Tag Futebol

West Ham United are set to miss out on Burnley defender James Tarkowski and have started to turn to other options, claims transfer insider Dean Jones.

The Lowdown: Moyes’ target

The 29-year-old has been a long-term target of Hammers boss David Moyes. According to The Guardian, West Ham had multiple bids rejected by Burnley for the defender in summer 2020.

Astonishingly, it is reported that the east London club’s final offer amounted to a staggering £30m.

However, with the Burnley man’s contract set to expire at the end of June, Tarkowski will leave Turf Moor on a free transfer this summer.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/west-ham-latest-developments-5/” title=”West Ham latest developments!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Latest: Jones’ claim

According to the Daily Mirror, West Ham have cooled their interest in Tarkowski because they expect him to sign for Newcastle.

Whilst Jones is unsure about the validity of that report, the transfer insider has asserted that the Irons aren’t confident in their chances of signing the defender.

Speaking with GiveMeSport, he claimed:

“I’m not sure that’s the reason necessarily, but I don’t think West Ham have had positive feelings that they’ve got a good chance of signing Tarkowski, and that’s why they’re starting to turn towards other options in case it can’t happen.”

The Verdict: Would be a great signing on a free

As a proven Premier League defender with almost 200 top-flight appearances under his belt, Tarkowski has been hailed as “outstanding” by former Clarets manager Sean Dyche.

With such a wealth of experience and available for zero initial cost, it is certainly no surprise to see a whole host of clubs lining up for the centre-back’s signature.

And if the likes of Newcastle decide to offer the 29-year-old a huge salary, this deal may prove difficult for West Ham to get over the line.

Either way, whichever team ends up signing him will be receiving a great player on a free transfer, and Moyes may well be gutted to miss out given his long-term interest.

In other news: West Ham nearing agreement with Rennes for Nayef Aguerd!

Rangers will need to turn around a one-goal deficit when they play the second leg of their Europa League semi-final tie at Ibrox next week.

The Gers suffered a 1-0 defeat in Germany on Thursday night as they were hit with a late hammer blow after defending superbly for most of the game.

Gio van Bronckhorst’s gameplan appeared to be working brilliantly for them as they held firm at the back until Angelino scored a screamer from distance on the volley to win the match for RB Leipzig in the 85th minute.

Although the night ended in defeat for the Light Blues, there were a number of players who were able to leave the pitch with their heads held high. One player in particular who was outstanding on the night was Croatian defender Borna Barisic.

The left-back was superb as he caught the eye at both ends of the pitch. Defensively, he was solid for Van Bronckhorst’s men – as per SofaScore, the £18k-per-week gem won 100% of his duels throughout the 90 minutes whilst also making four clearances, one tackle and one interception.

On the ball, he was reliable and a threat for the Glasgow giants. As per SofaScore, he only gave away possession eight times from 45 touches, which shows that he was not a liability with the ball at his feet. He also created two chances and was successful with one of his two crosses as he made an impact going forward.

Rangers only had seven shots in total and two of those came from his passes, which shows how influential he was in an attacking sense. He offered a much-needed outlet in possession to get the team up the pitch, relieving pressure on the backline and giving the attackers a chance to get at the Leipzig defence.

Former Gers winger Neil McCann claimed earlier this month that Barisic is “like a train” in attack, and that is how the Croatian looked when he was bombing on the overlap to cause problems for the Bundesliga team, although he did not get too many opportunities to do so because of the nature of the game.

Overall, it was an outstanding performance from the 29-year-old and he did not deserve to be on the losing side on the night. He was excellent and Van Bronckhorst will surely be delighted with how Barisic performed at left-back, nailing down his position ahead of the Old Firm clash on Sunday.

AND in other news, Fewer touches than McGregor: Rangers dud who lost possession 15 times let GvB down badly…

The Delhi batsman opens up on Gautam Gambhir’s mentorship, lessons learnt at Mumbai Indians, mindset changes and success amid internal turmoil within the Delhi set-up

