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Rahul Dravid has carried his form from the Mohali Test before Christmas and the Indian domestic season on to New Zealand. He put India on the right track before missing out on what could have been his fifth century in his last seven first-class matches

Sidharth Monga in Hamilton19-Mar-2009Rahul Dravid has carried his form from the Mohali Test before Christmas and the Indian domestic season on to New Zealand. Before missing out on what could have been his fifth century in his last seven first-class matches he had put India on the right track, despite the early dismissal of Virender Sehwag and the ample help the medium-pacers received from the conditions. There were contributions of equal significance from Gautam Gambhir, who looked good for a century himself, and Sachin Tendulkar, who will be targeting one tomorrow.Dravid’s favourite catchesWhen Rahul Dravid dived to his left at third slip to catch Martin Guptill, he equalled Mark Waugh’s record of 181 catches. He dropped Daniel Vettori later in the day, but for which the record would have been his alone. He acknowledged the drop today, and spoke about reaching the milestone. “Taking catches has given me probably as much pleasure as scoring runs has – being part of someone else’s success as a catcher. That has been a thrilling experience for me. To have taken so many catches is also to me a reflection of the quality of attack that I have been lucky to have played with in all these 12-13 years that I have played for India.” He spoke of his most memorable catches. “I took Damien Martyn in the Adelaide Test off Sachin’s bowling and we went on to win the Test match. It was a critical phase; Sachin took Martyn and Steve Waugh, and I caught them both. I took Martyn at slip, it was an important one, one that I valued and cherished. Another one off Mark Waugh at backward short-leg in the Chennai Test during that great series in 2001 off Harbhajan’s bowling. Mark Waugh was batting on 50-60, and we couldn’t give them a big lead. It was a sharp chance to my right. These two are the ones that probably stand out in my memory.”Although Dravid’s was a solid innings, one that didn’t keep the bowlers interested, he reckoned the pitch kept doing something throughout the day. “I really felt good today,” he said. “My feet really moved well, and I got into the right position right through the day. I was scoring at a fairly decent clip. I got a pretty good delivery at that stage; the ball was still seaming a bit even after it was 60-65 overs old. Overall I’m quite satisfied, but it would have been nice to go on and get a big score.”Dravid might have got out at an inopportune time, but India held firm control of the match. At the end of the day they were just one run behind New Zealand’s 279, with six wickets in hand. But Dravid felt India would need to bat well in the first session tomorrow to take complete control. “Sachin is still batting really well,” he said. “Yuvi [Yuvraj Singh], [MS] Dhoni, the lower order can bat. We’d probably have liked to have lost one less wicket. That would have been an ideal scenario for us. If we bat well in the first session, and build a lead, we can put the pressure on them in the third innings.”Obviously, from 60 for six [yesterday, when India had taken six wickets in the first session], you would have liked to think we would be in a better position, but we’ll take this. At the end of the second day, if someone said we would be one run behind with six wickets in hand, we would have taken it.”India have put themselves in a really good position to win their first Test in New Zealand since 1976. If they do win this match they will back themselves to win their first series in New Zealand since 1968. But Dravid is not thinking about all that at the moment. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he said. “Let’s take it session by session, one day at a time. We have got our noses ahead at the end of day two. Let’s win a few more sessions and then start thinking about it day by day. They are a good side and they have shown that they bat deep. We are going to have to play really well. That doesn’t change.”

Kristjaan Speakman has revealed Sunderland’s transfer plans for the January transfer window.

What’s been said?

In recent comments made on the SAFC Unfiltered podcast (cited by Chronicle Live), the Sunderland sporting director claimed that he and his transfer team at the Stadium of Light have already started planning for the winter window, despite the fact that Lee Johnson is happy with his current crop of players.

Speakman said: “We’ve already started the process of looking ahead to the January window, we’ve begun that this week.

“At the moment everyone is comfortable [with the squad], but it doesn’t mean we will still be comfortable in December – there will be injuries, suspensions, and the natural things that happen within our industry, and we will do everything we can to get ready for next time, but we will do it in a calm and patient manner.”

