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Kevin De Bruyne's signing at Napoli is delayed due to a small obstacle and it is not Manchester City.

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De Bruyne to sign for NapoliMinor contractual obstacle causing roadblockDe Laurentiis desperate to bring Belgian to ItalyFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

The Belgian international and City legend is all set to join the Serie A champions, however, 'small obstacle' is causing a delay in the signing. According to in Italy, the signature is inevitable, but the delay is due to his image rights, and the player’s lawyers are working so that the 33-year-old can complete his medicals and sign the contract.

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After a successful stint at City, De Bruyne will now be heading towards Serie A, where he will play under coach Antonio Conte. According to Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis, the club has held negotiations with the player for the last three months and are keen to see the deal go through.

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De Bruyne won 18 trophies during his 10-year stay at City, including six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, five English League Cups, the Champions League crown and Club World Cup. Moreover, he was also bestowed with the Premier League Player of the Season award in England in 2020 and 2022.

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De Bruyne will be leaving City as a free agent and will try to add a new dynamic to Napoli’s midfield when he joins them this summer.

Seamer preparing to play no more than four of the five men’s Ashes Tests this summer

Vithushan Ehantharajah19-May-2023James Anderson believes Australia will not be able to cope with England at their best as he prepares to play no more than four of the five men’s Ashes Tests this summer.Anderson is recovering from a mild groin strain picked up during Lancashire’s County Championship match against Somerset last week. While the 40-year-old expects to be fully fit for the Ireland Test at Lord’s on June 1, he is likely to sit out that match to preserve himself for the Ashes, which begins at Edgbaston on June 16.With those five Tests against Australia played across six weeks, Anderson said “three or four out of five would be more realistic than five”. It tallies with Ben Stokes’ assertion that the hosts will need to call upon eight seamers this summer. The skipper will have four to choose from for Ireland, with quick Mark Wood also likely to sit out the Test with Anderson.Related

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Going into his 10th Ashes series, Test cricket’s third most prolific wicket-taker is confident England can take the urn off Australia for the first time since 2015. Particularly if they replicate the domineering style of play that has seen them win 10 of 12 Tests under Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.”If you look at our team, if we play to the best of our ability with that mindset, I don’t think anyone can cope with us,” said Anderson. “So yes, I think we can win.”I feel like if we can keep the same mentality and the same sort of feeling in the dressing room we’ve had. It’s fairly relaxed, we’re trying to enjoy ourselves, we’re trying to entertain people, take the positive option.”In many ways, Australia will be the acid test for the values England have assumed since the start of last summer. Particularly a desire to entertain and not judge performances solely on winning and losing.That attitude has only been challenged once so far, when England lost to New Zealand at Wellington. They had bossed that second Test for the first three days, asking the Blackcaps to follow-on before losing deep into the final day by a single run. Anderson was the final wicket.Will such altruism fly this summer given the fervour of an Ashes? In an interview with Sky Sports, Stokes said he would declare to give Australia a chase in the final Test at the Oval even if England just needed a draw to win the series. Referencing Stokes’ comments, Anderson hopes the approach and mindset remain in their fullest capacity. Particularly given the correlation between playing without fear and impressive performances.”We’re going to get the same messaging from Brendon and Ben about how we go about playing. I think there’ll just be a little bit more attention around it because it is an Ashes series. But I just hope we can play the same way because it’s been brilliant to be part of.”I’m excited by the way we’ve been playing, it’s about something greater than the outcome. It’s about entertaining people and trying to enjoy ourselves while we do it. The end result has been taken away to an extent in the last few months, and I think that focus on ourselves has helped produce performances and produce results.”James Anderson and Jack Leach see the funny side after England lost the Wellington Test by one run•Getty ImagesAustralia represents something of a final frontier. Victories over New Zealand, India, South Africa and the 3-0 series win in Pakistan has seen them best all challengers so far. While a tour of India at the start of 2024 is a fascinating opportunity to see how an adventurous batting style translates to turning surfaces, this summer’s visiting attack – the best in the world right now – will provide the sternest resistance so far.Anderson anticipates some adjustments but cites success at “each stage that we’ve been through” as an indicator they must do unto Australia what they have done against everyone else.”I’m sure we’ll have to do something slightly differently against Australia because they might have different plays and whatever else. But we’ve coped with everything that’s been thrown at us so far. It’s been exciting.”They are naturally extremely competitive, aggressive when they play. They’ll have discussed it and have their own plans and own ways of how they are going to cope with it. I just think if we do what we’ve been doing and play as well as we possibly can, I don’t think anyone in the world can cope with it.”It’s worth noting Anderson’s recent home Ashes experiences have not been that great, even during a period when England have not lost a series on these shores since 2003. He injured his calf on the morning of the first match in 2019 (2-2) and pulled up during the third Test of the 2015 series, which England went on to take 3-1. You can understand why he wants to minimise the risk of injury by skipping the Ireland match.In between were two 4-0 away defeats, along with 2013-14’s 5-0 defeat six months after the home win in 2013. That was Anderson’s second whitewash after the 2006-07 tour where he made three appearances.”For me, I’ve voided the last three away,” he joked, channelling Stuart Broad’s comments on the Covid-19 tour of 2020-21. “Four out of five, I think”. The one unvoided being the 2010-11 success, of course.

