Category Uncategorized

Newcastle United have been handed a boost in their pursuit of Flamengo striker Gabriel Barbosa, according to Lee Ryder for Chronicle Live. 

The lowdown: Magpies interested

Last month, a report from 90min claimed that the Magpies were among the clubs keen on signing Barbosa this summer as sporting director Dan Ashworth and head of recruitment Steve Nickson look to enhance the firepower at Eddie Howe’s disposal next season.

Having previously struggled in Europe during a short-lived 10-game spell at Inter Milan, the 25-year-old Brazilian hitman has reinvented himself back in his homeland and now boasts a remarkable 148 career goals in 298 professional outings.

Now, the Toon may have been dealt some encouragement in their attempts to bring Barbosa to St James’ Park…

The latest: ‘Keen on a move’

As per Ryder, the Chief Newcastle United Writer for the Chronicle Live, Barbosa is now believed to be ‘keen on a move’ to the North East.

It’s claimed that the 18-cap Brazil ace is a ‘long-term target’ at Newcastle and representatives are ‘open to continuing discussions’ regarding the potential switch.

However, the report does also state that the transfer priorities may lie elsewhere for Howe and co, with the man hailed for his involvements in the ‘decisive’ moments of matches by legendary compatriot Adriano ‘not as high as other targets’ on the list.

The verdict: No brainer

Currently in the midst of an ongoing 2021/22 campaign, Barbosa – known by his nickname Gabigol – has scored 19 times and provided two assists in 36 appearances so far across all competitions. highlighting his current clinical eye for goal.

Valued at £23.4m (Transfermarkt), any move for the prolific frontman would be an expensive one for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) Public Investment Fund (PIF), but also a transfer that would signify the early intentions of the club in its new guise, as Howe is in need of additional options to support the misfiring Chris Wood and an injury-prone Callum Wilson.

Already boasting a packed trophy cabinet full of team and individual honours, the decorated Brazilian would be returning to Europe with a point to prove and hungrier than ever, a lethal combination that could see Newcastle get the best from the maverick attacker.

West Ham United have identified a new midfield target according to reports.

What’s the word?

That is per a claim from The Mirror, who suggest that the Hammers are keen on signing Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse.

It is said that Moyes is looking to revamp his midfield following the retirement of Mark Noble, along with the uncertainty surrounding prize midfield duo Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice.

As per the report, Moyes sees Ward-Prowse as a stellar addition to the West Ham ranks and joins Newcastle United as notable admirers of the 27-year-old England international.

Mark Noble 2.0

With the latest news surrounding Southampton’s dead-ball specialist, Hammers supporters will surely be elated at the prospect of a classy and respectful midfielder joining their beloved club.

Almost all of the fanbase will have a soft spot for a hardworking technician in that mould, having seen Noble, aka Mr. West Ham, occupy that role in the side for around 18 years.

If there is any player in European football who can draw comparisons to Noble, it is £28.8m-rated Ward-Prowse.

The 27-year-old’s leadership qualities and ability to dictate play through mastering the basics make him a sure-fire signing who would slot right into the shoes of recently retired Noble.

The Southampton captain had yet another stellar season on a personal level, bagging ten goals and chipping in with a further five assists in 36 appearances for the Saints.

Now in the prime of his career and gaining acknowledgement on the international stage, he will surely be looking to take the next step of his career in joining a club who will at the very least challenge for the European places season-upon-season.

His ability to pick a pass, along with his 3.25 switches and 1.96 key passes per game, make him a super asset in the centre of the pitch and his status as a free-kick “magician” in the words of talkSPORT is of course a welcome bonus to any club.

West Ham could not find a better replacement for Noble.

In other news: Sky Sports journo: Big transfer at West Ham is now “imminent”, Moyes will love him 

Australia’s issue surrounds the production line of talent, and the way young players are schooled. They once led the world in this respect, and now lag behind many

