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Yusuf Pathan led Baroda to a 46-run win over Kenya in the opening match of the Kenya Tri-Series tournament

Cricinfo staff01-Aug-2010
Scorecard
A barnstorming hundred from hard-hitting Yusuf Pathan set the platform for Baroda Cricket Associaton XI’s 46-run win over Kenya in the opening match of the Kenya Tri-Series tournament between Kenya, Baroda and Gujarat.In a game reduced to 35 overs each, Pathan came in with Baroda in a little bit of strife at 47 for 3 after being asked to bat by Kenya. He then proceeded to pound the Kenyan bowlers into submission. By the time he fell to Nehemiah Odhiambo, Pathan had smashed a dozen boundaries and seven sixes in the course of making 106 off just 60 balls. Odhiambo was the bowler to end up with respectable figures, taking 3 for 34, as Baroda finished with 234 for 7.A brisk 73-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Rakep Patel and Jimmy Kamande kept Kenya interested, but the target always looked beyond them. Swapnil Singh was the destroyer-in-chief, taking five for 34 in seven overs as Kenya were bowled out for 188.

Ianis Hagi is likely to leave Rangers, and Rijeka’s Robert Muric could replace him. 

That’s according to a report from Croatian outlet Germanijak (via Ibrox News).

The lowdown

Hagi only joined Rangers permanently in the summer of 2020 in a £3.15m move from KRC Genk following an initial loan spell at Ibrox. The Romanian, who is valued at £6.3m by Transfermarkt, still has two-and-a-half years left on his contract.

It emerged on Tuesday that he would miss the remainder of the 2021/22 season after undergoing surgery on a knee injury sustained against Stirling Albion in the Scottish Cup, so there’s now a possibility that the 23-year-old has played his last game for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side.

The latest

The report from Germanijak (via Ibrox News) claimed that Hagi will ‘probably’ leave Ibrox come the end of the season.

Muric is being lined up as a potential replacement, although Rangers have yet to make a formal approach for the 25-year-old Rijeka wizard.

The verdict

Hagi would no doubt be a big loss at Ibrox. His four goals and four assists this season take him to an overall tally of 36 direct goal contributions in 85 games for Rangers. He has started 15 times in the Premiership this season, and three times in the Europa League group stage, further emphasising his importance to the Light Blues.

Would Muric be an able replacement? To his credit, the £2.7m-rated Croatian boasts some pretty strong numbers, with eight goals and seven assists in his 20 appearances in the current campaign.

However, it’s worth stressing that the Croatian top flight ranks 17th in Europe, a full eight places below the Scottish Premiership, so there’s no guarantee he could make the step-up to this league, especially for the reigning champions and current leaders.

In other news, many Rangers fans were buzzing over this development

Somerset crashed to only their second Clydesdale Bank 40 defeat of the season despite a century from England one-day wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter against Worcestershire at New Road

