Dele Alli has not played for nine months but the former Tottenham star, who remains contracted to Everton, says his career is “not over until I win”.
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Mehedi Hasan struck 44 and took 2 for 12 to help Rajshahi Kings complete a thrilling fightback to post a 49-run win against Rangpur Riders in Mirpur
Mohammad Isam in Mirpur28-Nov-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMehedi Hasan struck 44 off 32 and returned figures of 2 for 12•Raton Gomes/BCB
Rajshahi Kings improved their chances of a top-four finish after complete a stunning comeback to register a 49-run win against Rangpur Riders. After being reduced to 43 for 7 in the 10th over, Farhad Reza and Mehedi Hasan struck an 85-run unbroken eighth wicket stand to lift Rajshahi to 128.Rangpur managed to mirror Rajshahi’s batting collapse and were bowled out for just 79 runs in 17.4 overs. Left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam and pacer Abul Hasan took three wickets each while Mehedi picked up two. Mohammad Sami and Samit Patel also contributed a wicket each.Rangpur’s batting line-up never got going in the chase. Soumya Sarkar was the first man out, stumped in the third over. Mohammad Shahzad was bounced out by Mohammad Sami.Nasir Jamshed fell a ball later, giving Mehedi a return catch. Liam Dawson was incorrectly adjudged lbw, replays showing he had edged the ball onto his front pad. Nazmul was also lucky with his second wicket, of Shahid Afridi who was stumped off wicketkeeper Umar Akmal’s pads after he had missed the delivery that kept low.Rangpur lost mainstay Mohammad Mithun and Ziaur Rahman who was stumped in the 13th over, reducing them to 58 for 7. Rangpur were quickly skittled with Abul taking the last three wickets to fall.Earlier, Rajshahi’s slide had begun with Sunny’s tumbling caught and bowled off Mominul Haque’s drive, which made it 25 for 2 in the fifth over. The ball was going over his head when he managed to bring it down and complete the catch off the second attempt. In the same over, Patel edged to Shahzad.Abul gave Sunny his third wicket in the seventh over when he holed out to deep midwicket. When Afridi took the return catch of Sabbir Rahman, Rajshahi were reduced to 43 for 7.Farhad and Mehedi were then forced to pick up the singles to resurrect the innings. Farhad hammered Rubel Hossain over his head in the 17th over, it was the first six of the innings. Mehedi also launched Rubel for a straight six in the final over.Farhad was unbeaten on 44 off 32 balls with two fours and two sixes, while Mehedi contributed with an unbeaten 33-ball 41 with three fours and a six. The pair added 85 runs, a new BPL record for the eighth wicket.Rajshahi are now on ten points, equal with Rangpur and Chittagong Vikings.
Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club prevailed in a four-run win (Duckworth-Lewis method) over Gazi Group Cricketers as the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League match finished on the reserve day in Mirpur
ESPNcricinfo staff19-May-2016Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club clung on for a narrow four-run win (Duckworth-Lewis method) over Gazi Group Cricketers as the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League match finished on the reserve day in Mirpur.When play was called off on Wednesday, Gazi Group were 83 for 3 in 16.1 overs, chasing a D/L-adjusted target of 196 in 38 overs and they had to wait for 2 hours and 15 minutes on Thursday morning for the match to begin.The chase went down to the final over, bowled by Mahmudullah, with Gazi Group needing 10 runs for their fifth win of the tournament. Farhad Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman ran hard to take five runs off the first four deliveries but, off the penultimate ball, Farhad meekly pulled a half-tracker down Sohag Gazi’s throat at short midwicket and was dismissed on 53. His wicket ended Gazi Group’s innings at 191 runs in 37.5 overs. Anamul Haque also made 53 while medium-pacer Muktar Ali finished with 4 for 37.Earlier, Mohammad Sharif got his first hat-trick in the Dhanmondi innings, which was limited to 168 for 9 in 38 overs on the rain-hit day. The medium-pacer became the third bowler after Rubel Hossain and Tapash Baisya to achieve the feat since the tournament was granted List A status in 2013. Abdullah Al Mamun top-scored for Dhanmondi with 69 off 86 balls.
Gerry Cardinale & Co. provoked panic at San Siro by firing Paolo Maldini and selling Sandro Tonali, and a derby defeat has only heightened the tension
On June 6, AC Milan announced that club legend Paolo Maldini had been relieved of his duties as technical director in a 67-word statement. The news – and the manner of its delivery – sent shockwaves throughout Europe. Carlo Ancelotti was aghast.
