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Wasim Akram has spotted bowlers trying to alter the discolour the ball in places which have red soil, so as to affect its visibility under lights

Cricinfo staff16-Apr-2010Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan fast bowler and current bowling coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders, has said players in the IPL have been actively tampering with the ball, making it difficult for batsmen to sight it in the later stages of the innings. Akram said he has spotted bowlers rubbing red soil on the ball in places like Mumbai, Rajasthan and Ahmedabad once the floodlights take effect, thereby reducing its visibility when the batsmen are looking to accelerate.”I won’t name anyone but I have seen quite a few cricketers who have been rubbing mud on the ball and that is also tampering,” Akram told espnstar.com. ” If umpires are not watching then I don’t know who is. In this IPL, umpires should look for players who are putting mud on the ball because you can’t alter the state of the ball with anything.”Around the 18th, 19th over in places like Rajasthan, Mumbai or Ahmedabad where there is red soil it is difficult to see the ball under lights and by putting the mud on the ball these players are trying to contain the batsmen or get wickets.”However, Akram denied that rubbing mud on the ball would result in reverse swing. He added that the practice of spinners vigorously running their hands over mud before bowling does not amount to tampering. “That is different, that is just to get some grip on the ball but here someone is just going berserk rubbing the mud on the ball,” he said.Akram’s claims have been denied by Shane Warne, the Rajasthan Royals captain. “I don’t agree with it. I have been hearing this for the first time. You better ask Akram. Maybe he is an expert on this,” Warne said.Akram took over his position with the franchise at the start of this season and is the only Pakistani involved in the IPL. One of the team’s strike bowlers, Ishant Sharma, has struggled in the tournament, picking seven wickets from as many games at an expensive economy rate of 9.44 and conceding 33 runs per wicket. Akram admitted that the fast bowler was struggling to find his rhythm but backed him to bounce back.”He is out of rhythm but is working extremely hard. He just needs a couple of good games and the rhythm will be back,” Akram said. “Ishant feels his run-up is not smooth and the rhythm is not there. He just needs to bowl in the nets, which he is doing, and which will help him get the rhythm back. He is getting wickets but in T20 it is difficult to regain form because, unlike Test matches and ODIs, there are just four overs bowled here and that too on dead tracks.”He said a county stint would help Ishant immensely. ” I think he will be playing for Hampshire this season. And that will improve his bowling and organisational skills because in England he will be alone,” Akram said. “When I was 21, I used to get up at one o’ clock because at this age you tend to sleep late and he does the same which is fine with me. But in county cricket, he won’t get time to rest so much because he will be traveling and bowling everyday. In the process his bowling muscles will get stronger which will help increase his pace.”When asked about up and coming fast bowlers who have impressed him in his coaching stint, Akram singled out the Under-19 left-arm seamer Jaidev Unadkat. “This young kid in our side, Jaidev Unadkat, is the one to watch out for. He is lean like I was when I was 17-18, he can swing the ball both ways and he is hard working. I think we will hear about him in about a couple of years.”

Sachin Tendulkar has defended the Indian team following their early exit from the World Twenty20 after losing three straight games in the Super Eights stage

Cricinfo staff13-May-2010Sachin Tendulkar has defended the Indian team following their early exit from the World Twenty20 after losing three straight games in the Super Eights stage. He called on fans to retain their faith in Indian players, a significant number of whom had been a part of the team that won the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007.”There will be ups and downs but you just have to have your faith in players because the same lot got us the World Cup,” Tendulkar told reporters in Chandigarh. “We should not forget that we are still the number one team in the world.”The players have been training hard. They know and understand their responsibilities. Sometimes thing clicks, sometimes not.”One of the reasons suggested for India’s disappointing performance has been the possible effect of the IPL, but Tendulkar said the league had its advantages. “I mean there are both advantages and disadvantages and it depends on how you see it. From my point of view, I think IPL gives opportunities to out-of-form players to return to form,” he said.”In IPL, we Mumbai Indians played so well but in the final things didn’t work out for us. So it can happen to anyone. All I can say is that the players need support so that they can start fresh again and look to deliver better results.”I know it’s disappointing but it has not happened for the first time and it would not be the last time either. The game has its uncertainties. We have to see how we can do better.”Tendulkar’s comments came on the same day that coach Gary Kirsten was severely critical of some of the players “fitness and commitment” at the World Twenty20.

Having conceded 29 goals in 17 Premier League games so far this season, it’s safe to say that Everton could do with adding some defensive reinforcements to their squad sooner rather than later.

