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William Porterfield, the Ireland captain, hopes his team’s three-week tour to Jamaica will set them up for an impressive display at the World Twenty20

Cricinfo staff03-Apr-2010William Porterfield, the Ireland captain, hopes his team’s three-week tour to Jamaica will set them up for an impressive display at the World Twenty20. The squad arrived over the weekend to take part in the Jamaica Cricket Festival with involves a West Indies team, Canada as well as the hosts.Ireland have been grouped with West Indies and England during the initial phase of the World Twenty20, which starts on April 30, so this tournament will allow them an advanced look at a few of the West Indian players they will come up against.”Our main focus is to use this tournament to help in our build-up to the ICC Twenty20 World Cup and we are looking to getting some good cricket under our belt and getting into the winning mentality,” said Porterfield. “This is a good tough tournament and we are really looking forward to it.”Trent Johnston, Ireland’s opening bowler, will be a key figure at the World Twenty20 and admitted it will be good to get a few matches under his belt after a period of down time since the qualifiers in Dubai.”It’s been snowing for a couple of days [in Ireland] so a lot of our preparations have been indoors; gym work and that sort of thing,” said Johnston. “We have been on sort of a break for about five weeks or so since the end of the qualifiers for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup, so we are probably a little bit rusty, but nothing that a few training sessions or a good three-day game won’t iron out.”As a senior player, I’d like to lead from the front,” he added. “Wherever experience or a cool head is needed, I’d like to get in and benefit the team as best as I can. Hopefully it will go well and we will get our preparation right heading into the ICC World Twenty20.”For Ireland the trip back to Jamaica also allows them to recapture memories of their 2007 World Cup campaign when they famously beat Pakistan to progress to the Super Eights. During their time on the island three years ago the Irish supporters became a focal point of a tournament that wasn’t often renowned for its crowds.”It feels pretty good to be back here in Jamaica, we have a lot of good memories from here and now we’re looking forward to the cricket,” said Porterfield. “The supporters were definitely one of the real highlights of the last time that we were here with the crowds and the atmosphere that they create so we are looking forward to playing in front if them.”When it comes to the World Twenty20 itself Ireland will be able to tap into the local knowledge of their coach Phil Simmons and Porterfield will also be relying on him for information about the players they will face in the next few weeks.”We don’t know a lot about the Jamaican team and so we will be relying on coach Phil in that area…we’ll take it as it comes and adapt once the tournament starts,” he said.

Merry Christmas, Celtic fans!

Ange Postecoglou’s Christmas came early after he won his first piece of silverware as Celtic manager last weekend following a 2-1 win over Hibernian at Hampden Park in the Scottish League Cup final.

Kyogo Furuhashi, their number eight and record signing under Postecoglou, scored twice as the Hoops won for the first time under Postecoglou after conceding first.

We’ve prepared a Celtic-related quiz for you which will give you the chance to break up your day.

Are you good with player numbers? If so, take today’s quiz and try and see if you can get a full house regarding these former Hoops heroes.

We’ve given you four options for each player – all you have to do is select what number they wore during their time at Parkhead.

Some are fairly recent, while others will test your knowledge dating way back. Good luck, and remember to share your score once completed!

Rangers manager Gio van Bronckhorst is a matter of days away from entering his first transfer window in charge of the Ibrox giants.

One player the club are reportedly looking at signing is Racing Santander attacking Pablo Torre. The Daily Record recently claimed that they are scouting the teenager, alongside Real Madrid, and could swoop for him in 2022.

He is said to have a £4m release clause in his contract with the Spanish club, although it remains to be seen whether or not Rangers could negotiate a lower price.

Finally axe

By signing Torre in January, or next summer, Rangers could allow Scott Arfield to leave the club upon the expiry of his current deal. He is out of contract at the end of the season and signing a player who plays in his position could allow him to finally be axed from the squad.

Torre, who has been dubbed Racing’s “conductor”, has already played 47 times at senior level at the age of 18. He turns 19 in April 2022 and he has racked up seven goals and 11 assists to date from attacking midfield, showing that he can make a difference in the final third.

Arfield, who was compared to “Alex Rae” by ex-Ibrox boss Alex McLeish, has been deployed as an attacking midfielder under van Bronckhorst and he has scored twice in 13 Premiership outings this term, with zero assists to his name.

