Celtic have been dealt a late injury concern ahead of their upcoming Scottish Premiership clash.
What’s the latest?
According to a recent report by the Glasgow Evening Times, Ange Postecoglou revealed in his pre-match press conference that Giorgos Giakoumakis, who missed the 0-0 draw with Hibernian last weekend due to illness, is once again a doubt for the visit of St. Mirren this evening – with the 56-year-old suggesting that the centre-forward has a 50/50 chance of making the squad.
In their report, the Glasgow Evening Times write: “Speaking to the media, Postecoglou revealed he will have a 50/50 chance of making the squad.”
Postecoglou will be fuming
Considering just how lacklustre Celtic were in the final third against Hibs on Sunday, the news that Giakoumakis could once again be unavailable for selection for tonight’s clash with St. Mirren is sure to have left Postecoglou fuming.
Indeed, the £1.8m-rated Greece international almost singlehandedly secured all three points in the Hoops’ close-fought encounter with Dundee FC towards the end of February, scoring a hat-trick in an extremely unconvincing 3-2 victory over the bottom of the table Dark Blues.
He has been in red hot form beyond that clash too, scoring five in his last nine outings taking his tally to six in all competitions.
And, with both Kyogo Furuhashi and Albian Ajeti remaining sidelined due to injury, and Daizen Maeda having drawn a blank in his last three outings for Celtic, the continued absence of the £8.2k-per-week Giakoumakis would undoubtedly come as a huge blow to the Bhoys’ chances of picking up three points this evening.
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Anything but a win potentially brings with it disastrous consequences to the Hoops’ hopes of going on to reclaim their Premiership crown this season.
In other news: Ange can unearth Celtic’s new Rogic in “talented” 17 y/o who “knows where the goal is”
East Zone Opener Shreevats Goswami’s 53-ball 81 helped Bengal chase down 178 with five wickets to spare against Jharkhand in Kolkata. Goswami was the common factor in two half-century stands – 73 for the second wicket with Abhishek Raman, and 71 for the fourth wicket with Pramod Chandila – and he brought Bengal to within ten runs of the target by the time he was dismissed in the 18th over. Chandila, who was unbeaten on 37 off 21 balls, helped the side reach 178 with five balls to spare.Sent in to bat, Jharkhand posted 177 for 6 riding on contributions from Saurabh Tiwary (44), Virat Singh (42) and Pratyush Singh (39), before wicketkeeper Sumit Kumar and Anand Singh added 30 off nine balls for the sixth wicket in a late burst.File photo – Biplab Samantray’s fifty pushed Odisha to 143, but they lost by six wickets•BCCI
Opener Pallavkumar Das’ 51 off 30 balls, including eight fours and a six, helped Assam chase down 144 against Odisha in Kolkata. The result meant Assam finished second in the East Zone points table while Odisha finished third. Bengal topped the table with four wins from four matches.Assam lost Rishav Das and Sibsankar Roy cheaply in their chase but Pallavkumar and Amit Verma put the team back on track with a 34-run partnership for the third wicket. The stand ended in the tenth over when Pallavkumar was dismissed by left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh. Verma then added 34 with captain Arun Karthik to take the team closer to victory. By the time Verma was removed, Assam needed 31 off 30 balls and they eventually won by six wickets.Having opted to bat, Odisha were reduced to 48 for 3 inside nine overs. Biplab Samantray, the captain, then rescued the innings with his second T20 fifty, which contained five fours and a six. When Samantray fell, Assam were 117 for 6, but a string of cameos from the lower order pushed the total to 143. Verma impressed with the ball too, picking up 3 for 19 in four overs.File photo – Akshadeep Nath’s fifty was not enough for Uttar Pradesh to put it across Vidarbha•BCCI
