All posts by h716a5.icu

Leicester have suffered a major blow in their pursuit of Atalanta full-back Robin Gosens after reports revealed La Liga giants Barcelona have entered the race for his signature.

What’s the story?

According to Spanish outlet Sport, Barca are looking at the Germany international as they step up their search for a new left-back.

The report claims that the transfer of Gosens to Leicester was taken for granted but that the 26-year-old has not signed anything with the Foxes, leaving the door open for Ronald Koeman’s charges to pounce.

Fans will be gutted

It was previously reported by Calciomercato that contracts had been drawn up between the Midlands outfit and the defenders’ representatives, implying a move to the King Power Stadium had all but been secured.

With James Justin expected to remain on the treatment table for several months following a serious knee injury, and the experienced Christian Fuchs departing over the summer, Brendan Rodgers is targeting a new left-sided defender to bolster his ranks.

After scoring an outstanding 22 goals and providing a further 16 assists in all competitions over the previous two campaigns, Gosen has attracted the attention of some of the continent’s top clubs, and it seemed as though Leicester had won the race for his signature.

However, the circumstances appear to be rather different in the present day. With Jordi Alba entering the twilight years of his illustrious career and Junior Firpo linked with a move away from the Camp Nou, the Catalan club are also on the search for a solution to their left-back conundrum.

Gosens has played a pivotal part in Atalanta’s incredible success in recent seasons, helping Gian Piero Gasperini’s men to three consecutive third-place finishes in Serie A, as well as a run to the Champions League quarter-finals in 2019/20.

The £31.5m-rated (as per Transfermarkt) beast has just 12 months left to run on his current contract and would, therefore, be available at a reduced price over the coming months, making him the ideal target for Leicester.

But Barca’s ambitions to take the powerful German to Spanish football may ruin those plans and leave Leicester’s supporters gutted.

And, in other news…Leicester City eye move for “magnificent” 22-goal gem, fans will surely be buzzing 

Some disciplined bowling by Matabeleland saw them on the verge of registering their first victory as they managed to restrict Mashonaland A on the third day of their Castle Lager Logan cup match at Queens Sports Club today

Mehluli Sibanda21-Apr-2002Some disciplined bowling by Matabeleland saw them on the verge of registering their first victory as they managed to restrict Mashonaland A on the third day of their Castle Lager Logan cup match at Queens Sports Club today.Mashonaland took a 212-run lead as they closed on 261 for seven after their first innings score of 270 in reply to Matabeleland’s 319.Mashonaland resumed the third day on 13 for no wicket in 13 overs, with their openers Grant Flower and Brendon Taylor unbeaten with eight and five runs respectively. However, Flower failed to find his form with the bat and added only 12 runs to his overnight score when he was dismissed by Mpumelelo Mbangwa, with wicketkeeper Stuart Walker taking a catch behind to dismiss him for 20 runs.Senior national team skipper Stuart Carlisle also failed to impress with thebat, scoring only four when he drove medium pacer Mike McKillop straight back, presenting him with a simple catch off his own bowling. Mbangwa took his second wicket when he had opener Taylor caught behind by Walker for 17. This dismissal sparked a collapse by Mashonaland A as the young batsman had selected his shots well and in the process played a good anchor role for his more experienced colleagues.The left-handed Gavin Rennie and hard-hitting Mark Vermeulen put life in theMashonaland innings with a fourth-wicket stand of 74 runs. Rennie went on to score his half-century in 90 balls and Mashonaland went to lunch on 84 for four.Rennie had added only three runs to his score after the break when he was given out leg-before wicket to spinner Gavin Ewing. Vermeulen was joined by Taibu in the hunt for the runs and the two put on 26 runs for the fifth wicket before Vermeulen was dismissed by McKillop, Gregory Strydom taking a brilliant catch to dismiss him for 43. The batsman was not amused by the decision and stood at the crease before he was told to leave by the umpires. Vermeulen is gaining an increasingly bad reputation for his on-field behaviour.Matabeleland suffered a severe blow in their quest to bowl out their opponents when they lost opening bowler Mbangwa, who left the field of play after lunch because of a back strain and was not able to bowl, though he later returned. Zimbabwe A batsman Alester Maregwede top-scored with 68 runs as Mashonaland A closed the day on 261 for seven in 110 overs, with Elton Chigumbura and tail-ender Prosper Utseya not out on 15 and one respectively.Play resumes in the morning with Matabeleland aiming to bowl out their opponents before they score too many more runs and then complete their victory with the bat.

