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ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Pune Warriors and Chennai Super Kings in Navi Mumbai

The Preview by Nitin Sundar26-Apr-2011

Match factsWednesday, April 27, Delhi
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)Big pictureLess than 48 hours after walking out for the toss in Chepauk, MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh will lead their sides out for the return game at the DY Patil Stadium. Even the IPL’s biggest supporters will be hard-pressed to defend this weird scheduling decision that is almost completely devoid of logic. It flies in the face of the IPL’s most captivating aspect: the ability of a ten-team field to provide variety on a daily basis. There is no logistical sense behind the decision either, unless the powers that be have managed to get a bulk discount on flight and hotel reservations for the teams. After all, this is the season for frugality.While the match-up will have an unavoidable sense of déjà vu to it, the complete contrast in conditions from the first encounter could make the second an interesting tussle. After surging to easy wins in their first two ‘home’ outings, Pune have run into a rut with three successive losses, the last two away from the DY Patil Stadium. They will be happy to return to the true track in Navi Mumbai, with bounce and movement to suit their pace-heavy attack. Jerome Taylor got steep carry off the sluggish strip in Chennai and could be a handful here, along with the impressive Alfonso Thomas.Chennai have won all their homes games, and are winless away. Dhoni has led them into the semi-finals in each edition of the IPL so far, and knows that his side will have to start travelling better if he is to extend the run. Can his spin-heavy attack shine on a surface where carrom balls are unlikely to bowl right-hand batsmen around the legs?Form guide (most recent first)Chennai: WLLWL (fifth in points table)
Pune: LLLWW (eighth in points table)Team talkShadab Jakati produced the best moment of the game in Chennai, when he flew and latched on to a lofted extra-cover drive from Yuvraj Singh. That, and two tight overs of left-arm spin, might have done enough to convince Dhoni to retain him. Will Chennai bench Suraj Randiv, who was economical but wicketless in the previous game? If they do, Tim Southee might come back in to join Doug Bollinger and Albie Morkel in a three-pronged foreign pace attack for the visitors.Pune are also likely to drop one spinner, which means either Nathan McCullum or Murali Kartik could sit out. Depending on the nationality of the spinner axed, Wayne Parnell or Shrikant Wagh will come in.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team selector.In the spotlightThis has been Suresh Raina’s poorest start to an IPL season. He has managed only 119 runs in six outings, and wasn’t fluent even during his half-century against Kochi. No-one has scored more runs than Raina in IPLs, and he is too good a player to continue struggling. A swap in the batting line-up with the in-form S Badrinath could spark Raina’s revival.Manish Pandey’s much-anticipated IPL return began with a superb catch on the boundary edge to dismiss Michael Hussey. Pandey went on to unfurl two boundaries on the trot before playing the next ball onto his stumps. The first Indian centurion of the IPL will want to make a more lasting impression in his second outing.Prime numbers Murali Kartik had 16 wickets in 26 IPL games prior to this season. He is yet to get a wicket this year
With 48 wickets, Albie Morkel is the seventh-highest wicket-taker in IPL history. Only three seamers – RP Singh, Irfan Pathan and Lasith Malinga – have more IPL scalps to their name The chatter”MS is not big on too much planning. He gets his information from how the pitch plays and how the opposition is approaching it. There’s a lot of gut feel about his captaincy. If you compare my captaincy with his, I was deadpan boring whereas he is adventurous.”

“Fielding is a massive part of the game – no doubt about it. Steve Rixon has played a big role in this.”

أوضح نادي آينتراخت فرانكفورت مدى اقتراب حارس مرمى منتخب ألمانيا وفريقه الأول لكرة القدم، كيفن تراب، من الانتقال إلى بايرن ميونخ في الميركاتو الصيفي الحالي.

وزعمت صحيفة “بيلد” الألمانية في الساعات القليلة الماضية أن هناك مفاوضات بين وكلاء تراب ونادي بايرن ميونخ لانتقال الحارس إلى قلعة “أليانز أرينا”.

اقرأ أيضًا.. آس: ريال مدريد يخطط لضم صفقة قوية من بايرن ميونخ في 2024

ويبحث بايرن ميونخ عن حارس مرمى جديد للفريق بعد إصابة مانويل نوير، بكسر في القدم بعد رحلة للتزلج على الجديد.

