Sports

David Murray, West Indies’ unforgiven wicketkeeper, dies aged 72

Published

4 years ago

2022/11/28

David Murray, the former West Indies wicketkeeper whose life and career was ruined by his fateful decision to join the rebel tours of South Africa in the 1980s, has died in his native Barbados at the age of 72.Murray, son of the legendary Sir Everton Weekes, played a total of 19 Tests and ten ODIs for West Indies between 1973 and 1982, and was hailed by the great fast bowlers of his era – Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding among them – as the finest gloveman that they had played with.

It was Murray’s misfortune that his career ended up being bookended by two of the most legendary Caribbean wicketkeepers of them all – his namesake (but no relation) Deryck Murray, who kept him out of the Test team for much of his pomp, and then at the start of the 1980s, his younger rival Jeff Dujon, who once admitted that Murray’s silky skills made his own glovework look like “Dolly Parton”, but whose superior batting brooked no argument with the selectors.

Ultimately, however, Murray’s predilection for marijuana – a habit that he had begun aged 13 – was the catalyst for his downfall, first as an international cricketer and then, after his fateful decision to accept US$125,000 to tour Apartheid South Africa in the winter of 1983, as a member of society too. His final decades were spent in poverty in his native Barbados, selling drugs to tourists in Bridgetown, and trading on his infamy.

In the early part of his career, while the quality of his glovework was earning plaudits, and with the fast-tracking that came from being the son of a West Indies great, Murray had been adamant that his drug use was beneficial to his cricket. “It gives you good meditation… concentration you know,” he told ESPNcricinfo’s Siddhartha Vaidyanathan back in 2006. “Not that you did it to enhance your performance … never in the breaks – you can’t do that.”

Within the West Indies set-up, however, Murray could never shake the suspicion that his face did not fit, particularly while Deryck – Cambridge-educated and a key lieutenant to Clive Lloyd – was the favoured wicketkeeper. And when, after nearly a decade as the squad’s understudy, he did finally made his Test debut, against Australia in March 1978, it was due in large part to Deryck’s decision to join Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket. It was a source of much frustration – and arguably a factor in his subsequent South Africa decision – that he lost his place again the following year, when the Packer players were reinstated.

In his brief time as the Test No.1, Murray still managed to score three half-centuries, with a best of 84 against India in Bombay in 1978-79, as well as a first-class double-hundred in Jamshedpur on the same tour.However, Murray had already been in trouble with the team management for his off-field antics, notably on the 1975-76 tour of Australia, when it took the intervention of Lance Gibbs to spare him an early flight home. And matters came to a head on West Indies’ return to Australia in 1981-82, where the emergence of Dujon gave the selectors a reason to dispense of a talented but increasingly erratic player.

Bad luck played a major part in Murray’s downfall, too. Early on the tour, he had broken his middle finger while attempting to catch a drive off Lloyd in the nets, but having played through the pain with supreme skill – taking a West Indies’ record nine catches in the first Test at Melbourne – he was rested for the subsequent one-dayers, allowing Dujon to make his case for a permanent berth with a match-winning fifty at the MCG.

Murray reacted badly to Dujon’s promotion. With his drug use now causing him to sleep through team meetings, he turned up for 12th-man duties at the subsequent Adelaide Test without his equipment, and was expelled from the tour by manager Steve Camacho after refusing to take the water cart onto the field.The die was cast for Murray’s recruitment on the South Africa rebel tour. The previous winter, a 12-man party of England cricketers, led by Graham Gooch, had flown into Johannesburg for a month-long tour that contravened the 1977 Gleneagles Agreement discouraging sporting relations with the Apartheid regime.

Compared to the mild censure (and swift forgiveness) that would come to the England players, however, the opprobrium heaped upon the West Indies tourists would be something else entirely. Murray’s tour fee, which he would quickly squander on “jeeps, new cars and partying out”, would be of no lasting benefit in the years to come.

“I f***ed up,” Murray told Ashley Gray, author of the award-winning Unforgiven, which recounted the tale of the West Indian rebels. His first on-field act in South Africa had been to take a catch off Sylvester Clarke in a tour match against Border, but that, as he told Gray, had been a crushing moment in itself. “Lawrence Rowe said to me as a joke, ‘You can’t play for West Indies anymore.’ Only one delivery. It felt bad.”

