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Líder do Campeonato Brasileiro, o Palmeiras terá pela frente, no sábado o Santos, também dono de dez pontos, mas em segundo lugar por saldo de gols inferior (sete contra cinco). O rival do jogo no Pacaembu, contudo, recebe seguidos elogios pelo estilo de jogo implantado pelo técnico Jorge Sampaoli. Mas o Verdão de Luiz Felipe Scolari não fica devendo nessa comparação, de acordo com o lateral-esquerdo Diogo Barbiosa.

– Será um jogo muito difícil, contra uma equipe que vem jogando bem. Sabemos que eles têm muita qualidade, com jogadores rápidos, que trocam de posição o tempo todo,e do treinador deles. Dá para ver a qualidade dos treinos deles pelo que têm executado nos treinos. Temos de nos preparar bem porque sabemos que será pedreira. Mas nosso time também vem bem, encontrando nosso caminho – indicou o jogador.

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– Do nosso lado, temos muita qualidade, jogadores experientes e um treinador experiente. O Felipão também tem qualidade e história. Nada mais justo do que dar moral para ele, para saber enfrentar um treinador como o Sampaoli. Como o Santos está jogando bem, nós também estamos. Será um grande duelo, e temos tudo para conquistar a vitória no Pacaembu. Quem errar menos vai conseguir a vitória – apostou.

Escolhido para dar entrevista coletiva antes da reapresentação do Palmeiras, nesta terça-feira, após um dia de folga do elenco, Diogo Barbosa ainda apontou uma vantagem do Verdão: a semana livre para trabalhar só pensando no clássico. O Santos, por sua vez, abre nesta quarta-feira, em Belo Horizonte, os confrontos pelas oitavas de final da Copa do Brasil diante do Atlético-MG.

– É claro que, quando a equipe tem uma semana toda para trabalhar, treinar e estudar o adversário, sai ganhando. Tratando-se de uma grande equipe como o Santos, não muda tanto, pela qualidade dos jogadores. Mas levamos, sim, um pouco de vantagem pela semana para trabalhar. Saímos um pouco na frente por causa disso – afirmou o camisa 6, defendendo o time de Felipão das críticas, mesmo sendo líder, com melhor ataque (oito gols feitos) e defesa (um sofrido).

– Quando se trata do Palmeiras, sempre terão especulações e dúvidas. Nem sempre vai dar para jogar bonito como a maioria das pessoas querem. Às vezes, temos de ser eficientes, como temos sido na maioria dos jogos, defendendo e atacando bem. Mas, conquistando resultado, consequentemente as coisas vão acontecer. Não adianta jogar bem e perder três pontos. Nossos torcedores e as pessoas precisam ter ciência de que futebol é resultado.

Allrounder John Mooney’s maiden first-class five-for and an unbeaten half-century from Ed Joyce helped Ireland reach a strong position against Afghanistan

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Dec-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEd Joyce scored 13 fours in his unbeaten 74•ICC/Saleem SanghatiAllrounder John Mooney’s maiden first-class five-for and an unbeaten half-century from Ed Joyce led Ireland to a strong position on the second day of the ICC Intercontinental Cup final in Dubai. At close of play Ireland were 159 for 2, ahead by 164, after having clinched a five-run lead in the first innings.Mooney, who had dismissed Afghanistan’s top order on the first day, got the first breakthrough for Ireland, dismissing Rahmat Shah to break the 57-run stand for the fourth wicket. Afghanistan lost Asghar Stanikzai and Samiullah Shenwari quickly, but a 42-run stand between Mohammad Nabi and Mirwais Ashraf took the side to within 12 runs of Ireland’s first-innings score. Trent Johnston, playing his last match for Ireland, brought his side back into the game by dismissing Ashraf for 14. Afghanistan lost their last three wickets with the score on 182, as left-arm spinner George Dockrell wrapped up the tail. Dockrell finished with 3 for 52 and Johnston chipped in with two wickets, to add to Mooney’s 5 for 45.Ireland lost opener Paul Stirling early in the second innings and William Porterfield fell after a 38-run stand with Joyce. Niall O’Brien and Joyce then added 106 runs for the third wicket before stumps.

