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“I will utilise this time to plan and reset my future objectives and targets”

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Nov-2019Sana Mir, Pakistan women’s most-capped international player, has taken a break from the game to “plan and reset my future objectives and targets”. A PCB statement said Mir would miss next month’s ODI and T20I series against England in Malaysia.Mir, or the PCB, did not specify her exact reason for the break or when she would be back in action.”I have decided to take a break from international cricket and, as such, will not be available for selection for next month’s series against England. I will utilise this time to plan and reset my future objectives and targets,” Mir said in the release. “My best wishes will remain with the Pakistan national women’s team in the series against England and I am sure they’ll produce their best cricket.”A training camp of 20 probables will begin in Karachi on November 21 before the squads for the ODIs and T20Is are announced on November 27. The team will depart for Kuala Lumpur on November 30.The ODIs, part of the Women’s Championship, will be played on December 9, 12 and 14 before the T20Is on December 17, 19 and 20. All six games will be played at the Kinrara Oval.

A round-up of the action from the fourth day of the semi-finals of the Duleep Trophy 2010-11

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jan-2011South Zone beat Central Zone by 552 runs – the highest ever margin in a first-class match in India – at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Central had shown little interest in the match after South had taken a 265-run first innings lead. Set 770 to win, Central crumbled to 217 all out early on the fourth day, handing South a record-breaking win and some extra time to prepare for the final.A draw would have been of little consequence to Central, as they would have been knocked out on the first-innings lead anyway. But South managed to bowl them out in just 32 overs on the fourth day. R Vinay Kumar was the chief destroyer for South, taking four wickets, while left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha took three scalps. Ashok Menaria got his second half-century of the match, and wicketkeeper Naman Ojha got 55, but the rest of Central’s batsmen surrendered meekly.

Having secured their place in the finals by taking the first-innings lead on Friday, North Zone used the last day of their semi-final against West Zone at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara for some batting practice. Mithun Manhas helped himself to an unbeaten century, hitting 26 boundaries on the way to 158 off 178 balls. Sumit Narwal’s excellent match continued as he followed up his first-innings half-century with another one in the second, and North scored 421.Seamer Samad Fallah and left-arm spinner Bharghav Bhatt took four wickets each for West. They then batted out 23 overs and reached 61 for 3. North will take on South Zone in the five-day final from February 2 to 6 in Vishakhapatnam.

Karthik was spotted in the Trinbago Knight Riders dressing room during the inaugural match of the Caribbean Premier League 2019

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Sep-2019India wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has been issued a notice by the BCCI for violating the guidelines of his central contract. Karthik was spotted in the Trinbago Knight Riders dressing room during the inaugural match of the Caribbean Premier League 2019 on Thursday.As per the BCCI contracts, players are not allowed to participate in or be present at any other sporting activity or sport without prior permission from the board.It is understood that Karthik was issued the notice, signed by BCCI chief executive officer Rahul Johri, on Friday and has been given a week to respond, and the three-person Committee of Administrators will adjudicate on the matter once Karthik’s response comes in.Karthik captains Kolkata Knight Riders, the IPL franchise that shares owners with Trinbago. He was shown on live broadcast during the match in a Trinbago jersey, seated next to coach Brendon McCullum, and personal mentor Abhishek Nayar, who is also on the coaching staff of Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. McCullum was also recently handed charge of the Kolkata team for the next IPL season.Karthik, 34, last played for India at the World Cup in England, as a specialist batsman in their semi-final loss to New Zealand. Since then, he has been out of the ODI and T20I squads, and turned up in one Tamil Nadu Premier League match. He was, however, appointed captain of Tamil Nadu for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, which is set to begin from September 24.It has been a far from ideal year for Karthik, who led Kolkata Knight Riders with some success last IPL while also bringing himself strongly back into national team reckoning. However, the multiple IPL winners couldn’t replicate the performance in 2019. Apart from a dip in scoring, Karthik had to deal with off-field issues too. In the second half of the tournament, amid a string of losses, he copped what looked like public criticism from his star player Andre Russell, who suggested he was willing to bat higher up the order days after Karthik had told the press there had been no complaints from the allrounder about his batting position.

