Category Uncategorized

Chris Taylor and Will Gidman, plus a big helping hand from the weather, enabledGloucestershire to earn a draw against Essex in their County Championshipclash at Colchester

20-Aug-2011
Scorecard
Chris Taylor and Will Gidman, plus a big helping hand from the weather, enabledGloucestershire to earn a draw against Essex in their County Championshipclash at Colchester.After being set a huge victory target of 388 in 88 overs, the visitors finishedon 231 for 5, with Taylor striking an unbeaten 103 and Gidman making 57 in anunbroken stand of 133 spanning 106 minutes.They had come together with their side on 98 for five and went on to defy asuccession of bowling changes to guide their team to safety, although raindeprived Essex of 28 overs in which to force a victory that would have keptalive their slender promotion aspirations. The visitors’ hopes of launching their victory bid on a sound footing were soon dashed.Richard Coughtrie departed without a run on the board, caught in the slips byRyan ten Doeschate off the bowling of Maurice Chambers, and David Masters snaredtwo more wickets before the 50 was raised.Kane Williamson was caught behind by James Foster for 19 and then Tom Westley’ssafe pair of hands at second slip accounted for opener Chris Dent (16). Gloucestershire avoided further mishap before lunch, taken at 71 for three, but were plunged into further trouble immediately afterwards by Graham Napier.First he had skipper Alex Gidman (18) easily caught by wicketkeeper Foster froma thin edge and then breached the defences of Hamish Marshall (seven) to leavethe stumps in disarray. By this stage, with half of their side back in the pavilion cheaply, the bestthe visitors could hope for was a draw. A total of 62 overs still remained, withtheir last recognised pair together.Taylor, having come in at the fall of the second wicket, was now wellentrenched and completed a fighting half-century that contained half a dozenfours. At the other end, Will Gidman was offering obdurate support as they carried thetotal to 131 before rain forced a suspension in play.When play did resume, Essex were left with 22 overs to try to force victory butTaylor and Gidman denied them with considerable ease whilst putting together anunbroken partnership of 133.Earlier in the day, Essex added a further 45 runs from six overs beforedeclaring on 288 for five immediately after Jaik Mickleburgh was run out for 84- a knock that included eight boundaries. Skipper Foster finished unbeaten on 46from 40 balls, but not before he was involved in the final of several heatedincidents in this match.It featured Jon Lewis, who appeared to obstruct Foster as he completed asingle. Angry words were exchanged before umpire Steve Gale stepped between thetwo players and the game continued.On the second day, Alex Gidman had angrily remonstrated with the same officialafter being given out lbw whilst on the opening day, Gale had reversed hisdecision against Ten Doeschate – much to the annoyance of the Gloucestershireplayers. Essex finished with 10 points and Gloucestershire eight points.

A round-up of the action from the first day of the Emerging Players Tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jul-2011South Africa Emerging Players chased down a target of 183 to win a close game against Australian Institute of Sports by five wickets at the WEP Harris Oval in Brisbane, on day one of the Emerging Players Tournament. AIS, who chose to bat, were propelled almost single-handedly by a blitz from Glenn Maxwell. Batting at No. 5, Maxwell hammered 110 off 52 balls with nine fours and eight sixes, to pull his side out of trouble – their top four had managed just 15 runs among them. None of the other batsmen who followed got past 18 either, as AIS finished with 182 for 7. South Africa were steady in reply, with each of their batsmen contributing cameos. The final flourish to push them past the line was provided by Obus Pienaar, who struck 55 off 23 to seal the game with a ball to spare.India Emerging Players began with an 18-run win against New Zealand A, at the same venue. Choosing to bat, India put on 169 for 4, as captain Shikhar Dhawan, S Anirudha and Saurabh Tiwary contributed 30s, while Manoj Tiwary top-scored with an unbeaten 45 that included four sixes. The New Zealand chase was mainly driven by a big partnership between Dean Brownlie and Doug Bracewell. Umesh Yadav got Bracewell for 47, and though Brownlie hung on to finish with 55 not out, the lack of support from the other batsmen handed India a relatively comfortable win.

