All posts by h716a5.icu

A round-up of the Faysal Bank Super Eight T-20 Cup matches that took place on March 26

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Mar-2012A combined bowling effort set up Sialkot Stallions’ five-wicket win against Lahore Eagles’ at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Bilawal Bhatti took three wickets and the rest of the bowlers chipped in to restrict the Eagles to a modest 129. Saad Nasim, batting at No.9, was the top scorer with 27. Sialkot lost Imran Nazir early but Shakeel Ansar and Shahid Yousuf made useful contributions to lead Sialkot to victory.Khalid Latif’s 88 set up Karachi Dolphins’ 32-run win over Rawalpindi Rams at the same venue. Put in to bat, the Dolphins managed 171 for 4, thanks to Latif’s contribution. He shared stands of 75 and 72 with Asad Shafiq and Rameez Raja respectively. Rawalpindi’s pursuit of the target was stalled by Sohail Khan and Faraz Ahmed, who took three wickets apiece. Naved Malik was the top scorer with 59, but he lacked support.

Nuwan Kulasekara, the Sri Lanka fast bowler, will join the national squad for the ODI series in South Africa after four months on the sidelines

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jan-2012Nuwan Kulasekara, the Sri Lanka fast bowler, will join the squad for the ODI series in South Africa after four months on the sidelines. Lasith Malinga, Upul Tharanga and Kosala Kulasekara will also be part of the one-day leg of the tour, while Chanaka Welegedara, Kaushal Silva, Thilan Samaraweera, Tharanga Paranavitana, Dimuth Karunaratne and Kanishka Alvitigala will not be involved after the Test series concludes.Sri Lanka picked a different spin attack to the one they played against Pakistan in the UAE, their previous one-day series. Suraj Randiv, Jeevan Mendis and Seekkuge Prasanna, who were in the squad against Pakistan, were left out, with the selectors sticking with Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis, who are already in South Africa.Nuwan Kulasekara, who has not played for Sri Lanka since picking up an injury in their home ODI series against Australia in August, was initially set to join the squad for the second and third Tests in South Africa. Sri Lanka’s sports ministry, however, vetoed his selection and the uncapped Kanishka Alvitigala was picked instead. Alvitigala did not get a game in the Test series and has now been replaced by Kulasekara.Malinga, who is retired from Test cricket, and Tharanga were the expected additions to the squad in South Africa, while allrounder Kosala Kulasekara, who played only one Test and one ODI on the tour of the UAE, retained his spot.Herath, who is considered more suited to Tests, was kept for the ODIs after he took nine wickets in Sri Lanka’s upset of South Africa in Durban. Ajantha Mendis, meanwhile, did not play a Test but was picked in the ODI squad after being dropped for the series against Pakistan. He was chosen ahead of Prasanna, who took just four wickets in five ODIs in the UAE.Squad: Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), Angelo Mathews (vc), Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Kosala Kulasekara, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath, Dhammika Prasad, Dilhara Fernando, Lahiru Thirimanne

A round-up of day three of the semi-finals of the Duleep Trophy 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Feb-2012In a contest of fightbacks, East Zone edged ahead of North Zone in Delhi. East came back strongly on the third day and gained a slender but significant first-innings lead. North were well positioned at 162 for 3 at stumps on the second day, in response to East’s 315, but Ashok Dinda tilted the scales with a career-best performance. He removed the overnight batsmen Mayank Sidhana and Paras Dogra, and dislodged the lower order to finish with 8 for 123 in 38 overs. From 211 for 4, North slipped to 287 all out, conceding a lead of 28 runs. East ensured the advantage didn’t slip. Opener Manish Vardhan scored an unbeaten half-century and Anustup Majumdar was going strong with him in a stand of 75, as East reached 120 for 1 at the close, stretching their lead to 148.Central Zone have batted South Zone out of the Duleep Trophy semi-final at Chepauk, virtually sealing their place in the tournament final. Central had stretched their lead to 237 at the end of the second day, and finished at 378 for 5 on the third – the lead extending further to 488. Naman Ojha, who was on 79 overnight, went on to score his eighth first-class century. Robin Bist, the highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy, continued his prolific run, scoring another ton, and at a fair clip. He was unbeaten on 104 at stumps off 178 balls, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (59*) was supporting him in a 160-run stand for the sixth wicket.

