JJ Watt has been told to take Burnley to MLS as he “can afford it”, with the NFL legend admitting to having an American plan for the Clarets.
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India needed 34 off 12. Dinesh Karthik almost single-handedly achieved that target with a stunning 29* off eight balls
The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando18-Mar-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAssociated Press
When Dinesh Karthik came to the crease, India required 34 off 12 balls. Mustafizur Rahman had just delivered perhaps the over of the tournament. A profoundly deflated Vijay Shankar was batting at the other end. What unravelled was a scarcely believable finish that saw Bangladesh fritter away their chance at the title, and Karthik – phenomenally cool at the crease – seized ruthlessly on their string of mistakes.He punished Rubel Hossain in the penultimate over, as the bowler continually missed his yorkers. The first ball, a full toss, disappeared over Rubel’s head. Later in the over, overpitched balls would be smashed over cow corner and blasted past square leg. Twenty-two runs were hit off that over, but Karthik’s best moment came at the end of the next. India now needing five off the last ball, he drilled a wide half volley from Soumya Sarkar over the extra cover rope. An India-supporting Khettarama crowd, a phenomenon without precedence in the 21st century, was tipped into euphoria. His own team-mates flew out of the dressing room to greet him, engulfing him in a frenzied huddle.Bangladesh, who had already triumphed in two thrillers, doing so much to prove they had rid themselves of the many hang-ups their 2016 World T20 defeat to India had spawned, were almost inconsolably distraught at the end of this match, now having collected a second haunting loss at the same opponent’s hands. They had bowled so beautifully in defense of their 166 for 8 – a total that seemed perhaps 15 runs light. They had bowled four consecutive boundary-less overs in the middle, conceding only 16 during that spell, and consequently raising India’s required rate from 7.81 at the end of the ninth over to 10 at the close of the 13th. Rohit Sharma, who had helped set up the pursuit with 56 off 42, was dismissed soon after, and both Manish Pandey nor Shankar were chased into a corner by a proliferation of Bangladesh dot balls.But all through this tournament, India have found special performers even from among this second string of players. After Mustafizur had bowled a wicket maiden in his final over the tournament, Karthik was India’s human adrenaline shot, reviving an innings that had seemed doomed to a quiet death. His only stroke of fortune was that he had Sarkar to face in the last over, a result of Bangladesh’s refusal to give Mehidy Hasan a second over after his first had been hit for 17 in the Powerplay.Associated Press
Elsewhere in the game – though so much will be forgotten in that scintillating last-ball finish – there was a 77 off 50 balls from Sabbir Rahman that held the Bangladesh innings together, and outstanding spells from Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar, the former claiming 3 for 18, the latter 1 for 20.In fact, the two India spinners had combined to deck the opposition top order as early as the fourth over of the game. The openers had been watchful in Sundar’s first over, but the moment one attacked him a wicket resulted – Liton Das caught at square leg after having attempted a slog sweep. Next over, Chahal’s first, provided two more wickets. Tamim Iqbal advanced, but although he sent the ball high into the Colombo night, he could not clear the field – Shardul Thakur plucking the ball above his head at long-on and expertly keeping his balance to avoid contact with the boundary. Four balls later, Sarkar swept Chahal straight to square leg, and Bangladesh were 33 for 3.Sabbir was involved in rebuilding work with the seniors, putting on 35 in Mushifqur Rahim’s company, then 36 in Mahmudullah’s. Bangladesh would probably have got themselves to a better score had Sabbir not run Mahmudullah out in the 15th over – Mahmudullah marooned at the striker’s end after Sabbir had sprinted to the keeper without taking note of his partner’s reluctance. Sabbir then took it upon himself to club a few more leg-side boundaries, before being dismissed himself. Mehidy Hasan provided a final fillip, scoring 18 off the last over, bowled by Thakur.India appeared to have the measure of this chase early, as after only 13 balls they had already struck 30. But then Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina fell in successive overs, and the innings slowed down. Rohit, who had made 39 in the Powerplay, scored only 13 runs in the six subsequent overs, When he holed out to Nazmul Islam – the original keeper of the dance – Pandey and Shankar were brought together. It was their dithering partnership, which was worth only 35 off 28 balls, that left India requiring the kind of furious finish that Karthik provided.
Rasmus Hojlund continued his recent hot streak in front of goal after a "long conversation" with Manchester United legend Robin van Persie.
