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Hussey sets up Nottinghamshire victory

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Nottinghamshire Outlaws got their Friends Life t20 campaign off to a winning start with a 38-run victory over Derbyshire Falcons

03-Jun-2011
ScorecardNottinghamshire Outlaws got their Friends Life t20 campaign off to a winning start with a 38-run victory over Derbyshire Falcons thanks to a brisk 60 from skipper David Hussey and four wickets from fast bowler Andy Carter.Having been invited to bat first on a gloriously sunny evening at Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire posted 184 for 6 from their 20 overs, with Riki Wessels hitting 30 off 19 balls to add to Hussey’s 45-ball knock, which included five fours and a six.Derbyshire started their reply solidly with a 49-run opening partnership between Wes Durston and New Zealand international Martin Guptill before the Kiwi was spectacularly bowled by Carter for 25.From there the visitors fell further and further behind the required run-rate and despite 46 from Durston and Garry Park’s unbeaten 36, the Falcons could only finish on 146 for eight. Carter, playing in only his third Twenty20 match, finished with 4 for 20 from his four overs, the third best bowling return for Nottinghamshire in the competition’s history.The hosts began their innings in quiet fashion until Alex Hales hit two boundaries off Chesney Hughes in the third over, while Wessels greeted the arrival of Tim Groenewald by slog-sweeping the seamer for six over square leg.Groenewald then had Hales caught at mid-wicket and the left-arm spin of Tom Knight accounted for Adam Voges, caught by a diving Wayne Madsen in the covers. Wessels was yorked by Jonathan Clare to bring Hussey to the wicket. The Australian added 49 in five overs with Samit Patel (26), finally being bowled in the final over by Steffan Jones, who also had Steven Mullaney lbw. Chris Read finished 21 not out.Carter was hit for two fours in his opening over by Guptill but returned to bowl the Kiwi in the sixth over – the first of four clean bowled wickets by the paceman. Derbyshire’s hopes rested on Durston repeating his heroics from last year’s fixture, when the 30-year-old smashed 111, but when he was stumped by Read off Hussey’s off-spin, the game was up, despite two sixes and two fours from Park.

Bangalore push to retain Gayle

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Royal Challengers Bangalore are working on retaining Chris Gayle for the 2012 IPL even though his one-year term with them as an injury-replacement player has expired

