Tag Futebol

Half-centuries from Quinton de Kock (77) and Matthew Breetzke (52) set Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) up for a big finish, but they ended up with 188 rather than the 200-plus total they seemed on course for, with Tymal Mills and Lungi Ngidi conceding just 20 off the last three overs with their slower balls into the pitch.It proved a big enough total, however, as Pretoria Capitals (PC) faded away after a promising start, with Adam Milne wrecking their chase with figures of 4 for 25.The game was in the balance with Will Smeed well set and PC requiring 92 off the last 58 balls, with seven wickets in hand. But Senuran Muthusamy cleaned Smeed up with a left-arm spinner’s dream delivery, triggering a collapse of 3 for 14 that all but ended the contest. SEC eventually won by 48 runs, picking up a bonus point.Quinton de Kock gave SEC’s innings its early momentum•SA20

De Kock, Breetzke add 116

After Ngidi dismissed Jonny Bairstow in the second over, de Kock and Breetzke dominated for almost 12 overs. By the end of the powerplay, SEC had 64 runs on the board and had hit five sixes. Four of them had come off de Kock’s bat, one of which stood out for its grace. Off the second ball of the fourth over, de Kock leaned into a length delivery wide of off stump from Ngidi and effortlessly lofted it over mid-off.De Kock reached his fifty off 29 balls in the eighth over, even as Breetzke took his time at the other end. But from 25 off 20 at one stage, Breetzke thumped 27 off his next 13 balls to get to his half-century in 30 deliveries. By the time de Kock was stumped off Bryce Parsons in the 14th over for 77 off 47 balls, SEC looked set for a huge total.

PC limit the damage despite Hermann cameo

Jordan Hermann arrived when de Kock departed, and hit two boundaries off his first three balls. He started the 17th over with four and six off Wihan Lubbe, and was on 27 off 12 balls with three overs left. SEC were sitting pretty at 168 for 3, with an eye on 200. But Tristan Stubbs pulled Mills to deep backward square leg, and the changes of pace kept working for Mills and Ngidi. Hermann fell to Mills in the final over, for 37 off 20 balls.Adam Milne ripped through Capitals with four wickets•SA20

Milne trumps Hope and Smeed

PC were 49 for 1 five overs into their chase. Shai Hope had motored to 36 off 18 balls with five fours and a six, including three boundaries off Anrich Nortje in the fifth over. But just when PC had all the momentum, Milne’s back-of-the-hand slower ball landed on a yorker length and flattened Hope’s off stump.Lewis Gregory then had Dewald Brevis caught at wide long-on in the eighth over. Smeed, though, looked in control just over the halfway mark, only for Muthusamy to get him with a beauty. The ball drifted in and dipped onto a length on leg stump, and turned and bounced enough to hit the top of middle. Smeed departed for 35, and the others followed.Milne bowled Connor Esterhuizen off another slower ball in the 13th over, and a mix-up with Sherfane Rutherford resulted in Lubbe’s run-out. Milne got two more wickets – both in the 17th over – when he had Keshav Maharaj and Rutherford caught. With the match going out of PC’s hands with every passing wicket, Rutherford was their only hope for a miracle. But he only managed 25 off 19 balls, having been left with too much to do.

Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan in happier times © Getty Images