Daniel Brettig in Dubai09-Oct-2018Marnus Labuschagne stood transfixed on the crease. He looked down the pitch at the umpire Richard Kettleborough, who had raised his finger to rule him out, caught off bat and pad for a second-ball duck on debut. The double noise and deflection were obvious, the Pakistani celebration spontaneous. But Labuschagne stood there, unable to walk off for a moment. This wasn’t dissent. It was shock.The numbness felt by Labuschagne, the Australian side’s junior-most member, was mirrored across the team as they fell apart for the umpteenth time against the spinning and reverse-swinging ball. Not in the hands of Yasir Shah and Wahab Riaz, known and respected quantities, but Bilal Asif and Mohammad Abbas, the sorts of talents that always seem to be lurking in a Pakistani domestic system with far more depth than Australia’s. All 10 of the touring team’s wickets were lost for 60 runs, with them effectively the match.Depth was what Australia’s effort needed to be built upon in this series, given the suspensions of Steven Smith and David Warner, and the rehab plans of Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. Three of that quartet were in Sydney for Fox Sports’ launch as Australian cricket’s host broadcaster, and all were left wincing in the same manner as the many thousands of Australian cricket watchers and listeners on television and web radio while they witnessed the promise of an opening stand worth 142 broken by the shallowness beneath.This team, led by Tim Paine, coached by Justin Langer, selected by metrics like hundreds scored and frequency of scores over 30, pared down by assessments of character and willingness to do the team thing, bound by a new charter of agreed behaviours, was supposed to be a new one. Australia, we were told, had gone on a journey of introspection and education since the Newlands scandal, to a place where “character over cover drives” and team above all else, were non-negotiable. This was epitomised by the choices of three debutants, in Aaron Finch, Travis Head and Labuschagne, who were all deemed outstanding young men.Others had fallen short of the required standards, be it Peter Handscomb amid technical changes, or Glenn Maxwell amid being Glenn Maxwell. There had even been a late decision to make an example of Matt Renshaw, who recovered well from a concussion only to be told he had not done enough in terms of training and attitude to prove himself worthy. Instead of forming part of the top six, Renshaw joined Ashton Agar in exhausting fielding drills during the breaks, followed by skills work to test their resilience when fatigued.Dealing with fatigue was certainly something Australia’s batsmen had to contemplate across nearly two days in the field. After the pacemen Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle had toiled admirably, and the spin bowlers Nathan Lyon and Jon Holland without great effect, Finch and Usman Khawaja did well to get through the final 13 overs of day two despite tired legs and minds. When they carried on through the third morning, it seemed momentarily that Australia did possess the required resilience.Mitchell Marsh was trapped lbw•Getty ImagesAs mature cricketers, despite the latter’s lack of previous Test experience, Khawaja and Finch had both been exemplars of the Langer regime. Each worked assiduously to get himself fitter than ever, losing weight and gaining endurance to bat time and also field more freely. For most of the morning they found an ideal balance between attack and defence, enjoying a modicum of good fortune, not least when a Khawaja bat-pad appeal was given not out and then not reviewed, despite replays showing an inside edge.With Pakistan’s captain Sarfraz Ahmed spending much of his morning bickering with the umpire Richard Illingworth, it had seemed that Australia might be able to gain a foothold in the match. But with the ball spinning, bouncing and reversing on a tinder dry surface, it always felt as though one wicket would bring more – finding the one would be the trick. So in time honoured fashion, Pakistan’s bowlers tightened up their lines, Sarfraz set straight fields and patience was played upon, either side of lunch.Eventually, the chance came: Asad Shafiq good enough to hang on to a very low catch at short mid-on when Finch strained to hit Abbas through the line of the ball. Finch, then, had been bored out, a dismissal needing due credit to the fielding side, but also awareness that in Test cricket, especially in these parts, a greater level of ruthlessness is required. Why? The next two or so hours provided Australia’s painful answer.Shaun Marsh, a little inattentively, drove at Bilal’s tempter and edged out of the rough to slip. Khawaja, so prosperous on the sweep of both orthodox and reverse varieties, misread Bilal’s length and offered a wretched top-edge to short leg. Head, who had struggled enormously against spin in the past, offered another hard-handed drive at an offbreak and edged to second slip. And Labuschagne, in the very same over, was unable to be precise enough in footwork or judgement to avoid a bat-pad catch.Those wickets, plus a dropped return chance by Yasir from Mitchell Marsh’s hard hands, more or less told the tale of the day. Paine and the tail were never likely to mount a sustained challenge in such circumstances. Pakistan built their lead for the loss of three wickets in the fading Dubai light, showing that conditions had become more difficult for batting, but not 10 for 60 difficult.So how did a new Australian team, so much more mentally and physically prepared for the task, add another fresh chapter to an old and familiar story of brittleness, now stretching to seven losses of 10 wickets for fewer than 100 runs since the start of the 2016 Sri Lanka tour? The lack of Smith and Warner naturally contributed, but so did a wider issue, one that is beyond the reach of Langer, Paine or the Simon Longstaff and Rick McCosker-led cultural reviews soon to be released.That issue surrounds the production line of talent, and the way young players are schooled. Australia once led the world in this respect, and now lag behind many. Money does not appear to have helped, nor the centralisation of power and decision-making at CA. All are issues above the station of Labuschagne, who could not really have done things any other way.

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Sep-2016… but it was Wayne Parnell who made South Africa’s first breakthrough•Getty ImagesHe dismissed the dangerous David Warner for 40•Gallo ImagesAaron Finch launched his innings with intent•Getty ImagesBut was removed by Andile Phehlukwayo in his second over•AFPPhehlukwayo struck three times in his opening spell•AFP… while Imran Tahir had Travis Head stumped off a googly for 18•AFPGeorge Bailey anchored Australia’s innings with a well-compiled 74•AFP… while John Hastings racked up his maiden ODI fifty•Gallo ImagesHowever, Quinton de Kock ignited South Africa’s run-chase with a brilliant century•AFP… and was brilliantly supported by Rilee Rossouw in an opening stand of 145•AFPDe Kock was brutal off his pads …•Gallo Images… and through the covers•Gallo Images… en route to a career-best 178 from 113 balls, with 11 sixes•Gallo ImagesHe and Rossouw made Australia suffer•AFP