Central Zone Vidarbha won their second game in two days after completing a comfortable four-wicket victory against Uttar Pradesh in Jaipur. Lower-order batsmen Apoorv Wankhade (27 off 14 balls) and Shrikant Wagh (14 off 9 balls) added an unbroken 38 runs in 19 balls for the seventh wicket after Vidarbha were reduced to 133 for 6.Having opted to bat, UP put up 169 for 4 thanks to half-centuries from opener Eklavya Dwivedi and Akshdeep Nath. Wagh was the pick of the bowlers for Vidarbha, claiming 2 for 17 in four overs. Ambati Rayudu and Ganesh Satish then laid the groundwork for the chase with thirty-somethings before the lower order sealed the deal. Nath and fast bowler Ankit Rajpoot took two wickets each for UP.Fifties from allrounder Mahipal Lomror and wicketkeeper Dishant Yagnik powered Rajasthan to 184, a total they defended by 21 runs against Railways in Jaipur.After opting to bat, Rajasthan lost three early wickets, but Lomror and Yagnik offset the early wobble and then gave the innings muscle with a 78-run stand in 52 balls. Lomror struck seven fours and three sixes during his 65 while Yagnik hit three fours and three sixes on his way to 60, before he was the eighth Rajasthan batsman to be dismissed.Railways started positively in their chase with opener Saurabh Wakaskar scoring 55 off 29 balls, but the middle order could not sustain the momentum, despite an unbeaten 42 off 32 balls from captain Karn Sharma. They ultimately fell short with seamers Tanvir Ul-Haq and Deepak Chahar taking two wickets each.
Cricket Australia has denied charges of complacency after the first Test of the summer attracted disappointing crowds and TV viewing figures.Although last year’s comparable Test was the opening one in the Ashes, the drop of 40.7% in viewers was more than expected. An average audience of 625,000 watched the Sri Lanka Test compared to more than a million for the England match. The aggregate Gabba crowd of 55,953 was also down 66% on last year’s record of 164,727. Only 7629 turned up on Sunday and 1285 for the final day.Graham Dixon, the chief executive of Queensland, criticised CA for “sitting on its laurels”, a reference to a limited TV promotional campaign. “Was the Test promoted properly? I don’t think so,” he said. “Did Cricket Australia rest on its laurels? Yes. I think that is a fair criticism.”[Shane] Warne and [Glenn] McGrath would always market a match in their own right because they were such big names. But this Test was never going to sell itself. The marketing people had plenty of notice to come up with a good campaign, probably since last March, but all we have really seen is Nathan Bracken bowling at a coin on a wicket.”The charges were denied by Peter Young, the board’s spokesman. “We are not taking our foot off the pedal, in the same way as Ricky Ponting is not taking his foot off the pedal,” Young said. “No one can afford to rest on their laurels … it doesn’t matter what market you are in.”And he pointed out that the crowd at the Gabba was the third biggest since the 1970s. “It’s a serious discussion but let’s not forget that the crowd figures speak for themselves.”However, Dixon’s view was partially backed by David Johnston, the CEO of Tasmania who host the second Test which starts this Friday. Around 7000 tickets have been pre-sold and Johnston said that he had had to increase local advertising to promote the game.”We’ve done a lot of local promotions with radio stations and hopefully that is working well,” he said. “There are things I would have liked done differently but Cricket Australia get their advice from their advertising agency and sometimes people on the ground in the state associations have a different view on things.”
