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Chelsea midfielder Billy Gilmour would have been a brilliant addition to Rangers, that is according to the club’s former defender Michael Ball.

Gilmour, who impressed at Euro 2020 for Scotland, has joined Premier League newcomers Norwich City on a season-long loan.

He had been linked with a loan move to Ibrox, with the Daily Record reporting prior that Steven Gerrard was interested in bringing the former Rangers youth product back to the club.

For Ball, if the Scottish Premiership champions managed to get that over the line, it could have been quite the acquisition.

“It would have been brilliant,” the ex-Rangers player told TT in an exclusive interview. “He loves the club, the club love him and the fans adored him.

“We know how much of a talent he is. He showed that against England in the Euros, man of the match. He’s a top-quality player.”

Gilmour rarely started for Chelsea last season, hence his loan move to Norwich. However, when the Scotland international did play, he impressed.

In a 1-1 draw against Russian outfit FC Krasnodar in the Champions League, Gilmour completed three key passes, the same as Kai Havertz and more than Jorginho (via WhoScored).

Gilmour also recorded the second-highest pass success rate (89.2) in his side that night, so he looks like he could have brought a lot to Rangers’ midfield.

Bengal’s batsmen failed to capitalise on their starts to leave their team in a poor position against Railways at the end of the second day of the elite group encounter between the two sides at Siliguri

Staff Reporter29-Nov-2002Bengal’s batsmen failed to capitalise on their starts to leave their team in a poor position against Railways at the end of the second day of the elite group encounter between the two sides at Siliguri. Twenty-one-year Subhomoy Das was the top-scorer with a patient unbeaten 37 as Bengal ended the day at 173-8, still 73 behind the Railways’ first innings score of 246.Medium-pacer Santosh Saxena and off-spinner Kulamani Parida, who claimed three wickets each, were the men who prevented the Bengal first innings from taking off. With two day’s play remaining, Railways will now be looking to push on for their first outright win in this year’s competition.At the Feroz Shah Kotla, centuries from openers Akash Chopra (105) and Gautam Gambhir (109*) put Delhi in a commanding position against Himachal Pradesh. After dismissing the visitors for 244, the hosts reached 240-1 in reply. Pradeep Chawla on eight was keeping Gambhir company. New-ball bowler Amit Bhandari, who had claimed five Himachal Pradesh wickets earlier, was the other star performer for the hosts.At Jaipur, an unbeaten century from Nikhil Doru helped Rajasthan gain a 120-run first innings lead against Hyderabad with three wickets remainining. Lower-order bat Sanjeev Sharma, who made a career-best 76, was the other major contributor in the Rajasthan first innings of 332-7.At Chennai, an unbeaten 76 from wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik helped hosts Tamil Nadu to recover to 238-9 against Uttar Pradesh. Earlier, veteran medium-pacer Ashish Winston Zaidi’s early three-wicket burst – he claimed two more wickets by the end of the day – had led to Tamil Nadu being reduced to 106-5 when Karthik walked in. But the 17-year-old, playing in only his second Ranji Trophy match, refused to be hustled, smashing 12 fours in his 134-ball knock. Thanks to his efforts, the hosts still had an outside chance of overhauling the Uttar Pradesh’s total of 304.At Cuttack, Baroda gained a massive 276 runs first innings lead against hosts Orissa. Resuming on 278/3, Baroda went on to make 407 in their first innings before being dismissed. Satyajit Parab, who began the day on 116, made 141 before he fell to Debasis Mohanty. Mohanty, who claimed four wickets in all, was the most successful bowler for the hosts.When Orissa replied, they found left-arm quick Irfan Pathan too hot to handle. The 18-year-old snared six wickets as Orissa crumbled to 131 all out. Forced to follow-on, Orissa were 31-2 and in danger of succumbing to an innings defeat.At Guwahati, hosts Assam managed to eke out a 53-run first innings lead against Punjab. Kiran Powar, who made 47, was the top-scorer for the hosts who ended up with 230. For Punjab, left-arm quick Amit Uniyal claimed five wickets. Punjab had managed to wipe out the lead and gain a nine-run overall lead with eight second innings wickets in hand when play was called off. Pankaj Dharmani (34*) and Ankur Kakkar (7*) were the two not out batsmen.Rowland, Naidu put Karnataka in commandBarrington Rowland made an unbeaten 237 and Thilak Naidu an unbeaten 167 as Karnataka dominated the second day’s play against Jammu and Kashmir at Bangalore. The duo’s unbroken 281-run fourth wicket partnership helped the hosts pile on an imposing 598-3 in their first innings. Faced with the daunting task of scoring 448 to avoid the follow-on, Jammu and Kashmir made a scratchy start, reaching 77-3 by the end of day’s play. With two days’ play remaining, Karnataka now would be hoping to complete an outright win.At Rohtak, the Maharasthra bowlers fought back after their team was dismissed for 298 against Haryana. With Ranjit Khirid claiming three wickets and Mandar Sane ending up with two, the visitors reduced Haryana to 166-6. Shafiq Khan, who made an unbeaten 81 to end up as the innings top-scorer, though, still remains in their way.At Kochi, opener Sujith Somasunder completed a double-hundred, making 222, while Ajay Kudua, made 130 as Kerala posted 457 in their first innings against Tripura. The visitors were 60-1 in reply when play was called off.At Nagpur, a 71-run last wicket partnership between Shadab Jakati (74*) and Faisal Shaikh (20*) kept Goa in the running for the first-innings lead against Vidarbha. The duo’s efforts saw the visitors reach 255-6 in reply to Vidarbha’s 336. Earlier, Shaikh had claimed 8-111, bowling his off-spinners, to restrict Vidarbha.At Indore, Madhya Pradesh were well and truly on course for an outright win against Bihar. The hosts, who made 379, dismissed, Bihar for 140 in their first innings. Forced to follow-on, the visitors were 42-2 when play was called off. Only captain Rajiv Kumar, who made 63, was able to mount a resistance against the guiles of leg-spinners Narendra Hirwani (4-38) and Yogesh Golwalkar (3-29) in the first innings. Later, Golwalkar also went on to claim both the Bihar second innings wickets.

