Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentaryTim Paine smashed four sixes in his 71 off 57 balls•Getty Images

Tasmania has started its Twenty20 Big Bash campaign in emphatic style, crushing Western Australia by 63 runs at the WACA.George Bailey won the toss for the Tigers and had no hesitation batting first on a picture-perfect WACA deck. Opener and man-of-the-match Tim Paine anchored the innings with a level-headed 71 off 57 balls and was well supported by the brutal Travis Birt, who hit four sixes on his way to a 22-ball 43.The pair shared an 86-run partnership and combined for eight of the Tigers’ 11 sixes – hitting five of them in a ten-ball burst between overs 9.4 and 11.1.Seamer Mick Lewis – who at 36 came out of retirement to play for the Warriors in the Big Bash – did his best for the hosts with three wickets, but his four overs were costly, going for 46 runs.Fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile’s third over looked to have swung the momentum back towards the Warriors, taking the crucial wicket of Birt and conceding just three runs, but cameos from Bailey (20 off 13) and Dutch international Ryan ten Doeschate (12 off 9) lifted the Tigers to an imposing total of 189 from their 20 overs.The Warriors appeared to have the firepower capable of chasing down the target, but they got off to a horror start when Shaun Marsh was trapped in front for a duck by offspinner Jason Krejza on the third ball of the innings. Pinch-hitter Luke Ronchi soon followed, chipping a drive to Birt at cover, and the Warriors chase went from bad to worse when ten Doeschate picked up the wickets of Chris Gayle and Luke Pomersbach in his only over.From there, the hosts never looked likely to win, limping to a disappointing 126 all out with an over to spare. The spin of Krejza (2 for 24) and Doherty (2 for 22) worked a treat for the Tigers, who had gambled playing two spinners on the bouncy WACA pitch, while the Warriors had left out their only recognised spinner in Aaron Heal – a move which proved costly.Tasmania has an eight-day break before it travels to the Gabba to play the Bulls, while Western Australia will face New South Wales in Sydney on January 9.

For the first time since the end of the Second World War, we’re seeing no football being played, no Saturday rituals, no acca busting results, no turnstiles turning, no chants, no Gilette Soccer Saturday or Sports Report on the Radio.

Now to get this clear from the start, having no football at this moment in time is absolutely the right thing to do. There are quite rightly more important matters at hand in the world than football right now.

However, it makes it no less disconcerting to have that constant many of us have each week taken away from us. At least in those summer months when there’s no International tournament, we can all read about the exciting transfer rumours or even watch other sports.

If I’m cooking the dinner in the kitchen at home or venturing out in the car or with my headphones walking somewhere, I’m either listening to football or listening to experts talk about football. The latest big match coming up or managerial sacking or new signing, it’s what I’ve grown up with.  

Football has been a constant in my life for nearly 30 years now, ever since going to Upton Park with my Mother and Granddad at the age of seven, being handed a programme by the local programme seller who would stand outside his house in East Ham. I regrettably lost that programme but have since bought another copy on eBay.

That was the day I fell in love with football. August 1991, West Ham United v Notts County in the First Division. Rather fittingly, we lost the game 2-0, but I didn’t care – I was fascinated.

A love affair with football had begun that would result in more bad times than good down the years, but I’m sure that’s the case for most of those reading. At the end of it all I’m sure we would all admit that if our team won every week, it would get boring. As I told my son recently, the good times wouldn’t be as good without the bad ones.

Like many of us,  I’m having to satisfy my need for football by watching classic matches replayed online (last night it was Germany 1-5 England) or watching excellent documentaries like the recent BT Sport Jimmy Greaves film. Podcasts are also great for this, I’ve long been a Podcast fan and football is obviously a big part of this.

A personal favourite is ‘Quickly Kevin Will He Score?’ with the last leg’s Josh Widdecombe and his friend Chris Skull, who is part of the West Ham media team. It’s dedicated to all things 90’s Football, which for me, of course, is my favourite era of football due to those being my formative years as a fan.

One of the episodes includes Matt Le Tissier discussing the time Ali Dia blagged a seat on the Southampton bench for a Premier League match by claiming to be George Weah’s cousin. He was introduced during the match, only to be taken off again by an embarrassed Graeme Souness when it became obvious that his claims to be the Ballon d’Or winner’s cousin didn’t mean he was a good player (with the claim later being found to be false).