Chris Gayle, the captain of the Jamaica Tallawahs, credited allrounder Andre Russell for being the pivotal factor in his side’s title win on Saturday. Jamaica beat Guyana Amazon Warriors by seven wickets to win the inaugural Caribbean Premier League.”Russell has been fantastic throughout,” Gayle said. “He has been working on his striking and he comes through for us almost every time. I really hope he’s in the next West Indies squad.”Gayle, who won the Man-of-the-Match award for his enterprising 47 not out off 48 balls, praised his team’s commitment en route to the seven-wicket win in the final. After the match, Gayle revealed that Guyana’s strength while chasing totals had prompted him to field after winning the toss.”We are happy to actually be the champions. The management has been great and the players played their parts well. We’re a professional unit and played some good cricket,” Gayle said. “Guyana likes to chase so I think we wanted to restrict them early after winning the toss. We wanted to put them under early pressure. They have quality bowlers but our bowlers and batting maintained a high standard throughout and into the final. Sangakkara was very crucial as well as Danza (Hyatt) when we needed them to be and it’s a great team effort.”Gayle also specified his plan of action in his innings: “I said I was going to bat all 20 overs. I rather stay there until the end. I did not plan to give it away today. I wanted that so badly and I had to stay there and guys rally around me and it was really, really good.” Gayle was also adamant about how the team dispelled false truths about being a composition of Test players. “A lot of talks have been around from the start of the tournament when we picked our team. A lot of people said it was Test team but (we showed that) a Test team can actually win T20 tournaments as well.There were rumours about Gayle’s performances of late being attributed to weaker vision, but Gayle put those to rest: “People said my eyesight was gone as well and that I was not seeing the ball so a lot of things have been going on from a personal point of view so I am really happy that it is over now. I am finished with cricket for another three months,” said Gayle.Gayle was also happy that the victory had helped him address his critics: “I am happy I batted through the innings, and as captain, because this was the most important CPL match we played. I did want to silence my critics and I believe I did!”Guyana skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan, said that changes to the batting line-up had not worked for the side in this game. Offspinner Sunil Narine was sent ahead of James Franklin and Sarwan with nearly five overs to go, and the move may have cost Guyana a few crucial runs towards the end.”I take full responsibility. The (batting) adjustments didn’t pay off. We couldn’t get momentum and my mistakes cost us the game,” Sarwan said. “I live by my decisions. We played well and I think we played the best cricket prior to this out of all the teams but while we worked really hard, we lost it at the end.”Sarwan praised seamer Krishmar Santokie for his performance during the tournament. Santokie finished the tournament with 16 wickets, the most for any bowler in the CPL and Curtly Ambrose, Guyana’s assistant coach, said te seamer was “a key player that West Indies should focus on having in their team”.

Jos Buttler smashed 48 off 19 balls as Somerset returned to form in the Friends Life t20 with an emphatic 64-run victory over Glamorgan at Taunton

19-Jul-2013
ScorecardJos Buttler’s scoop was on display in Somerset colours•Getty Images

Jos Buttler smashed 48 off 19 balls as Somerset returned to form in the Friends Life t20 with an emphatic 64-run victory over Glamorgan at Taunton.The hosts posted an impressive 199 for 6 after losing the toss, Craig Kieswetter contributing a rapid 37 off 18 deliveries and Dean Cosker escaping the carnage to take 2 for 18 from his four overs.Jim Allenby and Mark Wallace got Glamorgan’s reply off to a smooth start with a stand of 73 in eight overs, Allenby cracking 69 off 39 balls, with seven fours and three sixes.But once he had fallen to the legspin of Max Waller (4 for 27) the visitors lost their momentum and plunged from 73 for 1 to 111 for 7 with only five overs remaining before being bowled out for 135 in 18.1 overs.There was no way back as Waller took a stunning caught and bowled when Marcus North blasted a full toss back at him and pulled off another fine catch at point to send back Nathan McCullum.Somerset went into the game on a three-match losing streak having failed to capitalise on their batting power plays and, even without skipper Marcus Trescothick, sidelined by an ankle problem, they put that right.Kieswetter struck five fours and two sixes and Chris Jones leant sensible support as the two openers brought the fifty up in just 3.5 overs before Kieswetter was stumped advancing down the track to Nick James.It was 70 for 1 off the six overs of Powerplay. Then Jones was brilliantly caught by the diving Graham Wagg at short cover for 20 and Glamorgan managed to put a brake on the scoring rate, thanks largely to the wily Cosker. Peter Trego could never get his timing quite right, while Nick Compton was content to push ones and twos in making 19 off as many balls.It was when Craig Meschede joined him that Buttler really began to cut loose. The 17th over, bowled by left-arm spinner James, went for 27 and the England one-day international then produced his trademark reverse scoop to hit Michael Hogan for four and six off successive balls. In all he hit three fours and four sixes in a savage display.The result keeps the Midlands/Wales /West Division open, with Glamorgan having won four and lost two, while Somerset have three victories and three defeats.

