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Shaun Tait is keen to take full advantage of what he hopes will be strong wind in Wellington as he aims to crank his speed past 160kph for the second time this month

Cricinfo staff26-Feb-2010Shaun Tait is keen to take full advantage of what he hopes will be strong wind in Wellington as he aims to crank his speed past 160kph for the second time this month. In New Zealand, Tait has only ever played internationals in Auckland and Hamilton and is looking forward to testing out men like Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor in Friday night’s first Twenty20.”I’ve never played here before – the wind, I’ve got to get the right end,” Tait told the . “I don’t want to be pushing into it. It doesn’t always happen that you know you can bowl at that sort of speed but when the time does come, every now and again, you’re always going to have a crack at the quicker ball. I look up at the screen reasonably often to have a look at the speeds myself. Sometimes you can’t help yourself.”When you hit that 160 mark as a fast bowler, that’s a pretty special feeling. The adrenaline is pumping, the crowd in Melbourne was really getting into it when I did it there. But you’ve got to be careful not to put too much pressure on yourself. The main thing I’ve got to do is take wickets.”Tait broke through the 160kph barrier during the Twenty20 against Pakistan at the MCG earlier this month when he let one delivery rip at 160.7kph. It was the fastest ball ever recorded in a match in Australia – the quickest anywhere was Shoaib Akhtar at 161.3kph in the 2003 World Cup – but Tait said he wasn’t always convinced at the accuracy of the speed guns.”You can tell when you’re bowling around 160,” Tait said. “Back home it seems like the Foxtel cameras are slower than the Channel Nine ones. But that doesn’t matter. When you get up to the 160 mark, it’s slightly rewarding. It’s not something I think about all the time – but it’d be great to bowl the fastest recorded ball of all time.”

Newcastle United are interested in a deal to bring James Tarkowski to St. James’ Park in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a recent claim made by Dean Jones, with the transfer insider revealing in a recent interview with GIVEMESPORT that he expects the Magpies to pursue a deal for the Burnley centre-back in the winter market, with Sean Dyche’s side reported to be willing to part with the defender for a figure of around £20m.

Speaking about Eddie Howe’s reported interest in the 29-year-old, Jones said: “They do want an English spine and that’s why Tarkowski makes sense, signings like that, and I still think that Tarkowski is someone they’re going to pursue.”

Fans will be buzzing

Considering just how impressive Tarkowski has been for Burnley in recent years, in addition to the fact that Newcastle’s defence is an area of the pitch in which Howe simply must strengthen this January in order to give his side the possible best chance of beating the drop come May, the news that the Magpies look set to make a move for the England international is sure to have left fans buzzing.

Indeed, over his 12 Premier League appearances this season, the £22.5m-rated man has scored one goal, registered two assists and helped his side keep one clean sheet, in addition to making an average of 1.8 interceptions, 1.5 tackles, 5.2 clearances and winning a whopping 6.9 duels per game.

These returns have seen the £50k-per-week centre-back average a SofaScore match rating of 7.22, ranking him as Burnley’s second-best performer in the league, as well as the 32nd-best player in the top flight.

As such, the addition of Tarkowski to a Newcastle defence that has already shipped 27 goals over their 12 league fixtures would indeed appear to be a very wise move for the club in January, particularly at an extremely affordable – in the eyes of PIF – £20m.

In other news: PIF could “easily” seal NUFC deal to kickstart Howe era in £76m-rated “golden boy”

The former West Indies captain, Richie Richardson, has welcomed the appointment of Ottis Gibson as the new head coach of the WICB,

