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A newspaper article stated that today is the happiest day of the year. It certainly was for Yorkshire’s 18-year-old all-rounder Azeem Rafiq, who scored his first century

John Ward at Worcester19-Jun-2009
ScorecardA newspaper article stated that today is the happiest day of the year. It certainly was for Yorkshire’s 18-year-old all-rounder Azeem Rafiq, who scored his first century. But there was little joy for anybody after lunch, as the only winner of this match was a pitch so moribund that on the fourth day 306 runs could be scored for the loss of only five wickets.Yorkshire, two runs behind Worcestershire overnight with two wickets in hand, soon took the lead. Rafiq, who began the day with 62, had lost none of his confidence and panache, and was soon laying into the bowlers with freedom. Even Matthew Hoggard felt inclined to shed his dogged image and indulge in the frivolity of free strokeplay, and the scoreboard fairly rattled along. Such enterprise did entail risks, and both got away with some lucky nicks, most of which carried for four, and when Hoggard had 37 he was dropped off a difficult chance by second slip.Rafiq showed occasional caution but remarkably few nerves on approaching his century, in only his second first-class match. A swat past midwicket for four took him to three figures, one of Yorkshire’s youngest century-makers at 18 years and 112 days; he is about two months older than Len Hutton was when he first achieved the feat for Yorkshire – against the same team on the same ground – in 1934. It was no doubt considerably faster than Hutton’s 196, as it took him only 92 balls. He soon lost concentration and lofted down the throat of long-on, but it had been a superb innings, containing 13 fours and three sixes in a stand with Hoggard worth 150.Deon Kruis started confidently with a three, and the run rampage was continued by Yorkshire’s last two batsmen. The Worcestershire bowling was totally ineffective rather than ragged and they seemed to lack initiative or direction in the field. Hoggard reached his fifty off 94 balls with two classic off-side drives, and another 32 were added in 16 minutes before Kruis swung across the line and was bowled for 16, leaving Hoggard unbeaten with 56. Overall Chris Whelan had been Worcestershire’s best bowler with 4 wickets for 130, but he had also looked quite helpless against Yorkshire’s rampant tail-enders.There was no realistic chance of an outright result, however, on such a placid pitch. After their struggles this year, Worcestershire will be relieved to secure a draw, but there are altogether too many indecisive championship matches these days on pitches like these, which allow such high scoring even on the fourth day. Worcestershire had no doubts about their ability to bat out the day, and began in aggressive spirit, with Daryl Mitchell hitting Tim Bresnan for four and three off the first two balls of the innings. With Stephen Moore then driving straight for another boundary, it was an expensive first over. Bresnan soon retired with a slight hip injury, joining Hoggard, still feeling the effects of a blow on the helmet while batting. Yorkshire therefore had a seriously weakened attack, but given the state of the match it hardly mattered.The 50 came up in the eleventh over, and the openers registered 67 before Mitchell swept at Rafiq and was out lbw for 32. Moore reached his second fifty of the match with a six off Rafiq over long-on but was then bowled for 52 by a faster ball from Ajmal Shahzad that shot through fairly low. The third wicket to fall was that of Vikram Solanki, caught at slip off a very good ball from Rafiq for 48. The match then trailed off to its predictably dull finish, despite a lot of good cricket that had gone before.

Crystal Palace right-back Joel Ward is unbeaten in nine appearances against Brighton, as stated by the Eagles’ official Twitter channel on Wednesday.

Unsurprisingly, a number of Palace supporters have taken to social media to praise the defender following the tweet.

The 31-year-old made his 280th Palace appearance in the 1-1 draw with Brighton on Monday evening, keeping up his record of featuring in every minute of Premier League action under Patrick Vieira. Unfortunately, Ward and his defensive partners couldn’t hold on to the lead heading into injury time, with Neal Maupay equalising for the visitors with seconds remaining.

However, the draw means that Ward is still yet to lose to the Seagulls in nine meetings as a Palace player, the club confirmed.

Palace fans react

@CPFCtransfersHQ shared a post on Ward, with Palace posting a similar tweet on their official account a few hours later.

Here is what these Eagles fans had to say in reply, with many praising Ward. One labelled it a ‘great stat’ and another called the defender ‘immense’.

“Build him a statue with his testimonial.”

Credit: @alex_westry

“Record is fantastic. 4-5-0. 17 points from 27.”

Credit: @jonnyjkyle

“Great stat and Wardy continues to perform consistently well for us.”