Lance Gibbs may now reside in Miami, but he cannot stay away from his own country, especially when there is cricket to watch

Special Correspondent21-May-2002Lance Gibbs may now reside in Miami, but he cannot stay away from his own country, especially when there is cricket to watch. He appears in the prime of health – tall and erect, with a dignified bearing. Aside from being the first spinner to take more than 300 Test wickets, he is also an excellent raconteur.”Many spinners have gone past me in terms of wickets taken now, but I’m happy,” says Gibbs graciously. “Nowadays they are playing more matches; we could not play against Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe or South Africa, and only few Tests against New Zealand.”Our generation didn’t play for records,” says Gibbs. He proceeds to add, mischieviously, “But you should give credit to this old man for crossing the barrier of 300 Test wickets first as a spinner.”The West Indies have lacked good spinners after Sonny Ramadhin, Alf Valentine and Gibbs. Why are youngsters not interested in taking up spin? Gibbs thinks it is a lack of readiness to work hard.”Spinners should have the mentality of toiling more than any other cricketer in the nets,” opines Gibbs. “The new genration of spinners in our country are not doing that. I can tell you that I used to come to the ground first and always left it last. For a spinner, accuracy is the main thing, and for that they have to devote more time in the nets. Even when my fingers were bleeding, I didn’t leave the nets. And that is why, even after retiring from the game almost 30 years ago, you are still coming to interview me, isn’t it?”Muttiah Muralitharan, the stellar off-spinner of this generation, has his eyes on 600 wickets. Gibbs considers him a very good bowler, but he was not ready to say anything about his action. “That is for the umpires to decide,” he says, unwilling to invite controversy.When asked about the batsman who had given him the most problems, he is quick to reply. “Ian Chappell – it was really difficult to bowl against him, and I couldn’t keep any close-in fielders for him,” says Gibbs. “Neil Harvey, Ian Johnson and Colin Cowdrey also played spin with authority. My list of favourite batsmen also have Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd. Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara are there too. Every one of them is a very good player of spin.”However, he is not happy at the way Anil Kumble has bowled in this series. “Why does he keep the balls outside the leg-stump, especially when it was not turning so much?,” asks Gibbs. “To me, Sarandeep looks to be an average bowler.”

Peterborough of Director of Football Barry Fry has told Football FanCast that West Ham weren’t willing to pay his asking-price for Ivan Toney last summer.

On the back of scoring 26 goals with Posh, the striker was a man in demand, with several Premier League clubs interested in taking a risk on the 25-year-old, who’d never previously played above League One level.

And West Ham, who were on the back of narrowly avoiding relegation, were one of those sides.

The Hammers had Michail Antonio in their ranks, but with record signing Sebastien Haller having only scored seven Premier League goals during his debut season at the London Stadium, David Moyes was looking to add to his striking ranks.

But Fry revealed that he priced the West Ham owners out of a deal, and Toney eventually moved to the Championship, scoring 32 goals, including a crucial penalty in the play-offs against Bournemouth last weekend.

Fry exclusively told Football FanCast what went down with the West Ham owners:

“I spoke to David Sullivan before I sold him to Brentford, because I thought Ivan Toney would be ideal for West Ham.

“But David didn’t agree and thought I wanted too much money and didn’t think he would have the impact in the Championship.”

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have written to Yorkshire asking the club to explain the low attendance at the NatWest Series one-day international between England and Sri Lanka at Headingley on Tuesday.

CricInfo Staff04-Jul-2002The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have written to Yorkshire asking the club to explain the low attendance at the NatWest Series one-day international between England and Sri Lanka at Headingley on Tuesday.Although the ground has a capacity of 15,000, only around 9,000 spectators were present as England won the rain-affected but highly entertaining match by three wickets in the final over.The ECB’s director of corporate affairs John Read told The Guardian newspaper: “We’re very disappointed by the crowd in Leeds. Tim Lamb [the chief executive] wrote to Yorkshire [on Wednesday] seeking a full explanation.”The reasons for it will be fully discussed by the ECB’s management board. It is important to us that all our venues sell out or get as close to that position as possible.”Apart from the revenue aspect, the players prefer to play in front of fullhouses – and a big crowd makes for a much better spectator experience.”Overall the NatWest series has been a great success. We budgeted for takingsof £4 million and we’re heading for a figure of £4.2m, with a total attendance of about 180,000.”In nine of the matches we have had a sell-out or a virtual sell-out. And that includes those games coming up at Edgbaston and Bristol between India and Sri Lanka.”In view of the fact that we’ve been crowded out by the World Cup and, morerecently, by Wimbledon to a certain extent, and bearing in mind that the weatherhas been frankly awful, it has been a very good effort.”The Headingley crowd looks like a one-off, an aberration. And we want tomake sure we find the reasons why.”