Niall O’Brien and Josh Cobb both hit centuries as Leicestershire launched their Yorkshire Bank 40 campaign in style with a resounding victory against Gloucestershire at Grace Road

04-May-2013
ScorecardJosh Cobb struck a confident hundred and followed that with three wickets•Getty Images

Niall O’Brien and Josh Cobb both hit centuries as Leicestershire launched their Yorkshire Bank 40 campaign in style with a resounding victory against Gloucestershire at Grace Road.Cobb smashed 107 and O’Brien hit 104 in an opening partnership of 193 that was the cornerstone of the Leicestershire’s total of 289. It proved too much for Gloucestershire, who never recovered from a nightmare start to their innings and were dismissed for 174 to lose by 115 runs, with Cobb following up his heroics with the bat by taking 3 for 34Cobb, the Leicestershire one-day captain, and O’Brien, on his one-day debut for the county, gave an electrifying display after Gloucestershire won the toss and decided to field first. They raced to a 50 partnership off 35 balls with O’Brien hitting five boundaries and Cobb four. By the end of the power play it was 63 without loss, and the runs continued to flow.Cobb was first to his half century off 47 balls having hit a huge six off David Payne. O’Brien soon followed, reaching his 50 off 44 balls, and both batsmen then put their foot on the accelerator. They pierced the field at will with O’Brien offering the only chance when he was dropped in the deep off Benny Howell on 86.He reached his century off 79 balls with a six and 12 fours before holing out to long off in the 27th over. Cobb went to his century off 89 balls with eight fours and three sixes. But he too perished going for another big hit.After that wickets fell at regular intervals with only Matt Boyce (28) offering much resistance as Leicestershire lost their last eight wickets for 74 runs in 10 overs with Payne taking 3 for 45.Gloucestershire made a disastrous start to the runs chase slumping to 44 for 5 in 10 overs with both Michael Klinger and Chris Dent run out by some sharp fielding from the Foxes. Then Cobb came on to bowl his offspin and capped a Man of the Match performance by taking the wickets of Ian Cockbain, Gareth Roderick and Will Gidman to finish with competition best figures. Robbie Williams also took 3 for 34 and the game ended with 35 balls remaining.

“I think the wicket was a whole lot better than 157, where a lot of batsmen made starts [but didn’t] go on to make those big scores,” Ricky Ponting says

Shashank Kishore20-Apr-20252:20

Finch: PBKS are leaving some runs on the table

Shreyas Iyer thinks Punjab Kings (PBKS) are suffering from a middle-order muddle in IPL 2025, especially at home in New Chandigarh – where they have played their final game of the season – with surfaces having thrown up a number of questions at their batters.On Sunday against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), PBKS scored 157 for 6 in their 20 overs; the last five overs produced just 38 as Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar put on a superb exhibition of death bowling. Even a feared finisher like Shashank Singh couldn’t quite find his hitting gears – he didn’t hit a single boundary in the last five overs.Their innings wasn’t as much of a struggle like it was in their previous game at the venue, where they successfully defended 110 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), but it wasn’t one they would look back on fondly either.Related