“I’ve gone from potentially bowling 35 overs in an innings, potentially trying to winkle a few out, to just giving it everything in your spell”James Anderson

Indeed, the last failure Down Under saw Anderson dropped alongside Broad. Stokes’ first order of business upon becoming captain was to recall them.Since then, Anderson has enjoyed a new lease of life under a captain who has focussed squarely on taking wickets rather than consolidating run rates. Though the batting has taken the headlines, such positivity with the ball has seen England take the full 20 wickets in all of Stokes’ 12 Tests. Anderson, meanwhile, has 45 dismissals at 17.62, leaving him just 15 shy of the 700 mark.”I’m not trying to just bowl into the channel and get him to leave then hope he prods at one in 16 overs time,” Anderson said. “I’m trying to get a wicket every ball. It might sound strange, the whole point of cricket is to get people out as a bowler, but there are different ways of going about it.”I love it. I think it’s great. I’ve gone from potentially bowling 35 overs in an innings, potentially trying to winkle a few out, to just giving it everything in your spell knowing we are on. There’s a better feel, everyone is involved and there are ideas coming from everyone.”The main source of the ideas is singled out for special praise. Across an international career that will turn 20 on Monday – the anniversary of the first of 179 caps, against Zimbabwe – Anderson has played under eight different captains. His current, and almost certainly last captain, is the one he rates highest.”Yeah,” Anderson answered after a long pause when asked if Stokes was the best. “It is hard to say over a short period of time but he’s had an amazing start. I think he is completely different from any captain I’ve ever played with before and I’ve really enjoyed it.”I can’t fault anything really. I think everyone knew that he was a leader, the way he trains, whether it’s the gym or whether it’s catching or batting or bowling the way he goes about his business, he is the ultimate professional. The way he plays he leaves everything out there. So he’s a born leader.”For me, it’s the finer details, not just on the field where his tactical nous has been spot on, but also his emotional intelligence off the field and how he talks to everyone in the group.”If he needs to put his arm around someone or fire someone up, he’s just got a really good way of doing that. And the way he speaks to the group as well is excellent. I’ve been really impressed.”

Cristian Chivu revealed Hakan Calhanoglu is nearing his return from injury after his public feud with Inter captain Lautaro Martinez.

Chivu provides optimistic update on CalhanogluReveals Turk is raring to bounce back after CWC miseryMidfielder recently broke silence on Martinez feudFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Inter head coach Chivu has provided a fresh update on Calhanoglu's fitness amid rumours that he could leave the club this summer, confirming that the midfielder has recovered from the injury relapse he suffered in training at the Club World Cup just days after featuring in the Champions League final.

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The past few months have been arguably the lowest point of Calhanoglu's stint at Inter. After a shocking Serie A title race collapse and losing to rivals AC Milan in the semi-final of the Coppa Italia, the Turkish international suffered an injury in the 5-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final. Despite the setback, he flew with his team-mates to the United States to feature in the Club World Cup, but his participation in the tournament was cut short after suffering a relapse during training.

The shock 2-0 loss to underdogs Fluminense in the round of 16 piled on to Calhanoglu's misery, with Inter captain Martinez firing shots at the 31-year-old. That prompted the former Milan man to post a long statement on social media in the aftermath of the incident as the feud played out in public. He was also linked with a summer transfer, with Galatasaray and Fenerbahce after him, but he has since put the feud with Martinez behind him and declared his desire to stay at San Siro.

