Justin Langer is racing against time to be fit for the Australians’ final warm-up game before the First Test at Edgbaston next Thursday.Batsman Langer was hit on the wrist while fielding in the tour game against the MCC at Arundel yesterday.The wrist is now swollen and it is doubtful whether he will even be able to hold a bat before tomorrow when the Australians take on Essex at Chelmsford.Langer will be desperate to play following a meagre return of four runs in two innings at Arundel.Team physiotherapist Errol Alcott decided an X-ray was unnecessary for Langer and is confident the Western Australian will be fit.”The wrist is very swollen but it has a good range of movement,” saidAlcott. “He will survive.”The swelling has actually gone down a little and he’s got the colour back inhis face – he was a bit pale for a while.”It’s moving very well. It’s one of those impact injuries when the softtissues get squeezed by the ball.”It will be pretty sore today and we will have to work on it solid for him tofeel comfortable.”The decision on whether Langer plays will depend on how much discomfort he feels when gripping the handle.”I think we will have to wait until the morning of the game to see aboutthat,” added Alcott. “I am confident about it, put it that way.”Openers Michael Slater and Matthew Hayden will also search for form againstEssex while Adam Gilchrist, who will captain the side, Mark Waugh, RickyPonting, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee are all likely to return.
It’s been a tough season for Eddie Howe and Newcastle United, who have been unable to establish the kind of fluency and form that has been a staple across the past four years.
Technical director Ross Wilson is ready to enforce action on the transfer front, with Newcastle’s recent draw against Chelsea in the Premier League underlining the problems Howe is beset with.
No side in the English top flight have dropped more points from winning positions – 13 – than the Magpies this year, and this tells of issues in intensity and mentality.
Newcastle are also embroiled in a defensive injury crisis, but the backline isn’t the only area of the pitch that Howe and Wilson and co plan to improve.
How Newcastle plan to strengthen midfield
In Burno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali, Newcastle have two of the best midfielders in Europe. But Howe could do with another elite option to serve as a counterpoint, especially with Joelinton drifting at times this term and with Jacob Ramsey yet to prove himself after moving to Tyneside from Aston Villa for £42.5m in the summer.
You get a sense that Newcastle will pounce on a full-back this January should the right opportunity arise, but a top-class centre-midfielder could go a long way toward firing the St. James’ Park side back into the ascendancy.
The interest in academy graduate Elliot Anderson should offer an insight into Howe’s plans, and where he feels Newcastle need reinforcement to reach the next stage in their development.
Should the £100m-rated Anderson prove out of reach, Al-Hilal’s Ruben Neves has been earmarked as a potential alternative. According to Caught Offside, the £410k-per-week Portugal star has expressed a desire to return to the Premier League this winter, and Newcastle are at the front of the pack.
The Toon face stiff competition from Manchester United.
What Ruben Neves would bring to Newcastle
Former Wolverhampton Wanderers star Neves, 28, has Premier League experience and a completeness of style that would align with the way Howe has sculpted his United midfield.
He might not have as high a ceiling as Anderson, but a deal would be far more doable, and he would be ready to provide for Howe’s side for the remainder of the campaign. The prospect of prising Anderson away from the City Ground next month is negligible.
Neves, moreover, has much to give. He has been in fine fettle during his several-year stay in the Saudi Pro League, having been hailed by analyst Raj Chohan as perhaps being the “most underrated player in world football” in recent years, with Wolves’ downfall a by-product of the Portuguese midfielder’s £47m sale in 2023.
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There’s no question that Anderson is the talk of the town this season, but when you look at how he ranks against Neves’ own performance for the Old Gold during the 2022/23 campaign, you see why the latter could be the perfect addition to drive Newcastle back to top form.
