Trinidad and Tobago secured a berth in the semi-finals of the Stanford 20/20 tournament with a comprehensive 46-run win against Barbados. In a match postponed by a day because of rain, T&T eased to victory as Barbados folded up for 96 chasing a target of 143. The Trinidad duo of Nicholas Ramjass, the left-arm spinner, and Keiron Pollard, the medium pacer, shared six wickets between them and skittled out the last five Barbados wickets for only 17 runs.Earlier, Barbados sent Trinidad in to bat and the openers William Perkins and Mario Belcon got off to a good start, adding 69. However, they were pegged back by a double strike by West Indies fast bowler Ian Bradshaw, who got the important wickets of Perkins and Daren Ganga. With the score at 79 for 4, Shazam Babwah resurrected the innings with 25, taking his side to 142 for 9. Bradshaw was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets while Fidel Edwards chipped in with two.Barbados stumbled early, losing both openers by the fourth over, before Jason Haynes and Floyd Reifer got things going with a 28-run stand for the third wicket. However, they succumbed to some tight bowling and fielding, with Haynes edging a wide delivery to the wicketkeeper. Ramjass and Pollard then took over to dismiss Barbados cheaply, with the last seven batsmen failing to get into double figures.Trinidad will meet Nevis in the semi-final on August 11. Scorecard
Guyana held their nerve in a tense encounter against Jamaica to reach the semi-finals of the Stanford 20/20 tournament with a three-wicket win. Requiring 38 with three wickets in hand, Imran Khan and Andre Percival guided Guyana home with an over to spare.Jamaica opted to bat first in a match postponed from Friday due to rain, and posted a challenging 163 for 6, with contributions by Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Wavell Hinds. Esuan Crandon led the reply with 71, an innings which contained 12 fours and a six. Guyana were going along well before Jermaine Lawson pegged them back with three quick wickets. Crandon kept his side in the game but Jamaica sensed an opportunity after his dismissal, with the score at 126 for 7. However, Khan and Percival played positively to take their side homeGuyana will meet Grenada in their semi-final on August 10.
The last twelve months has been a momentous period of time in the life of Somerset all rounder Ian Blackwell whose rise to the top in cricketing circles has been meteoric.This time last year the twenty four year old was itching to get the season started after spending the winter of 2001-2 working in the office at the County Ground in Taunton.During the past winter `Blackie’ spent time with the England Academy in Adelaide, made his One Day International debut and played in the World Cup in South Africa, and has come a long way in a short space of time.The former Derbyshire player reflected on the past year when I spoke to him recently. He said: “I was disappointed not to go on the Academy in 2001-2 but I worked very hard during the winter and was determined to make up for it, which I am pleased to say has happened.”He continued: ” I started the 2002 season very well, and got a hundred against Yorkshire in the opening championship match here, which was watched by Duncan Fletcher, and I think it was that which led to me being short listed for the Academy last winter, and then I had a very successful season, scoring 900 runs at an average of almost 40.”`Blackie’ went on: “I got my England chance when Andrew Flintoff got injured, so you could say that his injury was a blessing in disguise for me. I was very pleased to go to Sri Lanka and get runs against India, and then to be selected for the one dayers in Australia.”I asked how he felt playing for England.”It was strange experience really because I wouldn’t say that I felt nervous, in fact I feel worse when I go out to bat in front of the Taunton crowd. It felt kind of surreal to be playing against names that I had only seen on the television. It was a great eye opener, and you have to experience it to appreciate how big a step it is up from county cricket. At that level there are no `gimme’ bowlers, you are made to work hard for ever run you get. It’s much quicker, and the fielding is much sharper,” he told me.Looking back over his eventful winter he told me; “It was a valuable experience for me, and I was one of the best one day bowlers for England. I was very pleased with the way that I adapted, although there is still some work to do, but I didn’t do myself justice with the bat.”With regard to 2003 he told me: “Hopefully I played well enough to suggest that there is a place for me in the England squad and that I will get my chance in the triangular tournament during the summer. There’s nothing like walking out in front of a crowd of 50,000 it gives you a real buzz, and it’s why we play cricket. It’s an experience you can’t buy.”On the eve of the championship opener how did he think Somerset would fare. “I am very optimistic about the season. Everyone has worked very hard during the winter and in the early season matches and everybody knows exactly what is expected. Let’s hope that we can get straight back up to where we belong and that is in the top division, but there are a lot of good teams in Division Two. We need to play well in the early matches and give ourselves a good platform to work from,” he told me.Judging by his early season from with both bat and ball Ian Blackwell is primed and ready for the first championship match at Bristol that starts at the end of this week.
