Andrew Flintoff smacked 27 from 23 balls to take Lancashire to a thumping eight-wicket win over Scotland in Edinburgh. Scotland, inserted by Lancashire, slumped to 21 for 5 with James Anderson and Glen Chapple nipping out the top-order. Scotland didn’t help themselves, however, with three farcical run-outs, though Majid Haq at least managed to lift their total to something resembling respectability, with 23 from 64 balls. Tom Smith trapped him lbw to pick up 3 for 14 from 10 overs. A target of 74 was never going to trouble Lancashire, though they did lose Mal Loye and Gareth Cross. Flintoff, however, was in no mood to hang around, cracking four fours and lifting a six to take his side home in the 12th over.Derbyshire were bowled out for just 94 on a wet day at Headingley as Yorkshire romped home by 25 runs. In a match reduced to 24 overs due to rain, Yorkshire themselves slipped to 47 for 4 and it was only Adil Rashid’s 36-ball 41 which gave them a total that was vaguely competitive. Set 120 from 24 overs, Derbyshire crashed to 27 for 4 with Tim Bresnan grabbing two early wickets, but it was Anthony McGrath who shone with the ball, taking 3 for 16 in four overs as Derbyshire were dismissed in the 23rd over.
South East Division
A fine allround performance from Essex earned them a 14-run win over Sussex in another rain-interrupted match at Chelmsford. Essex piled up 291 for 8 from 50 overs, with Grant Flower cracking 75 from 90 balls; Ravi Bopara 59 from 71 and Ryan ten Doeschate a blistering 61 from 53. Sussex were set a revised 156 from 24 overs and Matt Prior looked to be taking them close with a brisk 50, before falling to ten Doeschate. Murray Goodwin smacked 29 from 18 but it was too little, too late.Tim Murtagh continued his excellent form for Middlesex who beat Kent by a slender six runs at Lord’s. That Middlesex reached 177 for 8 was largely thanks to Billy Godleman’s 43 from 69 balls, and he received good support from Andrew Strauss (33) and Eoin Morgan (29). With rain interrupting proceedings Kent were set a revised target of 173 from 33 overs, and were going nicely with Martin van Jaarsveld (58) at the crease. But Murtagh tore into the lower order to leave Kent requiring 12 from the last five, and they were bowled out off the last ball of the match.
Midlands Division
A slick 111 at close to a run-a-ball from Robert White anchored Northamptonshire’s chase against Warwickshire at Northampton, before Lance Klusener’s brisk 26 took the home side to a four-wicket win. Warwickshire set Northamptonshire a challenging 294 after Darren Maddy (77), Ian Westwood (65) and Jonathan Trott (60*) formed a powerful trio in the middle-order. Northamptonshire were soon in trouble too, slipping to 60 for 3 before White – who reached his hundred from 107 balls – turned the match around, and the hosts ran home with seven balls to spare.Ireland promised much but failed to play with enough conviction, falling to a 56-run defeat to Nottinghamshire at the picturesque Clontarf Cricket Club in Dublin. Kevin O’Brien led Ireland’s new-ball attack very impressively, picking up career-best figures of 4 for 31 from his 10 overs and troubling most of Nottinghamshire’s top-order. Indeed, the visitors were 6 for 2 when Mark Wagh shouldered arms to a sharp off-cutter. However, Adam Voges – who also had an excellent day in the field – struck 60 from 83 balls to guide Nottinghamshire to 217 for 9. Ireland never got going in reply, stumbling to 60 for 5 as Mark Ealham showed the benefits of bowling stump-to-stump with 4 for 39. Andrew White carved 30 from 40 and Kyle McCallan was unbeaten on 20, but there was little else for the home crowd to cheer.
South / West Division
Fifties from Matthew Wood (91*) and David Hemp (50) lifted Glamorgan to 174 for 4 before rain forced a draw against Gloucestershire at Bristol. Wood and Hemp put on 119 for the first wicket, both hitting nine fours, but Marcus North (3 for 32) nipped out Mike Powell for a duck, Tom Maynard for 1 and Jamie Dalrymple for just 8 to prompt a mini-collapse before the rains came tumbling.Daryl Mitchell struck an unbeaten 48 for Worcestershire whose match against Somerset dribbled into a draw at a rainy New Road. Mitchell hit four fours in his 70-ball innings to rescue Worcestershire from a disappointing 55 for 5 and lift their total to 154 for 8 before the rain ended proceedings. Worcestershire were again without Simon Jones who failed a fitness test on the stiff neck which has kept him out of their last three matches.
