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England Lions seamer James Harris took three wickets as Glamorgan had thebetter of a rain-affected second day of their County Championship DivisionTwo match against Leicestershire at Colwyn Bay

18-Aug-2011
Scorecard
England Lions seamer James Harris took three wickets as Glamorgan had thebetter of a rain-affected second day of their County Championship DivisionTwo match against Leicestershire at Colwyn Bay.After Glamorgan made 392 all out in their first innings Leicestershire werereduced to 80 for 4 before James Taylor and Wayne White put on an unbrokenhalf-century partnership for the fourth wicket.At tea, after which no play was possible due to rain, Leicestershire hadreached 140 for 4. Play was called off for the day at 5pm with 32 oversremaining. Glamorgan, who resumed their first innings on 328 for eight, enjoyed aprofitable opening session as they scored a further 64 runs in 13.1 overs asLeicestershire struggled to take the final two wickets.And after home side were eventually bowled out, 21-year-old Harris reducedLeicestershire to 33 for 2 in the 55 minutes they had to bat before lunch. In the fifth over Will Jefferson went leg before to Harris, who then had Greg Smith caught behind.After lunch Harris bowled a testing second spell which was rewarded when hebowled Matthew Boyce through the gate. It was an impressive performance from theLions bowler, who produced figures of three for 20 off his 14 overs.After Harris was rested, Dean Cosker then struck with his fifth ball to trapJosh Cobb leg before to leave Leicestershire 80 for 4. After that the visitors fought back with Lions captain Taylor, who played watchfully for his 34, and the more prolific White, who struck three sixes in his 59-ball 44 not out, looking solid against the spinners before the rain cameand prevented the players returning to the field after tea.The day began with the Glamorgan spinners, Robert Croft (31) and Cosker (39),earning their side a fourth batting point. A 57-run partnership for the ninthwicket was ended when Wayne White had Croft caught behind.But the runs kept coming with Will Owen planting off spinner Jigar Naik overlong-on for six in a breezy 26 from 22 balls before Cosker was bowled by ClaudeHenderson’s first ball of the day.