There’s also an episode featuring Paul Merson discussing his time at Middlesbrough, telling the boys how the club also paid his brother to live with him so he could keep him company on his long drives up from his home in St Albans and in the hotel at the weekend.

Back to now; it’s been great to see the Premier League club captains reportedly coming together to form the #playerstogether fund to raise money for the NHS. Plus, there’s also been suggestions that the Premier League will also share much-needed funds with the EFL clubs to try to ensure they stay afloat, without the crucial income gate receipts give them each week. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a change in outlook from those at the top of the game to those further down.

 Surely the Premier League know that without those clubs lower down in the pyramid, football in this country will lose much of its romance. In April 2018, I went with my boss to watch AFC Wimbledon draw 2-2 with Oldham Athletic in a relegation scrap. He was brought up as a Chelsea fan but fell out of love with the club around the time the Abramovich era began, not liking the direction football was heading and the negativity coming from the fans every week despite the success. AFC Wimbledon’s phoenix-like rise from the very lowest leagues, plus the fact they were on his doorstep, offered a purer and more enjoyable experience for him.

Standing on the terraces reminded me then of how some of the magic of going to football has been lost in the current days of the Premier League’s safe seating, modern luxury and the often-unrealistic expectation it brings. That smell of burgers, onions and stale beer that adds to the positive atmosphere of, ‘even if we lose, we’re just happy to have a football club to watch’ was truly enlightening.

One thinks of those poor Bury supporters now without a club and the possibility of them being joined by others, thanks to the dire consequences of no football that the Coronavirus has given us in a time when many clubs were already battling for their existence as it was.

Anyway, what this time of reflection has reminded us all is not to take football for granted when it does eventually come back. Whether it be watching the Champions League or Premier League from the comfort of our armchairs or watching a League Two or National League midweek match from the terraces in the pouring rain, these days remind us that absence certainly does make the heart grow fonder.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJames Anderson can only look on as Ryan Harris celebrates Paul Collingwood’s last-ball dismissal•Getty Images

Australia are closing in on a series-levelling victory at the WACA after ripping out five England wickets during the final session to back up Michael Hussey’s 116 which continued his phenomenal series. Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris both struck in the final five minutes of play to finish with two apiece while other scalp, the key one of Kevin Pietersen for 3, went to the hardworking Ben Hilfenhaus as England lurched to stumps on 5 for 81.Those final few moments did huge damage to England who were already struggling. Jonathan Trott had played well for 31 before fencing at Johnson and, in a sign of how fortunes have changed, Ricky Ponting parried the ball at second slip only for Brad Haddin to snap up the chance. Ponting immediately left the field for treatment on a finger so missed the final-ball drama when the out-of-form Paul Collingwood edge Harris to third slip, the ball after nightwatchman James Anderson declined a single to take the strike off Collingwood.Hussey and Shane Watson, who fell five runs short of his hundred, were chiefly responsible for building Australia’s strong position as they extended their fourth-wicket stand to 113. After that, England staged a fightback with Chris Tremlett claiming his maiden five-wicket haul as the last six wickets fell for 55 but, despite the positive talk of a repeat of South Africa’s 414-run chase in 2008-09, history was always unlikely to repeat itself.Australia were mightily pumped up for the final session, knowing the quick bowlers could go full throttle. Ponting wasn’t afraid to switch the bowlers around and it was a change of ends for Harris that brought the first breakthrough when Alastair Cook was struck on the back leg. Cook asked Andrew Strauss if it was worth a review, but wasn’t supported by his captain. The ball would have clipped the bails.

Smart Stats

• Shane Watson’s 95 was the fourth time he has fallen in the nineties in his career. He has two centuries and 14 fifties.

• Michael Hussey’s century was his second of the series and the 13th of his career. He averages almost 61 in home Tests but just over 39 in away Tests.

• The 113 run partnership between Hussey and Watson was the third century stand for the fourth wicket for Australia against England in Test matches at Perth.

• In 11 innings since June 2010, Kevin Pietersen has scored 477 runs with one century and two fifties. He has scored less than 10 in five of these innings.

