Tag Futebol

Australian pace spearhead Glenn McGrath won’t change his hunting methods when he meets South Africa next week despite his poor haul against New Zealand.Australian cricket coach John Buchanan said McGrath would stick with the same strategies which had made him among the world’s best bowlers, even though theKiwis blunted his venom.McGrath suffered an uncharacteristic slump in the recent three Test series against New Zealand, notching only five wickets at an average of 65.4.The Kiwis claimed they beat the right-armer with patience, letting his probing deliveries outside off stump simply pass through to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist.That took away McGrath’s most lethal trap – a wicketkeeper and slips cordon waiting for the likely nicks from uncertain batsmen.But Buchanan said McGrath wouldn’t change his ways against South Africa when the teams chased the title of Test cricket’s best team in their three-match series,starting at Adelaide on December 14.”Glenn’s approach won’t be significantly different,” Buchanan said today.”(New Zealand) did play well in their overall strategy against our two key bowlers – Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.”But, by the end of the third Test, and even before that, (Glenn) was bowling very, very well.”When he was bowling we were able to exert pressure and work the bowling partnerships.”Buchanan said McGrath was a victim of his own standards, wearing the spotlight any time he was unable to maintain his hectic wicket-taking rate.The 31-year-old sits second on Australia’s all-time list with 363 wickets from 78 Tests, behind only Warne (413).McGrath’s strike rate is even better than that of the great Dennis Lillee, and he has a proven record for fighting back after mixed series.His returns in his most recent series have hardly been worrying.Before the New Zealand series, McGrath outwitted England (32 wickets at 16.94), India (17 at 15.35), West Indies (21 at 17.10) and India (18 at 13.78).His record against South Africa doesn’t match his overall rate, taking 23 wickets in eight Tests at 28.52, but Buchanan expected him to trouble the Proteas this summer.It’s been a frustrating summer for McGrath, who struggled to take wickets in two Pura Cup matches for NSW before the Tests.But Buchanan dismissed that as coincidental, recalling that McGrath had little preparation heading into the first-class summer.

Mumbai were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on thethird day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match againstRajasthan at the Wankhede stadium on Monday. Ahead by 107 runs on thefirst innings, Mumbai declared their second innings at 285 forfive. Requiring 393 runs for victory, Rajasthan were 26 for one atclose.Rajasthan, 224 for nine overnight, were all out for the addition ofonly five runs. Mumbai then spent almost the rest of the dayconsolidating their position. Skipper Sameer Dighe (64) and AmitPagnis (19) put on 53 runs for the first wicket off 16.2 overs. ThenDighe and Jatin Paranjpe maintained the momentum by adding 91 runs forthe second wicket off 26 overs. While Dighe faced 116 balls and hitnine fours, Paranjpe faced 114 balls and hit eight of them to theropes. Finally, Amol Muzumdar (63 not out) and Sushant Manjrekar (61)added 117 runs for the fifth wicket off 22.2 overs. While Muzumdarfaced 95 balls and hit six fours, the more aggressive Manjrekar facedonly 77 balls and hit ten fours and a six.

An exciting Newcastle United transfer claim has been made regarding their plans for the summer window…

What’s the talk?

Journalist Pete O’Rourke has stated that the club will lean into deals similar to the one they attempted to complete with Hugo Ekitike in January.

The Magpies reportedly had a bid of £33m accepted by Reims in the last transfer window to sign the teenage striker, only for the player to reject the move at the last minute.

O’Rourke told GIVEMESPORT: “I think the way Newcastle are looking right now, Eddie Howe and his plans going forward, I think they’ll be looking to try and sign some of the best young talent in Europe, which they tried to do in January with Ekitike at Reims.”

Howe will love it

Toon boss Eddie Howe will surely love this approach for multiple reasons.

Firstly, it could save the club millions in two different ways. Firstly, signing a player at such a young age means that you are not buying them at their peak.

This means that you accept a risk that they may not fulfil their potential to avoid paying millions more for them when they are 25 and playing to the best of their abilities.