Credit: @NSymonds2012

“unsung hero imho. immense Monday night. how he controlled the ball in 2nd half by the main stand effectively sitting on it was pure skill or luck. but the tenacity”

Credit: @collisonmre

“Best value player for Palace ever. Period.”

Credit: @SidViscous9

“Very underrated player ~ all the mugs that call for Clyne instead of him are just dumb”

Credit: @garyspencerr

In other news: ‘Wanted this to happen for so long’ – Many CPFC fans buzzing as news emerges on £25k-p/w ace. 

Ozias Bvute, Zimbabwe cricket’s CEO, has denied rumours of unrest within some of the country’s new franchises

Cricinfo staff14-Jul-2009Ozias Bvute, Zimbabwe cricket’s CEO, has denied rumours of unrest within some of the new franchises recently established as a result of a general restructuring of the domestic game inside the country.”The entire franchise system is entirely new to Zimbabwe and, as with all things that are new, there is always resistance or unease,” he told Cricinfo. “But this is never to say that the change is not good. “We believe in the franchise system and what it will achieve.”Bvute also dismissed suggestions that ZC had closed regional offices and changed the locks. “It’s a ZC security policy to change the locks whenever there are staff changes. We are in the process of redeploying staff to the five franchises and there are many movements. This policy was set in place following a string of thefts at the offices. No offices were closed outside the normal requirements of business working hours.”A circular was sent to all employees informing them that there would be a re-deployment exercise and we regularly update staff about the status of the transition to franchise through the internal company newsletter.”The new five-team first-class competition is scheduled to start at the end of August. The five new franchise heads were appointed by ZC last month.

Celtic tried to sign former Hearts left-back Aaron Hickey from Bologna during the summer, according to Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport (via Sport Witness).

The lowdown

Hickey was actually on Celtic’s books between 2017 and 2018 before rejoining their Edinburgh counterparts.

He then enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2019/20, making 22 Scottish Premiership appearances and catching the eye.

Bologna boss Sinisa Mihajlovic says Hickey possesses ‘both personality and quality’ and has a ‘great future ahead of him’ in the game.

Last year, he featured on a list compiled by the CIES Football Observatory of the 100 most valuable most young players in the top-five leagues. Also on the list were the likes of Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden.

The latest

The report states that Celtic, along with their arch-rivals Rangers, made approaches ‘again’, indicating that he’s a long-term target.

There was also interested from English Premier League side Aston Villa but Bologna made clear to Hickey’s suitors that he was ‘absolutely not transferable’.

The verdict

Celtic’s left-back situation has been described as a ‘mess’ which ‘captures the squad’s dysfunction’ by The Athletic’s Kieran Devlin, but it’s hard to imagine it would have been a problem position had they been able to pull off a deal for Hickey.

Unfortunately for the Hoops, it seems unlikely that Hickey would go back to Scotland having established himself in one of Europe’s big-five leagues.

That may feel like something of a sideways step for a player who’s attracting interest in England and no doubt beyond.

In other news, there’s been positive news on a key Celtic player. 

A cautious half-century from middle-order batsman Zameer Zahir kept Canada alive but Kenya finished in the driver’s seat after the second day’s play in Toronto

Cricinfo staff16-Aug-2009
Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentaryA cautious half-century from middle-order batsman Zameer Zahir kept Canada alive but Kenya finished in the driver’s seat after the second day’s play in Toronto. Though there were contributions from Sandeep Jyoti (39), Khurram Chohan (31) and Umar Bhatti (30), the failure of the batsmen to convert their starts left the hosts with a lot of work to do to save the match. With wickets falling at regular intervals, Canada were bowled out for 234 not long before the close, and the Kenyan openers then added 12 before stumps. A lead of 95 thus ensured the visitors remained very much in control of the match.Zahir showed great patience and solid defence as he compiled 57 off 131 balls, comprising seven fours and two sixes. He had brought up his 50 with a towering six, but just as he looked set for a big score, he was run out by Alex Obanda. Nehemiah Odhiambo picked up three wickets for Kenya and the hero of the first day, Steve Tikolo and Hiren Varaiya, gave him good support picking up two wickets apiece. Following up from his 158 in the first innings, Tikolo bowled seven maidens in his 13 overs and picked up the key wickets of Abdool Samad and Ashish Bagai, as Kenya looked to tighten the stranglehold.While Kenya look to bat Canada out of the match on the third day, the home side will be calling on the likes of Henry Osinde, Bhatti and Chohan to take the wickets that might give their batsmen a realistic fourth-innings target.

Southampton fans have not had much to shout about so far this season, with four draws and three defeats in their opening seven games of the Premier League campaign.

