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Hampshire recorded an exiting 3 run victory over Middlesex at The Rose Bowl, but it was too late to qualify for the Quarter Final stages of the Benson & Hedges Cup.

Vic Isaacs06-May-2002Hampshire recorded an exiting 3 run victory over Middlesex at The Rose Bowl, but it was too late to qualify for the Quarter Final stages of the Benson & Hedges Cup.
Crawley recieves Gold Award
Photo Vic Isaacs
The inability of the middle order has been Hampshire’s downfall in this year’s competition, but this was put right with two of their number, John Crawley and Giles White who saved the innings after a bad start. With three wickets down for 41, these two batted with extreme care, before opening their shoulders. White finally fell at the end of a 127 run partnership for a well executed 60, then with help from wicket-keeper Nic Pothas, Crawley completed his first Limited-Overs century for his new club winning him the Gold Award, to take the home side to a comfortable 237 run total.Angus Fraser playing his last match for Middlesex before becoming a journalist was the tidiest of the bowlers taking 2/34 in his 10 overs.Middlesex began as Hampshire had, losing 2 wickets cheaply, but as with the home sides innings they rallied with Owais Shah and Ed Joyce bring the game round. Many of the batsmen contributed, but some indifferent shots when going strong was their downfall. Middlesex who had more to gain from a victory than their hosts came agonisingly close to victory against a Hampshire attack so weakened that they had to rely of occasional bowlers Prittipaul and Will Kendall captaining the side in Robin Smith’s absence with a shoulder problem.Dimitri Mascarenhas was the pick of their bowlers, with a tidy spell from Mullally, but with Middlesex requiring 11 to win from the last over, Kendall held his head to restrict them to 7.So, the curtain comes down on Hampshire’s 31 year history in the Benson & Hedges Cup, winning 66 of the 142 matches played over the years, and winning the competition in 1988 and 1992.

Michael Ball believes that Harry Wilson has all the attributes required to make an impact at Rangers and follow in the footsteps of Ryan Kent at Ibrox.

The Athletic has reported that Steven Gerrard’s champions have yet to make an enquiry for the Liverpool star, who has spent the season on loan at Cardiff City.

He would cost around £15m, per The Athletic, and has scored seven goals and registered 12 assists in 37 Championship games this season.

Gerrard sanctioned a deal to sign Kent from Liverpool, playing up his connection with the Reds.

The club paid £7.5m to snaffle the winger away from the Reds back in 2019 and Ball thinks that the connection with the Reds could pay dividends once again when it comes to Wilson.

Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, the former Rangers ace said when asked if Wilson could be another Kent: “I feel he can. Harry’s been all over the place, on loan everywhere, but he’s finally got his opportunity at Cardiff.

“He’s developed well, his goals and all his stats are in the right direction. But it’s that personal direction as well with Steven, along with Ryan Kent, he knows what he’s like personally and that’s a great asset to have as a manager, when you know somebody, how they work every day in training and their attitude.”

Wilson has only ever made two senior appearances for Liverpool, with his last outing coming in the EFL Cup in 2020, as the Reds lost to Arsenal on penalties.

According to The Sun, Daniel Levy is desperate to hire Brendan Rodgers as the new Tottenham manager, with the Leicester City boss even said to have always been Spurs’ first choice.

The Lowdown: Spurs continue manager search

Jose Mourinho are without a permanent manager after Jose Mourinho was sacked last month – Ryan Mason remains in interim charge.

As such, Levy continues to explore all possible options ahead of next season, with countless names linked with the role in the last few weeks.

The Latest: Levy wants Rodgers

It is now being reported that Levy and Spurs are eager to appoint Rodgers, who has always been their preferred choice for the job.

They are hoping that a Tottenham win against the Foxes this weekend will convince Rodgers to make the move to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, given that it would place both teams into the same European competition.

The Verdict: Aim high

Rodgers has done a fantastic job with Leicester. He led them to the first F.A Cup trophy in their history earlier this month as they beat Chelsea 1-0 in the final at Wembley, while they remain in with a chance of qualifying for the Champions League going in to the final day of the Premier League campaign.