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“If you see, a majority of our batters like to go [for it] from ball one,” Shreyas said after PBKS went down by seven wickets to RCB. “We’re finding it difficult to assess the wicket if we’re batting first. That has been the scenario from match one.”Otherwise, we’ve not been able to capitalise on the starts we’ve been getting. It’s just that the wickets have been getting slower and slower, [this] being an afternoon game, we weren’t able to set a total we could defend. Even in the middle phase when we thought we could take on the bowlers, we couldn’t capitalise.”PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting’s thoughts were along the same lines.”We didn’t bat well enough. That’s the bottomline in this game. I think the wicket was a whole lot better than 157, where a lot of batsmen made starts [but didn’t] go on to make those big scores,” he said at the press conference after the game. “That’s crucial in T20 cricket, especially the guys at the top of the order. And that’s the difference.”Virat [Kohli] bats through tonight, sees his team home, and we weren’t good enough to capitalise on a good start. At the end of the powerplay we were 1 for 62 – pretty much where you want the game to be. Straightaway you’re looking at a score of 180-plus, even pushing on to 200 if the middle order bats well. But we lost wickets in clumps again tonight, which is not the first time in the tournament.”I thought their spinners bowled well, and their death bowling was exceptional. Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] and [Josh] Hazlewood, the four overs they bowled at the end… At the second time out, we still thought we’d get to near 180. But their death bowling was too good and we struggled to 157. Unlike the last game here, where we dragged a win out of nowhere, we weren’t good enough to do that tonight.”Shreyas counted that “great start” with the bat as one of their positives. Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh put on 42 in just 4.2 overs. But their dismissals as they looked to pick boundaries led to that problem in the middle overs, where they kept losing wickets on the face of some excellent bowling from Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya.Since his century against CSK, Arya has laid down the marker in each of the four innings – 22, 16, 22, 36 – but hasn’t been able to kick on. The story is similar for Prabhsimran, who has scores of 33, 13, 30 and 42.When asked if the openers should tone down their approach, Shreyas cautioned against anyone curbing their instincts, stressing the need for some of the middle-order batters to take the “bull by the horns.””We keep talking about adapting to the wicket, but once the ball tends to get old it doesn’t skid off the wicket that well,” Shreyas said. “Both of them are great stroke players, it’s difficult to stop their instincts. Once you say they’ve got to play according to situation, it kind of becomes hard for them to comprehend as well.”If you see other games, they’ve been giving us absolutely brilliant starts. A few of the middle-order batters, we need to step up and take bull by the horns.”Shreyas has found himself in an unusual trend of either going all-in or being dismissed early. He has been out for single-digit scores in his last three outings, two of those against RCB. On Friday, he was out looking to slash Hazlewood after being cramped for room. On Sunday, Shreyas was caught looking to clear the long-on boundary.2:57

Pujara: ‘Calm’ Shreyas does not feel captaincy pressure

“I’m in a great mind space,” he said. “I just need to cross ten runs and after that I can take on the charge. I don’t want to give reasons that I played in a particulate way. I need to be freeflowing as well and not think about what we’ve been doing in the past. Just stay in the present as much as possible and capitalise on the starts we’ve been getting.”PBKS have a six-day break after two days of frenetic travel as they played RCB back-to-back. And the time off – before they play KKR at Eden Gardens – couldn’t have come at a better time for the team.”It’s important that we go back to the drawing board, more importantly rejuvenate and refresh, because we’ve been constantly travelling since the last couple of days,” Iyer said. “It’s important to assess our body as well and see to it we’re in the best shape possible before the next game.”That game is against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens on Saturday evening.”We’ve got a nice, little break, about a six-day break now,” Ponting said. “On the back of three games in about five days, the boys need a bit of a freshen-up, time to get away, forget about this result, and make sure we focus on our next challenge, which is KKR down there [in Kolkata], which we know will be a big game for us.”