Raghuram Bhat, the former India and Karnataka left-arm spinner, has been appointed coach of Goa for two years

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jul-2011Raghuram Bhat, the former India and Karnataka left-arm spinner, has been appointed coach of Goa for the upcoming Ranji Trophy season. Bhat replaces Rajesh Kamath and will coach Goa for two years.Bhat was Karnataka’s bowling mainstay for a decade and finished with 374 first-class wickets. He was called up to the national team in 1983 but played only two Tests before being dropped.The Goa Cricket Association (GCA) president Dayanand Narvekar said Bhat would be the last coach from a different state to be hired by Goa. After his tenure is over, the onus will be on Goan coaches. Narvekar also said they have decided to cut down the number of outstation players from three to one for the 2011-12 Ranji season. Last season, Goa had former Haryana wicketkeeper-batsman Ajay Ratra and former Tamil Nadu batsman S Vidyut in their squad.Goa finished third in their group in the Ranji Trophy Plate League last season, missing out on a semi-final berth by five points. With teams like Maharashtra in their group this year, Goa will start preparations early with a camp from July 15.

Sri Lanka Cricket has slashed its budget for Australia’s tour scheduled for August-September this year, sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has said

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jun-2011Sri Lanka Cricket has slashed its budget for Australia’s tour in August and September this year, sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has said. The cash cuts, he said, will not affect the quality of security provided for the teams, despite the board being instructed to trim the security bill from 50 million rupees ($ 445,000) to nine million rupees ($ 81,000).”We are taking austerity measures because we can’t even recover the monies we are spending,” Aluthgamage told . “There is no war now [Sri Lanka’s conflict with the LTTE ended in May 2009], and I think there are enough officers in the military and police that could assure us very good security, at a fraction of the [originally projected] cost.”Overall, the SLC had budgeted 300 million rupees ($ 2.67 million) for the tour that comprises three Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20s. The projected income, however, was a “dismal” 150 million rupees. The board will now look to keep expenses down to 100 million rupees, the minister said. “Lots of frills like distributing hundreds of free tickets and banquet meals for invitees will be cut.”The expenses incurred while co-hosting the 2011 World Cup have left SLC in debt. Pallekele, one of two new venues built for the World Cup, will host both the Twenty20 games against Australia, one ODI and one Test, while the other new stadium, Hambantota, will stage two ODIs. The cost of constructing these stadiums left SLC a debt of $23 million. The board pledged the newly built stadiums plus the income from upcoming tours as collateral to raise funds to pay for the World Cup.

Kumar Sangakkara will deliver the eleventh MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s on July 4 2011

ESPNcricinfo staff17-May-2011Kumar Sangakkara will deliver the eleventh MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s on July 4 2011.He will become the first Sri Lankan and the first current international cricketer to be invited to speak at the annual event which comes a day after Sri Lanka meet England at Lord’s for the third ODI of the series.Sangakkara will also take over from 2009 speaker, Adam Gilchrist, as the youngest man to deliver the lecture, which has been given by people such as Geoffrey Boycott, Desmond Tutu and, most recently, Imran Khan.The lecture was inaugurated in 2001 in memory of the late Colin Cowdrey, a past president of MCC, who – together with another former club president, Ted Dexter – was instrumental in the Spirit of Cricket being included as the Preamble to the 2000 Code of the Laws of Cricket.Christopher Martin-Jenkins, the commentator and current MCC President, said: “Sri Lanka have been so consistently successful in world cricket that it is very appropriate that a distinguished cricketer from this beautiful country should be giving the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture.”Kumar Sangakkara is widely respected in cricket not only as a brilliant player but as a highly intelligent one. His views on topical matters will be truly illuminating and many people will be looking forward to hearing what he has to say.”

The BCCI has confirmed that the second Test between India and England will go ahead, as scheduled, in Mumbai

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Nov-2012BCCI sources have indicated that that the second Test between India and England will go ahead, as scheduled, in Mumbai. There were concerns that the Test, which starts on Friday, might be moved to Kolkata following the death of the politician and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray.England fans heading to Mumbai for the second Test awoke to conjecture that a switch of venues could be considered in the wake of the death of Thackeray, a dominant political figure in the city, as thousands of extra police patrolled the streets to ensure order.Mumbai was slowly getting back to normal on Monday, after the cremation of Thackeray the previous day, as the Shiv Sena clarified that it had not called for a – a period of inactivity – in his honour.

