Sports
Spain women’s players call for coach to be sacked
Spain’s football federation says 15 players have said they will resign from the women’s national team unless head coach Jorge Vilda is sacked.The RFEF said the players claim his tenure is affecting their emotional state and health.
However, the RFEF said it “is not going to allow the players to question the continuity of the national coach”.
“These types of manoeuvres are far from exemplary and outside the values ??of football and sport,” they said.
“Making those decisions does not fall within their powers.”
It warned refusing to play for the national team was “a very serious infraction and can carry sanctions of between two and five years of disqualification” and went on to say it would not call up the 15.
“The Federation will only have committed footballers even if they have to play with youth,” it added.
“This fact has gone from being a sporting issue to a dignity issue. The selection is non-negotiable. It is an unprecedented situation in the history of football, both male and female, in Spain and worldwide.
“The national team needs players committed to the project, defending our colours and proud to wear the Spain shirt.”
It ended by saying the players – who have not been named – would only be called up again in the future “if they accept their mistake and ask for forgiveness”.
Vilda, 41, has been the national team coach since 2015 and led his side to the quarter-finals of Euro 22, where the pre-tournament favourites lost in extra time to eventual winners England. In 2015 Vilda’s predecessor Ignacio Quereda resigned after Spain’s players called for him to be sacked. The move came after Spain finished bottom of their World Cup group.
(BBC Sports)
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Ghulam’s debut century carries Pakistan as England stay in touch
There has been precious little for Pakistan cricket to cheer in recent months, but on the opening day of the second Test in Multan, Kamran Ghulam provided a moment of unbridled joy as he brought up a gutsy century in his maiden Test innings, to carry the fight for his embattled team.
Though he fell late in the day for 118, bowled by Shoaib Bashir as he looked to stay proactive with the close of play looming, Ghulam’s debut efforts helped to lift Pakistan to 259 for 5 – scarcely riches by the standards that England were dishing up on this very same surface last week, but the beginnings of a score nonetheless.
Despite Pakistan’s experience in the first Test, when their first-innings 556 ended up on the wrong side of an innings defeat, Ghulam’s resolute efforts – allied to a career-best 77 from Saim Ayub and an atypically entrenched 37 not out from Mohammad Rizwan – kept Pakistan on course for the sort of 300-plus score that could yet be competitive if their spin-heavy attack can take advantage of a pitch that had been heavily watered and dried with industrial fans in the four-day turnaround between Tests.
The danger for Pakistan, however, may yet come from the weapons that they won’t be able to deploy. Despite two early wickets for Jack Leach, who has now claimed nine in three innings on this surface to reassert his status as England’s senior spinner, their most pronounced threat came through a mid-afternoon spell of reverse-swing, excellently harnessed by a three-pronged seam attack. Uniquely, all three hail from Durham, among them Ben Stokes, who was back to lead the team for the first time since his hamstring tear in August. In opting to ditch both Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah for this contest, much will be resting on their lone quick, Aamer Jamal, if Pakistan hope to utilise similar skills.
All such considerations can wait for now, thanks to the efforts of Ghulam, who – at the age of 29 – was the second oldest Pakistani to record a debut century. He achieved the feat with a gleeful swing through the leg-side off Joe Root, after an anxious wait in the 90s that had encompassed the evening drinks break. A few more moments of delay could not perturb him, however, after more than a decade of service in Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, in which time he might have assumed that his haul of more than 4500 runs at 49 would forever be overlooked.
His innings had begun at 19 for 2 in the tenth over, after Leach – thrown the ball early after Stokes’ quick assessment of the surface – had become the first England spinner to strike twice so early in a Test match since Johnny Briggs in 1889. His impact threatened another meltdown to match Pakistan’s fourth-evening collapse in the first Test, but Ghulam proved his mettle from the outset, showcasing his familiarity with the arid conditions and his faith in the methods that had finally got him noticed.
His first boundary was a composed launch for six back over Leach’s head, and in easing through to his first half-century from 104 balls, he recorded a milestone that had eluded his more illustrious compatriot, Babar Azam, in the 18 out-of-form innings that had resulted in his omission.
Ghulam had faced just two deliveries of fast bowling in his first 120, however, when Stokes brought himself into the attack midway through the afternoon, and the challenge instantly went up a notch. In his first over, Stokes found a fat edge that flew at a catchable height through the vacant slip cordon, and when a second edge fell short soon afterwards, Root found himself donning a helmet four yards from the bat in a bid to make any further chance count.
The breakthrough, however, arrived at the other end. Ayub’s reputation had suffered in this series, largely as a consequence of his hopelessly misfiring opening partnership with Abdullah Shafique, which at least reached double-figures for the first time in nine innings. It didn’t get much further, however, as Leach bowled Shafique for 7 to reduce Pakistan to 15 for 1, before Shan Masood clipped on the up to Zak Crawley at midwicket for 3.
In isolation, however, Ayub has been a qualified success at the top of Pakistan’s order, and this was his third half-century in four first innings, following his twin fifties against Bangladesh last month. But, with tea approaching, and England beginning to make the ball talk, Matthew Potts threatened his outside edge with a diet of hooping outswingers from over the wicket, before Stokes pouched a firm push through the line at a very straight silly mid-off (168 for 3).
After tea, Brydon Carse, energetic as ever, roughed up Saud Shakeel with an excellent short ball, then found his edge for 4 with an even better 140kph/87mph delivery that fizzed through to Jamie Smith behind the stumps. And England’s position could have been stronger still had Ben Duckett clung on to a loose slap from Ghulam, on 79, as he chose to take the attack to the returning Leach and almost paid the price at mid-on.
The value of Stokes’ economy with his seamers throughout a morning session was brought to bear in the evening, with Carse helping to keep Rizwan under the cosh for 19 deliveries without scoring before Potts took over and so nearly landed an innings-altering blow. His first delivery to Rizwan, on 6 at the time, zipped past the outside edge and into Smith’s gloves, but England declined to use a review – even though replays showed that the ball had grazed the splice of his bat.
England’s endeavours were worthy of another breakthrough before the close, and though he had once again been the weaker link in the attack, Bashir obliged with a critical strike late in the day. Armed with the second new ball, he skidded a good-length delivery past Ghulam’s tired charge, and clipped the top of leg to prise a critical opening that could yet make the difference in Pakistan’s quest for a serviceable first innings.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 259 for 5 in overs (Kamran Ghulam 118, Saim Ayub 77, Mohammad Rizwan 37; Jack Leach 2-92 ) vs England
[Cricinfo]
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Sri Lanka elect to bat first in 2nd T20I
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first in the second T20I against the West Indies at Dambulla
Sri Lanka:
Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera, Kamindu Mendis, Charith Asalanka (capt.), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Nuwan Thushara
West Indies:
Evin Lewis, Brandon King, Andre Fletcher(wk), Roston Chase, Sherfane Rutherford, Rovman Powell (capt.), Romario Shepherd, Shamar Springer, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph
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Bangladesh head coach Hathurusinghe suspended on disciplinary grounds
Under Hathurusinghe, Bangladesh put up underwhelming performances during last year’s ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup campaign this year. His best achievement during this term was Bangladesh’s 2-0 Test series win against Pakistan this year. It was their maiden win in Pakistan, and first overseas Test series win in 15 years. However, in the India tour that followed, they lost 2-0 in the Tests and 3-0 in the T20Is which included a record loss in the third match,
(Cricinfo)
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