Sussex emerged from the second day with a lead of 85 and the guarantee that a draw would put them in the First Division next season.Warwickshire, now struggling to get back into a promotion spot, stubbornly stayed in contention thanks to the efforts of Ian Bell and Vasbert Drakes.Drakes wrapped up Sussex’s first innings for 321 by taking the last two wickets in five balls and then made his first half-century for the county in a recovery to a total of 248.The West Indian all-rounder’s partnership of 85 with Bell cleared a target of 172 to avoid the follow-on and everything else represented unexpected profit after a slump to 101 for 5.Bell, the England Under-19 captain, continued his development to an Academy place in Australia by reaching 549 runs in 13 Championship innings this season.The 19-year-old gave one chance on 51 as he hit 12 fours from 175 balls and reached 80 before an edge off Mark Robinson gave Chris Adams his third catch in the slips.The early damage had been caused by Jason Lewry and James Kirtley, the cutting edge in Sussex’s successful campaign with 121 Championship wickets between them.Though they were unable to sustain the breakthrough, Robin Martin-Jenkins got rid of the stubborn Nick Knight for 17 and came back to whittle through the lower-order for figures of 4-75.Drakes, who hit nine boundaries, became his fourth victim when caught behind the wicket after making exactly 50 and Melvyn Betts was close to snatching another batting point until caught on the long leg boundary off Kirtley.Sussex then lost Murray Goodwin, who made 150 in the first innings, while making 12 for 1 in seven overs before the close.
Group AAustria beat Gibraltar by six runs in Port Soif, on the first day of the European Championship Division One Twenty20. Having been asked to bat, Austria put up n 141 in 19.1 overs, mainly due to handy cameos from the lower order. Gibraltar fell just short of the target, finishing on 135 for 8, despite an unbeaten knock of 66 from 60 balls by Mark Bacarese.Italy chased down 90 in a tight game against Croatia in St Peter Port, winning by one wicket. Choosing to bat, Croatia’s innings lacked momentum, as they limped to 89 despite having four wickets in hand at the end of their 20 overs. Italy were not convincing in the chase, but sneaked home on the back of a knock of 26 not out from middle-order batsman Damian Crowley. Croatia’s fast bowlers John Vujnovich and Vivek Sharma were impressive, claiming three wickets each in tidy spells.Guernsey registered a comprehensive 10-wicket win against Norway at Castel. Choosing to bowl they shot out Norway for 57, before openers Tim Ravenscroft and Ross Kneller chased down the target in 7.1 overs. James Nussbaumer was the pick of their bowlers, knocking over three top-order Norway batsmen and conceding only seven runs in a 3.2-over spell.In their second game of the day Italy turned out an improved performance, easing past Austria by seven wickets in Castel. Batting first, Austria were bowled out for 105 in 19th over, as none of their top order were able to build on double-digit starts. Peter Petricola did most of the damage with the ball, claiming 4 for 20. Steady batting from Italy in the chase saw them through without much drama.Norway recovered well from their one-sided defeat against Guernsey to beat Gibraltar by a comfortable eight-wicket margin in Port Soif. Batting first, Gibraltar managed only 77 for 8 in their 20. Legspinner Muhammad Butt produced the best figures of the game, 3 for 13, before Norway’s batsmen clicked. Driven by an innings of 35 from 20 balls by Zaheer Ashiq, they knocked off the runs 62 balls to spare.Guernsey remained unbeaten on day one, beating Croatia by three wickets with an over to spare in St Peter Port. Chasing 98, the Guernsey top order was shaky and wickets fell at regular intervals, but a steady 34 from Stuart Le Prevost and a couple of timely lower-order cameos saw them home.Group BBelgium beat France by five wickets with two balls to spare in St Clement. Choosing to bat, France’s innings was hampered as both openers were run out. There were no sizeable contributions from the rest of the order, as they folded for 114 in exactly 20 overs. In the chase, four of Belgium’s top five batsmen got into double figures, ensuring their side began with a win.Denmark eased past Israel by eight wickets in St Martin, chasing down a target of 95 with five overs to spare. Denmark’s ploy of bowling first worked, as their bowlers shared the wickets around in tidy spells to restrict Israel to 94 for 9. The chase was steered by a fluent, unbeaten 44 from opener Freddie Klokker.A solid all-round performance helped Jersey beat Germany by six wickets in St Brelade. Choosing to field, Jersey kept Germany to 99 for 7. Only middle-order batsman Imran Chaudhry was able to launch an attack, scoring 36 off 25, before being bowled by Anthony Hawkins-Kay who claimed 3 for 13. Jersey were solid in the chase. Their top order produced steady cameos, which carried them to a win in the 17th over.Belgium won a nail-biter against Denmark by one run when last man Sair Anjum was caught off the bowling of Faisal Khaliq with two to get and three balls remaining in St Clement. Having chosen to bat, Belgium were bowled out for a modest 104. Bobby Chawla was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 for 13. Denmark got off to horrendous start, losing half their side with only 19 runs on the board. However, a lower-order resurgence saw them fight back to within touching distance of victory, but Belgium, and Khaliq, eventually had the final say to remain unbeaten after two games.Tony Carlyon starred with the ball and Dean Martin with the bat as Jersey routed Israel by eight wickets in St. Martin. Put in to bat by Jersey, Israel crawled to 87 all out from their 20 overs, with Carlyon taking 4 for 9 in four overs. He was ably backed up Anthony Hawkins-Kay, who took 3 for 16. Martin then made sure there would be no jitters chasing the small total with a brutal, unbeaten 64 from 44 balls, laced with three fours and five sixes, to see Jersey home with eight overs to spare.An allround bowling performance helped France beat Germany by 34 runs in St Brelade. Put into bat, France managed 126 for 7, with Usman Khan top scoring with 36. Germany struggled from the start, losing wickets at regular intervals, and were bundled out for 92 in 18.3 overs. Zika Ali picked up 3 for 17, while Usman chipped in with the ball as well, taking 2 for 22.
