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Atletico Madrid forward Alvaro Morata has hit out at haters after learning the extent of a knee injury that forced him off in tears against Sevilla.

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Morata hits back at hatersPicked up knee injury against SevillaOut of action for two weeksWHAT HAPPENED?

The Atletico Madrid star picked up a knee injury and left the pitch in tears, clearly fearing a long spell on the sidelines as his club went down 1-0 against Sevilla in La Liga on Sunday. A day later, Atletico released a statement confirming the extent of the problem as they revealed that he had suffered bone bruising and a ligament sprain in his right knee. As per , the Spain international is expected to remain out of action for just two weeks.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesWHAT MORATA SAID SAID

After learning about his recovery timeframe, Morata released a statement where he took a dig at those who had sent hateful messages after he picked up the knock.

Morate wrote: "Thanks God, my knee injury is not serious. Thanks a lot for the nice messages. I also hope that people who send so many hate messages can have just as much desire to be happy and work hard. I’ll be at my best again soon."

@GettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE

The 31-year-old attacker's injury comes as a blow for Los Colchoneros as he has been in fine form this season. He has scored 19 goals across all competitions in 33 games, as well as providing three assists.

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Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR ATLETICO MADRID?

In the absence of the former Chelsea and Juventus star, Diego Simeone is likely to field Memphis Depay in the attack alongside Antoine Griezmann. The team will next be in action in La Liga against Las Palmas on Saturday.

Leicester City have begun the Championship season in flawless fashion, having secured three wins from three games.

However, manager Enzo Maresca is still on the search for reinforcements and a long-term successor to Harvey Barnes, who joined Newcastle United earlier in the summer.

Therefore, the Foxes are hoping to bring one of Africa’s rising stars into their ranks this summer…

What’s the latest Leicester transfer news?

According to the Daily Mail, the Midlands outfit are chasing Sporting Lisbon dynamo Issahaku Fatawu, who is valued at around £12m.

The winger has reportedly been told that he is not part of the Portuguese outfit’s plans this season, with the 2016 Premier League champions aiming to take advantage with a loan deal that would include an option to buy.

Would Issahaku Fatawu be a good signing for Leicester City?

The 19-year-old gem’s rise to his current position and status is absolutely glorious, meandering through the leagues of his homeland and now seemingly on the verge of a move to a side that won the FA Cup just two years ago.

Fatawu’s endearing journey began in 2019 when the then 15-year-old played for Ghanaian second-tier club Steadfast FC. He registered 13 goal involvements in his first 12 games before the league was abandoned due to the pandemic.

But when he returned to action his form hit new heights, as the attacker netted 12 goals and crafted 12 assists in 14 league outings.

Fatawu’s name was gaining popularity around Ghana, and he was subsequently selected for his nation’s 2021 Africa U20 Cup of Nations squad, where he played in every game and scored twice to enable his side to win the tournament.

This was the next stage of his development and prompted more worldwide recognition of his effervescent talent as the Guardian included him in their ‘Next Generation 2021’ and wrote: 'Arguably the best African prospect of his generation.'

The Tamale native is an all-action midfielder who can play behind a striker or on the right wing, where he cuts onto his powerful left foot and plays incisive passes. He was especially electric at the U20 Africa Cup of Nations in 2021, where he was named player of the tournament, despite being younger than the vast majority of the players.”

This was the final tipping point for a European club to get involved and Fatawu joined Sporting CP in April 2022. However, he has only started once for the senior side in all competitions and if tempted with the chance of more game time in a different environment, he could easily make the move.

In comes Leicester, who are brimming with confidence having forged an unbeaten start to the Championship campaign. In their latest match against Cardiff City on Saturday, Wanya Marcal started on the right wing, and it was a memorable occasion for the 20-year-old.

On just his fourth appearance for the club, the attacker netted the first goal for the senior side in a 2-1 victory, whilst managing 93% pass accuracy and winning five ground duels.

However, he only completed one successful dribble, didn’t register any key passes and just 20% of his crosses were accurate, demonstrating that there is still much room for improvement.

