Bermuda coach Gus Logie hopes vice-captain David Hemp’s current form, boosted by a maiden ODI century against Kenya at the World Cup Qualifiers (WCQs), rubs off on the other batsmen in the team

Cricinfo staff08-Apr-2009Bermuda coach Gus Logie hopes vice-captain David Hemp’s current form, boosted by a maiden ODI century against Kenya at the World Cup Qualifiers (WCQs), rubs off on the other batsmen in the team.Though Hemp’s unbeaten 102 could not prevent a seven-wicket victory for Kenya in Potchefstroom on Monday, Bermuda still have a slender chance of making it to the 2011 World Cup, after their maiden appearance in the tournament in 2007.Bermuda’s loss to Kenya, coupled with the United Arab Emirates’ victory over Denmark, has left them in danger of not only being eliminated from the WCQs but losing their ODI status as well. Bermuda need to beat in-form Netherlands in their final game on Wednesday and hope Afghanistan lose to UAE to keep their hopes alive in the tournament.Much of their hopes, Logie feels, depend on Hemp, 38, a former Glamorgan captain with a lot of experience in county cricket. “Congratulations to David for reaching another milestone,” Logie said. “Hopefully, other players will get jealous and follow suit the next game.”Hemp has enjoyed his promotion to the opening slot in Bermuda’s last two matches, after false starts in the first two. An unbeaten 76 in a nine-wicket victory against Denmark over the weekend, the precursor to his century, augurs well for Bermuda as they look to make a late charge towards the Super Eight stage.”I was obviously pleased but unfortunately it just wasn’t to be our day,” Hemp said. “Kenya played well. They got in and got a good start and managed to keep scoring.”Hemp added 107 runs with fellow opener Fiqre Crockwell, who chipped in with a fighting 45. “We laid quite a good foundation but we got bogged down when the spinners came on,” Hemp said. “The pitch was a bit damp and it made playing the spin quite difficult. I thought the Kenyan spinners bowled quite well in the middle overs but batting did become a bit easier later on.”

MatériaMais Notícias

O Fluminense tem duas novidades na lista de jogadores inscritos na Copa Sul-Americana: Marlon e Peu. O lateral-esquerdo e o atacante tiveram seus nomes enviados pelo clube a Conmebol e já estão à disposição de Abel Braga para o jogo contra a Universidad Católica-EQU nesta quarta-feira em Quito, às 19h15.

A delegação tricolor embarcou nesta segunda-feira para o Equador, com Marlon e Peu na lista. Os dois jovens atletas, que foram integrados ao elenco principal recentemente, substituem Lucas Fernandes, emprestado ao Atlético-PR, e Wellington Silva, que já está na França para assinar com o Bordeaux.

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O lateral-esquerdo Marlon, de 20 anos, foi apresentado como reforço do Flu na última semana. Vindo do Criciúma por empréstimo até o fim da temporada, o novo camisa 6 do Tricolor foi um pedido do técnico Abel Braga, que conta com dois outros nomes para a função no elenco> Léo e Mascarenhas. No entanto, o primeiro está perto de se transferir para o futebol italiano.

Peu, por sua vez, estreou no time profissional do Fluminense neste domingo, contra o Corinthians no Maracanã. O atacante ficou em campo apenas por 11 minutos, o suficiente para agradar e receber elogios do técnico Abel Braga, apesar da derrota do Tricolor por 1 a 0. O camisa 27 foi bastante participativo.

The Australian players involved in promotional activities for this year’s World Cup believe it is an excellent way to showcase women’s cricket to the sports-loving public in the country

Barry Ross03-Mar-2009The Australian players involved in promotional activities for this year’s World Cup believe it is an excellent way to showcase women’s cricket to the sports-loving public in the country.Batsman Lisa Sthalekar lent her full support to the promotional efforts of the tournament organizers and believed that they would help draw more women to the game. “I think what has been screened on television to promote the World Cup has been terrific,” she said. “We [the players from all the eight teams], are very lucky to be playing in the event.”India has women’s cricket on TV, but it doesn’t happen much in Australia. We can showcase our sport on the world stage and because of this and I’m sure we will attract many local young girls to cricket.”Fast bowler Ellyse Perry, was also excited with the promotions and was thrilled to be part of such a big occasion. “I am elated that woman’s cricket is being put out to the public,” said Perry. “I certainly want to do my bit, but you must remember that every Australian player is a talented cricketer.”Vice-captain Alex Blackwell praised the Fox network for broadcasting the matches on TV. “The games on TV will be all good, tight matches and will show the Australian public that women can play attractive and high standard cricket,” she said.

Aston Villa’s youth will have ‘an opportunity to shine again’ in the injury-enforced absence of Leon Bailey. 

