All posts by n8rngtd.top

RB Leipzig have held initial talks with Jobe Bellingham as they are determined to sign the Sunderland star in the summer.

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• Bellingham could head to Germany in the summer
• RB Leipzig held talks with the youngster
• Bellingham's Sunderland contract expires in 2028

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Bellingham could follow in brother Jude's footsteps and move to Germany in the summer as he has reportedly held talks with Bundesliga side RB Leipzig, according to Sky Sports Germany's . Leipzig have accumulated all the information regarding the midfielder, who has a deal with Sunderland until 2028. The German side currently consider Bellingham's overall package to be too expensive, but they have also made it a priority to bring him to the Bundesliga ahead of the 2025-26 campaign, the report adds.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Other than RB Leipzig, another German giant, Borussia Dortmund, is also keen on signing the player. BVB believe they will be able to convince the youngster to join the club, where his elder brother Jude spent many memorable years before switching to Real Madrid in the summer of 2023.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  The 19-year-old has impressed in the North East and looks set to move to a new club in the summer should the Black Cats miss out on promotion to the Premier League. English giants like Manchester United and Chelsea are also in the queue to secure the midfielder's signature.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR JOBE BELLINGHAM?

  For now, Bellingham remains focused on the current campaign and will be next seen in action for Regis Le Bris' side on Saturday as they face Millwall in a crucial Championship fixture.

Celtic’s superb start to the 2024/25 campaign continued as they lifted their first trophy by winning the League Cup on penalties at Hampden Park on Sunday.

They beat their Glasgow rivals Rangers 5-4 on penalties, after a 3-3 draw in regulation time, and already have one piece of silverware secured for the season.

The Hoops are also nine points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table, with 14 wins in 15 matches, and appear to be on course to land a fourth straight league title.

Brendan Rodgers won the top-flight and the SFA Cup in the 2023/24 campaign and has already lifted the only domestic trophy – the League Cup – that he missed out on last term.

His team have also performed well on the European stage. Celtic have only lost one of their six matches in the Champions League and are in the play-off places as it stands.

There are some players in the squad, however, who have not contributed much to the team’s success across all competitions and could be moved on when the January transfer window opens for business next month, including winger Luis Palma.

Why Luis Palma should be sold

It was recently reported by 67HailHail that two teams from the MLS are weighing up whether or not to swoop for the Honduras international ahead of their 2025 campaigns.

Atlanta United and Orlando City are both said to be eyeing up a possible move for the former Aris winger, who has found game time hard to come by at Parkhead this season.

He has only played 98 minutes, across four appearances, in the Premiership so far this term – 20 other players have spent more time on the pitch in the league than Palma within the squad.

The left winger has produced zero goals and zero assists in seven outings in all competitions, in what has been a disappointing follow-up to a fairly decent first season in Scotland.

Although Palma’s form dipped in the second half of the campaign, the forward showed plenty of promise with his displays at the top end of the pitch in the Premiership.

As you can see in the table above, the 24-year-old wizard was far from useless in the top-flight last term, with 16 direct goal contributions in 28 appearances.

Palma showcased his ability to make a big impact at the top end of the pitch, as both a scorer and a creator of goals, and had the ability to score goals out of nothing, as shown in the clip below.

Unfortunately, though, the forward has only scored two goals in the Premiership in 2024 and has found himself near the bottom of the pecking order under Rodgers, with the likes of Hyun-jun Yang, Nicolas Kuhn, James Forrest, and Daizen Maeda ahead of him.

Therefore, Celtic should take advantage of the MLS interest in Palma and brutally ditch him from the squad. However, they should also swoop to sign another attacking midfielder to take his place, amid interest in Chelsea’s Carney Chukwuemeka.

Celtic's interest in Premier League youngster

It was reported by The Boot Room earlier this month that Celtic are one of the clubs that have been offered the opportunity to sign the England youth international in the January transfer window.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

The outlet claimed that the Hoops and their Scottish rivals Rangers have both been told that the door is open for them to swoop for the former Aston Villa academy graduate ahead of the second half of the season.

