Tag Futebol

Fazl-e-Akbar is to replace Shoaib Akhtar in Pakistan’s squad in England.Shoaib has been suffering from a stomach complaint for some time. It delayed his arrival in England, and has forced him from the field on several occasions.Fazl has played four Tests and a One-Day International in the past. He is currently playing league cricket in England.”We don’t think he is fit enough for international cricket," said Pakistan manager Yawar Saeed, clearly in some exasperation. “There are only another 10 days left of the one-day tournament and if he can’t bowl 10 overs for us he’s not a lot of use.”He was spitting blood over the weekend and has seen seven doctors in the last six days; we don’t know what is wrong with him.”He went for a run yesterday and got tired very quickly. We have released him from the squad. He may be able to bowl in club cricket but not at international level at the moment,” he continued, referring to Shoaib’s inclusion in the Lashing’s team to play on Friday.”What he does from here is between him and the board,” added Saeed. “We are very disappointed because we wanted him to play for us and there are a lot of people in this country who wanted to see him play.”Meanwhile David Folb, chairman of Lashings Cricket Club, said: “Shoaib will play for us on Friday. That’s never been in doubt. I don’t think I have ever announced that anyone is going to play and they have not. He’s told me he’s available from Friday and I am not interested in politics."Lashings are a high-profile club side, boasting the services of Richie Richardson, Stuart Williams, Junior Murray, Jimmy Adams and Franklyn Rose at present. Brian Lara also has also represented them this season.Lara, like Shoaib, enjoys a lucrative endorsement from Intertops.Com, a bat manufacturer and Lashings’ club sponsor.

While Davinson Sanchez’s £42m arrival back in the summer of 2017 has been something of a blemish on Tottenham Hotspur’s record of centre-back signings, generally speaking, Spurs have recruited extremely well in the position in recent years.

Indeed, this season, the £42m Cristian Romero has made a fantastic addition in the heart of the Tottenham defence, while Toby Alderweireld’s £11.4m signing back in 2015, Eric Dier’s £4m arrival in 2014 and Jan Vertonghen’s £9.5m acquisition back in 2012 all proved to be incredibly successful moves by the north London side.

However, there is one player who Daniel Levy will undoubtedly rue missing out on back in the summer of 2015 – when Tottenham reportedly had the opportunity to sign Dayot Upamecano for as little as £300k.

Sold at £1.98m, now worth £101m

Indeed, after watching the then-16-year-old in action for France at the U17 European Championship in Bulgaria, Spurs scouts are believed to have been left in awe at the defender’s athleticism and ball-playing ability, identifying the youngster as the perfect candidate for Mauricio Pochettino’s project in north London.

However, Tottenham ultimately missed out on the signing of the 6 foot 1 centre-back to Red Bull Salzburg, with the Austrian side willing to pay FC Valenciennes a much higher fee than the Premier League outfit, with Upamecano making a £1.98m move to the Red Bull Arena.

Just two years later, after highly impressing for Salzburg, the then-18-year-old was on the move again, securing a £16.65m switch to RB Leipzig – a club where the defender went on to establish himself as one of the most exciting talents in European football.

The player who Rio Ferdinand dubbed “formidable” completed his rise to the very top of the professional game last summer, sealing a £37m move to Bayern Munich – who handed the £101m-rated machine a five-year deal on a reported £132k-per-week.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

As such, while hindsight is a wonderful thing, it is clear for all to see that Daniel Levy had a shocker when failing to secure the signing of Upamecano back in 2015, as the France international is now not only one of the most valuable defenders in world football, he is also one of the most talented.

AND in other news: Paratici in talks over “breathtaking” THFC deal for £220k-p/w ace, AC would “love” him

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsNasir Hossain collected three wickets to rattle Chittagong•Raton Gomes/BCB

