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Gary Kirsten, India’s coach, will return to India this weekend after having received security assurances from the BCCI

Cricinfo staff05-Dec-2008
Gary Kirsten is keen to get back to India © Getty Images
Gary Kirsten, the India coach, says the England tour must go on once the security experts have given the all-clear. The England squad flew out of Heathrow on Thursday for Abu Dhabi, where they will remain while waiting for the clearance from ECB officials. Kirsten returns to India this weekend from Cape Town, having received security assurances from the BCCI.”I have had a lot of things to weigh up and it’s obviously a concern with my family in South Africa,” Kirsten told the . “But I am very much part of the India set-up, I enjoy working there and I want to keep the momentum going from the good work we have done recently.”Opinion has been divided over whether England should return to India for the Tests starting next week, but Kirsten felt the tour must go on once the security experts have given the all-clear. “There is no way that security can be guaranteed wherever you are in the world. But you can’t keep saying no. There are terrorism threats everywhere, even the UK is not immune from them,” he said. “But if the professional security people who are paid to make these assessments have given the go-ahead then I think you have to go with it.”However, he said he understood the pressures and concerns of the England players. “They have been given the best advice, it is now a case of whether as an individual you feel comfortable with it,” he said. “Some players will be concerned that if they don’t go then someone else will go instead and so their place will be under threat.”England’s players are scheduled to have two full practice sessions in Abu Dhabi on Saturday and Sunday before a potential trip to India on Monday. Another two sessions would take place in Chennai but there is no time for a warm-up match before facing world cricket’s in-form nation.

Manchester City’s Premier League title defence got off to a nightmare start as they were beaten 1-0 by Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Pep Guardiola was forced to play a number of fringe players in North London due to a large proportion of his first-team only recently returning from holidays after international duty, and other than a bright opening 15 minutes, the Citizens were very much second best on Sunday afternoon.

Heung-Min Son’s second-half goal, a left-footed strike from outside of the box that perhaps would have been saved by Ederson if not for a poor attempt at a block from Ruben Dias, was enough to separate the two sides and ensure that City endured another defeat without a goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Although there were a number of poor performances from those in sky blue, Benjamin Mendy’s display at left-back once again emphasised that he should not be starting for Manchester City anymore.

As per SofaScore, the former Monaco man would earn a poor 6.5 rating for his display against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, which was the joint-worst of any outfield City player on Sunday afternoon.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-manchester-city-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=”Read the latest Manchester City transfer rumours and news!”]

During his time on the pitch, the French defender would be dribbled past on four occasions, which was the most of any defender on the pitch, and more than every other City defender combined.

For comparison, Joao Cancelo on the right-hand side would earn an impressive 7.7 rating despite the defeat, and wasn’t dribbled past once, which again emphasises just how poor Mendy is at defending.

Lucas Moura gave the 27-year-old a torrid time and ensured that he couldn’t get forward nearly as much as he normally does, whilst his crosses were also nowhere near their usual standard, as just one out of the eight he attempted during the game was accurate.

The Frenchman would also win just four out 14 duels during the game, resulting in a less than impressive 29% success rate, so it was no surprise to see him replaced by Oleksandr Zinchenko with just over 10 minutes left.

[freshpress-quiz id=“577936”]

If City have title aspirations this season then they cannot risk playing Mendy in these sorts of fixtures, as he is clearly a defensive liability.

And, in other news… Man City dealt decisive transfer blow with “world-class” beast, Pep surely fuming

The MCC’s ambitious plans for a £200 million redevelopment project at Lord’s could be under threat, after the England & Wales Cricket Board revealed they are considering a new staging agreement

Cricinfo staff12-Dec-2008The MCC’s ambitious plans for a £200 million redevelopment project at Lord’s could be under threat, after the England & Wales Cricket Board revealed they are considering a new staging agreement that would guarantee the venue only two Tests in five years from 2012 to 2016.Since 2000, Lord’s – which has the largest capacity of any cricket ground in England with more than 28,000 seats – has successfully bid for two Tests a year, but Keith Bradshaw, the MCC chief executive, told The Daily Telegraph that any prospect of increasing that capacity hinged entirely on continuing their current volume of international cricket.”We are disappointed that the ECB don’t recognise Lord’s as an iconic venue in the same way that Wembley and Twickenham are viewed by football and rugby,” said Bradshaw. “We had big plans to redevelop the ground. If we don’t have assurity of major matches, which underpins future investment, we will have to ask ourselves if those plans are still justified as a major investment.”The ECB’s new plans are intended as an extension of the existing deal, which runs until 2012, and is designed to assist the counties with their financial planning. The intention is for all nine category A grounds to be guaranteed a minimum of 11 days’ international cricket over the course of the five years, although this covers only 50 percent of the games in that period, which means the remainder will be the subject of fierce bidding.The new longer staging agreements have been proposed to the ECB by the independent Major Matches Group, chaired by Lord Morris, and documents were sent out to the counties last week. “This is a step in the right direction,” Jim Cumbes, Lancashire’s chief executive, told the paper. “Without Test match cricket these grounds are just not viable. It is not about making fat profits it is more a matter of being able to support the infrastructure needed to host major international cricket.”

