Belinda Clark has been appointed to lead Australia’s cricket academy – the first woman to hold the role. Clark, Australia women’s capain, will take up the post as the Centre of Excellence’s manager in September, when she returns from the Ashes tour of England and Ireland. This could mean that she stops playing international cricket – but she will make this decision upon her return.Cricket Australia confirmed that Clark, who is a Level 3 coach, will replace Trevor Robertson who will step down after two years. “Belinda is a natural leader,” said James Sunderland, the board’s chief executive, “an extremely competent cricket administrator and we are very fortunate to be able to appoint someone of her calibre.”The Centre of Excellence was set up in 1988 and 240 players have benefited from its work, with 34 of them going on to represent Australia in Tests or one-dayers.
On the evening before Australia start their eagerly awaited three-Test series in Sri Lanka, there were two main talking points in Galle. The big philosophical one is whether, after an unexpected drawn series against India in January, the first cracks have appeared in Australia’s cricketing empire. The more immediate one is the biscuit-dry, mosaic of a pitch at Galle’s International Stadium. The cracks in that are a bit more obvious.The wicket is the only patch of baked brown in an otherwise lush outfield and square. From the press box, it is like looking at an oasis in reverse. Baked by the fierce south Sri Lankan sun and dried by the breeze off the nearby Indian Ocean, the pitch does not have a blade of live grass to hold it together.”It will certainly turn, virtually from ball one,” said John Buchanan, Australia’s coach, at the ground on Saturday. “There is a question as to how long it will actually last.” In truth there’s not much question at all: this pitch will break up quickly and favour the spinners.Sri Lanka will play just one seamer – Chaminda Vaas – and pack their attack with slow bowlers. Tillakaratne Dilshan will probably share the new ball – he bowls quickish offbreaks – with back-up from legspinner Upul Chandana, another brisk offspinner in Kumar Dharmasena, and the slow left-armer Sanath Jayasuriya. Their seventh batsman, Thilan Samaraweera, also bowls offbreaks, when he can get a look-in. And then there’s Muttiah Muralitharan, who took 7 for 46 here against England in December, on a pitch less favourable to slow bowlers than this one.”We are not scared of fast bowlers, but we are playing to our home advantage,” said Hashan Tillakaratne, Sri Lanka’s captain, on Sunday. “We want to give our bowlers the best wickets they could bowl on.”For Australia, Shane Warne, who has now served his 12-month drug ban, will return at the very first opportunity. (Ordinarily, players are made to battle to regain the baggy green, but Warne is no ordinary bowler.) Warne’s fellow legspinner, Stuart MacGill, also looks set to play.Brett Lee’s ankle had not recovered enough for him to train on the eve of the match. So Michael Kasprowicz, who can reverse-swing the ball on dry wickets, is set to open the bowling with Jason Gillespie. It’s almost three years since Kasprowicz, 32, last played a Test – in India’s sensational VVS Laxman-inspired comeback at Kolkata in 2000-01. By Australian standards this is not a strong attack, and Ricky Ponting, whose debut as Test captain has almost been overlooked, will probably have to summon up some Stephen Fleming-like inventiveness in the field.Andrew Symonds will make his debut, batting at No. 6 and filling in a few overs (he can bowl either medium-pace or flattish offspin). That is tough on Simon Katich, who made a hundred in Australia’s only warm-up game, and another in their last Test. Of course there is no Steve Waugh. Still, the local Sunday Leader‘s claim today that Australia have a huge vacuum in the middle order seems a touch optimistic.The evening before the match, Sri Lanka were leaving no part of their spin-based game plan to chance. Locally they say cricket always brings rain at Galle, and as evening fell, tarpaulins were placed not only over the controversial square but also on almost every inch of the outfield. The match is scheduled to start at 0430 GMT.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Marvan Atapattu, 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 6 Hashan Tillakaratne (capt), 7 Thilan Samaraweera, 8 Upul Chandana, 9 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Kumar Dharmasena, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.Australia (probable): 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Justin Langer, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Darren Lehmann, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Michael Kasprowicz, 10 Jason Gillespie, 11 Stuart MacGill.Paul Coupar, the assistant editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, will be following Australia in their Test series in Sri Lanka.
