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LAHORE, Aug 22: Three Pakistani umpires were nominated Thursday by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to officiate in the tri-nation starting in Nairobi, Kenya, from Aug 29

Our Sports Correspondent25-Dec-2009LAHORE, Aug 22: Three Pakistani umpires were nominated Thursday by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to officiate in the tri-nation starting in Nairobi, Kenya, from Aug 29.Aleem Dar, Asad Rauf, Nadeem Ghauri will share the umpiring with Rudi Koertzen and Russel Tiffin of South Africa and Zimbabwe.Former South African all rounder Mike Procter has been named as the match referee.The umpires for the Sept 7 final will be announced later by the ICC.The tournament feature Pakistan, Australia and Kenya.Following is the schedule:Aug 29: Pak vs Kenya: Field Umpires:Aleem Dar, R.Koertzen TV Umpire: Asad RaufAug 30: Pak vs Australia Field Umpires:Nadeem Ghauri, Russel Tiffin TV Umpire: Asad RaufSept 01: Pakistan vs Kenya Field Umpires: Aleem Dar, R.Koertzen TV Umpire: Asad RaufSept 02: Australia vs Kenya Field Umpires: Nadeem Ghauri, Russel Tiffin TV Umpire: Asad RaufSept 04: Pakistan vs Australia Field Umpires: Aleem Dar, R.Koertzen TV Umpire: Asad RaufSept 05: Australia vs Kenya Field Umpire: Nadeem Ghauri, Russel Tiffin TV Umpire: Asad RaufSept 7: Final.

Injury worries have continued to haunt India with VVS Laxman remaining an uncertain starter for the first Test against South Africa

Cricinfo staff05-Feb-2010Injury worries have continued to haunt India with VVS Laxman remaining an uncertain starter for the first Test against South Africa in Nagpur. He hasn’t yet fully recovered from the finger injury he sustained while fielding during the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong last month.Laxman did take part in the nets session at the VCA Stadium on Friday, but a final call on his fitness had not yet been taken. “Of the 15-16 players in the squad, only regarding VVS Laxman is there a little uncertainty,” MS Dhoni said on Friday morning. “He’s at the nets now, he’ll come back and share with the physio how he is feeling, apart from that everyone is fit.”The home side are already without two first-choice batsmen Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh due to injuries, and if Laxman is unavailable, India will be forced to hand debuts to two batsmen – S Badrinath and Rohit Sharma – besides fielding the inexperienced M Vijay.India will also miss Laxman’s safe pair of hands at slip, as he is unlikely to field in that position even if he plays. “There is less chance of Laxman standing in the slip cordon,” Dhoni said.

Joe Rodon is reportedly open to leaving Tottenham Hotspur on loan in January in search of more regular game-time, according to Football London’s Alasdair Gold. 

The lowdown

The Wales defender has struggled for Premier League minutes under successive managers. He only featured once under Nuno Espirito Santo in the top flight and wasn’t even in Antonio Conte’s matchday squad for Sunday’s postponed fixture at Burnley. Virtually all of his football this season has come in the Europa Conference League.

Rodon, who is valued at £9m by Transfermarkt, played just 12 top-flight matches under Jose Mourinho and Ryan Mason in his first season in north London in 2020/21, four of which were as a substitute.

The latest

According to Gold, writing for Football London, Rodon is apparently becoming frustrated by his lack of opportunities this season and is willing to temporarily go elsewhere when the January transfer window opens in order to get more time on the pitch.

The report added that a lot could depend on whether Spurs sign another centre-back, particularly if Cristian Romero’s injury layoff turns out to be a long-term one.

The verdict

Rodon may get his wish given that Spurs have been linked with a host of certain backs in recent weeks, including Stefan de Vrij, Matthijs de Ligt and James Tarkowski.

The 24-year-old Welshman has arguably been unfortunate not to feature more regularly after making an ‘outstanding’ impression last term, in the eyes of former Tottenham and England goalkeeper Paul Robinson.