وتحدث المدير الرياضي لنادي آينتراخت فرانكفورت، ماركوس كروتش، عن الأمر خلال تصريحات نقلتها صحيفة “كيكر” الألمانية: “إنها قصة من صنع الوكلاء، محض هراء”.

الجدير بالذكر أن نادي بايرن ميونخ مهتم بضم أكثر من اسم لحراسة المرمى على رأسهم، يان سومر، لاعب بوروسيا مونشنجلادباخ.

اتهم روجر شميت مدرب بنفيكا تشيلسي بـ “عدم الاحترام” في سعيه وراء إنزو فرنانديز ويعتقد أن نادي الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز “يتظاهر” بأنه مستعد لدفع شرط إخلاء سبيله البالغ 106 ملايين جنيه إسترليني.

جعل تشيلسي اللاعب البالغ من العمر 21 عامًا هدف الانتقال الرئيسي بعد أن لعب دور البطولة في فوز الأرجنتين بكأس العالم الشهر الماضي وكان يتفاوض مع بنفيكا في الأيام الأخيرة.

لكن الناديين لم يتوصلا إلى اتفاق بعد، ويشعر شميدت أن مالك نادي تشيلسي تود بوهلي ليس جادًا بشأن دفع الشرط الجزائي في عقد فرنانديز بالكامل.

وفي حديثه قبل مباراة بنفيكا في الدوري مع بورتيمونينسي يوم الجمعة، قال شميت: “نحن نعلم أن هناك بندًا جزائيًا، إذا أراد المغادرة وربما نخسر اللاعب”.

وأضاف في تصريحات نشرتها صحيفة “ديلي ميل” البريطانية: “هناك ناد يريده، لقد حاولوا جذبه، لكنهم يعرفون أنه لا يمكنهم الحصول عليه إلا إذا دفعوا الشرط الجزائي”.

اقرأ أيضًا | إنزو فرنانديز يتمرد على بنفيكا بسبب تشيلسي

وشدد شيمت: “إنه عدم احترام لنا جميعًا، لبنفيكا، إنهم يقودون اللاعب إلى الجنون، ويتظاهرون بأنهم يريدون دفع الشرط ثم يريدون التفاوض”.

وبحسب ما ورد حاول تشيلسي عددًا من الطرق لجعل بنفيكا يوافق على بيع فرنانديز لهم، بما في ذلك دفع رسوم انتقاله على أقساط وعرض 87 مليون جنيه إسترليني بالإضافة إلى ثلاثة لاعبين لإحضاره إلى ستامفورد بريدج.

ومع ذلك، توضح تعليقات شميدت أن بنفيكا مهتم فقط بترك فرنانديز يرحل إذا تم الوفاء بشرط الإفراج عنه.

غاب فرنانديز عن تدريب بنفيكا في بداية الأسبوع بعد أن قرر العودة إلى الأرجنتين بينما استمرت التكهنات بشأن مستقبله.

عبّر مشجعو بنفيكا عن غضبهم على وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي بسبب غيابه، وأكد شيمدت أن فرنانديز سيعاقب على سلوكه، لكنه أشار إلى أنه لا يلوم اللاعب تمامًا بسبب الموقف المربك الذي وجد نفسه فيه.

وعلّق: “إنزو رجل جيد ولاعب استثنائي، نريده أن يبقى، الوضع ليس سهلاً، لقد لعب في كأس العالم، وفاز باللقب، وكان لديه عروض، وهناك الكثير من المال على المحك”.

وأتم: “إنه شاب، هذا محير، كلنا نفهم هذا، لكنه شخص ممتاز، لم يصرح له بالذهاب إلى الأرجنتين، فهذا غير مقبول، ستكون هناك عواقب، لن أوضحها”.

