Newcastle United’s return to the English Premier League didn’t get off to the best of starts on Sunday after Tottenham Hotspur visited St James’ Park and left with a 2-0 win.
After competing strongly in the first half and frustrating Mauricio Pochettino’s side, the second half started horribly. Captain Jonjo Shelvey lost his cool and stamped on the leg of Dele Alli, right under the nose of referee Andre Marriner, who was left with no choice but to show him a red card.
As you’d expect, from that point on Spurs gradually asserted their authority on the game and after Alli opened the scoring just after the hour mark, there was only going to be one winner.
It wasn’t the start manager Rafa Benitez was looking for but he can at least take comfort in the fact his team competed well with last season’s second-placed side right up to the point they went down to ten men.
Newcastle fans were left fuming with team captain Shelvey and took to Twitter to share their thoughts about his moment of madness…
Trevor Bayliss is “all for” Jos Buttler appearing in this year’s IPL, now that Jonny Bairstow has earned a prolonged run in England’s Test side.Bairstow’s maiden Test century in Cape Town, a fine innings of 150 not out that, in partnership with Ben Stokes, led England from a precarious to a dominant position, underlined his status as first-choice keeper in England’s Test team.While he did drop an important chance during the second Test, Bayliss believes that Bairstow’s keeping will improve if he is given a run in the side and suggested that none of the other keepers vying for selection – notably Buttler – are significantly better with the gloves.
‘We won’t stifle Stokes’
Trevor Bayliss has promised not to “stifle” Ben Stokes’ positive instincts as he develops as an international player.
Stokes plundered an outrageous 258 in Cape Town, but was then caught on the boundary for 26 in the second innings as England battled to save the Test.
At 24, he is the youngest member of the England squad and Bayliss believes he needs to be allowed to mature in his own time.
“Over a period of time, he’ll become more consistent and maybe take lot more right options,” Bayliss said. “In the second innings it was probably the right shot but he maybe didn’t have to go after it as hard as there wasn’t anyone fielding around the corner. That’s Ben’s natural game.
“To be honest we didn’t say anything to him in either innings. That’s just the way he went out and played. He just let it happen. One of the things batting on the last day – the thing that’s important – is not just batting to survive but scoring runs as well. We could have blocked it out and been 50 runs and six or seven or eight wickets down. But we were proactive and looked for the runs when they were on offer.
“So making the right decisions is an area that’ll he learn going forward. But you don’t want to stifle that sort of ability. He’s going to be one of those players who can win a team a match and at different times he’s going to disappoint as well, as all of those types of players in history have shown.”
That leaves Buttler unlikely to be required for the early season Tests against Sri Lanka in May and June. With the England management keen to give their white-ball players more experience of other domestic T20 leagues, especially the IPL and the Big Bash, Buttler will then be free to appear in the IPL if he wins interest in the auction.As things stand, it seems likely that he will gain interest from several franchises and, as ESPNcricinfo reported, Kolkata Knight Riders are particularly interested in signing him. The deadline to register for the IPL auction is January 15.England made a similar decision recently with Adil Rashid. Although he remains part of their plans in all formats, the management concluded that he was unlikely to play a role in the Test series in South Africa so encouraged him to take part in the Big Bash instead. There, he has so far impressed with 10 wickets in five matches for Adelaide Strikers, including a Man of the Match performance against Perth Scorchers, that have helped propel his team towards the semi-finals.The difference this time is that Buttler is being encouraged to play in the IPL (which this year runs from April 9 to May 29) during the England season. While fringe Test players have, in the past, been encouraged to remain in county cricket and fight for their places, the England management is currently taking a different view. Whether that is because they see Buttler as a white-ball specialist, or simply because they feel he will learn as much in the IPL as he would in the county championship, is unclear.”If the opportunity arises and Buttler is not in the Test team and that IPL window is a possibility, I’d be all for it,” Bayliss said.”It’s something we’ve spoken about. Personally I’d think it would be something similar along the lines of Adil Rashid.”If Jos is in the Test team he’ll be playing Test cricket for England. He definitely