All posts by h716a5.icu

Ricky Ponting has labelled Duncan Fletcher a “hypocrite” after the former England coach’s comments that Australia had no right to claim the moral high ground on Spirit of Cricket issues

Peter English at Lord's15-Jul-2009Ricky Ponting has labelled Duncan Fletcher a “hypocrite” after the former England coach’s comments that Australia had no right to claim the moral high ground on Spirit of Cricket issues. While Ponting maintained he had not complained excessively about the hosts’ “ordinary” time-wasting late on the final day in the drawn Cardiff Test, Andy Flower, the current England mentor, said the captain “made a meal” of the incident.As England’s last two batsmen held on they sent on the 12th man Bilal Shafayat and the physiotherapist Steve McCaig to prevent the visitors from delivering more overs. “[Fletcher] is sort of saying he didn’t condone what they did the other day,” Ponting said. “It seemed a little bit hypocritical, some of the stuff he had to say.”Fletcher wrote in the Guardian about Ponting putting pressure on the umpires at Sophia Gardens and their sledging. “If any side in the world doesn’t play within the spirit of the game it’s Ponting’s Australians, yet here he is sitting in judgment on England because he’s frustrated that his bowlers failed to complete the job,” he said. “Ponting getting frustrated – does that remind you of anything?”Ponting yelled at Fletcher on his way to the dressing room after he was run-out by Gary Pratt, the substitute fielder, at Trent Bridge in 2005. “We are good mates, Duncan and I,” Ponting said wryly at Lord’s. “I’m not one little bit worried at all about what Duncan has had to say. He is an irrelevant person in my world and probably in the cricketing world right at the moment.”The chapter adds more tension before Thursday’s second Test at Lord’s, but don’t expect any reduction in the number or intensity of exchanges between players. On the final day in Cardiff Kevin Pietersen and Mitchell Johnson argued during the warm-ups and Stuart Broad and Peter Siddle bumped shoulders in the middle before the emotional finish. Siddle also hit Graeme Swann with a series of painful short balls, but Swann responded with an incredibly valuable 31.”It is not an Ashes series without a few of those [incidents],” England’s captain Andrew Strauss said. “As pressure builds, that strains people and once they are put under pressure they react in a number of different ways. One thing which I think is important is that the series continues to be played in a good manner and I certainly think on those first five days, it was played in that manner.”The Australians are often accused of pushing – or breaking – the rules but maintain they adhere to the over-riding Spirit of Cricket and their own stricter code. Steve Waugh has been at Lord’s this week and felt neither team was particularly out of order in Cardiff.Ponting is Waugh’s successor and has no problems with the conduct of his team. “I don’t think I have ever been pulled up for anything outside of playing within the spirit of the game,” Ponting said. “We have always had the finger pointed at us about that sort of stuff. But we never seem to get in too much trouble from the authorities about the spirit of the game.”He said the fall-out from the time wasting had been “overcooked”. “There is so much hype around the series that little things like that can turn into really big things,” he said. “The entire game, I felt, was played in terrific spirit, it was on for young and old out on the field as we saw with the Siddle and Swann battle. But otherwise it was a great Test match.”In 2005 the Australians were considered too friendly with their opponents and fell to a 2-1 series loss. Strauss said the circumstances and personnel for this contest were different and the dynamic from previous battles had changed. “Players do what feels natural to them,” he said.

Southampton have not exactly been an attacking force to be reckoned with in the Premier League in recent years with the Saints only managing to score more than 50 league goals in one season on one occasion since the 2016/17 campaign.

This season seems to be going in a similar direction so far this season as well with Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side having managed to find the back of the net just five times in seven matches.

However, the Saints could be on the right track to potentially fix their attacking issues…

What’s the latest?

It has recently been reported that Southampton will have to pay a fee of £12m to Championship club Hull City if they want to sign winger Keane Lewis-Potter in the upcoming January transfer window, who they have been linked with in recent weeks.

Lewis-Potter, who is a product of Hull’s youth academy, made his senior debut for the club back in January 2019 in an FA Cup defeat against Millwall.

Since then, the 20-year-old winger, who is currently valued at £540k according to Transfermarkt, has made a total of 86 appearances for the Tigers in which he has managed to score 20 goals and provide 10 assists along the way.

