Category Uncategorized

Danny Briggs, the left-arm spinner who was once hailed as the answer to England’s one-day spin bowling needs, has sought to re-energise a faltering career by switching to Hampshire’s south coast neighbours Sussex.He moves to Hove on a three-year deal with Luke Wright, recently announced as Sussex’s captain in all three formats, proclaiming that he remains the “best one-day spinner in the country.”But it is Briggs’ ambitions to develop into a Championship spinner that has provided the impetus for one of the close season’s more surprising transfers. He played only eight Championship matches for Hampshire in a season where they only avoided relegation on the last day of the season with the county preferring the extra batting skills of Liam Dawson and occasional forays with the up-and-coming legspinner Mason Crane.Hampshire’s director of cricket, Giles White, presented Briggs’ departure as all but inevitable. “Losing Danny is tough,” he said. “However this is the right decision for him and therefore he goes with our blessing. I have been lucky enough to have seen him grow into the cricketer and person that he is today and he has been a pleasure to work with throughout.”He understands the wider picture and in some ways it was inevitable, considering his ambition to progress in all forms of the game that it would lead to him moving on. I hope the move allows him the opportunity to further his career in the longer form of the game with a good club like Sussex. Danny is an extremely popular player, the team will miss him but I have no doubt that they will all wish him well.”Briggs must have been privately torn on the last day of the season as Hampshire’s survival was secured at Sussex’s expense, but arguably a season in Division Two for a county strongly expected to bounce back at the first attempt will allow him the chance to build his repertoire in less taxing circumstances, which after a few unrewarding seasons in four-day cricket may be no bad thing.Wright said: “Danny is a fantastic signing and one I am really excited about. We are signing a young England international spinner who is arguably the best one-day spinner in the country, and is young enough to develop into a top four-day bowler too. He is a hard worker and a tough competitor.”Briggs, released early from his Hampshire contract, has taken 191 first-class wickets in his 67 matches, with a best of 6 for 45 for the England Lions in 2011. His wickets have come at an average of 32.14, with an economy rate of only slightly over 3 runs per over.He made an England ODI debut against Pakistan in Dubai in 2012 – becoming the youngest Hampshire player, and the first Isle of Wight-born cricketer, to play for his country – and has also played seven times in the T20 international format.His ability in the shortest format helped Hampshire to a record six consecutive T20 Finals Day appearances from 2010 onwards. He set a club record of 31 wickets in 2010 as Hampshire won the trophy on home turf and became their go-to bowler in the shortest format, taking 119 wickets at an average of 19.4 from 94 matches.In the Championship, however, his lack of spin has counted against him. He will not find it easy at Hove, which possesses one of the smaller playing surfaces in the country.Briggs said of his move: “I’m excited for the opportunities that lie ahead. I’m really grateful that Hampshire are letting me leave early. I’d like to thank all the playing staff and the coaches that I’ve worked with.”

Jurgen Klopp admits Liverpool will be without Roberto Firmino ‘for a while’ after he missed the victory over Norwich City, coming after Diogo Jota was also absent from the Anfield win through injury.

The Lowdown: Firmino misses Reds win

The Reds picked up a crucial 3-1 win at home to the Canaries on Saturday afternoon after having fallen behind in shock fashion early in the second half.

Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz all scored to turn the game on its head with Man City’s defeat to Tottenham last night also blowing the Premier League title race wide open.

One player who was absent alongside Diogo Jota was Firmino, however, who was struggling with a muscle injury after the midweek win at Inter Milan.

[freshpress-quiz id=“375258″]

The Latest: Klopp says Firmino ‘out for a while’

Speaking after the game [via The Athletic], Klopp hinted that the 30-year-old could be out for a lengthy period, but at least says Jota’s injury wasn’t as bad as first thought – though refusing to give an update on the latter man’s return.

He explained:

“With Diogo, it looks a little bit better than we first thought. With Bobby (Firmino), we didn’t even know that he had something until he felt it only after the game (in midweek).