That’s according to the former Leeds United forward Noel Whelan, who was speaking to Football Insider.

The lowdown

Bailey, a goalscorer in the 3-0 win over Everton last weekend, will miss at least two matches with a thigh strain.

Manager Dean Smith hopes he’ll be ready to return for the first game after the international break, but can’t be sure just yet.

With Trezeguet, another winger, out long-term, Dean Smith’s options include Anwar El Ghazi, Bertrand Traore and Jaden Philogene-Bidace.

19-year-old Philogence-Bidace is awaiting a full Premier League debut after making two substitute appearances.

He was handed a 26-minute run-out in the Carabao Cup defeat against Chelsea in midweek and ‘impressed’, according to Shropshire Star journalist Matt Maher.

The latest

Whelan has backed Villa to cope with the blow of losing Bailey by turning to their pool of talented youngsters.

“A month is quite a long time,” he said. “It’s not ideal but Aston Villa are another team that play a lot of young players.

“They’ll look at them and go: ‘We have got back up. It’s an opportunity for them to shine again.'”

The verdict

Philogene-Bidace has been directly involved in eight goals (scoring five and assisting three more) in 18 appearances at Premier League 2 level, and Smith has now deemed him ‘capable of competing’ in the men’s top-flight.

He’s still a little way down the pecking order, and Villa face two of the trickiest away fixtures before the break, travelling first to Manchester United and then to Spurs.

Will Smith look to him to inspire the team if they’re trailing? It may be a little early for that, but what a show of faith it would be.

In other news, fans react to images that have surfaced pre-United. 

Both captains agreed that the Kensington Oval pitch didn’t do Test cricket many favours as the fourth Test ended in a predictable draw. Over five days, 1628 runs were scored for the loss of 17 wickets. At a time when the game is trying to retain relevancy, matches like this do little to help. The only people they keep entertained are excitable statisticians and the only people happy are the TV executives.This non-contest followed on from an equally bat-dominated Test in Karachi last week, while the ongoing match in Lahore is shaping up as another run-fest. The tussle between South Africa and Australia in Johannesburg showed how compelling Test cricket can be on a surface that offers something for everyone, but this pitch never threatened to be an even battle.”I don’t know how groundsmen prepare pitches but maybe there’s a will on the part of the administrators for Test matches to go five days,” Andrew Strauss said. “And that might mean the incentive is there for groundsmen to make sure it goes five days and be a little bit conservative on how they prepare the wicket.”As a group of players we all want to see result wickets which are fair and I appreciate that’s a difficult balance for a groundsman to come to, but those are the wickets that produce the best cricket.””No one knew it would be so good,” Chris Gayle said. “But we have to play on what we get – it was really flat and a hard wicket for bowlers to toil on. But we are 1-0 up so we are not going to come out and make too much complaint about the wicket. England made runs on it, it was just one of those Test matches.”Gayle’s more phlegmatic approach to the pitch is unsurprising. West Indies are a draw away from regaining the Wisden Trophy for the first time since losing it at The Oval in 2000. It would also be their first series victory since they beat Bangladesh in 2004 and their first against major opposition since Sri Lanka in 2003.However, Gayle said he wouldn’t mind a bit more life at the Queen’s Park Oval. “Hopefully we will have a bit more excitement there, even though we are 1-0 up, it would be good to have some good cricket and more excitement. We will see what happens, we’re not sure what kind of track we will get.”For all the run-scoring feats in this game, topped by Ramnaresh Sarwan’s magnificent 291 and Denesh Ramdin’s career-best 166, they need to be weighed against conditions. For example, Graham Gooch’s 154 not out in 1991 is rated as one of greatest innings played because it was made against a fearsome West Indies attack on a Headingley greentop. Perversely, Younis Khan went to No. 1 in the current batting rankings after his triple century in Karachi, despite it being his first Test for more than a year. Players are aware that their skills are shown in a better light with a tougher challenge.”That wicket remained incredible flat throughout the game, if anything it was probably flatter today than any other days,” Strauss said. “As cricketers you want to see a wicket that deteriorates as the match goes on and we didn’t get that in this game. As a result it became a fairly boring draw which I don’t think anyone wants to see.”Generally I think even if you can’t force a result you want to have a pretty tight tussle like in Antigua where you can nearly force a result. Clearly on this wicket that would have been extremely difficult to do.”West Indies’ tactics in Trinidad will be fascinating. This is such a rare advantage for them to hold that there must be a temptation to play it on the safe side. They have named the same squad and Jerome Taylor is expected to be fully fit despite only bowling four overs on the final day in Barbados because of a minor ankle problem.However, Gayle talked a good game and promised to aim for a victory regardless of conditions. “Definitely we are looking for the win, we are not going out to play for the draw and be negative,” he said. “We still have to play positive cricket. Once you go out with a negative mentality it can do more damage to you.”Pitches that produce run-fests like we have just witnessed over the last five days are certainly not to the benefit of the game at large, but from a purely pragmatic point of view there will be one team quite happy if there is a repeat performance in the final game. With a major success within their grasp West Indies will try and take it any way they can.