• Of the ten previous occasions that Australia have set a target over 300 at Perth, they have gone on to win on seven occasions and drawn twice. The only loss came against South Africa in 2008.

Johnson had been brought on in the sixth over and offered a couple of boundary balls, then tightened up to off stump and found Strauss’s edge which flew comfortably to Ponting at second slip. Whereas Hussey had given a lesson in what to leave, England’s batsmen were far less certain.Pietersen also chased a wide delivery that he poked to first slip to give Hilfenhaus his first wicket since the third ball of the series. Pietersen had escaped a pair with a pull to fine leg but hadn’t settled when he hung his bat out, although it was nothing less than Hilfenhaus deserved for a probing spell. For Pietersen it was his lowest contribution when he has batted twice in a Test. Like his team, it’s been quite a comedown from Adelaide.Throughout the match it has been tough for batsmen when they first come in, which emphasises the importance of the lone hundred so far from Hussey. His latest masterclass made him the first batsman to hit six consecutive fifty-plus scores in a Ashes Tests, a run dating back to his futile hundred at The Oval in 2009. He also became the leading run-scorer in the series, overtaking Cook, and made this the most prolific series of his career. Not bad for a player who nearly lost his place before it all started in Brisbane.He brought up his hundred with a crunching pull, the manner in which many of his boundaries arrived as England maintained the plan of feeding his strength. He was barely troubled by any of the short-pitched offerings, which although working against some of his team-mates were a futile and wasted effort to Hussey.Hussey has an impressive conversion rate of fifties to hundreds, but the same can’t yet be said of Watson. He’d barely put a foot wrong during his innings, unfurling some thumping drives against Steven Finn as he moved carefully to 95 and within sight of his third Test century. Tremlett then got one to hold its line on middle which Watson missed, but the batsman called for a review thinking he’d hit the ball.It was a small window for England, which looked to have become a little bigger when Steven Smith was given caught at slip off an inside edge by Billy Doctrove, but this time the UDRS worked in Australia’s favour when no nick was detected and the ball was also heading over the stumps. It was a skittish innings from Smith, who could also have been run out, before Tremlett’s move to round the wicket worked as Smith gloved down the leg sideHaddin began with a sweep for six over midwicket against Swann, who only bowled five overs in the day and struggled, but got an inside edge into the stumps to give Tremlett a fourth. The lower order couldn’t offer Hussey much support as Johnson drove to cover, Harris pulled to deep midwicket and Siddle edged to third to slip to hand Anderson his 200th Test wicket.Hussey finally departed to the pull, when he picked out deep square-leg to give Tremlett a deserved five-wicket haul, but his innings had set up victory that will arrive on Sunday. And from the position Australia were in on the first afternoon, that’s an astonishing turnaround.

Loads of Liverpool fans have reacted to Jamie Carragher’s damning response to the Reds’ decision to place some staff on the government’s furlough scheme, and it appears the Anfield faithful are in full agreement with their former stalwart.The club announced on Saturday that many of its non-playing staff would be placed on furlough, meaning they receive 80 per cent of their usual salaries from the government’s job retention scheme.

The Greatest Bargains in Premier League history – How much did they cost?

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And while the Reds are topping up the final 20 per cent to ensure their employees are not placed at a financial disadvantage, the statement still left a sour taste in the mouths of many.

Carragher was quick to condemn the decision on Twitter, saying that all the respect and goodwill earned by Jurgen Klopp and the players has now been lost.

You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below, where one supporter labelled the club’s decision as “disgustingâ€â€¦

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJames Franklin held his nerves in the last over to ensure a New Zealand win•Associated Press