It’s taken 405.2 overs for left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori to get a bowl for New Zealand in its National Bank Series with India, but he didn’t waste his chance picking up a wicket after only four balls

Lynn McConnell26-Dec-2002It’s taken 405.2 overs for left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori to get a bowl for New Zealand in its National Bank Series with India, but he didn’t waste his chance picking up a wicket after only four balls.Vettori was unused during New Zealand’s two Test match victories over India so quickly did the tourists succumb to New Zealand’s fast-medium attack.The way India’s batting collapsed today at Eden Park, he wondered if he was going to go another match without having to bowl.”I was happy to get one, I was a little bit scared I wasn’t going to get one at one stage. I’ve got to thank Bondy [Shane Bond] as he got whacked in one over so it gave me a chance to come in.”It is a frustration. I’m in the team to bowl and I’ve done pretty well in the past and to come into a situation where you can’t get a bowl is tough. I certainly understand the situation,” he said.When teams were bowled out in less than 40 overs it was a case of keeping going with what was doing the job.He did think he would bowl his full 10 overs when he arrived at the ground today but was hopeful that previous good fortune he had enjoyed in Napier could be repeated in the next game of the series.”I’ll probably have to play my games overseas. I know I’m going to get plenty of bowling overseas [New Zealand’s next tours are to Sri Lanka and India] next year.”It has been disappointing with the wickets. Everybody has been disappointed that they don’t allow true cricket even the wicket tonight wasn’t of that good a standard,” he said.It wasn’t possible to trust the wickets that have been played on in the series, and that was a problem for the Indians who were used to knowing that if they got into some difficulty at home, they could still trust the bounce.”When I went out to bat I set myself to be there at the end. Jacob Oram filled me in with what was going on. When the run rate is that low you can take your time, you can do it in singles and I think that is what we did. We tried to turn the strike over as much as possible.”I thought some of their fields were quite defensive so you got the chance to push the singles,” he said.Vettori said it was fantastic to see a player like Oram come into the side and make the impression that he had this season.He had been knocking on the door for a little and while being in and out of the one-day team the innings he played in Hamilton gave him a lot of confidence.”With his bowling he is doing just the right thing while with his batting in the last two games has been extremely mature and they have been match-winning innings.Having taken a wicket, a very good catch and scored some runs, Vettori said he felt like he was contributing something to the side at last.Even if he is not getting the work in the middle that he would like, Vettori said he is still keeping his workload up in the nets and that was helping him build up his back after the stress fractures of two summers ago.As far as captain Stephen Fleming was concerned it was an end to the pressure Vettori had been putting on him: “It was just a relief to shut him up,” Fleming said with a laugh. “He’s been using you guys [the media] as a vehicle.But Fleming did admit that Vettori had played well at the end of New Zealand’s innings with the bat while the last 23 runs were scored.