The news that the Africa Cricket Association had brokered a deal which should signal and end to Kenya’s internal crisis will mean that a full-strength side is fielded for the Intercontinental Cup tie against Uganda later this month.A meeting of the players in Nairobi today ended with an agreement that all those who had been refusing to play for the Kenya Cricket Association would make themselves available for selection. A number of leading players have been on strike since October over contract issues and outstanding payments, and others are believed that have made it clear that they would not play for any side fielded by the KCA.But obstacles remain. The KCA said today that it did not have any cash and so was unable to fund the team. It is thought that Percy Sonn, the ICC vice-president who was in Nairobi at the weekend, will ask the ICC to provide sufficient funds to enable Kenya to get over this hurdle.Kenya’s first match in the tournament, against Namibia, was due to be played last February but was postponed by the ICC when it became clear that the KCA was in no position to field a side.
The prospect of Michael Vaughan making an England comeback this summer is still unclear following a meeting with experts to discuss his knee injury. The ECB have said he will visit a specialist on Thursday when the next step will be considered.On Monday, Vaughan met with Yorkshire physio Scott McAllister, consultant Wayne Worton and England physio Kirk Russell to discuss where he goes from here. Although he has been playing for Yorkshire for the last month, he is still troubled by the injury. Last week, a team-mate said that Vaughan still had good and bad days.No announcement was made after the meeting, but given that progress is slow at best, there must now be serious doubts as to his fitness for this November’s Ashes. It is possible that Vaughan will need to undergo another operation to clean-up the knee joint. If so, then he would be out of action for almost the remainder of the season. A worst-case scenario would mean him needing major surgery which could sideline him for up to nine months.As if that wasn’t bad enough, earlier it emerged that Ashley Giles has decided to fly to the United States for confirmation that he needs another operation to try to cure his hip problem. He has not played since his first hip surgery in December, and is now considering visiting the same surgeon who last week operated on Simon Jones.Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, told The Guardian: “Vaughan, Giles, Jones and [Andrew] Flintoff are world-class players and their injuries are a concern. I’ve adopted the attitude that it will be a huge bonus if they come back. That’s why we have to go with these other players and get them ready for later on in the winter.”Despite his Ashes-winning side falling to pieces, Fletcher kept his faith in the young replacements called up recently, though their initial display left much to be desired. “We kept it quite simple, but they didn’t bowl to the plan,” he said. “We just wanted them to go in and bowl straight. None of the bowlers seemed able to do that. I still think it is a mental thing. They don’t bowl that badly in the nets. You have to reassure individuals that it just takes one game to turn it around.”
Waqar Younis has been named as part of a five-man panel that will help work with the Pakistan offspinner, Shoaib Malik, who was reported by the umpires Aleem Dar and Simon Taufel, and the match referee Jeff Crowe, for a suspect bowling action in the final of the recently concluded Paktel Cup.Abbas Zaidi, a spokesman for the Pakistan Cricket Board said: “We have formed a five-member committee which will work with Shoaib and submit a report [to the ICC].” Waqar, who was Pakistan’s captain when Shoaib made his Test debut in 2001, is joined on the panel by Bob Woolmer, the national team coach; Khizar Hayat, a former international umpire, and Ijaz Faqih and Bruce Yardley, ex-Test players.The panel have six weeks in which to work with Shoaib, before reporting their findings to the ICC as stage one of the process for assessing bowlers with potentially flawed actions. Malik himself, who is currently playing in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Faisalabad, will undergo corrective measures on his action after the two-match series is concluded. If his action was reported again, he would have his case brought before the ICC’s bowling action review committee.