Akshay Gopalakrishnan24-Nov-2017BCCIDelhi was in the middle of turmoil, both on and off the field, during your debut season in 2015-16. How did you thrive in that kind of environment?
As a newcomer, I was fresh. I didn’t have much to lose and everything to gain. I got a lot of experience. I made two fifties, I guess, and one hundred. In my last innings against Karnataka, I scored a century.I spoke to my seniors to learn how to convert my fifties into hundreds, and they told me a simple thing: ‘When you were playing junior cricket, you got a certain quality of bowlers, and you could play them all day. But at the higher levels, like the Ranji Trophy, if the opposition has five bowlers, each of them will be of the same quality, so concentration levels need to be a lot stronger to score hundreds.’My previous Ranji season wasn’t great. In my first match, I made 150 [146 v Assam], but after that I flopped completely and didn’t get a single fifty. These tough times are when I learned a lot, more than the good times.Did you have good people to guide you?
Absolutely. My coach, my father and mother… there was a time last year when I got dropped from the Delhi side, before the IPL. I stopped believing in myself and doubted if I could make it at this level. Then, my family, coaches and the friends closest to me helped a lot. They made me believe that I am the same Nitish Rana of two or three years back and that I can make it.When I got dropped, there were hardly 10 days between the last match and the IPL. So I got called up for the camp 10 days early. For three or four days, I did not lay a hand on a bat because I was so frustrated that I thought to myself, ‘I don’t want to bat. I will go straight to the IPL and see’.I then spoke to Gautam [Gautam Gambhir] and my parents and my coach, and lots of things came out of it. There was a technical flaw that Gautam corrected. By the time I went to the IPL, a lot had changed in my batting. When Mahela Jayawardene [Mumbai Indians’ coach] saw my batting and compared it to the previous year, he asked me how I had managed to make such a major change. I told him about the poor season I endured and the help I received from Gautam and asked him if it was fine. He told me that he had received a DVD of my batting a couple of months back, and when he saw the change from the previous season, it was exactly what he had wanted to correct.Knowing that the effort I had put in before the season was working gave me confidence. If everyone wanted me to implement those changes, obviously it meant good for me. As I played more matches in the IPL, I grew in confidence, because things that had been going wrong in the previous season were now slowly falling in place.

“I am not the kind that would go and talk to every other person about my technique, but I know that even if I call Gautam at 2am to speak about a problem, he will stand up for me. That holds a lot of importance for me.

What were those technical changes?
My stance was a bit too side-on, as a result of which I couldn’t see the ball until the end. So Gautam made me open up a bit and also asked me to work on my backlift. I haven’t made too many major changes to my batting ever, but I felt then that it was the time to change things a bit.IPL 2017 was a sparkling season for you. What did you learn from it?
Before the IPL, I didn’t even know I had the ability to be a powerful striker. But going there and observing others around me hitting the ball, I gradually started developing the same.Who helped you in that process?
My coach, Sanjay Bharadwaj. But most importantly, with the amount of local cricket that happens in Delhi, if I get out today, there is another match waiting for me tomorrow. So I never had the fear of failure. Even if there was fear, knowing that I had another chance coming my way the next day alleviated it. So I started doing new things in every match I played. Eventually, they became ingrained into my system. But had so many matches not been happening, and had I taken these things straight from practising in the nets to the IPL, things would have been very different and very difficult.BCCIYou played a crucial role for Mumbai Indians at No. 3 this year. What did the management expect from you?
I was just asked to enjoy my game because I am young. Had they put too much pressure on me, I probably wouldn’t have done as well. I was just told to back myself and play my natural game. I did that and I was in my zone for the first few matches. In one match, I scored a fifty or something against Kolkata Knight Riders, a match which Hardik [Pandya] and I won. Till the 18th over, I didn’t even know what the team score was, I was so much in my zone. What was happening around me made no difference to me. As a T20 game progresses, your heartbeat goes up and you feel tensed, but I felt no such thing. I was batting so freely in the trust that at some point, something or the other will work in my favour. That belief was very important.The highs of the debut Ranji season were followed by patches of inconsistency in subsequent ones. How did you overcome it?
From what I have realised, I was overthinking. And it also had to do with circumstances and the people around me. People were forcefully pointing out the flaws in me, so I was caught up in myself. I was so trapped within myself that I wasn’t able to concentrate. If I have to be honest with you, when I was batting last year, I couldn’t see the ball. I was practically batting blindly. That is exactly what I discussed with Gautam , and with Sachin sir [Sachin Tendulkar] and Mahela Jayawardene after going to the IPL. Speaking to them cleared up my mind, and I realised, “Right, if they have played cricket this way, why don’t I try the same?” Doing that, I noticed that I was at a lot more ease with my game.You were dropped from Delhi’s Vijay Hazare Trophy squad in controversial circumstances last season. Gautam Gambhir had a tiff with coach KP Bhaskar, because he felt youngsters were being made to feel insecure. Did you feel that way?
No, because I had enough belief in my ability to know that a bad phase was due. But, yes, the help I received from people around me was very important. The technical aspect is fine, but mentally, the way my family, friends and coach helped me was very important. Had I not spoken to those people, it would have made it difficult for me to get back into that zone.What has Gambhir’s overall influence been on your career?
He has been a huge influence. Me and Gautam are from the same club, so the first time I held a bat, he was batting at a net in front of me. And he was such a big name when I was young. I have been seeing him since childhood, whatever I have learned has been from him. I am not the kind that would go and talk to every other person about my technique, but I know that even if I call Gautam at 2am to speak about a problem, he will stand up for me. That holds a lot of importance for me.What are your goals this domestic season?
The first year I played, I had just one hundred, and in the second year, too, I got only one hundred. That is what I am trying to develop: how to convert those fifties and sixties into hundreds. I just want to make as many big scores as I can. That is something I am learning and trying to adopt. I don’t know how it will happen, but until I don’t try it won’t happen. So that’s my goal: if I am playing, I play a big innings, because all around me, I see every other person is scoring a 200 or a 300. I, too, want to do the same: the day I bat, I bat big.What is the work that’s going in to achieve that?
One or two years back, I was young and immature. When I used to bat, till 40 or 50, I used to feel like I have to keep going. But as soon as I crossed 50, I used to relax and play the wrong shots. Whenever I have spoken to Gautam or any other senior, they have all told me to play one ball at a time. That’s where my effort has been. Even if I’m batting at 150 or 300, I have all eyes on the ball I am about to face, and not the previous one or the one after that.