In addition to this disappointing run of early results, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side have only managed to score five goals in those seven matches.

However, with the January transfer window on the horizon, it seems as though the club are eyeing up a potential player who could come in and help resolve their goalscoring issues.

What’s the news?

It has recently been reported by Italian media outlet Tutto B (via Sport Witness) that Southampton and German club RB Leipzig are both interested in signing Lorenzo Lucca, having sent scouts to watch him in action during the Italy under-21s’ match against Sweden in midweek.

The 21-year-old centre-forward, who is currently valued at £4.5m by Transfermarkt, joined Serie B side Pisa back in July and has scored six goals in seven league appearances, which is probably why Southampton and RB Leipzig have their eyes on him.

On the international stage, he has made just three appearances for Italy’s under-21 side but scored his first goal for them in the recent 1-1 draw against their counterparts from Sweden.

Ideal Ings replacement?

Southampton sold Danny Ings to fellow Premier League side Aston Villa over the summer transfer window and have since struggled to find the back of the net, the Englishman scoring 46 goals in 100 appearances for the club (including 34 over the last two top-flight campaigns) before departing. With a huge void to fill in attack, perhaps Lucca could well be an ideal long-term replacement for the 29-year-old given his young age and goalscoring talent.

In our view, it could well be worth Southampton taking a shot at signing Lucca either in the upcoming January transfer window or next summer based on his age and the talent he has shown on the pitch so far this season.

However, given that he’s only just moved to Pisa and how well he’s done for them, perhaps they would be quite reluctant to let him go.

For the time being, Hasenhuttl will have to make do with the attacking options he has at his disposal and hope that they can finally click into gear and help move the team away from the relegation zone.

In other news: Saints could repeat their Livramento masterclass by signing “fantastic” 19 y/o talent

Manchester United’s early form this season has hardly been ideal. It’s a puzzling situation for their Norwegian tactician, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

This summer, the Red Devils made three landmark acquisitions in Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho.

However, while the last two names watched on from the sidelines, Ronaldo was virtually a lone figure as well but his frustration was shown on the field of play, rather than from the comfort of a seat.

The Portuguese threw his arms about and took issue with his teammates for failing to make attacking runs throughout the opening half.

But his anger surely would have been directed at the defence too. After all, as Solskjaer’s men went into the half time break 2-0 down to Atalanta on Wednesday evening, it marked what was initially a horrible night.

At the time of writing (20.55 – 20th Nov), they are bottom of their European group and their defensive record is only getting worse.

According to Opta, United have failed to keep a clean sheet in 12 consecutive matches at Old Trafford. That happens to be their longest run since February 1964 – a mere 57 years.

That’s a rather bizarre statistic when you consider they have £80m Harry Maguire at the back. The Englishman has struggled with injury in recent weeks and his lack of sharpness shone through this evening in a woeful first half at the back.

He tried stepping up and setting an offside trap as the visitors scored their first goal. He wasn’t on the same wavelength as his fellow defenders and ultimately caused a vacant space for Mario Pasalic to score.

Maguire was then caught out for the second strike too with Merih Demiral beating him to the ball at a corner and finding the net with an excellent header.

Yet, he wasn’t the only culprit in a diabolical first half for United on Wednesday. The England international’s centre-back colleague in Victor Lindelof was also hopeless.

The Swede has never covered himself in too much glory since joining Man United and his display in the opening 45 minutes in midweek demonstrated why they brought Varane to the club over the summer.

He was caught in no man’s land down the left-hand side for the opening goal and was a poor presence from a physical point of view.

Lindelof contested just one defensive duel in the first 45 minutes but didn’t even win that as he lost 100% of the battles he competed in before the interval. Considering how under pressure they found themselves, not completing a single tackle or interception is an extremely poor record.

The defender was also successful with just 50% of his long balls forward.

If Solskjaer is going to have any hope of holding onto his job, his team will desperately need to improve. At the moment, they look like a side destined to head out of Europe’s major competition.