John Hastings, the Australia allrounder who was bought by Kochi Tuskers Kerala for $20,000, has become the latest player to miss the IPL due to injury concerns

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Apr-2011

John Hastings, the Australia allrounder who was bought by Kochi Tuskers Kerala for $20,000, has become the latest player to leave the IPL early following injury concerns. He will head back to Australia for a scan on his shoulder, and will not return this season.”Going home from the IPL to have a scan on my shoulder. There is a lot of cricket coming up,” he tweeted. “Hopefully next year I can play a part. But yes this year there will be no IPL for me.”Hastings didn’t get a game for Kochi in the one week that he was with the team, joining them after the tour of Bangladesh. He had been a part of Australia’s World Cup squad as well, but didn’t get a look-in during the tournament.Steven Smith, another Australian allrounder bought by Kochi, had been ruled out of the IPL a week ago since he had to undergo ankle surgery.Kochi are yet to seek replacements for their injured players. They had begun the season poorly with two losses, but bounced back with wins over highly rated Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. A victory over table-toppers Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday will put them level on points at the top.

There is not one shot that Ross Taylor cannot play. He bats in a crucial position where he needs to meld the roles of providing stability and, later, acceleration. New Zealand’s captain-in-waiting knows big things are round the corner once Daniel Vettori steps down after the World Cup. Yet in the last four years, between the two World Cups, Taylor has lived the life that Billy Murray’s Phil Connors woke up to every morning in Groundhog Day – he has been turning up for the job without being able to go beyond an unsatisfactory present. At a distance he seems stuck.Strangely, nothing much seems to have changed for Taylor since his disastrous World Cup debut in the Caribbean. Then, he walked out to bat with a head full of doubts. Out of a tournament tally of 136 runs, 85 had been cracked against Kenya and the rest were all single-digit scores. From his ODI debut in 2006 till the end of 2009, he averaged more than 34 with three centuries and 11 fifties. Since then, in 28 matches, he has averaged nearly the same, but has scored eight fifties and no century. The most notable difference however, is that he has performed very poorly in away matches recently. Since the start of 2010, he averages little more than 31 with three fifties. Prior to 2010, he scored one century and nine fifties despite averaging only about 29.One of only three top-order batsmen in New Zealand’s line-up to have played more than 100 one-day internationals, the other two being Brendon McCullum and Scott Styris, Taylor does not evoke the confidence the likes of Martin Crowe and Stephen Fleming did with their batting in in the middle order. He lacks Crowe’s application and Fleming’s perseverance. Taylor might promise us that the big one is round the corner, but even he knows it is more hope than faith.”It is disappointing. On slower wickets I have probably struggled to rotate to strike and am getting out,” said Taylor, as an explanation of his troubles. “I am not sure why.” He struggled to find a clear reason for his batting inconsistencies, but holds out hope that his game will develop beyond them. “Hopefully I can show over the next couple of years and improve the stats as we play more in the subcontinent.”Ross Taylor has been stuck in a rut, but New Zealand desperately need him to continue his development as a batsman•AFP

Yet, Taylor should know better. He is New Zealand’s best player of spin in the recent years: overall against spinners Taylor has made 1028 runs at an average of 46.72. It is a few notches better in the three countries hosting this World Cup where he averages 46.85 with 328 runs. It is hard to isolate his problems: is he is playing bad shots or is it just plain failure to execute the plans? Or is Taylor just thinking too much, which is affecting his confidence.Mark Richardson, former New Zealand opener and keen thinker of the game, feels Taylor is frustrated but is definitely capable of more if he can start working on his past mistakes. “The one thing that concerns me is that his technique has not improved. He has still got the same issues. He is still playing shots that he should not be. He is still getting out in inappropriate ways. That is the biggest thing; he has not gone forward mentally with his game as much as he would’ve hoped.”The failure of New Zealand’s top order in the recent past to cobble worthy partnerships together has been the root of New Zealand’s batting woes and that is probably having an impact on Taylor. “He is probably affected by the team situation. If he was part of the team that was performing you would get the best of out him,” Richardson says.Even Taylor agrees to the fact that he is committing mistakes that he probably should not. “We are all talented. We are getting ourselves out and it is very frustrating.” Surprisingly Taylor showed the grit and the power, characteristics missing in his one-day game, to finish or set up matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore during the IPL last year. Unlike Eoin Morgan, his Bangalore team-mate, who has utilised his Twenty20 batting skills to graduate and perform in the longer versions, Taylor has failed to take the positives from the Twenty20 format into other formats. “He is one player who has struggled to chop and change between the various skills and game-plans between the formats. He does not do it as consistently as a guy with his experience should,” Richardson says.It would be harsh to lay the entire blame for New Zealand’s frequent batting failures at Taylor’s doorstep. Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill and Jesse Ryder have equal responsibility and if they are able to raise the platform in the first 15 to 20 overs, it makes Taylor’s job easier. He is one of the better players in the middle overs and even if takes about 15 overs to establish himself in the middle overs dealing with the slow bowlers, he can always accelerate later.That way he and the team can get the best results. At the moment he arrives at a point when New Zealand are gasping even before the PowerPlay overs are exhausted. “The problem is he comes in too early when the wickets are falling around him. You need some stability around him and then he can just take his time to get in. He will never score slowly. He will never be tied down. If he gets his eye in you can get the best out of Ross Taylor,” Richardson says.Hopefully Taylor is listening. He is New Zealand’s best batsman by a distance, but he lacks the willingness to play like one. He needs to change that soon. Otherwise he will never get out of Punxsutawney.