It stated that he is not a part of Enzo Maresca’s plans moving forward and that all parties are working towards an exit next month, as he has also been offered to teams across Europe.

The Boot Room revealed that Chelsea would be open to selling him on a permanent deal, or loaning him out, depending on what offers come in for his services.

Football Insider have since added that Celtic could make a loan move for the attacking midfielder, but that they would need the Premier League side to contribute towards his wages.

Whilst it remains to be seen whether or not the Blues are willing to do that, Rodgers securing a move for Chukwuemeka would allow him to finally cash in on Palma.

Why Celtic should sign Carney Chukwuemeka

It would be somewhat of a gamble by the Hoops because the 21-year-old gem has yet to play regularly at first-team level in his career to date, which means that he would come in as a raw talent with potential, rather than a known quantity.

Celtic are already thriving across all competitions, though, and this means that they can afford to take a short-term risk or two in the transfer market, as they are not in desperate need of guaranteed hits in the January window.

The England U20 international is not an out-and-out left winger, like Palma, but has played on the left flank and as an attacking midfielder in his career, which means that he could provide cover across the frontline, as well as being a central midfield option.

Chukwuemeka’s former teammate James Norris once claimed that the midfield ace is a “a bit like Pogba” and that is backed up by Villa insider Charlie Jennings’ description of his style of play.

He told Sempre Milan: “Carney is an outstanding ball carrier from deep areas of the midfield. He is known for marauding, mind-boggling dribbles through tight areas and compliments this with a delightful array of passes.”

As you can see in the table above, the midfielder showcased his ‘mind-boggling’ dribbling skills in his most recent performance for Chelsea in the Conference League, completing three of his five attempted dribbles.

Chukwuemeka, who has scored 12 goals and produced 14 assists in 76 games as a midfielder in his senior and youth career combined, has shown promise in Europe for the Blues – as shown by his performance against Astana, but is yet to prove himself on a consistent basis.

Celtic must now offer him the chance to come in on loan and show what he can do domestically and in Europe for the Hoops, allowing Rodgers to brutally bin Palma in the process.

Celtic thought they had the next Tierney, now he's not played in 10 months

The Celtic youngster has not kicked on in the same way that Kieran Tierney did.

By
Dan Emery

Dec 17, 2024

But a wily Victoria outfit will be a stern obstacle to South Australia’s first Shield since 1996