Dhaka Dynamites bounced back from their defeat on Wednesday, securing a convincing six-wicket win against Chittagong Vikings. In yet another low-scoring encounter, Dhaka’s bowlers showed good control, rolling over Chittagong for 92. The top-order batsmen then complemented the bowlers as Dhaka chased down the target with 17 balls to spare.Chittagong’s innings began on an undesirable note: Tamim Iqbal was given out caught behind despite the ball not grazing the bat or the glove on its way to Kumar Sangakkara. Tamim dragged himself off the field, after which Anamul Haque was out lbw, trying to pull Farhad Reza in the next over.The 19-year old Yasir Ali, however, started off with three fours off Abul Hasan. He drove past cover, over mid-off, and pulled over midwicket to briefly revive the innings. However, he nicked a Mustafizur Rahman cutter behind in the next over.Tillakaratne Dilshan struck a four and a six soon after, but left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain had him lbw for 20. Chittagong promoted Mohammad Amir to No.6 but he made only 2 before chopping on Yasir Shah as Chittagong slumped to 50 for 5 in 8.4 overs. Naeem Islam, playing his first match of the season, hung around with the lower order after Jeevan Mendis (1) and Ziaur Rahman (9) were undone by Nasir Hossain.Naeem launched a six in the 18th over but ran out of partners and finished unbeaten on 29 off 38 balls. Mustafizur and Nasir claimed combined figures of 7.4-1-26-6.Shykat Ali and Shadman Islam, playing his first T20 game, laid a solid foundation, for the chase, with a 45-run opening partnership. Shykat went about his work impressively, the highlight being a pick-up shot that sailed over square leg for a six. However, he holed out to long-on for 23 off 17 balls.Nasir Jamshed then was caught at long-off in the 13th over, for 12, and Nasir was bowled by Naeem two overs later. Shadman, who was largely becalmed early on, then unleashed two square-cuts off Shafiul Islam. The opener fell with his side two runs away from the target but Kumar Sangakkara completed the chase with a pulled four.

The West Indies Players’ Association has expressed concern over the forthcoming A-team tour of Zimbabwe which is due to get underway in early July.Dinanath Ramnarine, the WIPA chief executive, said that the doubts “resulted from discussions with various stakeholders and persons with intimate knowledge of the existing situation in that country”. He added: “They have spoken of security treats, violation of human rights and a highly volatile situation that could threaten the safety of the players.”WIPA has been placed in a further quandary by media reports that a team has already been selected and that a decision to proceed on this tour will be contingent on the advice the WICB receives from the CARICOM Secretariat. Furthermore, under the Memorandum of Understanding between the WICB and WIPA both parties are required to agree on the tour.”Although WIPA has no knowledge of the team selected, it has, nevertheless, taken the opportunity to speak with some likely candidates and the CARICOM Secretariat about their views on the tour to Zimbabwe. Their input will be critical to WIPA’s determining its final position later this week.”We appreciate the difficulty of this situation for all parties concerned given the importance of such tours for the development of West Indies cricket. However the safety of our players is of paramount importance.”

Division One

Hampshire’s Dominic Thornely celebrates dismissing Sussex’s Robin Martin-Jenkins for 3 © Getty Images

A solid hundred from Mal Loye, aided by a typically pugnacious and aggressive fifty from Glen Chapple (82) led Lancashire to a powerful 388 for 7 on the opening day against Durham at the Chester-le-Street. After losing Ian Sutcliffe early, Loye found support in Mark Chilton (44), Stuart Law (45) and Luke Sutton (39*). But it was Chapple who took the game away from the hosts. His 82, from just 73 balls, included 14 fours and a couple of sixes to hand Lancashire the advantage on day one.Hampshire dismissed Sussex for 212 on a seamer’s pitch at Southampton, thanks to Sean Ervine and Dominic Thornely’s three wickets. Chris Adams anchored Sussex manfully with 64, which spanned three hours; though he found support from Carl Hopkinson (45) there was little of substance from the rest. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, making his first appearance of the summer, injected some life into proceedings with a run-a-ball 38. Before today, Thornely had only taken 10 first-class wickets in his career with New South Wales, to give him the impressive figures of 3 for 38. Sussex struck back immediately, however, as Rana removed Michael Brown with the first ball of their reply, to leave Hampshire wobbling on 34 for 1.Middlesex v Kent – full bulletin by Andrew McGlashan at Lord’s.Dropped catches and mixed fortunes hampered Yorkshire on the first day of their match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston. Jonathan Trott (43) was given two lives before even reaching double figures, and Alex Loudon ought to have been run out for 34. He went on to make 73. Making his debut for Yorkshire, Jason Gillespie lacked the venom which he displayed for Australia against Bangladesh and managed just one wicket, that of No. 10 Neil Carter. Missed chances aside, Warwickshire’s young batsmen – Loudon and Jim Troughton who both top-scored with 73 – played sensibly, edging their side to 316 before Troughton was the last man out. Anthony McGrath, who had taken an excellent catch at gully, was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 62.