Steve Harmison took his first County Championship wickets for nine months as Durham set Worcestershire a mammoth task at New Road

19-May-2011ScorecardPhil Mustard’s hundred heaped the pain on Worcestershire’s bowlers before the Durham attack took control•Getty Images

Steve Harmison took his first County Championship wickets for nine months as Durham set Worcestershire a mammoth task at New Road.Re-emerging after an early-season injury, the 32-year-old former England fast bowler put the Division One strugglers in trouble with a return of 3 for 29 in 11 overs. With 19-year-old substitute Ben Raine holding two catches, Worcestershire ended the second day on 105 for 5 – still 333 short of the 438 required to avoid the follow-on.Harmison, out for a month with a broken arm, warmed up with 5 for 22 in a second-team match against Warwickshire. And he quickly had Worcestershire on the ropes on his return to the county side, dismissing both openers in the space of eight balls.Raine picked up a low chance when Matt Pardoe (11) clipped Harmison off his legs and James Cameron (18) was unfortunate to get a ball which nipped off a length and looped off the bat for a simple catch to Callum Thorp. Ruel Brathwaite then found some movement to bowl Vikram Solanki for 10 and Raine reacted brilliantly to pull down another chance when Alexei Kervezee (one) cut Ben Stokes to cover.Moeen Ali and Adrian Shankar, the latter unbeaten with 10 from 60 balls, put up some resistance but Moeen was caught down the leg side by Phil Mustard for 46 as soon as Harmison rejoined the attack.Captain Mustard earlier became Durham’s third century-maker before declaring on 587 for 7 following earlier hundreds from Gordon Muchall (175) and Ian Blackwell (134). Muchall and Blackwell’s partnership of 247 – a fifth-wicket record for the county – ended early on the second morning but Mustard’s 101 from 139 balls meant Worcestershire needed to reach their highest score in almost a year just to make Durham bat again.Although the northerners established a near-impregnable position with a mountain of runs, there was always a suspicion that the pitch held something for the better bowlers. The problem for Worcestershire was their reliance on the new-ball pair, Damien Wright and Alan Richardson. While they bowled 69 overs for 206 runs, the supporting seamers were considerably more expensive.Wright flattened Blackwell’s off-stump in the second over of the day but Muchall extended his innings by almost an hour, adding 23 runs before he was caught at slip when Richard Jones replaced Richardson. However, Mustard was well set by then and with Scott Borthwick he shared in a partnership of 154 for the seventh wicket.Mustard eventually fell to Moeen’s off-spin, giving Solanki his fourth slip catch of the innings, but Borthwick stayed unbeaten with 67 – one short of his career best – and Thorp (22 not out) hit two sixes prior to the declaration.

MatériaMais Notícias

O América-MG volta a campo neste domingo, no Independência, para encarar o Botafogo-RJ em mais um desafio pela Série A, do Campeonato Brasileiro. Para o lateral-direito do Coelho, Norberto, os mandantes vão lutar para vencer mais um confronto em casa na disputa.

– O Botafogo tem uma grande equipe, muito forte, e é sempre um adversário difícil. Vamos lutar muito durante os noventa minutos para vencermos mais uma dentro de casa. Temos que ter o máximo de atenção para conquistarmos os três pontos diante do nosso torcedor – disse.

Ainda de acordo com o jogador, o início de Brasileirão do Coelho tem sido muito bom.

– Nosso início de Série A tem sido muito bom. Vamos manter essa intensidade agora para evoluirmos nas próximas semanas e melhorarmos ainda mais nosso desempenho em campo na competição. O Campeonato Brasileiro exige isso – finalizou.

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أعلن النادي الأهلي برئاسة محمود الخطيب، عن أولى صفقات الفريق الأول لكرة القدم، خلال فترة الانتقالات الشتوية الجارية.

ووفقًا للموقع الرسمي للنادي الأهلي فإن أمير توفيق، مدير التعاقدات بالنادي، أعلن عن انضمام خالد عبدالفتاح، لاعب سموحة إلى صفوف الأهلي.

وأوضح أمير توفيق أن خالد عبد الفتاح انضم للأهلي لمدة 6 شهور على سبيل الإعارة بنية الشراء.

طالع أيضًا.. كولر يروي كواليس حديثه مع ديانج قبل الهدف.. ويؤكد: أندية كثيرة لم تستطع الفوز على إنبي

وسوف ينضم اللاعب لتدريبات الفريق ابتداءً من غدٍ بعد إنهاء جميع الإجراءات الإدارية مع ناديه.