With a 157-run partnership for Royal Challengers Bangalore in full flow, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s most potent bowling threat – Mustafizur Rahman – was held back until the carnage was nearly complete

Alagappan Muthu in Bangalore12-Apr-2016Twenty20 cricket creates a bit of a time warp, one that is felt most acutely during one-sided passages of play. One team feels like it takes an eternity for the promised relief. “It’ll all be over in a few hours. Just hang in there.” On this night, that was Sunrisers Hyderabad.The other team experiences everything in fast-forward, and they loathe for it to come to end. “Gee, this is too much fun. Do we have to stop?” That was Royal Challengers Banga… wait, actually it was just two men: Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.

Sarfaraz shines in late cameo

A 157-run partnership between AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli gave 18-year old Sarfaraz Khan the perfect platform to showcase his skills. His unbeaten 32 came off 10 balls as Royal Challengers ransacked 41 runs off the last two overs. The innings included five fours – two of them scooped over fine leg – and two sixes – one of them reverse scooped over third man.
“The shots and the control that he has over where the ball goes is something I’ve never seen before for someone so young,” RCB allrounder Shane Watson said after the win. “Even among the most experienced guys, the control that he has, where he picks where the bowler’s going to bowl and then the execution shows that he has practiced a hell of a lot.
“All different shot options to all different kind of bowlers. It’s incredible that a young guy can do things like that and that’s just the beginning of what he can do.”

Their 157-run partnership felt like the reunion of old college buddies. Chris Gayle’s wicket was a prank – bowled down leg, one that normally speeds away to the fine leg boundary instead moved in off his thigh pad to hit leg stump – and it was tempting to think Kohli and de Villiers were behind it. The events of the next 87 balls certainly made it seem like they wanted as much time together as possible. Those poor bowlers.With the number of overs and the amount of time they need to spend on the field slashed down like cricket was having a clearance sale, you’d think the pressure on them would reduce too. The problem arises when the batsmen figure out there are 10 of them to handle a measly 20 overs.It is said that you need to relinquish fear to succeed in T20s. But where is the need for such a thing in the first place when you have Kohli, de Villiers, Gayle and Shane Watson?Royal Challengers have four bonafide match-winners in their side and they line up as No. 1, 2, 3 and 4. Each of them can bat 20 overs by themselves, and each of them knows that. So there is absolutely no need to hold back. The slogging can start early on flat pitches, exactly the kind their home ground plies them with. It can wait a bit longer on tough pitches, which they will no doubt encounter as the IPL goes on.Tonight, Kohli and de Villiers decided it was go-time in the ninth over. For every over through the end of the innings – barring the ones that fetched the wickets of those two batsmen, the 16th and 18th – yielded double-digit runs. Royal Challengers’ 227 for 4 may be the eighth highest total in IPL history, but it seemed inevitable and it could have been a lot more because Sunrisers failed to recognise moments capable of turning the game.Mustafizur Rahman was their best bowler. He had only nine deliveries at Kohli, three at de Villiers, in the first 17 overs. The first 12 balls were during the Powerplay, when the partnership that would grow to become the second-highest at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in T20s was in its infancy. By the time he returned to bowl in the 18th, Royal Challengers were 183 for 2. At the end of that over, they were 186 for 4.Those six balls were more proof that this 20-year old Bangladeshi fast bowler revels in a big game situation. It was his IPL debut, but Mustafizur overruled his captain David Warner and brought mid-off up. Out came the cutter, and de Villiers, batting on 82, was duped. He got rid of Shane Watson too and was on a hat-trick. Once again he set his own field.Would things have panned out differently had Mustafizur bowled more – or even all – of his overs earlier? Should Sunrisers have followed Royal Challengers and used their best man to set the game up rather than save him for damage control? The answer to that might never be found, and it might not necessarily be a mistake either.Quieting a long batting line-up which loved the short boundaries at the Chinnsawamy is hard enough with all your resources, but Sunrisers were a specialist bowler short for nearly half the overs after Ashish Nehra walked off the field with a groin injury one ball into the 11th. It is one thing to have the world’s best at your disposal – like Royal Challengers do – and giving them maximum exposure, and quite another to ration your resources even as they run out. Nehra was one of the best quicks in the World T20 and without him Sunrisers had to scramble.Mustafizur Rahman celebrated two wickets in the 18th, though by that point the hosts were firmly in command•BCCI”It really hurt when a bowler goes down. I really had to reassess and when two batsmen are going it’s quite hard to stop here especially,” Warner said. “The disappointing thing for me is that we started well – the first three overs went for 12 – and then a bowler went down and if we look at the last four overs, they got 63 runs and one of those overs went for I think three or four runs.”Ashish Reddy, who Sunrisers have turned to before and had success with, struggled to find the blockhole. His overpitching cost 25 runs in 11 balls. The legspinner Karn Sharma forgot his job description. Very few of his deliveries actually turned, very few were even tossed up. His four overs went for 57 runs.Bhuvneshwar Kumar kept going for the yorker even when Sarfaraz Khan had the perfect counter. A scoop over short fine leg for four followed by a reverse paddle over short third man for six. By now the bowler should have tried something different. If not as he ran in to bowl, then at least when he saw the batsman blatantly getting into position for another scoop shot.Bhuvneshwar did not pull the pace back, he did not slant it wide of Sarfaraz’s reach and he did not shorten his length. Another yorker-turned-full toss arrived and was promptly dispatched. Sunrisers lost by 45 runs, this over gave Royal Challengers 27 of them.”If we look back at it,” Warner said “We probably should have changed the pace a little bit, not bowled the same ball two balls in a row, but that’s my fault as well. I should be speaking to the bowlers a bit more and making sure that they’re thinking about that.”Warner was terrific in the chase; his 58 off 25 balls provided the perfect start but he fell in the ninth over. Royal Challengers would have thought this was it. Their bowling looks a bit thin, and it might need to be masked by their outrageously strong batting line-up. It certainly was tonight, but there was still one last chance for Sunrisers. Eoin Morgan. He may be coming off a poor World T20 as a batsman, but in this Sunrisers XI, he was their best bet after Warner.Morgan came in at No. 6 – below Naman Ojha and Deepak Hooda – and faced only 18 balls for an unbeaten 22.”It was more about keeping Morgs after 10 overs,” Warner explained. “I think the plan was to have Hooda go out there and try and get things going a little bit and we know how well Morgs finishes and for us that was what we needed today. We needed him to finish, as I said, if two batsmen had got going, we could have got very close.”But the words that rang stronger on that issue came from Watson. “Once we got Dave out, we knew we had a better chance to squeeze the Sunrisers team. And especially with Eoin Morgan coming in a little bit later, it meant that their real firepower and their class firepower was left quite late which worked into our hands, obviously.”

