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‘I am sure someone will go past me but I am glad that I am the first one’

Mohammad Isam02-Nov-2019Abdur Razzak has climbed to a new height among Bangladeshi cricketers by becoming the first bowler to reach 600 first-class wickets. Razzak, the veteran left-arm spinner, completed the milestone during Khulna Division’s NCL match at the Shere Bangla National Stadium.Razzak began the match on 594 wickets, and swept past the milestone while bagging figures of 7 for 69 in Rangpur’s first innings. Six of Razzak’s wickets came in an unbroken spell of 18.1 overs, during the course of which Rangpur collapsed from 139 for 3 to 224 all out. The 600th wicket was that of Robiul Haque, the No. 9 batsman out bowled.Razzak, who had reached the landmark of 500 first-class wickets in January 2018, said the new milestone delighted him, and reckoned it would take a while before another Bangladeshi bowler reaches it.”I am happy with my achievement,” Razzak said. “Six hundred wickets is not a matter of joke. It is a big number in our context. There have been bigger milestones reached in other countries but nobody has done it here, and [the next bowler] will probably take time to reach this number.”I have never imagined reaching this stage of 500 or 600 wickets. It is a big thing in a Bangladeshi context. We don’t have a lot of people with 200 or 300 wickets. I am sure someone will go past me but I am glad that I am the first one.”Abdur Razzak has become the first Bangladeshi bowler to pick up 600 first-class wickets•Saif Hasnat

The milestone is also a tribute to Razzak’s fitness, particularly after the BCB called for higher fitness levels shortly before the 2019-20 season began in October. It had put the spotlight on Razzak and other senior players, but he managed to pull through.The seven-wicket haul has put Razzak on top of the NCL’s wicket charts for the season.”I am fortunate these records are coming from me,” Razzak said. “Someone would have achieved them. You need skills to reach this level and I don’t know if I am that skillful. I try hard. I think not giving up is my skill. I am still passionate about playing when I am out in the middle. I can’t think of anything else.”Razzak’s first-class performances over the previous five years earned him a Test recall last year, after four years out of the side, but despite his performance against Sri Lanka in Dhaka – he took five wickets, including a first-innings four-for – he wasn’t retained in the side for their next series. Still, he says, the fire continues to burn within.”I can’t really say where I see myself, or where I can reach,” Razzak said. “I also don’t know when I will finish. As long as my fitness and desire is there, I will keep playing.”

Manchester United are planning on keeping Old Trafford and building a brand new stadium next to it, according to a report.

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• Red Devils want to keep current ground
• Plan is to scale it back and keep statues around it
• Smaller stadium would host women's and academy games

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The Red Devils have already revealed plans to construct a brand new, 100,000-capacity stadium in the same area as Old Trafford. But they are considering keeping the current stadium and scaling it back, according to the .

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Rather than bulldoze the historic ground, the club are interested in preserving the stadium and reducing its capacity from 73,000 to 30,000. It would host women's and academy matches and also be a monument to the club's home, still housing statues and the memorials to the Munich air disaster.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Building a brand new stadium is thought to cost up to £2 billion ($2.5bn). United's minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe has called for the stadium to be a 'Wembley of the North' and has held discussions with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over establishing a private-public partnership, which is controversial as it would involve tax payers' money.

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  WHAT NEXT?

  United, who have set up a task force including former captain Gary Neville, still need to decide whether or not to go ahead with the brand new stadium or to renovate Old Trafford, which would cost around £1bn ($1.3bn). The club have consulted 30,000 fans on the issue and opinion is split over the two options. However, it is thought that maintaining the stadium's heritage could help sway more people to approve the plans to build the brand-new arena next door.

