Adam Gilchrist has hinted that his retirement might be further away than he originally planned and says there is “a good chance” this year’s Boxing Day Test will not be his last. Gilchrist, 36, was mentally and physically fatigued at the same time last season during the Ashes campaign and at that stage he felt the end of his career was beckoning.”This time last year I probably would have thought this one would be my last but I’m really enjoying it now and I don’t know,” Gilchrist told the . “It might be but there’s a good chance it won’t be as well, so I’m not looking for any swansong or farewell. I’m just playing it as I go along and really enjoying it as well.”Gilchrist needs only five dismissals to pass Ian Healy’s Australian record of 395 victims and 14 dismissals would push him past Mark Boucher’s world mark of 403. Gilchrist has 391 victims from 92 Tests – Healy took 119 games to reach his total and Boucher has played 106 matches.”Just as it’s inevitable I’ll get to Heals’ Australian record, even if I was to go past and catch Boucher, he’s about four years younger than me so it will be inevitable that he’ll end up finishing his career with the world record,” Gilchrist said in the . “It’s something you don’t focus on too much.”During the Boxing Day Test Gilchrist will wear pink wicketkeeping gloves to raise money for the cancer cause the McGrath Foundation. Gilchrist’s sponsors will donate $18,000 per dismissal he claims in the Melbourne match.
The unpredictability of Pakistan shone brightly at Durban as they levelled the series with a 141-run victory which was as commanding as their effort at Centurion had been feeble. Shahid Afridi lit up the display with a scintillating onslaught, supported by a glowing century from Mohammad Yousuf, and even a floodlight failure couldn’t dim Pakistan.They were in control when Yousuf and Afridi joined forces in the 39th over, but what followed turned a tidy batting performance into a display of carnage. They added 129 in 11.4 overs, Afridi racing to 77 off 35 balls, and Yousuf a ton from 110 balls which lifted the total to a ground record 351 for 4, also Pakistan’s best against South Africa.The start of the pursuit suggested a match was on the cards – after all it is South Africa that chased 435 at Johannesburg – but in reality Pakistan always held the whip hand under the lights. Quick strikes either side of the 30-minute power outage, which came two balls before the 20-over mark that makes a match, secured the result. Mohammad Asif, sending down his 10 overs straight, was the bowler of the match while Abdul Razzaq and Afridi supported well.The result vindicated Pakistan’s tactics of jamming the side with batting, handing Mahmood a first ODI since February 2005, which meant the top order could play with freedom. The platform was laid by Imran Nazir and Younis Khan; then the pyrotechnics arrived.Afridi bludgeoned the ball to all corners of Kingsmead. His first six came off his fifth ball and five more followed, including two of amazing power from low full-tosses and another that hit the roof of a stand and finished in the road off a waist-high delivery. His half-century came off a blink-of-the-eye 20 balls. The South African bowlers, especially Andre Nel, fed him with the short stuff which stood up and asked to be hit. It was, a long way.This was also Afridi at his cheeky best, never better exemplified than when he twice walked across his stumps and swept Makhaya Ntini to fine leg. Then he brought out his best Kevin Pietersen impression, effortlessly flicking a full toss through midwicket on one leg.When Afridi walked out, Yousuf was on 52 and his century was almost a by-the-way moment such were the headline-grabbing feats at the other end. But it was a typical Yousuf knock, working the gaps and punishing the loose balls. He reached his 12th ODI ton in the final over and fed Afridi the strike at every opportunity.Even before the Afridi show, Pakistan had shown that they’d decided to get out of bed on the right side this morning. Nazir, recalled in place of Mohammad Hafeez, set the ball rolling with a rollicking 57 off 33 balls.