Legspinner Ming Li, who has played Twenty20s for Hong Kong, has signed with the Sydney Sixers as their community rookie for the 2015-16 season. Ming, 24, is a legspinner who honed his art by watching Youtube videos of Shane Warne, and his addition to the BBL community rookie programme has been hailed as a significant step.”This is one of the most exciting developments in Hong Kong Cricket history,” Tim Cutler, the CEO of the Hong Kong Cricket Association, said. “We do hope this is the start of a great relationship with the Sydney Sixers and New South Wales Cricket.”We believe this is the first time any Hong Kong sportsperson has participated in such an elite ‘franchise’ tournament and we can’t wait to see the positive effect Ming’s BBL involvement will have on the already rapid development within the growing Chinese cricket community.”With the Hong Kong team competing in next year’s ICC World Twenty20, it will not only give Ming a head start in preparations but also allow him an insight into some of the best players in T20 cricket.”The BBL community rookies are not officially part of the playing squad for the tournament, but can be elevated as a replacement player, as happened with Solomon Mire at the Melbourne Renegades two seasons ago.The aim of the community rookie programme is to provide opportunities for players who might not otherwise be identified by Australian cricket’s pathway programmes.
Kerala’s sole home Ranji Trophy match this season may be shifted from Kochi to Palakkad as the dates for the match clash with Kerala Football Association (KFA) plans to use Kochi’s Nehru Stadium for its national league games.Since the Nehru Stadium is hosting the second of the seven one-dayers between India and Australia on October 2, the KFA scheduled nine of its home matches after October 22. So, the Ranji match, from November 12 to 15, against Services was going to coincide with the football league games.”That could be a problem but I think we can settle the issue amicably after discussions with the cricket association,” KMI Mather, the KFA president, told the . “The All India Football Federation plans to have a strict schedule this season. And we’ll need at least two weeks to prepare a football ground after a cricket match, with the focus being mainly on the wicket.”But shifting the match to Palakkad’s Fort Ground will prove costly for the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA). “[It] will mean an expense of Rs 500,000 to Rs 600,000 because we have to prepare the ground all over again,” said TR Balakrishnan, the KCA interim president.
The funeral for Sir Clyde Walcott, the former West Indies batsman, will be held at Cave Hill in Barbados on Saturday.Walcott died on August 26 aged 80 after suffering a short illness. He was one of the three Ws – Everton Weekes and Sir Frank Worrell were the others – and will be buried close to Worrell’s grave in a site which overlooks the cricket ground named in their honour.”It is a fitting resting place for Clyde at a ground named in his honour,” his widow, Lady Muriel Walcott, said.In 44 Tests Walcott struck 15 hundreds, and made 3798 runs at an average of 56.68. Walcott managed several West Indian teams and succeeded Sir Colin Cowdrey as chairman of ICC. He was knighted in 1994.