Therefore, this opens a pathway for Fatawu, who could relish a new start in the Midlands to battle for that starting spot.

Once described as a “great talent” by Sporting boss Ruben Amorin, it could be an exciting new era for the forward, should he make the switch to the King Power Stadium.

Gideon Haigh reviews Out of My Comfort Zone by Steve Waugh

Gideon Haigh23-Jan-2006

Michael Joseph, hb, 801pp, £20

Eight hundred and one pages; 300,000 words; 1.9 kg. In this statistically-minded age, it is the dimensions of Steve Waugh’s autobiography that first command attention. He has, again, swept the field. Bradman disposed of his life in 316 pages, Hobbs in 320, Allan Border in 270. And this after 10 tour diaries, an album of photographs, and three biographies. The man’s a machine.The hackneyed sportspeak of the title isn’t insignificant either. This is not a comfortable book to hold, let alone read. Most sport memoirs are slight, perfunctory and produced with little care. Waugh has the opposite problem. His stupendous effort in producing this book oozes from every page, almost every passage. He writes like he batted, seemingly in thrall to the idea that the man with the most pages wins. Unable to determine what is important, he has convinced himself that everything is.That’s a shame. There are hints here of genuine self-disclosure, of the drive that made him the cricketer he was, and of the frailties contained by his tight-wound personality. “For me,” he explains, “the hardest part about not doing well was that I began to think I was a failure not just as a player but as a person too.” He was, he admits, a bottler up of his emotions, even with brother Mark. At the peak of his twin’s travails in the match-fixing mess, Waugh recalls, they had a heart-to-heart that, in the great tradition of Aussie stoicism, wasn’t: “Before we parted, we had one of those moments where you know you should let your guard down and just do something. I’m sure we both sensed it – the notion that we should embrace and reassure each other it was going to be okay. But we didn’t.”Waugh is the voice of pragmatism when he wonders if he came back a better player after omission from the Australian side: “Sounds fantastic in theory, but most players who get dropped either don’t make it back or are no better prepared when they get their next chance.” But he is the voice of suggestibility when he enumerates his host of superstitions above and beyond the famous red rag – the alighting on him of a ladybird, for example, he took as a good omen.Captaincy was even lonelier than playing: “A captain can tell he’s skipper the moment he sits down to a team dinner at a restaurant and the chairs on either side are vacant for longer than they have been in the past.” He admits to the occasional “mild anxiety attack” at the coin toss. By the end of his career, his only confidante was his wife, to whom he “let all my pent-up emotions gush out and bawled like a baby” when he was retrenched as one-day skipper.Just when Waugh seems about to open up, however, he seeks the comfort of cliche (“An overwhelming sense of anticipation on top of the comforting knowledge that this was an Australian cricketer’s ultimate sporting adventure stirred me as we gathered at Sydney airport in readiness for my second Ashes tour”) and the safety of statistics (“I performed okay in our other matches, playing in all eight games and finishing fourth in the Australian batting aggregates”). His comfort zone is not merely small but well-fortified.Waugh is also prone to descriptions that are like literary slog-sweeps: batting on an awkward pitch is like “being a wildebeest crossing a swollen African creek bed, knowing that eventually a submerged crocodile will eventually sink its fangs into your flesh”; Michael Bevan was “a `pyjama Picasso’, creating masterpiece after masterpiece to the point that his genius became mundane when people were spoiled by his continued brilliance”; Gavin Robertson “once had the classic textbook technique but it somehow metamorphosed into a batting stance that resembled a badly constipated individual with a `headless chook’ approach”. The writer might have left his comfort zone, but did he have to try taking the reader with him?

Former Celtic manager Neil Lennon enjoyed two largely excellent spells in charge of the Scottish giants as he won ten pieces of silverware for the club.

Which trophies did Lennon win with Celtic?

The Northern Irish head coach dominated football in Scotland and won five Scottish Premiership titles in total, with the latest one coming in the 2019/20 campaign.

Competition

Season won

Premiership

2011/12

Premiership

2012/13

Premiership

2013/14

Premiership

2018/19

Premiership

2019/20

Scottish Cup

2010/11

Scottish Cup

2012/13

Scottish Cup

2018/19

Scottish Cup

2019/20

League Cup

2019/20

Via Transfermarkt.