Prem Comparison – Ruben Neves vs Elliot Anderson
Stats (*per game)
Neves (22/23)
Anderson (25/26)
Matches (starts)
35 (33)
17 (17)
Goals
6
1
Assists
1
1
Touches*
73.5
92.2
Accurate passes*
48.8 (84%)
58.9 (86%)
Chances created*
0.9
1.6
Succ. dribbles*
0.5 (68%)
1.2 (53%)
Ball recoveries*
7.1
8.3
Tackles + interceptions*
3.7
3.5
Duels (won)*
4.0 (53%)
7.4 (54%)
Data via Sofascore
And two years in Saudi don’t appear to have dulled Neves’ technical sharpness, his senses. In fact, he remains an important part of Roberto Martinez’s Portugal set-up, so combative and cultured and crafty.
Newcastle could do a lot worse than beat Man United to his signature this January. In fact, the Iberian ace would be the perfect complement to Tonali and Guimaraes in the engine room.
Will they win the race? Well, Neves is set to push for a return to English shores this summer. It might just happen for the Magpies.
Huge Anthony Elanga upgrade: Newcastle ready to bid for £100m "superstar"
Newcastle need to strengthen their frontline, having struggled for sharpness at the season’s midpoint.
Andrew Flintoff is heading to India with Lancashire’s academy in late-February, as he steps up his rehabilitation from ankle surgery, and hopes to join his county colleagues in a tournament in the UAE in March if he manages to prove his fitness.Flintoff hasn’t played for England since the World Twenty20 in South Africa last September, having undergone his fourth ankle operation over the winter. He was originally earmarked for the England Lions tour to India, which gets underway on Thursday, but an ECB spokesman said his absence from that trip was not a cause for concern.”It was never definitely decided that Andrew was going to join up with the Lions squad, it was only ever a possibility,” the spokesman told BBC Sport. “The medical team have decided that it would be in his best interests to continue his progress, which is going very well, with Lancashire.”Lancashire’s cricket manager, Mike Watkinson, reiterated the ECB’s faith in Flintoff’s progress. “Lancashire’s pre-season training camp is in Dubai in mid-March, and if everything continues as planned Freddie will be part of that,” he told BBC Sport.The 14-man Lions squad has undergone several changes since it was originally picked last month. Essex’s wicketkeeper James Foster, Gloucestershire’s fast bowler Steve Kirby and the Nottinghamshire seamer Charlie Shreck were called up on Tuesday because of injuries to the Worcestershire pairing of Steven Davies and Kabir Ali. The squad also includes Monty Panesar, who will link up with the senior squad at the end of February for the Tests in New Zealand.
Sussex, the champion county, will face a strong MCC side in the traditional season-opener at Lord’s starting on April 13.The MCC bowling will be spearheaded by Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard, while 19-year-old Adil Rashid, who made an immediate impression for Yorkshire last summer, is also given an outing. The batting is almost as strong, with Alastair Cook, who leads the side, and Owais Shah the two England players.MCC have announced that the gates will open at 10.00am on all four days, with play beginning at 11.00am. Ground admission prices, for members’ guests and the general public, are £12 for adults and £6 for juveniles (under 16 years of age) and over-65s.MCC squad Alastair Cook (Essex, capt), Will Jefferson (Nottinghamshire), Owais Shah (Middlesex), Nick Compton (Middlesex), Zoheb Sharif (MCC Universities & Cambridge), Alex Gidman (Gloucestershire), Steve Davies (Worcestershire), Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire), Steve Harmison (Durham), Graham Onions (Durham), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire).
Sri Lanka’s cricket authorities are hopeful the tsunami-hit Galle International Stadium will be ready to host a Test match against South Africa in August.”We have received a clearance from the government to rebuild the stadium,” said K. Mathivanan, a member of Sri Lanka Cricket’s interim committee. “We plan to finish construction by August and that will allow us to play one Test there when South Africa come.”South Africa, scheduled to tour Sri Lanka in August for two Tests, were the last team to play a Test at Galle before the tsunami struck in December 26 2004. The stadium’s main pavilion, including the dressing-rooms, and the indoor nets were severely affected.Shane Warne, the Australian leg-spinner, Steve Waugh, the former Australian captain and Ian Botham, former England all-rounder, visited the stadium after the disaster and pledged their support to rebuild it.Galle is a happy hunting ground for Sri Lanka, with six victories in their 11 Tests at the venue.
