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Martin Love would have swapped his farewell century for two ducks in the Sheffield Shield final if it meant Queensland won the trophy

Cricinfo staff18-Mar-2009
Bye, bye Martin Love © Getty Images
Martin Love would have swapped his farewell century for two ducks in the Sheffield Shield final if it meant Queensland won the trophy. Love bowed out of the sport with an unbeaten 104, which followed his 41 in the first innings, in the drawn match at the Junction Oval.Love, who scored 16,952 first-class runs in 214 matches, was able to reach three figures before the game ended early and the unbeaten Victoria collected the prize. Despite his strong season of 842 runs, which included two hundreds after announcing his retirement, he said he was making the right decision.”I would prefer to go out this way rather than to hang on for another year and my form to wane,” he said in the Courier-Mail. “I wasn’t sure how to react when I walked off. It was a bit sad knowing I would not be out there again.”I’ll miss that. I won’t miss standing in the field for 150 overs in a row or the training. But I’ll miss the batting and the competition.”Queensland were behind for most of the match, with Victoria scoring 510 in their first innings before the visitors fell for 200 in reply. Cameron White followed 135 with 61 as the Bushrangers piled on another 282 and set Queensland 593 to win in two sessions on the last day.They reached 1 for 221 thanks to Love and Ryan Broad, who fell on 109. “From a personal point of view it was pleasing to finish with a century, but I would have preferred to get two ducks if we had won the game,” Love said.While Love wanted a different result, White was pleased to have led his team to the trophy after an unbeaten run in the Shield. “I’m just really happy for the team to win it for that exact reason – because I thought we deserved it,” he said in the Age. “We’ve played so well for the best part of two or three years, if not longer.”White was criticised for his batting after Victoria’s loss in the FR Cup final last month and responded with a Man-of-the-Match performance. “That was one of the reasons I personally wanted to do well in this game and to contribute the best I could to help the team win this Sheffield Shield,” he said. “I feel a bit of relief to be honest.”I can’t speak too much for the others too much yet, but I’d imagine they’re feeling a bit the same way. Obviously they’re going to really enjoy it and it’s emotion and elation, but I’m feeling a bit of a weight off our shoulders to be honest.”

Danny Mills believes that finances may have been a factor in why Ryan Christie chose to leave Celtic for Bournemouth this summer.

The Lowdown: Ryan Christie was an important player for Celtic

The 26-year-old was an important player at Parkhead during his six years with the Hoops, registering 85 goal contributions in 151 games, with 41 goals and 44 assists to his name [Transfermarkt].

Six trophies later, the Scotland international has recently moved to Bournemouth on an undisclosed fee [BBC], a transfer perhaps made easier due to him being out of contract at Parkhead in January 2022 [GIVEMESPORT].

Former Manchester City defender Mills has now weighed in with his thoughts on why Christie moved south of the border.

The Latest: Danny Mills drops his verdict on Christie’s Bournemouth move

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Football Insider, the 44-year-old claimed:

“I’m guessing the finances are a lot greater at Bournemouth than they are at Celtic. It was a bizarre situation with his contract being up in January of all times.

“He’ll be delighted. Bournemouth with the parachute payments will still be decent payers.

“It’s a chance for him to get into the Premier League. Is he good enough for the Premier League? Possibly not.

“Now he’s got an opportunity with a decent club under a good young manager to get them back into the Premier League. Look at it in a year’s time and it could be a really good move for him.”

The Verdict: Celtic will hope to supplement Christie’s influence with like-minded alternatives

The unusual stipulations surrounding Christie’s contractual situation, which Mills rightly labelled “bizarre”, perhaps made any potential exit easier to complete.

Nevertheless, the signing of Benfica winger Filipe Jota will help to soften the blow of the Scot’s departure in the recently-concluded transfer window.

Christie enjoyed a productive 2020/21 campaign for the Celts, picking up six man of the match awards [WhoScored]. He also recorded an average of 2.7 shots per game (second highest after Odsonne Edouard), showing his unwillingness to relent from an attacking perspective.

Moving forward, Ange Postecoglou will be hoping to supplement Christie’s influence with like-minded alternatives within his squad at Parkhead.

In other news, a Celtic legend has dropped his verdict on a new signing. Find out more here.

Former Premier League striker Nigel Jemson insists that his beloved Liverpool could make a move to sign Borussia Dortmund superstar Erling Haaland next summer.