An update has emerged regarding Gent’s efforts to sign reported Celtic transfer target Thomas Henry.

What’s the talk?

According to the Daily Record, Celtic could re-ignite their interest in the Leuven striker as Gent’s move for the forward is on the brink of collapsing.

The report claims that Gent are refusing to pay the £5.1m valuation of Henry in one fee as they want to stretch it out over multiple installments, which could allow the Hoops to swoop in from under them to secure a deal.

Ange would love him

Celtic must sanction a deal for Henry this month and seize upon this window of opportunity that Gent have presented to them. With the Belgian club locked in a stalemate over the payment plan, the Hoops could come in and offer a better deal to Leuven in an attempt to snap him up ahead of Gent.

The club have agreed a deal to sign VVV-Venlo centre-forward Georgios Giakoumakis, but Inside Futbol have reported that there is a less than 50% chance of the transfer going through. This means that Celtic may still be on the lookout for a new number nine, and this is where Henry could come in to save the day.

Ange Postecoglou would surely love to have the Frenchman at Parkhead as he has an impressive goalscoring record and comes highly recommended. Lokeren manager Karel Fraeye once said that Henry causes ‘havoc’ for opposition defences and compared him with Leicester’s Jamie Vardy.

He said: “Henry is extremely efficient and uses his speed and strong physique particularly well.

“He’s a complete striker who uses his speed to cause havoc in defences. He moves very smartly out from the centre of attack to the wings and creates spaces for himself.

“He has a lot of similarities to Jamie Vardy. He poaches goals and he manages that with his speed because he is extremely quick when he bursts into the penalty box.”

This is huge praise from Fraeye for the 6 foot 3 colossus and shows how highly the attacker is rated in Belgium. His goal record backs this up, with 45 goals and 12 assists in 79 games for Leuven, including 21 goals in 31 league games last term.

It is hard to gauge the difference in quality between the Belgian top flight and the Scottish Premiership, but Henry can only play against what is in front of him and he has been doing a magnificent job. Postecoglou would surely love to have a 6ft 3 powerhouse at the top of the pitch who is able to score goals on a consistent basis whilst also being a constant nuisance to defenders, which is what the 26-year-old could provide if he is able to adapt to football in Scotland.

The Australian would then have a reliable goalscorer who can also impact the game with more than just his goals, with his height making him a viable focal point for Celtic to hit. If the Hoops are under pressure in a game, they could send the ball long to Henry given his aerial ability.

AND in other news, Worrying update emerges on “incredibly fast” gem that’ll leave Celtic fans frustrated…

Former Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Mark Crossley believes it’s all encouraging stuff coming out of the club.

The Owls currently sit top of the League One table after an unbeaten start to the league campaign, which has seen Sheffield Wednesday draw their opening game of the season at Charlton Athletic and then follow that up with wins against Doncaster Rovers, Fleetwood Town and Rotherham United.

Manager Darren Moore has been active in the summer transfer window as 13 new players have arrived at the club this summer, but the club have also looked to tie players down to new contracts also.

Josh Windass put pen to paper on a new deal at Hillsborough with the forward staying with the Owls until 2023 and the Star reported that Sheffield Wednesday are looking to sort out a new deal for defender Dominic Iorfa in the coming weeks.

Crossley believes it’s all encouraging news coming out of the club currently, telling Football FanCast: “It helps that the football club’s got 10 points from four games, so Iorfa is obviously going to look at that and think if we can get automatic promotion, which I’m sure that they’ll all be expecting at Sheffield Wednesday this year, then there’s no reason to leave.

“If you can get the likes of Iorfa signing new deals, Josh Windass has put pen to a new contract, it’s all encouraging stuff coming out of Sheffield Wednesday.”

Iorfa has featured in all four of Sheffield Wednesday’s League One matches so far this season and has helped the team to keep four clean sheets in all of those matches.