Northerns 5 for 0 trail Easterns 306 (Cullinan 61, Koenig 51, Z de Bruin 51, Jennings 50, Thomas 4-67) by 301 runs ScorecardThe top-of-the-table clash at SuperSport Park in Centurion ended evenly at the end of the first day, with Easterns getting 4.12 batting points and Northerns getting 4.0 with the ball. Winning the toss and batting, Easterns lost an early wicket, but consolidated well with Sven Koenig, Zander de Bruin, Daryll Cullinan and Dylan Jenning making half-centuries. Alfonso Thomas kept Northerns in the game with a fine spell of bowling, ending the innings with 4 for 67. At close Northerns were 5 for no loss.Boland 48 for 0 trail Gauteng 228 (Ackerman 47, de Lange 7-48) by 180 runs ScorecardAt Randjesfontein Gauteng, after winning the toss, came under the hammer from Boland, being bowled out for 228 on a faily placid pitch. At one point Gauteng had been coating on 144 for 4, but Con de Lange turned things around for Boland. Coming on as the third-change bowler, de Lange bowled himself to a career best 7 for 48 as the batsmen struggled to come to turn with his left-arm orthodox spinners. At close Boland totaled 48 without loss.
A New South Wales disciplinary hearing tonight suspended bowler Stuart MacGill for two interstate games for a breach of the players code of conduct in yesterday’s ING Cup win over Tasmania.MacGill will miss the vital Pura Cup match against Victoria, beginning in Melbourne on February 5, and the ING Cup one-dayer against Victoria on February 5.The Test leg spinner was found guilty of unbecoming behaviour and using crude and abusive language.
The Gabba will showcase a bumper season of international cricket this summer with confirmation today that Brisbane will host a One Day International between Australia and India in September.The Australian Cricket Board today announced the three-match Super Challenge Series between Australia and India would be held in September, with two matches indoors at Melbourne’s Colonial Stadium and the third at the Gabba.The two matches in Melbourne will be played on September 21 and 23 while the Gabba match, a day/night game, will be held on Wednesday, September 26.Negotiations between Queensland Cricket and the Brisbane Lions have provided the Lions with the opportunity to train at the Gabba prior to any possible AFL Grand Final appearance.Queensland Cricket Chief Executive Officer Graham Dixon today expressed gratitude to the Lions for their support in ensuring the match was played at the Gabba.”We have met on several occasions with the Lions and the Brisbane Cricket Ground Trust about the feasibility of playing this match and have established a great deal of common ground on this and other issues regarding the use of the Gabba," he said.”This level of co-operation has also allowed Queensland Cricket to recommend dates to the Australian Cricket Board that will enable the Lions to play Ansett Cup matches at the Gabba in February and March as well as provide for any cricket Finals at the ground."”Thanks to the efficiency of the curator Kevin Mitchell Junior, we are very confident in the ground’s ability to deal with these scenarios," Dixon said.Australia’s tour of India earlier this year generated record levels of interest and with the world champion Australian team fresh from its Ashes campaign, the return match-up of the two teams is set to create similar attention.The announcement means that the Gabba will host the Australian limited overs team twice during the 2001-2002 season, with the traditional January one day weekend pitting Australia against arch-rivals South Africa as part of the VB tri series which will also feature New Zealand.Master batsman Sachin Tendulkar and record-breaking VVS Laxman are expected to form part of the Indian contingent while Australian captain Steve Waugh said today that Australia would field the strongest team available.
Celtic had a massive overhaul during the previous summer transfer window with Ange Postecoglou moving a number of players out of the club and replacing them with a lot of new faces.
Now with the upcoming summer window in mind, it appears as though the Hoops could be set to say goodbye to one of their current figures in a rather uncouth manner.
What’s the news?