Tariq Engineer19-Jul-2011Royal Challengers Bangalore are working on retaining Chris Gayle for the 2012 IPL even though his one-year term with them as an injury-replacement player has expired. Sidhartha Mallya, one of Bangalore’s franchise directors and the owner’s son, told ESPNcricinfo, “There are ways to keep Chris [Gayle]. We are obviously working on it and looking at every possible opportunity.”Gayle was the architect of a complete turnaround for Bangalore in 2011, arresting a four-match losing streak and setting up a record seven-match victory run that eventually led Bangalore to the final.Under current IPL rules, contracts for replacement players last only for a single year on the premise that the injured player will be available the following season. Replacement players such as Gayle must go into an auction where all the franchises would be able to bid for them. Gayle’s explosive performances with the bat – he was IPL2011’s leading run scorer, and had a strike rate of 183.13 – are expected to trigger a bidding war should he be put into an auction.Mallya, however, said the Bangalore franchise had been in touch with IPL management about the possibility of keeping Gayle, but would only know for certain after the Champions League Twenty20 in September whether they can hang on to him. The IPL, Mallya said, won’t give out the guidelines until the Champions League is up. (Sundar Raman, the IPL’s chief executive, did not respond to an email asking if the league was considering new guidelines).Gayle, in 2011, also helped Bangalore’s fans come to terms with the departures of Rahul Dravid and Ross Taylor, two favourites who were not retained by the franchise. “There was a lot of backlash but there was [also] a lot of backlash when Shah Rukh Khan didn’t keep Sourav Ganguly,” Mallya said. “Ross Taylor was a big favourite for Bangalore. The crowd loved him and we thought that would have an effect but when you have players like Chris Gayle and [AB] de Villiers, it was easy for the fans to get over that and they have taken to the new side very well.”Off the field, Mallya said he was not worried by the drop in television ratings this season because, he felt, there was naturally going to be a lag in the wake of India’s successful World Cup campaign. He also felt that shuffling the players every few years while allowing teams to retain a four-man core was a good system. “Then it doesn’t become like an English Premier League where only one or two teams will keep winning. It makes it (the IPL) even and it makes it open.”Mallya also said that he was satisfied with the amount of input franchises had in the running of the league, “We do get a voice. We are heard… After the season finished, Peter Griffiths of IMG came and spoke to us all. He took our feedback on the season. He was more than happy to listen to us about what our feelings were. Because at the end of the day they want to do what’s best for the league, best for us and best for everyone moving forward. “Bangalore were one of the first franchises to embrace social networking and reach out to fans through contests and competitions and now have more than 100,000 followers on their website and over 12,000 followers on Twitter. What they are still working out is how to get merchandising revenue on a firm footing given that such a short season makes it difficult to generate consistent sales. “I know it is difficult to sell premium jerseys because they are a lot of money,” Mallya said. “It is replica jerseys and replica stuff. It is finding a balance of what people want and I think we are still in the process of finding that balance of what people want and going forward I am sure we will be able to give people what they desire.”One potential boost for Bangalore is the Champions League, which gives them a second tournament with which to create fan interest and excitement, as well as pad the bottom line. “It will be huge not only from a financial point of view but from a prestige point of view. I would love to win it. It is the best 10 teams in the world, domestic teams in the world, competing and it would be a great honour for us.”Sidhartha Mallya was speaking as an ambassador of Kingfisher beer

'Absolutely believe' India will play day-night Test in Australia next year – Kevin Roberts

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India’s strong position on WTC table makes it likely that they will agree to Australia’s proposal

Andrew McGlashan in Perth12-Dec-2019Kevin Roberts, the Cricket Australia chief executive, is hopeful that India’s strong position in the World Test Championship will help persuade them to play at least one pink-ball Test on their tour next year.
Cricket Australia has made no secret of their desire to keep pushing the expansion of the day-night format, with a suggestion that they would attempt to make two out of the four India Tests as floodlit contests.India did not play under lights on their previous tour but have recently staged their first day-night Test, against Bangladesh in Kolkata, which was pushed through by Sourav Ganguly after he became the BCCI president

MCG Shield match officially abandoned

The curtailed Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and Western Australia at the MCG has now been officially abandoned after no alternative date could be found for a replay.
Each side will therefore be awarded three points along with the average bonus points accrued in the other two matches of the same round (1.64).
Peter Roach, Cricket Australia’s head of cricket operations, said: “Any rescheduling would have included all teams having significantly shortened, and unreasonable, breaks in the post-Christmas Shield window. Most affected would have been Western Australia and Victoria that would have played five matches (and potentially the final), each with shortened breaks.”

India comfortably lead the WTC with seven wins from seven Tests and are primed to secure their spot in the 2021 final at Lord’s.”I absolutely believe we should be playing one pink-ball Test in the Indian series next year,” Roberts said in Perth ahead of the day-night Test between Australia and New Zealand. “India to their credit are doing very well in this World Test Championship, and it’s highly likely that they will make the final in 2021. I suspect that will make it easier to schedule a day-night Test next season if India have relative certainty of making the WTC final, then there is less reason not to play a day-night Test and more reason to play one.”Also with Sourav Ganguly coming into the presidency of the BCCI, he’s been very proactive in scheduling the first day-night Test in India, and we saw that was a sellout in three days, which is very different to what the previous day series have looked at in terms of ticket sales. There is an openness from India and an understanding that it is good for cricket.”Which of Australia’s main venues miss out hosting India remains another big question. Melbourne, despite the ongoing issues around the pitch, remains highly unlikely to lose Boxing Day and the SCG is the traditional New Year venue, which leaves Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth to fight it out for two matches. The one that misses out will likely host Afghanistan, although Tasmania has also put its hat in the ring for a Test in Hobart.ALSO READ: Two pink-ball Tests in a series ‘a bit too much’ – GangulyThe Australian team has made it clear that it wants to play the first Test of major series at the Gabba, where they haven’t lost since 1988. The 2018-19 series against India began in Adelaide.”It’s a challenging process,” Roberts said. “I think the great thing is there is genuine interest in all capital cities across Australia hosting Test cricket. The challenging thing we’ve got to work through is when there’s not as many Test matches as there are capital cities. We will work through that.”There will be different criteria. There is an art and a science to it. We look at historical attendances, we look at the playing side of things, it’s really important thing, especially for the first Test where the players have a very strong preference for the first Test of any major series to be played at the Gabba.”The lights come on at Eden Gardens for India’s first ever day-night Test•BCCI

