Kerala opening batsman MP Sorab was in his elements on Saturday as heguided his team to make a fitting reply to Andhra’s 355 at close ofplay on the second day of their three day match in the Coca ColaTrophy South Zone (under-25) tournament at the MaharajaJayachamarajendra Wodeyar Sports complex in Bangalore. Unnerved by thechallenging Andhra total, Kerala piled up 311 for five wickets atstumps with Sorab still going strong on 157.Kerala were given an excellent start in the morning with Sorab andVarun Girilal putting on 188 runs for the first wicket off 56.3overs. Girilal who batted a shade over four hours, faced 174 balls andhit nine fours and six. C Sanju (3) and skipper NA Kudua (5) did notlast long and Kerala slid to 218 for three. But Sorab and KPK Nambiar(50) then added 89 runs for the fourth wicket off 21.2 overs. Nambiar,who dominated the partnership faced only 69 balls and hit six foursand a six. Nearing stumps, off spinner Vatekar who was the only Andhrabowler to be effective, bowled Nambiar and CM Shyam (0) in successiveovers. But Sorab carried on till close of play and at the end he hadbatted 396 minutes, faced 296 balls and hit 22 fours. Vatekar finishedwith the impressive figures of four for 64 off 30 overs.
Aston Villa had a rather busy January transfer window in terms of bringing new players to the club on permanent and temporary loan deals.
With the next summer transfer window in mind, it seems as though the Midlands club have their eye on making one of their January loan deals into a permanent one.
What’s the latest?
According to a recent article from Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness), Steven Gerrard’s side are looking to trigger the release clause that would see goalkeeper Robin Olsen remain at Villa Park on a permanent basis when his loan deal from AS Roma expires at the end of the season.
The report also claims that it would cost Johan Lange and the Villans €3.5m (£2.8m) to keep the Swedish shot-stopper.
Since arriving at the club back in January, the 32-year-old has yet to make an appearance for Villa, being an unused substitute for their past five league games.
With that in mind, it seems that the only way the £6m-rated loanee will get a chance to play would be if Emi Martinez were unable to play for whatever reason.
Steer upgrade
Having been praised for his “monstrous” performances on the international stage in the past, Olsen will undoubtedly be hoping to show everyone at the Midlands club what he’s capable of before the end of the season.
However, with the club apparently already looking to keep him where he is beyond this current campaign, this suggests that they have seen enough in him to persuade them to spend some money to trigger his release clause.
As the former Everton and Sheffield United loan star arrived in January, this paved the way for Jed Steer to make a move out of the club for a loan switch to Championship club Luton Town.
If the Englishman, who has only made a total of 36 appearances for the Villans across all competitions and conceded 37 goals in the process, ends up calling time on his period as a Villa player in the summer, this would surely make Olsen a big upgrade for the club based on the significant experience he has, having made a total of 270 senior club appearances throughout his career.
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With Steer failing to make the most of his one opportunity to impress for his parent club earlier in the season when he conceded three goals in their 3-0 defeat against Chelsea as well as only making one save and misplacing eight of the 12 long ball passes he attempted, this suggests that he may not be good enough to play for Gerrard’s side moving forward.
As a result, securing a permanent deal for the 32-year-old in the summer could end up being a bargain move from the Midlands club if can prove himself as a useful option and a reliable backup option for Martinez, something Steer hasn’t done.
In other news: Lange can finally axe £34k-p/w dud with AVFC swoop for £36m-rated “destroyer” – opinion
Matthew Elliott just missed out on his second one-day hundred in a week, but his 94 against Queensland in Adelaide helped South Australia make it two wins in five days following their midweek success in Perth. Their seven-wicket win means they are now in second after beginning the week in fifth; an excellent Christmas bonus – and it was Queensland they leapfrogged.Elliott continued in a rich vein of form, his innings making him the leading runscorer in this year’s competition, and he was in super touch with some typical clean hitting. He also paced his innings well and picked the gaps with ease.He was particularly impressive through the on-side, both straight and square, until he holed out at deep midwicket by Clinton Perren off Aaron Nye going for a swept six trying to bring up his hundred and win the match. It wasn’t to be but he left his team-mates with little work to do.Daniel Harris provided an excellent support act in an opening stand of 94, and he made a solid 34 until edging through off stand-in skipper James Hopes. Daniel Christian followed soon after, a soft catch off Michael Kasprowicz to Aaron Nye at short midwicket, but the platform had been set, and Mark Cosgrove’s pacy, unbeaten 27 duly saw them home.The batsmen had been given room to swing following an excellent bowling and fielding display which tied Queensland in knots after Hopes, deputising for the injured Jimmy Maher, chose to bat on a good batting pitch. They slumped to 5 for 67, without Shane Watson, who had a virus, and under pressure from Paul Rofe and Ryan Harris, who each bagged two wickets, and Jason Gillespie, who grabbed one.Their 170 represented a mini-recovery: Ashley Noffke and Nye both helped out with 45, but the total was always going to be well short.Nathan Adcock’s bowling again proved useful and he was on a hat-trick after bowling Carseldine and taking a screaming return catch off Grant Sullivan. His third ball, to Kasprowicz, only just missed off stump. Dan Cullen also found good turn, and a wicket, as all the bowlers impressed.South Australia, then, will take great seasonal cheer from their fielding, too, with Cosgrove taking two lightning catches in the slips and Gillespie’s direct hit removing the unlucky Hopes who had made a good start with 39 until he ran in to Rofe. Noffke, who had begun to lead the recovery, was then also run out, another important wicket.It was unseasonally cold in Adelaide, but the home side’s performance was a heartwarming Christmas present for the Redbacks who have now won five of their last six games. It was Queensland who provided the only blip in among those wins, but that was in a rain-affected encounter at the WACA. On Sunday, however, nothing could stop them and they can already look forward to the new year.
Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, has criticised Pakistan’s international schedule, claiming that the team would be too tired before the World Cup in the West Indies begins in March. “Unfortunately, in today’s merry-go-round, I think you can call it, tour itineraries are just nonsensical,” he said.Pakistan’s current tour of South Africa includes three back-to-back Tests and five one-dayers, a cramped schedule compared to India’s tour which preceded this series. “They’ve got to sit down and really think it through. I’m particularly worried that the World Cup comes so soon after a three day Test series and five one-day internationals crammed into just over a month.”The modern coach is going to have to factor in a completely different way of structuring practices and structuring tours in order to cope with this situation. This all makes winning away from home very tough.”Woolmer hoped that all the individual cricket boards take player issues into consideration before drawing up itineraries, especially before important tournaments like the World Cup. With Pakistan’s final one-dayer scheduled for February 14, they have barely three weeks to recuperate before the World Cup warm-up matches get underway. Woolmer had requested that Pakistan play just one Test instead of three, mainly to avoid player fatigue.”I think it could be a bridge too far for a lot of our players and I’m really worried about it,” Woolmer said. “There’s so little time to prepare. In the past, you would have a couple of four-day games; you’d have 10 or 11 days in the nets, and then you’d walk into the first Test match. Now you have to adapt as best you can to the conditions.
ScorecardMark Cleary’s quickfire debut century and an impressive haul from Cullen Bailey put South Australia well on top of Tasmania on the second day at Adelaide. Bailey, a 20-year-old legspinner playing his fourth first-class match, ended with the impressive figures of 4 for 58 to give the hosts a comfortable lead of 419 runs.Cleary came to the crease when Graham Manou fell without adding to his overnight 67 and with Darren Lehmann, who continued his brilliant innings to finish with 182 from 186 balls, the pair put on 115 in 18 overs. Cleary was unbeaten on 109, his first Pura Cup century, after hitting 18 fours and one six from 104 deliveries, allowing South Australia to declare on the imposing total of 9 for 581.It was Cleary who then made the first breakthrough in Tasmania’s reply, removing Michael Di Venuto for a duck with his first ball. “It’s just my day this, my day,” Cleary told AAP. “I’m happy to take that one because I don’t think the quicks will be getting that many more for the rest of the game.”Fifteen wickets to get, it should normally swing our way with the wicket getting fluffier and up and down. [We are] definitely in the box seat … we would be absolutely devastated if we didn’t get six points out of it from our position at the moment.”
The ongoing dispute within the Mashonaland Cricket Association (MCA) looks set to end up in court after Tawengwa Mukuhlani, the deposed chairman, and three other sacked board members told a local newspaper that they were taking legal action action to try to overturn their dismissals.The four were sacked during a heated special general meeting just before Christmas after members accused them of not taking a firm stand against the running of Zimbabwe Cricket. Now Mukuhlani is claiming the meeting was unconstitutional. "The board did not agree on the meeting," he told the Zimbabwe Independent. "We just decided that since clubs had said they wanted to go ahead with the meeting, we did not want to be a stumbling block … we had agreed to set the agenda for the meeting which was to discuss the change of logo and name. We were very surprised that people did not stick to the agenda item."Mukuhlani said that the new board had fuelled the dispute with ZC, choosing confrontation ahead of negotiation. "Before the dispute broke out ZC approached MCA to discuss several issues affecting cricket. MCA agreed to discuss everything apart from the re-branding, and indication that they were rearing for a fight."The legal maneuvering was dismissed by Cyprian Mangenge, the new MCA chairman, who said that the constitution had been adhered to.It is believed that Mukuhlani was recently told in no uncertain terms by Peter Chingoka, the ZC chairman, to reassert his authority over the MCA. The aggressive attitude of the new board has led to some bitter discussions and casued further unease within Zimbabwe cricket at a time the board are keen to be seen as united.
