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Matthew Hayden will draw upon his IPL experiences to help navigate Cricket Australia through the uncharted waters of Twenty20 cricket as part of his newly-acquired role as board director. Hayden, who will replace the departing Allan Border on CA’s board, insists he will bring a contemporary voice to the decision-making process as cricket’s administrators attempt to strike a balance between the Twenty20 phenomenon and the more traditional forms of the game.Hayden was a foundation member of the Chennai Super Kings, and has been a staunch advocate of both the IPL and the 20-over game in general. He will become the only member of the board with first-hand experience of the Twenty20 game as a player.”The game is definitely at the coalface of anticipated change,” Hayden told Cricinfo. “What I can bring to the table is a real currency and a slightly more contemporary style of looking at the way cricket and the business of cricket is managed and maintained. Strategically it’s really important to recognise that iconic series such as the Ashes can never be removed, and in fact need to be protected and maintained, throughout the cricketing landscape. At a time when the market is looking to find new ways to engage our sport I think it’s also really important to go on a journey and go on a debate and recognise that we have got something very special in the creation of franchise cricket and the globalisation of those brands.”Jack Clarke, CA’s chairman, was hopeful Hayden would make a significant contribution to the board. “He brings a combination of contemporary, elite playing experience in all major cricketing nations; additional understanding of player issues through his work on the board of the Australian Cricketer’s Association, experience in the new Twenty20 phenomena as an IPL player, and a passion for development of Indigenous cricket,” Clarke said.”I congratulate Queensland Cricket on having the foresight and vision to appoint Matthew Hayden to the Cricket Australia Board so soon after his retirement from wearing the Baggy Green.”The move could improve relations between Cricket Australia and the players due to Hayden’s recent involvement in the game and his role as an executive member of the Australian Cricketers’ Association.Besides the retiring Border, Mark Taylor and Wally Edwards are the other two former Test cricketers who are now Cricket Australia directors.

سجل المالي موسى ماريجا مهاجم الهلال الهدف الثاني لفريقه ليقوده للتقدم على الخليج 2-0، في المباراة التي تجمع بينهما في الدوري السعودي.

ويتواجه الفريقان اليوم على ملعب محمد بن فهد، في إطار منافسات الجولة الأولى من الدوري السعودي.

طالع أيضًا.. مباشر بالفيديو | مباراة الهلال والخليج في الدوري السعودي

وأحرز إيجالو الهدف الثاني في الدقيقة 25 من عمر المباراة، بعد انفراده بالمرمى، إثر تلقيه تمريرة رائعة من زميله النيجيري أوديون إيجالو.

وكان إيجالو قد افتتح التسجيل للهلال مبكرًا بإحراز الهدف الأول في الدقيقة الثالثة من عمر المباراة. هدف الهلال الثاني أمام الخليج

Adama Traore could leave Wolves in January and is keen on the idea of a move to Liverpool, according to elnacional.cat. 

The lowdown

The Spain winger’s contract at Molineux is due to expire in June 2023, but The Athletic’s Tim Spiers reported in September that talks over a new deal had resumed and that all parties were ‘optimistic’ that it would come to fruition. At the very least, that could protect the value of a player who is currently estimated to be worth £27m.

Traore has started five of Bruno Lage’s first seven Premier League matches, coming off the bench in the other two. He has averaged seven dribbles (comfortably the highest in the Premier League), two shots and 1.7 key passes per game (second only to Raul Jimenez in the Wolves ranks).

The latest

The report claimed that joining Liverpool could be the next step in Traore’s career, and that Anfield boss Jurgen Klopp is waiting ‘with open arms’. The Wolves winger would not turn down an offer from the Reds, in part because he likes their ‘offensive football and counterattack’.

There’s also interest from reigning Premier League champions Manchester City and Nuno Espirito Santo’s new club Tottenham Hotspur ahead of the mid-season transfer window.

The verdict

Liverpool aren’t really a club who entertain expensive risks given their relatively frugal spending since 2019, and that’s exactly what Traore would be. With just 28 direct goal involvements in 140 Wolves appearances (10 goals, 18 assists), there are major concerns about his end product.

While Klopp might back himself to take the winger up a level, it’s hard to see the Reds agreeing to part with the kind of money Wolves will demand for the 25-year-old.

In other news, Many Wolves fans made their feelings clear on Morgan Gibbs-White

Former Everton star Michael Ball has hailed Abdoulaye Doucoure as the club’s most important player.

The French midfielder has enjoyed an exceptional start to the season under the management of Rafael Benitez.