Western Province, finishing the round robin at the top of the table, was surprised by a highly motivated Easterns team after the visitors knocked off the small target of 198. Easterns will now play either Gauteng or Northerns in the finals.PointsTableEasterns 198 for 6 (Koenig 95, Cullinan 31, Dawson 3-30) beatWestern Province 197 for 8 (Duminy 51, Munnik 33, Z de Bruyn 5-44) by 4 wickets. ScorecardWestern Province began their innings under pressure after losing both openers for 38 within 15 overs. When Gary Kirsten (19) and Lloyd Ferreira (26) were dismissed, further pressure was added to the middle order.Jean-Paul Duminy (51) and Renier Munnik (33) put their hand up and batted maturely, clawing their team back into the contest. Their 84-run partnership gave Province an outside chance of defending the mediocre total of 197 for 8. Duminy, especially, showed the character required to succeed at higher levels of the game.Zander de Bruyn took 5 for 44 (by far his career best), and tore the heart out of the middle order. And good support from Gareth Flusk and Brendon Reddy ensured that Easterns, without Albie Morkel, Andre Nel and Andrew Hall, stayed on course for the upset.Following up on his bowling performance, de Bruyn gave Easterns the solid start they needed after losing a wicket in the first over. Along with Sven Koenig, they saw off the new ball and kept the run rate at the required rate. Slowly, surely, they built a 60-run partnership that laid the foundation.A further partnership of 80 runs between Daryll Cullinan and Koenig brought them even closer. Koenig, dropped on 46, continued to give the fielders chances with ample mishits, but concentrated hard to remain unbeaten at the end with a 95 that took Easterns to the final.
The Midlands Logan Cup squad has just been chosen and the team is as follows:Doug Marillier (Capt), Dirk Viljoen (vice-capt), Raymond Price, Craig Wishart, Travis Friend, Sean Ervine, Terrence Duffin, Colin Delport, John Vaughan-Davies, Campbell Macmillan, Luther Mutyambizi, Ed Rainsford, Craig Grant, Tarai Karambwa, James Kornford, Paul Reilly.The Midlands Management Team is as follows: Manager – Colin Sanders; Physiotherapist – Alan Locke; the team coach is still as yet unknown.The team are due to travel to Bulawayo this weekend to take on the Matabeleland side; this game is to be played at B.A.C. All of us wish our squad all the best for this upcoming game and hope that this year the result will be different.The Inter-town 30-over-a-side matches played on Saturday afternoons here in the Midlands are due to start shortly. This league has been bolstered with the inclusion of three extra teams; namely, Kadoma, Christian Boys C.C. and Kings C.C.With regards to the Castle Lager National Cricket Leagues that are now nearing the close, we are proud to say that our first team did well and came seventh overall. We are also proud to say that the second team have made it into the finals of their league with an outstanding victory over the last weekend. Kwekwe Queens who take part in the National North League had a game here in Kwekwe over the past weekend and they will need to do a lot better if their hopes of emulating the Sports club second team and reaching the semi-finals and finals of their division is to come true.This year our Logan Cup side will have a rather tough season as they will need to play four fixtures one after the other as a result of the postponement of the game with Mashonaland A, which will now be played from 15 to 18 March.We look forward to the return of both Ray Price and Travis Friend from India and would like to take this opportunity to congratulate them both on their efforts in the First Test there in India. We are proud of them and proud to be associated with them as part and parcel of Midlands cricket.We would also like to congratulate Mr Ken Connelly on his appointment as the official Z.C.U. Midlands Administrator and wish Him all the best in the future. Colin Sanders has now taken over as the Midlands chairman until the next A.G.M. later this year.