A round-up of the action from the fourth day of the third round of matches from the Ranji Trophy Elite 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Nov-2011Group AA hat-trick from Siddharth Trivedi helped Saurashtra complete an innings and 144-run win over Punjab at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium. This was the only outright win in the third round of the Ranji Trophy Elite matches and pushes Saurashtra to fourth on the Group A points table.Trivedi, who is in his first season with Saurashtra after transferring from Gujarat, picked up the wickets of Karan Goel, Harbhajan Singh and Manpreet Gony in his eight over. This was the third hat-trick by a Saurashtra bowler, the other two being D Narottam and S Nyalchand, both of whom claimed hat-tricks against Boroda. Trivedi is also the second bowler to take a hat-trick against Punjab, behind Delhi’s Bishan Singh Bedi, who claimed his in 1968-69.Punjab had resumed on 44 for 4, with Uday Kaul and Mandeep Singh batting. Opening bowler Sandip Maniar had Mandeep caught in the first over, following which Karan Goel, who had retired hurt the previous evening, returned. He did not last long though, trapped lbw by Trivedi for 10. Harbhajan and Gony were caught off the next two deliveries as Punjab slipped to 78 for 9, still trailing by 186. A 42-run last-wicket stand between Amitoze Singh and Brainder Sran only delayed the inevitable. Punjab were eventually bowled out for 120, without managing to bat out 24 overs on the final day.Mahesh Rawat recorded his highest first-class score, 145, to help Railways secure an unlikely first-innings’s lead against Rajasthan at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. Rawat was backed up by Yere Goud, Marripuri Suresh, Sanjay Bangar and Shivakant Shukla, as Railways piled up an impressive 525 for 8 in reply to Rajasthan’s 521, before declaring. Their bowlers then knocked over four of Rajasthan’s top order cheaply, to finish the game with the upper hand.Railways had begun the final day on 274 for 4, with Rawat and Goud at the crease. The pair went on to add 153 runs before Goud edged Sumit Mathur behind on 70. Rawat found another reliable partner in Suresh, and they added 90 for the sixth wicket before Rawat finally fell, one of legspinner Vivek Yadav’s six victims. Once Bangar declared, offspinner Arlen Konwar and medium pacer Anureet Singh reduced Rajasthan to 20 for 4, and play was ended soon after.An unbeaten double-century from Parvinder Singh and Arish Alam’s 118 not out gave Uttar Pradesh the first-innings lead against Orissa at the Veer Surendra Sai Stadium in Sambalpur. UP had started the day on 287 for 3 facing Orissa’s 482, and moved to 590 for 4 by the end of the day thanks to Parvinder and Alam’s 267-run unbeaten partnership. Parvinder took his score from 39 not out overnight to 202 not out off 331 balls, his highest first-class score. Alam was playing just his fourth first-class match and got his maiden century.Karnataka declined the opportunity to enforce the follow-on against Mumbai at the Brabourne Stadium and instead settled for the three points and opted for batting practice. Mumbai were bowled out for 441 after being 354 for 8 overnight and Karnataka then reached 147 for 3. Read the full report here.Group BBaroda hung on for a draw at the Moti Bagh Stadium keeping Haryana’s return to three points. Baroda were faced with a target of 372 in just under a day. They played for the draw and reached 228 for 7 in 85 overs, earning a point. Haryana lost their last three wickets in just 2.4 overs on the fourth morning and managed to add eight runs to their total. Irfan Pathan took three wickets to complete his second five-wicket haul of the season.Irfan then opened the batting but was dismissed in the third over. Baroda were struggling at 31 for 2 but Ambati Rayudu dug his heels in and played a match-saving knock of 83 not out off 222 balls. Amit Mishra, who had taken four wickets in the first innings, took three this time around but Baroda’s middle and lower-middle order spent enough time at the crease to support Rayudu. The point keeps Baroda top of the table in Group B.Fog and then bad light prevented Tamil Nadu from pushing for an outright win against Delhi at the Feroz Shah Kotla, and they had to settle for three points. Delhi started the day 139 runs ahead with five wickets in hand. Fog delayed the start on the fourth morning and when play started Tamil Nadu took 23.4 overs to take the last five wickets. There was resistance from Puneet Bisht, who scored 53, but L Balaji took three quick wickets to finish with four in the innings and leave Tamil Nadu with 218 to chase.They scored at a fair rate of 3.68 runs an over in the chase but the light faded, denying them an opportunity to go for the target. Dinesh Karthik managed a half-century, his second of the season.A strong performance from Madhya Pradesh’s lower order earned them three points for a first-innings lead against Bengal at the Jadavpur University Complex in Kolkata. MP started the day on 344 for 3 and were relying on Mohnish Mishra, who was on 130 not out overnight, to take them past Bengal’s 496. Mohnish was dismissed in the fourth over of the fourth morning but Nos. 5 to 10 all got more than 20 to give MP the lead.Bengal were kept in the hunt by seamer Shami Ahmed, who completed his maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. When he dismissed Ankit Sharma for 31, MP were 477 for 8 and Bengal would have hoped to get the last two wickets quickly. But No. 10 Anand Rajan scored 21 and MP reached 533. Bengal had 20 overs to bat; Sourav Ganguly used the opportunity to open and raced to 42 off 28 balls before being dismissed. Parthasarathi Bhattacharjee remained unbeaten on 51.

Seam bowler Nuwan Kulasekara won’t be joining Sri Lanka’s Test squad in South Africa and instead the uncapped Kanishka Alvitigala will fly out along with Dhammika Prasad

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Dec-2011Seam bowler Nuwan Kulasekara won’t be joining Sri Lanka’s Test squad in South Africa and instead the uncapped Kanishka Alvitigala will fly out along with Dhammika Prasad ahead of the second Test in Durban.Tillakaratne Dilshan, the Sri Lanka captain, had said that both Prasad and Kulasekara would be added to the touring party to bolster the pace-bowling options following Nuwan Pradeep’s injury, but the sports ministry hadn’t approved the selections and instead the nod has gone to Alvitigala. Kulasekara is likely to arrive for the one-day series next month.Alvitigala, 25, has taken 51 first-class wickets at 32.35 in 25 matches with a career-best of 5 for 34 and has previously represented Sri Lanka A including on the tour to England earlier this year.Sri Lanka’s pace-bowling options have been stretched to breaking point in recent months with a string of injuries to contend with. Before the tour of South Africa four seamers, including Prasad and Kulasekara, were ruled out with injury and Sri Lanka lost Pradeep after he broke down during the warm-up match in Benoni.Sri Lanka were crushed by an innings and 81 runs in the opening Test at Centurion and although the pace attack was able to cause South Africa some problems they couldn’t sustain pressure. Chanaka Welegedara, the left-armer, took 3 for 96 and Thisara Perera claimed 3 for 114 but Dilhara Fernando, the most senior bowler, only managed 1 for 128 in 28 overs.

Journalist Dan Kilpatrick of The Evening Standard has shared what Antonio Conte has now ‘told Tottenham’ before their crunch Premier League clash with Liverpool this evening.