If Spurs do invest heavily in mid-season, potentially pushing him further down the pecking order, his long-term prospects at the club might well be in doubt.

In other news, read this journalist’s intriguing De Vrij claim.

Manchester United have made contact over a possible move for Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix.

That’s according to Spanish newspaper AS, relayed by Sports Witness, and, as to be expected, the update has had a number of United fans talking on social media.

The 22-year-old is valued at £63m by Transfermarkt and is extremely versatile, capable of playing anywhere in attack. He’s scored 20 times in 88 appearances for Madrid after joining back in 2019 from Benfica in a deal worth £114m.

It now seems as if the Portugal international is on the club’s radar, with Sports Witness relaying claims suggesting United have ‘already asked for’ the forward.

Fellow Premier League sides Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle United are also name-checked with an interest, with Felix’s contract not up until 2026.

A move away from Atletico may materialise, though, with the report revealing Felix’s representatives are now ‘studying various alternatives to try to convince’ Atletico to let the forward depart.

United fans react

Well-known page @utdreport shared the claims regarding Felix on Twitter on Thursday. These United fans were all buzzing at the news, with one labelling it as ‘serious’.

“Swap with Rashford.”

Credit: @DinkTony

“Get him at whatever the cost”

Credit: @CessiLUHG

“I AM ON MY KNEEEEEESSSSSSSS”

Credit: @choloo_la

“Would be unreal but doubt it’ll happen”

Credit: @OllieBest_

“spend everything u have”

Credit: @richie_r2

“PLEASE”

Credit: @MUFCJosh98

“OMG, let this be true… I legit wanna rep Joao Felix.”

Credit: @Ab_Oktober

In other news: ‘Not surviving the Rangnick era’ – Many MUFC fans slam ace who lost the ball 19 times vs Young Boys; ‘sell him’. 

The Sehwag storm struck South Africa with full force and pretty much blew everything in its way to a 13th 150-plus score