Ahead of today’s one day international against New Zealand in Christchurch Marcus Trescothick telephoned back to the County Ground in Taunton.The England opener said, “I’m really pleased to be in New Zealand, it’s one of my favourite places after England. The weather has been really great, and I’m enjoying the local foods,” which after his upset stomach in India will be a relief no doubt.He sounded in cheerful mood ahead of today’s game and was pretty relaxed and said that he was having a good time.”I’m looking forward to the one day series and the Test matches and to getting runs on the New Zealand wickets.”No doubt Marcus will be disappointed with his own performance and today’s result, but will hopefully make up for it in the next match which will be played in Wellington on Saturday.Marcus is a regular reader of the Somerset site so he can rest assured that everyone back home is rooting for him to do well out in New Zealand.
Saurashtra scored 287 for seven in 99.1 overs in reply toMaharashtra’s mammoth 539 for six declared in the West Zone Ranjitrophy match at Rajkot on Monday.Saurashtra began the third day on 41 for no loss. Prashant Joshiscored a fluent 107 off 250 deliveries, laced with 15 hits to thefence. Joshi and Veteran Shitanshu Kotak shared a 168 run partnershipfor the second wicket off 64.5 overs. Kotak made 61 and Sudhir Tannachipped in with 48. The middle order could not capitalise on the goodscores by the top order batsmen. Paceman Iqbal Siddiqui bagged two for72 and Sachin Aradhye bagged three for 62.
Following a season in which Sadio Mane had bagged 11 goals and registered seven assists over 37 Premier League appearances, it was no surprise that Tottenham Hotspur were reported to be interested in a deal to sign the Southampton winger in the summer of 2016.
Indeed, Spurs came so close to landing the Senegal international that it was claimed the winger had visited the club’s training ground in order to discuss the terms of a switch to Mauricio Pochettino’s side, however, the Argentine coach was ultimately unable to convince Daniel Levy to meet forward’s wage demands.
As a result, Liverpool swooped in for the attacker, landing Mane in a £34m deal and handing the then-24-year-old a five-year-contract at Anfield – from which point the former RB Salzburg sensation has blossomed into one of the finest footballers on the planet.
Levy had a shocker on Mane
Indeed, following his 2016 move to Merseyside, Mane has gone from strength to strength under the management of Jurgen Klopp, scoring 86 goals and registering 34 assists over his title-winning campaign.
The £72m-rated dynamo has also impressed for Liverpool in European competition, bagging 21 goals and notching seven assists over lifted Europe’s most prestigious club prize after beating – incredibly ironically – Spurs 2-0 in the final.
Aside from boasting both a Premier League and Champions League winners medal, the winger has also won the FIFA Club World Cup, the UEFA Supercup and the Carabao Cup during his stay at Liverpool, in addition to lifting the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal.
And, as a result of his remarkable form both at Anfield and at international level, the £200k-per-week Mane has been linked with moves to the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona in recent seasons, however, with Liverpool having previously slapped a £200m price tag on the 29-year-old, whether or not either of the Spanish giants will be able to afford a move for the winger remains to be seen.
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What is clear, however, is that Levy’s decision not to sanction a 2016 move for the player who Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang dubbed a “wild animal” has proven to be a shocker on the part of the chairman, as, in doing so, not only did he ensure that Tottenham failed to secure the services of one of the world’s best attacking talents, but he also cost the club a potentially enormous payday – something that will undoubtedly be one of Levy’s biggest regrets during his time in north London.