He has won eight trophies throughout his career, with seven coming at Celtic in his previous job. He was also on the verge of winning the Premier League with Liverpool in 2014 – quite frankly, he has more than enough credentials to be given the Tottenham job. A Spurs victory this Sunday could be crucial in more ways than one.

In other news, Levy planned for Harry Kane’s departure months ago.

Celtic interim boss John Kennedy has cleared up any confusion regarding a possible exit for Karamoko Dembele this summer.

The Lowdown: Dembele rumours

Dembele, 18, netted his first senior goal for the Hoops in a 4-0 win over St Johnstone on Wednesday evening.

The winger was linked with a summer exit back in January, with former Celtic man Mark Wilson adamant Dembele would move on at the end of the current campaign.

French sides Lille and Nantes were thought to be keen on the youngster’s services, and, at the time, it was believed his deal was set to expire at the end of the season.

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The Latest: Kennedy confirms length of contract

However, talking after the win over St Johnstone, as reported by The Scottish Sun, Kennedy cleared up Dembele’s contract situation, describing the teenager as ‘terrific’ in the process.

“There is a lot of speculation in terms of Karamoko being out of contract in the summer.

“I don’t know where that has come from because he has another year left.

“In terms of him, again a young player and every young player has a different pathway.

“Karamoko has been spoken about as the next superstar, but people develop physically at different rates.

“He is probably one who still has a bit of development, but is a terrific talent — we know that.

“It’s not a token gesture [his substitute appearance], he has done well in training recently.”

The Verdict: Gives Hoops vital time

With Dembele actually having another 12 months on his Celtic deal left to run, that may give the Hoops the time required to persuade him his long-term future lies in Glasgow.

He’s only made seven senior appearances for the club to date, and you’d expect he’d have to be guaranteed more game time for him to pen a new deal at Parkhead.

With sides in France recently keen and Kennedy admitting he has been spoken about as a ‘superstar’, the next 12 months for Celtic could prove crucial in regards to ensuring his future is with the Bhoys.

That said, a fresh faced new arrival in the dugout – one like Eddie Howe perhaps – could be just what he needs to really kickstart his career in Glasgow.

In other news: Celtic keen on versatile ace who could move to Parkhead for next to nothing, find out more here.

For the last decade or so, the princely game of cricket has passed through a mounting tide of indiscipline giving way to criminal tendencies

