Tag Futebol

Aston Villa are reportedly plotting an ambitious move to sign Sevilla defender Diego Carlos, as the club’s search for a new centre-back addition continues.

What’s the word?

As per The Athletic’s David Ornstein, Villa are interested in securing a deal for the 29-year-old this summer, with the Brazilian one of the options on the table for Steven Gerrard and co as they plot to bolster their defensive ranks.

Writing on Twitter about the club’s interest, the respected journalist revealed that: “Aston Villa exploring possibility of signing Diego Carlos from Sevilla. #AVFC want a centre-back & rate Brazilian as one of Europe’s best. Potential fee + salary could be problematic & may need exits first but 29yo among the options.”

The 6 foot 1 colossus had been heavily linked with a move to fellow Premier League outfit Newcastle United back in January, although the Magpies ultimately failed to strike a deal with the Spanish side.

Statement of Intent

Although it would appear to be early days in this particular deal, these links represent yet another sign of ambition from the Midlands outfit, with the club having already pulled off two marquee signings this summer.

Gerrard and co were first able to secure Philippe Coutinho on a permanent deal for a reported fee of just £17m – a mere fraction of the £142m that Barcelona paid for the Brazilian back in January 2018 – with the former Liverpool man having shone since his temporary arrival in January, scoring five and assisting three.

That notable coup was followed by the signing of Marseille midfielder Boubacar Kamara earlier this week, the Frenchman reportedly snubbing the advances of Atletico Madrid in order to make the free transfer move to Villa Park, joining on a five-year deal.

Should Carlos become the club’s third major summer signing, it would further rubberstamp the ambition of NSWE and the remarkable pulling power of Gerrard, with the central defender potentially set to trade Champions League football for life in England.

Under Julien Lopetegui’s tutelage, the £40.5m-rated gem has shone in La Liga in recent seasons, including during the 2021/22 campaign, keeping 13 clean sheets and averaging 3.5 clearances per game in the Spanish top-flight, while also winning a solid 62% of his total duels.

With speculation over the future of captain Tyrone Mings, Villa are seemingly keen on a new high profile figure to orchestrate the backline, with Carlos potentially the man to do the job – a notion that will no doubt delight the club’s supporters.

IN other news, Gerrard can now axe £20m “mistake” by signing £15m ace who’s “capable of leading” AVFC

A big update has emerged on Rangers and Ross Wilson’s plans for the summer transfer window at Ibrox…

What’s the talk?

Alan Nixon has claimed, on his Patreon page, that the Gers are plotting a bid to sign winger Dapo Afolayan as a potential replacement for Ryan Kent.

The report claims that Bolton may not be able to turn down a good offer as the player has one year left on his contract. He is currently said to be valued at a fee in the region of £1.5m, although it remains to be seen how much the Glasgow giants are willing to pay for his services.

Gio van Bronckhorst needs him badly

Wilson must ensure that he can get a deal over the line for the Englishman as the Rangers head coach is in dire need of reinforcements out wide.

Bolton commentator Derek Clark dubbed him a “master” of the dark arts and claimed that his “mentality is top-notch”. This suggests that he will be able to adapt to playing for a club the size of Rangers as he has the right mindset and attitude to make it at the top level.

He has also shown that he has quality on the pitch with the ball at his feet. In League One this season, the 24-year-old racked up 12 goals and four assists from out wide, showing that he was able to find the back of the net on a regular basis.

Whilst four assists does not make it look like he was a creative force for Bolton, his underlying statistics show that his teammates let him down. Afolayan averaged 1.6 key passes per game and created eight ‘big chances’ in total as his fellow forwards failed to make the most of the opportunities he created.

Meanwhile, Rangers’ top-scoring midfielder in the Premiership with Joe Aribo with eight goals and no player managed more than 12 in the entire squad. This shows that van Bronckhorst is in need of players who can score consistently and Afolayan has shown that he can do it in League One.

If he can carry over that form into the Scottish top-flight then he will be exactly what the head coach needs, whilst also adding creativity with his chance creation from out wide on the left. This is why Wilson must now work hard to bring the English attacker to Ibrox ahead of next season, whether Kent leaves or not.

AND in other news, GVB can unearth Rangers’ dream Steven Davis heir in “desperate” 20yo who’s “terrific”…

And which batsman made 50 in his first Test with a dozen fours?