Andrew Miller02-Feb-2010The former West Indies captain, Richie Richardson, has welcomed the appointment of Ottis Gibson as the new head coach of the WICB, and believes that the over-arching nature of his new role is precisely what cricket in the Caribbean has been crying out for.In a departure from previous appointments, Gibson has been given responsibility not only for the top-level West Indies sides, but all representative teams across the Caribbean. Announcing the appointment on CBC Radio on Monday, the chief executive of WICB, Ernest Hilaire, explained that Gibson would be given “an opportunity to stamp a particular style of coaching a West Indies way”.That announcement is music to Richardson’s ears. “I’ve always said that whoever comes in has to be responsible for cricket throughout the Caribbean, and not just the top Test players,” he told Cricinfo. “The coach has to be at the top of a pyramid that goes right through West Indies cricket, from the grass-roots right through to the top. That’s how we are going to make a difference.”Richardson, who was Gibson’s captain during his Test debut at Lord’s in 1995, believes that the new man has the presence and personality to thrive in the role, as well as the fundamental coaching skills that have been honed during his lengthy stint in English cricket, firstly at Durham and since 2007 as England’s bowling coach.”I have no doubt that he will do well,” said Richardson. “Ottis is a person who gets on with other people and players, and when he was playing for West Indies, he was a good team man. He’s a very passionate cricketer and a very good coach, and I just hope he gets the support he needs, from the WICB, and the people throughout the Caribbean.”It doesn’t matter how good you are as a coach if you are just given the best players,” he added. “If those best players came from nowhere, you are going to struggle. [The coach] has to be able to do something at the grass-roots level, so that he knows the young players as they come through the system and, when they reach the highest level, he already knows how to work with them, and they know exactly what is expected of them.”He just has to be given the time and the opportunity to prove himself, because I know he’s going to give everything. He loves West Indies cricket and he wants to see them do well.Gibson, who expects to be in situ in time for the home series against Zimbabwe next month, is West Indies’ first full-time appointment since the former coach, John Dyson, was sacked in August following the team’s strike-affected defeat against Bangladesh. However, the team is currently on a relative high, having silenced many of their critics with a spirited performance in a 2-0 Test defeat in Australia before Christmas.Central to West Indies’ current fortunes is their captain, Chris Gayle, who put his role in the player dispute to one side as he carried his bat for a magnificent 165 at Adelaide before following up with a blistering 72-ball 102 at Perth. His relationship with Dyson was never entirely smooth, but Richardson is confident that Gibson’s easygoing style of man-management will appeal to his laid-back nature.”It’s very important for the captain and coach to have a good relationship and understanding, but I’ve no problem that they’ll see eye-to-eye,” said Richardson. “Chris Gayle is a very cool guy, Gibson is a people’s person, so I don’t envisage any problems. They may have differences, but they will realise the importance of working as a partnership for the betterment of the team, and of West Indies cricket.”It so happens that Gibson is the first West Indian head coach since Roger Harper was in charge of the side at the start of the millennium, and follows on from a trio of Australians in Bennett King, David Moore and Dyson. Richardson, however, does not believe his nationality is as significant as his job specification.”I’ve said before, it doesn’t matter who coaches the team, as long as that person is going to contribute to the development of West Indies cricket,” he said. “When you bring in high-level coaches and pay the big money, but then they only coach the Test team, then that is misguided. It’s good that he’s a West Indian, but most importantly, that he is responsible for cricket throughout the region.”I’ve never had any doubts about the talent that we produce, my concern was always about the structures and systems that we had in place. We’ve never had the right or proper structures for [nurturing] the grassroots in the Caribbean. That’s what we got to look at, how to get the young players coming through.”

Everton put in a very poor display against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon, losing 3-0 without any sign or attempt of getting back into the game throughout.

Rafa Benitez’s side has been riddled with injuries over the last three months of the season, with many key players missing from the action all over the pitch from defence to attack, Demarai Gray joined the long list of injuries 16 minutes into the Man City game.

Going into the City game at the Etihad, Everton weren’t favourites after losing four out of their last five games, but the reluctance to be direct and build play cost the side massively as well as a very shoddy defensive display from the backline.

Everton only had 22% possession on Sunday, with just 4 shots compared to Manchester City’s 17 attempts.

In fairness, Manchester City put in two moments of magic on goal with an outstanding assist from Joao Cancelo that led to a Raheem Sterling goal and a long-range masterpiece from Rodri, that Pickford was never getting a glove to.

