All posts by h716a5.icu

Gerald Dros will captain two South African ‘A’ teams to play India ‘A’ in one-day games in Lenasia on April 18 and in Benoni on April 22

CricInfo Reporter13-Apr-2002Gerald Dros will captain two South African ‘A’ teams to play India ‘A’ in one-day games in Lenasia on April 18 and in Benoni on April 22.The teams are:SA ‘A’ v India ‘A’ in Lenasia:Loots Bosman (Griqualand West), Jacques Rudolph (Northerns), Martin van Jaarsveld (Northerns), Justin Ontong (Boland), Hashim Amla (KwaZulu-Natal), Gerald Dros (captain, Northerns), Gulam Bodi (KwaZulu-Natal),Thami Tsolekile (Western Province), Justin Kemp (Eastern Province),Brendan Reddy (Easterns), Andre Nel (Easterns). 12th Man to be confirmedSA ‘A’ v India ‘A’ in Benoni:Loots Bosman (Griqualand West), Ashwell Prince (Western Province), Ahmed Amla (KwaZulu-Natal), Justin Ontong (Boland), Hashim Amla (KwaZulu-Natal), Gerald Dros (captain, Northerns), Gulam Bodi (KwaZulu-Natal), Thami Tsolekile (Western Province), Justin Kemp (Eastern Province), Brendan Reddy (Easterns), Andre Nel (Easterns). 12th Man to be confirmed

Tottenham Hotspur legend Graham Roberts insists that the club will not let Tanguy Ndombele leave the club on the cheap amid links with Real Madrid.

Football Insider reported earlier this month that the Spanish club are keen on signing the France international this summer.

Spurs are said to have been approached by Real, with the club well aware of their heightened interest in the midfielder.

Ndombele has endured a relatively inconsistent season, making 28 starts in the Premier League, but completing the 90 minutes just six times.

He has scored three goals and registered two assists but has struggled for minutes in recent weeks, playing just 34 minutes in the final four games of the season. He was not included in the squad against Leicester City on the final day of the season as Spurs won 4-2.

Roberts, though, says that Spurs will not let Ndombele go on the cheap, having paid £53.8m to bring him in from Lyon.

Speaking exclusively to This Is Futbol, he said: “I think there’s a few who can go. But it all depends on the manager.

“The manager is going to come in, they’re not going to sell Ndombele for £20 million. They’ll want their money back.

“If Real Madrid think he’s that good, they’ve got to pay the money.”

Somerset County Cricket Club have just announced that the 38 County match between the Somerset Board XI and Devon that was scheduled to be played at the County Ground on Sunday has been switched to Exmouth

Richard Walsh24-May-2002Somerset County Cricket Club have just announced that the 38 County match between the Somerset Board XI and Devon that was scheduled to be played at the County Ground on Sunday has been switched to Exmouth.Board XI manager Peter Robinson told me: "The ground here is so wet that there is little chance of us playing the match on Sunday, so we have agreed to transfer it to Exmouth Cricket Club, where they don’t seem to have had so much bad weather."The Board manager has also added all rounder Pete Trego and fast bowler Joe Tucker to the squad for the match which gets underway at 11 am.

Leicester City have been linked with a move for Burnley defender James Tarkowski ahead of the upcoming transfer window.

What’s the story?

According to Lancs Live, the Turf Moor outfit are anticipating renewed interest in their centre-back after another impressive campaign.

Brendan Rodgers’ charges tabled a bid for Tarkowski last summer, along with West Ham United, but both offers were rejected after failing to match Burnley’s £50m asking price.

Rodgers needs him

The Foxes missed out on a top-four finish by a single point in the recently-concluded campaign after a final day defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

Injuries to all of Leicester’s key centre-backs throughout the season hampered the progress of the 2016 Premier League champions, with Jonny Evans, Wesley Fofana and Caglar Soyuncu all spending significant periods on the sidelines.

Their lack of strength in depth, combined with the departure of club captain Wes Morgan, has left the Midlands outfit prioritising a new defender this summer, meaning that another move for Tarkowski is expected.

The Leicester Mercury claimed that the Rodgers’ men are favourite to secure the England international’s signature over the coming months as the Northern Irish manager looks to bolster his first team squad for next season.