Mohammad Ashraful has said Bangladesh’s main objective is to qualify for the Super Eights

Cricinfo staff31-May-2009Mohammad Ashraful has said Bangladesh’s main objective is to qualify for the Super Eights of the World Twenty20 which begins on June 5. They play their first game on June 6 against India, the current champions, whom they famously beat in the 2007 World Cup.”In this form of the game any side can beat the other,” Ashraful told reporters at Lord’s. “We defeated the West Indies in the last World T20 in South Africa and progressed to the Super Eight. Our main goal is to repeat that and if we beat India, who are the world champions, in the first match then we will fancy our chances of doing well against the top sides and making the semi-finals even.”Barring the upset win over West Indies in the last World Twenty20, Bangladesh had a disappointing tournament, losing their other four games by fairly convincing margins. However, Ashraful, who had a poor run himself, averaging 17.40 in five games, was confident of putting up a better show this time. “We have come here one week early, had three games against New Zealand, Holland and Scotland and the boys have done well,” he said. “We are confident and there are two tough games against Australia tomorrow and Sri Lanka the day after. So that’s a nice build-up to the main tournament.”One of the Bangladesh players who has impressed in the warm-ups has been the seamer, Rubel Hossain. He returned figures of 4 for 19 against Holland, and 5 for 16 against Scotland. “He has taken nine wickets in two matches and is bowling really well. He has an awkward action and has bit of extra pace,” Ashraful said of Rubel.He also backed his deputy Mashrafe Mortaza to come good after a disappointing solitary game in the IPL, where he conceded 58 runs in four overs for Kolkata Knight Riders, including 27 in the decisive final over of the contest. “It was only in the last over that he did badly. Otherwise I thought he was okay. But I know he’ll be back. He is that type of a player. He always does well against India.”Ireland is the other team that Bangladesh must face in the group stage, and having lost to them at the 2007 World Cup they might have reason to be cautious. But Ashfraful was confident of averting a repeat. “I think if we play our best cricket then we should not have a problem against Ireland because we have more quality in the side.”Bangladesh take on Australia in their next warm-up game on Monday.

The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards has dropped a worrying update from behind-the-scenes at Newcastle United amid continued speculation over Steve Bruce’s future.

What’s the story?

Reports in recent days had suggested that Bruce was set to be axed ahead of this weekend’s Premier League game against Spurs, but with just a couple of days to go now before Sunday’s clash, no action has yet been taken.

And now, Edwards has revealed that those behind-the-scenes at the club are beginning to worry about the situation and what is likely to happen.

Initially on Twitter, he said: “Mood darkens around St James’ Park with lack of clarity over Steve Bruce’s future.”

Then, in a follow-up article for The Telegraph, he added: “Worryingly, training ground sources have said the mood has darkened in the last couple of days, with coaches fearing they are about to lose their jobs and players lacking focus because of the lack of clarity.

“Both players and staff are taking a day off on Thursday and that surely represents the moment to reveal whether Bruce is going to stay on or not.”

Fans will be worried

When the takeover was confirmed, Newcastle fans would surely have been hoping, if not expecting, Bruce to be gone and a new man (if temporary) in charge for the game against Spurs.

The clash against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side seemed like the perfect stage for a fresh new era, especially with it being at home to St James’ Park – having Bruce in the dugout for a game of such significance in the club’s history was almost unthinkable.

But according to Edwards, the lack of action over Bruce has those inside the training ground feeling like they have been left in the dark, unsure of where they stand with the new regime.

That is hardly the kind of preparation and feel-good momentum anyone would have wanted heading into the first game of the PIF era.

The longer the new owners leave it to relieve Bruce of his duties and make it clear what their plans are – either appointing a new manager straight away or confirming Graeme Jones as some sort of caretaker boss – fans will be worried.

Meanwhile, Newcastle are keen on making this landmark appointment…

تأهل منتخب مصر للشباب إلى نهائي بطولة كأس العرب تحت 20 عاماً بعد الفوز على الجزائر اليوم الأربعاء.

وتستضيف المملكة العربية السعودية على أراضيها منافسات كأس العرب تحت 20 عامًا حتى يوم 7 أغسطس المقبل.

وانتصر منتخب مصر على الجزائر بثلاثة أهداف مقابل هدف، ليتأهل الفراعنة الصغار إلى المباراة النهائية، ويصطدم بصاحب الأرض السعودية.