Next week’s ICC executive meeting, scheduled for Perth, could face cancellation

Cricinfo staff22-Jan-2009
Peter Chingoka at the ICC annual meeting in Dubai last July © Getty Images
Next week’s ICC executive meeting, scheduled for Perth, could face cancellation after the Australian government warned that Peter Chingoka, the Zimbabwe Cricket chairman, would require “very particular grounds” to be granted a visa to enter the country.”Australia’s sanctions are an important mechanism for applying pressure on the Mugabe regime,” a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman told AAP. “They send a clear signal that the government holds the Mugabe regime and its closest supporters accountable for the tragedy occurring in Zimbabwe.”Less than a month ago Chingoka was named by the Australian government on a list of 254 people banned from entering the country because of his links with the Mugabe regime. However, last summer, in the light of Chingoka being made unwelcome by the UK authorities, the ICC executive took a decision that all members should be permitted to attend meetings.To that end, David Morgan, the ICC president, has been in regular contact with the Australian foreign office to try to persuade them to allow Chingoka into the country, just to attend the get-together. Sharad Pawar, who as well as being the ICC’s vice-president is also India’s agriculture minister, is also believed to have been leaning on the authorities.Chingoka, who is the longest-standing member of the executive by more than a decade, could offer to stay at home, freeing the way for the meeting to go ahead without him, but it is reported he is reluctant to do this. He already agreed not to attend next summer’s annual meeting at Lord’s to allow that to go ahead, but is said to be insistent that the issue of where he can and cannot go be resolved.If attempts to allow Chingoka into Australia fail then it will mean that the ICC executive cannot meet in Australia or England while he remains Zimbabwe’s representative. The same applies to the ICC chief executives’ committee while Ozias Bvute, ZC’s managing director, is in office. Sources in Australia, however, maintain that the Australian government would be left acutely embarrassed were they to back down so soon after declaring Chingoka, as well Bvute, persona non grata.The ICC on Thursday could not confirm whether Chingoka had applied for a visa to visit Australia, and attempts by the domestic news agency, Australian Associated Press (AAP), to contact ZC’s headquarters were unsuccessful. An ICC spokesman did, however, tell AFP that the meeting would go ahead regardless of his absence.Among other agenda items, the meeting is due to hear the results of the fact-finding trip to Zimbabwe headed by West Indies board chairman Julian Hunte in November.

Sky Sports reporter Michael Bridge says that Arsenal’s priority on transfer deadline day is going to be outgoings rather than incomings.

Mikel Arteta’s side have spent more than anyone else in the Premier League, but their starting line-up hasn’t been massively strengthened, with many of their signings coming in as squad players.

Arsenal’s five summer additions have cost more than £130m, but their business hasn’t helped their early-season results.

Following their 5-0 hammering at Manchester City on Saturday, the Gunners head into the international break rock-bottom of the Premier League table on zero points, with nine goals conceded and they are yet to find the net themselves.

Only one of their five signings in Martin Odegaard was involved at the Etihad Stadium and he was hooked after 70 minutes with Arsenal trailing 4-0.

Despite their need for players, Bridge told The Transfer Tavern that their business today is likely to revolve around moving players on rather than adding to their squad:

“There’s nothing coming out at the moment. They have spent a hell of a lot of money. Unless something comes out of the woodwork, it’s outgoings for them – Bellerin, Maitland-Niles and Nketiah.

“I have not heard anything in terms of incomings since their double signing of Odegaard and Ramsdale.”