30-Aug-2010
ScorecardSomerset crashed to only their second Clydesdale Bank 40 defeat of the season despite a century from England one-day wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter against Worcestershire at New Road.Kieswetter blasted his sixth one-day century from just 97 balls which threatened to take Somerset to an unlikely win, but Worcestershire held their nerve to secure a 49-run victory, their third in a row in the competition since Daryl Mitchell took over as their captain three weeks ago.Somerset’s defeat was not too costly as they had already secured their place in the semi-finals, but they will now need to beat Glamorgan in their final group match at Taunton on Saturday to ensure they have a home tie.Shakib Al Hasan’s aggressive 91 from just 68 balls gave Worcestershire a competitive total of 255 for nine on a used pitch but the Bangladeshi allrounder was unable to bowl or field having suffered a hip injury late in his innings.That did not look like being a handicap to Worcestershire as seamers Alan Richardson and Jack Shantry took two wickets apiece to reduce the visitors to 41 for 5.But Kieswetter led a bold fightback with support from Peter Trego in a sixth-wicket stand of 109 in 21 overs. Kieswetter dominated, straight driving three sixes and placing the ball cleverly in his first century since a one-day international against Bangladesh in Chittagong in February.With England’s squad for the forthcoming Twenty20 and one-day internationals against Pakistan set to be announced, Kieswetter’s commanding century could not have been better timed but it was not enough to save Somerset from defeat.Trego holed out to long off trying to force the pace and Kieswetter was held shortly after he completed his century by Richardson running back from mid-off.Worcestershire had sufficient bowlers to cope without Shakib in the field but they were indebted to him for sustaining an innings that started to sag after the departure of Moeen Ali.Moeen raced to a 54-ball half-century but was bowled off stump driving at Zander de Bruyn when well set. But Shakib played some audacious strokes, including a scooped four over Kieswetter off Ben Phillips, before he was forced to call for a runner after he had on-field treatment for his injury.Shakib was bowled giving himself room against Alfonso Thomas when a century was in sight. Thomas finished with four for 49 but was eclipsed by Shantry, who had dangerman Marcus Trescothick and De Bruyn taken by teenage wicketkeeper Ben Cox in his first spell. Phillips clipped Shantry to midwicket when he returned as Somerset drifted to 206 for 9.

Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou has confirmed a major boost ahead of his side’s clash against Motherwell.

What’s the story?

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Scottish Premiership fixture, he said: “Tom is good. After the midweek game, everyone got through ok in terms of injuries and Tom is available now.

“Nir Bitton, who was obviously suspended is available, and Daizen (Maeda) is fully available now, he obviously wasn’t 100 percent even though he did a great job for us off the bench (on Wednesday against Rangers).”

Fans will be buzzing

After the euphoria of the Hoops’ incredible victory over Rangers in the Old Firm clash last time out, momentum is well and truly on Celtic’s side heading into the business end of the Scottish Premiership season.

The club were given a lift by making a number of new signings in the January transfer window, and a couple of them put in starring displays against the Gers – none more so than Reo Hatate, whose spectacular double and superb cross for Liel Abada has made him an immediate folk hero.

It’s no surprise then that with things going so good in recent weeks, that Ange’s confirmation that a couple of the stars who were absent for that game being back has him in even higher spirits.

He added: “This is exactly why I wanted to put this squad together. I have not had the chance yet to really shape it the way I want to in games and between games. We have injuries and absences and injury and international duty and all these kinds of things.

“It’s great we are getting to that stage. I have never seen it as competition for places, I have seen it as players pushing each other on a daily basis to be the best you can be.”

Celtic fans will no doubt be buzzing with Ange’s pre-game news.

Meanwhile, Celtic must finally start this man vs Motherwell…

It was, unarguably, by any measure reasonable or unreasonable, the biggest win in the hitherto limping Lions franchise’s history, and Alviro Petersen knew it