A comprehensive Barbados review, with nuggets of statistical splendidness

Andy Zaltzman05-May-2015England’s retention of the Wisden Trophy will, it seems, not be marked by an open-top bus parade. Unless that bus contains a large bronze sculpture representing the concept of Test cricket, which paraded many of its timeless wonders in a gripping three days of juddering narrative that combined brilliance and bloopers in almost equal measure. (And, in the case of Chris Jordan’s slip catching, sometimes simultaneously – moving in the wrong direction to turn a sharp but direct chance into a near impossibility, before readjusting, or deadjusting, and catching it anyway, with hand speed that might baffle even Floyd Mayweather.)West Indies have had many false dawns during their years of decline, but this dawn feels at least considerably less false than previous versions, some of which have transpired to be not so much a dawn as a small flicker of torchlight that lasted just long enough to turn off the alarm clock, take some sleeping pills, and bed back down for an extended lie-in. Time will tell. It was a glorious win, sealed by a partnership of control, flair and skill against an attack whose shortcomings were luminously exposed in both of their fourth innings in the series.Darren Bravo and Jermaine Blackwood added 108 in 32 overs, in a match in which there had been only two other stands of more than 45 (both on the first day), and after the previous 29 wickets had fallen for 416, giving an average partnership expectancy of 14 off 27 balls. This made the Bravo-Blackwood stand equivalent to a 950-run partnership in the 2009 Barbados Test between these sides, a game so pointlessly dull that the mere scorecard is now used an a general anaesthetic by many professional vets.England have learned much from this series. Unfortunately not all of it has been what they wanted or needed to learn, and, in doing so, they have not learned enough of what they could really have done with learning.Their bowling seems more dependent on James Anderson than ever, and the fragility of their batting in Barbados, against an unproven attack whose highest-ranked bowler was 49th-placed Jerome Taylor, does not bode well as they prepare to face New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, who among them have seven of the top ten. England’s contingent of allrounders have all moved, at best, sideways (unlike too much of their bowling), and individual or collective failures against the Kiwis could leave giant flashing question marks hovering over more than half of the side.All in all, then, it has not been quite the time-buying consolidation of last summer’s win over India that appeared to be in the pipeline when Anderson sliced through West Indies’ top order on the second day of the final Test. England contrived not to win from what might reasonably be considered a “winning position” for the sixth time in their last 12 Tests (or arguably seventh, if you include the Trent Bridge Test against India last summer, when they had India six down and 145 ahead with 77 overs left on the final day), dating back to Melbourne in December 2013. More on this in next week’s blog.On the positive side, England have been in winning positions in 10 (or arguably 11) of those 12 Tests. On the negative side, they have won four and lost five of their last 12 Tests, and have in the process lost at home to Sri Lanka, who had not won a series outside Asia against anyone other than Zimbabwe since 1995, and failed to beat a West Indies team that had been accused of “mediocrity” not only by Colin Graves, the incoming ECB chairman, but also by their own recent statistics.

This dawn feels at least considerably less false than West Indies’ previous versions, some of which were not so much a dawn as a small flicker of torchlight that lasted just long enough to turn off the alarm clock and bed back down for an extended lie-in

Mediocrity, however, can come and go with surprising alacrity, for both individuals and teams. At the beginning of day two in Barbados, when Jerome Taylor took the newish ball after a wicketless first day in which he had allowed England’s batsmen to leave too many deliveries, he had taken 26 wickets at an average of 37 since his recall in June 2014, after almost five years away from the Test arena. Since his certifiably unmediocre 5 for 11 against England in Jamaica in 2009, he had taken 32 wickets at 44 in 15 Tests plus Barbados day one. His overall Test record was 108 wickets at almost 36. Mediocre figures. By Test standards, a bowler capable of mediocrity. But not, as England had seen in 2009, and sporadically in the first Test, a mediocre bowler.Taylor then took 3 for 3 to clean up England’s tail, and followed with 3 for 33 in the second innings. He had transformed the match, the series, the tone of Geoffrey Boycott’s voice, and the spiciness of language on internet message boards, taking 6 for 36 in 14.4 overs either side of West Indies’ first innings. Not mediocre.Between April 2006 and November 2013, New Zealand won two out of 24 Test series, both victories being against Bangladesh. Against top-eight sides, they had drawn six and lost 15 series (albeit with some strong signs of recent improvement, particularly in drawn series in Australia and Sri Lanka). Since December 2013, in five series, the Kiwis have beaten West Indies (home and away), India and Sri Lanka, and drawn against Pakistan in the UAE, where both Australia and England had recently lost. Kane Williamson averaged 34 until November 2013; he averages 73 since then. Tim Southee had 45 wickets at 44 in 18 Tests up to August 2012; he has taken 91 at 24 in 21 Tests since then.England’s drawn series in New Zealand two years ago was, on the one hand, another failure to defeat a team with a mediocre record, and on the other, a reasonable (if extremely fortuitous) result against a team leaving its mediocrity behind it, on the cusp of a significant breakthrough.Colin Graves’ infamous claim of West Indian mediocrity was not without foundation. Before this series, they had recorded eight Test wins over other top-eight nations in 90 attempts, dating back to 2003; out of the 30 series they had played against the other top-eight teams in that time, they won two (against England six years ago, and New Zealand in 2012), drawn five, and lost 23.The problem about Graves’ comments was not what he said (although he could more safely have claimed that the West Indies “had been a mediocre side”, rather than that they would “have a mediocre side”) (if he had wanted to cover his back) (which he obviously did not). Most pundits made similar claims, as did most statistics dating back a decade and a half.The problems were:(a) the way that he said it;
(b) the fact that he said it, given his impending position in the ECB;
(c) more specifically, the fact that he said it (i) out loud, and (ii) in public; and
(d) the fact that England were emerging from successive trips to the Southern Hemisphere in which even the sunken plateau of mediocrity remained a distant, almost Himalayan pipe dream.Taylor: now he’s mediocre, now he isn’t•Getty ImagesSome sundry stats:1. Moeen Ali became the fourth England player to be run out twice in a three Test series. Given that he missed the first Test, this was an impressive achievement. The previous men to suffer this inept indignity were John Jameson, who managed to get himself run out in three successive innings against India in 1971, an impressive effort in anyone’s book; Bob Taylor in New Zealand in 1977-78; and Bob Taylor again, again in New Zealand, in 1983-84. Taylor was run out four times in nine innings in New Zealand, and only once in his 74 Test innings elsewhere on the planet. Conclusion: Bob Taylor’s judgement of time and distance was discombobulated by his astonishment about the fact that New Zealand’s only native land mammals are three species of bat.2. West Indies became only the ninth team in Test history to win a Test after beginning their first innings by losing all of their top four for single-figure scores.3. Barbados was the third time in six and a half years that England have marched out to bat in the third innings of a Test with a lead of more than 50, and proceeded to lose (after Chennai in 2008-09, and Melbourne in 2013-14). Previously they had done so only once since 1906 (at The Oval, against India, and in particular against Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, in 1971). More on this in next week’s blog.4. Ian Bell became the first batsman to bag two pairs when batting at No. 4 in both innings, after doing so at The Oval in 2005 against Australia. The only other man to be out for two noughts batting at four in a Barbados Test was the less than legendary non-batsman Pedro Collins, who, in the epic Brian Lara-inspired one-wicket West Indies win against the Baggy Greens in March 1999, was twice sent in as nightwatchman. Collins, known more for his left-arm swing than his deeply incompetent batting, which brought him a first-class highest score of 25 in a 16-year career, strode to the crease to shore things up with 8.4 overs remaining on day two, and again with 7.3 overs left on day four. He lasted one ball and six balls respectively. He was never employed as a No. 4 Test batsman again.