Daniel Brettig25-Mar-2016Twenty years since their last victory, South Australia are hopeful their fearless young team’s rapid progress will continue in the Sheffield Shield final, against a Victorian side wanting nothing more than to take the match all the way to a nerve-shredding fifth day.In a climate of doubt about the future of the showpiece match, there is an eagerness on both sides to play out a contest befitting the occasion. South Australia’s season ledger of five wins and as many defeats does not suggest they are well equipped to scrap to a draw. Likewise, Victoria’s recent batting travails make a draw an unlikely prospect. This may be a Shield to be won, not salvaged.The extra 90 overs will scarcely be needed if the pitch at Glenelg Oval is anything like the lively strip on which the Redbacks rumbled Tasmania last week to vault to the top of the table. However, South Australia’s high performance overseer Tim Nielsen said he would actually prefer a less seamer-friendly surface, with his eyes on the team’s progress well beyond the next week.”I hope it’s got a little bit less grass on it – we don’t want to see anyone bowled out for 90 on the first morning of a Shield final,” Nielsen said of Glenelg Oval, where the final must be played due to the shunting of cricket from Adelaide Oval for the AFL season. “The challenge is trying to produce a wicket on a ground that doesn’t have regular first-class cricket, so it doesn’t have the consolidated rolling throughout the season or the square used for four-day cricket on a regular basis.”We’ve had two or three Futures Leagues games there, but this is a five-day game with a bigger focus. I’m hopeful it’ll just be a good-quality cricket wicket that will bounce and carry a little bit and give us the best chance to play the way we do – support our bowlers but also allow our batters to play their shots.”Victoria coach David Saker expects a fair wicket, noting how the likes of Travis Head and Jake Lehmann have prospered when given the right conditions to put pressure on bowlers. He is eager to push the game all the way to the end, reasoning that the Bushrangers’ more seasoned XI and spin bowlers Fawad Ahmed and Jon Holland can come into their own.”I don’t think it’ll be as flat as some of the wickets produced [for finals] in the last few years, it’ll be a good wicket,” Saker said. “But I don’t think they’ll green it up too much because it’s a bit too risky on the toss then. They’ll try to produce a good cricket wicket, their batters are in good form so we’ll wait and see. We’ve got two good spinners so, if it is a good wicket, we think we can win the game at the back end if we bat well enough.”Sometimes that feeling of just giving it a go like the South Australians will is a better place to play in, knowing what the trophy is and what it’s like to win it, the hunger they’ll have will be unbelievable you’d think. But our guys know what it takes and five days of cricket doesn’t sound a lot more because it’s only one day, but it is a lot more cricket. In 90 overs a lot can happen on that last day, so we’re going to fight our butts off and hopefully it comes down to that.”It seems no coincidence that South Australia are contesting their first final since 1996 in the same season when they also made the limited-overs playoff in Sydney at the start of the summer. Under Nielsen and the coach Jamie Siddons – wicketkeeper and captain in that last victory – a concerted effort has been made to focus on homegrown talent and bolster it with a more hardened attitude to fitness and skill than had become customary in the state’s cricket.The acquisition of the former AFL fitness coach Stephen Schwerdt was much publicised in Adelaide, but Nielsen explained that a challenging pre-season was part of a wider plan. For one thing, the notion of plucking imported players from interstate in search of instant results was shelved. Paradoxically but tellingly, success has arrived faster than expected.Chris Tremain is Victoria’s leading wicket-taker with 32 scalps from eight matches•Cricket Australia/Getty Images”Stephen Schwerdt was a good focus point for us but it was more about changing the culture in the place and understanding exactly what hard work was and how professional athletes went about their business,” Nielsen said. “They’ve improved a huge amount with their skills as well. They are batting, bowling and fielding better than they were at the start of the year and fitness was just one aspect of that. We set that up with a really strong, hard pre-season, and now they’re still going strong. Our bowlers have gone from strength to strength – Chadd Sayers, Joe Mennie and Daniel Worrall have been strong the whole way through and that is a benefit of being fitter and stronger.”We hadn’t had any real success on a consistent basis for a long period of time and we were probably at different stages through that period guilty of recruiting people who we thought would be a quick fix for us. At the start of last year, we really put up the fences, we didn’t let any of our good young players go and we certainly didn’t go looking for the quick fix. We backed our players and Jamie is an excellent developer of young cricketers and young men, so that was a good time for him to come into the system.”It was time to set something up for ourselves, for the future. They have done that, had a bit of luck, learned from those things, and the staff have been excellent having the big picture at the forefront of their minds. It’s not just about winning today, but setting something up that will hold some water for the next five years and have a consistent era where we are competitive.”Like Siddons, who moved from New Zealand, Saker arrived from England last year with a mandate for regeneration. Though the likes of Rob Quiney, Matthew Wade, Clint McKay and Cameron White have been around the block plenty of times, Saker sought, and has achieved, a sizeable renewal of the state’s batting stocks in particular.”We were in need of finding some younger batters in our group and the one thing I said straightaway was we’d make sure we get a couple of games into some young batters and thankfully Travis Dean’s been outstanding for us at the top,” he said. “His start to the season was amazing. So he’s got a game that I think can move on to the next level, he’s a really compact opening batter. We got some games into Aaron Ayre who I think is a really good young left-hand batter and Sam Harper kept wicket a couple of games, performed really well for us with the gloves and showed some little signs with the bat.”That’s exciting and with the ball we’ve given games to a few players. Chris Tremain has been outstanding this year coming into the state as sort of a back up bowler but now he’s one of our frontliners and he must be putting his name forward for Australian selection. We needed to freshen it up a little bit, but it’s good to have those more experienced players around the group as well to help you out. If you need to call on them, which we did with Cameron, they so often stand up. We’ve got a good mix at the moment.”South Australia’s colts have gathered momentum closer to the season finish line, while the Bushrangers rather stumbled into the final. But they did so through the determination of White’s outstanding rearguard against New South Wales in Alice Springs, a performance that Saker hopes has not only lifted the mood of what had been a fading outfit, but also shown the way forward this week.”We didn’t celebrate like we won the game but it was a very happy bunch of guys at the end of the day,” Saker said. “Cameron was exhausted but very pleased with what he’d done, and good for him because he’s struggled a bit this year at times, being out of the team. All along I’ve said he’d have a big part to play late in the season and he’s done exactly what we hoped he would do.”It was an excellent innings, unbelievably skilful to be able to handle the spin, the reverse swing, batting a bit out of his crease to make sure lbw was out of play and he just played extremely well. A quote from Graham Gooch is that it was ‘great batsmanship’ and it was great to watch, really determined stuff. Going into that last day as a coaching staff we didn’t really expect to do what we did, but it was great to see and a great shot in the arm for us going into a final after seeing a performance like that.”White knows what it is like to win, and to lose; the Redbacks are presently unaware of either. Whether Head’s young team are able to keep charging ahead without being dragged down by the weight of 20 underachieving years is the question about to be answered.