Muttiah Muralitharan has lashed out at Shane Warne, calling him a “miserable man” and declaring he would not speak to Warne at the unveiling of the new trophy that bears their names. Muralitharan was angered by Warne’s suggestion that the ICC should have Muralitharan’s bowling action analysed during a Test match, despite the fact he has repeatedly passed laboratory tests.”I am very disappointed with what he said,” Muralitharan told the . “He can’t keep his mouth shut because he wants to keep making these comments. He must be a miserable man in his life. But that is his opinion and there is nothing I can do about it.”Warne is the world’s leading Test wicket-taker with 708 victims but Muralitharan needs only seven more to overtake him and that could happen in the second Test, which starts in Hobart on Friday. The rift comes at an awkward time after the two champions were honoured with the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy, which will be held by the winner of the Australia-Sri Lanka Test series and will be unveiled by the pair on Thursday.”Maybe he just doesn’t want me to pass his record,” Muralitharan said. “Why else would he keep saying these things? I will shake his hand [at the ceremony] and go straight off the field instead of trying to be friendly.”Warne wrote in his column on Tuesday that checking Muralitharan’s action during a match would offer “peace of mind” to everybody in world cricket and “surely Murali would want that”. The comments came after a newspaper article on the weekend in which Warne’s mentor, Terry Jenner, floated the idea of in-match testing for Muralitharan.”Terry Jenner played cricket a long time ago and cricket is very different now,” Muralitharan said. “So it doesn’t matter what he says. But Jenner and Warne are still always commenting, commenting, commenting. It makes them feel important.”Muralitharan told the paper he and Warne were not on good terms before these latest problems, as he believed Warne considered Muralitharan had collected too many cheap Test wickets against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Although 163 of Muralitharan’s Test victims have been Zimbabwe or Bangladesh players, he also has an outstanding record against England and South Africa and says he can only play whoever Sri Lanka is scheduled to face.Muralitharan said he had no comment about the decision to use his name alongside Warne’s on the new trophy. “That was the decision between the boards of Sri Lanka and Australia,” he said. “I cannot say anything else.”

Stuart Clark’s performances have got the thumbs up from Michael Hussey © Getty Images

Stuart Clark’s stunning returns in the Ashes series have not surprised Michael Hussey, who has been regularly troubled by his current team-mate’s accuracy and bounce. Hussey said Clark, the right-arm fast bowler, has always been able to hit difficult spots for batsmen early in his spell and the threat has proved especially tricky for England.Clark has often chipped in after Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee have taken the new ball and he will start his first home Test at the SCG on Tuesday with 21 wickets at 16.76 from the series. “I’ve often had battles with him while playing for Western Australia and in the nets and I wish I had a dollar for every time he went past my edge because I’d probably have an island somewhere,” Hussey said. “He’s been a very fine bowler for a long time and he knows his game very well. I was confident that once he got a game for Australia he’d be successful.”McGrath’s withdrawal from the South Africa tour in March gave Clark an opening and his performances have been so spectacular that his New South Wales team-mate’s upcoming retirement is no longer as frightening for Australia. Clark was Man of the Series in South Africa and he is the equal leading wicket-taker in the Ashes with Shane Warne.”He’s experienced and unflappable,” Hussey said. “He’s not affected by pressure too much and has a clear mind about what he’s trying to do. His job is to keep chucking it into that area and he’s getting the right results.”

Andrew Symonds has been backed to come good in the Tests against South Africa © Getty Images

Matthew Hayden, the Australia opener, has backed his team-mate Andrew Symonds to replicate his terrific one-day form in the Test series against South Africa, beginning at Perth on December 16.Symonds, 30, was named in the squad for the Perth Test. He smashed a match-winning 156 to set up a thrilling two-run win over New Zealand in the second match of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy at Wellington two days ago. However, when it comes to the longer version of the game, Symonds averages a meager 10.50 from four Tests. His form in the recent Test series against the West Indies left much to be desired, and he struggled to nine from 51 balls in the final Test at Adelaide.Hayden, though, remained upbeat on Symond’s ability to perform. “I don’t think he has to do anything different in Test cricket,” Hayden told ABC Sport. “He has to lay a foundation, which we saw in Adelaide the other day. Unfortunately he just cut off at that point and we didn’t see the Andrew Symonds that we all love.”Meanwhile, Michael Clarke, who was not included in the squad for the Perth Test, has been backed by Shane Warne, Australia’s star legspinner. “Michael Clarke, whether he’s back in Perth or whenever that may be, he’ll be ready,” he said. “He’s another quality player who we’ve seen what he’s capable of doing. I think we all enjoy watching him play too.”I think his enthusiasm rubs off on all of us,” he added. “Look, Michael Clarke will be back, there’s no doubt about that. It’s just a matter of when.”