He has averaged 0.6 key passes per game and lost a whopping 65% of his duels on the pitch. This suggests that he is not offering a great deal of quality when it comes to the attacking or defensive side of the game. Although, his movement off the ball is impressive and his ability to make runs from deep can cause issues for the opposition, but his lack of end product is a cause for concern.

This is why signing Torre could lead to the Canadian being axed from the squad upon the expiry of his contract, or even being kicked to the bench or reserves for a season if he is handed an extension.

The young Spaniard could take up his spot in the side and look to have more of a tangible impact in terms of goals and assists, as he has done in Spain for Racing, whilst holding the potential to improve further at the age of 19.

He could be a signing for now and the future and that is why van Bronckhorst must sanction a £4m swoop for his services.

AND in other news, “I’m sure”: Reporter drops exciting Rangers transfer claim that’ll leave fans buzzing…

Australia’s captain Michael Clarke was pleased with the rounded nature of his team’s big win over Pakistan to give them a bright start to the ICC World Twenty20

Cricinfo staff03-May-2010Australia’s captain Michael Clarke was pleased with the rounded nature of his team’s big win over Pakistan to give them a bright start to the ICC World Twenty20. Australia posted 191, the best total in the tournament so far, before their fast men combined for eight wickets to confirm the 34-run victory.The triumph should be enough to see Australia through to the Super Eights, barring a disastrous loss to Bangladesh, and that would be a step in the right direction after they crashed out in the first round last year. Clarke said this year’s new-look squad was keen to prove itself in the shortest format.”There’s extra motivation from within the squad, we want to perform better in Twenty20 cricket then we have in general,” Clarke told reporters after the win. “I think our form has improved over the last 12 months and we’ve started really well. The key is going to be adapting to conditions and I think we’ve got a really good squad to do that.”It was a very good start from the boys. Obviously our batting sets the game up there, getting 191 runs. The bowlers did a great job as well in the first six overs up front and we caught really well as well.”The success of the pace trio of Shaun Tait, Dirk Nannes and Mitchell Johnson went against the expected trend of the tournament, with the pitches having proved slow and low so far. Nathan Hauritz did not play against Pakistan and Clarke used the spin of David Hussey and Steven Smith instead, but he is happy with the options in his group.”All four fast bowlers in our squad are not just four fast bowlers who just run in and bowl at the same pace, and bowl the same ball every ball,” Clarke said. “They’ve got great variation, great pace and the key for those guys is their execution which they did really well today.”We’ve got two really good spinners in our squad, a couple of all-rounders and there’s a couple of us average part-timers who will bowl a couple of overs here and there. I think the strength of this squad is that we have a plan B, which a lot of other teams don’t have.”Pakistan defeated Bangladesh on Saturday, which means that only a healthy Bangladesh win over Australia in Barbados on Wednesday will prevent Pakistan and Australia from progressing. But after Australia’s warm-up loss to Zimbabwe, Clarke said the team would be taking no chances against Bangladesh.”Any team in this competition has a great opportunity,” he said. “We got beaten by Zimbabwe a couple of days ago. It just shows in this form of the game, you have to be at your best, it doesn’t matter who you are playing against. We certainly won’t be taking Bangladesh lightly. They’ve got some wonderful Twenty20 players who are very aggressive with the bat.”

Lalit Modi has asked Shashank Manohar and N Srinivasan to remove themselves from all proceedings involving the show cause notice issued to him and to instead constitute an independent panel to adjudicate on the issue

