All posts by h716a5.icu

Sheikhupura, the winners of all their Pool B matches, have to face the tough challenge by Rawalpindi, as the two teams meet in the first semi-final of the One-day tournament (Associations), at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium

Mahmood Ahmad09-May-2001Sheikhupura, the winners of all their Pool B matches, have to face the tough challenge by Rawalpindi, as the two teams meet in the first semi-final of the One-day tournament (Associations), at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium. Rawalpindi finished the preliminary round as the second best team in Pool A. Karachi Whites, the winners of this Pool will clash with Karachi Blues in the second semi, to be played at National Stadium, Karachi.Led by Test veteran Aaqib Javed, Sheikhupura have given an impressive performance in all their Pool matches, beating formidable opponents like Lahore and Karachi Blues by considerable margins.Although Sheikhupura has performed like a well-knit unit, their victories haven’t been devoid of some eye-catching individual performances. Imran Nazir has easily been the pick of their batsmen, scoring 294 runs off 188 balls in three matches played. After missing out the first two matches of the competition, the stylish right-hander started his campaign with a magnificent 148 off only 110 balls against Karachi Blues. He followed this up by a magnificent 102 off 63 balls against Sargodha and then went on to impose a 15-ball blitz of 44 on Lahore Blues in the last encounter.Qaiser Abbas is another name that Rawalpindi will have to look out for. The left-handed all-rounder has been quite impressive with both bat and ball, scoring 141 runs, with the help of two fifties, and taking 9 wickets in five matches.Rawalpindi, on the other hand, enjoy an 80% success rate in Pool A, where they were pitted against the likes of Karachi Whites and Lahore Whites. They have the likes of experienced Naved Ashraf along with all-rounders Naeem Akhtar and Yasir Arafat in their ranks.The second match of the knockout stage is between the two teams hailing from Karachi, i.e., Whites and Blues.Karachi Blues, who earned the semi-final berth after surpassing Faisalabad and Gujranwala on net run rate, boast of some very talented players in their side. Tariq Haroon, the opening batsmen, has already showed his class with two hundreds against his name. Skipper Mansoor Khan has been quite an inspiration for the side with both bat and ball. After scoring two fifties in the first two matches, he showed his bowling prowess by taking four wickets against Sargodha in the last Pool match.Karachi Whites certainly look a lot stronger than their opponents, with Shahid Afridi, Hasan Raza and Saeed Bin Nasir all in excellent form. Moreover, they have turned out to be the only side to have beaten a hitherto unconquerable Rawalpindi in the last Pool match. And that wasn’t a modest win by any standards.After hammering 322 for 6 in 50 overs, which contained a superb 115 by Hasan Raza and a 28-ball 64 by the belligerent Afridi, Karachi Whites restricted Rawalpindi to 234 for 7 in their allotted overs, thus, winning the match by 88 runs.The semi-finals, thus, promise a lot of thrill and excitement for cricket fans. Weather permits, there are chances of enough crowd presence in the two matches, which would decide the finalists of the tournament.

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, former Wigan Athletic manager, Paul Jewell, has claimed that Eddie Howe would love to get another Premier League job, amid more uncertainty over his desire to become the new Celtic manager.

Howe took Bournemouth from League One into the Premier League but eventually parted ways with the Cherries after he failed to keep them in the league at the end of the 2019 season.

The former Bournemouth manager has reportedly held talks with Crystal Palace to become their manager next season when Roy Hodgson is expected to leave Selhurst Park, but he is still expected him to take the Celtic job.

Speaking on how Eddie Howe would love another job in the Premier League and how there are still questions about him taking the Celtic job, Jewell exclusively told FFC:

“Eddie Howe could be a good fit for Palace because he is a brilliant young football manager, there’s no doubt about that, but he did go to Burnley where it didn’t quite work out.

“If he got offered another job in the Premier League I’m sure he would jump at the chance.”

It was also reported a few weeks ago that Howe had held talks with Newcastle United but since Steve Bruce has steered them to safety it appears a change there is unlikely.