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As a result, one demerit point has been added to each player’s disciplinary records
ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jan-2018Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza has been fined 20% of his match fee while Sri Lanka opener Danushka Gunathilaka has been officially reprimanded for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during the tri-series final in Mirpur on Saturday.Both players breached Article 2.1.7 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman upon his/her dismissal during an International Match.”As a result, one demerit point has been added to each player’s disciplinary records. Both players admitted their offences and accepted the sanctions proposed by match referee David Boon.The Mashrafe incident occured in the sixth over of Sri Lanka’s innings when the Bangladesh captain dismissed Kusal Mendis and yelled while running close to him during a send off in a “manner that could have provoked an aggressive reaction,” according to the ICC release.The incident involving Gunathilaka happened in the sixth over of the chase when Tamim Iqbal was dismissed by Dushmantha Chameera and Gunathilaka gave the batsman a send-off when he was walking towards the dressing room.It was Gunathilaka’s first offence while Mashrafe was sanctioned for the second time since the introduction of the revised Code in September 2016. Mashrafe had received one demerit point during the home ODIs against England in October 2016 and now has a total of two demerit points.
Cape Town, Centurion and Johannesburg were named as the venues for South Africa’s three-match Test series against India
Firdose Moonda27-Sep-20171:06
India’s tour of South Africa itinerary
Durban will not host a Test against India this summer after Cape Town, Centurion and Johannesburg were named as the venues for South Africa’s three-match series. The news is particularly surprising since Durban is documented to have the largest Indian population outside of India.
Zimbabwe
December 20-22: Zimbabwe v SA Invitation XI, Paarl
December 26-29: Only Test, Port Elizabeth
India
Tests
January 5-9: 1st Test, Cape Town
January 13-17: 2nd Test, Centurion
January 24-28: 3rd Test, Johannesburg
ODIs
February 1: 1st ODI, Durban
February 4: 2nd ODI, Centurion
February 7: 3rd ODI, Cape Town
February 10: 4th ODI, Johanneshburg
February 13: 5th ODI, Port Elizabeth
February 16: 6th ODI, Centurion
T20Is
February 18: 1st T20, Johannesburg
February 21: 2nd T20, Centurion
February 24: 3rd T20, Cape Town
Since readmission, when India first visited South Africa, there has only been one tour in which India did not play a Test in Durban. In 2001, the matches were held in Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth. Kingsmead has been a Test host in all India series of three Test matches or more.The same Test venues were chosen to host the T20Is against India. The T20s will all be double-headers with the South African Women playing the India women before the men’s matches.The only consolation for Kingsmead is that it will host the first of the six ODIs. The second and sixth ODI will both be played at Centurion’s SuperSport Park with Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth being given the third, fourth and fifth matches.In their release confirming the fixtures, CSA did not provide an explanation for Durban’s exclusion and Dolphins CEO Heinrich Strydom admitted he was not privy to the exact reasons behind it. “With the shortened tour, it was a tricky one for them to sort out,” Heinrich Strydom, Dolphins CEO told ESPNcricinfo. “We just want to serve cricket as best as we can.”ESPNcricinfo has learned Kingsmead had to take the fall for contractual agreements CSA made with other stadia and the India series being cut from four Tests to three. As a result, one major ground had to lose out and it was expected to be the Wanderers. Since there are two Test venues on the Highveld, SuperSport Park, not given an Australia Test, was thought to be the favourite venue to host India, while the Wanderers, South Africa’s largest stadium, could be content with the inaugural T20 Global League final. Instead, Kingmead was cut off.South Africa have grown wary of playing India at a venue where they enjoy a large support base and a surface that has become slower over the years. India have won one Test win at Kingsmead – and only two in South Africa – in 2010. Still, there may be a subcontinental argument. Sri Lanka’s only Test win in South Africa was achieved in Durban in 2011 and Pakistan’s first of two Test wins in the country came at Kingsmead, though that was in 1998.A more convincing argument could have been the debacle of last summer, when Durban’s August Test against New Zealand was unable to be concluded after the outfield became waterlogged following a massive storm. The fault, though, was largely CSA’s after they didn’t allow much time for the outfield to settle after a re-scarifying process. Some sources said the incident last year had nothing to do with the scant fixtures the venue will stage this summer.The biggest beneficiary in Test terms is St George’s Park, where a four-day, day-night match against Zimbabwe over Boxing Day and a Test against Australia will be held.
