All posts by h716a5.icu

The former South African fast-bowling great will take charge of reigningdomestic champions the Mountaineers for at least the forthcoming seasonwhich begins on September 6

Neil Manthorp12-Aug-2010Allan Donald has joined the rapidly growing list of formerinternationals heading to Zimbabwe to help with the country’s attempts torebuild its international reputation and push for a return to Test cricket.The former South African fast-bowling great will take charge of reigningdomestic champions the Mountaineers for at least the forthcoming seasonwhich begins on September 6.Donald has filled various roles as a bowling or assistant coach for FreeState, Warwickshire and England since his retirement from the game in 2003but has been frustrated in recent months by his inability to secure afull-time position. He held high hopes of landing the England bowling coachposition which was filled by Australian David Saker in April this year.”I have always wanted to move away from being a bowling specialist andbecome more of a head coach, and this is exactly the sort of opportunity I’vebeen looking for,” Donald told Cricinfo.”Quite a few jobs I’ve applied for have asked for ‘at least two or threeyears experience’ as a head coach. It’s the old chicken and egg story, howdo you get the job without the experience, and how do you get the experiencewithout a job! But now that’s behind me and I can’t wait to get started,”Donald said.Steve Mangongo, who coached the Mountaineers to both the four-day LoganCup and Faithwear Metbank 50-over titles last year has relinquished the postto concentrate on dual roles as national assistant to Zimbabwe coach Alan Butcher and a supervisory position at the national academy.Donald joins former Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie (MidwestRhinos) and former England batsman Monte Lynch (Southern Rocks) as coachin Zimbabwe’s domestic competitions while former Zimbabwean internationalsAlistair Campbell, Heath Streak, Grant Flower and Dave Houghton are allinvolved at national level.”We are still putting the finishing touches to the contract but Icertainly want to do it for more than one year,” Donald said. “I don’t thinkyou can prove too much in one season. And it’s exciting to be part ofZimbabwe cricket’s revival.”

Leeds United have made a late approach for Nantes forward Moses Simon, GFFN report.

The Lowdown: Simon profiled

Simon is 26 years of age and has been with the French side for 18 months since arriving in a £4.5m move from Spanish outfit Levante after a successful loan spell.

Primarily a left-winger who can also play as a centre-forward and on the right, Simon has scored 61 goals for club and country during his career.

The Nigerian appears to be at the peak of his powers with a career-high Transfermarkt valuation of £8.1m and seems to be attracting interest from Leeds.

The Latest: Approach made

According to journalist Ignazio Genuardi, via Get French Football News, the Whites are among the clubs to have made an approach for Simon.

There have been no major developments since this was reported on Saturday, so it seems as if Leeds could be biding their time before a possible deadline day move for the versatile forward.

The Verdict: Unlikely

The report claims that it could take an offer in the region of €20m (£16.6m) for Nantes to part ways with Simon this month, a fee which would be double his Transfermarkt valuation and be a costly one for Andrea Radrizzani and the 49ers Enterprises.

Should Crysencio Summerville leave for Hamburg following recent rumours, then it looks as if Liverpool’s Takumi Minamino could be a serious target to replace the youngster.

Who knows, Simon could also be on the list, but Victor Orta and co may simply run out of time to push a deadline day move through, with Minamino a closer option geographically at Anfield. A deal for the Japan star will potentially have less complications in the negotiating room too if Liverpool opt to loan him out after the capture of Luis Diaz.

In other news, Leeds have been boosted in their quest to sign a Premier League player. Find out who it is here.

While deadline day of the 2022 January transfer window may have been a quiet one for Aston Villa in terms of new players coming in after seeing the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Lucas Digne, Robin Olsen and Calum Chambers make their way to Villa Park earlier in the window, the Midlands club managed to secure a loan deal for one of their current players.

Left-back Matt Targett joined fellow Premier League side Newcastle United on a temporary move until the end of the season, presumably as a result of seeing Digne take his place in the team after his arrival from Everton.