Howe’s representatives have claimed that he won’t be accepting any job offers until at least the summer when all the seasons have finished.

It may not have been the prettiest of games to watch, but Aston Villa dug in and clinched a hard-fought point against Everton on Thursday evening in the Premier League.

Dean Smith’s side were largely thankful for the superb performance of goalkeeper Emi Martinez, with the towering Argentine coming up big with some important stops, especially in the second half.

While his back-line remained strong throughout, it was some of his attacking players who really let him down, none more so perhaps than Bertrand Traore.

The Burkina Faso international came into the game off the back of a wonderful goal against Manchester United last time out, so should have been full of confidence heading into the clash against the Toffees. Instead, he was back to his usual frustrating self, turning up in moments with some pieces of fine skill but getting a lot of the simple stuff all wrong.

As per Sofascore, he lost possession 13 times over the course of the game, which was the joint-most of any Villa player, and that carelessness on the ball either put his team in danger on the counter-attack or stopped promising moves for his own side.

In general, Traore just couldn’t get himself involved in the game, and it was no surprise that his tally of 41 touches and 19 successful passes were both fewer than Martinez (52 and 22 respectively).

Writing in his post-match player ratings for the Birmingham Mail, Ashley Preece gave him a 5.5, saying: “Not too much came off for Bertrand here apart from the odd twirl away from the opposition. Traore saw his first effort blocked while, on the whole, was largely anonymous. He was replaced by Grealish with 20 to go.”

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The winger was nothing more than a passenger in the game, and given how he set Villa Park alight last weekend with that goal against Manchester United, he let Smith down with an awful performance here.

Meanwhile, Dean Smith has received a fresh blow before the start of the transfer window…

Alec Stewart and Alex Tudor neutered a position of some concern for their side when they put on an unbeaten 187 for the seventh wicket

Paul Hiscock25-May-2001Alec Stewart and Alex Tudor neutered a position of some concern for their side when they put on an unbeaten 187 for the seventh wicket. Both batsman finished the day in the nineties which included a career-best Championship score for Tudor that saw the home side needing seven more runs to obtain their full quota of batting bonus points.Their partnership began with Surrey 206-6 after paceman Ricky Anderson had taken three wickets to boost his tally for the season to 25 but then Stewart and Tudor repaired the damage, displaying little concern for the Essex attack.Stewart’s elaborate strokeplay was matched by his partner’s more uncompromising approach to leave their opponents attack dispirited as the home side moved forcibly into a position of some substance.None of the six bowlers used by Ronnie Irani could unhinge the Surrey pair who moved on relentlessly to reach a new seventh-wicket partnership for the county against Essex, surpassing the previous best of 166 between Andy Ducat and Herbert Strudwick in 1921 at Leyton.After a bright start when Mark Butcher and Ian Ward put on 76 for the opening wicket, Essex restored some balance to proceedings thanks to Anderson’s efforts which included the scalps of Graham Thorpe and Ali Brown in the space of six deliveries to leave the bowler with figures of 3-67 at that stage.Left-armer Mark Ilott took the 600th wicket of his first-class career when he bowled Mark Ramprakash who played across the line and added to his impressive haul when he later accounted for Ben Holliaoke, just recalled by England for the forthcoming triangular series.

Darren Moore has been handed a blow in terms of his chances of bringing Chuks Aneke to Sheffield Wednesday this summer.

What’s the talk?

According to a statement on the Charlton Athletic website, the Addicks are in discussions with the 27-year-old forward regarding a new contract, with the £360k-rated man’s current deal at The Valley set to expire next month.

The Arsenal academy product had been linked with a move to Hillsborough as recently as Wednesday, with Yorkshire Live claiming that Aneke’s name had been put forward to Moore as a potential summer signing.

Moore will be gutted

With Moore looking likely to have to utilise the loan and free-agent markets this summer as a result of Wednesday’s poor financial situation, should Aneke indeed go on to sign a new deal with Charlton, it will be a gutting blow for the Owls boss.