“I learned at Real Madrid that the history of a club must always be respected," the former Milan midfielder and coach told . "Here, Di Stefano, Amancio, Gento, Puskas are still exclusive values towards which we have reverence. To preserve history at the highest levels, the memory of the past must be protected.
"What happened with Maldini demonstrates a lack of historical culture, of respect for the Milan tradition. While it is true that history does not make you win, it is also true that history teaches you how to win."
However, owner Gerry Cardinale has been "educated" in 'the art of winning' not by Maldini's Milan – but by Billy Beane.
"Billy's been in European football for 20 years and he told me I wasn't looking at the situation in the right way," Cardinale said of the revered baseball executive during a seminar at Michigan Institute of Technology in March. "I had to approach European football with the 'Moneyball' mentality, which says there is no need to sacrifice the level of performance on the field for cash flow or vice versa."
We'll soon find out if he's right…
Former Zimbabwe umpire Ian Robinson has died of lung cancer at the age of 69, in Harare on Sunday
ESPNcricinfo staff03-Apr-2016Former Zimbabwe umpire Ian Robinson has died of lung cancer at the age of 69, in Harare on Sunday. Robinson made his international debut as an umpire in the 1992 World Cup and his Test debut in Zimbabwe’s inaugural match, against India in Harare, in October 1992. He officiated in 28 Tests, 90 ODIs and three World Cups – 1992, 1996 and 1999.He began his umpiring career in 1975, and was appointed to Zimbabwe’s first-class panel in 1978. In 2004, he was sacked by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union without being given a reason. Apart from his umpiring duties, Robinson served as a ZCU board member for 14 years and an employee of the board for nine. He also served as the board’s international cricket manager.Robinson was appointed to the first international panel of umpires established by the ICC in 1994. In 2008, he announced his retirement from top-level umpiring to focus on his role as ICC Regional Umpires’ Performance Manager (RUPM) for the Africa region.
Carlo Ancelotti has hinted that Real Madrid may not need to sign Kylian Mbappe, amid frenzied links with the Paris Saint-Germain superstar.
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Jos Buttler has said he is ready to shelve the reticence that undermined his last attempt at cracking Test cricket and believes he will be trusted by the team management to play his natural attacking game
Andrew Miller06-Jul-2016Jos Buttler has said he is ready to shelve the reticence that undermined his last attempt at cracking Test cricket and believes he will be trusted by the team management to play his natural attacking game if, as widely anticipated, he is handed a recall for next week’s first Test against Pakistan at Lord’s.With a space opening up in England’s middle order following Nick Compton’s decision to take a break from cricket, and with doubts about Jonny Bairstow’s wicketkeeping undermining his revelatory run of form with the bat against Sri Lanka, the path is clear for Buttler to resume his role with the gloves at No.7, especially if Ben Stokes, his fellow hard-hitting batsman, is deemed unready for an immediate recall following the knee operation that ruled him out of the last two Tests.
Jos Buttler says he enjoyed the experience of opening the batting for England in the one-off T20 at the Ageas Bowl on Tuesday, and believes it is a role he can excel in in the future.
“It’s an area of my game I want to develop,” he said. “Batting in the powerplays is something I want to be able to do. Any batsman, you want to be able to face as many balls as you can to influence the game as much as you can.
At the end of the day it will come down to what the team needs. I was asked if I fancied it, and thought ‘why not? I’ve got nothing to lose’. I really enjoyed it. At the end of the day it comes down to what the captain and the coach think is best for the team, and I’ll do that.