Doucoure has made six appearances in the Premier League and has scored twice, while also providing three assists.

Signed from Watford for a fee of £20m, the midfielder has developed into one of the first names on the team sheet at Goodison Park.

Last season, he played 29 times in the league, and the Toffees struggled immensely when he was injured towards the end of the campaign.

Indeed, he missed a total of eight games between March and May and Everton only won two of them.

And Ball believes that Doucoure can now claim to be the club’s single most important first-team player under the management of Rafael Benitez.

He said: “Doucoure is our key guy. If he’s missing out of that central midfield role, no matter who’s alongside him, we’ll struggle.

“Allan can’t do it by himself, Tom Davies can’t do it by himself, they need a guy like Doucoure to run over every blade of grass and I think one of the fans said he saw him running past his window once when he was playing a game because he’s everywhere.”

Doucoure has a contract until 2023 and is valued at £22.5m by Transfermarkt.

A number of West Brom supporters have criticised Darnell Furlong’s performance in his side’s disappointing 1-0 defeat to Stoke City.

The Baggies were back in Championship action on Friday evening, looking to continue the impressive form that has seen them to the top of the table.

It proved to be a disappointing night for West Brom, however, as Stoke ended up sealing a 1-0 home win, thanks to Nick Powell’s late strike.

It means Valerien Ismael’s side will be knocked off top spot if Bournemouth win at home to Sheffield United on Saturday afternoon.

One player who had a poor night was Furlong, who struggled in defence and received a five-out-of-10 rating from The Birmingham Mail, losing possession 24 times overall. He also scored a comical own goal that was ruled out.

West Brom fans fume at Furlong display

These West Brom fans took to Twitter to lay into the defender’s performance, on a hugely frustrating away day for the Baggies.

“We were always going to lose at some point. No positives to take out of that performance tonight, terrible from start to finish. Thought Furlong had one of his worst games for us. Fair play to Stoke, deserved the win. Roll on Blues (h)”

Credit: @matt_p_w

“Furlong been way off the pace tonight”

Credit: @93xKG

“Furlong poor tonight”

Credit: @kevin_saunders

“Lucky that the ref saw it, shocking communication from Furlong and Johnstone”

Credit: @JDWBA2

“Dreadful free-kick routine, wasteful. Mowatt’s centre finds nobody and Furlong concedes a needless free-kick himself”

Credit: @ChapmanJ92

“Furlong not even paying attention then”

Credit: @Wellsy172

In other news, some West Brom fans are desperate for one player to sign a new deal. Find out who it is here.

Southampton extended their unbeaten run in the Premier League to four matches as they held the champions Manchester City to a 0-0 draw at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

The Saints have not lost a competitive match since the opening day defeat to Everton and now have four points on the board after five games.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side gave as good as they got from Manchester City on the day. Whilst the home side took six more shots than the Saints, the visitors managed two shots on target to City’s one, showing how competitive they were in the game.

There were a number of impressive performers for the Saints, but one player whose performance may have gone under the radar was Nathan Redmond.

Keeping a clean sheet away at Manchester City will rightly draw attention to the back four and goalkeeper for being able to keep the likes of Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish at bay, but Redmond was selected out wide ahead of Nathan Tella and Moussa Djenepo and repaid Hasenhuttl’s faith in him.

The ex-Norwich winger put in a superb display and showed that he can fulfill the defensive side of his duties whilst also carrying an attacking threat in the final third. Defensively, Redmond was excellent for the Saints and helped to limit City’s full-backs going forward.

As per SofaScore, he won 86% of his duels, winning all five of his ground duels and one of his two in the air. He also made three tackles and was not dribbled past once all game. This shows how strong he was in 50-50 battles, proving that he has the defensive nous to provide support for his full-back to ensure that they are not ripped apart by overloads out wide.

Offensively, he also pulled his weight and attempted to win the game for Southampton. As per SofaScore, he completed both of his attempted dribbles, had one shot and created two chances for his teammates to shoot. This shows that he was able to merge a diligent defensive display with creativity going forward, which is why he repaid Hasenhuttl’s faith in him on the day.

Hopefully he will be able to maintain that level of performance throughout the rest of the season whilst chipping in with goals and assists, as he could become a key member of the team if he is able to do so. It is now up to him to keep performing to convince the manager to continue selecting him in the starting XI.

