If Pakistan have to ponder the Virender Sehwag question, then it can be equally said of India, as they have Younis Khan to consider. Today’s fifty was his fifth fifty-plus score against them in the last six innings – the run includes a double hundred and two big centuries. In five Tests including this one, he has nearly eight hundred runs against them and an average comfortably over a hundred.In particular, his record against spinners is impressive as centuries against a Muralitharan-led Sri Lankan attack attest to. He handled Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble as he has done in the recent past; quick to pick up singles when they bowl tight, punishing when they stray and always composed. “In my earlier years I happened to play a lot of spinners, both leg-spinners and off-spinners. That is probably why I can handle it quite well but they bowled well at times.”Younis also praised the other Indian seamers, in particular the debutante RP Singh, who also took his wicket. “He is a good bowler and he has a bright future. But I thought Pathan also bowled well and the other bowlers really tried hard.”Younis was keen to assert, on another day when Pakistan scored at comfortably over four runs an over, that the batsmen had played their part. “I will not blame the bowlers and say that we batted very well. We won a good toss today because it can make a big difference here. We played well today and although we lost four wickets there were some good partnerships in it. They played a five-man attack which was a good move and we did lose four wickets but despite that, I thought we did very well.”Hefty middle-order contributions notwithstanding, both Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik will rue not cashing in after both had made a good start. Malik’s dismissal in particular, leaving his bat upright while ducking a bouncer and providing an edge to first slip, was a poor one. But Younis, as Bob Woolmer did last week, defended Malik and the opening combination.”The opening pair of Butt and Malik provide us solid starts at least. Before we used to get smaller starts of 20-odd but we are now doing much better with these two. With the Kookaburra ball it is essential that the new ball is seen off and Malik is doing that with Butt. He is a good player and he doesn’t need to prove anything. We shouldn’t put pressure on him because he is doing a good job.”Younis refused to comment on the surprising exclusion of Rana Naved-ul-Hasan in Pakistan’s line-up but did at least have some praise for the pitch. After the Gaddafi Stadium came in for much criticism last week for its lifelessness, Younis said this pitch might offer a little more to the bowlers. “The wicket is good and it is a little double-paced. Some are going through lower, some aren’t and it isn’t as easy as the Lahore track.We need to have another good session in the morning tomorrow to take advantage of the position we are in, score quickly and take it from there.”
Mithali Raj will spearhead India’s World Cup campaign as she continues in the captaincy role for the tournament in South Africa which starts in March.The eight teams will face each other in a round-robin basis ahead of the semi-final stages. Australia are the favourites, while India, New Zealand and England are expected to make the semi-finals at least. India have never won the World Cup, although they made the semi-finals of the last tournament where they lost to the eventual winners, the hosts New Zealand.India squad Mithali Raj (captain), Jaya Sharma, Hemalata Kala, Neetu David, Nooshin Al Khadeer, Amita Sharma, Deepa Marathe, Rumali Dhar, Arundhati Kirkire, Anju Jain, Jhulan Goswami, Anjum Chopra, Karuna Jain, Reema Malhotra.
The City v Country match at Barooga in southern NSW – involving players in the SpeedBlitz Blues squad – has been cancelled because of wet weather.The game was originally scheduled for today – Wednesday October 1st. It was postponed until Thursday October 2nd because of rain but the forecast of continuing wet weather has forced the game to be abandoned.The SpeedBlitz Blues have enjoyed a shortened pre-season camp and will return to Sydney from Albury on Thursday. The players will take part in Sydney Grade Cricket matches this weekend.Steve Waugh, Stuart MacGill and Michael Clarke have left the squad to fly to Perth for the Australian Squad Training camp prior to the first 3 Test against Zimbabwe.