The opener was on 82 after the seventh over but faced only four more balls and finished unbeaten on 91

Barny Read18-Nov-20191:23

Not retaining Chris Lynn ‘a bad call’ by KKR – Yuvraj Singh

Chris Lynn came painfully close to becoming the first player to score an Abu Dhabi T10 century on Monday night, and said afterwards that there is ample opportunity to go nine runs better over the tournament’s remaining six days.The 29-year-old struck a blistering unbeaten 91 from a mere 30 balls, containing a total of nine fours and seven sixes, at a strike rate of 303.33 for Maratha Arabians. Lynn broke Alex Hales’ record of 87 not out in the ten-over tournament – also made while playing for the Arabians in 2018.He could have had the century had it not for being relatively starved of the strike towards the end of the Arabians innings. After smashing Harry Gurney for three fours and two sixes in the seventh over, Lynn was well placed with 82 from 26 balls.ALSO READ: Decoding T10 cricket with Amla, Sammy, Fleming and othersBut the opener faced only four of the last 18 balls of the innings because of a combination of Adam Lyth (30 off 18) demolishing Marchant de Lange in the eighth over and being unable to get Lynn back on strike quickly in the penultimate over.Lynn started the final over on 87 as the non-striker, unable to get down the other end until the final ball of the innings, which he hit for four.”Obviously when you get a bit closer, you want to get [to a hundred],” Lynn said. “But the guy at the other end [Lyth] was hitting boundaries as well. So to get 138 on that wicket was a really good job.”It would have been nice to get the first hundred of the T10 but that’s the way it goes and there are plenty more games in this tournament to try and get another opportunity to do that. We’ll just see what happens.”ALSO READ: How the toss is swaying fortunes in T10 cricketLynn’s team-mate Yuvraj Singh hailed the knock as outstanding. “It’s a sign of how the game has evolved that guys are getting close to scoring a hundred in a T10 game,” Yuvraj said. “It’s amazing how the game has changed over the years.”He [Lynn] is someone I have seen in the IPL. He has given some great starts to KKR [Kolkata Knight Riders]. I really don’t understand how they didn’t retain him. I think that’s a bad call, must send SRK (Shah Rukh Khan, the franchise owner) a message on that.”It has been a discussion often broached over the course of the T10 format’s emergence as to whether an individual century is possible, prompted by league owner Shaji ul Mulk offering up an apartment to the first centurion at the start of the inaugural season in 2017. Luke Ronchi top-scored with 70 that year, with the idea gaining real momentum in 2018.Chris Lynn came painfully close to becoming the first player to score an Abu Dhabi T10 century•Abu Dhabi T10

First, Sherfane Rutherford struck a hundred in a warm-up match that season before Mohammad Shahzad’s 74 not out from just 16 balls – an innings only brought to a premature end as the Rajputs chased down 95 in four overs – suggested it would be a matter of time before someone scored a T10 hundred.Hales, Jonny Bairstow (84*) and Rovman Powell (80*) went on to break the 80-run barrier in the second season as players inched closer to scoring a century.Will Jacks – a team-mate of Rutherford for Delhi Bulls this year – further greased the wheels by hitting a hundred in a ten-over contest for Surrey against their County Championship counterparts Lancashire at the ICC Academy in Dubai back in March. But the tournament’s move to Abu Dhabi seemed to imply that batsmen would struggle to get near that mark in 2019 due to slow, tacky pitches as well as the long square boundaries.Lynn, however, had other ideas, hitting relentlessly to all parts of the ground on a fresh pitch described as “amazing” by Abu Dhabi’s captain Moeen Ali and one that proved not to be as two-paced as the others used across the first three days.Lynn’s innings showed that as the tournament enters its second group stage, the race to become Abu Dhabi T10’s first centurion is well and truly back on.”We know there are players in the competition who can [hit a century],” Moeen, the man trying to counter Lynn’s onslaught, said. “I’m sure it’s going to happen very soon. There’s a great chance [of it happening] if somebody gets in.”

West Ham United are now thought to be eyeing a late January move for one club's £25 million player, alongside the heavily linked Al-Ittihaf forward Jota and FC Norsjaelland winger Ibrahim Osman.

West Ham exploring deals for Osman and Jota

Despite having been in talks over signing the latter player for quite a while, and soon after they put pen to paper on a loan deal for Man City midfielder Kalvin Phillips, so far a move to east London has failed to materialise for Osman.

West Ham eyeing late January move for "bargain" striker likened to Toney

He’s been labelled “similar” to the Brentford man.