Hampshire amassed their highest ever National League score against Middlesex as Kevin Pietersen put the disappointment of missing out on a place in the Test squad behind him with 80 off 50 balls. Pietersen cleared the ropes six times but wasn’t the only Hampshire batsman to race along. Simon Katich sped to 85 from 63 and Dimitri Mascarenhas smashed 50 from 26 balls to round off the innings. Middlesex were never in the hunt, despite flaying the bat, and finished 105 runs short.Lancashire cruised past Northants by seven wickets thanks to a powerful display from their top order. Stuart Law hit 54 from 37 balls to launch Lancashire’s pursuit of 216. Mal Loye anchored the innings with 94 from 108 balls with three sixes while Andrew Flintoff chipped in with a rapid 40. Northants had started positively but only David Sales (57) reached a half-century.Worcestershire sealed a hard fought 16-run win over Nottinghamshire at New Road. Ray Price took 4 for 21 to strangle the Notts batting, while Chaminda Vaas chipped in with three wickets, as the required rate climbed. Zander de Bruyn (62) boosted Worcestershire’s total to 190 with help from Gareth Batty (44). Andy Harris cleaned up the tail to finish with 4 for 41 despite suffering a hand injury in the field.A career-best 96 from Ravinder Bopara guided Essex to a five-wicket win over defending champions Glamorgan. A stand of 122 with James Middlebrook (46) rescued Essex from 31 for 4. Glamorgan were given a good start by Robert Croft and Ian Thomas, who added 72 for the first wicket, but the middle-order struggled and it was left to David Hemp (62 not out) to boost the total to 216.
Division Two
A brilliant allround performance from Dinesh Mongia propelled Leicestershire to a 60-run win against Surrey. Mongia marshalled the Leicestershire innings with 67 from 86 balls then snapped up 4 for 15, with his left-arm spin, including Mark Ramprakash who top-scored with 34.Durham completed a comfortable 51-run win against Yorkshire after a consistent effort from their top-order. Mike Hussey (66) and Nicky Peng (60) provided the base and Phil Mustard rounded off the innings by striking 53 from 26 balls – his first limited overs half-century. Yorkshire struggled from the start of their innings and when Michael Vaughan fell for 31, Paul Collingwood and Gareth Breese mopped up the tail.
From the early days of the Internet, Hampshire have had a presence as part of the Global front of CricInfo. Webmaster Vic Isaacs (scorer and statistician) inaugurated the site as an unofficial engine way back in those early days, and has continued to keep Hampshire supporters world wide informed of what was happening at the club.The move to the Rose Bowl did not stop the progress, but as the cricket became part of the greater Rose Bowl plc., it was felt that a change had to be made, and this is happening soon.www.rosebowlplc.com is already up and running, a proactive site with much information not just on Hampshire Cricket, but Membership, hospitality, concerts and many of the other aspects of the plc. such as fitness and golf.The Hampshire site will be moving soon to a new address www.hampshirecricket.com, but none of the features that has made this site one of the most popular club sites in the world will be lost. The Hampshire Cricket web site will be concentrating it efforts on purely cricket matters, scores, reports from the matches, news etc from the cricket office. It will all be there, in a cleaner looking interface.Watch out for this very soon, in the meantime this site will carry on giving you the news as it happens.Happy surfing
Otago Cricket’s events and fund-raising manager Steve Davie will end his contract at the end of next week.Davie took up the position in September 2001 and introduced a number of successful concepts to Otago Cricket’s calendar: the annual dinner, sponsors’ golf day and a range of hospitality options being the highest profile.Otago Cricket’s financial position enjoyed a healthy turnaround last season, the fund-raising efforts of Davie complementing New Zealand Cricket’s continued support of the game at provincial level.While he leaves to pursue other business interests, Davie’s services will not be entirely lost to Otago Cricket. He will continue to promote and host the dinner and golf and will maintain a liaison with the region’s major sponsors.