AND in other news: Paratici eyeing bid for £84m “thoroughbred bomber”, “he’s the future” of Conte’s Spurs
After being without an international appearance for over 17 months, on Saturday evening at the Britannia Stadium, with seemingly little danger on the horizon, Peter Crouch skillfully juggled the ball and unleashed a spectacular volley into the far corner of the net beyond a helpless Joe Hart, delivering a potent reminder exactly why he is still England’s no.1 target man.
New School Target Man
After watching the Stoke City striker ply his trade in the Premier League for around 9 years I think it can be universally accepted by most England fans that though he may be 6’7, Crouch is never going to be a Duncan Ferguson. Crouch is never going to be that brutish, old-fashioned British centre-forward that roughs up centre-halves, bullies them into submission and bullets headers into the back of the net. Crouch is more of a continental style target man, relying more on his technical ability than physical attributes. This makes him a unique commodity amongst the strikers of his type, being the only English target man more comfortable with a ball played to his feet than towards his head.
Technical Ability
For years Crouch has been subject of the backhanded compliment “He’s got good feet……..For a big man” when the truth is he has good technique regardless of his stature and is one of the country’s most technically gifted strikers. Crouch may not provide you with the same heading ability as Andy Carroll, or possess the strength of Bobby Zamora, but in terms of technical ability, Crouch is without doubt the stand out candidate of the three.
Reliabilty
Amidst the toil Carroll has experienced at Liverpool and the disjointed season of Bobby Zamora at QPR and Fulham, Stoke striker Crouch has shown he is much more than a steady Eddie. Across the span of His career the fans of the clubs he has played for would largely vouch for him as a reliable, quality performer. Throughout the rigours of a Premier League season and on those big European nights Crouch has shown his quality. Crouch is also a seasoned England international boasting a goalscoring record of 22 goals in 42 games whilst Carroll and Zamora are still unknown quantities, finding their feet at international level, holding only 5 caps with 1 goal between them. Whilst Crouch may not consistently secure a place is the starting 11, as an England manager when you have him in your team you know exactly what you will get.
Seb’s Verdict
Crouch’s contender for goal of the season on Saturday evening served as a timely reminder in the mind of every England fan and potential England manager that he is more talented than the unspectacular Bobby Zamora, more reliable than young pretender Andy Carroll and still England’s no.1 target man.
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Read more of Seb’s articles at his excellent blog – The Drawing Board
Ray Parlour and Nigel Winterburn, English Premier League title winners with Arsenal, have called on Arsene Wenger to deliver next season.Frenchman Wenger led Arsenal to three league titles and four FA Cups in his first nine years at the club, but the team are now without a major trophy in their last six seasons.
Retired midfielder Parlour, who played in all three league championship victories under Wenger, defended his old manager’s record, speaking at the London Legends Cup on Sunday.
But the fans’ favourite also acknowledged the importance of improving on a poor return in recent years.
“In a way, when Arsene Wenger first came to the club the supporters got a bit spoiled as he continued the tradition of winning trophies,” Parlour said.
“But you also have to look at what else he’s brought to the club with a new training ground and the infrastructure for a new ground.”
“The last six years haven’t been great in terms of winning things so I think he’ll need to reassess things and bring some new players in over the summer.”
Winterburn was a member of Wenger’s first Premier League-winning team in 1998 and also collected the old First Division title with Arsenal back in 1989.
Formerly a left-back, he believes the time has come for Wenger to alter his long-term policy of relying on youth development.
“I think Arsene Wenger will change it in the summer and will bring in some new players,” Winterburn said.
“It’s a massive season for Arsenal next year and a big summer ahead.”
“I think he needs to bring some more players in and maybe let a few go. This is where the manager has to earn his money.”
Prospective Liverpool owner John W Henry has reassured supporters that he too hopes the ownership saga is "sorted out soon" on the day the club is in the High Court.
Henry's New England Sports Ventures group is hoping to complete a £300million takeover at Anfield despite a dispute involving current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
They are attempting to block the sale in the High Court on Tuesday in a move which could throw the club into administration with debts in the region of £230million.
