All posts by h716a5.icu

Michael Atherton, the former England captain, has won the UK’s top honour for a sports writer, being named Sports Writer of the Year for 2009 by the Sports Journalists’ Association

Cricinfo staff09-Mar-2010Michael Atherton, the former England captain, has won the UK’s top honour for a sports writer, being named Sports Writer of the Year for 2009 by the Sports Journalists’ Association.Atherton, cricket correspondent of , was acclaimed for his coverage of the 2009 Ashes, with one of the judges, a sports editor, describing him as “peerless in his own sport, entertaining, thought-provoking and challenging on any other subject,” and another saying “his elegant style, thoughtful but incisive opinions were, in an Ashes-winning year, indispensable.”In a good evening for Atherton, he was also named Sports Columnist of the Year, highly commended in the Specialist Correspondent category, and took some credit for his commentary work as Sky Sports’ Test cricket coverage won the TV Sports Programme award.Atherton was in Chittagong covering England’s tour of Bangladesh when the awards were announced at a gala dinner in London.Cricket also featured in three other awards, with Gareth Copley winning Sports Picture of the Year for his photo of Jonathan Trott being run out at The Oval, while Lawrence Booth, writing for the , won the online award for a Regular Blog or Column and the BBC’s Tom Fordyce took the best Live Blog award.

Nottinghamshire continued their march to the Friends Provident t20 quarter-finals with a confident 32-run victory over Warwickshire

Cricinfo staff27-Jun-2010
Scorecard
Nottinghamshire continued their march to the Friends Provident t20 quarter-finals with a confident 32-run victory over Warwickshire. In-form skipper David Hussey, the leading runscorer in the competition, hit three sixes and two fours on his way to 56 from 38 balls in partnership with Samit Patel (38) as the hosts totalled 149 for 6, with Warwickshire seamer Neil Carter picking up 3 for 28.Hussey then delivered a wicket maiden in his only over as the visitors made a mess of the run chase, with five batsmen reaching double figures but no-one bettering Jim Troughton’s 23 as they collapsed to 117 all out. Left-arm spinner Graeme White claimed 3 for 23 and medium-pacer Steven Mullaney 2 for 19 from his four overs, as the home side picked up their eighth win in the competition.Nottinghamshire batted first on a used track offering some bite and turn for the spinners but it was the Warwickshire seamers who struck first, with Alex Hales, Ali Brown and Matt Wood all dismissed in the powerplay overs. Two sixes and a four from Patel off Imran Tahir’s second over increased the tempo before the legspinner had his revenge to remove the former England international lbw.Hussey joined in with three driven sixes of his own before drilling Darren Maddy to deep midwicket, while Carter bowled Mullaney in the final over.Warwickshire stumbled from the very start of their innings as Carter fell in the first over to Darren Pattinson, who also had Darren Maddy caught in the third over, while Hussey bowled England hopeful Jonathan Trott for a scratchy 15 off 22 balls. Having only reached 44 with the loss of three wickets at halfway, boundaries were desperately needed but a succession of Warwickshire batsmen perished attempting to clear the ropes.The last six wickets tumbled in the final seven overs, with the highlights being wicketkeeper Chris Read’s sharp stumping of Troughton off Mullaney and Patel’s direct hit to run out Botha off his own bowling. White cleaned up the tail with three catches in the deep as Nottinghamshire went six points clear at the top of the North Group, having played two more games than Lancashire, who are in second place.

Punjab Stallions were derailed by a fine spell of leg spin from Danish Kaneria who served the Pakistan selectors a reminder of his abilities in limited-overs formats, as Sind Dolphins cruised to a four-wicket win in the final league match of the Pentangul