OLD HARARIANS’ reign as the undisputed National First League champions looks set to come to an abrupt end following yet another defeat in Round Six of the 2001-02 season at Mutare Sports Club. On a weekend when wet weather took control, resulting in a couple of low-scoring matches, OH lost by a massive 162 runs.The match was reduced to 45 overs each because of rain delay. The hosts batted first and made 237 for seven off their 45 overs with Leon Soma the leading scorer on 61 runs. Richard Simms (51) and Mark Burmester (52) weighed in with useful fifties against an OH attack that heavily relied on Ryan Butterworth and all-rounder Paul Strang, who took three wickets each. Strang, who returned home before the weekend after spending two weeks with the national team in Bangladesh, finished with three wickets for 47 off nine overs, while Butterworth took three for 51 off his nine overs.The result saw Mutare retaining second position on the league while OH remained on the wrong end of the table. The champions are lying in 10th place after managing just two wins out of their six matches with just five rounds of matches remaining.The shortest match of the season so far was witnessed at Old Georgians where the hosts humiliated winless Mac Club by ten wickets. Both innings lasted just 16.5 overs in 79 minutes. The Bulawayo-based Mac Club batted first and were dismissed for an embarrassing 22 in 13.5 overs with Gus Mackay claiming the first seven wickets for 12 runs off six overs. The visitors had a top score of six and five ducks.Their bowling was no better off as they conceded 10 extras in less than two overs. OGs reached 24 for no loss in just 2.5 overs with Lance Maloch-Brown unbeaten on 11. OGs joined Mutare on 12 points but they are lying in third place because of an inferior net run rate while Mac Club are 11th with three points.Universals posted the season’s biggest innings total with an imposing 414/9 in 50 overs against Bulawayo Athletic Club. Neeten Chouhan led the batting with 95 runs with Ali Shah and H Adam both making 85. BAC were all out for 120 in 23.5 overs, but with the wet weather having forced the revision of their target, Universals’ victory could only be by 158 runs.Kwekwe Sports Club got it right this time with a comfortable 75-run home win over Alexandra. Number four batsman Terrence Duffin top-scored with 76 while Dave Houghton fell one short of a half-century as Kwekwe were all out for 214 in 50 overs. In reply Alexandra were bundled out for 139 in 40.2 overs, with Houghton taking five wickets for 34 off 10 overs.Harare Sports Club beat Bulawayo Sports Club by two wickets in a low-scoring match. BSC were dismissed for 92 in 34 overs while HSC reached 94 for eight in 25 overs.The match between leaders Takashinga and Queens could not be played due to water seeping under the covers at Eaglesvale School in the capital.
ScorecardAlex Ross made a career-best 97 not out•Getty Images
Three weeks ago, the Matador Cup squads changed dramatically with the influx of Test players after the cancellation of Australia’s tour of Bangladesh. South Australia, without any players in the national side, were the only team whose squad was unaffected. But the young Redbacks group has defied the odds to see off a much-fancied Victoria and book a place in Sunday’s final.It is quite an achievement for a team featuring only two players – Callum Ferguson and Kane Richardson – who have played for Australia in any format. Their final opponents, New South Wales, have at times in this tournament had 11 international players in their team. But in the elimination final it was the young batsman Alex Ross who set up the victory with his unbeaten 97.Victoria’s line-up was so imposing that Cameron White was made 12th man, but chasing 251 their batting order failed to fire. A direct hit from Jake Lehmann had Aaron Finch run out for a duck in the second over and the No.3 Marcus Stoinis laboured for 102 deliveries for his 56 before he was bowled trying to slog sweep the spinner Tom Andrews.Rob Quiney had plenty of luck on his way to a half-century. On 47 he was given two reprieves, when Daniel Worrall’s delivery clipped the off stump but the bail stayed on, and when he skied a chance that the South Australia captain Travis Head put down at mid-off. Quiney moved on to 71 but when Adam Zampa got rid of him, South Australia were on top.The required run-rate kept ballooning and Victoria’s decision to send Peter Handscomb in ahead of Glenn Maxwell failed, when Handscomb checked his shot and was caught at mid-off from the bowling of Richardson for 6 off 16 balls. Maxwell had to go hard and was caught at deep point off Joe Mennie; Richardson picked up two more wickets as Victoria were dismissed for 194 in the 47th over.The final margin was 56 runs; Mennie and Ross had compiled an invaluable 64-run stand late in the South Australian innings after the top-order batsmen failed to go on with their starts. Mennie struck 33 at a run a ball and Ross struck 10 fours and one six in his unbeaten 97 off 104 deliveries; he missed the chance for a maiden century but did enough to get his side into the final.Ross had taken his time and did not get off the mark until his 20th delivery, but he had come in at four down in the 17th over so some caution was advisable. Once he was set he made the most of it; his half-century came from 70 deliveries and he was still there at the end. Tom Cooper (32) and Head (29) had made top-order contributions, but Ross was the key.Regardless of what happens on Sunday, reaching the final has been a fine achievement for the Redbacks, in the first season under the leadership of captain Head and new coach Jamie Siddons.