The only glimmer of hope came from 30-year-old Andros Townsend, who played an energetic and committed variation of a ten role and centre midfield in today’s game against the Premier League champions.

No player in the team made more key passes than Townsend today (2) and managed more successful dribbles than any other teammate completing four, as recorded by WhoScored.

Townsend has proven himself to be a fantastic utility player for the club, where he signed on a free transfer securing a two year deal with the Toffees in the summer after his contract expired with Crystal Palace.

The Premier League veteran has played for a number of teams at the highest level, which has given him the experience and ability to read games and tactics, something that his less experienced teammates clearly struggled to do in today’s match.

The attacker was, by far, the best Everton player on the pitch today, this reflected in his SofaScore rating of 7.3/10, which was the highest rating in the team.

Rafa Benitez will be hoping that key players can return from injury as soon as possible, as the side has a number of difficult fixtures coming up and they need to start establishing form to get back inside the top half of the table, especially after Tottenham won their game with Leeds, which pushes Everton further adrift.

In other news: Gordon could develop an attacking partnership with Townsend

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has dropped a behind the scenes update regarding his plans at Parkhead.

What’s the latest?

In recent comments cited by 67hailhail, the 56-year-old Bhoys boss revealed that, rather than simply investing in his playing squad come the January transfer window, he is also hoping to improve the club’s scouting and recruitment process, as well as bringing a number of new faces in behind the scenes in order to better identify potential transfer targets.

Speaking about the club’s January plans, Postecoglou said: “There’s no doubt going into January we still have some work to do with the playing roster, particular in terms of depth in certain areas.

“In terms of the structure around here, we still need some work around our recruiting and our scouting department. That will be the next focus for me to make sure we get the right people in that area.

“That’s probably the one area where football is changing rapidly – the information that is out there and how you get that information and how you use that information, particularly around scouting. That’s the next step for me in terms of January.”

Fans will be buzzing

Considering just how poor Celtic’s recruitment has been in recent years, the news that Postecoglou is looking to heavily invest in improving the club’s scouting and recruitment processes is sure to leave Bhoys fans buzzing.

Indeed, since the summer of 2019 alone, Celtic have spent £3.01m on Boli Bolingoli, £4.5m on Vasilios Barkas, £4.95m on Albian Ajeti and paid Brighton & Hove Albion £1.98m to loan Shane Duffy, deals which set the club back a whopping £14.44m – before even taking into account the wages of each player.

And, considering the fact that it has been reported that Postecoglou will look to move all three of these permanent signings on in January, no doubt for a substantial loss, it is clear that Celtic’s current approach to recruitment simply is not working.

As such, the news that the 56-year-old is hoping to restructure the way Celtic approach the transfer market is undeniably good news for everyone involved with the club, as not only will it help the Bhoys to sign players who fit into the Greek-Australian manager’s philosophies, it will also save the Hoops a considerable amount of money in wasted transfer fees in the long run.

In other news: Ange must finally unleash “immense” £270k-rated gem on Sat, he’s just what Celtic need

Simon Katich ranks New South Wales’ Champions League Twenty20 win as one of the proudest moments of his career