Cricinfo staff29-Apr-2010
ScorecardPunjab Stallions were derailed by a fine spell of legspin from Danish Kaneria who served the Pakistan selectors a reminder of his abilities in limited-overs formats, as Sind Dolphins cruised to a four-wicket win in the final league match of the Pentangular Cup, in Karachi.There were three distinct phases to Stallions’ innings and unfortunately, they could dominate only one of them. Their decision to bat first backfired as early as the first ball of the innings, when Anwar Ali removed Nasir Jamshed, edging behind. Two more wickets fell in the first ten overs, leaving the innings in strife at 32 for 3. Naeemuddin and Aamer Sajjad then initiated a strong recovery act to give their side the ascendancy. Naeemuddin made 73 with six fours and Sajjad contributed 64, and together they added 124 for the fourth wicket. Both of them scored at strike-rates in the mid-seventies to set up a good launching pad for the end overs. Kaneria had other plans though.Anwar Ali struck the crucial blow, getting rid of Naeemuddin, after which Kaneria ran amok, grabbing the remaining six wickets. He finished with impeccable figures of 10-3-33-6 as the Stallions lost wickets and momentum to fold up for 199 in 46 overs.Sind’s chase was not without its share of problems, but the target of 200 was too less to cause them much concern. Khurram Manzoor struck six fours in his 48 to set up the reply, while Sheharyar Ghani made the other substantial contribution, scoring 44 in 62 balls. The support cast contributed a thirty and a couple of twenties to ensure that, the winning runs were struck in the 46th over with minimal fuss despite the loss of six wickets. Raza Hasan bowled well to pick 2 for 33, but Kaneria had already ensured he did not have enough runs to play with.

Lots of Everton fans have been left buzzing over some injury news that has emerged ahead of their game away at Norwich City in the Premier League.

As per The Athletic journalist Patrick Boyland, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison and Yerry Mina are all now back in training for the Goodison Park faithful, meaning that they could all feature against the Canaries if deemed fit enough.

All three of them rank among the Merseyside club’s ten best players so far this season, according to WhoScored, with Calvert-Lewin number one.

The striker has scored three goals in the four matches that he has played in the Premier League this term, and having him back with Richarlison will certainly give Rafa Benitez’s team more of a goal threat, while Mina provides another solid option defensively.

Everton fans on injury news

These Toffees buzzed as the injury news was shared on Twitter, with one Blues supporter even going as far as to claim that it was a ‘huge boost’:

“Good news Boyland at the back post!!!”

Credit: @EFCMatt1

“Huge boost for weekend hopefully”

Credit: @GraemeMcV

“Yesssssss”

Credit: @Foxy0580

“Cracking news this”

Credit: @Byrdsman75

“Brilliant. Start all 3 on Saturday imo”

Credit: @CBobblers1878

“Things you love to see”

Credit: @JGreenway8

In other news, find out which EFC ace’s claim has fans speculating here!

With the 2022 January transfer window now open, this could see a number of Premier League clubs jump into action and make some business deals to strengthen their squads for the second half of the current season.

While it could be an exciting time for some teams, it seems as though Leeds United and Marcelo Bielsa could be heading for a major transfer calamity that would surely disappoint a lot of fans at Elland Road.

According to a recent report in The Sun by journalist Alan Nixon, Leeds defender Charlie Cresswell has caught the attention of fellow Premier League clubs Manchester United and Liverpool.

As a product of Leeds’ youth academy, the 19-year-old has made 36 appearances across the club’s U18 and U23 sides, scoring four goals and providing one assist along the way.

Cresswell has also made six senior appearances for Leeds with four of them coming in the Premier League this season, the first of which being in their 2-1 defeat against West Ham United where he completed the full 90 minutes and had his performance described as “one of the finest debuts by a teenager in Leeds white for years” by Leeds Live.

His performance against the East London club was also labelled as “unbelievable” by Leeds YouTuber Joe Wainman, showing how capable he is of playing in the Premier League.

Taking all of this into account, it would be nothing short of a disaster for the club and potentially heartbreaking for the fans if Cresswell were to leave Leeds anytime soon, especially for a move to rival club Manchester United given how young he is and the potential he has to grow and develop into a regular first-team player at Elland Road.

Given how his current contract at Leeds isn’t set to expire until the summer of 2025 and the fact that Bielsa hasn’t been shy in giving Cresswell the chance to prove himself in the team, this should be reassuring for any fans that may be concerned about the teenager’s future in Yorkshire.

Even though he has missed Leeds’ two previous league games against Arsenal and Burnley with a shoulder injury, it would be good to see the centre-back get some regular playing time under his belt before the end of the season when he recovers to show that he can be a regular figure for the team in the future.

If he leaves, however, the club would be staring down the barrel of an early transfer blunder in the January market.

In other news: 10 defensive actions: £53k-p/w Leeds beast who had 70 touches stole the show v Burnley

Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick looks set to bring in American Chris Armas as part of his coaching staff.

