The rain affected P Ramachandra Rao Trophy match between Hyderabad andAndhra at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Saturday ended ina draw. Both Karnataka and Hyderabad settled for three points eachfrom the match.Resuming at the overnight score of 87 for 4, Karnataka proceeded toscore 174 runs in their first innings. S Naveen (11) was the first tobe dismissed when he fell leg before to Mohd Ghouse. S Shinde (44)was joined by R Shanbal (13) and they took the score to 127. Shindewas then caught by Sai Laxman off Santosh Yadav. Three overs laterDharmichand (0) fell to a catch in the slips by D Amresh of SantoshYadav. Coming in at No 9, NC Aiyappa scored a valuable 28 to take thescore past the 160 run mark before the innings folded up.In reply Hyderabad got to face just six overs. Opener K Srikanth (4)was caught by Shanbal off Aiyappa. T Suman (7) and Anirudh Singh (2)took the score onto 16 when heavy rain stopped play, which could notbe resumed after tea. Play was finally called off at 4 pm.
However, the 28-year-old had an afternoon to forget on a personal note as he was the Hoops’ worst-rated performer by some distance. As per SofaScore, the skipper recorded a match rating of 5.6/10 after he missed a penalty, failed to complete any of his attempted dribbles or crosses and was second-best in seven of his 11 duels.
The Latest: Petrov’s comments
With the score at 0-0 in the early stages at Almondvale, McGregor missed from the penalty spot after Jack Fitzwater handled Daizen Maeda’s effort, with his strike coming off the post.
Talking live on-air at half time on Sky Sports, Petrov labelled the midfielder’s penalty as “really poor”, with the Hoops one goal to the good at the break.
The Verdict: Phew
Celtic fans may have been fearing the worst after McGregor’s penalty miss, but it didn’t take long for Maeda to open the scoring.
An own goal and a James Forrest strike gave the Hoops a comfortable lead in the second half, with Postecoglou’s side regaining a three-point lead at the top of the Premiership.
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Luckily, McGregor’s spot-kick woes didn’t come back to haunt Celtic, but you’d expect that Josip Juranovic will once again take control from 12 yards out when he’s on the pitch.
In other news: Deal negotiated – ‘Ambitious’ Celtic ace who Postecoglou hailed now open to Parkhead exit
James Sutherland, the chief executive of Cricket Australia, is confident India’s tour will continue as planned and he has called on the captains Anil Kumble and Ricky Ponting to sort out their differences in the next few days. Despite rumblings of discontent from within the Indian team, Sutherland said Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, had indicated the remaining two Tests would be played and the squad would not be heading home early.”There’s nothing to suggest that it won’t [go ahead],” Sutherland said. “Sharad Pawar, who is the president of cricket in India, has overnight made such commitments, so that’s good enough for me. We’re looking forward to Perth now.”Australia won the second Test on Sunday with barely ten minutes remaining and after the match Kumble questioned whether Australia had played within the spirit of the game. Ponting angrily defended his integrity and Sutherland said following such a tense finish it was understandable that emotions were running high.”It was a classic Test match, it went right down to the wire,” Sutherland said. “Anil Kumble had a fantastic Test match as a captain and as a player, and no doubt he was disappointed in the end.”To some extent it’s not surprising in that emotionally charged environment that he would say what he has. It is only appropriate in that circumstance for Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble to get together and to talk about exactly what differences of opinion there may be in that regard.”The match was marred by poor umpiring, contentious catches, queries over walking and a report that resulted in Harbhajan Singh being suspended for three Tests for making a racist comment to Andrew Symonds. Brad Hogg might also face the match referee over allegedly using offensive language during the match but Sutherland was unsure when or if a hearing would take place.”I don’t know any of the detail,” he said. “As I understand it a report hasn’t specifically been laid yet but it may well be pending.”The controversies during and after the game have taken the gloss of Australia’s record-equalling 16th consecutive Test victory. Sutherland said it should have been no surprise that Australia would fight tooth and nail to win the match.”It has always been the Australian way to play the game of cricket hard but fair,” he said. “Tough and uncompromising is certainly the way in which all Australian teams have played no matter who has been the captain and this team under Ricky Ponting is no exception.”
Prosper Utseya has been fined 40 percent of his match fee for a slow over rate in the fourth one-day international against Bangladesh at Harare.Other members of Zimbabwe’s team were fined 20 percent of their fee from Saturday’s match following the hearing conducted by match referee Cyril Mitchley.”This was Prosper’s first offence of this nature but he must be careful not to let it happen again. He has received a stern warning,” said Mitchley. “Slow over rates are not fair to the opposition or the spectators and captains have a responsibility to ensure their players adhere to the regulations in that regard.”Bangladesh claimed the series 3-1 after a one-wicket win in the final match on Saturday.