Division Two

A pair of magnificent hundreds – one from an old-stager and the other a bright prospect – led Essex to the imposing total of 400 for 3 against Glamorgan at Cardiff. Having been put into bat, Essex stumbled to 60 for 2 before Andy Flower (154*) and Ravinder Bopara (159) demolished Glamorgan’s bowlers. Their stand of 339 was a record for any wicket against Glamorgan, who must now be questioning the wisdom of inserting the opposition on such a flat track. Though Simon Jones – in his comeback game – leaked runs, he bowled with aggression and pace and was unlucky to go wicketless. The day, though, belonged to Flower and Bopara who flayed the home attack to all parts.Mark Ramprakash and Mark Butcher powered Surrey to a dominating total of 320 for 4 against Leicestershire at Leicester. Ramprakash (113) made the most of the benign pitch and, though he was dropped on 31, played with his customary class and shared in a 162-run partnership with Butcher who remained unbeaten on 75. Butcher, who was injured for most of last season, never looked fluent but nevertheless batted with great skill and determination.Four fifties from Somerset’s batsmen – including two blistering knocks from their lower-order – led them to a dominating total of 406 against Worcestershire on the first day at New Road. The home side began well, removing Marcus Trescothick for a duck, John Francis for 27 and Matthew Wood to leave them struggling on 67 for 3. However, Cameron White continued his early season form with a pugnacious 65 from 81 balls and Wes Durston played solidly for his 74. The innings was given great momentum with two fifties from Richard Johnson and Peter Trego – both of whom made 51 – who swung lustily to hand the advantage to Somerset and power them past 400.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul: ‘We wanted to stay in front from the start of the game and we did’ © Getty Images

Shivnarine Chanderpaul was in a buoyant mood after West Indies sealed their 276-run win over Pakistan. He said that the performance was a great team effort: “I want to say thanks to the fans for their support over the last couple of months. We set out our stall from the beginning, we wanted to stay in front from the start of the game and we did.”I’m glad we came out on top and I just want to say well done to all the guys, Brian [Lara] in the first innings, Corey [Collymore], Chris Gayle. The bowlers all did well, Corey with a sore shoulder, he hurt it diving for a ball last night, but came out this morning and put the ball in the right place and I want to say well done to him.”Chanderpaul, himself, had a stunning match, scoring 92 and an unbeaten 153, plus the run out of Younis Khan yesterday evening, and the crucial catch to end Shahid Afridi’s explosive innings. “It’s just part of the job.” he said modestly. “You just go out and try and get things done and I’m pleased I was able to get it done this time.”And he hopes West Indies can take their form from this match into the second Test, starting in Jamaica on Friday. “We’ve been lacking a bit of confidence but this should help us. We just need to lift our games a little more and look at the next match. We still have another match to play and hopefully we can take the confidence from this game into the next.”Chanderpaul added that Dwayne Bravo and Ian Bradshaw, who both missed this Test with injuries, will be assessed by West Indies’ physio over the next couple days and a decision on their availability for Jamaica will be made then.Meanwhile, Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, lamented their poor batting display. “You can’t get bowled out for 144, it’s ridiculous,” he said. “Not having Inzamam and Youhana made a difference but I thought we were spineless. They got themselves out very stupidly and there was no fight, that is what was surprising.”

Mark Missen, playing for Hampton United against Cluden in a club match inMelbourne on Australia Day (Jan 26), took all 10 wickets for 27, in 24.1overs. He only took the new ball after his captain, Michael Hutchins,injured his back banging the stumps in before the match. Missen told thelocal paper, the Frankston Standard: “I’ve heard batsmen say ‘Hewon’t deceive you with his pace, but he will deceive you with hisslowness’.”