Peter Moores admits England have to work fast ahead of the World Cup but there is an all-too-familiar sense of chaos about their planning

George Dobell01-Sep-2014It seems to be a characteristic of England cricket that, while other teams utilise the natural four-year cycle in the schedule to prepare their team for the next World Cup, the English react to the impending event like a long-married man who has forgotten his wedding anniversary.Oh, they may rush to the florist and scribble a card. But the end result still tends to look ramshackle and hurried with a sense that they are hoping, rather than expecting, that things will turn out all right on the night.The 2015 World Cup carries all the hallmarks, from an England perspective, of the five that preceded it. Six months out from the event, England are not sure of their tactics or their team. In a format of the game where role definition is so important, England do not know who will fill the allrounder positions – a month ago, you might have thought Ravi Bopara was a certainty. They do not know who will bowl at the death – the experiment with Chris Jordan may well be shelved. They do know who will bowl spin – Moeen Ali is likely to win another opportunity before the end of this series. And questions over the position of the captain will remain until Alastair Cook can start contributing more with the bat.Lagging behind? England have drafted in Alex Hales but Alastair Cook’s position at the top of the order continues to come in for scrutiny•Getty ImagesSuffice to say, after four ODI series defeats in five – and there is something of an irony in the fact that the series they won, in the Caribbean, came in a team sans Cook, when they were trying to provide extra opportunities to their T20 players ahead of the World T20 – they are not among the bookies favourites for the World Cup.Peter Moores knows all this. He knows that he did not inherit a hand bursting with aces, after the retirement of Graeme Swann, the banishment of Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott’s illness. He knows the team are not playing well enough to win a World Cup. He knows he is running out of time.”We’ve got to work fast,” Moores said ahead of the fourth ODI of the series against India at Edgbaston. “We’ve got to accelerate the development of the team quicker than might be normal to get ourselves really competitive by the World Cup.”It was noticeable that, while Moores unambiguously backed Cook to lead England at the World Cup – “Yes, I’m confident he will” – he offered far less security to other players. In short, his message was, there are still places to be won in this side.”What we’re doing is we’re trying to find a balance for our team,” he said. “That’s part of the process we’re going through. We’re creating opportunities and, if you play well enough and you show you can score consistently enough, you get to stay in the team.”Our goal is to basically try to draw this series but also to prepare for a World Cup. To do that we’ve got to identify the right people in the right slots to play a brand of cricket that players feel they can deliver and be successful against the best teams.”There’s still time for people to force their way in. We’ve had a lot of change and that creates opportunity. We need to get enough experience in there but also there’s a chance to try some different things. We’ve looked at different options and that helps you evaluate a side to play in that World Cup and win.”A substantial part of their problem is the form of the captain. While the value of England’s ODI tactics can be argued either way – and the depth of feeling against their somewhat old-fashioned game plan does little to appreciate the danger of two new balls or England’s success up to the end of the Champions Trophy – there is no avoiding the fact that, if they are going to field two technically correct accumulators in the top three, one of them has to go on and contribute a match-defining total.It is not only 37 innings and 26 months since Cook made an ODI hundred, he has not reached 80 in that time either. If a player is going to devour the number of deliveries, particularly Powerplay deliveries, that Cook tends to devour, they really do have to produce something at the end of it.