According to a recent report from Greek publication Onlarissa (via Football.Scotland), Celtic goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas has demanded to leave the Parkhead club this summer.
Since arriving at Celtic Park back in the 2020 summer transfer window from Greek club AEK Athens in a deal worth a reported fee of £4.5m, the shot-stopper has only made 24 appearances for the Hoops across all competitions where he’s managed to concede 23 goals in the process.
Get rid of Barkas
This season has seen the 27-year-old make just two appearances for the Hoops. The first came in their 1-1 draw against FC Midtjylland in the first leg of the second round Champions League qualifying stage where he committed a “catastrophic” error according to Michael Stewart. That was followed by his only league appearance against St. Johnstone on Boxing Day where he also failed to keep a clean sheet.
As well as only making two appearances for the club in this campaign, the Greece international hasn’t even been in the squad for most of the time, highlighting just where he is in terms of the current pecking order under Postecoglou.
With that in mind, it’s easy to see why the player would want a move away from the club, presumably to somewhere he’d be able to play regularly rather than waste his time with the Bhoys where his chances to play have been few and far between in recent months.
Also, taking into account what he’s done for the team when he has played or hasn’t done in terms of conceding fewer goals, it wouldn’t seem likely that many Celtic fans would be sad to see the back of him, with some potentially overjoyed by the idea of having him gone.
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Taking all of this into account, Postecoglou now has the chance to fix the nightmare blunder that Nick Hammond made by bringing Barkas to the club in the first place by finally getting the £20k-per-week earner off their books and out the door this summer.
In other news: Sold at £7m, now a 492 goal “beast”: Celtic will rue call on “world-class” 6ft5 “lion”
Shane Warne inspired Rajasthan Royals to a sensational come-from-behind win against Deccan Chargers by capping outstanding leadership and canny bowling with a 17-run charge in the last over.The three-wicket victory – which was decided, for the second successive day, off the penultimate ball of the match – made Rajasthan the first team in the IPL to chase down a 200-plus score. They now lie fourth with four points from three games while Deccan, for whom Andrew Symonds scored a century and bowled the fateful final over, lost their third match in a row and remain at the bottom of the table.In the penultimate over, it had seemed Rajasthan were out of the chase with RP Singh effecting two dismissals and conceding only six runs. Before that Shahid Afridi and Symonds had bowled in tandem to keep the scoring under check between overs 12 and 14, but Mohammad Kaif changed all that in the next where he hit three sixes off Symonds. Afridi dismissed Shane Watson, Kaif and Graeme Smith and conceded only 28 runs. But having exhausted his main bowlers, VVS Laxman was forced to turn to Symonds for the decisive last over.That began with the odds stacked against Rajasthan. Pankaj Singh took three off the first two balls before giving the strike to Warne. He then hit a four over Symonds’ head, leaving ten to get off the last three balls. Warne needed just two of them, off which he hit consecutive sixes to spark scenes of wild celebrations among his team-mates.What set up the chase, though, was the 98-run partnership between Yusuf Pathan and Smith. The two were mindful of the run-rate they had to maintain right from the start and went past 100 in 8.3 overs, which made Rajasthan the fastest side to get to that figure in the tournament.Yusuf belied his lithe frame to get the ball into the stands several times while recording the fastest fifty of the tournament. He didn’t move his feet much but used all his strength as he reached out and swung his bat at everything. He fell in similar fashion, not moving his feet when he reached for a wide one off D Kalyankrishna and found Symonds at long-off. Smith was more conventional though equally attacking. He drove down the ground and cut behind third man for boundaries.Test cricket had been unlucky not to witness Warne as captain. Before his last-over heroics, he used his bowlers effectively to dent Deccan’s start. He brought on Yusuf in the third over – to replace Munaf Patel, who went for 12 in his opening effort – and was rewarded with the wickets of Adam Gilchrist and Afridi. Though Symonds more than made up for the poor start, Rajasthan’s target could have been much higher had Gilchrist built on his three fours. Warne also made Yusuf bat at No. 3 for the second game in a row, after getting him to open in their first match.Laxman’s captaincy was very poor in comparison – his decision to open the innings with Gilchrist failed, as did his bowling change in the sixth over to bring on left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who went for 16 runs. But even Warne had no tricks against Symonds, who showed his two initial failures were blips with an innings that included powerful straight fours and sixes mostly by making room in the crease.He did not indulge in unconventional strokes – except a short ball that he pulled tennis-style late in the innings – and stuck mostly to back-foot drives and flicks. He reached his half-century off 29 balls and then took only 18 more to get to the fastest hundred of the tournament. His 111-run partnership with Rohit Sharma, who scored a half-century in the previous match, ruined the Rajasthan bowlers’ early efforts. Now Deccan will have to rethink their bowling strategies after losing a game that was firmly in their grasp.