However, Lennon did not get everything right throughout his two stints in the dugout at Parkhead and some of his dealings in the transfer market were questionable, including the signing of striker Patryk Klimala from Jagiellonia Bialystok.

The Poland youth international flopped at Paradise and it took the club securing a phenomenal piece of business after the Northern Irish head coach moved on to make up for the signing's failure.

How much did Celtic pay for Klimala?

The Hoops reportedly agreed a £3.5m deal to sign the young centre-forward despite having yet to prove himself as a regular scorer at first-team level by that point in his career.

At the time of the move, in January 2020, FootballTransfers placed his Expected Transfer Value (xTV) at €600k (£514k), which is considerably less than the £3.5m Lennon and Celtic sanctioned to sign him.

This suggests that the Scottish giants massively overpaid for the 6 foot marksman as they lavished a big transfer fee on an unproven player whose market value was less than £1m.

Klimala was coming off the back of seven goals in 17 Ekstraklasa matches during the first half of the 2019/20 campaign and that came after the attacker struggled throughout the previous season.

He produced one goal and one assist in 22 games in the Polish top-flight during the 2018/19 term, and arrived at Parkhead with 11 goals and four assists in 50 senior appearances for Bialystok in all competitions.

The Poland U21 international had, however, shown promise at youth level with a stunning 17 goals in nine U19 clashes for Bialystok, whilst he also scored 13 goals in 27 outings in the second division of Polish football on loan with Wigry Suwalki during the 2017/18 campaign.

How many goals did Klimala score for Celtic?

Klimala endured a rough 18 months with the Scottish side as he only found the back of the net three times in 28 competitive appearances in all competitions for the club.

Lennon snapped him up in January of the 2019/20 campaign and slowly bedded him in with four outings during the second half of the season.

He produced one assist in two SFA Cup clashes and did not contribute to any goals in his two Scottish Premiership games, although the young forward only played 15 minutes of football in those matches.

Klimala then played 17 times in the Premiership throughout the following season but was unable to prove his worth to Lennon as he managed three goals and zero assists in that time.

The Polish attacker averaged an unimpressive Sofascore rating of 6.65 in those games and missed five 'big chances', which shows that he was not clinical with the opportunities that did come his way at the top end of the pitch.

27 other players averaged a higher Sofascore rating within the Celtic squad and this highlights how disappointing his displays were when he was given a chance to showcase his skills.

His lack of physicality was also evident as the £3.5m signing lost 68% of his aerial battles and 57% of his duels in total in the top-flight, as per Sofascore, which shows that opposition defenders found it far too easy to get the better of him in physical contests.

He also made seven appearances in the cup competitions, domestically and in Europe, throughout the 2020/21 campaign and failed to deliver a single goal or assist.

How much did Celtic sell Klimala for?

Celtic decided to cash in on the Polish centre-forward in April 2021, which came two months after Lennon was relieved of his duties in February, and played a masterclass in doing so as they were able to rake in a reported fee of €6m (£5m).

The Hoops sold him to MLS outfit New York Red Bulls and made a £1.5m profit, despite his struggles on the pitch throughout his time in Glasgow.

Red Bulls chief Kevin Thelwell hailed him as a "talented" ace and Klimala showcased his quality in front of goal with eight strikes and six assists in 26 MLS starts throughout the 2021 campaign.

However, his form did not last as the former Bhoys lightweight then struggled during the 2022 season and ended the term with five goals and three assists in 29 league outings.

Where is Klimala now?

The 25-year-old finisher is currently playing for Hapoel Beer Sheva in Israel after moving to the club from New York Red Bulls in January of this year.

Klimala has failed to deliver consistent quality at the top end of the pitch since his latest switch as he has scored three goals in 20 appearances in all competitions to date, which includes zero strikes in five matches this term.

At the time of writing (15/09/2023), FootballTransfers has his xTV at €1m (£857k) and this shows that Celtic played a masterclass with their deal to sell him to Red Bulls for a staggering £5m.