“We all thought it is a little thing, but it’s a muscle injury and we have to see how long it will take. I don’t know at the moment, but for sure not for the next game, so we have to see.”

He then added:

“Bobby Firmino has a muscle problem and is out for a while, so we have to keep the boys fit and create a spirit like the boys did today in the game.”

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-liverpool-transfer-news-20/” title=”Latest Liverpool transfer news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: Blow for Klopp, but at least there’s depth now

Losing someone of Firmino’s quality is always going to be a blow – Klopp has hailed him as ‘brilliant’, among other superlatives – but the key is that Liverpool are now in a situation where they have a plethora of top-quality depth in attack.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

The arrival of Diaz has left the Reds with more superb options in the final third, rather than having to bring in second-rate squad figures when key men are absent.

That being said, with Diogo Jota also currently out and some huge matches are on the horizon, so the hope is that Firmino makes a swift recovery and isn’t missing for too large a chunk of action.

In other news, a journalist has questioned one ‘wobbly’ Liverpool player. Find out who it is here.

Ere Sheshiah, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy of the Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, claimed that cell-phone pictures showed that a third party was behind Woolmer’s death. On the first day of his testimony to an inquest in Jamaica, Sheshiah had maintained that Woolmer had died because of poisoning and strangulation.”After viewing the cellular phone pictures taken by Dr [Asher] Cooper [the first doctor to attend to Woolmer], I think definitely that there was a third party [involved],” Sheshiah said.He criticised the three pathologists – Nathaniel Cary of England, Michael Pollanen of Canada and Lorna Martin of South Africa – who had pointed out flaws in his post-mortem procedure and testified that Woolmer died due to natural causes. Sheshiah said that the review procedure was “unusual and unacceptable”, Cary’s opinion was not final, and that Martin gave her findings without seeing the histology and toxicology reports.Sheshiah also said that Woolmer was found with his head under the toilet bowl. “In my opinion, it is not possible for the disease to put him in such a position. This definitely speaks of a third party.”The fact that other pathologists had disagreed with his conclusion that the hyoid bone in Woolmer’s neck was broken, was also addressed by Sheshiah, who stood by his findings despite admitting that an x-ray showed it might not have been broken.Woolmer was found unconscious in his room at the Pegasus Hotel on March 18, a day after Pakistan’s shock defeat to Ireland in the World Cup. The police had initially backed Sheshaiah’s finding that Woolmer was murdered and released a statement in that effect, but after a review by Cary, Pollanen, and Martin, confirmed that Woolmer died of natural causes.The inquest, presided over by coroner Patrick Murphy and 11 jurors, is expected to end on November 9.

‘I haven’t seen another bowler who worked away at you relentlessly and asked questionsevery single ball’ – Allan Donald offers tribute to Glen McGrath © Getty Images

I’ll miss Glenn McGrath’s grumpiness because he was one of the most grumpyfast bowlers I’ve ever known. He was always chatting to himself. The onemoment that I remember most vividly is when he got out when needing fiveto win [at Sydney in 1993-94, where Fanie de Villiers took 6 for 43]. I’llnever forget that, his face and him standing in the middle of the groundat the SCG while Craig McDermott was already halfway to the pavilion.He was just standing there, couldn’t believe what had happened. Thatprobably stood out for me. But there haven’t been many things in McGrath’scareer that have gone that badly wrong.His wife has been very ill as well. He probably feels that it’s time tolook after his family. Both he and his wife have been ultra-positive aboutwhole thing. Deep down, he maybe thinks: ‘Right, I’ve done my bit.’ In myview, he’s done more than that. He did say a couple of months ago that hefelt he had another couple of years left in him. But sometimes, therealisation just hits you all of a sudden. A lot of batsmen around the worldwill say: Thank God. He’s been a very special cricketer, but maybe hefeels it’s the right time.He’s had a terrific career. He’s been a champion, not only for Australiabut for the game of cricket. To fill those boots is going to be almostimpossible. You won’t find a McGrath again. You won’t find another ShaneWarne either. They’re very special individuals.What made him special? Just his absolute skill and the way he wore batsmendown. Once you faced McGrath, he locked you in. You knew that every singleball would be a test. His areas were so much tighter than anyone else’s,and he constantly questioned your ability. Pollock is the only other guy Ican think of who comes close to him. He was accurate and he wore you down.Not many bowlers in cricket history have been as accurate as he is whilebeing able to boast of the sort of record that he has.He had a very uncomplicated action. It wasn’t heavy on the body and hedidn’t hit the crease as hard as most people do. He was a lot like WasimAkram, who also played for a long time. They just kissed the surface.Their actions were so basic that there was not much that could go wrong.Another guy like that was Courtney Walsh, who could have played till hewas 45 [laugh]. The body couldn’t do it anymore, but their uncomplicatedactions gave them a chance. You talk of elasticity and long levers – theytypified that.