Rajin Saleh dropped Sachin Tendulkar when he was on 48; Tendulkar ended the day unbeaten on 159© Getty Images

Just two days into the match, and it’s a depressingly familiar story for Bangladesh: India have already built a sizeable lead, to which they’ll add a few more runs tomorrow, and then unleash Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Co. on Bangladesh’s hapless batsmen. One more innings defeat – their 19th in 33 matches – looms, and the scorecard will reveal another hugely unequal contest. What it won’t show, though, is what could have been had Bangladesh’s fielders supported the bowlers the way they deserved to be. With player of the class of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, often one chance is all it takes to swing the momentum of the game; Bangladesh generously offered three, and now can only pray that the defeat which will inevitably come their way is an honourable one.Bangladesh have clearly struggled as a batting side, and the bowling have often lacked bite. While their lack of skill in these two areas can be forgiven, there is little excuse for sloppiness in the field – the first two are largely skill-driven, the third is all about hard work and diligence. A week ago, Jonty Rhodes was in India, and during a chat on television, he made a telling comment on South Africa’s attitude towards fielding when they were readmitted into the international arena. Since the players had no international exposure at the time, none of them if they would measure up as batsmen or bowlers, he said. What they did know, though, was that they were excellent fielders, and Kepler Wessels, the captain at the time, urged that regardless of what happened with bat or ball, the team should stand tall as a fielding unit.Dav Whatmore, Bangladesh’s coach, needs to instil that mindset into Habibul Bashar and his men. Before this Test Bangladesh had dropped 53 catches in their last 29 Tests, and worryingly, they are no signs of improvement – in the last 15 matches, 37 chances have gone abegging, that’s two-and-a-half per match. They exceeded that quota in less than a couple of hours today, though, and instead of having India on the mat at 128 for 5, had them dominate large parts of the last two sessions.It was especially disheartening for Mashrafe Mortaza, who later showed his team-mates a thing or two about fielding with a sharp effort to dismiss Dinesh Karthik. Mortaza made his debut against Zimbabwe in 2001-02, which was also the first time Bangladesh drew a Test, but injuries have meant that he has played only 12 matches in three years, and never more than four Tests in a row. Today, it took him only one over to show what Bangladesh were missing out on – he had Virender Sehwag edge twice, and then beat Gautam Gambhir with a beauty that pitched on off and seamed away.The pace – around 135 kmph – was impressive, but what was outstanding was his control and the swing and seam movement he obtained. From just outside off, he made the ball move both ways consistently in an effort that was McGrath-esque in sustained accuracy. Rahul Dravid was completely clueless, while Tendulkar was forced to play out 20 dot balls against him. Unfortunately, there was no Mark Taylor or Mark Waugh to support him in the slips, and Mortaza ended the day with hugely undeserving figures of 1 for 80.While the fielding had a large hand to play in the way the game shaped up today, India still needed a batsman to stand up and wrest the initiative away from Bangladesh’s bowlers, and Tendulkar did that en route to his 34th Test hundred. Despite the two chances he offered, this was one of his more fluent efforts in recent times – the footwork was decisive and the mindset aggressive from the moment he came out to bat. It showed early in the piece too, when he launched into a pull off Mortaza when his score was still in single digits.Too often in the recent past, Tendulkar has come out to bat in an inexplicably defensive frame of mind, allowing bowlers to shackle him up and dictate terms. Today, he drove confidently through the off side whenever offered the width, and punched the ball down the ground off either foot with exquisite timing and fluency. What should have been a fluent cameo, though, will probably end up being a matchwinning hundred, thanks to Bangladesh’s largesse in the field.S Rajesh is assistant editor of Cricinfo.

