Tag Futebol

All that stood between Australia and victory was Rahul Dravid. And for a while, all that stood between Dravid and the target was Brad Williams. Bowling straight and fast outside off stump, Williams made Dravid look out of touch only a day after he scored 233. In one scorching over, he nicked a delivery to Adam Gilchrist – who dropped the difficult chance – and played at and missed two more that moved off the seam. Williams posed searing questions, and somehow, Dravid survived to score the winning runs.A breakdown of Williams’s bowling analysis reveals a persistent length and the near absence of loose deliveries, the reasons why India’s batsmen had such a hard time.

Length	Balls	Runs
Full	0	0
Yorker	0	0
Half-volley	4	4
Goodlength	30	11
Short-of-good-length	46	7
Short	4	12

If Williams did all the hard work, Stuart MacGill took on the onus of bowling like a millionaire, and gifted full tosses and short deliveries. Reputed to present one boundary opportunity each over, MacGill proved more generous towards the end of India’s innings. Though the turning pitch helped him dismiss Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, bowling down the wrong line proved expensive for MacGill.

Line	Balls	Runs
Outsideoff	54	37
Off stump	11	12
Middlestump	7	5
Leg stump	9	4
Outsideleg	68	43

All India needed was 193 on a worn-out fifth-day pitch with the ball shooting through alarmingly low at times, and Brad Williams reverse-swinging deliveries at 135 kmph. Historically atrocious chasers, India’s batsmen braved it out under difficult conditions, and got home in relative comfort.

IndianInnings	1st	2nd
Incontrol	85.54%	77.52%
Not in control	14.46%	22.48%

The Selection Committee of the BCCSL has chosen the following 14 players for the Sri Lanka `A’ squad, from whom 11 players will be selected on the morning of the 3rd Unofficial Test Match versus the Kenya National Cricket Team, which is to be played at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium from the 14th of February to the 17th of February 2002. The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports has approved the squad.The selection of the team to play in the match will be done by the Selectors in consultation with the Coach and Captain.1. Upul Chandana (Captain)
2. Avishka Gunawardena
3. Upekha Fernando
4. Michael Vandort
5. T.M. Dilshan
6. Chamara Silva
7. Prasanna Jayawardena
8. M. Pushpakumara
9. Ruchira Perera
10. Pulasthi Guneratne
11. Rangana Herath
12. Gayan Wijekoon
13. Dulip Liyanage
14. Ian Daniel

Manager/Head Coach:Roshan Mahanama
Coach: Hemantha Devapriya
Physiotherapist: Lal Thamel

The Ranji Trophy North Zone league match between Services and HimachalPradesh ended in a draw at the Palam Ground in Delhi today. Servicesresumed in the morning still requiring another 93 to make theiropponents bat again but as it turned out they quite comfortably battedthrough the day to finish on 339/6 from 121.5 overs.Earlier, Harish Bhaskar and Amit Nadkarni carried off from where theyleft at 80/1 last evening. Nadkarni was bowled by Jaswant Rai for 65(135 balls, 9 fours) but Bhaskar was a more durable customer,remaining to negotiate 256 balls for his 82, which included 8 fours.Late in the day, JP Pandey and Syed Javed put together an entertaining95 run stand in just over 23 overs.Pandey’s 50 (8 fours and a six) took 96 deliveries while Javed’s 52 (6fours, 2 sixes) was the quicker effort, coming off just 75 balls. Bothwere still unconquered when the match was called off. Amit Sharma wasthe most successful bowler with 3/98. Himachal Pradesh collected fivepoints and Services three from the drawn encounter.

Since joining from Dutch giants Ajax back in August 2017 in a club-record deal, Davinson Sanchez has struggled to hit the heights expected of him at Spurs.

At the time of his arrival, Jermaine Jenas waxed lyrical about what the centre-back could bring to the table, saying: “Sanchez is a top player. His performance in the Europa League final, when he came up against Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford, was pretty special. Spurs have got someone they can mould and turn into what they want.”

Those expectations have proven far too lofty for Sanchez to match however.

The Colombian has come under intense criticism for his regular mistakes, with former Premier League ace Kenny Cunningham once describing him as a “real liability”, while his former manager at international level, Jorge Luis Pinto, claimed that Sanchez “does not have the talent” to succeed.

And, it was only in the summer of 2020 when Football.London’s Alasdair Gold revealed that the defender found himself in a difficult spot.

He said: “The Colombian is in a strange situation at Spurs. He was the club record signing and had a manager in Mauricio Pochettino who believed he could be one of the best centre-backs in the world. Now he has a manager in Mourinho who admitted his Manchester United team targeted Sanchez in the Europa League final as the weak link in the Ajax defence due to his technical ability or lack of.”

Despite Mourinho’s subsequent departure, and the arrivals of both Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte, things haven’t gotten better for Sanchez and he has continued to struggle for consistent game-time at the club – his performances have left a lot to be desired too.