Having come in with the scoreboard showing 71 for 5, Justin Kemp playedthe sort of audacious innings that he has become renowned for, smashing an89-ball century as South Africa turned a tough situation into acomprehensive 106-run triumph. Kemp had made just 35 from 62 balls when hedecided to step it up a notch. When he did, India had no answer.”We were just trying to play as well as we could,” he said, when askedwhat his thoughts has been when he arrived at the crease. “I only realisedthat I could get a hundred when I got to 99. [Andrew] Hall played well andmade it easy for me.”Kemp and Mark Boucher had pulled off a similar feat in the recentChampions Trophy, when they helped take South Africa from 42 for 5 to amatch-winning total against Pakistan. “I’ve done it before and that makesit easier,” he said. “The dropped catches helped.”Of late, South Africa have sent Boucher in at No.6 with Kemp followinghim. When asked if this innings might prompt a rethink and lead to apromotion up the order, Kemp wasn’t unduly bothered. “I’ve done well whenI come after 35 overs,” he said. “That’s a decision the coach and captainhave to make. That’s not an issue at all. I am just happy to contributewith the bat.”He said that the length the Indians bowled in the final overs had playedinto his hands. “We got the ball rolling in the last 10 overs,” he said.”The Indian bowlers changed tactics and went pretty full. That was perhapsa mistake. I think the ball just short of a length was difficult to play.They were bowling pretty full. When I hit my first six off Zaheer Khan,suddenly they changed tactics. It was a lot easier when the guys weretrying to bowl yorkers.”Not having had the best of years, Kemp was happy to be back in the battinggroove, having made his reputation with some blistering knocks againstEngland two seasons ago. “India [Champions Trophy] was quite tough,” hesaid. “We only played four games in a month. It was just a matter ofspending time in the middle.”Having spent a bit of time in the middle, it will make my job easy comingin the death overs. That’s my job in the side and I’ve got to do it to thebest of my ability. If I get an opportunity like this it’s a bonus.”India can only hope that Kemp doesn’t get opportunities like this too often.
Greg Chappell, the Indian coach, has said that opening the bowling with S Sreesanth, the Kerala fast bowler, would be among the new tactics and methods tested during India’s forthcoming one-day series against Sri Lanka.”The objective was really to try a few things we are planning to use against Sri Lanka. We looked at a few different tactics and a few different bowling combinations,” Chappell was quoted as saying by PTI. “More than likely that Sreesanth would open the attack in the games that he plays. But we are likely to try different combinations at different times. But at this stage, we would be using him as an opening bowler, yes.”Chappell was happy with the preparatory camp at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore and said that the team had got a lot out of it. “We are in pretty good shape, mentally and physically. The group is looking pretty good. We will only find out when we get there. But from the point of view of preparation, everyone is quite happy.”Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag missed the camp because they had only just returned from the Super Series in Australia. They will join the team in Nagpur ahead of the first one-day international against Sri Lanka. Chappell said that Dravid’s and Sehwag’s poor performance in the Super Series did not affect India’s chances against Sri Lanka or South Africa. “I don’t think any of them [World XI] performed all that brilliantly. So, it was one of those things. I don’t think it has big bearing on what’s going to happen in the next few weeks.”Chappell also stressed the importance of disciplined bowling because of the batsmen-friendly pitches in India. “It’s a matter of bowling the ball in the right areas, accepting that some overs, some balls, some games are not going to work out very well. What we need is to make sure that we have four or five bowlers bowling well each day. From the young bowlers’ point of view, they have to learn from their experience.”Chappell added that Anil Kumble, Ashish Nehra and Mohammed Kaif, all of them currently undergoing rehabilitation, were a few weeks away from returning to competitive cricket. He also said that Yuvraj Singh and Murali Kartik had come down with fever over the last two days.