The upcoming January transfer window could well provide the Merseyside club with the best opportunity to do just that so they can try to improve their form in the second half of the campaign.

In a recent Everton-themed transfer mailbag report from The Athletic, Toffees journalist Greg O’Keefe was discussing the possibility of the club making a move to sign Norwich City right-back Max Aarons, with whom the Blues have been linked in the past, during the upcoming window.

He said: “With plenty of room to improve in age terms, he might be a good addition but it remains to be seen whether Everton will be able to spend another fee similar to what they’ve agreed for [Vitaliy] Mykolenko.”

Having signed Ben Godfrey from Norwich last year in a deal worth a reported £20m, with him going on to cement himself in the team by making 51 appearances across all competitions, the club now has the chance to replicate this sort of deal, this time with Aarons as a young defender from Norwich who has the capacity to make a long-term impact at Everton.

Having been praised in the past by Jon Newsome for delivering some “outstanding” performances for the Canaries, the 21-year-old could potentially one day become a long-term replacement for Everton’s 33-year-old captain Seamus Coleman at right-back given the age gap between the two players.

In terms of a potential move to Everton in January, it would be hard to see Norwich being particularly willing to let Aarons leave halfway through the season as they are trying to avoid relegation. Indeed, the £19.8m-rated youngster has played more minutes than anyone else at Carrow Road in the Premier League this season, showing how important he is to Dean Smith’s side.

Either way, Everton should definitely explore the possibility of trying to secure a deal with Norwich for Aarons in January. If the Canaries aren’t willing to let him go next month, the Toffees could wait until the summer to see if the situation would be any different.

In other news: Benitez must finally axe £92k-p/w Everton flop, he’s stealing a living

Now that the 2022 January transfer window has opened, this will spark a flurry of potential transfer deals across a range of clubs as they aim to strengthen their squads.

At Aston Villa, it has previously been reported that manager Steven Gerrard will be given the backing from the owners to make whatever changes to the club that he thinks will benefit them in terms of bringing new players in.

With this in mind, it could prove to be a very busy month for the Midlands club, on and off the pitch.

After making just nine Premier League appearances for Villa since joining on loan from Manchester United back in August, and with just eight minutes of league action since Gerrard’s took over from Dean Smith as Villa’s manager in November, it seems as though Axel Tuanzebe could be on his way out of the club.

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano recently shared a post on his official Twitter account claiming that a deal has been worked out between United and Napoli that will see Tuanzebe spend the rest of the season on loan with the Italian club.

Taking this into account, it could be worth Villa bringing a new defender in to take Tuanzebe’s place in the squad so they aren’t depleted in that area.

Having been linked with a transfer move for Liverpool centre-back Joe Gomez in recent weeks, this update about Tuanzebe could now pave the way for Villa and Gerrard to finally secure a deal for the defender, who is currently picking up a weekly wage of £85k-per-week according to Salary Sport, and bring him to Villa Park.

With a total of 82 appearances in the Premier League, Gomez would certainly bring a decent amount of experience with him to Villa as well as an elite winning mentality having won the Premier League and Champions League during his time at Anfield.

Labelled as a “sensational” player in the past by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, Gomez has found regular game time in the Premier League hard to come by this season with just three fairly short substitute appearances under his belt so far, which could result in a move to Villa being quite tempting for him if he’d get regular playing time under Gerrard’s guidance.

Moving forward, if Tuanzebe is set to leave Villa in the coming days, the club should be turning their attention to securing a deal for Gomez as soon as they can so the team doesn’t suffer should any of their other defenders end up with injuries or a positive virus test.

In other news: Forget Trezeguet: NSWE dropped AVFC transfer clanger with “horrible” £5.4m-rated dud – opinion

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has called for consistency in team selection to bring stability to the side and allow the players to develop