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga15-Feb-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
HawkeyeVirender Sehwag brought up his 19th century in 87 balls•Getty ImagesThe Sehwag storm struck South Africa with full force and pretty much blew everything in its way to a 13th 150-plus score. Amid the mayhem, it was easy to forget the cool, pleasant breeze that was Sachin Tendulkar’s 92nd international century – his fourth in four Tests. They added 249 runs for the third wicket and kept South Africa wicketless for 57.4 overs but, once the two quietened, South Africa struck back with three quick wickets to retrieve some of the momentum in the match.Sehwag rattled them with a vicious assault on the new ball, put behind him the Gautam Gambhir run-out and, after a brief quiet, punished them some more. His 87-ball hundred would have been even faster but for a relative lull of 10 off 21 balls. Tendulkar enjoyed playing in the shadow of Sehwag’s strike-rate, kept scoring at an even pace and, unlike Sehwag, didn’t give South Africa a single chance.Two critical moments in the first session determined the flow of the game. Sehwag – 43 off 21 then – had the fastest Test fifty and a few other records in sight when he ran Gambhir out, and he chastised himself by playing disciplined cricket for a while. Around the same time Morne Morkel indulged in some reverse-rattling, took out M Vijay, troubled Sehwag with accurate bouncers and induced an edge only to see JP Duminy – at first slip because of the finger injury to Graeme Smith – drop him on 47. Sehwag could have gone at an even more frenetic rate but for the run-out. South Africa could have been in control had Sehwag fallen then.Sehwag’s onslaught started when Dale Steyn failed to get any swing. Somehow the ball didn’t come out right, the seam wobbled, and Nagpur was a distant memory. When there is no swing, Steyn’s pace is his biggest enemy so today the faster they came the faster they went. Nor did he get the Morkel’s bounce, which meant that when Steyn went for the ribs, Sehwag could easily flick it past midwicket.The storm started with that gentle little flick and then came three boundaries in three balls in the third over: placed over point, whipped to square leg, and slashed past point. Morkel got the treatment in his third over too: three boundaries through the off side, one off a delivery that clocked 152.6kmph. Wayne Parnell replaced Morkel immediately, and immediately he was carved for a four and a six into the rubble of a stand under reconstruction.The next ball Sehwag faced he hit an off-drive for four, and then came the run-out. It was time for drinks and Sehwag threw away his protective gear in disgust. That was when Morkel came back but his charged-up, accurate burst seemed to have ended with that dropped chance.When Sehwag came back from lunch, the cautious approach had been thrown out and he was blazing away again. For company he had Tendulkar. If you were a bowler, there was nowhere to hide.Sehwag showed that to Steyn early in his second spell. Punch, whip, steer, 10 runs off three deliveries. Steyn to Sehwag then: 11 balls, 25 runs, five boundaries. Tendulkar joined the fun, defending everything full but steering Steyn for two boundaries. Paul Harris, meanwhile, didn’t have the luxury of a big score, bowled round the stumps, and was slog-swept and hit inside out by Sehwag for a six and a four.Back came Morkel, the best bowler on the day, to be given the worst sort of treatment a best bowler can be given. This time Tendulkar took the lead. Two fullish deliveries, two clips to the on side, one to the left of square leg, one to the right. In his next over, he gave Sehwag width with three deep fielders on the off side. One to the left of deep point, and one to the right. Sehwag 89 off 72, Tendulkar 38 off 61. India were 165 for 2 in 30.2 overs, with the bonus of South Africa’s two best bowlers negated.In between the hard-hitting there was some toying, with paddles from outside off, reverse-sweeps, clips past midwicket as Sehwag reached his hundred and Tendulkar his fifty without further incident. Harris eventually started bowling over the wicket, and was called wide 12 times because, unlike in Nagpur, he was not looking to get wickets here.The runs slowed down post tea. When Sehwag was 128, AB de Villiers, the replacement keeper, missed an easy stumping. By the time Duminy made good his mistake, getting Sehwag in his first over, it might just have been too late. Not quite. Harris went round the wicket in the next over – inexplicably it took him until the Sehwag dismissal to do so – and got a false shot out of Tendulkar.Steyn came back right away, got his swing back, and beat S Badrinath in the man-versus-boy contest. VVS Laxman struggled to fight the momentum and edged Harris in the next over. It flew wide of slip, the light deteriorated and India ended the day retaining the upper hand despite that late South African surge.

Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United side head into Saturday afternoon’s Premier League fixture in rather dire straits, having picked up just one win in their last five league outings, as well as being in the midst of a considerable injury crisis.

Indeed, all of Rodrigo, Robin Koch, Patrick Bamford, Kalvin Phillips and Liam Cooper look set to miss the trip to Chelsea due to various knocks, leaving the Whites manager with a threadbare squad to face Thomas Tuchel’s third-placed Blues.

How will the Argentine line up his team at Stamford Bridge this afternoon? Here’s how we think the Leeds starting XI could look.

With the Whites’ aforementioned injury woes somewhat forcing Bielsa’s hand today, we predict that the 66-year-old will make three changes to the team which started the 2-2 draw against Brentford last time out.

In the back four, 22-year-old Pascal Struijk is thrown straight back into the side following his own recovery from injury, taking the place of Cooper alongside Diego Llorente at centre-back, while Junior Firpo and Luke Ayling start at left-back and right-back respectively.

The middle of the park also sees one change, with the stricken Phillips making way, Adam Forshaw dropping back into the England international’s usual role in front of the back four and Mateusz Klich coming into the side alongside Stuart Dallas in the central midfield two.

In attack, Daniel James and Raphinha retain their places on the left and right flanks, while Tyler Roberts is replaced by Joe Gelhardt up front, with Bielsa dubbing the 19-year-old a “human wrecking ball” who can do serious “damage” in the opposition penalty area. Those traits will almost certainly be needed if Leeds are to have any chance of securing a result at Stamford Bridge.