The Lowdown: Spurs gear up…

The top-four chasers are set to battle Jurgen Klopp’s side in a blockbuster encounter with much riding on the occasion.

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Liverpool are in a heated battle with top flight champions Man City and victory against Conte’s men will be a huge boost amid their last few battles of 2021/2022.

Tottenham Hotspur, meanwhile, still hold hope of a Champions League qualification spot – arguably thanks to their November-appointed boss orchestrating a stunning turnaround.

Much has been made of whether the Italian will remain at Spurs beyond this season with links emerging to the Paris-Saint Germain manager’s job.

The Latest: Conte sends message…

Kilpatrick, relaying what Conte has now ‘told Tottenham’, shares that the 52-year-old has explained Spurs will have to ‘spend a lot of money or hope for a miracle’ to eventually compete with today’s opponents.

The former Chelsea boss also claims that, if a rise akin to Klopp’s with the Anfield side were to happen at Hotspur Way, he’d sign the contract in a heartbeat (via The Evening Standard).

The Verdict: Message to the board…

If Conte’s intent to splash cash in the summer wasn’t evident by the plethora of recent reports, it is now.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, going by this clear hint, has been instructed to back his manager in the summer and help to transform the Lilywhites back into an English force.

Going by Conte’s job so far in north London, we believe he could mould Spurs into title-challengers in a similar way to Klopp on Merseyside.

However, as explained by the Serie A title-winner himself, it is very much over to the club’s hierarchy to ensure he has every weapon possible at his disposal.

In other news: Offer ready: Paratici sets sights on ‘very Spursy signing’ for Conte, find out more here.

Northern Districts held their nerve to clinch a thrilling one-wicket win over Central Districts at Fitzherbert Park to move to the top of the points table after the second round of the New Zealand Cricket one-day competition

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jan-2011Northern Districts held their nerve to clinch a thrilling one-wicket win over Central Districts at Fitzherbert Park to move to the top of the points table after the second round of the New Zealand Cricket one-day competition.Opener George Worker’s century anchored CD’s total of 280 after they were sent in to bat. CD lost Peter Ingram and Jamie How early, but Worker added 149 with Mathew Sinclair for the third wicket to set the base for a competitive total. Sinclair, who made 66, was dismissed in the 41st over with CD’s score on 206, and Worker followed in the next over. Kieran Noema-Barnett and Tim Weston blasted 64 off just 38 balls to provide the CD innings with a closing flourish. ND’s chase of 281 got off solidly with the openers BJ Watling and Daniel Flynn adding 88 within the first 18 overs. ND lost three quick wickets but Flynn’s 60-run fourth-wicket partnership with Brad Wilson, got the ND chase back on track. ND lost Flynn in the 43rd over but some big hitting from James Marshall and Bradley Scott, who was unbeaten on 25 off just 10 balls, carried them home, with just one ball to spare.Canterbury posted a comfortable 99-run win over Otago at the Queenstown Events Centre. Canterbury batsmen Rob Nicol, Michael Papps and Peter Fulton all posted solid half-centuries. Shannan Stewart and Andrew Ellis made unbeaten quickfire twenties as Canterbury reached 296 for 4 in their 50 overs. Otago started disastrously losing Aaron Redmond and Neil Broom with just 15 runs on the board. Michael Bracewell (68) and Craig Cumming (46) tried to salvage the innings with a 110-run third wicket partnership. However, once they were dismissed, the Otago innings lost momentum. The Canterbury bowlers never allowed the remaining Otago batsmen to get away as they were bowled out for 197 in the 47th over.Auckland beat Wellington by eight runs in a close game at Colin Maiden Park. The Auckland innings was anchored by captain Gareth Hopkins’ 96-ball 120. He shared crucial partnerships with Anaru Kitchen and Kyle Mills to power Auckland to a formidable 308. Wellington got off to a shaky start losing openers Josh Brodie and Stewart Rhodes within the first four overs with just five runs on the board. Grant Elliott and James Franklin put on 112 runs as the Wellington innings gained momentum. Harry Boam hit eight boundaries in his 36-ball 59 before he was dismissed. Wellington needed 45 runs off 24 balls at the stage and though Dewayne Bowden (23) got them close with some big shots, they failed to get across the line, falling short by eight runs.

Celtic must adopt a slightly ‘arrogant’ approach in possession against Rangers in their crucial Scottish Premiership clash, according to journalist Kieran Devlin.