AB de Villiers and Angelo Mathews. One captaining a must-win game of cricket, the other captaining a past awash with disappointments. For AB de Villiers, the disappointment was banished

Jarrod Kimber18-Mar-2015AB de Villiers’ face. It was different than Angelo Mathews’ face. Mathews had the face of a man hoping he won the toss. De Villiers had the face of a man hoping he wouldn’t lose it.Two captains: one captaining a must-win game of cricket, the other captaining a past awash with disappointments.Then de Villiers’ face got worse, much worse. The Sri Lankan crowd cheered. There weren’t many of them in, but they knew what this meant. Everyone knew what this meant. Sri Lanka would bat first; South Africa would chase. All of South Africa’s past flashed up on de Villiers’ face. The coin was against him. History was against him. His own emotions seemed against him.It even looked like David Boon leant in to sledge him.This was a knockout game. This was knockout game.Kusal Perera opening the batting, with an average of 22, would be a good sign for many sides. For South Africa, it might have brought back thoughts of 361 days ago in the World T20 where Perera opened the batting and made 61. South Africa lost.This time Kusal Perera was different. More 22 than 61. He left one ball. Pushed the next to point. Then missed a swipe. Missed second slip with an edge. Missed the ball. Edged safely again. Tried to run himself out. Play and miss. Swipe and miss. There is a point when you nearly get a batsman this many times that you think a malevolent spirit is orchestrating your downfall.Then Kusal’s edge is found, again. It is flying beautifully straight into first slip’s hand. Instead Quinton de Kock dives. He clutches. The ball bounces. It could go anywhere. Instead it hangs in mid air. And de Kock pulls off a hell of a catch for a man called mentally shot earlier in the week. Luck, and skill.Soon it is 4 for 2. Dale Steyn is so excited his body almost explodes into pure light.Or, maybe it just explodes. The elation is gone and there is concern on the faces of Steyn and de Villiers. A wide ball seems to set it off. Steyn is trying to reach a sore spot that looks like it could, or would, stop him bowling. He finishes the over, and continues to touch this mystery spot. On the boundary, the physio and Allan Donald come around to see how it is. Steyn and the physio touch it 12 times in 8 balls. That’s a worrying pain strike rate.Steyn does not bowl the next over.Instead, he bowls two overs later. And it is fine. So fine, it’s a maiden.In the ninth over there are two shots by Lahiru Thirimanne. Both through point and cover point. Both in the air. Both miss hands. If any country could catch these, it is South Africa. This is the region of Colin Bland. Jonty Rhodes. AB de Villiers. The second one goes over de Villiers, close enough that he could smell it. De Villiers, one of the nicest men in cricket, swears at the sky. Swears at his luck. Swears.Kumar and Mahela are in. The Sri Lankan dream team. Mahela is hit in front by a Tahir wrong ‘un he simply did not pick. Not out. Tahir is certain. De Kock is pretty sure. They review. They want to end this pairing. They are desperate. It is only 22 overs into the innings. That is a long time to not have a review. Replays show he was struck outside the line of off stump. What chances Mahela will not pick another wrong ‘un?