A return for Buttler at Lord’s would, on the one hand, be something of a leap of faith, seeing as he has not played a red-ball match since England’s Test tour of the UAE more than eight months ago. On that trip, he was dropped ahead of the final Test against Pakistan at Sharjah following a dramatic collapse in form and confidence. Since the start of the previous summer’s Ashes at Cardiff, he had mustered 156 runs in seven Tests at 13.00, with a highest score of 42, at a strike-rate of less than a run every two balls.However, Buttler’s coruscating form in limited-overs cricket continued at the Ageas Bowl on Tuesday night, when his unbeaten 73 from 49 balls eased England to an eight-wicket win in the one-off T20 against Sri Lanka, and his rediscovered confidence is so tangible that selectors appear sorely tempted to unleash him once again in the longest format.Asked whether he felt it mattered that he hadn’t played a first-class match for so long, Buttler responded, tellingly: “In the olden days maybe it would, but in the new set-up maybe not.”And should he be named in this weekend’s squad, then Buttler believes that the recent injection of a have-a-go mentality into England’s Test plans will allow him to play the natural game that has served him and his team-mates so well during his recent white-ball experiences, both for England at the World T20 and against Sri Lanka, and for Mumbai Indians in the IPL.”I don’t think I’d be trying to bat time,” he said of his likely Test gameplan. “Having had time out of the game and watching certain players in our team from the sidelines in South Africa and watching on the TV this summer – the way Jonny plays, the way Joe Root plays, the way Ben Stokes plays – they’re always trying to put the pressure on. That’s the way English cricket has gone. It’s about scoring runs. It doesn’t matter how, it’s how many. You take your bat out there to score runs, so try to score them.”That was something that Buttler conspicuously failed to do towards the end of his previous stint in the Test team, particularly on the slow, low wickets in Abu Dhabi and Dubai when he appeared to fear the consequences of trusting his attacking instincts. But, with Trevor Bayliss, England’s head coach, cultivating a “no fear” attitude to his team’s strokeplay, Buttler believes he’s ready for another go.”If that’s what the coach is telling you to do, it’s a good start,” he said. “It probably comes down to making peace with what you guys [the media] are going to write and what the public are going to think, and accepting that if you get caught at second slip having a big whoosh, so be it. I’d rather do that than leave one and get bowled. The game’s about scoring runs. What I’ve learned, whatever colour the ball is, is that me trying to hit the ball is going to get the best out of myself.”Buttler was memorably encouraged by Bayliss to put his Test ambitions on the backburner earlier this year, and was given the go-ahead to sign a lucrative deal to play a full season of IPL cricket for Mumbai Indians. But the time away from the Test team has merely sharpened his desire to make amends for his shortcomings last time out.”I’ve had some time away to think and put cricket into perspective,” he said. “I’ve had some fantastic experiences over the last six months and learned a lot – just by siting there watching. I think the IPL was a fantastic experience. You come back so much more confident from that, brushing shoulders with those kind of guys. A lot more clarity about the mentality it takes to succeed.”When you get dropped and left out, you have a good think,” he added. “Obviously I’ve experienced some great things in the Test team, and you realise why it’s the best form of the game. But when you get dropped you have that hunger to get back in. I haven’t played red-ball cricket for a long time, but I’ve really enjoyed my cricket and enjoyed doing what I’ve been doing. Whatever happens, it doesn’t change your ambition. Whatever colour the ball is, you want to score runs and influence the game.”In many ways, the confidence in Buttler’s game is as significant as his obvious talent, for he readily admits that, at the age of 25, and with five years of experience at international level under his belt, he is better able now to rationalise the ups and downs of the sport that so clearly got to him late last year.”It’s the most confident I’ve felt,” he said. “You gain another year. As a 21-year-old, when people said you’ll become a better player with experience you don’t really believe it. Maybe now I’ve understood what that means.”Some of the experiences of the last year I’ve gone through, the highs and lows, have really put it in perspective – does it really matter, the cricket stuff? It’s about not getting too caught up with everything, and just enjoying it. I’ve felt in good form. You try to capitalise on that and use your experience to make the most of it. It really boils down to enjoying your cricket and making the most of it.And with that frame of mind, he feels really to conquer any logistical challenge that the international schedule can throw at him.”When you’re averaging 10, you’re not going to be very confident. The word is conviction. I didn’t have the same conviction as I had against the white ball. That’s what I’ll have to do. Show that conviction, that confidence, and take it on.”
Pakistan huffed and puffed through a chase of 237 but they made it in the end thanks to the composure of their captain
The Report by Danyal Rasool12-Jun-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:35
Agarkar: Sarfraz’s calmness crucial in guiding his side
The Champions Trophy might have been damp and lifeless on the English shores this year, but it was on a Welsh detour that it finally roared to life. In the game which had the most riding on it all tournament, Pakistan and Sri Lanka provided a spectacle befitting the magnitude of the occasion, and Pakistan sneaked across the line with a thrilling three-wicket win. But that’s only half the story. The rest centered around how madly the momentum of this game swung as two obviously flawed teams battled tooth and nail.
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed has been fined 20% of his match fee, while his team-mates were fined 10% of their match fees, for maintaining a slow over-rate during the match against Sri Lanka.
Pakistan were found to be one over short of their target after time allowances were taken into consideration. A second minor over-rate offence in the tournament could result in a one-match suspension for Sarfraz.
Sarfraz pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction; a formal hearing was not required as a result. The charge was laid by on-field umpires Bruce Oxenford and Marais Erasmus, third umpire Chris Gaffaney and fourth umpire Ian Gould.