Henry, who also owns the Boston Red Sox, is not in London to watch the proceedings first hand but is keeping abreast of the situation as it unfolds.
In the meantime he has used Twitter to convey a message of solidarity with supporters concerned by the latest move of unpopular American duo Hicks and Gillett.
"Everyone is hoping for the best," he said."There have been enough twists and turns. Hopefully all gets sorted out soon; LFC moves forward.
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"It would be inappropriate and presumptuous at this time to respond to questions. In the interim, we're all rooting for the same thing."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
I can’t help but feel there is something completely wrong with the fact that there is a 3pm blackout on television for Premier League games kicking off at this time. It is beyond belief that you can go away to any country in Europe, Asia and African and find your team’s 3pm match televised, and yet, supporters in England have to make do with a ridiculous internet feed that conveniently cuts out or freezes whenever a crucial moment in the game approaches. Well it’s about time the Premier League started to make changes and introduce televised games no matter their kick-off time, just like the rest of Europe.
The actions of Karen Murphy, a pub landlady in Portsmouth, may set the ball rolling in a positive direction. She argued that while she was televising 3pm kick-offs in her pub through the use of foreign satellite channels, there was nothing illegal in her actions despite the ban enforced in England. Clearly, she’d found a way around the nonsensical ban that has been put in place and that everyone has for some reason come to accept. Rather than paying through the roof for one broadcaster that limited the amount of games that were shown, she has given herself the choice of provider and has only been paying a tenth of that price and has offered a better option than the increasingly frustrating but overly popular internet streams.
The Premier League has said many times that the 3pm kick-off will not be televised because it will discourage people from attending matches. In my eyes, the story becomes even more ridiculous when that is the primary excuse given. I’ve failed to see a drop in attendances for games at Old Trafford when Manchester United matches have been televised by either Sky or ESPN. Similarly, team’s like Newcastle continue to have healthy attendances. It’s down to the support of the fans and their desire to travel to home or away matches that dictates how many people are in attendance, not whether their team are being televised. But forget for a moment the notion that supporters will be discouraged from attending games if they are televised and rather look to the hugely inflated costs of going to football matches. The story of the first £100 ticket became a significant talking point last season; something which is exactly the sort of thing to discourage people from going to matches.
Yes, there may be changes lower down the leagues, where, like the top divisions in the country, there is a desire to preserve the traditional Saturday match-day experience with a healthy attendance at grounds, and even those who are casual fans might want to go along to support their local team. But why is this limited to only England? It’s almost as if we, as supporters, are being guided through what is right and wrong and having our minds made up for us. If people are shelling out huge sums of money for monthly subscriptions to BSkyB, then shouldn’t fans have a say in what they decide to do with their Saturdays, whether it be to attend the games or watch from home, without the Premier League or any other football organisation spelling out why it is such a hideous idea and one that could ruin English football. I’m not suggesting football fans have a divine right to watch all of their team’s matches on television, but simply why is there not an option when other countries, where the Premier League is of greater interest than their own leagues, have the freedom to choose which of the 3pm kick-offs they’d like to watch.
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As I’ve made the point, England seem to be the only major league in Europe where such a ban is enforced, and there is no reasonable explanation as to why fans in the country suffer for it. Internet feeds from various countries with a number of language options except English have become part of the furniture for most football households in the country on a Saturday afternoon, and yet, that seems to be ok by the Premier League and something they’ll continue to ignore. Well what difference would it make if those feeds were translated into broadcasts through Sky?
What the Premier League fail to recognise is that there is such thing as non-football cities or towns. By that I mean that places like Wigan, who share a ground with a rugby team, are going to experience lower attendances, and not because a more high profile game is televised at the time Wigan kick-off. Places like that suffer for other reasons and shouldn’t be used as an excuse to defend the 3pm blackout. It’s the same in North America: practically every city in the county is an American football city or town, from little leagues, through high school and college football and up to the NFL. But not every city is a baseball city, and most certainly, not every city is a hockey city.
