Essex has today confirmed that left arm fast bowler Scott Brant will bejoining the Club as its second overseas player for 2003. Brant, 20, was bornin Harare, Zimbabwe, and made his first class debut for Queensland in 2001after he and his family emigrated to Australia.Commenting on the signing, Essex Chief Executive David East said:”We are delighted that Scott will be joining us this year. Although he hasonly played a limited amount of 1st class cricket for Queensland, there isno question that he has great natural ability and will undoubtedlystrengthen the Essex bowling attack in Division I of both leaguecompetitions. He comes highly recommended by many senior figures in thegame, and we wish him every success with the Club in 2003.”On confirming his appointment with the Club, Brant commented:”I am thrilled to be joining Essex this year, and really look forward to theopportunity of playing in the intense programme of county cricket. Theprospect of working with Graham Gooch and learning from players like AndyFlower and Ronnie Irani was a huge draw, and I’m sure I can make asignificant contribution. I look forward to meeting up with the players ontheir pre-season tour in Cape Town in late March”.
Somerset will be travelling to March on Wednesday June 27th to take on Cambridgeshire of the Minor Counties in the third round of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy, which was formerly the Nat West Trophy.If Somerset are successful at March they will play the winners of the match between Glamorgan and Derbyshire at The County Ground on Wednesday July 11th.Details regarding tickets for the Cambridgeshire match can be obtained from The County Ground.
A big update has emerged regarding Newcastle United and their interest in Dean Henderson…
What’s the talk?
Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano has claimed that the Magpies are eyeing up a summer swoop for the Red Devils shot-stopper.
They have been keen on signing him since the winter transfer window and Romano has stated that the 25-year-old’s current club are yet to decide what they are going to do with him heading into the 2022/23 campaign.
The journalist tweeted: “Newcastle are interested in Dean Henderson since last January, he’s always been one of three goalkeepers in the list for NUFC. #NUFC Man United will make a decision about Dean in the summer whether let him go on loan or not. He wants to play as starter next season.”
Buzzing
This update will surely leave Newcastle supporters buzzing, as Henderson would be an excellent addition to Eddie Howe’s squad this summer.
The England international is eight years younger than Martin Dubravka and can be the long-term successor to the Slovakian between the sticks at St James’ Park. Henderson has plenty of years left ahead of him at the age of 25 and can be Howe’s first-choice for the foreseeable future.
He is a modern goalkeeper who excels at coming out to sweep the ball away and commands his box from crosses. Over the last 365 days, he ranks in the 90th percentile (FBRef) in Europe’s top five leagues for crosses stopped, preventing 10.3% of them from getting past his gloves in the Premier League.
In terms of sweeping, he ranks in the 98th percentile (FBRef) for defensive actions outside of the penalty area with 1.55 per game. This suggests that he is one of the best goalkeepers in Europe when it comes to covering his defenders when balls are played past them on the ground or in the air.
Henderson also proved his quality over the course of a full Premier League season on loan at Sheffield United in 2019/20. He kept an impressive 13 clean sheets in 36 matches for the Blades in that campaign as he averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.00.
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Meanwhile, Dubravka has never averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.00 or higher across a top-flight season, while his best tally for clean sheets currently stands at 11. He also lacks well behind Henderson when it comes to claiming crosses and engaging in defensive actions outside of his box, ranking in the 72nd and ninth percentiles (FBRef) respectively over the last 365 days.
This suggests that Henderson would be an upgrade on the 33-year-old next season with his all-around skillset as a goalkeeper, and that is why Newcastle fans will surely be delighted by the club’s pursuit of his services heading into the summer transfer window.