Qualification to the semis was the prize riding on this game that was a quarter-final in all but name, and it was clear both sides wanted it desperately. Sri Lanka started impressively but a brilliant spell midway from Mohammad Amir and Junaid Khan restricted them to 236. Pakistan made the chase look harder than it was but captain Sarfraz Ahmed and Amir were there at the end to see their side home. Though the prospect of facing England on Wednesday will be daunting, it will be the last thing on their minds right now.From the moment Pakistan’s seventh wicket fell – with 75 still to win – two antsy sides were hoping they could do just about enough to pip the other. Sri Lanka were the favourites at that point, but their fielding let them down badly. Thisara Perera dropped a sitter at mid-on in the 39th over. Substitute fielder Seekkuge Prasanna shelled another chance – albeit a more difficult one – in the 41st. And Sarfraz, the reprieved batsman, the last of the specialists, took the game away.Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka’s great talisman, had created both chances and if this is to be his final ICC tournament, it was a cruel way to go. He watched, helplessly, as his team began to gift overthrows, and little by little, the belief as well to the Pakistan batsmen. By the time a dispirited Malinga was brought back for his final over, the fielding had disintegrated to amateurish level. Eventually, Sarfraz dabbed him over third man for the winning runs, and a shocking last half hour for the Sri Lankans met the end it deserved.Sarfraz Ahmed’s composure helped Pakistan overcome an untimely collapse•Getty Images
Before the nerves got hold of them, Pakistan were cruising. A dropped catch and a run-out opportunity in the first two overs aside, Fakhar Zaman and Azhar Ali set about their task masterfully.Fakhar, comfortable in his role as the designated aggressor up front, hit three boundaries in the third over against Malinga. He didn’t mind riding his luck at times, an outside edge burst through slips for four while a top edge flew for six, and when he was dismissed – caught at long leg – he had scored 50 off 36 and Pakistan were sitting pretty at 74 for 1 in 11.2 overs.But with this being Pakistan, there was the inevitable feeling they would take the Rolling English Road to victory. Two wickets fell quickly as Babar Azam clipped Nuwan Pradeep straight to short midwicket and Hafeez chipped one to mid-on next over. Opener Azhar Ali was done in by the extra bounce of Suranga Lakmal soon after, edging a sharp catch to first slip. Pakistan were at 110 for 4, and the game was anything but a foregone conclusion.Sri Lanka were quietly climbing into a position of ascendancy, but Pakistan almost appeared not to notice the early signs of danger. It certainly couldn’t be ignored when Shoaib Malik gloved a short ball from Malinga to the keeper. When Imad Wasim fell five balls later, Pakistan were 6 down with 100 runs still to win.Debutant Faheem Ashraf’s short-lived stay at the crease was fraught with danger as the bowlers peppered him with short deliveries, several of which caught his top edge but managed to evade the boundary riders. For all the risks he was taking on strike, he was run-out at the other end, a ricochet off the bowler’s hand finding the stumps before his bat hit the ground.There were no such errors from Pakistan with the ball though. In fact they were so good that Sri Lanka, despite dominating large parts of their innings, were bowled out well below the par score.A sensational four-over burst from Amir and Junaid ripped the heart out of the Sri Lankan middle order as they went from 161 for 3 to 167 for 7. It was superb fast bowling, evoking comparisons with some of the greats of Pakistan cricket and that it came soon after the innings’ second drinks break spoke either to some kind of strategy, or an especially rousing team talk from the captain Sarfraz. Either way, it was match-turning.Sri Lanka were setting up effectively for the final flourish, with Niroshan Dickwella and Angelo Mathews locked in a settled partnership, before Amir dismissed Mathews off the second ball of the 32nd over, the batsman dragging onto his stumps. Junaid followed up next over with a length delivery that seamed teasingly away from newcomer Dhananjaya de Silva and took his outside edge. Sarfraz then pulled off a superb reflex catch to get rid of Dickwella for 73 and Thisara was caught at slip next over. Sri Lanka’s position of strength was decimated in mere minutes.If it appeared that passage of play would be the solitary turning point of the match, Pakistan and Sri Lanka showed that when they take on each other, it is never quite that simple.
Andrea Onana admits he has a "lot to say" about missing Cameroon's AFCON opener due to a late exit from Man United and has shrugged off any criticism.
