All posts by h716a5.icu

Leading South African cricket officials paid tribute on Saturday to Minister of Safety and Security and former Minister of Sport, Steve Tshwete, who died at the weekend

Peter Robinson27-Apr-2002Leading South African cricket officials paid tribute on Saturday to Minister of Safety and Security and former Minister of Sport, Steve Tshwete, who died at the weekend.As the then shadow Minister of Sport, Tshwete played a leading role in bringing the old South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board together to form the United Cricket Board in 1991. He was also instrumental in South Africa’s readmission to international cricket and the country’s participation in the 1992 World Cup.”When Steve held the ANC’s sport portfolio, he was instrumental in unifyingSouth African cricket,” said UCB chief executive Gerald Majola. “We all owe Stevea great debt for the fundamental role he played in bringing all SouthAfrican cricketers together under one roof. In the process he made manylife-long friends in the cricketing fraternity, friendships he maintained asMinister of Sport and Recreation and later as Minister of Safety andSecurity.”Ali Bacher, the first managing director of the UCB and currently Executive director of the 2003 World Cup, said: "Hewas loved by all. Hhe was loved and respected by everyone whowas committed to the normalisation of South African sport.”Bacher worked closely with Tshwete during the unification of South African cricket and said: “I was immediately struck by the confidence Steve exuded for the task facingus all. He became known as ‘Mr Fixit’ by virtue of the central facilitatingrole he played in the unification of South African cricket in 1991. With himas the confident and compassionate facilitator it took just three shortmeetings in the wake of the ill-fated Gatting tour to achieve unification.”UCB president Percy Sonn said: UCBSA President Percy Sonn added: “A great friend of South African crickethas passed away. We all respected Steve and we loved him. Steve was apersonal friend of many members of the General Council and of the cricketingfraternity. He will be sorely missed.”

The establishment of the zonal cricket academies has been a step inthe right direction for nurturing young talents in the country, feelsnational selector Ashok Malhotra

11-Jun-2001The establishment of the zonal cricket academies has been a step inthe right direction for nurturing young talents in the country, feelsnational selector Ashok Malhotra. The move would help in spotting moretalented cricketers, the former Test player said during an informalchat with newsmen in Bhubaneshwar on Sunday.Malhotra felt that the country needed bouncy wickets and said thepitch committee set up by the BCCI was looking into the matter.Malhotra, who was in the city as chief guest at the concludingfunction of the Telegraph Schools Chess Tournament, said he wassatisfied over the composition of the Indian team, now in Zimbabwe.Asked about the players who could figure in the one-day squad to bepicked on June 13 next, he said it would be too early to speculatebecause the team was to play another Test at Harare.He, however, indicated that Delhi’s Vivek Sehwag, who created a fineimpression in the first one-dayer against Australia before beingsidelined with an injury, and Punjab all-rounder Reetinder Singh Sodhiwere in the race. Bengal wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta was also underwatch, he said.Replying to a question whether the Indian team was capable of winningthe World Cup in 2003, Malhotra said that’s a long way off. “It is forthe team management to shape the team for the future.”Malhotra said the present Ranji teams of Punjab and Orissa were thetwo best young sides in the country. They needed to sustain this levelof performance, he added. The success of the Orissa team whichqualified for the semifinals of the Ranji Trophy for the first timethis season was a very good sign for Indian cricket, the nationalselector said.Praising Orissa’s Shiv Sundar Das, Malhotra said the diminutive openerfrom Bhubaneshwar had cemented his place in the Test team. Formercricketers and commentators including Sunil Gavaskar are satisfiedwith his performance, he said.Speaking about medium pacer Debasish Mohanty who could not make it tothe playing eleven in the first Test at Bulawayo, Malhotra said “Ourjob is to select the players, but it is for the team management todecide whom to play.”On upcoming Orissa middle-order bat Rashmi Ranjan Parida who amassedover 800 runs this season and was instrumental in taking the state tothe semifinals for the first time, Malhotra said Parida and teammatePravanjan Mullick were talented and were doing very well. “We arevery pleased with their batting.”Questioned as to whether Parida had a chance of breaking into thenational squad, Malhotra said “Don’t worry. A good performance nevergoes wasted.”

