Thanks to a 96 run fourth wicket partnership between opener N Ranjan(53) and Sunil Kumar (77), Bihar made an excellent recovery but endedthe opening day in a spot of bother at 190 for 6 in their East ZoneRanji Trophy match against Orissa at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpuron Sunday.Put into bat, Bihar were pegged on the back foot by the dismissal ofopener Javed Khan (5) caught by skipper Parida off A Barrick in the12th over of the day. Then with the score on 32, Debasish Mohanty sentback skipper Rajiv Kumar (7) caught by Y Mohanty. Bihar were infurther trouble when the first change bowler Jai Chandra had T Rehman(8).This brought in Sunil Kumar who arrested the slide in the company ofRanjan with some sedate batting. By the time he departed, Ranjan hadbeen in the centre for 288 minutes and faced 201 balls and managed tofind the boundary ropes 7 times. Sunil then took the score on to 179when he was bowled by Barrick. Three balls later, A Hashmi (17) fellfor a catch to Jai Chandra off Mohanty. At stumps keeper MS Dhoni (8)and Vikash Kumar were at the crease.
Aston Villa have been one of the Premier League’s most proactive clubs when it comes to the transfer market over the past few years.
Last summer’s transfer window saw the Villans bring in three new attacking players, with Jack Grealish making his record-breaking £100m move to Manchester City.
Once the January window opened, things got busy behind the scenes at Villa Park again as four new players came in, with a number of others making moves away from the club.
While some may see this as a successful period for the club in terms of their transfer business, there is one player with whom the Villans were linked but didn’t end up at Villa Park which the hierarchy may now be regretting – Ryan Kent.
Having made 138 appearances under Steven Gerrard during his time as Rangers boss, scoring 28 goals and providing 33 assists along the way, it’s no surprise that the Midlands club were mentioned with a move for the Englishman after Gerrard was appointed at Villa Park in November.
In 32 appearances across all competitions for the Scottish champions so far this season, the £12.6m-rated attacker has scored two goals and provided an impressive 15 assists along the way, showing just how much of an attacking threat he offers.
While having the same number of goals, the Gers star has racked up considerably more assists than Emi Buendia (three) in the Argentine’s debut season with the Villans after coming in last summer for a club-record fee.
Labelled a “game-changer” in the past by Gerrard, Kent has earned himself an overall performance rating of 7.29/10 from WhoScored, which would make him the second-highest rated player in Villa’s squad by the same metric.
Taking into account what the winger has done for Rangers this season, there could be plenty of regret from the Villa hierarchy over not securing a deal for him when they had their chance.
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With the likes of Trezeguet currently out on loan and Bertrand Traore struggling with injuries and form, we think that the club should definitely consider getting rid of one or both of these players and see if Rangers would be willing to negotiate a deal for their attacking gem when the summer transfer window opens.
In other news: Cost £4m, now worth £1.35m: NSWE had a nightmare with “tough” £25k-p/w Villa flop
Shaun Tait concedes he has little chance of playing his first Test at his home ground in Adelaide after a disappointing performance in Australia’s loss to India at the WACA. Tait was called into a four-man pace attack having not played Test cricket since the 2005 Ashes, and he said he was underdone heading into the Perth match.Tait, who has played only three first-class matches this season including the Test, said when asked about his preparation that he was “a touch underdone, to be honest”. He went wicketless in 21 overs in his first match in whites since early December.”We are professional cricketers,” he told Adelaide’s Advertiser, “and we are training all the time and there’s probably no reason why we should be underdone. But the fact is I hadn’t had a whole lot of cricket under my belt and, obviously, there were limited opportunities to bowl as well due to over-rates.”He was remaining philosophical about his future at Test level, however, even if it’s not an immediate one. Although Tait has been named in Australia’s squad for Adelaide, Brad Hogg is the red-hot tip for a recall.”There will be another game where I get a chance to do well,” Tait said. “I’m not sure if I’ll keep my spot here. We’ll see how we go in the one-day games. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to be a part of the squad there again. But at the end of the day, it’s only a game and there will be another time where it might be a good day for me and the team as well.”However, Ricky Ponting said Australia had not written off Tait for the Adelaide Test starting on Thursday. “Tait also has the ability to bowl reverse-swing in Adelaide,” Ponting said in the . “With his low arm action and the amount of backspin he imparts on the ball, he usually makes it reverse swing more, and earlier, than other bowlers.”He didn’t have the impact I thought he would [in Perth], but he knows the conditions better than anyone else. He’s done a great job for South Australia there in recent years.”Ponting, however, kept his focus firmly on the future when it came to Tait. “He’s going to be a great asset to our team at some stage,” Ponting said. “The World Cup he had was amazing. I’ve got no doubt he’ll have the same impact as a Test bowler, as well. He’s got unbelievable raw pace. If he can produce that in a Test, he will knock the best players in the world over.”There were echoes here of the same praise he showered on Tait in the lead-up to the Melbourne Test, on Boxing Day, when the bowler was again overlooked as Australia chose to keep with the convention of three fast bowlers and a spinner.Michael Hussey, meanwhile, held out some hope of Tait retaining his place in the side. “I know Taity didn’t get any wickets in Perth but I don’t think they’re going to write him off just because of one performance,” Hussey told . “Obviously they’ve identified Taity as a future bowler for Australia. It’s good for him to get an opportunity in Perth and I’m sure he will come back better and stronger. If he does play in Adelaide in front of his home crowd I’m sure he’ll put in a better performance and then hopefully get a few wickets.”There have been comparisons between Tait and Lee in his earlier days and Hussey seemed to agree. “I think it’s something he’s working hard on and it’s something Brett Lee had to work on to be a bit more consistent. It’s a wonderful package to have in the team because he can crack a game open in the space of 20 minutes, sometimes in the course of a day. He can maybe be going for a few runs and suddenly everything clicks and he can take three or four wickets in a hurry which is incredibly attractive.”
Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, said he has faith in his side’s World Cup chances even if his strike bowlers, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, have to sit out the tournament. Shoaib and Asif are nursing injuries and there is speculation that they may not pass a dope test next week.The duo, though, turned up for the training camp today and are expected to make a trip to England in the next few days, to get a scan of their injuries.”Shoaib and Asif are our main strike bowlers and it would be a big blow for us if they don’t play,” he told . “But it isn’t right to say that we are incapable of doing well without them. Pakistan has done well and won matches in the past when Shoaib couldn’t play due to injury or other reasons and when Asif had not even started his international career.”Both fast bowlers tested positive for banned anabolic steroid nandrolone last October and may still be carrying traces of the performance enhancing substance. They have avoided undergoing dope tests being conducted by the Pakistan board as a precautionary measure.Woolmer maintained Pakistan were still a competitive side in the absence of the duo, and stressed on the role of the batsmen: “We are not a bad side even if you take Shoaib and Asif out of the equation. Ours will still be a good side, capable of delivering good results. One of the best ways to win (one-day games) is to score runs,” he said. “We have a good batting order and I believe there are bowlers in the team capable of defending any decent score”.”I believe fitness and injuries are two different issues. Speaking of my team, the fitness aspect is fine but there are some injury problems,” he added. “Umar Gul looks fine, Asif seems okay. It’s just Shoaib.”Shoaib, 31, said he hoped to be fit for the World Cup despite struggling to recover from knee and hamstring problems.”I am going for another reassessment of my knee and hamstring injury in England later this week and only after that I am able to know about my chances of playing in the World Cup,” he told AFP.Asked when he was due to appear for testing, Shoaib refused to comment and said his first priority was to get over his injury: “Right now I want my injury to heal and only after that I am going to think about anything else”.
If ever there is a good time for a crushing ODI series defeat, then now,with just over a year to go before the World Cup, is probably the besttime for it. After Pakistan suffered their fourth consecutive defeat toIndia, losing the series 4-1, Bob Woolmer, their coach, admitted thetiming was one of the only positives to come out of it. “I’ll go on recordto say it that I am glad this defeat happened now rather than later inthis year. We have to look carefully at all aspects of our game, ourbatting, bowling and fielding.”Pakistan’s fielding had been below par through the series and althoughthey dropped less catches than India, their ground fielding struggled. Asthey succumbed to Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni chasing 287, theirfielding deteriorated alarmingly. They missed run-out chances, dropped acouple of catches, conceded overthrows and fumbled alarmingly often in thefield. Woolmer, although admitting the fielding was poor, asserted itwasn’t through any lack of effort on the part of his players.”Catches win matches but our ground fielding was very poor and hasn’t beengreat through the series. The Indians have fielded superbly through theseries although they dropped a few catches as well.” He added, “Thesesmall things make a huge difference eventually but I think the guys workedand tried hard today and it just didn’t happen for us. We have fieldedwell in the past but when things go wrong, everything goes wrong.”The Pakistan Cricket Board said publicly yesterday that they were consideringhiring Jonty Rhodes as a fielding coach and Woolmer said he was open tothe idea. “If they have the money for it, I’m happy with the idea. But asit is we work hard on our fielding and we do a lot of drills in practiceon it. Like I said, everything just went wrong for us today. Basic thingswent against us like picking up balls cleanly, mistiming our dives. It gotworse under the pressure as India chased.”Woolmer had special praise for Yuvraj Singh, whose imperious hundredsettled the match today and whose performances through this series havebeen little short of spectacular. “He’s a very good player now isn’t he?When we played him last year we were able to get him out but this timeround, he hasn’t looked like getting out at all. I hope that hamstringstrain doesn’t affect his participation in the series against Englandbecause he looks an absolutely fantastic cricketer.”Pakistan lost this series in every department though, whether it was theirregular top-order collapses or their poor bowling, Mohammad Asif apart.Woolmer readily acknowledged that they had been outplayed. “Indiaregrouped and played a lot better than we did everywhere in the field.It’s difficult to put a finger on where specifically they beat us. In thethird game the toss was more important than we perhaps thought and theyhave chased brilliantly all the way through this series. But like I said,we need to look at everything about our game before the various challengeswe have ahead of us this year.”