The Scottish giants were able to make a £1.5m profit on the Polish flop, in spite of his poor performances on the pitch, and have now watched on as he has struggled to kick on his career beyond life in Glasgow.

Klimala is not playing in a major European league and his market value is nowhere near the fee that they raked in for his services in 2021, which shows that the club made the right decision by selling him when they did.

Whilst the signing was a flop for Lennon on the pitch, the Hoops board made sure that a positive came out of Klimala's time at Parkhead with a fantastic piece of trading that they can look back on as a huge success given his lack of consistency in the final third since his exit.

Getafe have admitted Mason Greenwood "would suit" Barcelona after Sir Jim Ratcliffe's comments on the Manchester United loanee's future.

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Greenwood impressing on loan at GetafeRatcliffe has opened door for his return to Old TraffordBarcelona also interested in English forwardGetty ImagesWHAT HAPPENED?

United sent Greenwood out on loan to Getafe on September 1 after concluding a six-month investigation into his conduct away from the pitch. He saw charges of attempted rape, assault, and coercive control against him dropped in February last year, but the club ultimately decided against reintegrating him into the first team. Moving to La Liga has allowed Greenwood to rebuild his career, though, and after recording 13 goal contributions in his first 24 appearances for Getafe, it has been suggested that Barcelona could make a formal offer for the forward this summer.

AdvertisementWHAT GETAFE'S PRESIDENT SAID

Getafe president Angel Torres is still hopeful that Greenwood will stay at Estadio Coliseum Alfonso Perez beyond the end of the season, but admits that Barcelona would be the ideal fit for the 22-year-old if he were to move on to a new challenge. "He is very comfortable and crazy about staying another year," Torres said to Spanish radio station . "It's a matter that they [United] have to decide. There is new ownership. They have to decide. In Spain, he has a market. Barca's way of playing would suit him well but it depends on Manchester United. If it's true, he'll tell me."

Getty DID YOU KNOW?

Torres' comments came in response to news from Old Trafford earlier in the week, with United's new minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe opening the door for Greenwood's potential return to the club. The INEOS chairman confirmed that a fresh decision over Greenwood's future will be taken when his loan deal at Getafe expires. "He’s a Manchester United footballer so we are in charge of football,” Ratcliffe said. "So the answer is yes, we have to make decisions. There is no decision that’s been made. The process will be: understand the facts not the hype and then try and come to fair decision on the basis of values which is basically is he a good guy or not, and answer could he play sincerely for Manchester United well and would we be comfortable with it and would the fans be comfortable with it."

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GettyWHAT NEXT FOR GREENWOOD?

Greenwood is still under contract at Old Trafford until 2025, but has not played a competitive game for United since January 2022, and it remains to be seen whether he will be given another chance under the INEOS regime. For now, the one-cap England international's focus remains locked on matters at Getafe, who are set to come up against his potential suitors Barcelona in their next La Liga game on Saturday.

Sunderland may lose out in their battle to bring in a key target to strengthen their offensive options late in the window, according to recent reports.

What's the latest news involving Sunderland?

The Black Cats have enjoyed a busy transfer window that has seen plenty of incomings arrive through the door at the Stadium Of Light, including Jenson Seelt, Jobe Bellingham, Elizier Mayenda, Nectarios Triantis, Bradley Dack, Nathan Bishop and Luis Semedo, as per Transfermarkt, but a recognised goalscorer is still on the agenda.

Last weekend, Sunderland managed to gain their first victory this campaign in the Sky Bet Championship, defeating Rotherham United 2-1 at home to avenge the disappointment of losing out in their first two league fixtures to Preston North End and Ipswich Town, as per Sky Sports.

Tony Mowbray has made it clear recently that bringing in a striker is a key priority for the Black Cats between now and the close of play in the market and has spoken in a recent interview about what he is looking for from any prospective recruits in the forward areas, stating via The Chronicle: "We're trying to control the game on most occasions, and then it's about seeing whether teams are going to press or sit off in a block."