Telford Vice10-Sep-2010There is plenty to ponder when a David like Alviro Petersen breathes the same rarefied air as the Goliath who is Sachin Tendulkar. And the Highveld air was indeed rare at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, where Petersen’s Lions played Tendulkar’s Mumbai in the Champions League Twenty 20 opener.Lo and behold, David’s dapper dazzlers stuck to the Biblical script by slaying Goliath’s giants by nine runs. Let the atheists among us quiver in disbelief: look in the Book. It was, unarguably, by any measure reasonable or unreasonable, the biggest win in the hitherto limping Lions franchise’s history, and Petersen knew it.”It’s a great start,” he said after the game. “It’s all we could ask for. We were underdogs, but we were a family out there. On paper, the Mumbai Indians are probably the better team. But we focused on what we had to do and our bowlers came through beautifully in the end.”Tendulkar did his bit with a sparkling 69, but it wasn’t enough on the night. Not that Petersen was about to admit that the Mumbai skipper was an unusually large thorn in the Lions’ paws. “Whether we play against Sachin Tendulkar or just an ordinary guy, we play with the same intensity.”For all that, Petersen has first-hand knowledge that Tendulkar is anything but ordinary. They first met on the field in Kolkata, in February this year, when the South African marked his Test debut with an innings of 100. Tendulkar made 106, the 47th of his 48 centuries in the 166th of his 169 Tests.Neither had a memorable first one-day international in Jaipur, but the second match of that series, in Gwalior, will forever be remembered as the game in which Tendulkar took one-day batting into a galaxy far, far away with his monumental 200 not out. Petersen scored nine.The trend looked set to continue at the Wanderers on Friday. In the fourth over of the Lions’ innings, Petersen and Jonathan Vandiar scooted for the same end of the pitch. Petersen was declared dead on arrival for 12 when the bails were removed leisurely at the other end.Tendulkar looked dead in the water for six when Ethan O’Reilly struck him plumb in front in the second over of the Indians’ reply. Asoka de Silva was among the few in the ground who reckoned otherwise. A blink of an eye later, Tendulkar was bumbling about mid-pitch when a frozen rope of a throw whizzed past the stumps. “I just put it behind me and thought about the next ball,” Petersen said about the near miss. “The next ball is the important thing.” Three overs of next balls after that, a shy that might have run Tendulkar out for 18 hit him instead.By the time Shane “Cheese” Burger knocked out two of Tendulkar’s stumps, in the 15th over, the momentum was firmly with Mumbai. Only for Burger to snatch the advantage back for the Lions by yorking Kieron Pollard, a ball after the West Indian had launched him over long-on for six. JP Duminy and R Sathish also became casualties as the Lions surged to their famous victory.”Hats off to the Lions bowlers. They were exceptional in the last four overs. Until then, we were very much in the game,” said Duminy, who had been sent to the post-match press conference instead of his captain. “He [Tendulkar] played extremely well, but it’s a team sport and we all have to chip in. Unfortunately, we ended up a few runs short.”Vandiar, who rose from the ashes of his moment of madness with Petersen to score a 71 that bristled with pugnacity and verve, showed he has a few things to learn about diplomacy off the field as well as on it. Asked what he thought about batting as well as he had against an attack studded with bowlers of the stature of Zaheer Khan, Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh, Vandiar said, “They’re world class, but they’re just guys.”Petersen, who went to some trouble to explain that his team remained the tournament underdogs, despite their fine win, might want to have a word with the youngster about that. After all, the Lions captain has up close and personal knowledge of what world class players can do.

Peter Siddle is set to play his first match for Australia in nine months after being named in the squad for Sunday’s Twenty20 against Sri Lanka at the WACA. The wicketkeeper Brad Haddin will also make his comeback after a long injury lay-off