The pitch at the Wankhede Stadium was the focus of attention in the newspapers after India’s 13-run win against Australia in a Test which lasted just a shade over two days of actual playing time. While most writers agreed that the pitch was a shocker, many believed that it still could not explain Australia’s capitulation for 93 in the face of a meagre fourth-innings target of 107.”There were demons in the pitch, but Australia batted like they were in a horror movie; as if gooey green monsters were snapping at them every ball,” wrote Harsha Bhogle in The Indian Express. “It was a shocking pitch but the best batting line-up in the world cannot be decimated in under 15 overs. Nothing can be that bad; not even this horror at the Wankhede Stadium.””Australia’s fourth-innings collapse was lamentable,” Peter Roebuck commented in the Sydney Morning Herald. “Bad habits returned with foolish shots played and the hard graft ignored.” Writing in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, Robert Craddock was more scathing: It was the worst botched chase in Australian cricket history.”The Indians rejoiced in their face-saving win, but there were words of caution about the means taken to reach the ends. Not surprisingly, they came from a seamer. Writing for The Hindu, Javagal Srinath said: “India’s desperation for such a result is understandable. But while winning in India, one should start working on the strengths that are required to play abroad on bouncy tracks. Indian cricket should not get carried away with the success on the home soil.”Australia sorely missed Shane Warne on this pitch, and the fact that Nathan Hauritz was the second-best spin option in the squad came in for some harsh comment as well. “By selecting only one tried and trusted tweaker for a tour of India, Trevor Hohns and his colleagues took a fearful risk,” observed Roebuck. “Hauritz took 2 for 87 on this turning track … but they [his two wickets] were also the result of outfield catches as opposed to deadly deliveries.”The man most under scrutiny was Polly Umrigar, the curator, and he maintained that the pitch wasn’t to blame for the bizarre game. “I can’t understand why [Ricky] Ponting chose to use the heavy roller before both innings … It’s common knowledge something heavy will ensure the wicket breaks quickly,” Umrigar told the Kolkata-based Telegraph newspaper. “I accept the wicket helped the spinners, but I don’t agree it ever was dangerous … Moreover, the turn wasn’t there from the first ball, was it? Our spinners did better simply because of their class.”The final word, though, went to Sourav Ganguly. Out of the Test with a groin injury, he nevertheless took a parting shot at Ponting, who had missed the first three Tests himself with a broken finger. Writing in Mid Day, a Mumbai-based tabloid, Ganguly asked: “Did Ponting’s thumb injury take more time than normal to heal or did his record against Harbhajan and Kumble have something to do with it? We should not be jumping to conclusions, but his record in India is indeed pretty ordinary.”He followed that salvo with another, referring obviously to the Indian team’s complaint about the Nagpur wicket: “Will Ponting and co. be criticised for the big fuss they made about the wicket which spun and cost them the match? Or do we have to start learning to live with the idea that rules will be different for touring sides to India and for the home team captain?”
Former Victorian player, captain and coach John Scholes passed away today aged 53. The cause of death is unknown and will be subject to a coroner’s report.Cricket Victoria Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ken Jacobs, said that Scholes was a unique person and would be sadly missed. “I think today Victoria lost one of its greatest ever cricketing sons. John’s contribution as a player, junior and senior coach, as well as mentor to many young Victorian cricketers, will quite simply never be matched. On behalf of the entire Victorian cricket community, I extend our sincere condolences to Diane, as well as John’s children, Shannon and Adam”.JOHN “BARREL” SCHOLES
Played 62 matches for Victoria (3201 runs @ 30.78, 3 centuries, HS 156)
First captained Victoria aged 21 and again aged 30
Coached the Victorian Bushrangers between 1996 – 2001. Led the side to the 98/99 Mercantile Mutual Cup and to two successive Pura Cup finals in 99/00 and 00/01
All time Premier Cricket games record holder (396). Carlton (277), Fitzroy Doncaster (119)
12, 693 runs (Premier Cricket record at the time), 26 centuries, 60 half-centuries
5 Premierships (4 Carlton, 1 Fitzroy Doncaster) from 9 Grand Final appearances
Vijay Malalasekera, Interim Committee Chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL), said on Tuesday that the West Indies tour of Sri Lanka was very much on and that there was no cause for concern over it.”Based on various newspaper reports, we got in touch with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and they indicated to us that there was no concern with regard to the Sri Lanka tour,” said Malalasekera.Cricket Board chief executive Anura Tennekoon confirmed that he had spoken to the WICB cricket operations manager Michael Hold who confirmed the tour was on.The West Indies are due to arrive on the first week of November and play a series of three Tests and participate in a one-day international triangular with Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.Officially, however, the WICB have deferred making a "final decision” until its representatives meet Sri Lankan and Pakistani officials at the ICC meeting in Kuala Lumpur October 16-19.West Indies are scheduled to tour Pakistan from January 29-March 4 next year.
Arsenal’s pursuit of Luis Suarez this summer depends on one man. It’s not Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis, it’s not Arsene Wenger, it’s not their Liverpool counterparts or even Suarez himself, unfortunately for the Gunners it’s a star of a different summer transfer saga on the opposite side of North London – that’s right, it’s the Welsh Wonder Gareth Bale. But whether the Tottenham talisman stays put this transfer window or makes his long-awaited move to Real Madrid, it’s hard to see a positive outcome for Arsenal.