Reliable reporter Fabrizio Romano shared the news on Twitter on Monday afternoon, which duly resulted in a number of United fans giving their thoughts on the update.

Rangnick began his tenure in charge at Old Trafford with a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday, with Jamie Carragher believing that the German has already put ‘his stamp’ on the Red Devils.

He now looks set to do just that off the field by bringing in the American, who has experience as an assistant manager and manager in the MLS with New York Red Bulls and Toronto.

Romano posted online that an agreement is in place to bring Armas to Old Trafford to join Rangnick’s coaching staff, with the 49-year-old set to ‘replace’ Michael Carrick.

United fans react

Here is what these United supporters had to say in reply to Romano’s post, with many voicing their delight and one labelling Armas as the ‘perfect’ assistant.

“Let’s goooooo, no more mates at United!!”

Credit: @jayczepiel_10

“He plays gegenpress football. Perfect assistant”

Credit: @Utd_Paulo

“Red Bull Manchester, Here we go”

Credit: @Jonny_JamesB

“We now have a German coach and a bald coach, we might be back”

Credit: @7Arrxn

“Oh my Gawd!!!!”

Credit: @__A2RD__

“Very happy with this appointment and we’ve got someone in to help Rangnick now. He might not have been that successful as a manager, but his record as a coach is certainly complimentary to Rangnick’s style of football. Looking forward to see how he can improve the team”

Credit: @samlutd

In other news: ‘So bad’ – Lots of Man Utd fans slam ‘clown’ v Crystal Palace

An update has emerged on Manchester City winger Cole Palmer, regarding Newcastle’s interest in his services…

What’s the talk?

According to The Athletic, the Magpies have made a loan approach to sign the England under-21 international for the second halff of the campaign.

The report claims that their initial attempts to land him have been knocked back by Pep Guardiola’s side, but does not state whether or not Newcastle will go back in with another effort.

Snap him up

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe must do everything in his power to snap him up by convincing the Premier League champions to send Palmer on loan to St. James’ Park. He could be a terrific addition to the squad who could help them avoid relegation down to the Championship.

The £12k-per-week wing wizard has already played 12 games in the first-team for Manchester City, scoring twice, and has been capped four times by England at under-21 level.

Guardiola was previously effusive in his praise of the young attacker, saying:

“Cole has a special quality in front of the box, a talent that is difficult to find. When he has the ball there, most of the time it ends up in the net. It’s difficult to find that.

“I know how it works with young players. We have to be calm and patient. His position is the second team but at the same time he trains with us and works with our principles. I am happy with the goal. He could have done a few actions a little bit better, but that is normal. It is experience.”

His record at U23 level for City is phenomenal. He has scored 19 goals and provided 10 assists in 27 games, having found the back of the net 20 times – whilst managing eight assists – in 32 matches for the U18s previously.

This, along with his exposure to first-team football under Guardiola, suggests that he could have the quality to provide a lift to the Magpies team. Callum Wilson (six) is the only Newcastle player with more than three Premier League goals and Allan Saint-Maximin (three) is the only player with more than two assists, highlighting the need for more forwards who can contribute at the top end of the pitch.

Therefore, Howe must work hard to change City’s mind and get them to send Palmer to the club on loan. He could come in and offer an added bit of quality in the final third, if he is able to translate even a fraction of the form he has shown for City at youth level into the first team.

AND in other news, Downie shares NUFC update after speaking “to the consortium”, fans will be thrilled…

Quinton de Kock’s disciplinary hearing for allegedly pushing an opposition player in a first-class match will not take place before next Wednesday