Jesse Ryder has ruled out a return to international cricket in the immediate future and is unlikely to play for New Zealand during England’s tour

Jarrod Kimber27-Jan-2013Jesse Ryder has ruled out a return to international cricket in the immediate future and is unlikely to play for New Zealand when England arrive for their tour next month, but he will be spending time with the team. Ryder had said earlier this month that he was leaving a door open for the England series but his agent confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Ryder felt he “needed more time” before he could make an international comeback.”Jesse has decided that he is not ready to return to the Blackcaps yet,” Aaron Klee, Ryder’s agent, said in an email. “He wants to stick to the plan he started last year, where he set out to achieve some personal goals and play a full season of domestic cricket.”He made a decision in June last year to take 12 months out of international cricket to achieve some of his goals. It has only been seven months since he made that decision. Whilst he has been back playing well, and starting to rediscover his enjoyment of the game, he feels that he needs more time before committing fully to playing international cricket.”Ryder was dropped after an incident during the one-day series against South Africa last year. He then decided to take a break to work on various issues, and struck form upon returning to domestic cricket. Ryder has played six matches for Wellington in the Plunket Shied, the first-class competition, scoring 580 runs at 58 with three hundreds, and was the leading run-getter in the HRV Cup, making 584 in 12 matches at 58.40.”Jesse is committed to seeing through the plan that has so far been successful,” Klee said. “He has been making very good decisions – we need to respect his decision-making in this instance as well. He still has goals he wants to achieve and achieving these would be difficult whilst playing international cricket – especially given the schedule the Blackcaps have in the coming months.”Klee said New Zealand Cricket was supportive of Ryder’s decision and was welcoming about him wanting to be involved with the team during the England series. However, he said “Jesse wants to keep to his original plan and the decision to take 12 months out of international cricket. That decision was made last June, so it is unlikely that he will deviate from his plan.”Ryder, Klee added, would play the IPL if he was selected, given it was a “domestic competition” and he would be on a “short-term contract”. Klee, though, said there wasn’t a set timeline for Ryder’s international return. “It would not be appropriate to try and put a date on a return to the Blackcaps. Many factors would have to align, including selection in the team.”Ryder is due to meet the New Zealand coach, Mike Hesson, on January 29. “The meeting was never about selection or availability – that isn’t even on the agenda for Tuesday,” Klee said. “It is a continuation of the regular discussions so Jesse wanted to dismiss any speculation before the meeting.”

The Bangladesh Premier League continues to face issues, with the players’ auction on Thursday happening with only a verbal agreement in place for the tournament

Mohammad Isam20-Dec-2012The Bangladesh Premier League continues to face issues, with the players’ auction on Thursday happening with only a verbal agreement in place for the tournament, rather than any proper paperwork; there is still no official agreement signed between the BPL, Game On Sports (the event management firm) and the franchises. Apart from this, the players’ salaries issue hung dimly above the auction floor as the seven franchises acquired the overseas and local cricketers of their choice.On the eve of the auction, BPL chairman Afzalur Rahman Sinha said: “We haven’t had enough time to sign an official agreement with the franchisees as yet. We’re going into the auction based on a verbal agreement with the franchisees.”The agreement, which, when finalised, will be for a period of six years, will contain details on the working of the tournament, TV rights and key financial issues, among other things.”I am hopeful that we’ll have the deals struck by the end of this month and I am confident that the problems that occurred last year will not be repeated,” Sinha said. “As of now, we have to keep the ball rolling.”BPL secretary Ismail Haider Mallick told reporters on Thursday that they have set the franchises a deadline: “We have completed the Memorandum of Understanding with the franchises and sent them the drafts of the contracts. We have given them the deadline of December 22 to complete all formalities.”Towards the end of the auction, some of the team owners took turns to speak to the media. Things turned sour when Salim Chowdhury, the owner of Dhaka Gladiators, was faced with a volley of questions regarding the player payments issue. “I don’t understand why the question of money keeps coming up,” he said. “If a team has spent Tk10 crore (approx USD1.25ml) and is charged with not paying Tk50 lakh (approx USD60,000), why are we facing questions? Moreover, we are also participating in the auction and the tournament, so our intention is to play cricket.”We read a lot of news about undue player payments but we have never spoken about the money we have not been paid by our sponsors.”Player payments are not the only monetary issue for Dhaka Gladiators, as a PR agency had recently sued them over unpaid payments.Another issue on the day was the rumour going around that there was a prearrangement between the franchises regarding who would buy whom at the auction. The organisers said such an arrangement wasn’t possible. “We’ve also heard the rumour that there has been an arrangement [among the franchises], but going by the auctions and the prices, I am certain it didn’t take place,” Mallick said.