Before Kumar has even left, it rains on the SCG. Rain. South Africa. Knockout game. No. No. Come on

Tahir’s next ball is a short wrong ‘un. Mahela hits it twice. The second hit is the one that does Mahela: it ends with short midwicket. The first hit would have been safe. Maybe. Just maybe.Mahela is replaced by Angelo. Angelo and Kumar. Two dogged men. Two men who can bat for 20 overs and make bad starts into distant memories. Two men who bat for close to ten overs at a slow pace, because they have to, and because they can.Then Mathews walks down to smite JP Duminy, South Africa’s weakest bowler. He sees a gap between mid-on and midwicket. And he cracks the ball towards it. It would have reached the boundary – if it ever got past South African hands, du Plessis’ hands. Eight balls and three more wickets later the match is won. Isn’t it?It’s only Kumar left. Only. Kumar.The first ball of the 36th over has Kumar swiping. He has been nudging, leaving, blocking and occupying space until this point. That Kumar is no more. The swivel-hipped gunslinger is back.’Singles, I don’t want your stinking singles’, as he leaves one on the table to third man. Next ball, he corrects, so there is no need for a single, just four. The next ball he is down the wicket and finds a gap for two. Then another four. The next ball is timed so well, the off-side sweeper nearly didn’t see it, but Kumar hit it straight at him: it’s ball six, it’s time to reload for the other end.It’s just one over, with eight wickets down, and virtually no runs on the board. But it’s Kumar.Next over he starts by trying to send Morne Morkel into outer space. The follow-up ball, sort and wide, is perhaps one of the worst Morne balls of the night. It is also the greatest Morne ball of the night. It is the ball that Kumar finds third man with.Before Kumar has even left, it rains on the SCG. Rain. South Africa. Knockout game. No. No. Come on.”Don’t worry, folks, it’s just a sun shower,” says the announcer. Who is this guy, does he know who he is watching, does he know what he is saying? Social media talks of 22 off one ball. Rain map websites in Australia are watched by a whole country from Africa. When the rain does stop, the covers stay on. Even the groundsmen are trolling South Africa.There is no plucky tenth-wicket partnership. There is no first-over wicket. There is no sign of collapse. South Africa just coast to the ICC-enforced mid-innings rest stop. Even when the mighty Hashim Amla is out, right on the rest stop, there is no panic. There is no uneasiness. There are no worried faces.For the finale, de Kock smashes a ball through cover, the last ball of only the 18th over. As it races away he breaks into a quick step. It looks like he is about to run like a mad man to the changeroom. Then he slows, walks purposefully and gives a tiny fist pump.After all that, this was just a quarter-final. It wasn’t a monster. It wasn’t a demon. It wasn’t an invisible crushing force. No one averted an apocalypse. They just won a game. Not the final game. But game.AB de Villiers’ face at the next press opportunity is different. He is smirking before the question has even been asked. He breaks into a full smile before the question is finished. It is the face of winning a quarterfinal. face.

ESPNcricinfo presents the top five moments from the inaugural Caribbean Premier League

Renaldo Matadeen26-Aug-2013Devon Thomas’ catch of Dwayne Smith
Removing Smith off fellow Bajan Kemar Roach never looked as good as this. Thomas, known for his antics as a wicketkeeper usually for Leeward Islands, proved that plucking a ball out of the air in spectacular fashion was something not exclusive to baseball or the American National Football League. The fact that he took it leaping with his right hand stretched over his head made it much more dynamic. The nonchalant manner in which he performed this acrobatic feat left the crowd in disbelief.Krishmar Santokie dismantling Chris Gayle’s stumps
A perfectly pitched delivery. More than Gayle playing all over it, it was the ball beating the batsman comprehensively. Gayle was somewhat struggling to build his team’s foundation in the CPL and Jamaica Tallawah’s momentum was nowhere near the upswing as Guyana Amazon Warriors’. The Jamaican seamer Santokie was the focal point of Guyana’s early-stage campaign and this wicket exemplified that. Gayle’s look back at the stumps on his way out was priceless and Santokie knew this would be a scalp to remember.Ricky Ponting’s verbal tussle with Tino Best
Best’s exuberance and passion often gets the best of him, as the English would attest, and who better to prod at his strings than Ponting. Ponting’s often been chastised by West Indian fans, not because of his skill as a player or captain, but by his on-field “extra-curriculars”. As he and Best taunted each other, it was clear that one was playing mind games to get the other to react. Darren Sammy had to restrain Best but the Caribbean region surely enjoyed this exchange. Ponting’s wry smile said it all.Andre Russell’s 29* off 6
Seeing the second semi-final ending with three consecutive sixes was worth the price of admission. Russell was the leading six-hitter in the tournament with 16 and he pulled out shots from his arsenal at every juncture. These series of moments combined to form one of the most jovial sparks of the CPL and with each blow, Barbados captain Kieron Pollard’s head dropped lower and lower. How the tables were turned with Russell administering Pollard a bit of his own medicine. Russell was one of the most consistently entertaining factors of the tournament.Shakib Al Hasan’s sixth wicket
Shakib became the darling of the CPL with unbelievable figures of 6 for 6 against Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel. As he took his sixth wicket, the approval of the home crowd at Bridgetown roared through the night. Any one of these “superb six” could be counted as his most cherished. But it was his celebration on the final one that resonated the most. The CPL held a new appreciation for the Bangladeshi as he consigned Dwayne Bravo’s men to defeat. As Bravo slumped, resigned to his crushing loss, the high-fives and smiles of the Barbados players relegated T&T fans into acknowledging how much the CPL would gain from these international stars.