The forward highly impressed over his 38 League One appearances for the Addicks this season, scoring 15 goals, providing two assists and creating three big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.3 shots and making 0.6 key passes per game, seeing the £5.4k-per-week man earn an average SofaScore match rating of 7.03 – ranking him as the club’s fifth-best performer in the third tier.

As such, the addition of the former England U18 international to the Owls squad ahead of their campaign in the third tier would have undoubtedly provided Moore with a huge boost in mounting a promotion charge, as well as being a deal that would suit the club extremely well financially.

However, with no confirmation coming as yet that the striker – whom Lee Bowyer dubbed as “immense” – has put pen to paper on a new deal at The Valley, there remains a chance that the 27-year-old could still make a switch to Hillsborough – something that Moore must do all he can to convince Aneke of before it is too late.

In other news: Chansiri set for grave error over “exciting” SWFC gem who’s a “big part of the future” – opinion

Former Victorian fast bowler James Sutherland has been appointed the Australian Cricket Board (ACB)’s new Chief Executive Officer.

John Polack08-Jun-2001Former Victorian fast bowler James Sutherland has today been appointed the Australian Cricket Board (ACB)’s new Chief Executive Officer.ACB Chairman Denis Rogers announced Sutherland’s promotion to the post in Melbourne as the final step in an intensive three-month long recruiting process by the Board.He replaces outgoing CEO, Malcolm Speed, who won appointment in March as the International Cricket Council (ICC)’s new chief executive.Sutherland, 35, is already highly regarded as an administrator, coach and former first-class player. A qualified accountant, he has been the General Manager of the ACB’s Commercial Affairs division since the time of the much-publicised players’ wage dispute in November 1998.Previously, he had enjoyed more than six years’ experience at another prestigious sporting organisation as the Finance Manager and Company Secretary of Australian Football League club, Carlton.As a player, Sutherland was a regular member of the Victorian squad during the early 1990s. In four first-class and nine domestic one-day games, he captured 21 wickets for the state. He made arguably his biggest impression during his debut summer of 1990-91, which still remains the last season in which the Bushrangers claimed a domestic first-class title.Sutherland inherits the role at the end of an exciting period of growth in Australian cricket that has been overseen by Speed in his four years at the helm.Shortly after arriving in the job, Speed was confronted by the spectre of a tense dispute with the country’s players over their levels of remuneration and by the revelation that two of the country’s highest profile cricketers, Mark Waugh and Shane Warne, had accepted money from an Indian bookmaker during a tour of Sri Lanka four years earlier.But he soon showed himself to be impeccably credentialled for handling the complexities of the position. He has skilfully reshaped the activities of a number of the Board’s administrative divisions, established outstanding working relationships with a range of key stakeholders, and ushered in a series of spectacular rises in the size of Australian cricket revenue during his tenure.Sutherland commences his work in the new position at the end of this month. Speed, in turn, will be departing for his new home base of London in mid-July.

This summer will be a huge one for Everton and Carlo Ancelotti.

If the Italian really does have a desire of getting the Toffees in the Champions League, they’ll need to spend wisely.

On the chalkboard

One area that should be strengthened in the upcoming window is between the sticks.

Everton have England’s number one, Jordan Pickford, in their ranks but he’s proven again this term that he cannot be relied upon over a whole campaign.

Pickford’s distribution is top class and he has fantastic agility but he still makes far too many mistakes.

In 176 Premier League appearances, the stopper has made 15 individual errors directly leading to a goal. Seven of those errors have come in the last two seasons alone which make him the most error-prone ‘keeper in the top-flight over that time frame.

He equalled the record with Martin Dubravka back in October when he battled Brighton striker Neal Maupay for the ball but lost out.

He made another high profile mistake against Leicester in January. He failed to save Youri Tielemans’ effort towards goal despite the attempt having just a 2% chance of going in according to the xG metric.

Replacement needed

Pickford’s errors have become harder to ignore as time goes by. To put it simply, if Ancelotti does want to take Everton to the next level they need someone more reliable between the sticks.

Fortunately, it would appear that Marcel Brands and co are doing the groundwork to provide him with some better competition.

