All posts by h716a5.icu

Cricket Australia has moved to revamp its strength and conditioning structure by appointing Andrew Weller to the newly created position of physical performance manager

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Aug-2012Cricket Australia has moved to revamp its strength and conditioning structure by appointing Andrew Weller to the newly created position of physical performance manager. Weller, 48, has spent the past decade working with AFL clubs and has been the high performance manager at the Gold Coast Suns for the past four years.In his new role he will oversee the strength and conditioning programmes across all Australian teams, which will mean working closely with the state associations as well as the national squads. A physical performance coach, who will be responsible for the Australia team when on tour and during their home summer, will be appointed in the coming weeks and will report to Weller.”Andrew has been at the Gold Coast Suns from the beginning and was instrumental in creating their strength and conditioning programme,” Pat Howard, Cricket Australia’s general manager, team performance, said. “Previous to this he was the rehabilitation manager at the St Kilda Football Club.”Andrew will be responsible for all strength and conditioning programs across all of the Australian teams, both male and female. He will be a key liaison person between these national programs and their home state programs. Andrew will implement a consistent long term delivery across all of Australian cricket working with the states, the youngest elite players all the way to the national teams.”Weller said: “I’m really looking forward to the challenge of working with Cricket Australia, its high performance squads and the sports science teams within the states. Over the last decade I’ve worked in AFL and I’m sure I can bring innovations from that sport to cricket as we continue to develop the high performance culture around the Australian cricket teams.”Keeping Australia’s young players – especially the fast bowlers – fit and firing will be one of the key challenges of the new physical performance manager and coach.

A round-up of matches from the fifth day of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Mar-2012Group BA career best Twenty20 performance from Louis Klazinga helped Namibia beat Kenya by seven wickets and maintain their perfect record in the ICC World T20 qualifiers. Klazinga rocked Kenya with a spell of 3-1-9-4, precipitating a collapse that saw Kenya crumble from 84 for 1 to 108 all out. Raymond van Schoor led Namibia’s chase with 49 from 48 balls, as they won their fifth straight game with 3.3 overs to spare. Duncan Allan and Collins Obuya were coasting along, having added 71 in 9.3 overs when Klazinga was handed the ball. The way he started gave no indication of what was to come, as the batsman milked six runs from his first five deliveries, which included a wide. However, he trapped Obuya leg before with his fifth legal delivery to trigger panic in Kenya’s ranks. Tanmay Mishra and Ragheb Aga were snapped up in his second over while Rakep Patel was stumped in his third over. Christi Viljoen then joined taking party, taking 2 for 5 in 1.4 overs as the rest of Kenya’s line-up