Cricinfo staff25-Oct-2009The captain Simon Katich ranks New South Wales’ Champions League Twenty20 win as one of the proudest moments of his career. Katich, who said the thrill of reaching the semi-finals of Celebrity Masterchef was almost as good as a century for Australia when it aired last week, arrived back in Sydney on Sunday following his side’s US$2.5m victory over Trinidad and Tobago in Hyderabad on Friday.”I’m very proud of everyone,” Katich said in the Daily Telegraph. “We needed everyone firing and everyone did a great job right through the tournament. It’s certainly one of the proudest moments I’ve had in my cricketing career.”Katich, who has played 43 Tests and 45 ODIs, was praised for his captaincy during the tournament, which included opening the bowling with the spinners Nathan Hauritz and Steven Smith during the last two games. The moves were successful and they finished off the inaugural event with a 41-run victory.Stuart Clark was another key performer, taking nine wickets at 12.44, and he said the win was his third most satisfying achievement in the game. “I think international cricket is always the pinnacle,” he told the Australian. “The Ashes series in Australia is my greatest cricket memory and achievement, I only played one game in the [2007] World Cup, but for most people that is second and this to me runs third, but it is a very close battle between one, two and three.”He said the successes were great for different reasons. “This win meant so much for all the NSW people sitting at Moore Park and for all the young guys in our team, some who may never play international cricket,” he said. “This is the highlight of their careers and they will thoroughly remember it.”Clark has tipped Smith and Moises Henriques for big things following their efforts in the two-week tournament. “Moises’ improvement shows day by day and he is going to be an Australian player as soon as there is a spot available,” he said. “Steve Smith is on his way too. You would think the writing is on the wall for a 20-year-old who can bowl leg breaks, given there are not too many leg-break bowlers around in the country. Then there is Phil Hughes and David Warner, sometimes they need a bit of guidance but they are super players with super talent.”The squad is due for a let down over the next week as they return to Australian domestic duties. Their first game of the summer is against Western Australia at North Sydney on Sunday in the FR Cup.

A scare has been thrown into the West Indies camp on the eve of the first Test against Australia, with senior batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan struck down with an apparent back injury

Peter English25-Nov-2009Match factsNovember 26-30, 2009
Start time 10am (00.00 GMT)Shivnarine Chanderpaul needs to be at his immovable best for West Indies to seriously challenge Australia•Getty ImagesBig PictureBoth teams have something to prove. This is Australia’s first Test since their Ashes defeat in August and they are desperate to eliminate some of the pain by sweeping past West Indies, just as they did the last two times they toured. However, the local personnel is considerably different to the great days of Warne, McGrath and Co, so this assignment won’t be as easy as in years past.The Australians believe the only thing that went wrong in England was losing the big moments. The only time that didn’t happen in their past four series was in South Africa earlier in the year, with the superb victory seeming more like a fluke than the norm when it is wedged with the three other defeats.West Indies have even more concerns after finding peace following a damaging player strike, during which the side lost at home to Bangladesh. The embarrassment is driving their ambition for this contest, but the reality is that if they win one of the games the trip will be considered a major success. In their past 39 Tests they have been victorious on only three occasions and despite Australia’s transition tangles, it would take a major upset for them to improve on that record.”If you look at Australian teams of six or seven years ago, we were expected to win every series we played,” Ricky Ponting said. “In this one we’re just expected to win because of this so-called weak West Indies team. We will just do everything we can to play the best cricket we can.”Form guide (last five Tests, most recent first)Australia – LWDLD
West Indies – LLLLD
Watch out forRicky Ponting – Hell hath no fury like an Australian captain scorned in England. Twice. Now he’s home Ponting will be looking to bury every opponent in the lead-up to next year’s Ashes series. At 34, he is entering the sunset of his career but will want to depart in a blaze of success following his latest setback.Shivnarine Chanderpaul tormented Australia in the Caribbean last year, batting for nearly 26 hours in the three-Test series, including a not-out run of more than 18 hours across two Tests. If he remains so hard to remove the chances of West Indies springing a surprise will increase significantly. The tourists need him at his most tenacious.Team newsA predictable squad has led to a predictable XI. Doug Bollinger has been confirmed as the 12th man because only an injury will be able to split up the golden boys of Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus. Nathan Hauritz will play while Shane Watson, the opening allrounder, hopes to deliver around 10 overs a day.Australia 1 Simon Katich, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Marcus North, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Nathan Hauritz, 10 Peter Siddle, 11 Ben Hilfenhaus.Chris Gayle is a definite and now the big fear for the visitors is Ramnaresh Sarwan’s back. If Sarwan is out either Narsingh Deonarine or Travis Dowlin will bat at No. 3, while Gayle is down to partner Adrian Barath, the 19-year-old debutant. The tourists want to pick four fast men, including Dwayne Bravo, and a spinner, but the balance depends on Sarwan, with a decision due to be made on Thursday morning.West Indies (possible) 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Adrian Barath, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Brendan Nash, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Sulieman Benn, 9 Jerome Taylor, 10 Ravi Rampaul, 11 Kemar Roach.Pitch and conditionsExpect a tinge of green on the first morning and the usual tricky seam early in the match before it flattens out in a batsman’s beauty. It hasn’t rained much over the past week so neither side will be tempted to choose an all-pace attack, and some turn is also expected for later in the game. The weather is predicted to be typical November: humid, maximum temperatures around 30 degrees and the chance of a storm every few days.Stats and Trivia Ricky Ponting averages 62.77 against West Indies in 18 Tests and his 1695 runs put him fourth on Australia’s list behind Steve Waugh, Allan Border and Mark Waugh. Shivnarine Chanderpaul is the best of the current West Indians against Australia, with 1210 in 15 matches at 48.40 The last time Australia lost a Test at the Gabba was against West Indies in 1988-89 Jerome Taylor will be the most experienced of the specialist fast bowlers with 28 Tests, two more than Mitchell Johnson West Indies have lost their past eight Tests in AustraliaNathan Hauritz has 10 wickets at 64.10 in 10 first-class games at the GabbaQuotes”This is the start of 10 Test matches that we want to do everything we possibly can to improve our Test ranking from No. 4 back up to close to where it should be.”
“It’s going to be the first time I’ll open the batting with Barath. He’s been around in first-class and he’s certainly got a few hundreds underneath his belt. He’s a pretty decent player. We’re not looking to expect too much from Barath at this point in time, but we at the same time we will look to give the team a good start.”
“We have had a good look at the Australian bowling attack and we felt it’s not as experienced as previous attacks. Maybe we can put them under some pressure.”