Roberts also did not foresee a roadblock for getting India to Gabba: “I don’t see India being opposed to that, there is a lot to work through. But I don’t see India being opposed to any venue. What was speculated on the last India tour, that India refused to play at the Gabba, simply wasn’t true.”A more immediate issue is the state of the MCG pitches following the abandonment of the Sheffield Shield match last week. Roberts admitted that Cricket Australia had been among the voices pushing for more life to be brought back into the surface and sympthised with the position of head groundsman Matt Page. The first Sheffield Shield match of the season at the ground earned a “very good” rating while the second, which was impacted by cold and wet weather, was given a “good” grading.”It was unfortunate that a little too much moisture was put into the wicket for the last Shield game,” Roberts said. “In fairness to Matt and his groundstaff, they were urged to make the pitch more sporting by a number of parties, be it players, Cricket Victoria, ourselves, and credit to them for having the courage to test that. Fortunately, no players were injured in the process and ironically I think it places the MCC better to prepare the best possible deck for Boxing Day with the learnings from these last three Shield games.”While the staging agreement between CA and the MCC only goes as far as guaranteeing a Test at the MCG – rather than Boxing Day specifically – Roberts suggested its future for the iconic fixture was safe. “There are commitments to have a Test at the MCG and the SCG, that’s the depth of it,” he said. “What we do know is that there is a rich history around Boxing Day, we love that and respect that and we would really like to see Boxing Day Test continue at the MCG.”

Swann backs England to maintain drive

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On a sunny Manchester morning, out near Old Trafford, Graeme Swann arrived wearing dark glasses after a celebratory evening on the town

