CloseAuckland 317-8 (T McIntosh 96, S Singe 57, C Pryor 57*, J Ryder 4-14, M Orchard 2-65, W Cornelius 2-72) met New Zealand Academy Selection.Auckland gave another demonstration of its latent batting depth on the opening day of their two-day match with the New Zealand Academy Selection at Lincoln Green at the High Performance Centre yesterday. Despite the fact their regular openers Matt Horne (injured) and Mark Richardson (playing for the Selection XI) were not playing, Tim McIntosh and Shane Singe put on 165 for the first wicket.Auckland ended the day on 317-8 with McIntosh, who scored 820 runs in first-class cricket last summer, falling four short of a century. The stand was an impressive one, built on well-run singles before the more free-flowing batting started to emerge. The Academy attack of Shane Bond, Wade Cornelius and Mark Orchard could make no early impression and Aaron Redmond’s leg-spin was brought into action for the 25th over.But nothing could stop the batsmen. McIntosh’s 50 came off 100 balls and the century partnership off 172 balls. Singe had a life just before the lunch break when Auckland had 116 without loss. Singe’s half-century was scored of 122 balls. On 96 McIntosh latched onto a short ball from Cornelius but was taken at square-leg. He had faced 161 balls. A double breakthrough occurred when Singe was caught behind by Bevan Griggs off Cornelius for 57.Cornelius had taken 2 for 15 off five overs in his post-lunch spell while Orchard took 2 for 15 off nine overs to further stem the run flow from Auckland. While Bond and Cornelius took the new ball they had no more luck and it was left to Jesse Ryder to come in and pick up three quick wickets, and nearly a fourth, before the day ended.
Karnataka pulled off a three-wicket win against Delhi in the finals of the HSBC National Cricket Tournament for the Blind at the SPIC-YMCA ground in Chennai. The final was the obverse of the last league match between the same two teams yesterday at the Southern Railway Ground, a match that was won by Delhi. Shekar Nayak was the chief architect of today’s victory with a majestic ton.Delhi won the toss and decided to bat first, echoing yesterday’s decision. They scored 291 for the loss of nine wickets in the allotted 40 overs. Delhi openers Ram Karan and Pratap Bisht batted splendidly and added a mammoth 177 for the first wicket before the former fell to a direct hit from Manjunath after making 65 (74 balls, 3×4). Bisht made 39 (110 balls, 1×4), but his effort contributed 78 runs to the team score as he was completely blind.Barring Sunil Kadyan, the rest of Delhi’s batsmen failed to impress; Kadyan remained unbeaten on 40 off just 36 deliveries with two hits to the ropes. The Karnataka bowlers continued with their habit of gifting extras, with 53 wides and 25 no-balls featuring in the 86 extras. Manjunath was the pick of the Karnataka bowlers with three for 33 from his eight overs. Mahesh had a good day in the field, picking up two wickets and also effecting two stumpings.Chasing 292, Karnataka reached the target with just 11 balls to spare. Shekar Nayak was rightly adjudged the Man of the Match for his mammoth 161 off 138 balls with 13 fours. He won the match singlehandedly for Karnataka today, with the extras (62) being the next highest individual score.Nethraj gave good company to Nayak and scored 20 runs and contributing 40 to the team total. Like the Delhi middle order, the Karnataka middle order too failed to score runs. In fact, towards the end, Karnataka lost wickets in a hurry. When even Nayak was dismissed, Ravikumar held his nerve and made an important run-a-ball 17 not out. For Delhi, Gaur, Ram Karan and Ramesh Kumar picked a wicket each.Nayak also won the Man of the Series award in the partially sighted category for his consistent performances through the four days of the tournament. Bisht was the Man of the Series in the totally blind category and Mahesh in the partially blind category.The awards ceremony after the match was presided over by Ashok Kumbhat, Honorary Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. Prakash Kuruvilla, Senior Manager – South India, HSBC, was the chief guest, and he handed over the trophies and prizes. Badri Seshadri, MD, CricInfo India Pvt. Ltd., offered a speech of thanks at the end of the ceremony, bringing to an end a tournament that should go a long way in promoting the worthwhile cause of blind cricket.
