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The West Indies’ arrival in Zimbabwe last week was completelyovershadowed by the hype surrounding the second Test between Zimbabweand India that started at Harare Sports Club the following day.The West Indies are in Zimbabwe for their first-ever tour sinceZimbabwe attained Test status in 1992 and it will be only their secondTest series after Zimbabwe’s tour of West Indies in March last year.West Indies won the series with a two-nil whitewash. This time too,West Indies are playing two Tests.West Indies manager Ricky Skerritt said that they were looking forwardto a competitive series against Zimbabwe. “We expect it to be a tightseries. Zimbabwe is a very competitive team and they have been doingvery well at home. We have a young team so it will be good experiencefor us and we are looking forward to it.”The triangular one-day series is also going to be very tough. Indiais one the highly rated one-day teams and we have not had a very goodrecord in one-day cricket of late. Zimbabwe is known to be a verycompetitive one-day team and this leaves us as underdogs. So for us toget into the final will be a great achievement.”We lost more games than we won in the last one-day series. InAustralia we got into the final but we struggled to do that. We beatZimbabwe but again it was not easy. We then had a home series againstSouth Africa and again we did not do well. They beat us 5-2 in theseven-match one day series after we won the first match.”But it was valuable experience for us. We have a lot of young playerswho have not had a lot of one-day matches. Our bowling attack is theworst affected as it is very inexperienced. And for the guys to handlepressure against sides like India and Zimbabwe will be a very goodtest.”Zimbabwe’s Test record has not been that impressive. They are, afterBangladesh, the newest Test-playing nation and the victory over Indiaon Monday was a very good win. They have had a very good run at homethis season. They are getting better, producing more players, andproducing a more competitive Test team. We are going through arebuilding phase and they have just come out with a very good winagainst India in the last Test and our series against Zimbabwe will bevery competitive.”I wouldn’t want to single out any players for special mention.Obviously the more senior players have established themselves, thecaptain and the Flower brothers. Zimbabwe has a well-balanced team,improving all the time so we will take them as a team and not asindividuals.”Captain Carl Hooper also spoke about the series against Zimbabwe.”It’s going to be a very good series with Zimbabwe playing some goodcricket at the moment. They have just beaten India in the Test to drawthe series. The tri-series will be close too and I think Zimbabwe area very good one day-side as well as India. We expect to give a goodaccount of ourselves.”The series against South Africa was a good one for us. They (SouthAfrica) are second only to Australia in the world. We are rebuildingthe side and we don’t feel under any pressure at all to win here inZimbabwe. We have a young side and it will take a while for them tocome through.”We are here to play Zimbabwe as a team and we are not going to singleout any individual players for special attention. We are just going toplay some good cricket over the next couple of weeks.”

Newcastle United will do what’s necessary in the transfer market to make ‘significant strides’ next season, Sky Sports journalist Keith Downie says.

The lowdown

Newcastle have lifted themselves away from relegation trouble with a run of 20 points from their last ten Premier League matches.

They’ve now climbed up to 14th place in the table, nine points clear of the drop zone ahead of the run-in.

That means they can afford to look up rather than down in this final stretch of games.

Newcastle’s new owners shelled out nearly £90million on five new signings in January, the largest winter spend from a single club in Premier League history.

The latest

Downie says a strong finish to the season would reduce the pressure on Newcastle ‘to go mad’.

But he still expects a ‘big’ spend in order to take the team to the next level.

“If the team does really well towards the end of the season, there’s not the need to go mad, but they will want to make significant strides in that first season, I think,” he told GiveMeSport.

“So, that’s why I expect them to spend big in the summer.”

The verdict

How much will Eddie Howe and Newcastle’s recruitment team have at their disposal this summer?

Well, The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards says it’s difficult to pinpoint an exact figure, but he’s ‘been told’ that it will be ‘less’ than the sum they spent in January.

He adds, though, that they can inflate that budget through player sales, and that they can bring players through free transfers and loan deals as well.

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And it’s worth stressing that a spend of, say, £80million, would still be fairly sizeable. That would have ranked Newcastle sixth in last summer’s spending table, for instance.

A reasonable goal would be to banish any relegation fears and finish in the league’s top ten next season.