Celtic have reportedly made a bid for Elfsborg defender Joseph Okumu, according to Swedish outlet Sportbladet.

The Lowdown: Okumu at the top of his game

Okumu, who has seven caps to his name for Kenya, has made 41 appearances for the Swedish side after joining the club back in 2019.

His displays appear to have caught the eye of multiple sides, and it seems as if he is at the top of his game.

Okumu’s Transfermarkt valuation has rocketed in the space of 12 months, going from £180,000 in November 2019 to £1.08m in December 2020.

The Latest: Celtic not the only club interested

Sportbladet sources have suggested that five clubs have registered their interest in Okumu and offered significant sums for the defender.

Rangers, Gent, Reims and Lorient are the four other interested parties along with the Hoops, with the highest bid for the 24-year-old just over SEK 30 million (£2.5m).

The Verdict: McKay not waiting around

With no manager or director of football in place at Parkhead, new CEO Dominic McKay would have to be the driving force behind any reported bid for Okumu.

Should he move to Celtic Park, the towering defender could end up replacing Kristoffer Ajer, with the Norwegian linked with a move to Newcastle United.

Ajer made the move to Scotland as an unknown figure back in 2016 but has established himself as a Celtic star in recent seasons, making 176 appearances, so the club could be looking to do the same with Okumu.

It remains unclear as to which of those teams tabled the £2.5m bid for Okumu out of the five clubs interested, but it seems as if the Hoops are not letting their managerial vacancy hinder their early transfer plans with McKay already making moves.

In other news: Celtic hold talks with Ange Postecoglou alternative, find out more here. 

Inzamam-ul-Haq’s massive innings of 329 recently at Lahore also set a new highest individual innings record, previously held by Javed Miandad – 280 not out against India at Hyderabad (P) in the 1982-83 series

Arshad Chughtai26-Jul-2002Inzamam-ul-Haq’s massive innings of 329 recently at Lahore also set a new highest individual innings record, previously held by Javed Miandad – 280 not out against India at Hyderabad (P) in the 1982-83 series. However, Hanif Mohammad’s Pakistan record in away Tests and for that matter in all Tests has remained intact for the last 44 years. ‘Little Master’ Hanif Mohammad had then stunned the world by sticking at the wicket at Bridgetown, Barbados for 970 minutes and scoring 337 runs against the West Indies in 1957-58.A study how the highest individual innings for Pakistan has progressed in both, home and away Tests in 50 years is presented below:

54 Imtiaz Ahmed India Dacca 1954-55 142 Hanif Mohammad India Bahawalpur 1954-55 209 Imtiaz Ahmed New Zealand Lahore 1955-56 235 Not out Zaheer Abbas India Lahore 1978-79 280 Not out Javed Miandad India Hyderabad 1982-83 329 Inzamam-ul-Haq New Zealand Lahore 2001-02

51 Hanif Mohammad India New Delhi 1952-53 124 Not out Noor Mohammad India Lucknow 1952-53 337 Hanif Mohammad West Indies Bridgetown 1957-58

Lawrie Sanchez has told The Transfer Tavern that he doesn’t think Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool connections would stop him from becoming Everton manager, amid reports the club are closing in on the appointment of Nuno Santo.

Benitez, who’s been out of work since leaving Chinese Super League outfit Dalian Professional, spent six years at Anfield between 2004 and 2010, leading the Reds to both FA Cup and Champions League glory in consecutive seasons before leaving for Inter Milan.

But the Spaniard is being seriously considered by the Toffees hierarchy which could see him make a stunning return to Merseyside, but this time across Stanley Park.

Benitez was managing in the Premier League as recently as 2019 with Newcastle but left his post at St James’ Park following constant disagreements with owner Mike Ashley.

He then enjoyed a brief spell in the Far East, but wasn’t able to add to impressive list of trophies, and is now looking to return to management after more almost six months out of a job.

And Sanchez exclusively told The Transfer Tavern that moving closer to home will be one of Benitez’s priorities were he to make the shock move to Goodison Park:

“As I understand, his family still live in the Wirral. Where he has been, his family have remained in the Wirral.

“It’s ok being paid millions, but if you’re separated and living in a hotel room, it’s no fun. So, if you can get the same sort of quality of pay close to your family, it doubles the value of it, so on that basis, I wouldn’t rule him out.