Cricinfo staff11-Jun-2010Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has called for consistency in team selection to bring stability to the side and allow the players to develop. He drew comparisons with Zimbabwe, who have stuck with the same group of players over the last few years and recently notched up wins over India and Sri Lanka in the ODI tri-series at home.”We have been a young side for the last ten years,” Shakib told reporters in Dhaka following his team’s return from the tour of England. “The players have not been given a chance to settle down. You should take a look at Zimbabwe, how they are getting results having persisted with one set of players for the past 4-5 years.”Bangladesh were beaten 2-0 in the Test series against England, with the low point being the batting debacle in Manchester where they were bowled out in a single session to lose the second Test by an innings. While acknowledging the team’s fragility in batting, Shakib referred to problems with the bowling as well.”Everyone knows that we did well in the first Test but not the second game,” he said. “Not just avoid the follow-on, we were in a position to score big in the first innings but we failed. The bowling wasn’t too good in the series either,” he said.The team’s lone success in the series was Tamim Iqbal, who scored two stunning centuries. He, too, was critical of the rest of the team’s performance. “From my point of view it was a good series. Two centuries and a half-century in English conditions is not a simple task but as far as the team is concerned, it wasn’t such a good series.”It is quite sad that the middle and lower order didn’t perform and this became our problem (in England), making our performance in the two Tests inconsistent.”As for his animated celebrations after scoring a century at Lord’s, Tamim confirmed he was signalling Pete, the dressing-room attendant, to put his name up on the honour’s board. “Ever since bhaiya (Nafees Iqbal) told me that there is an honour’s board in Lord’s where the centurion’s name is etched forever, I wanted to score there.”

Tottenham Hotspur are eyeing up their first January signing, according to emerging reports…

What’s the word?

90min claim that the north London outfit are among the teams interested in a move for Inter Milan midfielder Stefano Sensi this month.

The club are said to be working hard on bolstering Antonio Conte’s playing squad and the 26-year-old has emerged as a viable candidate for a loan move before the January 31st deadline.

Sensi’s stint at the San Siro has been blighted by injury but he’s a player that the Italian head coach knows well from his time there and it is thought that Conte is a big admirer of his, too.

The eight-cap Italy international is currently valued at £7.2m by Transfermarkt.

Conte’s new Pirlo?

Despite standing at a diminutive 5 foot 6 inches, Sensi has earned huge comparisons to that of Juventus legend Andrea Pirlo, due to him being deployed in a similar deep-lying playmaker role.

Meanwhile, the Italian himself claims that Xavi has been a major source of influence on his career. “I have always loved him. If I ever met him, I would tell him that he has always been my idol and that his plays have enlightened me. I have watched all of his games,” he revealed in a matchday programme against Fiorentina (via Sempre Inter).

“He is good, technical, fast and also has personality,” once claimed Gil Azzurri head coach Roberto Mancini to La Gazetta dello Sport.

WhoScored lists Sensi’s key abilities as being his chance creation through key passes, his passing ability overall – particularly with slotting in through balls – and his defensive capability to win the ball back through interceptions.

Indeed, throughout his time in Italy, having also played for Sassuolo, the 26-year-old dynamo has averaged 1.9 key passes and 1.5 interceptions, as well as an 87.1% passing accuracy per 90 minutes.

Conte utilised Pirlo to great effect during his time in Turin, particularly the 2013/14 title-winning season, when the veteran featured regularly from a deep-midfield position as he dictated many a game.

Sensi can fit this mould over in north London.

Former Sassuolo head coach Roberto De Zerbi claimed that the 26-year-old “could control a game like Xavi, but instead he reminds me of Andres Iniesta”, whilst Spanish journalist David de la Pena described his technique as “crazy” as he “knows how to dribble and how to shoot”.

On the above evidence, Sensi would surely be a welcome addition at Spurs, so sporting director Fabio Paratici would be wise to push ahead with plans to sign him this month. He could well hand Conte another Pirlo-like beast in midfield.

AND in other news, Sky Sports reporter drops huge Spurs transfer claim live on air, fans will be buzzing…

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has been pleased by the unity of purpose shown by those involved in running cricket in the country