Andy Flower, the England team director, has said England will have to go “back to the drawing board” to figure out how to play one-day cricket in the subcontinent after they slumped to a 0-5 series defeat in India

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Oct-2011Andy Flower, the England team director, has said England will have to go “back to the drawing board” to figure out how to play one-day cricket in the subcontinent after they slumped to a 0-5 series defeat in India. Flower said he thought England were better prepared for this series than they were when they were beaten by the same scoreline in 2008 but had been proved wrong by the results.”This is a bad setback for us and we have to go back to the drawing board in terms of playing one-day international cricket in the sub-continent,” he said. “We need time to reflect. I thought we’d learnt lessons from three years ago and put in place training drills which would equip our batsmen to deal better with the conditions out here, but I’m obviously wrong in that regard.”England ended the series in dismal fashion, losing their whole side for 47 in a dramatic collapse, after they were 129 for 0 chasing 272 at Eden Gardens. Alastair Cook, the England captain, said good starts and poor finishes had been a common theme of England’s performances through the series.”We set up the game beautifully to go on and win, but they bowled well and we played a couple of poor shots. It was a bit of a disappointing end and a bit of a common theme,” Cook said after the match in Kolkata. “We were in with a shout at 120-odd for nought and just got blown away at the end. It was very disappointing. We know you can lose wickets in clusters and we seem to have lost 10 there in a cluster.”While India’s spinners sparked England’s collapse, the victory had been set up by a fierce late onslaught from India’s captain MS Dhoni, who finished on 75 not out off 69 balls. Dhoni scored 212 runs in the series without being dismissed. He said he always focused on staying unbeaten till the end of an innings because then you could sum up which bowlers to go after.”I always want to stay to the end and whatever is in my area I look to hit it over the boundary,” he said. “It’s important to see which bowlers are left and who you can target. After that it’s about who can bear the pressure well.””It was an ugly looking wicket and any ball could swing or keep low,” Dhoni said of the Eden Gardens pitch. “It was very difficult to score on so we were fortunate to score 270 when 240 or 245 was in our minds. Then we just had to wait for the wicket to spin.”Cook praised Dhoni’s innings but said he thought India’s total was gettable. “Credit to MS; at the end he hits it very well, he’s a very hard person to bowl at and he single-handedly got them up to 270, which was probably gettable the way we started. But when you lose 10 for 50 you’re not going to win anything,” he said.Both Cook and Flower, though, insisted there were positives to take out of the series despite the emphatic scoreline. “Only four of us have played one-day series out here and it’s great for the youngsters to get the experience,” Cook said. “It will show where they need to improve and we all need to improve as a side. We got thoroughly beaten out here but there are quite a few positives; I thought Steven Finn [who took eight wickets over the five games] throughout the series has been excellent.”Flower said the bowling department had shown promise but unfortunately the batsmen had not been able to handle playing spin and had left the bowlers with too much to do. “Our skills weren’t good enough and our handling of the pressure wasn’t good enough,” he said. “We obviously haven’t got the players into a good enough state to deal with the challenges of playing spin, judging length and moving feet.”I think our bowling side has shown glimpses of skill and if there’d been reasonable totals on the board they would have been better at defending them. But unfortunately the bowlers have had to bowl to very attacking fields all the time because that was the only way to win because of our under-par totals.”

Reliable journalist Dominic King has provided a fresh update regarding a Liverpool move to sign AS Monaco midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni, confirming Reds chiefs are eyeing the player. 

The lowdown: Frenzy of speculation

This all comes following a report from Santi Aouna of reputable French otulet Foot Mercato, claiming that the Reds have initiated contact over a possible move for the 22-year-old.

Whilst the Anfield club have been tentatively linked previously, this was the first suggestion of a tangible pursuit as Liverpool seemingly moved into the front of the queue to sign Tchouameni.

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However, things may not be that straightforward just yet, with King sharing who the favourites to lock up a deal actually are…

The latest: King delivers reality check

Taking to Twitter, King, the Northern Football Correspondent for the Daily Mail, had this to say when confirming the Reds’ interest in the formidable Ligue 1 talent.

“Lots of stuff around about Liverpool and Aurelien Tchouameni. No question he is a player they are looking at but other clubs in frame, too, most notably Real Madrid, who are favourites. Liverpool, however, most definitely looking for a midfielder with his qualities.”

Elsewhere, Manchester United have also been extensively indexed with a move for the eight-cap France star who has been dubbed as an ‘octopus’ for his unwavering ability to control the game from midfield.

The verdict: Make it happen

As King rightly alludes to, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and new transfer chief Julian Ward should be in the market for an addition to the engine room during the summer transfer window.

Whilst current frontline incumbents Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago and Naby Keita continue to more than hold their own, all four have faced their battles with fitness in the past and with James Milner out of contract at the end of the season, a fresh face is required.

So far this season the £36million-rated (Transfermarkt) ace has earned an outstanding 7.27 rating from 32 Ligue 1 outings, completing 2.5 tackles, 2.8 interceptions and 51.5 passes on average per game (Sofascore).