He then added: "That's why ultimately you need some mobility at the top end because if people are sitting in a mid-block and your centre-half doesn't think they can get through the lines, sometimes you have to go over the top with some speed and some threat.

"At the moment that's what's missing from this team, because that's not really Hemir or Dack's game. Jobe has that powerful running action that can pressure people, of course, but it's not necessarily speed."

Losing attacking talent will be a big concern for the former Celtic manager and there has been no shortage of interest in star man Jack Clarke this summer, who has been subject to several rejected bids from Premier League outfit Burnley, with their last rebuffed proposal said to be in the region of £13 million, according to The Sunderland Echo.

Patrick Roberts is also a target for both Southampton and Scottish champions Celtic and is believed to have 'growing interest' from both side's in his services, journalist Alan Nixon has revealed on his Patreon.

Is there interest in Amad Diallo?

According to a separate report from The Sunderland Echo, the Black Cats have 'been keeping an eye' on the situation of former loanee Amad Diallo, but club chiefs believe that Manchester United would prefer to see the Ivory Coast international join a Premier League club instead and they will miss out as a result.

Erik Ten Hag is yet to determine Diallo's future and the £28k-a-week ace has attracted interest from Leeds United, Leicester City and Southampton, alongside Sunderland.

Dubbed "incredible" by ex-teammate Luke O'Nien, Diallo spent last campaign on loan on Wearside and ended up being a major hit at the Stadium of Light, notching 14 goals and four assists in 42 appearances across all competitions, as per Transfermarkt.

Diallo also ranks highly in regard to his positional peers across Europe's next eight divisions below the top five leagues on the continent for pass completion, with an 84.7% pass success rate per 90 minutes in the last 365 days, putting the 21-year-old in the 98th percentile for this metric, as per FBRef.

Realistically, it is difficult to see an avenue for Diallo to return if Manchester United do want him to try his hand at the Premier League; nevertheless, Sunderland still look to be at least contemplating an ambitious swoop for the Red Devils' winger.

Liverpool are interested in completing the signing of an "exceptional" player who has broken Reds hearts in the past, according to a fresh transfer rumour.

Liverpool may need Mohamed Salah replacement

Jurgen Klopp has assembled one of the strongest attacking units on show at Anfield in many years, with five brilliant options to choose from in the final third. Mohamed Salah is the undisputed star man, but Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo are top-quality players in their own right, too.

There is the worry that Salah will leave Liverpool at the end of the season, however, with the 31-year-old out of contract at Anfield in the summer of 2025, and therefore having to make a key decision regarding his future later this year. He will either need to sign an extension or move on to pastures new, most likely a Saudi Pro League club.

Should that happen, it is essential that the Reds and FSG act fast and replace the Egyptian superstar with a fantastic player, trying to fill the void left by one of the best players in world football over the past five or six years. While not necessarily a tailor-made immediate successor for Salah, it looks as though Liverpool are eyeing up one highly-rated young attacking ace.

Liverpool want Crysencio Summerville

According to an update from Anfield Watch, Liverpool are interested in signing Leeds United youngster Crysencio Summerville, seeing him as an exciting prospect.

"Liverpool are considering a move for highly-rated Crysencio Summerville during the upcoming summer transfer window, Anfield Watch can reveal.

"The 22-year-old Dutch winger has been turning heads with his impressive performances for Leeds in Championship this season, leading to a slew of interest from clubs in the Premier League, with Jurgen Klopp's side among the former Feyenoord star's admirers."

As mentioned, Summerville, who shares the same agent as Curtis Jones, may not yet be close to Salah's level, in terms of being a world-class player who any team on the planet would want on their side, but he is someone with a high ceiling who Liverpool know a lot about. That's because he scored the winning goal in Leeds' 2-1 win at Anfield last season, in what remains the Reds' only Premier League home defeat in front of fans since April 2017.

Appearances

23

Starts

21

Goals

12

Assists

6

Key passes per game

3.0

Dribbles per game

2.6

The Dutchman has plenty of admirers, one of whom is former Reds striker Michael Owen, who has said of him in the past:

"This is such a good goal. Look at that for a touch [Summerville’s first]. The ball is behind him. He takes one lovely touch with the outside of his foot, then another one to keep him away from the defender and finishes it brilliantly. This is a really hard chance. He’s behind the defender in many ways when he gets the ball. I mean how he does that is really, really exceptional."