The £117m-rated by Transfermarkt Norway international has emerged as perhaps one of the best strikers in the world since joining the Bundesliga club.

Haaland has made a total of 65 appearances for the club, scoring 65 goals and registering 19 assists, while he has also scored 12 goals in 15 caps for Norway.

This season, already, Haaland has been an electric presence, scoring eight goals in six games in all competitions and laying on four assists.

He is set to be at the centre of a major bidding war next summer, as his release clause will become active.

That stands at around £65m, and Jemson believes that Liverpool will do everything they can to bring him into the club, as he is the striker that Jurgen Klopp really wants.

Speaking to Football FanCast, he said: “I’ve just got a sneaky feeling that Haaland could be the one that Klopp really wants.”

Intikhab Alam, the Pakistan coach, has said he will be closely monitoring the fitness of injury-prone fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar during the one-dayers against Australia in the UAE

Cricinfo staff13-Apr-2009Intikhab Alam, the Pakistan coach, has said he will be monitoring the fitness of injury-prone fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar during the one-dayers against Australia in the UAE.”He is working very hard and he is motivated to perform for the team,” Alam said. “But we want to make sure he comes through the series without any fitness issues.”We will not put extra pressure on him. We will try to nurse him through the series as we have other important competitions coming up as well.”Fitness and disciplinary issues have restricted Shoaib’s appearances at the international level to a couple of one-dayers and three Twenty20s over the past eighteen months. Alam, though, was confident Shoaib would prove to be a handful against Australia. “Because of the humidity levels there, I think bowlers can generate reverse swing,” he said. “Shoaib can work wonders on his day.”Another player Alam pinpointed as a key person during the series was Younis Khan, who took over as captain in January after Pakistan’s disastrous showing in a ODI series against Sri Lanka. “He is such a positive man, a true leader who has injected much-needed team spirit among the boys,” he told Pakistan’s . “As captain I expect him to lead by example and, as our senior most batsman, he will have to be the backbone of our batting.”Pakistan are scheduled to reach Dubai on Monday and will begin a training camp from Tuesday; they also have a practice match on Wednesday. The series, which kicks off on April 22, will be Pakistan’s first bit of international cricket since the Lahore attack curtailed Sri Lanka’s tour last month.

he IPL has withdrawn a text-messaging competition in which users predicted the number of runs per over for cash prizes

Cricinfo staff12-May-2009The IPL has withdrawn a text-messaging competition in which users predicted the outcome of each ball of an over for cash prizes. The game had come in for strong criticism from India’s sports minister MS Gill over its similarity with gambling.”There was no formal complaint about the game but the minister’s views were taken into account and the organisers have withdrawn the game,” Rajiv Shukla, a member of the IPL’s governing council and a senior BCCI official, told PTI.Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said he was pleased with the decision. “I had written to the IPL to inquire on that particular game,” Lorgat told Cricinfo. “The developers of that game had come to see us some two years back, but we didn’t have enough information on how it worked, so I had written to the IPL requesting for some more information. I’m personally pleased that they have recognised that perhaps it’s not the right time to introduce something like that. Simply because I didn’t know the details of the game, that was the discomfort.”It’s understood that the IPL and the game’s promoters discontinued the game two days ago and are currently studying the legal aspects surrounding it before a final decision is taken.Gill had last week denounced the SMS game – though he did not refer to it by name – saying it amounted to gambling. “I see the commercial use of cricket for business gains that is going on. I am concerned at knowledgeable comments from serious followers of cricket about the latest venture of encouraging viewers to make ball by ball predictions of runs scored for economic gain in the shape of cash prizes,” he said in a statement. “This is viewed as ‘openly encouraging gambling and betting’, which official bodies do not resort to, even in countries where betting is legal.”He had reminded the BCCI of its position in the Indian sports spectrum. “The actions of the BCCI are bound to impact the thinking in other sports, some time or the other. We have already had, sometime back, a match-fixing scandal in the game. It seems the ICC had expressed concerns about such possibilities, in the IPL.”

Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson is reportedly pushing to leave the club on loan in January after David de Gea’s return to form.

What’s the story?

According to The Sun, the 24-year-old is keen to leave his boyhood club during the winter window after falling down the pecking order at Old Trafford.

It was believed that Henderson was due to be named as the club’s No.1 shot-stopper this season ahead of De Gea until the England international suffered from long Covid, forcing him out of action in the opening weeks of the campaign.