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Peter Handscomb, drenched in sweat and fighting dehydration, epitomised Australian desire to atone for their defeat in Mirpur, helping David Warner guide the visitors to within sight of Bangladesh’s first-innings total on another draining day in Chittagon
The Report by Daniel Brettig05-Sep-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:03
Isam: ‘Bangladesh could’ve pushed Warner, Smith a little more
An exhausted but undefeated Peter Handscomb, drenched in sweat and fighting dehydration, epitomised Australian desire to atone for their defeat in Mirpur, helping the vice-captain David Warner guide the visitors to within sight of Bangladesh’s first-innings total on another draining day in Chittagong.Where on day one it had been Pat Cummins struggling to get to the bowling crease, this time it was Handscomb reaching the edge of collapse in the day’s last half an hour, amid an unbroken partnership of 127 with Warner that helped capitalise on the excellent work of Nathan Lyon in the morning session to round up Bangladesh.Play was held up for several minutes as Handscomb received urgent treatment to cool him down, but his play was otherwise a model of positivity and good sense against a Bangladesh side that has seemed content to wait for things to happen over the first two days. A draw is enough for the hosts to win only the fourth Test series in their history, but a pair of missed chances allowed Warner to push towards his second century in as many innings.Australia’s captain Steven Smith had also demonstrated a strong method, before he played around a straight delivery from Taijul Islam just as the visitors appeared to be setting a platform. However Handscomb and Warner ensured the Australian innings would not deteriorate, in conditions that admittedly tested the batsmen in terms of heat and humidity more so than the sharp spin and variable bounce of the first Test.Lyon’s dismissal of Mushfiqur Rahim in his first over of the day, then that of the last man Taijul, had given the off spinner the handsome figures of 7 for 94. Ashton Agar provided useful support while the recalled Steve O’Keefe finished wicketless, and Cummins looked mercifully less exhausted after a night’s sleep following his demanding day-one stint as Australia’s only pace bowler.Smith had started the day with a refreshed Cummins and O’Keefe, but it took Lyon’s introduction to tease out a desperately needed breakthrough. Mushfiqur did not quite reach the pitch of a sharp-turning off break that he succeeded only in dragging back onto his stumps with a heavy helping of overspin.Steven Smith steadied Australia with a half-century before letting Taijul Islam burst through his defence•AFP
At the other end, Agar’s arrival drew a Nasir Hossain attempt to cut a flatter delivery that was perhaps too close to him for the shot. The resultant edge brought a third fine dismissal of the innings for the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, who will also need overdue runs to shore up his place in the team ahead of the home Ashes series in November.Mehidy Hasan looked good for a few runs, but was undone when hesitating on a second run and finding himself comfortably short when Warner threw down the stumps after a live-wire chase from backward point – another instance of fine fielding to match some of Wade’s efforts in Chittagong’s considerable heat. Taijul advanced to loft Glenn Maxwell beyond the wide long-on boundary and so push Bangladesh beyond 300, before an attempt to hit Lyon just as far resulted in an outside edge held sharply by Smith at slip to bring the innings to a close and reward the offspinner with the third seven-wicket haul of his six years in Test cricket.Matt Renshaw was lost in the minutes preceding lunch when he failed to glance Mustafizur Rahman beyond a diving Mushfiqur – the first wicket to fall to a Bangladeshi pace bowler for the series. Smith then played positively to drive Australia’s response, while Warner slotted into an uncustomary supporting role. While the occasional delivery turned disconcertingly, these were mainly negotiated with skill and poise by the touring team’s leaders, notably forcing Mehidy to revert to bowling over the wicket to Smith after his success from around the stumps in Mirpur.Shakib Al Hasan also appeared to have been vanquished, compelling Mushfiqur to replace him with Taijul as tea approached. Where most of Shakib’s deliveries had straightened down the line, Taijul’s first continued to arrow in with the arm, and Smith failed to make the appropriate adjustment. The loss of the captain left Australia somewhat vulnerable, before Warner and Handscomb settled into the sort of rhythm from which long partnerships are made.Making the most of his back-foot method, Handscomb was able to find gaps through the off side, with the occasional sally down the wicket to loft the ball into the expanses between mid-on and midwicket. Warner continued to play within himself, settling in for a lengthy occupation, though he twice had the good fortune of chances spurned. On 52 he bunted Taijul to short leg, only for Mominul Haque to spill it, then 21 runs later danced down to Mehidy and was reprieved by the fact that low bounce – and perhaps his own fatigue – foiled Mushfiqur’s attempt to complete the stumping.What remained in the day was Handscomb’s struggle to keep himself vertical, as Bangladesh’s bowlers and fielders all seemed eager simply to get through to stumps rather than overly press for the wicket of the badly fatigued Victorian. It’s been 31 years since Dean Jones fought the most extreme of fatigue, cramps and dehydration to tally an epic double-century against India in Madras. Handscomb and Warner have a long way to go before they reach a comparable peak.