As most football fans will know the scope of the Ballon d’Or, originally the award given to the European Footballer of the Year was extended last year to become the FIFA Ballon d’Or which is now awarded to the player considered by both FIFA and UEFA to be the best in the world.
The 2010 Ballon d’Or was awarded to Lionel Messi of Barcelona and Argentina, who had also won the final Ballon d’Or in 2009 and is again among the 23 players named this week in this year’s FIFA Ballon d’Or shortlist.
Eric Abidal (France), Sergio Aguero (Argentina), Karim Benzema (France), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Dani Alves (Brazil), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Nani (Portugal), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Gerard Pique (Spain), Wayne Rooney (England), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), Luis Suarez (Uruguay), David Villa (Spain), Xabi Alonso (Spain), Xavi (Spain).
This list will be shortened to just three names on December 5th with the result being announced in Zurich on January 9th 2012.
Despite being regarded as the best league in the world, the Premier League has received only four nominations and one of them is the recent arrival to the league at Manchester City, Sergio Aguero. The other three are Wayne Rooney and Nani, both of Manchester United and Luis Suarez of Liverpool. In fact, Rooney is the only English player among the 23!
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Needless to say, the nominations have a huge bias towards attacking players, with only two defenders, Eric Abidal and Danny Alvez and one goalkeeper, Iker Casillas, making the shortlist.
It was three players from FC Barcelona who occupied the top three 12 months ago, with Messi winning ahead of teammates Andres Iniesta and Xabi Hernandez and many believe that the same outcome could easily occur again this year after Barcelona once again dominated European football and unlike 2010, the nominated players from the Catalan club can now boast a Champions League winners medal to the case for winning the award which has been around since 1956. In fact, it would be a major surprise should Messi not win for a third consecutive year and bookmakers are offering odds of just 1/7 that he wins again.
Also awarded on the night is the award for FIFA Coach of the Year and on that shortlist are three Premier League nominees, but one of those, Andre Villas-Boas, has been nominated for his performance in winning the Europa League last season with FC Porto before he made his move to Chelsea. The others are Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger, although quite why Wenger has found himself on the shortlist after a trophy less six years at the Emirates is a mystery.
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The Coach award looks set to be a straight battle between Spain’s National Team Manager, Vincente Del Bosque and Pep Guardiola, Head Coach of FC Barcelona with only Oscar Tabarez, Head Coach of Uruguay, a possibility to upset the Spanish duo after his superb job in guiding his country to an unexpected victory in the Copa America.
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There was a time when Rohan Ricketts was being mentioned as a possible inclusion in the England side. A pacy winger who was not afraid to take on players, seemed a perfect fit for Sven’s England squad. However, a change in fortunes soon saw Rohan having to look far and wide just to find first team football.
A youngster at Arsenal, Ricketts spent his football youth with the likes of Jay Bothroyd, Jermaine Pennant and Steve Sidwell. He even managed to pick up two FA Youth Cups during his time at Highbury, in 2000 and 2001.
Despite early promise, Ricketts was allowed to leave Arsenal at the end of the 2001/02 season. But, it was just a short move for Ricketts, who joined North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur – becoming only the fourth player in history to move between the two clubs.
The Spurs days
A quiet first season at White Hart Lane saw Ricketts restricted to reserve team action. However, he managed to impress manager Glenn Hoddle enough to persuade him to give him a chance in the first team. Ricketts impressed immediately and soon became a favourite with the Spurs fans, and was even linked with an England call-up.
However, Hoddle was sacked as manager in September 2003 and Ricketts started to find his first team opportunities limited. He did manage to score his first league goal for the club, during a 2-1 win against Aston Villa in November 2003. Ricketts continued to find himself in and out of the side until the end of the season.
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French manager Jacques Santini took charge at the beginning of the 2004/05 season and, again, Ricketts struggled to make an impact. Even a quick change in manager, when Santini was quickly replaced by Martin Jol, didn’t prove successful for the winger.
He was sent out on loan to Coventry in late 2004. He returned to Spurs, but was sent out on loan again in March 2005, this time to join up with Hoddle, who was now in charge at Wolves. A loan spell saw play seven times and score once, a late winner against Reading.
Move to the Black Country
Ricketts was allowed to leave Spurs in the summer of 2005 and joined Wolves permanently for the 2005/06 season, a time when many were backing Wolves for promotion. However, a difficult season saw Ricketts in and out of the team again and Wolves missed out on promotion – which inevitably spelt the end for Hoddle, who left the club before the 2006/07 season.
