A strokefilled 94 by Anoop Pai helped Hyderabad take the vital firstinnings lead over Rajasthan in their Vijay Merchant Trophyquarterfinal match at the Deshbandhu Park in Calcutta on Saturday. Atstumps on the second day, Hyderabad were 290 for four in reply toRajasthan’s 254, compiled on Thursday.Resuming at two for no loss, the Hyderabad openers Prasanth Peter (89)and Imran Khan (47) put on 70 runs in 29.1 overs. Imran was the firstto be dismissed, caught by B Ranjan off S Godara. Hyderabad skipper ATRayudu (7) did not last long and in the 32nd over was caught by VivekYadav off Naresh Bhati.Anoop Pai then joined Prasanth Peter and the pair put their heads downto add 159 runs for the third wicket off 40 overs. Peter was thefourth batsman to be dismissed when he offered a catch to V Mathur offG Tanwar. During a 287-minute stay at the crease, Peter faced 213balls and hit nine fours and three sixes.Anoop then fell leg before to V Mathur with the score at 263, afterhelping Hyderabad cross the Rajasthan total. At stumps Abhinav Kumar(18) and Niranjan (14) were at the crease
Liverpool are reportedly the current front-runners to sign dominant Torino centre-back Gleison Bremer in the summer transfer window.
The Lowdown: Bremer’s monstrous season
The 24-year-old has been an impressive performer for Torino this season, making 25 starts in Serie A and helping his side sit 11th in the table.
Bremer has averaged 3.9 aerial duel wins per game, highlighting his prowess in that area of his game, and he has also enjoyed 3.5 clearances and interceptions apiece per match. To put that into perspective, all three of those numbers would rank in first place amongst the current Reds squad.
Liverpool have been linked with a move for the Brazilian in the past and an exciting rumour has now emerged.
The Latest: Liverpool favourites to sign defender
According to Tuttosport [via Sport Witness], ‘in first place is Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool’ when it comes to the race to acquire Bremer’s signature.
Jurgen Klopp himself is believed to have ‘great interest’ in snapping up the Torino man, whose current contract expires in the summer of 2024.
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The Verdict: Goodbye, Joe Gomez?
Should this rumour be true, you have to wonder if it could spell the end of Joe Gomez’s time at the club, with the Englishman linked with a move away from Anfield earlier this week.
He is already fourth in the centre-back pecking order behind Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Ibrahima Konate, and Bremer surely wouldn’t be coming in as fifth choice.
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The defender would be an exciting addition to Klopp’s squad, given his age and his aforementioned statistics this season, but whether or not he is happy to play a squad role remains to be seen.
In other news, Liverpool would reportedly jump at the chance to sign one player. Find out who it is here.
“You can’t take any team lightly these days. You don’t know which bush will throw up what snake.” These words, by Vijay Bharadwaj, the Karnataka coach, indicates how cautiously they are approaching the Ranji Trophy game against Himachal Pradesh. Karnataka will start as clear favourites, though: the team has Anil Kumble, who has just become the national captain, and Rahul Dravid, fresh from a double-hundred. Plus, they are playing at home.Both teams are carrying just one point from their previous games, as the batting let them down in the first innings. Karnataka collapsed against the spin of Ramesh Powar on a tricky first-day wicket against Mumbai while HP struggled against the Saurashtra spinners – Kamlesh Makvana and Rakesh Dhurv – and collapsed sensationally from 131 for 1 to 181.”It was one bad session of batting that cost us dearly,” Sandeep Sharma, HP’s captain, said. “But we are confident of a better show against Karnataka. Our bowling is in very good shape and I am sure the batsmen will come to the party.”Sharma has reason to believe that his team won’t be embarrassed. In Vikramjeet Singh Malik and Ashok Thakur, the left-arm seamer who took 11 wickets in the last game, they have a decent pace attack. And spin is their main strike weapon as they have the in-form left-arm spinner Vishal Bhatia and Sarandeep Singh, the former India offspinner who moved from Punjab to HP last season. Bhatia, who was the highest wicket-taker in the Plate league with 38 victims, and Sarandeep, who took 28 wickets last season, ensured that HP didn’t lose a single game en route to becoming the Plate champions.Their batting will be led by the captain himself and he will look to the young players like Paras Dogra, wicketkeeper Maninder Bisla, and Manish Gupta to get the runs on the board. Dogra was the top scorer last season with 528 runs at 48, while Sharma, too, enjoyed a good season.They have a fairly unchanged nucleus for the last three years. “We all know each other pretty well, there are quite a few talented youngsters, and it’s a very healthy attitude that prevails in our camp,” Sharma said. How these youngsters adapt to the challenge of playing against the experienced Karnataka players on an untested wicket will be the key.