So far this season, Lewis-Potter, who has been labelled as a “special talent” by Grant McCann has played 90 minutes in all of Hull’s Championship games, scoring two goals and providing two assists in the process, which just goes to show how important he is to the club.

Attacking reinforcement

Taking into account Southampton’s uninspiring number of goals in the Premier League so far this season and the age of some of their current wingers such as Theo Walcott (32), Nathan Redmond (27) and Mohamed Elyounoussi (27),  a January move for Lewis-Potter could help freshen up Southampton’s attack this season but also provide the club with a useful long-term figure in the squad because of his young age.

However, given how important Lewis-Potter has proven himself to be for Hull this season, Southampton could find it difficult to take him away from his boyhood club, even if they have put a £12m price tag on him that they would reportedly be willing to accept for him.

If they were able to sign him in January though, and Lewis-Potter was able to score some goals and get some assists staright away, we feel the Southampton fans would be delighted with this potential bit of business from the club.

In other news: Ralph could unearth a new JWP at Southampton in 16 y/o sensation, he’s a future star – opinion

The Pakistan coach has blamed his batsmen for the Test and ODI series defeats in Sri Lanka

Cricinfo staff15-Aug-2009Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam has blamed his batsmen for the Test and ODI series defeats in Sri Lanka. Pakistan lost the Test series 2-0 and were 3-0 down in the five-match ODI series before snatching consolation wins in the last two games and the one-off Twenty20 international.”We dominated the Test series against Sri Lanka but just two bad sessions changed the whole scenario of the tour,’ Intikhab said on arrival back in Pakistan. “Poor shot selection brought about our downfall.”Pakistan were well-placed in the first two Tests but lost both after dramatic batting collapses. In Galle, they crashed to 117 in the fourth innings chasing a modest 168. At the P Sara Oval, they were bundled out for 90 in the first innings, but their collapse in the second was more dramatic. After staging a spirited comeback, they lost their last nine wickets for 35 runs and subsequently suffered their first ever Test series loss in Sri Lanka.The captain Younis Khan denied rumours of rifts within the team and also refused to quit after those defeats. Intikhab also refused to resign, following calls from various quarters that he was too old to coach the team.”I don’t think age has anything to do with it. And anyway I’m not yet 70,” said Intikhab, who is 67.Intikhab also welcomed the appointment of Javed Miandad as batting advisor to prepare for the upcoming Champions Trophy. The Pakistan Cricket Board is also expected to hire former opener Saeed Anwar as the batting coach.”Miandad has a lot of experience and I’m sure that his guidance will help our batsmen a lot,” Intikhab said.Shahid Afridi, Pakistan’s new Twenty20 captain, hoped his team would carry the winning momentum to the Champions Trophy in South Africa next month.”We had lost all the previous games and were desperate to win the last few and managed to do that easily,” Afridi said. “I hope that we will continue playing like that in the Champions Trophy.”

Celtic could be without star forward Kyogo Furuhashi for two games following the winter break next year, The Daily Record report.

The Lowdown: Furuhashi’s fabulous start

Furuhashi was Celtic’s biggest signing of the summer, joining in a deal worth £4.86m.

He’s proven to be worth every penny so far, scoring eight times and registering one assist in his first 11 Celtic games.

The Japan international missed five games with a knee injury last month, and it appears as if the Hoops maybe without the 26-year-old again in the near future.

The Latest: Winter break woes

The Daily Record shared a story on Wednesday, looking at Furuhashi’s possible involvement for his country next year.

They claim that Ange Postecoglou could be without the forward for Celtic’s first two games back from the winter break against Hearts and Dundee United as he may be needed for his country against China and Saudi Arabia in World Cup qualifiers.

The Hoops play Hearts on January 26 and Dundee United on January 29, whereas Japan play on January 27 and February 1.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/celtic-updates-15/” title=”Celtic updates!!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: Not ideal…

If Japan includes Furuhashi next year, Celtic may be powerless to prevent him going.

They struggled without him recently, losing to Real Betis and Livingston and failing to beat Dundee United, so his presence appears to be key at this moment in time.

Hopefully, Postecoglou, who called Furuhashi ‘resilient’, will be able to rely on alternative attacking options to provide the goods, should Furuhashi depart to represent his country.