Morne van Wyk, the 24-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman from Free State, will join the injury hit South African squad in Pakistan. South Africa have been plagued by a number of fitness worries early on the tour: Herschelle Gibbs missed the first one-day international due to muscle soreness, Neil McKenzie suffered from back spasms, while Graeme Smith and Boeta Dippenaar were clearly bothered by the heat and humidity in that match.Explaining the decision to opt for a reinforcement, Eric Simons, the South African coach, said: "We do have a few injury worries with Herschelle and Neil, and the severe heat and humidity also took its toll on Friday when Graeme Smith and Boeta Dippenaar suffered from cramps. Morne will give us more flexibility if we have further injury problems or if we decide to rotate players in the rest of the games." van Wyk will join the South African team on Monday.South Africa have a busy schedule ahead of them in Pakistan, playing four ODIs in a week’s time before being faced with back-to-back Tests. Simons added that the packed itinerary was also a reason why the team management decided to ask for cover. "It takes nearly 24 hours to travel from South Africa, so we would rather have him here than back home should problems arise next week."van Wyk made his international debut in the NatWest Series final against England earlier this year, and has been in terrific batting form for the A side, scoring 52, 56 and 118 in three one-day matches against the Sri Lankan A team last week.

All other cricket in New Zealand has been affected by the miserable summer weather so it was no surprise that the start of the women’s State League should not prove immune to problems caused by rain.The Canterbury match with Wellington at the Village Green in Christchurch suffered from a thunderstorm that struck the Garden City around noon today.Wellington, who were asked to bat were 53/3 after 19 overs. Anna O’Leary scored 20 and Maia Lewis 10. The weather did not clear sufficiently to allow a restart.They will be hopeful for better weather tomorrow when they are scheduled to meet again.In Dunedin, the Otago Sparks batted first against Central Districts at Logan Park and were 102/5 after 39 overs when rain forced players from the ground.Erin McDonald had taken one for 21 from her 10 overs while Kate Pulford had two for 20 from nine overs.At 4pm the umpires decided to abandon play because of the weather.For Otago, Elizabeth Scurr and Rachel Pullar each scored 20.

Stunned! I suppose this is the only word that can sum up the mood ofthe camp. “So close yet so far” — a cliche so often used yet onewhich offers no help. People who read this report who do not pridethemselves on knowing much about the great game will only seestatistics and probably wonder to themselves how a team chasing 99 towin a game failed to do so and how a team who had controlled the gamefor most of the match lose one hour of the game and lose the match.The answers do not immediately spring to mind, but I suppose that iswhy this is such a great game and why we as players train so hardjust to take part in matches such as this. Unfortunately somebody hadto lose, and on this occasion it was us. We need to feel honouredthat we were able to take part in such a fascinating and thrillingTest match.These are very philosophical words on my behalf, and the result abitter pill to swallow, but a pill that must be digested and passedout in order for us to refocus our attention on winning the next Testmatch to level the series. If this match showed us anything, it wasthat the two teams are evenly balanced and that whoever plays themore intense and disciplined cricket will emerge on top.Day five of the Test match started exactly as planned. Streak moppedup the last wicket in the first over over the day to have the WestIndies all out for 147. Streak’s figures of 5-27 was a brilliantreturn for some outstanding bowling. We knew the 99 needed forvictory was going to be a testing target on a deteriorating wicket.The ball was staying low, sometimes running along the ground. Someoneneeded to get in and bat through with the rest of the team chippingin around him.Grant Flower was doing very well, and at lunch we were 40 for 3, bothFlowers at the crease. A partnership here would see us through, andwe were still very much in the driving seat. What transpired in thenext two hours would go down in the annals of cricket history. In themidst of some great fast bowling, a deteriorating wicket and somemisfortune, we were bowled out for 63.The sensation was numbing, but one can’t help but think back to thelast ball and the scenes that followed. The West Indies players werejubilant, pulling stumps out of the ground, waving their hands in theair and gathering together to run a victory lap. The crowd wasprobably more ecstatic than the players — the music was raging, thespectators were dancing and hugging each other. They had waited solong for their team to do well in the face of what had happened tothem in the last two years, and without Lara they thought itimpossible.People say that West Indies cricket is in a crisis, a sentiment thatI partly agree with, although every nation goes through ups and downsand periods of rebuilding. But the passion that was evident on thatMonday afternoon can only lead to improving times in the West Indies.It was left for us to wonder what might have been after playing suchgood cricket for four days. A few interesting statistics to come outof the match were that this was the only side chasing under 100 runs in thesecond innings that had lost. It was the first time that Zimbabwehave been bowled out for under 100 in Test matches. A few otherinteresting facts were that the last 17 wickets fell for 93 runs, anindication of how the pitch played. And the last fact that made usfeel a little better was that in the last Test match played at thisground, the West Indies were bowled out for 51 by Australia in theirsecond innings.What is left is for us to put what happened firmly behind us and takethe numerous positives from the game into our next game. If you keepdoing the right things, everything will come right. This is my firmbelief, and hopefully in the next Test match, due to start on Fridayin Jamaica, we will be on the right side of what the papers here havedubbed “Miracle Monday”.