* Indian is elected cricket union president in South AfricaA former cricketer of Indian origin, Logan Naidoo, has been electedPresident of the Kwazulu-Natal Cricket Union which is affiliated tothe United Cricket Board of South Africa. He is the second person ofIndian origin to be elected to a top position in cricket in theprovince. Cassim Docrat is the CEO of provincial cricket and theKingsmead Cricket Stadium in Durban.Naidoo, who at one time captained the old non-racial Natal Board team,has moved into the new position after serving as vice president of theunion, national selector of the Under-19 team and president of theDurban and District Cricket Union. He said in an interview that hisbiggest task was to bring back those who have lost interest in thegame.* Brijesh Patel honouredFormer Indian batsman and currently director of the National CricketAcademy Brijesh Patel was on Sunday honoured with a ‘Lifetime’ awardfor his achievement in the sport. A silver bat was presented to Patelby KH Shrinivas, Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka StateLegislative Council, at a function in Belgaum. The award has beeninstituted jointly by the Rotary International and Belgaum Sports Clubfrom this year.Shrinivas lauded the efforts being taken by Patel to develop necessarysports infrastructure for providing coaching to young talent insmaller towns and rural areas. Replying to the felicitations, Patelwho is the secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association, saidhis endeavour was to promote the game by creating infrastructure inrural areas as there was a lot of talent.* Nair, Haridas elected KCA president, secretarySK Nair and S Haridas were elected president and secretary of theKerala Cricket Association in the elections of the Kerala CricketAssociation at Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. Nair, who is the chairmanof the Finance Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India,has been elected president for the first time while Haridas was reelected to the post.The other members elected for a four year period (2001 to 2005) were:Vice Presidents : Dr KN Raghavan, GK Shetty, S Ramachandran Nair, andC Sneharaj. Joint secretary : Niaz Ahmed. Treasurer: TC Mathew
Even though Chelsea have a squad full of incredible players like Moises Caicedo, Cole Palmer and Marc Cucurella, they’ve made more than their fair share of poor signings in recent years.
For example, the likes of Axel Disasi, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, João Félix and Mykhailo Mudryk are just some of the club’s worst pickups since the ownership took over.
However, when it comes to the most prominent example of a signing gone wrong at Stamford Bridge, a lot of fans and pundits alike will pick out Raheem Sterling.
Unfortunately for Chelsea, one of Enzo Maresca’s more recent signings looks set to go down a similar path to the Englishman.
Sterling's Chelsea career
When Chelsea initially signed Sterling for around £50m in the summer of 2022, there was a fair amount of understandable excitement from fans and pundits alike.
After all, here was a four-time Premier League winner who, during his time with Manchester City, racked up a brilliant haul of 131 goals and 86 assists in 339 games.
That positive feeling around the deal lasted quite a while as well, as even though he wasn’t electric, the Englishman started life in the capital fairly well.
For example, he scored three goals and provided one assist in his first five league games and by the time the new year rolled around, he had produced eight goal involvements in 19 games.
He would end that first season with a reasonable enough haul of nine goals and four assists in 38 games.
Interestingly, in terms of raw output, the following campaign was even better, as he ended it with 21 goal involvements in 43 games.
However, the club then appointed Maresca in the summer, and the Italian manager decided he no longer wanted to use the former City star and a loan move to Arsenal was agreed.
The winger’s time in North London was nothing short of a disaster.
Described as a “passenger” by Arsenal writer Charles Watts, the Kingston-born ace appeared to lose all of his dynamism and ended the season with a paltry tally of one goal and five assists in 28 games.
Sterling’s Arsenal record
Competition
EPL
UCL
FA Cup
EFL Cup
Appearances
12
6
1
4
Minutes
307′
297′
80′
270′
Goals
0
0
0
1
Assists
1
2
0
1
Goal Involvements per Match
0.08
0.33
0.00
0.50
Minutes per Goal Involvement
307′
148.5′
N/A
135′
All Stats via Transfermarkt
Since his return to West London, the former England international has been relegated to the club’s ‘bomb squad’ and is unlikely to ever make another appearance for Chelsea again.
In all, while there were moments of quality here and there, it would be hard to describe Sterling’s move to Chelsea as anything other than a dud, and the bad news is, a player in the current squad could end up being an even bigger flop in time.
The Chelsea dud who could be a bigger flop than Sterling
Unfortunately, a few of Chelsea’s summer signings have been underwhelming so far, including Liam Delap and Jorrel Hato.
Chalkboard
Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.
However, when it comes to someone who could end up being a bigger flop than Sterling, it’s impossible to look past Jamie Gittens.
Like his compatriot, the dynamic winger’s signing was met with quite a bit of excitement and, once again, justifiably so.
For example, across 49 games for Borussia Dortmund last season, the Reading-born dynamo recorded 17 goal involvements.
The 21-year-old gem even scored away to Bayern Munich in the league and Real Madrid in the Champions League, which led Sky Sports’ Dougie Critchley to describe him as “England’s best left winger” at one point.