Steven Lynch30-Oct-2018I know that Virat Kohli reached 10,000 runs in ODIs quicker than anyone else. Who was the next fastest? asked Ghulam Karmarkar from India

Virat Kohli scorched past 10,000 runs in one-day internationals during his unbeaten 157 in the tied match against West Indies in Visakhapatnam last week. That was his 205th innings, in his 213th ODI. The next fastest to 10,000 was Sachin Tendulkar, who got there in his 259th innings (266th match). That means that Kohli could make ducks in his next 50 innings, and still have the most runs at that stage of an ODI career.Of the others in the select band of batsmen who have scored 10,000 ODI runs, Sourav Ganguly needed 263 innings (272 matches) to get there, Ricky Ponting 266 (272), Jacques Kallis 272 (286), MS Dhoni 273 (320), Brian Lara 278 (287), Rahul Dravid 287 (309), Tillakaratne Dilshan 293 (319), Kumar Sangakkara 296 (315), Inzamam-ul-Haq 299 (322), Sanath Jayasuriya 328 (337) and Mahela Jayawardene 333 (355).Among current players, the only one threatening Kohli’s marks is Hashim Amla, who has so far scored 7696 runs in 166 innings (169 matches); at the same point, Kohli had 7460 runs. Since then Kohli has increased his average from 52.90 to a giddying 59.90, so Amla – who is more than five years older – will do well to keep up.Tom and Sam Curran both played for England in one of the ODIs in Sri Lanka. When was the last time England fielded brothers in the same team? asked Kenneth Day from England

I suppose it was only a matter of time before Tom and Sam Curran played in the same England team – they had racked up 24 international appearances between them before finally doing so, in the fifth ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo last week. The last pair of brothers to appear in the same ODI for England were Adam and Ben Hollioake, against Sri Lanka in Sydney in 1998-99.The Hollioakes also played a Test together – their joint debut, against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1997. That was the first time England had fielded brothers in the same Test team for 40 years, since Peter and Dick Richardson both played against West Indies, also at Trent Bridge, in 1957.Aaron Finch scored nine centuries in ODIs before making his Test debut. Has anyone made more than this? asked Kade McNamara from Australia

Aaron Finch and Ireland’s William Porterfield made 11* one-day international hundreds before making their Test debuts; Paul Stirling made seven and Ed Joyce six. Virat Kohli made five, while Ahmed Shehzad of Pakistan, South Africa’s Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma all made four.But Porterfield leads the way for ODI runs before Test debut – he piled up 3692, in 119 matches. Finch is second with 3361 from 93. Stirling made 3295, Kevin O’Brien 3126 and Rohit 3049. The current player with the most runs in ODIs without having appeared in a Test is South Africa’s David Miller with 2588, just ahead of England’s Jason Roy (2536). Among non-Test players, Calum Macleod has made seven ODI centuries, Roy six, Ryan ten Doeschate five, Miller and Kyle Coetzer four.Aaron Finch made nine ODI hundreds before getting his Test debut•Getty ImagesWe had this question in a recent quiz, and it floored everyone – what’s the answer please! What do Gerry Alexander, Chandrakant Pandit, Wally Grout and Tim Zoehrer uniquely have in common? asked M Rajneesh from India

Well, all four of them are wicketkeepers – but they do share something more specific than that. Alexander and Grout were keepers in the first tied Test, between Australia and West Indies in Brisbane in 1960-61, and Pandit and Zoehrer featured** in the second tied Test, between India and Australia in Madras (now Chennai) in 1986-87.Who reached 50 in his first Test innings by hitting 12 fours? asked Mukul Ahmed from India

I think the answer here is Shikhar Dhawan, who raced to 50 on debut, with a dozen fours for India against Australia in Mohali in 2012-13. His eventual 187 – from just 174 balls – contained 33 fours and two sixes.When New Zealand’s Tim Southee walloped an unbeaten 77 in the second innings of his first Test, against England in Napier in 2007-08, his half-century included 50 in boundaries. He hurtled to 53 (from 29 balls) with his seventh six, and also hit two fours. Southee ended up with four fours and nine sixes – and hasn’t yet bettered that debut score in 59 further Tests.*Oct 31: This answer was revised completely. It previously had out-of-date informationUse our feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Cricket in Finland? It’s over 150 years old and it’s multicultural