While it is just a loan deal, there’s every possibility that Newcastle would be interested in signing him on a permanent basis if he manages to impress from now until the end of the season.

If that were to happen and Villa did work out a deal with the Tyneside club in the summer to let them keep the 26-year-old permanently, Gerrard could already have an ideal replacement for the defender that wouldn’t cost the club a penny.

After joining Villa’s youth academy from Exeter City’s U18 side back in August 2020, 18-year-old left-back Ben Chrisene has gone on to make a total of 32 appearances for the Midlands club across their U18, U23 and senior sides.

He’s chipped in with two goals and three assists along the way,  showing the attacking talent he has and how highly rated he is by the coaching staff at Villa.

Back in December, the youngster was promoted to train with the first team, once again showing how highly thought of he is at Bodymoor Heath.

Last month saw the teenager, who has been described as being a “mini Gareth Barry” by Villa journalist Ashley Preece in the past, put pen to paper on a new contract at the Midlands club, with academy manager Mark Harrison saying that the deal “will hopefully give him the platform to work towards that transition of becoming a first-team player.”

With that in mind, if Targett were to end up leaving the club on a permanent basis in the summer, this could pave the way for Chrisene to make his mark in the team and eventually rival Digne for a place in Gerrard’s side in the future and become a new hero at Villa Park.

In other news: Gerrard’s £125k-p/w January transfer gamble could come back to haunt Aston Villa – opinion

Sussex have released three players, Ragheb Aga, Chad Keegan and Michael Thornely, at the end of the 2010 season

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Sep-2010Sussex have released three players, Ragheb Aga, Chad Keegan and Michael Thornely, at the end of the 2010 season.Aga, 26, the allrounder who has played international cricket for Kenya, made his debut for Sussex at the end of the 2007 but never gained a settled place in the side for either four-day or one-day cricket.Keegan, the 31-year-old pace bowler, played more of a key role at the club and was a regular in the one-day side during the recent summer after overcoming serious back problems. He was a flamboyant character who had a varied selection of hairstyles and often bowled in a head-band, but was every effective at the death with his yorkers. He took nine wickets in six CB40 matches and 12 scalps in 12 Friends Provident t20 games.Thornely, a top-order batsman, was a product of the Sussex youth system and scored 89 against Northamptonshire in the County Championship this season.”I would like to thank Ragheb, Chad and Michael on all they have given us during their time at Sussex,” said cricket manager Mark Robinson. “All three players have always given 100% and have been fine ambassadors for the club, and we would like to wish them all the best for the future”.

Graeme Swann, the England offspinner, wanted to pull out of the fourth one-day international at Lord’s on Monday following Ijaz Butt’s claim that England took money to lose the previous match at The Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Sep-2010Graeme Swann, the England offspinner, wanted to pull out of the fourth one-day international at Lord’s on Monday following Ijaz Butt’s claim that England took money to lose the previous match at The Oval. It was only after extensive negotiations between the ECB and the players that the game went ahead, but Swann has revealed the players were ready to take drastic action.Andrew Strauss was involved in meetings that went into the early hours of Monday morning with the board and the Professional Cricketers’ Association before the decision was taken to continue the one-day series. The ECB issued strongly worded statements in response to Butt’s outburst and are still set on pursuing legal action against the Pakistan board chairman unless he makes a public apology for claiming England took “enormous amounts of money” to lose at The Oval.”I couldn’t wait for those games to end and get the hell out of there. It was a dreadful experience and one I never want to experience again,” Swann told . “In fact, I didn’t want to play at all in the one-dayer on Monday. I won’t lie about that – I was dead against playing. And I wasn’t alone, plenty of other players had strong reservations.”But Straussy, who has been brilliant throughout this episode, persuaded us the best thing we could do was get on with it as a team and make sure we won the series. He was proved to be right.”Swann, who took 11 wickets at 19.00 during the series which England won 3-2 with a 121-run success at the Rose Bowl, insisted it was no empty threat from the players about taking Butt to court over his claims.”I want to say I agree 100 per cent with the decision to send a letter on behalf of the England team demanding an apology from PCB chairman Ijaz Butt. If we do not receive a satisfactory response, we will start legal proceedings,” Swann said. “Mr Butt’s comments about bookmakers claiming we deliberately lost the third one-dayer in return for ‘enormous amounts of money’ were as offensive as they could possibly be. They went against everything I stand for as a professional sportsman.”We felt powerless as players because as soon as somebody says something like that and it is read by cricket followers, our name is sullied. You can’t go around accusing people and pointing fingers with completely unsubstantiated claims. In the civilised world, it is not something that should happen. I hope Mr Butt sees sense and retracts his claims or there must be severe consequences for him.”