West Bromwich Albion have been dealt a blow in their bid to keep Kyle Bartley at The Hawthorns this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by The Telegraph (via Football League World), who claim that both Newcastle United and Crystal Palace are keeping a very close eye on the situation of the Albion centre-back ahead of a potential move in the summer transfer window.

The report continues by stating that, with the 30-year-old now entering the final year of his current deal with the Baggies, an offer of around £3m should be enough to convince the Championship side to part with the defender this summer.

Fans will be worried

It is unsurprising to learn of the Premier League interest in Bartley, as, despite the fact West Brom suffered relegation back to the second tier last season, the former England U17 international nevertheless impressed from the centre of the Albion defence.

Indeed, over his 30 Premier League appearances, the £2.25m-rated man helped his side keep four clean sheets, as well as making an average of 1.3 interceptions, 0.9 tackles, 5.3 clearances and winning 4.8 duels per game.

Bartley also impressed in an attacking capacity, scoring three goals, providing one assist and creating two big chances for his teammates, in addition to taking an average of 0.5 shots and making 0.2 key passes per league fixture.

These returns saw the man Chris Lepkowski dubbed a “brilliant” player earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.88, ranking him as the Baggies’ sixth-best performer in the top flight of English football.

As such, if the club were to lose the services of the £15k-per-week centre-back this summer, it would not only come as a blow to Ismael, as the 45-year-old would then be faced with the challenging task of replacing the 30-year-old ahead of next season, but it would also be gutting for fans of the club, who would almost certainly miss seeing the tough-tackling defender in action at The Hawthorns.

In other news: Crook confirms transfer news on £450k-rated beast, it’s good news for West Brom

Nottingham Forest are said to be interested in a deal to sign Dinamo Zagreb striker Sandro Kulenovic, according to a report from Croatian outlet Sportske Novosti.

What’s the story?

The 21-year-old has been with the Croatian club since 2019 and has caught the eye with some strong performances whilst on loan with Rijeka, which evidently hasn’t gone unnoticed. He scored eight goals and was on hand to provide six assists for Rijeka, who finished third in the Croatian top flight last term.

However, he hasn’t been included in Dinamo’s matchday squad for their last two matches in the openign weeks of the 2021/22 campaign, which could hint that his future lies away from the Croatian champions this summer.

The Athletic’s Paul Taylor has confirmed that Nottingham Forest’s newly-appointed chief executive Dane Murphy could be the reason behind their interest, with Kulenovic previously being a transfer target for Barnsley whilst the American was at Oakwell.

Taylor also revealed that either a loan with a view to buy, or a straight purchase, is also possible for Forest this summer.

You can understand Nottingham Forest’s thinking

Nottingham Forest finished 17th in the Championship last season in what was a frustrating league campaign for the City Ground faithful.

Chris Hughton often played with just one striker in his team, with Lewis Grabban being heavily relied upon to be their attacking threat, although he struggled at times to repay the faith shown by his manager.

Grabban only netted six goals in 29 appearances for the Reds last term, which doesn’t make the best of reading, especially when he had shown earlier in his career that he can score goals consistently in the Championship.

The 33-year-old scored 20 goals in total for Forest in the 2019/20 season as they missed out on a play-off finish on the final day of the campaign, and it wouldn’t come as a surprise to see Hughton looking to add much-needed depth to his attacking options, with Lyle Taylor’s future at the City Ground remaining somewhat up in the air.

Kulenovic could be the ideal player to come in and challenge Grabban for his starting spot, with the Croatian forward showing that he has an eye for goal, having netted eight goals in the 2020/21 season.

The striker stands at 1.91m tall (6 foot 3) and won an average of 2.4 aerial duels per game whilst averaging just shy of four duels in total per game whilst on loan with Rijeka according to Sofascore. Grabban averaged 0.5 aerial duels won during the 2020/21 Championship season, which isn’t the best for a striker who is leading the line on his own.

Therefore, you can understand Forest’s thinking behind this potential deal, as the prodigious Kulenovic could be the dream alternative to Grabban if the veteran marksman fails to produce the goods over the coming months.