In other news – He’s ready: Bielsa must unleash “outrageous” Leeds beast today, he can terrify Chelsea

The Indian opener has taken the top spot after hitting successive centuries against South Africa

Cricinfo staff20-Feb-2010Virender Sehwag, the Indian opener, has taken the No. 1 spot in the ICC Test rankings after hitting successive centuries against South Africa. With a rapid 165 in the Kolkata Test, which India won to stay top of the ICC rankings for teams, and 109 in Nagpur before that, Sehwag has displaced good friend and fellow Test opener Gautam Gambhir.Sehwag sits top of the pile with 863 points, while Gambhir has dropped to fifth position with 824. He had tremendous success in 2009 – an average of 108.98 in six Tests – and in the four Tests he has played this year, Sehwag already has two centuries. He was also the recipient of the prize for best Test innings, for the second year running, for the ESPNcricinfo Awards where his audacious 293 against Sri Lanka in Mumbai was chosen over four other nominations shortlisted for the award.South Africa’s Hashim Amla, whose three centuries in three innings against India earned him two Man-of-the-Match awards and the Man-of-the-Series accolade, has leapfrogged to second place in the rankings with 842 points.Sachin Tendulkar, who also scored two centuries in the two-Test series with South Africa, occupies sixth place with 805 points.In the ICC’s ranking for one-day internationals, India’s captain MS Dhoni has moved back to No. 1, displacing Michael Hussey with whom he has shared a tussle for the top spot. Hussey scored 23 in his last innings and thus fell below Dhoni who has a chance to stay on top for longer with three ODIs lined up against South Africa. Ricky Ponting has jumped four places to occupy fourth place.The other big mover is Doug Bollinger, who has gained 25 places and has broken into the top 20 for the first time in his career. Bollinger took 11 wickets in the five-ODI series against West Indies to help Australia to a 4-0 victory. He now sits in 18th position in the latest rankings, not far behind Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis.

The Titans have announced that Pierre Joubert will step down as captain with effect from March 31

Cricinfo staff29-Mar-2010The Titans have announced that Pierre Joubert will step down as captain with effect from March 31. Joubert, who made his first-class debut for Northerns in 1995-96 as a 17-year-old, has led the team since 2008, securing four trophies during his three-season captaincy.”I wish to thank the players and Titans management for their support and commitment during the last three years,” said Joubert, who will continue to be available for the Titans. “It was an honour for me to captain arguably the best franchise in the country. I wish the new captain all the best, and as a Titans player and supporter, I will be backing him 100 per cent.”The Titans’ dramatic victory over the Eagles in the penultimate SuperSport Series game of the season was Joubert’s last match in charge of the team. He picked up 4 for 24 to spark a dramatic collapse in the Eagles’ second innings as Titans scraped to a two-wicket win despite Rilee Rossouw’s record-breaking 319 on the first day. The result enabled Titans to fill the runners-up spot on the final log behind the Cape Cobras.”Pierre has been a committed servant to the Nashua Titans and the game of cricket,” said Vincent Sinovich, chairman of the Easterns Titans board and president of Northerns Cricket. “He was part of the representative sides from Under 13 and captained the Provincial Amateur team for two years before he was appointed captain of the franchise.”Joubert captained the side to victory in both the MTN Domestic Championship and Standard Bank Pro20 Series in 2007-08. The Titans retained the domestic championship title in 2008-09, and also finished at the top of the SuperSport Series log in that season.”Above all these achievements, he is a true gentleman of the game,” added Sinovich. “The respect he has earned from players, administrators and spectators will long be remembered by all who know him. Pierre, on behalf of the Northerns Executive and Easterns Titans Franchise Board of Directors, sincere thanks for all you have done for the franchise and Northerns Cricket.”