Firdose Moonda17-Jan-2013Quinton de Kock’s disciplinary hearing for allegedly pushing an opposition player in a first-class match will not take place before next Wednesday, which has cleared him to play in the first two ODIs against New Zealand. Gary Kirsten confirmed de Kock will keep in all the matches he plays in the series.To help de Kock prepare for his fifty-over international debut, team management roped in the services of Mark Boucher, who trained with him at Claremont Cricket Club on Thursday. “When Mark retired I said to him that his experience in international cricket is something I wouldn’t want to turn away,” Kirsten said. “I think he has a lot to offer. We felt the perfect place for him would be to be with a young keeper like Quinton, to spend some time with him and give him and understanding not only of the skills required but the pressures of international competition.”Mentoring de Kock also seems to be part of integrating him into the national structures because he has only emerged on the circuit quite recently. De Kock is a former South Africa Under-19s player but this is first season contracted to a franchise and Kirsten admitted he does not know much about the 20-year-old. “I’ve met this guy once before and the longest conversation I had with him was one minute,” he said.Kirsten’s assistant, Russell Domingo, may have slightly more information on the youngster. Domingo coached the national side during de Kock’s debut: the T20 series against New Zealand in which he also donned the gloves. All evidence suggests de Kock has been earmarked as a permanent replacement for AB de Villiers, who seems set to give up wicketkeeping in limited-overs. “We want to give AB a chance to just be the captain,” Kirsten said.”We feel that to captain, bat at No.4 and keep is a very hard task. It’s something that we spoke about even before he started the role because I was concerned that it was going to be too much to ask of him. He really wants to focus his attention on his captaincy.”De Villiers was named South Africa’s limited-overs captain in July 2011. He missed his inaugural series as leader against Australia in late 2011 because of injury and Hashim Amla stood in for him. De Villiers was first in charge for the 3-2 win over Sri Lanka last January. He also captained in the T20 and ODI series in England and the World T20 in Sri Lanka. He kept wicket in all those matches but did not play the T20 series against New Zealand, citing fatigue and a focus on his Test keeping.It has now emerged that de Villiers also finds wicket-keeping in ODIs too taxing on his chronically bad back and does not feel he has enough of a grip on the demands of captaincy to do both jobs. “He has had all this on his shoulders,” Kirsten said. “He feels keeping in 50 overs is more intense than in a Test match and he just needs to understand how he is going to go about captaining this team.”Some of the strategies de Villiers will have to get his head around are the floating batting line-up and the possibility of changing personnel. Both are tactics Kirsten will continue with, although he has indicated he may rein in the former. “We’ve tried to rotate the batting order, we feel we need to find a middle road there,” he said. “We are certainly going to be flexible. We believe that is the way forward but, at the same time, we cannot be silly about it.”Kirsten suggested that Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, the two quicks who play all three formats for South Africa, will be rested for some of the three ODIs because the three-Test series against Pakistan is only two weeks away. “Test cricket is our number one and we want to make sure we pick a full strength team in whatever Test we play. We don’t rest players and rotate at that level,” he said. “With the other versions, because there is a lot of cricket, something has to give. These guys are fit enough to play every game but I want them mentally 100 percent ready to deliver.”Although Kirsten’s main emphasis is on Test cricket, South Africa will not have as taxing a year as they did in 2012. Their only away tour in which they will play in the longest format is to the UAE to face Pakistan in October.Contrastingly, South Africa play much more ODI cricket this year. Eight matches at home (three against New Zealand, five against Pakistan) will be followed by the Champions Trophy and a limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka. With one eye on ICC silverware, Kirsten indicated the 50-over game will come into the spotlight in 2013, where he hopes South Africa can step up.”We would like to perform at a higher level than we have done so far,” he said. “We’ve been ok but we haven’t been outstanding. We’ve got a great opportunity this year so there will be a lot more emphasis on ODI cricket this year.”

Former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor believes Dan James should be dropped for the Whites’ Premier League clash with Leicester City.

The Lowdown: Another big game for Leeds

Marcelo Bielsa’s are looking to build on their win over Norwich City this weekend, with the Foxes making the trip to Elland Road.

It is a big chance for Leeds to build some momentum after a stuttering start to the season, especially following Leicester’s disappointing defeat at home to Arsenal.

Someone who could start for the Whites is James, but the Welshman has made a slow start to life at Elland Road, not yet scoring and only registering one assist in nine appearances to date.

[freshpress-quiz id=“375277″]

The Latest: Pundit says James should be dropped

Speaking to Football Insider ahead of the Leicester game, Agbonlahor went as far as to say that the winger should lose his place on Sunday afternoon:

“Dan James, for me, I’m not sure about him. His end product is so bad. Yes, he’s got pace but that’s all he’s got. He doesn’t score goals, he doesn’t get assists, he can’t really cross.

“I just look at him and think he has to up his game. When you’ve got youngsters that are looking so frightening, before you know it, you’re out of the team.

“Dan James needs to do better, Jack Harrison has been poor this season. He kept giving the ball away [against Norwich] and looked very poor again.

“I’m sure Bielsa was over the moon that Raphinha’s available and he is the one who has been available.”

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-news-23/” title=”Latest Leeds United news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: One last chance?