Cricinfo staff25-May-2010Lalit Modi, the suspended chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL), has asked the BCCI president, Shashank Manohar, and secretary N Srinivasan to remove themselves from all proceedings involving the show cause notice issued to him and to instead constitute an independent panel to adjudicate on the issue. This was communicated in an email – a copy of which is with Cricinfo – sent on Tuesday by Modi to the league’s governing council, which also contained a series of allegations over several decisions regarding the IPL.The mail is effectively Modi’s counter to the chargesheet served on him by the BCCI on April 26 – Modi’s official reply, which ran into 160 pages and 15,000 pages of supporting evidence, has not yet been made public.While part of the mail deals with issues mentioned in the chargesheet – including the ownership of the Rajasthan Royals franchise – the bulk of it comprises the alleged involvement of Manohar in the franchise auction process last March and of Srinivasan in the 2010 player auction. It is this involvement, Modi contends, that warranted the absence of both officials from the process that would investigate the charges against him.Manohar, Modi alleges, was responsible for the controversial decision to scrap the initial opening of tenders for the franchises and went out of his way to entertain former minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor and accept the Kochi bid much after the lapse of deadline.He denies the allegation that he tried rigging the bids in favour of two business houses for the two new teams added for the fourth edition of the IPL; instead he claims the bids were processed and vetted by the board’s corporate lawyers and counsel Akhila Kaushik, appointed on Manohar’s recommendation.He claims Manohar was party to the decision fixing the net worth of the bidder at $1 billion and that he discussed the issue of deposit also with him at the Governing Council meeting on March 7 and got his approval.He also alleged it was Manohar who pitched in for Tharoor to include the bid of Rendezvous after the deadline had lapsed. “You wanted me to wait till the Kochi bid came from Delhi,” Modi writes, adding that Manohar spoke to Tharoor and his secretary several times after he refused to entertain the minister’s request for extension of deadline.Modi has brought up the issue of the controversial IPL TV contract with Sony and MSM, claiming that Manohar was aware of the termination last year of the contract with Sony and the subsequent litigation and eventual settlement. The litigation process was, he claims, supervised by Akhila Kaushik, “who reports directly to you”.Srinivasan, Modi alleged, had been “instrumental in sponsoring complaints” against him and his participation would be “tantamount to him being a judge in his own cause”. Modi also said he wanted to cross-examine Srinivasan in the inquiry.Among the charges levied, Modi said he had “sufficient cause to apprehend bias” on Srinivasan’s part and that he had “consistently frustrated and exposed his attempts at misusing his position as Honorary Secretary of the Board, so as to confer a wrongful benefit to his team at the cost and expense of other teams and the BCCI.”Modi alleged that Srinivasan had tried to “alter or propose panel of umpires” officiating in the IPL matches and had circulated an email “directing a panel of umpires handpicked by him”. He claimed Srinivasan had attempted to ensure umpires from Chennai or Tamil Nadu stood in his team’s matches.Another charge Modi made against Srinivasan was that he had “consistently pushed tailor-made policies” intended to benefit the Chennai franchise. In support of this charge, Modi cited the proposal of franchises retaining seven players (four Indian, three foreign) for the 2011 season and beyond. Modi’s reply to the show cause says Srinivasan tried to get franchises to agree to the proposal and that the “only reason for doing so was to ensure that Chennai Super King retained its players.”Modi also alleged that Srinivasan had tried to ensure Kieron Pollard, who was bought by Mumbai Indians during a silent tiebreaker in the 2010 auction, could not play “by raising some frivolous issues with the West Indian Cricket Board.” Modi termed Srinivasan’s action a “brazen act of abuse of power”.He claimed Srinivasan had used his power to “alter the auction rules” so that Chennai’s purse would be $2 million as opposed to the $1.85 million that was mentioned prior to the auction. “Despite my opposition he used his clout as secretary to pressure the management to accept back-dated player contracts and cancel the contracts of one of his players so that he could have his full purse and thereby have an advantage in the bidding process vis-a-vis other teams.”Regarding the issue of Srinivasan’s alleged conflict of interest, raised by former BCCI president AC Muttiah, Modi said “false statements have been made in pleadings filed in Court” to protect the position of Srinivasan.”In the proceedings filed by Mr. Muttiah, it has been stated by the Honorary Secretary on oath that the Regulation 6.2.4 was amended after an action taken report was filed by the two-member committee consisting of Mr. Shashank Manohar and Mr. Niranjan Shah recommending amendment,” Modi said. “I state that no such committee was ever appointed, no recommendation was ever made, no special general body meeting approving such report and such amendment ever took place and hence Mr. Shashank Manohar, Mr. Niranjan Shah – the Vice Chairman – IPL and Mr. N Srinavasan have connived and played not only on the members of the Board but also on the Court.”

Tottenham Hotspur will be “confident” of signing Stefan de Vrij this month…

What’s the word?

That’s according to journalist Paul Brown, who delivered a claim about Spurs’ interest in the Inter Milan defender to GIVEMESPORT recently.

Back in November, Football Insider revealed that the Dutch centre-back had told friends that he would be interested in a switch to north London to work under his former boss Antonio Conte. It’s thought that the Italian rates De Vrij a lot higher than Milan Skriniar, who was close to joining the Lilywhites during the 2020 summer transfer window.

Brown claimed: “I think they’d be fairly confident (of signing De Vrij). It just depends if Inter have a realistic price for him considering he doesn’t have long left on his contract.”