At 30 for 3, New Zealand were tottering, but Kane Williamson and Brendon McCullum laid down the marker to remind the visitors that they would not find the Tests any easier than they did the ODIs

Abhishek Purohit in Auckland06-Feb-20140:00

Crowe: McCullum tailored his game for occasion

As Kane Williamson and Brendon McCullum walked off the ground at tea, Virat Kohli gestured in their direction, trying to catch their attention from around 50 feet away. McCullum looked to his left, Kohli clapped, and the New Zealand captain acknowledged the well-earned praise with a nod.McCullum and Williamson had taken 125 runs off the 27 overs between lunch and tea. This after New Zealand were 30 for 3, having lost the toss on a grassy pitch under overcast skies. The pair would stretch that partnership to 221 runs at more than four an over before Williamson’s unfortunate dismissal, feathering Zaheer Khan down the leg side.By then though, New Zealand had shown beyond doubt that it was not going to get easier for India in the Tests than it was in the ODIs. New Zealand have been making a mockery of expectations and predictions throughout this series against the big boys from India. Few expected them to be anything more than competitive in the one-dayers, but they found refreshing consistency and almost swept the five-match series.Surely it would be harder to match skills and temperament with a much higher ranked opponent in the longest format? At 30 for 3, it seemed to be so. Peter Fulton had two reprieves and still made only 13, Hamish Rutherford played too many shots too soon, and Ross Taylor was due a failure after successive centuries in the ODIs.But another man, Williamson, was due a failure even more. Going back to New Zealand’s last game in the Champions Trophy, Williamson has now made two centuries and ten fifties from his previous 16 international innings with a further two forties. Only once during this period has he fallen before reaching 10. It is one thing to be consistent, but to string together such a run at the age of 23 is incredible. It also shows how much belief he has in his own game to be able to stick to a plan irrespective of the situation.Even Taylor seemed rattled in his short stay with the new ball kicking and seaming, but Williamson remained as calm as ever. He edged early, but with soft hands. He felt comfortable enough to step out and loft Jadeja at the stroke of lunch. Two balls after being put down on 32, he eased into a lovely push down the ground. Williamson has been widely marked for years to become one of New Zealand’s best ever, but what about the captain?This has to be one of the most crucial innings McCullum has played, both for his team and for himself. Such has been the recent history of New Zealand cricket that with Taylor’s golden run, McCullum’s relatively fallow period would inevitably stand out starker for many.After a slightly underwhelming outing with the bat in the ODIs, Brendon McCullum made a significant mark in the first Test•Getty ImagesMcCullum did more or less do the job he had to in three of his five innings in the ODIs – getting some quick runs after Williamson and Taylor’s big partnerships. But he also had two successive ducks, and with Taylor sitting by his side after the end of the ODI series, McCullum was asked whether his own form was a concern. “Yes,” he had replied.And even before a reporter had finished the question about the toss the day before the Test, McCullum had interrupted him to say New Zealand would bowl. He felt the toss would be crucial on this pitch, and losing his sixth successive one to Dhoni this morning wouldn’t have been too encouraging.McCullum said after the toss that some hard work lay ahead for New Zealand’s batsmen, and at 30 for 3, his job had become even more difficult. It is fascinating to watch an attacking batsman like McCullum being forced to curb his aggression in Test cricket. But apart from the odd swing-and-miss, McCullum curbed himself well during that crucial period before lunch. He was 5 off 20 at the break.Even more fascinating was to watch McCullum and Williamson slowly but surely force Dhoni to spread the field a bit. In the 32nd over, McCullum cut Ishant Sharma in front of square for four. Dhoni removed one of his two gullys and put a man at extra cover. Next ball, McCullum cut again, this time through point for four more.

It is one thing to be consistent, but to string together such a run at the age of 23 is incredible. It also shows how much belief Williamson has in his own game to be able to stick to a plan irrespective of the situation

This was the period when whatever pressure the three wickets had created began to dissipate. Two balls after these fours, Williamson hooked Mohammed Shami for six. In the next over, McCullum pulled and slashed Zaheer for more runs through boundaries.Dhoni began the 43rd over from Zaheer with deep point in place. McCullum reached his fifty with a push down the ground, and made room to cut the next ball to the third-man rope. The 45th over started with another slip being removed and two men at fine leg and deep square leg. But unfazed as ever, McCullum hooked, and split the gap between those two men.It wasn’t all boundaries, though. In the last over before tea, when Ishant bowled a few bouncers, both batsmen, who had pulled and hooked so well, just ducked.Williamson credited McCullum for continuing to bat solidly after he had reached his hundred, something he personally could not do. McCullum hit only three boundaries after the landmark, and one of them was off an inside edge.The one-day series triumph was the best he had been part of, McCullum had said. While he could justifiably take credit for that as the captain, the chief batting roles were performed by Taylor and Williamson. By ending the first day of the first Test on 143, McCullum has stamped a more personal mark on this contest.