In other news, a source has made this admission about the relationship between Howe & Saint-Maximin.

ScorecardAntigua and Barbuda cruised into the quarter-finals of the Stanford 20/20 with an easy 24-run win against United States Virgin Islands in Coolidge. Chasing 154, Virgin Islands had the wickets in hand but couldn’t quite match the asking rate as they ended at 131 for 6 in the allotted 20 overs.Opting to bat first, Antigua found it difficult to push the scoring early on as the opening bowlers Dane Weston and Hamish Anthony were on target for most part. Windel Cornwall, who came in at the fall of captain Sylvester Joseph’s wicket at 34, began aggressively and added 29 for the fourth wicket with Gavin Williams, the highest stand of the innings.However, a double-strike by Virgin Islands pegged the opposition back as the pair fell in quick succession with no addition to the score. Williams was bowled by the offspinner Calvin Lewis and two balls later, Cornwall was run-out by Sherville Huggins for 31. A lower order revival – including stands of 25 and 30 for the seventh and eighth wickets respectively – pushed Antigua to a competitive 153. Lewis was the most penetrative among the bowlers, finishing with 3 for 16.In reply, Virgin Islands recovered from the early loss of their openers courtesy a 66-run third-wicket stand between Huggins and Junie Anthony. Huggins found the boundary on a more regular basis, hitting seven fours and a six before falling to a top-edge, playing across the line to the legspinner Anthony Martin. He struck again soon after to send back Hamish Anthony and the pressure began to tell on the Virgin Islands as the required run-rate climbed over 12. Junie Anthony remained unbeaten on 32 as his side failed to push on in the middle orders, in the process conceding the match.

Bangladesh A 209 (Sahagir 86, Tushar 52, Broad 3-35) v England A 0 for 0
Scorecard

Stuart Broad wraps up the innings to complete figures of 3 for 35 © TigerCricket.com

Stuart Broad further enhanced his reputation with a haul of 3 for 35 from 16.5 overs, as the England A bowled their Bangladeshi counterparts out for 209 on the first day of the four-day unofficial Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.Broad was well supported by his fellow seamer, Graham Onions, who finished with 2 for 32, while the mainstays of Bangladesh’s innings were the former Test opener, Tushar Imran, who made 52, and Sahagir Hossain Pavel (86).Broad, who also took three first-innings wickets on a dead track in Mirpur last week, dismissed Jahirul Islam without a run on the board, before Onions grabbed Mehrab Hossain jr and Nasiruddin Faruq to reduce the Bangladeshis to 30 for 3.A sixth-wicket stand of 84 between Tushar and Sahagir revived their fortunes. On 129, Tushar eventually holed out to Michael Yardy off the spin of Alex Loudon, but Sahagir found a useful ally in Mohammad Sharif with whom he added another 68 for the seventh wicket before Sharif was run out for 28.Yardy had Sahagir caught by Nick Compton for 86, before Broad returned to mop up the tail. There was just time for one more over before the close, which Will Jefferson safely negotiated.

Andy Blignaut: no pay, no play © Getty Images

Reports that Andy Blignaut, who has been touted as the likely choice as Zimbabwe’s new captain, was not willing to play unless the board paid him the money owed from last year were confirmed by the player himself.Bliganut, who is in South Africa playing for the Highfeld Lions, was summoned home by Kevin Curran, Zimbabwe’s coach, to prepare for the ODi series against Kenya. “I told them I will not have anything to do with them until I am paid six months’ salary and match fees for two Tests and also for one-day internationals against India and New Zealand six months ago,” Blignaut said. “I have already made this crystal clear to them.”Those comments come hours after a Zimbabwe Cricket spokesman confirmed to Cricinfo that Blignaut had signed a new contract with the board and would be available to play in the matches.A number of separate sources had indicated to Cricinfo that Blignaut was not willing to play until these issues were resolved and, furthermore, that he was angry that the board had indicated in press releases that he was back in the fold.