Johnson will be delighted

Considering the fact that, although the season is still extremely young, Sunderland’s summer transfer business appears to have served the club extremely well, with the Black Cats currently topping the League One table, Speakman’s claim that he has already started planning for January will nevertheless have delighted Johnson.

Indeed, as the sporting director suggests, over the course of a season, players pick up injuries, suspensions and drop out of form, meaning that, if Sunderland wish to maintain their position at the top of the league, they will more than likely need to open the chequebook once again this winter.

And, with it appearing that Speakman is more than aware of this fact – something that is certainly not the case at some Premier League sides, let alone in the third tier of English football – Johnson is safe in the knowledge that the Mackems’ boardroom will back him to finally end the club’s spell in League One.

Having said this, should the 40-year-old find his side struggling for decent results at any point during their campaign, Speakman’s summer backing could well increase the pressure on the manager’s position at the club – although, considering their impressive start to the season, Sunderland appear to be heading in the right direction under the former Bristol City boss at present.

In other news: Sunderland handed potential injury boost ahead of Accy clash, Johnson will be buzzing

Manchester City’s run of four straight wins in all competitions came to an end as they failed to break down Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola’s side came into the game off the back of wins over Norwich, Arsenal, Leicester and RB Leipzig, scoring 17 goals in the process, but were unable to continue their positive momentum as they were held to a 0-0 draw by the Saints.

Although City struggled in attack as they only managed one shot on target all afternoon, they were able to show defensive resolve to ensure that Southampton did not come away from the match with all three points.

One player in particular who contributed heavily to the clean sheet was Portugal international Ruben Dias. The centre-back was a shining light on an otherwise dismal afternoon for City as his superb play at the back helped Guardiola’s team to pick up a point.

Defensively, Dias was outstanding. As per SofaScore, Dias won eight duels during the game, including six of his eight in the air. This shows that he was up to the physical challenge placed on him by the Saints as he won his personal battles. He also made six clearances, one tackle, three interceptions and an eye-catching four blocks to stop the opposition from troubling Ederson’s goal.

The fact he was able to make four blocks shows that his positioning was exceptional. Dias was able to put himself into positions where he could get his body in the way of Southampton shots, which shows bravery and tactical intelligence.

He also caught the eye in possession. As per SofaScore, the 24-year-old had 102 touches of the ball and completed 90% of his passes, including three of his five long pass attempts. Along with that, he also created two chances for his teammates from centre-back, although he was let down by their finishing.

These statistics show that Dias was superb defensively and in possession of the ball to build up the play, but his team-mates were unable to do the rest of the job to ensure victory. Regardless of the disappointing result, though, Guardiola will surely be pleased to see such a complete performance from the former Benfica man.

Hopefully Dias will continue to be as solid as ever at the back for City and provide them with the platform for his attacking team-mates to make the chances count at the other end.

In other news, Joleon Lescott thinks Man City should have made a move for this superstar striker in the summer.

Central Districts clawed their way back into the State Championship final after putting up a solid second-innings total against Auckland at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval

Cricinfo staff09-Apr-2009
Scorecard
Central Districts put up a much better showing second time around in the State Championship final against Auckland at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval. But Auckland, who have held the upper hand throughout, will still be favourites to chase down a below-par target. Bad light stopped them from getting off the marks today.Resuming on 116 for 3, Peter Ingram led the way for Central Districts with a timely 90 off 155 balls, which included nine boundaries, and was helped along by contributions from the middle and lower orders. Bevan Griggs played patiently for his 44 before Ewen Thompson added a valuable 51-ball 54 towards the end.Legspinner Tarun Nethula was Auckland’s most successful bowler with 3 for 83 while Michael Bates, Daryl Tuffey and Lance Shaw picked up two wickets apiece as Central Districts were bowled out in 93 overs.

Graham Roberts insists that Tottenham Hotspur boss Nuno Espirito Santo should have been allowed to sign Adama Traore from Wolves in the summer.

The club were heavily linked with a swoop to sign the Spain international from their Premier League rivals.

Reports claimed that the club initially attempted to sign Adama on loan, with the option to buy him next summer if they saw fit.