Mick McCarthy took charge and initially kept faith with Ricketts, giving him the chance to prove himself in the first team. But, following the arrival of Michael Kightly, Ricketts found himself in the reserves and was sent out on loan to QPR in March 2007. He returned to Wolves briefly before being released at the end of the season.
He joined Barnsley in the summer of 2007, but again struggled to hold down a first team place and left the Yorkshire club in April 2008, a few weeks short of the end of the season. However Ricketts did manage to agree a new deal quickly, this time with Toronto FC in Canada.
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Oh Canada…
All looked well for Ricketts now, who quickly settled in and established himself in the first team. His performances quickly made him a fan’s favourite at Toronto and it looked like he had finally found somewhere he could settle. However, more disappointment lay ahead.
Following the arrival of several international players, Ricketts once again found himself out of the side. He left the club in the summer of 2009 and moved back to England to find a new club.
He had a trial at Aberdeen and impressed during his time there. However, financial constraints at the Scottish club prevented him from signing and he had to look elsewhere – which happened to be Eastern Europe.
Eurotrip
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In early 2010, Ricketts joined Hungarian side Diosgyori VTK. The move quickly tuned sour though as Ricketts was not selected for first team action, leading to him leaving the club in the summer.
His next move in August 2010 saw him become a record-holder. He joined Moldovan side FC Dacia Chisinau – becoming the first English player to play professionally in Moldova. Again, the move did not work out as expected and he decided to leave.
After doing some TV work for the 2010 World Cup , Ricketts decided to look for a new club and headed to Germany in 2010 in search of trials. Recently, he signed for SV Wilhelmshoren, who play in the fourth tier of German football.
I think it’s fair to say that Ricketts has taken one of the most unusual paths in football. However, it is refreshing to see someone who has had to go through a lot remain so upbeat, and I highly recommend following Ricketts on Twitter. He is never short of an opinion and provides a lot of entrainment to football fans worldwide. Here’s hoping that his German move proves a successful one!
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From ‘zero to hero’ is a common expression that has been used to describe a lot of footballers and it is certainly a tag that can be given to Kevin-Prince Boateng.
The newly capped Ghanaian midfielder was playing reserve team football for Tottenham two years ago, after failing to make the grade at White Hart Line. Now he is one of the darlings of his country after Ghana reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup. His middle name Prince, adorns the back of his shirt for Ghana and that couldn’t be more fitting of how his country regards him after his fantastic World Cup.
He was arguably Ghana’s best player of the tournament and his displays often ran the midfield, his exploits included a stunning goal against the USA in the second round which helped to take them through. Boateng proved to be one of the revelations of the World Cup and the same can be said for his club Portsmouth, who despite their woeful season Boateng managed to come out of it with some credit. He gave his all for the team and he scored the winning goal at Wembley that incredibly took Portsmouth to the final of the FA Cup against Chelsea. In the final however he was guilty of missing a penalty for Portsmouth when the scores were 0-0 and that possibly could have won them the game had he been able to convert it. The FA Cup final also had some implications on the World Cup as Boateng injured Michael Ballack, which ruled him out of the World Cup finals for the nation of Boateng’s birth Germany. As a result his half-brother, Jerome Boateng who is a German international petulantly decided that he no longer wished to speak to Kevin-Prince any more.
Kevin-Prince Boateng didn’t play for Ghana until the week the World Cup was due to commence as he played in Ghana’s 1-0 friendly victory against Latvia at Stadium:mk in England. Boateng started every single game for Ghana in the World Cup, and it’s incredible how such a lynch-pin for team didn’t play a single game for Ghana until just before the start of the tournament. When Boateng moved to Tottenham in 2007 he was highly regarded as a promising youngster, but shortly after his arrival he looked off the pace and not suited to the Premier League. Arguably he didn’t get a fair crack of the whip at Spurs as he only managed 14 appearances for the club. He thrived at Portsmouth this year and after their relegation and money troubles as well as the fact that he had such a good World Cup, means that there is no doubt that he will move on.
It seems as though a move to Italy is in the offing with Genoa and Lazio being linked, and the latest reports claim that the clubs may reach a co-ownership agreement for his services. Whoever does land Boateng this summer will have a talented player at their disposal who has shown that hard work can take you far in football, and it’s nice to see a player who was written off countless times go and make a name for himself and Kevin-Prince Boateng certainly looks like he will be rewarded for his efforts.