Charl Langeveldt hit back by trapping him with a fine slower-ball and with the innings only 12 overs old Yousuf and Younis Khan sensibly opted for accumulation, working the strike with sharp running which is not always a facet of Pakistan cricket. Younis was set for only his third ODI century but picked out long on against Graeme Smith’s offspin. When Inzamam-ul-Haq decided today was the right time to add to his run-out count, Pakistan’s progressed threatened to slow. Afridi put them firmly back in the fast lane.Asif again stood head and shoulders above Pakistan’s other bowlers and brought an edge from Smith which was well held at second slip. Inzamam gambled by using Asif for his full quota and in his final over showed signs of cramp. But just to sum up his immense efforts on tour he took drink, a deep breath, and removed Herschelle Gibbs.Either side of Asif’s blows Razzaq snapped up two equally sizable wickets. He took over from Rana Naved-ul-Hasan who’d bowled a miserable first spell, conceding 43 off four overs to loosen all Asif’s pressure. de Villiers had reached 43 off 46 balls before finding midwicket with a limp pull and two balls after Gibbs fell, Jacques Kallis feathered an edge to Akmal.With that the lights went out on South Africa’s chances of a win – and also on the stadium. For a while it appeared they might escape because 20 overs hadn’t been completed. However, play resumed and Ashwell Prince handed Mahmood a wicket with his first ball in ODIs for two years. After that the match faded away, but thankfully the lights didn’t and neither will the memories of Afridi.
Andy Moles is about to quit as Scotland’s coach after falling out with senior players, according to a report in today’s Scotsman.Moles, who took over the role in March last year, guided Scotland to victory in the ICC Trophy and gained them a place in the 2007 World Cup. But the newspaper says that despite verbally agreeing a two-year extension to his contract, he is about to step down.The players are reportedly angry that Moles criticised them at the end of last season before spending three months in South Africa running the ICC’s Winter Training Programme. While the Scottish board agreed to him taking on that role, it has alienated some of the team who felt he should have worked with them to prepare for a busy season.His position was discussed at a Cricket Scotland board meeting on Tuesday night and a source told the Scotsman: “There is unrest over several aspects of the coaching situation. It’s ironic after all the success the national side had last season but Andy seems to have lost the confidence of the players.”Roddy Smith, chief executive of Cricket Scotland, refused to confirm or deny that Moles was ready to quit. A statement is expected this afternoon.”The bottom line is that Cricket Scotland has failed dismally to target private finance,” a local source told Cricinfo. “Their players still resent the slightest degree of criticism, and I suspect they are going to get the fright of their lives in the coming months.”Moles is said to be frustrated at financial constraints imposed on him. But if he does stand down, then questions will be asked. Moles walked out as coach of Kenya after falling out with many of their leading players and also because of the board’s financial predicament. In fairness, at the time Kenyan cricket was a shambles, but many inside Kenya have not forgotten his time in charge.But Cricket Scotland might find replacing Moles is far from straightforward. Neil Drysdale, who follows Scottish cricket closely, wrote in the Herald: “It will be interesting to discover whether any international luminaries will be prepared to walk into an environment where backbiting and whispering campaigns are prevalent, where the salary is modest by comparison with the county jobs in England, and where the administrators have little chance of changing the system, given that expenditure is likely to drop this season, now that the Saltires are no longer involved in the National League, thus halving their number of attractive fixtures.”
Dinesh Mongia and Yuvraj Singh carried out the final rituals as North Zone registered a comprehensive seven-wicket win over South Zone in the Duleep Trophy league match at Indore. North Zone thus secured a final berth, and will face Central Zone on March 8 at Nagpur. Resuming on 4 for 0, North succeeded in chasing the target of 140 within just 23 overs. Yuvraj continued his scintillating form with a 38-ball 60, smashing seven fours and four sixes. He was well supported by Dinesh Mongia, who contributed a steady 52 in 60 balls.North faced a slight hiccup when they lost the top-three batsmen for 46. Then, Yuvraj and Mongia got together to smash a 100 runs and take North past the victory target. The North Zone batsmen were particularly severe on MR Shrinivas, who conceded 61 in 3.5 overs.
Jack Kyle, Past President of the CCA for 15 years and currently 1st VP-Finance, successfully underwent surgery Monday in Vancouver.We wish Jack a speedy recovery, good health and long life.Wthout doubt, the Canadian Cricket Community owes Jack a tremendous thank you for outstanding dedication and commitment to the fostering and promotion of the growth and development of Canadian Cricket.Jack is expected to spend four more days in hopsital, but he is alrady talking about and preparing for the next challenges.Best regards from the Canadian cricket community.