A solitary Twenty20 it was, but it featured multiple narratives, an emotional return for Yuvraj Singh and his fans, an anti-climax for India and an incredible comeback from New Zealand. After Brendon McCullum had punched a furious 91, Virat Kohli counter-punched with a majestic 70, leaving India with 49 to get off 42 deliveries with seven wickets remaining.That is when the Chennai pitch started to behave more like a typical Chennai pitch; the ball had come on nicely till then. MS Dhoni and Yuvraj struggled to get the ball off the square, James Franklin and Jacob Oram took all pace off the ball to make it harder, and the asking-rate surged suddenly. Dhoni, having promoted himself ahead of Manoj Tiwary and Rohit Sharma, ended unbeaten on a perplexing 22 off 23 deliveries, failing to find any timing on his swipes and slogs and reduced to nudging singles on the leg side.With 20 needed off the last eight deliveries, Yuvraj managed to heave Oram over deep midwicket for six. With 12 needed off the last five, Dhoni managed to pull Franklin to deep square leg for four. With six needed off three, Yuvraj heaved and was bowled for 34 off 26.There was still time for one final narrative. Enter Rohit, under pressure for his lack of form, with six still needed. He tried gamely, swinging both the remaining deliveries for a couple of runs each, but India had to pay for tapering off after Kohli’s dismissal in the 14th over.

Smart stats

• New Zealand’s win is the seventh by a margin of one run in Twenty20 internationals. New Zealand had beaten Pakistan in Barbados in 2010 by the same margin.

• New Zealand have won the most Twenty20 matches against India (4). They are also the only top team never to lose a single match against India.

• Brendon McCullum’s 91 is the second-highest score in an Twenty20 international against India. The previous record for a New Zealand batsman (69) was also held by McCullum. McCullum has three fifties in four innings against India.

• McCullum, who is the highest run-getter in Twenty20 matches, also holds the record for the most fifty-plus scores (10).

• India’s score of 166 is their third-highest in a losing cause (in chases). The highest is 186 against Sri Lanka in Nagpur in 2009.

• The number of wickets lost by India (4) is the fewest in an unsuccessful chase (minimum 15 overs in the innings).

• MS Dhoni has three20-plus innings at a strike rate less than 100. Two of those are against New Zealand. On each of these occasions, India have gone on to lose the game.

India’s defeat was the last thing on the Chennai crowd’s mind when Kohli, opening in place of the injured Virender Sehwag, was raining boundaries on New Zealand during his 15th fifty-plus international score this year. Wide deliveries were swatted away with disdain, length deliveries were willed into gaps with confident pushes, spinners were lofted inside-out over extra cover, fast bowlers were charged at and hammered down the ground.Kohli’s assault and his 60-run second-wicket stand with Suresh Raina allowed Yuvraj to ease into his comeback knock. The crowd erupted when Yuvraj thick-edged Adam Milne past slip for his first boundary and swung Daniel Vettori over deep midwicket for his first six. In between, he was let-off when McCullum and Kyle Mills collided trying to take a top-edged pull off Milne.It was Franklin who began the turnaround when he had Kohli lofting his second delivery to wide long-off. New Zealand also had McCullum to thank, for lifting them from 2 for 2 with a calculated 91 that highlighted his importance to his side, especially in Twenty20s. McCullum had support from Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, but he was almost single-handedly responsible for New Zealand reaching a competitive score with a knock that began watchfully, and then exploded into a frenzy of powerful hits over extra cover, down the ground and over midwicket.McCullum often begins a Test innings with a charge down the track and it was probably the two early wickets that made him play with some caution initially. Rob Nicol and Martin Guptill came out swinging but were bowled by incoming deliveries from Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan.McCullum broke free in the fifth over, flicking and cutting Zaheer for boundaries. L Balaji, making his T20I debut and playing his first game for India since February 2009, was inside-edged past short fine leg and sliced over point for boundaries in the next over.Williamson, a calm man under pressure usually, ensured he gave the strike to McCullum, who was now in control enough to ward off his usual self-destructing tendencies.Sweeps, reverse-sweeps and scoops were kept away. The one time he tried a reverse-sweep, on 38, he got away with a close lbw shout against R Ashwin, with the umpire ruling there was an inside edge when replays indicated there wasn’t any. McCullum’s one good innings during the Test series against India was ended when the umpire did not spot an inside edge. It was his turn to benefit today.McCullum went after Ashwin, lofting him over extra cover for boundaries and down the ground for sixes. Ashwin, the lone spinner playing ahead of the recalled Harbhajan Singh, went for 34 in three overs.McCullum was only nine short of what would have been his second T20I hundred when he was eventually bowled after missing a sweep off a slow cutter from Irfan in the 17th over. Taylor and Oram were around to take New Zealand to a respectable score.India rode on Kohli’s brilliance in the chase, bottled up for a while after he fell, and when they tried to catch up, it was too late.