Wolves rebuffed that bid, while there was also reported to be an offer of £30m tabled, which was again rejected by the Molineux side.

Traore has gone on to enjoy an eye-catching start to the season, with his blistering pace a major contributing factor to the way Wolves play.

They have only won one game in the Premier League thus far but Adama remains central to manager Bruno Lage’s game-plan.

Roberts believes that Traore should have been snapped up if he was the only player that Santo specifically requested.

He said: “If Nuno wanted him he should have got him. He didn’t ask for much. So if Nuno wanted him, and he wanted one player, he should have got him, no doubt about it.”

Arun Mitra, the CAB joint-secretary, who met four of the seven ICL players from the Royal Bengal Tigers squad — Deep Dasgupta, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Subhomoy Das and Eklak Ahmid — in an hour-long meeting on Monday said the players would need to follow

Cricinfo staff12-May-2009The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has said it is ready to accept all Bengal players who had joined the ICL into its fold. Arun Mitra, the CAB joint-secretary, who met four of the seven ICL players from the Royal Bengal Tigers squad — Deep Dasgupta, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Subhomoy Das and Eklak Ahmid — in an hour-long meeting on Monday said the players were welcome to return but would need to follow certain procedures to exit the ICL.In fact, the CAB may also offer Deep Dasgupta the post of captain-coach of Bengal if he severs all ties with the unofficial league. “We had a long chat. Deep has a great cricket brain. It will be great for Bengal if he comes back to the fold. He has served Bengal well in the past and we still need him,” Mitra told the , the Kolkata-based daily.”We had a long discussion on various issues. We discussed the coaching issue. All these players are Bengal cricket’s assets. Once they get the release from the ICL, they’ll be up for selection for the Bengal squad.”Some of the ICL players said they needed to apply for a no-objection certificate from the ICL and once they get it they might make their next move to return to the domestic fold. However, Mitra said the return of those players did not necessarily mean that they would play for Bengal straight away. “All of them will have to perform well in the local league to qualify as probables for the state side,” Mitra was quoted by the .Dasgupta said he was keen to make a comeback as a Bengal cricketer and termed the talks as very fruitful. “I am honoured to be called for a meeting by the CAB. I believe I still have two to three years of cricket left in me. I’m fit enough to play any format of the game,” Dasgupta said.”We discussed many things. It would be good to play mainstream cricket again. But I’m still undecided. I have four days in hand to make up my mind. I’m also really passionate about coaching. But at this moment, I have to wait and think about my next move.”The three other Bengal players who joined in the ICL — Rohan Gavaskar, Subhajit Paul and Shibsagar Singh — were not present at the meeting.

Brentford centre-forward Ivan Toney has dropped an interesting transfer claim about Rangers…

What’s the talk?

Brentford striker Ivan Toney has revealed that he came close to signing for Scottish giants Rangers, when asked about his failed move to Celtic in 2020.

Toney joined Brentford from Peterborough in the summer of 2020 and the forward has now said that he could have been strutting his stuff for Steven Gerrard’s side instead.

He told TalkSport, via the Daily Record:

“Like you said, I was going to sign for Celtic – but I was also going to sign for Rangers.

“So you might react to that…”

Gutted

Rangers fans will surely be left feeling gutted after reading those quotes from Toney. It suggests that a switch to Ibrox was well and truly on the cards for the English forward, but – for whatever reason – it failed to materialise before he signed for Brentford.

The Bees will be counting their lucky stars as he went on to have a phenomenal season for the club in the second tier of English football. He scored 33 goals and provided 10 assists in 48 appearances across the Championship regular season and play-offs, helping them secure promotion to the Premier League.

Toney has started the top-flight campaign with two goals and two assists in six appearances, showing that he can have an impact in the Premier League too. He has averaged an exceptional WhoScored rating of 7.63 and earned high praise from his manager.