The Lowdown: Huge game at Parkhead

Ange Postecoglou’s side face one of their biggest games of the season on Sunday afternoon, in what could be the pivotal day in the title race.

Celtic go into the match with a six-point cushion over their rivals with four league outings left, meaning victory for the Hoops would all but seal title glory.

That being said, a Rangers win would give the table a very different complexion and Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men will be confident after their Scottish Cup semi-final victory earlier this month.

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The Latest: Devlin makes key prediction

Taking to Twitter on Friday, The Athletic‘s Devlin claimed that Postecoglou should be bolder in his tactics this time around, reacting to something he’d heard the manager say about that defeat:

“After the Hamden defeat, Postecoglou said that his players did not take as many “risks” in possession as he liked. That day Celtic were cautious and indecisive. Arguably their best strategy for Sunday is boldness, even a little arrogance, on the ball.”

The Verdict: Correct approach from Hoops

While Celtic could technically play for a draw on Sunday, in order to retain their six-point advantage, going into a game with that approach always feels risky, potentially playing into Rangers’ hands.

Instead, the Hoops must back themselves, as Devlin says, taking the game to their opponents and showing that they are superior when it comes to technical ability.

The vital 2-1 win at Ibrox was proof of that, whereas the cup defeat was different, and it is imperative that they perform more like the former game than the latter.

In other news, a pundit has reacted to some key Celtic transfer news. Read more here.

Afghanistan batsman Mohammad Nabi believes the blooding of new talent during Pakistan’s domestic Twenty20 tournament stands the team in good stead

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Sep-2011Afghanistan have targeted a place at the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka next year, and batsman Mohammad Nabi believes the blooding of new talent during Pakistan’s domestic Twenty20 tournament stands the team in good stead.”We are preparing for the World Twenty20 qualifiers next year and for a series of matches in the United Arab Emirates, so it was very good to come here and play,” said Nabi, who was stand-in captain at the Faysal Bank T20 cup, with Regular captain Nawroz Mangal and several senior players having missed the trip in order to prepare for next month’s matches in the UAE.”We brought some youngsters here while the seniors were in the UAE, so we have a good back-up and youngsters get the chance to learn something, and I am happy that they learnt a lot,” said Nabi.Nabi added that he hoped new coach Aftab Habib would continue the progress set in motion by former coach Rashid Latif. “We learnt a lot from Rashid Latif and now we have former England player Habib as coach, so we hope he carries on the good work,” said Nabi.In order for Afghanistan to make a second appearance at the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka next September, they will have to finish in the top two in the World Twenty20 qualifiers scheduled in the UAE from March 13-24, 2012.

Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan captain, has offered his services tp the PCB as a part-time bowling coach

Umar Farooq17-Oct-2011Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan captain, has offered his services to the PCB as a part-time bowling coach. Akram said he is ‘ready to work for Pakistan’, but would not be able to do it full-time because of family commitments.”Coaching is a very demanding job,” Akram told reporters at Lahore airport. “It requires a 24/7 [twenty four hours, seven days a week commitment] that I cannot afford while my personal life is a little unsettled. I have two kids to look after. But if they want my services, I am ready to work, but only in my free time.”In the past Akram has turned down the PCB’s offers to coach, citing his responsibilities as a commentator. While he did state that he still doesn’t have much free time, he said that whenever he is in Pakistan, he could juggle his routine to have time to coach fast bowlers.”I have emphasised before that while I am free in Pakistan, give me about 10 to 15 young fast bowlers to coach for a month and I am ready to work. We have outstanding facilities at the National Cricket Academy. Send them to Karachi or I can come to Lahore as well.”When asked about the upcoming series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the UAE, Akram said Sri Lanka are a good side but not good enough to beat Pakistan. He pointed out that the bowling attack has struggled without Muttiah Muralitharan, who was responsible for 40 per cent of the team’s wickets during his career.”Sri Lanka is a good team but without Murali [Muralitharan] and [Lasith] Malinga they can’t bowl out Pakistan twice in Test cricket,” Akram said. “I don’t see Pakistan losing unless they play very bad cricket.”Pakistan has experience as Younis [Khan], Misbah [ul Haq] are there in the line-up and another veteran (Shoaib) Malik is back in the side. So with all this, we can understand that the team isn’t lacking any talent. They just need support and need to play good cricket.”Pakistan will play three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 International in the three Emirates of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, as Pakistan are currently unable to host international cricket amid security concerns since the attack on the Sri Lanka team in 2009. Given the situation, Akram said the PCB should create an alternative home country for the team.”The idea is to play as much cricket as they can,” Akram said. “If teams aren’t heading to Pakistan, come up with an alternative hub and a system for Pakistan’s home series and give its team more cricket – that will help them to flourish.”