Back after the rousing success of season one, the stakes for BBL two are higher still

Alex Malcolm06-Dec-2012The Big Bash is back. Cue the excitement. Cue the fanfare. Cue the fireworks. Cue the chaos.And what chaos we have seen in the days leading up to opening night.First, Michael Clarke, Captain Australia, hero to the masses, world’s No.1 Test batsman, is withdrawn from his one and only scheduled appearance for the Sydney Thunder by Cricket Australia’s High Performance crew.Ben Hilfenhaus is likewise advised not to play for the Hobart Hurricanes as a precautionary measure with Test cricket in mind.In the same memo, injuries to John Hastings and Josh Hazlewood from their Test duties last week are outlined. Hastings is ruled out of the Melbourne Stars’ opening match. Hazlewood joins James Pattinson, Pat Cummins, and Mitchell Marsh as non-participants in the entire tournament.Then came the saga of Usman Khawaja. Desperate to reclaim a Test berth, he is named to captain the Chairman’s XI team playing a three-day fixture against the touring Sri Lankans. But after Clarke’s withdrawal from the Thunder, Khawaja is to be withdrawn from day three of the Chairman’s match to represent the Thunder on Saturday night.Meanwhile, the most extraordinary scenario imaginable played out around the availability of Dale Steyn. Having signed for a one-off guest spot with the Brisbane Heat, the no objection certificate which the Heat obtained from Cricket South Africa was withdrawn when the Cape Cobras realised Steyn was available to play a limited overs semi-final for them on the same day.Each case brings its own complexities, all the while framing the all important second edition of the Big Bash League, which begins just five days after the completion of a compelling three Tests between Australia and South Africa, and less than a week before another vital series against Sri Lanka.BBL One began with similar doubts. No-one knew what to expect. No-one knew whether it would be constructive or destructive to Australian cricket. As it turned out it was a roaring success. It’s still hard to explain. Concocted teams, a cacophony of colour and sound, the constancy of games almost every night in prime-time for six weeks for some reason meant it was a winner. The crowd figures were not all that different to previous seasons but the television ratings were.Herein lies the importance of BBL Two. Cricket Australia’s current seven-year television rights deal with the Nine Network and Fox Sports is expiring in March of 2013. Fox Sports bought exclusive rights to the Big Bash last time around. Fox Sports paid well over the market value for domestic cricket in 2005, but well under the current worth in 2012. The BBL’s success has seen other networks clamouring for a slice of pie. The beauty of a successful domestic product is its reliability. The ratings of the international series scheduled during each Australian summer rise and fall with the quality and popularity of the opponent, as well as the quality and popularity of the Australian Test side.But the BBL is T20 cricket. It does not matter who is playing or where. Australians seem to love it. The facts back it up.The first domestic T20 scheduled in Australia in 2005 saw 20,071 pack into the WACA to watch WA and Victoria play a one-off match, for no rhyme or reason other than to trial a format no-one had ever seen before in Australia. Only 42,193 people attended a WACA Test match across four days a month earlier.Last season, 23,496 attended the MCG to see Shane Warne versus David Warner and Chris Gayle in the first Thunder v Stars showdown of BBL | 01. Yet nearly 5000 more turned out two years earlier when Victoria, without Warne, and New South Wales, without Gayle, played a T20 at the same venue. Work that one out.Ricky Ponting, widely lauded as the best Australian Test batsman since Bradman, played his final Test innings on Monday in front of less than 10,000 people in Perth. A month earlier he made a glorious, unbeaten 162 for Tasmania against Victoria in front of fewer than 100. Yet the crowd predicted at the Gabba on Sunday to watch Ponting in purple, in his least preferred format, will trump those figures comfortably.Fans show up for T20. It is the action-packed format for them. It is as predictable as night following day. Does it matter that Clarke has been withdrawn? He was not even on any BBL squad’s roster last year and the Big Bash was a huge success without him. Will the presence of Usman Khawaja, with his one T20 half-century and pedestrian career strike-rate of 101.13, add thousands to the crowd figures and television ratings? Imagine if he was 20 not out overnight in the second innings against Sri Lanka only to be pulled to play a T20.Will people care that David Warner has switched from the Thunder to the Sydney Sixers? Will they care that Shane Watson no longer plays for a Sydney team? Will they care that Dirk Nannes will line-up for his 10th different T20 franchise, not to mention his international caps with Australia and the Netherlands?Will fans recognise Faf du Plessis when he plays for the Renegades on Friday night for his seven-hour century for South Africa in the Test series? If the Renegades beat the Stars will anyone know the words to the team song, if indeed they have one, given Aaron Finch is the only player left in the entire squad who played in a Renegades win last year?Will the fans stay away because of the injuries to Mitch Marsh, John Hastings, Pat Cummins, James Pattinson, and Josh Hazlewood? Marsh was a star of last year’s tournament so he is a loss, but the other four managed two games between them for the entire BBL last summer, even if their currency has risen significantly in the interim.Will Brisbane Heat General Manager Andrew Blucher’s words ring true regarding Dale Steyn’s withdrawal?”[It] is terribly disappointing for the team and our fans and members, who were eagerly anticipating seeing Dale play.”If Brisbane fans missed his 30 overs in the Test match at the Gabba for South Africa three weeks ago will they really rue the four overs he could have bowled on Saturday night for the Heat?The frivolous postures being struck here, there and everywhere regarding the Big Bash League are not the major issues at play. It’s all just part of the fanfare. We will see big hitting, fast bowling, quality spin, great fielding, and close games throughout the tournament no matter the teams or the players. Australian domestic cricket has a reputation for it. The tournament will be successful again, and the only query is whether it can outstrip last year’s viewership records.

