It’s funny how some of the most celebrated batsmen’s best knocks aren’t hundreds: Sunil Gavaskar’s 96 in Bangalore, Gundappa Viswanath’s 97 not out against an Andy Roberts-led West Indies in Chennai, on a fresh track are two prime examples. Sourav Ganguly’s 87 today on a Kanpur minefield can safely join the company. And the man himself rates this as one of his best efforts. “Considering the surface and context, this is definitely one of my top Test knocks,” was his summary after a gripping day’s play.It was inevitable that comparisons would be made with the innings he played in Johannesburg to set up a famous win. As a pure innings, Ganguly said this one was better. “In terms of pressure, that 51 in Jo’burg was better, as I was making my comeback. In terms of quality of the innings and quality of the surface, this one was definitely better.”When he was walking out in the afternoon he must have crossed Rahul Dravid almost writhing in pain, throwing away his arm guard after being hit by Morne Morkel on the right wrist, but the way he batted it didn’t seem the pitch bothered him at all. And Ganguly would be lying if he said it didn’t. “The odd ball would bounce and go through the top, and that is not in my control. These are the pitches where how you think matters. You may get out to a normal delivery as well. You cannot worry about the ball, if it goes through the top it does.”I intended to be positive, just play my game and play my shots because there was no point in surviving there and not adding runs to the scoreboard. The key for me and others like Yuvraj, VVS [Laxman], and Mahendra Singh [Dhoni] was to move the scoreboard. That was the only way to take the pressure off us, scoring runs, and I decided that if the ball was there to be hit, I would hit it.”He also said he was “very” disappointed he did not get the century he so thoroughly deserved. But the way he got out was exactly what the situation required. Three wickets had fallen rather quickly to bring the tail in; the first, that of a reckless Dhoni, triggering the collapse when India were 17 runs away from South Africa’s 265 and 3.5 overs away from facing the new ball.Ganguly had to now start dominating the strike because he couldn’t have trusted Sreesanth the way he did Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla. Looking to score, he said, was the only way to go out there. “I don’t think we threw it away. To be honest, we didn’t throw away any of the wickets.”Ganguly said he, like others, didn’t know how the track would behave over the next few days and hence couldn’t tell if a 23-run lead was good enough. But he said getting to where they did was a difficult job. “It is important that we got till 280. The wicket was difficult, the South African bowlers are quite fast, and scoring against them is difficult. Their bowlers generally bowl well on a pitch with up-and-down bounce, [Dale] Steyn especially bowled well.”There is still one wicket standing and nothing would please India more if the last pair frustrated the South Africans on the third morning and actually got India to a sizeable lead. “I hope Ishant [Sharma] and Sreesanth do a bit of magic tomorrow morning,” Ganguly said. “At the moment we are 23 ahead. And if we can get that to 50 and take a couple of wickets before they get to 50 it will be good.”Ganguly doesn’t know what target India would feel comfortable with, but cited the way they took nine wickets for 113 runs as indication that India could get South Africa out cheaply in their second innings. And if they manage to square the series, Ganguly’s 87 will feel that much more special.
Allan Donald, the former South Africa fast bowler, is determined to rekindle Warwickshire’s winning spirit of the 1990s which made them such a force in county cricket. Donald has been persuaded back to the club by their director of cricket, Ashley Giles, and although his official title is bowling coach, he will effectively be the first-team coach.Donald spurned the opportunity to become England’s full-time bowling coach after a brief stint last year, and in spite of a number of media offers he is delighted to be back at Warwickshire.”For me, it really doesn’t get any better than this,” he told . “I’m excited to be working with Ash, to be working with the first team and to be back at Edgbaston.”To be honest with you, I wouldn’t have taken the England job even if this role at Warwickshire hadn’t come up. Working with the England team was fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed it and feel I made a positive impact and, I have to say, the ECB were brilliant. They are a highly professional organisation and, in many ways, everything about the job was great.”But I’d been on the road for years. At some stage you have to put the family first. I want to see my children grow up. The thing with the media side is you still have to do the travelling. Besides, I’m more at home in tracksuit and shorts than I am with microphone and tie.”Warwickshire have suffered two dreadful seasons, despite having – on paper at least – a number of gifted players on their books. Last season, they crashed to the bottom of the Pro40 league and were relegated to the second division of the Championship.”It’s difficult when a team has been hammered for a couple of years. But there is a good spirit emerging and I’d like to think the team will have that cockiness you need by the start of the season. I was around enough last season to see how low people were. That decision to leave Ian Bell out of the side for the C&G semi-final was ridiculous but they are a good bunch and you can feel spirits rising already.”There was a great spirit with those teams in the past at Warwickshire. We laughed a lot. We enjoyed each other’s company. It meant something to play for the team. You don’t get that everywhere and it is a special club. We want to get that back.”