Newcastle United have reportedly now sent a scout to watch centre-back Goncalo Inacio, and even made a bid for the player in January, according to reports in Portugal.

The Lowdown: Solid season

Inacio is having another solid season in Lisbon with Sporting CP, having won the title last campaign.

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His performances attracted praise from Portuguese media, and he was even nicknamed the ‘Portuguese boss’ despite only being 19 years of age at the time.

Now 20, Inacio has also been a second place in the Primeira Liga table, where they will be hoping to catch FC Porto in first.

The Latest: Official sent, bid revealed

As per A Bola (via Sport Witness), the St. James’ Park faithful sent an official to watch Inacio play in a 3-1 win at Tondela on Saturday, as he found the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season.

They apparently had a €30m (£24.9m) bid rejected by Sporting in the January transfer window, but the player does have a €45m (£37.4m) release clause.

The news outlet hints that the North East club must be ‘really interested’ in Inacio, as usually teams from the Premier League send their scouts over to Lisbon or Porto to watch players from the top flight, but the Tyneside outfit sent theirs to Tondela.

The Verdict: Get it done

The fact that Inacio has a release clause should encourage the Magpies to get a deal done.

Having had a £33m bid rejected by Lille for Sven Botman, added to talk of an increased £67m release clause for January target Diego Carlos, £37.4m may be the sweet spot for the Toon to sign a central defender in Inacio who may well have a higher ceiling at just 20 years of age.

Nonetheless, Sporting have a history of selling players to Premier League clubs for big money, and so this is a move that is very possible.

In other news, find out which ‘world-class’ ace NUFC have now held talks over signing for free here!

Transfer insider Dean Jones has now dropped some big news with regards to summer plans at Glasgow Rangers.

The Lowdown: Targets lined up

The Ibrox faithful are reportedly now considering moves for both Ross Stewart and Gareth Bale in the summer, so they are clearly already eyeing up ways to strengthen with the current season drawing closer to an end.

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They find themselves six points behind leaders Celtic in the Scottish Premiership, but are in the UEFA Europa League semi-final after they knocked out Braga over two legs – if they can win the competition and secure Champions League football, new quality and depth in the market will be a necessity.

The Latest: Planning already

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Jones has shared that the hierarchy at the Teddy Bears have ‘already been speaking’ about possible transfer targets for the summer, while other clubs have not got that far yet:

“I know they’ve already been speaking about potential targets for the window, which is quite interesting given we’re still only halfway through April.

“A lot of clubs aren’t that far down the road in terms of defining where they want to head.”

The Verdict: Big

The fact that the Light Blues are planning ahead already is big for their ambitions for next season.

It looks as if they are going to miss out on the SPFL title, but should they end up winning the Europa League, then they would automatically qualify for the Champions League group stages.

Thus, they could potentially attract big names like Bale to the football club, and so deals will need to be in place in order to fight off the likely competition.

Nonetheless, it is always better to get your business done early in the window, so that everything is prepared in time for the start of the new campaign.

In other news, find out who Gers’ three worst performers were against Braga here!

While most major teams are finalising their preparations for the World Cup, Pakistan cricket’s internal discord continues to divert attention off the field. Can they turn the corner against South Africa?