Christopher Martin-Jenkins, the chief cricket correspondent of The Times and a regular voice on BBC’s Test Match Special, has proposed a radical solution to the problems that are besetting county cricket. Among the ideas he raises in today’s edition of The Times are a return to uncovered pitches, to improve batting techniques and assist the re-emergence of finger-spinners, and a regional flavour to the County Championship, which would aim to retain competitiveness without putting clubs out of business.In recent weeks several England captains, including Michael Vaughan, Alec Stewart, and Bob Willis and Mike Atherton, who are both members of the Cricket Reform Group, have advocated a reduction in the amount of cricket played at county level. CMJ agrees that this needs to be the case, but argues that the traditions of county cricket cannot be carelessly cast aside.Although it is widely recognised that Australian cricket thrives despite being limited to six first-class teams, CMJ rightly points out that the population of England and Wales is more than three times that of Australia, and if any aspiring cricketer is to make his way to the highest level, his progress is not going to be helped by a reduction of outlets for his talents. Instead, the onus is on making the existing counties financially viable. “Provided all the counties continue to develop their own revenue sources in a professional manner,” he writes, “there is nothing to be gained by pushing any of them over the edge.”But the means to that end is somewhat radical. The first step would be to impose a salary cap: according to the ECB’s annual report, almost two-thirds of their annual gross profit is being ploughed back into the first-class and minor counties, with the majority of that going towards an ever-expanding wage bill. CMJ argues that there are too many mediocre players in the county game who are not eligible for England selection, and if all clubs were restricted to 16 full-time professionals, that would necessarily lead to a stripping-away of some of the dead wood.Further costs could be cut by the abolition of the National League, which is sponsorless and unloved, now that the Twenty20 Cup has arrived with such a bang, and that in turn would permit an expansion of the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy to include a zonal stage, similar to the one that used to kick-start the now-defunct Benson & Hedges Cup.Regional cricket would take a further step forward with a two-part redesign of the County Championship. The first half would be conducted along geographical lines, which would reduce the number of matches as well as save on travel costs; the second stage would take the top nine teams into a separate league, to allow traditional rivals such as Surrey and Lancashire the chance to face each other in a first-class showdown.CMJ also suggests the introduction of an early-season regional league of five two-day matches, played over 200 overs under Australian Grade rules. These would comprise England-qualified players only, and the ECB contracts would be announced only when these matches are completed in the first week of May. Similar regional combinations would play in the matches against touring sides, as the county fixtures lost their relevance long ago, when the top players began to opt out.The competitions would be spiced up by improved prize money, including rewards for each match won, and the implementation of a ten-year experiment with uncovered pitches. “Since 1981,” writes CMJ, “pitches have become slower and blander, encouraging one-dimensional, inflexible cricket and cricketers.” Whether the counties themselves are still flexible enough to embrace such a plan, however, remains to be seen.
Otago’s John Davies Oval at Queenstown will be on centre stage tomorrow in the State Shield match with Wellington.The ground is the newest addition to the first-class scene in New Zealand and if its pitch proves anything like those at Carisbrook, in Dunedin, and Molyneux Park, in Alexandra, it will be a very popular venue.In the lea of the Remarkables, it is the ground to be now used for the visit by England for their three-day game with Otago in March.However, for Wellington the scenery is not going to be as important as getting away to a good start in the competition so as to take advantage of the absence of New Zealand’s leading players with the CLEAR Black Caps for the remaining rounds.Otago too, after being on the receiving end in the State Championship, will be looking to use this competition to give itself a boost to get among the leading contenders. There is a competitive look to the side in all departments and with the innovator himself coaching the side in Glenn Turner some interesting tactics may emerge.Otago: Lee Germon (captain), Martyn Croy, Craig Cumming, Chris Gaffaney, Andrew Hore, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Warren McSkimming, Craig Pryor, David Sewell, Rob Smith, Kerry Walmsley.Wellington: Matthew Bell (captain), Chris Nevin, Stephen Fleming, Richard Jones, David Sales, Matthew Walker, James Franklin, Mayu Pasupati, Mark Jefferson, Andrew Penn, Paul Hitchcock, Grant Donaldson.