Chris Nevin and James Franklin make an odd couple – the former short, stocky and with a batting approach which mixes urgency and pugnacity; the other tall, more languid and more fluent, an easy shot-maker.Again, the former keeps wicket, bats left-handed and has added to his rounded first-class experience which affords local seniority a number of one-day appearances for New Zealand.The other is right-handed, bowls probing medium pace and is in the infancy of a career which holds great promise. He has opened the bowling and the batting for New Zealand Under-19s but is still finding his way in the domestic first-class game.However, the two found much in common today when, as comrades in arms – partners in defiance – they achieved complementary though dissimilar half centuries for Wellington against New South Wales on the second day of a two-day match at the Basin Reserve.Nevin was Wellington’s top-scorer with 83, Franklin made 63 and in company they added 141 for the fifth wicket in a stubborn partnership which spanned lunch and tea and made Wellington’s total broad-shouldered after it had slumped.There was little swagger in their batting, more cold purpose and application but with their added impetus Wellington reached 337-6 in their first innings, replying to New South Wales’ first-day total of 387. Both teams batted into the 100th over.Wellington found themselves unable to overhaul New South Wales’ total today – could neither keep continuous pace with the demands of that target nor replicate the late onslaught which so much enlarged the visitors’ innings in the last hour yesterday. The result could be counted in New South Wales’ favour on the first innings.But in Nevin’s effort and in Franklins’, in Matthew Bell’s solid 46 and Richard Jones’ quickly-compiled 40, in Matthew Walker’s accomplished 53 late in the innings and Mark Jefferson’s 37, Wellington found some solace and some satisfaction.The match was designed to give them a leg up into the Shell Trophy series which begins next week and there was enough in the batting form of the middle order, the bowling performances of Mark Gillespie and Jeetan Patel, to make it a success in that regard.Nevin and Franklin came together in the 32nd over today, shortly before lunch and at the termination of Bell’s fine innings when Wellington were 100-4. They saw them through lunch at 119-4, to 173 by the afternoon drinks break and to 225 at tea when Nevin was 77 and Franklin 52.Then, as so often happens with long partnerships in which two players become almost co-dependent, Franklin was out and Nevin followed shortly afterwards.Franklin was caught by spinner Matthew Higgs from his own bowling when Wellington were 241 and Nevin fell to the same bowler two overs and eight runs later, caught by Shane Lee at first slip.Franklin had batted 192 minutes and faced 168 balls, hitting nine fours and Nevin had batted 170 minutes, received 146 balls and peppered the boundary rope with 13 fours. The partnership had occupied a total of 162 minutes.Nevin was quicker to his half century. He reached that mark in 98 minutes from 88 balls while Franklin laboured 182 minutes and took 157 balls. Both 50s included eight boundaries.The combination provided, throughout the day, a study in differing styles. Franklin, uses his height well, gets over the ball in his preferred cut shot and uses his long legs in controlling his front foot shots to the off side.Nevin has the short man’s habit of jumping to counter bounce and his shots are arguably more deliberate and more brutal.Before their partnership Bell and Jones had added 74 for Wellington’s second wicket after Michael Blackmore had been out without scoring to the fifth ball of the day. There were hazards in the early part of Jones’ innings but he showed nerve, eventually commanding the bowling to take 40 runs from 56 balls with six fours.Bell applied himself for almost two hours before lunch, taking 46 from 90 balls before being stumped by Greg Mail from Higgs.Later, Walker and Jefferson joined in an unbeaten partnership of 88 runs for the seventh wicket – a stand occupying little more than an hour. Walker finished 53 not out and had to his name, from 77 balls, a total of 10 fours and one six. Jefferson hit four fours in his supportive role.Higgs was the most successful of the New South Wales bowlers, taking 3-69 from 20 overs.The teams meet again tomorrow in a day-night match at the WestpacTrust Stadium. Play begins at 2pm.
West Ham are still interested in signing Benfica forward Darwin Nunez this summer according to reports.
What’s the news?
Popular journalist Fabrizio Romano tweeted that the Hammers could be back in for the striker in the next transfer window, saying: “Darwin Núñez will be another big name to watch in the summer.
“West Ham made an official bid for him on Deadline Day in Jan: €48m [£40.4m] turned down by Benfica. Hammers alongside other clubs will be back in the summer for Núñez, this time with good chances.”
Potential gem of a signing
West Ham could find themselves in a European competition again next season, which will most likely result in a summer transfer window full of investment from Co-Chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold.
Currently with just Michail Antonio the only natural striker in the first team squad, that position is one area that is likely to be strengthened at the end of the season – particularly if the club is to endure midweek ventures deep into the continent once again next campaign. Therefore, should a new face arrive to bolster their ranks, it will surely leave supporters delighted, especially if it’s a player of Nunez’s capabilities.