In other news: Defender ‘like Rio Ferdinand’ now reveals he wished he’d joined Celtic. 

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif has described his recall to international cricket as a “rebirth” after a tumultuous two-and-a-half years in which he failed dope tests and was embroiled in a detention case in Dubai

Cricinfo staff23-Jul-2009Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif has described his recall to international cricket as a “rebirth” after a tumultuous two-and-a-half years in which he failed dope tests and was embroiled in a detention case in Dubai. Asif was named in the 30-man probables squad for the Champions Trophy in South Africa this September.Asif is currently banned from playing any form of cricket till September 22, after testing positive for the banned anabolic steroid Nandrolone during the IPL last year. Pakistan play their first game of the Champions Trophy on September 23, against West Indies.”You can say that it’s a sort of rebirth for me,” Asif told AFP. “I was performing well but then suddenly my career derailed and it was tough to get over those difficult days.”Asif’s troubles began in October 2006 when he first tested positive for Nandrolone before the Champions Trophy in India. He had pleaded ignorance over the substances he was using and though he was initially banned for a year, that punishment was scrapped on appeal. In June 2008, he was detained at Dubai airport for allegedly possessing opium. He was deported after 19 days after prosecutors argued that the offence was a ‘trivial’ one and a case not worth pursuing. Asif was fined Rs 1 million (US$12,500) by the Pakistan board over his detention. He was banned by the IPL for the steroids offence this February but the one-year ban was back-dated to September last year, thereby making him eligible for the Champions Trophy.Asif said he was determined to put the past behind him and also work on his fitness.”Maybe these events happened so that I could learn my lesson,” Asif said. “I would like to forget what happened to me over the last two years. I have learnt my lessons and will definitely do my best to avoid anything like this in the future.”[The incidents] may have happened to teach me a lesson or to give me a chance to fully recover from an elbow injury which was hampering in bowling.”He added that he was shaping up well as far as his bowling was concerned. “I am fit and have been bowling in the best of rhythms,” he said. “South Africa is my favourite place and I did well when we went there to play a Test series in 2007, so this time around, again I want to help my team win the Trophy.”Asif last played for Pakistan in a one-day international in Karachi in April 2008.

Aston Villa right-back Matty Cash should be available for selection against Arsenal after sustaining a minor injury at the weekend, Ashley Preece says. 

The lowdown

Cash started against Wolves on Saturday and played 79 minutes before he was substituted, with Ashley Young coming on in his place.

Manager Dean Smith revealed after the game that he’d been forced off with a dead leg.

Cash is a mainstay of the Villa side, with his Wolves injury threatening to disrupt a 100% Premier League starting record.

Going by WhoScored metrics, the 24-year-old has been his side’s third best player so far this season.  Nobody in the squad has made more tackles per 90 minutes.

Cash, incidentally, ranks in Villa’s top-six earners with a reported weekly salary of £65,000.

The latest

Addressing supporters in a Birmingham Live fan Q&A, Preece wrote: “[I] expect Matty Cash to shake off a dead leg for Arsenal on Friday.”

Meanwhile, an update on the fitness of winger Leon Bailey is expected in Dean Smith’s press conference on Thursday.

The verdict

This will surely come as a relief to Villa supporters. Young would have been able to deputise, but it’s clear that Cash is one of Smith’s most trusted lieutenants.

And they need to muster a response on Friday night against a 12th-placed Arsenal side, having conceded three times in 15 minutes in a dramatic late collapse after Cash’s withdrawal on Saturday.

If Bailey is available for selection too, they’ll probably fancy their chances.

In other news, this Villa starlet is being monitored. 

A wonderfully composed 26th Test century from Mahela Jayawardene and athrill-a-minute 92 from Tillakaratne Dilshan allowed Sri Lanka to dominatethe opening day’s play