A round-up of the opening day of the World Cricket League Division 3

Cricinfo staff25-Jan-2009
Kenneth Kamyuka was the match-winner for Uganda with the ball, taking five wickets against Afghanistan © ICC/Cricket Europe
Uganda got off to a winning start on the opening day of the World Cricket League Division 3 with a 14-run win over Afghanistan at St Alban’s Club. Afghanistan mounted a strong fightback after being reduced to 53 for 6 in pursuit of 217 but the lower order couldn’t stretch their efforts to the end.Frank Nsubuga top scored for Uganda with an aggressive 44-ball 62 batting at No. 7. A strong performance in the field limited the total to 216 but Afghanistan found the going hard early in the chase. Some dubious shot selection and excellent seam bowling by Kenneth Kamyuka reduced them to 23 for 5. They were later rescued by a 121-run stand for the seventh wicket between Raees Ahmadzi (78) and Samiullah Shenwari (52). However, Kamyuka broke the partnership and finished with 5 for 36 to seal a close victory.”I am very sad for myself as I thought we were going to win this match at one stage,” Ahmadzi said. “But we have not lost the tournament and I believe that we can still recover.”Wicketkeeper James Atkinson starred for Hong Kong with six dismissals to help his team ease past hosts Argentina by seven wickets at the Hurlingham Club Ground. Atkinson claimed four catches and two stumpings as Argentina were bundled out for a paltry 107. All six Hong Kong bowlers were among the wickets and the most effective was Nadeem Ahmed, who took 3 for 25. Zain Abbas remained unbeaten on 34 to guide his team home in the 28th over.”It was really important to get off to a good start in this tournament,” said Atkinson, who won the Man-of-the-Match award. “It is pleasing to get six dismissals, but it is more important that we got the wickets and recorded a victory.”A five-wicket haul by Rarva Dikana sent Cayman Islands crashing to 121 against Papua New Guinea, who won by six wickets at the Belgrano Athletic Club Ground. It was a dramatic collapse by the Caymans after their openers had added 43. Dikana, the right-arm seamer, sparked the collapse as Caymans lost their last eight wickets for 40 runs.PNG raced towards the target with an opening stand of 97 in 12.1 overs with Vani Morea top scoring with 64, smashing four sixes. Ryan Bovell struck with four quick wickets but PNG were never in danger of collapsing.”It was not as easy a win as the scoreboard suggests,” Martin Gleeson, PNG’s coach, said. “It may have looked easy but we had to work pretty hard in getting our wickets and to get ourselves back in the game.”

Finally Sri Lanka showed up, prevented their first 5-0 series whitewash, and stopped India at nine ODI wins in a row

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga08-Feb-2009
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

The Man-of-the-Match Kumar Sangakkara continued his good series with a brisk 84 as Sri Lanka denied India a clean sweep © AFP
Finally Sri Lanka showed up, prevented their first 5-0 series whitewash, and stopped India at nine ODI wins in a row. A turnaround began at the first toss they won in the series, continued with near-centuries from Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara, and culminated in an energetic and smart show in the field.For 62 balls Yuvraj Singh played a dream knock, keeping India in the game despite wickets falling around him. When he became the fifth Indian to fall, for a dazzling 73 out of India’s 121 in the 22nd over, the 321-run target looked far away. But for that blitz from Yuvraj and a late-order collapse, Sri Lanka dominated the whole game, a feat that had looked unimaginable in the first four games.Perhaps the toss played a big part. This was only the second time Mahela Jayawardene beat Mahendra Singh Dhoni with the coin in the last 11 occasions. On a dry track, Sanath Jayasuriya and Dilshan provided Sri Lanka with the ideal start and feasted on the wayward trio of Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, and L Balaji, making his ODI comeback after more than three years.It was Jayasuriya who provided Sri Lanka with the springboard. During his short stay at the crease he beat the bowlers into submission. By the team Jayasuriya departed in the 11th over, after having displayed his trademark clip over midwicket, cut through point, the short-arm pull, and the loft over mid-off, Sri Lanka had reached 66.The pyrotechnics may have stopped upon Jayasuriya’s dismissal, but the runs kept coming at a fair pace. Sangakkara picked up boundaries regularly, minus the flashy strokeplay. The second ball he faced, Sangakkara reached out for a fullish delivery and cut it off the front foot for four. He also benefited from some wayward bowling from Virender Sehwag, who gave him a gift down the leg side at least once in his three overs. The fine-leg fielder was a busy man when Sehwag bowled, but in vain. Sehwag was replaced by another part-timer – India used six such bowlers, making it nine in all – but Sangakkara’s paddle to fine leg kept yielding him rich results. In all, Sangakkara took 28 runs behind square on the leg side.India tried to hustle through the middle overs, using all their dibbly-dobbly part-time spinners to bowl 21 overs between the drinks breaks, but all they managed to hurry was the scoring. Sangakkara’s slog-sweeping over midwicket was effective. He hit three fours and a six there, taking 23 runs in the midwicket region. But his final slog-sweep denied him a century and ended a 143-run partnership.It was easy to miss Dilshan with Jayasuriya and Sangakkara going hard, and he chose to stay inconspicuous, running hard between the wickets and waiting for the loose deliveries. He was especially severe outside off, finding the gaps through the covers consistently. Seventy of his runs, and eight of his nine boundaries, came through the point and cover region. His running with Sangakkara was exemplary, both of them often running seconds on the throw. This was Dilshan’s first half-century of the series, and could very easily have been a century but Dilshan became part of a late collapse.In his comeback spell, Ishant took two wickets in an over during a period when four wickets fell in six deliveries. As a result only 65 came in the last nine overs, and India were upbeat going into the chase.But all such notions were put to rest in the first three overs through some smart cricket by Jayasuriya and Sangakkara. First Jayasuriya moved to his left to take a sharp catch from Sehwag off Thilan Thushara, in the second over of the innings. In the next over Sangakkara, who stood up to the seamers right from the start of the innings, hung on to a thick edge from Suresh Raina.Yuvraj, though, didn’t slow down even as India kept losing top-order wickets. Yuvraj picked his fifth delivery from outside off and flicked it over square leg for four. That was about the worst his timing would get, and this was divinely timed. Mere pushes split the field and sped off for boundaries, flicks and half-lofts reached the boundary on the bounce, and those hit straight to the fielders took some stopping. Neither Nuwan Kulasekara, Farveez Maharoof nor Thushara was spared as Yuvraj picked the slower balls and swept with ease; one of them off Maharoof went for a huge six. Yuvraj reached his 50 in 46 balls, hitting 10 boundaries.The trouble was that two more wickets fell quickly, and Yuvraj had to keep the scoring-rate up. In the 22nd over of the innings he top-edged a sweep off Muttiah Muralitharan to give Sri Lanka the final fillip. At that time India needed 200 more in 28 overs, and as they looked to consolidate the asking-rate kept creeping on them. Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja, the debutant, got half-centuries, but they were always racing against time. And the latter had a head start.

