A major Sunderland claim has emerged regarding Danny Batth’s move to the club earlier this year…
What’s the talk?
According to The Examiner, Sheffield Wednesday attempted to seal a deal for the central defender in the January transfer window, only to see him sign for the Black Cats on a free transfer.
He joined Sunderland on an 18-month deal from Championship Stoke City and then-boss Lee Johnson hailed his arrival, saying:
“We have some good characters already in place at the football club and you are always looking to nurture leadership qualities, but Danny’s come ready-made. A dominant centre back, he has a great personality and I think he will have really positive effect on and off the pitch.”
Buzzing
This claim will surely leave Stadium of Light supporters buzzing as it shows that Kristjaan Speakman pulled off a masterclass in January.
The Black Cats supremo was able to convince the experienced battler to turn down a transfer to Hillsborough in favour of one to Sunderland. Irrespective of how the deal ends up working out, this shows that the club still has a huge pull and that Speakman is able to work his magic to snap up players who are being eyed by teams in the same division.
In fact, the Owls are one of the club’s closest competitors this season. There are only two points between the two teams as it stands, with Wednesday in sixth and Sunderland in seventh in the League One table.
They are both competing for a play-off spot and one team could end up causing the other to miss out on a top-six place come the end of the campaign.
Batth has been struggling with an ankle injury this year and the Black Cats are yet to see the best of the former Wolves machine. He found it difficult to discover his form before finding himself sidelined with the knock and is now on his way back to fitness.
His form in the Championship for Stoke earlier this season suggests that he will be able to have a huge say in the play-off race if he can get himself back to 100% and injury-free. He averaged an excellent SofaScore rating of 7.10 in the second tier, making 5.5 clearances and 2.6 tackles and interceptions per game.
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Batth has shown that he can be a solid defender in a higher division and this suggests that he has the quality to excel in League One for Sunderland. It is just down to him to now prove that he can get back to his best and make sure that Wednesday live to regret missing out on him.
Speakman pulled off a masterclass that will delight fans, because of the potential benefits by bringing him in. Batth must now repay him by delivering on the pitch.
AND in other news, Speakman heading for SAFC shocker on £2.7k-p/w gem who’s the best “in the division”…
ICC Europe has announced the schedule and venues for the ICC European Division 1 Championship to be held in Ireland from July 25 to 31, 2008.The 50-over round-robin tournament will see Europe’s top six Associate and Affiliate countries – Denmark, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Scotland – fight it out for Europe’s top spot. Six cricket grounds will be used to host a total of 15 matches that will see each country come face to face over five days.Current European champions Ireland will be looking to retain their title on home soil, and their campaign will begin against tournament newcomer Norway at The Hills Cricket Club on July 25. ICC Affiliate Member Norway gained promotion to Division 1 after finishing top of Division 2 in 2006, overcoming second place Jersey, and other Associate members including France, Gibraltar and Israel. The other opening matches will see Denmark face Scotland at Malahide CC and Italy take on the Netherlands at North County CC.”Winning the European Championships and retaining the title is still a hugely important goal for Ireland,” said Cricket Ireland’s chief executive, Warren Deutrom. “Although last year’s World Cup success gave us an exciting glimpse of the world beyond, we still consciously compare ourselves to our European neighbours, particularly our counterparts in ICC’s High Performance Programme. If nothing else, the fierce competition among traditional rivals makes for highly competitive cricket which, in turn, helps raise the bar for European cricket.”
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It was a batting performance that will haunt South Africa. Only Mark Boucher in the top six can say he was out to a wicket-taking ball; the others charged, slashed and wafted like men seemingly unable to adjust their minds to the reality of the situation. Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, however defended his batsmen by saying it was a plan that had misfired.”I don’t think we played reckless shots and threw our wickets away,” Arthur said. “We had a plan. We needed to disrupt Australia’s momentum somehow. We needed to get on top and we needed to get on top quick.”To be fair, the South Africans have batted pretty much the same way throughout the tournament, but shouldn’t they have reassessed the situation after a couple of wickets went down quickly? “We have been quite aggressive throughout,” Graeme Smith said. “We felt we could be quite aggressive upfront today. But once we went three down, it became really difficult to wrest the initiative back.” He also pointed out that Australia having Shaun Tait as first change didn’t help.When asked if they choked Smith smiled ironically. “I expected that question from you boys,” he said. “We certainly didn’t choke. We were just not good enough. We were outplayed, and you have got to give them credit. To me a choke is when you get close to winning and you kotz up [throw up] on yourself. Maybe there were one or two loose shots at the beginning. The top order got out to good bowling.”Their batting disarray wasn’t the only thing that went wrong. Smith admitted it had been their plan to bowl first here. “It was a decision based on information we had received about local conditions and on talking to teams that had played here,” he said. But they were persuaded by the dryness of the wicket which hinted turn and sluggishness as the match wore on. “There was a bit of swing early on,” Smith said. And Nathan Bracken used it pretty well.But just how hazardous it would have been to bat second was never really found out because South Africa didn’t have the bowler to use the conditions. Even Ricky Ponting pointed out how simple it was to deal with the sameness of the attack once a batsman got his eye in. Smith singled it out as a big area of concern.”One of our challenges going forward is to find a spinner,” he said. Robin Peterson, the left-arm slow bowler, was picked in the 12 but was not considered good enough to make the XI. “That is one facet to our game we always talk about and always get questioned about,” Smith said. “If we can find a spinner like the ones Sri Lanka and Australia have, it will change our cricket in a lot of ways.”
