotic game.. No emotions no actions nothing …2020 = entertainment !! Rigorous battles !! Evrything is a fine”.

Gujarat Lions guaranteed themselves a top-two finish on the IPL league table, and earned themselves two shots at a place in the final, after a 96-run partnership between Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina set them up for a six-wicket win over Mumbai Indians. Lions ended the league stage on 18 points while Mumbai finished on 14. To make the playoffs, Mumbai will need Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils – who also have 14 points each – to lose their matches on Sunday, and lose by big enough margins for their net run rates to dip below Mumbai’s -0.146.Rohit Sharma noted, after Raina chose to bowl, that the Green Park pitch wasn’t as green as it had been on Thursday when Lions had restricted Knight Riders to 124. It wasn’t just less green. It was even-paced, with the ball coming nicely on to the bat, and Mumbai’s total of 172 proved well short of challenging as Lions, given a strong platform by Raina and McCullum, and a sure finish by Dwayne Smith – who swapped places in the batting order with Aaron Finch – cruised home with 13 balls remaining.Mumbai got off to an excellent start with the bat, with Rohit enjoying the batting-friendly conditions to move to 30 off 16 balls, with four fours and two sixes, before pulling Dhawal Kulkarni straight to deep square leg in the fourth over. Nitish Rana walked in and pulled his first ball for four.Dwayne Smith had picked up four wickets on Thursday, and Raina tossed him the ball at the start of the fifth over even though the conditions were rather different this time. Martin Guptill, invisible till then, glanced his second ball for four, and should have put away his third one as well. It was shortish, and offered plenty of swinging room for Guptill to flat-bat it anywhere he pleased; he ended up dragging it to mid-on.With Smith’s deceptively quick bouncer consuming Krunal Pandya in the same over, Mumbai were forced into rebuilding mode. Rana and Jos Buttler only scored 27 runs in the first 30 balls of their partnership, and Mumbai were 72 for 3 at the halfway stage.Fifteen came off the 11th, as Rana slogged Ravindra Jadeja over long-on and Buttler chopped him to the backward point boundary. Rana began the 12th over with a four and a six off Smith, and Mumbai were back on track.Rana favoured the pull and the slog-sweep, and those strengths, and his left-handedness, was probably the reason Raina only used Jadeja for one over. Rana hit Shadab Jakati, Lions’ other left-arm spinner, for a six in the 13th over, and three fours – two in the midwicket region – in the 15th.Fourteen came off that over, and with Rana past the half-century mark, Mumbai were nicely placed going into the last five. They had lost Buttler to a reflex caught-and-bowled from Dwayne Bravo, but at the crease was Kieron Pollard, in the kind of situation he enjoys batting in.Rana clubbed another leg-side six off Dhawal Kulkarni in the 16th, going deep in his crease to shorten the length of the ball, but he miscued to deep square leg when he tried the same shot off Bravo in the next over. Pollard cleared long-on with a top-edge in the 18th before swatting a full-toss from Kulkarni straight down long-off’s throat. Suddenly, Mumbai had two new batsmen at the crease with only two overs to go.They would only get 12 from the last two, as Bravo and Praveen Kumar, both going around the wicket, either speared it too full for Hardik Pandya and Harbhajan Singh to get under, or dangled it too slow to line up perfectly. Both batsmen fell in the final over as Mumbai finished on 172 for 8. They had only scored 27 in the last four overs.Finch fell in the first over of Lions’ innings, victim to his tendency to get stuck on the crease early in his innings, but McCullum and Raina quickly got the chase into gear. Bowlers tend to attack Raina’s rib cage early on, but Mitchell McClenaghan overused the short ball in the third over, and the batsman pulled, slapped and uppercut three fours, having already picked up a boundary when Hardik let a drive slip between his legs at cover point.McCullum hit Krunal for two fours and a pulled six in the fifth over, and Lions were already past 50. With the field still in, Raina’s chancy slogs off Jasprit Bumrah’s slower balls proved quite productive in the sixth over – one went to the third man boundary off the top edge, and the other, not quite middled, sailed over deep midwicket. Rattled, Bumrah fed McCullum on his pads and then gave him width; 19 came off that over and Lions’ required rate dipped to 7.35.With the spinners, Krunal and Harbhajan Singh, routinely dropping short, Lions were racing home. This being the IPL, there was a small wobble, as McCullum, Dinesh Karthik and Raina fell in the space of 19 balls to leave 51 needed from 46. Smith, though, conveyed cold authority right from the time he flat-batted the second ball he faced back over Bumrah’s head, and he steered Lions home with a calm, unbeaten 37 off 23.