Peter Moores on…

Using analysis: “The brain of a top-flight player is a fantastic bit of kit. It works fast, it takes bits of information, it sees things that sometimes a computer might not. We have to use that. The best players in the world have the ability to adapt quickly on the field, more than off the field. If analysis is being used to add clarity and help people develop their thinking, great. If it’s there to replace their thinking then it’s flawed.”
Eoin Morgan: “I’m not saying whose place is safe or not safe but Eoin is frustrated he hasn’t got a score. His skill, once he gets up and running, is that he’s hard to bowl dots to and he can attack pretty well any sort of bowling. I see him as a real key component as we go forward.”
Playing Moeen Ali and James Tredwell: “We could play both. Probably two offspinners in the same team wouldn’t normally be your absolute ideal. Moeen’s not had much opportunity yet. We saw him rapidly develop as a Test match bowler and we want to create opportunities for him at some point, to look where he’s at. We’ve seen always in international cricket some people grow very fast and that’s what we have got to find out.”

But despite Cook looking in wretched form at Trent Bridge, Moores insisted the captain was inching his way back to his best. “I think his form is going the right way,” Moores said. “If you come out of a Test match series averaging just under 50, you know you’re starting to get back into some sort of form.”He’ll be the same as everybody else, in that in the last two games – after we’ve got off to two good starts – he’ll be disappointed that he personally couldn’t push on and get a more significant score. But he’s hungry and his form is coming back. He’s starting to hit the ball better.”When he’s in form, he’s got his way of playing that can be effective in one-day cricket. It doesn’t mean he’s exactly where he wants to be, and I don’t think we are as a side.”That is true. But Moores remains confident that it is not England’s tactics that are flawed as much as their current failure to execute them. He remains unapologetic about preferring batsman such as Cook and Ian Bell to the likes of Jason Roy and James Vince.”When you bat in any one-day international, the second part of it is when you increase your scoring rate,” Moores said. “We have to score at the right rate for the pitch. There’s been lots of talk about scoring 300, but that doesn’t happen all the time. In different conditions you have to score what is a winning score on that pitch.”You’ve got to have a balance in your team of people who strike the ball and also people that rotate, that’s part of the job. You need to know you can create situations when some of your strikers, the Jos Buttlers of this world, have the freedom to play that sort of game.”We know we have people who can score at a very high rate. Alex Hales at the top, then Eoin Morgan and Buttler. But to get to that point, you’ve got to get in and build an innings.”The very best in the world are striking at 88, 89 in 50-over cricket. You can’t really go much above that, unless you’re batting in the bottom part and you’re whacking it from ball one. Fifty-over cricket isn’t quite the same as people just walk out and whack it. The best sides don’t do that either.”This pitch should suit England. It has not been used for 14 months and is expected to provide little assistance to spinners and a bit more to seamers. With a 10.30am start in a distinctly autumnal September, though, it may well prove to be a bowl-first surface. The large crowd – more than 20,000 spectators are expected – might want to arrive in good time to see what may prove the key passage of play.England’s safety-first approach might not be popular but, on a seaming pitch in Birmingham, it may prove ideal. You might ask whether that bears any relation to the conditions anticipated in Australia, in particular, at the World Cup. But a drowning man probably doesn’t worry about his pension.

Virgil van Dijk provided an update on his future at Anfield as the Liverpool captain nears free agency.

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• Van Dijk's update on his future
• Yet to sign new contract at Anfield
• Salah & Alexander-Arnold could also leave

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Van Dijk, who is in the final months of his existing contract with Liverpool, is yet to agree to sign a new deal and extend his stay at Anfield. had earlier reported that in case the talismanic Dutchman becomes a free agent at the end of the 2024-25 campaign, he could head to Barcelona, who are keen on bolstering their backline. Amid rising speculations, the Netherlands star provided an update on his future.