Rafi Nasim30-May-2001For the last decade or so, the princely game of cricket has passed through a mounting tide of indiscipline giving way to criminal tendencies. The players’ involvement in several evils like ball tampering, gambling, bribery, match fixing and now, indulgence in the use of drugs has badly tarnished the sacred image of the game.The prime responsibility for rooting out such crimes lies squarely with administrators of the game. Unfortunately, for saving face, undue publicity and other reasons I feel they deal with the defaulters rather too lightly. They either sweep the cases of in-discipline under the carpet, hush them up through some vague inquiries, or when things become worse they close the cases after awarding minor punishments to the offenders.It is well recognized that punishment is a deterrent to crush crime. Had the ICC and the Cricket Boards adopted the policy of awarding severe-cum-suitable punishments to law-breakers, I am sure, there would have been little need for establishing an Anti-Corruption Unit headed by Sir Paul Condon and other such commissions set up by the Cricket Boards. The recent publication of the Condon report has clearly amplified this aspect.Though attention of the cricket world is currently focussed on the Condon Report, the other cases of in-discipline must not be allowed to disappear in the noise over the big issue. The case under review is the ‘marijuana smoking scandal’ that erupted in Antigua during South African team’s tour of the Caribbean last month. An incident also took place in Grenada when Pakistan were touring in 1992-93.In the recent one, six members of the visiting team, Herchelle Gibbs, Paul Adams, Roger Telemachus, Andre Nel, Justin Kemp and the team physiotherapist Craig Smith were allegedly caught smoking marijuana in a hotel room. Despite the fact that the players were caught on the spot and accepted guilt, no action was taken by the local administration. The team was allowed a clean break from the incident, completed the tour and returned home where the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) dealt with the case.On rendering an apology, “the players were extremely regretful and remorseful of the incident and would like to apologize to the UCBA, the cricket loving people of South Africa and the West Indies for their indiscretion”, the culprits were let off with a fine of R10,000 (US$1250) each. On assuring the Board further that ‘this was a once off incident and that it will not happen on any South African cricket team tour again’ the issue was closed.The very fact that the Antiguan police and the local administration showed absolutely no reaction to the incident is baffling. I feel perplexed on such leniency especially if one recalls a similar case that happened during Pakistan’s tour of the West Indies.On arrival at the island of Grenada, skipper Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Aaqib Javed and Mushtaq Ahmed visited the beach. Two foreign female tourists and a local man accompanied them. According to reports, having found some marijuana joints lying nearby, the local police hauled them up and took them to the police station on the charge of ‘constructive possession of marijuana’.Since no drugs were found on them they were released on bail and directed to appear in the court five days later. The incident shook the whole team because if found guilty, the boys could have been fined up to $92,500. The funniest part of the story was that the venue of the incident happened to be a public beach open to use by all and sundry. Even at the time when the alleged narcotics were found, a number of people were present there. One can only guess how many other people would have visited the beach earlier. What the Pakistani boys perhaps forgot to do was to sweep the area of garbage and joints around them!The team manager had to engage a panel of eminent jurists to defend the players and the incident cost the Pakistan team dearly in terms of money.One can thus really wonder where have the West Indies’ strict anti-narcotic laws gone? Or do they vary island by island? In the recent case, the players were found in the state of having taken the drug. Still, the local police took no notice of the offence. One can only surmise, the hotels and beaches in the West Indies are far too permissive and possible sanctuaries for crimes and irregularities?

After coming off the bench against Liverpool last time out in the Premier League, Newcastle striker Callum Wilson must surely start against Arsenal on Sunday afternoon.

The England international has been slowly eased back into first team action by Steve Bruce after missing several games with a hamstring injury, but he looks set to feature from the off against the Gunners.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the match against the Gunners, the Magpies boss said: “I think the time is right. We’ve been patient with him, but I felt last week against Liverpool, in the last five minutes when he burst through, it was Callum being free from it – I always think when you’ve got a hamstring and you rely so much on your pace like he does, then you’re always a bit reluctant to get to full speed.

“But certainly last week against Liverpool I saw him up to top speed, which is good for everybody. Let’s hope he is 100 per cent, which we think he is.”

The £22.5m-rated Wilson has earned rave reviews in his time playing in the Premier League, with Eddie Howe, his former manager at Bournemouth, particularly fulsome in his praise of the centre-forward.

The 43-year-old said: “He is an outstanding player with unique attributes for us. He has that ability to run in behind and he’s got the work ethic off the ball and, of course, he knows where the goal is.”

In his debut campaign with the Magpies, Wilson has certainly shown he can be a game-changer, netting ten times and providing a further five assists in just 24 Premier League games, including a couple of match-winning braces both home and away against Everton.

While Newcastle have picked up their form in recent weeks, having a prolific striker Wilson in the starting line-up should give everyone else in the team a major boost knowing that they have someone clinical up front to finish things off. Today is the day for the 29-year-old to return to the starting XI.

Meanwhile, Newcastle can finally wave goodbye to this liability…

A look back at how beneficial the stints of Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid in English County Cricket was.