CPL chief executive Damien O’Donohoe has said filling up the Central Broward Regional Park with 10,000 fans will be the primary factor in determining if the league returns to Florida

Peter Della Penna08-Apr-2016Caribbean Premier League chief executive Damien O’Donohoe has said filling up the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida, with 10,000 fans on four consecutive match days in July, will be the primary factor in determining if the league returns to Florida.O’Donohoe said a World T20 victory for West Indies will hopefully have spurred greater interest in the first CPL matches being played in the USA, from July 28 to 31 in Lauderhill.”Looking at American sports and looking at foreign sports coming in, what has always been a success is when the best players in the world are there,” O’Donohoe told ESPNcricinfo. “You look at the All Blacks, rugby is relatively unknown and yet they filled Soldier Field. Cricket is largely unknown but coming in with the world champions gives us a real leg up and I think it’s going to really turn the heads first of the Caribbean people and people of cricket nations but also hopefully it’s going to turn the heads of some US baseball fans to come.”The CPL’s arrival in Florida will be the second high-profile expedition in the US market in the last year, following the Cricket All-Stars tour in November 2015. High ticket prices – ranging from $50 to $325 in Los Angeles – meant that only the first game at New York’s Citi Field had more than 50% of seats filled.Sales in Houston and Los Angeles hovered at around 10,000 – in stadiums with capacity of 41,500 and 56,000 respectively – until 48 hours before each game, when organisers slashed prices for their remaining inventory by 50% and also gave away thousands of free tickets to help build up crowds.O’Donohoe said he observed the strategy used in the All-Stars tour and hoped the CPL experience would be better for fans, with two-thirds of tickets priced at $30 or less. Tickets for the Florida games went on sale on Thursday, almost four months ahead of the July slate – compared to the five-week period before the All-Stars tour.”I think with the Cricket All-Stars, you looked at New York and that’s always a market that can take a very high ticket price but with the other two venues it didn’t exactly work,” O’Donohoe said. “We’ve always been of the opinion, with the CPL, that we want to make it accessible to everybody and we don’t want to price anyone out because CPL can be enjoyed by people of all ages. That’s why we’ve gone with a very low entry price ticket for the US so that all cricket fans can be there.”O’Donohoe is also planning for players, including the six USA and Canada players who received CPL contracts this year, to visit local schools for cricket clinics and is also targeting cross-promotional opportunities with other local sports teams – such as having Chris Gayle and Andre Russell participate in a batting practice session with the baseball team Miami Marlins.”As part of our sanctioning fee, which we had to pay the ICC to play the games, every penny of that is going into local initiatives to promote cricket locally in the Broward County area,” O’Donohoe said. “Also, we do school visits as part of CPL, which has been a really successful initiative.”I think no matter what you do, if the stadium is not full, then you haven’t really done your job. We’re really putting our neck out there in terms of bringing these games to the US. It’s a huge investment from our side. We’re the first professional league to go in and we’re doing everything we can to make people aware that these games are happening. I really hope that we get the people to turn out and support what’s going to be a historic couple of days.”

Too much happened on the first day at the SCG. Close to 30,000 people got to see a fine spell of left-arm seam, a tantalising display of off spin and a counterattacking partnership straight out of a classic western flick

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in Sydney02-Jan-2008

Brad Hogg and Andrew Symonds looted India for 173 runs © Getty Images
Too much happened on the first day at the SCG. Close to 30,000 people got to see a fine spell of left-arm seam, a tantalising display of off spin and a counterattacking partnership straight out of a classic western flick. Six wickets fell before the clock tower showed two; all hell broke loose thereafter.The Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales are doing their every bit to discourage speeding but nobody seems to have briefed the Australian lower order about speed limits. This was a notorious case of hit-and-run; a great robbery in broad daylight. Hardly had India begun to smile when Brad Hogg and Andrew Symonds, almost like a couple of gangsters, began to loot. Only once have more runs been scored on the first day at the SCG and that was nearly 100 years ago.Like at the MCG, India’s opening day was one of two halves. But unlike at the MCG, where they had a poor morning and a good afternoon, the trend was reversed. And unlike at the MCG, the umpires had a blackout. Anil Kumble might have taken 376 for 7 at the start of the day – he had lost his spearhead to injury after all – but he wouldn’t be smiling at the end of it. While a set of officials spoilt a fine day, a couple of batsmen weren’t going to miss out.Symonds walks in to a loud ovation and manufactures shots that get everyone to raise the decibel levels. Until he entered there was hardly a cut shot played, but soon they were being struck with anger. And when Hogg began to cut at the other end India were made to run ragged. India must be made to take a new-year resolution: we will not leave the third-man region vacant.A new year brings a lot of promises but some things don’t change. For every talented seamer India unearths, there will be another nursing an injury; for every top order they dismiss quickly, there will be a tail waiting to spoil the good work; for every fine batsman emerging from the , there will be a poor fielder letting the ball slip through. India dropped two catches – one a tough skier at mid-on, the other a simpler one that dipped towards short leg – and could have had one more chance if someone more athletic than Rahul Dravid was placed at fine leg. Yuvraj Singh, supposedly their best fielder, embarrassed himself too often.But a couple of Singhs brought plenty of cheer. Both hadn’t done too much at the MCG but came into their own here. RP, 22 years and eight Tests old, led the attack manfully before Harbhajan rediscovered his mojo. Until Hogg walked in, RP had the measure of every left-hander by getting the ball to straighten after hitting the right length. Phil Jaques misread the bounce, Matthew Hayden was squared up, Michael Hussey prodded tentatively, and Adam Gilchrist followed him. Three of them, seemingly impressed with Sachin Tendulkar sporting a floppy hat after suffering an allergic reaction, edged to first slip.Ishant Sharma, just 19, made an early impression and could have easily had his first wicket when Symonds was on 30. A whole stadium might have heard the edge but that’s not what matters. Some teams think Steve Bucknor needs a hearing-aid; India might be more intent on a hearing.It’s rumoured (wrongly) that the 555-run stand between Herbert Sutcliffe and Percy Holmes prompted a businessman to start the cigarette company. Someone here would be tempted to start Benson and Edges. Ponting edged twice but Mark Benson heard neither. Where is the technology, screamed a billion people. But that also didn’t make a difference for the third umpire, with all the assistance he receives, managed to get one wrong again. Symonds was on 48. The rest, as they say, was savagery.