One man that could sign to not only give Antonio support, but also competition to try and take his place in the first team is Nunez, who scored for his club yesterday to knock out Ajax in the Champions League.
Nunez has been one of the best up and coming strikers in Europe this season, scoring 20 goals in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, making him the top goalscorer in the division, despite having made just 19 starts.
The 22-year-old’s positional intelligence, technical ability and work ethic has helped him to earn plenty of goalscoring chances, and despite having improved on his finishing massively, the forward has also missed 14 big chances in league football – suggesting there is still plenty more improvement to be made.
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However, that will be viewed as a positive by manager David Moyes, as despite the former Almeria youngster not yet being a polished product, he would already improve West Ham greatly, and with plenty of game-time in the English top-flight, he could realise his potential and become one of the top strikers in the world while playing at the London Stadium.
In other news: Signed for £15m, now worth 170% more: WHU struck gold on “superb” £47k-p/w “master”
Diego Maradona is planning a sensational bid to bring Carlos Tevez to Dubai club Al Wasl and put an end to the strikers Manchester nightmare according to talkSPORT.
The Argentina international is currently suspended at the Etihad Stadium after his refusal to come on as a substitute against Bayern Munich in last weeks Champions League game and has held meetings with officials investigating the incident.
City boss Roberto Mancini has stated he will never consider the troublesome striker for selection whilst he is in charge and it looks as if Tevez could be on his way out sooner rather than later.
Despite only joining City in 2009 the 27-year-old has been hankering for a move away from the club for some time and Maradona is considering making a move to bring his fellow countryman to the Far East.
Since becoming Al Wasl manager earlier this year the South American legend has been desperate to turn his new side into the top club in the United Arab Emirates having failed to win a title since 2007.
Backed by wealthy investment of Sheikh Ahmed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum the 50-year-old manager is positive the club can put together a package that would adhere to Tevez’s demands and give him and his family a chance to start a new life in Dubai.
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With rumours resurfacing that Michael Owen looks all but set to depart from Old Trafford in the summer after his latest injury setback, it begs the question, has the former Liverpool player’s move to bitter rivals Man Utd been one of the most short-sighted, worst thought-out transfers in recent memory?
Now this article isn’t concerned with the expectations that Man Utd fans may have had upon signing Owen. For his 96th minute winner in the Manchester Derby alone, he’s ensured that he’s been worth all the bother. No, it’s simply more to do with the expectation, or relative lack thereof, that Owen has for himself nowadays as the extent that his own personal drive and ambition can be called into question.
Since crossing the bitter divide, Owen has featured in 42 games for Man Utd across all competitions spread over two seasons, but just 15 of these have come as a starter, with just 6 of those starts coming in the league. Surely at just 31 years of age, it’s too early for Owen to be content with a life of semi-retirement on the Man Utd bench?
He was signed by Man Utd to add both experience and strength in depth to the forward line. Form the clubs point of view, they have more than got their worth out of the Owen deal, especially considering that he arrived on a free transfer. But with just 15 starts across all competitions in nearly two seasons, it’s clear that Owen is on the end of a raw deal and he is now quite comfortably the club’s fourth-choice striker behind Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez – a situation that shows no signs of changing any time soon.
If you analyse the club’s results when Owen has been in the side and where his starts have come from and it becomes abundantly clear that he was never destined to figure too dominantly in Ferguson’s plans. Starts last season came against the likes of Burnley, Bolton, Wolves, Hull and Fulham and only serve to highlight the calibre of side that he was brought in to play against. His four starts this season have come against Chelsea in the Community Shield, Scunthorpe in the Carling Cup, Southampton in the FA Cup and Sunderland in the Premier League, a game in which he was withdrawn at half-time – hardly big fixtures for the club and they show Owen’s lack of importance to the first-team.
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Owen arrived at the club full of vigour, seemingly certain that as he entered the autumn seasons of his career, that he would be able to rekindle any international ambitions that he may still have harboured, while at the same time becoming a pivotal member in Man Utd’s assault on the league, sadly though, this has not turned out to be the case and he has been reduced to a role on the periphery.
You’d certainly think that for a player, who was undoubtedly the best British striker of his generation, that with opportunities severely limited at Old Trafford, that he‘d at least consider a move to a club slightly further down the league in an attempt to secure more first-team football. Well you would be wrong.
Back in October, Owen seemingly ruled out moving to any perceived ‘smaller club’ when questioned on what he’d do if he wasn’t offered a new deal at Man Utd stating that “I don’t feel my game is ideally suited to a team that is struggling. Whether I want to be dropping down to a poorer Premier League team, I don’t know. But I won’t be dropping down leagues.” Whether this is either arrogant or simply just an acknowledgment of his own limitations I‘ll leave that for you decide, but to narrow your options so severely seems a tad rash in my view.