The batsman Adrian Shankar has been released by Worcestershire after barely two weeks with the club and there is more to the departure than a simple change of mind

George Dobell26-May-2011

Worcestershire have released batsman Adrian Shankar after barely two weeks with the club – and passed his registration documents to the police after it emerged there was more to the departure than a simple change of mind.The background of Shankar, who represented Worcestershire in the CB40 and County Championship last week, and whose deal was terminated without further comment on Thursday, has started to unravel. It has emerged he is actually three years older than he told the county and talked his way into a two-year contract through a mixture of bluff and bravado.Worcestershire only signed Shankar on May 10. In the press release that announced this, the club stated that Shankar was 26 years old and had just returned from a prolific winter in Sri Lanka. It also stated that he was in demand from several other counties.None of it is true. Shankar is actually 29 and, while he may have played some cricket in Sri Lanka, it was not at first-class or an equivalent level.”Adrian Shankar was signed by Worcestershire CCC on the 10th May after agreeing terms,” said the club in a subsequent statement. “It quickly became evident that documents provided in order to satisfy the club’s obligations to the England and Wales Cricket Board were unacceptable. This documentation has now been passed to West Mercia Police for investigation and no further comment will be made by the club while the investigation is taking place.”Shankar left Bedford School (he played in the same team as Alastair Cook) after his A Levels in 2000, made his second XI debut in 1999 (for Nottinghamshire) and his first-class debut in 2002. He’s subsequently played second XI cricket for Sussex, Worcestershire, Lancashire and Middlesex.Were the details he gave Worcestershire correct, it would have meant he made his second team debut aged just 14. But when Shankar registered at Cambridge and Bedford, he gave his date of birth as May 1982. Only much later did it change to May 1985.It seems he produced identification proving that he was born in 1985, but he has explained his past by suggesting he might have been the youngest Cambridge University captain in history. Until yesterday, even the Cambridge University Cricket website (www.cucc.net) carried that version of events. Meanwhile, a little research proved that several of the players he was supposed to have played against in Sri Lanka were actually playing elsewhere on the same days.Shankar has also said that his career progression has been held-up by an 18-month bout of glandular fever, that he played tennis to national standard as a junior and that he was in the Arsenal academy at the start of Arsene Wenger’s tenure.On the field Shankar is, at best, an ordinary player. After a decade in the game, he had a first-class average of just 19 and has passed 50 only once in 21 innings. He made 143 in the Varsity Match of 2002 (as a 17-year-old, if you believe his version of events) but, as Chris Scott, the Cambridge UCCE coach, said: “The bowling was unbelievably bad. He was a poor player and there’s no way I would have recommended him.”Oddly, however, when Shankar signed for Lancashire, the Cambridge coach was quoted in a press release referring to him as one of the finest young players the side had seen since John Crawley. “I phoned Lancashire and made it clear that I’d never said anything of the sort,” Scott said. “No-one at Worcestershire or Lancashire asked my opinion before they signed him.” Instead of smelling a rat, however, Lancashire simply removed the offending paragraph.Does any of this matter? Is it just an example of a determined man refusing to give up on his dream?Perhaps. But Shankar was also taking another man’s place in the Worcestershire team. And, by claiming to be 26, Shankar slipped in under the threshold to qualify for the young player incentives handed out by the ECB to first-class counties. He therefore gave himself an unfair advantage in the fight for a place in the Worcestershire team. His swift release was no surprise.The episode also raises questions about Worcestershire. It seems incredible that no-one at the club thought to check Shankar’s story. Five minutes spent on the web would have been enough to raise suspicions; ten minutes on the phone would have confirmed them.Instead, however, Worcestershire contented themselves with a photocopy of a passport and took Shankar’s word for his former achievements. They even threw Shankar straight into their first team – as an opening batsman – without even taking a look at him in a Second XI game (though he did play for their second team in 2003). He was out for a third-ball duck against Middlesex and, batting in the middle-order in the Championship against Durham, was unbeaten on 10 when injury ended his innings.