Earlier this season, Bees boss Thomas Frank hailed Toney as a lion and lauded the way he goes about improving himself. He said:

“Ivan is very intelligent, because he’s reflecting, and he deserves a lot of praise himself for also coming into a well-run club and listening to all the small bits and adding extra layers to his development and performance.”If you want to be a top player you need to work hard, constantly reflect and want to learn and then of course you need to have that confidence that he’s got so naturally.”He’s coming across so fantastically: he’s humble, calm, but with a mindset of a lion.”These quotes and the aforementioned statistics highlight why Rangers fans will be gutted that the £21k-per-week beast did not end up playing in blue in Scotland.His form for Brentford in the Championship and Premier League suggests that he would have been a prolific scorer for the Gers in the Premiership, potentially helping them win more trophies with his goals.It will be interesting to see if the reason behind the collapsed deal is ever released.AND in other news, Gerrard must unleash “exciting” £4.5m-rated Rangers beast, he may get fans off seats…

Tim Bresnan is ready to banish the memories of his first spell in international cricket if he is handed a Test debut against West Indies at Lord’s

Andrew McGlashan at Lord's04-May-2009Tim Bresnan is ready to banish the memories of his first spell in international cricket if he is handed a Test debut against West Indies at Lord’s. He endured a harrowing experience at the hands of Sri Lanka in 2006, but believes he has emerged a better and stronger player.Bresnan was plucked out of county cricket as a 21-year-old by Duncan Fletcher and thrown in against the powerful Sri Lanka top-order. He began promisingly enough in the first one-day international at Lord’s with 1 for 44 off nine overs, but life became progressively harder after that. In the final match of the series, as England slumped to a 5-0 whitewash, he was carted for 29 off two overs on his home ground at Headingley.”The first time I played I was picked more on potential than performance and last year was probably the first time I thought that I’m ready for this,” Bresnan said. “My game has been going from strength to strength ever since then and I believe I’m ready now.”Bresnan didn’t feature in any of the England squads over the winter, instead working on his fitness, and is now reaping the benefits of being able to bowl on fresh legs “for the first time in about six years”. His early-season call to play for MCC against Durham at Lord’s showed he was clearly in the selectors’ thoughts and Bresnan sensed he was getting closer.”I knew they were watching, you see the selectors knocking around early in the season and I had an indication from Martyn Moxon who said I was close and the next thing I pick the phone up and it’s Geoff Miller saying I’m in.”He admits his first experience probably came too soon, but he wasn’t the only one to suffer at the hands of Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga. At Headingley, Steve Harmison went for 97 off his 10 overs and Kabir Ali a horrific 72 from six. Kabir hasn’t played for England since, so Bresnan’s copybook clearly wasn’t terminally blotted by his experience.”I was blown away by it to be honest,” Bresnan said about tasting international cricket. “It wasn’t just me it got the better of, Jayasuriya took everyone apart. I took a lot away from the series, worked on bowling at left handers, and took confidence out of the fact that it wasn’t just me. They took Harmy down, Kabir Ali, Saj [Mahmood].”Bresnan went back into county cricket, humbled by his experience but not humiliated. He now knew what it took to play at the highest level. Last season was his best as he finished with 45 Championship wickets at 28.40. “I’ve been improving for the last four years,” he said. “I got thrown into county cricket quite early as a 16-17 year old. If you look at my career stats they don’t look that good, but in the last three years I’ve been on the up and up.”In his favour he has been involved with a Yorkshire dressing full of seam-bowling know-how. Matthew Hoggard has been a regular source of advice, as was Darren Gough when he returned to captain the club. “When you can have a sensible conversation with him [Matthew Hoggard] and get him one-to-one he’s brilliant for things like that,” Bresnan said. “Last year Goughy was quality, he’s good to have a drink in the bar with telling us how good he was.”However, Bresnan’s greatest source of advice wasn’t a fellow Englishman. “The one for me a couple of years ago was Jason Gillespie, he was fantastic. I spent time just chatting with him often over dinner or in the bar,” he said of the former Australian quick who played for Yorkshire in 2006 and 2007. “He was an ultimate professional and often he was too good for the batsmen.”But if he gets the chance to step out at Lord’s on Wednesday, Bresnan won’t be overcomplicating the game with too much advice swirling around his head. “I just try to be my own person and my own player and hopefully that will be the style that brings the goods.”