The England & Wales Cricket Board will be letting out a collective sigh of relief today after it was announced that Zimbabwe’s 10-week tour of England and Ireland, which starts later this month, has been given the go-ahead.”I am delighted we have been given the definitive green light from the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) for the tour to go ahead,” said Tim Lamb, the chief executive of the ECB. “This guarantees a full international programme for the summer, including the first-ever Test Match to be held at Durham’s Riverside Ground. With Zimbabwe, South Africa and Pakistan touring, I look forward to another great summer of international cricket.”After weeks of anxious waiting for a decision by the Zimbabwean government’s Sports and Recreation Commission, Peter Chingoka, the chairman of the ZCU, finally received a telephone call on Friday approving the tour from Anthony Mandiwanza, the commission’s chairman.Chingoka would not confirm the go-ahead until he received the official letter, but a reliable source said on Saturday: “I can tell you that approval for the tour has been received, but it won’t be released officially until the Sports Commission letter arrives.”The ZCU have spent anxious weeks awaiting the decision, because it was feared that the government of Robert Mugabe might intervene to stop the tour in response to England’s boycott of Harare during the recent World Cup. There had been widespread speculation that the regime might have decided on a tit-for-tat retaliation.But Mr Mandiwanza told AFP: “We have a clear mandate at the commission in decision-making. And we deal only with sport, not politics.” He added that the delay in advising the ZCU was because he had been away, and for no other reason, and he emphasised there had been no input by any government ministry. This was contrary to previous statements from his director-general, Elias Musangeya, who said the matter had gone first to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then to the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture.The team is scheduled to leave Harare on April 29. They will play two Tests – at Lord’s and the inaugural one at Chester-le-Street in Durham – and a triangular one-day series which also includes England and South Africa.
Herschelle Gibbs has passed a fitness test and should be able to play in the second Test in Colombo next week. Gibbs, 30, twisted his right ankle at the training camp at Pretoria before the tour, but was included in the squad in the hope that he might recover.”I started running today and if the ankle hadn’t stood up to it then I would probably have had to go home and have an operation,” Gibbs told the MWP agency after passing the test. “When it first happened the doctor recommended surgery straight away but we decided to give it a chance to heal naturally – and with lots of physio – and so far, so good.”It might still feel worse tomorrow morning but right now I’m absolutely delighted,” he added. “[Physiotherapist] Shane [Jabaar] has done a fantastic job and I’m actually ahead of schedule with the recovery. But we’re going to keep working hard and take it day by day. I’m not taking anything for granted.”Andrew Puttick, the left-handed opening batsman from Cape Town, was called into the squad as cover for Gibbs, but Eric Simons, South Africa’s coach, is still undecided about whether Puttick will open the batting with Graeme Smith in the first Test at Galle, or if the responsibility will be handed to Jacques Rudolph.
Glamorgan`s batsmen enjoyed a disappointing time on the first day of theirCounty Championship match against Gloucestershire at Cardiff, as the Welsh county were dismissed for just 139 in their first innings after they had been inserted by Mark Alleyne, the Gloucestershire captain.Alleyne`s decision to bowl first was fully vindicated as Glamorgan slumped to 19-5 within the first hour`s play, and it looked as if they might struggle to pass their lowest ever total against their West Country neighbours – 49 at Margam in 1962.Matthew Maynard plus the lower order batsmen staged a brief recovery either side of lunch, but despite a few sturdy blows by Mike Kasprowicz and Alex Wharf, Glamorgan were eventually dismissed for 139, with Jon Lewis returning figures of 5-61.The Gloucestershire openers, Craig Spearman and Phil Weston, then compileda century opening stand, adding 137 before Spearman, the former New Zealand batsman, was caught by Ian Thomas offthe bowling of David Harrison. The young seamer then disposed of Weston, before Kasprowiczremoved Tim Hancock thanks to a deft catch by Mike Powell.Gloucestershire ended the day on 217-3 with former South African Teststar Jonty Rhodes unbeaten on 39* with his side 78 runs aheadand 7 wickets in hand.
The batting of Somerset captain Jamie Cox was the feature on the opening day of this Cricinfo Championship match against Essex which saw the Australian batting throughout the day to finish unbeaten on 175 before bad light stopped play with 10 deliveries still to be bowled.Cox was in a class of his own as his batting colleagues all perished cheaply after he had won the toss. Apart from the Somerset opener, Peter Bowler was the only batsman to reach double figures as the visitors slumped to 139-5 in the 45th over.They had begun the match in second position chasing the £50,000 prize money for runners-up spot in the CricInfo Division One but gave a far from inspirational performance against their opponents’ attack who were rewarded for some impressive seam bowling with Ashley Cowan particularly impressive.He took two of the wickets to fall to seize the initiative for the bottom of the table side whose relegation was confirmed when Surrey gained their first point in their vital match with Yorkshire.But the presence of Cox eased Somerset away from their difficult position as the 31-year-old found his first effective support of the innings from Rob Turner who helped his skipper add an unbroken 165 for the sixth wicket, a county record against Essex.Cox played a number of imperious straight drives and reached his century from 179 deliveries that included 17 boundaries. That was his first Championship ton of the season and he steadily progressed, taking a single to take him on to 123 and thus reach 1,000 runs in the competition this summer.Cox survived two chances, one difficult to Stuart Law at slip who failed to retain a sharp chance when his fellow countryman had scored 15, and then later in this innings when, with his score 124, he gave a more straightforward catch to ‘keeper James Foster with fast bowler Justin Bishop the man to suffer again.Turner added solid and determined support although he did combine sound defensive qualities with aggressive shots, hoisting off-spinner Peter Such over long-on for six.He reached his half-century having faced 108 deliveries whilst Cox continued to dominate his opponents’ attack to pass 150 from 267 balls that embraced 22 boundaries.The pair had just achieved a third batting point for Somerset when the umpires offered the light that the batsmen readily accepted.They will resume tomorrow with their side now in a position of some comfort to build a match-winning position to enhance their claims to the runners-up position at the end of the season which would be Somerset’s highest-ever Championship placing.