Sharda Ugra in Manchester01-Sep-2011On a sunny Manchester morning, out near Old Trafford, Graeme Swann arrived wearing dark glasses. He stayed that way for a few hours, not because the area around the Trafford Sports Barn had suddenly turned tropical, but because England had celebrated their Twenty20 International victory over India a little too enthusiastically.Swann, one of two star names at the formal launch of Streetchance, a nationwide inner-city cricket programme, may need a day to bounce back towards his usually high degrees of cheeriness, but he assured anyone listening that the England team was quite ready to launch the next phase of their ambitions.The five-match ODI series versus India begins in Durham on Saturday, and Swann said that it would be a searching examination of England’s new-found status after their 4-0 Test victory and No.1 Test ranking. “It is a great test for us – hopefully the conditions will suit us and we can pull off a victory. It’s where we want to go in one-day cricket, we want to be an improving team and it’s a good chance to start,” the sunglassed Swann said, speaking to a handful of reporters in an indoor basketball court.England’s ascent to the world No.1 Test ranking has not been matched by a similar surge through the ICC ODI rankings. Amongst the ten Test-playing nations, England are ranked a mid-table No.5. A series victory over the current world champions India will ensure that England can both establish credentials as a more-than-competitive limited-overs team, and also ensure that they snap out of the habit of following triumphant Test series with tepid ODI performances.England’s last two Ashes victories, 2-1 at home in 2009 and 3-1 away last winter, were followed by identical 1-6 defeats in the two seven-match ODI series that followed. Victory in the ICC World T20 last year was England’s first in a multi-national ICC event, after having made three of the first five World Cup finals. Swann said that the record of successful Test series tapering off into poor ODI form “was an area we need to really watch; it can often be a bit of a damp squib after a Test series and hopefully it will be a positive rather than negative end to the summer… it’s not something we have discussed amongst us until now, but I’m sure we will soon. The summer has gone great for us; we are hoping to carry that on in the one-day series. It’s a better feeling to be winning rather than losing.”When asked what England’s ODI bug-bears of the past had been, Swann said, “I dunno… we’ve missed a certain X-factor in players but I think we’re getting that now in Jake Dernbach and Eoin Morgan… we’re starting to find those real match-winners with bat and ball.”Over the past week, Dernbach and Morgan have played key roles in England’s ODI victory over Ireland and the T20I vs India in Manchester. The win over India on Wednesday night, he said, had come against “a world-class team. We are going to have to be at our absolute best to beat them and we are confident at the moment; that Twenty20 win last night has done no harm for our confidence at all.”There is much rumbling about India’s performances on this tour (not least from Michael Vaughan, who predicted via Twitter a 4-1 victory for England in the ODIs) and the Twenty20 defeat came from a wobbling middle-order that couldn’t score enough, despite the presence of some of India’s younger and fresher batsmen.Before he left the Manchester media, Swann was asked a few questions about local cricket and football. His preferences ran thus: City over United in football, (“I’d rather see City do it, to be honest, even if they’ve got gazilloons of dollars to spend, whatever”) and Lancashire to win the county championship – both for the sake of history and for the sake of his former England coach Peter Moores, the man who recalled him to the fold after a seven-year international hiatus in 2007. “I wish Moorsey all the best for Lancashire and I hope they can win it for him,” he said, shortly before they were routed by Worcestershire inside a day-and-a-half at New Road.At the start of the event, Swann had been called onto stage by MC Mark Nicholas as the “representative of modern England” and took off his sun-glasses for a short instant, before revealing that he had been called Grandad on the field by the rest of the T20 squad. He is one of two players over the age of 30 in the Twenty20 team and the audience of officials, coaches, bankers, police officers, community workers, and young cricketers from six inner-city teams laughed as Swann said ruefully, “When they take their tops off, you can see they’ve barely started puberty.”Graeme Swann was speaking at the launch of ‘StreetChance supported by Barclays Spaces for Sports’ – a cricket initiative that aims to tackle youth crime and anti-social behaviour. See Streetchance.org for details

Improved batting needed for Pune turnaround

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ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Pune Warriors in Bangalore

Sidharth Monga28-Apr-2011

Match facts

Friday, April 29, Bangalore
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Yuvraj Singh will look for more support from his batting line-up•Associated Press

Big picture

Time is running out for Pune Warriors. With four losses out of six matches, they have severe catching-up to do in their remaining eight games. And it all has to start with snapping a four-match losing streak they have accumulated. In their last three matches they have been 17 for 4, 40 for 4 and 41 for 4. The batting order is surely not ideal: Yuvraj Singh at No. 5 always runs the risk of being wasted, Mithun Manhas and Mohnish Mishra in the top four make it one non-international batsman too many, and Callum Ferguson definitely should not be on the bench considering their batting failures.Royal Challengers Bangalore, on the other hand, have started a turnaround of sorts with Chris Gayle’s arrival. They have seven points after seven matches; 14 after 14 can get them through to the qualifiers. However, they will want more than that, and will be aiming at four wins at least in the remaining games.

Form guide (most recent first)

Bangalore WWNLL (fourth in points table)
Pune LLLLW (ninth in points table)

Team talk

Pune will need to find a way to get Ferguson in. Given that they have five specialist bowlers doing a good job for them, they can easily bring him in ahead of Mitchell Marsh, who replaced Nathan McCullum for Pune’s last game.Bangalore will want to persist with their winning combination.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team selector.

