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New Zealand Cricket’s hunt for a replacement for coach David Trist is about to start

Lynn McConnell27-Apr-2001New Zealand Cricket’s hunt for a replacement for coach David Trist is about to start.Advertisements are being placed tomorrow for the role which will take effect before New Zealand’s tour to Pakistan scheduled for September this year.Whoever is successful, the job is likely to be different in some respects to that done by both Trist and his predecessor Steve Rixon.Candidates for the job are being asked to demonstrate that they have superior technical and analytical ability, and a desire to adopt the latest ‘best practice’ principles of coaching and performance enhancement.The operations manager of NZC, John Reid, said today that the requirements for coaching the CLEAR Black Caps have changed with the maturing of the senior players in the side.”If you look at the coach’s jobs around the world they are of differing natures for the different teams.”In Australia, when Bobby Simpson came in as coach he had a high-profile with Allan Border as a new captain. But, under the changing nature of the Australian side now coach John Buchanan works largely behind the scenes while captain Steve Waugh is a strong leader.”In South Africa it is similar. People would hardly know that Graham Ford is the coach. Hansie Cronje and Shaun Pollock have both been strong leaders within their units,” Reid said.When the new administration of NZC appointed Steve Rixon as coach, he came in when the New Zealand side was immature and he soon had an inexperienced captain in Stephen Fleming, who was the youngest Test captain in New Zealand’s history.”Steve Rixon and manager John Graham had a very vital role in providing strong leadership for that side. They had an uncompromising approach and they introduced a very strong work ethic. The England tour of 1999 at the end of their time highlighted the work they had done.”When Jeff Crowe and David Trist took over, Trist was very much stronger in terms of understanding the coaching processes because of his 14-15 years as an international coach,” Reid said.Because of the quickly developing nature of the New Zealand side, Trist faced a changing role with the team.”As Fleming and the senior players have matured, David, with our encouragement, has pulled back to become more of a facilitator than the strong leader he was when he started,” Reid said.The new coach would continue the latter role of Trist’s term while also having a tactical and strategic role with the side.”The captain still needs someone to bounce things off but he still has to be able to perform the decision-making on the park.”And he can’t be a leader on the park if he is not a leader off the park.”We now have four or five players in the side who have played a lot of cricket, both in Tests and One-Day Internationals, and they should be able to work with the captain on the field,” Reid said.He felt there would be strong emphasis in three main areas in the coaching choice.The first was the ability to work on individual development programmes with players over 12 month periods.”That means working with players on what they each need to do to be better players, whether technically, mentally or in a personal sense. That means tackling the other things in their lives, their personal relationships, their life after cricket. A holistic approach to their development,” Reid said.The second was the ability to assure players remained motivated and interested while on the road. This rested on the coach’s ability to plan innovative practice sessions, working on a variety of drills aimed at allowing the players to develop their skills. All of which would be involved in enhancing the technical development of players.The third was understanding the roles of instilling self-belief and confidence in players and how to assist individual players engender that into their game.”The point is, that if you don’t walk out onto the ground believing you can do it, then you won’t.”At the same time the coach needs to be quite flexible so that when he needs to be hard on someone he can be. That’s the same in any business,” Reid said.Ultimately, the coach needed to have quite wide coaching experience, to be sound tactically but more of a sounding board than a leader, to have good technical ability, to have proven and practical procedures to get the best out of players and to have a flexibility of approaches in dealing with individuals, Reid said.While NZC would naturally like to appoint a New Zealander, the position was clearly an international one and they were looking for the best person for the job, wherever they were from, he said.Applications close with New Zealand Cricket on May 20.

With Xisco Munoz guiding Watford back to the Premier League at the first time of asking, Cristiano Giaretta now faces the challenge of bringing in additions to the Hornets’ squad, players who can help the club retain their top-flight status at the end season.

One position that appears to be in particular need of improvement is up top, as none of the club’s out and out centre-forwards have so far managed to break double figures for goals scored in the Championship – with Joao Pedro scoring nine, Troy Deeney bagging seven and Andre Gray netting four.

And, with The Athletic reporting that Brentford’s Ivan Toney would fit the bill for Xisco’s side, we’ve take a look at how we think the £16.2 million-rated hitman would get on at Vicarage Road.