Tom Jeffreys17-Sep-2016At first, the 18th-century fortress island of Suomenlinna, just off the coast of Helsinki, Finland, seems an unlikely location for a cricket match. Certainly, the tourists are baffled, as they look down upon us from the grass-covered battlements above. So too do the army cadets doing laps of our makeshift ground. However, it was the presence of fortifications such as Suomenlinna that first brought Finland to the attention of the British navy. And where the navy went, cricket came too.I moved to Finland in 2014, and found, to my surprise, that cricket was thriving. Most cricketers here come originally from India or Pakistan but there are players from every Test-playing nation, as well as from many others, including Switzerland, Germany, Afghanistan, Nepal, and, of course, Finland. Empire Cricket Club, who I’ve been playing for regularly, contains an especially diverse mix. Members include students and software developers, researchers and scientists, a restaurateur, a theatre producer, and a former Navy commander with a passion for contemporary dance.Recently, Nicholas Hogg wrote beautifully about how cricket can provide a home for the homeless, a new family for refugees. That is certainly true in Finland. One player here – who asked not to be named – left his native Pakistan due to death threats following his campaigns for women’s rights. After 20 days in Russia and three months in a refugee camp, he is once again relishing the chance to bowl fast and drill near yorkers over long-on. “I was not aware there was such a great cricket community here,” he told me. “I’ve been able to meet people from so many different cultures.”Members of Empire CC•Jo Hadley”The game does more than just the game,” explains Jo Hadley, chairman of Empire CC. It was this that first drew Hadley, a retired UK policeman, to cricket. He had never been interested in any sport until moving to Finland in 2002 to complete a doctorate in sociology. He is now one of those selflessly dedicated figures at the heart of so many small cricket clubs. “Somewhere in a Finnish suburb are these people dressed in white playing a quintessentially English game,” he says. “I was attracted to that poetry.”Hadley contrasts cricket to the example of pesäpallo, a Finnish version of baseball invented by eugenics-championing fascist Lauri Pihkala, and promoted from above after the right’s victory in Finland’s 1918 civil war. Cricket’s growth, by contrast, has been an organic one fuelled by immigration – a journey from the periphery towards the centre. “I see cricket as the sporting expression of multicultural Finland,” says Hadley.But both pesäpallo and cricket have been encouraged by the military at various times. The Suomenlinna match, known as the Viapori Cup, is a legacy of a time when a few cricket-mad Finnish naval officers organised cricket games to build team spirit among cadets. Contested since the early 2000s, the Viapori Cup is now a very relaxed affair.The national cricket ground in Kerava•Finnish Cricket AssociationMuch of the cricket played here is far more competitive. Credit for its organisation should go to the Finnish Cricket Association (FCA), founded by Andrew Armitage in 1999 and approved by the ICC the following year. “I wanted to see cricket here develop into something more than just the occasional match,” says Armitage, a former banker who moved here with his Finnish wife in 1988. “I wanted us to get better organised – it was something I was passionate about.”The FCA has certainly succeeded. Today, there are 30 registered clubs, mostly in the south of the country, and around 600 licenced players. Cricket here is sponsored by Hardy’s Wine (just like the England cricket team) and the FCA has kit deals with MKK-Newbery. In the summer, there are leagues for both 40-over cricket and Twenty20. In Finland’s long, dark winters, cricket moves indoors. Outside of the FCA structure, there are popular tape-ball leagues as well as one-off games like the Viapori Cup or Cinders – an annual two-innings contest between Empire and Stadin Krikettikerho (SKK).The FCA’s major triumph has been the opening of a new purpose-built cricket ground in Kerava, 25 minutes north of Helsinki. The ground was officially opened in June 2014, in the presence of Mike Brearley, Lord Mervyn King, and various Finnish dignitaries. Given that most matches in Finland are played on gravel outfields (many of Finland’s sports grounds are converted into ice rinks come winter), playing on the grass at Kerava feels like a serious luxury. This summer, the ground played host to the first Nordic-Baltic tournament between Finland, Sweden and Estonia.The Finland national team•Finnish Cricket AssociationBut how did cricket get here in the first place? In 2015, ‘s short overview of cricket in Finland includes no mention of anything