AND in other news, Left for £0, now the next Sancho: NUFC will have nightmares over 18 y/o “huge talent”…
Riding on a half-century by Ian Bell and a five-for by James Anderson, England started their tour of New Zealand on a positive note with a 34-run win in the warm-up match against Canterbury in Christchurch.Bell’s 79 and his 95-run partnership with Kevin Pietersen (48) laid the base for some lower-order fireworks by Luke Wright, which took the England XI to 295 in their 50 overs. Wright’s 42, at No. 8, came off 15 balls with three fours and three sixes. He added an unbeaten 59 in four overs with Ravi Bopara.Wright said he wasn’t certain he would get a chance to bat. “It all happened quite quickly and it was nice to get in for five overs and luckily it went well,” he said. “I suppose it suits me to either go in at the top of the order or going in at the end and just trying to get bat on ball. It was perfect for me and Ravi to go in and have a go.”We’ve got a strong squad so everyone is fighting for their places at the moment. Every time we go out in the middle or in training, I think everyone is trying to impress and get in that first side.”Johann Myburgh’s 98-ball 87 was not enough for Canterbury to win the 13-a-side match as Anderson struck with 5 for 47. Myburgh added 81 with Peter Fulton after Anderson removed the openers. Dimitri Mascarenhas dismissed Fulton (31) and Shanan Stewart in quick succession to expose the lower order to the seamers. Ryan Sidebottom chipped in with two wickets while captain Paul Collingwood effected a run-out to dismiss Myburgh.England will play another 50-over game against the same opposition on Sunday, this time with 12 players each, ahead of the Twenty20 in Auckland on Tuesday.
India’s poor fielding has been a worry for the side through this Quadrangular tournament and a glut of missed run-out chances and misfields in the outfield cost them dear in their 91-run defeat against New Zealand at Chepauk. New Zealand, led by Suzie Bates’s maiden century, are now through to the final on March 5. India will have to beat Australia in their must-win final match if they are to join them.The Indian captain, Mithali Raj, admitted that the fielding had been disappointing so far. “There were a lot of chances in the initial overs and if we had got even one hit at the wicket we would have had New Zealand in a spot,” Raj told Cricinfo. Haidee Tiffen, the New Zealand captain, was dropped at gully when she was on 6, and went on to feature in a century partnership with Bates. The bowlers, Raj insisted, had done well but they hadn’t got enough support from their fielders.Raj also explained that, although India does not have a fielding coach, the team requests the services of a local expert at every venue they play. “We have been concentrating on collecting and then throwing from the outfield,” she added. “But we also practise throwing at the stumps and slip catching.”New Zealand, by contrast, are very impressive in their running between the wickets, diving in the outfield and aiming at the stumps, and in that department they make India look like a grade A side. “The girls are willing to throw themselves around to save runs and fortunately no-one has got injured in doing so,” said Haidee Tiffen, the New Zealand captain. “This keeps the confidence up and we keep trying.”Tiffen added that after New Zealand’s defeat to Australia, the team had sat down to work out where they were going wrong. “We had to make sure that we’d get some solid partnerships. We had a slow start though as [Jhulan] Goswami and [Rumeli] Dhar bowled well. But I am very proud of Bates and the rest of the girls for coming back after the defeat so well.”Bates herself was very happy to get her century especially, she admitted, since the first three or four days of the tour had been very hard. “It was extremely hot to start out with and is nowhere near the temperatures in New Zealand right now,” said Bates, who suffered cramps towards the end of her innings today but decided to carry on after she had taken some salts and liquids.Bates agreed with Tiffen that India’s opening bowling pair of Goswami and Dhar were the hardest to play among the three teams. But now with New Zealand through to the final, she can enjoy her nightly routine of sipping with her team-mates at their hotel, as she confessed she had been doing for a few days now.