By
Emilio Galantini

Jan 27, 2024

There are discrepancies over why that is, with some reliable sources suggesting that Nordsjaelland's demands are the issue (Fabrizio Romano). Others, like B.T football correspondent Farzam Abolhosseini, who actually broke West Ham's interest in Osman, are saying they issues surround his representation.

However, despite this roadblock in negotiations, it is believed a potential deal for the Ghanaian talent is still on. An Osman move to West Ham has stalled but not totally off, according to widespread reports, but it is also believed they're weighing up Jota as an alternative.

The Portuguese has been heavily linked with a move to east London as he seeks an exit from Saudi Arabia, with Al-Ittihad not even registering him as a member of their domestic squad.

However, there are real tax issues which could make this agreement a difficult one, as Jota would stand to lose a major chunk of his salary if he were to make a Premier League switch. The complicated matter is explained best by West Ham Way writer Joe Davis on X.

In any case, both Jota and Osman remain firmly on David Moyes' radar as we fast approach January deadline day. Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth, though, says another player is attracting late West Ham interest as well.

West Ham eyeing late Trevoh Chalobah move with Jota and Osman

Indeed, Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah remains out of Mauricio Pochettino's plans, and this is said to have turned a few heads at the London Stadium.

Sheth, taking to X with a January update, says West Ham are eyeing a late move to sign Chalobah, coming after reports that they're willing to sign a centre-back if Nayef Aguerd seals a late transfer away.

The 24-year-old can play at centre-back, in the full-back areas and even in midfield – which would make him a useful asset for Moyes. Chalobah's reported price tag of around £25 million is also realistic from a West Ham perspective, with former Chelsea boss Frank Lampard calling him a "delight" behind-the-scenes.

Of course, the Englishman's injury problems will also be a concern for Moyes, so it will be interesting to see if they advance.

The outgoing captain says ‘there’s one less thing to worry about’ now

Mohammad Isam07-Mar-2020In his last ODI as captain of Bangladesh, Mashrafe Mortaza wanted to make sure he did not slip up even once, being aware that players are “vulnerable” to mistakes when they are ending a stint. Mortaza signed off as captain in style, leading Bangladesh to their 50th win under him in ODIs with a 3-0 whitewash over Zimbabwe in Sylhet. After Liton Das and Tamim Iqbal amassed big hundreds, Mortaza provided the first breakthrough in Bangladesh’s defence of 322 and remained in control of his emotions throughout the game.At one point he even allowed Mustafizur Rahman to keep a slip in the dying stages of the game, resulting in a catch the next ball. His open faith in his players, young and old, was one of the hallmarks of his captaincy.After the game ended, Iqbal picked him up on his shoulders for a lap of honour. The Bangladesh players wore special jerseys with his name and number at the back, and “thank you captain” written in the front. They presented him with a special edition jersey as well as a commemorative plaque. There are also strong rumours that Mortaza’s jersey may be retired by the BCB soon.After all the formalities, Mortaza cut a relaxed figure in the press conference, particularly candid when speaking about his experience as one of the most important figures in Bangladesh, for more than five years.”Now I am feeling relaxed,” he said. “There’s one less thing to worry about. It was a big responsibility. Usually at this time, some feel good some feel bad. I have mixed feelings too. To be honest, I am happy that I could finish well as a captain. I also ended on a win.”Our main focus was winning the game. We planned and thought about the match. We knew that everything would have been spoiled had we lost. We had a big score but I didn’t want to make a mistake today. When a person announces that something has ended, he is vulnerable to making mistakes. He knows there’s no one to answer to afterwards. I was really focused on not making any mistakes. Everyone assumed that this was a straightforward win, but I wanted to finish well.”Mortaza took four wickets in the three ODIs against Zimbabwe, a stark improvement from his last campaign – the 2019 World Cup – when he took just one wicket in 56 overs across eight matches. He said that wickets have obviously given him some confidence, and he wants to keep performing.Raton Gomes/BCB