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  WHAT VAN DIJK SAID

  Speaking to the 33-year-old said: "In the coming months we just have to give it our all. We are still active on three fronts and that is the primary goal I have in mind. I have very, very big plans in that area.

  "Unfortunately I can't talk about personal conversations I have with the club. We've been talking for a while and the only thing I can say now is that I love this club. I'm very calm about the situation. As long as I'm calm about it, the fans can be too. If there's news, you'll hear about it. For now, I really don't know where I will be playing next season, but again: I am calm about it."

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Along with Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold are also nearing free agency. The Reds will have to initiate contract talks in the next couple of months to stop their stars from leaving for free. While Alexander-Arnold is linked with a move to Real Madrid, Salah could finally complete his much-hyped move to Saudi Arabia.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR LIVERPOOL?

  The Merseyside club, who have won just one out of their last three Premier League matches, will be next seen in action on Sunday as they host reigning champions Manchester City at Anfield.

Dele Alli is being backed to make a sensational return to Tottenham despite suffering a "big dip" in his career by former Spurs ace Clive Allen.

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• Dele currently in Italy with Como
• Waiting to make debut
• Tipped for future return to Tottenham

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Dele is currently with Serie A side Como and is aiming to get his career back on track in Italy after an injury-ravaged time in the Premier League with Everton. The 28-year-old is yet to make his debut for Cesc Fabregas's side but has been on the bench for the team's last two matches and is expected to make his first appearance for the club before the end of the current campaign.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Dele has signed an 18-month contract with Como, with an option for another campaign dependent on appearances. It remains to be seen if he will remain in Italy after his contract ends or head back to England. Former Tottenham striker Allen feels that there may be a role for Dele at Tottenham in the future, even if it's not on the pitch.

• WHAT ALLEN SAID

  He told : "Maybe that [a return to Tottenham] could be possible. Every football supporter will be wishing him well at Como. He’s had a big dip, which can happen. The fact that he’s bouncing back and getting back into the game, let’s hope he can do it. Maybe one day he can get back up to the level we know. A role at Tottenham maybe. I’m not sure if he’s a coach or a possible manager, an academy coach to give knowledge to young people. He may look at educating young players around depression and avoiding certain situations.“

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  WHAT NEXT FOR DELE

  Dele will be hoping to be in the squad once again on Saturday when Como take on AC Milan in Serie A. Fabregas' team are currently 13th in the table, and a win against the Rossoneri would leave them with an outside chance of securing a top-half finish.

He is believed to have gone for an MRI scan, with Shaheen Afridi already ruled out due to a knee injury

Shashank Kishore25-Aug-2022After Shaheen Shah Afridi’s withdrawal due to a knee injury, Pakistan have been dealt another scare ahead of their Asia Cup opener against India on August 28, with fast bowler Mohammad Wasim pulling up with back pain during training in Dubai.Wasim, who turned 21 on Thursday, complained of pain in his lower back during a bowling session at the ICC Academy. He is believed to have undergone an MRI scan. Wasim has been part of each of the team’s three training sessions since arriving in Dubai on Tuesday.ESPNcricinfo understands the scan is precautionary, with the PCB not wanting to risk a potential long-term injury, given the amount of cricket they are set to play leading into the T20 World Cup in Australia this October-November.Related

• Shaheen Afridi ruled out of Asia Cup with knee injury

• Asia Cup battles: Babar takes on Rashid, Kohli against Hasaranga

• Akram: Pakistan can 'compete against India day-in and day-out'