The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran18-Aug-2009
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outMahela Jayawardene celebrates making his 26th Test century•AFPA wonderfully composed 26th Test century from Mahela Jayawardene and a thrill-a-minute 92 from Tillakaratne Dilshan allowed Sri Lanka to dominatethe opening day’s play after two early wickets from Chris Martin had givenNew Zealand the perfect start in overcast conditions in Galle. Thilan Samaraweera weighed in with an unbeaten 82, adding 159 with Jayawardene, and by the time the players went off for bad light, New Zealand were downfor the count.The start had been delayed by 90 minutes and the New Zealanders had reasonto feel smug 40 minutes after winning the toss, but a rapid 118-run standquickly wiped the smiles off their faces. Dilshan drove and cut like adream, and at a pace that made you wonder whether he was practising forthe Delhi Daredevils’ Champions League campaign later this year. Thefastest century ever by a Sri Lankan was easily within reach when he cut adelivery from Iain O’Brien back on to the stumps. By then, he had 92 from72 balls, and the hapless O’Brien had gone at more than nine an over.Jayawardene’s approach was much less helter-skelter and far more measured.There were the characteristically lovely drives through the covers and thebeautiful late twirls of the wrist that sent the ball to third man, butthere were also periods of dogged defence against the accurate left-armspin of Daniel Vettori. There was a period after tea when he appearedbereft of inspiration, but once he stepped out to off-drive Vettori forfour, the fluency came surging back.Martin was clipped through midwicket for four and when O’Brien dropped oneshort, an emphatic pull for four took him to his 18th hundred on homesoil, at the very venue where he had scored his first 11 years ago.Samaraweera had been the perfect foil, taking time to play himself in andthen playing some magnificent shots himself. New Zealand had quietenedthings with a couple of maidens after tea, but Samaraweera releasedthe pressure with three boundaries off Jeetan Patel – a cover-drive, a cutand a glorious back-foot punch.New Zealand could scarcely have imagined such a leather-hunt after thestart they got. Martin’s two wickets had taken him to 162, past DannyMorrison and on to No. 4 in New Zealand’s all-time list. It took him justthree balls to make an impact. Malinda Warnapura had been dropped andDilshan asked to open, but the other opener, Tharanga Paranavitana, wassoon on his way, edging one behind. And after Kumar Sangakkara had clippedtwo lovely leg-side boundaries, there was an air of disbelief around theground as he struck one straight to Daniel Flynn at midwicket.Dilshan had watched all this from the other end, but it didn’t inhibit himin any way. He had started with a fluid drive for four off O’Brien, andthe part-time blogger was soon being subjected to harsh treatment. Therewere three ferocious off-side fours in one over, and when O’Brien droppedshort, he was pulled for six. An elegant cover-drive later, Dilshan hadhis half-century from just 30 balls.Jayawardene got off the mark with a languid drive for four off Martin, andhe kept picking the off-side gaps at regular intervals. Jacob Oram andVettori slowed down the run-rate, but with both batsmen driving Patelbeautifully through the covers, Sri Lanka were into three figures longbefore the luncheon bell rang. There was no respite after that either,with Dilshan slamming O’Brien over cover and then pulling contemptuouslyfor four more. A fierce cut took him into the 90s, but with historybeckoning, he lost the plot.There was a lull thereafter, but once Jayawardene eased to his 50 from 104balls, the scoring rate picked up again. Oram was guided fine twice andMartin then driven superbly through cover. When Samaraweera cut Patel forfour to bring up the 200, Vettori was looking around for wicket-takingoptions. There didn’t seem any. Martin bowled a decent spell with the oldball just before stumps, but the rest, Vettori apart, leaked runs, and twomajestic pulls from Samaraweera off the horribly expensive O’Brien werethe perfect bookend to a hugely satisfactory day for the Lankans.

After joining Liverpool back in the previous January transfer window from Championship club Preston North End on a long-term deal, the defender didn’t make an appearance for the Merseyside club at any point last season.

Unsurprisingly, given how Liverpool now currently have five senior centre-backs in their squad in the shape of Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Ibrahima Konate, Joe Gomez and Nat Phillips, the Reds sent Davies out on loan during the previous summer transfer window.

The defender is currently back in the Championship, this time with Sheffield United until the end of the campaign.

Since joining the Yorkshire club, Davies has played in seven of Sheffield United’s Championship games, completing 90 minutes in all but one of them.

In those games, Davies has managed to rack up 2.4 clearances per game and win 80% of his ground duels, showing just how important he has been for the Blades from a defensive point of view since joining them after a severe lack of game time at the Merseyside club last season.