Take Jack Grealish as an example. Aston Villa reportedly wanted £30m for the midfielder in 2018 before selling him to Manchester City for a British record £100m in the summer of 2021. In theory, Pep Guardiola would have saved the club £70m by bringing him in earlier and developing him at the Etihad, rather than waiting for him to get to a point where he was deemed good enough.

This highlights one potential benefit to signing players at a young age. Another is that it gives them a longer shelf life at the club. Instead of having four or five years in their peak years to make an impact before being replaced, they could be at the club for eight or more years if they are signed in their teens or early 20’s as they are at an earlier point in their career and have more to offer in the long-term.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Howe will also love the addition of young players as it will provide him with the chance to coach them on the training pitch.

He may take pleasure from being able to develop them into fulfilling their potential on the pitch at Newcastle and he will have the opportunity to do that if PIF splash the cash on bringing in talented young players in the upcoming windows, which is an exciting prospect heading into the summer for the reasons stated above.

AND in other news, Major boost: Newcastle now handed big injury lift that’ll leave Howe buzzing…

Scorecard
A six-wicket haul by seamer Jason Bennett helped bundle out Barbados for 139 and gain a first-innings lead of 63 on the second day at the Three Ws Oval. Barbados fought back to reduce the opposition to 138 for 7 in the second innings, leaving CCC with an overall lead of 201. Barbados never recovered sufficiently from their overnight wobble at 15 for 4, as Bennett returned to claim the wickets of Ryan Hinds and Dwayne Smith for 35 each. The last-wicket pair of Sulieman Benn and Corey Collymore added 30 in an hour to frustrate the bowlers before Shirley Clarke wrapped up the innings. In reply, CCC got off to a brisk start as their openers Romel Currency and Simon Jackson added 60 in just over 10 overs. Tino Best then struck back with three quick wickets for the addition of just one run and CCC were in further trouble as Benn later took three middle-order wickets to leave the match evenly poised. Best ended the day with figures of 4 for 39.
Scorecard
Half-centuries by Wavell Hinds and Brendan Nash, who remained unbeaten on 91, helped Jamaica gain a valuable first-innings lead of 69 against Guyana at Sabina Park. Nash faced 254 balls in his dogged knock, which included six fours and a six, before Jamaica were bowled out for 240 at tea. Hinds made 53 while Nikita Miller chipped in with 34, during which he added 81 for the seventh wicket with Nash to frustrate Guyana. Trevon Garraway and Veerasammy Permaul were the leading wicket-takers for Guyana, picking up four each. In reply, Guyana lost Gajanand Singh early for 2, but Assad Fudadin and Leon Johnson and remained unbeaten to end the day at 59 for 1.
Scorecard
The second day’s play in St Maarten was hampered by poor weather where only six overs were possible. Rain forced the players off the field 23 minutes into the morning session, during which T&T added 12 to their overnight score with captain Rayad Emrit going on to score a half-century. Rain intervened again early in the afternoon and the umpires decided to abandon play for the day after a 4 pm inspection.

Martin van Jaarsveld gave away international cricket when he moved to Kent as a Kolpak player, so domestic triumphs are all the sweeter. He led the way as his South African side, the Titans, secured the Supersport title, racking up 828 runs in the series, with three centuries.”Having stopped playing international cricket, I made it my personal goal to collect as many domestic trophies this season as possible and this Series triumph is a major boost,” he said.”This win is made even sweeter by the fact that we had to wield in a lot of players from our amateur side following the national call ups of most of our top guns and to see the young guns blend in is extremely satisfying”.Three players who emphasised the mixture of youth and experience were Gulam Bodi, Alfonso Thomas and Albie Morkel. Bodi finished the series with the second highest batting average; in his eight matches, he amassed 672 runs at an average of 61.09 scoring two centuries and three fifties.Thomas led the bowling stocks becoming the leading wicket-taker with 37 victims and Morkel claimed 26 wickets in seven matches.