AND in other news, Report reveals exciting Man Utd manager update that’ll leave some fans buzzing…

St George’s skipper Lionel Cann smashed a superb unbeaten hundred as St George’s clung on to the cup in a dramatic stalemate at Wellington Oval

James Whittaker17-Aug-2009St George’s skipper Lionel Cann smashed a superb unbeaten hundred as St George’s clung on to the cup in a dramatic stalemate at Wellington Oval.It was a tale of two centuries with Somerset’s talisman Janeiro Tucker grinding out his third Cup Match treble earlier in the day to leave his side on the brink of a first victory in the east for three decades. Set 295 for victory, St George’s looked down and out on 107 for 5 with star batsman Glenn Blakeney watching on crutches from the sidelines.Somerset celebrated the key wicket of Charlie Marshall, out for a duck in his final Cup Match, as though it had won them the game. But they hadn’t counted on Cann.In his last year as skipper, the explosive batsman played the definitive captain’s innings. He combined grit and patience with his usual flamboyant stroke play to ease his side home. With Rodney Trott and later Delyone Borden blocking efficiently at the other end, St George’s made light of a potentially traumatic final 20 overs to hold on for a deserved draw.Cann dealt almost exclusively in boundaries, shutting out the good balls and crashing the bad ones out of the ground. As he brought up his century, with another four off Dwayne Leverock, he tossed his bat into the sky and leapt in the air, punching his fist in celebration. It was his first Cup Match hundred and redemption after being out on 99 last year. More importantly it was an innings that saved the match for his team.By the time he reached three figures, the game was over. Somerset had toiled in the field for more than five hours and they had run out of ideas on how to prise out the last remaining batsmen.With three overs left to bowl and St George’s on 243 for 6, still 52 runs short of their target, the captains agreed to a draw. Jacobi Robinson used a total of ten bowlers, literally throwing everything he had at St George’s in pursuit of victory. Everyone but wicketkeeper Jekon Edness had a crack. Robinson, with 2 for 35, and Leverock, 2 for 54, came the closest to engineering a win. But young pace bowlers Malachi Jones and Jordan De Silva were bafflingly under used spending much of the match as virtual spectators on the boundary wall.In the end Borden, who scored 11 from 44 balls, proved an immovable object. And the only way Somerset could have got Cann out this evening was to put a fielder in the top stand of the bleachers.After the game Cann joked that the inspiration for his run-a-ball hundred had been to try and emulate Somerset’s Mr Cup Match – Janeiro Tucker.When Tucker came to the crease just after tea last night, his side were in dire straits. They had yet to erase a deficit of 44 from the low-scoring first innings and there were three men out. But he played a dogged, gutsy knock combining first with Stephen Outerbridge (52) and then with teenage colt Deunte Darrell (32) to claw Somerset back into the match.By the time he stroked his hundredth run across a boundary that was thick with discarded shrimp and chicken bones, the wisdom of the terraces had it that it was Somerset’s game to lose.A post-lunch blitz from Jacobi Robinson, who walloped 63 from 31 balls and Tucker, who ended unbeaten on 126 from 230 balls, hardened that belief in the hearts and minds of the Somerset faithful. Sluggo and 15-year-old off-spinner Joshua Gilbert combined to quickly reduce St George’s to 53 for 3 And when Robinson himself took two wickets in two balls to get rid of the troublesome Chris Foggo, for 24, and the legendary Marshall for a duck, they had one hand on the cup.But Cann, first by sheer determination and then by sheer class, snatched it back.

While the visitors lean to a four-man seam unit, England will consider calling up Monty Panesar to link with spin partner Graeme Swann on a dry surface