Brydon Coverdale25-Oct-2010Peter Siddle is set to play his first match for Australia in nine months after being named in the squad for Sunday’s Twenty20 against Sri Lanka at the WACA. The wicketkeeper Brad Haddin will also make his comeback after a long injury lay-off and will replace Tim Paine, while Michael Hussey and Mitchell Johnson have been rested.The 12-man squad for the first international of the home summer is made up entirely of Victoria and New South Wales players and features the spinner Steve O’Keefe, who made his debut for Australia in England in July. John Hastings, the Victoria allrounder who played his first ODI last week in India, has also been included for a potential Twenty20 debut.The non-selection of Hussey and Johnson is understandable, as they will instead warm up for the Ashes with a Sheffield Shield match for Western Australia against South Australia beginning this Friday. However, the same theory was not used for the Test opener Shane Watson, who will play the Twenty20 instead of a first-class outing for New South Wales against Queensland that begins on the same day.Watson, Haddin and the captain Michael Clarke are the only Test certainties included in the Twenty20 line-up, although every player will have the chance for at least one Sheffield Shield game before the first Ashes Test. Siddle is also aiming to re-establish his credentials after spending the winter laid up with a stress fracture in his back.Siddle, 25, had been a regular member of the Test attack until his injury struck, but he faces a challenge to force his way back in ahead of one of Mitchell Johnson, Doug Bollinger or Ben Hilfenhaus. His best chance might be if the selectors choose four fast men on a potentially seam-friendly Gabba pitch for the first Test.”Peter is a key bowler in all forms of the game and has made a return from injury and is now ready to take his place in this Australia Twenty20 squad,” the chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, said. Siddle made his initial return for Victoria in the Champions League Twenty20, and is now playing in the Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania.Haddin is also on his way back after a lengthy period on the sidelines, having not played for Australia since May due to an elbow problem. His absence allowed Paine to prove himself an impressive option at Test and one-day level, but there is no doubt that Haddin will remain the No. 1 man for the Ashes.Hilditch said: “It is unfortunate for Tim Paine, having played so well for Australia recently, to miss out on this squad but Brad has made a very good recovery from his elbow injury and is an established member of our side in all forms of the game.”The squad also sees some of our best young talent continuing to increase their international experience and exposure. Players like Steve Smith, Stephen O’Keefe and John Hastings all have exciting all-round skills for Twenty20 cricket and it will be great to see them against a very strong Sri Lanka squad.”Daniel Christian and Nathan Hauritz, who were in Australia’s ICC World Twenty20 squad this year, were left out, while Ryan Harris and Shaun Tait were unavailable due to injuries. And there was no place for Brett Lee, who is in the early stages of his comeback after an injury-plagued year and had been keen to target the Sri Lanka series for an international return.”It would have been his plan to be ready for this but with only two one-day games after an extensive break we want to see him play a bit more domestic cricket yet,” Hilditch said. “Certainly there was a lengthy discussion even for this squad, but it really felt too early.”Australia squad David Warner, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (wk), Michael Clarke (capt), Cameron White, David Hussey, Steven Smith, John Hastings, Steve O’Keefe, Peter Siddle, Clint McKay, Dirk Nannes.

Crystal Palace will once again be without right-back Joel Ward on Saturday afternoon as the Eagles host relegation battlers Burnley at Selhurst Park.

What’s the latest?

According to Palace manager Patrick Vieira, the 32-year-old will once again be absent for the South London club on Saturday, alongside Nathan Ferguson. The Frenchman said: “Two players not in the squad will be Nathan Ferguson and Joel Ward. All the other players are fit and can be in the squad.”

However, the 45-year-old admitted that Ward’s injury is “just a groin issue” and “hopefully he will be back training next week.”

The Englishman hasn’t featured since the goalless draw away at Brentford on 12 February, missing the 1-0 defeat at home to Chelsea last Saturday and the 4-1 victory away at Watford on Wednesday evening.

Vieira will be fuming

Despite their league position, Burnley go into Saturday’s match as one of the top-flight’s most in-form sides and will certainly pose a threat for Crystal Palace.

The Clarets have lost just one of their last six league outings, with that defeat being a 1-0 loss to Liverpool, winning their last two matches 3-0 at Brighton and 1-0 against Tottenham.

Sean Dyche’s side’s recent positive run has seriously boosted their survival chances, with the Lancashire outfit two points from safety in 18th whilst having a game in hand on 17th placed Newcastle as well as two on 19th Watford and three on bottom side Norwich City.

Flirtation with the relegation zone before the end of the season seems extremely unlikely for Vieira’s side and instead, they should be targeting a top-half finish.

The Eagles are four points off of tenth in 11th place, although the games in hand of sides near them in the table doesn’t offer any favours.

Therefore, Saturday’s meeting is certainly important for the South Londoners, who will certainly be dented by the absence of Ward who has been a kingpin for the French manager, starting 23 of Palace’s 26 league games this season.

However, there will still be plenty of experience on the right-hand side of defence in Ward’s place, with 30-year-old Nathaniel Clyne set to start his third successive league match in place of his fellow countryman.