Reliable reporter Alan Nixon has answered a question on Celtic’s possible announcement of Eddie Howe as their new manager.

The Lowdown: Bournemouth’s exit a boost for the Hoops?

Reports last month suggested that the Hoops’ chances of landing Howe could be dashed should Bournemouth win promotion to the Premier League through the Championship playoffs.

However, the Cherries threw away a two-goal lead in the tie on Saturday, losing to Brentford 3-2 on aggregate. That seems to have put a move to Parkhead for Howe back on track, with the 43-year-old seeking to bring multiple members of staff from the English south coast to Scotland.

The Latest: Nixon’s three-word answer

Nixon, who writes for The Sun, was asked by a Hoops fan hours after Bournemouth’s defeat if there will be an announcement on Howe anytime soon.

He replied by saying: “No excuses now”

The Verdict: He’s bang on

We’re with Nixon in saying that Celtic now have no excuses to get a deal for Howe over the line. He reportedly agreed on a move to become Neil Lennon’s successor last week, with one of the delays on an announcement due to Bournemouth’s involvement in the play-offs.

However, the Cherries’ season is now over, so we feel that Celtic should push through a deal as quickly as possible, especially with the club worried over Crystal Palace potentially scuppering a move for the 43-year-old.

The Hoops will only have themselves to blame should any deal collapse from here, with Howe’s desired staff members not receiving any pay rise following Bournemouth’s play-off elimination on Saturday.

In other news: 44 y/o feels ‘brilliant’ £7.5k-p/w Celtic ace could seal exit before June 11, find out more here. 

Rumoured Liverpool transfer target Jadon Sancho has refused to commit his future to Borussia Dortmund, acting as a potential boost to the Reds.

The Lowdown: Sancho continually linked with Reds

The 21-year-old has emerged as one of the most exciting young forwards in Europe in recent years, scoring 48 goals and registering 62 assists in 134 appearances for Dortmund.

Sancho has been linked with a summer move to Liverpool numerous times this season, with Jurgen Klopp thought to view him as a great long-term option in his attack.

The £90m-valued England international’s current deal doesn’t expire until 2023, though, so only a huge fee would prise him away from Dortmund this summer.

[freshpress-quiz id=“355458″]

The Latest: Sancho coy over his future

Sancho was on top form on Saturday, scoring twice in his side’s 3-2 win at home to RB Leipzig, keeping their Champions League hopes alive and handing Bayern Munich the Bundesliga title yet again.

Speaking after the game [via Daily Mail], the youngster discussed his future and did not rule out the prospect of a summer exit:

“Will I leave the club? I don’t know about my future.

“I am very happy here in Dortmund at the moment. I love the club, the fans and the team. They gave me my first professional start.”

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/all-the-latest-liverpool-news/” title=”All the latest Liverpool news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: Snap him up, Reds

Liverpool should do all they can to secure a move for Sancho this summer, although financial restraints may not make that possible following a tough 12 months around the world for football clubs.

Klopp needs to make sure that Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino are adequately replaced once their time at Anfield is up – they are all now close to 30 – and the prolific Dortmund star would seem to be a perfect addition.

He is capable of thriving on either flank, cutting inside and hitting the byline, and his game should only become more perfected as he matures with age, becoming even more devastating in the final third.

In other news, one Liverpool forward is being tipped to leave the club this summer. Find out who it is here.

Saleem Elahi shook off the disappointment of bagging a pair in the First Test at Lord’s to lead the Pakistan tourists to a comfortable win over Leicestershire in their one-day clash at Grace Road