MatériaMais Notícias

A presença das duas torcidas no clássico foi questionada pela Polícia Militar, mas em reunião no Ministério Público durante a semana, definiu que o jogo não terá apenas torcida única. Os clubes argumentaram com as entidades e conseguiram a desejada festa. Com isso, o Figueirense recebe o Avaí, às 16h30, no sábado, no Orlando Scarpelli, em Santa Catarina, pela quinta rodada do Campeonato Brasileiro, da Série B.

Na competição nacional, o Furacão busca a quarta vitória consecutiva, se aproximar dos líderes e sonhar com o acesso à elite do futebol. Contudo, o técnico Milton Cruz, não contará com todos os jogadores à disposição: Renan Mota está no departamento médico, na reta final de recuperação de um edema na panturrilha. Henrique Trevisan foi liberado.

Do outro lado, o técnico do Leão, Geninho, pode contar com quatro desfalques para o confronto: ozagueiro Alemão, o volante Pedro Castro, o meia/lateral Renato e o atacante Maurinho. Mas tem o retorno de André Moritz. O volante desfalcou o time da última rodada da Segundona, contra o São Bento, por causa de uma luxação no ombro esquerdo. Além disso, tenta buscar o seu segundo triunfo no Brasileiro e engrenar na competição.

Neste ano, pelo Campeonato Catarinense, as equipes tiveram dois confrontos, mas nem o Furacão e nem o Leão venceram. Ambos jogos acabaram empatados, e agora, os clubes tentam ganhar o clássico e fazer a alegria da torcida.

A presença das torcidas anima ainda mais o clássico, que tem tanta tradição em Santa Catarina. Com isso, o belo espetáculo é esperado no palco do confronto e apoiando os times, que lutam pelo mesmo objetivo: acesso à Série A, do Campeonato Brasileiro.

PROVÁVEIS ESCALAÇÕES

FIGUEIRENSE:Denis; Diego Renan, Eduardo, Nogueira e Lazaroni; Zé Antonio, Abuda, Daniel Costa, Gustavo Ferrareis, Jorge Henrique e Henan (Maikon Leite). Técnico: Milton Cruz.

AVAÍ: Aranha; Guga, Alemão, Airton, Betão, Capa, Judson, André Moritz, Renato, Romulo e Rodrigão. Técnico: Geninho.

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رد نادي طرابزون سبور المنافس في بطولة الدوري التركي، على أنباء اهتمام الأهلي لضم جناح الفريق الأول لكرة القدم، محمود حسن تريزيجيه، على سبيل الإعارة في الميركاتو الشتوي الحالي.

وارتبط اسم تريزيجيه بإمكانية الانتقال إلى الأهلي لمدة 6 أشهر لتدعيم الفريق في بطولة كأس العالم للأندية في المغرب مع بداية الشهر المقبل، بحسب موقع “Karadenizgazete” التركي.

وكان الفرعون المصري قد انتقل نهائيًا في الميركاتو الصيفي الماضي من أستون فيلا إلى طرابزون سبور مقابل 4 ملايين دولار، وسرعان ما تأقلم مع الفريق وأصبح أساسيًا مع المدرب عبد الله أفجي.

اقرأ أيضًا.. تقارير: الأهلي يُقدم عرضًا لضم لاعب إسباني في الدوري التركي

وتواصل “botlat.com” مع رئيس نادي طرابزون سبور، أحمد أغاوغلو، لتوضيح موقفه من الموافقة على رحيل تريزيجيه إلى الأهلي إذا تقدم بعرض رسمي في الأيام المقبلة.

وقال أغاوغلو: “هذا الكلام غير واقعي تمامًا، ليس لدينا أي نية في رحيل تريزيجيه عن الفريق في هذا الوقت من الموسم”.

وأضاف في النهاية: “تريزيجيه لاعب مهم جدًا بالنسبة لفريق طرابزون سبور وللمدرب، عبد الله أفجي، لذلك رحيله لا يمكننا التفكير فيه أبدًا”.