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Click on image below to see the SPANISH babes at the World Cup
Tottenham’s latest move in the Olympic Stadium saga is a sign of the increasing bitterness of proceedings. They have demanded that West Ham can never remove the running track around the pitch. The reasoning is simple enough but not admirable. They believe that West Ham’s promise to keep the running track was a defining selling point of the Hammers bid and that, were they allowed to remove it, they would have a ground capable of competing with Tottenham’s proposed new stadium but at a vastly reduced cost.
Daniel Levy is a terrier and he will not let the Olympic Stadium bid go and rightly so. A man who stubbornly refuses to take a loss on David Bentley must barely be able to sleep at night at the thought of West Ham securing a £600 million stadium for £30 million. Despite Mayor Boris Johnson’s best attempts to placate Levy with an offer of £17 million to kick-start redevelopments in Tottenham, the Spurs chairman is not happy.
Whilst Levy’s latest demand is undeniably mean-spirited, it makes sense. Spurs have already spent £85 million on new stadium projects without touching a brick, and the bitterness at missing out on the Stratford site will only increase as the spending escalates.
For West Ham this latest demand must be painful. Although they have shown no intent to get rid of the track, it would vastly improve their stadium. At times people will be over 200 metres away from the action and the atmosphere will certainly suffer as a result. Of course, right now, West Ham understand that their pledges to protect the Olympic legacy were instrumental in the success of their bid and would not jeopardise proceedings so early on but there must be long term desires to dig it up and bring the game closer to the fans.
Levy has a point. If West Ham manage to find a loophole or Gold and Sullivan sell the club, complete with new publicly funded stadium, off to a billionaire (like Shinawatra did with Manchester City) at staggering personal profits then that running track may well disappear and everyone will have been taken for a ride. This would be a terrible exploitation of public funds and a massive two fingers up to the Olympic legacy.
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It is unlikely that Levy’s demands will be met but there is certainly no harm in safeguarding against some potential profiteering.
Tottenham Hotspur have already managed to surpass all expectation this season. Many of us predicted they wouldn’t even make it into the group stages of the Champions League, let alone make it through to the quarter-finals. Amazingly, even with this most unlikely assault on European glory, Harry Redknapp’s side are still a force to be reckoned with on the domestic front. Okay, so maybe they haven’t really gone on to compete for Premier League glory like their manager so boldly predicted, but many teams who are faced with the unfamiliarity of European football as well as the league and cups, normally struggle. So what’s next for Redknapp’s men? How can they improve on an already incredible season?
Spurs need to strengthen, because the next step up is going to be the hardest of them all – more of a leap, in fact. Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart, amongst others, are players worthy of winning the Premier League, so now it’s all about building around them. Players like Sandro can make that happen. But the problem ’Arry has, is that to make this next big step, he may have to get rid of a few who have served the club well, but are no longer good enough.
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I’m talking about the likes of Jermaine Jenas and Wilson Palacios. These players, however good they may have been, are only now serving to eat into a wage bill which could be better spent elsewhere. Redknapp has the eye for a star buy, and has proved his ruthlessness in the transfer market with van der Vaart and Steven Pienaar. Now he has to be ruthless towards his own squad. I mean, how long can they continue to pay Ledley King to not train and give 60 minutes every couple of weeks? Spurs need a new Ledley; a consistent leader who will be available more often than not. Just think how valuable Nemanja Vidic is to Manchester United – that is now the target for Spurs.
Redknapp has one of the biggest squads in the Premier League but it may time to trim it down. Have you ever heard the expression ‘less is sometimes more’? Every manager has to compensate for a rigorous season, so obviously getting rid of too many would be suicidal, but it’s time White Hart Lane had more quality over quantity.
It’s going to be harsh on the ones that go, but I’m sure Tottenham fans would rather see success down at the Lane rather than Harry stick by some of his players. He did his level best to keep Niko Kranjcar in the January transfer window, but realistically, how often is he going to play? I think the Croat is a fantastic player for Tottenham now, but should they make it into a permanent fixture of the top four, he’s likely to be even more frozen out than he has already been experiencing – and he’s pretty cold as it is at the moment.
It seems harsh to now ask the players who have got Spurs so far to step aside, but football is very rarely a game of loyalties these days. Redknapp may soon have to recognise that some must go, otherwise they cannot carry on moving forward in the way they are. Football’s a cruel game, Tottenham may have to find that out first hand.
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If you want to join me in telling Harry who he should get rid of in the summer than join me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@joino