before 1952, when a visiting team from the , a Royal Navy destroyer, decided that a spot of cricket at Helsinki’s new stadium would be a perfect way to mark the Olympic Games. But there is evidence that cricket was played in Finland almost 100 years earlier. Tony Lurcock’s delightful – the second of a three-volume compendium – contains several accounts of cricket played here as far back as the 1850s.It was during this period that Britain and France united against Russia in the Crimean War. In the UK at least, the Crimean is now best known for the charge of Light Brigade, and the “Baltic theatre” has been largely forgotten. Not so here. Finland had been taken from Sweden by Russia in 1809 and remained a Grand Duchy when the British navy sailed into the Baltic Sea. But with the Russian navy sheltering in their base at Kronstadt, there wasn’t much fighting to be done. So when the British sailors were not raiding Finnish coastal settlements (many seemed unable to grasp the fact that Finland was not the enemy but effectively an occupied nation), they contented themselves with playing cricket on the islands. Lurcock finds examples of cricket in the writings of William Gerard Don, a ship’s doctor, and Rev Robert Edgar Hughes, both of whom were in the Baltic in 1854-55. “Picnic and cricket parties were frequent,” writes Hughes, “and the lonely rocks were made to ring with the sound of French and English laughter.”There is one further cricket-related oddity. In August 1854, under public pressure to be seen to be doing something, the British fleet did destroy the fortress of Bomarsund on the Åland islands between Sweden and Finland. Lurcock notes that the bombardment gave its name, rather bizarrely, to a village in Northumberland. In 1974, Bomarsund won the UK’s National Village Cricket Championship.A summer camp in Kerava•Jo HadleyAfter unsuccessfully bombarding Suomenlinna (I’m tempted to draw a comparison with my own, ahem, explosive legbreaks) the British fleet returned home. Thereafter, incidences of cricket matches in Finland are sporadic. Lurcock tells of Edward Rae, “a wealthy London stockbroker”, who organised a cricket match against an all-Lapland XI in 1873. They were all out for 0 in their second innings. But Rae was just over the border in Russia at the time.It was not until the 1960s that cricket began to be played in Finland more frequently. Matches took place between the British Embassy and a team of Finnish admen calling themselves the Kingdom of Palmerston (it was Lord Palmerston, a cabinet member during the Crimean War, who advocated the return of Finland from Russia to Sweden). Most of the stories from this period focus more on boozy journeys to Stockholm than on the cricket itself.In 1972, a group of cricketers decided to break away from the British Embassy and form the Helsinki Cricket Club, Finland’s first. Their belief was that the sport would be better served in the hands of permanent residents than transient diplomats. They were right. One of their number – a Jamaican fast bowler by the name of Ira Ebanks – has become a legendary figure in Finnish cricket. He is still a regular presence at the boundary edge, groaning at yet another Empire batting collapse.Fans turn out to watch a match in Kerava•Finnish Cricket AssociationEmpire itself was founded in 2003 following a period of rapid expansion for cricket in Finland. The Nokia boom years of the 1990s saw the influx of a new, tech-savvy workforce, many of whom came from India and Pakistan. They brought their love of cricket with them, and clubs formed in the cities of Turku, Tampere, and Vantaa. Although Nokia collapsed in 2013 and Finland’s economy remains shaky, Helsinki’s tech and start-up scenes continue to provide a major draw. So does the country’s excellent education system and free university tuition (although fees for overseas students will be introduced from 2017).So what does the future hold for cricket in Finland? While the earliest cricket matches here involved the English, today the sport feels untouched by colonial traces. It is not an expat game but, as Hadley has said, a reflection of a complex multicultural experience. The FCA’s aim is to further integrate cricket into Finland’s sporting structures. “Finns tend to like quirky things,” says Maija Scamans, formerly captain of Finland’s first women’s cricket team, now the FCA’s Operations Director. “Cricket is an individual game within a team context. I think that appeals to the Finnish psyche.”The FCA has been holding cricket summer camps and coaching in schools since 2004. This year, for the first time, cricket is to be a part of the curriculum for the whole school year across ten different schools in Kerava. “Our aim is to become an integral part of the Finnish sporting community,” says Armitage, “not just a strange, marginal activity.”