“I had a really bad World Cup, and the team struggled too,” he said. “I have turned around a bit. It is about time that I regained the confidence. Bowlers get confidence through wickets, notwithstanding how we bowl.”I have to perform. It will be up to the selectors. A player has to play well, and then he becomes the captain, which itself is a huge pressure. But now as a player, I have a lot of time to think about myself which will help me a lot.”Mortaza downplayed his performance as a captain and said that a Bangladesh captain has to deal with a lot more off-the-field issues with players. “I never evaluated myself, I think I am an average captain,” he said. “I have never given it any thought. For a captain in Bangladesh, though, there’s a lot more work off the field with players. Once you are in the field, there isn’t as much to do.”But players are disturbed in many ways: personal problems, being out of form, not going on well with the coach, fitness problems. Everyone has a different struggle. The captain has to be with the player during those times. The captain has to take responsibility of the whole team, regardless of the team’s result.”Mortaza also reiterated that a senior player should be given the ODI captaincy now, as he would have the prerequisite experience to handle high-pressure situations on and off the field.”Captaincy was a big responsibility but whoever comes in next, he has to be three times more sensible and thoughtful. It will be easy when he wins, but when you lose there is a lot of pressure from the media, board and spectators.”I have done it for six years, so I feel relaxed now. Which is why I said that one of the senior cricketers should take over the captaincy. They can face the media, and have played for a long time. They can better handle pressure.”Mortaza was hopeful that Bangladesh will keep improving beyond his stint as the ODI captain. He repeated what he had said at his last press conference in the 2019 World Cup, that with many of the current young players reaching a peak in four years time, Bangladesh could make it to the last four of the next World Cup.”It is hard to say but I believe Bangladesh will do well in the 2023 World Cup. I think I said it in the last press conference in England, after the Pakistan game, that we will play in the semi-final of the next World Cup. Most of the young players will have the peak of their career during that time, so there’s no reason that we cannot reach that far in Asia.”

Everton have had their fair share of poor dealings in the transfer market, with the club wasting a lot of money on players who clearly aren't up to the standard of the Premier League.

The club signed players such as Moise Kean and Yannick Bolasie, with the duo failing to make any sort of positive impact at Goodison Park before leaving either for free or for a loss on what they paid.

The arrival of Bolasie in particular is one of the reasons the club have found themselves in trouble with the Premier League for their FFP and PSR breaches, with the club forking out £25m on the attacker before allowing him to leave for nothing.

However, the club also invested a hefty fee in another player, with the club doing well to offload him when they did, given his lack of impact at the club.

Davy Klaassen's stats at Everton

After joining for a fee of £23.6m from Ajax back in the summer of 2017, attacking midfielder Davy Klaassen arrived at Goodison Park with a lot of excitement after his 14-goal season in the Eredivisie.

However, he failed to make a positive impact during his time on Merseyside, with the midfielder failing to score a single goal during the 2017/18 campaign.

Klaassen also only made 17 appearances during his one season at Goodison, with the Dutch international failing to live up to the expectations he came with.

He subsequently departed the Toffees in July 2018, to German side Werder Bremen for a fee in the region of £12m, with the club making a loss of £11.6m in less than a year.

Klaassen has gone on to find his feet once again all over Europe, with the midfielder racking up 54 goals and 26 assists since departing Goodison nearly six years ago.

Despite his brilliant return with goals and assists, his market value has rapidly decreased, with Klaassen now worth less than another Everton flop.

Davy Klaassen's market value in 2024

The 31-year-old may have produced a solid return in recent years, but he has struggled this campaign with Italian giants Inter Milan, registering no goals and no assists in his 16 outings for the club, with the Dutchman mainly used as an impact player off the bench.

As a result, he's seen his value plummet, with Klaassen now only valued at £4.2m, as per Transfermarkt, with his value lower than that of current Everton flop Michael Keane, who is currently worth £6m.

Klaassen, who was described as "awful" by one Ajax source on Twitter, certainly has struggled when plying his trade in one of Europe's top five leagues, as demonstrated by his stints in the Premier League and Serie A with Everton and Inter Milan, respectively.