succumbed meekly. Another solid performance from van Schoor at the top of the order took Namibia home and kept them in first place in Group B, two points ahead of Ireland.In a match that pitted two winless teams against each other, the USA bowlers managed to limit Oman and give their team their first victory, by 30 runs, in five games. USA chose to bat, and were steered through most of their innings by captain Sushil Nadkarni. Nadkarni scored 59 off 47, and with a few others contributing cameos, USA were propelled to 141 for 7. In reply, none of the Oman batsmen could quite get going and apart from a second-wicket stand of 54 between Vaibhav Wategaonkar and Adnan Ilyas, there was no resistance. Medium-pacer Japen Patel was the most incisive for USA, taking three wickets as Oman were restricted to 111 for 7.Italy, led by fast bowler Gareth Berg, stifled Uganda to register a 13-run victory. Italy were inserted and, driven by cameos from their middle order, got to 131 for 7. Damian Crowley top scored with 44. In the chase, Berg did much of the damage in a tidy spell, taking 4 for 20 in 3.4 overs. There were also three run outs, as Uganda folded for 118 to hand Italy the match.A fine unbeaten 78 by Ed Joyce guided Ireland towards the knockout phase of the ICC World Twenty20 qualifier with a comfortable win over Scotland. Read full report here.Group ANepal drew level with Canada on six points in Group A but were in fourth place on net run-rate after their 24-run win against Bermuda. Paras Khadka, the Nepal captain, made an unbeaten 65 off 48 balls to lead his team to 151 for 6. He was supported by Sharad Vesawkar, who made 44. Dion Stovell was Bermuda’s best bowler, taking 4 for 25 in his four-over spell. Bermuda were restricted to 127 for 5 in their reply, an innings that included 20 extras. Janeiro Tucker (32) was the only batsman to make more than 30. Shakti Gauchan took 3 for 17 in four overs for Nepal.A powerful all-round performance from Samiullah Shenwari led Afghanistan to their fifth consecutive victory in the UAE, beating Canada by 41 runs. Read the full report here.A commanding batting performance from Netherlands helped them ease to a nine-wicket win against Papua New Guinea (PNG), with all of 20 balls to spare. PNG chose to bat and got to 140 for 7 chiefly due to a partnership of 95 for the third-wicket between Tony Ura and Chris Amini. The opener Ura top scored with 70, while captain Peter Borren was the most effective of the Netherlands bowlers, claiming three wickets with his medium-pace. Chasing 141, the Netherlands openers settled in, scoring 96 in 11 overs to all but seal the match. Stephan Myburgh and Michael Swart scored half centuries each, as Netherlands breezed home in the 17th over.Irfan Ahmed scored an unbeaten 91 to set up Hong Kong’s 35-run win against Denmark. Irfan justified Hong Kong’s decision to bat, knocking around 91 from 60 and batting through the innings. As a result, Hong Kong put on 170 for 5, despite legspinner Bobby Chawla picking up three wickets in a tidy spell. In the chase, no one could score more than Aftab Ahmed’s 39, with Kinchit Shah knocking over middle order batsmen regularly with his offspin. Shah finished with 4 for 21, as Denmark managed only 135 for 9 in their 20.