Murray’s personal life was upended by the South Africa decision, too. In the latter weeks of the Australian tour, he had married his fiancée Kerry McAteer in a private ceremony in Adelaide, but after initially being refused re-entry to the country due to a visa ban implemented by the anti-Apartheid prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, an ill-judged affair cemented his estrangement from his wife and new-born child, and left him rootless and ostracised back in his native Barbados.

He returned home to a “vibe” of rejection, Murray related in Unforgiven. “‘He sold his birthright’. They don’t forget. They are narrow-minded. I still cop it. ‘He is a traitor’. I have no regrets.”

His response was to turn to harder drugs, including cocaine, which in turn deepened his estrangement from his father, who feared he would steal from him to subsidise his habit. For the final decades of his life, Murray was skeletal-thin with matted dreadlocks framing his increasingly gaunt features.

Nevertheless, in 1989, the West Indies Cricket Board rescinded its lifetime ban on the South Africa rebels, and to the extent that forgiveness was achieved in the Caribbean, it was available in Barbados. One of Murray’s fellow rebels, Ezra Moseley, went on to play Test cricket – famously breaking Gooch’s hand in the Trinidad Test in 1990, while Murray’s own son, Ricky Hoyte, was Barbados wicketkeeper in the 1990s, and might have broken into the Test team too had he not shared some of his father’s wayward (if less self-destructive) traits.

Murray himself, however, remained a self-imposed outcast to the end.

(cricinfo)

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Balogun reprieve in vain as Belgium beat USA to set up Spain quarterfinal

Published

12 hours ago

2026/07/7

Priyan

Matt Freese of the United States reacts after Belgium's third goal scored by Hans Vanaken of Belgium [Aljazeera]

Belgium dumped USA out of their own World Cup on Monday, as Charles De Ketelaere’s brace secured a 4-1 win that was eclipsed by the bitter row over Folarin Balogun’s ban.

Victory means the Belgians face Spain in the quarterfinals, while the USA follow the other World Cup cohosts, Canada and Mexico, out of the tournament with elimination in the round of 16 after a thoroughly flat performance.

All attention pre-game had been on Balogun’s place in the USA starting lineup, after US President Donald Trump had asked FIFA to review the striker’s one-game suspension for a red card, and the governing body controversially obliged.

Belgium’s starting lineup had a few surprises of its own, with Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku among the heavyweights benched. But coach Rudi Garcia’s gambit proved inspired, with De Ketelaere grabbing an early goal to puncture the feel-good vibes in Seattle.

Malik Tillman grabbed one back from a free kick, but De Ketelaere swiftly restored Belgium’s lead. A catastrophic piece of goalkeeping by Matt Freese and a late Romelu Lukaku goal left the Americans dead and buried.

FIFA’s move to suspend Balogun’s ban after he was sent off in the previous round against Bosnia and Herzegovina has been slammed by football fans, pundits and players around the world, but there were no such misgivings among the Seattle crowd.

A colossal roar greeted the stadium announcement of Balogun’s name in the starting lineup, vastly dwarfing the cheers even for USA talisman Christian Pulisic.

The “USA” thunderclap then echoed around the stadium, utterly drowning out a small corner of chanting Belgium fans in the opening minutes.

But the American party was swiftly silenced. The majority of 67,000 fans fell silent in the ninth minute as De Ketelaere scored, easily tapping home from close range after Nicolas Raskin’s cross evaded some lax defending.

It was the first time the Americans had conceded the opener all tournament. With the atmosphere deflated, no immediate fightback was visible on the pitch either. The midfield was outgunned, and the defence looked nervous.

On the half-hour mark, Balogun drew a foul on the edge of the area and whipped the crowd back to life. He waved his arms frantically as Tillman – fresh from scoring a free kick against Bosnia – lined up the ball.

Tillman’s shot deflected off the Belgian wall and spun into the net, and the stadium shook.

But the joy was again short-lived. In the 33rd minute, De Ketelaere leapt up to meet Leandro Trossard’s cross, and comfortably out-jumped an off-balance Tim Ream to score his second.