As a technical advisor with Oman for the World T20 qualifier, former England cricketer Derek Pringle has been sharing tips with the side to get them to play smarter cricket

Peter Della Penna in Malahide23-Jul-2015A year ago, Derek Pringle might have expected to be sitting at Cardiff and Lord’s in the middle of July in his longtime role as the correspondent for the . But, in his own words, the former England Test player was “made redundant in the winter” and, as so often is the case, an opportunity curiously opened in the most unlikely of places.”One of my mates from Essex, John Stephenson who is head of cricket at the MCC, and Pankaj Khimji [director of Oman Cricket Club] approached me in February and said Oman have been to this stage of major competitions before and never proceeded any further,” Pringle told ESPNcricinfo ahead of Oman’s elimination clash against Namibia on Thursday at Malahide. “Can you help us out try and get to grips with British conditions, and I said sure.”So instead of giving his take on Ashes tussles, he was hired as a technical advisor for Oman at the World Twenty20 Qualifier in Ireland and Scotland. After going winless in the group stage in 2012 during their last trip to the qualifier in the UAE, Pringle has been along for the team’s ride and they are now one win away from reaching the World T20 after notching three unlikely wins in Scotland during the group stage.Pringle looks a bit sheepish when asked if he has been the magic ingredient for the team’s turnaround in fortunes between 2012 and now. Instead he says he’s offered a few tips to a group of some genuinely talented players who have been eager to listen.”I’ve offered suggestions and wanted them to play smarter cricket,” Pringle said. “T20 cricket is all about making the right decisions under pressure. It’s a game where you’ve got to get on with it and be aggressive. There’s aggression that’s controlled and there’s aggression that’s madness, and we want the former. I’ve spoken to them and sometimes they forget themselves but generally they’ve listened hard and tried to put things into practice.”Oman narrowly lost to Kenya by seven runs in their first match of the tournament, but bounced back against Canada by chasing 134 in 11.2 overs. They stunned Netherlands courtesy of a brilliant late-innings spell from Munis Ansari to set up a simple chase and then put in their best effort to date with a 40-run win over Afghanistan.”I must admit that I didn’t know much about Canada’s bowling but I said to Zeeshan Maqsood after that knock [86* against Canada] that I don’t think Chris Gayle could have played a better knock than that. He lost six balls in the river at Stirling. It was immense hitting and a fantastic knock that got us away in the competition. Munis Ansari is a bit of an unusual bowler like Lasith Malinga with a bit of a low arm but very controlled. He had a bad game against Scotland but generally he’s been very consistent.”In the game against Canada the batting fired, the game against Netherlands the bowling fired and in the game against Afghanistan, both aspects fired. So I’ve told them that’s the game we want to try and replicate. They used their brains there, batted well to get a competitive score, and then bowled and fielded like demons.”Pringle says though he was hired specifically as a technical advisor to assist the team in British conditions for this tournament, he would be open to any offer the team may put forward to keep him on board for the tournament in India should they qualify. Either way, he says despite not having “all of the [coaching] badges you need these days”, he is happy to pass his knowledge on.”It’s fresh ground for me but I always say to people it’s not rocket science. I might not have a computer program but I understand the game of cricket. I’ve enjoyed it thoroughly and it’s been an interesting experience.”

A look at how the Associate teams fared in Group B of the qualifying round of the World T20