Despite an earlier announcement, CLEAR Black Caps Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan and Chris Cairns will be unavailable for Monday’s round of the State Championship.Canterbury are to play Northern Districts in Gisborne. The replacements for the trio in the in the travelling 13 are Robbie Frew and Shanan Stewart.The full team is: Gary Stead (captain), Jarrod Englefield, Michael Papps, Aaron Redmond, Chris Harris, Gareth Hopkins, Wade Cornelius, Paul Wiseman, Warren Wisneski, Shane Bond, Chris Martin, Shanan Stewart, Robbie Frew.
Half centuries from Jyoti Yadav and Mohammed Kaif took Uttar Pradeshwithin hopping distance of the first innings lead at the end of thesecond day of their Ranji Trophy quarter final match against Hyderabadat the Green Park in Kanpur today. Having bowled out the visitors for291, UP had progressed to 206/3 from 76 overs at stumps.Three successive half century partnerships in the UP innings put themfirmly on course to overtake Hyderabad’s none too imposingtotal. Yadav and Mohammed Saif put on 69 for the first wicket beforeSaif was trapped in front of the wicket by Vanka Pratap for 18. Yadavthen added exactly fifty for the second wicket with Kaif beforeKanwaljit Singh dismissed him for 61 (127 balls, 9 fours). And thenKaif and Rizwan Shamshad continued the good work with a workmanlike 59run partnership for the third wicket. At stumps captain GyanendraPandey (18) was holding the fort along with Kaif. The latter wasunbeaten on a stolid 66 off 169 balls, that included three boundaries.Earlier Hyderabad added another 45 runs to their overnight tally of246 /8 before they folded up for 291 thirteen overs into the day. VVSLaxman was ninth out for 128 (263 balls, 13 fours and a six), castledby Ashish Zaidi with the score at 268. NP Singh and Kanwaljit Singhthen put on a further 23 for the last wicket before Zaidi bowled NPSingh for good measure to finish with figures of 3/70.
Eddie Leie’s international debut was better than any of his countrymen’s – his figures of 3 for 16 are the best by a South African on debut – but it was not good enough for promotion to the one-day squad. Not officially, anyway.Leie will remain with the squad for the three-match ODI series to “get exposed to the environment” and “spend time with the coaches,” Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach explained. And to watch the experts at work.Imran Tahir, South Africa’s first-choice limited-overs spinner and their leading wicket-taker in ODIs in 2015, returns to the set-up after being rested from the T20s. Aaron Phangiso, the left-arm spinner who was part of the 2015 World Cup squad, is also in the squad. Both are likely to be considered ahead of Leie for the World T20 next year, but for Leie, that’s not a major concern at this stage of his career.”There is no competition between me and Immi. Immi is a great bowler and he has done well consistently well for the country and in the IPL. I try to learn as much as I can from him,” Leie said after his Man-of-the-Match performance. “I think we are a team.”It’s not too difficult to see how Leie gets there. Tahir, Phangiso and Leie have always been part of his team, domestically. The trio was at the Lions franchise, although, as is the nature of South African teams, they did not always play as part of the same XI. Tahir has since moved to Dolphins which has bumped Leie up the queue as far as Lions’ regulars go. Eventually the same may happen at international level, but until it does, Leie is happy to be Tahir’s understudy.”We are the Proteas as a collective so if one spinner gets rested, it’s important for other players to fulfill the role. It’s not about competition, it’s about the role that needs to be filled,” Leie said.In keeping with that, Leie tried to fill Tahir’s shoes as much he could on his debut. Like Tahir, Leie plays a dual role with an equal focus on attack and defense. On Tuesday he was brought on with South Africa needing a bit of both.Bangladesh’s good start had been stemmed with the loss of Tamim Iqbal but they had still scored quickly and their aggressor-in-chief Soumya Sarkar was still at the crease in the seventh over. Given that, Leie could have been conservative in his approach but chose to invite the batsmen forward with flight, and with his fifth ball, Sarkar accepted. He left his crease to try and cream Leie through the covers but missed and gifted Quinton de Kock a stumping. As quickly as that, Leie demonstrated a Tahir-like confidence in his own ability and maturity in his execution. And he was