It’s looking more and more likely that GB will become a Los Blancos player by the end of the summer. The 24-year-old is one of a number of Premier League stars who have coincidentally been reported injured and subsequently absent from pre-season fixtures at the same time as serious doubts linger over their futures, along with Suarez as well as Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney.
It suggests Bale’s not in the right frame of mind to put on a Spurs jersey, even for non-competitive affairs, but most damning is Chris Coleman’s inclusion of the winger in his Wales squad for next week’s international friendly clash with the Republic of Ireland, implying that Bale’s perhaps not so injury-stricken after all. At the same time, Tottenham director Sir Keith Mills admitted to the Evening Standard earlier this week: “If a player is desperate to leave, it’s very difficult to force him to stay. We’ve seen it in other clubs. Even if he has a contract, you can’t force somebody to play for you,” whilst Spurs chairman and transfer chief Daniel Levy holidayed in Miami.
So it seems that Bale is inching towards leaving for Spain by the day, with his bags already packed and his passport in a safe but accessible location on his bedside cabinet. In terms of next season, it should bode well for the Gunners, who are desperate to not spend the 2013/2014 campaign looking nervously over their shoulders at their local rivals as they did last term. The Lilywhites have invested well this summer in Nacer Chadli, Paulinho and Roberto Soldado, but could easily find themselves unstuck without Bale’s knack of scoring match-winning goals.
That being said, Arsene Wenger, despite his declaration that the Arsenal roster can compete with or without new signings next season, still needs to sign Suarez if he’s to stand any chance of affecting the Premier League title race, but Bale’s departure could bring an abrupt end to his pursuit of the Liverpool forward.
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The Reds are determined to hold all the cards round the negotiating table, with owner John W Henry playing hardball by declaring this morning that Suarez is unavailable to any club at any price. Brendan Rodgers has been more realistic in his discussions on the Uruguayan’s future, but still expects a huge return on the Anfield outfit’s original £20million investment to spend on new recruits, and compensate for the fact losing Suarez will end all hopes of the Reds claiming fourth spot next season.
Rodgers has never uttered an official valuation for his star striker, but alluded to his price-bracket by suggesting that Edinson Cavani’s £55million move to PSG from Napoli midway through July had now become the benchmark price for strikers this summer, along with Monaco’s £53million acquisition of Radamel Falcao. But the audit of Suarez’s worth is likely to increase as we get closer to deadline day, especially if Gareth Bale makes the switch to La Liga.
Daniel Levy has already turned down a record-breaking £86million offer for the Welsh winger, and if Los Blancos don’t want to wait until January or even next summer to get their man, they’ll have to make an improved bid within the next month. Quite rightly, the Liverpool management don’t want to miss out on unprecedented transfer revenues whilst one of their closest divisional rivals cashes in, especially considering Suarez was equally as influential as Gareth Bale in the Premier League last season.
And Rodgers has already remarked that the Welshman’s fee will affect his forward’s price tag: “Every player has a valuation but you have to look at the market. With Gareth Bale they are talking about £100m and Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez were arguably the two best players in the Premier League last season.You can’t say that Gareth Bale is valued at over 100 per cent more,” the Liverpool gaffer recently told reporters from Sky Sports News.
Granted, the Tottenham man has specifically unique qualities and a certain aestheticism about him that makes him so electrifying to watch and capable of pulling in the punters world wide. He is very much seen as the future of the beautiful game, in terms of his pristine athleticism at least, and at the age of just 24, has the world at his feet.
But Suarez too, can claim a unique style and equal pedigree. The Liverpool man out-scored and out-assisted Bale’s efforts last term, but his ability spans well beyond consistent end product. The Uruguay international is not only one of the best finishers in the English top flight, he’s also one of the best creators, generating 90 opportunites to score for his team mates last term according to OPTA, one of the best dribblers, averaging 2.9 successful dribbles per game, and by far the hardest working centre-forward off the ball.