What if the Warne Muralitharan showdown in Melbourne on Friday night heavily outweighs the battle for the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy which begins in Hobart a week later? It is entirely conceivable that there will be more interest in the two retired (or are they?) champs than there will be in an Australia v Sri Lanka Test series

The broader concerns about BBL |02 are thus. How can Dale Steyn honour contracts with the Brisbane Heat, Cape Cobras, and the Deccan Chargers, at the same time, with all their competing interests, and yet all the while be prepared thoroughly for regular international duty? Cricketers today are not faced with the age-old club versus country that footballers are, they are now fighting franchise verses franchise arguments, tournament versus tournament debates. How can a player be a servant to four masters?At present, Steyn’s Cricket South Africa contract is lucrative enough to ensure national duties trump all others. What happens when it isn’t, like the cases of West Indian, New Zealand, Sri Lankan and Pakistani players? You can now see why many want a stand-alone window for the Indian Premier League. It would save the chaos that is occurring in Australia right now.Furthermore, Cricket Australia were not concerned about running last year’s BBL concurrently with the Border-Gavaskar Test series, as India are big drawcards and could not be dwarfed by the T20 League.But what if the Warne Muralitharan showdown in Melbourne on Friday night heavily outweighs the battle for the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy which begins in Hobart a week later? It is entirely conceivable that there will be more interest in the two retired (or are they?) champs than there will be in an Australia v Sri Lanka Test series.Hence the critical importance of this Big Bash League for CA. If they secure the television rights deal they want on the back of another successful tournament, then they secure their financial future at a time when cricket as we know it has never been more uncertain.But we should not concern ourselves with such deep philosophical questions. It is time to cue the lights, cue the cameras, cue the action. The show is about to start. The Big Bash is back.

Apartheid prevented Barry Richards from becoming a batting superstar, the next Bradman, even

Telford Vice07-Nov-2010To Donald Bradman, he was as good as Jack Hobbs or Len Hutton. To John Arlott, he was “a batsman of staggering talent”. To many who played with and against him, he was the most complete batsman they ever saw. To Robin Jackman, in his days as the heart of the Surrey attack, he was a reason to think about tennis.”When the fixtures came out at the beginning of the season, one thing we always used to look at was whether we were playing Hampshire over the Wimbledon fortnight,” Jackman said. “Because if we were, there was very little chance that Barry would be playing. He managed to find a groin injury when Wimbledon was on.”Along with Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards was the bonafide great who never was. Four Tests was all he had to prove himself before apartheid sentenced South Africa to 22 years of isolation. Richards, tall, wristy, implacable, possessed of feline grace and eyesight, took his chance, scoring 508 runs at 72.57 against the 1969-70 Australians. A surprise? Hardly. “Even before that series, everybody knew he was going to be a batting genius,” said Ali Bacher, South Africa’s captain in that famous rubber.Richards scored a century before lunch nine times in his first-class career. That might have been 10 had Bacher not been bowled around his legs by Alan Connolly shortly before the interval on the first day against Australia at Kingsmead in 1970 as he tried to fangle a single to give the tyro the strike.But Richards duly reached three figures in the first over after lunch, and he went on to score 140 in his most celebrated innings. In the first hour of that second session – perhaps the most storied 60 minutes in South Africa’s cricket history – Richards shared 103 runs with Pollock, who made 274, a monument that stood as the highest Test innings by a South African until 1999. “I don’t think this country has ever again seen batting like we saw that day,” Bacher said.Besides batting up a storm, Richards proved the keenness of his cricketing brain by demystifying the bowling of Johnny Gleeson, the Australian spinner who was able to deliver offbreaks and legbreaks with no discernible change in his action.”Whenever one of our Test batsmen came in during the Aussies’ matches against the provincial teams on that tour and Gleeson was bowling, he was immediately taken off,” Bacher said. “We never got a chance to see him before the series.” All would be revealed in the first Test in Cape Town.”Trevor Goddard got out, and I came in, and immediately Gleeson was brought on from the Wynberg end. For the first two overs he made me look like a clown. When I thought it was the offbreak, it was the legbreak; when I was sure it was the legbreak, it was the offbreak.”Bacher resolved to plonk his front foot down the pitch and heave Gleason over midwicket, which served him well enough in his innings of 57.”That night we had a team meeting, and Barry told us how to play him. He said if we could see a lot of fingers on top of the ball, it was the offbreak. If we could only see the thumb and one finger, it was the legbreak. He took one look at him and worked him out, and for the rest of the series he ran down the wicket to Gleeson. The rest of us were still a bit wary – even Graeme Pollock played him from the crease – but Barry went after him.”

“When you’re that talented you want the world to see it, not a few guys watching at Southampton”Robin Jackman on why Richards wasn’t a satisfied man at Hampshire