Notts easily defeated Suffolk by nine wickets to advance to the fourth Round of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy. After dismissing the Minor County for just 87 inside 33 overs earlier in the day Notts coasted to victory for the loss of just one wicket.The first meeting between the two counties for 14 years followed a similar pattern to the 1987 clash at Trent Bridge. On that occasion Notts bowled out the opposition for just 94, with Notts’ current Cricket Manager Clive Rice picking up 4–19.Mildenhall 2001 saw the home side lose a wicket in the first over to Greg Smith and then collapse alarmingly once former England bat Bill Athey had been dismissed for 22.The last nine wickets fell for just 45 runs in only 19 overs. Smith picked up four of the wickets to fall but conceded the bowling honours to man of the match Richard Logan, who on his first appearance for six weeks after a shoulder injury, took 5–24 from his 10 overs.Apart from Athey’s contribution the only Suffolk batsmen to reach double figures were opener Russell Catley, who batted 20 overs for his 17, South African international David Callaghan and bowler Richard Pineo, who each scored 11.Kevin Pietersen, on his 21st birthday, took two catches at slip for Notts and ‘keeper Chris Read added another two.The disappointingly small home crowd had only the afternoon sunshine to enjoy as Notts cruised to victory, helped by the addition of 13 wides and no–balls inside the first eight overs.Darren Bicknell had a slice of good fortune on 14 when he edged Callaghan but ‘keeper Chris Warn flung himself across in front of the slips and spoiled the opportunity for everyone as he parried it to safety.Guy Walton, desperately short of runs in recent weeks, again looked uncomfortable and had only made 13 in 18 overs when he pushed at Andy Poole and was easily claimed by Warn.Bicknell and Greg Blewett, together with the ever–steepling extras count, took Notts to victory in just 22 overs. Bicknell’s flowing cover drive off Poole clinching the win and lifting his personal score to 48.
Rangers sporting director Ross Wilson has experienced the highs and lows of the transfer market since arriving at Ibrox in 2019.
He has been able to seal impressive deals for the likes of Ianis Hagi and Joe Aribo, but he has also been culpable of a clanger or two – Cedric Itten being one example of a failed move.
However, the Gers chief has also dropped the ball at times with transfers that he has wanted to complete but has been unable to get over the line.
One player that he reportedly wanted to bring to Ibrox was left-back Aaron Hickey. The ex-Southampton chief was keen on a swoop for the youngster in 2019 and Hearts reportedly wanted £1.5m for him in 2020, but they were unable to strike an agreement as Italian side Bologna swooped in for that price.
It is now being reported by Fabrizio Romano that Newcastle United are eyeing up a deal worth up to £20m to sign the full-back this summer. This means that the Gers had a howler as they have missed out on a whopping £20m payday – and an £18.5m profit – because of Wilson’s inability to bring Hickey in during the 2020 transfer window.
Kamara 2.0
It was also a shocker from Rangers, as Hickey could have been Glen Kamara 2.0 at Ibrox.
Kamara 2.0? You may be asking yourself how that makes sense given their positions at left-back and defensive midfield respectively, but the Scot has been tipped to transition into playing centrally in the future.
Scottish coach Austin MacPhee previously claimed that the defender may develop into being like one Spain and Barcelona’s greats, saying: “He’s so young he could play a lot of positions. He could end up being like (Sergio) Busquets. Right now he reminds me of Jonny Evans, who I’ve seen in training with Northern Ireland. It’s the way he defends, moves and always wants the ball as a defender.”
Daniel Stendl labelled the 19-year-old an “extraordinary talent” and added further weight to a potential positional change, claiming: “Aaron as a player is like Philipp Lahm. For me at Hearts, he played as a full-back. He not only runs up and down the line, but looks for attacking moves like Lahm once did. And Aaron can also play in the central midfield.”
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Hickey has averaged a SofaScore rating of 6.89 in Serie A for Bologna this term, producing four goals and one assist from left-back. The 19-year-old has won five duels per game, at a success rate of 60%, and is showing that he can perform to a high standard on a regular basis despite his age – suggesting that he has the potential to improve further and develop into a midfield general, like Kamara, in the future.
One that got away…
AND in other news, Rangers had a major disaster on “complete” 243 G/A ace who’s “like Harry Potter”…