The former Manchester United man offers electrifying pace out wide, but he is only averaging 0.6 tackles per game for the Whites, so perhaps it is actually on the opposite side of the ball where he needs to step up his game.

The £16.2million-rated James is still finding his feet at Leeds though, and while he has been a disappointment so far, there is no reason for Bielsa to be knee-jerk with his plans.

If James fails to perform again, it may be time to give him a breather, but considering he is the second-most expensive signing in Leeds’ history, he needs to be trusted to adapt and overcome his difficult start.

In other news, a rumoured Leeds target has turned down a new contract. Find out who it is here.

Confusion of the timing of the IPL auction made Kieron Pollard miss the bidding war over him in Mumbai as four franchises placed maximum bids of $750,000

Nagraj Gollapudi21-Jan-2010Confusion of the timing of the IPL auction made Kieron Pollard miss the bidding war over him in Mumbai as four franchises placed maximum bids of $750,000, forcing the Trinidad allrounder’s sale into a silent tiebreaker. After five silent but eventful minutes, Lalit Modi revealed that Mumbai Indians, the richest franchise owned by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, had secured Pollard’s services for the 2010 season.”I had finished my practice when the auction started but I got the timings wrong. But one of my [South Australian] team-mates told me about it,” Pollard told Cricinfo from Adelaide, where he is representing the Redbacks in the Twenty20 Big Bash and will be one of main draws in the final on January 23.For the moment he is “very happy, very excited” to have been bought by Mumbai and is looking forward to the opportunity to play with “Sachin Tendulkar and all the other guys in the League.”Pollard and New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond were the only two players bought via the tiebreaker and their final price was never revealed. That information was privy only to the franchise that placed the winning bid and the IPL. When asked whether he was curious how much Mumbai actually shelled out for him, Pollard said he was not sweating about that. “At the end of the day I’m a young player. Going by the cap price I am pretty excited. Whatever happened after that was not in my hands,” Pollard said.The IPL’s decision to keep silent tiebreaker bids confidential has led to speculation that Pollard’s worth is anywhere between $1 million and $2.5 million. Pollard, however, is not bothered about what amount Nita Ambani wrote on the cheque during the auction. “I am not really surprised by it [the price]. There has been a lot of talk that has been going but it doesn’t matter what exactly transpired. I just want to come out and play.”Pollard is perhaps not fussed about whether he went for one million or two because he is already a millionaire. He was part of the most lucrative cricket match ever and raked in a million dollars after the Stanford Superstars beat England in a winner-takes-all contest in Antigua. But Pollard did not get lost in all those riches and has polished his trade with every subsequent tournament.He is the only player to be involved in four Twenty20 championships in different continents. In addition to playing for his home side, Trinidad & Tobago, South Australia and now Mumbai, Pollard has also been signed by Somerset for their domestic Twenty20 campaign this summer in England.There have been questions about whether Pollard is worth so much, considering he has never scored even a half-century in ten Twenty20 internationals. But he’s been considered a tremendous talent in the West Indies ever since he started hitting towering sixes with a straight bat.Pollard’s abilities caught global attention during the Champions League Twenty20 in India last year because of immense performances against champion sides like New South Wales. He sported a funky hairstyle, hit the most sixes in the tournament, propelled T&T into the final and had desperate agents from various IPL franchises knocking on his door.”A couple of franchises had spoken during the Champions League. But I was pretty tired and I hadn’t spoken to [my] manager as well. So I wasn’t sure what exactly and who exactly I was going to speak to at that time,” Pollard said.Incidentally, Pollard did not find any buyers at the 2009 IPL auction where his base price was 60,000$. A year later that figure was $200,000. Pollard, while not bitter about being ignored last year, admitted he was slightly hurt. “Obviously I was a bit disappointed. But there were some circumstances that I don’t wish to disclose,” he said. “I did not really allow that to affect my game because I knew I could always come the next year.”And he has, with the loudest of bangs. “Since the Champions League, life has changed,” he said. “I’ve concentrated on my cricket and worked hard to get the best out of my abilities and it has been good.” Though he has already tasted success in India, Pollard is wary of the expectations, which he says will pose the biggest challenge for him. “The biggest challenge would be to sustain what I’ve started as there would be big expectations of me. But cricket is a funny game, it can go anyway. I’m just going to go there and play my best.”