“Much as he was manager of Liverpool, I hate to say it, but we are mercenaries us managers. If the job is right for us, we will take the job.”

Canada showed that they will be no push-over in the 2003 World Cup with a stunning 49 run win over the visiting West Indies A side in Ajax yesterday

CricInfo03-Aug-2002Canada showed that they will be no push-over in the 2003 World Cup with a stunning 49 run win over the visiting West Indies A side in Ajax yesterday. A less then full-strength Canada defeated a side containing six players with experience in Tests or one-day internationals. The West Indies squad have just completed a successful tour of England where they recorded wins against several of the counties.Canada won the toss and chose to bat on a dry Ajax wicket. The Canadians struggled against the opening bowlers, particularly the pace of Powell who finished with 4/26 from his 10 overs. With De Groot, Harris, Chumney and Samad all dismissed without reaching double figures, and only Abdul Satteur (27) showing much resistance, Canada looked unlikely to post a competitive total. Ian Billcliff came to the rescue however, and put together a match-winning chanceless 73, with useful support from Bagai and Codrington.Canada’s final total of 172 looked barely adequate, especially as they were missing three of their top-bowlers from last year’s ICC trophy (Barry Seeberan due to family commitments,; and Davis Joseph and Sanjay Thuraisingam due to work conflicts). Opening bowlers Codrington, and Quebec’s Aasish Patel rose to the challenge, and bowling an excellent line and length restricted the West Indies bats from the start. Codrington picked up the wickets of Ganga, caught at cover, and Morton, and Patel trapped Bravo leg-before to leave West Indies at a precarious 29/3. Simmons could not get the ball away, and when he was caught at slip from spinner Kevin Sandher for 24, West Indies had lost their fourth wicket at 51, and twenty overs had gone. Breese and Hibbert offered some resistance but Jon Davison took full advantage of some loose shots as they tried to up the run-rate, ending up with 4 wickets for just 36 runs, as the tourists slumped to 123 all out.It was a fine all-round bowling performance by the Canadians, and West Indies coach Gus Logie was not pleased – “Our players did not display any commitment, application or effort on a beautiful wicket” he said after the game.The West Indies squad has been further depleted by an injury to Devon Smith, who will not be able to play in the remaining games of the tour (Black, Gayle and Pagon did not travel to Canada). This leaves the tourists with only twelve players. They take on the Canadians again on Sunday at Ross Lord Park, Monday at King City, and will play a two day match at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club starting August 7th.

Crystal Palace are poised to make a bid for Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher as the summer transfer window approaches.

What’s the story?

With Palace still to appoint a successor to Roy Hodgson, chairman Steve Parish is overseeing a major squad rebuild, and Gallagher could be the first addition, according to The Sun.

A £15 million offer is set to be tabled by the south London outfit, although the report claims that the England U21 international is keen on staying and fighting for his place at Stamford Bridge.

Palace need him

The 21-year-old impressed throughout a season-long loan at West Bromwich Albion in 2020/21 and has attracted the attention of several top-flight sides in recent weeks.

Gallagher made 30 Premier League appearances for the Baggies last season, scoring two goals and laying on a further two assists but was unable to prevent Sam Allardyce’s side from suffering relegation.

However, his overall performances boosted his reputation considerably, and Palace are thought to see the youngster as someone who can play a pivotal part in their engine room for years to come.

Central midfielders James McCarthy and James McArthur are set to depart Selhurst Park at the end of the month when their contracts expire, meaning fresh legs will be needed ahead of the new campaign.

The report goes on to claim that the capital club could be aided in their pursuit of Gallagher if either Frank Lampard or Swansea City manager Steve Cooper are appointed as Hodgson’s replacement in the coming weeks.

Lampard has experience of managing the box-to-box midfielder during his time at Chelsea, while Cooper has done so in the England youth set-up.

That isn’t the only connection between Gallagher and the former Blues boss, though, after ex-West Brom tactician Slaven Bilic addressed comparisons between the pair.“It isn’t going to help the boy to have so much praise, and I’m not a big fan of that, but you can’t help but notice it,” Bilic said on the Lampard comparison.“He ticks those boxes. He plays in the same position, he has everything, and it’s not a little bit of everything, it’s a lot of everything.”

Bringing in Gallagher would be seen as a significant coup by Parish this summer. Palace need the youngster with players leaving and his arrival could help to retain their Premier League status next season.

And, in other news…Worse than Nuno: Palace must avoid potential Hodgson successor with 42.51% win record