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One player the club have been linked with is Barcelona goalkeeper Neto.

He’s currently the second choice at Camp Nou despite costing £31m but he has caught the eye of numerous Premier League sides, including Arsenal.

Barca boss Ronald Koeman ruled out a move for the Brazilian in January, hailing the £55k-per-week earner as “important.” However, his future with the Catalan giants is in doubt again after a season where he played just 12 times.

Standing at 6 foot 3, Neto is taller than Pickford by two inches which make for a promising start.

Playing for the club he does, he is evidently capable of playing out from the back. In fact, his distribution is even better than Everton’s current first choice.

Neto has completed 85% of his passes this term compared to Pickford’s meagre tally of 62.5%.

Crucial in improving on their current option, however, is their respective save percentages.

The England international has only saved 68.8% of shots he’s faced this season while Neto has a mightily impressive 81% success rate.

With that in mind, this certainly wouldn’t be a bad acquisition from the hierarchy at Everton.

AND in other news, Everton can begin the transfer window with a bang by signing “dangerous” 16-goal beast…

Somerset County Cricket Club have been so overwhelmed by standard of the nominations for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award medals that they have decided to increase the number that are going to be presented

SOMERSET29-Mar-2002Somerset County Cricket Club have been so overwhelmed by standard of the nominations for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award medals that they have decided to increase the number that are going to be presented.Originally it was planned to present just twelve of the medals to the most deserving individuals in Somerset who have dedicated their time in a voluntary capacity to one cricket club.Numerous nominations for the medals were received by Somerset Cricket Development Officer Andrew Moulding, but when it came down to deciding who the lucky recipients were going to be it proved to be an impossible task.Andrew Moulding told me: "The club has had a fantastic response to the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award, and the level of nominations has been so impressive that it has been impossible to sort out the twelve most deserving cases."Mr Moulding continued: "They have all been fantastic applications, for instance one person who was nominated had given sixty six years of service to one club, fifty of which he had been on the committee. In his years with the club he had been a player, secretary, groundsman and umpire. That’s an impressive record, and there are any number that are just as impressive in their own ways."The Cricket Development Officer told me: "After discussion it has now been decided to increase the number of Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award medals from twelve to fifty, and even then it will still be a difficult choice to make!"The fifty medals will be produced locally and will be based upon a combination of the ideas put forward by the pupils of Year 9E at Heathfield School in Taunton, who were given the design of the medal as part of a project that they were undertaking with their teacher Mary Harding.The youngsters from Heathfield School who were involved in the project will be invited along to the County Ground on May 12th when the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award medals will be presented.Somerset Chief Executive Peter Anderson told me: "The standard was so high that in the end we decided to present fifty medals, which makes symmetrical sense, one for each year of the Queen’s reign."

BBC reporter Kheredine Idessane has shared details on Celtic’s breakdown in talks with Eddie Howe.

The Lowdown: Howe move collapses

It’s safe to say that Friday was a dramatic day in Celtic’s search for a new manager. Stephen McGowan of the Daily Mail was the first to break the news of a deal falling through for Howe, with Celtic later confirming that the Englishman won’t take over at Parkhead.

John Percy of The Telegraph claimed on Friday evening that Australian coach Ange Postecoglou, currently in charge of Japanese club Yokohama F. Marinos, is now closing in on taking over at Parkhead.

The Latest: Idessane shares details

Shortly after the news came out regarding Howe, Idessane took to Twitter to share his information on a move falling through.

The BBC reporter admitted that Howe would have been handed the chance to lead a complete restructure in Glasgow, but ultimately a move didn’t go through due to backroom staff issues. The journalist explained:

“More on the Celtic story; my information is that Eddie Howe had been given free reign to do a complete restructure @CelticFC and they thought they had their man. But he eventually turned it down because it wasn’t possible to assemble the team of back room staff he wanted.”

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The Verdict: A total calamity

In our view, the last week or so has been a total disaster for the Celtic board.

Howe always wanted to bring some members of staff from his previous employers Bournemouth with him to Scotland, and the chances of that happening appeared to be boosted following the Cherries’ Championship play-off exit last weekend.