Air India hardly broke into a sweat in romping past South Zone byseven wickets for their third successive victory in the CricInfo RaniJhansi tournament at the SRMC ground in Chennai today. South Zone putin a richly soporific display with the bat, scraping together 84/9 in50 overs after winning the toss and batting. Opener Vanita Viola wasthe lone lass who managed to stay put at the wicket for any length oftime but her 46 not out (129 balls) in 50 overs was just a shadebetter than Sunil Gavaskar’s infamous 36 in 60. In the post noonsession, GS Lakshmi again bowled her heart out, grabbing two earlywickets, but a 54 run fourth wicket partnership between Mithali Rajand Anju Jain steered the Air India women home with 22 overs to spare.Keeping in mind the formidable batting reputation of Air India, Southdared not tempt fate by putting them in and the match as a spectaclewas killed at that very moment. The openers just did not make anyeffort to score. At the very least they could just drop the ball attheir feet and run but here they were patting the ball straight to thefielders, refusing to be hurried. New ball bowlers, Smitha Harikrishnaand Kusumlatha gave away just 15 runs in the first twelve overs beforeoff spinner Seema Pujare was brought on from the pavilion end.She struck with her third ball to as Karuna Jain stepped out to oneoutside off stump and missed the line to be stumped by keeper AnjuJain. New batswoman Harsha was brilliantly caught by Mamtha Ranade atslip in Seema’s third over as she drove lazily at one outside offstump. And Sejal then gifted a dolly catch to Smitha at mid off togive Seema three out of three and leave the score at 23/3 in the 19thover. Kusumlatha had bowled out her ten overs on the trot to finishwith the fabulous figures of 10-6-6-0, which speaks as much for heropponent’s ineptness as much for her own skill.Left arm spinner Usha Bogade was introduced in the 22nd over whilePurnima Rao’s off breaks were seen in action from the otherend. Vanita Viola and Sudha Rani then added 32 runs for the fourthwicket before Purnima got rid of Sudha Rani, caught behind by AnjuJain. Amsavalli hit a full toss into the arms of backward square legand Kamakshi ran herself out going for an ambitious second run throughthe covers. There was a spell between the 40th and 45th overs when norun came off the bat for 29 balls and the last ten overs produced allof 17 runs. Seema finished with 3/13 in 10 overs and Usha, 2/17 butthe most successful was Purnima Rao who mopped up the tail to bag ahaul of 4/29. There was not a single boundary in the innings, not evena three, although on one occasion the batswomen ran two byes off awide to get three runs from the delivery.The batting order was turned over its head once more by Air India,with Anjum Chopra and Smitha Harikrishna opening the innings. Anjumstruck the first boundary of the match in the fourth over, with astraight drive off Mamtha. But South captain GS Lakshmi had not thrownin the towel yet, and sent back Smitha Harikrishna and Manju Nadgodain successive overs with the score stationary on 16. Mithali Rajjoined Anjum and the scoreboard began to tick away once more but notwith the usual fervour that Air India bring to their game.With the score at 31 in the 15th over, Anjum hit a full toss fromNooshien to midwicket and was run out by an accurate throw fromShobana as she scrambled for a third run. Anju Jain, the regularopener for Air India, came in at No.5 and the urgency in her approachhelped instil some much needed life into the game. Brisk runningbetween the wickets produced twos and threes in profusion as the fiftywas posted in the 21st over. Sejal was brought on in the 22nd over andher flighted donkey drops were taken for ten runs including four widesand the second and last four of the match, struck straight down theground by Anju Jain. It was all over six overs later as twosuccessive misfields off Nooshien spelled finis to themismatch. Mithali was unbeaten on 25 (68 balls) and Anju on 26 (35balls).
According to FussballEck, West Ham United could potentially sign Borussia Dortmund attacker Shinji Kagawa for £11m in this summer’s transfer window.
What’s the story?
Kagawa is no stranger to the Premier League having turned out for Manchester United between 2012 and 2014 before returning to Dortmund.
The Japan international arrived at Old Trafford with a big reputation, but largely struggled to make his mark in England – scoring just six times in 57 appearances for the Red Devils under Sir Alex Ferguson and David Moyes.
Everton have been credited with an interest in the attacker, but according to FussballEck, West Ham are also in the hunt as the attacker looks to leave Dortmund.
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It has been suggested that the Hammers might be able to sign Kagawa for £11m in this summer’s transfer window, although that does seem like an extremely low price for a player that has proved himself in the Bundesliga.
Would Kagawa fit in at West Ham?
Kagawa might have struggled at Man United, but there is no question that the attacker has a lot of ability, and would certainly enjoy playing with the likes of Manuel Lanzini.
This season, Kagawa has scored six times and provided seven assists in 26 appearances for Dortmund in all competitions, but he has been on the sidelines since the start of February through illness and injury.
The attacker has 60 goals and 54 assists in 211 Dortmund appearances, which is a very impressive record for a player at that level of football.
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West Ham would surely have to battle a number of clubs if Kagawa became available this summer, and the fact that now Hammers boss Moyes struggled to get the best out of the 29-year-old at Old Trafford might well count against the club.
That said, the lure of London could play a big part in West Ham’s pursuit, and it would be an inspired signing if they managed to pull it off.