طالع |  فيديو | صلاح باشا يسجل هدف مصر الأول أمام الجزائرفي كأس العرب للشباب

وتأهلت السعودية إلى النهائي، بعد الفوز على فلسطين اليوم بخمسة أهداف دون رد. موعد مباراة مصر والسعودية في نهائي كأس العرب تحت 20 عامًا

تقام مباراة مصر والسعودية، يوم الأحد المقبل الموافق 7 أغسطس الجاري، في تمام الساعة 6:30 مساءً بتوقيت القاهرة، 7:30 بتوقيت السعودية.

ومن المقرر أن تلعب المباراة على ملعب الأمير “سلطان بن عبد العزيز”.

It was like watching a Ranji Trophy knockout game. India had taken a huge first-innings lead and went about batting New Zealand out of the game. In the Ranji Trophy, the first-innings lead amounts to a win in a drawn game; here, India’s 1-0 series lead means it doesn’t need to push for a result. It is New Zealand who need to do all the running to force a win that would ensure the series ends in a draw.New Zealand have now started six consecutive days bowling and have been on the field for some time on each of the last seven days of the series. India today ensured that New Zealand will be bowling at the start of the fourth day as well.There will be critics of this Indian approach as was the case when they employed 8-1 fields against Australia to defend their series lead in Nagpur last November. But why not grind the opposition when they are down? This Indian team appears to know when to be aggressive and when to let the other team make the mistakes. In Nagpur, Australia were forced to do all the running and lost their wickets in doing so.This match seems to be heading that way unless New Zealand script a world-record chase. But even their coach, Andy Moles, does not consider that likely. “Well, history will suggest that there are not too many sides who have come successful in this situation,” he said.India hold a 531-run lead, with two days to go, and a declaration does not seem imminent. “One of the things that I have spoken to the guys about is that we have to recognise the time when you have got to learn how to draw a Test match,” Moles said. “Certainly this one is shaping into a battle to save the Test match. Whenever we get the opportunity, we need to bat really well.”But should we get into this game where we can go into the last day with six or seven wickets left and we are in a position to chase down a large score, we will do that. It’s all about going into the last day, with lots of wickets in hand. Whatever is given to us, the first thing we need to do is set an early platform.”India need no adventurous declarations; just solid cricket and conserving the bowlers’ energy until they need to be unleashed would help achieve that elusive series win. Gautam Gambhir, who was instrumental in keeping New Zealand on the field with his 167, said India was not being defensive.”We’ve got two days and the kind of bowling that we have at hand, we can easily get New Zealand out in five sessions,” Gambhir said. “If we can’t do that, then we don’t deserve to win this Test match. We’ve got quality in the attack, good pace battery and a world-class spinner. I think five sessions is a lot of time for them to handle – we got them out in three sessions in the first innings. It’s important that we get to 600-plus and just attack. With 600 runs, psychologically New Zealand will only be looking to survive. They will have a lot of trouble with the kind of bowling attack we’ve got.”Some may not like this attitude and would have preferred having a crack at New Zealand tonight, but India have just chosen the firmer road to success. Different strokes for different folks.

This season has started quite well for Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool side, having won four out of their opening six Premier League games of the season as well as both of their opening Champions League group matches.

However, a tough test is facing them this weekend with the arrival of Manchester City to Anfield on Sunday.

Henderson was quiet in midweek

One player who has been a regular figure in the team for Liverpool so far this season is club captain Jordan Henderson, having played in every game for the Reds across all competitions except for their opening league match of the season against Norwich City.

However, with Pep Guardiola’s side set to try and secure a consecutive league win at Anfield after beating them 4-1 last season, we feel that Klopp should consider dropping the skipper tomorrow to give the Reds a better chance of avenging February’s defeat.

Henderson, who is currently valued at £18m according to Transfermarkt, has made 400 appearances for the Merseyside club across all competitions, scoring 31 goals and providing 52 assists in the process.

So far this season, his performances in the Premier League have only earned him an overall season rating of 6.79/10, making him one of the lowest-rated Liverpool players so far this term according to WhoScored.

Looking at the Porto game in particular, Henderson failed to win any aerial duels on the night and lost possession on 13 occasions, while three of his four shots were blocked, according to SofaScore. That shows that he may not be the best option to start the City game in our view, especially given how the champions currently top the possession charts in the Premier League.

However, with Klopp recently revealing that Reds midfielder Thiago Alcantara will be out for the game through injury, perhaps this could allow Henderson to keep his place in the team.

Either way, it’s safe to say whoever the manager chooses to start against Guardiola’s side, either in midfield or any other position, must be at their best to overcome City, who boast the best defensive record in the league at the moment with just one goal conceded.

In other news: Klopp could finally replace Coutinho for Liverpool with “talented” £40.5m-rated beast