Liverpool are reportedly amongst a host of clubs monitoring the situation of Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Florian Wirtz as manager Jurgen Klopp looks to strengthen his engine room options.

What’s the story?

According to reliable journalist Christian Falk, who is the head of football for German outlet Sport Bild, the Reds have joined fellow Premier League sides Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal in taking a close look at the highly-rated 18-year-old.

However, Falk also revealed that Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich are leading the race for Wirtz’s signature ahead of a possible move in 2023.

He tweeted: TRUE @ManCity scout Florian Witz (18) intensely. Also @ChelseaFC @LFC @ManUtd and @Arsenal are interested. But: @FCBayern is leading the race for a Transfer in 2023″.

Jurgen Klopp would love him

Wirtz was awarded his first-team debut at just 16 thanks to his natural physical prowess and immense talent and has gone from strength to strength ever since, scoring 14 goals and providing 12 assists in 53 appearances for Leverkusen.

The youngster appears to have taken his already impressive game to another level this season, though. In just six outings for Gerardo Seoane’s charges, the attacking midfielder has bagged five goals, laying on a further four assists for his teammates.

His outstanding displays for the BayArena outfit have attracted the attention of several sides, although Wirtz’s immediate future appears to lie with the eternal bridesmaids as Wirtz is reportedly happy to stay at Leverkusen in the short term.

Nevertheless, with Liverpool’s squad in need of some younger, fresher legs and Klopp preferring to work with a smaller squad full of versatile players, the German tactician would surely love to bring his compatriot to Anfield in the near future.

Wirtz is comfortable in a variety of positions having played as a No.8, No.10, left-winger and striker throughout his short career, an attribute which will be extremely appealing to Klopp.

It remains to be seen whether director of football Michael Edwards can pull off another transfer masterclass and secure Wirtz’s signature, but if he can, it would surely go down as one of his best pieces of business.

And, in other news…3 key passes: Liverpool beast who took 100 touches excelled on the European stage 

Cricket Ireland boss Warren Deutrom has launched a stinging attack on the ICC and the way it handles cricket below Test level

Cricinfo staff03-Jun-2009Warren Deutrom, the chief executive of Cricket Ireland (CI), has launched a stinging attack on the ICC and the way it handles cricket below Test level.The ICC has sunk millions of pounds into Associate and Affiliate cricket, and established several global competitions, but speaking to the Wisden Cricketer, Deutrom was unimpressed.”What is the point of Associate cricket?” he said. “Ireland has proved itself head and shoulders above the rest of the Associate nations, winning all the available titles in every form of the game – four-day, 50-over and Twenty20. Yet we are bumping up against a glass ceiling. What does the ICC want us to do? How do we get from high-performance programme to the higher echelons of the world game? There is no road map for us. The issue brings to question the whole mission statement of the ICC High Performance programme: what is it preparing teams for?”Deutrom has made no secret of his ambition to see Ireland play Test cricket, but he admitted there was little prospect of that happening in the near future. And, without that goal, he concluded, what was the point of the Associate merry-go-round?”Three or four years from now there will be no new entrants in to the cosy club of full Test members. That is a significant frustration. It shows that despite the massive investment in the Associate programme, costing over £200 million over seven years, there is no stepping stone from No.1 of the Associate countries, into the Test world.”Inclusion in the Future Tours programme gives guaranteed fixtures, which allows the CI board to put together a commercial package with some certainty. This makes it interesting for broadcasters, and then sponsors, ticketing and hospitality. Currently, we don’t know what next year’s fixtures are going to be. We are not saying that Ireland deserves to be a Test nation tomorrow but what steps do we need to take to get there?”In a separate conversation, Deutrom told Cricinfo: “We are all aware that there is no established pathway to Test cricket for Associates, and ascension to the Full Member ranks by (for example) Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh appears to have happened rather haphazardly. For me, having top Associates playing the bottom-ranked Test teams is pure common sense and the first step in breaching the glass ceiling separating the Full Member and Associate world.”