In fact, he leads the French top flight in winning possession back, puts up great pressing numbers and even wins over 70 per cent of his aerial duels (MaaxiAngelo). Perhaps, then, it is no surprise to see Paul Pogba label his young compatriot as ‘extraordinary’.

Tchouameni’s ability to operate at the base of the midfield as well as in a box-to-box role would make the French youngster an invaluable addition to the Anfield squad and one the board should be pulling out all the stops to get over the line.

In other news, David Ornstein has confirmed some key Liverpool news. Read more here.

Virat Kohli dominated the Bengal bowlers but his dismissal for 173 gave Bengal the upper hand in a day of contrasts, with Delhi still trailing by 145 runs

The Bulletin by Sharda Ugra at the Feroz Shah Kotla03-Nov-2010
Scorecard
Virat Kohli’s dismissal was the turning point of the day•ESPNcricinfo LtdThe teams in the Durand Cup football semi-finals at the neighbouring Ambedkar Stadium would know exactly what Delhi and Bengal went through at the Ferozshah Kotla on Wednesday. Day three of their Ranji Trophy Super League match was a game of two halves. The first belonged to Virat Kohli and Delhi, the second to Bengal, who felt an immovable object suddenly shift an inch, and then didn’t stop pushing.At stumps, Delhi were 328 for 6, still trailing Bengal’s first innings total of 473 – and precious points – by 145 runs. They have two old school types at the wicket, Rajat Bhatia, who has played first-class cricket with the focus and enthusiasm of an Energiser bunny, and Sumit Narwal, the bowler who saved them much face yesterday. What Bengal have now is the belief that they can turn Delhi’s innate swagger into a fall.Kohli certainly swaggered in making 173, scoring more than half of Delhi’s runs in an innings stamped with the authority and superiority of a player who belongs to another, higher, class of cricket. His departure led to a middle order meltdown, four wickets falling for 34 runs, not only because he was the entertainment of the day, but also the centre piece of two top order century stands. For nearly four hours, Bengal laboured and absorbed the punches because they knew that Kohli’s wicket would turn the match into a far more even contest than he had allowed it to be.It took them a while, but they could have had him much sooner. Iresh Saxena grassed a simple chance at mid-wicket, to Ranadeb Bose’s utter misery, when Kohli was on 74. Given a reprieve, Kohli showed even more disdain. He mopped up the remaining 26 runs he needed for his hundred from 35 balls, leaping across the threshold with the help of three boundaries between 87 and 101. Bengal had tried to keep things tight and the runs down to a minimum. Given that their side had unravelled Bengal in the first session on Tuesday, Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli were happy to score at a reasonable trickle, and keep coach Manoj Prabhakar relaxed. Dhawan’s departure for 42 didn’t have much of an impact just before lunch, as the comfort of captain Mithun Manhas’ company ensured that Kohli was ready to move in to a higher gear.The moment arrived well into the afternoon, with the sudden surprise of a run-out. Always, an event of extremes, run-outs can either be street-corner slapstick or a thunderous demonstration of speed or athleticism. In this case, it needed a combination of anticipation and good fortune, and Bengal both deserved the luck, and rode it well. The run-rate had moved to just over four an over, and Manhas guided one past a wide second slip and gully. Kohli shot out for the single. It was a fair call, Kohli expecting the gully fielder to cut off the angle at best. Arindam Das, the fielder at second slip, suddenly streaked into the frame, snatched the ball as it bobbed up into his hand, and hurled it towards the stumps. Kohli had his head down and was sprinting for the finish, but before he crossed the line, the bails leapt in to the air.It was, as Bengal’s bowler of the day Ashok Dinda said, the moment his team had worked for, the one idea they had hung all their hats on: “We said if Virat goes, the rest would struggle. Even after the dropped the catch we said, ‘we just have to get Virat’ and we are in the game.” And so they were. Bose swung one into Gaurav Chabra’s toes just before tea, and convinced the umpire that it was good enough for a leg before. After the break, Manhas attempted a Kohli-esque slash at one so wide from Dinda that it asked for punishment, but received a wicket. Punit Bisht tried to extravagantly turn Dinda over square and Abhishek Chowdhary at short leg pulled off a reflex catch.Bhatia watched stone-faced at the other end and knew what had to be done because he’s done it dozens of time. Along with the sturdy Narwal, the Delhi innings limped along during the last hour of the day’s play. Bengal delayed taking the new ball in the hope that the old one, which was keeping low, would help them snake in another lbw, but all the twists were done for the day. They will now have a fairly new ball tomorrow and no prima donna of Kohli’s capabilities involved in the contest anymore. The last day’s play and the tussle for points promises to be a blinking contest between Bengal and the overnight batsmen. The day of two halves will melt into a session that will seal the deal.