The Dutch midfielder certainly hasn't had the career he was once expected to given his brilliant form for Ajax before his big-money move to England, with the Toffees making the right decision to cash in on the 31-year-old back in the summer of 2018.

Market Movers

Football FanCast's Market Movers series explores the changing landscape of the modern transfer market. How much is your club's star player or biggest flop worth today?

In what could be their answer to Erling Haaland, Liverpool are now reportedly plotting a summer move to sign one of the most in-form forwards in European football in a big-money deal.

Liverpool transfer news

Whilst it is a difficult task to find a weakness in this current Liverpool side, Diogo Jota’s recent injury has arguably exposed one area of concern for Arne Slot. The Portugal international started the season in fine form before injury struck in unsurprising fashion, given Jota’s injury history, to rule him out until after the November international break.

In his place has so far been Darwin Nunez, who returned to the scoresheet against RB Leipzig in midweek before then assisting Mohamed Salah’s equaliser against Arsenal, but question marks still remain.

Can the forward take the Reds to Premier League glory amid Jota’s injury concerns? The Premier League has seen the impact that Haaland has made, but Anfield is yet to see evidence that Nunez can be their answer to the ruthless Norwegian. Instead, one man could emerge to provide exactly that.

Scouts sent: Liverpool plot move for £66m Szoboszlai upgrade who Slot loves

Liverpool want to upgrade on Szoboszlai by signing a £66m Slot favourite.

By
Angus Sinclair

Oct 29, 2024

According to Sky Sports’ Florian Plettenberg, sporting director Michael Edwards is now battling to sign Sporting CP star Viktor Gyokeres for Liverpool as the Reds begin to plot a summer move that could be worth a discounted price of around €60-70m (£50m-£58m).

Racing alongside the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal, Liverpool could take Slot’s side up another level entirely by signing Gyokeres next summer.

"Strong" Gyokeres could be Liverpool's Haaland

Not many, if any, stand a chance at keeping up with the goalscoring exploits of Haaland, but Gyokeres is among the rare few currently doing the impossible. The Swede is one of the most clinical forwards around and has that same power that Haaland possesses in abundance alongside a ruthless streak when an opportunity falls his way – two things that Nunez arguably lacks.

Once described as a “strong striker” by Slaven Bilic during his Coventry City days, Gyokeres has come on leaps and bounds ever since at Sporting and could now finally get his Premier League chance.

If Liverpool want to finally match Manchester City all the way for the first time since Haaland’s arrival, then they could do with winning the race to sign the Sweden star next summer. Possibly replacing Nunez and the injury-prone Jota, Gyokeres is capable of producing numbers even greater than Mohamed Salah’s in front of goal.

Seamer tells ESPNcricinfo that all four deliveries were “yorkers, because that’s a delivery I practise a lot” 

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2023Rwanda have registered a historic first victory at a cricket World Cup after their under-19 team beat Zimbabwe by 39 runs in their second group match.Rwanda’s top three scored the bulk of their 119 runs with none of the other batters getting into double-figures, but they defended their total fiercely. They had Zimbabwe 80 for 5 before capping victory with five wickets in six balls including four in four balls by seamer Henriette Ishimwe. Her hat-trick is the second at this tournament after South Africa’s Madison Landsman took the competition’s first against Scotland on Monday.The Zimbabwean collapse started with a run-out in the 17th over, when victory already seemed to be evading their grasp. They needed 39 runs off 14 balls when Adel Zimunu was run-out by Rwanda captain Giselle Ishimwe.Related

• Under-19 women's T20 WC: 16 teams, four groups, two venues

• How looking back propelled Rwanda Women's cricket forward

• Landsman claims first hat-trick of the U-19 Women's T20 World Cup

Henriette – no relation – then stepped up to bowl the 19th over. She bowled Kudzai Chigora, had Olinder Chare given out lbw and then removed both Chipo Moyo and Faith Ndlalambi’s stumps to seal victory with eight balls remaining. She told ESPNcricinfo that all four deliveries were “yorkers, because that’s a delivery I practise a lot.”Her performance in this match built on her form leading into the tournament. Henriette also took 2 for 19 in Rwanda’s one-run win over Ireland in the warm-up matches, and has been capped 44 times for the senior side as well.Rwanda’s victory may come as bittersweet for their coach Leonard Nhamburo, who is Zimbabwean and was previously involved with their senior women’s side, as an assistant coach and interim head coach. Nhamburo is experienced on the continent and has also coached the Namibian national women’s team before moving to Rwanda in 2021.