After yesterday’s washout, today’s semi-final was reduced to seven overs per side between Cape Cobras and Titans, with Australia’s Ian Harvey taking the Cobras through to the final. Harvey’s blistering 45 was made from just 18 balls, with five fours and three sixes, after the Cobras had won the toss and chosen to bat. Their total of 95 for 5 from seven overs proved too much for the Titans, who lost Bodi in the second over for one. AB de Villiers, however, was striking the ball cleanly, hitting three sixes and a couple of fours in his knock of 30. But his wicket spelled the end of Titan’s chances of making it to the final, and they fell 22 runs short.Soaking rain all day forced the postponement of the Standard Bank Pro20 semi-finalbetween the Eagles and the Lions in Bloemfontein on Sunday. The match was rescheduled to 6 PM on Monday, and the winners will meet the Cobras in the final next Sunday.
Sajid Mahmood bounced back from early onslaught from Avishka Gunawardene to rip through Sri Lanka’s top order and tighten England A’s grip on a match that they’ve controlled ever since Ian Bell walked to the crease in the first hour. At stumps on day two, Sri Lanka A still trailed by 245 runs with only four first-innings wickets remaining.Mahmood, who was held back as a second-change bowler, was initially expensive as Gunawardene, a powerful and fearless dasher, raced to 40 from just 56 balls. But Mahmood’s extra pace had the final say, and Gunawardene was eventually caught behind.At that stage, Sri Lanka A, who lost their Test prospect Ian Daniel early, caught in the covers, had been ticking along smoothly at 65 for 1. Soon, however, they had slipped to 77 for 4 and were deep in trouble as Mahmood continued to breach their defences. Anuska Polonawita (16) was caught behind for 16 and Jehan Mubarak (10) was caught on the crease and clean bowled.Thilina Kandamby (28), confident after his fine form in the Provincial Tournament, counterattacked with a brisk 28 from 45 balls before a desperate slice of misfortune. Driving the ball through extra cover, he cracked the silly-point fieldsman on the full and ball ballooned up to Graeme Swann, the grateful bowler.But Sri Lanka’s fightback continued in the final session. First, Prasanna Jayawardene scored 24 before being pinned lbw and then Gayan Wijekoon (17 not out) and Malinga Bandara (30 not out), both handy allrounders, chipped away at the lead during an unbroken 49-run stand.Earlier, Matthew Prior had starred after Bell had fallen for 144, Nandika Ranjith finally unlocking his sound defence and sending his stumps cart-wheeling. Prior ensured that the lower order didn’t melt away on another scorching day, breezing to 76 from 85 balls, an innings that included 10 fours.Malinga Bandara eventually mopped up the tail with his legbreaks, finishing with 5 for 96 from 37 overs, but England’s 424-run total left Sri Lanka on the back foot and by the close England A still held the initiative.Bandara’s performance was praised by his coach, Stan Nel: “"The pitch is an absolute batting paradise. It is more difficult for the bowlers. In that respect Malinga Bandara’s five wickets was a great haul in his first game back for Sri Lanka `A’."But Nel was less happy with the bowlers: "We bowled well in parts yesterday (first day) and fielded really well. Today our top four batsmen let us down. They have come after a good provincial tournament and they are in form. I’ve had a chat with them and asked them to take on more responsibility.”Having said that, Kandamby was a bit unlucky the ball ricocheted off the shoe and Prasanna Jayawardene was also unlucky when he was given out when he edged the ball onto the pads. It was disappointing but that’s cricket," he said.
After three days of searching cricket, the Indians played out a drawagainst the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS). Set 305 to win, theIndians suffered yet another top-order collapse, but reached 121 for 4thanks to sensible batting by Saurav Ganguly (35), SadagoppanRamesh (37 not out), and Rahul Dravid (20 not out).Earlier, riding on Lee Carseldine’s second hundred of the match, QASdeclared at 208, galloping at four runs an over. Interestingly, India had taken 20 overs more to make an identical score in their first innings.The third day threw up more questions than answers, as India’s horrorrun with both bat and ball continued. At one point, the Indians were at32 for 3. What’s worrisome was that the three dismissed batsmen were Deep Dasgupta, Virender Sehwag, and Akash Chopra – all prospective openers. Ganguly and Ramesh then put on 56, before the former perished for an aggressive 35.Unlike the Indians, Carseldine found the pitch and the attack tohis liking. His unbeaten knock of 109 came of 155 balls, and was lacedwith 18 boundaries. And following the first innings script, the otherbatsmen played around his century to put the game beyond the Indians’ reach.Irfan Pathan and Anil Kumble picked up two wickets each, to complete a reasonably successful tour match. Kumble ended with match figures of 6 for 102, and has been the one Indian bowler to impress on tour sofar. Ajit Agarkar, though wicketless, bowled economically. With Balaji’snon-performance, the fast bowlers for the first Test will most likely be three out of Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Agarkar and Pathan.