In the spotlight

Jesse Ryder has got off to good starts, but has also fallen to the short ball on more than one occasion. Expect more of that from Zaheer Khan & Co.Tillakaratne Dilshan scored a golden duck in the previous game, and will look to pull his weight in what is, on paper, one of the most destructive opening combinations in the IPL.

Prime numbers

  • Virat Kohli, with 227 runs to his name, is 43 short of claiming the orange cap
  • Rahul Sharma’s 6.04 an over is the fourth-best economy-rate among bowlers who have bowled a minimum of 10 overs. Daniel Vettori, Yusuf Pathan and Doug Bollinger are ahead of him

The chatter

“We didn’t apply our brains while batting. We kept on making the same mistakes again and again.”

'An absolute black day for the sport'

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Warren Deutrom, the Cricket Ireland chief executive, has slammed the ICC’s decision to trim the next World Cup to just the 10 Full Members nations as “nothing short of outrageous”.

Andrew McGlashan04-Apr-2011Warren Deutrom, the Cricket Ireland chief executive, has slammed the ICC’s decision to trim the next World Cup to just the ten Full Members nations, describing it as “nothing short of outrageous”.The 2015 event in Australia and New Zealand will only include the ten Test-playing nations after the ICC decided against a qualification system for the tournament, which means no chance for the likes of Ireland or Netherlands to earn a place. For 2019 there is the prospect of Associates and Affiliates finding a way back in through qualification, but today’s decision has effectively frozen them out of the game’s showpiece event for eight years.The decision, while tough on all the Associate nations, is particularly hard on Ireland, who proved themselves to have been a cut above the rest of the second-tier teams during the 2011 event, with a memorable victory over England in Bangalore to add to their scalping of Pakistan on their World Cup debut in 2007. Though they still finished sixth in Group B, they were more consistently competitive than either Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, the two main beneficiaries of today’s ICC’s decision.”The conclusion can only be reached that the decisions made today were based purely on the protection of the existing membership entitlements for Full Members and the commercial imperative that a ten-team event delivers nine guaranteed matches for India and England,” Deutrom told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s nothing short of outrageous. All of the principles by which a decision should have been made in the first instance – which is what’s best for the sport and what’s acting in the best interests of all 105 members – have clearly been abandoned today.

Irish reactions on twitter

  • Gary Wilson: What is going on? Excuse the French but that is a sh*t decision! Not a world cup now, just a trophy with 10 teams. Heads up their own a***s

  • Paul Stirling: @gwilson14 Didn’t think u cud get a worse decision than ure lbw gainst the windies… I stand corrected ha!

  • Trent Johnston: The ICC have certainly made my decision to retire after the 2012 T/20 World Cup very easy, thanks for the memories… #cricket #icc.

  • Boyd Rankin: Thanks ICC!! What does Irish cricket got to do?? Shambles!!

  • William Porterfield: Trying to compensate it with 16 teams in the T20, is that cuz they make more dollars by having a few more teams in this format by any chance!!#icc

  • Niall O’Brien: mate just got of the field and I’m gutted with this news! This could halt the progress of irish cricket beyond repair. So sad now

  • Barry Chambers (media manager): ICC – no morals – no sense of fair play or natural justice. They are a disgrace and unfit to govern