In other news, Forest have made their stance clear on this “unbelievable player”, fans must be delighted

Graham Napier rewrote the Twenty20 record books with a breathtaking assault against Sussex at Chelmsford. He smashed an incredible 152 for 58 balls, the highest score in English Twenty20

The Bulletin by Andrew McGlashan24-Jun-2008
Scorecard
Graham Napier launches one of his 16 sixes during an awesome display © Warren Page
Graham Napier rewrote the Twenty20 record books with a breathtaking assault against Sussex at Chelmsford. He smashed an incredible 152 for 58 balls, the highest score in English Twenty20 which included a record 16 sixes, as Essex piled up 242 for 3.Chelmsford is one of the smaller county grounds, and the boundaries had been brought in further, but regardless of those factors it was a stunning display from Napier who has previously been languishing down the lower order. However, he told Essex coach Paul Grayson that he felt good after a morning net so, following some team discussion, he was given a crack at No. 3. He will be there for a while now.”It was awesome, fantastic,” he told moments after hitting his final six. “I just started to see the ball better, middle one or two and then got into a rhythm.”Wherever the Sussex attack bowled, Napier launched them over the stands and out of the ground. Some balls went into the river, others in the nearby gardens and a few towards the flats. Some hits were so huge they would have been six on the biggest grounds in the world.What made Napier’s display even better was that he actually took time to play himself in as Essex pottered through the opening six overs. But once he’d middled a few to the short straight boundaries he was unstoppable. There was a cleanness to his striking that was wonderful to watch, the constant crunch of the ball off the middle of his heavy bat resonating around the ground.The century came off 44 balls, but he was still finding top gear as his remaining 52 took 14 deliveries, many of which ended in the crowd. Napier’s 16 sixes broke Brendon McCullum’s record that was set during his 158 in the opening IPL match. Although Napier didn’t quite have enough time to break McCullum’s score, he comfortably went past Cameron White’s 141 for Somerset which was the previous best in the Twenty20 Cup. James Kirtley went for 67 off his four overs, with Napier taking 30 from his final over – the last of the innings.However, that wasn’t the end of Napier’s work for the evening as he came out 15 minutes later and took the new ball. Living up to his feats with the bat was always going to be tough, but it barely mattered that his two overs cost 20. Sussex had no choice but to swing hard and quickly came unstuck.Maurice Chambers, who continues to build up his pace after overcoming a stress fracture of the back, impressed with three wickets which included Matt Prior and Murray Goodwin in successive balls. Sussex’s defeat ends their slim hopes of making the quarter-finals, while Essex have crucial home-and-away ties against Hampshire to come.But the evening was about just one person. For anyone at the ground or watching the match on television, Napier’s innings will live long in the memory.

Attempts to finalise a tour of Kenya by Zimbabwe continue to stall because of claims by Zimbabwe Cricket that their itinerary is too busy

Steven Price in Harare26-Jul-2008Attempts to finalise a tour of Kenya by Zimbabwe continue to stall because of claims by Zimbabwe Cricket that their itinerary is too busy to allow them to fit in with dates offered by the Kenyans.A source inside Zimbabwe Cricket told Cricinfo that while Cricket Kenya had offered two alternatives for a one-day series in Nairobi and Mombasa, the Zimbabwe board had countered that the only time they had free was a small window in late October, at the same time the Kenyans are hosting Ireland in the Intercontinental Cup and then a one-day series.It is possible that the Ireland series could be replaced with a triangular tournament including Zimbabwe, but that could throw up political issues in asking Ireland to take the field against Zimbabwe.Zimbabwe have not played an international match since February, when they were whitewashed in a five ODI series. They have repeatedly put obstacles in the way of playing Kenya away from home, much to the frustration of both Cricket Kenya and, increasingly, the ICC, who have put Zimbabwe Cricket under increasing pressure to play the lower-ranked Test countries as well as the leading Associates.Zimbabwe’s schedule is hardly packed. They are down to play one-day series with Sri Lanka at home and away during the next year, and they are also hosting a Pakistan Academy side next month. Last season they played a large number of matches in South Africa’s domestic competitions, but with relations between ZC and Cricket South Africa now frozen, there appear to be big gaps in their itinerary.”It’s as much about not wanting to be seen losing to Kenya than anything else,” the ZC source told Cricinfo. “It would be easy to arrange the tour if the will was there. The players want to play. It’s the administrators who are running scared as they worry that a defeat by them [Kenya] would make people inside the ICC sit up and start asking more questions about funding.”

Aston Villa could sign a real upgrade on Anwar El Ghazi this summer by landing Bournemouth star Arnaut Danjuma.

What’s the story?

Reports in recent days have suggested that Dean Smith’s side are one of the clubs interested in signing the Cherries winger this summer, with the Midlands club already making an enquiry.

According to the print edition of The Sun, 18/07, p61, (via Football League World), the Championship club are demanding a fee in the region of £35m to part ways with the Netherlands international.

Huge upgrade on El Ghazi

Given that he predominantly plays on the left, but is also capable of playing out wide on the right and through the middle too, as per Transfermarkt, Danjuma would presumably be most in competition with El Ghazi for a place in the starting line-up.