Hampshire CCC plan to break with tradition once again – by wearing football-style shirts in the County Championship this summer.Chairman Rod Bransgrove unveiled the plans at yesterday’s historic Annual General Meeting – the first AGM since the club was transformed from a members’ club into a limited company.Then he told the 300-strong attendance of plans to ensure that Robin Smith’s men wear names and numbers on their backs in Hampshire’s first season back in Division One of the CricInfo County Championship.Last summer, Lancashire CCC took the unprecedented step of sticking names and squad numbers on their championship shirts as well as their one day tops.And Bransgrove believes that that is the way forward as Hampshire prepare for their second season at the Rose Bowl, which will have a capacity of 10,000 as well as a new pavilion this summer.He said: “The feedback suggests it’s difficult to see who’s fielding the ball or who’s taking catches without the aid of names or numbers, so I think it will be to the benefit of the game as a whole and certainly to the benefit of the spectators.”It will be our intention to have names and numbers on the shirts as long as we can do it in a costeffective manner.”The ECB are more than happy for other first class counties to adopt the shirts in the four day game.And Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes has confirmed that the venture was a success at Old Trafford last year.”We received a very positive reaction when we pioneered the idea with fleece style shirts,” he said. “Apparently we had numbers pinned to players’ shirts for one season in the 1950s which was very popular with fans. It’s strange that it’s taken more than 40 years to come back.”Vic Isaacs, Hampshire’s scorer for 28 years, added: “It would certainly make my job easier.”Recognising players has always been a problem since helmets came in and numbered shirts improved the game from the spectators’ point of view in the Sunday League.”
Matthew Elliott (127) brought Glamorgan to the brink of victory after thevisitors had been asked to score 307 runs to beat Middlesex in theirchampionship match at Southgate and the Welsh county achieved the goal withtwo wickets in hand.The Australian started the day on 38 n.o. and hit three sixes in a century which it seemed that he might get the runs single-handed. That was just as well for his partners were far from comfortable and when Elliott was out it seemed that the balance would tilt back in favour of the Londoners.Indeed from the start the fall of wickets was steady. Elliott’s partnership with Adrian Dale reached 231 when the former was stumped by David Nash off Paul Weekes. Dale was dismissed some twenty runs later and then Angus Fraser dismissed Keith Newell and Alex Wharf with Glamorgan still 21 runs short of victory.Adrian Shaw and Darren Thomas pottered around to bring the scores even when Shaw was caught spectacularly by Mark Ramprakash but Dean Cosker saw out the over. Thomas pushed a ball from Weekes for the single to bring victory in a match which for much of its course could have gone either way.
Celtic have made contact with Antoine Semenyo’s agent regarding a potential move to Parkhead in the summer transfer window.
What’s the talk?
In recent comments made to Football Scotland, the Bristol City centre-forward’s agent, Tony Finnigan, revealed that the Celtic scout, Craig Strachan, called him to find out more information about the 22-year-old, before Strachan visited Ashton Gate to watch the striker in action.
Speaking about Celtic’s interest in his client, Finnigan said: “I had a conversation with Strachan who rang up to ask little bits of info on the player and a bit about how I found him and what he’s like as a lad.
“That was it. If it’s something they’re going to do in the summer window I’m not sure but it’s nice to know that his talents are going as far as Scotland to one of the great institutions in world football. There’s not really much more to say than that.”
Ange can axe Ajeti with Semenyo
Considering just how impressive Semenyo has been for Bristol City this season, it is not difficult to understand why Celtic appear to be taking an interest in the centre-forward.
Indeed, over his 21 Championship appearances in the current campaign, the £1.08m-rated forward has been in devastating form for the Robins, scoring six goals, providing eight assists and creating five big chances for his teammates.
These returns have seen the £3.5k-per-week hitman – who is also capable of operating from the wings as well as through the middle – average a quite remarkable SofaScore match rating of 7.01, ranking him as his club’s third-best performer in the English second tier.
As such, it is clear for all to see that the player who Nigel Pearson claimed has both “pace & power” would make an excellent addition to the likes of Kyogo Furuhashi, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Daizen Maeda, Liel Abada and Jota in Ange Postecoglou’s attacking arsenal, while he would also appear to be a massive upgrade on Albian Ajeti.
Indeed, the £18k-per-week striker was heavily linked with a move away from Parkhead in the January transfer window, something that is not surprising considering the fact he has cost the club roughly £6.5m in transfer fees and wages since his arrival back in the summer of 2020, as well as finding the back of the net just nine times over his 48 appearances for the Hoops.
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So, it would indeed appear an extremely wise move for Postecoglou to finally cut his losses on the Switzerland international this summer, before reinvesting the money received from his sale, as well as his hefty weekly wage, into a move for the much more impressive Semenyo.
In other news: “I believe…”: Kieran Devlin drops worrying Celtic update, Ange will be sweating