Manchester United fans may be worried

Henderson first rose to prominence during an impressive two-year loan spell at Sheffield United, first helping them win promotion from the Championship in 2018/19 before playing a pivotal part in their ninth-place finish in the Premier League a year later.

His standout performances with the south Yorkshire outfit earned praise from several impressed onlookers, including his former teammate Sander Berge.

“He’s insane. I’ve never been with such a good goalkeeper. One thing in matches, he is almost a defence alone at times, and you feel so secure with him,” the midfielder said in an interview Norwegian outlet VG.

“But people have to see him at training. It’s crazy. He saves balls from one yard. Sometimes I am completely speechless by how good he is. It’s like having two goalkeepers in goal with him. He’s awesome.

“He’s so confident. He knows he is good, and he exploits that too. He is exceptional,” Berge concluded.

Henderson’s magnificent showing saw the ‘keeper return to his parent club last year where he battled De Gea for a place in the starting lineup.

After initially only playing in the cup competitions, the £19.8m-rated gem was awarded his first league start for the Red Devils in March. And Henderson made a good start to life as United’s No.1, keeping three clean sheets in a row.

However, his performance levels began to drop off towards the end of the campaign, and a string over high-profile errors, including mistakes against Liverpool and AC Milan, saw De Gea reinstated as first-choice.

Despite this, it could still be a mistake for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to let the youngsters depart Manchester during the current campaign.

Without genuine competition, De Gea’s performance levels may drop off, and if the Spaniard gets injured, United will be left with an ageing Tom Heaton as a replacement, someone who couldn’t get into Burnely or Aston Villa’s starting lineup in recent years.

It remains to be seen where Henderson’s future lies, both in the short-term and long-term, but the club’s supporters may be worried about this latest revelation as Solskjaer could do with keeping him around until the summer at least, providing United with the best chance of ending the club’s current trophy drought.

And, in other news…Lost possession 15 times: Man Utd liability struggled badly against West Ham 

Leeds United need to make as many as five or six signings in the January transfer window, according to former top flight striker Frank McAvennie.

The Lowdown: Another defeat for Leeds

The Whites lost 2-1 at home to the Hammers on Saturday afternoon, as their below-par start to the 2021/22 season continues.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side are without a win in their opening six Premier League matches and questions may now start being asked of the manager and players, something which seemed unfathomable after their incredible first campaign back in the big time last season.

[freshpress-quiz id=“359346″]

The Latest: McAvennie makes bold claim

Leeds currently look a shadow of the team that thrived so much last season, and speaking to Football Insider, McAvennie, 61, feels numerous reinforcements are needed in January, due to the Whites’ intense playing style:

“Leeds play with such a high tempo. It’s so intense, if you play like that, there will be injuries. They haven’t prepared for that.

“They aren’t like Manchester City, they don’t have two different starting sides. There’s nothing Bielsa can do about that. He won’t change his style for anyone.

“They have to go out in January and buy five or six, I’m not joking. If they want to keep playing like that, with players flying into tackles, people will get injured.”

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-news-17/” title=”Latest Leeds United news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: No need for panic

There is understandable concern surrounding Leeds’ current 18th-place position, but perspective is still required.

It is extremely early in the season and Bielsa’s men have already faced Manchester United and Liverpool – West Ham are also a strong team at the moment – so it is too soon to claim they are in crisis.

An addition or two may not be a bad thing in January, but calling for half-a-dozen players to come in reeks of panic shopping and a win at home to Watford on Saturday would alter the mood.

In other news, one Leeds player has suffered an injury setback – find out who it is here.

Murray Goodwin lived up his reputation as one of the best limited-overs batsman in the country and Michael Yardy played a captain’s innings to steer Sussex into the Friends Provident semi-finals