When you compare their numbers last season, it’s the Bournemouth man who comes out on top by far. Danjuma netted an impressive 17 times in 37 games for the Cherries across all competitions, while he also managed eight assists and was one of the key reasons behind his team making it into the play-offs – in his last 13 matches of the regular Championship season, he scored nine goals and set up another five.

El Ghazi, on the other hand, managed ten goals, and was very streaky in terms of his form, blowing hot and cold at varying stages of the season – not the kind of consistency that Smith will want heading into the new Premier League campaign.

As per WhoScored, the Cherries winger also averaged more key passes, dribbles and crosses per game than El Ghazi, while he was also fouled more times per match – a real indication of the kind of influence he had in trying to lead the Bournemouth attack.

Jonathan Woodgate, Danjuma’s former boss at Bournemouth, said: “He’s an exceptional player, in a really good place at the minute, Arnie. He’s another one who I’ve always done a lot of work on him at his previous clubs, so I knew all about him coming into this role, I knew what type of player he was.

“I know last season that he didn’t really get a run in the Premier League and he maybe found it a bit difficult to get game time, but this season he’s been outstanding. I can only talk of what he’s done under my reign, but at the minute, he’s playing some exceptional football, and what else he is doing is working for the team.”

The £35,000-a-week earner clearly showed with the Cherries last season that he’s more than capable of posing a real threat going forward, and given that Villa have already snapped up another exciting Championship talent in Emi Buendia, they could strike gold again by signing Danjuma.

Meanwhile, Villa must unleash this starlet in the Premier League…

Carlton Palmer reckons that a conversation needs to take place between Rafa Benitez and James Rodriguez over the Colombian’s Everton future.

Rodriguez only made the switch to the Premier League last summer, but his Toffees career has been in major doubt since Carlo Ancelotti returned to Real Madrid last month.

But whilst another reunion with the Italian at Madrid is now looking unlikely, AC Milan have entered the race to sign the former Monaco and Bayern Munich attacker, who’s got just 12 months left on his deal.

Rodriguez made an impressive start to his Everton career, scoring plenty and assisting even more as Ancelotti’s side topped the Premier League during the early weeks, ending the campaign with six goals and nine assists in 26 appearances in all competitions.

However, an ongoing calf problem saw the 29-year-old miss the best part of four months between December and March, with Rodriguez’s lack of minutes seeing him left out of the Colombian squad for the Copa America.

Despite uncertainties over his future, he’s currently in USA with the rest of the Everton squad for their pre-season tour of Orlando.

And Palmer exclusively told Football FanCast that he thinks Rodriguez is someone Benitez needs to keep on board:

“I’m sure Rafa is going to sit down with him and talk. He had a lot of injuries in the second half of the season, and I believe he’s the highest paid player at the football club.

“He’s a talented player, so I’m sure Rafa will sit down and talk to him, maybe he’s got over his injuries.

“The one thing you don’t want to do as a football manager, you don’t want to let good players leave the building if you can help it.”

England’s first match against West Indies in 15 years promised much but rain ended proceedings with the home side on 156 for 4, with Charlotte Edwards unbeaten on a classy 60

Jenny Roesler at Loughborough11-Jul-2008
Scorecard
Charlotte Edwards cuts during her elegant 60 © Getty Images
England’s first match against West Indies in 15 years promised much but rain ended proceedings with the home side on 156 for 4, with Charlotte Edwards unbeaten on a classy 60.West Indies’ young attack acquitted themselves well, forcing England to stutter to 85 for 3 with tight, probing lines, backed up by good fielding and, most importantly, a strong team spirit that belied the fact that most of the side had made their international debuts this tour. Then again, they had won every single match against Ireland and Netherlands, their experience and confidence growing with every outing, led by the old campaigner Nadine George.The stand-out dismissals were two run-outs from Deandra Dottin’s powerful arm, removing Claire Taylor with a direct hit from cover – but not before the experienced batsman had brought up 3000 ODI runs – and then Lydia Greenway with a throw to the striker’s end after Edwards cut into the covers. Dottin had also bowled Sarah Taylor off the pads, the ball somehow squeezing through bat and pad before trickling on to the stumps, while Caroline Atkins was caught off a top-edge at midwicket, both having reached their twenties.But Edwards had all the shots on a good deck, her boundaries coming either straight or square, and she eased to her fifty with a superb straight drive back past the offspinner Afy Fletcher. She was looking fully composed and calm until rain brought an early lunch, and ultimately the end of the match, much to the chagrin of the small but enthusiastic Loughborough crowd.The sides return on Saturday for the second and final match of this short series.