wants to play more Test cricket for England which is great. But obviously Jonny’s there at the moment.”Bayliss suggested Bairstow had kept “pretty well” in Cape Town, but accepts that part of his game needs to improve. Bairstow only allowed through four byes in the entire South Africa innings – a decent effort given that England were in the field for 211 overs – but he did put down a relatively straightforward chance to his right off the bowling of Stuart Broad when Temba Bavuma had scored 77. He missed a similar chance in Durban, as well as missing stumpings in Durban and in the previous Test in Sharjah.”Apart from that one chance I thought he did a pretty good job,” Bayliss said. “He fumbled two balls and unfortunately one of them was a nick.”Certainly his wicketkeeping is a work in progress, but I think our other wicketkeepers are as well. Plenty of other wicketkeepers around the world have started off their international careers not in the greatest fashion but ended up pretty decent keepers. It’s only fairly early in Jonny’s wicketkeeping career.”He works very, very hard at it and I’d expect over a period of time for him to get better. Both Jonny and Jos work terribly hard on their keeping. I’d expect over a period of time for him to get better.”He knows the number one reason he is in the team is to keep wicket. So that is definitely a focus of ours: to make him better, as it is with Jos as well.”And we know that both of them, in form, can quite possibly play in this Test team as a batter anyway. So it’s all in front of both of them.”
England seamer Stuart Broad has signed with Nottinghamshire from 2008, the county where his father Chris opened the batting for nine seasons. He joins on a four-year contract.There had been plenty of speculation in recent weeks about whether Broad would remain at Leicestershire and it does not come as a huge surprise that he has moved to a county on the verge of promotion and based at a Test ground.”I’m proud to have represented Leicestershire since I first appeared in their Under-nine representative side and I owe the county a lot,” he said. “But I just feel that the time is right for a change and the chance to move to Trent Bridge is very attractive to me. I believe there is no better place for me to play – and continue my improvement as a cricketer in a team capable of winning trophies.”People will automatically assume that I’ve chosen Nottinghamshire because I grew up on the boundary edge while my dad was there as a player, but it is very much my decision to move to Trent Bridge.”Chris Broad confirmed to Cricinfo that he had no hand in the move: “I had no influence on him coming to Notts. All I said to him is that he must go with his gut feelings after all he’s the one who has got to go out in the middle and perform therefore he’s got to be happy.”I am obviously delighted that everything has been signed and sealed quickly so that the speculation doesn’t drag on whilst Stuart is actively playing. Notts has been, and remains, a well-organised, friendly club but deeply ambitious. All that remains for them to do is get promoted to the first division!”Broad junior admitted he had considered waiting until the end of the season to find out if Nottinghamshire had been promoted. “It was a thought but once I decided where I wanted to play, it didn’t really matter either way. I’m confident they’ll go up.”Mick Newell said Nottinghamshire had to fight off a lot of interest of other counties. “As soon as we knew that Stuart would be available we had to be interested – but so were a lot of other counties. I know that he’s had some very good offers to consider and we’re delighted he has agreed to join us.”He’s the best young prospect in this country and further down the line, I’m sure he will be a regular in the England team. But he’s still very young with a lot to learn and we’re really pleased that he has chosen to do that with us.”Despite Broad’s rise into the England team, Newell believes he will still be available for a significant amount of county cricket. “If Stuart was already playing regularly in the England team, I would have thought more carefully about signing him,” he said. “But I think Peter Moores wants him to play more county cricket and develop his game.”We can help him do that and he can certainly help us. Bowling on Trent Bridge pitches with their carry, bounce and swing will suit his style and having him available is an exciting prospect for next season.”Obviously Stuart has a strong affiliation with Trent Bridge because his father Chris opened the batting for Notts for many years, but I’m not sure that influenced his decision too much. He’s an ambitious young man who is determined to make his own mark in the game.”Jeremy Snape, Leicestershire’s club captain, added: “It is very disappointing for us. He’s been outstanding and exceeded expectations throughout the last few years. He obviously feels it’s a personal decision and the next stage in his career.”