The pitch is of some concern as it was recently re-laid, and just a couple of games have been played on the new surface. The top layer has been changed, with soil brought in from Kakinada, a district in Andhra Pradesh. It’s anybody’s guess how the track will play; some players from both teams think it will assist spinners fairly early in the game as they reckoned the top surface is quite powdery. The curator, however, is confident it will hold up for the game.”We have left a sprinkling of grass on the track and it should hold up. It should be a sporting wicket,” Narayan Raju, the chief curator, told Cricinfo. “Of course it will take spin, perhaps from the end of the second day or by the third day.”Both teams have said that they will bat first if the coin falls in their favour. “Since it’s a newly laid track, we would look to bat first,” Bharadwaj said.Dravid practised for nearly a couple of hours in the morning on the practice wickets and he would be itching to have another big knock under his belt before the Tests against Pakistan. Kumble, who was in Mumbai for the selection meeting, is expected to fly back tonight and will pair up with Sunil Joshi as Karnataka’s spin weapons. The fast bowlers, Kumble will hope his fast bowlers – Vinay Kumar and NC Aiyappa, who was restricted to just one game due to an injury in the last season and bowled well only in patches in the last game – can put up a good show. Karnataka is likely to go with the same team that drew against Mumbai, while HP will finalise their playing XI tomorrow.
Shane Warne’s greatest strength, as befits the greatest bowler of the modern era, is not his prodigious ability to spin a cricket ball or the phenomenal accuracy with which he goes about his work. It is his ability to impose his iron will on any given occasion. And today, on the occasion of his final Test on his home ground at Melbourne, and with 699 Test wickets to his name, Warne rose above the conditions, the emotion, and most of all, his abject English opponents, to deliver the perfect belated Christmas present to an adoring crowd of 89,155.For all that he is Melbourne’s favourite son, Warne had absolutely no right to lord it to quite the extent that he did. On a miserably cold and damp day, the start of which was delayed by half-an-hour by morning drizzle, Warne took 5 for 39 in 17.2 overs of pure mischief-making. It was his 37th five-wicket haul in 144 Tests, his third in 11 at the MCG, and he didn’t even enter the attack until the 41st over of the day, by which stage two wickets had already been lost and several more were threatening to topple in conditions perfect for seam and swing.But that mattered not a jot to Warne, who sensed his stage and toyed with England as well as the crowd. Two overs before he was finally thrown the ball, he made as if to go to his mark and the crowd roared as Justin Langer took his cap off his head only to return it seconds later, and, when he did finally enter the attack, he needed only four overs to deliver the moment that his entire country had been awaiting. At 3.18pm, he bowled Andrew Strauss for an even 50 to reach 700 in Tests.The delivery that did for Strauss was a classic Warne dismissal, a flighted ball that dipped into the rough, bit and crashed into middle stump as the batsman played loosely for an imagined half-volley. The timing was especially shattering for England, who had lost Paul Collingwood two balls earlier to end a third-wicket stand of 57 – the highest of their innings. After that the rest of the innings passed like a Jubilee procession.Admittedly, it took Warne a while to get back in on the act again, but it hardly seemed to matter. Australia were unusually inept in the field – Matthew Hayden missed a straightforward chance in the gully and Adam Gilchrist muffed two chances behind the stumps, including a howler of a stumping against Kevin Pietersen – but they correctly surmised that another chance would be along before long.Sure enough, Warne bagged his second when Chris Read – picked in place of the out-of-form Geraint Jones – slapped a schoolboyish drive to short cover for 3 and returned to face the icy glare of his unamused coach, Duncan Fletcher. Steve Harmison heaved a wide ball to mid-on and trudged off for 7 before Pietersen, who seemed to be past caring by this stage, hoisted a steepler to Andrew Symonds in front of the screen screen. Warne wrapped up the innings when Monty Panesar, newly promoted to No. 10, scuffed another heave across the line and picked out Symonds again at mid-on.It had been, as Ricky Ponting admitted, a good toss to lose – and it was Flintoff who, understandly enough, chose to bat first. Glenn McGrath, like Warne, was making his final appearance in Melbourne, and he set the tone for the day in his very first over with a series of 125kph offbreaks. It was Brett Lee, however, who made the initial breakthrough when Alastair Cook – England’s centurion at the WACA – under-edged an attempted leave to Adam Gilchrist behind the stumps.