Anand Vasu11-May-2001It was this week last year that three Indian musketeers began theircampaign in England for various counties. Sourav Ganguly, the Indiancaptain, was plying his wares for Lancashire, Rahul Dravid was batting forKent and Anil Kumble was bamboozling batsmen with leg breaks forLeicestershire. The Karnataka leg spinner had previously played forNorthamptonshire but Ganguly and Dravid were making their debuts inEnglish domestic cricket.At the same time, it was not all smooth sailing for the trio. Just beforethey left for England, both Dravid and Kumble opted out of a crucial RanjiTrophy semi-final clash against Hyderabad. As it turned out, that proved tobe costly for Karnataka, who were edged out by the superior batting of aVVS Laxman-inspired Hyderabad.As a result of commitments to county cricket in England, the trio missedout on yet another important fixture of the Board of Control for Cricket inIndia. With India due to travel to Bangladesh for the Asia Cup featuringIndia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the preparatory camp for thetourney was underway. Although it would be far fetched to say that thishad a dramatic effect on the way India prepared, it must be remembered thatIndia lost quite badly at Dhaka.The county stint too proved to be less productive than people initiallyenvisaged it for at least one of the threesome. Ganguly, playing forLancashire, found that it was no stroll in the park. High scores ofteneluded the southpaw and the going was tough. With the ball swinging andseaming around, Ganguly could not simply hit his way out of a bad patch ashe may have done in the subcontinent. Add to this the run out troubleGanguly had and there was a disaster waiting to happen. When teammatesalleged that the Indian skipper was a bit of a ‘spoilt’ cricketer, drivingon his ownto venues and not taking the team bus, and extended the assessments tosimilar infringements, thingscame to a boil. On one occasion, when Ganguly scored a ton, there wasreportedly no one at the Lancashire balcony to cheer him on.For Kumble too, the second stint at county cricket might just havebeen a counter productive one in the long run. The 630.5 overs that hebowled would certainly have hastened, if not caused, the rotator cuffshoulder injury that has kept Kumble out of international cricket for morethan one series now. The doctor’s diagnosis on the injury is that he hasclearly sustained toomuch wear and tear.So, with the benefit of hindsight, one might just be cheeky enough tosuggest that a couple of key Indian cricketers’ experiment in playingcounty cricket in 2000 was an eminently avoidable one.

Sunderland fans are gutted after Lee Johnson revealed Dion Sanderson will miss the rest of the season due to injury.

After a number of poor results in recent weeks, the Black Cats will have to make do with the play-offs as they look to earn promotion from League One to the Championship. They have lost three and drawn two of their last five matches (Sky Sports), meaning it is almost impossible for them to catch Peterborough in second place.

In anticipation of the play-offs, it had been hoped that Sanderson would be available to play. However, prior to the Stadium of Light outfit’s clash against Blackpool in the third tier on Tuesday, Johnson revealed the 21-year-old will not play another game for the club this term – considering he is only on loan from Wolves, he could have already played his last match for the Wearside team.

The news was shared on Sunderland’s official Twitter account, and it attracted plenty of attention from the supporters. They took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the Sanderson news below

“Yay another season in league one.”

Credit: @PAJUK19

“So basically it’s league one for another year, gerrrrin”

Credit: @HarryTindal1

“Gutted @SandowRs, all the best marra”

Credit: @Jamieparko203

“Sickening.”

Credit: @ScottDuffman

“Gutted for the lad, we are much weaker without him, get him signed for next season”

Credit: @christyzack

“Absolutely gutted man What a player he’s been for us”

Credit: @StephanieWooton

In other news, Sunderland fans react to this youngster’s latest performance.

Less than a week before their biggest game of the season, Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy pulled the trigger and sensationally sacked Jose Mourinho.

The timing of the move is quite bizarre, given the small matter of their Carabao Cup final clash with Manchester City on Sunday afternoon and perhaps in an even stranger decision, inexperienced former midfielder Ryan Mason, 29, has been given the reins as caretaker boss until the end of the season.

At the start of December, Spurs were sat top of the Premier League and had everything to play for – nobody could’ve predicted the Mourinho era unravelling like this, so quickly and so abruptly.

The Athletic have revealed a long list of reasons why Levy has reacted in this manner in a recent column, most notably how the players were bored of Mourinho’s training methods and how they were unhappy with his scathing criticism.

Dressing room, lost. Effectively.