Although he’s been limited to just six first-team appearances so far this season, the right-back boasts bags of experience and is a decent backup option.

It’s why Vieira will be fuming at seeing Ward miss out once again.

In other news: Forget Mateta: CPFC’s “silent assassin” with 75% duels won stole the show vs Watford – opinion

A round-up of the action from the fourth day of the ICC Women’s Cricket Challenge where West Indies, South Africa and Pakistan all recorded victories

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2010
Scorecard
Isobel Joyce’s 63 steered Ireland to a comfortable victory•International Cricket CouncilSouth Africa brushed aside West Indies in a top-of-the-table clash involving the two unbeaten teams in the tournament. It was a team effort that clinched the victory and not outstanding individual contributions – opener Shandre Fritz’s 43 was the highest score of the match, and the wickets were shared around, with three of South Africa’s bowlers picking two each.West Indies chose to bat and lost Juliana Nero in the third over. The bigger blow was when in-form opener Stafanie Taylor fell lbw for 20 in the 14th over. West Indies also lost their captain, Merissa Aguilleira, and 19-year-old Deandra Dottin in the next over to slip to 62 for 4. Stacy-Ann King made a patient 38 to push West Indies to something of a respective total before they were bowled out for the first time in the tournament.South Africa were rarely in trouble during the chase, with Fritz and captain Cri-zelda Brits adding 62 for the second wicket. Even though both were dismissed within two overs of each other, twenties from Mignon du Preez and Marizanne Kapp took South Africa to their fourth straight victory.
Scorecard
Shashikala Siriwardene, Sri Lanka’s captain, turned in an all-round performance that lifted them to victory over Pakistan, and help them stay in the hunt for third place. Siriwardene top-scored with an unbeaten 67 after Sri Lanka were put in to bat, and then spun out three batsmen with her offspinners to consign Pakistan to their second defeat of the tournament.A 73-run second-wicket stand between opener Chamari Polgampola and Suwini de Alwis gave Sri Lanka a platform before Siriwardene, coming in at No. 4, took charge in the second half of the innings. Sri Lanka were also helped by the 25 wides that Pakistan sent down and by a quickfire 27 from Dilani Manodara towards the end of the innings.Pakistan’s chase got off to a good start and No. 3 Nain Abdi’s half-century pushed them to a promising 147 for 2 by the 32nd over. Sri Lanka tried nine bowlers in search of wickets, which came in a flurry once the third-wicket partnership was broken. Their final eight wickets went down for 42 runs, and three middle-order run-outs helped Sri Lanka ease to a win.
Scorecard
Ireland crushed Netherlands in the battle between two teams who were yet to post their first wins of the tournament. Half-centuries from the Joyce twins, Isobel and Cecelia, steered Ireland to a victory with more than 21 overs to spare, after the Ireland bowlers had restricted Netherlands to a moderate total.Netherlands chose to bat and much of their total was through three batsmen – Marijn Nijman (43), captain Helmien Rambaldo (30) and Annemarie Tanke (39), with 25 wides from Ireland being the next highest contributor. Netherlands’ innings fell apart against Ireland’s slow bowlers – legspinner Ciara Metcalfe and offspinner Eimear Richardson took three wickets each.Faced with the small target of 173, Ireland lost opener Clare Shillingon for a duck in the first over. Then the Joyce sisters added 150 for the second wicket at quicker than a run a ball to make the match a one-sided affair.

Sunderland have dropped out of their position in sixth following a draw with Plymouth Argyle on Monday night, with the League One play-off battle extremely tight, the Black Cats can’t afford to drop any more points.

Following the loss to their play-off position rivals, the top six has changed yet again with Wycombe Wanderers matching the Mackems for points on 77 with one more game played in sixth, whilst Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth take place in fourth and fifth matched for 79 points.

With that in mind, Alex Neil must consider the changes needed in his squad and the impact needed to ensure that his team can secure a chance at promotion to the Championship at the end of this season with just three games remaining.