WHAT CRISTIAN CHIVU SAID

Chivu has backed the 31-year-old to bounce back from the injury and chaos of the summer, telling reporters: "I'm happy he's back healthy. He's worked hard this summer and is really hungry to bounce back. He was very disappointed in America for not being able to help the team. He tried in training and got hurt again. His expectations, and ours as well, were to have him for the second match. He's worked hard, and I saw him doing very well in the first training session."

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Calhanoglu has been training with the Inter squad, who began their pre-season training on July 26. They will kick-start their campaign against Torino in a Serie A fixture on August 25.

Telford Vice pays tribute to Eddie Barlow who died at the age of 65 on Friday

Telford Vice31-Dec-2005

Eddie Barlow ‘changed the whole face of South African cricket’ according to Mike Procter © Getty Images
There is, in Andre Nel’s razor-edged glare, the set of Graeme Smith’s jaw, and Makhaya Ntini’s refusal to walk when he can run, a wisp of the spirit of Eddie Barlow. South Africans have always played the game aggressively and in utter ignorance of how to take an unforced backward step. It’s just the way we do things, everything.But to Barlow, who died on Friday, goes the credit for making his compatriots realise that they could use those characteristics to win cricket matches. “He really changed the whole face of South African cricket,” said Mike Procter. “I was very young then, but I played in the sides of ’66 and ’70 and the guys who had played just before me said Eddie was just so super-confident that it rubbed off on them.”He did the same for me. Before that we had always been a secondary cricketing nation, but he changed our confidence and really lifted us. By ’66, we had a hell of a side. It was just his character, he was such an enthusiast and he did everything 100 percent. Eddie was a superstar of the game.”To Peter Kirsten, Barlow, an illustrious Province captain and later a respected provincial coach, was a consummate leader. “He got people to play with him and for him, that was his hallmark,” Kirsten said. “He admitted that he was never in the class of Graeme Pollock or Barry Richards, but he had incredible self-belief and he was able to communicate that to his opponents and to his teammates.”And, almost as importantly, to the public. “He drew thousands of people to Newlands on Monday afternoons,” Kirsten said. Barlow was Kirsten’s mentor when, aged 18, he was blooded in the star-spangled Western Province team of the 1970s. “It was a thoroughly enjoyable era for me, I was brought up by guys like him,” Kirsten said. “Something was always going to happen when he was around, things were never dull.”Indeed. Barlow once had a telegram delivered on the field to his captain, Ali Bacher, begging for a bowl. Another time, having been roused by a late-night ruckus down the corridor in the Province team’s hotel, Barlow banged on the door of the offending room. It was opened to reveal his players entertaining a slew of strangers. All had bottles or glasses in hand, drinking up a storm. Barlow thundered: “I’m going to call the police!” One of the strangers spoke up sheepishly: “Uh, we are the police.”He spoke out against Apartheid at a time when it was potentially damaging for prominent figures in the white establishment to do so. When he wasn’t doing that, or playing, or coaching, he was farming. First pigs, later wine. Kirsten remembers Barlow as a tough taskmaster. “We trained very hard under him, when practice time came there was no buggering around. “But he also had a sense of humour, that was an important part of his game, and on top of that he had an astute cricket brain.”That brain kept ticking over long after Barlow retired as a player, and in the early 1990s he authored the “Three Plus Plan” and thrust it at influential figures in South African cricket. The plan implored teams to strive to score no fewer than three runs an over in first-class matches. “He was aggressive, but he wasn’t over the top,” Kirsten said. “He played the game similarly to the way the Australians do, without the rude sledging.”For Pat Symcox, Barlow was “ahead of his time regarding motivating people and believing in himself”. “He had an extreme passion for the game, and he had the will to win all of the time,” Symcox said. “People who are able to marry their character with their style of play are often successful, and he was one of them.”Was Barlow’s contribution evident in the modern South African team? “There’s a thread of continuity there, definitely,” Symcox said. “Every past player will leave a piece on the table for all of us to share, if we choose to use it.”For me, Graeme Smith epitomises the way Eddie played, definitely.” How about Nel? “Eddie controlled his aggression pretty well,” Symcox replied after a moment’s careful thought. Would that, on the eve of the Sydney Test match, give Smith and all his men pause for thought and reflection on the life of Edgar John Barlow?