Gleeson took 19 wickets in that series – second among the Australians only to Connolly’s 20 – and his bag included the scalps of Goddard, Bacher, Pollock, Eddie Barlow and Lee Irvine. But not once did he dismiss Richards.By the time Richards was done with first-class cricket, he owned 28,358 runs, 80 centuries and an average of 54.74 from 339 matches. If English bowlers didn’t know what was about to hit them when he arrived to play for Hampshire in 1968, they were fully appraised by the end of that summer. Richards topped the first-class run-scoring charts with 2395 at 47.90. In 10 years with Hampshire, he went past 1000 runs in all but one. He passed that milestone in 15 seasons all told.Richards averaged 109.86 in the 1970-71 Sheffield Shield, in which he played for South Australia and became only the second man after Bradman to register a century against all opponents. Against Western Australia he scored 325 of his 356 – 198 in boundaries – in a single day against an attack that bristled with the varying threats posed by Graham McKenzie, Dennis Lillee, Tony Lock, Tony Mann, John Inverarity and Ian Brayshaw. At the WACA!Impressive though those numbers are, the sum of Richards added up to much more than his parts. “He was technically perfect, but he still had the ability to really hurt you, whereas others who were technically very good but not as good as Barry – say a Boycott – you never felt were going to hurt you that much,” Jackman said. “They’d wear you down, hour after hour. But Barry could really turn it on when he felt like it. Sometimes he did it just because he felt like it.”As a fast bowler for Western Province and then Rhodesia, as well as for Surrey, Jackman crossed swords with Richards on the county circuit as well as in South Africa’s Currie Cup.”I used to regard it as an achievement if I bowled a maiden to him; that was my ultimate,” Jackman said. “Most of the time when I bowled to him, I’d have the new ball and he’d be opening the batting. Of course you’d have the right number of catchers, and there were some gaps in the field. So if you got through a few overs to him with and he hadn’t really scored, and you bowled a maiden to him, you felt like you were doing really well.”Praise for Richards isn’t hard to come by. What sets Jackman’s words apart is that he was the most successful bowler in the game against the South African. In their 25 first-class matches together, Jackman dismissed Richards 16 times. John Shepherd, the Barbados-born former Rhodesian, Gloucestershire and Kent seamer, is second on the list with 13, also in 25 matches. In county cricket exclusively, John Snow, the former Sussex and Warwickshire spearhead, was Richards’ most lethal opponent, taking his wicket 10 times in 20 games.Former Transvaal left-arm fast bowler Don Mackay-Coghill, one of the more successful South Africans against Richards, with eight first-class dismissals, had a habit of welcoming him to the crease by reminding him of the score in their personal duel: “Good morning, Barry. Six times now.”But it’s the legends in which Richards was the good guy in the white hat that are better known. The story of him turning his bat sideways to play out an over with the edge – and that with a bat whose edges were much thinner than those of modern bats – is among the few South African cricket tales to have lived on into this era. He is also known to have imagined the ground as the face of a vast clock and hit six fours in an over, each of them scooting to a different part of the boundary in clockwise order.In 10 years with Hampshire, Richards went past 1000 runs all but once•Adrian Murrell/Getty ImagesJackman: “When he played well, he didn’t necessarily play better on one day than another. You were just very happy when you got him out. He was simply a fabulous batsman. He and Gordon Greenidge made a formidable opening pair, and it wasn’t often you got an early breakthrough against Hampshire.”After he retired, Richards coached South Australia to a Sheffield Shield final before becoming Queensland’s chief executive. They won the Sheffield Shield for the first time in their history on his watch. Richards has served as president of Hampshire and dabbled in international coaching on the Asian subcontinent.All of which may make being Richards seem like the best job in the world. Not so, sometimes. He has known the searing pain of a son committing suicide, as well as the debilitating disintegration of a lengthy marriage. His truncated Test career “really hurts him”, said Jackman, who has spent time with Richards as a commentator. “When you’re that talented you want the world to see it, not a few guys watching at Southampton.” The fact that he fell 20 short of 100 first-class centuries is another bleak point, particularly as he had a reputation in county games for losing focus after sating himself with runs. Too many 70s and 80s that should have been converted were marooned in double figures. Astonishingly for so poised a player, he suffered with flat feet.But the world according to cricket won’t remember Barry Richards for much of that. Instead, he will always be the man who might have been.

Cox and Critchley pile on the runs as Kent are made to suffer on opening day

Andrew Miller12-Apr-2024

Essex 421 for 6 (Elgar 120, Critchley 103*, Cox 67) vs KentNothing changes with any great speed at Chelmsford. Plans are currently afoot for a grand renovation of the pavilion and its surrounding concourse – the only corner of this postage-stamp ground with any wriggle-room for expansion – though rather like this week’s announcement that the ground’s Hayes Close and River Ends have been renamed in honour of its most storied Test performers, Graham Gooch and Sir Alastair Cook, there’s been no pretence of an upgrade in signage in the interim. Indeed, the interactive “Graham Napier Sixes Trail”, with its 16 plaques to commemorate each of Napier’s swings for the bleachers in his famous T20 onslaught against Sussex in 2008, remains Chelmsford’s most visible tribute to any former player, Graham or otherwise.Until, that is, Dean Elgar rocked up with a note-perfect tribute to Cook, whose studiously anonymous retirement last summer had precluded any official attempts to send him off in style. As if to make amends, Elgar filled his boots – in every sense – with no fuss and little flourish. Just 176 balls of nuggetty application across the best part of two sessions, as Essex’s latest left-handed ex-Test opener shifted through his gears with the same unshowy elitism that his English forebear had habitually brought to bear.And, just as had been the case in Essex’s opening-week victory at Trent Bridge, Elgar’s sidekick throughout an innings-defining third-wicket stand of 159 was an up-and-coming England prospect with the same weight and range of stroke as the recently departed Dan Lawrence. Between them, Elgar and Jordan Cox set about convincing an impressive first-day crowd of 2,226 that nothing whatsoever has changed about Essex’s red-ball batting prowess. A scoreline of 421 for 6, capped by an unbeaten century from Matt Critchley, amply backed up that pretence.It wasn’t all plain sailing for Essex after Tom Westley had won a handy toss on the first genuinely shirt-sleeves day of the season. In keeping with the uneven challenge that this month’s two-round experiment with the Kookaburra ball has created, Kent’s seamers caused havoc for precisely 21 balls. In that time, Westley himself was caught behind for 5 off George Garrett, after Feroz Khushi – whose use of an improperly sized bat at Trent Bridge still threatens his side’s top-of-the-table status – chose not to use it at all this week in being bowled by Wes Agar while shouldering arms first-ball.That double-whammy brought Cox out to face his former team-mates at an awkward 10 for 2 – and given his pointed pre-season remarks about Kent’s lack of red-ball ambition, the stage was set for him to be served a large dollop of schadenfreude. Instead, Cox’s opening gambit was a volley of extraordinarily poised drives down the ground – three fours and a three as Garrett strained for swing – and as he marched to 15 from his first six balls, it was as if all threat off the pitch or through the air had been dragged away with him.Jordan Cox made a free-flowing fifty against his former team-mates•Andrew Miller/ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Cox’s confidence on the front foot was ample excuse for Elgar to step up his own intent with a series of compact drives of his own, but it was the introduction of Matt Parkinson’s legspin that kicked Essex’s innings into overdrive. Cox greeted his first-ball full-toss with a dismissive slap through the covers – the first of three fours in a 13-run first over – and he was scarcely allowed to settle thereafter in leaking 25 runs in his first three.Having romped to his fifty from 61 balls, a chance came and went for Cox when Agar at fine leg fumbled a top-edged pull off Nathan Gilchrist, but he had added only seven more runs when Garrett pushed a touch fuller to pin him on the knee-roll for 67. It was hardly the harbinger of a Kent fightback, however. Critchley emerged with a platform of 169 for 3 but just as importantly the Kookaburra entering its dead-zone in the 39th over, and Essex duly punched along at a rate of 4.5 an over, with scarcely a need to over-reach themselves.Elgar’s departure came as something of a surprise when, on 120, he popped a tame catch to short midwicket off Parkinson and dropped his bat in frustration at his own missed opportunity, but that merely unleashed the long levers of “Tall” Paul Walter, who bombed the long-off boundary with a four and two increasingly weighty sixes before scuffing a third attempt to give Parkinson his second wicket.Michael Pepper, too, peppered the boundary, including with a full-faced lift for six over the cover rope, only to pick out deep third with an attempted ramp, one short of his fifty. Critchley, however, made no such error in carrying Essex past the second new ball and through to the close, with the promise of plenty more where these first-day offerings had come from.The only truly duff note for Essex had come before play, when Sam Cook – their Kookaburra-proofed seamer whose ten-wicket haul had routed Nottinghamshire in the first round – was ruled out of contention. Not, it should be said, in protest at the wrong Cook getting the honour of an End named after him, but as a precaution after feeling a thigh strain.