ESPNcricinfo presents Plays of the Day for the first final of the CB Series between Australia and Sri Lanka, in Brisbane

Sidharth Monga at the Gabba04-Mar-2012The bouncer
When Lasith Malinga generates bounce from the height he bowls at, he can be extra difficult to negotiate. Matthew Wade learned that in the third over of the Australia innings today, when one nearly exploded straight at his throat. Wade did manage to get out of the delivery’s way, but he had to be lightning quick in doing so and almost lost his footing.The slower ball
This one went wrong. Malinga can sometimes overuse the slower ball. When he did so three times in a row in the fifth over, Wade picked the third one early, a length ball, and smote it well over wide long-on, no questions asked.The catch
The finale was spectacular but it could be argued that it was set up by his own misjudgement. Wade had hit Nuwan Kulasekara well towards long-on, where Rangana Herath had time to set himself up for a comfortable catch. However, perhaps unsure of the position of the rope, Herath stayed a bit in, and was nearly duped. Except for his successful last-second lunge behind his body, to pluck the ball one-handed. He could scarcely believe what he had pulled off himself.The drop
Chanaka Welegedara has spent the whole tournament bowling in the nets and warming the bench. Today, when Michael Hussey arrived to bat he tested how alert Welegedara was. Hussey got under a length ball, and shovelled it over long-off, into the players’ viewing area. Welegedara got into position early, but dropped a sitter. His hands stung too.The shot
The ninth ball Hussey faced today was pitched on a length, and he got on one knee and swept it many a row behind midwicket. That was all very fine, except that the bowler was the quick man Dhammika Prasad, who operates at close to 140kph. This wasn’t even a slower ball. Five years ago, dentists in the locality would have been tempted to not go home until the game was over. Nowadays, this is the done thing.The awareness
After the first ball of the 22nd over of the chase, Kumar Sangakkara was seen arguing with umpire Asad Rauf. Moments later Rauf raised his right arm to signal a no-ball. The facts of the matter: it was a Powerplay over, Australia had only five fielders inside the circle, Sangakkara knew it, and he brought it to the umpire’s notice. It is possible Sangakkara quietly let the striker know too, and Lahiru Thirimanne had a wild swing at the delivery. That would be real clever thinking.Edited by Nikita Bastian

Sixty years ago he was a prodigy who served notice to the world – before he went missing and later turned up as a brave old man against the West Indies firing squad

Alan Hill04-Aug-2009All those who watched the ferocious gladiator in his magnificent opening season testify to his thrilling command as a batsman. Brian Close’s power and supremacy at the crease provided onlookers with an early demonstration of the adventurous approach that always governed his cricket.Raymond Illingworth, a close friend and later an astute ally in Yorkshire’s championship years in the 1960s, remembers the confidence of the imperious young giant. “At 18, Brian was the finest straight driver I’d ever seen. He used to pepper the rugby stand at Headingley – and that’s a big hit.”One example of Close’s striking powers came in the match against Derbyshire at Park Avenue, Bradford. Close was in opposition to the fast bowling trio of Gladwin, Jackson and Copson, all of them England players. Illingworth recalls the entry of Close and the subsequent barrage of strokes, which produced near-delirium in the spectators. Copson conceded 45 runs in five overs. As Illingworth recalls, one of Close’s two sixes rose mightily to land on the roof of the stand. The correspondent enthused: “Close gave the Derbyshire attack a Jessop-like hammering, using his long arms to hit out with terrific swings.”Trevor Bailey has watched, played and written about cricket for over 80 years. He was present when Peter Smith, his Essex colleague, was subjected to another tremendous barrage of shots. Close was unbeaten on 88, with a hundred at his beckoning, when Yorkshire declared. “It was a magnificent performance,” says Bailey. “We were all astonished by his big hitting at Headingley.” Bailey still believes that Close was the best young player of his time and was unrivalled until Sachin Tendulkar displayed his own uncommon artistry.The gods smiled on Close in the momentous summer of 1949. He became the youngest player, aged 18 years and 149 days, to represent England in a Test match. He made his debut against New Zealand at Old Trafford. Other distinctions followed. He was the youngest Yorkshireman to gain his county cap, which followed national recognition, and the youngest allrounder to achieve the double, and he was the only player ever to reach this milestone in his first season.Sporting prodigies carry the burden of high expectations. Close in his cricketing infancy was praised as a wondrous talent. There were some among the Yorkshire elders who urged more sober consideration. Jim Kilburn, the historian and cricket correspondent, offered a typically measured response. “Close has the grace and balance of a natural player of games. Nobody would wish to withhold congratulations and hopes for a famous future.” Kilburn’s next words might have been a premonition; they certainly reflected the anxiety felt by other admiring bystanders. “Hero worship and success make for a heavy wine and it would be a cricketing tragedy if unbalanced enthusiasm were to lead a young player into a mood of complacence.”The buoyancy of the rough-hewn Yorkshire boy was crushed on an ill-starred tour of Australia in 1950-51. The failure to nurture an immature youth would deprive England of an allrounder who could have vied with the greatest in the game. Close became a lonely and disconsolate boy on the tour and was derided as a misfit by his captain, Freddie Brown. Brown was an amateur martinet of the old school. He had, in fact, overridden the objections of the Yorkshire committee to include Close in the touring party. That was the worst thing that could have happened to Brian,” says another Yorkshire veteran, Ted Lester. “The promotion was too sudden; he would otherwise have been in the England team for the next 20 years.”