“And after such a terrific event, and the wonderful occasion of the final, where the sport was incredible and regarded in such glowing terms around the world, I’m afraid this is an absolute black day for the sport. It’s a genuinely awful decision that has been reached.”Scarcely three weeks have elapsed since Ireland were the toast of world cricket, with their successful run-chase against England, led by Kevin O’Brien’s record-breaking hundred, destined to remain as one of the abiding memories in World Cup history. Boyd Rankin, one of the players who featured in that game, posted his thoughts on Twitter. “Thanks ICC!! What does Irish cricket got to do?? Shambles!!”Ireland also fought hard against West Indies and Bangladesh, and Deutrom believed his team had done enough at least to force the ICC into some sort of dialogue. “It’s a betrayal of the principles of sport and the principles of meritocracy and a level playing field,” he said.”Surely the principle of sport is that if you are good enough you should have the chance to be involved. You have an Associate member who has been out-ranking a Full Member [Zimbabwe] for most of the last four years, who has got through to the Super Eights of the 2007 World Cup, and who has been genuinely been recognised as having performed even better at this one, yet on the back of those performances it has been seen fit to reduced the number of participants at the World Cup.”Although ICC have offered an expanded World Twenty20 in place of 2015 World Cup places, Deutrom has serious concerns about the impact on the sport below Test level. Part of Ireland’s success comes from the generous support of sponsors and sports funding, but without the major prize of a World Cup to aim for, the product could be less valuable.”It’s difficult to expect sponsors to remain on board and the government to continue to offer support when the question they could quite legitimately ask is ‘why should we support you when your own sport won’t?,” he said. “High Performance countries would regard themselves as proper cricket countries who play three forms of the game. The decision here, effectively, is saying the other 95 members out of 105 should go away and concentrate on 20-over cricket.”

Priyam Garg undergoes preliminary tests after blow to the neck

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Garg was trying to take evasive action when a back foot punch from Avesh Khan struck him

Hemant Brar in Alur01-Sep-2019India Green batsman Priyam Garg was hit in the neck while fielding at silly point on day four of his side’s Duleep Trophy match against India Red in Alur. Garg was conscious but in pain as the physio applied an ice pack to the injured area. An ambulance was brought on to the field and, as a precaution, he was taken to hospital to run some tests and scans.The incident took place on the last ball of the 138th over of India Red’s innings, bowled by Rahul Chahar. Garg found himself directly in line of the travelling ball while taking evasive action against a back-foot punch from Avesh Khan. Garg’s helmet had a neck guard, which softened the impact.”Initially, we had suspected a concussion and that’s why took him for some scans. But he never showed any signs of a concussion,” India Green physio Prasanth Panchada said. “Still we are sending the MRIs to another radiologist for a second opinion but as of now he is fine and can bat as well.”Meanwhile, Avesh’s maiden first-class half-century helped India Red take a one-run lead. Avesh, who hit two fours and seven sixes in his 56-ball 64, added 73 for the tenth wicket with Sandeep Warrier; the latter contributing only 5.Despite conceding the lead, their higher quotient means that India Green are almost through to the final, unless they collapse in the second innings.

Pakistan look for fresh start after post Champions Trophy slump

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Ahead of Pakistan’s first ODI since their World Cup exit, Sarfaraz Ahmed said the new selector-cum-coach instils confidence in youngsters to play their natural game