Last week’s news that talks had started between the remaining rebels and the Zimbabwe board was welcomed by almost everyone, and Cricinfo has learned that another meeting has been planned for this Wednesday (January 26). Eight dissenting players – Heath Streak, Stuart Carlisle, Trevor Gripper, Grant Flower, Andy Blignaut, Raymond Price, Neil Ferreira and Craig Wishart – are involved.In an exclusive interview with Zimbabwe’s Sunday News, Streaksaid that most of the players were keen to return but needed assurances on a number of issues. "Most of the guys now want to come back but we need assurances on selection. We need a competent panel made up of people who have at least played first-class cricket. Macsood Ebrahim should not be on the panel. He did not play first-class cricket and the players do not trust him anymore."Ozias Bvute, the board’s managing director, and Ebrahim, the chief selector, are the two figures the rebels identify as being behind most of the problems which have blighted Zimbabwean cricket in the last year or so. The ICC report on racism last October noted that selection issues and the functioning of ZC directors needed to be "seriously addressed by the senior and mature people within Zimbabwe cricket."It has also being reported that Sean Ervine and Blignaut, who had signed up with Australian state sides, are now considering returning as they have found the going tough. Both have struggled to make their state sides, and Blignaut, who returned to Zimbabwe for Christmas, told the Sunday News, that he was still contracted to Tasmania but he was considering his options"I am just waiting to see how these negotiations go then I can make a decision, " he said. "I have an agreement with Tasmania that if things get sorted out here I can come back and play. I really want to play for my country."Streak said left-arm spinner Raymond Price would not terminate his contract with English county side Worcestershire unless he is guaranteed a future in Zimbabwe cricket. "Guys are not going to terminate their Kolpak contracts which guarantee them a source of living unless they are guaranteed a future in Zimbabwe. Most of them were forced to take up the contracts after being unemployed for a long time and cricket is their livelihood."Streak added that returning players wanted assurances and longer commitment from the board, and that might mean three-year contracts."Zimbabwe Cricket cannot give players one-year contracts. Young players should be given three-year contracts. Youngsters like Sean Ervine should get three-year deals," he said, although he admitted that was unlikely.
Viv Richards, the chairman of the West Indies selectors, has called on the West Indies Cricket Board to select different sides for Tests and one-dayers to try and prevent player burn-out as the international calendar becomes more and more demanding."We are probably cash-strapped and can’t afford to be transferring people back and forth," Richards told reporters, "but I’d like to think that if we are looking at cricketers’ development and moving forward in the future, we must implement certain things that we see. It has become necessary where we have players who have been assigned as Test-match players and others who are assigned as one-day cricketers. We are hoping we can have that put in place."Richards’ comments come as the West Indies start a grueling schedule in which they play Test and ODI series in Zimbabwe and South Africa, then host England before traveling to Bangladesh, from there move on to England for a return series and then finish off next September with the ICC Trophy, also in England."It is a serious period where we are looking to rebuild," Richards continued. "We have picked the individuals we believe are suited for the rebuilding process. We have alerted several reserves that they are on the shortlist and we want them to remain in programmes so that when called upon they would be ready to play a part."And Richards also warned several unnamed senior players to look long and hard at the way they behave both on and off the field. “It’s not probation, but we are looking very hard at some individuals, mannerisms, attitudes,” he said. “More than anything else, we would like them to commit themselves to scoring runs, all the runs necessary for us to be successful.”