Given the conditions, Australia’s star performers should have been the slower seamers – McGrath, Stuart Clark and Andrew Symonds, who managed just three wickets between them but should have had at least seven. Ian Bell, who almost ran himself out first ball, was trapped lbw for 7 by Clark, who also added the captain, Flintoff, for another uneasy innings of 13. McGrath, meanwhile, had to make do with the sole scalp of Sajid Mahmood. It was another unworthy swipe that earned the wicket, but it was at least McGrath’s 150th in Tests against England.When their turn came late in the day, England did bowl pluckily in the circumstances, but without luck as umpire Rudi Koertzen turned down numerous lbw shouts – with Hoggard staring incredulously into his eyes after one particularly marginal call against Matthew Hayden. Flintoff managed to pop up with two in two balls before the close, removing Justin Langer and the nightwatchman Lee, but Warne’s exploits had already sealed the day’s honours.
Short cuts
Play of the day Shane Warne’s 700th wicket was the moment most of the MCG wanted to see and Warne obliged his home fans by bowling Andrew Strauss in his fourth over. Figures of 5 for 39 provided an ideal start to his two-game farewell.Smart decision of the day The umpires choosing to stay on the field for most of the first session. Misty rain hit the ground at times but it wasn’t until a heavy shower forced an early lunch that they gave in.Not so smart decisions of the day It wasn’t a great day for Rudi Koertzen. Matthew Hayden should not have survived two lbw decisions to Matthew Hoggard and Paul Collingwood benefited when hit on the pads by Stuart Clark before he had scored.Surprise of the dayWas it the cold weather or slippery hands? The Australians had a sloppy day in the field, with Adam Gilchrist missing a stumping and a catch and Matthew Hayden dropping Andrew Strauss in the gully. The unusual set of mistakes didn’t matter in the end.Near miss of the day According to Cricket Australia Boxing Day has been sold out since June 1, but a few thousands seats weren’t taken up. A world record to beat the 90,800 here in 1960-61 was predicted, but the 89,155 was still a new Ashes mark.Quote of the day “I was going to keep running but I got puffed.” Shane Warne on his celebration for his 700th wicket
Pranab Roy, the deposed senior national selector, said Sourav Ganguly was included in the Indian team for the just-concluded Chennai Test not as an “allrounder”, but as a specialist batsman.”Ganguly has all through been a specialist batsman,” he said. “When we discussed his name,we considered him as a specialist batsman, who can occasionally bowl.”When it was pointed out that Kiran More, the selection committee chairman, had announced to the media that Ganguly had been taken in the side as a batting allrounder, Roy said “I cannot comment on what More has said. I don’t know what he has said and in what sense.”After being sacked as captain and kept out of the squad in the back-to-back one-day series against Sri Lanka and South Africa, Ganguly made it to the team in the rain-hit Chennai Test against Sri Lanka.Roy, a member of the national selection panel from East Zone then, had been strongly arguing Ganguly’s case at selection meetings during the period when Ganguly was out of the side. “We never considered him as an allrounder,” he said, referring to the deliberations at the November 23 selection committee meeting where Ganguly was recalled to the side. However, Roy refused to give details, saying “It will be improper on my part to leak what happenned at the selection meeting”.Roy and two other selectors, Gopal Sharma and Yashpal Sharma, who had played a key role in ensuring Ganguly’s return to the Indian team, were sacked the very day the new Sharad Pawar-led regime took over the reins of the BCCI.