Her death comes less than a month after her husband Shepherd Makunura, who was the men’s team fielding coach, passed away

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jan-2023Sinikiwe Mpofu, the Zimbabwe women’s assistant coach, has died aged 37. Her death comes less than a month after her husband, Shepherd Makunura, who was the men’s team fielding coach, died on December 15.According to the Zimbabwe Cricket website, Mpofu was pronounced dead on arrival at a medical facility after she collapsed at her home in Masvingo on Saturday, and a post-mortem to determine the cause of her death was due to be carried out.Mpofu, an allrounder, was part of Zimbabwe women’s first-ever international match in December 2006. She was also the head coach of the Mountaineers women’s team in domestic cricket. Under Mpofu, Mountaineers won the inaugural Fifty50 Challenge – Zimbabwe’s provincial one-day championship for women – in the 2020-21 season. Last season, she led them to another final, where they finished as runners-up in the Women’s T20 Cup.Givemore Makoni, ZC’s managing director, said: “Death has robbed us of a genuinely warm individual, more importantly a loving mother, and deprived so many others, including all of us, of one of the pioneers of women’s cricket in Zimbabwe who went on to excel as a coach at provincial and national levels.”With her sudden passing coming just a few weeks after the death of her loving husband, who was also a part of our national team coaching setup, this is particularly a difficult and painful time for their young children, families, friends and the entire cricket fraternity.”

Arsenal are preparing to return to action against Nottingham Forest this weekend, but an intriguing transfer story has now come to light courtesy of reliable journalist Fabrizio Romano.

Mikel Arteta’s side and Forest, now managed by former Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou, are the first Premier League sides back on the field in this Saturday’s lunchtime kick off.

Only a win will do for Arsenal, who lost their first game of the season against current English champions Liverpool prior to the international break, and they’ll be hoping to upset Postecoglou’s debut game in the Forest dugout with a convincing Emirates Stadium display.

Sporting director Andrea Berta did his all to back Arteta in the transfer market, splashing over £250 million on the signings of Kepa Arrizabalaga, Martin Zubimendi, Christian Norgaard, Noni Madueke, Cristhian Mosquera, Viktor Gyokeres, Eberechi Eze and Piero Hincapie, so there are no excuses for Arsenal now.

The pressure is truly on for Arsenal to finally win their first Premier League title in over 20 years, following three consecutive campaigns finishing second behind Man City and Liverpool.

The signings of Eze and Gyokeres in particular will be vital, amid criticism surrounding Arsenal’s lack of creativity in the final third — something which was on full display at Anfield last month.

Arsenal hijacked Tottenham to sign Eze in spectacular fashion, while Gyokeres’ arrival ended the club’s long wait for a prolific striker to come through the door.

Arsenal were also briefly in talks for Real Madrid forward Rodrygo, but according to Romano, the Brazilian wasn’t the only Madrid player attracting serious interest from north London at one point.

Fabrizio Romano shares Arda Guler transfer revelation from Arsenal

Speaking on his YouTube channel, the respected reporter says that Los Blancos playmaker Arda Guler was also being seriously considered by former Arsenal director Edu Gaspar prior to Berta’s arrival.

Arsenal held internal talks over signing Guler, who was a concrete target for the Gunners before Xabi Alonso came in and started using the Turkey international starlet on a much more regular basis.

Guler has gone on to become a starter under Alonso, playing all of their La Liga matches so far, not to mention all of their matches at the Club World Cup. This has ruined all possibility of Arsenal signing the 20-year-old, but he was seriously under consideration at N5.

Guler has bagged two goals and three assists in nine starts since Alonso took charge, with the ex-Fenerbahce sensation’s Bernabeu career finally getting off the ground.