Neville Foulger23-May-2001Saleem Elahi shook off the disappointment of bagging a pair in the First Test at Lord’s to lead the Pakistan tourists to a comfortable win over Leicestershire in their one-day clash at Grace Road.Set a target of 226 the tourists cruised to a seven-wicket victory with 7.2 overs to spare, Elahi top-scoring with a classy unbeaten 108.With fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar claiming four for 37 in his 10 overs it was a satisfying day’s work for the Pakistanis and they will hope to continue in this vein in the four-day Vodafone Challenge match also against Leicestershire.With the sun on their backs they certainly looked in good form as they prepared for the Second Test at Old Trafford next week.Shoaib, still searching for full match fitness, produced an excellent opening spell in which he took three wickets for 14 runs in six overs before Ben Smith, Darren Maddy and Iain Sutcliffe provided the Leicestershire innings with some respectability.Smith, captain for the day in the absence of the injured Vince Wells, led the way with a superb century off 114 balls with 11 fours, sharing a stand of 65 with Maddy and 108 with Sutcliffe.The left-handed Sutcliffe was eventually dismissed with an express delivery from Shoaib which sent the middle stump cartwheeling, and Leicesershire totalled 225 for seven.With Elahi in dashing form the tourists made light work of the challenge. They lost Imram Farhat for seven in the fourth over, but then Elahi and Faisal Iqbal put on 86 before Iqbal was caught at deep mid-wicket.Although Leicestershire rang the changes they could do little to curb the flow of runs from Elahi who reached his century off 103 balls by hitting three successive fours off seamer Jon Dakin.When he struck the winning boundary off Darren Stevens, Elahi had hit 16 fours and faced 114 balls.

After coming off the bench to make a couple of promising cameos in recent weeks, it’s surely time for Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa to unleash Ian Poveda in the Premier League.

The Whites take on Brighton away from home on Saturday afternoon, and Bielsa will have some big calls to make, not least between Poveda and Helder Costa.

The latter has been in shocking form for a few weeks now, and his blank against Manchester United last time out saw him extend his run of games without a goal in the top flight to eight.

In fact, after seeing what Poveda produced after coming on as a substitute for Costa against Liverpool, former Leeds striker Noel Whelan made it clear that the young winger must “come before” the 27-year-old now.

He told Football Insider: “There is something there that is not right because Poveda came on and did more in that short time than Costa did in the 60 minutes he was on the field.

“He is fourth in the pecking order in terms of wingers for me. Poveda has to come before him now. He is direct, exciting and wants to take people on. He wants to do his job as a winger and Costa does not. He plays it safe and he’s negative. At least Poveda runs at people. He is positive and that is what a winger should do. Costa has been a massive flop. A real disappointment again.”

Paul Robinson added to the £10,000-a-week forward’s admirers, saying last year: “I think we’re going to see Poveda come through next season. Leeds have signed him for a reason, Bielsa knows he’s a top, top player.”

As Whelan says, Poveda’s directness could be exactly what Leeds need to unlock Brighton’s defence, and if he is given a rare opportunity to start from the off, would surely want to make his mark. Indeed, all 12 of his league appearances this term have been from the bench.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-leeds-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=”Read the latest Leeds transfer rumours and news!”]

Bielsa just needs to give him a chance to shine, and a clash against Brighton would offer him exactly that. He could well be Leeds’ game-changer on the day.

Meanwhile, Leeds can finally bin this “liability”…

THERE are two changes to the West Indies XI for the third Cable & Wireless One-Day International against South Africa at the Queen’s Park Stadium in Grenada tomorrow

Derrick Nicholas04-May-2001THERE are two changes to the West Indies XI for the third Cable & Wireless One-Day International against South Africa at the Queen’s Park Stadium in Grenada tomorrow.Ricardo Powell returns to the line-up and Wavell Hinds will play his first One-Day International of this series. Opener, Leon Garrick, and bowler, Nixon McLean, have been omitted.The full West Indies XI is: Carl Hooper (captain), Chris Gayle, WavellHinds, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ricardo Powell, Brian Lara, Marlon Samuels, Ridley Jacobs, Neil McGarrell, Mervyn Dillon and Cameron Cuffy.EMERGENCY FIELDERS: Leon Garrick, Nixon McLean and Kerry Jeremy

Glasgow Rangers fans have been reacting to a statement from the club following the outcome of their appeal of the bans given to the Covid 5.

In February, Calvin Bassey, Bongani Zungu, Nathan Patterson, Dapo Mebude and Brian Kinnear all broke health regulations to attend a house gathering. In the aftermath, they were each given six-game bans by the Scottish FA, which were appealed by the Gers (Sky Sports). As such, Patterson was able to face Celtic in the Scottish Cup as he awaited the outcome.

In the end, though, the original punishments have been upheld. Following this decision, the Gers decided to share a statement (rangers.co.uk) revealing their disappointment at the ruling – they clearly felt the sanctions were harsh and perhaps not consistent with bans given to others who had committed similar breaches.