يستعد الفريق الأول لكرة القدم بالنادي الأهلي، لخوض مباراة قوية أمام منافسه غزل المحلة غدًا الأربعاء ضمن منافسات بطولة الدوري المصري الممتاز.

ويستضيف استاد غزل المحلة أحداث مباراة الأهلي مع المحلة في اللقاء الذي يقام ضمن منافسات الجولة السادسة بالبطولة الأكبر محليًا.

ويسعى مارسيل كولر المدير الفني للنادي الأهلي للفوز على غزل المحلة، وحصد الثلاث نقاط لصالحه، لتعزيزه موقفه في صدارة جدول الدوري، وعدم الهزيمة في البطولة المحلية.

ويتصدر الأهلي جدول ترتيب الدوري المصري برصيد 12 نقطة، محققًا العلامة الكاملة بعد الفوز على الإسماعيلي وأسوان والداخلية وطلائع الجيش.

طالع | حكم مباراة الأهلي وغزل المحلة في الدوري المصري

فيما يطمح فريق غزل المحلة في الفوز على الأهلي واختطاف الثلاث نقاط لصالحه من أجل اعتلائه صدارة جدول الدوري

كما وعد أسامة خليل رئيس شركة نادي غزل المحلة، اللاعبين بمكافآت خاصة للفريق حال الفوز على الأهلي، كما اجتمع مع اللاعبين والجهاز الفني أمس من أجل دعمهم قبل المواجهة المرتقبة.

ويتواجد غزل المحلة في المرتبة الثانية بجدول ترتيب الدوري المصري بـ10 نقاط، جمعها من 4 مواجهات، حيث نجح في الفوز بثلاث مباريات، وتعادل في لقاء.

وكانت آخر مواجهة جمعت بين الأهلي وغزل المحلة، نجح الأحمر في الفوز بهدفين مقابل هدف، وكان ذلك في الجولة الثانية والعشرون من بطولة الدوري المصري للموسم الماضي.

اختار الهولندي فيرجيل فان دايك أحد زملائه في ليفربول كأفضل لاعب لعب معه على الإطلاق.

تم طرح سؤال على مدافع ليفربول في البودكاست Pitch Side على “يوتيوب”.

وقد وقع اختيار فان دايك على زميله البرازيلي روبيرتو فيرمينو، والذي لم يستدعى لقائمة منتخب البرازيل في مونديال قطر 2022.

كان فيرمينو وفان دايك زميلين في الفريق منذ انتقال المدافع إلى ليفربول من ساوثهامبتون في يناير 2018 واستمرا في الفوز بكل بطولة كبيرة معًا.

اقرأ أيضًا | فان دايك: البرازيل ذاكرتي الحقيقية عن المونديال.. والتتويج باللقب سيجعلني أسعد رجل بالعالم

كان على كابتن هولندا أن يلعب أيضًا ضد فيرمينو خلال الفترة التي قضاها في ساوثهامبتون، عندما كان البرازيلي يلعب كمهاجم وهمي مع الريدز.

قال فان دايك: “أود أن أقول في ليفربول إنه بوبي فيرمينو، لكنني أعرف أيضًا مدى صعوبة اللعب ضده كمدافع لأنه يسقط بعمق”.

وأضاف: “أستطيع أن أقول هو الأفضل، لكن محمد صلاح، ساديو ماني، تياجو (ألكانتارا) الآن، لقد كان اللعب مع هؤلاء الأشخاص ممتعًا”.

Tottenham Hotspur have been handed a boost in their bid to bring Stefan de Vrij to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the summer transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a claim made by Italian journalist Alfredo Pedulla (via Sport Witness), who revealed that, with Inter Milan pursuing a deal for Torino centre-back Gleison Bremer, the Serie A side have decided they would be willing to part with De Vrij at the end of the season.

Pedulla goes on to state that the centre-back himself has also come to the conclusion that he will not renew his current deal at the San Siro, something that is sure to come as a huge boost to Antonio Conte – who is reported to have requested the 30-year-old’s signing this summer.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-spurs-news-transfer-rumours-gossip-martinez-dybala-spence-conte-2” title= “Read the latest Spurs news!”]