The US inched back into the game as the first half closed out, with Balogun blasting over from a long Tillman throw, then narrowly failing to catch a long ball, again from the Bayer Leverkusen midfielder.

US coach Mauricio Pochettino switched formation at half-time, sending Gio Reyna into the number 10 role and pushing Weston McKennie out to the right. The Americans resumed play with more intensity, pushing higher up the pitch.

But self-inflicted disaster struck in the 57th minute. Freese came out to collect a Belgium long ball, turned to evade the charging De Ketelaere, but then hesitated with his pass.

De Ketelaere jabbed the ball to Hans Vanaken, who made no mistake with an open goal from long range.

Pulisic limped off with an injury minutes later, and with him went the US dreams of reaching a first World Cup quarterfinal since 2002.

His replacement, Sebastian Berhalter, flashed an ambitious shot narrowly wide in the 79th minute, and Balogun had a close-range effort saved soon after.

But Chris Richards handed the ball to Lukaku in stoppage time, and the veteran striker did not hesitate to seal the rout.

[Aljazeera]

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Trump confirms he asked Fifa to review Balogun ban

Published

14 hours ago

2026/07/7

Priyan

President Donald Trump has confirmed he asked Fifa to review United States striker Folarin Balogun’s one-match suspension at the World Cup.

Balogun, 25, was set to miss his side’s last-16 tie against Belgium after being shown a straight red card for a foul on Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic in the previous round.

But Fifa made the shock decision to suspend the automatic one match ban for 12 months, leading to widespread criticism, including from Uefa, Belgium and England boss Thomas Tuchel.

Fifa’s decision frees US forward Balogun, who has scored three goals at this summer’s tournament, to be selected for the match in Seattle, which kicks off at 17:00 local time (01:00 BST on Tuesday).

The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) says it is “astonished” by the move and has told the United States Soccer Federation it “contests the eligibility” of Balogun playing in the tie after its appeal against the decision was dismissed.

Trump said football’s world governing body “made the right decision”, adding it would have left a “big stain” on the tournament had the ban been implemented.

Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump said he had asked Fifa to review the decision because he “didn’t think it was a foul”.

He confirmed he had spoken to Fifa president Gianni Infantino but said “all” he did was ask for a review and added he did not tell the Swiss he had to suspend Balogun’s ban.

Trump added: “I think it [the suspension] would have left a big stain. I can’t tell them what to do. I don’t believe they made the decision; I believe it was the commission that made the decision. And it was the right decision.”

However, European football governing body Uefa said it left the integrity of football at stake.

Trump also said referee Raphael Claus’ decision to send off Balogun was “horrible” and called the Brazilian “a little bit suspect”.

In response, the Brazilian football conferdation (CBF) defended Claus’ integrity, stating: “There is nothing in his record that discredits him or gives grounds for any suspicion. He is an exemplary professional.”

In a statement on X, Infantino said that on receiving a call from Trump, he told the US President there was “an ongoing legal process involving Fifa’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies”.

The Fifa appeal committee deemed Belgium are not an interested party as they were not involved in the original decision and are merely the United States’ next opponents.

“The request was rendered inadmissible on the grounds that the Belgian FA is not a party to the proceedings and, as such, has no standing to appeal the decision,” said Fifa in a statement.

This means Balogun will be free to play against Belgium because there is no party who would appeal against the decision.

The RBFA said it has “still not received any grounds” for the Fifa appeal committee rejecting its appeal and is still awaiting information requested, including the “motivation [for] declearing the player eligible as well as the referee’s report”.

The RBFA added this is a “breach” of Fifa regulations.

When asked by BBC Sport about Trump’s comments and his view on Claus, Fifa said it had “nothing more” to add.

Infantino later stated Fifa’s judicial bodies were “independent” and rulings “must always be respected”.

He added: “I read the decisions of the Fifa Disciplinary Committee when they are issued. Sometimes I am surprised by them. Sometimes I agree with them, and sometimes I disagree.

“What I always do, however, is respect those decisions and the autonomy of the bodies that make them. Whether we personally like a decision or not is irrelevant.

“Respect for independent institutions and the rule of law is what protects the integrity of our competitions and the credibility of Fifa at all times.”

In raising its concerns, the RBFA said: “Regardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply concerned by the course of events and will continue to fight in the coming hours, days and months in defence of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole.”