Lucas has been on a real journey since his arrival at Liverpool eight years ago.
Signed under Rafa Benitez, the Brazilian was lauded as the ‘next big thing’ following some fine attacking midfield showings in his homeland, and Reds fans dared to dream that they may be seeing a genuine samba star running games from midfield on Merseyside.
However, Lucas’ adaptation was slow to say the least, and as a back-up to Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano he was a scapegoat waiting to happen for significant sections of the Anfield crowd.
However, as the years advanced he moved deeper, changing his game to develop into a controlling holding midfielder, and with this adaptation, and the club’s slide, he became a vital cog, helping to stem the flow of goals at the wrong end while adding some authority as the likes of Mascherano and Alonso left.
He’s now firmly a cult hero among Kopites, so it’s been greeted with a degree of sadness to hear that he may be on his way out of the club after a fall-out with manager Brendan Rodgers. The Northern Irishman is understood to have indicated to him that he’s fifth choice at the club behind Emre Can, Joe Allen, Jordan Henderson and James Milner, opening the door for a long talked about switch to Inter Milan.
However, even with his role limited, Rodgers wants a replacement to come in and should he delve back into the transfer market any addition would be number EIGHT this summer. So, what options remain for Liverpool?
Well, here are FIVE…
Asier Illarramendi
Although not in the same mould as Lucas in terms of his defensive midfield contribution, Illarramendi is already being touted as the most likely target should the Brazilian leave.
The Spaniard has been likened to Kop hero Xabi Alonso in the past due to his passing range and desire to dictate the play from a deep midfield role, which appears well-suited to the style of football Rodgers craves.
On top of this, Illarramendi is thought to be available with Rafa Benitez having deemed him surplus to requirements at the club, which could open the door for a move.
Sergi Samper
Another deep-lying playmaker of Spanish descent that may be of interest to the Reds is Barcelona’s Sergi Samper. The 20-year-old currently plies his trade with the Catalans’ B team, but with his age now hovering around that of a player who should be playing senior football, it appears to be ‘make or break’ for the midfielder in terms of progression.
An £8.4m release clause sits tantalisingly in the mix, and even though Barca have suggested that he’ll be considered for first-team action, it’s hard to see how he’ll fit in regularly with the likes of Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and, when available, Arda Turan just three of a host of impressive central stars at the Camp Nou. A lack of Champions League action may dissuade Samper from selecting Anfield, but regular playing time is sure to be appealing.
Thiago Motta
At the other end of the scale, both in terms of style and age, is PSG’s Thiago Motta. The Brazil-born Italy international is a burly, destruction-minded defensive midfielder, which is, typically, the sort of player Rodgers has dodged at Anfield so far.
However, at 32 he looks set to move on for a small fee, and with bags of experience from a career spent playing for sides such as Barcelona, Inter Milan and PSG – he’s won league titles with all three – he does appear to be an appealing short-term option and is unlike any player currently available on the red half of Merseyside.
Adrien Rabiot
Also at PSG, Rabiot is another potential option. The 20-year-old has been linked with moves away from Paris for much of the last few years amid fears for his first-team future, with the Ligue 1 champions well-stocked in terms of experienced and proven options in the engine room.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Sent off in PSG’s first game of the new season for picking up two bookings within the opening 30 minutes at Lille, Rabiot may well find himself out of the action again for some time as the Parisians look for a fourth consecutive league title, and his cultured, pass-orientated style appears suited to Rodgers’ approach.
William Carvalho
Likely to be a popular name among the Reds’ fanbase, Carvalho is an appealing, if unlikely, late option for the Reds. The Portugal international has long been talked about as one of Europe’s finest emerging defensive midfielders, so a fee of close to £30m is likely to be asked for by Sporting CP.
Although Liverpool are by no means paupers, such a sum on the back of the £80m+ spend this summer – not factoring in wages and signing on fees – may be a stretch, yet if a decent fee can be reeled in for Lucas and the Merseysiders are clever with their negotiations, a deal could be possible, with Rodgers a fan of the player.