Justin Langer has been affected by a back injury but is expected to return in time for the tour to New Zealand. He was due to play in Western Australia’s Pura Cup clash against Tasmania, but pulled out after the injury, which had threatened his appearance for the Boxing Day Test, recurred on Wednesday morning.Wayne Clark, Western Australia’s coach, played down the extent of the injury and said that Langer would consult with the Australian side’s medical staff. “He finds it difficult to bend over and we’ve decided to rest him from this game,” Clark said. “Given another day or two he probably would have been fine. He felt a recurrence of it on Wednesday morning and just didn’t have enough time to get it right.”Langer’s injury could have also affected his chances – remote ones, admittedly – of opening for Australia in the one-dayers. Usually not seen as a one-day player, Langer has been vocal about his exclusion from the ODIs. The poor run that Matthew Hayden, his opening partner in Tests, has suffered in recent times raised the possibility of Langer being tried out.
If the rumours are to be believed, Steve Harmison, England’s injury-prone fast bowler, might have done a little too much moaning and not enough bowling of late for the likes of England’s selectors. With the England squad for the tour of the Caribbean set to be named shortly, the noises from those close to the England camp are that Harmison could well find himself in the wilderness.Harmison missed the current series of Sri Lanka after breaking down in Bangladesh, and reports hint that the management were not overly impressed with his attitude while he was in Bangladesh. He returned home with the aim of getting himself ready for the second leg of the trip, but failed an eve-of-tour fitness test and missed out. One reporter accompanying the side said that Harmison had been “considered history ever since he failed to return”.In September he was not awarded a central contract, something of a surpise to many, but, according to insiders, a move aimed at giving him a kick up the backside. If that was the intention, it seems to have failed.Since arriving back from Bangladesh, Harmison has shown a marked reluctance to travel from his home in Durham to the National Academy in Loughborough for ongoing treatment, something that has not gone down well with selectors or been unnoticed by the tour party.Although Harmison is a matchwinner, he is a notoriously poor tourist with a record of returning home early. England may well prefer to take a gamble on two other players recovering from injury – Simon Jones and Andy Caddick – rather than be seen to be rewarding someone with a questionable attitude.The squad should have been named this week, but a minor operation on David Graveney has delayed the selectors’ meeting for a few days.
Zimbabwe cricket was reduced to anarchy for 15 minutes last Sunday at Mutare Sports Club by cricketers from the Harare team Takashinga. In a day of infamy a batsman refused to leave the crease on being given out – swore viciously at an umpire, accused him of cheating – then kicked and bat-swiped a set of stumps to the ground.This national first league decider was always going to be a fiery encounter, but few would have predicted farce on such scale. As the visitors bristled onto the ground to inspect the pitch shortly after arrival that morning, they were allegedly heard by ground staff to say, "Don’t greet anyone; umpire Barbour is going to cheat us today."25 overs into the match the powder keg blew when umpire Alan Walsh adjudged Gift Makoni LBW after stepping across his stumps. As the Manicaland players retreated to one side of the pitch to sit and wait for order, the inconsolable Makoni stamped, raged and circled the pitch for seven minutes. From the verandah Takashinga manager Mr Elvis swore and shouted at the umpires, "We didn’t drive all this way to be cheated." Test umpire Kevan Barbour’s attempted reasoning enraged Makoni further, ending with him scooping up the remaining stumps and removing them from the field.Protracted discussions and the prospect of forfeiture finally saw Takashinga resume their innings. It could be argued that in a normal society the game had long since been conceded. Any refusal to play constitutes a concession. The umpires have sent a report to the Zimbabwe Cricket Union disciplinary committee and cricket followers await their findings with interest.What cannot be denied is that Takashinga greatly embarrassed