Still only 22, Summerville has starred in the Championship this season, shining out wide, and he could be seen as a good squad player to begin with at Liverpool, before becoming more of a key man over time.

From the new Akram to India’s fifth-choice bowler – how did Irfan Pathan come so far the wrong way in just 18 months?

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan29-Jun-2006

Irfan Pathan, once the darling of the masses, is slipping into a rut © Getty Images
Exactly 30 months after he made his Test debut on December 12 of 2003 in that unforgettable battle at Adelaide, Irfan Pathan, for a brief five overs, reminded us of his potential. On an insipid pitch in picturesque Gros Islet, with the sun beating down and West Indies on the defensive, he ran in hard, generated some pace, found some swing, rediscovered his yorker, and dismissed Shivnarine Chanderpaul.Under normal circumstances, one wouldn’t remember the spell (5-2-8-1); it was of the sort a bowler is routinely expected to deliver at Test level. But these aren’t normal times for Pathan. His bumpy journey – from fast-medium to swing to medium to military – has prompted a range of reactions. Some are plain aghast, some insist it’s just a bad patch, while others say he has sacrificed his bowling for his batting.There’s a school of thought that suggests that his bowling was hyped in the first place. This theory, aired by certain observers close to the team, goes somewhat along these lines: Pathan burst onto the scene with a certain exotic charm – given that left-arm bowlers who could curve the ball either way were usually born on the other side of the border. He possessed a good bouncer and a delightful yorker, both of which helped him make an impact in his first two series. Hardly had a beginning been made than a pedestal was erected. Pathan was soon found out in his second season. Ever since that October 2004 afternoon in Bangalore when he consistently clocked close to 85mph in demanding conditions against Australia, his average speed has taken a gradual dip. He still remains a potent weapon when the atmospheric conditions assist, or when he is bowling to leaden-footed minnows, but the threat has diminished, no doubt. Maybe he’s simply someone whose limitations we need to understand. Instead of expecting him to be India’s answer to Wasim Akram, it would have been more fitting if we had thought of him as the next Chaminda Vaas.Pathan, if we are to believe some insiders, is quite confused at the moment. Receiving advice from various quarters – Imran Khan, Michael Holding, Wasim Akram, Andy Roberts – has its own pitfalls. “Pathan hasn’t understood his own game yet,” a source close to the team analysed, “and it becomes difficult for him to filter out what to do and what not to, especially when it comes from such great players. Ultimately, he ends up trying too much.”He has fallen into such a trap earlier. In August last year, he told Cricinfo.com: “After the Pakistan trip [in 2004] I was surrounded by a lot of hype and whenever I was praised, I worked harder by putting in extra hours at the gym… despite the caution of the physio and trainer of not overdoing things, I went and worked harder in the gym.” The upshot was a side strain that ruled him out of action for 20 days.When one watches Pathan bowl these days, it’s pretty obvious that he’s experimenting. On the first day of the tour game against Antigua and Barbuda, he appeared to be halting in his follow-through after delivering the ball. The rhythm was gone, and the local batsmen duly feasted. In his second spell, he tried one short ball too many and saw most of them sit up, begging to be pulled.Greg Chappell, addressing the press at the end of the day, said he was “maybe looking for pace”. Rudi Webster, the well known sports psychologist who spent time with the side, observed Pathan and said he could “feel his lack of confidence”. Worryingly, there have allegedly been snide remarks from some of his team-mates, about him being the coach’s favourite. It leaves him in no-man’s land, with a plateful of problems to sort out.In the second Test at St Lucia – the only one of the first three Tests he played – he appeared to be looking desperately for swing, bowling outside off and trying to make it move away. The ball didn’t do much and Chris Gayle didn’t miss out. “A bowler like Kapil Dev could afford to do that because he could deliver that natural outswinger in any conditions,” the source quoted above said, “Irfan’s immediate challenge lies in understanding his limitations and learning how to still be a good bowler.”Interestingly, in the middle of this decline as a frontline bowler, Pathan the batsman has thrived. Apart from No. 4, he’s batted in every single position in one-dayers (in Tests he’s missed out on Nos. 5 and 6). He has regularly shouldered the burden at the top of the order and, occasionally done spectacularly well. Those who speak about his ability to work at his game say that he spends a lot of time on his batting. Has his batting affected his bowling? Has he, unwittingly, sacrificed his primary suit? First he was the next Akram, then the next Kapil, but as things stood before the final Test at Jamaica, Pathan was India’s fifth-choice bowler and second-choice No. 7.