Tarkowski has won many plaudits for his impressive displays since arriving at Burnley back in 2016, earing high praise from his manager after a standout performance on his debut.

“Keano (Michael Keane) often gets the story, but that’s Tarky’s first Premier League start, I think that’s outstanding, to play against someone like (Christian) Benteke, get hit by a lighter, stay focused, get the job done,” Dyche said.

“I’m not interested in talking about Keano because Tarky’s been absolutely outstanding.”

Since then, the £22.5m-rated beast has gone from strength to strength, making 182 appearances for the Lancashire side as they’ve continued to defy expectations and maintain their Premier League status.

It’s no surprise that the Burnley hierarchy are trying to convince Tarkowski to extend his current contract with the club, which is set to expire in the summer of 2022.

“We have open lines of communication with him and his agent, as we do with all the players, and as far as I’m concerned he’s a Burnley player,” Dyche recently revealed.

“Contractual situations are private and personal, or they should be, they’re often not, but he’s been fantastic. He (Tarkowski) knows my thoughts on his future here, he knows I want him here. He knows his contract is where it is, everyone knows that, but he’ll be here as far as I’m concerned, it’s simple

“If someone wants to write a cheque for an immeasurable amount then that might be different, but at the moment he’s a Burnley player, and he’s done very well again for us this season. He’s a quality player.”

It remains to be seen whether Leicester can finally land their man this time around, but with Morgan’s departure and Rodgers’ ambitious hopes, director of football Jon Rudkin must do all he can to land Tarkowski as the Foxes attempt to secure a Champions League qualification spot at the end of next season.

In other news… Leicester City must seal swoop for 13-assist speed-demon, Rodgers needs him 

Links between Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Ruben Neves and Arsenal appear to be ‘agent-led’.

That’s according to Chris Wheatley, a Gunners correspondent for football.london.

The Athletic reported on Sunday that Arsenal were ‘admirers’ of the Portuguese international, and contact was said to have been made between the two clubs.

Wolves are apparently ‘open to a sizeable sale’ as they look to raise funds for the post-Nuno Espirito Santo era at Molineux, but Wheatley suggests that Neves’ representative Jorge Mendes may have been behind the latest story.

Recapping Neves’ stint at Molineux

The 24-year-old was to set to bring up 200 Wolves appearances during the 2021/22 season. Since joining in 2017 for what was a Championship record fee of £15.8m, Neves has played 176 times for the club.

He featured 40 times in all competitions last term, scoring five goals as his side finished 13th in the Premier League, and is valued at £40.5m by Transfermarkt.

Wolves fans respond to latest Ruben Neves development

Fan feed Talking Wolves relayed the Mendes claim, and here’s what supporters made of it, with some directing their at the agent for his apparent meddling in the midfielder’s future and one calling on executive chairman Jeff Shi to intervene.

“Time to get Mendes away from this club. For last 2 years he has been overselling us players and is now stripping the club on the cheap. Ask Valencia, Porto and others how Mendes ruins clubs”

Credit: @Kebab_Efendi

“Jeff it’s time to rein in Mendes and tell him who actually runs the club”

Credit: @PaulBeest

“Thanks Mendes bro”

Credit: @Lem_WWFC

“Mendes and Ruben himself”

Credit: @dmarsden1988

“Uncle Jorge”

Credit: @alexwwfc_

“Neves wants a move to Arsenal, who wants a player who wants out”

Credit: @satsomboon

In other news, many Wolves fans were buzzing after this transfer update concerning two La Liga stars.  

If former South African coach Graham Ford wishes his successor Eric Simons anything, it is mostly that his bowlers stay fit