England head coach Thomas Tuchel said the ruling set a dangerous precedent.

Tuchel had defender Jarell Quansah sent off in a dramatic 3-2 win over Mexico.

“Where to draw the line is the question that I ask,” he said. “I have no answer to that.

“Do we appeal if a yellow card is not a yellow card? Do we think it is not a red card or who thinks it? Where does this start and where does this end? It’s my question. I don’t have an answer.”

Uefa said intervening to effectively cancel a suspension at a tournament “crossed a red line”.

Of the 189 other red cards at the World Cup, only once has a player escaped a suspension.

That was Brazil’s Garrincha in 1962 – before automatic bans were in place, and the failure to impose a sanction was shrouded in allegations of political interference.

Fifa cited article 27 of its disciplinary code, which gives authority to partially suspended disciplinary measures, in announcing Balogun’s one-match ban would be suspended for a probationary period of one year.

In an 871-word statement released later on Monday, Fifa again outlined the process in which article 27 can be used, but gave no further reasoning behind the specific decision to suspend Balogun’s one-match ban.

The Swiss Football Association, whose side face Colombia in the last 16 on Tuesday, called the decision “incomprehensible”, adding it “raises ‌questions and creates ⁠uncertainty, particularly regarding the authority of referees’ decisions, especially when the video assistant referee (VAR) is involved”.

[BBC]

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Late Spain goal eliminates Portugal, ends Ronaldo’s international career?

Published

15 hours ago

2026/07/7

Priyan

Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo with his hands on his hips [Aljazeera]

Mikel Merino scored in the first minute of second-half stoppage time, and Spain beat Portugal 1-0 on Monday to likely end the World Cup career of superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

After being fouled, Merino took a quick free kick, ran towards the goal and fired past goalkeeper Diogo Costa after a pass from Ferran Torres.

Spain advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since winning its only World Cup title in 2010 in South Africa. La Roja will play either the USA or Belgium on Friday at Los Angeles Stadium.

Ronaldo was trying to get Portugal to the quarterfinals for a second consecutive tournament – something the nation has not achieved before. Instead, his career on the biggest stage is likely over for the all-time leader in international goals (146) and appearances (233).

Merino did not come on as a sub until the 85th minute, and his heads-up play showed some of the versatility that helped Arsenal win its first Premier League title in more than 20 years in May. He had been doubtful to make Spain’s squad because of injuries, which also impacted his Premier League season.

The latest meeting of the Iberian Peninsula rivals – who first played a friendly in Madrid 105 years ago – was quite the contrast to their most recent World Cup match.

It was eight years ago that Ronaldo had his only World Cup hat-trick in a 3-3 draw with Spain, a group-stage opener considered one of the tournament’s best games.

The 41-year-old superstar scored three times in this tournament, but did not have many chances against Spain’s Unai Simon.

La Roja had created better chances, but extra time and possibly penalties loomed until Merino’s late intervention.

Spain's Mikel Merino scores their first goal — *Spain’s Mikel Merino scores their first goal [Aljazeera]*

Spain broke a World Cup record with its sixth consecutive clean sheet, and goalkeeper Simon extended his record shutout streak to 609 minutes.

Spain broke its tie with Italy (1990) and Switzerland (2006-10) for the most consecutive World Cup matches not allowing a goal. Spain’s streak began with a 0-0 draw in the 2022 round of 16, when Morocco advanced after a penalty shootout.

There was also a surprising scoreless draw against Cape Verde to open group play in this tournament, followed by four consecutive shutout victories to advance to the quarterfinals.

Simon surpassed the previous record of 517 consecutive scoreless minutes during a 3-0 blanking of Austria to open the knockout round on Thursday. Famed Italy goalkeeper Walter Zenga set the standard in 1990 with five consecutive clean sheets in his home World Cup.

Simon’s shutout streak started in 2022 in Qatar, during a 2-1 loss to Japan to wrap up group play.

He came into the Portugal game having made only four saves in this World Cup – Austria had no shots on target – and on Monday in Arlington, Simon had to make two saves in the first half against Portugal, both from shots by Cristiano Ronaldo.

The second of those saves was an impressive diving stop when he was still in midair after reaching back to grab the ball with both hands.