India’s preparation for the tri-series against Australia and West Indies in Malaysia is likely to include a few practice matches in Chennai, the Indian board (BCCI) has said.The matches have been planned owing to the cancellation of the Unitech Cup in Sri Lanka, after South Africa withdrew and rains ruined the planned bilateral series. It is rumoured that the matches will be played against local sides.Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, told Cricinfo that the venue had not been finalised. “The facilities in Chennai are not determined yet,” he said. “I will speak to Rahul [Dravid] and Greg [Chappell] tomorrow and an announcement will be made.”Chappell himself has denied suggestions of a preparatory camp ahead of the tournament: “We will not have a camp, but will try to do something different than what we did before coming to Sri Lanka.”The tri-series in Kuala Lumpur will be held at the Kinrara Oval from September 12 to 24.
England supporters will be able to follow the five-match series in Zimbabwe after Sony TV announced that they have bought the rights to show the games.It had been thought that BSkyB’s lack of interest in buying the rights would mean that for the first time since 1989 nobody would be showing an England overseas tour. But Sony TV, who are a major player in Asia, paid around £300,000 to broadcast the matches.<!–Interestingly, the Sony commentary team includes Nasser Hussain, who has been vocal in his opinion that England should not be making the trip. Less than a fortnight ago he wrote: "If something happens, Michael [Vaughan], and you lead a side out there and someone gets killed, it will tarnish English cricket and your name for a long while." It remains to be seen whether Hussain's hitherto firm stance will prevent him from going.Rajan Singh, Sony Entertainment Television's executive vice-president, told the Daily Telegraph: “This is a wonderful opportunity for us … we see this as a chance to widen the reach of our channel. Our subscribers are mainly from the Indian subcontinent but while they like Indian and Pakistani cricket they like all cricket, cricket for them is a religion and increasingly British Asians are keen to support the England team wherever they play.”With Asian cricketers playing for England,” Singh added, “Nasser was an Asian icon as is Vikram Solanki. We see our broadcasts as reaching out to them as also to the mainstream white community.”–>The Sony TV channel is not available to terrestrial viewers but can be found on the Sky platform.
In the latest round of the County Championship, rain had the final say in the majority of matches, although Derbyshire couldn’t quite avoid an emphatic ten-wicket defeat at the hands of Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. The match was a closer-run affair than the result suggests, however, thanks to an heroic unbeaten 129 from Hassan Adnan. His effort, along with an astonishing 36-ball half-century from No. 11, Mohammad Ali, ensured that the innings defeat was avoided, but they couldn’t quite hold on for the draw. Gloucestershire, on the other hand, did just that. Their last pair of Jonathan Lewis and Shabbir Ahmed added 22 to frustrate Surrey at The Oval, as they secured a slender lead to avert an innings defeat. Elsewhere, rain wrecked the matches at Lord’s, Stratford-upon-Avon and Headingley.
Frizzell County Championship Division One
Scorecard Day 1 report: Joyce given leading role – The Guardian Day 2 report: Weekes continues good form – The Daily Telegraph Day 3 report: Hick nears milestone – The Guardian
Scorecard Day 1 report: Stubborn Taylor denies Surrey – The Daily Telegraph Day 2 report: Brown’s happy return an object lesson for Newman – The Independent Day 3 report: Brown’s class puts Surrey in driving seat – The Times
Scorecard Day 1 report: Wagh weighs in for Warwickshire – Wisden Cricinfo Day 2 report: Loye and Mongia lead the way for Lancashire – Wisden Cricinfo Day 3 report: Loye gives Lancashire a slender lead – Wisden Cricinfo Day 4 report: Knight shines on soggy final day – Wisden Cricinfo
Frizzell County Championship Division Two
Scorecard Day 1 report: Tremlett counters Caddick – The Daily Telegraph Day 2 report: Hampshire may rue missed point – The Daily Telegraph Day 3 report: Stand-in Watson gives Hampshire the edge – The Times
Scorecard Day 1 report: Pietersen continues to make Derbyshire suffer – The Times Day 2 report: Read makes his point – The Daily Telegraph Day 3 report: Modern Derby not so game – The Guardian
Scorecard Day 1 – No play due to rain Day 2 report: Weather not welcoming at Headingley – The Daily Telegraph Day 3 report: Wood slips prove costly – The Times
The Tasmanian Selectors have today announced the Cascade Tasmanian Tigers team to play the Southern Redbacks in the Pura Cup match from Thursday 6th March to Sunday 9th March 2003 at Adelaide Oval.CASCADE TASMANIAN TIGERS
Jamie COX (Captain) Sean CLINGELEFFER Michael DIGHTON Michael DiVENUTO Xavier DOHERTY Andrew DOWNTON Adam GRIFFITH Adam POLKINGHORNE Daniel MARSH Scott MASON Chris BASSANO Gerard DENTON Damien WRIGHT
The twelfth & thirteenth men will be announced on the morning of the match.Damien Wright has been added to the squad after missing the previous match through injury, while Scott Kremerskothen has been omitted.Kremerskothen was a late inclusion replacing Adam Griffith in the team that defeated the Redbacks at Bellerive Oval earlier this week. Griffith has recovered from the calf strain, which forced his withdrawal from that match.