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Was the defeat one of the biggest disappointments of his career? “I guess you don’t mind losing,” Smith said. “But when you know you haven’t played to your potential, you haven’t given yourself a real chance, it is quite disappointing.”As a team we know what we are capable of. I think we have been a little bit up and down in the World Cup. We have had some outstanding performances, we have had some medium performances. Being two games away from winning a World Cup and not putting in the performance that you are looking forward to, it is disappointing. I wouldn’t say we were just beaten today. We also let ourselves down.”Smith also chose to look at the brighter side. “We have certainly worked our way up,” he said. “Two years ago we were fourth or fifth in one-day cricket. In the 2003 World Cup we went nowhere. We have just made it to a World Cup semi-final, and we have been the only other team [apart from Australia] to have made it to the No. 1 spot. It certainly shows we are moving forward.”Looking ahead, Smith didn’t foresee too many changes. “I think there are quite a few guys who are going to be around for a few years. In the next couple of years, South African cricket is going to get very strong.” But he hinted that Shaun Pollock, who will be 34 in July, will be one of the players with a decision to make.”Shaun is probably the one who is in the balance,” Smith said. “He is deciding where he wants to go with his future and his career. I don’t think Shaun will be around in the next World Cup, and I don’t think he will mind me saying that either.”Questions were also raised about Makhaya Ntini, whose indifferent form in the West Indies led to him being dropped from the last two matches. Arthur conceded Ntini had a few things to sort out when bowling in different conditions.
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As if Darren Gough isn’t busy enough bowling and dancing, now he is set to add singing to his repertoire by appearing in a football World Cup song, Stand up 4 England.Gough, already familiar with the cameras following his triumphant display in Strictly Come Dancing, will sing a line in an unofficial song by pop punk band Koopa.”As a keen football fan myself it’s exciting to be doing my bit for the World Cup cause – albeit in a small way!” Gough told Cricinfo. “Having played in the Cricket World Cup I know what an honour it is to represent your country and I’m looking forward to seeing England having a good run in Germany.”Filming will go ahead at Essex’s ground on Tuesday when Gough will sing the line “Ner, ner, ner, ner” – which could be a prescient statement if he manages to make a comeback for England’s one-day side after detractors wrote him off this winter.Gough himself is confident that his international career isn’t over, and says that the winter break – in which he toned up through dancing – has left him fitter than ever, refreshed and raring to go. “I have to stay fit and be up for the challenge and I am,” he told newspaper. “I’d love to play in the World Cup.”
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India may be at defeat’s door, but it was a defiant Harbhajan Singh that addressed the media after a sixth consecutive five-for in home Tests against Australia. He bowled magnificently today, picking up 6 for 78 as Australia were restricted to 228 in their second innings. Harbhajan took aim at some of his more strident critics, and then insisted that India would come back hard at the Aussies, like they did back in 2001.On whether India are reconciled to defeat
The match is still going on. Rahul [Dravid] is still at the wicket.On the batting
We haven’t been at our best. Sachin [Tendulkar] not playing was a big blow for us. And we also got a couple of bad decisions. But in the first innings, we gave away too many runs, and then didn’t bat well enough.On the remarkable streak against Australia, and whether they have a weakness against his offspin
I don’t know what it is, but it’s a good habit to have against the best team in the world. I just go out there and bowl my best.On the support from the close-in cordon
It’s great to have fielders like Aakash Chopra, Yuvraj Singh at forward short leg, and to have someone like Dravid in the slips. When you bowl, you know that they won’t be dropping catches. It was the same last time, when SS Das and Sadagoppan Ramesh took some great catches.On those who have criticised him in the recent past
They have got their answer. I hope they’ll keep quiet for some time now. I’m not a God, and you can’t expect me to take 32 wickets every time. Sometimes I’ll bowl badly, sometimes I’ll go for runs.On the contentious umpiring decisions
That’s part of the game, and I can’t say anything about it. They are good umpires, and you can’t do much about it. Not me at least (laughs).On Tendulkar’s possible return to the side
When he comes back, we’ll be a different side. He’s a great batsman, no matter what kind of pitch, and he’s confident that he will be back for Chennai. He also takes a few wickets with his legspin (smiles).On what he did differently in the second innings
I was bowling in the right spots. There were a few marks on the pitch, and I concentrated on those.