‘Once you faced McGrath, he locked you in. You knew that every single ball would be a test. His areas were so much tighter than anyone else’s’ © Getty Images

Even now, I think he’s got a year or two left in him. But maybe the bodyjust doesn’t want to go through it anymore.I haven’t seen another bowler who worked away at you relentlessly and asked questionsevery single ball. It didn’t take him long to work you over. He wasn’tscared to make it public either that he’d be on your case. It made youthink. And he was very quick to back it up. He’s targetted a lot of peoplein his career and knocked them over, no problem whatsoever.Where do Australia go from here? Well, Stuart Clark is right there. He’smatured at the right time. He’s 31, and seems to be a lot like MichaelHussey. Australia have found someone in Clark who can take over the mantlefrom McGrath. He’s already shown that he’s a class bowler, but 560-oddwickets is a long way away. You won’t be able to replace that.

Marvan Atapattu’s men will play their first-ever Test at Delhi when they return for the Test series in December © Getty Images

Sri Lanka will not make a request to the Indian cricket authorities for a change of Test venue following Saturday’s bomb blasts in New Delhi which left around 60 dead and several more wounded.The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) programmes and fixtures committee, which met on Friday, allotted Delhi, Kanpur and Chennai as the venues for the three Tests against Sri Lanka, starting on December 2.But Duleep Mendis, the CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), said yesterday that the venues would remain as decided by the Indian Board. “At this moment of time we will not make any moves to alter the venues because we have not heard anything of a serious nature from the Indian Cricket Board,” said Mendis. “If at all there is some concern playing the Test in Delhi the Indian cricket authorities will advise us.”In releasing the venues, the BCCI had stated that the order of the venues would be decided later taking into account the travel plans of the Sri Lanka team. The BCCI also stated that SLC had not requested for a warm-up game before the Test series and as of now there were no plans to organise such a match.However, Mendis said that as far as he was aware, a warm-up match was part of the itinerary. “If it is not included in the itinerary we will make a request for it,” he said. “We made a similar request ahead of the on-going one-day series and were granted a practice game.”Although they have toured India previously on five occasions, Sri Lanka have not played a Test match in Delhi and the upcoming tour will see them play their first-ever Test match there. On their first-ever Test tour to India in 1982-83, Sri Lanka played a one-off Test at Madras and four years later in 1986-87, they played a Test match at Kanpur. Both Tests ended in high-scoring draws. Sri Lanka have yet to win a Test match in India. The 11 Tests played there have resulted in six defeats and five draws.