For the Indians who’ve signed up with the ICL, the league is a welcome change from the apathy they’ve had from the BCCI all these years. By Siddhartha Vaidyanathan

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan30-Nov-2007

Kiran Powar: ‘Tell me one reason why I shouldn’t join the ICL’ © ICL
About 15 years ago Kiran Powar was a bigger name in Mumbai cricket than his brotherRamesh. A left-hand batsman with a wide array of strokes, Kiran struggled to breakinto a powerful Mumbai batting order and switched allegiance to other states. Hespent a number of seasons in Assam and Goa, during which time he made many long journeys by bus, and often, considering hotels were too much of a luxury, even spent nights in one. Frequently, with reimbursement hard to come by, he paid his own travel expenses. He even wasn’t compensated when he was hospitalised once.Today Powar enjoys the comfort of the Taj hotel in Chandigarh. He shares the same dressing room as Brian Lara and Nathan Astle. When I speak to him, he’s having lunch with Vikram Solanki, Johan van der Wath and Danny Redrup, a South African physio who is “showing me the sort of fitness a cricketer needs”. For the first time in Powar’s life he has a sense of security. “Tell me one reason why I shouldn’t join the ICL” he challenges.Powar’s isn’t an isolated case. The general mood among the Indian domestic playerswho have joined the ICL is one of disgruntlement. “Until today none of us had anoption,” says a player who was picked for India a couple of years ago. “Now we havesomeone to take care of us. Wait for some time and players will just rush in.”The BCCI’s apathy is a sore point. A domestic veteran talks about a prominent state association. “They made a big din about introducing central contracts for players,” he says. “Finally, we said, we’ve got some security. And they give us an annual contract of Rs 25,000 [US$ 500 approximately]. Is that any sort of money for a year?”Even more frustrating has been the handling of injuries. Shalabh Srivatsava, an Under-19 star who went on to do well consistently for Uttar Pradesh, travelled to South Africa for an expensive surgery. He is still waiting to be reimbursed. Rakesh Patel, the Baroda fast bowler who was selected for the Indian one-day side recently, underwent a similar fate. “The biggest problem is we can’t play when we’re injured,” says Powar. “It means no reimbursement and no match fees. How do you survive?”Redrup chips in: “This is exactly how rugby used to be conducted in South Africaduring the amateur days. But things changed with professionalism.”The situation with the coaching staff who have signed up with the ICL isn’t too different. Erapalli Prasanna, the former India offspinner, who was with the BCCI’s ill-fated spin wing had had enough of being ignored. “By sending me to Nagpur and to Kolkata for short periods, the NCA [National Cricket Academy] sent a clear message that I was not required. The other signal I got was that the BCCI wanted to get rid of me. The spin wing is finished.”Sandeep Patil, who is currently coaching the Mumbai Champs, echoes those views. “”I waited for the BCCI to give me a suitable job to serve Indian cricket. Twice I had written to the BCCI president, Sharad Pawar, expressing my interest to be a coach of the India Aside. I was assured a two-year contract, but after waiting for almost one and a halfyears, nothing came of it.”Hurdles, hurdles, hurdles
It’s not been easy for these players and coaches who have signed with the ICL. They are derisively referred to as “money whores”.Reetinder Singh Sodhi, the former India allrounder, speaks about being refusedentry into a ground in Patiala. “Imagine the scene,” he says. “You’ve gone to aground to practise almost every day of your life. And one day they stop you. As ifI’m a criminal or something. I’m still playing cricket only, no?”Bengal’s players faced a similar situation at the Calcutta Cricket and FootballClub, though the Essel Group, which runs the ICL, had a corporate membership at the club. JP Yadav and Mohnish Mishra, two Madhya Pradesh players, were forced to withdraw from a club tournament in Bhopal for a similar reason.Three Hyderabad players with jobs in state banks were apparently transferred toKolkata recently. They’ve to now choose between moving to a new city and losingtheir jobs.All ICL players have been banned from playing in corporate tournaments organised by the BCCI. Those who have jobs have had their terms of employment made more stringent. Madhya Pradesh batsman Abbas Ali, who works with Indian Oil, is required to work from 9am to 5pm every day and struggles to find time for practice.It is the youngsters who are hardest hit. “A young cricketer finds a job by telling his employees that he’s a cricketer,” says JP Yadav, the former India allrounder. “Now, since he can’t play corporate tournaments, how is a company going to give him a job? That’s a big worry.”Another implication is that cricketers may have to give up the option of playing leaguecricket in England – since that requires a minimum qualification of four first-classgames in a season.