ScorecardFile photo – Mohammad Shahzad hit four fours and three sixes•AFP
Mohammad Shahzad struck 60 off 46 balls and the bowlers throttled the chase as Afghanistan beat Oman to take the T20 series 2-0 in Abu Dhabi.Having been inserted, Afghanistan had a strong start despite the early loss of Usman Ghani. Shahzad was circumspect early on before launching sixes off Ajay Lalcheta and Mohammad Nadeem. Shahzad then went onto reach his fifty off 38 balls with a lofted six over midwicket. Asghar Stanikzai and Karim Sadiq assisted Shahzad with useful contributions before Shafiqullah gave more impetus at the death with an 18-ball 32. Afghanistan plundered 51 off the last five overs to finish with 160.After picking up two wickets, Zeeshan Maqsood started the chase with a six and four fours but was dismissed in the third over for 24. Aaqib Sulheri’s scratchy innings came to an end three overs later. Khawar Ali and Jatinder Singh fought but struggled to keep up with the asking rate. Yamin Ahmadzai took three wickets while Rokhan Barakzai and Sayed Shirzad collected two wickets each as Oman eventually came up short by 12 runs.
Upon seeing the Hamilton track’s shock of green on Wednesday, interim head coach Jerome Jayaratne said the surface might have been “understandably doctored”. On the eve of the Test, on which the surface appeared a lighter shade of green, Angelo Mathews suggested a spicy surface may work to his team’s advantage.His thinking is this: Sri Lanka are already a game down in the series, and a flat surface that produces a draw will not help them level it. Not only will Sri Lanka’s seamers have an opportunity to take 20 wickets in Hamilton, but a pitch as spicy as this one is expected to be may have the added benefit of narrowing the quality gap between the two seam attacks. Low-scoring games are often prone to upsets.”When you play on extreme wickets, both teams have equal opportunities,” Mathews said. “It’s just that you have to get a good start whether you bat or bowl. We’ll definitely play to win because it doesn’t matter if we lose the series 2-0 by trying to win this game.”Sri Lanka are now 0-3 in their Tests in New Zealand over the past year, but have in other nations achieved victory in seam-friendly conditions. Tests in Dubai and Headingley last year were won in part thanks to the seam attack’s penetration in helpful conditions.”If we are to have a chance of winning, we should play on a wicket like this, because our seamers will also get assistance,” Mathews said. “We have a very good chance. It’s just a matter of applying ourselves while batting and putting runs on the board. That will give our bowlers a chance.”Unsurprisingly, Mathews said he would bowl first if given the chance, but hoped his bowlers would make better use of a seaming pitch than they did in Dunedin. The frontline seam attack is likely to be comprised of Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep and Dushmantha Chameera, as it was in the first Test.”If we bowl first we will definitely look to rectify the mistakes that we did in Dunedin, because we were nowhere near our best there. We’ve talked about it a lot. The bowlers have a very good understanding of what they have to do. We actually had assistance on that pitch but we didn’t bowl well. Then we let them off the hook, and once they got to 400 it was really tough for us to get back into the game. This pitch will do a lot more than Dunedin. It has a lot more grass.”Sri Lanka may be tempted to play Kaushal Silva in their top order, given the lack of any major contributions from the inexperienced players in Dunedin. However, Mathews suggested the younger batsmen would be persisted with. This means Kusal Mendis, who has played two Tests, and Udara Jayasundera, who has played one, are likely to appear together in the top three again.”We’re not trying to make too many changes at the moment because we’re trying to settle in as a team,” Mathews said. “I know we’ve got so many younger players at the moment, but we can’t just throw them out after playing one game. We’ve got to show faith in them. We might lose the odd Test along the way, but it’s a matter of having patience and trusting them.”Having visited in successive New Zealand summers now, Mathews said his team had greater insight into the home team’s capabilities. “We’ve played a lot of cricket against New Zealand and we know exactly their strengths and weaknesses. They are a very settled unit, a very experienced unit, and we’ve seen a lot of videos of them as well.”It’s just that we’ve got to do what we can do best. While bowling you’ve got to hit those areas and get them out. It’s about being able to compete. We were nowhere near the New Zealanders in the first Test and we’ve got to go out there and enjoy our cricket.”
Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Mithun is the surprise inclusion in Bangladesh’s 15-man squad for the upcoming World Twenty20. Bangladesh have also recalled allrounder Nasir Hossain for the tournament that starts in India from March 8.Mithun’s selection means the Bangladesh squad has three wicketkeeper-batsmen, including Mushfiqur Rahim and Nurul Hasan, although the keeping duties will likely be taken up by Nurul. Mithun last played a T20 international in August 2014 though that game against West Indies was abandoned due to a thunderstorm. He played mostly for Bangladesh A thereafter, and hit a century for the team on their tour of Zimbabwe in November last year. Although he made only 130 runs in nine innings for Rangpur Riders in BPL 2015, his two half-centuries in practice matches after the Zimbabwe series last month played some part in his selection.Nasir’s recall is less surprising as Shuvagata Hom, who was tried in his place in the four-match T20 series against Zimbabwe in January, didn’t quite grab the spot with his performances while batting or bowling.Chief selector Faruque Ahmed explained that Mithun’s inclusion wasn’t straightforward but his performances for Bangladesh A and his ability to shuttle between the top and middle order were taken into consideration. Faruque said that Imrul Kayes, who played two of the four T20s against Zimbabwe, was also considered but eventually missed the cut.”Mithun impressed in South Africa and Zimbabwe for Bangladesh A last year,” Faruque said. “We thought of a particular place, and we discussed that with the coaching staff. This is why we picked Mithun as a batsman who can play in the top and middle order. He is quite experienced in this format. We always felt he is a T20 player and his A-team performance put him in consideration.”Mithun wasn’t fully fit during the Zimbabwe series but he was at the training camp in Khulna that was held after the international series. He performed well there in the practice matches. But at the top level, we haven’t seen his full potential. Mithun is a good player who can show his worth if given chance in the right time and place. We had to think long and hard about Imrul [Kayes] and Mithun. The team management – coach and captain – discussed this at length and I think we all took a good decision.”Among the 18 players who played the Zimbabwe T20Is in January, Mosaddek Hossain, Imrul, Shuvagata, Muktar Ali and Mohammad Shahid haven’t made the World T20 squad. Faruque said that the experimentation in the series was done because Bangladesh doesn’t have a settled T20 line-up.”Experimenting with players doesn’t guarantee their selection,” he said. “We experiment to see if we can find something particular from a player. Until the end of the World T20, we can’t say whether the experimentation was success or failure. We did a similar thing in 2014 when we picked Sabbir for the T20s against Sri Lanka ahead of that year’s World T20. This is a format where we still have room for improvement.”Faruque said that Nurul, ‘arguably one of the best wicketkeepers in the country’, is likely to take the keeping gloves during the tournament. The youngster had also impressed with his late-order batting against Zimbabwe.”We don’t have a T20 specialist as such,” Faruque said. “Sohan [Nurul] has been playing in the A team in the last two years and also recently for the national team. He is arguably one of the best wicketkeepers in the country. He has innovation in his batting and we feel he will be most effective in T20s.”Faruque said that Bangladesh’s Asia Cup T20 squad would be “very similar” to the World T20 squad: “Imrul, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Shuvagata and Muktar will also join this squad in their training camp in Chittagong [from February 7]. They are the four standbys and have been kept with the Asia Cup in mind.”Bangladesh are placed in Group A in the first round of the World T20, with Netherlands, Ireland and Oman. They will begin their campaign against Netherlands on March 9 in Dharamsala. The team that tops Group A will join India, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand in Group 2 of the Super 10s stage.Bangladesh World T20 squad: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Arafat Sunny, Abu Hider, Nurul Hasan