Conte loves him

It’s believed that the addition of a new central defender is among the priorities for Spurs during the January transfer window, and Conte’s former star could fit the bill greatly.

That’s hardly a surprise given that it is arguably one of the weakest areas of the pitch right now. Summer signing Cristian Romero is out injured and left-back Ben Davies is playing in the middle, whilst the remaining options of Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier, Joe Rodon and Japhet Tangnaga have gone through inconsistencies and often cause mistakes.

Conte has tons of familiarity with De Vrij as the 6 foot 2 colossus played an integral role towards Inter securing their first Serie A title in over a decade, in which the Nerazzurri also recorded the best defensive record in the league.

In 2020/21, the 55-cap defender averaged an impressive 93.8% passing accuracy across 32 appearances, excelling with the ball at his feet, on top of two aerial duels won and 1.3 interceptions per league outing, proving to be a physical beast too (via WhoScored).

De Vrij was once lauded as a “monster” by his former Lazio teammate Mauricio, who told ESPN: (via Football Italia) “Stefan is a great defender and deserves to be at a big club. He’s very tall, he’s strong and fast, he runs a lot – he’s a monster!”. Mauricio later added: “He’s a calm defender who never gets agitated.”

It remains to be seen how much the Serie A giants would command for their leading defender, though Transfermarkt’s £40.5m valuation suggests that he wouldn’t come cheap.

However, on the above evidence, De Vrij would be a much-needed and welcome addition, especially considering how much Conte loves him. Spurs must look to seal his signature before the end of the month.

AND in other news, Spurs plotting move for “phenomenal” £16.2m-rated speed demon, he’s perfect for Conte…

Newly selected fast bowler Tanvir Ahmed is delighted that he has been rewarded for his hard work with a call-up to Pakistan’s Test squad, and hoped to cement a permanent place in the side

Cricinfo staff25-Jun-2010Newly selected fast bowler Tanvir Ahmed is pleased with his call-up to Pakistan’s squad for the England tour, and now hopes to push for a settled spot.”I am delighted that my hard work has been rewarded,” Tanvir told AFP. “It’s true that your hard work pays and now I will do my best to get a permanent place in the Pakistan team.”The 31-year-old Tanvir has earned his stripes at the domestic level, having played over 100 first class matches. He starred in Karachi’s victorious Quaid-e-Azam campaign last season, picking 97 wickets to force his way into the selectors’ radar.Tanvir is excited by the prospect of playing Australia, which he terms as a dream and hopes to do well against their strong batting line-up. He is confident that his experience with minor English club Peterborough Town will come in handy when he gets a chance to bowl on tour.Rashid Latif, former Pakistan captain and Tanvir’s mentor, credited his ward’s perseverance for making the cut. “I am sure Tanvir will be successful on the England tour because he pitches the ball up compared to other Pakistani bowlers who bowl short. And more so, he is very committed,” Latif said.

Wolves are interested in signing Marseille and Croatia centre-back Duje Caleta-Car in the January transfer window, according to a fresh transfer rumour.

Wanderers have dipped into the transfer market once so far this month, bringing Japanese midfielder Hayao Kawabe to the club.

However, Bruno Lage might also look to sign a new centre-back, with Max Kilman, Conor Coady and Romain Saiss currently relied upon heavily at Molineux.

With Willy Boly suffering from health issues, Wolves look light in that area of the pitch, and a move for Lille youngster Sven Botman appears to be off the table.

According to Sky Sports News on Monday [via Molineux News], Wanderers are keen on signing Caleta-Car, with Monaco’s Benoit Badiashile also seen as an option.

The former is a Croatia international who featured against England and Spain at Euro 2020 and has stood out in Ligue 1 with his passing ability – his 91.4% accuracy rate this season is discernibly better than anyone in Lage’s current squad.

Wolves fans excited by Caleta-Car rumour

These Wolves fans took to Twitter to provide their positive thoughts on the links to the 25-year-old in particular.

“Would be a brilliant signing”

 Credit: @ad401ad

“Pls”

 Credit: @wwfcglover

“The gift of having a coach like Bruno is he will help choose the right player and he can turn any signing into a player”

 Credit: @Wolfus1492

“LET’S GO!”

 Credit: @jackthenewee

“In the words of Tony Roberts… DEEEEECENT”

 Credit: @NickAllen224

“Just get one of them in all gossip atm until it happens can’t see anything happening”

 Credit: @leighwolf007

In other news, one Wolves player is reportedly unhappy at the club. Find out who it is here.