“The promotion was too sudden; he would otherwise have been in the England team for the next 20 years”Ted Lester, Yorkshire veteran

The late Ronnie Burnet tells a revealing story of the impact of the demoralising experience in Australia, which had, he recalled, almost resulted in Close’s giving up the game. In one long conversation Burnet had tried to dispel the clouds of depression. “You’re wasting your breath,” said Brian, “I’m finished.”Close did linger on the brink of despair for some time afterwards, but he eventually emerged from his dejection to embark on an exhilarating new phase as Yorkshire captain in the early 1960s. He was then 32 and found assurance and peace of mind in a coveted leading role. Bill Bowes, another Yorkshire elder, was among those astonished at the impact of Close as captain. “Brian’s field placings were as intelligent and antagonistic as any seen in the county for 25 years,” says Bowes.Yorkshire won four championships and two Gillette Cups in an invincible decade. Close was now the hard man of cricket folklore. His courage as a batsman was notably displayed against the ravenous West Indies pacemen in 1963, and even more remarkably at the age of 45 when he was recalled by England for the last time against other marauders from the Caribbean in 1976.His swansong as a cricketer produced new tributes when he moved to captain Somerset. At Taunton he nurtured the talents of a player who was cast in a similar coinage to his youthful self. Close rescued Ian Botham from the clutches of disapproving coaches on the Lord’s groundstaff to help propel him to legendary status.Sir Ian today says: “Closey was a great leader and a remarkable man. We will always be indebted to him. He was the man who put us on the road and transformed a happy-go-lucky band, as Somerset was regarded, into the winning machine we became.”

Yorkshire have issued a public apology to Wayne Morton, their long-standing physiotherapist, as part of an out-of-court settlement after he was one of 14 people sacked in December 2021 at the height of the club’s racism crisis.Morton, 62, was dismissed from his role as head of sports science and medicine by the club’s former chair, Lord Kamlesh Patel, after putting his name to a joint letter criticising Yorkshire’s handling of Azeem Rafiq’s revelations about club culture, and accusing Rafiq of being on “a one-man mission to bring down the club”.The case of Morton’s company, Pavilion Physiotherapy Clinic Limited, was settled by Yorkshire for an undisclosed fee earlier this week, ahead of a scheduled High Court hearing on March 8. This brings closure to a chapter of the club’s history that is thought to have cost them close to £3.5 million in legal fees and severance payments.”The club can confirm that it has agreed a settlement agreement in respect of the ongoing civil claim brought against the club by Pavilion Physiotherapy Clinic Limited (‘Pavilion’),” Yorkshire said in a statement. “Pavilion has received a sum in damages and its legal costs. The amount is confidential between the parties and will not be disclosed.”The club apologises to Pavilion, Mr Morton and any other parties that may have suffered distress since and as a result of the termination of the contract with Pavilion by the club. The club acknowledges that Mr Wayne Morton of Pavilion worked with the club for approximately 38 years. The club thanks Mr Morton for his service to the club and wishes him and Pavilion well for the future.”Writing on Facebook in the wake of the settlement, Morton claimed he had been the victim of “horrendous, scurrilous untruths”, and thanked Colin Graves, the returning chair whose takeover of Yorkshire was ratified earlier this month, for overseeing the end of the legal stand-off.”Thankfully, the return of someone with integrity and a genuine love of Yorkshire cricket has seen the end to this monumental waste of money,” Morton wrote.”Sadly, it took over two years and over £400k in legal fees to end this nonsense that should have been sorted within weeks of the ending of my contract and the sacking of the employed staff.”With Graves set to take charge again, Yorkshire have opened nominations for member-nominated directors to join the board, with the club actively seeking to “encourage nominations from members from groups that are currently under-represented at the club or more broadly across the sector”. The process is expected to see two candidates nominated for election to the board at the AGM in April.Yorkshire have also announced the signing of South Africa allrounder Donovan Ferreira as one of their overseas players for 2024. Ferreira, who can bat, bowl and keep wicket, has been capped twice in T20Is and smashed an 18-ball half-century in the recently completed SA20.”I’m pleased to have secured Donovan for the T20 Blast,” Darren Gough, Yorkshire’s managing director of cricket, said. “He is an exciting addition to the team, and his all-round abilities and consistent performances in various international franchise leagues are indicators that he has a significant career ahead in cricket.”We hope he will play a big part in Yorkshire’s T20 campaign, and we are looking forward to welcoming him to Headingley.”