But what about the other side of the coin; would lower league sides not benefit greatly if they were given more television exposure for their afternoon kick-offs. They rely on gate attendances, well why not get them involved in the revenue from television like clubs in the Premier League. It gives them a chance to open up to a wider audience than just those who reside in the immediate area. Of course, we just start the cycle all over again and we’re back to the topic of low attendances.
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Maybe the easiest thing to do is simply change the kick-off times. Why does every match bar the 12:45 Sky game or 5:30 ESPN game have to kick-off at 3pm? Simply shift times around and allow lower league teams to play their matches at different times to those of the Premier League. Easier said than done, of course, but surely there is enough of a reason to end the 3pm blackout than the tired excuse the Premier League continue to give.
Some of the reported wages paid out to Premiership players is truly staggering, especially when some of the players taking home in excess of £40-50,000 a week, are at best average. Even the best players in the Premiership earn far too much money, Wayne Rooney and Yaya Toure are collecting wages of over £200,000 a week! Although it’s the players who are happy sitting on the substitute’s bench or the treatment table week after week out watching their bank account tick over that grates on me. These players are living a luxury lifestyle and are being paid obscene amounts of money for doing next to nothing. I can’t entirely blame the players for this though as it’s the clubs who pay the wages, or bow down to the demands of the players, whichever it may be!
There are plenty of players across the Premier League who are distinctly average and considering the economic climate at the moment, it beggars belief what they are paid. Wayne Bridge is the example I can’t quite fathom. Bridge signed for Chelseain the early Roman Abramovich years and would have picked up a large signing on fee and a hefty pay packet. When Ashley Cole signed for Chelsea, Bridge became the second choice left back and his football became limited, however, he was still raking in considerable amounts of money as a back up. Bridge was then signed by the mega rich billionaires of Manchester City in 2009, I bet he couldn’t believe his luck. He signed a contract for £95,000 a week, that’s right Wayne Bridge a mediocre left back on £95,000 a week! Well after 42 games for the Citizens, manager Roberto Mancini decided he didn’t want Bridge either, so shipped him out on loan to West Ham.
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Portuguese marketing agency Futebol Finance published a top 50 footballers rich list in 2010 and Wayne Bridge was sittingin 44th place on £4.3 million a year. To put this into perspective, Bridge was earning the same amount as, Andres Iniesta, Charles Puyol and Frank Ribery, work that one out! Bridge has taken the brunt of my rant here but he was the one who has left me in disbelief. Shaun Wright Phillips has had a similar ride to that of Bridge, but without earning quite as much as my favourite left back!!!
Kireon Dyer has spent the majority of his career on the treatment table, although regardless, it hasn’t stopped the former Newcastle man picking up his share of astonishing pay packets. Dyer is on a reported £83,000 a week at West Ham, and get this, he has only played 30 times for the Hammers since 2007 and he hasn’t even scored a goal. How he is taking home that sort of money is gobsmacking! Under former owner Eggert Magnusson it wasn’t just Dyer getting a huge payday at the club, Freddie Ljungberg and Craig Bellamy were also said to be on wages in excess of £80,000! Then there is Benni McCarthy, Karren Brady’s favourite fat boy, she branded him in her column in the Sun as “a big fat mistake”. McCarthy has cost the club around £5 million pounds in total, the majority of which being his wages, not bad considering he played 14 games and didn’t score a goal! It’s fair to say West Ham were the victims of their own foolish mistakes in the transfer market and with their pay structure. However it still presents a selection of highly paid underperformers who in some cases have spent more time in their high street bank than on the football pitch.
The only way I can see around the problem of astronomical wages in football, is for the much talked about salary cap to come into effect. It would need to be a FIFA sanctioned rule applying to all football leagues across the world. The worrying thing is I can’t see the current system ever changing. While people such as nurses and emergency service men and women work tirelessly for their wage, Wayne Bridge continues to earnhis mega bucks and we just have to accept that’s just the way it is.
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