Deeney’s heir

After joining Peterborough United from Newcastle United in what was a £351,000 deal back in the summer of 2018, Toney immediately proved worth the fee in his debut season at London Road, scoring 16 goals and providing seven assists over his 44 league appearances for the club, with Posh narrowly missing out on a place in the play-offs at the end of the season.

The centre-forward followed this campaign up with an even more remarkable season, bagging an astonishing 24 goals, providing five assists and creating eight big chances, as well as averaging a SofaScore match rating of 7.64, over his 32 League One fixtures, with Peterborough once again being unfortunate to miss out on a play-off spot – this time on a point-per-game basis after the season was curtailed.

This form saw Toney secure a £5.04 million move to Brentford in September 2020 – when Watford were also reported to be interested in a move – and, despite a hefty price tag for a third-tier player, the 25-year-old has once again gone on to prove himself as a remarkable signing.

So far this season, the £21,000-per-week striker has somehow managed to improve further on his goalscoring record despite taking the step up in division, scoring 30 goals, providing 10 assists and creating nine big chances over his 44 Championship appearances, as well as averaging a SofaScore match rating of 7.38.

As such, it almost goes without saying as to why Toney would make a fantastic signing for Watford this summer, as the forward has cleared every challenge he has faced so far in his professional career with ease – and we would not bet against him doing so once again in the Premier League.

And, despite Troy Deeney’s recent protestations that he does not want to be a bit-part player for the Hornets next season, the fact remains that the Watford talisman is getting older, as well as having suffered a number of long-term injuries in the last couple of years.

Furthermore, when looking at Deeney’s individual output in terms of goals and general creativity this season, there is simply no comparison to be done with Toney – as the Brentford man blows the 32-year-old out of the water in almost every metric.

So, with Watford back in the big time once again, it would seem highly advisable for Giaretta to spend whatever it takes to land Toney in the upcoming transfer window, as the man Barry Fry dubbed an “exceptional” goal scorer seems to very much have the potential to take over as Watford’s star striker this summer, while Deeney takes a backseat.

In other news: Encouraging update emerges on “important” £30k-p/w Watford star, fans will be buzzing – opinion

Under a sky half-covered in light cloud and against a backdrop of theBvumba Mountains at the beautiful Mutare Sports Club ground, Indiabegan their six-week tour of Zimbabwe on Monday

John Ward28-May-2001Under a sky half-covered in light cloud and against a backdrop of theBvumba Mountains at the beautiful Mutare Sports Club ground, Indiabegan their six-week tour of Zimbabwe on Monday. The highlight of thefirst day of their match against Zimbabwe A was a brilliant century byRahul Dravid, which enabled them to declare at 336 for nine. They thentook one wicket for 33 runs in 16 overs by the close.The pitch contained some bounce but the ball did not appear to come onto the bat, while the outfield was uneven. However, for a recentlyrevived ground with new developments taking place all the time, it wascommendable. There was a keen Monday morning crowd of about 200,mostly parties of schoolchildren, and the number doubled during theafternoon.India made a steady start against the bowling of Bryan Strang andTravis Friend for half an hour before both openers fell in quicksuccession. Sadgopan Ramesh (13) chopped a lifter from Friend on tohis stumps, while Shiv Sunder Das (4) snicked Strang to wicket-keeperTaibu in the next over. India suddenly found themselves at 18 for two.Venkatsai Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar both settled in, content to waitfor the bad ball, but neither was to go on to play a major innings.Tendulkar, driving straight, hit a ball back at Mutendera’s midriff,which he juggled and finally grasped to send the little master on hisway for 11. Laxman continued to leave the off-side fielders standingwith his powerful stroke play, but then, when on 24, he played back toMutendera and was bowled through the gate. Overall Friend looked thebest of a good trio of bowlers, showing good pace and stamina after along layoff from the game.Saurav Ganguly (12) was next to go, brilliantly caught low down byFriend at second slip off Mutendera; at 71 for five after 26 overswith only Rahul Dravid of their top order remaining, India were inunexpected trouble. Wicket-keeper Samir Dighe, though, made animmediate positive impression at the crease, looking more comfortablethan some of his superiors, and the pair were still there at lunch.The afternoon session produced cricket as different as day from night.Dravid and Dighe batted superbly until after tea in a finepartnership, with Dravid’s share a glorious century. India appeared tohave decided at lunch to take the initiative, as Dravid, pulling anddriving with time to spare, took 16 runs off Friend’s first over afterthe break. The onslaught continued, with runs now coming at about sixan over. The batsmen used their feet to leg-spinner Brian Murphyand pulled fiercely at anything short, Dravid quite belying hisreputation as an accumulator with one dazzling stroke after another.No bowler was able to restrain the flow of languid, beautifully timedboundaries all round the wicket. With tea drawing near the scoring slowed,as Dravid approached his century with caution and Zimbabwe A resortedto defensive field placing.Dravid’s hundred finally came off 97 balls. It took a while to warm upagain after tea, and just as Dravid was getting into his stride againand taking Murphy apart, the leg-spinner lured him into an uppishdrive to mid-on and he departed for 137, scored off 135 balls, with 22fours and a six. India were now 296 for six, and the partnership withDighe had added 225.Murphy also claimed the wicket of Dighe, lbw for 87. Zaheer Khan (14)and Harbhajan Singh (19) hit freely before Ganguly declared with thescore 336 for nine. Mutendera took three for 69, Murphy three for 77and Friend two for 70.Zaheer Khan and Debashish Mohanty opened the bowling with some firebut an absence of line, and Gavin Rennie (1) was highly annoyed to begiven out caught by the keeper while chasing a ball from the latterwell down the leg side. Dion Ebrahim (25) and Hamilton Masakadza (6)played safe for the close.