أعلنت رابطة البريميرليج عن الفائز بجائزة رجل مباراة ليفربول وليستر سيتي في الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز على ملعب أنفيلد رود.

والتقى الفريقان ضمن مباريات الجولة الثامنة عشر للدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز “البريميرليج”، وفاز ليفربول بثلاثية مقابل هدف.

شاهد أيضًا.. فيديو | هدف محمد صلاح الرائع أمام ليستر سيتي

محمد صلاح كعادته صنع الحدث، بعدما سجل هدف ليفربول الثالث في الدقائق الأخيرة ليستمر في صدارة ترتيب الهدافين برصيد 16 هدفًا بفارق هدف عن إيرلينج هالاند.

وحسب موقع الدوري الإنجليزي، فقد حصل على جائزة رجل المباراة بتصويت الجماهير، وباكتساح، محمد صلاح حيث حصد على 74.6% متفوقًا على أقرب منافسيه كودي جاكبو الذي حصل على 18.5%.

وسبق وحاز صلاح على جائزة رجل المباراة لفريقه ليفربول أمام تشيلسي وآرسنال وأستون فيلا وبرايتون وساوثهامبتون ومانشستر سيتي ونيوكاسل، وكذلك فولهام بالدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز، قبل مباراة توتنهام الماضية أيضًا.

Jordan Tunnicliffe admits that phone apps are an unwelcome distraction for Wrexham, with it difficult to keep eyes off the League Two table.

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Red Dragons have wobbled of lateStill in the hunt for top-three finishEager to avoid unwelcome distractionsWHAT HAPPENED?

The Red Dragons would prefer to keep collective focus locked on a “tough” promotion bid, with a difficult run of late seeing Phil Parkinson’s side pick up just two wins from their last eight games in all competitions and now locked in a battle for top-three finishes.

AdvertisementGettyWHAT TUNNICLIFFE SAID ABOUT WREXHAM

Tunnicliffe has said of efforts to avoid spending too much time looking at the fourth-tier standings: “League Two is a tough league. Notts County came up with us (via the play-offs) and neither of us have blown it away like we did last season. There are some good teams who you have to respect. You try and focus on yourselves, but there’s all these apps out there now on your phone, so it is easy to look at the table and the form of all the teams. You just have to be really disciplined and focus on yourself and each game as it comes. I know that’s boring and a cliche, but it is true. If you start looking ahead, then you’re not focusing on what you need to focus on. We need to focus on Tuesday and build from there.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Wrexham know what it takes to get over a promotion line, having claimed the National League title in record-breaking style last season, and Tunnicliffe hopes that will stand them in good stead. He added: “It is all to play for. We need to repeat what we did last season and that is show a killer instinct away from home. We were good on the road last season and we need to get back to that. Gillingham is gone now. What matters is how we respond. We have two more games this week and how we respond on Tuesday (at Forest Green) and Saturday (at home to Accrington Stanley) is what matters. Pick up maximum points from those two games and the table looks good again.”

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Getty/GOALWHAT NEXT FOR WREXHAM?

The Red Dragons suffered a 1-0 defeat at Gillingham last time out, as their patchy away form continued, and will remain on the road for a meeting with Forest Green Rovers. They have 13 games left in which to collect enough points that will secure automatic promotion and avoid having to pick up another ticket for the play-off lottery.