Ramnaresh Sarwan will take over Leicestershire’s four-day captaincy from Matthew Hoggard for next season

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Dec-2012The career of Matthew Hoggard, the former England bowler, would appear to be drawing to a close after Leicestershire announced Ramnaresh Sarwan would take over the four-day captaincy for next season.Hoggard, who joined Leicestershire in 2010, will enter the final year of his contract in 2013. He has now relinquished the captaincy in all three formats and, at the age of 35, his playing days could be numbered after a 16-year career. He described the change as the “right time to be handing over the reins”.Hoggard led Leicestershire to a third T20 title in 2011 but only took 24 first-class wickets at 28.79 in 2012 – the second-lowest haul since his first full season in 1998 – and stood down from the one-day captaincy in July, with Josh Cobb taking up the role.Cobb will now be vice-captain of the Championship side, which will be led by Sarwan, who committed himself to Leicestershire by extending his one-year deal to a three-year arrangement.Chief executive, Mike Siddall, said it was an opportunity to “put a succession plan in place for the future”, with head coach Phil Whitticase adding: “I’ve really enjoyed working with Matthew over the past three years, especially during our successful T20 campaign. It is important for everyone to get behind Ronnie as we look to take the club forward.”

A round-up of the latest round of matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Feb-2012South ZoneBangalore’s Rajinder Singh Institute Ground witnessed an epic chase, as Andhra overhauled Goa’s 383, incredibly, with eight balls to spare. It was the sixth-highest match aggregate – 768 – in List A history. The match included three centuries – 139 by Goa’s Rohit Asnodkar, and 115 and 104 by the Andhra pair of Venugopal Rao and AG Pradeep respectively.Opting to bat first, Goa were carried by the third-wicket partnership of 144, off 23.2 overs, between Asnodkar and Reagan Pinto. Asnodkar hit 20 fours and a six before he was dismissed by Sneha Kishore. Goa continued scoring at breakneck speed, especially the eighth-wicket pair of Shadab Jakati and Robin D’Souza, who added 77 off the last four overs. Sneha Kishore was the only bowler to return with an economy rate of less than six (he took 1 for 59), while S Srinivas conceded a century – 2 for 103 off his ten overs.The Andhra openers, Prasanth Kumar and Syed Sahabuddin, gave the team the launch pad with a stand of 112 off 11.1 overs. Four quick wickets put the game in Goa’s control, but the stand of 195, off 23.4 overs proved to be a massive shock to the system for Goa. Venugopal and Pradeep scored at over eight an over, and when Pradeep was dismissed, Andhra needed just 44 off 52 balls. Pradeep hit four sixes in his 104, off 69 balls. Venugopal and Bharat Reddy finished things off in the penultimate over. Ganeshraj Narvekar was the only bright spot for Goa’s otherwise sorry bowling effort, finishing with 4 for 56.The other team from the state of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, wasn’t so lucky though. In another high-scoring game, at the Jain International Residential School Ground, the hosts Karnataka piled on 343 for 7, led by Robin Uthappa’s 120 and Ganesh Satish’s 90. Coincidentally, Uthappa and Satish also added 144 off 23.2 overs, just like Asnodkar and Pinto did in the other match. The Karnataka duo’s second-wicket stand laid the groundwork for a massive score. Satish and Abhimanyu Mithun added a quick 48 for the fourth wicket. Andhra managed only 240 in their reply, because the batsmen couldn’t give their captain Ravi Teja enough support. Teja’s 110 went in vain, and the next-highest score in the innings was BP Sandeep’s 38. Karnataka’s find of the tournament, Ronit More, followed up his six-wicket haul on debut with 5 for 31 to keep Hyderabad to 240.Tamil Nadu recorded their third win in the tournament, beating Kerala by 61 runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. S Anirudha’s 82 set the platform for Tamil Nadu to score 284 for 8. KB Arun Karthik hit a quick 56 off 50 balls at No.3, before the lower order, led by K Vasudevadas, took the team to a competitive score. For Kerala, Robert Fernandez hit 86 off 94 balls but the middle order failed to give him enough support. The seam-bowling duo of R Jesuraj and C Ganapathy took four wickets each to give Tamil Nadu a comprehensive win.East ZoneAt Eden Gardens, Jharkhand’s 280 for 6 was barely enough to test the hosts Bengal, as Laxmi Ratan Shukla plundered 151, off 96 balls, to guide his team to a seven-wicket win with nearly 12 overs to spare. Jharkhand’s Ishank Jaggi, coming in at No.3 as early as the second over, stayed till the end to hit 129, off 144 balls. Shami Ahmed, East Zone’s star in the