The Preview by Siddhartha Talya25-Oct-2010Series FactsOctober 26 and 27, Abu Dhabi
Start time 20:00 (16:30 GMT)Amid the negativity, Misbah-ul-Haq’s return could be a crucial boost for Pakistan•Getty ImagesThe Big PicturePakistan’s lead-up to this tour can be described as chaotic at best. While most major teams are finalising their preparations for the World Cup, Pakistan cricket’s internal discord continues to divert attention off the field. The captain and coach have complained of not being consulted over team selection, the board has warned the captain and defended not seeking the coach’s opinion, while former cricketers have hit out at the rift between players and the board. Such negativity augurs badly for a team still attempting to recover from the spot-fixing controversy and working towards restoring faith in its fans.
Amid the negativity, however, there are a few things to look forward to. Discarded for most of the year, Misbah-ul-Haq has been catapulted into the role of Test captain and won his place back in the limited-overs squads as well. Things have come a full circle for Younis Khan, who, after being banned indefinitely by the board for disciplinary reasons, has been drafted back in the side.The return of experienced heads has strengthened the batting department. But the bowling, shorn of two quality seamers who have been provisionally suspended by the ICC, will look to Umar Gul for leadership. The series kicks off with a couple of Twenty20 internationals, and Pakistan, who have been short of match practice and possibly struggling for focus, could just be facing a better team. Their captain, Shahid Afridi, however was not too concerned by the absence of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir. “We know we are without two of our best bowlers, but we still have ample talent to counter South Africa who are a very good side in the shorter form of the game.”South Africa have been spared the distractions. They have kick-started their preparations for the World Cup by easily overcoming Zimbabwe at home. South Africa’s batting, led by Hashim Amla, has been prolific and they will welcome back Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis, who were rested against Zimbabwe. Graeme Smith has said that controversies may not necessarily have a bearing on Pakistan’s performance but, with a strong and stable side at their disposal, South Africa have an excellent chance of upstaging their opponents in their home away from home.Form guide (most recent first)
Pakistan: LLWWL
South Africa: WWWWLWatch out for…Misbah-ul-Haq: He last represented Pakistan in the World Twenty20 this year and it will be interesting to see how he handles the pressure of an international return, with the burden of a Test captaincy in the back of his mind. Lucrative returns in domestic cricket, experience and his reputation as a solid middle-order batsman have prompted the Pakistan board to repose faith in his abilities, especially in the absence of Mohammad Yousuf’s stability in the middle order.
David Miller: A hard-hitting middle-order batsman, Miller has already made an impression in international cricket with strike-rates of 146.80 and 132.29 in one-dayers and Twenty20s respectively. The South Africa selectors will consider him a potential World Cup candidate, and after facing significantly weaker opponents like West Indies and Zimbabwe, Miller faces his first major challenge against a competitive albeit depleted Pakistan attack.Team newsIt will be interesting to see if South Africa include all the players they rested against Zimbabwe, for the tour opener. Morne Morkel injured his ankle early in the Zimbabwe series and missed a few games. Will he be brought back too?
South Africa (possible): 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Loots Bosman, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Colin Ingram, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 JP Duminy, 7 David Miller, 8 Albie Morkel, 9 Johan Botha (capt), 10 Robin Peterson, 11 Dale Steyn.Gul and Shoaib Akhtar will lead the attack with Abdul Razzaq and offspinner Saeed Ajmal as the support options. In the absence of Kamran Akmal, Zulqarnain Haider takes over wicketkeeping duties while Imran Farhat is likely to open with Shahzaib Hasan.Pakistan (possible): 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Shahzaib Hasan, 3 Umar Akmal, 4 Fawad Alam, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Shahid Afridi (capt), 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Zulqarnain Haider (wk), 9 Umar Gul, 10 Shoaib Akhtar, 11 Saeed Ajmal.Stats and trivia The Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi will be hosting its first Twenty20 international between two Test-playing nations. The two matches that have been played here – Afghanistan v Scotland and Kenya v Netherlands – were quite low-scoring, with an average score of 127.75. Two of the three Twenty20 matches played between the teams have come in the World Twenty20, in 2009 and 2010, both won by Pakistan. South Africa won the first game between the two sides, in 2007.Quotes”Playing Pakistan is always a great challenge and they knocked us out in two major Twenty20 matches.”