Sandeep Patil waited in vain for a job as India A coach before signing with the ICL © ICL
Positives galore
Despite the ostracism the players remain upbeat. When JP Yadav walked into theTau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula, his first reaction was simple: “It’s fine, . You’re talking to someone who’s played cricket all his life at the Karnail Singh Stadium.” That, incidentally, is the headquarters of the Indian Railways side, a first-class ground that’s universally regarded as India’s worst in terms of facilities.The players have been given 12 pairs each of coloured uniforms. They’ve been exposed to physios and trainers streets ahead of the ones they’ve been used to in Indian first-class cricket. They’ve received 25% of the yearly payment promised them (as the base price), and are happy to see sums being deposited every month in Axis Bank accounts that have been opened for them.Some foreign players have been impressed with the local talent and have spoken aboutrecommending them to counties and provinces. “Abhishek Jhunjunwala has beennoticed,” says a senior player with the Bengal Tigers. “He was even asked if he would want to qualify to play for England.”The ICL, for all the talk of being the poor cousin to the Indian board’s Indian Premier League, is still an option that a number of Indian domestic players are seriously considering. As recently as September, a couple of players on the fringes were apparently seriously contemplating joining. Both made their India debuts subsequently and shelved the plan.A number of other players, though, are still in the loop. “I’ve got a call from so many domestic cricketers asking, ‘What’s happening, are they recruiting?” says Yadav. “People are definitely interested. It’s just a matter of taking the leap.” Like several others, he is convinced that the next 15 days will only reinforce their faith.

South African seamer should be available for seven County Championship matches and entire Royal London campaign.

George Dobell21-Feb-2018Derbyshire have signed Duanne Olivier as an overseas player for the first half of the 2018 season.The 25-year-old South African seamer should, subject to final clearance from Cricket South Africa, be available for the county’s first seven County Championship matches and the entire Royal London One-Day Cup campaign.”We identified new-ball bowling as an area we wanted to strengthen, especially for the first half of the season in red- and white-ball cricket,” Cricket Advisor, Kim Barnett said. “He is a tall, quick bowler who is keen to prove himself and he will give us another quality option with the ball. He comes highly recommended and will offer further depth to our seam attack.”While Olivier has struggled to command a settled place in the South Africa side – a reflection, in part, of their depth of seam bowling talent – he has played five Tests and claimed his 17 wickets at an impressive average of just 23.11 apiece. His first-class record – he has taken 284 wickets at an average of 22.04 – is excellent and, while he is still learning his trade in white-ball cricket, he has claimed the two best List A figures of his career this year.”I’m looking forward to joining up with Derbyshire and getting straight into bowling overs and contributing to success for the club,” Olivier said. “The club is clear in its drive to keep improving and I’m excited to be a part of an ambitious dressing room. There is a strong bowling attack at the club and I hope to play my part, both on and off the field.”Derbyshire have previously announced the signing of Mitchell Santner as an overseas player for the T20 competition and the second half of the Championship campaign and the release of several young players.