Rudi Koertzen calls for more flexibility regarding calling off inconsequential Tests © Getty Images

Rudi Koertzen, the South African umpire, who officiated the first two Tests between India and Pakistan, has supported a change in the rules regarding calling off Test matches on the final day, in case a result is not possible.”There is nothing wrong if the ICC considers a change in laws that allows such Test matches to be called off at tea with the consent of both captains when a last-day result is not possible,” Koertzen told , the Lahore-based daily.Koertzen confirmed that he along with Simon Taufel, the Australian umpire, had spoken to both Inzamam-ul-Haq and Rahul Dravid at tea time on the final day at Faisalabad and both agreed to call off the match at that point. However, Ranjan Madugalle, the match referee could not act on it as the rules did not support such a move. He, therefore, had asked the two teams to carry on until eight overs remained in the game, Koertzen revealed.

Steve Bucknor: in line to make it 100 Tests© Getty Images

Steve Bucknor will become the first umpire to stand in 100 Tests when he steps out in the second Test between India and Pakistan at Kolkata on March 16. And, in recognition of his achievement, the ICC will award Bucknor, 58, the Golden Bails Award.Bucknor first stood in a Test match in 1989, aged 42, in the fourth game of the series between West Indies and India in Kingston, Jamaica and he has also officiated in four consecutive ICC Cricket World Cup finals. David Shepherd is the second-most experienced Test umpire: he has 86 to his name, while S Venkataraghavan has 73.

Hampshire Hawks recorded their fourth successive victory in the ECB National League Division Two in their clash against Sussex Sharks under the Hove floodlights to augment their second place in the table behind Lancashire.An impressive bowling display from the countries leading NCL wicket-taker Dimitri Mascarenhas at the start of the Sussex innings left the home side with too much to do, while Mascarenhas broke a long-standing Hampshire record in the process.Winning the toss was important as the Hawks chose to bat first in warm evening sunshine. They got off to the best possible start with James Hamblin and Simon Katich posting a century opening stand, both batsmen getting to half centuries.John Crawley and John Francis continued where they left off the previous day against Scottish Saltires in adding a 77-run partnership which brought Hampshire to a respectable score of 250-5, with Mascarenhas chipping in with 20 runs off just 11 balls at the end.Sussex Shark, in reply, lost their first five wickets for 37 runs, which made their task of chasing the score extremely difficult, especially after bad light stopped play when two of the main floodlights failed and readjusted the target to 244 to win off 41 overs.Mascarenhas took the first three wickets to fall and with some sprightly bowling from Chaminda Vaas and James Bruce decimated the home sides top order.Some late uninhibited hitting from Michael Yardy and Mark Davis kept the crowd entertained, and a couple of missed catches delayed the inevitable.Dimitri Mascarenhas’s four-wicket haul was his fourth of the season, the most ever in a season by a Hampshire bowler. Two bowlers have achieved three in a season – Tom Mottram in 1976 and Trevor Jesty in 1978.