Virender Sehwag and his rope-trick© Getty Images

Technology sucks. We rely on it for everything these days. As I was watching and typing simultaneously at the Challenger Series, my mind wandered between the shining green bowl of Wankhede Stadium and the dead grey screen of the laptop. And in doing this visual juggling act I missed the sweetly timed strokes of Robin Uthappa and VVS Laxman, who were trying to help India B stay in the hunt against India A.Normally, in the cosy environs of the office the TV replays would allow me to see the shot execution from every possible angle. But, sadly, the Challenger Series, India’s premier domestic one-day tournament, couldn’t attract enough sponsors, and hence no TV coverage. And this in a country where cricket is a supposedly a religion.But for the few hundreds who started filling the stadium as the evening drew in, the on-field action kept them on the edge of the seats. Once Uthappa and Laxman departed after showcasing their delectable array of strokes, the eager crowds got ready for the real show to begin as Virender Sehwag made his much-awaited entry at No. 4. As he started his walk to the crease, the old Indian rope-trick of clearing the dew was taking place. Soon he embarked on a more familiar rope-trick – clearing it at every opportunity, particularly when RP Singh dropped short.During one tense moment, Sehwag went for a sweep off Murali Kartik. The bowler, and his team, appealed in unison. The batsman stood his ground. The umpire was confused. The journalists didn’t have the television to make their decision. The umpire couldn’t make up his mind, and consulted with his square-leg counterpart. The two officials gave the benefit of doubt to the batsman. Dravid was furious. Immediately he charged towards the umpires, demanding an exclamation. He knew it was a helpless situation. We knew it, too. Only if there was a TV. Sigh.Another missed TV moment was the hop-skip-and-jump way in which Mohammad Kaif went through his innings. The ultra-fitness-conscious Kaif was a funny sight as he prepared for each ball in a fashion more reminiscent of the triple-jumper, Jonathan Edwards. Kaif has this habit of making a fashion statement wherever he goes on the field of play – his unique stance while batting and his knock-kneed stance while fielding in the slips.Another missing factor, which my colleague S Rajesh put his finger on, was: no sponsor, no television, so no group hugs after each wicket. That kid who, in the advert, scuttles through a tunnel beneath the pitch and pokes his head into the middle of the huddle to deliver brown-sugary-carbonated refreshments to his heroes had apparently been given the day off.Television has this ability to build a spectacle out of nothing. So it was quite unusual – and strangely frustrating – to view the game without the aid of that stupid box. In an age where computers rule our minds – and Ctrl-Z rectifies our errors – it was quite difficult to keep my sights clear.

Close Auckland 213 for 3 (Vincent 115*) trail Canterbury 443 (Papps 130, Harris 103, Fulton 68) by 230 runs
ScorecardLou Vincent served a reminder to the New Zealand selectors in his first outing since being dropped from the national one-day side. Playing for Auckland against Canterbury, he ended the second day unbeaten on 115, scored off 119 balls. He emulated the performance of Chris Harris, the Canterbury captain, who scored 103 after being dropped from the international side, helping Canterbury reach 443.Aaron Barnes, the Auckland medium-pacer, did the damage in the Canterbury innings with career-best figures of 4 for 55 off 29.5 overs. Kerry Walmsley took 3 for 66. For Auckland, Mark Richardson contributed 41 as they ended the day on 213 for 3.Close Central Districts 350 and 1 for 0 lead Otago 209 (Mason 5-62) by 142 runs
ScorecardNot even a debilitating virus that swept through the Central Districts players at Pukekura Park could prevent them from taking control of the match against Otago. After scoring 350 in their first innings, Central Districts reduced Otago to 89 for 7. Jordan Sheed and Neil Rushton lifted the score to 169 for 9, and a useful 33 by Brad Scott helped the team finish with 209. Michael Mason took 5 for 62 for Central Districts, his best figures of the season. In the two overs before stumps, Central Districts were 1 without loss.Close Wellington 250 and 115 for 7 (Bell 60) lead Northern Districts 125 by 240 runs
ScorecardIn a match that seemed destined for an early finish, Wellington made good use of their 125-run first-innings advantage. Northern Districts had a poor start and were 54 for 7 before Mark Orchard and Bruce Martin added 70 runs for the eighth wicket. Orchard ended on 39 not out after 192 minutes of batting. James Franklin took 4 for 34, including the last two wickets off successive balls.But Wellington struggled with the bat in their second innings. After their openers had added 48, they lost six wickets for the addition of only 35 more. Martin, the left-arm spinner, took wickets off successive balls, and though Franklin denied him the hat-trick, he was out soon after.Martin had 4 for 30 and Gareth West 2 for 5. The solitary innings of defiance was provided by Matthew Bell, who scored for 60 off 110 balls.