The statement was shared on the club’s official Twitter account, and it attracted plenty of attention from the 55-time Scottish champions’ supporters. They took to the social media platform to share their thoughts on the matter.

Let’s see what the Rangers fans had to say below

“Missed this earlier. Absolute joke the way the SFA manage disciplinary cases. 4 games for sitting in a flat in the block of flats they lived in,but nothing for international flights and pints by the pool? Glad we are good on the pitch, as they will do anything they can to stop us”

Credit: @StephenLouch

“What a timid response! Our players have had unprecedented punishments whilst others have gone unpunished. Fight back Rangers, it’s what’s required and what the majority of those selflessly funding the club require. No more doormat FC, please!”

Credit: @7_rossw

“Do what they do then and start pressurising spfl over dubai where by their own admission rules were broke. By taking the high ground and staying quiet they will only make mugs of us and continue to constantly have differing rules between one club and another.”

Credit: @doonhamer89

“Just incredible! How many bans did the Aberdeen players get? Or the Celtic players? Anyone? This is outrageous!”

Credit: @steviebronco1

“Shouldn’t be dealt with differently but 100% agree that they have nobody to blame but themselves. We don’t take our standards from other clubs, we set them”

Credit: @WalterW31347418

“To be fair they should have known better than break the rules what did they expect to happen. Learn from it lads”

Credit: @Stephengazzard

In other news, there is an update on Alfredo Morelos’ future at Ibrox.

According to reports from Turkey, Tottenham Hotspur have enquired about the potential summer signing of Trabzonspor goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir.

The report by Fotospor (via Sport Witness) claimed that all three of Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta and PSV have already submitted offers for the 25-year-old. However, each of those offers – which are reported to be around €20m (£17m) plus a sell-on fee – was rejected by the Super Lig club.

It is also claimed that Tottenham have contacted Trabzonspor regarding the sale of the £14.4m-rated Turkey international, but the north London side are yet to submit a formal offer for Cakir.

Transfer Tavern Take

With Tottenham’s current number one Hugo Lloris being heavily linked with a summer departure, it is not overly surprising to discover that Spurs are have made an enquiry about the availability of a potential replacement for the Frenchman.

With Cakir having kept an impressive 12 clean sheets over his 32 Super Lig appearances for Trabzonspor so far this season, as well as Leicester City’s head of recruitment Lee Congerton claiming that the 25-year-old is “one of the best goalkeepers I have seen in my life”, it would certainly seem as if the Turkey international is indeed a worthy candidate to take over from Lloris this summer.

In other news: Spurs eye £21.75m swoop for 6 ft 5 powerhouse after Levy turns nose up at £36m deal – fine out more here!

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, Rob Lee, who made 280 Premier League appearances, claimed that Ezri Konsa is a better defender than England international, Tyrone Mings.

Konsa is still awaiting his first England call up with Gareth Southgate opting for his Aston Villa teammate, as well as players such as Eric Dier and Conor Coady, for the latest round of World Cup qualifiers.

The 23-year old has featured in 26 of Villa’s 29 games in the Premier League this season and he’s been a big reason as to why they have only conceded 30 goals, the third-lowest in the top flight and only behind Manchester City and Chelsea.

Villa have exceeded many people’s expectations this season and being solid at the back has been a huge factor – Konsa has a 6.82 WhoScored rating alongside Mings who has a 6.88 rating for the season.

Speaking on who he would rather have in his team and why Mings has gone down in his estimations now, Lee told FFC:

“I think if I had the choice between Mings or Konsa, I would pick Konsa. Mings has done brilliantly since he moved to Aston Villa though.

“However, he got bullied by Joelinton the other week and that was the first time I’ve seen Mings get bullied because he’s a big lad, and I just think Konsa looks so comfortable.

“I’ve seen clips of him obviously but against Newcastle was the first time I saw him live and he looked a top player so, he just needs to continue to do what he’s doing.”

Villa paid just under £12 million for Konsa last season where he impressed at Brentford who were narrowly defeated in the play-off final against Fulham last season.

Konsa was part of the England side which won the U20 World Cup in 2017 which included the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Ademola Lookman and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.