Andrew McGlashan23-May-2009
ScorecardMurray Goodwin lived up to his reputation as one of the best limited-overs batsmen in the country and Michael Yardy played a captain’s innings to steer Sussex into the Friends Provident semi-finals. Somerset recovered well from a troubled start with Craig Kieswetter hitting a superb century, but a target of 286 is not so daunting at Taunton and Sussex paced their chase to perfection.Whenever the required rate climbed to touch eight an over Sussex found the acceleration needed, while Somerset struggled with a lack of wicket-taking bowlers. The key partnership was between Goodwin and Yardy, who added 89 the fourth wicket with some textbook one-day batting. Neither batsman panicked and they picked off crucial boundaries to ease the pressure. The Somerset bowlers slipped at vital moments and victory came with five balls to spare.The chase got off to a poor start when Joe Gatting edged behind for a duck in the opening over, but early nerves were settled by Ed Joyce and Chris Nash who added 74 to set a platform. Nash gave away his innings with a slog across the line against Alfonso Thomas, but Joyce continued to accumulate steadily with Goodwin for company.Somerset managed to create some pressure during the middle overs as Omari Banks proved difficult to score off and Charl Willoughby produced a tight spell. Joyce got a leading edge back to Banks, but Yardy was so eager for the challenge that he was in the middle before Joyce had made it off the pitch.The Sussex captain middled everything from the start and was quickly scoring at more than run-a-ball to take the pressure off Goodwin. The pick of Yardy’s shots were when he went inside out over extra cover. Goodwin appeared to be guiding the chase home with a century in sight but played across the line at Peter Trego to give Somerset a sniff.But those hopes evaporated when Rory Hamilton-Brown was dropped by Zander de Bruyn, running in from deep cover, and Yardy went to his deserved half-century off 40 balls with a thumping drive. Hamilton-Brown crunched a boundary off the last ball of the 49th over to leave Sussex needing just two from the final over, which Yardy sealed with a single blow.Sussex began the day in fine style when Marcus Trescothick drove a catch to mid-off first ball and the home side limped to 39 for 3 as James Hildreth was trapped lbw by Robin Martin-Jenkins and Ben Phillips was yorked by Yasir Arafat. However, a excellent recovery was staged by Kieswetter and de Bruyn who added 167 for the fourth wicket.Kieswetter, who qualifies for England next February, was dropped on 0 by James Kirtley at first slip and continued his strong season with another display from powerful striking once he had weathered the early problems. He was particularly strong through the off side whenever given a hint of width and his hundred came up off 107 balls.However, when he top edged a pull shortly afterwards Somerset lost their momentum. de Bruyn fell four runs short of his century when he chipped a catch back to Arafat and Sussex’s four spinners did a fine job on a ground that is very difficult to defend – something Somerset later found to their cost.

The West Indies fast bowlers embarrassed India’s batsmen for the second time in three weeks, setting the foundation for a series-levelling win

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga28-Jun-2009
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outThe joke was on the Indian batsmen as the fast bowlers had them in all sorts of troubles•AFPThe West Indies fast bowlers – even without Fidel Edwards – embarrassed the Indian batting line-up for the second time in three weeks, setting the foundation for a series-levelling win. They bowled aggressively and smartly, reducing India to 82 for 8 before a 101-run ninth-wicket stand between MS Dhoni and RP Singh kept the match alive. Chris Gayle and Runako Morton replied with a 101-run partnership of their own, ensuring there was no late drama in a game that was mostly dominated by West Indies.Two days ago 658 runs were scored on the same Sabina Park pitch by the same set of batsmen, but the early swing exposed some technical flaws with the Indian line-up. There were personal milestones for Ravi Rampaul and Denesh Ramdin along the way, Rampaul taking career-best figures of 4 for 37 and Ramdin five catches.Gayle’s captaincy stood out early on. He employed two slips as soon as he saw some swing. Jerome Taylor didn’t need any of the slips in the first over, when he bowled the perfect outswinger to Dinesh Karthik, shaping in, pitching off, moving away, making the batsman play, and getting the edge through to the keeper.If Karthik had no option but to play at Taylor, Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma played unnecessary shots to Rampaul in the next over. Bowling to Rohit, Rampaul wanted the second slip out, but Gayle persisted. And how it worked. Rohit chased a wide outswinger, Ramdin went too hard at the catch, but the second slip took the rebound. Seven for 3 in 1.4 overs, and there was still a long queue outside the Sabina Park.By the time the crowd finally settled, Yuvraj Singh was promising another treat. By the end of 12 overs India seemed to have weathered the storm, only momentarily. Yuvraj had reached 35 off 32, quite a contrast to Dhoni’s 11 off 31. It was all fine until then, because the partnership read 47 off 62.But neither Gayle nor Taylor was done yet. Taylor was asked to bowl his seventh over on the trot, and he got Yuvraj with the first ball. Gayle was not going to wait for mistakes now. Back came Rampaul, in came a leg gully and a slip, and out came the open secret: the bouncers. After an edgy nine-ball stay, Yusuf Pathan edged an accurate bouncer from Dwayne Bravo. Ravindra Jadeja repeated his dismissal from the first match, pushing at a delivery away from his body. After the second slump of the innings, India stood at 70 for 6, and Dhoni looking for some support from the other end.Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar didn’t show any appreciation of the fact that there were close to 30 overs still to go, getting out to flashy shots, and soon India were 82 for 8. But Rampaul’s fourth wicket came in his tenth over, a maiden, and Taylor and Bravo were nearing the completion of their quotas as well.Dhoni took the batting Powerplay in the 23rd over, and farmed strike, even refusing singles to RP. Gayle got through the Powerplay overs without much damage, but had to opt against an all-out attack because Bravo and Taylor had only two overs each to go. He also seemed to have sensed that the pitch had eased out, and was happy to contain. Dhoni and RP, meanwhile, batted sensibly.Dhoni wasn’t in the cleanest of touches, but took charge of the rescue work. RP hung around him, and between them they brought up only the fifth 100-run stand for the ninth wicket in ODI history. RP’s 23 was his personal best, and Dhoni looked set for what would have been a fifth century. But Bravo and Taylor came back well, making sure India didn’t play their full quota. Dhoni was the last to go, for a responsible 95, to a perfect slower ball from Taylor in the 49th over.If India thought they were carrying some momentum into the defence, they had another think coming. The maiden bowled at the top of the innings, by Praveen Kumar to Gayle, was a false start too. When Morton stood tall and slapped the first ball he faced for four, it confirmed that the pitch held no horrors, at least not after the first few overs in the morning.That being the case, Gayle took a liking to the medium-pace of Ashish Nehra, RP and Praveen. In the over after that maiden, Praveen’s quick reflexes saved his life: the straight pull from Gayle reached the boundary even before one could say “thank god”. Gayle immediately put his hand up to apologise.There was no sense of apology in the way he took the left-arm medium-pacers for 37 runs in their first five overs, killing the contest right there. When Gayle finally fell for a 46-ball 62, Morton had scored just 30. Morton stayed solid after his captain’s fall, getting to his tenth fifty and taking West Indies home with 15.5 overs to spare.