New South Wales has dashed any hopes of jumping Victoria and taking top spot on the Pura Cup ladder after two disastrous sessions with the bat and an ordinary day with the ball. Slumping to be all out for 141 in the first innings, NSW are 5 for 108 at stumps on day two with Mark Waugh not out 35 and Michael Clarke not out 23.Steve Rixon suggested the two are the keys to any chance of victory and a lead of 150 will be enough."There is a bit of work to be done. Junior [Mark Waugh] and Clarkie are the guys who are going to get us there but Brad Haddin another guy more than capable of getting a fifty. It is really just someone to sit together and work with a partnership."It would be quite difficult on a wicket like that [a lead of 150] going into late day three, into day four especially with a bit of rain around. You never know what’s going to happen especially if the wicket sweats. It’s going to be quite difficult to bat on at all stages," said Rixon.Resuming the day at 3 for 110, Victoria continued to bat strongly with Graeme Rummans and Brad Hodge bringing up the 50 partnership and surpassing the NSW total early in the first session. Stuart Clark and Nathan Bracken bowled well but it was youngster Doug Bollinger who got the breakthrough.Rummans fishing outside the off stump secured the Bollinger edge and it went through to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin. He departed for a well-earned 67 against his former state.Hodge and Jonathan Moss toyed with the NSW attack as they let deliveries go through to the keeper and scoring the occasional run but it took some Steve Waugh wizardry as he pulled another rabbit out of the hat to get four wickets for his side.Waugh brought himself onto bowl and within the first over he had trapped Moss leg before wicket for three. After causing a ripple of talk through the crowd when he came onto bowl, Waugh bowled a wide delivery first up but with his fourth he had Moss walking back to the pavilion.Waugh, hopeful of a World Cup spot even after the ICC ruling, which will prevent the 37-year-old from being drawn into the initial team, bowled tidily and did his job as he took two wickets for five runs within his first two overs.Rixon said it was good to see Steve with a ball in his hand and taking wickets at the appropriate stages."It was good to see him with a ball in his hand. He has always had an ability to do something special with the ball," said Rixon.Ian Harvey fell to Waugh for two when he snared the 30-year-old leg before wicket with his steady medium pacers.Stuart MacGill, who is one of the likely candidates to be the replacement for Shane Warne in the World Cup in the event the leg spinner does not recover from his shoulder reconstruction in time, took three wickets for 56 but did not look all that threatening.His first victim was Hodge who he had leg before wicket for 42, although the right-hander was a long way forward.MacGill’s second ended a period where NSW took four wickets for seven runs. MacGill bowled the Victorian captain Darren Berry round his legs for four.Waugh then called for the new ball and his quicks to end the innings. Clark got his first wicket of the match when he trapped Cameron White for 22, giving Clark figures of one for 77 at the end of the innings.MacGill ended the innings when Haddin stumped Shane Harwood for 15 and the Victorians were all out for 269 with a lead of 128 runs. Bracken finished the match with the unflattering figures of none for 50.Needing to dig in and make some runs, NSW failed miserably. They lost the top five batsmen for 51 runs leaving Mark Waugh and Michael Clarke to restore some pride in the wounded Blues. Openers Matthew Phelps and Michael Slater struggled early with Matthew Inness and Harwood bowling effectively.Inness continued to pick up early wickets when Phelps flayed one away to Harvey at gully for two. This brought Nathan Bracken to the crease, as nightwatchman, two hours before the end of play. He only made seven before the quick was caught behind and gave Inness two for nine. The catch by Berry was superb with the 33-year-old diving at great lengths to his right.Slater who made 12 also went caught behind to Berry.Steve Waugh and Simon Katich embarked on a slow process of digging in. The duo was successfully tied down with some good bowling from Victoria and could not shake the shackles that had been placed around them.Waugh departed on 12 when he fell leg before wicket to Mick Lewis and the collapse was well and truly under way when Katich fell for nine to the paceman as well.Though Mark Waugh and Michael Clarke have inspired some hope into the NSW line up with an unbroken stance of 50 runs they have had their share of luck in particular Clarke who was caught in the gully by Moss on 11 off a no ball.All the Victorian bowlers have been effective on the Sydney pitch but up and comer Cameron White has only bowled three overs, rendering it a fast bowlers wicket.