Duleep Trophy final, took four wickets but conceded a whopping 86 off ten overs. He was supported by Saurabh Tiwary and Kumar Deobrat, who both compiled 40s. Like the Australians found out at Hobart today, a score of 280 wasn’t enough. Shukla smashed eight sixes and 16 fours in his knock before he was bowled by Shahbaz Nadeem in the 31st over. Wriddhiman Saha and Anustup Majumdar then added an unbeaten 74 off 7.4 overs to seal the chase.Orissa recorded a comprehensive 95-run win at the Jadavpur University Complex in Kolkata against Tripura. Biplab Samantray played a captain’s knock for Orissa, top scoring with 78, He was supported by Govind Podder, who made 55, to help push the score to 291. Rana Dutta took four wickets, but leaked 74 off his ten overs. The Tripura batsmen failed to make starts, the highest score being 42 by the opener Samrat Singha. The left-arm spinner Paresh Patel was the best bowler for Orissa, taking 4 for 30.Central Zone
An unbeaten century by Udit Birla helped Madhya Pradesh beat Rajasthan in a tough chase at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground in Nagpur. In their pursuit of 225, MP were struggling at 60 for 4 in the 19th over but Birla stepped up and saw his team through. He struck nine fours in his 129-ball knock, and was supported by Harpreet Singh, who made 33 in a 78-run stand. Then Ankit Sharma assisted Birla, scoring a quick 30 in a stand worth 74 which ultimately won the game for MP. The ton was Birla’s first in List A cricket.In the Rajasthan innings, Jalaj Saxena was the chief wicket-taker, taking 4 for 40, including the wickets of the two half-centurions Robin Bist and Puneet Yadav.Vidarbha sealed a five-wicket win over Uttar Pradesh in Nagpur. A series of steady and useful contributions took UP to 229 for 7 in their 50 overs. Mohammad Kaif made 40, Ali Murtaza made 46 in a slowish innings and captain Piyush Chawla provided the surge in the late overs, smashing 69 in 43 balls, striking five fours and four sixes. However, his effort was in vain.Opener Akshay Kolhar led the way for Vidarbha in the chase, making 73 and put his team on course after the loss of two early wickets. He added 86 with Hemang Badani (40) and though the hosts were reduced to 151 for 5 at one stage, Vidarbha were able to claw their way out of the difficult position. Apoorv Wankhade (48 not out) and Urvesh Patel (30 not out) put together 83 at better than a run-a-ball and saw their team through with 31 balls to spare.North Zone
Delhi continued their good run in the tournament, beating Himachal Pradesh by eight wickets at the Feroz Shah Kotla to register their third straight win. A collective bowling effort helped them skittle out HP for 103. Parvinder Awana led the way with three wickets and Pawan Suyal, Pradeep Sangwan and Rajat Bhatia picked up two each. The highest score in the HP innings was 24 by Vikramjeet Malik. HP were reduced to 88 for 8 at one stage but the tail helped them get beyond the 100 mark. The win was secured with ease, opener Shikhar Dhawan making an unbeaten 55 to seal the game in the 26th over.Haryana overcame Services by 52 runs at the Palam B Ground in Delhi, despite an unimposing albeit competitive score. The Haryana innings was littered by steady contributions but they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Persistent strikes meant that Haryana were left struggling at one stage, at 105 for 6, but Kuldeep Hooda rescued them with an unbeaten half-century. He added 54 with Mohit Sharma and found good support from Jayant Yadav, with whom he added an unbeaten 74. That partnership took Haryana to 223, a score they successfully defended.Yadav picked up three wickets in the chase and Hooda and Harshal Patel took two each to rattle Services. The only significant resistance came from Sanjeev Mishra, who scored a half-century but there was little support from the other end. Though opener Tahir Khan, and Narender Singh and Suraj Yadav in the lower order, got starts, the batting couldn’t measure up to what the Haryana bowlers offered. Services were bowled out for 171.Jammu and Kashmir put up a fight but could not overcome Punjab at the Palam A Ground in Delhi. Their bowlers, particularly Ram Dayal and Raman Dutta, had done a good job to bowl out Punjab for 224, picking up three wickets each, but the batsmen failed to scale it down. For Punjab, half-centuries from Chandan Madan and Amitoze Singh proved crucial in taking their team to a competitive score. J&K, in the chase, were very much in it, reaching 109 for 3 in the 28th over but they began to slip from there on. Rajwinder Singh took three wickets and Bipul Sharma chipped in with two; J&K were reduced to 113 for 7. Parvez Rasool kept the team afloat with a half-century at No.9 and a half-century stand with Dutta for the final wicket but all J&K could manage in the end was 205 for 9.