Tom Davies put in a solid performance as Everton won away to West Ham United on Sunday.

Having played just four minutes in the win over Arsenal and then watched on from the bench as Everton lost to Aston Villa, Davies was recalled to the starting line-up at the weekend as Andre Gomes dropped to the bench.

How did Davies fare at the London Stadium?

Davies earned a SofaScore rating of 7.0 for his display at the London Stadium, completing 23 of his 26 passes – an accuracy of 88% – and both of his long balls found their target. The 22-year-old won three of his six ground duels and pitched in with two clearances, two interceptions and one block.

The victory, secured by Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s first-half strike, moved Everton to within a point of seventh-placed Tottenham Hotspur with a game in hand, and Davies will be hopeful of keeping his place for their trip to Villa Park on Thursday evening.

Everton’s official account tweeted ‘VIVA TOM DAVIES’ on Monday morning, and here’s how supporters reacted, with many calling out Carlo Ancelotti for overlooking the 22-year-old in recent fixtures.

Tom Davies proves a point to Ancelotti

“Yet Gomes will start over him against Villa. VIVA TOM DAVIESSS”

Credit: @S34nR

“Should never have been dropped recently over Gomes”

Credit: @Neilo_m

“Yep! Shouldn’t have been dropped, especially for Delph. Get in”

Credit: @nikki_harg

“Should never ever ever have Gomes or Delph ahead of him”

Credit: @Bill_adelphia

“Has to start every game”

Credit: @TMRushton1

“Baffling how he’s sat out for weeks while Delph was the midfielder of choice off the bench then Davies starts over him today. Makes no sense”

Credit: @Poggymac87

In other news, Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been advised on his Everton future…

Former Arsenal and Everton striker Kevin Campbell is not convinced that Josh Doig would be a good enough signing for Celtic this summer.

The Lowdown: Doig linked with Celtic move

The Hoops have had a season to forget in the Premiership, losing their league crown to bitter rivals Rangers and under-performing all too often. A big summer is required in the summer transfer window, with Eddie Howe rumoured to be arriving as manager and new signings also required.

Hibernian left-back Josh Doig has been strongly linked with a move to Celtic, with the 18-year-old considered an exciting young talent.

The Latest: Pundit not sure about Doig move

While it’s hard not to feel that Doig would represent a good long-term investment, Campbell told Football Insider that Celtic need to recruit established players in order to hunt down Rangers. He said:

“Doig is a bargain at £1million but you have to ask yourself the question, how much football has he played?

“It is a signing that is all about potential. Celtic would be signing huge bags of potential. While it could be a great long-term investment, they need players who can knock Rangers off their perch next season.