After the Asia Cup, Pakistan are set to play England in seven T20Is at home, followed by a tri-series in New Zealand before they head to Australia. At the Asia Cup, they could possibly play five games in 12 days should they make the Super Four stage.Wasim has so far featured in 11 T20Is since his debut last July against West Indies. He has picked up 17 wickets at an average of 15.88 and an economy of 8.10. Wasim was particularly impressive in the home series against Australia this March, where he picked up five wickets in three ODIs as Pakistan overturned a 1-0 deficit to clinch the series.The injury scare could be a concern, given the team management is already grappling with Afridi’s absence from the tournament. Despite the injury, Afridi has been part of the travelling squad for four weeks, and is currently undergoing on-tour rehabilitation in the UAE as Pakistan look to have him fit for the T20 World Cup.Afridi has been working with fast-bowling consultant Shaun Tait. His absence had earlier led to Mohammad Hasnain getting a late call-up to join the Asia Cup squad. Haris Rauf, Shahnawaz Dahani and Naseem Shah are the other fast bowlers in the tour party.PCB strengthens support staff group for Asia Cup
Pakistan have added Umar Rashid as assistant to fast-bowling coach Tait for the Asia Cup following a recommendation from head coach Saqlain Mushtaq.Rashid, who has an impressive body of work at the National High Performance Centre, has worked with all the current crop of fast bowlers around the national set-up at the age-group levels.More recently, Rashid is credited to have helped Hasnain return to competitive cricket after being reported for a suspect action during the BBL in January. The flex in Hasnain’s elbow was found to be around 17-24 degrees, well above permissible levels.

Stats highlights from the third day of the first Test between New Zealand and India in Auckland

Shiva Jayaraman08-Feb-2014

• India’s fast bowlers dismissed New Zealand for 105 in the second innings- the hosts’ fourth-lowest total against India in Tests. New Zealand were bowled out for 94 in Hamilton in 2002, which is their lowest total against the visitors. Four of the five lowest scores for New Zealand against India have come at home, with two of them being in Auckland.
• India had New Zealand tottering at 25 for 5 in their second innings. This was only the fifth time that India had their opposition five down for 25 or less in Tests. The last such instance was against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in 2005.
• New Zealand’s total in their second innings was their sixth-lowest at Eden Park. Their lowest at this venue is 26, against England in 1955.
• The third day’s play saw 17 wickets falling for 264 runs. Only once has more wickets fallen in a day at this venue in a Test- against Australia, when 18 wickets fell for 304 runs on the first day. There are only six instances of 18 or more wickets falling on a single day in Tests in New Zealand. Click here for a list of Tests in which 18 or more wickets have fallen on a single day.
• The difference between New Zealand’s total in the first innings and the second innings was 398 runs, which is the second-highest difference between their scores in two innings of a Test, and the highest when they have scored more runs in the first innings. New Zealand’s highest deficit between two innings of a Test is 497, against Sri Lanka in Wellington in 1991. On that occasion though, New Zealand made up for their ordinary show in the first innings with huge score of 671 in their second. Click here for a list of the highest difference between a team’s first and second innings.
• India’s fast bowlers took 17 wickets in the match – only the seventh instance of them taking 17 or more wickets in a Test. The last time India’s quicks notched so many wickets in a Test was against England at Trent Bridge in 2011.
• New Zealand have set India a target of 407 runs. Only four targets of 400 or more have been chased successfully in Tests. The highest target that has been chased down successfully at the Eden Park is 345, which West Indies achieved against the hosts, way back in 1969.

Bumrah-less India pay for lax fielding and death bowling as Rahul and Hardik’s fifties go in vain

Deivarayan Muthu20-Sep-20222:54

Is India’s bowling a concern heading into the T20 World Cup?

Cameron Green blitzed a 26-ball half-century in his first innings as an opener in professional cricket and Matthew Wade provided the finishing kick as Australia hunted down 209 on a flat pitch in Mohali to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.Green unleashed some Mitchell Marsh-style slog-sweeps during his 30-ball 61 to lay the platform for Australia’s tall chase. Axar Patel then applied the brakes on Australia with figures of 3 for 17 in his four overs – he was the only bowler to go at under seven an over on the day – but Wade accelerated in the end overs to ice the chase, with four balls and four wickets to spare.It was Australia’s second-highest successful chase in T20I cricket. They made Jasprit Bumrah-less India pay for their lax fielding – they dropped at least three chances – and death bowling, as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel ended with combined figures of 8-0-101-0India stay true to their attacking approach
Although both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli fell early, India kept attacking through KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya. Rahul took on the pace of Josh Hazlewood and Green while Suryakumar picked off 22 runs off nine balls from legspinner Adam Zampa.Rahul went on to notch up a half-century off 32 balls in the 11th over, but in the next, Hazlewood returned to dismiss him. Suryakumar unfurled some delightful pick-up shots and punches before Green found extra bounce and cut his innings short at 46 off 25 balls.Hardik Pandya struck a rapid 30-ball 71 not out•BCCI