“My players are professional and have put all the controversy behind them.”

Wolverhampton Wanderers could well be without Leander Dendoncker come next season, with Italian Serie A side Lazio said to be interested.

With 35-year-old Lucas Leiva’s future up in the air amid his contract expiry in the summer, as well as the rumoured departure of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic – who is thought to be a target for Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur – Lazio are on the lookout for a versatile midfielder capable of replacing the duo.

And, Italian outlet TuttoMercatoWeb have reported that they are hopeful of landing the 27-year-old Wolves midfielder for between €20-25m (£21-£17m).

With Wolves also facing a fight to keep hold of the £36m-rated Ruben Neves this summer, the further loss of Dendoncker could potentially leave a gaping hole in the Old Gold’s engine room.

As such, they will no doubt be on the lookout for a versatile and impactful central midfielder who can replace the man dubbed a “top talent” by Joe Edwards of the Express & Star.

In comes Wolves’ teenage sensation; Luke Cundle.

The £180k-rated gem earned rave reviews from first-team boss Bruno Lage over his Premier League masterclass against Spurs in mid-February, with the Portuguese manager saying: “Maybe Luke [Cundle] can be a key man because it allows us to play with four midfielders.

“He is just 19 and I am very happy with him. The most important thing is the confidence he gives to us. He was there against top players playing like he is in the playground.”

Cundle has played the majority of his football as a defensive midfielder for the U23s this season having featured 22 times for Jamie Collins’ side.

Though rather interestingly, he has featured as an attacking midfielder on 11 occasions this campaign, where he has earned comparisons to Phil Foden from the U23’s boss:

“We took a litle risk with the change of shape and the ‘false nine’ with no centre-forward. We played Luke [Cundle] up there, ‘Phil Foden-esque’, and I thought he played really well.”

This is why he would fit the bill in place of Leander Dendoncker, who can also play anywhere across the midfield, with the Belgian turning out as an attacking midfielder for Bruno Lage on two occasions this season.

Wolves may not need to spend to replace Leander Dendoncker.

AND in other news: Time to go: Lage must now boldly axe £36m-rated Wolves “magician” in mega deal…

The West Indies team management has said they are fully behind offspinner Shane Shillingford, who was reported for a suspect bowling action

Sa'adi Thawfeeq21-Nov-2010The West Indies team management has said they are fully behind offspinner Shane Shillingford, who was reported for a suspect bowling action by ICC officials after the first Test against Sri Lanka on Friday.”I had a very good chat with Shane and he understands what is going on,” said West Indies head coach Ottis Gibson after a training session at the Sinhalese Sports Club on Sunday. “We are 100% behind Shane. The entire team is behind him and he knows he has our full support. Our job is to keep Shane focussed on the upcoming match and the series.”From what we have been told, he can play and he comes into our thinking as normal, as we look ahead to the match. We are building towards doing well in the second Test, as we did in the first Test. As a team we are looking forward to the upcoming match. Shane bowled very well for us in the last Test, and he’s a key part of our bowling unit.”The 27-year-old spinner had figures of 4 for 123 and 1 for 79 in what was his fourth Test match. He has 21 days from the time the West Indies Cricket Board received the report to submit an independent analysis of his bowling action. Until the WICB receives a report of the assessment, however, Shillingford will be allowed to continue bowling in international cricket, which means he will be available for selection for the second Test against Sri Lanka that begins on November 23 in Colombo.Shillingford was reported by on-field umpires Steve Davis and Richard Kettleborough, along with third umpire Asad Rauf and fourth umpire Tyron Wijewardene. The umpires’ report cited concern over the straightening of Shillingford’s arm while he bowled some deliveries.