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

	Shahdat Hossain’s nine wickets in the match were not enough for Bangladesh, who suffered yet another loss © AFP

And so the drought continues. More than seven years after they weregranted Test status, and in their 44th match against non-Zimbabweanopposition, Bangladesh slipped up yet again, squandering the advantagesgained on the second day to subside to a five-wicket defeat on the fourthmorning. It took South Africa 10.5 overs to knock off the 27 needed, butthe result was never in doubt after Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla and AshwellPrince had built on a superb spell from Jacques Kallis.Prince, who played a couple of pleasing drives off Shahadat Hossain, wasunlucky not to be there at the end, given out leg before though thedelivery from Shahadat pitched outside the line of leg stump. Aleem Dargave it, but there was to be no final twist in this tale.AB de Villiers, who endured several uncomfortable moments against theleft-arm spin of Mohammad Rafique, clipped two fours of Shahadat to bringthe scores level, and Mark Boucher then cut one past point to start thecelebrations in the South African camp. Prohibitive favourites before theseries started, they had been made to work exceptionally hard by aBangladeshi team inspired by Shahadat’s nine wickets.Bangladesh will look back ruefully at their inability to post 200 ineither innings. The opening day offered plenty of insight into theirbatting woes, with six batsmen spending reasonable time in the middlebefore throwing it away. The main culprit was Mohammad Ashraful, thecaptain, who sauntered to 34 from 26 balls before an over-exuberant chargeat Johan Botha changed the complexion of the match.Jamie Siddons, the new coach, will take the positives from this match,especially the bowling of Shahadat and the restrained 74 from JunaidSiddique. But he also needs to look at a relatively listless display fromMashrafe Mortaza, and cavalier strokes from too many of the batsmen. SouthAfrica are unlikely to be as sloppy in the second Test.

Celtic are in talks concerning a deal to bring Cameron Carter-Vickers to Parkhead on a permanent basis.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Sky Sports, who claim that Ange Postecoglou’s side have now started negotiations with Tottenham Hotspur regarding the centre-back’s full-time switch to Glasgow – with Celtic possessing a £6m option to buy clause for the defender.

The report goes on to state that the discussions between the two clubs concern the structure of this £6m fee, rather than the overall price of the transfer – as it is understood that there is no wiggle-room over the total cost for the USA international.

An update Celtic supporters will love

With Carter-Vickers having gone on to establish himself as a key part of Postecoglou’s first-team side this season, the claim that Celtic are now in talks to secure the permanent signing of the 24-year-old is sure to be an update the Parkhead faithful love.

Indeed, over his 26 Premiership outings this term, the £2.7m-rated centre-back has been in imperious form in the heart of the Celtic backline, helping his side keep 14 clean sheets, as well as making an average of 1.2 interceptions, 0.9 tackles, 4.2 clearances and winning 5.9 duels – at a success rate of 68% – per game.

The £22k-per-week defender has also impressed going forwards, scoring three goals and providing his teammates with one assist, in addition to taking an average of 0.5 shots and making 0.3 key passes per fixture.

These metrics have seen the player who Keith Costigan dubbed a “monster” average a rather remarkable SofaScore match rating of 7.35, ranking him as the fifth-best player in the top flight of Scottish football.

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, should Celtic go on to seal a deal for the American sensation this summer, it would undoubtedly come as a huge boost to Postecoglou and his side, as Carter-Vickers could well prove to be the rock that the Hoops’ defence is built upon for many a year to come.

AND in other news: The Scotsman drop huge 14-word Celtic update, unforgivable error may be inbound