Daniel Vettori was pleased with New Zealand’s position at stumps on day two at the Basin Reserve after guiding his side to a competitive 356 with a composed century

Andrew Fernando16-Jan-2011Daniel Vettori was pleased with New Zealand’s position at stumps on day two at the Basin Reserve after guiding his side to a competitive 356 with a composed century. He put on a 138-run partnership with Reece Young to rescue New Zealand from 180 for 6 and took advantage of a flat Pakistan attack, who were a bowler short after Wahab Riaz had been stricken by flu overnight. Vettori struck on the last ball of the day to remove Taufeeq Umar, leaving Pakistan on 134 for 2.”[My century] was pleasing considering the situation we were in,” Vettori said. “We were 170 for 6 when we came in and Reece and myself were able to put on that partnership. We thought 350 was a par score after winning the toss and putting ourselves in, so pretty happy to be in that position. Another couple of wickets tonight would have made it really nice, but it’s pretty comfortable to be where we are at.”Vettori had failed to cross fifty in his last four Tests, and today’s century – his sixth, was his first since December 2009. “People correlate form and runs. If you aren’t scoring runs then you’re out of form, but I’ve felt relatively good the whole way through, but it just hasn’t worked for me in the last four Tests. It was disappointing because I set pretty high standards [for myself], so it’s nice to get it back today.”Three of Vettori’s centuries have come against Pakistan, who also happen to be his favourite opposition, averaging 47.15 against them. “I also have a 99 against Pakistan” Vettori said, laughing, “which Younis Khan actually reminded me of. We’ve played them when I happen to be in good form with the bat and we’ve played Pakistan a lot lately so it’s just worked out that way.
“4000 runs was my big goal. I’m thinking about 400 wickets now, I’ve sort of put the runs to the side. But people always remember Test match hundreds, so hopefully the more I can get, the higher I can go up in the echelons of New Zealand cricket.”Vettori and Young came together late on day one when New Zealand looked set to capitulate once more, but the pair arrested the slide and put on a gutsy display of Test match batting replete with canny placement and smart running to take the hosts past 300.
“Reece and I have known each other for a long time,” Vettori said. “We played age-group cricket against each other, so we had a good understanding.”Vettori was quick to praise Young, who is in his first Test series, hinting that Young’s temperament and range of strokes could well see him filling the role of wicketkeeper-batsman in the long term for New Zealand.”It’s quite nerve-wracking being in your second Test and being under a bit of pressure, but I thought he played really well. He never really looked nervous, and it showed in the way [the Pakistan bowlers] got a little flat to him because he actually played some really good shots. That’s important for a guy coming in at seven because you need a guy who can play his shots and can be aggressive when he needs to be.”Vettori also claimed he wasn’t nervous when Brent Arnel was dismissed with him on 96 not out, leaving Chris Martin with three Umar Gul deliveries to face before Vettori could regain strike.
“That’s Tommy’s onion – that situation. He never let’s anyone down so I was pretty confident.”Martin Guptill took a terrific catch in close to dismiss Taufeeq, after the batsman had played intelligently for 70. Taufeeq had been caught behind off Vettori on 34, but not for the first time in the series, the umpires failed to detect an edge and Taufeeq was reprieved.”[Taufeeq’s wicket] made the day little bit easier,” said Vettori. “It was a great catch and to be able to walk off the park [with the opposition] two down and a new batsman in just made things easier. We’ve got a big first session tomorrow that’s probably going to set up the game if we’ve got a chance of winning it.”Vettori said he’d be satisfied with restricting Pakistan to 350, with his side set to bowl in the fourth innings on a pitch that is already beginning to show signs of deterioration. “If we can keep them to around our score then that would be great. We’ve obviously got to step up in the third innings and make sure we perform a lot better than we have and it will be trickier for them as the game goes on.”It’s a fantastic wicket. Guys love coming in and playing here on this sort of wicket. It’s good for everyone. If you apply yourself you can score a lot of runs and there’s a little bit in it for the bowlers. A couple of balls turned for me, so if we can put ourselves in a position where we can come out [to bowl] on the last day then hopefully I’ll have a big say, weather permitting.”
Rain is forecast for Wellington on the last two days of the Test.