So, there were certain expectations that, even if he wasn’t going to be a bona fide star to start with, he would be a seriously useful option off the left for Maresca and Co.
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Unfortunately, that just hasn’t happened.
Instead, the summer signing has looked miles off the pace and struggled in practically every competition he’s played in.
For example, he had to be hooked against League One side Cardiff City in the League Cup, with his replacement, Alejandro Garnacho, going on to score a brace.
In all, the Englishman has scored one goal and provided five assists in 20 appearances for the Blues, with three of those goal involvements coming in the League Cup and the other three in the league against relegation-threatened sides.
Considering this poor return, the poor performances and the fact that he could fall even further down the pecking order now that the club are interested in Antoine Semenyo, it’s hard to disagree with one analyst’s opinion that the winger has been a “pointless signing.”
Gittens’ recent league form
Season
24/25
25/26
Appearances
32
12
Minutes
1784′
426′
Goals
8
0
Assists
4
2
Goal Involvements per Match
0.37
0.16
Minutes per Goal Involvement
148.66′
213′
All Stats via Transfermarkt
Moreover, it’s easy to see a world in which he becomes another Sterling-like figure in the squad, and perhaps the only reason he isn’t already viewed as such is the fact that he’s a new signing and not earning anywhere near as much.
Ultimately, Gittens is a talented player, and there is time for him to come good, but as things stand, he is looking like another flop signing for Chelsea.
Chelsea line up £47m move to sign their new Moises Caicedo in January
The incredible prospect could develop into another Caicedo for Chelsea and Maresca.
Haroon Lorgat of Western Province and Border’s Peter Bacela are the two new faces on the six-man South African selection panel chosen by the General Council at the United Cricket Board’s annual meeting on Saturday.They will replace Gerald Majola and Hylton Ackerman who were both ineligible for reappointment. Majola is the UCB chief executive while Ackerman is the director of the national academy.Bacela was not among the original nominations for the selection panel, but was nominated by the General Council because of the lack of black African representation among the selectors.Rushdie Magiet was reappointed convener of the panel.The full panel is: Rushdie Magiet, Morris Garda, Graeme Pollock, Mike Procter, Peter Bacela, Haroon Lorgat.The Executive Committee was also appointed on Saturday.The Exco consists of: Percy Sonn (president), Robbie Kurz (vice-president), John Blair (treasurer), Gerald Majola (CEO), Ray Mali (Border), Tim Khumalo (Free State), Arnold Bloch (WP), Charlie Robinson (Free State).
Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Jaffer missed out on the opening day of thefitness-specific camp for the batsmen which kicked off in Bangalore at the NationalCricket Academy (NCA) today. Tendulkar, who has been allowed to miss the start of the camp ”for personal reasons”, is scheduled to join on June 10 while Jaffer, who is already in Bangalore, has been diagnosed with flu and is unlikely to attend the camp.The nine batsmen who were present and Sreesanth, the lone bowler, underwent an indoor training programme on the first day, one that began with a yoga session in the team hotel. The players then moved into the indoor training facility at the NCA where they underwent drills to enhance core stability, associated with the torso and spine regions, and shoulder stability. There were multi-stage fitness tests too (also called bleep tests) and skinfold measurements, an indicator of the fat composition in the body.Physical trainer Gregory King is overseeing the camp, one of the three to be conducted ahead of India’s tour of Ireland and England. Sreesanth was expected to attend the first two days of the camp – since his selection for the Afro-Asia Cup Twenty20 match meant he missed out on the bowlers’ camp in Mysore. His fast-bowling partner VRV Singh, who had a viral attack last evening, was admitted to a local hospital but is expected to be discharged tomorrow.Four Indian batsmen – Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh – who’re currently involved in in the ongoing Afro-Asian Cup, are expected to join the camp after the three-match series concludes tomorrow. The batsmen present at the camp on the first day were Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman,Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Mongia, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Mohammad Kaif and S Badrinath.This camp follows one that was held specifically for the bowlers, in Mysore from June 4 to 8. It will be followed by a conditioning camp from June 13 to 16 at the NCA, and will be attended by players selected to represent India in the tours of Ireland and England. These teams will be selected, in Delhi on June 12.