This season in the Premier League has seen him make 18 appearances in the Premier League, but finding himself in and out of the side – after being dropped from the side following Spurs’ 2-0 defeat to Wolves, he has since played just 39 minutes of top-flight football.

Since his £42m move from Ajax, and earning wages of £65k-per-week, Sanchez has cost the north London club a whopping £57.5m in fees over the 238 weeks he has been at the club.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Considering the princely sum they shelled out to sign Sanchez, Daniel Levy no doubt would have hoped, if not expected, for the Colombian to be the kind of game-changing defensive signing that could be a part of this Spurs back-line for the years to come.

Instead, things have fallen completely flat for him at Spurs.

AND in other news: Sold for £18m, now worth under £1m: Levy played a blinder with shocking Spurs disaster

	There weren’t too many who walked through the turnstiles at Port Elizabeth © Keith Lane

Cricket South Africa’s chief executive Gerald Majola has admitted that the board made a mistake in allotting the Boxing Day Test against West Indies to Port Elizabeth instead of the traditional Kingsmead in Durban, owing to the poor spectator turnout. The board’s decision to switch venues, in a bid to boost crowd numbers, backfired and Majola said the scheduling will be reviewed for the forthcoming seasons.”It was definitely a wrong move,” Majola told the South African-based . “We blundered badly. We wanted to try something new this season by moving the Test matches around. However it did not work as there were hardly any spectators at the Port Elizabeth Test.”The match was attended by roughly 11,000 in total over four days. The first day saw a crowd of around 4000 but the number dipped over the next three and an average of 2500 showed up. The deciding Test in Durban was an improvement with an aggregate of 19,000 over three days, with the home side achieving a series victory after losing the first Test.Matches in Port Elizabeth are traditionally held in mid-January and the board took a gamble to see if the response would be better during the holiday season. He admitted that the board overlooked the fact that Kingsmead would draw better crowds as people flocked to the popular beach destination.”We felt that if the crowd support in mid-January was good then it would be better if we had a Boxing Day Test in that city,” he said. “However people living at the coast love the beaches during the Christmas and Boxing Day period, hence we did not attract the crowd for the West Indies Test. We will have to go back to the drawing board.”South Africa head to Australia later this year so their next home Boxing Day Test will be in the 2009-10 season against England.

Inzamam ponders the one that got away © AFP

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, acknowledged that the 2-1 series loss to South Africa was one of the more disappointing of his career and that his side’s top-order batting simply hadn’t been good enough.Imran Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez struggled through the series, making only one fifty between them, while Yasir Hameed, at one-down, also failed to make a real impact. “I believe in the theory that if you keep giving your batsmen enough opportunities, they would perform but there are times when you cannot be patient enough,” Inzamam said.”I was really disappointed by the way some of our batsmen played in the final Test, especially in the second innings when we could have easily achieved a 250-run lead. It was a difficult wicket but I still believe we could have scored 250 to 300 runs in the second innings, something that would have helped us win an important series.” Farhat has already paid the price and becomes the fifth member of the squad to be sent home as he will play no part in the ODI series.Despite a valiant fight, Pakistan couldn’t stop South Africa from reaching the target of 161, thus losing the series. Given the surfaces they played on and what should’ve been a strong bowling attack, but one eventually ravaged by injury, Inzamam recognized this as a golden opportunity lost.”We have lost a golden opportunity to win a series overseas against a top side. It is one of the biggest disappointments of my career. We have won many Tests at home, but to be ranked among the best you have to win overseas,” he said.”The fitness problems with the bowlers didn’t help, but it also showed that the team had grown together and learned to compete well.”Mohammad Asif (19 wickets) and leg-spinner, Danish Kaneria (15) carried much of the bowling for Pakistan, bowling over 300 overs between them. “Asif has immaculate length control and a natural ability to swing the ball both ways. He is also quick to spot a weakness in a batsman and work on it. Kaneria has improved his bowling and has the ability to take 500 Test wickets.”Inzamam himself left the field on the final day of the Test with a return of the back pain that has troubled him intermittently over the last two years. He has been advised rest for four to five days and said only that, “Hopefully I will be available for the one-day series.”Meanwhile, Imran Khan added his voice to those expressing disappointment at the series result, arguing that dropping Shoaib Akhtar for the series was Pakistan’s first big mistake.Shoaib was flown to South Africa after injury to Umar Gul, and destroyed the South African top order on the opening day of the second Test match, which Pakistan won. He then pulled a hamstring after bowling just 11 overs and was later sent back home for treatment and rehabilitation.”Pakistan committed the blunder of not taking Shoaib from the start of the tour and his injury at Port Elizabeth could have been because he wasn’t match fit,” Imran told AFP. “Some good things have also come out and now the team management realise Tests can only be won through matchwinners.”For Pakistan’s other matchwinner, Asif, there was further praise. “Asif is well on his way to become one of the greats. If he gains a little bit of pace through weight training he can be more lethal.”Imran was also critical of Inzamam’s decision to bat at six and Mohammad Yousuf at five. “Yousuf is the best batsman alongside Australian Ricky Ponting at the moment but how many times Ponting has batted below three? And Ponting always leads from the front,” Imran pointed out.