Danyal Rasool in Karachi26-Sep-2019Ten months before Pakistan won the Champions Trophy in 2017, the death of Pakistan’s limited-overs cricket had been pronounced, and who cared what they did with the ashes? Pakistan had spent the summer prancing about England, getting pummelled ODI after another by a team that had just a year earlier failed to make the final eight at the 2015 World Cup.So how, ten months later, did Pakistan beat that same England side in the semi-final of a Champions Trophy that England were all but nailed on to win?It sure as heck didn’t happen because Pakistan got their domestic act together; the very prospect of that happening, even as the PCB have
launched a fresh initiative to restructure the circuit, feels faintly surreal. Four games before they beat India in a final that left fans in the country more gobsmacked than delirious, they had succumbed to a predictably crushing defeat against the same opponents, the perennial faults in their ODI game on full display in Birmingham almost to the point of caricature.It was supposed to be a turning point, especially when a few months later they whitewashed Sri Lanka to stretch their ODI streak to nine, and Mickey Arthur’s promises to have brought Pakistan – sometimes kicking and screaming – into the modern era seemed somehow to have worked, even if it appeared to have happened a little too quickly to be trusted.That was about as good as it got, though. Pakistan are ranked sixth in the ODI rankings, having failed to qualify for the last four of the recently concluded World Cup and replaced the entire backroom staff as a result. They would win just one ODI against a top eight ODI side in all of 2018, and a 3-2 ODI series loss to South Africa at the start of this year was followed by nine consecutive defeats by Australia and England.ALSO READ: What do Pakistan expect from coach Misbah?Since the start of 2018 until before that improbable four-match winning streak at the tail-end of the World Cup, Pakistan had won 11 of 35 completed games, seven of those coming against Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Hong Kong. It was reminiscent of the side that barely sneaked into the final automatic qualification spot for the Champions Trophy, not the one that scorched everyone in their path to win it.The promises that were made, and the ones fans imagined had been made, in those heady days in the summer of 2017, did not come to pass. As such, the tournament became a yardstick to measure performance again, but with no one, not even the coaching staff, having the foggiest idea how they came away with the title, there was no model to replicate. Hasan Ali came into the event almost unknown and walked away as the player of the tournament and the world’s best ODI bowler. Shadab Khan’s star continued to rise, and in Fakhar Zaman, Pakistan believed they had the modern opener they were robbed of when Sharjeel Khan was banned.But an innings like the one Fakhar Zaman played in that final was an outlying freak, not a replicable model, certainly not with the technical deficiencies still obvious in the left-hander’s game. Yet you get the impression Fakhar still goes out to bat every match with that innings in mind, which is hardly ideal preparation for any game. His is, after all, a game that relies heavily on confidence, and Sarfaraz Ahmed believed Misbah, the man who replaces Arthur, was the right man to instil it.”Mickey Arthur and Misbah are two very different kinds of people, obviously,” Sarfaraz said ahead of the first ODI against Sri Lanka. “He had his own style of coaching while Misbah has his. Misbah is just in so he’ll obviously bring his own philosophy to the role but he’s given players the same message. For example, he’s told Fakhar Zaman to play his natural game, because that’s what he’s in the team for.”Hasan Ali has regressed in the last year, too. After 68 wickets at under 21 in his first 33 matches, he has managed just 14 in his last 20, each
coming at just under 69 runs per scalp. Sarfaraz’s own batting has been under the microscopes, especially with Rizwan breathing down his neck now, while no one is quite sure whether Mohammad Amir, newly retired from Test cricket, will be the spearhead he was at the World Cup, or the struggling journeyman he appeared for the two years prior.There are bright spots if you squint hard enough, though. Imam-ul-Haq has cemented his name at the top of the order, a position Pakistan found a particularly pesky puzzle for several years. Babar Azam is no longer a batsman with great potential – how many of those have there been in Pakistan – but the first name on the team sheet and one of the best batsmen in the world across formats. Now, he is also Sarfaraz Ahmed’s deputy, and Sarfaraz believed he could already rub shoulders with the game’s elite.”Babar Azam can be in that category the [of Smith, Kohli, Root and Williamson] way he is progressing. In truth, he even ranks among them now. If he can keep up his form, he’ll begin to be talked among that list by everyone very quickly.”As for Pakistan’s own outlook towards the format, Sarfaraz chose to take it one step at a time. “We need to bring consistency to our ODI cricket, and for that, there are a few areas of our game we need to work on. We’re going to try to ensure it doesn’t ever get to the point where we actually need to be worried about qualifying for the World Cup again.”Nobody could the team, then, of setting their sights too high, but a reminder of what happened when they last tried that is a memory still
fresh enough for the players to recoil from. Pakistan haven’t become the team they looked like on that heady day at the Oval, but you might want to hold off on the cremation ceremony.

Ivan Toney gifts West Ham transfer boost

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Brentford striker Ivan Toney has gifted David Moyes a huge boost in West Ham United’s rumoured plans for a summer transfer, after declaring himself Premier League ready while speaking with the Daily Mail over the weekend.

The Irons have been widely credited with an interest in the Bees’ Championship star since the winter market, when Sebastien Haller’s move to AFC Ajax left Michail Antonio as Moyes’ only recognised senior centre-forward.

