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Wednesday January 16, 2019
Kaieteur News
Jos Buttler concedes ‘obvious risks’ of warm-up football ESPNcricinfo - Jos Buttler has admitted it “probably doesn’t make too much sense” for England to play football as part of their training routine. Butter, England’s vicecaptain, insisted the players were “very careful” and tried to keep things safe while playing. But he conceded there were “obvious risks” involved and confirmed they would accept it if Ashley Giles decided they should no longer play. Giles, the new managing director of England men’s cricket, recently said he was uncomfortable with the idea of football as part of the warmup regime. While he suggested he would talk to the captains and coaches before reaching a decision, he did hint there may be a change of approach. While Buttler would regret that decision, he said he could understand it. Jonny Bairstow sustained an ankle injury while playing football near the start of the Sri Lanka tour and subsequently lost his place as
Stuart Broad has a look at Jos Buttler’s bat at training. (Getty Images) wicketkeeper to Ben Foakes. Several other players have suffered similarly over the years. But the players argue that it has helped foster a strong team spirit - new players, for example, are made captains of
the teams in order to aid integration - and insist that, with sensible precations, such as the ‘no-tackling’ rule that has been in place for a few years, it is no more dangerous than most sporting activities. “I love it,” Buttler said.
“It’s been a fun part of our warm-ups for a while and I enjoy playing it. The guys are very careful. We’re not professionals but we enjoy a kick around and we try to stay as safe as possible. “But I understand his
point of view because it probably doesn’t make too much sense for us to warm up playing football. There are obvious risks. “So if that’s his final decision then that’s it. There will be discussions between coaches, captains and Ashley Giles and if it’s decided we can’t play anymore I don’t think the guys will be too bothered. We’ll just get on with it.”England started their first warm-up game - a nonfirst-class two-day match that involves at least 12-players per side - at the Three Ws Oval in Barbados yesterday. As is the nature of these things now, England as expected batted the whole of day one and will field for the whole of today irrespective of how many wickets fall. Olly Stone had a slightly stiff back so he may therefore sit out the first match. The squad played football as part of their warm-up routine on Monday. The opposition, a CWI President’s XI, contains six men with Test experience batsmen Sunil Ambris,
Jermaine Blackwood, who scored his only Test century against England on the 2015 tour, and Vishaul Singh; allrounder Raymon Reifer, and fast bowlers Alzarri Joseph and Miguel Cummins - and is captained by the keeper, Jahmar Hamilton. A second two-day warmup - on the same ground, against the same opposition and almost certainly with the same liberal attitude to cricketing conventions starts tomorrow. It is understood groundstaff have been encouraged to prepare pitches with a bit of life, a characteristic that has not always been present in the Caribbean in recent years, throughout the Test series; the use of the Dukes ball should also be to the liking of bowlers. England have won only one Test series here in the last 50 years - Michael Vaughan’s 2004 squad are the honourable expectations - so the size of the challenge in front of them should not be underestimated.
Mina double helps Valencia Burgeoning pace stocks point to.... reach Copa quarter-finals
South Africa’s Duanne Olivier celebrates bowling out Asad Shafiq during the First Test against Pakistan at SuperSport Park Stadium, Centurion, South Africa. (REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko)
Valencia’s Santi Mina celebrates scoring their second goal against Young Boys at Mestalla, Valencia, Spain - November 7, 2018. (REUTERS/Heino Kalis – file photo) (Reuters) - Valencia’s Santi Mina struck twice as the struggling La Liga club reached the Copa del Rey quarter-finals by beating second-tier Sporting Gijon 3-0 on
Tuesday for a 4-2 aggregate win. Valencia trailed 2-1 from the away leg and despite a late midweek kick off time supporters still flocked to the Mestalla stadium hoping to see their embattled team turn the tie around. Marcelino’s side took the lead when Mina nodded them in front after 65 minutes with the help of a deflection. The Spanish forward struck again 10 minutes later, sliding to the ground to meet
a low cross from close range before Ferran Torres wrapped up the victory in added time on the counter. The result gave Valencia welcome relief from a disappointing league campaign with the weekend 1-1 draw at home to Real Valladolid leaving them 11th in the standings. They were joined in the last eight of the Spanish Cup by Getafe, who drew 1-1 at Valladolid to progress 2-1 on aggregate.
From page 35 when he was sidelined for lengthy periods, while Olivier replaced the former when he missed the Pakistan series with a knee problem. Olivier would likely not have played the first test were it not for a finger injury for Ve r n o n P h i l a n d e r, b u t ended up with 24 wickets at an average of 14, just one shy of the 117-year old South African record for a three-test series. While the bowlers and Gibson, a former pace bowler, might have enjoyed the conditions, there have been some rumblings from the batsmen about how difficult it is to score runs at home. “I keep saying to the bat-
ters, when the wickets are like this, you don’t need to score 500, it’s not necessary,” Gibson said. “If we get 262, on a fast, bouncy track, 262 with our fast bowlers is a great score because we know we can knock a team over for under that, which is what we did.” South Africa, who have moved to second in the test rankings behind India, play five one-day internationals and three Twenty20 matches against Pakistan before Sri Lanka arrive for two tests in February. Gibson has hinted the heavy workload in a World Cup year may see a change in tactics for that series, which could give the side the oppor-
tunity to rest players and bring about a return for spinner Keshav Maharaj. “KG (Kagiso Rabada) says he is bowling at 60 percent‚ but he is bowling at the speed of 145 and I say to him that ‘I am looking forward to the time when you are bowling at 100 percent’‚” Gibson said. “He is taking wickets‚ doing great work for the team and what we have done in the last 12 months is to look for opportunities to rest people. We will find an opportunity to rest him for sure. “With regards to Keshav‚ he knows that he is still part of the plans and he understands his role and the bigger picture.”