The United Arab Emirates won a close low-scoring contest against Afghanistan in the first one-day game

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Oct-2011 by 15 runs
Scorecard
The United Arab Emirates won a close, low-scoring contest against Afghanistan in the first one-day game. Three wicket-hauls from Karim Sadiq and Dawlat Zadran, part of a collective bowling display, helped bowl out UAE for a gettable 198. The pair helped trigger a collapse in which UAE lost eight wickets for 67 runs after being comfortably placed at 131 for 2 in the 24th over. Captain Khurram Khan scored a half-century, supported by Faiman Anwar at No.3, who made 42. But the middle and lower orders fell apart.Khurram, however, starred in an all-round effort. Five of Afghanistan’s middle-order batsmen got starts after the openers had been dismissed cheaply – the highest score among them was Gulbodin Naib’s 43 – but weren’t able to push on. From 146 for 5, they slipped to 166 for 9. Hamid Hassan took them closer with a spunky 22 but he was the last wicket to fall, trapped in front by Khurram, who finished with four wickets, to end the game with nine balls to spare and Afghanistan 15 runs short.

Stuart Broad has admitted that his England place was on the line going into the first Test of what proved to be “a very special” Man-of-the-Series performance against India

Andrew Miller23-Aug-2011Stuart Broad has admitted that his England place was on the line going into the first Test of what proved to be “a very special” Man-of-the-Series performance against India, but he believes that a timely return to county cricket transformed his approach and enabled him to revert to being the disciplined bowler that the England management needed him to be.Broad’s personal performance against India was remarkable. He topped the averages with 25 wickets at 13.84, and chipped in with 182 priceless runs as well, including a counterattacking 64 from the depths of 124 for 8 at Trent Bridge that was arguably more valuable than the massive hundreds that England subsequently racked up at Edgbaston and The Oval.However, in the first England series of the summer, against Sri Lanka in May and June, Broad had been limited to eight wickets at 48.75 in three Tests. It had been a scattergun performance, full of wayward lines and lengths, and one that was not helped by the bowling coach, David Saker, referring to him as England’s “enforcer”. The impression was of a bowler trying too hard to be aggressive, and ignoring the basic disciplines that had proven so effective for England in the Ashes.”It has been a big learning curve,” said Broad. “It was the first time this summer in my short career that I have been put under a huge amount of pressure like that. You do start asking questions of yourself, and those questions needed answering. It doesn’t matter what people think outside the changing room, but for me personally I had to work out what type of bowler I wanted to be and what was the best way to take Test wickets and help the side out.”Anyone who had witnessed Broad’s displays against Australia at The Oval in August 2009, or against South Africa at Durban four months later, was in no doubt about the best approach for Broad to take – full and fuller. However, with his confidence at a low ebb in mid-July, he returned to county duty for Nottinghamshire against Somerset at Trent Bridge, and on an unforgiving surface, he sowed his own seeds of revival with a first-innings haul of 5 for 95 in 30.1 overs.It was all the incentive he needed to shelve the overt aggro, and settle into a relentless full length, allied to a dangerous bouncer that he used sparingly but effectively, particularly at India’s tailenders. The returns were instantaneous, as he tore through India’s first innings at Lord’s with 4 for 37 in 22 overs, before crushing their brief revival at Trent Bridge with a career-best 6 for 46 on a tumultuous second evening, including a hat-trick.”To go away and play for Notts, and get a five-for pitching the ball up a week before the Test gave me a lot of confidence,” said Broad. “That was how I wanted to bowl in this series, but then for it to happen straightaway at Lord’s – to pick up four wickets and I could have potentially had more – that length showed me the way to go. I followed that throughout the Test series and I’m not sure of exact stats but 25 wickets at 13 or 14 speak for themselves.”It was about going back into the Notts changing-room and speaking to the likes of Andre Adams and Mick Newell, and realising what I wanted to do,” he added. “My bouncer is a dangerous weapon and always will be for me, but to use that once as a surprise every over makes that fuller ball more dangerous. I think throughout this series it is my fuller ball that has got the wickets, and now we can call Bressy [Tim Bresnan] the enforcer.”It still seems odd that Broad needed quite so much persuasion to play to the strengths that had proved so effective in the past, but that in part comes down to England’s willingness to hunt for their wickets as a pack. During the first Test of the Ashes at Brisbane, before a stomach