Toney was considered to be one of three options topping Moyes’ shortlist for potential summer targets last month, alongside Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah and Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham.

West Ham striving to seal a deal for Toney could prove expensive, with reports by TEAMtalk suggesting Brentford will demand £30m after selling Ollie Watkins to Aston Villa for £28m rising to £33m in September. Football League World have also claimed a £35m asking price.

Either sum would be a large outlay for a player only boasting 10 minutes of Premier League football in their career, but Toney has gifted Moyes a huge boost by declaring himself ready for the step up to the top-flight.

“I feel like I’m more than ready to step up into the Premier League,” the 25-year-old said. “I feel the qualities the players have, I can fit in perfectly. The deliveries the players get, I’d be able to get on the end of crosses. I feel like I would slot into the majority of teams in the Premier League.”

Toney’s confidence on the back of a 29-goal, 10-assist and counting Championship campaign should give Moyes all the reason needed to urge West Ham to fund a summer swoop, for a player who could become the Hammers’ third-most expensive signing of all time.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-west-ham-news%2c-views-and-gossip” title=”Latest West Ham news, views and gossip!”]

Toney wasted no time in settling into life at Brentford following a 24-goal, six-assist season in League One with Peterborough United last term, with the Northampton-born frontman striking home seven times in his first six Championship appearances under Thomas Frank.

The 2019/20 League One top-scorer has continued to establish himself as a free-scoring machine in the second-tier since, with Toney topping the goal charts by four to Norwich City’s Teemu Pukki (25) and eight to fellow Irons target Adam Armstrong (21) of Blackburn Rovers.

He could now follow in the footsteps of Watkins by leaving Brentford for the Premier League, where the Aston Villa forward has 12 goals to his name and impressed Gareth Southgate to earn his England debut last month.

Toney has the potential to eclipse Watkins’ successes in the top-flight too, with Darren Bent waxing lyrical over the prolific £21,000-per-week marksman at the Villans star’s expense.

“His movement is absolutely superb – [he] senses where the danger is going to be and gets himself in there,” Bent told talkSPORT in January. “He’s good in the air and he has two good feet. But where I think he excels to a Ollie Watkins and a [Neal] Maupay is that I think he’s more clinical. In and around that box with his finishing – I think he’s more cultured to his finishing.”

Toney has scored more often in the Championship this season than Pukki and Armstrong despite taking fewer shots, with the Brentford marksman attempting 117 efforts to his rivals respective 126 and 170, per WhoScored.

He has also scored more in the air with six headed goals to Pukki’s one and Armstrong’s two, which could see Toney prove to be the ideal striker for West Ham who rank second only to Chelsea (5) for accurate crosses (4.9) per Premier League game this season.

It may take a lot for West Ham to seal a deal with Brentford, and would become increasingly complicated should the Bees secure promotion, but Moyes should be urging the London Stadium hierarchy to launch a swoop this summer.

AND in other news, a £4.5m-rated West Ham enforcer is being lined up for a summer move out of east London…

Rangers fans react as Goldson ruled out of St Mirren clash

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

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Loads of Rangers fans have been reacting to a fitness update form Steven Gerrard, who confirmed Connor Goldson will not play against St Mirren.

After the emphatic win over Celtic, Rangers’ recent defeat to Kilmarnock was a real punch in the gut, and their arch-rivals have now opened up six-point gap at the summit of the table.

While the Gers did get things back on track with a 3-0 win over Livingston before a relatively easy cup victory over Cowdenbeath, fans are fearing the worst with Goldson still out.

Former Wigan & Fulham man, Jimmy Bullard recently showed that he’s still got it! Check out the video below…

It’s no coincidence that the defeat at Kilmarnock came in the defender’s absence, as he is the one individual in Gerrard’s young core of defenders that really leads and organises the group.

The boss confirmed he will miss out against St Mirren, though he did not give an indication about his status for the Aberdeen match next week.

Fans are fearing the worst about a Goldson-less future after Joe Worrall’s catastrophic mistake at Kilmarnock, and you can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…