Zimbabwe go into their series of two Tests against the West Indies,starting here tomorrow, against a troubling background of racial andadministrative problems.The latest manifestation followed last weekend’s annual generalmeeting of the Mashonoland Cricket Association, the largest member ofthe Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU), when ten black and Indian clubspulled out and announced their intention to form a breakaway league.Stephen Mangongo, a spokesman for the aggrieved clubs, charged thatwhite members had used their 26-22 numerical advantage at the meetingto vote black nominees out of office.We have Blacks who have done well in administration for Mashonolandand national cricket, as well as Indians, he said. And then to comeand suddenly vote them out of office and look for some little blackkids with no proven track record is against development.Chief executive David Ellmann-Brown acknowledged yesterday that theZCU, the governing body for Zimbabwe cricket, was concerned about theramifications of the situation.It is naturally worrying and we are attempting to put things togetherto reconcile the differences, he said.Signs of trouble were evident in the first match of the triangularOne-Day series June 23 when Heath Streak quit as captain over thecomposition of a six-member selection panel that excluded him andcoach, former Australian fast bowler Carl Rackemann.Streak relented when he and Rackemann were included. But it upset theequal racial balance of the panel and three non-white members quit.They returned when Streak’s father, Dennis, resigned because of theconflict of interest. Rackemann has since announced he will quit hispost next month to return to Australia.A few days later, Andy Flower, the team’s leading batsman and ratedNo.2 in the world rankings after an outstanding year in 2000, referredto problems within Zimbabwe cricket when receiving the Sportsman OfThe Year award in Harare.He claimed there were no racial difficulties within the Zimbabwe teamour cricketers do not see colour and said it could be an example tothe country at a time of racial, social and political conflict.Peter Chinkoka, the black president of the ZCU, took issue with someof Flower’s remarks, emphasising that it was vital faster progress bemade on the integration of the majority black population into the gamein Zimbabwe.
Florian Wirtz finally scored his first goal for Liverpool as he orchestrated what turned into a less-than-comfortable 2-1 Premier League win over bottom side Wolves.
Wirtz wows as Liverpool scrape past Wolves
A week after registering his first league assist, the Germany international, who had been denied his maiden strike when his effort against Sunderland three weeks ago was ruled an own goal, moved up a level as he pulled the strings for a third-successive league victory.
There will inevitably still be some detractors who will argue a goal against a team who have yet to win this season and have now lost 11 in a row somehow has less value but the £116million summer signing’s all-round performance pointed to a greater contribution.
Having played one delicious, early through-ball for Hugo Ekitike to hit the post, the 22-year-old made more of the striker returning the favour, showing a calmness and control which epitomises his play by ghosting in between the centre-backs to get the ball out from under his feet and poke under Jose Sa.
And The Athletic’s James Pearce was one of many flocking to social media to praise the German after the game, claiming the £195,000-a-week earner was “a delight to watch” but admitting there was “so much room for improvement” from every other Reds player.