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Harry Winks insists Tottenham Hotspur have shown they cannot be written off this season.

The club remain in the Premier League title race, five points behind both Manchester City and Liverpool at the top of the league, and face Leicester City on Sunday.

What’s the word?

Spurs have won their last three Premier League games, against Newcastle United, Watford and Fulham.

Each game has seen a late winner scored – Son Heung-Min netted the only goal of the game in the 83rd minute against the Magpies, Fernando Llorente headed home in the 87th minute to give Spurs a 2-1 victory over the Hornets and Winks himself scored in injury time to complete a 2-1 win at Craven Cottage.

And the England international believes the squad’s mentality is such that they can never be counted out.

Former Wigan & Fulham man, Jimmy Bullard recently showed that he’s still got it! Check out the video below…

Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “We can never be written off, that’s the most important thing.

“We’ve scored a lot of late goals and it shows how much we persevere in a match and that the manager’s instilled a never-say-die attitude in the lads, and we know the game doesn’t finish until the final whistle.

“If we continue to press the team and try to get the opposition on the back foot until the final minute, we know we’re more than capable of scoring. We’ve done that this season.”

Asked about the prospect of overhauling both City and Liverpool, Winks added:  “We’re more than capable of challenging. We’ve had some great results against big sides this year, but it’s a long way. There’s a lot of matches to go this season, and the table’s fluctuating all the time.

“One minute we’re top, then we’re third battling for fourth. If we keep winning our matches there’s no reason why we can’t, but all we can really do is focus on the next game ahead of us and winning all our matches. We’ll see where that gets us.”

Mentality is key

Winks has exactly the right attitude for a title fight.

Spurs have not known when they are beaten in recent weeks, and have won their last three games without the goalscoring talents of captain Harry Kane.

Dele Alli has also been injured for the last two league encounters but the resilience shown by Pochettino’s men has proved that they are not about to concede the title just yet.

Of course, a win over Leicester is vital if they are to stay in the race – they may have to win every game between now and the end of the season if they are to be champions – but Winks has embodied the desire that all fans want to see from their players.

Spurs may not win the title, but they are certainly going to go down fighting if they don’t.

In a recent post on Twitter, Tottenham Hotspur confirmed the appointment of Ryan Mason as Spurs’ manager for the rest of the season.

After graduating from the Tottenham academy, Mason went on to make 70 appearances for the north London side in his time as a player, with the central midfielder scoring four goals and providing four assists for the club.

However, after fracturing his skull when playing for Hull City back in 2017, the then-26-year-old was forced to retire from his playing career, leading to Mason taking up coaching, with the former England international having previously held the role as Tottenham’s head of player development.

And, now, following the sacking of Jose Mourinho on Monday, the fairytale-like return of the 29-year-old to the Tottenham Hotspur first-team setup appears to be complete, as the club confirmed on Twitter that Mason will take charge of Spurs until the end of the season.

In their tweet, Spurs stated: “Following the departure of Jose Mourinho, we can now confirm that Ryan Mason will take charge as Interim Head Coach for the remainder of the season.”

Transfer Tavern Take

With Alasdair Gold re-sharing the post and dubbing the appointment of Mason as “amazing” because of “everything he’s gone through”, the news that the former Spurs player will be leading the club out in the upcoming Carabao Cup final as their manager certainly is rather romantic.

And, who knows, if the 29-year-old can impress over what remains of the season, perhaps he could even be considered as an option for the next permanent coach of the club.

It would be, as Gold suggests, a true fairytale if Mason can lead his side to glory – a silver lining amongst all the clouds surrounding Tottenham and their ESL friends this week.

In other news: Insider information on Spurs’ Mourinho sacking emerges; sources rubbish ‘absolutely false’ claim – find out more here!