Newcastle United are winless and facing perhaps the toughest task in their Premier League season today as they come up against league leaders Chelsea at St James’ Park.

The Magpies are on four points after nine games and are currently 19th in the table heading into this round of fixtures, with Graeme Jones looking to steady the ship after Steve Bruce’s departure earlier this month.

The 51-year-old picked up a point in his first game in charge last weekend as Callum Wilson’s overhead kick sealed a draw for Newcastle at Crystal Palace following Christian Benteke’s opener.

How many changes will Jones make to the team? Here is our predicted XI…

We are predicting that he will make four alterations to the side which started against Crystal Palace, with Martin Dubravka, Fabian Schar, Jacob Murphy and Miguel Almiron all coming in.

Between the sticks, the Slovakian could return to make his first appearance for the club in a competitive setting since May. Jones has confirmed that the 32-year-old is available after almost two weeks of work in training, saying: “Martin is fit and available. He’s had a good ten days, maybe 12 days’ work. But he hasn’t played a game yet.”

This suggests that he could take Karl Darlow’s place in goal as Newcastle attempt to keep Thomas Tuchel’s side at bay this afternoon.

At right wing-back, Jones may decide to go with Murphy ahead of Javier Manquillo. As per SofaScore, the Spaniard lost five of his eight ground duels, was dribbled past twice and only completed 67% of his passes against Palace last weekend. This could lead to the 27-year-old lightweight being axed from the side for the ex-Norwich man to get a start.

On the left of the back three, Schar could come in for Republic of Ireland international Ciaran Clark. We published an article explaining why the £37k-per-week dud must be axed from the team and the Swiss ace, who has only played twice in the Premier League this term, deserves a chance to show that he is good enough to be a regular in the side.

Finally, we are predicting that Miguel Almiron will start ahead of Ryan Fraser. We published an article explaining why the Paraguayan should be selected for this match, as he has the ability to provide energy and defensive protection for Murphy at wing-back and could help to nullify the threat of Ben Chilwell for Chelsea.