Chelsea may have hit the jackpot when signing the likes of Frank Lampard, Eden Hazard and Didier Drogba, but they’ve also made huge mistakes with some of their recruitment decisions.

Even with a pot full of money, it’s still possible to get it wrong every now and again and there have been many times during Chelsea’s Premier League era that they’ve simply got it wrong.

Even Jose Mourinho got it wrong at times, while Lampard now will no doubt bring in one or two questionable names in the future.

So we’ve taken a look at Chelsea’s 20 biggest flops of the Premier League era – did we miss anyone?

Tiemoue Bakayoko

We start with one of the more recent ones in Tiemoue Bakayoko, someone who technically still plies his trade at Stamford Bridge but we’re unlikely ever to see in blue again.

The fact that Antonio Conte’s Chelsea forked out a remarkable £40m-ish on the sub-standard midfielder will send shivers down the spine of anyone in west London and unless the club can sell up, they’re still lumbered with him until 2022.

Jiri Jarosik

From one pricy Pensioners flop to another and Jiri Jarosik, a name synonymous in Blues folklore as one of the worst to ever represent them.

The centre-back signed from CSKA Moscow in 2005 and lasted no more than half-a-season before a loan to Birmingham City and his subsequent sale to Celtic, enough time for the Chelsea faithful to very much make up their minds on him.

Asier Del Horno

Well, Asier Del Horno’s name meant that one way or another he was always going to be laughed at in English football but he would have hoped the sniggers wouldn’t have also been caused by his performances.

The overwhelming memory most were left with from the defender’s only campaign at the Bridge was not his shoddy showings, rather his horrendous UEFA Champions League tackle on a young Lionel Messi – simply shocking.

Juan Sebastian Veron

Juan Sebastian Veron, what a player, Manchester United, Internazionale, Lazio, Argentina, countless trophies and memorable moments – so what’s he doing on this list?

That’s a good question.

Having joined for around £20m from Old Trafford in the summer of 2003, things never really clicked for the seminal central midfielder in west London as his successful spell in English football ended in an anti-climax and Veron went down as one of Chelsea’s worst ever signings.

Mateja Kezman

Much like Veron, Mateja Kezman represented some very prestigious clubs throughout his career, somehow.

The hit-and-miss poacher only spent the one term in England, making 41 appearances for a meagre return of just seven goals, streets away from what Jose Mourinho would have hoped for when he captured him from PSV – at least Kezman’s only real Chelsea highlight was a special one though, scoring the winner against Liverpool in the 2005 League Cup final.

Winston Bogarde

When a manager has no idea a player is signing due to the whole deal being conducted by the sporting director behind his back, it doesn’t have the makings of a great transfer. And so this proved with Winston Bogarde.

No one seemed to want the former Ajax, Barcelona and Holland centre-back at Chelsea, however, he was determined to stay until the end of his contract in 2004 to pick up his lofty £40k-per-week salary and who could blame him?

Bogarde only ever made 12 competitive appearances for the Blues.

Adrian Mutu

Adrian Mutu’s Chelsea tale is a sad one. It could have been great if the Romanian hadn’t let substance abuse issues ruin it by being sacked for his addiction to cocaine.

Mutu had a great record on the pitch in west London, registering ten goals and nine assists in just over a season before the cocaine story came out and the world came crashing down on him.

The reason the talented centre-forward makes the is the £15m the Blues threw away on him.

Marko Marin

There would be no such drama in the short Stamford Bridge stay of another failed attacker, ex-Germany prodigy Marko Marin.

The Pensioners thought they were getting something special when Werder Bremen finally gave up their budding 16-time German international in 2012 though he would only ever join the long list of Blues youngsters to be prolifically sent out on loan before exiting at the end of their contracts.

Franco Di Santo

Argentine frontman Franco Di Santo was once nicknamed the “new Maradona” as well as the “little Crespo,” the fact that he’s a Wigan Athletic cult hero probably explains how far he got in living up to those tags.

After a switch from hometown club Audax Italiano, the ex-Argentina international barely made any impact at all in west London and swapped Stamford Bridge for the DW Stadium in 2010 with zero strikes to his name.