Speaking about the future of the Netherlands international, the journalist said: “In January, [Bremer] gave his word to Inter; there is a fictitious and unpublicised clause for the transfer at €25m-€30m (£21m-£25m). In my opinion, it should cost at least €40m (£33m) or more.

“I don’t know if there will be any quid pro quo, but the choice has been made, as has the transfer with De Vrij. There have been evaluations, and Inter have chosen Bremer. De Vrij will not renew his contract; we’ll see if he has requests from Tottenham or other teams.”

Conte’s dream Spurs signing

Considering the amount of success Conte enjoyed with De Vrij in the heart of his Inter Milan defence, the argument that the centre-back’s signing would be a dream deal for Fabio Paratici to get over the line this summer is a rather easy one to make.

Indeed, over his 32 Serie A appearances under the 52-year-old manager last season, the €30m (£25m) Dutchman was a key player within Inter’s title-winning side, helping the Nerazzurri keep 11 clean sheets, in addition to making an average of 1.3 interceptions, 0.9 tackles, 2.9 clearances, 57.4 passes and winning 3.3 duels – at a success rate of 60% – per game.

These metrics saw the £116k-per-week man who journalist Deep Dastardly dubbed a defender “in the Vertonghen mould” average a very impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.03, ranking him as Conte’s 10th-best player in the Italian top flight last time out.

And, with it being reported that a left-sided centre-back – the position in which De Vrij featured for the Spurs coach at Inter – will be Paratici’s priority in the summer transfer window, the suggestion that the 30-year-old will be available to sign is undoubtedly fantastic news for everyone involved with Spurs – not least Conte himself.

AND in other news: Time’s up: Gold drops update on “embarrassing” £115m Spurs talent, Conte must now act

Rangers’ January signing Amad Diallo may not be ‘up to it’ at Ibrox, Frank McAvennie has told Football Insider.

The lowdown

With three days of the January transfer window remaining, Rangers signed Diallo on loan from Manchester United until the end of the season.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst inherited the squad of his predecessor Steven Gerrard in the autumn, but this was one of four incoming deals he sanctioned in January as he looked to put his own stamp on the squad.

Diallo made a flying start for the Gers, scoring just five minutes into his debut against Ross County on 29 January.

But Van Bronckhorst then substituted him at half time against Celtic, with Rangers 3-0 down, after he lost five of the six duels he contested and conceded possession 12 times.

He’s only played 22 Scottish Premiership minutes since, and has watched all the Europa League knockout action from the sidelines.

The latest

McAvennie stressed that Diallo has the ability but says he may have encountered something of a culture shock.

And he feels it’s fair to question the wisdom of the signing in light of what we’ve seen so far.

“It’s a different game up here,” he said. “In England, players will take the ball. In Scotland, you take the ball and the man.

“It’s frantic, you get no time on the ball. Diallo doesn’t have the time to run with the ball, it can be a shock to a player.

“He’s only a young boy and he has bags of talent but maybe Van Bronckhorst doesn’t trust him.

“There are loads of options for Rangers in that position so if you aren’t up to the job, you won’t play.

“It just makes me wonder why they signed him if he’s not up to it.”

The verdict

This was a signing that felt like it could go either way.

Diallo had showcased his immense potential at youth level, notching 28 direct goal contributions in 46 appearances for Atalanta’s Primavera side.

But, on the other hand, he’d only made 14 senior appearances for La Dea and Manchester United combined.

Rangers haven’t committed to an expensive mandatory purchase option, so from that point of view it was still perhaps a risk worth taking, but it hasn’t paid off so far.

As McAvennie says, Van Bronckhorst simply seems to have very little trust in him.

After all, BBC Sportsound pundit Derek Ferguson has accused him of looking ‘half-hearted’, while journalist Andrew Dickson described his attitude as ‘really poor’ after he allegedly backed out of a challenge against Dundee United.

If the commitment isn’t there, then he can’t expect to play in important games.

In other news, this BBC man drops a transfer claim on Cedric Itten.

Since Iranian businessman Farhad Moshiri bought a 49.9% stake in Everton back in 2016, the Merseyside club have not been shy when it comes to spending money on new players such as Richarlison, Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey to name a few.

One player that was brought in under Moshiri’s ownership that has arguably failed to live up to his price tag is attacker Alex Iwobi.