After the defeat to Argyle, the Black Cats manager came out to respond to concerns over Ross Stewart’s lack of goals in the last eight games:

“We’ve flogged Ross Stewart in particular into the ground this year.

“To expect a lad to come to this level and churn that out repeatedly for that amount of time, having done what he has done for us already, you are asking a lot of anybody.”

The £2.7k-per-week striker who has been claimed to be “fatigued” by Echo journalist Phil Smith, is the club’s top goal-scorer so far with 22 goals, starting every single league game only being subbed off four times in the second half over the entire season, so it is no wonder that there are concerns about the Scotsman being tired.

It would be a huge risk and a bold call to drop their star man, but if Neil does decide to axe Stewart from the starting line-up for the next game against 12th place Cambridge United on Saturday afternoon, it could ultimately pay off in the closing stages of the season.

Should Sunderland find themselves successful in finishing in the top six, there will be three huge additional games on top of the last three league games to secure promotion, so surely resting the striker against Cambridge United could be Neil’s last opportunity to allow Stewart to revive his goal-scoring form.

AND in other news: Speakman howler: SAFC may now be on the verge of repeating brutal Hugill disasterclass

Andy Flower has backed under-pressure opener Alastair Cook to perform in the Ashes

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Nov-2010Andy Flower, the England coach, has backed the under-pressure opener Alastair Cook to perform in the Ashes. Cook, England’s vice-captain, was the only notable failure in the tourists’ six-wicket victory over West Australia. He managed scores of 5 and 9 in the practice game and has only two more warm-up fixtures to find form before going into the Ashes opener with a modest average of 26.21 from 10 Tests against Australia.Despite his poor record, and a difficult summer where 110 of his 226 runs came in a single, career-saving innings against Pakistan at The Oval, Flower insists there is no problem with Cook. “I don’t have concerns,” said Flower. “It’s one game, two innings [against West Australia]. I think he’s going to do well.”England have moved to Adelaide for their second practice game, against South Australia, which begins on November 11, and don’t have a specialist opener as backup for Cook and Andrew Strauss. If Cook were to struggle, then Jonathan Trott, who opened with him against Bangladesh earlier this year, could move up from No. 3 and allow Eoin Morgan to slot into the line-up.It would be a major reshuffle and Flower is clearly reluctant to meddle too much at this stage. He is pleased with England’s progress after their first victory in an opening first-class match in Australia since 1965-66, but stressed the need for his players to gain as much match practice as possible before the first Test in Brisbane.”It was very important for us to get that middle time,” Flower said. “One of our priorities is not to give everyone a go. We are trying to prepare our Test side for Brisbane and while with a squad of 16 or 17 everyone wants to play, our priority is to ensure that our Test XI is as ready as possible for the first Test.”The tourists’ victory against West Australia was not entirely blemish free with the batsmen collapsing to 8 for 159 in the first innings and the home side reaching 1 for 130 in the second, before England surged to victory on the back of four wickets for Graeme Swann and an unbeaten century from Strauss.Strauss’s undisputed position as captain contrasts with his opposite number Ricky Ponting whose future is being debated in the Australian media and Flower emphasised the importance for the leader to perform well. “[Strauss] is an important man, because he’s our leader. Captains want to lead from the front but it’s important for all of our guys to contribute, so I don’t think one batsman is more important than the next. They’ve all got to do it.”With England settled on a balance of four bowlers and six batsmen Graeme Swann’s dual role as wicket-taker and defensive option will be crucial in the series. He is now ranked No. 2 in the world and pressure is on him to deliver the goods in a country where touring offspinners have not had much success.”Expectations on Graeme Swann are high and he will make his contributions, there’s no doubt about that, he’s a very fine bowler,” Flower said. “But he’s one of four bowlers in our Test attack, and it’s important our whole side works together to create pressure – and he’s one of those guys.”