Cricinfo staff15-Jun-2010ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, who recently visited Zimbabwe with ICC president David Morgan to meet with Zimbabwe Cricket officials, has been pleased by the unity of purpose shown by those involved in running cricket in the country, and believes that a gradual return to Test cricket by the national team is only a matter of time.”The biggest change has been the togetherness of everybody working for Zimbabwe cricket in the same direction,” Lorgat told Cricinfo’s Switch Hit podcast. “Everybody seems to be on the same page. There’s no doubt they want to see the team starting to perform well. So everybody is doing the right thing.”What was quite encouraging for me was that many if not all of the recommendations that we had made in early 2009 following the task team visit in November 2008 have been very enthusiastically adopted by the Zimbabwe board. I’m pleased that people have taken on board those recommendations. They all seem to be working together, from across the spectrum among Zimbabweans, they seem to be working in the same direction.”Peter Chingoka, the Zimbabwe Cricket chairman, has said Zimbabwe are looking to return to Test cricket in 2011 with a home series against Bangladesh, while New Zealand are talking positively about resuming ties, but it will still be some time before they engage the strongest teams in the five-day game”What was also quite heartening from listening to the key Zimbabwe board directors was that they understood that they needed to progress over a period of time,” Lorgat explained. “So playing some of the top sides is not on their horizon at the moment. They really want to play against teams they can compete with, and that’s why Bangladesh is being mentioned, and I think that’s in the planning stage.”That view was echoed by Zimbabwe Cricket’s managing director, Ozias Bvute, who said that Zimbabwe are hoping to play against the lower ranked Test sides and the A sides of the stronger nations as they look to gain experience of different conditions and re-establish themselves in the world game.”It would be premature for us to jump straight into a normal playing schedule like all the other nations,” he said. “Instead we are working on a new calendar which will hopefully see us play Bangladesh, West Indies and then New Zealand over the next two years. We are yet to approach any of these boards with our request though we would like Bangladesh to play in a Test match here in Zimbabwe soon after the 2011 World Cup ends in April next year.””We will engage the rest of the cricketing world with the objective of playing once-off fixtures in Zimbabwe over a period. We recognize that in the short term, it may not be commercially viable for the other nations to have Zimbabwe touring but we will engage them with the prospect of allowing our national team to play their A sides in their countries. This will allow our team to familiarize themselves with other playing conditions and ultimately gain more experience.”Bvute suggested that Zimbabwe could return to a normal cricketing schedule in five to six years, and that while recent results have been encouraging, a lot of work still needs to be put in before the team can be consistently competitive.”The gradual re-entry is intentional to allow our cricketers to build confidence and gain momentum,” he explained. “Supreme to all this is the integrity of the results such that they are reflective of competitive cricket matches. Crucial to us is that we set out a re-entry programme that is gradual and responsible and that will allow us to assess ourselves over a period of time. It will not happen overnight.”

Aston Villa have wrapped up their second signing of the January transfer window with the arrival of Lucas Digne being confirmed by the club’s official channels.

It didn’t take the Midlands club too long to spring into action this month to help manager Steven Gerrard strengthen his Premier League squad with the loan signing of Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona as well.

Despite not even hitting the midway point of the month yet, it appears as though the club could be set to announce a new player at Villa Park very soon.

What’s the latest?

In a recent Twitter post from journalist and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, he revealed that Digne had signed his contract to become a Villa player in a deal worth an apparent fee of €27m (£22.5m).

The official announcement then took place on Thursday morning as the left-back was proudly unveiled as Gerrard’s latest signing.

Lange masterclass

Since joining Everton back in the 2018 summer transfer window from Barcelona in a deal worth £18m, the left-back made 127 appearances for the Merseyside club across all competitions, with 113 of those appearances coming in the Premier League, highlighting the vast experience that he’ll be able to offer Gerrard’s side.

With six goals and 20 assists under his belt during his time at Goodison Park, the Frenchman will also be able to provide Villa with another attacking outlet from the left-back position, more so than current Villa full-back Matt Targett, who only has three goals and five assists in 89 appearances for the club across all competitions.

Digne’s situation at Everton eventually became unpleasant after a reported falling out with manager Rafa Benitez last month. As a result, for Johan Lange to pounce so quickly on a player from a league rival, especially one as experienced and capable as Digne is nothing short of a masterclass from the recruitment team.

He is a player with plenty of knowledge of the Premier League, and like Coutinho, should be able to impose himself on Gerrard’s side in a swift fashion. This has been a tremendous window so far for the Villans with Lange really demonstrating how good he can be in the market when given money to spend.

Moving forward, if Digne can hit the ground running at Villa and cement himself as an important figure in the team, this will give Gerrard’s side a big boost for the remainder of the season and potentially push them into the top half of the table if he can add some goals and assists to his tally for the season.

In other news: this Villa target could be joining their Premier League rivals…

The Australian and New Zealand chairmen are united in their anger at not being given a reason for John Howard’s scratching as ICC vice-president