ScorecardSri Lanka A’s proud unbeaten record on their tour of England was in danger of being broken after the close of the third day of their tour match against Somerset at Taunton. After Neil Edwards and Ian Blackwell helped Somerset to 424 for 9 declared, Sri Lanka A then closed at 87 for 3.After Somerset resumed at 159 for 4, Edwards and Peter Bowler added 38 more in the morning before Edwards was trapped lbw by Kaushal Lokuarachchi for an impressive 93. But if Sri Lanka A then had any thoughts of wrapping up the remainder of the innings quickly, Blackwell put pay to that with another bustling innings.He muscled his way to 81 from 92 balls, featuring 11 fours and a six, and added 94 with Bowler, who was caught by Malintha Gajanayake off Gayan Wijekooon for 48. Aaron Laraman missed out on the run feast, bowled by Bathiya Perera for 1, but Gazzard joined in the fun with an unbeaten 44. He added 25 with Blackwell, who was stumped going for another big one off Suraj Mohamed, and then put on a stand of 74 with Gareth Andrew for the ninth wicket.Andrew scored a breezy 44, and then Richard Johnson, the last man in, scored 22 not out as Somerset declared on 424 for 9 at tea, with an imposing lead of 516.Sri Lanka A had the evening session to bat out, but they lost three batsmen. Ian Daniel fell early, caught by Wesley Durston off Johnson for 1, Johnson then struck again when Gajanayake was caught behind for 22, and Jeewan Mendis was caught off Laraman for 34. That left Jehan Mubarak and Perera holding things together, and it will be a matter of survival for them tomorrow standing 430 runs behind.

Cricket’s two big events, the World Cup in South Africa and the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, made the past 12 months the most challenging for the Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) since 2000.In making his comments in the International Cricket Council’s annual report, Lord Condon, the chairman of the (ACU), said that had it not been for preventative measures put in place, both tournaments could have been corrupted by gamblers.”Intelligence was gathered and acted upon by the ACU in both Sri Lanka and South Africa, which revealed intentions to access players and potentially to influence events in matches. This should surprise no-one, because the threat of malpractice will never disappear as long as cricket maintains its appeal to gamblers. Fortunately preventative action was taken in these cases.”He was confident that no matches in either tournament were fixed but there were still nagging doubts about events in a small number of matches.They might well have innocent explanations, he said, but similar events in the past had been symptomatic of individuals underperforming for betting purposes.”Inevitably, and quite properly, any statistically significant underperformance by a team or an individual is monitored by my team and tested against expert opinion, intelligence and informants around the world.”Growth in the world-wide market of illegal gaming has grown as cricket’s popularity has risen.”More wagers, more money and more bookmakers add up to greater pressure on the game and those who play it. Turf wars between rival bookmakers have resulted in gangland killings. As vast sums changed hands on the India v Pakistan match in the ICC World Cup 2003 the continued potential for corruption and malpractice is startlingly clear.”Condon believed the implementation of his 24 recommendations two years ago had set cricket up for its future in warding off corruption.A name change for the unit, agreed by the ICC executive board in March, will see it called the ICC Anti Corruption and Security Unit, and would allow for a broader mandate. It would be responsible for longer-term prevention of malpractice as well as investigation of alleged or suspected corruption.Condon is to become chairman of the unit with responsibility for performance and strategy while his deputy Jeff Rees will become general manager and chief investigator.Condon warned that cricket could never relax or become complacent on the corruption issue.”If it does, the problem will inevitably return. No-one at the ICC is prepared to allow that to happen and the newly-defined role and remit of the ICC Anti Corruption and Security Unit is proof of that long-term commitment.”

Trinidad and Tobago won their first match in the Red Stripe Bowl overLeeward Islands at the Alpart Sports Club, Jamaica, but if the crowdexpected the Brian Lara brand of entertainment, they were sorelydisappointed.Leeward Islands, batting first, scored 174 for eight in fifty overs,Runako Morton top-scoring with 56. The batsmen, however, had to grindout their runs slowly as Trinidad and Tobago bowlers Mervyn Dillon andDinanath Ramnarine, who also won the toss as captain, picked up twowickets apiece.Trinidad opener Andy Jackson scored a rapid 45 off 33 balls, givinghis side such an advantage in terms of the run-rate that, when thesecond innings was adjusted according to the Duckworth-Lewis method,Trinidad found themselves comfortably placed. Needing to make only 105within 34.4 overs, the side made 145 with Richard Smith making anunbeaten 40. Lara made a patient 20 off 46 balls with a solitaryboundary, a sign that he is still rusty from his long break.