Peter English at The Oval19-Aug-2009Australia are reluctant to change their match-winning combination and are expected to keep their all-pace attack for the Ashes decider at The Oval. While the visitors lean to a four-man seam unit, England remain adamant that they can bounce back from their two-and-a-half day humiliation at Headingley, with their captain, Andrew Strauss, backing the character and balance of the 14-man squad at their disposal.The depth of England’s squad is designed to cover every bowling permutation, from an extra swing bowler in Ryan Sidebottom to the second spinner, Monty Panesar, but with Andrew Flintoff’s right knee showing strong signs of lasting the distance, their range of alterations becomes much clearer. Australia almost carry a closed shop following the victory in Leeds that levelled the series and the most likely line-up includes the quartet of Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus and Stuart Clark.Brett Lee is pushing to appear in his first match of the series but his only way back is if Ricky Ponting is convinced there will be considerable reverse-swing during the match.Unfortunately for Lee, The Oval’s groundstaff say the ball has not moved late throughout the season, and the only bare spots that could rough up the ball are on the practice pitches at the edge of the square. Surrey’s cricket manager, Chris Adams, told Cricinfo that this could be due to the Tiflex ball that is currently used instead of the Duke in the second division of the County Championship, but either way it does not bode well for Australia’s pace spearhead.”What we see at the moment is what we expect,” Ponting said at The Oval on Tuesday. “As I said after the Headingley game, we’re going to have to see something really different to change the make-up of the side considering everything worked really well. The wicket looks particularly good and it could dry a little bit.”Usually such a barren pitch would make a spinner a certainty, but Nathan Hauritz chips in with wickets rather than dominating batting orders and the side coped without him in the more seam-friendly conditions in Leeds. Ponting called Hauritz a “very smart and skilful offspinner” and talked up his performance in the tour game in Canterbury, while he also reminded England of Lee’s qualities during a cautious description.”With Brett, his record suggests he is a really striking bowler who can go for a few runs,” Ponting said. “If it looks like it’s going to be really dry and later in the game there might be some reverse-swing, then he’ll come into consideration.” The current forecast, which changes more often than batting gloves late in the game, is for rain on Thursday and sunny intervals over the following three days.Ponting was impressed by the pitch and predicted some big innings during the match, which Australia only need to draw to take the Ashes. He also hoped it would provide pace, bounce and some turn late in the contest. “If you look at the results over the last couple of years there have been big innings – teams have made 600, 580 – and I’d expect at some stage in this game there will be those sorts of innings as well,” he said.Strauss kept his large squad together “in case things go wrong” on Wednesday and refused to rule out the use of two spinners. “It’s definitely an option,” he said of Panesar teaming up with Swann. “It’s a pretty dry wicket. At the moment it looks like a belter, it looks like a great wicket to bat on, but there’s always a chance that it’s going to deteriorate in the back-end of the game.”Whatever changes England make, Strauss will be satisfied if they are planned, unlike the frenetic start to the Headingley Test when Matt Prior, the wicketkeeper, hurt his back in the warm-up. That injury delayed the toss, Strauss was out quickly and England fell for 102 on the way to an innings-and-80-run loss. “I just don’t want a wicketkeeper falling over five minutes before the toss,” he said, hoping for a more sombre lead-up.Regardless of any off-field distractions, however, Strauss is confident that his team will be fully focussed once the action gets underway. “We’ve been through a lot of tough times in the last six to 12 months and generally we’ve come through,” he said. “Guys are holding their heads up and we’re as tight a unit as we were at the start of the series.”I’m absolutely certain that we’re going to go out and play well this week. I’ve got no doubt about it. The crowd are going to get behind us, there’s going to be fantastic support there for us. The guys are going to go out there in the right frame of mind and enjoy their cricket. Pressure is only something you put on yourself. That’s not something that’s going to be pre-occupying us.”

Tottenham’s Eric Dier came in for criticism from BBC pundit Noel Whelan following his performance in the 3-2 win away to Newcastle on Sunday evening.

The lowdown: Dier scored own goal but was quick to act in emergency

Spurs seemed to be cruising to victory at St James’ Park before the England international scored a rather laughable late own goal, chesting the ball into his own net in trying to defend a set piece, to leave the visitors’ nerves fraying.

However, he was thankfully quick to alert medical staff to get a defibrillator to a supporter who had required urgent medical attention towards the end of the first half, being jointly awarded Sky Sports’ Man of the Match with team-mate Sergio Reguilon, who was the first to alert referee Andre Marriner of the incident.

The latest: Whelan not impressed with Dier’s performance

Despite Dier showing proactivity in helping to ensure that the spectator in question received timely medical attention, his performance in the match itself was rather bluntly dismissed by Whelan.

The former Leeds striker told Football Insider: “That own goal was one of the worst ever and the problem with Eric Dier is he makes these mistakes too often.

“For an experienced England international, you have to question whether he is good enough for Tottenham. At times, he looks nowhere near.

“He’s a good competitor and no-one can question his commitment to Tottenham. But, you look at his performances and he is hardly a reliable centre-back at the top level.

“You compare him to Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen, Ledley King, that kind of players, and Dier is a long way from that level.”

The verdict: Stats don’t look great but Dier deserves praise

If looking purely at the statistics from Dier’s performance yesterday, it is easy to see where Whelan is coming from.

Aside from the own goal, the 27-year-old – who has started every league game for Spurs under Nuno Espirito Santo – contributed little going forward and did not win a tackle or make an interception (SofaScore). He also received his lowest WhoScored match rating of the season from the win on Tyneside and was criticised for defensive lapses last term, as Whelan highlighted.

However, the context of what happened with the stricken spectator at St James’ Park should be considered, and Dier’s alertness in immediately calling for a defibrillator to be brought to the person who needed it made any performance-related shortcomings trivial.

He came good yesterday when it was most needed, and hopefully he can turn around his performances to continue receiving Man of the Match awards for more typical reasons.

In other news: One former Premier League goalkeeper has ripped into Spurs players amid recent reports stemming from the club