Fabio Paratici could turn to his former club in an attempt to bolster Tottenham Hotspur’s playing squad this winter…

What’s the word?

According to Italian outlet Calciomercato, Spurs are plotting a double swoop on Serie A giants Juventus for attacking midfielder Dejan Kulusevski and centre-back Matthijs de Ligt.

The 31-time Dutch international is likely to cost the bulk of the deal, with a fee in the region of €100m (£86m) mooted by the report.

Paratici signed the young 22-year-old colossus from Ajax in a £70m deal during summer 2019 and he has since evolved into one of the standout performers in Turin.

Paratici masterclass

If the Italian supremo can secure his former signing in north London, then it would be one outstanding and a major coup for Spurs.

De Ligt was an absolute rock for Juventus last season, displaying incredible defensive attributes that makes him one of the best emerging talents in the game.

As per WhoScored, he averaged 1.4 tackles, 1.1 interceptions and 2.1 aerial duels won per game, proving that he has an impressive ability to read the game and act, on top of his evident physical attributes.

He was just as good with the ball at his feet, as expected in the modern-day. Despite averaging a whopping 63.9 passes each outing, he still managed to keep his accuracy rate at 92.5%.

This is a stark improvement on Eric Dier, who started out life as a midfielder. His ball-playing qualities should be up there with the best but quite frankly, de Ligt’s returns show that he would be a massive, massive upgrade in N17.

The Englishman has started every single Premier League game under Nuno Santo this season but has managed a disappointing 83.9% passing accuracy, whilst he is yet to even record a tackle and merely averages 0.8 interceptions per match, also via WhoScored.

De Ligt has previously been dubbed an “absolute monster” by Italian football expert and broadcaster Carlo Garganese, whilst his agent, Mino Raiola once claimed: “Matthijs is like an oil tanker, you can’t expect him to suddenly turn 90 degrees. He goes steadily. But, once he’s on course, he can’t be stopped.”

On the above evidence, Paratici could quite easily transform Spurs’ defence in one fell swoop for the Dutch beast. He’s clearly way better than someone like Dier, at such a younger age too.

It will be a very hard transfer to make but if the Italian pulls it off, it has to be regarded as one of the biggest-ever signings in north London – that’s for sure.

AND in other news, Forget Graham Potter: Spurs not hiring “exciting” 51 y/o over Nuno was Levy’s biggest mistake…