Saturday could be the last time we will watch Brian Lara in an international match. West Indian cricket is unlikely to miss him
Sambit Bal19-Apr-2007
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Saturday could be the last time we watch Brian Lara in an international match. Anyone who has a feel for cricket will mourn his loss, for no batsman in the last 15 years has brought more joy to spectators. But paradoxically, West Indian cricket is unlikely to miss him.Lara’s legacy will be deeply flawed as he has been the most mortal of geniuses. Any human, however talented, must be granted his indiscretions, and Lara has always been a complex character. His batting, a hostage to his moods, has touched extraordinary highs and inexplicable lows. But that’s the essence of Lara and the peaks have been so rewarding that it’s been easy to overlook the troughs.To judge Lara’s contribution to West Indian cricket, it is essential to separate his batting from his leadership. Lara the batsman is peerless, light years ahead of his compatriots who have struggled to match the deeds of their predecessors. Lara the leader has been diametrically opposite. Aloof and whimsical are the mild words used to describe him. The stronger ones are selfish, vindictive and unbecoming.It is hardly a secret that Lara was foisted as captain by Ken Gordon, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board and a fellow Trinidadian, after the infamous row between the board and the players over sponsorship in 2005. A majority of the then selection committee didn’t want him and none of the members of the present one want him either. But Gordon, in a move that will be familiar to most cricket fans in the subcontinent, imposed his will on them, and might want to do so again. However, his hold on the board has been weakened following the World Cup debacle, and if the selectors have their way, Lara will not make the West Indian touring party for the trip to England in May. Not as captain, not even as player.While it would be unfair to blame one person, however powerful, for the abjectness of an entire team, those in the know firmly believe that the rot begins right at the top. Lara, they say, has never allowed the team to settle down, and worse, done his best to undermine any player who has crossed his path.Of course, barring occasional outbursts against the selectors, he has been a model of rectitude and decorum in public, always choosing the right words, and hitting the right notes. In his press conference before the game against Bangladesh at Kensington Oval on Thursday, he repeated his apology to cricket fans and talked about the disappointment of the Caribbean nations. “The need to show character” was a phrase that came up repeatedly.
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Yet, Lara, who will retire from one-day internationals after the tournament, stands accused of destroying the character of the team more than anyone else. On the field, he has been eccentric and unpredictable and some of his tactics have bordered on the bizarre. Some of his improvisations, like opening the bowling with Wavell Hinds and Dwayne Smith, have borne fruit, and he has been persuasive in arguing that he has used innovation as a surprise weapon due to the lack of too many real ones at his disposal. “I wouldn’t have needed to experiment if I was leading Australia,” he said during last year’s Champions Trophy.But some of the selections defied logic and cricket sense. For much of last year, Ian Bradshaw and Jerome Taylor were the team’s best one-day bowlers. Bradshaw was outstanding with the new ball, often bowled his overs through and conceded about 40 runs. Taylor was beginning to master operating at the death, delivering at pace and firing in yorkers. Both have found themselves dropped repeatedly and Bradshaw has been used at first change and sometimes even at the death where he has been easy meat at his pace.Lara picked the rookie Lendl Simmons as a batsman in the World Cup and put him at No. 8, and in the crucial, near knock-out match against New Zealand, he chose to hand a one-day debut to the 19-year-old Keiron Pollard while dropping Marlon Samuels, in whom he had expressed faith only a few weeks earlier.Off the field, he has set a poor example to his team-mates when it comes to behaviour and personal work ethic. Genius must receive an allowance, and tales of Garry Sobers turning up at a match after a night of revelry abound in these parts. But Sobers played in a different era and he was captain for only a short part of his career. Lara has led a bunch of impressionable and far less talented individuals much prone to the risk of being led astray.And he has been severe on the players who he has come to dislike. Ramnaresh Sarwan, a captaincy candidate who has a far better record in both forms of the game than most current players, had the mortification of being dropped on the tour of Pakistan and others have had their batting positions shuffled. Some are believed to be dead against him, while many others live in fear. It is not only a team lacking faith in its own ability, but lacking faith in their leader.The cricket world will be poorer for Lara’s departure, but for West Indian cricket it could be the way forward. It’s a tragedy. Lara ought to be remembered as one of the most special batsmen in the history of the game and not a captain whose whims and sullenness destabilised an already feeble team.