How Adam Gilchrist coped with England’s plan to bowl from round the wicket

George Binoy04-Dec-2006

Adam Gilchrist’s wagon-wheel during his 64 off 79 balls. Enlarged graphic © Hawk-Eye
England needed to skittle Australia cheaply on the fourth day to have a chance of winning this Test, but Michael Clarke and Adam Gilchrist, both players who had a torrid time in the 2005 Ashes, bore the responsibility of avoiding the follow-on. Though Clarke went on to score a crucial hundred, it was Gilchrist who seized the initial momentum on the fourth morning.His 64 off 79 balls was his first fifty-plus score against England since his 133 at Sydney in January 2003. In the 2005 Ashes, England’s bowlers had sorted him out by bowling round the wicket. Before this series started, Gilchrist said that he was prepared to counter this line of attack, but in the first Test he was trapped lbw, playing down the wrong line to one that was angled into him. At Adelaide, Hoggard and co. adopted the same line of attack, bowling 57 balls to Gilchrist from round the wicket while Ashley Giles accounted for 16 of the 22 balls he faced from over the wicket. Blame it on a docile pitch and the dearth of movement in the air, but the ploy did not work at Adelaide.

The pitch-map of the balls bowled by england’s fast bowlers to Gilchrist. Enlarged graphic © Hawk-Eye
While the bowlers pitched 47 balls on a good length to Gilchrist, he scored at nearly 4 runs per over off them. He hammered 22 runs off ten full-pitched deliveries and was quietest against short-of-a-length bowling – 11 off 22 balls. It was just the kind of track he needed to regain some sort of form and even the 40 balls that were of a good line and length leaked 26 runs. Gilchrist’s in-control factor was also impressive – 82.27% (65 out of 79 balls).Cook caught out?
Alastair Cook has been caught by the wicketkeeper or the first slip in three out of four innings in this series. The balls have been fairly similar, pitching on a good length, moving away from the left-hander, inducing him to have a poke at it and taking the edge. Click here for an enlarged graphic of the two balls that dismissed him at Adelaide. They are almost identical.

The balls that dismissed Alastair Cook at Adelaide © Hawk-Eye
Other stats highlights
39.81 – Shane Warne’s strike-rate during his innings of 43. It is his slowest strike-rate for any innings of more than 40 runs.26 – the number of innings since Michael Clarke scored his last Test century. Today’s 124 was his third Test century. He had scored two hundreds and two fifties in his first nine Test innings.6 – the number of 500-plus scores in the last five Tests at Adelaide, including this one.7 for 109 – is Hoggard’s best figures against Australia and is the second-best performance by an English bowler at Adelaide, after Jack White’s 8 for 126 in February 1929.57.52 – Ashley Giles’s bowling average against Australia. This is his ninth Test, and he only has 19 wickets against them

Anil Kumble’s 600 wickets are just rewards for a cultured practitioner of a unique art