Talk has been rife that Owen may even retire from football at the end of this campaign, perhaps with a Premier League winner’s medal in tow, such is his disillusionment with the situation he currently finds himself in – which if it turned out to be the case, would be a monumental waste of his predatory talents. He genuinely still has something to offer. The intelligence that he showed in his short stinit as a withdrawn forward in Kevin Keegan’s three-pronged attack at Newcastle only shows that Owen has a lot more to his game these days than people give him credit for.
Injuries have played their part during his time at Man Utd, as they have done throughout his career, but his choice to join Utd, while entirely understandable at the time, may come back to haunt him. You could even go as far as to question the wisdom of Owen’s respective moves throughout his club career.
Should he leave Man Utd in the summer, an increasingly likely possibility now, Owen’s time at Old Trafford will not be regarded as a bad piece of business from anyone involved at the club, but for Owen, from a personal perspective, it has gone poorly. The move intended to revitalise his England career all but ended it.
Owen’s performance in the Carling Cup final last season was a microcosm of his career to date thus far and with it, his time at Utd too. Practically anonymous until the 12th minute, whereupon racing onto a through ball, Owen finished with aplomb. He left the field injured just half an hour after scoring with a hamstring injury – a defect that has plagued him throughout his entire career. He cut a frustrated figure, and one does feel a degree of sympathy for a player unable to play to the best of his ability for the majority of his career.
The fact remains, when all sentiment is put aside and feelings of betrayal begin to subside on the part of Liverpool fans, Owen will be regarded as a great international player, but rather oddly, a player that never fully realised his true potential at club level.
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His move to Man Utd may have paid off for the club, albeit in a stop-gap capacity, where his tally of 9 goals across all competitions last season more than justified his acquisition. However, from the player’s perspective, the move has prompted little more than the onset of premature retirement and his decision to join Man Utd can be said to have been most unwise and short-term in it’s vision on Owen’s part.
The likes of Everton and Aston Villa are said to be interested in pursuing Owen in the summer, but such is the unpredictability of Owen’s club career to date, that any such rumours should be treated with a degree of suspicion. Owen has previous form when it comes to surprisingly ill-thought out transfers, and as the former England striker enters a fork in the road; a crossroads in his career, he will have to ask himself just how much desire and personal ambition that he still retains – if he continues to play fourth-fiddle at Old Trafford for a further season, therein lies your answer.
Everton have completed the signing of the former Leeds United striker Jermaine Beckford on a four-year deal.
The 26-year-old moves to Goodison Park after being released from his contract with the West Yorkshire side last week.
Beckford scored 31 goals for Simon Grayson's side last season as Leeds secured promotion from League One.
He scored the crucial second goal on the last day of the campaign against Bristol Rovers as ten-man Leeds won 2-1 to seal second spot behind Norwich City.
Beckford also scored the only goal of the game at Old Trafford in January as Leeds knocked Manchester United out of the FA Cup.
The prolific forward was at Chelsea as a youngster but drifted into non-league football with Wealdstone before reviving his career at Elland Road, that included loan spells at Carlisle United and Scunthorpe United.
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Beckford was linked with a move to Everton in January when it was widely reported that he had signed a pre-contract agreement with David Moyes' side while agreeing to stay at Leeds until the end of the season.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Joe Hart and Daniel Sturridge have pulled out of England’s squad for Wednesday’s international friendly against Italy, the FA have confirmed.
The Three Lions face the side that eliminated them from Euro 2012 in Switzerland in midweek, but will be without two members of Roy Hodgson’s experimental squad and will not call up replacements.
Hart did not feature in Manchester City’s 3-2 triumph over Chelsea in the Community Shield on Sunday, and has withdrawn due to a back strain.
This means that either Jack Butland or John Ruddy will make their international debut against Cesare Prandelli’s men.
Sturridge has been competing for Team GB this summer in the Olympics, but has also been forced to miss the game due to a toe injury.
It is not known whether Hart and Sturridge will be fit for the new Premier League season that starts next weekend.
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Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has expressed his displeasure with his team’s performance against Norwich on Monday night, as they were beaten 2-1 at Carrow Road.
A Kieran Richardson strike was not enough for The Black Cats, who could not build on their 4-0 win over Stoke last weekend.
The Bantams boss was particularly unhappy with his side’s inability to hold onto the ball.