all spectators – including uniformed school kids from Dangamvura and Mutare Boys High – who arrived in numbers to watch the biggest match of the season. Spectators had driven from as far as Odzi and Nyazura – enduring an hour-long delay at the Christmas-pass roadblock for a chance to watch Test stars Flower, Campbell and Whittall turn out for Mutare. In the end the spectators were disappointed as Mutare crushed the opposition by nine wickets without needing the big names. Justin Lewis (10-2-46-5) destroyed the top order and again proved how useful he would have been at the Under-19 World Cup.Doubly embarrassing for the ZCU is that most of the Takashinga side have come through the system under its patronage. Makoni is a member of the Mashonaland Cricket Association whilst three other players are Academy-trained coaches. Most of the rest have received scholarships to cricket schools like Churchill -including captain Rangarirai Manyande.There have been warning signs for years that Churchill’s cricketers are out of control. They intimidate umpires, refuse to walk and generally run circles around their hapless teacher-coaches. Unlike their counterparts who play mostly for fun, Churchill’s kids play for future contracts. The fault lies with the ZCU for leaving them on their own to miraculously learn 150 years of cricket civilization. The future of ZCU-choreographed cricket was on display at Mutare Sports Club and despair was everywhere.A step in the right direction might be to employ a high profile role model – perhaps a West Indian – to play and cultivate acceptable standards at Takashinga. Andy Flower reports that in three years of intermittent captaincy he never experienced bad behaviour at the club. These days all sides dread playing them – a string of unpunished reports mark their files – whilst official paralysis increasingly emboldens them.
The third day’s play was hardly a battle between bat and ball. It wasmore of an exhibition on how the willow should be wielded. From ShivSunder Das to Rahul Dravid to Sachin Tendulkar there was no joy forZimbabwe. The only saving grace was the fact that Das is playing justhis second Test match, and therefore was a bit more reserved than wasreally necessary. On the other hand, neither Rahul Dravid nor SachinTendulkar exhibited any shyness. If anything, Rahul Dravid was moreforceful than ever. It was a big day for the young man. He not onlynotched up his seventh Test hundred, but also crossed the milestone of3000 runs in the longer version of the game. In doing so, he propelledIndia to a strong position of 275/2 at stumps on the third day of thefirst Test at the Kotla on Monday. John Wright said earlier that hecould not work any magic. If he can inspire Dravid to approach thegame as he did, no miracles will be needed.Resuming on nine for no loss, openers Sadagoppan Ramesh and Das madeyet another beginning. Having safely played out the few overs on offerthe previous day, the openers once again set their sights on posting agood response. This however, wasn’t to be. Ramesh played all over aquick straight ball from Heath Streak and was trapped plumb in front.This brought Dravid and Das together. Assuming a role not usuallyassociated with him, Dravid was the aggressor even as Das playedquietly and solidly at one end.A flurry of boundaries from the blade of the Karnataka stylist’s batsaw the pair push the scoring rate. Henry Olonga did the Zimbabweancause no good by bowling all over the place. Striving for pace, Olongawas in turns either too full or too short. Either way, the result wasthe same, the ball being dispatched to the fence with disdain.After making a good half century, Das too found himself trapped legbefore. Perhaps this was the only time in the day when Olonga landedthe ball in the right place. Das had impressed in his knock of 58.Striking the ball hard for a man his size, the Orissa opener sent theball to the fence six times.The large crowd roared as Sachin Tendulkar walked out to the middle.To an Indian crowd there will never be anyone closer to the heart thanTendulkar. When he made his way to the middle, Dravid already had awell made 58 to his credit. And yet, the roars that greeted Tendulkarwas deafening. Dravid certainly cornered his fair share of theapplause in the overs that ensued. Tendulkar started off a bittentatively, by his high standards anyway. Not timing the ballperfectly, and a bit anxious running between the wickets, Tendulkarmoved cautiously on.Dravid