Much to the delight of Eddie Howe, history didn’t repeat itself for Newcastle United this afternoon after the Tynesiders managed to keep hold of their 1-0 lead over Leeds United at Elland Road until the final whistle, after conceding a late equaliser in their 1-1 draw against Watford last weekend.

A goal from Jonjo Shelvey in the second half against Marcelo Bielsa’s side was enough to bring the three points back north in Newcastle’s attempts to avoid relegation. As well as securing their second league win of the campaign, Newcastle also managed to keep their second clean sheet.

One player who started for the Magpies this afternoon and certainly had an impact on the team’s defensive efforts was January signing Kieran Trippier, who completed the full 90 minutes in the right-back position with 57 touches of the ball.

In that time, the England international made three tackles, three interceptions and four clearances, highlighting how involved he was in keeping Leeds from scoring.

Trippier, who is currently valued at £16.2m by Transfermarkt, also won six of his nine duels, showing how difficult an opponent he was for the Whites’ attacking players.

This performance ultimately earned the former Tottenham and Atletico Madrid full-back a superb overall match rating of 7.5/10, making him Newcastle joint-highest rated outfield player on the day alongside the Shelvey according to SofaScore.

Chronicle Live also picked up on Trippier’s good performance by saying that “his arrival has made a huge difference. Cajoled and encouraged when needed. Battled hard and made key interceptions.”

Moving forward, if the 31-year-old can keep delivering this sort of display from now until the end of the season and help Newcastle potentially keep a few more clean sheets along the way, he could go a long way to keeping the Magpies in the Premier League…and maybe Howe in a job.

If Newcastle manage to avoid the drop at the end of the campaign, this win over Leeds could end up being a vital one for the club and Howe, with Trippier’s performance being a definite highlight this afternoon.

In other news – Terms agreed: NUFC could land masterstroke with gem whose “shorts look like underwear”…

Pakistan will enter the final day full of hope, needing 326 with nine wickets in hand and two batsmen well set

Brydon Coverdale at Lord's15-Jul-2010Two summers ago in Perth, South Africa changed Australia’s perception about gettable fourth-innings targets. When Graeme Smith’s men cruised to 414 with four wickets down, it seemed that no aim was out of reach anymore, provided the pitch was true and the batting strong. Fast forward 18 months and the Lord’s surface is excellent, but Australia remain confident that Pakistan’s batting group boasts no JP Duminy or AB de Villiers clones.Pakistan will enter what will likely be the final day full of hope, needing 326 with nine wickets in hand and two batsmen well set, although Azhar Ali survived a perilously close lbw shout on the final ball of the day. Much will depend on the weather – when the clouds disappeared on the third day so did the swing – but given Pakistan’s first-innings capitulation for 148, Australia are certain they can complete their task, even under sunny skies.”We’ve got plenty of runs on the board,” the wicketkeeper Tim Paine said. “Right up until the last ball tonight we showed that we’re going to be creating chances. If we bowl well there’s enough there for us to keep them under pressure and create those chances to win the game. If we can get a couple of early wickets tomorrow and get stuck in to their middle and lower order, as we showed in the first innings if we put them under pressure we can take wickets pretty quickly.”While Pakistan will rely heavily on Salman Butt, who has been their most composed batsman in the Test, their two debutants Umar Amin and Azhar will be keen to make a name for themselves. In Perth, Australia were surprised by the poise of a newcomer, Duminy, and the similarities don’t end there.Back then, Australia’s bowling group featured a highly attacking spinner who leaked runs as he tossed the ball up to entice drives. Jason Krejza is gone from the side but in his place is Steven Smith, who is equally aggressive, and collected his first Test wicket when Imran Farhat pulled a long hop straight to midwicket.However, Smith’s first spell of Test bowling was far from poor; he aimed at the footmarks outside the left-hander’s off stump and gave the ball plenty of opportunity to spin. “For his first Test match there’s a lot to like,” Shane Warne said from the commentary box, and Smith’s fellow debutant Paine expects the spinner to play a key role on the fourth day.”He looked really good,” Paine said. “He started very well. As his spell got on, he got more dangerous. When he went around the wicket he started to spin a few quite a long way. He’ll definitely play a role at some stage tomorrow. I think early tomorrow if our pace attack get those early breakthroughs, I’m sure Smithy will cause the lower and middle order some trouble later on.”But the work begins with the seamers in the first session. And if there are clouds in the sky, there may be no silver lining for Pakistan.