Peter Robinson14-Jun-2002If former South African coach Graham Ford wishes his successor Eric Simons anything, it is mostly that his bowlers stay fit. "It helps if you’ve got a settled attack," reflected Ford this week. "It helps quite a lot."Ford, who is weighing up his future options as he negotiates a settlement with the United Cricket Board, is as well-placed as any to understand the pressures and demands that will now placed on the shoulders on the 40-year-old Simons as South Africa head into a summer that includes the 2003 World Cup."I’ve spoken to Eric about coaching quite a few times," said Ford this week. "We have similar views on a number of things. I think he’s a quality coach and I wish him everything of the best. But it will be important to him to stick to his principles and the methods that got him the job in the first place."He’s going to experience a lot of pressure from the outside, from ex-players, the media, the public and administrators as he steps up into the spotlight and the simple truth is that you can’t please all these different people."In a sense it’s a bit like the things you tell young players when they make the step up: you’ve got where you are now by doing things a certain way so don’t try and make yourself a different player. Stick to what you know and what works for you," said Ford.In one respect, Simons may a significant advantage over Ford. "The way I understand it from what I’ve read, Eric’s role has been much more clearly defined. He’ll play a significant role in planning strategy and he’ll be working with knowledgeable people. If he can get the right strategy and the selectors give him the players to implement this strategy, South Africa will have an excellent chance of winning the World Cup."Also in Simons’ favour, suggests Ford, will be the relationships he already has with the Western Province members of the national team."I know I was criticised at times for being `too friendly’ with the Natal players. I think it was unjustified. If you come out of a provincial set-up you have those relationships and you use them to build relationships with the other guys in the team. I can assure you, and it will be the same for Eric, that when you’re in the job, the last thing you think about is petty provincialism. You just want the team to win."Ford believes that notwithstanding the results against Australia during the past summer, South Africa have to be counted among the favourites to win the World Cup.""Look at our record at home. You have to go back to when Australia were last here, back in 1997, for a defeat at home. And over the past few years, we haven’t just been beating other countries, we’ve been hammering them."Apart from ourselves and Australia, I’ve always admired the way Sri Lanka play one-day cricket, but a lot will depend on how well the adjust to our conditions. Pakistan have the firepower to use the new bouncer rule in our conditions, but they’re always an enigma. They often seem divided among themselves and you don’t know how their problems at home, with tours being cancelled, will affect them. Maybe they’ll be a little short of cricket, maybe the problems will pull them together."New Zealand are very much a team and their success is always a team effort. They have a game plan and they stick to it, but I’m not sure they have the individual players capable of taking games away from teams like South Africa. India have fantastic batsmen and if they progress in the World Cup they’ll be fantastic to watch because it will mean their batters are firing, but I don’t know if they have the attack to win the World Cup in South African conditions."In a different way I don’t know that England could go all the way. They’re an improving team, but I don’t know about winning the World Cup."South Africa’s prospects, though, could depend on how well the attack functions."I think that’s where we fell short last season. If you look at how settled the Australian attack was compared to how many guys we used, there was quite a big difference. We had injury problems, of course. Someone like Mfuneko Ngam was not available while when we got to Australia guys like Allan Donald and Nantie Hayward had been troubled by injury and they, along with someone like Steve Elworthy, weren’t quite sure what roles they were expected to fill."We batted well enough a lot of times, but our bowling often couldn’t contain the Australians. If we can get the bowling settled and firing, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t win the World Cup."

England’s man of the match Ronnie Irani was thrilled with his team’s win in the dress rehearsal for the NatWest Series Final at The AMP Oval

Stephen Lamb09-Jul-2002England’s man of the match Ronnie Irani was thrilled with his team’s win in the dress rehearsal for the NatWest Series Final at The AMP Oval. The Essex all-rounder hit 53 in England’s total of 229 for eight and then took five for 26, before taking the catch that ended the Indian innings on 165.”It went well didn’t it?” Irani said. “The play by Alec Stewart was superb behind the stumps. It really went well for England today and hopefully it will on Saturday as well.”You want to achieve and you know at the highest level you have responsibility wherever you are asked to bat.”Irani’s captain and Essex team-mate Nasser Hussain regarded England’s performance as a substantial improvement on last Sunday, when they were beaten by Sri Lanka.”We were very good today,” Hussain said. “I was very pleased, it was a good toss to win, Knight and Trescothick went about it the right way, in factso did everyone who batted.”It was a good score on there then we bowled well and took our catches as well. A few words were said after the last game but on the whole they know they’re playing some good cricket.”We just kept having these mad half-hours but today we had some very goodhalf-hours. A final at Lord’s is completely different and we will have to go back to basics for a 50-overs game, but we got a lot of confidence from our display here.”India captain Sourav Ganguly said: “I thought England played pretty well, they were better in all departments today.”Asked about Anil Kumble’s fitness, Ganguly said: “He’s just got cramps in hiscalf. I don’t know exactly what happened to him, we will just have to see how he is.”