Given Lancashire’s game in hand, talk of this match being a title decider is premature at best and actually a little absurd

Jon Culley at Aigburth29-Jun-2011
ScorecardDale Benkenstein was the matchwinner for Durham in Liverpool•PA Photos

Given Lancashire’s game in hand, talk of this match being a title decider is premature at best and actually a little absurd. What victory has done for Durham, though, if you were to think of the Championship as a horse race, is to take them a couple of lengths clear at just the moment the pace is hotting up, which means that Lancashire cannot really afford to falter.The home side sniffed a chance overnight. Three wickets lost in 10 overs on Tuesday evening certainly discomfited Durham, leaving them to troop up on the third morning with still 154 to get of the 181 needed to win, and not much room for error.It required a steady, unflappable attitude, for there would be more setbacks, inevitably. Yet, as predicted, the depth of Durham’s batting saw them home. Dale Benkenstein, whose steady hand guided them to a 102-run lead on that bizarre, 20-wicket first day, supplemented his 83 not out with an unbeaten 60.Benkenstein, 37, is having a remarkable season. In 15 Championship innings he has four centuries and has failed to reach 50 on only five occasions. He made 137 in Durham’s win over Lancashire at Chester-le-Street, which means has scored 280 against them in three innings for once out.In this innings, as impervious to pressure, seemingly, as he had been in the first innings, he passed 1,000 first-class runs for the season and overtook Jon Lewis’s mark of 7,854 to become Durham’s all-time leading scorer.Winning by five wickets suggests a degree of comfort in the end for Durham but there had been some tension along the way, as you suspected there would be.At first, it seemed as though Paul Collingwood, thrilled to have found some form with the bat and “pleasantly surprised” at how much he is enjoying being a Durham player again, would follow his century against Yorkshire with another match-winning hundred.Only too eager to confirm afterwards, after scratching around so much during his last year as a Test player, that he felt as comfortable as he ever has with bat in hand, Collingwood looked in complete control. He had a life on 21, put down by Paul Horton at first slip off Kyle Hogg, but that apart reached 45 in relative comfort.Hogg and Mahmood had both run in well without enjoying much luck. But how often is it that a bowling change brings a wicket? Luke Procter gave Mahmood a breather at the river end and struck with his second ball, Collingwood falling to a catch he might have made himself, in his prime.Collingwood went for a drive as if he was sure it would come off the middle of the bat but edged it instead, whereupon Steven Croft flung himself to his right at third slip and clung on spectacularly. Likewise, when Gary Keedy then replaced Procter, he needed only two balls to trap Will Smith leg before.Paul Collingwood played a vital hand before falling to Luke Procter•PA Photos

So, five down, still 99 short, the pressure was back on Durham. But the depth of their batting allows for setbacks where in other teams they might induce a fatal attack of nerves.And few batsman put experience to better use than Benkenstein. Lancashire had other chances, notably when Ian Blackwell, who had made 14 of his 26, was badly dropped at long leg by Hogg, at which point Durham would have been six down and still 53 away from victory. Yet Mark Chilton, standing in for the injured – and missed – Glen Chapple as captain, readily acknowledged the role that Benkenstein had played in putting his side in their place for the second time.”Dale played really well,” Chilton said. “He is in fantastic nick, as he showed up at the Riverside. His 83 in the first innings was exceptional and his innings today saw them home in a pressure situation.”We felt in the game this morning and on another day could have had three wickets in the first hour with Saj and Kyle bowling very well. We were well in the game but then with 50 runs left we missed a run-out chance and a catch and then they put a good partnership together to see them home.”Benkenstein’s sixth and seventh boundaries completed the job, a little before a quarter to three. Typically, he accepted the applause with self-deprecating modesty.”Sometimes it frees you up when you bat in a situation like that and others are being drawn into making mistakes,” he said. “It takes the pressure off because if you fail it does not really matter whereas if everyone is scoring hundreds you feel you should do as well.”I only play one way and my approach does not change. I’m pretty boring, I stick to the same things. If I see a bad ball I hit it. You just hope for a bit of luck and that when you get a good ball you miss it.”Chilton, quite rightly, said that Lancashire need only to keep winning to make sure that Durham remain under pressure to keep winning too but there is an ominous confidence about the leaders.”We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” Collingwood said. “There are things we can improve on but we’d like to feel our brand of attacking cricket will be good enough for most sides.”Benkenstein echoed that assessment, even going a little further. “I think that the experience we have, the old heads who know the situations and what it takes to win matches will be crucial in terms of the championship. We have a good balance, with some enthusiastic young guys as well. In terms of batting I think this is as good a side as we have had.”