Sambit Bal at the WACA17-Jan-2008

Kumble has shown that changes in length and pace can deceive the batsman as much as turn and flight © Getty Images
It’s incredible how 600 Test wickets has become a routine milestone. That Anil Kumble would get there had been apparent for a year, that he would get there so quickly in this series was perhaps not expected. When he got to 400 wickets in 2004, he had said it would be nice to get to 500. At the rate he has been going it is conceivable he joins his illustrious comrades and rivals, Shane Warne and Muthiah Muralitharan, in the 700-club.It would be fitting, too, because Kumble belongs in their company. In their contrasting and incomparable ways these three kept the flag flying for spin bowling, that most delicate and noble of cricket arts, in an era when everything – bigger bats, shorter boundaries and the limitations of one-day cricket – conspired against slow bowlers. It is staggering that between them the holy trinity have teased, deceived and winkled out over 2000 victims. And if Murali and Kumble keep going the number could well swell to 2500. That, you can safely say, would take some beating.Kumble has certainly been hurrying to his landmarks. The last 200 wickets have come in 40 Tests, and the only thing that would stop him, it seems, is a weakening shoulder that has speared down more 38,000 balls in 18 years and has already been under the scalpel. I chatted with one of his colleagues before this series and to him it was never a matter of faltering form or a waning of desire. It was only a matter of how many overs Kumble could squeeze out of that shoulder.That he has been an unusual spinner has been said many times before. It has also been said, a trifle unfairly, that he is a unidimensional bowler. Palpably, he has lacked the turn of Warne and Murali, but his variety has been subtler, far more apparent to batsmen than to viewers. He has shown that not only turn and flight that can deceive the batsman but also the changes of length and pace. He has been a cultured practitioner of his unique craft and a master of nuances. How many times have batsmen gone forward to find the ball not quite there, or gone back to find it hurrying on to them? It’s only in the later years of his career that umpires over the world have started declaring batsmen lbw on the front foot. Had they been more amenable to one of Kumble’s most natural modes of dismissal, he may even have had a hundred more wickets by now.He would perhaps have a few more if he didn’t have to provide succour to his bowling colleagues who, for a substantial period of his career, couldn’t soften up the top order as Glenn McGrath did for Warne. And with India’s batting proving fragile overseas for the first 12 years of his career, he has often been pressed into damage control rather than hunting for wickets.Only in the last five years has he had the cushion of runs and the comfort of a pace bowling attack with some teeth. It has allowed Kumble the luxury of being more expressive and experimental. He has expanded his range, looked to bowl more googlies, slow the pace down, toss the ball up bit more and take more risks than he could afford in the earlier years. The results are revealing.His first 84 Tests yielded him 397 wickets at a strike rate of 67.1 and an economy rate of 2.52 runs an over. He has been far more generous to batsmen in the last 40 Tests, allowing them 3.04 runs an over, but the strike-rate has dipped by nearly ten points to 58.5, almost at par with Shane Warne’s career-rate. His career strike-rate of over 64 is the highest among the top ten wicket-takers of all time but it must be viewed in the context of his predicament.It was fitting in many ways that he got to his latest landmark against Australia, for he has always stood tall against these mighty opponents, claiming 105 of their wickets, 68 of which have come in the last 10 Tests. He was lion-hearted on his last tour here, claiming 24 wickets in three Tests after being ignored for the first, but he returned with the regret of not being able close out the series for India on the last day of the Sydney Test. The wicketkeeper wasn’t his greatest ally that day, nor were the umpires.Given the task of leading the county in the autumn of his career, Kumble has brought the same dignity and competitiveness that have distinguished him as a player. It was a job that should have been his by right – John Wright, India’s coach for four years, often used to reflect on what India had lost by not choosing him as captain – but was ultimately granted by default. In some ways, that has been the story of Kumble’s life: he has had persevere till recognition and reward could be denied no longer.Six hundred Tests wickets were inevitable, but let this be another reason to celebrate the success of one of the greatest cricketers India has produced, and a man who has dignified his sport.

Martin Williamson looks at how the ICC fared in 2007

Martin Williamson23-Dec-2007

Malcolm Speed keeps soldiering on among familiar empty seats during the World Cup© Getty Images
Not much went right for the ICC in 2007 but it weathered the many storms that hit it and ended the year intact, albeit bruised and battered. By this time next year it will have a new president and chief executive. Its strings, however, will still be controlled silently by people with a variety of interests and priorities, not all, some would argue, in the game’s best interests.The biggest and most avoidable mess was the World Cup. There had been signs for more than a year that all was not well, but not even the biggest sceptics could have predicted quite how bad things were going to be. The shambolic ticketing and overzealous security ensured that what should have been the game’s showcase instead became an almost never-ending embarrassment. One American I viewed an hour or so of one of Australia’s games with was bewildered that the champions, playing in cricket’s premier event, were watched by a few hundred spectators dotted around a vast, specially built and utterly soulless stadium. The final, which ended in a twilight farce, summed up the entire event.The ICC was not to blame for India and Pakistan, two of the commercial cash cows, failing to make the second stage, although that happening again is so unthinkable that the format will be changed to ensure barring their complete meltdowns, they have to progress. It was to blame for a bloated tournament that went on and on purely to please TV and sponsors. And it was to blame for stripping almost every scrap of Caribbean flavour from the grounds. It might as well have been hosted in Dubai.The one thing that it got right was to resist calls for the tournament to be scrapped following the death of Bob Woolmer. Its decision to soldier on, while probably based on commercial reasons more than any others, was vindicated when it was eventually ruled he died of natural causes many months later.Other banana skins were beyond the ICC’s control. Darrell Hair tried to sue it for racial discrimination, and while his case floundered, the testimony of some of the senior executives from Full Member boards left many asking if they were fit to run the game.