Noakhali Express head coach Khaled Mahmud stormed out of the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Thursday during a training session a day before the start of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) season, getting into an auto rickshaw with assistant coach Talha Jubair after complaining about the lack of arrangements for training, including the paucity of balls.The duo, however, later returned to the stadium, with Mahmud calling the incident a “misunderstanding”.*It started when the coaches arrived for training at the stadium on Thursday, with Express scheduled to take on Chattogram Royals in a contest between two new teams on the tournament’s opening day on Friday, they found just a handful of practice balls.Mahmud and Jubair walked out of the stadium immediately.Related
BPL 2025-26 begins with question marks hovering and a World Cup to think about
“I will not work in the BPL under these circumstances. I have never seen this in the BPL before,” Mahmud told reporters while getting into the vehicle, locally called CNG. He later said that he would not be working with the Noakhali franchise.A few members of the team’s staff tried to persuade Mahmud and Jubair to return to the venue, assuring them that the mistake would not be repeated. Mahmud, however, didn’t change his stance.The players, though, continued training at the Sylhet stadium after the coaches left. They have in their ranks prominent overseas players like Johnson Charles, Kusal Mendis and Mohammad Nabi, as well as Bangladesh stars Hasan Mahmud, Soumya Sarkar and Jaker Ali.Mahmud later said that he “may have overreacted” after not receiving sufficient facilities during training. “It was a misunderstanding,” he said. “I think I may have overreacted in the moment. There were not enough facilities in training. I didn’t get the equipments I needed. That’s when I lost my temper. I think I behaved poorly at that instance. I want to thank the owners. I spoke to them. The BCB have also spoken to me.”ESPNcricinfo understands that the incident has caught BCB’s attention, and the board is looking into the matter. Noakhali is one of the four new franchises in this season’s BPL. It was the last team to be brought into the tournament this season, where six instead of seven teams will be taking part.The incident took place just a few hours after the BCB had taken over the reins at Chattogram Royals after their owners, Triangle Services Limited, gave up the franchise citing lack of sponsor interest.The two incidents just 24 hours before the start of the BPL’s twelfth edition has clearly rocked the BCB, and many of their high-ranking officials were spotted at the stadium afterwards.
Punjab, led by the returning Harbhajan Singh, were shot out 147 as Bengal‘s Pradipta Pramanik and B Amit shared six wickets between them on the opening day in Amritsar. Eighteen-year-old Shubman Gill, in his comeback match after an injury layoff, provided the lone resistance, top scoring with 63.Opting to bat, Punjab lost Jiwanjot Singh in the 10th over to Pramanik’s left-arm spin to trigger a collapse that resulted in them being shot out in just 46 overs. Gill apart, no other batsman topped 15. In reply, Bengal were off to a strong start, finishing on 70 for no loss at stumps, with Abhishek Raman (42*) and Abhimanyu Easwaran (33*) at the crease.Keenan Vaz led the middle-order resistance for Goa as they folded for 239 against Vidarbha in Porvorim. The hosts crashed to 92 for 6 having elected to bat first, as Vidarbha spinners Akshay Wakhare and Aditya Sarwate picked seven wickets between them. Vaz’s 72 took them to 216 for 8, before the last two batsmen folded.Diwesh Pathania (4 for 45) and Vikas Yadav (3 for 10) dismantled Chattisgarh as they were bowled out for 130 against Services on the opening day in Raipur. Wicketkeeper-batsman Manoj Singh’s 53 of 117, laced with seven boundaries, provided the sole resistance for the hosts, as four of their batsmen walked back for a duck. Services seamer Pathania scalped his fifth three-for this Ranji Trophy season. In reply, openers Navneet Singh (17*) and Ravi Chauhan (21*) took Services to 39 for no loss at stumps.
Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish will allow Gary McSheffrey to rejoin Championship side Coventry City when his St Andrew's contract expires in just over one week's time.
The 29-year-old came through the Sky Blues' youth team ranks and scored 53 goals in 157 appearances during his first spell with the club.
He moved to City four years ago but has struggled to become a first-team regular with the club, finding the net 20 times in 78 starts and 18 substitute appearances for the Blues.
McSheffrey ended last term on loan with Leeds United, scoring once in 11 appearances as Simon Grayson's team secured promotion to the Championship.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
McSheffrey has agreed a one-year deal with Coventry and McLeish told the club's official website: "We wish Gary all the best. He did well for us and hopefully he can recapture the form of a couple of years ago when we signed him from Coventry."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson has spoken of his pride in having two World Cup winners in the Anfield ranks.
Striker Fernando Torres and goalkeeper Pepe Reina were both part of Spain's successful squad in South Africa.
They will shortly return to Merseyside to begin preparations ahead of the new club season and Hodgson believes that everybody connected with the Reds will be lifted by their achievement.
Fellow Reds Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel were part of beaten finalists Holland's squad, while the Spanish 23-man party also contained former Anfield stars Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa.
"As Liverpool manager, I take great pride in the fact that two of our players can call themselves World Cup winners this summer," Hodgson told the club's official website.
"Unfortunately, one team had to lose that final and while my commiserations go out to the Dutch lads, I have to say congratulations to Fernando and Pepe.
"Winning the World Cup is the ultimate honour any player can have in international football and you could see what it meant to both players as soon as the celebrations started.
"I think it's safe to say the pictures of Fernando in the dressing room with the World Cup certainly went down well with our fans but the club can be proud of all the players who went away to the World Cup.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
"To have four players reach the final is an incredible achievement and I look forward to working with them when they return to Melwood after their holidays."
Meanwhile, the Reds have confirmed the departures of midfielder Francisco Duran and goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov after the pair failed to make the step up from academy to first-team level.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Newcastle United have signed Nottingham Forest defender James Perch on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee, despite the club stating in May that there will be no money spent on transfers this summer.
A statement from the board on the club’s website read:
“It is clear to the board that no organisation can be successful, until the financial position is stabilised. The board have therefore structured a five-year plan in which the ultimate goal will be to ensure that the club is run at a ‘break even’ manner by the year 2015-2016.
The first team squad that won the Championship this year will form the basis of the team for next season in the Premier League. There is no plan for new capital outlay on players.”
Since that statement has been made nothing has changed at St. James’ Park, the club have received no investment and no player has been sold. It is a strange scenario and although the board have perhaps pulled the wool over their fans eyes a little, the club have clearly decided it’s best to play their transfer cards close to their chest ahead of what is going to be a big season for them.
Clubs have often found that by stating your transfer intensions that it has a negative effect and the selling clubs tend to take advantage of the situation and knock prices up. Newcastle being coy and doing business under the radar is a smart move by the board as they look to stabalise the club’s finances and not to mention ensure that Chris Hughton has the tools required to keep Newcastle in the Premier League. Whether or not Perch will be of significant quality remains to be seen, as he doesn’t have any top flight experience, but perhaps Hughton may have pulled a masterstroke, only time will tell.
Manager Chris Hughton didn’t give any indication on the club’s transfer funds and simply said about the deal:
“James is a player I’ve admired for some time and it’s great we’ve been able to secure his services. I’m certain he’ll prove to be a great addition to our squad.”
Some supporters may not be bowled over by the signing and perhaps feel a little confused in seeing the club spending having previously claimed that there would be no outlay, but I’m sure all will be forgiven if Perch plays his part in ensuring Newcastle have a solid return to the Premier League, especially given the turmoil that has gone on at the football club in the past couple of years.
What do you make of Newcastle’s actions?
Message me on Twitter with your thoughts
Click on image below to see the ITALIAN babes at the World Cup
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.