Redbacks bowler Paul Wilson is the only addition to an unchanged Pura Cuplineup that will take on the Tasmanian Tigers this weekend at Adelaide Ovalin a vital Pura Cup match.The Redbacks are currently sitting second on the Pura Cup table on 20points, with the Queensland Bulls leading the competition with 28. WesternAustralia and Tasmanina are both on 18 points.Redbacks paceman Paul Rofe currently leads the Pura Cup wicket takers with39 wickets at an average of 21.38.The Redbacks have named 13 players and will reduce the squad to 12 tomorrow.Squads:Southern Redbacks: Greg Blewett (c), Brad Young (v/c), Nathan Adcock, Chris Davies, David Fitzgerald, Mark Harrity, Ben Higgins, Ben Johnson, Graham Manou, Peter McIntyre, Paul Rofe, Mike Smith, Paul Wilson.Tasmanian Tigers: Jamie Cox (c), Daniel Marsh (v/c), Sean Clingeleffer, Gerard Denton, Michael Dighton, Michael Di Venuto, Xavier Doherty, Shane Jurgensen, Scott Kremerskothen, Scott Mason, David Saker, Shannon Tubb, Damien Wright.

Nottinghamshire’s Paul Johnson and Usman Afzaal capitalised on wayward bowling by Durham in an unbroken stand of 171 at Chester-le-Street.Scoring at five an over during the afternoon, they took the total to 277 for three before rain cut 32 overs off the day’s play.Coming in to face the second ball after lunch, Johnson looked likely to score a hundred in the session until his onslaught was checked by Paul Collingwood.Johnson had hit 88 off 108 balls at tea and added one more to stay one run ahead of his partner when the rain arrived.Many of Johnson’s 13 fours were pulled in front of square, and he also hit a straight six off Nicky Phillips.James Brinkley had Greg Blewett lbw for three in taking one for 27 in seven overs at lunch, only for his six subsequent overs to be thrashed for 44.Coming in after Guy Welton and Blewett fell in successive overs, Afzaal had ten fours in his 95-ball half century and added seven more against an attack missing Simon Brown and Neil Killeen.Ian Hunter sent down four wides and Steve Harmison three, one of which went for four, as 32 of the first 54 runs came from extras.Guy Welton fell for 16 when he drove Collingwood to cover to end an opening stand of 77, then Blewett was lbw aiming to drive wide of mid-on.Darren Bicknell fell lbw for 45 to a rare straight ball from Harmison, but the fourth wicket pair never looked like being parted.

Aston Villa journalist Gregg Evans has admitted that it was “weird” to see Steven Gerrard  leaving Ezri Konsa on the bench. 

The lowdown

The 24-year-old has watched Villa’s last two Premier League games against Leeds United and West Ham United from the substitutes’ bench.

He had started 22 of their first 23 league matches before he was sent off against Leeds on 9 February and had to serve a two-match suspension. He then returned to the starting line-up against Brighton, only to miss the win over Southampton through illness.

Despite Konsa regaining full fitness, Gerrard has opted to stick with Calum Chambers and Tyrone Mings as his centre-back partnership of late.

The latest

Evans wrote a piece for The Athletic in which he said that Gerrard faced a difficult decision over whether to restore the £22.5m-rated Konsa to the starting line-up.

The journalist shared a link to that article via Twitter, with the caption: “I think Chambers-Mings has worked quite well for #AVFC but it still feels weird seeing Konsa on the bench. Not since the Carabao Cup Final + last game before Project Restart has Konsa lost his place to a team-mate on form.”

The verdict

Chambers struggled somewhat against West Ham on Sunday, winning only one of his three ground duels, committing two fouls and misplacing six of the 10 long passes he attempted. That earned him a SofaScore rating of just 6.5/10, the joint-second lowest in the Villa ranks.

Perhaps that offers a pretext for Gerrard to restore Konsa to the team, but it may not be quite that simple. A recent report from Football Insider suggested that the 41-year-old has actually sanctioned the sale of the defender in the summer amid concerns over his reliability and consistency.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Once considered undroppable, the 24-year-old may now face a period of uncertainty at Villa Park. With him coming in at a lowly 17th in Villa’s squad for WhoScored ratings this season, there’s no guarantee that he will get his place back in the team any time soon unless either of the current starting centre-backs were to become unavailable.

In other news, it wasn’t just Chambers who had a difficult day at the London Stadium