David Morgan of England, Ray Mali, the ICC president, Sharad Pawar of India, and Speed at the 2007 annual conference © ICC
Zimbabwe’s finances became the thorn rather than the side itself, and the ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed’s leaked attack on the Zimbabwe board during the annual meeting in June highlighted how impotent the ICC itself is. Speed’s comments were unequivocal, and yet by two days later by the time the executive board had acted as a political filter, Zimbabwe emerged almost smelling of roses. What Speed thought privately we might never know, but it underlined that the ICC is controlled by an increasingly small elite from a handful of countries.On the plus side, the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa was a great success, so much so that within a couple of years we might not be able to move for other Twenty20 format events. It continued to foster the Associates, although increasing investment has not lead to a narrowing of the gap between the Full Member countries and the rest, but full credit to the ICC for nurturing areas the greedier and bigger boards wouldn’t give the time of day to.New man on the block
David Morgan, the former England board chairman, takes charge as president in June 2008, and he faces a difficult time. Among things under discussion at Morgan’s first meeting will be whether Zimbabwe is fit to resume Test cricket. Out of the frying pan …Fading star
Speed, who stands down as CEO at the same time. He has carried out a thankless, albeit well paid, job with tact and diplomacy, but behind the scenes he seems to have been increasingly powerless to do anything other than carry out the wishes of the more influential board members. Much of his contribution has been to rein in some of the wilder elements and ensure that, to the public, the ICC sails united in calm waters.High point
The Twenty20 in South Africa must have been like finding an oasis in a desert for the ICC after the endless flack it endured at the World Cup. Large crowds, common-sense security, good cricket and public acclaim and relaxed media sessions where all-out defence was not required from the off.Low point
So many. The World Cup for one, but perhaps the real low was the sudden death of Percy Sonn, the president, following routine surgery at the age of 57. He had plenty of critics but he also had support where it mattered and he was genuinely mourned within the organisation.What does 2008 hold?
A tough year in prospect. Speed will need to be replaced, and that will produce a behind-the-scenes slugfest as factions look to find someone acceptable to them. The forensic audit into Zimbabwe’s finances will be produced early in the year and if it turns out to be as bad as rumours suggest, then even the ICC might not be able to look after its own this time. If ZC chairman Peter Chingoka survives that then the ICC’s annual meeting in London in June might have to be moved as the British government won’t allow him into the country. And Hair’s rehabilitation period ends in the spring, and the ICC might have to run the gauntlet of reappointing him to matches or risk being sued all over again. And that’s without the hitherto unseen icebergs that are inevitably going to surface as 2008 rumbles on.

Exactly a week after the climax of the IPL, one-day cricket will face its first trial during the Kitply Cup in Bangladesh