injury curtailed his involvement, Broad settled into a short length by default to assist James Anderson at the other end, who looked England’s likeliest source of wickets with his fuller swinging approach.It did not work on that occasion, as Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin repelled the threat in a memorable triple-century stand, but with figures of 0 for 72 in 33 overs, Broad at least kept the tempo of their innings in check. This summer, however, it’s been a different story. On England’s more helpful seaming wickets, Broad and his team-mates have hounded their Indian opponents relentlessly, and prevented them from exceeding 300 in any one of their eight innings.’The lads are very proud of that spiky gold thing we have got in the changing room’ – Broad celebrates with Matt Prior•Getty Images”It has been a very special summer,” said Broad. “India came here and we were very aware of the talent they had, especially in their batting unit. The bowlers were very clued up and did a lot of work before the series, about where we wanted to bowl at these guys. There is a lot of footage because they have played so much cricket, so we had a meeting before the Lord’s Test about how we wanted to bowl at them, and looking back over the series, those plans worked very well.”A lot of credit goes to the guys who came up with those plans, but also to the bowlers who executed them. When you look at the whole series, the over-riding feeling is a huge amount of pride, for firstly way we have batted and scored the amount of runs we have, and then the way we have backed that up with the ball.”India arrived in England boasting one of the most legendary batting line-ups in the history of Test cricket, with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman in the middle order, and Virender Sehwag belatedly joining the tour for the third Test at Edgbaston. However, with the exception of Dravid, who was outstanding in racking up three hundreds in the four Tests, England dominated the remainder of the line-up, with Tendulkar’s 91 on the final day of the series being their only other score of note.”Our job is to get the big players out,” said Broad. “We know there are key players in any Test team – the likes of Ponting, Clarke, Tendulkar and Dravid – and you have got to hunt for them in a pack. If you get them it does have an impact on the whole side. We kept Sachin pretty quiet throughout the series, because we held our plans to him. We did not let him get off to flyers. We did not bowl magic deliveries to him. We just held our nerve and our length to keep to disciplined areas.”England’s ascent to the No. 1 Test side in the world was confirmed after their innings-and-242-run victory at Edgbaston, but the feat was brought home to the players when they were presented with the ICC Test Mace in the aftermath of the series whitewash at The Oval. With that initial challenge now complete, England’s aim is to maintain their status as the best team in the world, but Broad is sure that the players have it in them to remain grounded – just as they did when they regained the Ashes at the same venue two years ago.”The way to do it is to set new goals and refocus your mind,” said Broad. “We will do that as a Test team come January when a whole new journey will take place. We have got to be proud and stay in the moment now with this, because it has been such an achievement to be best in the world and the lads are very proud of that spiky gold thing we have got in the changing room.”You will have noticed over the big series in recent months, that they were described as stepping stones to being the best team in the world,” he said. “Now we are here we need to take a lot of satisfaction from that, and you can tell by the crowds and the reaction we have had that everyone is proud of us. But come January, we will have to set ourselves for another long journey to remain the best in the world.”In the immediate future, Broad’s emphasis is about to switch to the shorter form of the game. After a rest for the trip to Ireland this week, he will resume his tenure as England captain in the one-off Twenty20 against India at Old Trafford on August 31, before fronting up for five ODIs against the current World Champions, who are sure to be a chastened side after their drubbing in the Tests.After their Ashes successes in 2009 and 2010-11, England showed an immediate dropping-off of form for the subsequent one-day series – which, in the latter case, continued into the World Cup. Broad is aware of the dangers of switching formats so soon after a triumph of this magnitude, but believes that this time, the squad will be mentally prepared for the challenge.”It was an After the Lord Mayor’s Show-type of thing and that is something we need to be aware of,” he said. “We need to make sure we are fully focussed on starting afresh, and hitting the ground running because we know how dangerous India are in all formats of the game. They are world champions in the one-day stuff and that is the next challenge for as an England team, to follow this success up with success in one-day cricket.”