The scheduled series between West Indies and Australia immediately following the 2007 World Cup has been indefinitely postponed after the West Indies board expressed concern over hosting two major tournaments in such a short time.”The West Indies have concerns about having two marquee events back to back, they would prefer to spread them out, and frankly that makes sense,” Cricket Australia’s Peter Young said. However, he insisted the board was committed to its agreement to tour the Caribbean every five years.Rearranging the series could be more of a problem as Australia appear to have agreed to play India home and away every four years, and West Indies fixtures are not the draw they were a decade ago and could be shoved behind more fashionable and lucrative alternatives. The recently-concluded series in Australia was played at the start of the season and was downgraded to three Tests.The news will be a further blow to the ICC, whose Future Tours Programme is looking rather sickly. Last week the Indian board indicated that it might consider ditching the FTP, and it appears to have gone some way down that route by its deal with Cricket Australia. Today, the Indian board announced that its series against New Zealand scheduled for February 2007 had been postponed after discussions with its New Zealand counterparts.Earlier this week Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, was concerned enough to write to Niranjan Shah, the Indian board’s secretary, to remind him of his country’s responsibilities to the game.

Cricket Scotland has won three of the nine European regional awards in the ICC Development Programme Awards for 2004.The high profile multi-media campaign “It’s Going to be a Big Hit” – mounted by Lloyds TSB Scotland and created by Edinburgh agencies Elaine Howie PR and Family – won the award for the best cricket promotional campaign. The campaign, which was launched with a special-build 48-sheet poster featuring a cricket ball bursting through it, is credited with having significantly raised the profile of the game north of the border.The award for the best overall cricket development programme went to the Stanley Morrison Trust ‘Adopt a Primary School Scheme’, which has been running in Scotland for the past 15 years, and has introduced the game to over 75,000 youngsters all over the country.The inaugural Lloyds TSB Scotland Women’s International Cricket Festival, held in Scotland last summer – involving teams from Holland, Warwickshire and Durham – won the award for the best women’s cricket initiative.Roddy Smith, chief executive of Cricket Scotland, said: “Last year was a memorable one for the national team, which won the ICC Intercontinental Cup, and these awards make it even more so. The work undertaken by our sponsors, particularly Lloyds TSB Scotland, to enhance their relationship with Scottish cricket has taken our profile to a new level.”

Pakistan, the world’s leading six-a-side team, will be seeking a hat-trick ofvictories in this weekend’s Cathay Pacific/Standard Chartered Hong Kong Sixes atthe Kowloon Cricket Club – an annual biff-bang-wallop tournament that includeseight international teams.”Hopefully we will be able to win it again,” said Moin Khan, the Pakistan captain, soon after the team’s nine-hour flight from Lahore. “This is a really fun event and the prize money is good. We are back with a talented side and if we play to our ability we should be able to defend our title.”But although Pakistan – winners in 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2001 – are favourites with another star-studded line-up that includes Moin Khan, Azhar Mahood, Abdul Razzaq, Imran Nazir and Imran Farhat, they may be pushed harder this year it what promises to be the most competitive tournament in history.This year the organisers have invited New Zealand and Kenya in place of the UAEand Australia, who showed little interest in the tournament last year with theselection of a veteran XI. With both New Zealand and Kenya sending strong teams,the pool stages will no longer be a formality for the top seeds.Pakistan should stroll to victory against Hong Kong – who have been bolstered by the news that their most famous cricketer, Dermot Reeve, will be making a star appearance – but have a tricky game against New Zealand on the first morning and a heavyweight clash against arch-rivals India in the afternoon.India’s team is bolstered by Vinod Kambli, the playboy of India cricket, who keeps telling the world that he is ready for one final fling in an Indian shirt. But hopes of winning their first-ever title have been dampened following a late pull-out by strike bowler Javagal Srinath who is injured. His place has been taken by Venkatesh Prasad.England, the runners up last year and the winners in 1993 and 1994, are expected to top Pool 1 with an experienced team. Led by Matthew Maynard, the team includes Glen Chapple, Chris Silverwood, Kabir Ali, Darren Maddy, Dougie Brown and Robert Croft.South Africa are another top seed. Led by Andrew Hall, who was sent home fromSouth Africa’s recent tour to Pakistan because of two-Test ban, their squadincludes Loots Bosman, Justin Kemp, Justin Ontong and Monde Zondeki.Sri Lanka, despite their reputation for flambuoyant strokeplay, are consideredoutsiders. Last year they suffered a shock defeat against Kong Kong. However,their squad includes several relatively unknown but effective allrounders,including Dulip Liyange, the skipper, Gayan Wijekoon, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Indika de Saram and Saman Jayantha.The short boundaries at the Kowloon Cricket Club, a pristine green oasis amidst an sprawling urban jungle, and the even bounce of the artificial strip that will be used, traditionally favours the big-hitters. Bowlers concentrate on holding their nerve, avoiding the yips and bowling stump to stump.”There are not many tactics in this game,” according to Khan. “As a batsman in the sixes you go out to bat with the intention of hitting every ball for four or six. It is important to enjoy yourself and we have come with that intention.”