There are few strikers in Europe who can claim to synergise the roles and abilities of a natural poacher and an attacking midfielder so well, and like Bale, Suarez is very much a world-class player – the only difference is the latter was putting in his individual and talismanic displays at a club that couldn’t even escape the Premier League’s bottom half until the turn of the year.
So it wouldn’t be that surprising if Liverpool demanded £60million, £65million or even £75million for Suarez, considering firstly the campaign he had last season, and secondly the impact his departure will have on the Merseyside club’s immediate future. And with Arsene Wenger yet to improve on his rather limp £40million plus a quid bid made earlier in the summer, it remains unlikely the Gunners gaffer will match Liverpool’s current valuation of £55million, let alone what it could rise to if Bale moves to Real Madrid and the Lilywhites cash-in big time. By the end of the summer, even Arsenal’s club record-breaking £40million and a pound bid could look horrendously out-dated.
But saying an unlikely situation occurs, where Gareth Bale decides he’s not ready for La Liga and Daniel Levy somehow manages to keep the Bernabeu wolves at bay, it doesn’t bode well for the Gunners. Spurs have been knocking at the Champions League door for the last four years in the Premier League, and now with Bale in full swing, as well as three additions to the starting XI this summer, it seems unlikely Arsenal will be able to stave off the Lilywhites’ threat for another season, especially without new recruits.
And plans to sign Suarez will have to be thrown completely out of the window. New Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is desperate to flex the Spanish giants’ financial muscle this summer, and if he can’t land Bale, he’ll almost certainly turn his attentions to Suarez – the only world class striker excluding Wayne Rooney readily available at this point in the summer, and Los Blancos are yet to source a replacement for former Arsenal target Gonzalo Higuain, who is now with Napoli.
The club make a point of sourcing the top performers of any given footballing year every summer, as part of the Galacticos programme that has seen Zinedine Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka join the Bernebeu for monumental fees in recent years. Having already missed out on Neymar this summer to Barcelona, and with Bale staying put in North London, the Madrid outfit will be desperate to splash the cash on Suarez, to make a statement of their financial strength and institutional power rather than any particular footballing reason.
And as if the lure of playing at such a prestigious club wasn’t enough to end Arsenal’s chances of attracting Suarez to the Emirates, any offer Perez is willing to make for the Liverpool striker’s services will blow Arsene Wenger’s £40million to £50million valuations for 26 year old completely out of the water.
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So what is Wenger to do – w ith his hopes of signing Suarez depending almost entirely on another player at another club, but neither outcome looking particularly favourable from the Gunners’ point of view?
Well, there’s not a lot you can do in a lose-lose situation; perhaps he should have been more bold in his pursuit of Gonzalo Higuain, or more realistic about the prospect of signing a striker from a divisional rival for comparatively cheap whilst every other European forward is jumping ship for ground-breaking fees. He could wrap up the Suarez deal before Bale’s fate and more importantly his fee is decided, but that will take meeting Liverpool’s current valuation for Suarez, which at this point seems incredibly unlikely.
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South Africa will assess the security situation in Karachi before anyfinal decision is taken on the status of the last ODI, scheduled in theport city for October 29.Twin suicide bombings directed at the motorcade of former prime ministerBenazir Bhutto last week killed 140 people and injured hundreds.Bhutto was returning to the country after eight years of self-imposedexile.”A South African security official will go to Karachi today to assess thesituation on the ground there,” Ahsan Malik, PCB’s director communicationssaid. “He is expected to report back tomorrow afternoon after which thesituation will become clearer.” One PCB official will also travel withhim.Various high-level meetings have been held between the South Africancontingent and local security officials, as well as the interior ministry.Speculation has been rife about the fate of the last ODI since the blasts.One report in , a leading English daily, said the game islikely to shift to Lahore, where the first two ODIs were played, thoughnothing has yet been finalised.South Africa have already played a Test and a warm-up in Karachi, afteravoiding it altogether on their last tour in 2003.