In other news: Semmens must sanction deal for “dangerous” Saints beast, Ralph would be buzzing

It isn’t quite protocol, but nobody could blame Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, for being at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport to greet the arrival of Sri Lanka on Sunday morning. Pakistan needs international cricket like humans need water, and given that Mahela Jayawardene’s men were the first team of standing to visit Pakistan for a bilateral series since September 2007, the gesture was both well-meant and indicative of the hosts’pleasure.Not that the generosity of spirit is likely to infect Sri Lanka, for they don’t arrive as the obliging tourists. They are a hardy bunch, well-balanced between young and old, and have a fair sprinkling of game-changing superstars. Pakistan closely followed the “grey areas” in sketchy recent ODI performances in Bangladesh, but they wouldn’t have failed to notice that they still managed to win. Just in case they did, Jayawardene was on hand to remind them.”We’re still winning,” he said. “There are periods when you go through tough times as a team and you need to pull through them. That’s what character is all about. I haven’t seen too many teams being 6 for 5 [as Sri Lanka were in the tri-series final against Bangladesh] and still winning. Even when we came here for the Asia Cup, we weren’t favourites and we won it.”But since then they have been decidedly patchy, winning nine of 13 games, including a home series loss to India and a spate of unconvincing wins against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Batting is the concern, as a highest of 227 in that period suggests.”The wickets were tough in Bangladesh but we have to struggle through that and challenge ourselves,” Jayawardene admitted. “But consistency is something we are working on. After the 2007 World Cup some new guys came in and we went through a transition. It has been patchy, especially if you consider the bowling attack we have. But Upul [Tharanga] and Sanath [Jayasuriya] are back and they bring some experience, but we can be much more consistent with our batting.”It might very well be an instruction from captain Jayawardene to batsman Jayawardene. Those 13 games have produced a personally wretched run: just two fifties, an average of barely 21 and four ducks. Jayawardene thus finds himself in territory Mark Taylor and Nasser Hussain, among many other captains, have visited in recent years. You may lead a nation, but you can’t buy yourself a run.”I’ve always said that I have two different roles. When I’m captain, I’m a captain and I always consider myself as a batsman for the team. It is a concern because, as a batsman, I need to contribute. I don’t see that I’m out of form because, when I play Tests, I’m batting really well, getting big runs. It’s just the application and batting in different situations, trying to get through those periods that I need to work hard on.”The opponent will need to be worked on as well, for Pakistan are straining to play some serious cricket. Aggressive cricket, secret strategies and some young talent has been promised by the hosts. Jayawardene’s response is to keep it simple: “This is not warfare, just a simple game. Our way is to play hard and tough. Pakistan is always Pakistan and they are a very tough side whether they play regularly or not. They have got quite a fewindividuals who can take the game away from you on a given day so it’s going to be a tough series. We are looking forward to the challenge.”As is all of Pakistan.

Pakistan’s batsmen have been practising on shorter pitches to try and counter the threat of Ajantha Mendis in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, which begins on Tuesday at the National Stadium in Karachi.Mendis, the quickest bowler to 50 ODI wickets, has been a dominant theme in Pakistan’s thinking ahead of the short series. Pakistan have come across Mendis twice, once in the Asia Cup and then in the final of the four-nation Twenty 20 in Canada. Seven wickets in 14 overs in the two games means Pakistan aren’t wrong to focus heavily on him.One man who has succeeded against him is Misbah-ul-Haq, who made 76 in a losing cause during the Asia Cup and an unbeaten 23 in the Twenty20 final. The Pakistan vice-captain took 27 runs off 24 Mendis deliveries in Karachi last year, including two sixes and a four, before he was bowled slogging. He believes a similarly aggressive approach might help dent his effectiveness.”We saw him in the Asia Cup and even though he took four wickets, he went for a few runs [47],” said Misbah. “We will definitely try to attack and unnerve him. It’s in the mind. If you allow a bowler to dominate you, he will and if you don’t, he won’t.”A number of Pakistan’s batsmen have spoken of the pace which Mendis bowls at as being the key to his success. So reading him off the pitch or from the hand, goes the thinking, is important, but not as much as adjusting to his pace, which allows you little time to adjust. As Imran Khan famously did before a series against the West Indies in 1987-88, batsmen have practiced on shorter surfaces, to counter an altogether different threat.”We are practicing a lot for Mendis,” said Misbah. “We’re playing bowlers from shorter distances so we can counter the fast pace. There is no reason why we cannot handle him because all Pakistan players are good against spin.”Intent is one thing, execution another altogether and as his captain Mahela Jayawardene pointed out, Mendis is a man who doesn’t fret about pressure. “He hasn’t had added pressure and has gone through all the batting line-ups he has come across. He is enjoying his challenges and pressure does not affect him as he is a very simple guy. He doesn’t have to go through such interviews because his knowledge of English is not that great so he rests in his room watching movies.”Having one of the game’s greatest spinners at the other end is no bad thing either. “He knows what his role is and there are some really good guys around him giving him advice especially Murali who is a brilliant role model. He has worked very hard for 18 years, gone through so many issues and come through very well. As long as Ajantha realises that and goes along the same path as Murali, I’m sure we’ll have a big match-winner for us in the next ten years.”