What shaped as a David and Goliath battle was transformed into the Shane and Sean show as two outstanding young players helped Tasmania slay Queensland by an innings and 50 runs in an amazing finish to the teams’ Pura Cup clash here in Hobart today.Where Tasmania has been a generous host in previous matches this summer, all-rounder Shane Watson turned inhospitable today, producing an electric display of pace bowling to reverse the tide of poor form that has washed over his side of late. With it arrived the incredible figures of 11/78 inside a day as the Tigers gained sweet revenge for a two-day defeat of their own in Brisbane last month.Sean Clingeleffer, a wicketkeeper-batsman of immense promise, meanwhile led a spectacular exhibition of catching with a performance that established a new record for his state.Suitably stunned into committing an uncharacteristic string of errors, the Bulls crashed to be dismissed for 130 in their first innings before folding for a dismal 101 as they followed on.”I’m very happy about that; it’s still a bit of a weird feeling at the moment,” commented Watson of his first-ever ten-wicket haul in a first-class match.”Eleven wickets is a big tally but everyone bowled really well; I had good support at the other end which really helped me out a lot.”The former Queenslander was only introduced into the attack shortly before lunch but his impact was almost immediate. In his second over, he found the outside edge of the bat of Stuart Law (2), therein claiming a wicket that delivered the near-ultimate in satisfaction.Law, who had been less than flattering in his assessment of both Watson and the nature of his defection before the corresponding fixture last summer, groped at a brisk leg cutter and feathered an outside edge to Clingeleffer.”It’s been a good rivalry between me and Stuart and I was really pumped to try and get his wicket to lift our team. He’s a very good player and it was definitely a key wicket,” added Watson.Just for good measure, the Queensland captain then succumbed exactly the same way as his team’s game began to fall apart again in the second innings. His wicket appeared to be the catalyst of Queensland’s slide in both innings.Six of the last seven first innings wickets fell Watson’s way – in the midst of a collapse that saw eight wickets crash for a mere 53 runs. Another five came in the second as he magnetically found outside and bottom edges as well as the gate between bat and pad.The strongly built 20-year-old enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top tier of Australian domestic cricket as a teenager last summer, performing with brilliance as Tasmania took advantage of Queensland’s reluctance to blood him into state ranks at such an early age.Clamour for his inclusion in an Australian senior team has been building steadily in Tasmania ever since. A favourable effort in an appearance for Australia ‘A’ earlier this month couldn’t have harmed his cause. And national selectors Trevor Hohns and David Boon must have been further moved by what they saw first-hand here at a sun-drenched Bellerive Oval today.His bowling, the velocity of which sometimes rivals that of the stiff breezes which blow across the nearby Derwent River, was exceptional.As far as impressive efforts from players on the fielding side were concerned, he was not alone.Fellow pacemen Damien Wright, Shane Jurgensen and David Saker also bowled with venom. Wright beat the bat on countless occasions; Jurgensen maintained his reputation for impeccable line on a pitch that offered the same variable bounce as it had done yesterday; and Saker, as Watson later suggested, has probably never bowled better in close to two years of cricket with Tasmania.And, where their bowlers opened up chances, Tasmania’s fielders emphatically capitalised upon them. Their catching was of a consistently high standard and in no-one was the trend better emphasised than Clingeleffer. A brilliant one-handed overhead mark as he seized a rocketing edge from the bat of Wade Seccombe (0) in the first innings was the highlight among the total of nine catches which helped him set a new mark for the most taken in a first-class match by a Tasmanian fieldsman.In the face of Tasmania’s multi-faceted assault, opener Jimmy Maher (20 and 41) bravely defied the odds both times for the Bulls. But he encountered precious little in the way of support.Tasmania unhappily tumbled into last spot on the competition table after it lost in Brisbane and a period of soul-searching has followed. All to the accompaniment of a general lack of respect for the team from various quarters.But Watson and Clingeleffer both confirmed that the spirit of enthusiasm and commitment displayed on the field today has been spreading at an infectious rate in the dressing room all week.Cricket can truly be a remarkable leveller at times.