*Kerala let off the hookKarnataka let slip a wonderful advantage to bowl out Kerala for a lotless than their final total in their Ranji Trophy league match atBangalore on Tuesday.Winning the toss, Karnataka put Kerala in to bat. They had theiropposition in all sorts of trouble at 57/5 and then 128/6, withVenkatesh Prasad blowing apart the top order with three wickets.Skipper Sunil Oasis put together 47, but it was not until SreekumarNair collaborated with KN Ananthapadmanabhan that Kerala lookedcertain to cross the 200-run mark.Bowled out finally for 228, off 67.3 overs, Kerala lost a good chanceto post a big total and put pressure on Karnataka. The home side madeit through to the close of play without losing any wickets; Karnatakawere 14/0 at stumps.*Goa and Hyderabad share Day One honoursHonours were even on Day One of the Ranji Trophy match betweenHyderabad and Goa at Panaji on Tuesday.Hyderabad, winning the toss, put their opposition in to bat. A 37-runopening stand saw off the initial jitters, but it was really the 84-run partnership between Tanveer Jabbar and Amitabh Velaskar that sawGoa regain some momentum. After opener SV Kamat’s 73, Jabbar’s 60 wasthe next highest score.Batting resolutely, Jabbar hit nine fours and a six in his 109-ballknock. He was supported amply by Velaskar, who made 37 off 104 balls.At the close of play, Goa were 237/5; for Hyderabad, Venkatapathy Rajuwas the most successful bowler, taking 2-33 off 23 overs.*Careless batting sees Tamil Nadu collapseSome careless batting and running from Tamil Nadu batsmen spurred acollapse in their Ranji Trophy league match against Andhra Pradesh atVishakapatnam on Tuesday.Winning the toss, Tamil Nadu skipper Robin Singh opted to have firststrike. His openers did not let him down, with Sridharan Sriram andSadagopan Ramesh posting a 55-run stand for the first wicket. Anothermini-partnership followed between Sriram and C Hemanth Kumar.After the latter was run out, however, things took a different turn.Three more wickets followed, with KS Sahabuddin taking two of them.Only Hemang Badani could stay at the crease; at the close of play,Badani was unbeaten on 40. He was accompanied by TR Arasu (5) as TamilNadu ended the day on 179/5.
After considerable overnight rain and a number of inspections, no play was possible at Allan Border FieldQueensland team: (from) *SG Law, JP Maher, TJ Dixon, ML Love, A Symonds, GI Foley, +WA Seccombe, AJ Bichel, AC Dale, SA Muller, JH Dawes, MA Anderson.South Australia team: (from) *DS Lehmann, SA Deitz, DA Fitzgerald, BA Johnson, JM Vaughan, DJ Harris, BE Young, +GA Manou, JN Gillespie, P Wilson, BA Swain, PE McIntyre.
Tottenham Hotspur’s on-loan goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini is attracting interest ahead of the summer transfer window.
What’s the talk?
That’s according to a report by Italian publication Corriere della Sera (via LazioNews24), who claim that, with Maurizio Sarri looking to move Thomas Strakosha on this summer, Lazio will be in the market for a new first-choice shot-stopper – with Gollini believed to be the club’s number one target.
The report goes on to state that Tottenham look unlikely to exercise their €13m (£11m) option to sign the 26-year-old on a permanent basis, meaning the Italy international is almost certainly in line for a summer return to his parent club Atalanta – who are thought to be willing to part with the ‘keeper for a figure in the region of €10m (£8m).
Conte must axe Gollini
While Gollini never appeared overly likely to usurp Hugo Lloris as Tottenham’s number one upon his move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last summer, considering just how infrequently the Italian has featured for Spurs, in addition to how poor the shot-stopper has been when he has played, Fabio Paratici’s decision to bring the £25k-per-week goalkeeper to north London does appear to have been a rather strange one.
Indeed, over his four appearances in the Europa Conference League this season, the £12.5m-rated ‘keeper was in rather disastrous form for Spurs, failing to keep a clean sheet against the likes of Stade Rennais, NS Mura and Vitesse, as well as shipping a total of six goals and making an average of just 1.3 saves – with a success rate of a mere 45% – per game.
These returns saw the player who Spurs insider John Wenham dubbed “frustrating” and “poor“ average a quite shocking SofaScore match rating of just 6.25 – ranking him as Conte’s second-worst performer in the competition.
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As such, it would indeed appear a very wise move for the 52-year-old Italian to avoid activating the goalkeeper’s option to buy clause this summer and instead send him back to Serie A, as it is clear for all to see that Gollini has cost Spurs dearly this season.
In other news: “Agreement in place with Mendes”: Journo drops teasing Spurs claim, AC will be buzzing