Sabbir Rahman’s 70 and Nasir Hossain’s fighting half century were not enough as Sylhet lost their fourth completed game in a row
Mohammad Isam20-Nov-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBrendon McCullum looks to paddle•Raton Gomes
Rangpur Riders came back to winning ways after their seven-run win over Sylhet Sixers at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum lived up to their billing as the star opening act but the Bangladeshi duo, Sabbir Rahman and Nasir Hossain , gave Rangpur a real scare before Sylhet’s chase faded away.Rangpur now have two wins in five outings while Sylhet continue to struggle, losing for the fourth time. They haven’t won a game since leaving their home territory almost two weeks ago.The storm finally makes land-fallGayle played out a maiden over bowled by Hossain, a sure sign of settling down for the Jamaican giant. As he took things slowly, McCullum swatted Shuvagata Hom for two sixes in the second over before Danushka Gunathilaka dropped McCullum’s offering of a return catch in the fourth over.In the following over, Gayle officially got underway in the BPL. He slammed Nasir over his head for his first six before Gunathilaka was tonked for two sixes in a row, on either side of long on. He hit his fourth and fifth sixes off Liam Plunkett and Nasir, both over the square leg-side field.Rangpur’s slowdownWhen Nasir got McCullum in the ninth over, Rangpur started to slow down. McCullum had made 33 off 21 balls with three fours and as many sixes; in the 11th over it was Gayle who left, bowled by Abul Hasan for 50 off 39 balls, with his five sixes and two fours.With the destructive pair gone, Mohammad Mithun and Shahriar Nafees played out 14 balls without going anywhere before Andre Fletcher took a superb catch at backward point to get rid of Nafees in the 13th over. Only Ravi Bopara hit a six among the middle-order batsmen, as Rangpur reached 169-7 in 20 overs.Hasan finished with 2 for 24 from his four overs while there was a wicket each for Nasir, Bresnan and Plunkett.Sylhet lose three quicklySohag Gazi got the initial breakthrough, removing Gunathilaka in the second over. Babar Azam, playing his first match for Sylhet, holed out to deep midwicket off Mashrafe Mortaza before Andre Fletcher’s dismissal in the fourth over, caught behind off Rubel Hossain, made it 25 for three.Sabbir takes overSabbir and Nasir played well thereafter, for the first time in the tournament. The pair added 117 runs for the fourth wicket, taking only 13.4 overs. Sabbir made 70 off 49 balls with seven fours and two sixes but when he fell in the 18th over, Sylhet slipped out of the chase.Nasir ended up unbeaten on 50 off 43 balls with a four and a six while Tim Bresnan struck a six off the last ball but to no avail.Mashrafe, Sohag, Rubel and Thisara Perera took one wicket each as they combined to bring the big-spending Rangpur side a much-needed win.
The six-team franchise competition was originally due to be played in 2018 from March 14 until April 15 but could be brought forward by four months
Firdose Moonda13-Oct-2017South Africa’s domestic 20-over competition is likely to be moved into the window left vacant by the T20 Global League, which was postponed earlier this week. The six-team franchise competition was originally due to be played in 2018 from March 14 until April 15 but could be brought forward by four months, subject to a final board approval.In a teleconference on Thursday, the franchise CEOs were asked to confirm the feasibility of hosting the domestic T20 in that time and assured CSA it could be done. The only outstanding tick in the box is to check with the broadcasters but unlike the T20 Global League, CSA will not need to sign a new partner. SuperSport already hold the rights of all cricket played in South Africa.A massive boost for the domestic tournament will be that all the national players will be available to participate, which is usually not the case. That means South Africa’s players will not be granted NOCs to play in other leagues, such as the Bangladesh Premier League, in that time. It is also unlikely that international opposition will be sought over that period.”If there is an international tour in that time, only 12 or so guys will be playing. What about the rest of the players? They can’t sit around for six weeks and not do anything,” a source told ESPNcricinfo.CSA was believed to be exploring options for hosting one of Pakistan or West Indies but acting CEO Thabang Moroe said the board will not enter into an endeavour which will cost them money. Only incoming tours against India, England and Australia make CSA money, so any other opposition would be loss-making and CSA cannot afford to incur more expenses. Instead, they will spend money they would have spent anyway on the 20-over competition. All that remains is for them to find a sponsor for it. Courier company Ram opted not to renew their deal last season, and it was played without a corporate backer.When the competition was called the Ram Slam, it made headlines for the wrong reasons. A protracted match-fixing investigation took place from late 2015 until July this year during which seven players including four former internationals, Gulam Bodi, Alviro Petersen, Thami Tsolekile and Lonwabo Tsotsobe, were banned for between periods of two and 20 years. CSA maintained that no actual fixing took place but there were attempts made. Last season’s 20-over tournament was a low-profile affair which was played in November-December, while the Test team was in Australia.
Ghana boss Chris Hughton was subjected to scary scenes following a shock AFCON defeat to Cape Verde, with fans reportedly out to attack him.
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Stats preview for the first Test between South Africa and India in Johannesburg
Kanishkaa Balachandran14-Dec-2006
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| Matches | SA won | India won | Draw | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 16 | 7 | 3 | 6 |
| In SA | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| In India | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Player | Overall | Runs | Ave | In SA | Runs | Ave | Diff | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tendulkar | 16 | 1003 | 37.14 | 9 | 636 | 42.40 | 5.26 | |||
| Sehwag | 4 | 411 | 68.50 | 2 | 149 | 49.66 | – 18.84 | |||
| Dravid | 12 | 829 | 39.47 | 5 | 379 | 42.11 | 2.64 | |||
| Ganguly | 11 | 522 | 27.47 | 5 | 292 | 32.44 | 4.97 | |||
| Laxman | 9 | 330 | 27.50 | 4 | 190 | 47.50 | 20.00 |
| Country | Total overs | Maidens | Maiden percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 765.3 | 198 | 25.87 |
| New Zealand | 363.5 | 98 | 25.58 |
| India | 7413.5 | 1863 | 25.13 |
| Australia | 686.1 | 112 | 16.32 |
| Pakistan | 429.3 | 58 | 13.51 |