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Mar-2014UAESeveral of UAE’s batsmen got in before giving it away•ICCProgress: UAE were the only side among the eight teams in the first round to end without a win, and that really told the story, in a format where even Test nations Bangladesh and Zimbabwe were downed once each by Associate sides. They did seem to get it together in their last match, giving Zimbabwe an almighty scare, showing they were capable of competing, but that was when they were under no pressure – their exit from the tournament had already been confirmed. As their captain Khurram Khan said, just turning out at this level had taught his side so much.What to work on: Professionalism exists at top rungs of the Associate level and UAE were clearly found out, their poor fitness as part-time cricketers not allowing them to keep up with their opponents. Their fielding and catching was abysmal in their opening game against Netherlands, and even against Zimbabwe, they dropped crucial chances that, if taken, could have perhaps conjured a different ending. Better fitness will only come if are in a position to devote more time to the game. Also, too often they lost wickets in clumps after building a partnership, undoing all the hard work done till that stage. Their bowlers were nothing more than steady overall, although they didn’t get enough runs from the batsmen and support from the fielders.Player to watch: Led by the veteran Khurram Khan, UAE’s middle order showed potential, batsmen such as Shaiman Anwar, Swapnil Patil and Rohan Mustafa got in before giving it away. They never seemed to be able to resist having a slog or two to break free from the stranglehold of dot balls, and if they can work on that, they seem to have a promising, spirited line-up. Kamran Shazad was one seamer who worked up some pace in UAE’s ageing attack.IrelandProgress: Their shock exit is an anomaly. Ireland are a team primed for big-time cricket, and it showed in how they dominated Zimbabwe in their first qualifying match. They will have to quickly forget what happened in those 13.5 overs against Netherlands in Sylhet and begin focusing on the 2015 World Cup, for which they qualified last year.What to work on: Ireland need to fill the gap left by Boyd Rankin, who left to play for England. They are missing a genuinely quick bowler who can wrest control in situations like when Netherlands ran riot in Sylhet.Player to watch: One bad over against Netherlands should not dissuade the progress of the otherwise impressive Andy McBrine. The 20-year old bowled impressively against Zimbabwe, and was sparingly used by Ireland. He is one for the future, forming a partnership with George Dockrell.ZimbabweProgress: Zimbabwe would not have wanted to be left searching forpositives after an early exit from the World T20. Netherlands did raise their hopes briefly before dashing them, but Zimbabwe know that they were left with too much catching up to do after going down in their most critical game, their opener against Ireland. They did what they were expected to against Netherlands and UAE, but both wins were not without stutters. Two wins out of three for a side that had not played any international cricket for around six months may be seen as an achievement, but that will be scant consolation for Brendan Taylor and his men.What to work on: Zimbabwe missed thrust up the order, something Netherlands relied so much on. They could have had Elton Chigumbura batting higher up, a move that did not succeed against Netherlands. The decision to open with Sikandar Raza instead of the more experienced and explosive Vusi Sibanda did not work through the tournament. To their misfortune, both their key bowlers Prosper Utseya and Tinashe Panyangara had off days against Ireland, although Panyangara came back strongly with a top spell at the death.Player to keep an eye on: That spell of Panyangara’s nearly brought back Zimbabwe from the dead against Ireland, who needed just seven off 13 but had to rely on a last-ball bye to win. He found swing, he got the yorkers in, and he had Ireland panicking. Tendai Chatara was superb through the campaign with his cutters and controlled changes of pace.

South Africa’s immediate preparation didn’t include tours but a gruelling three-month camp at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria

George Binoy in Brisbane11-Aug-2012South Africa prepare for the Under-19 World Cup differently when compared to most other teams of their standing at the tournament in Townsville. Not for them the extensive tour programmes to familiarise their young cricketers with foreign conditions, various opponents and life on the road – experiences their opponents take pains to acquire. Although they visited England in 2011, when they won 4-2, and hosted Pakistan and Zimbabwe, South Africa’s immediate preparation has been a gruelling three-month camp at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria.”We have a different view on how to train our younger guys,” says their Under-19 coach Ray Jennings. “We have programmes in South Africa where we create pressure and intensity for players to develop, whereas the Indians and some other guys tend to create the intensity on tours.””This year, for example, we had a group of players together for three months in a national academy programme. We trained them from six in the morning to six at night, not only from a cricketing point of view but also from a life point of view, [we] try and mature them. It’s a different programme that Cricket South Africa has started. We haven’t gone the route to go on tour. Our three and a half months have been intense, with early morning runs and all sorts of things at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria.”Won’t other teams’ prior knowledge of opponents and conditions in Townsville give them an edge over South Africa at the tournament? “Why should it?” asks Jennings. “I don’t think the players that we worked with fear any opposition. We’re aware that we’re as good as anyone in the world. We don’t have an inferiority complex on skills.”This side is well balanced. We’ve got a really good group of fast bowlers. There are a lot of allrounders in the side, one or two guys who can win games with the bat and the ball.”Their performances in the warm-up games in Brisbane back up Jennings’ confidence in his players. South Africa kept New Zealand to 184 for 8 before their openers Quinton de Kock and Chad Bowes put on 127 to ensure victory before retiring out after 20 overs. De Kock is perhaps South Africa’s premier batsman, having scored 341 runs on the tour of England. He has three international centuries – two against Pakistan and one against Zimbabwe.”I would have preferred if New Zealand had scored more runs so that we could have been challenged in our batting department. But our bowlers bowled well and our batsmen put in a good start,” Jennings said after the warm-up. “But everyday you play at Under-19 level is a different type of challenge.”South Africa’s batsmen were challenged by Bangladesh in the second warm-up the next day, but Bowes scored an unbeaten 104 to help his team achieve the target off the penultimate ball.Jennings has earned the reputation of being a tough coach, a disciplinarian, and the grown-up manner in which these teenagers are treated by umpires and match referees in the World Cup appeals to him. He says there’s zero tolerance for breaking rules, bad behaviour and corruption. It all adds up to nurturing a young cricketer’s character, something Jennings puts a premium on vis-a-vis technical skills at this age.”Technique is important but if you don’t have a character around that technique, it’s not going to be good,” he says. “If you have a bad technique and a good character, you can always get through and work your technique, but you can’t really work on the character of the person. I always look at the character of the person and the technique second.”That strength of character is certain to be tested at the World Cup, and more so in the coming years, when the danger of these cricketers falling off the charted path due to distraction or failure is greatest. “From this age until 23, it’s quite a tough age where a lot of players have other things come in the way – girlfriends, life … and the partying life and things like that,” Jennings said. “There are a lot of distractions in the next two three years but I like to believe we’ve addressed that in the last six months in the national academy.”Will South Africa’s intense and different preparation work at this World Cup? They begin their campaign on Sunday, against Bangladesh, having made the finals in 2002 and 2008 but losing both, to Australia and India. From Jennings’ point of view, winning a maiden Under-19 title would be an achievement to savour, but the satisfaction of watching some of these boys make the senior team is what he wants more.