“Doig has obviously done really well but is he going to take Celtic to the next level?”

The Verdict: Proven players needs

There is no issue with Celtic signing Doig, assuming that older, more proven individuals also arrive at Parkhead in the coming months.

As Campbell hinted, the Hoops aren’t going to make giant strides with teenagers coming into the squad, regardless of Doig’s potential, as the Hibs teenager has played only 42 senior matches.

A mix of youth and experience is surely needed in the summer, allowing Celtic to excel in both the present and the future.

In other news, a pundit has urged a Celtic star to join a Premier League club this summer. Find out who it is here.

The Chief Executive was delighted with the results of the last few days

Richard Walsh05-Jun-2001The Chief Executive was delighted with the results of the last few days. “We got our first points in the National league in six starts – we lost the last three in 2000, and had lost the previous two this season,” he said, but went on: “the trouble is we are not setting other teams targets when we bat and we are not reaching targets when we are chasing.””At Leicestershire we got out of jail and in the end we were happy to get the draw which keeps us in touch with the CricInfo Championship leaders. We’ve prepared properly, but once again we have had no luck with injuries which have affected us badly.”With regard to Ben Trott, the fast bowler who Somerset released at the end of the 1999 season and who helped his new county Kent to a fine win over Essex, taking a career best 11 for 79 he said: “I’m thrilled to bits for him. There wasn’t a way through for him here. Our attitude is that when anyone moves on we wish them well, so were delighted for him.”Mr Anderson also talked highly of two other young players; Joe Tucker, who took 12 wickets in the match to help Somerset Second XI defeat a strong Surrey Second XI team at Taunton last week, and Michael Cole, who plays club cricket for Bridgwater and who scored two 60s.

Maria Naureen12-Jun-2001

Plenty of Aston Villa fans have been sharing their love at the club’s official Twitter post regarding midfielder John McGinn on Wednesday evening.

The 26-year-old made his 36th Premier League start of the season in the 2-1 win over Tottenham, playing the entirety of the victory.

McGinn partnered Marvelous Nakamba in a defensive midfield role, with club captain Jack Grealish making his first start since February further forward.

The Scot put in an impressive display in north London, completing all of his attempted dribbles and winning six duels, as per SofaScore.

His all-action performance led to Villa simply tweeting ‘John McGinn’ during the second half. McGinn started an attack which led to Bertrand Traore shooting wide, with Villa’s media team going on to label his performance as ‘exceptional’.

Villa fans react

The club’s straight to the point tweet led to a number of fans interacting with the post. This is what these Villa supporters had to say about McGinn, with one describing the post as ‘perfect’.

“Wow @jmcginn7″Credit: @brainos_1001″Stop that”Credit: @jay_billingham”Perfect tweet”Credit: @edwards2779″Running the show”Credit: @GW_94″so true admin”Credit: @catrinedwards18″That’s the tweet”Credit: @ConCarp98

In other news: Many Villa fans share love towards official footage following Spurs win, find out more here. 

Building on the back of a thunderous Adam Gilchrist 52, Australia produced a masterly batting display to achieve the highest winning score by a team batting second in one-day history when they beat South Africa by three wickets in the sixth match of