Andriy Shevchenko

In contrast to Di Santo, Chelsea supporters certainly haven’t forgotten the name Andriy Shevchenko and they’re never likely to however much they might have wanted to.

The world football icon is another who enjoyed a near-perfect career apart from the one blemish on his CV, the spell with the Blues.

Just 77 matches and 22 goals will never endear yourself at a club when they’ve broken all kinds of records to bring you in for £30m, a whopping sum back then – if only he could have been like the man he’s pictured with above.

Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch could be about to unleash Sam Greenwood into the first-team in the near future as intriguing comments emerged after their 3-0 win over Watford on Saturday…

What’s been said?

The 20-year-old forward came off the bench for an impressive 27-minute cameo, replacing the barren Daniel James, and he took his opportunity by providing two assists for the Whites’ second and third goals.

After handing Kalvin Phillips a sight on goal, only for Ben Foster to save it, the academy prospect fed through Rodrigo, who rounded the goalkeeper to double the advantage before he played a clever ball out wide to Jack Harrison on the wing.

He then cut inside and curled a left-footed effort past the Hornets’ shot-stopper to seal all three points at Vicarage Road.

Speaking after the game, Marsch hinted that he may have to utilise Greenwood more often, as relayed by The Athletic’s ever-reliable Phil Hay.

“Interestingly, said of the entire group, Sam Greenwood has adapted to his ideas better than anyone. Marsch says he needs to use him more,” he revealed.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-leeds-news-transfer-rumours-gossip-marsch-raphinha-dest-philhay” title=”Read the latest Leeds news!”]

Forget Gelhardt?

It was rather telling that the American head coach turned to the former Arsenal gem over someone like Joe Gelhardt, who has delivered a couple of goals in the Premier League this season, on the day.

Yes, there’s an argument to be made in the fact that Joffy has been injured recently, but with two goals and three assists in just 486 senior minutes, he’s surely a hard name to ignore when looking down the bench.

The fact that Marsch believes Greenwood has adapted to his methods more than any other player in the whole first-team squad surely means we see more of him going forward.

In his 23 minutes and on top of those two assists, the youngster also registered two successful dribbles and won a whopping 77.7% of his nine duels; he also put in three tackles, pressing from the front with relentless work rate – something that clearly caught the eye of the Leeds boss.

Greenwood, who has been likened to former Arsenal and Manchester United striker Robin van Persie, has been in fine form for the U23s in the Premier League 2 this campaign, where he has scored eight goals and laid on five assists, taking his total to 21 goals in 37 appearances, via Transfermarkt.

It’s no wonder that, according to an inside source, the word “phenomenal” is regularly used to describe the promising forward around the club’s Thorp Arch training base.

Lauded for his “incredible impact” against Watford this weekend, it’s surely only a matter of time before we see Marsch trust Greenwood in the starting lineup going forward, especially with Patrick Bamford’s continued absence through injury.

Gelhardt could now be in trouble, as a result.

AND in other news, Left for £0: Leeds suffered a howler with “outrageous” 204 G/A gem who idolised Radebe…