The home team rolls over, and no Tendulkar show either. There’s disappointment for you

Nandeeshwar BK18-Apr-2010The game
I picked this match because the Mumbai Indians had so many India internationals, especially Sachin Tendulkar. I had booked my tickets nearly a month ago. With Bangalore red-hot in the initial stages, and even beating Mumbai away, I expected it to be a close game.Team supported
Bangalore. And since Tendulkar has been in great form, I was hoping to see a special innings from him and Bangalore chasing down the target.Key performer
Mumbai started off slow as Ryan McLaren struggled to get the boundaries. But then Ambati Rayudu took the game away with a 27-ball 46.One thing I’d have changed
Obviously it would have been better if there hadn’t been a blast. It took place just behind our stand, and while we heard a loud noise we didn’t realise what it was till people outside called us to find out if we were okay. I would have also preferred a closer match. It would have been nice if the game was still alive at the 16th over of the second innings, but in fact, it was over by the ninth over and even Ross Taylor and Robin Uthappa couldn’t do much about it.Wow moment
Mumbai’s run-rate rocketed after three sixes in an over by Kieron Pollard. The third one almost rose to the second tier of the stands.Player watch
Tendulkar got the loudest cheers wherever he fielded. During the first innings, R Vinay Kumar and Pankaj Singh fielded near our stand. In the second, Zaheer Khan and Pollard were by our stand. Zaheer waved at us a few times.Shot of the day
Virat Kohli used his bottom hand to hit a stylish six off a fuller delivery to wide long-on.Crowd meter
The stadium was filled with Bangalore supporters, though there were a number of Mumbai fans as well. The chants of “RCB” were frequent. Mumbai’s team song was played after each boundary and wicket by them. The crowd cheered Mumbai’s runs as well, though not as vociferously as for Bangalore. When the asking rate rose over 12 by the end of 10 overs, the spectators became subdued, and by the end of the 15th over they started leaving the stadium.Accessories
Paper horns.Fancy-dress index
A large group of fans in Bangalore jerseys was wearing and Mysore [turbans]. Traditional and stylish.Entertainment
There was a mix of Kannada and English tunes. Though the crowd roared every time a Kannada song was played, the cheerleaders struggled to dance to the Kannada songs. The DJ tried at least twice or thrice to get the spectators to attempt a Mexican wave, but the crowd’s efforts were half-hearted since the match had been decided by then.Star-spotting
Vijay Mallya looked tense while speaking to the police, but he did come by our stand and wave to the crowds before the match, for which he got a loud cheer.TV or stadium?
With no breaks, no ads, and the fact that you can scream your heart out, the stadium experience is definitely better.Marks out of 10
6, because the game was decided by the first second-innings time out. The first few overs from Bangalore were tight but their catching could have been better. Rayudu, JP Duminy and Pollard blasted Mumbai to a very good score, but then Bangalore botched up the chase in the first few overs, which turned the game into a one-sided affair.