Lancashire suffered yet more Championship frustration at Old Trafford today.They had reduced Leicestershire to 83 for three when the rain which had washed out their previous two home games against Surrey and Glamorgan returned soon after lunch, with the teams taking an early tea at 3:40pm, and play finally being abandoned for the day at 5pm.Leicestershire, who made one change to the team who drew with Somerset last week with Jon Dakin replacing Darren Stevens, won the toss and chose to bat.But they slipped to 8-2 in the sixth over, with Trevor Ward having his off stump uprooted by a superb delivery from Peter Martin, and Iain Sutcliffe brilliantly caught by Mike Atherton at first slip off Glen Chapple.Daniel Marsh responded positively, using his feet against Muttiah Muralitharan and striking four boundaries.But Chapple, the leading Englishman in the first-class bowling averages at the start of play, switched to the Stretford End to have Marsh caught by Mark Chilton at square leg off a top-edged hook.Darren Maddy joined Ben Smith to steer the visitors to 81 for three at lunch, but the skies were already filling in and it was no surprise when only two overs into the afternoon session rain stopped play.Lancashire had named a full strength team as they aimed to build on Saturday’s dramatic win at Northants, with Atherton, Joe Scuderi and Gary Keedy returning in place of Ryan Driver, Tim Roberts and Chris Schofield – and Andy Flintoff is fit to bowl for the first time since he injured his side in a Benson and Hedges Cup tie against Yorkshire on May 6th.

The 2021/22 Premier League campaign has once again thrown up a few stories for football fans to salivate over.  Whether it was the expected two horse race between Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool for the top flight title or simply what would eventually happen to a couple of managerial hot potatoes given the relative states of Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and particularly, Manchester United.

The Old Trafford outlet continues to be a source of massive press speculation as despite numerous attempts since 2013, they have simply been unable to adequately replace Sir Alex Ferguson following his retirement.  Whilst there was better success under Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho, each spell had its own pitfalls and the club ultimately seemed to totally lose its way under former star striker and fan favourite Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, despite the odd brighter moment and a reasonably fair 91 wins in 168 games.

You just can’t not view the club as an outsider without thinking there is no long term plan in place, certainly not a sensible transfer strategy, as they continue to overpay massively for players who have failed to make a major impact and justify the investment made – whilst also seeming to more marginalise their own Academy talent, and a longer term future, by relying on well known and more commercial names.

You’d get silly odds from the likes of asiabet8888.com for current incumbent Ralf Rangnick to last beyond the 2021/22 campaign in the managerial hotseat, as every expectation suggests there’s no deviating from the consultancy role plan that exists, and many would say why would he want to stay in that role given he’s had his own off pitch issues to deal with and despite the glitz and glamour Ronaldo’s return created in the press, he’s being shoehorned in for goals and it has noticeably effected their style of play and approach in matches.  Not least, The Red Devil’s are openly touting for Rangnick’s replacement and the media are understandably lapping it up.

Following Solskjaer’s departure back in November, one of the latest names in the frame is highly rated Ajax coach Erik ten Hag and he appears to have been added to a shortlist that already reportedly contains names such as Mauricio Pochettino, Julien Lopetegui and Luis Enrique.  Given the success Ten Hag has tasted in the Eredivisie, it’s not really a great surprise to see him linked by United’s hierarchy are probably not best pleased with former gaffer van Gaal given his latest comments where he not so subtly warned Ten Hag off taking the job.

“I’m not going to advise, he’ll call me himself. But he must choose a football club and not a commercial club. Erik ten Hag is a great coach and that is always good for Manchester United. But Manchester United are a commercial club, so it’s a difficult choice for a coach. He’d better go to a football club.”

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With the summer quickly approaching, this particular piece of speculation is set to run and run.

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