Tony Greig the former England captain, will deliver the 12th MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture at Lord’s next year

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Dec-2011Tony Greig, the former England captain, will deliver the 12th MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture at Lord’s next year. Greig will become the second ex-England captain to deliver the lecture, after Geoffrey Boycott in 2005.The Spirit of Cricket lecture began in 2001 and was named after the late Colin Cowdrey, the former England captain and a past MCC president, who, together with another former president Ted Dexter, were instrumental in including the spirit of cricket as the preamble to the Laws of the game.Grieg played 58 Tests for England between 1972 and 1977 and was captain 14 times. He scored 3,599 runs at 40.43 and took 141 wickets at 32.20. Now 65, Greig is broadcaster for Channel Nine in Australia.”Fiercely competitive on the field and hugely insightful off the field, Tony Greig has had a wonderful career in the game,” said MCC president Philip Hodson. “Never one to shun the limelight or shy away from voicing his opinion, I am sure that his MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture will be in keeping with the way he played the game.”I very much look forward to welcoming him to Lord’s to deliver one of the highlights in the MCC calendar, and listen to him tackle some of the key issues that currently surround the game.”This year Kumar Sangakkara gave a widely acclaimed Cowdrey lecture where he talked about controversial issues within Sri Lanka cricket and also about the importance of the sport in his country.

Experimentation was the order of the day in Ireland, but England are likely to have a far more familiar squad for the one-day internationals against India

Andrew McGlashan25-Aug-2011Experimentation was the order of the day in Ireland, but England are likely to have a far more familiar squad for the one-day internationals against India and there’s the possibility that none of the new faces tried in Clontarf will find a place. With Alastair Cook having won his first series as the full-time ODI captain against Sri Lanka it is unlikely that the selectors will make many changes for the 50-over format, although Stuart Broad’s Twenty20 side could see some of the new players feature.There will be no debate about James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann forming the core of the bowling attack. Broad was dropped for England’s last one-dayer against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford but has since stormed back to form with a Man-of-the-Series display in the Test series against India. Those four bowlers, along with Jade Dernbach, will comprise the first-choice attack unless conditions require two spinners, when Samit Patel will need to be accommodated.The bigger question marks surround the batting line-up. The recent form of Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell suggests they will walk into the side but for both Test success and one-day runs don’t always correlate. Pietersen’s 50-over record since losing the captaincy is poor with an average of 22.86, while Bell struggled to adapt to the No. 6 role against Sri Lanka. Pietersen was dropped this time last year for the Pakistan series and, although such drastic action is unlikely this time, he really needs to prove he has the hunger for the 50-over game.Bell, meanwhile, remains a conundrum because No. 6 is an unnatural fit for him but there is no room higher up the order. Ideally, given his wonderful form, he would be given a run at No. 3 but his Warwickshire team-mate Jonathan Trott has bedded into that position. Trott’s role remains highly debated, and his 69 off 104 balls against Ireland fuelled the fire. All the same, it’s hard to imagine England being World Cup contenders in Australia and New Zealand with him and Cook in the top three.”He’s an invaluable player to our team and has been for the couple of years he’s been involved,” Eoin Morgan said after the 11-run victory against Ireland. “Today he was crucial to our success and the majority of time he scores runs we win.”There is a clamour to get the likes of James Taylor and Ben Stokes involved in the side, but Geoff Miller and Andy Flower are not in the habit of shaking things up too much. Morgan and Richard Halsall, who stood in as coach for Flower against Ireland, will give feedback to the selectors about the match but it’s also hard to change a winning squad, even if it means fitting a few square pegs into round holes. However, if Stokes was fit to bowl he would challenge Ravi Bopara for a place in the squad.More room is available for something different in the Twenty20 side because the performance against Sri Lanka, at Bristol, was so poor and a couple of the players from that match – Michael Lumb and Luke Wright – are injured. Bell was a controversial omission in that game and now would be a good chance to give him a go in the opener’s slot, where he has a strike-rate of 127.27 and 140 runs from four innings, if the selectors don’t feel Alex Hales is ready. Taylor, although he only made 1 against Ireland, could also earn a chance to fight for a battling slot and Stokes’ hitting ability is worth investing in.Possible one-day squad: Alastair Cook (capt), Craig Kieswetter, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, Ian Bell, Samit Patel, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Jade Dernbach, Steven FinnPossible Twenty20 squad: Stuart Broad (capt), Craig Kieswetter, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, James Taylor, Ben Stokes, Ravi Bopara, Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Jade Dernbach, Chris Woakes