Board chief Nazmul Hassan says after Sunday’s AGM that the idea was to make sure all top-level cricket in the country was televised

Mohammad Isam31-Mar-2024

The BCB has made two amendments to its constitution at the 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Dhaka on Sunday, with a view to launching its own TV channel. The board wants to ensure all competitive cricket that it runs in the country is broadcast, with this channel plugging any gaps.BCB president Nazmul Hassan said that the TV channel will generally show domestic matches and those international matches that their broadcast partners can’t show. “T-Sports and Gazi TV show most of our matches. If they cannot show some matches, we want to show those matches,” Hassan said. “They are showing the men’s Test match, so they can’t show the women’s series. We want both to be on TV, so we need to have an option.”We also want to show domestic cricket on TV. Everyone thinks that it will raise the standard of cricket in the country. People can then see the standard of umpiring in domestic cricket, for example.”The amendments were made to sub-clauses 6.17 and 6.20, which fall under the “scope and responsibility” section of the BCB’s constitution. The new 6.17 sub-clause allows the board to enhance its financial transactions and banking activities. The new 6.20 sub-clause talks of the option to form “one or more trusts, companies, societies/foundations as necessary to achieve ancillary objectives including enhancement of infrastructural, economic, commercial and social facilities for the development of cricket across the country”.BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said the idea was not to turn the national board into a “business enterprise”, but launching a TV channel would require the board to strengthen its legal framework.”According to our legal advice, we have made the amendments to bring more dynamism to our financial transactions and banking activities,” Chowdhury said. “As you know there are many criteria of Bangladesh Bank that we have to meet to make banking transactions.”[That BCB is looking to become a business enterprise] is misleading information. There’s a difference between company formation and floating shares of a company in the share market. We have a plan to form BCB TV, for which we have to come into a legal framework through the BCB’s constitution.”The AGM brought together the BCB’s 170-plus councilors (or members) from different backgrounds, the majority of whom are from Bangladesh’s 64 districts.The BCB has long promised to form regional cricket bodies and while most cricket in these regions is being run by ad-hoc committees, the board officials, mainly based in the capital Dhaka, have not allowed them autonomy. According to BCB chief Hassan, the regional bodies have to prove themselves first before independence is granted.”Regional cricket associations cannot be free of the centre’s interference unless we are satisfied with their work. They aren’t independent right now. But our big picture plan is to make them independent bodies. It is not decentralisation. It is de-concentration. We are reducing concentration away from Dhaka. Eventually it will be decentralised.”The BCB has allocated each body BDT 2 million (USD 17,400 approx) to organise a tournament in the coming months. “We have told them to organise a T20 tournament as a test case. We will pay them BDT 2 million initially. We will see how they perform and expend this money,” Hassan said. “We are not paying them blindly. Not all districts get money. Only those who are organising cricket are getting money.”

Multan Sultans fast bowler Shahnawaz Dahani has been ruled out of the remainder of the Pakistan Super League 2023 due to a fracture on his right little finger.Dahani picked up the injury in the opening game against Lahore Qalandars when a ball that Sikandar Raza powerfully punched the ball down the ground struck his bowling hand. Scans confirmed a fracture in his right little finger for which he requires surgery. It is understood that he could potentially be out of action for at least two months.Sultans are yet to name a replacement for Dahani.Dahani has been Sultans’ mainstay in the bowling unit. He made his PSL debut in 2021 and made an immediate impression. He picked up 20 wickets in his opening season, the third-most in a single edition of PSL, only behind Hasan Ali (25) and Faheem Ashraf (21) in 2019.He was then fast-tracked into the national team and he made his Pakistan debut in November 2021. He has played two ODIs and 11 T20Is so far.Sultans have a back-up option for Dahani in Anwar Ali. Sameen Gul and Ihsanullah played the opening game while overseas bowling picks Wayne Parnell and Josh Little are yet to join the team.Sultans have had a great run in the last two seasons of the PSL. They were the most consistent team last year, losing only two out of 12 games, including the final against Qalandars. No other team managed to win more than six games in the group stage. They have been the most successful franchise in terms of wins overall, finishing in the top two in the last three seasons and clinching the title in 2021.