Jason Mohammed produced an innings-saving maiden first-class century and Amit Jaggernauth chipped in with a record last-wicket support to pull Trinidad & Tobago back from the precipice on the first day of the Carib Beer International Challenge semi-final against the Windward Islands at Guaracara Park yesterday. In their team’s hour of greatest need – 171 for 9 – the pair fashioned a new last-wicket T&T regional record of 84 runs to give their side a final, fighting total of 255. The effort bettered, by 23, the 61 made by Ian Bishop and Mukesh Persad against Barbados back in 1997.In reply, the Windwards lost Rommel Cuurency, Craig Emmanuel and most crucially Devon Smith in the day’s last over – to the combination of Richard Kelly and Dave Mohammed – as they stumbled to 37 for 4 in their quest for first innings points. Undoubtedly, Jaggernauth’s responsible 33 was one of the highlights of the day for a reasonable but unspectacular Guaracara audience.But the day was Mohammed’s. Taking the spot, if not the slot, in the order Brian Lara would normally have filled, 19-year-old Mohammed, in only his second game and third innings at regional level, came up with Lara-like runs in circumstances in which the watchers would have expected the Windies master to excel. Dropped three times in his unbeaten 124, Mohammed nevertheless showed the confidence and poise that made him a certainty for the West Indies Under-19s at the recent World Cup in Sri Lanka.The work of Jaggernauth and himself, and earlier he and Kelly, also helped to spare Daren Ganga, their captain, further blushes. More than the greenish look of the strip, Guaracara’s good batting record would have influenced his decision to bat first. But by lunch – 72 for 5 – Ganga had been made to look less than astute. Ganga himself was one of three batsmen out without scoring in the session as Deighton Butler (11-1-44-2), and Jean Paul (13-1-51-2) made good use of the early moisture in the pitch and the movement it yielded.It was dramatic stuff from the time Sherwin Ganga snicked a Butler ball that left him to Junior Murray, the wicketkeeper, who then effected a tumbling left-handed take. The score was just 11. Next ball, Butler placed himself on a hat-trick when the elder Ganga was also adjudged by umpire Vincent Bullen to have edged to Murray. Dwayne Bravo survived the hat-trick ball. But, with five runs added to the total, he was a hapless bystander in his dismissal. A firm Lendl Simmons straight drive deflected off bowler Paul’s outstretched right hand and struck the stumps with Bravo, backing up, well short of his ground. The end of the game’s first hour found T&T in bad shape at 25 for 3. And things got much worse before they got better. At 42, there was more wobbling. Simmons, patient in getting to 15, succumbed to a low catch to Devon Smith in the slips off Paul, who had replaced Butler at the northern end.Thirty-six minutes were still left before lunch when Denesh Ramdin replaced him. But before Simmons had stripped off his pads, Ramdin was coming his way, too, the second first-ball victim of the morning. Defeated by extra bounce, he gave his counterpart Murray his third catch of the morning. Mohammed, having been given his first life the ball prior to Simmons’ dismissal, would have been forgiven for feeling overwhelmed by the swift decline. But uncertainty was not apparent in his play. Not unlike Ramdin, his former WI under-19 skipper, he seems to believe greatly in his ability. Primarily an on-side player despite his liking for the cut shot, he chanced his hand several times with lofted attempts over the mid-on region. But because of his general composure, which had been evident even in his debut game against Jamaica back in January, he and Kelly took their side to lunch on 72 for 5.It was hardly a position of safety. But after the interval, the precocious youngster and the ambitious, progressing all rounder improved the situation greatly. Kelly, measuring his play but still finding the boundary ten times in his knock of 58 with his clean, left-handed hitting and some fine driving, eventually added a vital 124 for the sixth wicket with Mohammed.They showed that batting was a relatively easy task on a pitch which had dried out under the sun. The problem was that there were no specialists left to support their effort. So when Kelly, losing concentration after getting to his third half-century of the season, tamely hit a Darren Sammy delivery into Rawl Lewis’ hands at short extra cover, T&T lost control again, with Kelly’s one of four wickets falling for just five runs.
New South Wales have nominated Marshall Rosen, a former Sheffield Shield opening batsman, to replace Allan Border as a national selector. The Blues must hope international experience is not a prerequisite for a place on Trevor Hohns’s panel after Victoria pushed for Ray Bright and Western Australia picked Tom Hogan.”I’d find it disappointing if the fact Marshall didn’t play Test cricket was to count against him,” David Gilbert, the New South Wales chief executive, told the Sydney Morning Herald. “There have been other good national selectors who did not play Test cricket, and we’ve all seen what a good coach John Buchanan has been for Australia.”Rosen, 56, has been a state selector for three years and Gilbert told the paper he was an astute judge who would be an excellent addition alongside Hohns, David Boon and Andrew Hilditch. Brian Taber, the former Test wicketkeeper and the current New South Wales chairman of selectors, was also considered before Rosen, who played 19 Sheffield Shield matches in the 1970s, was nominated.The deadline for applications was extended last Friday and Cricket Australia will approach contenders before making a choice next month. Damien Fleming and Darren Lehmann have also been suggested as possible replacements for Border, who stood down in April.