Rod Marsh has shed new light on Australia’s failed Ashes campaign by admitting they felt they had the series won after a vast victory over England in the second Test at Lord’s.Following a heavy opening defeat in Cardiff, the Australians regathered to more than double the margin in the second match with a 405-run thrashing, and celebrated their first victory at Lord’s since 2005 with plenty of gusto. But the series ledger was merely 1-1, and after their batting was obliterated on seaming pitches at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge, the heavily favoured visitors finished empty handed.Speaking as part of a panel discussion following his delivery of the 2015 MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, Marsh was asked by Mark Nicholas whether complacency had crept into Australia’s defence of the Ashes urn won so convincingly at home two years before.”When we left Lord’s I thought ‘we will win the Ashes’ because we’d played that badly at Cardiff, we played that well here, then we were just going to win,” Marsh said. “If that’s complacency, then yes we were complacent. But I think we all thought we’d broken their back at Lord’s with such an emphatic victory. Geez we were wrong. We were that wrong!”Marsh’s admission is sure to leave plenty wondering how the series was allowed to unravel, when Australia had gone 14 years without winning the Ashes in England. Fellow selector Darren Lehmann has publicly conceded that the selectors made several errors over the series, including the dropping of Mitchell Marsh for his brother Shaun on the opening morning of the pivotal Trent Bridge Test.There has also been heated debate over the delayed selection of Peter Siddle, who looked comfortably Australia’s most dangerous bowler on seaming pitches when belatedly chosen for the dead Oval Test, while critiques of the tourists’ batsmanship in the prevailing conditions have largely concluded that greater grit had to be shown.In contrast to Marsh, England’s captain Alastair Cook said his side knew from the moment they defeated Australia in the first Test that they were capable of winning the Ashes. It was a belief that did not waver even after the Lord’s drubbing, for they had seen how Michael Clarke’s team could struggle in even moderately helpful conditions for James Anderson and Stuart Broad.”Australia came as firm favourites, but as a player and as a team you need to have a bit of substance in your belief,” Cook said as part of the same panel. “You turn up to Cardiff and you look at the Australians and like we always do we probably build up the opposition in our own minds a bit. “Australia beat West Indies more convincingly than we did, they had an outstanding run of games. In my mind I thought we could win if we played to our absolute potential.”When we left Cardiff we knew these guys were beatable, and that was the big difference. We’d done it once, it was just whether we could do it consistently. But I know we could win the Ashes because we’d just beaten them, and we could put Australia under pressure in our conditions.”Everyone looked at each other at the end of that game, we had a few drinks in the dressing room at Cardiff, and that was the most important message I could get across to the guys. We’ve proven we can do it once, if you can do it once you can do it three times. They clearly ignored everything I said and we got hammered at Lord’s three days later, but at the end of the summer we proved it.”

Shaheen Shah Afridi, on his BBL debut, was removed from the attack for dangerous bowling in the match between Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Renegades in Geelong.In the 18th over of Renegades’ innings, after Heat elected to field, Afridi bowled two waist-high full tosses – one each to Tim Seifert and Ollie Peake – and he was forced out of the attack.After being told he could no longer bowl, Afridi sported a wry grin as Heat captain Nathan McSweeney had to bowl the final two deliveries to complete the over.It meant Afridi finished with the rough figures of 0-43 off 2.4 overs, including three no-balls and two wides, in a tough BBL initiation. Entering the game amid much fanfare, with Pakistan team-mate Mohammad Rizwan also making his BBL debut for Renegades, he had started well with three dot balls in the second over.But things went downhill after that as he missed his lengths and was not brought back on until the 13th over when Renegades took the power surge. Afridi conceded 19 runs in the over before the horrors of the 18th over, where he ultimately leaked 15 runs, including three no-balls.Renegades finished with a massive 212 for 5 with Seifert smashing 102 off 56 balls and Peake clubbing 57 off 29. Rizwan, batting at No. 3, made just 4 from ten before holing out to left-arm spinner Paddy Dooley.