Peter Robinson06-Apr-2002Building on the back of a thunderous Adam Gilchrist 52, Australia produced a masterly batting display to achieve the highest winning score by a team batting second in one-day history when they beat South Africa by three wickets in the sixth match of the Standard Bank series at St George’s Park on Saturday.South Africa’s 326 for three was the highest score made against Australia, but after Gilchrist had ripped into the opening overs – the tourists were 123 for three after the first 15 – Ricky Ponting and Darren Lehmann played with complete conviction in a fourth-wicket stand that produced 183 off a shade under 30 overs.It was, perhaps, the consummate one-day partnership; a right-hander and a left-hander combining with absolute assurance to give the fielding side hardly a sniff of a breakthrough as they scored at around or above six to the over from the 12th over onwards.Lehmann was finally out for 91 off 94 balls in the 42nd over at 287 for four, backing away so far to leg to try and cut Graeme Smith that Mark Boucher took the ball outside leg stump and in front of the batsman before stumping him. The spadework, however, had been done.And so Australia were able to afford losing Damien Martyn and Ponting, for 91 off 106 deliveries, off successive balls without serious damage being done to their prospects. Any side that has Michael Bevan, the one-day game’s best finisher, coming in with 15 needed off four overs is hardly guaranteed to choke at the final hurdle.There was even a late run out, as Shane Watson committed suicide with the scores level, but the game had long since been won and lost.For South Africa, the result was yet another failure in that they were again unable to put two halves of their game together in the same match. In the early matches of this series the home side managed to restrict Australia to scores in the 220s, but was unable to chase modest targets.In this last match South Africa’s batsmen, notably Smith, Jacques Kallis and Jonty Rhodes, posted a score that would surely have won 99 ODIs out of 100. But such was the devastation wreaked by Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden in the opening overs that Australia had five balls to spare to spare when Shane Warne hit the winning boundary.The Australian 50 came up in the fifth over of the innings; the 100 in the 12th as Gilchrist clubbed his way to his 50 off just 27 deliveries. He slowed down somewhat thereafter, was bowled by a Makhaya Ntini no-ball on 51 and was more legitimately dismissed one run later when Ntini held a spectacular catch coming off the midwicket fence, but the damage had been done.Australia were able to shrug off the loss of three wickets inside four overs as Hayden (35) and Ian Harvey (4) followed Gilchrist as Ponting and Lehmann took control. So utterly assured were the two that the tourists started to look like winning from 25 overs out and South Africa were eventually reduced to giving Smith a bowl with his gentle offspinners.At around lunchtime, though, South Africa had every reason that they might be looking at their first win in the seven-match series. After being dismissed in the 40s in his first two one-day innings, Smith was able to kick on to make 84 with the sort of confidence that suggests he will be around the international game for many years to come.The real charge, though, came when Rhodes joined Kallis to add 131 in a shade over 15 overs in an unbroken partnership for the fourth wicket. It was explosive batting with Kallis crunching 80 off 58 balls and Rhodes 71 off 50 deliveries.The last 10 overs of the innings produced 102 for South Africa as, for once, Australia were forced onto the back foot.There might have been warning signs, though. By international standards St George’s Park is a small ground with close square boundaries and, apart from a little movement off the seam in the opening overs, the pitch offered the bowlers very little. Indeed, when Shane Warne was first brought into the attack Smith and Herschelle Gibbs helped themselves to 15 off his first over.The South Africans’ lunch, however, quickly turned to acid as Gilchrist hit the second ball of the innings for six and then really got stuck in.

A number of Manchester City fans are far from happy after it was revealed that Leeds United have opened talks with the Citizens to sign Jack Harrison permanently for just £15m.

Harrison joined the Whites on loan in 2018, making this his third year at the club on a temporary basis. During that time, he has managed 18 goals and 20 assists, with this season, his first in the Premier League, being the most lucrative – he has managed eight of each in 35 matches (Transfermarkt).

Now aged 24 and without making a single appearance for City, it is time that Harrison found himself a permanent home. It has been reported by the Daily Star that the Citizens are in talks with Leeds over a deal which would be worth £15m – that fee is said to have already been agreed.

The news was shared on Twitter by @City_Xtra, and it attracted plenty of attention from some supporters. These fans took to the social media platform to share their thoughts on the potential £15m departure of the 24-year-old, with some taking aim at sporting director Txiki Begiristain.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the Harrison news below

“The guy been doing bits, should ask for at least 30m”

Credit: @ABeg97

“25m should be the lowest offer we accept”

Credit: @emperor_teejhay

“We really need to improve our selling skills , it’s frustrating how others are selling deadwood for 20M+ and we are selling our young players for less than 15M”

Credit: @7maan97

“I wouldn’t be against keeping him. We should be looking at a bigger fee than that”

Credit: @phil_mclaggan

“If he was a Chelsea player they will get at least 25m from selling him. We are bad at selling players”

Credit: @Rb6xi

“I truly hate Txiki negotiation skills. It’s non-existent. We always sell our players too cheap or let them go for free. While teams like Chelsea or Liverpool get their players, which they don’t use anymore, sold for high prices.”

Credit: @Achillaes

In other news, some Man City fans are livid at this Raheem Sterling news.