As the cricket cliché goes, there’s never a good time to be injured. But some moments are especially unfortunate, as Victoria’s spinner Jon Holland is now discovering, having hurt his shoulder when he was working his way towards the fringes of national selection. His state team-mate John Hastings could tell him all about it.Hastings had just started to establish himself in Australia’s ODI and Twenty20 sides last year when he returned from the tour of Sri Lanka and suffered a serious injury at state training. Diving for a one-handed catch, Hastings felt a stabbing pain and his season was over, a shoulder reconstruction ruling him out of all cricket for nearly a year.Tours of South Africa, West Indies, England and the UAE were out of the question, as was any hope of him being part of Australia’s World T20 squad, and the injury to Hastings, a bowling allrounder, allowed batting allrounder Daniel Christian some breathing space to settle in to the side. Hastings also missed a full Sheffield Shield campaign, having been the competition’s second leading wicket taker two years earlier when he collected 36 victims at 26.13.But finally, Hastings is back, and he is looking on the bright side. The time away from the game gave him plenty of opportunity to work in the gym, and he believes his extra strength work has helped him gain a little bit of pace with his bowling. Whatever the case, he has certainly thrived on his return, having picked up 13 wickets in Victoria’s first two Shield games of this season – his first outings at first-class level in nearly two years.”The timing of it wasn’t great,” Hastings told ESPNcricinfo. “I pulled out of the South African series in 2011. It seems a long time ago now. It wasn’t a great time for me. I probably would have been on that tour and if I’d done well there, who knows, Tests might have been around the corner as well. But to have such a long time out of the game it’s going to take me a long time to gain the selectors’ trust again and get back in that side.”When I wasn’t bowling or batting I spent a lot of time on my fitness, working on my strength and conditioning in the gym with David Bailey, the now Australian strength and conditioning coach. We worked our butts off to try to get me back. I think a yard of pace has probably helped me get a few more wickets than I normally would have in four-day cricket, and a little more durability as well, so I can continually back up my spells.”So far this season, the results have been coming. Only James Pattinson, who demolished Queensland with 6 for 32 in the second innings in Brisbane, has more Shield wickets than Hastings after the first two rounds. In a Victoria attack featuring four fast and medium bowlers who have worn the baggy green – Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Clint McKay and Andrew McDonald – that’s no mean feat.”I come on and I’m not as fast as the other guys, I think the batsmen think they can get after me and they just nick one to the keeper or something,” Hastings said. “For me to bowl at the other end to James Pattinson is just fantastic. He creates all the pressure. That spell at the Gabba was absolutely world-class, on a pretty flat third-day Gabba wicket, he extracted bounce and a bit of movement.”Hastings, 26, can also get plenty of bounce from his 195-centimetre frame. He will enjoy the challenge of bowling to the Tasmanians at the MCG this week. Last time he played a first-class match at home it was against the touring England team during Australia’s disastrous 2010-11 Ashes. Twenty-two months is a long time to wait.”Everything is going really well at the moment,” Hastings said. “It’s probably the best my body has felt for four or five years. Looking back I think I was lucky to have that 18 months to get my body right and get it where I wanted to be. It’s great to pull up well from games and hopefully that can continue.”

أثار مدرب نابولي جينارو جاتوزو، التكهنات حول مستقبل النجم خاليدو كوليبالي في النادي الإيطالي بعد رغبة مانشستر سيتي في الحصول على خدماته، في موسم الانتقالات الصيفي الحالي.

ويسعى مانشستر سيتي إلى التعاقد مع المدافع السنغالي، في فترة الانتقالات الصيفية الجارية.

ولم ينجح النادي الإنجليزي في التوصل إلى اتفاق مع نظيره الإيطالي حول الرسوم المالية لهذه الصفقة.

وقال جاتوزو، في تصريحات نشرتها شبكة “سكاي سبورتس” العالمية: “لاعب مهم وإذا رحل سأكون حزينًا، لأن كوليبالي نجم كبير”.

وأضاف: “إنها لحظة صعبة في كرة القدم، وعليك التفكير في العطاءات المهمة”.

وواصل: “لكن إذا ظل كوليبالي معنا سأكون سعيدًا”.

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Eight years ago an incident at Ibrox went into Celtic folklore.

When Scott Brown guided a brilliant 20 yard drive around Allan McGregor and inside the post he did more than just equalise in a pulsating Scottish Cup tie – ‘The Broony’ was born.

El Hadji Diouf had been as irritating on the park as he had been in the media beforehand, so when Brown’s shot hit the back of the net there was one person that he wanted to share the moment with – the on-loan Blackburn Rovers midfielder.

Thus, a legend was born.

The Broony has been a stable part of the Celtic supporter experience since that day with it’s originator more than happy to join in, especially on the rare occasions that he finds the back of the net.

That Scottish Cup tie was won in a dramatic replay at Celtic Park, the Hoops going on to claim the trophy with a win over Motherwell at Hampden Park. It was the first trophy for Neil Lennon as manager, and it certainly wasn’t the last.

The title was lost on the final day of the season but since 2012 the SPL/SPFL trophy has been a fixture in the Celtic board room.

Last week Brown signed a two-year contract extension. If title number eight is clinched there’s no doubt that ‘The Broony’ will be at the centre of the celebrations.