His goal came just 89 seconds after Wirtz’s former Leverkusen team-mate Jeremie Frimpong had teed up the opener for Ryan Gravenberch, who broke out Diogo Jota’s crocodile celebration on an emotional afternoon for the late forward’s former two teams.
Two of Jota’s children – Dinis and Duarte – plus a couple of other young family members were part of the pre-match presentation line-ups with one son walking out with Virgil van Dijk and the other with Sa, watched by their mother Rute from the touchline.
It was an emotional occasion for both teams with the visiting fans singing their tribute to their former player, who with his brother Andre Silva died in a car crash in July, in the 18th minute and Anfield rising as one in his memory when the clock ticked over to 20 minutes, the number of his now-retired Liverpool shirt.
Wolves expose Liverpool's set piece weakness again
Wirtz, whose shimmy past Matt Doherty drew gasps of appreciation, continued to pull the strings after half-time and drilled a shot into the side-netting from a corner.
However, by then Wolves had pulled a goal back through Hugo Bueno after exploiting Liverpool’s weakness at set-pieces.
That made things far more uncomfortable than it really should have been for Liverpool, who in the first half played the game predominantly in Wolves’ final third.
Alexis Mac Allister hit the same post as Ekitike before Frimpong drove to the byline past Joao Gomes and Bueno and cut back for Gravenberch to ram home a low shot.
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Just over a minute later the roar was even louder as Wirtz opened his account with a quality finish.
However, seven minutes after half-time Alisson Becker could only parry a header from Tolu Arokodare, whose aerial threat was a problem, after he out-jumped Ibrahima Konate and Bueno converted the rebound.
Liverpool launch mega offer to sign "fantastic" Konate upgrade ahead of Barcelona
The Reds desperately need a centre-back
ByTom Cunningham
The goal reopened the mental wounds which led to a chaotic finish when they conceded at Tottenham last time out and when Arokodare sent another header over, alarm bells started to ring.
Anfield became more nervous as they saw a team which has now become the first to fail to win in their opening 18 matches of a Premier League campaign finish the stronger with Conor Bradley’s perfectly-timed tackle denying Jhon Arias a late equaliser.
Ishank Jaggi’s unbeaten 62 helped Jharkhand round off a relatively straightforward chase against Haryana by nine wickets after Rahul Shukla, Varun Aaron and Shahbaz Nadeem chipped in with vital contributions with the ball.Haryana’s 133 was achieved largely on the back of Rahul Dagar’s 38, even as five other batsmen who got into double figures couldn’t convert their starts. Aaron, the captain, dismissed the openers, with Shukla and Nadeem scything through the middle and lower order as Haryana’s innings ended in 33 overs. Harshal Patel picked up the wicket of Anand Singh, but Jaggi and Kumar Deobrat (38 not out) ensured MS Dhoni wasn’t required to bat as Jharkhand registered their third win in four matches.Kerala bounced back from their loss to Jharkhand on Sunday by consigning Jammu & Kashmir to their third successive loss. The stars for Kerala were Fabid Ahmed, the offspinner, who picked up three wickets to bundle out J&K for 130 before Nikhilesh Surendran, the opener, hit 12 fours and a six in his unbeaten 85 to see Kerala home in 29.5 overs. Kerala’s second win in four matches kept their knockout hopes alive.Manish Pandey’s unbeaten 94 helped Karnataka beat Gujarat by 15 runs (VJD method) at Alur. Chasing 234, Gujarat, courtesy Priyank Panchal’s 52 and Chirag Gandhi’s 43, were 160 for 5 in 40 overs when bad light stopped play. Set a revised target of 205 in 44 overs, Gujarat now needed 45 in 24 balls. They only managed 29, losing three more wickets to finish on 189 for 8.Sent in to bat, Karnataka lost KL Rahul and Sadiq Kirmani cheaply, before Mayank Agarwal (58 off 77) and Pandey added 72 for the third wicket. None of the lower middle-order contributed substantially, barring a 24 from Stuart Binny, and it was left to Pandey to manoeuvre Karnataka to a decent total. He managed this, remaining unbeaten on 94 off 123 balls (6×4, 1×6), to steer Karnataka to 233 for 8.