Wolverhampton Wanderers are preparing a bid for Wales striker Kieffer Moore, according to Football Insider.

The offer will apparently be in the region of £7m, and it remains to be seen whether that’s enough to persuade Cardiff City, who are open to sale because they’re in need of cash.

Wolves are keen to add another centre-forward to their ranks in the final week of the transfer window. They’ve already offloaded two this summer, sending Patrick Cutrone on loan to Empoli and selling Rafa Mir to Sevilla for a fee of £10.8m.

What’s Moore’s track record?

Moore scored 20 goals in 42 Championship appearances for Cardiff last season as they narrowly missed out on the play-off places. His form was enough to earn him three starts for Wales at the European Championship earlier in the summer (via WhoScored).

However, you can still understand why some Wolves fans may be unconvinced given that the has been plying his trade in the second tier and has never played in the Premier League.

Fan feed Talking Wolves relayed the report, and here’s what some of the club’s supporters made of it.

These Wolves fans far from impressed by Moore links

“Never played in the Prem so would be a clear gamble. Mitrovic at Fulham would be a better fit but even he is out of our reach. A sorry state of affairs if it happens but a clear indication of the downward spiral the club finds itself in thanks to Shi.”

Credit: @dougan_the

“Predictable rumours. In the end we can’t attract ‘Top’ players so we’ll raid the championship, panic buying before the deadline. There’s no recruitment strategy plan B.”

Credit: @wolvesmolinews

“Not the quality we require”

Credit: @W4768721431

“This has gotta be a wind up”

Credit: @gricey88

“Oh well, he’ll be useful in the Championship next year”

Credit: @WWFC_OTD

“Oh dear…”

Credit: @robbiepthewolf

In other news, many Wolves fans were also left raging by this transfer update. 

يرى رونالد كومان، المدير الفني السابق لفريق برشلونة، أن النادي الكتالوني يعيش في الماضي بسبب أسلوب لعبه القديم.

كان كومان مدربًا لفريق برشلونة قبل إقالته في أكتوبر الماضي لسوء النتائج، وحل محله أسطورة النادي تشافي هيرنانديز.

ويقول كومان، الذي من المقرر أن يتولى مسؤولية المنتخب الهولندي خلفًا لمواطنه لويس فان خال بعد كأس العالم، إن برشلونة لا يزال يعيش في الماضي ولم يغير أسلوبه القائم على الاستحواذ والتيكي تاكا.

وقال كومان في تصريحات نشرتها شبكة “جول” العالمية: “أنا أؤيد فكرة الاستحواذ على المباراة، إذا لعبت مع 3 مدافعين أو خمسة مدافعين، فلا يمكنك القول إنه نظام دفاعي”.

اقرأ أيضًا | برشلونة يجتمع بوكيل ديمبلي لبحث مستقبله.. وقرار يلوح في الأفق

وأضاف: “مع هذا النظام لمدة 3 أو أربعة أشهر لعبنا أفضل المباريات في السنوات الأخيرة، وكان أوضح مثال على ذلك النهائي ضد أتلتيك”.

وواصل: “برشلونة يعيش في الماضي، طريقة لعب 4-3-3 والتيكي تاكا، كرة القدم تغيرت، الآن أصبحت أسرع وأكثر جسدية، لا يمكنك العيش في الماضي”.

كما شكك كومان في الصفقة المحتملة لتعاقد برشلونة مع النجم البولندي روبرت ليفاندوفسكي من بايرن ميونخ.

وعن ذلك، قال: “ليفاندوفسكي لاعب عظيم، هداف منتظم، ولكن يجب النظر إلى سنه، 35 عامًا؟ لدي شكوك حول دفع 50 أو 60 مليون للاعب بالإضافة إلى راتبه”.

وأوضح: “ربما تبقت له سنتان، لدي شكوك كثيرة بشأن التعاقد معه أو عدم التعاقد”.