Anil Kumble took five wickets to put India back in the driving seat after England made an excellent start to the second Test in Ahmedabad. Marcus Trescothick fell agonisingly short of his third Test century and England ended the day on 277 for 6.The day started with the disconcerting news that England were going into the match without their premier batsman. Graham Thorpe, who is flying home to sort out personal matters, will take no further part in the series. His place went to Yorkshire’s Michael Vaughan, and Ashley Giles returned to the side in place of James Ormond. India also made two changes, with Virender Sehwag replacing the injured Sanjay Bangar and fit-again Javagal Srinath coming in for Iqbal Siddiqui. Nasser Hussain chose to bat after winning the toss, and the game got under way half an hour late due to early morning dew.Although Mark Butcher was initially the freer-scoring of England’s two openers, it was Trescothick’s innings that eventually made the greater impression. On a sluggish pitch each batsman made the most of anything loose, and Sourav Ganguly introduced Harbhajan Singh as early as the 10th over. Despite early signs of turn on a slower wicket than Mohali, both left-handers remained positive, with Trescothick sweeping Harbhajan through midwicket and Butcher taking four more from Srinath through the covers. By lunch England had reached 79 without loss.The hapless Shiv Sunder Das had to leave the field early in the afternoon session, after being struck painfully on the shoulder at short leg as Trescothick swept Kumble right off the meat. When Srinath dropped short, the Somerset left-hander pulled him fiercely to the midwicket boundary, following up with a superb drive through the covers.After reaching his 50 and bringing up England’s hundred in the process, Trescothick welcomed Harbhajan back into the attack by swinging him for a heady six over midwicket. Butcher completed his own 50 by coming down the pitch to Harbhajan and taking four through mid-on. But Kumble then immediately accounted for Butcher, who got a thin edge to a ball that was angled across him outside the off stump, giving wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta a straightforward catch.Hussain had made just one when he was given out lbw to Kumble, playing round a googly which looked as though it might be going down the legside. Vaughan, after some early good fortune, was sawn off without ceremony by umpire Ian Robinson, caught at short leg off Kumble as the ball appeared to go straight off his pad. At tea England had reached 176 for 3 with Trescothick unbeaten on 99.The interval plainly didn’t agree with him; he was unnerved by a brilliant over from Kumble, eventually edging to Dasgupta to fall one short of his hundred. England subsided to 185 for 5 when Flintoff, pushing defensively at Kumble, was caught off bat and pad without scoring by VVS Laxman at silly point.Ramprakash was prepared to chance his arm in adversity, pulling Kumble for six over midwicket, and his attacking mood rubbed off on Craig White as the Yorkshireman dropped on one knee to drive Harbhajan for four through the covers. But Sachin Tendulkar regained India’s momentum with the first ball of a new spell, bowling Ramprakash off his pads with a quicker ball as he went back on to his stumps.White and James Foster took England watchfully to the close, Foster cashing in on two loose balls from Tendulkar, boosting his own confidence with boundaries through cover and midwicket. White mixed caution with occasional aggression as the two batsmen ended the day quietly against the spinners. There had been no Mohali-style collapse, but India must still be fancying their chances.

Australia fast bowler John Hastings is the latest to hedge his bets when it comes to the pink ball. It was in use in Victoria’s opening match of the Sheffield Shield season against Queensland at the MCG and Hastings mentioned at the end of the first day’s play that the pink ball lost its hardness rather quickly, and also pointed out that it doesn’t swing after approximately 15 overs leading to “a boring brand of cricket.”As a workaround, Hastings suggested changing it after 50 overs of use rather than 80 overs as is custom with the red ball. “It’s certainly better than the first few pink-ball games that we’ve played but I think there’s a fair bit of work to do,” he said. “The main issue for me is the hardness of the ball. It just doesn’t stack up to the red ball. Maybe if we change the ball at around 50-55 overs and get a new one or a semi-new one, it might be a better contest towards the end.”We’ve bowled about 15-16 overs with it and it stopped swinging,” he said. “It’s just a matter of the ball doesn’t move off the straight. It’s tough work. All you’ve got to do is set straight fields and it’s quite a boring brand of cricket when do have that pink ball.”If conventional swing was restricted, Hastings felt reverse swing with the pink ball was underwhelming. “It did actually go a little bit there at times. It wasn’t consistent. But the main thing is that when you get a red ball to go reverse, it’s actually quite hard and it can zip off the wicket. But with the pink ball we didn’t really get the zip off the wicket.”The rate of wear on the pink ball is a major concern to John Hastings•Getty Images

Hastings also indicated the fielders found it difficult to pick up the ball as it got discolored, echoing the comments made by Test batsman Adam Voges after the PM’s XI match against the touring New Zealanders. Cricket Australia, however, said it did not read too much into the issues.It was noted that with a lush outfield the pink ball’s durability was increased, but when the pitch and the outfield were abrasive – as in Manuka Oval where the PM’s XI match was held – the deterioration happened faster. Adelaide Oval, where the inaugural day-night Test between Australia and New Zealand beings on November 27, shares that trait. It is hosting a Shield match currently, where it is understood that the groundstaff were encouraged to prepare a grassy surface to keep the pink ball functioning optimally.When asked if the difficulty in sighting the pink ball posed safety concern for the players, Hastings said. “I don’t really know. It could well be but I’m not 100% sure. I felt okay at mid-on, I felt I could pick it up okay.”