Rangers chief Ross Wilson committed a huge Ibrox howler for Gio van Bronckhorst during the January transfer window.

The Glasgow giants chief endured a disaster as he missed out on a deal to sign Siriki Dembele from Peterborough. The Gers were reportedly interested in landing the winger on a permanent deal and he ended up joining English Championship side Bournemouth instead.

Rangers went for Amad Diallo on loan from Manchester United to bolster their wide options in the wake of Ianis Hagi’s season-ending injury and the youngster has endured a terrible spell with the club so far.

Since scoring five minutes into his debut against Ross County, the Ivorian international has been poor for Rangers and is currently struggling to get minutes on the pitch. He has been an unused substitute in three of the club’s last four matches in the Premiership and Europa League, coming off the bench against Dundee United.

In four league outings for van Bronckhorst’s side, he has missed one ‘big chance’, created just two chances and lost a whopping 71% of his duels. This shows that he has been far from good enough since his move from Old Trafford and Dembele would have been a far better option.

Not only would the Scotsman have been a long-term addition to the squad rather than just a loan, but he would also have had more of an impact in the here and now as he has proven his quality at Championship level.

Peterborough chief Barry Fry previously hailed the forward’s talents, telling Football FanCast: “Siriki can get the ball in his own half and with dazzling dribbling ability, he can beat four or five players and score a wonder goal or cross it for somebody else to score.

“He’s very, very exciting. He’s got the best stats outside the [English] Premier League, I think. We’ll try to keep hold of him if we go up, and we’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse! So watch this space.”

He produced 11 goals and 14 assists in League One last term for Peterborough and made a huge impact on his full debut for Bournemouth earlier this month. As per SofaScore, he won eight of his 13 duels, created an impressive five chances for his teammates and scored a goal against Blackpool in the Championship.

Throughout the entire campaign with the Posh and now the Cherries, he has six goals and has averaged 1.1 key passes per game whilst also winning 49% of his duels – as per SofaScore. This suggests that the gem would have been far better than Amad as he has shown that he can provide the goods at first-team level whilst holding his own in physical battles, whereas the United youngster has not done enough on or off the ball.

Therefore, Wilson had a howler by signing Diallo ahead of Dembele in January, both in terms of the short and long-term implications of the respective deals.

AND in other news, Forget Tavernier: £6.4k-p/w Rangers tank with 75% duels won was real star of the show…

Nottingham Forest’s decision to let Anel Ahmedhodzic leave the City Ground back in 2019 could well go down as one of the biggest howlers the club has made in recent times.

Ahmedhodzic was a product of Swedish outfit Malmo FF and left the side to join Nottingham Forest’s U18s. The Bosnian with Swedish citizenship worked his way up to the Forest senior side, where he made one first-team appearance as a substitute against Newcastle United, before rejoining Malmo FF – this time as a first-team player.

After a six-month loan spell to Danish outfit Hobro IK, Ahmedhodzic was recalled and became a big part of the squad after signing a new three-year deal, with the side becoming league champions just seven months after he returned from his loan spell.

The following year was the antithesis of his spell at Forest and saw the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Atalanta very much interested in signing the then 22-year-old. The latter, Atalanta, were on the verge of signing Ahmedhodzic in March of 2021, though he stayed with Malmo and made his Champions League debut just five months later against Juventus.

Fast forward to the present day and Ahmedhodzic finds himself on loan at Ligue 1 outfit Bordeaux, having established himself as a starter since joining in January.

Bordeaux have an option to buy the 6 foot 4 centre-back for just €4m (£3.3m) which is a bargain, considering his market value has elevated to £6.3m, according to Transfermarkt.

At 23-years-old his potential is limitless, though if you were to take a look at his stats, they would suggest he is a box-to-box midfielder.

They are peculiar to say the least, but nevertheless impressive. As a centre-back, it is very rare to achieve a shot-creating actions average of one SCA per 90 minutes. Though that suggests everything you need to know about Ahmedhodzic and the system that he operates in.

The Bosnia international plays in a back three and functions as an overlapping centre-back, with his ability in possession a key enabler in his desire to progress up the pitch.

He’s been described by Fabrizio Romano as a “top talent” and it is easy to see why.

If Ahmedhodzic keeps up this trajectory, he will have Nottingham Forest deeply regretting their decision to sell him after he was afforded just one appearance.

In other news: Forget Grabban: Cooper must now unleash Forest’s “clinical” £12.7k-p/w machine…