In ten innings since that his Test debut at Lord’s, Jonny Bairstow has mustered 131 runs. He did not add to this tally against Hampshire at West End.

Ivo Tennant at West End12-Jul-2012
ScorecardJonny Bairstow has struggled for form since a testing Test baptism•Getty Images

Poor Jonny Bairstow. Ever since he was selected for England in mid-May, he has been expected, willed even, to score runs. Whether he is appearing in Test cricket, in T20 or, as now, in a championship fixture, out of form and in conditions wholly alien to his strokeplay, he is a failure if he does not make a sizeable contribution.In ten innings since that debut at Lord’s, he has mustered just 131 runs. He did not add to this tally at West End.The major incident of the rain-hit day – a sad one from all but Hampshire’s perspective – was that Bairstow was dismissed for a golden duck. It was not a propitious time to bat, Hampshire having won the toss on the washed-out opening day of this match and been delighted to put Yorkshire in.Bairstow came to the crease when Phil Jacques edged Kabir to Michael Bates. Since he was chosen to play for England at Lord’s in May, his scores in his ten innings have been 16, 0 not out, 4, 68, 18, 17, 2, 5, 1 and 0. In that time he was unsettled by some short-pitched bowling from West Indies’ Kemar Roach and his technique against the quicks has been analysed far and wide.True, most of these innings have been played in t20 cricket, but even there he has failed individually to shine in a successful Yorkshire side which reached the quarter-finals by topping the group.It is axiomatic that he is out of form, but the first ball he received would have dismissed many a batsman in touch.Kabir Ali, for once fully fit, his troubled knee “behaving itself” as he put it, had taken the new ball and he swung it at a full length at fast medium. He pitched up his first ball to Bairstow, found late movement off the pitch and defeated a defensive push. Bates took a straightforward catch.England’s selectors gave Bairstow their blessing to play in this fixture, one involving a lengthy journey, constant rain and conditions far from ideal for any batsman feeling his way back to prominence. Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan are regartded as ahead of him in the pecking order for the first Test at The Oval.The other wicket to fall was that of Adam Lyth, whom James Tomlinson had leg before in the fourth over. Joe Root batted throughout the 26 overs that were bowled, and will resume – always assuming there is a resumption – four runs short of a half century. He will have to contend with a refreshed Kabir, who had spoken to Craig White, the former Yorkshire all rounder and now Hampshire bowling coach, as to how best to dismiss Bairstow.”I was trying to bowl in-swingers but I didn’t know what was happening,” he admitted. “And if I don’t know what is happening, the batsman won’t either. It is a slow pitch but the ball is nibbling around a bit. This is my fifth championship match of the summer and I am feeling fine.”So another day of high summer and another wholly accurate forecast of rain: for Nigel Gray, Hampshire’s head groundsman,it is the wettest cricket season he can recall. He is not the only one.

Four companies have shown interest to PCB’s initiative to launch an international Twenty20 league in Pakistan. A proposal to launch Pakistan Premier League (PPL) will be presented by the companies to the PCB next week

Umar Farooq04-Apr-2012Four companies have shown interest in the PCB’s initiative to launch an international Twenty20 league in Pakistan. A proposal to launch Pakistan Premier League (PPL) will be presented by the companies to the board next week.”We have invited the companies to present us the plans,” PCB chief operating officer, Subhan Ahmed told ESPNcricinfo. “We are thrilled to see the initial response but we have to sit and look into the modalities and feasibility of having such an event in Pakistan involving foreign players.”Ahmed said that international player participation was necessary for the success of such a competition. However, Pakistan has been unable to host international cricket since March 2009, when Sri Lanka’s team bus was attacked by terrorists.”I can’t say that we are sure whether to play in Pakistan or abroad. But PCB has serious intention to hold the PPL. The situation definitely has improved and that is why the British [Universities] team is here in Pakistan.”Former PCB president, Nasim Ashraf, floated the original idea in 2007. While, the idea was scrapped later scrapped in Pakistan, similar leagues have cropped up in Bangladesh, Australia and South Africa after the success of the IPL.”PPL was held back for several reason in the past, but this time we are very keen and serious on launching our league as an attempt to bring the international cricket back in the country.”