Peter English30-Jun-2010The Australian and New Zealand chairmen are united in their anger at not being given a reason for John Howard’s scratching as ICC vice-president and embarrassed that such a decorated candidate has been refused. New Zealand Cricket’s Alan Isaac and Cricket Australia’s Jack Clarke were “gutted” after being asked by the board to nominate another option by August.”It’s incredibly disappointing that a man of John Howard’s stature has been knocked off from this job,” Clarke said from Singapore. “A person who has been such an eminent person and who has been through the most exhaustive process ever to get this job.”The opposition to Howard, who needed seven votes from the 10 major nations, began formally with a letter signed by six board members on Tuesday night. Resistance to the idea was so strong there was no point in having a ballot.”There were no reasons given and that’s part of the frustration Jack and I have in this whole process,” Isaac said. “[There has been] lots of discussion but we’re unable to ascertain a reason for the lack of support for our nomination. It’s just not acceptable.”Howard, who was pursued by Cricket Australia to nominate for the position, was “extremely upset” when told of the veto. “When you put up someone through a process, someone as eminent as John, I don’t think embarrassed is strong enough [to describe the way you feel],” Clarke said. “Just gutted that the ICC has ignored the chance.”A disappointed Howard admitted his political past could have been the problem. “Even in private discussions they are very reluctant to give a particular reason,” Howard told Australia’s Sky News. “It’s a very unusual situation… I’m disappointed at the outcome. I wanted to do this job. I thought I could do it well and I would have devoted my full time to it.”Both Isaac and Clarke addressed the executive board during meetings over the past two days, with Clarke telling the members that Howard could not have been prime minister of Australia for 11 years without having ability. The pleas were ignored and the decision has exposed the reopening of a gulf between the Australia-New Zealand-England group and the Asia-Africa alliance.Opposition to Howard’s appointment began with his recommendation in March, with supporters of Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka early critics of the move before South Africa and India provided their influential support. Howard was a critic of Robert Mugabe’s regime and refused to let Australia go there in 2007, while in 2004 he called Muttiah Muralitharan a chucker.There was also a backlash in New Zealand after their candidate Sir John Anderson was overlooked for “a non-cricket person”. An independent committee had been required to break the deadlock between Howard and Anderson, the two boards’ preferred options.Anderson has not been spoken to about replacing Howard and Isaac had no idea whether he would be interested. Despite the failure to advance Howard, Isaac remained comfortable with the selection.”Both of the candidates were very able,” Isaac said. “The recommendation for Howard was on his experience,” he said. “John Howard also had the time [to do the job], which was one of the issues the nomination committee had with John Anderson.”Isaac and Clarke are adamant the appointment process, which is under its fourth design since 1992, followed the ICC constitution. A region-based, rotational method was introduced to avoid these types of issues.”If you keep having processes that don’t work or aren’t allowed to work, I’m not sure how they go from there,” Clarke said. “I’ll have to go back to my board who will be pretty angry, very angry. Alan will need to go back to his board and then we’ll need to get together and work out where we go from there.”There are no threats of boycotting meetings, holding grudges through Future Tour Programme planning or refusing to re-nominate a candidate. But when asked if anything had occurred at ICC board level that was more insulting to Australia and New Zealand, Clarke replied: “This has got to be in the grand final.”

West Ham United have seen a second offer rejected in their attempts to bring Valentin Castellanos to the London Stadium in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Italian media outlet TuttoMercatoWeb (via Sport Witness), who claimed that, after seeing an initial €8m (£6.7m) offer for the New York City FC centre-forward refused by the Major League Soccer side, West Ham subsequently submitted an improved €10m (£8.5m) bid for the 23-year-old.

However, the report added that this offer has also been refused by the American club, and at present it is unclear whether David Moyes and Rob Newman will make a third bid for the Argentina under-23 international.

Perfect Gabigol alternative

Considering just how impressive Castellanos was for New York City last season, the 23-year-old would very much appear to be a perfect alternative to another of West Ham’s reported attacking targets this month, namely Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa.

Indeed, over his 35 MLS appearances last year, the £6.3m-rated striker was in astonishing form for Ronny Deila’s side, scoring a whopping 22 goals, registering eight assists and creating eight big chances for his team-mates, as well as taking 4.1 shots and making 1.1 key passes per game.

These returns saw the £3.5k-per-week marksman earn an extraordinary seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.28, ranking him as the 21st-best player in the MLS in 2021.

Furthermore, Pep Guardiola is also clearly a huge fan of the Argentine striker, with the Manchester City manager stating of Castellanos: “I think he is a guy whose next step will be in Europe. What I’ve seen, and when the scouting department talk to me, I think he is a quality player ready to make the next step. We will see where.”

As such, while NYCFC seem to be playing hardball regarding the future of the 23-year-old this month, it would appear that a deal for Castellanos will nevertheless be much cheaper to get over the line than the club’s 18-month loan and €30m (£25m) option-to-buy offer which is currently on the table for Gabigol.

Also, when taking into account the Argentine’s goalscoring record in the MLS last season, he could well be just as promising a coup as his Brazilian counterpart in any case.

In other news – “I spoke to…”: ExWHUemployee drops huge West Ham transfer claim, fans will be fuming