ScorecardClaire Taylor scored an impressive 90 as England’s women continued their good form with a 124-run win against an Eastern Province-Border Invitation Women XI.After winning the toss, England A made a steady start with Charlotte Edwards scoring a careful 40, and Jane Smit contributed 26. The key partnership, however, was between Taylor and Lydia Greenway, who hit 22. The pair added 79 for the fourth wicket.England’s score of 225, in 42.4 overs, proved far too much for the EP-Border, who nevertheless used up all 50 overs to reach 101 for 9. Beth Morgan took 3 for 24 and Jenny Gunn claimed 2 for 18.It represented a good work out for England ahead of the first one-day international tomorrow.
Otago produced an emphatic performance to beat Auckland by seven wickets, with 10 overs to spare, in their State Shield match at Molyneux Park in Alexandra today.It was a result welcomed by long-suffering Otago fans and made up for the disappointments of the first round loss to Wellington.Both the State Otago Volts and State Auckland Aces were coming off first round defeats in the competition.The crowd were treated to a good batting display by both sides but Otago scored at a much faster clip and so won the match with plenty of overs up their sleeves.Temperatures were close to 30 degrees during the match which saw Auckland win the toss and bat first. It scored a highly-competitive 246 for seven wickets.Aaron Barnes top scored with 50 while Rob Nicol scored 41, Mark Richardson 30 and at the end Craig Pryor, playing against his old team-mates, was 30 not out. Three other players got into the 20s to demonstrate the quality of the batting conditions on offer.It is however relevant to mention that this score could, and should, have bigger but unfortunately Auckland experienced periods of languid batting against some tight but not venomous bowling from Warren McSkimming, Jeff Wilson and Kerry Walmsley.Wilson took three for 42, McSkimming one for 39 and Walmsley one for 40, but Shayne O’Connor would have been disappointed with his two for 62 which was too expensive.Setting out to chase the 247 required for victory, Otago began at a fast clip with Mohammad Wasim looking all class as he followed his 70 against Wellington with a fine 51.Andrew Hore was his usual cavalier self and smashed a quick 32.But it was captain Craig Cumming with a fine knock for 75 off 74 balls with 12 fours and Robbie Lawson’s 63 not out also off 74 balls, that saw their side home to victory with overs and wickets in hand aplenty. Adding to Otago’s delight was the fact it gained a batting bonus point.Auckland, in desperation, used eight bowlers but no-one really looked likely to halt the Otago batsmen. Richard Morgan with two for 29 from seven overs looked best but leg-spinner Brooke Walker never seemed to gather any momentum and paid the price with none for 35 from his five overs. Tama Canning had none for 56 from his seven overs while Pryor had figures of none for 45 from 5.4 overs.The pick of the bowlers, a point which will not have gone unnoticed from the national selectors, was Andre Adams who bowled six overs for one for 28 while Matt Horne demonstrated his bowling prowess with five overs that cost 25 runs.Auckland joins Canterbury at the bottom of the State Shield ladder with no points while Otago are in third place. Otago meet Central Districts at Pukekura Park in their next match on January 2 while Auckland play Canterbury on the Outer Oval at Eden Park.
Gujarat played host to Baroda at Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad in the Under-16Vijay Merchant Trophy West Zone League. Baroda completed a 115 run victory onThursday thanks to the brilliance of Aditya Bochare who went home with the matchfigures of 13/107.Bochare destroyed Gujarat’s second innings on Thursday picking up 15-4-28-7bowling them out for 102 in 33 overs. On Tuesday winning the toss Baroda electedto bat and made 306 in their first innings. YK Pathan (64) and captain JDNaikwade (54) did well with the bat for Baroda as R Bhatt returned the best ofthe bowling taking 5/72. Gujarat got off to a great start thanks to Partiv Patelwho has been in prolific form this season. Patel added 133 for the first wicketwith AS Rupani who made 50 including 8 boundaries. Patel went on to complete hiscentury and was dismissed by Bochare for 101 which was studded with 13 hits pastthe ropes. Bochare went on to scalp five more victims as he finished with 6/79.Gujarat were bowled out for 283 conceding a 23 run lead to Baroda.Baroda did not do well in their second innings as they were bowled out for 194in 50.5 overs. AP Darji did well to pick 6/72 and Baroda was helped by a halfcentury by Miten Shah who made 53 which included ten strikes to the boundary.218 was the target that Gujarat had to chase for an outright win. Patel onceagain top-scored for Gujarat with 27 as Bochare turned destructive. Baroda tookhome eight points as Gujarat were left with none.