According to a report from Football Insider, Villarreal are set to open talks with Tottenham Hotspur regarding the transfer of Giovani Lo Celso, and Fabio Paratici could swoop for Pau Torres in part-exchange. 

The lowdown: Successful loan

The 26-year-old attacking midfielder joined Unai Emery’s side on loan until the end of the season on transfer deadline day and has enjoyed an impressive start to life back in Spain, ranking as the Yellow Submarine’s fifth-best player by average Whoscored rating.

Lo Celso played all 180 minutes for Villarreal as the La Liga outfit eliminated Bayern Munich from the UEFA Champions League to set up a semi-final showdown with Liverpool.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/tottenham-latest-news-copy/” title=”Tottenham latest developments!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Now after 13 appearances across all competitions it appears the clubs are ready to discuss the option to make the move permanent…

The latest: Swap deal on the cards?

As per an FI recruitment source, Villarreal are believed to have ‘indicated’ a desire to sign the Argentinian international in the summer transfer window.

It’s claimed that Spurs are ‘confident they can secure a major fee’ for the man signed from Real Betis, with a £30million price tag mooted – profit on the £27.2million spent in 2020 (BBC).

Furthermore, the report states that Managing Director of Football Paratici could explore a part-exchange option involving highly-rated central defender Torres.

The verdict: Make it happen

While the 38-cap ace has shown flashes of brilliance during his time as a Lilywhite, just 14 direct goal contributions in 86 appearances for an attacking midfielder isn’t of the level required for Antonio Conte’s squad.

After failing to complete 90 minutes even once in the Premier League this term, Lo Celso’s exit made room for the arrival and subsequent impact of Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski – who already has three goals and six assists in just 11 league outings – further proof that Spurs would be wise to seal the permanent departure of the Argentinian.

Whilst the £30million fee would represent a welcome boost to the coffers at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, having previously been linked with a move for 6 foot 3 centre-back Torres, bringing the man hailed as ‘sensational’ by Spanish national team manager Luis Enrique as part of the deal would be a superb piece of business.

In other news: Italian source claims Spurs are eyeing a move for Serie A midfielder! Find out more here.

Former Pakistan offspinner Akram Raza was arrested on charges of betting on Indian Premier League matches in Lahore on Sunday

ESPNcricinfo staff15-May-2011Former Pakistan offspinner Akram Raza was arrested on charges of betting on Indian Premier League matches in Lahore on Sunday, reports . The 46-year-old Raza was among was one of seven men arrested from a busy Lahore shopping area when police raided a gang of bookmakers who were taking illegal bets.”Seven men were arrested after a tip-off that they were taking bets on IPL matches, and one of them has been identified as Raza, a former Pakistan player,” a police officer at Gulberg police station told .Raza, who played nine Tests and 49 ODIs for Pakistan, was one of the six players Pakistan players fined in a match-fixing inquiry conducted by Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum in 2000. Raza currently officiates as an umpire in Pakistan’s domestic matches.Police said they recovered telephones, computers, televisions and a large amount of money in the raid, and will charge the arrested men later on Sunday.