George Binoy in Mirpur07-Jun-2008
The batsmen who featured in the IPL will need to retune their technique and mindset to the 50-over format © AFP
The success of the inaugural Indian Premier League, a phenomenon that held audiences in rapt attention for 45 days, raised questions about the 50-over format’s ability to hold its own against the adrenalin rushes experienced by both players and fans during a Twenty20 match. And now, exactly a week after the climax of the IPL, one-day cricket will face its first trial during the Kitply Cup in Bangladesh.Fans, especially in India, have spent the evenings between April 18 and June 1 watching batsmen plunder runs at above eight an over, bowlers taking ten wickets in 20 overs, all of it tightly packed into three-and-a-half hours. The tri-series in Bangladesh will be a test of patience. Spectators will have to appreciate the building of an innings as they sit through the pedestrian run-rate of one-day cricket, and watch as overs are bowled without a six being hit or a wicket falling. For the Indian and Pakistani players involved with the IPL, the challenge will be to readjust their batting styles to the longer format: not to go for broke from the onset, think about keeping wickets in hand, and to give a few overs to the bowler if he’s in the middle of a dangerous spell.The tournament’s format – three league matches – is such that it allows no room for error. India and Pakistan have the most to lose. One slip-up and it will be down to net run-rate to qualify for the final. The irony is that if there’s an India-Pakistan final, it is more likely to fade from public memory as most one-day matches eventually do. The tournament needs Bangladesh to produce a remarkable performance for it to be memorable. And apart from the team’s cause, Bangladesh’s players will be motivated by their lack of demand at the IPL.None of their players, barring Abdur Razzak, who bowled two overs in his solitary appearance for the Bangalore Royal Challengers, were bought by the franchises during the auction, or even after as replacements. The slam-bang batting styles of Mohammad Ashraful, Tamim Iqbal and Aftab Ahmed might have had more impact than Jacques Kallis or Wasim Jaffer but poor performances since the World Cup in 2007 left them with no buyers. Bangladesh sprung two surprises in the Caribbean – beating India and South Africa – but they haven’t won against major opposition since. They’ve only got three matches against Ireland to show for their successes and their most recent assignment in Pakistan ended in a 5-0 defeat.”I was not picked for the IPL because I had not performed well,” Ashraful, the Bangladesh captain, said. “If I perform well this season, maybe I will get a call for next year’s tournament.” It could have been any of his talented team-mates speaking.Pakistan, on the other hand, had plenty of representation in the IPL but only Sohail Tanvir, out of ten players, had a tournament to boast about. As a team they’ve been in hot form on paper, winning 11 ODIs on the trot, but ten of those victories came at home against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, two series hastily arranged after Australia postponed their visit. They’ve been starved of quality opposition and this tournament will provide the build-up for their Asia Cup campaign and the Champions Trophy in September.The favourites are India, who haven’t even arrived in Dhaka as yet. Their year began with a victory against Australia in the finals of the CB Series and although the excitement created by that achievement was huge, the hype and attention the cash-rich IPL got was unparalleled. All the players in the Indian squad were part of the IPL and the three newest faces – Yusuf Pathan, Pragyan Ojha and Manpreet Gony – performed impressively during the event.The flip side was that India lost Sachin Tendulkar to a recurring groin injury that he initially sustained during the tour of Australia. He missed the first half of the IPL but featured in seven games of the Mumbai Indians’ campaign before pulling out of this trip and the Asia Cup. Sreesanth too picked up a side strain during the IPL. There’s also concern over captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who didn’t keep in the later stages of the tournament due to a finger injury.The Kitply Cup marks the restart of a hectic international calendar. It may not be the most eye-catching tournament but nevertheless, India and Pakistan won’t want this series to be remembered for their inability to make the final.

An ICC panel picked the best Test and ODI teams of the year based on performances in the last 12 months. There’s no disagreeing with their wisdom but, had they gone by statistics alone, would their choices have been a bit different

11-Sep-2008An ICC panel, chaired by Clive Lloyd, and including Greg Chappell, Shaun Pollock, Sidath Wettimuny and Athar Ali Khan, picked the best Test and ODI teams of the year based on performances in the last 12 months. There’s no disagreeing with their wisdom but, had they gone by statistics alone, would their choices have been a bit different? Mathew Varghese looks at the ones that got away.
Mohammad Yousuf was in contention for the ICC ODI Player of the Year, but wasn’t picked in the ODI Team of the Year © AFP
Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan batsman, was one of the players nominated for ICC’s ODI Player-of-the-Year Award. Yousuf didn’t win; Mahendra Singh Dhoni did. And Dhoni and fellow nominees, Sachin Tendulkar and Nathan Bracken, were named in the ODI Team of the Year, Yousuf wasn’t. Yousuf’s omission was puzzling not only because he was one of the nominees for the top award, but also one of the prolific run-scorers in the period considered by the ICC.The awards were based on performances from August 9, 2007 to August 12, 2008. In that period, Yousuf scored 1161 runs at 68.29; among batsmen with at least 500 runs, only Shivnarine Chanderpaul had a better average and he wasn’t in the ODI team either. Pakistan did play back-to-back series against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh but even if you considered performances only against the top eight ODI teams, Yousuf’s average is 59.09. (Click here for the top batsmen with at least 10 ODI innings.)In the ICC’s XI, only Yousuf’s team-mate Younis Khan averaged as much. Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds were the other middle-order batsmen in the team but Ponting, the captain, averaged only 42.23 in 20 innings, while Symonds fared marginally better with an average of 45.Another surprise pick was allrounder Farveez Maharoof, who played only seven matches in the period. Granted that he took 14 wickets at 17.42, but he scored only 45 runs in four innings. (Click here to see the best bowlers against the top eight teams.)In the ICC’s Test Team of the Year, Kumar Sangakkara was chosen as the wicketkeeper but he kept wickets in only one Test out of Sri Lanka’s ten during the period under consideration. He’s played as a specialist batsman while Prasanna Jayawardene has impressed one and all with his sharp glove work while keeping to Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis. However, the other Test keepers fared poorly with the bat, a factor that could have swung the vote Sangakkara’s way. England may have seen a turnaround under Kevin Pietersen’s leadership, but his position in the middle order denies a place to either of AB De Villiers, Andrew Symonds or Michael Clarke – all three averaged over 55, while Pietersen managed only 47.25. (Click here for the top batsmen during the selection period.)