He joined Everton back in the 2019 summer transfer window from fellow Premier League club Arsenal in a deal that was reported to have been worth up to £34m, making him their fourth most expensive transfer.

In 80 appearances for the Toffees across all competitions, the 25-year-old has only managed to score six goals and provide five assists along the way, which isn’t what Everton would have hoped for given how much money they paid for him.

As well as his lack of regular goals and assists, Iwobi’s performances in an Everton shirt have come under scrutiny with journalist Dave Prentice once labelling his efforts on the pitch as “embarrassing.”

With that in mind and the fact that the January transfer window is still open for a considerable amount of time, this could be the perfect time to sign a player that can come in and potentially knock Iwobi out of the club at the same time.

Recently, Everton have been linked with a move for Ajax winger David Neres, who has 47 goals and 41 assists in 180 appearances under his belt for the Dutch club.

In 15 league appearances this season, Neres has managed to score three goals and provide two assists, despite only starting three of those games, showing that he has been more effective as a bit-part player for Ajax than £100k-per-week earner Iwobi, who has just one goal and one assist in the Premier League despite starting seven games this season.

While Neres could be a useful upgrade over Iwobi, a recent update from journalist and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claiming that Shakhtar Donetsk have agreed personal terms with the £18m-rated Brazilian could put a potential move to Everton in jeopardy.

Taking this into account, if Everton are interested in signing the 24-year-old, they may have to act quickly if they want to snatch him away from Donetsk.

In other news: “My understanding is”: Alan Myers drops EFC transfer claim that’ll have fans buzzing – opinion

كشف مدرب فريق توتنهام، أنطونيو كونتي، السبب وراء خروجه من أرض الملعب بعد تسجيل هدف الفوز القاتل على بورنموث اليوم في الدوري الإنجليزي.

وتلاقى الفريقان في الجولة الرابعة عشر من بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز، حيث فاز توتنهام بثلاثة أهداف مقابل هدفين. أهداف مباراة توتنهام وبورنموث

جاء هدف فوز توتنهام في الوقت القاتل، وتحديدًا في الدقيقة 92 عن طريق اللاعب رودريجو بينتانكور.

وظهر كونتي وهو يهرع نحو النفق المؤدي إلى غرف الملابس، بعد الهدف القاتل، حيث كادت ذكريات هدف هاري كين القاتل ضد سبورتينج لشبونة في دوري أبطال أوروبا، أن تعود لتطارده.

وسجل هاري كين هدفًا قاتلًا لصالح الديوك أمام لشبونة في دوري أبطال أوروبا، وكان ذلك الفوز كافيًا لتأهلهم إلى دور الـ16، ولكن تم إلغائه في النهاية.

وقال كونتي في تصريحات نشرتها شبكة “فوتبول لندن” الإنجليزية: “عدت إلى الملعب عندما علمت بأن الهدف سيتم احتسابه، فكرت في ذلك الوقت أنني يمكن أن أتعرض لأزمة قلبية لأنه في غضون يومين تُسجل ثم يتم إلغاء الهدف”.

وأضاف: “قلت أنني ساعود وأبقى هادئًا وأنتظر قرار الحكم، ولكن بالتأكيد كان رائعًا أن أرى رغبة لاعبي فريقي ورد الفعل الذي أظهروه في مباراة اليوم”.

وواصل: “لقد رأيت في أعين لاعبي الرغبة في الفوز بهذه المباراة، أيضًا عندما تعادلنا 2-2 كان في أذهاننا فكرة أن نأخذ الكرة سريعًا ونبدأ اللعب من جديد للتسجيل والفوز، كان رد الفعل هذا إيجابيًا، وأريده من لاعبي فريقي”.

وأردف: “بالنسبة لي هؤلاء الشباب هم أشخاص جيدون حقًا، لاعبون جيدون حقًا لكن في بعض الأحيان يفقدون الثقة بسهولة وأعتقد أنه يتعين علينا محاولة العمل ومواصلة العمل في هذا الجانب”.

وأكد: “في النهاية أعتقد أنه كان أمرًا حيويًا بالنسبة لنا هذا الفوز، خاصة بعد خسارتين في الدوري الإنجليزي والآن هذا الفوز يجب أن يمنحنا الحماس والشغف للذهاب إلى مارسيليا وخوض مباراة وكأنها نهائي”.

يحتاج توتنهام إلى نقطة فقط ضد مارسيليا في أورانج فيلودروم لضمان مكان في مراحل خروج المغلوب بدوري أبطال أوروبا قبل مواجهة صعبة في الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز مع ليفربول يوم الأحد المقبل.