According to a report by Turkish newspaper Fotomac, via Sport Witness, Super Lig giants Galatasaray could open official talks to sign West Ham United forward Andriy Yarmolenko.

Yarmolenko barely featured for the Hammers over 2020/2021 due to a combination of injury problems and falling further down the pecking order.

Indeed, the Ukrainian finished last campaign with just one Premier League start – with his main contributions coming in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup competitions early on.

Nevertheless, he continues to be a drain on the wage books at West Ham and their highest earner overall – taking home a reported £115,000-per-week.

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As a result, with this news emerging of Galatasaray’s intentions, many Hammers fans are eager to see Yarmolenko leave the London Stadium three years after his arrival.

Flocking to the development on social media, Irons supporters dropped a variety of takes on the 94-cap international – find all of their best ones down below.

West Ham fans flock to Yarmolenko development

“I pray”

Credit: @EthanP48445025

“Sell Sell Sell”

Credit: @Greggjf1

“PLEASEEEEEEE”

Credit: @WHUsensei

“Buzzing isn’t the right word”

Credit: @westhamtransfer

“I’ll pay a taxi right now”

Credit: @joelitt78828048

“I’ll drive him myself”

Credit: @TalkinWestHam

“I will carry him on my back if I have to”

Credit: @TallDeclan

“I will pay for the taxi”

Credit: @raphtweetr

In other news: West Ham want to sign this ‘dangerous’ 25-goal monster, find out more here.

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith could land Jack Grealish’s dream partner in Arsenal starlet Emile Smith Rowe this summer.

What’s the story?

According to recent reports from The Telegraph, the England U21 international has emerged as a transfer target for Smith’s side, with the play-maker yet to sign a new deal at the Emirates.

And in the last couple of days, The Athletic have revealed that Villa actually submitted a £25m bid in an attempt to entice the Gunners into selling, but that offer has now been rejected.

Imagine him and Grealish

Speaking on the Pitch to Post Preview Podcast, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp said: “Emile Smith Rowe has come in and been a revelation. They needed someone to light the flame, give them that spark.

“He’s an academy boy and you can see he’s doing a great job, the fans love him. I hope with Odegaard coming into the club, that doesn’t stop him being instrumental in what they’re doing. But I’ve been so impressed with him, I love his work ethic, I love the way he runs with the ball, he’s been a breath of fresh air for this team, exactly when they needed it.”

And, his former manager on loan at Huddersfield in the Championship a couple of seasons ago, Danny Cowley, even made some impressive comparisons with Grealish himself.

He said: “He has got that little bit of Jack Grealish about him. He’s got the ability to square defenders up and go past them like they’re not there. He’s so hard not to get excited about, he has potential to be world-class.”

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/aston-villa-dean-smith-transfer-window-premier-league-villa-park-emi-buendia-gregg-evans-gossip-rumours-update-news” title=”Read the latest Aston Villa transfer rumours and news!”]

The £43m-rated star could team up brilliantly with the Villa talisman, with his knack of beating players when one vs one and also with him having the awareness to pick out a final pass – last season, the England youth international picked up seven assists in both the Premier League and Europa League.

Villa look like they mean business this summer and despite having a first bid rejected for Smith Rowe, they should not end their pursuit. If the club want to take the next step and get into Europe, they’ll need more quality players and Smith Rowe is exactly that; a quality player.

Villa could strike absolute gold if they are able to complete a deal to sign the Arsenal man this summer.

Meanwhile, Villa must avoid selling this star this summer…

Somerset Second’s had the better of the final day of their championship match against Gloucestershire that ended yesterday

Richard Walsh13-Jul-2002Somerset Second’s had the better of the final day of their championship match against Gloucestershire that ended yesterday.Starting the day with a first innings lead of 4 runs, Somerset lost early wickets and seamed in danger of being dismissed cheaply until Scott Cunningham hit an impressive unbeaten 110 supported by triallist Rob Sloley who scored 55 to allow the Cidermen to declare on 263 for 9.Batting for a second time Gloucestershire had reached 56 for 1 before the game was called off as a draw.Somerset take 10 points and Gloucestershire 7 points.The Seconds are next in action on Wednesday when they travel to Knowle and Dorridge Cricket Club near Solihull to take on Warwickshire in a 3 day championship match.