enjoying himself too, although not quite as much as Tahir does.”I enjoy bowling in T20s because you can have a bit of flair, you can mix it up as much as you want,” Leie said. “There’s a lot of fielders that are outside so you can try a few things.”In his next over, Leie found significant turn – enough to confound Bangladesh’s two best batsmen, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim – and in his final over, he found himself on a hat-trick. Faf du Plessis, South Africa’s T20 captain, admitted Leie should have bowled his full quota but felt he needed a quick man to finish things off instead.”He bowled really well and he deserved four overs today,” du Plessis said. He bowled fantastically but that’s just the way the game worked out, I thought we needed a seamer at the end there.”Kyle Abbott was handed the ball in the final over and it turned out to be a right decision. He took two wickets to jump to joint first place on the wicket-takers’ list in the series, with Phangiso. But Leie is behind them with his three and that’s likely where he will be for the foreseeable future: right at the heels of Phangiso and Tahir, challenging for his place.
Arsenal are interested in a deal to bring Darwin Nunez to the Emirates Stadium in the summer transfer window.
What’s the talk?
That’s according to a claim made by Ryan Taylor, with the Daily Express journalist revealing in a post on Twitter that Richard Garlick has opened talks with Benfica regarding a move for the 22-year-old centre-forward at the end of the current campaign.
In his tweet, Taylor said: “Initial discussions have been held over Darwin Nunez.”
Supporters will love Taylor’s claim
Considering just how exciting a prospect Nunez quite clearly is, Taylor’s claim that Arsenal are already in discussions with the Portuguese side regarding a move for the striker is sure to be news that Gunners fans will love.
Indeed, over his 22 Liga Portugal Bwin appearances so far this season, the £36m-rated forward has been in scintillating form, bagging 20 goals, registering two assists and creating seven big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.8 shots and making 1.1 key passes per game.
These returns have seen the player who Jorge Jesus dubbed a “world-class” talent average a quite breathtaking SofaScore match rating of 7.39, not only ranking him as Benfica’s best performer in the league but also as the seventh-best player in the division as a whole.
However, it has not only been in domestic competition in which the 22-year-old has impressed, as Nunez has also scored four goals and averaged a SofaScore match rating of 6.97 over his eight outings in the Champions League this season – firing his side all the way to the quarter-finals of the tournament, in which they face Liverpool next month.
And, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s January switch to Barcelona having left Mikel Arteta with only Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah as options in the number nine role – a duo who have scored just four Premier League goals between them this term – it is clear for all to see that the Spaniard is in rather desperate need of a new centre-forward this summer.
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As such, while a move for the striker will be an expensive one – with Record reporting that Benfica are demanding at least €80m (£67m) for the Uruguay international – it would nevertheless appear extremely advisable for Garlick to do all he can to land the youngster, as Nunez would undoubtedly take Arsenal to another level next season.
AND in other news: Arteta has unlocked Arsenal’s own Harry Kane in £46.5m gem who’s “bringing the fire”
Warwickshire have signed Sanath Jayasuriya to play in next year’s Twenty20 Cup.Jayasuriya, 38, retired from Test cricket earlier this month but will continue to play ODI and Twenty20 games for Sri Lanka.”Sanath has vast experience in all forms of cricket but especially the one-day format,” said Ashley Giles, the county’s director of cricket. “He’ll be a great man for the younger members of our squad to learn from and his knowledge of the game will be crucial in the Twenty20 format of the game. I’m looking forward to working with him next summer.”Jayasuriya played in the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa earlier this year, beginning the tournament in his typically blazing fashion with half-centuries against Kenya and New Zealand before a string of poor scores. He was dismissed for a duck in his most recent international, against Australia.