John Gloster, the Indian team physiotherapist, has broken his wrist in Belfast and may miss the remainder of India’s tour to Ireland and England.Gloster broke his right hand on Thursday, apparently tripping on the boundary line, during a team training session.Ratnakar Shetty, BCCI’s chief administrative officer, received a call from Gloster informing him of the injury. “He may need to go in for a surgery. It could take at least one or two months for him to recover,” Shetty told . “We are looking for a replacement,” he added.India are travelling without an official coach as well, the board having failed in their efforts to wrap up the appointment of Graham Ford, currently with Kent just before the team departed for Ireland. Former Test cricketer Chandu Borde has been appointed for the tour as manager.
Graeme Hick scored the seven runs he needed to complete his 130th first-class hundred on the second day of Worcestershire’s Championship game against Northamptonshire at New Road. He now sits in eighth place in the list of all-time century makers, moving ahead of Sir Len Hutton. It was also his 100th hundred for his county.It didn’t take long for Hick, who finished on 93 not out last night, to add the seven required runs to his overnight total. As he flicked the ball off his legs to take a single from Nicholson, he lifted his bat to the players’ balcony and was greeted by rapturous applause and a standing ovation. He went on to make 139.Less than a month ago Hick, who turned 40 in April, was being all-but written off after a poor start to the season. On June 4, Steve James in The Sunday Telegraph wrote: “I am worried about Graeme Hick. Worried that a glorious career might be heading for a less-than-glorious ending.” That same week Hick bounced back with 182 against Somerset at Taunton.”It was a special day for me,” Hick admitted. “There’s quite a lot of people who have sat here for many years and hopefully enjoyed my batting and it’s been a good day for them as well. “To get the hundredth hundred for Worcestershire here at New Road adds a bit to it.””I’m enjoying my cricket at the moment,” he replied when asked the inevitable question about how long he plans to go on. “I’ve always said I’ll make a decision about my future at the end of the season. At the same time, the club have got to do the same thing. The club is obviously bigger than the player.””Graeme has achieved something that not many people can dream of doing,” said Steve Rhodes, Worcestershire’s director of cricket. “His 100th hundred is a true reflection of what he has done for Worcestershire over the course of his career. I consider myself extremely fortunate to be amongst those who have watched Graeme’s successes unfold and it has been fantastic to watch him score many of his hundreds over the years.”We all have great memories. Perhaps the thing I most remember from his heyday was his strength. We would watch from the balcony as, time after time, he would hit a yorker straight back past the bowler for four: something incredibly difficult to do and which gave rise to the dressing room saying “You can’t bowl there to Hicky!”
Northerns started day three at SuperSport Park at 179 for 2. Ten overs later they had raced to 290 for 2. Justin Kemp pulverised Easterns with a century off 55 balls. Of those runs, 76 came in boundaries. The brutal knock allowed Northerns to declare, leaving Easterns an almost unreachable target of 461 in 94 overs. Wesley Barresi then scored 57 on debut, and Jacques du Toit (64) gave the innings the impetus it needed. A career-best 127 not out from Goolam Bodi gave Easterns slight hope but time was running out. At the close of play they were 131 runs short with three wickets to spare. It was a gallant but vain chase.The match in Bloemfontein between Free State and KwaZulu-Natal ended in a stale-mate after the Natal openers put on an undefeated 159, chasing 337. James Henderson (57) and Corne Linde, scoring 51 on debut, had made an attempt to get Free State into a position to set a target but the declaration came far too late. With Natal not taking the bait and Free State unable to take any wickets, the game petered out into a dull draw with both captains agreeing to an early finish.