ICC president David Morgan has said that “it would seem the level of security was not as expected” at the time of the terrorist attack in Lahore on Tuesday

Cricinfo staff06-Mar-2009
David Morgan: ‘We were satisfied as were the Sri Lankan board. Sadly, it would seem it was not as expected’ © Getty Images
ICC president David Morgan has said that “it would seem the level of security was not as expected” at the time of the terrorist attack in Lahore on Tuesday.Speaking to the BBC, Morgan said that ahead of the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series the usual checks had been undertaken. “Our people were in touch with the Pakistan board and had assurances of presidential level security. We were satisfied as were the Sri Lankan board. Sadly, it would seem it was not as expected.”Asked about comments made by Pakistan board chairman Ijaz Butt in which he claimed the security was adequate, Morgan was non committal. “I have spoken with Ijaz Butt and I think his views are well known,” Morgan said. “I also spoke with Mahela Jayawardene [Sri Lanka’s captain] and I had his account of security, and also Chris Broad, and I think it would be wrong for me to comment on widely-differing accounts.”He said that a full report would be ready by the time the ICC executive next met in Dubai on April 17. “I am included to have representatives of the two teams to give first-hand accounts to us when we meet,” he added.Morgan dismissed suggestions that the ICC should take responsibility for all security. “I doubt that could be put into effect … for bilateral tours the duty of care lies with the employer and it’s the home board that employs the players. The ICC only becomes involved when host and visitor disagree about security.”Butt, also speaking to the BBC, continued to vehemently deny Broad’s comments that the local security had left the officials to be “sitting ducks”. Broad’s statement, he said, was “totally wrong, fabricated … no truth in it”.”We had three ODIs and a Test with no problems,” he continued. “There is no way one can predict a terrorist attack. There is a high-powered investigation going on and when more details come in we will forward them to the ICC.”Asked about comments from Sri Lankan players that supported Broad’s comments, Butt insisted that they had initially maintained that everything that could be done had, but had “later had a change of mind”.He also dismissed suggestions from a number of witnesses, including Muttiah Muralitharan and Broad, that the Pakistan bus was several minutes behind the main convey at the time of the attack. “Nonsense,” he said, “it was there and one of the security staff informed them there was firing and they turned back.”Morgan and Butt did agree about the need to ensure Pakistan did not become isolated. “We will need to convince people they can come here,” Butt said. “Our public is cricket crazy.””We are all agreed we must do anything possibly to allow Pakistan to continue to play international cricket away from home or on neutral territory until we are able to play back there,” Morgan said. “It would be wrong for them to become isolated.”Morgan deflected questions about the hosting of the 2011 World Cup. “We would need to make a decision on venues 15 months ahead of the start and we would have to be certain it could be held in the subcontinent within 12 months of the start. The organising group are well on with the assessment of what has to be done to produce and safe, secure and successful tournament.”Attempts to calm the situation were not helped by Javed Miandad who called for the ICC to ban Broad from officiating. “The ICC must ban Broad from standing in any matches,” he said. “He has intentionally tried to damage the image of Pakistan and isolate it as a cricket nation. He is twisting things. He is trying to scare away teams from playing in Pakistan.”