However, for whatever reason, Howe has now turned down the chance to take over at Parkhead. They first met him at the beginning of April, so really it’s close to two months of communication being completely wasted, with less than that length of time until the Hoops are in Champions League qualifying action in July.

It appears as if Postecoglou will now be their manager, and hopefully the club has done their research on the 55-year-old as they would have with Howe before that move collapsed.

In other news: Celtic closing in on deal for ‘massive’ Hoops fan, find out more here. 

Australia’s last wicket pair of Jimmy Maher and Nathan Hauritz snatched a remarkable tie in the third Standard Bank One-Day International in Potchefstroom on Wednesday after South Africa seemed set to take their first victory of the series

Peter Robinson27-Mar-2002Australia’s last wicket pair of Jimmy Maher and Nathan Hauritz snatched a remarkable tie in the third Standard Bank One-Day International in Potchefstroom on Wednesday after South Africa seemed set to take their first victory of the series.The pair came together in the 46th over with 37 still required for victory and played with remarkable pluck to give themselves 18 to win off the last two overs and 10 off the last.A high full toss from Jacques Kallis, called no ball and hit for two by Maher left Australia needing seven off six balls and five singles followed until two runs were required off the last ball to win.In the end, Hauritz managed only a single for the third tie in one-day internationals between the two countries. Should he have gone for the second, and winning, run, Maher was asked afterwards. "I like to think I run OK between the wickets," he replied. "But I’m not Linford Christie."It was a remarkable comeback from the Australians who appeared to have positioned themselves nicely for an assault on South Africa’s 259 for seven at 178 for three in the 37th over only to slump to 223 for nine. You wouldn’t have got a price on any result other than a South African victory at that stage but Maher, who took the man of the match award for his 95 on Sunday in only his third ODI, had other ideas.He nursed the 20-year Hauritz through the final stages but scored himself to such good effect that he was not out on 43 off 32 balls at the finish – and man of the match once again.If there is a moral victor in a tied game it was Australia on this occasion. They had lost a couple of early wickets, but Matthew Hayden’s 77 and contributions of 35 from Damien Martyn and a skillfully played 33 from Darren Lehmann rebuilt the innings until they fell victim to a slump engineered largely by a fiery second spell from Makhaya Ntini who nipped out Shane Watson, Andy Bichel and Brett Lee in successive overs.And when Lance Klusener bowled Jason Gillespie with the second ball of the 46th over, South Africa had the match for the taking. Only a knockout blow was needed, but Maher and Hauritz proved more resilient than anyone might have imagined."I think we did a fantastic job to come out with a tie after being 223 for nine," Australia captain Ricky Ponting reflected on Wednesday night.South Africa’s first substantial total of the series owed much to the return to form of Jonty Rhodes and Kallis, but also something to Neil McKenzie who came into the side for his first game.In a bid to shake things up, South Africa brought in McKenzie and Andrew Hall for Gary Kirsten and Roger Telemachus with Boeta Dippenaar shuffling up the order to open.Different combination, same result with both Dippenaar and Herschelle Gibbs back in the dressing after a hostile opening spell from Brett Lee had both of them caught in the slips.At this point, though, South Africa found the missing ingredient – a partnership for the third wicket between Kallis and McKenzie that gave the home team a platform for the first time in the series.After two failures Kallis was in more recognisable mood, solid and unperturbed as he anchored the innings while McKenzie played a number of delightful strokes in making 37 out of a 78-run partnership.Th real momentum for the innings, however, came when Rhodes arrived at the crease to nudge, sweep and scramble 83 off just 74 balls. He and Kallis added 75 in 73 balls for the fourth wicket before Kallis was finally caught at the wicket off Gillespie for 71.Rhodes was on fire, though, to the extent that he outscored Klusener in a 42-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Klusener made 20, Rhodes, who reverse swept Darren Lehmann for an extraordinary six at one point, went in the last over and South Africa had given themselves a total they could defend.And defend it they did. But only just.