Tammy Beaumont sets up comfortable 59-run win with well-worked half-century

ECB Reporters Network22-Apr-2023

Off-spinner Lucy Higham played the starring role with a career-best five for 19 as The Blaze made a winning debut in regional women’s cricket, launching their Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy campaign with a 59-run defeat of Central Sparks at Trent Bridge.Opener Tammy Beaumont top-scored with 60 for the East Midlands team, backed up by England colleague Sarah Glenn (38) and Georgie Boyce (28) and though the rebranded Lightning failed to bat out their 50 overs, Higham chipped in with 24 with the bat to give them a total of 212 to defend.England quick Issy Wong was out of sorts with the ball for Sparks, yet three wickets each for Emily Arlott, Grace Potts and spinner Georgia Davis looked to have secured a target that the West Midlands team could chase.In the event, no one could produce the stand-out performance with the bat that was needed, Katie George top-scoring with 31 at number eight as Blaze skipper Kirstie Gordon, who has taken over from Lightning captain Kathryn Bryce in the role, celebrated a winning start.After the early loss of Marie Kelly, who found short midwicket from Arlott’s first delivery to depart without scoring, Beaumont and Boyce added 66 in 11.4 overs to give The Blaze something like the start they were looking for after winning the toss.Their progress was checked by wickets in three consecutive overs by Potts, the 20-year-old right-arm seamer who was leading wicket-taker for Sparks in both 50- and 20-over cricket last season.Boyce, who had scored three of her five boundaries in a loose second over from Wong, was Potts’s first victim, leg before playing across the line, before the Bryce sisters – Kathryn and Sarah – both feathered catches to ex-Lightning wicketkeeper Abbey Freeborn.Beaumont completed a half-century from 70 balls with her ninth boundary as she and Glenn set about rebuilding the innings from 86 for four, Glenn hitting two boundaries in one over off Potts.Spinners Davis and Hannah Baker dragged the balance back towards Sparks by sharing the next four wickets, beginning with Beaumont’s dismissal for 60 after adding 45 with Glenn when off-spinner Davis struck the front pad as the opener attempted to work to leg.Davis picked up a second, holding a steepling top-edge off her own bowling to remove South Africa all-rounder Nadine de Klerk before Hannah Baker, the England Under-19 leg-spinner, turned one sharply to bowl former Sparks team-mate Glenn, who had been dropped on 22.Davis claimed her third wicket, bowling Beth Harmer middle stump, before Arlott returned to remove Gordon and Higham as The Blaze were dismissed in the 47th over.After failing to click with the ball, Wong seemed determined to make amends with the bat and, having been dropped at cover off De Klerk on two, was beginning to look a threat as she lofted Grace Ballinger for six over midwicket.But in attempting to dish out similar treatment to Glenn at the end of the England leg-spinner’s opening over she succeeded only in finding the safe hands of Higham on the boundary.After Chloe Brewer fell leg before to Kathryn Bryce, Higham struck arguably the most important blow, taking what turned into a difficult return catch as Jones – prolific in this competition in previous years – sent the ball soaring skywards off a top edge which drifted in the breeze as it came down. At the halfway point, Sparks were well off the pace at 76 for three, where The Blaze had been 130 for four.The combination of off-spinner Higham with left-armer Gordon denied Sparks the acceleration they needed and the visitors suffered further losses as Freeborn paddled straight to the fielder behind square to give Higham a second success, to which she quickly added a third, inducing Ami Campbell to offer an easy caught-and-bowled.Arlott was victim number four for Higham, via a stumping, which she raised to five by bowling Davis, either side of Gordon dismissing Davina Perrin via a catch at mid-off.George, who hit five fours in her attempt to keep Sparks in contention, fell caught and bowled by De Klerk, who completed the win by bowling Baker with the second ball of the 49th over.