West Bromwich Albion have been had a number of concerns to attend to over the last week with a virus outbreak in the camp, and now an unexpected guest has made an appearance at The Hawthorns.

What’s the word?

West Brom journalist, Joseph Masi, dropped a bombshell yesterday afternoon on Twitter after revealing that the club’s controlling shareholder, Lai Guochuan, has made his first visit to the club for three years.

Masi put out a string of tweets, letting fans know what was happening;

“It is understood this is the first step towards Lai reintegrating himself back into the club. He had positive talks today with Ismael about the future and the upcoming January transfer window… #wba”

He then added;

“It’s believed Lai still wants to sell Albion. But he accepts a sale is unlikely in the foreseeable future. Therefore he wants to give his investment some TLC to help them back to the Premier League… #wba”

The 47-year-old businessman, who bought the club in 2016 for £200m, has gone to extreme lengths to make this visit, spending ten days in quarantine after flying to England, and when he does make the flight home to Guangzhou he will undergo a strict 28-day quarantine process, so the visit was clearly monumental for Lai.

Fans elated

Fans of West Bromwich Albion have always been vocal about their disappointment and anger towards Lai and his handling of the club, with many of them responding to Masi’s tweets about the visit to express their opinion;

One fan tweeted in response to Masi; “C’mon Joe this is absolute garbage… he’s doing all these fake meet & greets to smoke screen fans into believing he cares about our club. Attendances & interest is down currently. He’s a desperate man.”

Another fumed; “We want him gone too, to be honest. To sell we need to be in Premier League but he’s hoping we can go up without spending anything. Not happening. Cough up.”

Evidently, Baggies fans will be elated if Lai does eventually sell up so this update from Masi should provide them with some encouragement.

Supporters will definitely be expecting Lai to put his hands in his wallet this January as a lack of proper investment has, as a result, seen the club yo-yo-ing between the Championship and Premier League, with the side finding themselves unable to establish themselves in the top flight, facing constant relegation battles.

As a result, it’s clear to see that his time in the Midlands has not really been a success.

It will be intriguing to see what Lai’s next moves are for the club and whether he has a genuine interest in fixing the issues that West Brom currently face in a tight battle for automatic promotion.

The shareholder can make a real positive impact by signing players in January to help with goal-scoring, where the side is lacking compared to their two title rivals, Fulham and Bournemouth, and managing this problem could substantially increase the chances of promotion for the Baggies.

If he doesn’t do that, the discontent towards Lai will only grow deeper while the thought of him finally taking his leave will leave fans beaming with excitement.

In other news: Joseph Masi drops exciting behind the scenes claim

Udaya Wickramasinghe, the former Sri Lankan international umpire, has died at the age of 70 following a sudden illness

Sa'adi Thawfeeq15-Apr-2010Udaya Wickramasinghe, the former Sri Lankan international umpire, has died at the age of 70 following a sudden illness.Wickramasinghe officiated in three home Tests between 1987 and 1997, against New Zealand (1987), Australia (1992) and Pakistan (1997) where he stood with the England umpire David Shepherd, and in 10 ODIs. Wickramasinghe became the first overseas umpire to qualify as an official instructor of the Association of Cricket Umpires (England) in 1988.A friendly and knowledgeable person, Wickramasinghe umpired for three decades having begun in 1969. He is best remembered for giving three consecutive lbw decisions against India which enabled Pakistan fast bowler Aaqib Javed achieve a hat-trick on his way to world record ODI figures of 7 for 37 in the Sharjah final in 1991.KT Francis, a long standing colleague of Wickramasinghe, said: “Wicky was a top-class umpire and one of the leading umpires during Sri Lanka’s early years as a Test nation. He will be greatly missed.”A product of St Peter’s College and Dharmapala College, Wickramasinghe worked as an Immigration Officer in the Immigration Department throughout his career and after retirement he joined Sri Lanka Cricket as assignment umpire. He also officiated as a match referee.