Pandya-monium
The placid track, a lighting-quick outfield and incredible ball-striking formed the ingredients of a Hardik special. He smashed an unbeaten 71 off 30 balls to propel India beyond 200.He set to work with a clubbed six over midwicket off Green in the 14th over and proceeded to even squeeze yorkers – or near yorkers – away for fours. That he often flitted around the crease also threw bowlers off their lines and lengths. He reached his own fifty off 25 balls at the end of the 19th over and with only No.8 Harshal for company, he farmed the strike in the last and closed out the innings with 6,6,6.Aaron Finch gambled with Green for the final over and the allrounder ended up conceding 21. Nathan Ellis, fresh off a stint with London Sprit in the Hundred, was more impressive with his pace and length variations, returning 3 for 30 in his four overs, including the key wickets of Kohli and Dinesh Karthik.Green shows his range with the bat
Green might not have even played had Marsh or Marcus Stoinis been fit, but he seized his opportunity, giving Australia the blistering start they needed. He sent his first four balls – all from Umesh Yadav – for fours, with the third one demonstrating his firepower. Umesh took pace off and bowled a slower legcutter, but Green generated his own pace and flat-batted it back so hard that it burst through the hands of the bowler and sped into the straight boundary. Green was similarly strong against spin as well, taking Yuzvendra Chahal for 21 off a mere eight balls.Green got another life, on 42, when Axar dropped him at deep midwicket. He added 19 to his tally before Axar got him with the ball.The endgame
Green’s dismissal triggered a wobble as Australia lost three wickets for 14 runs in 12 balls. When Josh Inglis was bowled by Axar, Australia still needed 64 off 35 balls. Wade alone hit 45 off 29 balls, to expose India’s death bowling, providing a throwback to his heroics against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup semi-finals last year in the UAE.At one stage, it looked like Wade would finish the game off with Tim David after having handed David his first Australia cap. However, David fell trying to clear the boundary. Pat Cummins, though, got the job done with a four off the next ball.

Real Madrid and Manchester United legend Cristiano Ronaldo was amused to spot his lookalike in the stands during a pre-match warm up for Al-Nassr.

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• Ronaldo's doppleganger follows him to Riyadh
• Was present to watch Al-Nassr take on Al-Ettifaq
• Portuguese forward spotted him & gave thumbs-up

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The five-time Ballon d'Or winner has a legion of fans across the globe and thousands of supporters gathered to watch the Portuguese superstar in action at the Al-Awwal Park against Al-Ettifaq on Friday evening. However, Gokmen Akdogan is no ordinary devotee of Ronaldo as the Turkish youngster happens to be a doppelganger of the 40-year-old.

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• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Ronaldo, known for his keen eye on the pitch, couldn’t help but notice his lookalike while going through his usual warm-up routines. After noticing Akdogan in the stands, he immediately walked over to his Al-Nassr teammate Marcelo Brozovic, pointing out the fan’s resemblance to himself. The duo shared a hearty laugh and waved back to the fan, before returning to their warm-up routine.

• WATCH THE CLIP

  "Looks like me," Akdogan alleges Ronaldo said when whispering to Marcelo Brozovic.

  "Which one?" the Croatian seemingly replied.

  Ronaldo then pointed to Akdogan, before sprinting away, with the lookalike appreciating the gesture from his "best big brother" in a post on Instagram.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  While the incident provided a fun distraction, the game itself was anything but enjoyable for Ronaldo and his teammates as Al-Nassr suffered a disappointing 3-2 defeat to Al-Ettifaq, dealing a major blow to their title aspirations. Ronaldo drew a blank whereas former Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum delivered the knockout blow, scoring the winner in the 89th minute. To make matters worse for Al-Nassr, their newest signing, Jhon Duran, was shown a red card in the 92nd minute following a controversial decision, leaving the team further frustrated.