Levy is also to be said to have feared the loss of as many as ten first-team stars if Mourinho was still in charge come the summer, according to Eurosport’s Dean Jones.

Mason’s shock appointment should instantly change this to bring a breath of fresh air to things around Hotspur Way, and forgotten players such as Dele Alli and Gareth Bale could be handed a lifeline ahead of the summer window.

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But forget about either for now, as it is Harry Winks who could benefit most from his former teammate’s involvement.

Both are – or were – very much in the same mould of player, though it is the current Spurs midfielder who is still teeming with untapped potential.

“Harry has the profile of the perfect midfield player,” claimed Mauricio Pochettino to the Evening Standard in September 2018. “His characteristics are perfect. When we talk about midfielders like Xavi and [Andres] Iniesta, he’s like this type of player. He has this capacity but he needs to take my words in a very positive way — he needs a lot of work.”

Under Mourinho, Winks went from a starter, featuring from the off in their opening three Premier League outings this term, to an outcast, subsequently recording only 398 minutes of game time in the top-flight since then.

Given they both came through the academy system, and have featured together before, it would not be a surprise to see the new interim boss turn to the 25-year-old this week.

If Winks features more regularly before the summer transfer window, then his long-term future at the club could well be saved. Reports had emerged suggesting that he would look to force an exit in the summer, but that was under Mourinho, who clearly no longer fancied him.

The £26m-rated maestro, who is under contract until 2024, may well benefit most from this week’s developments. Only time will tell.

AND in other news, Levy hits Spurs with hammer blow after fresh Super League update, Kane will be furious…

Nabil Bentaleb was once one of the more promising midfielders to breakthrough in the first-team at Tottenham Hotspur.

Then only 19, the young academy gem featured regularly under Tim Sherwood, playing 20 times in all competitions and was touted as a future international.

England, Algeria, and his country of birth, France were in an “arm-wrestle” to tie him down.

“I know Bentaleb, I know what he possesses. He trains like every day is the last day in the world and that’s a great trait to have for a young kid,” once lauded Sherwood.

Unfortunately for him, though, the former midfielder-turned-manager was soon replaced by Mauricio Pochettino, and soon, he found game time hard to come by.

As explained by football.london’s Alasdair Gold to ChronicleLive: “He was a very young player, he was inconsistent and I think that’s what he got it [criticism] more for.”

The 6 foot 2 livewire would go onto make a total of 66 appearances in four years for the north London outfit, largely from the bench, before Schalke 04 came calling.

Bentaleb initially joined the Bundesliga side on a season-long loan, with an option to buy for £17m, as per the Guardian.

That move was indeed made permanent a few months later in February, so he must’ve made a big enough impact for the seven-time league champions to sanction such a deal.

Although for Spurs, it was merely another sign of Daniel Levy’s magic touch in the transfer market.

His struggles have been well-documented since.

Last season saw a return to the Premier League, joining Danny Rose on loan at Newcastle United, where he failed to make much of an impact. One fansite compared his stint to that of Henri Saivet – aka. the bottom of the barrel for Magpies flops.

And now, Bentaleb is enduring a relegation battle in the Bundesliga. Well, he’s been watching from the stands as he cannot get a game for the German strugglers, having been restricted to only nine league appearances all term.

If you’re failing to get game time at 26 for a side desperate for a bit of quality, then what hope is there long-term? It didn’t work out at Spurs, it didn’t work out at Newcastle and it’s not working out at Schalke.

That only makes Levy’s decision in 2016 look even smarter. Indeed, Bentaleb’s value has plummeted rapidly. His worth now sits at just £1.8m as per Transfermarkt – a rather damning indictment of his quality these days.

With his contract due to expire this summer, it’s hard to imagine the “wasted” Algerian international getting another crack at the big time, given his performances over the past few years.

Despite all the potential, make no bones about it, Bentaleb has been a disaster both at Spurs, and ever since. The Lilywhites can count their lucky stars that they received such a hefty amount, what a move.

AND in other news, Forget Ings: Spurs should swoop for “model professional” who idolises Kane…