Stuart MacGill: kneeling before the master? © Getty Images |
The countdown to Shane Warne’s return to action stands at eight days and media speculation is rife. Will he walk back into the Australian side? Will the lay-off have diminished his skills? Where does his return leave Stuart MacGill?One person claiming not to be losing sleep over Warne’s comeback is MacGill himself. But the pressure is on. This summer, in four Tests against India MacGill’s 14 wickets have cost 50.78, and doubts have been concerned about his potency.”The one misunderstanding most people have is that they think I care about the fact that Shane’s coming back,” MacGill told the Age. “I have no concern about that whatsoever. He’s been playing since before I started playing state cricket, so the fact that he’s absent or present makes no impact on me whatsoever.”MacGill’s dismissal of Warne comes across as being just a little too nonchalant. But in case anyone had doubts, he added: “The other thing they don’t seem to get is that I like him. I mean, it doesn’t have to be a choice between Shane and I. That’s what people seem to be doing: you either like Shane and hate Stuey, or you feel ambivalent towards Stuey and ambivalent towards Shane.”The crowds this summer have not been slow in making their feelings known, and at the SCG, MacGill’s home soil, MacGill’s discomfort was compounded with match-figures of 1 for 211. “It’s just disappointed me a bit, I guess,” he admitted, referring to barracking from the Sydney public which intensified when he spilt two catches. “I’m comfortable in the knowledge that it’s a vocal minority. But I’d be lying if I said it was water off a duck’s back.”In his defence, MacGill ended the series against India as Australia’s leading wicket-taker, and in a series where the bat dominated the ball. But the wickets came at a cost. “I feel that if I bowled to the best players of spin bowling in the world, I bowled very well,” he told the Age. “I wasn’t as potent as I would like to have been but I kept them quiet through great periods of time, and that’s something a lot of guys haven’t been able to do.”Opinions are divided as to how much Warne’s enforced lay-off will have taken its toll. Some have said it will take no more than a few weeks for him to dust off the cobwebs, others – most volubly Mike Atherton – believe that Warne will be a shadow of his former self.And there is also a belief that the Australian attack has room for both Warne and MacGill. “They are quite different in way they go about their bowling,” explained former selector John Benaud. “You could easily imagine a batting side say they are going to prop on this one and see if they can score at the other end. Sometimes their extra risk is the cause of their downfall. If between them they get the sides out, who cares who gets the wickets?”But even if Warne is fast-tracked back, MacGill is confident he will be making the trip to Sri Lanka. “I expect to be on the tour and I’m sure I’ll play a big part in that tour. I’ll be a better bowler, simply because I’ve got four more Tests under my belt. You can’t help but come out of it better if you put things into perspective. If you allow things to get to you, that’s a different situation, but I’m pretty good like that.”
SHARJAH – Waqar Younis must be a very satisfied man. At stumps on the third day, he had his sights firmly set on a sixth successive Test victory. With plenty of time left in this Test match, to be exact, six sessions, and the hosts already 338 runs ahead with nine wickets standing, it would take a very brave man to put a wager on the West Indies not losing their 23rd match in 27 overseas outings.Having restricted the Caribbeans to 264, nine runs shy of the follow-on target despite skipper Carl Hooper’s heroics, Waqar didn’t ask the visitors to bat again. One is not sure whether he didn’t want to overwork his bowlers or maybe he desired that the West Indies batted last, on even further deteriorated turf.Shahid Afridi offered a chance almost straightaway, on the third ball of the innings, and, unlike the first innings, this time he didn’t get a reprieve, Ridley Jacobs pouching the snick off a Merv Dillon delivery. Afridi went back for a duck, but that minor hiccup apart, the Pakistan batting took the match decisively away from the ‘tourists’.After a slightly tentative start, Taufeeq Umar, intent on making amends for his failures in this series, and Younis Khan, trying to make the most of a rich vein of form, put on 130 runs for the second wicket. Both treated the short and loose stuff appropriately, and by the close, both had hit good half-centuries, with Younis looking well set to make it a hundred in each innings.If anything, Taufeeq and Younis proved that there were no demons in the wicket, and the contrast in the fortunes of the two teams had more to do with the calibre of the Pakistan attack, not to mention the grit and resolve of the Caribbean batting.The post-lunch session saw the West Indies tumble out of the game, with captain Carl Hooper alone defying the fire and venom of the Pakistan attack. Hooper