The smart stats leaders and laggards after the first ten days of IPL 2018

S Rajesh & Shiva Jayaraman17-Apr-2018Thirteen matches into IPL 2018, Sunil Narine has offered more proof of why he is arguably the greatest T20 bowler around. In four games that Kolkata Knight Riders have played, Narine has figures of 7 for 82 from 15 overs, with an economy rate of 5.46, the best in the tournament so far.Those numbers are impressive enough, but when seen in the context of the matches, they become extraordinary. Against Chennai Super Kings, he gave away only 4.25 runs per over when when the match run-rate was 10.20. The game against Sunrisers Hyderabad wasn’t as high-scoring, but he still went at 4.25 when the average was 7.10. Taking into account the match economy rate and the specific overs that he bowled, Narine’s Smart Economy Rate (SER) for the tournament so far is a staggering 2.77 and by far the best. In simple terms, taking into account the context of each match he has played so far, Narine has saved his team 40 runs in the overs he has bowled.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe next best SER, among those who have bowled eight or more overs this IPL, is Rashid Khan’s 4.32, followed by Mujeeb ur Rahman’s 5.17. Those three are among the top four in the regular economy rate table as well, but the next two SER positions go to bowlers who don’t fare as well according to conventional metrics, which ignore criteria like match scoring-rates and which overs they bowled.Rahul Tewatia was excellent against Knight Riders, going for just 18 in three overs, including a last over which cost only a single run. In their first match, against Kings XI Punjab, he went for 24 in four, when the match run-rate was 8.60. All of that translates to Tewatia having saved 17 runs for his team.Similarly, Mustafizur Rahman has a much better SER than regular ER. Of the 11.5 overs he has bowled in the tournament, 7.5 have either been in the Powerplay or at the death (16th to 20th). He has delivered the 20th over twice – against Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils, conceding 10 and 11 runs, but then the average in the 20th over across the last three IPL seasons is 11.61. Also, his four-over figures in his last two games are 3 for 24 and 1 for 25; the latter coming in a match where 389 runs were made in 40 overs, or 9.70 runs per over. His overall death-overs economy rate is 6.62, and his Powerplay economy is even better at 5.33. Runs saved for the team according to Smart stats: 13.Shakib al Hasan and Siddarth Kaul, the two bowlers who are in the top five according to conventional metrics, have done well in relatively low-scoring games: the matches involving Sunrisers Hyderabad have had an overall run rate of 7.20, compared to 8.98 for Knight Riders, 8.52 for Mumbai Indians, and 9.22 for Daredevils.Smart SR is the SR adjusted to take into account match rate, and the scoring rate at the other end when the batsman batted. Smart ER is the ER adjusted to take into account match rate, plus the phase when the overs were bowled.•ESPNcricinfo LtdAmong the batsmen, while Andre Russell, KL Rahul and Sanju Samson have been terrific, one of the big improvers this season has been Shikhar Dhawan. With David Warner unavailable for Sunrisers Hyderabad, Dhawan has stepped up and taken on the role of the aggressor.In the 2017 IPL, Dhawan had a conventional strike rate of 127.39, and a Smart Strike Rate (SSR) of 108.91, which means his scoring rate was below par compared to that of the match and that of the batsman at the other end. Taking into account those factors, Dhawan’s 479 runs were actually worth 409.51, which means his actual contribution was 69.48 runs below par, for the number of balls he faced. But this season, his 130 runs are actually worth 163.42, which means he has scored 33.42 runs par, which brings his SSR up to 177.63, pushing him to sixth place, a significant improvement from last year.

At the bottom end of the scale are the captains of Daredevils and Knight Riders, the only players with SSRs below 100. The bigger surprise, though, is that Chris Lynn also languishes towards the bottom of this table. His SSR in IPL 2017 was 237.8, but things haven’t gone to plan so far for this season. Ajinkya Rahane’s SSR justifies questions about his role at the top of the order, while Kane Williamson’s SSR doesn’t dip as much because of the low-scoring matches he has been involved in.Among the bowlers at the bottom of the pile, the SER largely mirrors conventional rates, but whichever way you look at it, Rajasthan Royals must be having early doubts over their decision to pay USD 1.8 million for Jaydev Unadkat.