“We didn’t pass it as well as we normally do, we gave the ball away too cheaply, which is one thing which we have improved on, especially after the performance against Stoke,” he told Sky Sports after the match.
“Today we had too many people that gave the ball away too cheaply, well for me anyway.
“We made a rally towards the end, but we needed to score maybe a little earlier and then it might have been a bit different. But overall I’m slightly disappointed with it,” he stated.
Bruce was also unhappy with the manner of the home side’s second goal, which effectively ended the game as a contest.
“Well the timing, straight afterwards we’ve switched off and not gone with runners and not the done the basics, and the first one was exactly the same.
“They played a one-two down the side of us and we’ve switched off for that minute, and that’s what it takes.
“But fair play to Norwich and the crowd and all the rest of them. It was going to be a difficult one, and one in which we needed to play well on the night, and unfortunately we didn’t do that,” he concluded.
Sunderland will look to regroup back at the Stadium of Light, as they take on West Brom next Saturday.
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The news that Jack Wilshere will escape FA censure for his latest Twitter outburst will have come as a great relief to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, but with the prodigious young midfielder currently occupying column inches (this one included, I understand the irony, believe me) for all the wrong reasons, Wenger should look to stamp down on Wilshere’s behaviour at the club before the young player gets in any more hot water over anything.
Wilshere is currently the country’s brightest young talent. While Andy Carroll may have hogged the headlines with a barely believable £35m transfer deadline day move to Liverpool from his boyhood club Newcastle, it’s in Wilshere where England’s future predominantly lies.
Capable of dictating play from the middle and with a level of maturity that belies his tender years, Wilshere is a phenomenal talent. Capable of playing on the wing too, he’s been earmarked to play the holding midfield role in England’s upcoming friendly against Denmark on February 9th by current manager Fabio Capello.
His rise to fame has coincided with an extended run in the first-team at Arsenal, dispelling any myths that manager Arsene Wenger may have once had a preference for foreign born talent as opposed to English talent along the way.
Wenger always strongly maintained a principle that I happen to agree with him on, that if you’re good enough, you will play, no matter what your nationality. The ones guilty of xenophobia in this instance were the ones that lambasted the Arsenal manager for his failure to bring through English talent, not Wenger himself.
Wilshere heads a bright young generation of English talent for both club and country at the moment, but it’s in his penchant for getting into trouble both on and off the pitch that the 19 year-old needs to completely cut out of his career.
His latest misdemeanour was a rant aimed at referee Phil Dowd after Saturday’s unbelievable 4-4 draw against Newcastle. Wilshere stated on his Twitter feed that: “Inconsistent refereeing needs to stop. It’s killing the game. If Diaby goes, what’s the difference between that and Nolan on our keeper?.” The comments were subsequently deleted a short time later.
The difference between this and Ryan Babel’s fine from the FA for bringing the game into disrepute after he posted a picture of referee Howard Webb in a mocked up Manchester United shirt in jest on Twitter are hard to differentiate between. It would appear that in this instance then, it pays to be English. Inconsistent refereeing may have irked Wilshere initially, but it’s the inconsistent disciplinary procedures at the FA that have saved him from any further action being taken against him. Wilshere’s other scrapes with the authorities, both on and off the pitch, have seen him sent off for a terrible lunge on Nikola Zigic in Arsenal’s 2-1 against Birmingham back in October and arrested twice after being caught up in a fracas at a nightclub in August and after an incident involving a cab driver in January. Of course, with being such a young and high profile footballer, Wilshere is obviously going to attract some unwanted attention on nights out. He’s most certainly not the first Premier League footballer to have been caught out so often when so young, but it’s the fact that he keeps putting himself in these situations at all that’s most troubling. I’m not advocating that he live like a monk. He’s 19 years of age and we should allow a degree of leeway for what is essentially a teenager finding his way, but Wenger needs to seriously get hold of him, sit him down and cut out this unsavoury side of his character before it starts affecting his performances on the pitch. Wilshere has formed a key part of an impressive triumvirate in midfield this season with Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. The fact that he doesn’t look out of place in this company speaks volumes about his potential. He has the ability to be a world-class footballer, especially if he cuts out any trouble off the pitch. Wilshere would be best served displaying some of the maturity he shows regularly around the Emirates on such on a Saturday afternoon and displaying it more in his life choices away from the pitch on a Saturday evening. His decision-making with the ball is fantastic, but in life, so far it’s been more than questionable and he needs to put a stop to these ‘incidents’ before it gets too far out of hand.
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