remained undefeated, but his 84, a gem of an innings in the circumstances, failed to save the potential follow-on. But it didn’t matter in the end, for Waqar Younis didn’t enforce it, and going past that particular target may not have made life any the less miserable for the West Indian captain.With Shoaib and Waqar bowling in tandem, Hooper and Dillon found the going tough. Shoaib struck soon, with Dillon edging a good length delivery to Taufeeq at gully, who made no mistake with the low chance. Ryan Hinds looked better than his 11 runs, and when Razzaq relieved Waqar from the attack, Hinds drove him for four but was out, ostensibly plumb in front; umpire Darrell Hair raised the finger, but replays showed that the ball had landed outside leg stump.Jacobs (31) joined Hooper in the middle and the two took the fight to Pakistan in an enterprising stand of 47, before the former succumbed to the wiles of Saqlain Mushtaq, his variation, a ‘doosra’ (the one that goes the other way), pitched on the leg stump beating the sweep to rattle the stumps. The 237 for 7 was quickly 237 for 8 as Shoaib clean bowled an out of sorts Ramnarine. A remarkable display of reverse-swing bowling earned Akhtar his fourth wicket, uprooting Cameron Cuffy’s off-stump with a ball that swung in sharply from nearly a yard outside.Hooper fought on bravely, farming the bowling and attempting some big shots off every bowler, in the process accumulating his 5,000th Test run, the ninth Windian batsman to achieve that distinction, and remained unconquered till the end, but it was not enough, for Pedro Collins was dismissed by Saqlain Mushtaq with the West Indies still 9 runs adrift.Sadly, for the umpteenth time, the West Indies tail had folded without putting up a fight.
Steve Elworthy took five for 41 as Northerns grabbed their Supersport Series clash with Boland by the scruff of its neck on Saturday.Northerns skittled Boland for 132 runs and then drove home the advantage bymoving along to a healthy 160 for one in their second innings.That gave the home team a lead of 239 with nine wickets in the bank and twofull days play left.But Elworthy’s performance has to be mentioned in the same breath as that ofDavid Townsend took four for 35, and the two pacemen knocked the stuffingout of Boland, dismissing five batsmen in 42 deliveries after lunch.Boland dwindled to 104 for nine, and added 28 runs thanks to a cavalierknock by Bradley Player, who scored 37 runs off 36 balls with five fours anda six.Then Martin van Jaarsveld, fortified by a superb 91 in the first innings,continued in similar vein and by the close of play he was 81 not out. He waswell supported by the left-hand opener, Jacques Rudolph, who scored 72.Van Jaarsveld needed 135 balls to reach his half-century, but after that hetook just 15 deliveries to race along to 72.Together Van Jaarsveld and Rudolph have added 158 runs for the unbrokensecond wicket.
When Dele Alli joined Tottenham Hotspur in what was a £5m deal back in 2015, Daniel Levy looked to have secured one of the most exciting young midfielders in the English game.
And, following three seasons in which Dele scored a quite astonishing 46 goals and registered 41 assists over £89m move to Manchester City, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain back in 2017.
However, over the following three and a half seasons, Dele’s form rather drastically dropped off, with the midfielder making 149 appearances in all competitions, over which he scored just 21 goals and provided a mere 20 assists.
Furthermore, the 25-year-old’s commitment to the Tottenham cause was also called into question, with Jose Mourinho dubbing the playmaker “lazy” and reportedly being more than happy to move the former MK Dons starlet on in the summer of 2020 – only for Levy to block his exit.
However, just a year and a half later, Dele would be packing his bags, with Everton agreeing a deal worth up to £40m in order to take the midfielder to Goodison Park in the January transfer window.
And, despite the opportunity of a fresh start under Frank Lampard, it seems as if Dele’s problems have continued in Liverpool, with the £6m-rated man having so far failed to be given the nod from the off in a single game for the Toffees, with all six of his appearances coming from the bench.
This has led to more questioning regarding the £100k-per-week midfielder’s application, with Harry Redknapp dubbing Dele’s return to Tottenham in a 5-0 defeat earlier this month as “embarrassing,” while Paddy Kenny stated his belief that the 25-year-old “hasn’t been training well enough” to get into Lampard’s starting XI.
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Indeed, so poor has Dele been for Everton that the midfielder is already being linked with an exit from the club this summer, something that, considering the size of the fee Levy received from the sale of the Englishman, proves the Tottenham chairman played a blinder when sanctioning the attacker’s sale earlier this year.
AND in other news: Huge boost: Alasdair Gold drops 5-word Spurs update that will have Conte buzzing