The £60k-per-week earner’s latest appearance for the Blades in their 2-1 win over Stoke City saw him earn an overall match rating of 7.2/10, making him their third-highest rated player on the day according to SofaScore after blocking two shots, making two interceptions, winning two aerial duels and racking up a passing accuracy percentage of 86%. That type of performance must have left Klopp beaming from ear to ear.

Given how many minutes he’s played for the Blades this season, this should surely be pleasing news for the Liverpool fans and the management team at Anfield who didn’t see him play even one minute for the Reds after joining last season. That was despite appraisals from his manager at Southport, Paul Carden, who called him “different class” upon his arrival in Merseyside.

Moving forward, we feel that the best thing Davies can do now is focus on his time at Sheffield United and make the most out of his spell there before heading back to Anfield.

Looking ahead even further into the future, even though his contract at Liverpool isn’t set to expire until 2025, we feel that it could be the best option for all parties if he were to leave the club on a permanent deal and join a side he would be playing regularly at rather than wasting any more time with the Reds if they aren’t going to play him.

In other news: Liverpool could be set for major blow as transfer claim emerges, fans would be gutted – opinion

Wolverhampton Wanderers look to have been handed a boost regarding the return to fitness of Ruben Neves.

What’s the latest?

In recent photographs published on the Wolverhampton Wanderers website, the central midfielder, who only managed to feature for one minute of the 1-1 draw with Leeds United last weekend as a result of a knock picked up in the days leading up to the fixture, can be seen taking part in full training with Bruno Lage’s first-team squad – something that would suggest the Portugal international has now recovered from his injury.

Lage will be buzzing

Considering just how important a part of the Wolves side Neves has proven himself to be in recent seasons, the fact that the midfielder looks as if he will be available for selection for the visit of Everton on Monday evening is sure to have left Bruno Lage buzzing.

Indeed, over his nine Premier League appearances so far this season, the £37.8m-rated man has scored one goal and created one big chance for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.2 shots and making 1.4 key passes per game.

The 24-year-old has also impressed in metrics more typical of his position, making an average of 0.6 interceptions, two tackles, 1.4 clearances and winning 3.7 duels per fixture.

These returns have seen the £50k-per-week midfielder average a SofaScore match rating of 7.21, ranking him as Wolves’ second-best performer in the top flight.

As such, it is clear to see that Neves is a crucial player within Lage’s first-team squad, and his return to full fitness will undoubtedly provide the 45-year-old manager’s chances of picking up a positive result against Everton with a rather significant boost – something that Lage will undoubtedly be desperate for after the disappointment of dropping two points in the dying stages of the Leeds game last time out.

In other news: Shi must avoid Jan disaster on “undefendable” £46k-p/w ace, Wolves fans would be livid

Stephanie Power has been appointed assistant West Indies coach under Sherwin Campbell for the team’s upcoming series against South Africa and England

19-Sep-2009Former West Indies captain Stephanie Power has been appointed assistant West Indies coach under Sherwin Campbell for the team’s upcoming series against South Africa and England. Power was confirmed in the post by the West Indies Women’s Cricket Federation on Monday, just a few weeks before the players meet in Barbados for their pre-tour training camp on October 4.West Indies leave on October 9 for South Africa, where they will play four ODIs and three Twenty20s. In November they play a home series against England.Power retired from international cricket following the 2005 women’s World Cup in South Africa, where West Indies were placed fifth. She retired as Trinidad & Tobago skipper less than a year later.She is currently not only a Level II qualified coach, but a trainer for Level I and Level II coaches. Power said the assistant coach’s post was a natural progression from being captain for T&T and West Indies.”I feel honoured that they would consider me capable enough to be able to help Sherwin Campbell,” Power told . “I feel honoured. It’s like a natural progression from Trinidad and Tobago captain to West Indies captain to assistant coach, but I’m still happy that it has happened.”Power is hoping her experience in South Africa from that World Cup, as well as her time as a player will prove invaluable to the regional team.”[I’ve experienced] the temperature, the conditions. My experience with coach education, going about and training people to be coaches, maybe I will be able to do what I’ve been preaching, to walk the talk.”Power, a physical education teacher, will leave Trinidad on Sunday to assist with a Level II course in Barbados, before the team join camp.Power has also had coach assessment stints since last year in T&T, as well as Bermuda, Fort Lauderdale and New Jersey, USA this year.