Mohammad Yousuf’s knock may have lacked the thrills and frills, but his retro one-day classic allowed Shoaib Malik to bat freely and scythe India

Osman Samiuddin in Centurion27-Sep-2009Oftentimes, there is nothing like an old head. The call for youth is alwaysinsistent in sport and it is in the end their gig. But sometimessituations are such that you need someone who has been there, done thatand got the beard to show for it.Shoaib Malik was the man who thrust Pakistan to their win tonight and adeserved the Man of the Match. But ushering him along for much of it, in fact,the man who dragged him out of the timidity that held him for so long andmade his innings possible was Mohammad Yousuf; the man, so to speak,behind the successful man.The last few years have not been for Yousuf what they should’ve been afterthe miracle year of 2006. The rise of Twenty20 has shaken his core. TheICL dalliance was ill-advised and though he returned to the Test side thisyear, his place in the ODI side was slipping. He was dropped from the ODIsin Sri Lanka and many were those who thought he shouldn’t be coming toSouth Africa.Even after he got here, he scratched around against West Indies andcalls for his head began in Pakistan. And you could see why, for he hasbeen out of it in pyjamas. His fielding is poor and all types of pumped,young power hitters have taken over cricket. But who in Pakistan could’veplayed the innings that Yousuf played tonight, the very innings thatPakistan needed?Trouble was coming at him from everywhere. Wickets had gone down, therun-rate was plummeting and his partner was comatose; incidentally hispartner was also the man he blamed for his ouster from the side and moveto the ICL. This was against India, in a Champions Trophy. And all he did was keephis head, his old head, and play as he does and as he always has.The singles came first because just before his arrival, Pakistan had madeonly five runs in five overs and all but squandered an unusually hecticstart. They were never to stop; 51 in all, many to his favourite areas inthird man, square leg and deep point. He is one of the few batsmen in theside adept at doing so and as soon as he got in, he got a groove going,giving the innings some rhythm.He was barely noticeable mostly, occasionally reminding everyone of hispresence with a boundary such as a lift over midwicket off Virat Kohlibefore going diligently back to the singles. The next came much later, adink just past the wicketkeeper and it was only after the 30th over thathe decided the pace could be upped.

Youth will have its day, it always does. But the day once belonged to those now old and sometimes, often when it is most needed, they will own it, just to show us that they still can

Malik by then was also opening up. At one stage he was 36 off 72 balls,not finding gaps or the middle of his bat or runs, and had he gotten outthen, it would’ve been a monumental waste. But as Yousuf pushed on, hetook Malik along and they went side-by-side, matching each other run forrun through their 20s, 30s, 40s right till their 50s, achieved within anover of each other. Having taken him along this far, having wound him up,Yousuf simply let Malik go, to bludgeon and scythe India.Yousuf ensured his pace never relented, ticking along, occasionallyremembering to check in with a boundary. Seven came in all, beautiful oneseach: he lofted RP Singh over extra cover, then square drove him, beforelifting Harbhajan Singh over cover. But his real currency wasstrike-rotation and he ran singles quicker than he has done for some time.Andrew Strauss, who has had to deal with poor running in his side inrecent weeks, says batsmen run better and with more confidence once theyare set, even those who are poor runners. Yousuf will agree, whose highnumber of run-outs hide the fact that he is an astute judge of a run oncehe has settled at the crease.Ninety-one runs came between overs 31 and 41 in this manner, a Twenty20rate an in old-fashioned way, and it was the winning of the game. When hefinally went, slogging, he left behind a retro one-day classic, with nopower mis-hits, no cheeky scoops or switch hits or convoluted paddles. Therewere no sixes, yet he went at a run-a-ball.Youth will have its day, it always does. But the day once belonged tothose now old and sometimes, often when it is most needed, they will ownit, just to show us that they still can.