AND in other news, “On shortlist”: Craig Hope drops fresh NUFC managerial update which will frustrate fans…

The ICC Champions Trophy has gone a long way to ensuring the continuance of ODIs, the captains of finalists Australia and New Zealand have said

Cricinfo staff06-Oct-2009The ICC Champions Trophy has gone a long way to ensuring the continuance of ODIs, the captains of Australia and New Zealand, the two finalists, have said. Since the advent of the Twenty20 game, which has drawn huge crowds around the world, there has been increasing talk of the 50-over format falling away.But Ricky Ponting and Brendon McCullum, standing in for injured Blacks Caps captain Daniel Vettori, gave their thumbs-up for the 50-over format and the tournament after Australia beat New Zealand by six wickets in Monday’s final in Centurion.”There’s been a lot of talk about that since the 20-over game has become as popular as it has,” Ponting said. “There’s plenty of space for both 20-over cricket and 50-over cricket to fit in alongside the Test game. The Test game is the form of the game I enjoy the most, but 50-over cricket, with tournaments like this, will certainly hold its own.”I was worried at the time when 20-over cricket became as popular as it did that we might start playing a few less 50-over games, but I think tournaments like this can only help the game.”I’ve really enjoyed the tournament and I think the fans around South Africa have enjoyed the tournament, so it’s got some endorsement from me, and even a low-scoring game like today can probably be one of the more entertaining games that you can watch and be involved in as a player.”Ponting, who also picked up the Player-of-the-Series and Golden bat awards after his side defended their title, has played in all six editions of the Champions Trophy. But he said the latest edition, which was reduced to only eight teams for the first time, had been the best organised.”We’ve only been here a couple of weeks and the tournament’s over,” Ponting said. “You’ve got the best eight teams in the world playing for it and you’ve got a great place to play here in South Africa with two very good grounds to play on.”McCullum endorsed Ponting’s views on the tournament, which was postponed by a year after it was moved from Pakistan for security reasons. “I thought this tournament was good,” he said. “The top eight teams in the world coming together and playing over a short period of time; I thought it worked well. I guess there weren’t too many nail-biting games, but I still think the quality of cricket was fantastic.”If 50-over cricket is to remain in the calendar, it’s a great way to certainly push it with tournaments like the Champions Trophy.”

Andrew Flintoff gathered his team-mates in the dressing room once Australia had reached 249 for 1 to remind them of what happened at The Oval in the days before they lifted the urn for the first time in 16 years

Peter English in Cardiff09-Jul-2009Australia are still attempting to bust the ghosts of four years ago while England hope their 2005 triumph will continue to inspire them after their impressive advantage was reduced on the second day in Cardiff. Andrew Flintoff gathered his team-mates in the dressing room once Australia had reached 249 for 1 to remind them of what happened at The Oval in the days before they lifted the urn for the first time in 16 years.Back then, with England on the verge of sealing the series, Flintoff took 5 for 78 as Australia slid from 264 for 1 to 367 all out, eliminating the visitors’ chances of victory. The memory of the stirring campaign lingers in both squads.”As Fred said when we got in the changing room, for those who didn’t play at The Oval in 2005, it was a very similar situation,” offspinner Graeme Swann said. “From being absolutely nowhere, it only takes one good spell to bring us right back into the game. That’s what we’re thinking.”England started the day by stealing 99 runs to post 435, but their only success came when Flintoff ran through Phillip Hughes on 36. After that Ricky Ponting and Simon Katich fought over the centuries they hope will help erase the nightmares of their previous Test experience in England.Both men were part of the 2-1 defeat after they entered the contest thinking victory was the only possible result. “For those of us who have been through what happened four years ago, it hurt,” Katich said. “You can’t forget that hurt, there are a few of us who are keen to make amends for that tour. We want to turn it around from last time.”Michael Clarke and Brett Lee are the other survivors from that trip following the massive changes in the squad. Australia have lost six formidable players since 2006, ranging from Shane Warne to Adam Gilchrist, and their replacements are busy learning about the history of the rivalry. “For those of us that did experience it we were bitterly disappointed with how we played in that series,” Katich said.Katich’s unbeaten 104 and Ponting’s 100 not out – he brought up the milestone in the final over of the day – cut Australia’s deficit to 186. “We’ve got to start well again in the morning, the momentum can swing quickly,” Katich said. “It was a good day, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”