was never troubled. The Zimbabwe captain rotated his bowlersaround as much as was effective, but none could trouble Dravid. Takinga leaf out of the Zimbabweans’ book, he used the sweep at will againstthe spinners. Even going down the wicket when the ball was given a bitof air brought success for Dravid. However, he was truly magnificentagainst the mediumpacers. When the bowling was a tad short, or wideenough to allow him to open his shoulders, Dravid rocked onto his backfoot and crashed the ball away. Peppering the ropes in all parts ofthe ground, Dravid cut and pulled in domineering fashion.While Dravid marched on, Tendulkar too found his golden touch andZimbabwe’s misery was complete. Playing copybook shots, the maestropresented the full face of his very heavy bat to anything that wasbowled at him. Taking three consecutive boundaries off Olonga,Tendulkar raised the level of batsmanship to a very high standard.The second new ball was taken just as the day was coming to a close.It hardly made any difference to the Indians. When the umpires tookthe players off the field, Tendulkar had made a solid unbeaten 70 (164balls, 10 fours), even as Dravid had 118 of the finest runs to hiscredit. Although he didn’t hit a single ball over the ropes, his 17boundaries went a long way in demoralising the Zimbabweans. At 275/2with VVS Laxman and skipper Ganguly yet to come, India are sittingpretty in this Test match. The Zimbabwean bowlers will have to pull uptheir socks in a hurry if they are going to trouble India’s batsmen.The bowling section of the scoreboard was a pathetic sight… if youare a Zimbabwean. Olonga went for 51 runs in 14 overs, Paul Strangconceded 40 from 13 overs and Murphy in turn was ineffective enough togive away over 50 runs from his 20-odd overs.
Wolverhampton Wanderers made it back-to-back wins in the Premier League with a 1-0 victory at strugglers Everton on Sunday afternoon.
Former Liverpool academy player and fan Conor Coady scored the decisive goal at Goodison Park early in the second half before Toffees full-back Jonjoe Kenny was sent off to further heap misery on Frank Lampard’s side.
The win saw Wolves climb up to seventh with their hopes of securing European football very much alive still, however, despite another solid team performance, the contribution of right-wing-back Jonny Otto was underwhelming, with the Spaniard playing opposite to his preferred side.
According to SofaScore, the 28-year-old wing-back contributed little in both halves of the pitch. From an offensive point of view, Jonny failed to complete a single cross or long ball as well as completing a dribble whilst also seeing his sole shot go off-target.
Defensively, despite his side’s 11th league clean sheet of the season, the Spaniard was lacklustre. Throughout the entire 90 minutes, the wing-back failed to make a single tackle, clearance or block and made just one interception whilst also winning just 20% of his duels and losing possession 16 times.
In fairness to Jonny, he did enjoy an impressive 91% passing accuracy with 43/47 passes completed whilst also making 75 touches.
However, Wolves boss Bruno Lage certainly won’t be encouraged by the wing-back’s performance, with the Portuguese having to fill round holes with square pegs following the injuries to right-wing-backs Nelson Semedo and Ki-Jana Hoever.
Semedo could be out until late April with a hamstring injury whilst the status of Hoever is still unknown after the 20-year-old suffered a similar-looking issue to that of his Portuguese teammate in last weekend’s 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace.
Therefore, Lage has had to deploy Jonny, usually a left-sided full-back, on the right with the 28-year-old only recently returning from a lengthy injury spell.
Two knee injuries have meant that since the start of the 2020/21 season, the Spaniard has played just 12 times and is clearly readjusting to playing regular, top-flight football.
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However, it’s an opportunity that will have to be taken with both hands given the impressive performances of both Rayan Ait Nouri and Fernando Marcal at left-wing-back this season.
The vacancy on the right-hand side is currently Jonny’s only way into playing regularly at Wolves and therefore the 28-year-old will have to adapt in order to keep his place whilst Semedo is sidelined.
In other news: Fosun must surely regret huge Wolves howler over £67.5m-rated title-winning “rock”