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“It was incredibly difficult, being able to grip the bat after keeping for 110 overs”

Valkerie Baynes26-Jun-2023When Alyssa Healy strode to the crease at No. 8 on an unwelcome row of three ducks in Tests, it’s understandable that she “copped a gob-full”. What those firing the barbs didn’t understand was that she was walking in knowing that she would struggle to grip her bat.Her side had just pushed their lead past 200 on the fourth day but with more than a day to go in this Test, they needed more. Healy, Australia’s hard-as-you-like wicketkeeper and stand-in captain, swallowed some more concrete – along with some painkillers – and provided it.A half-century after seeing a faint edge off the first ball she faced deflect off the gloves of opposite number Amy Jones, helped Australia set England a record target, which proved too lofty in the end. That was thanks to Ashleigh Gardner’s eight wickets for the innings – Healy had a hand in three of those – and 12 for the match.”I was feeling like I was copping a bit of grief in the media and on the field when I walked out at No. 8 and I was getting the sense that no one really knew what was going on,” Healy told reporters after Australia had wrapped up victory by 89 runs and she had dropped to the host broadcaster before play the fact that she went into the match with two fractured fingers.Related

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“This is what I’ve been dealing with for the last seven days leading into the Test match. It is what it is, it’s exactly what happens as a wicketkeeper, you get knocks on the fingers.”Unfortunately for me, it was one on each hand so it made it incredibly difficult, in particular batting, being able to grip the bat after keeping for 110 overs. We’ll just reassess with it during the weekend and make sure I’m ready to go in Birmingham.”Australia now have a four-point buffer heading into the first of three T20is in Birmingham on Saturday, which will be followed by three ODIs while England need to win five of those six remaining matches to wrest back the Ashes. Australia need only to win two to draw the series and retain them.They have back-up wicketkeepers in Beth Mooney, who was the only other Australian to pass a half-century in their second innings, and potentially Phoebe Litchfield, the Test debutant who kept for one ball as Australia claimed the last wicket they needed in their warm-up against England A when Healy was injured.But given the fortitude she showed to play this match, it’s hard to see Healy sitting out voluntarily. A single-word answer emphasised that fact when asked if she could play two white-ball series knowing she had played a Test with a fractured left index finger and right ring finger: “Yep.””It was a little bit uncomfortable in the morning,” Healy revealed. “I hit in the nets early just to see what I could do after keeping for a while and keeping a lot up to the stumps so you’re taking a lot of balls on the up.”There are a few painkillers in the system and we went as low as we possibly could knowing that if we needed more we can we could do that.”But I guess the more pain you take away you’re not quite sure where your fingers are and I think that could have potentially created a few more dangerous situations for them to get into so little bit of pain out there, but all for a good cause.”Arguably Healy’s most influential dismissal was the one which gave Gardner her five-wicket haul and one that nearly wasn’t. Gardner’s arm-ball had beaten Jones’s charge, leapt off the pitch onto Healy’s battered hands, then her chest and back into the gloves in time for her to whip off the bails with the bat only a breath from being safely back inside the crease.”It’s an interesting one, because when I took the bails I knew initially she hadn’t quite made it and then then she slid it [the bat] again and I wasn’t sure if I was quick enough to take them off for that moment,” Healy said.”We all thought it was a non-event and we’d just have a look and I was more disappointed because it was Ash’s fifth wicket and she wasn’t going to get another opportunity.”When it came up on the big screen that it was pretty close and out it was a nice relief for me. I’d been trying to stay low all game because the balls have been rolling between my legs and then all of a sudden you get one that bites, it’s never fun but got the job done eventually.”Alyssa Healy stumped Amy Jones on second attempt•Getty ImagesHealy admitted that captaincy had been tough at times while having to concentrate so hard while keeping wicket as well. But she was full of praise for Tahlia McGrath, her official deputy, and the experienced Ellyse Perry, who also chipped in with advice.Healy saved her highest praise, however, for Gardner, who managed to upstage the 10 wickets for the match by Sophie Ecclestone, England’s left-arm spinner who kept her side in the game with twin five-fors.”I think she saw what Sophie Ecclestone was doing at one end then thought, ‘I’m going to get you and do it one better,'” Healy said. “I’m really proud of Ash.”She’s come a really long way as a cricketer over the last couple of seasons and really grown into an amazing allrounder, in world cricket and really adaptable to any condition in any format and I think she showed that out there in particular today.”We had Ecclestone who was taking the ball away from us a lot as right handers but to have someone like Ash who was bowling into the right handers all day, into the English side, and to take 12 wickets for the match is super impressive.”I’m also really proud of the bowling unit as a whole. They did it tough in that first innings but they reaped their rewards in that second innings, just nailing the stumps and then their simple plans, which was awesome.”Five-day Test cricket is pretty tough work but I’m just really proud of the group and the way that everyone just fought and hung in there for four-and-a-half days. We really learn on our feet exactly what it’s like and a great finish. I’m glad that we’re at the winning end of the result.”

Legspinner starts season in fine form to raise hopes of making the Test grade

Matt Roller12-May-2021In the HBO drama, , the hapless Cousin Greg is warned when bragging about his inheritance that it will make him “the poorest rich person in America – the world’s tallest dwarf”. In cricketing terms, ‘England’s best red-ball legspinner’ is a similarly couched epithet – the context offers no guarantee of success or fulfilment.But it is better to have the label than not, and given Adil Rashid has not played a first-class match since January 2019 while continuing to manage his shoulder injury, Matt Parkinson’s early-season form confirms he is the incumbent. After wearing hi-vis and carrying drinks throughout England’s three-month subcontinent tour, Parkinson has taken 19 wickets in his first four County Championship games of the season – only eight bowlers, seven of them seamers, have managed more.The opportunity to bowl has been key, both as a containing bowler and an attack one. Parkinson’s four previous first-class seasons (he missed last year’s Bob Willis Trophy through injury) have followed a similar pattern: running drinks in April and May as Lancashire play it safe, before getting a brief chance at the end of the summer. Two wickets against Northamptonshire next week would make this the most prolific season of his career to date, even with up to eight fixtures left to play.ESPNcricinfo LtdIt already feels like a long time since he was left out of the side for Lancashire’s first game of the season, with Tom Hartley, the young left-arm spinner, preferred. “You do get little doubts when you don’t play the first one,” Parkinson admits as the rain comes down on the washed-out third day of their draw with Glamorgan. “It was probably a bit tight [after getting back from India] but I was gutted not to play. You start thinking, ‘oh no’.”I thought it could be like a normal season for a legspinner – the sort I’ve had before – where you don’t play until June or July. I’ve made the point that I want to play a large part in red-ball cricket and I see that as my only way of getting a justified call-up for further honours. I don’t want to be in England squads off the back of potential. I want to do what Leachy [Jack Leach] does: play 14 games, and take loads of wickets.”Two wickets in particular have stood out. The first was a near-replica of Shane Warne’s ball to Mike Gatting in 1993 – pitching some way outside leg, and hitting the top of Adam Rossington’s off stump; the second was a similar ball but to the left-handed Delray Rawlins, who offered no shot and was cleaned up by a sharply-spun legbreak. However, with English cricket taking part in a social media boycott in solidarity against online abuse, the Rawlins wicket gained significantly less traction than Rossington’s.

Who did it better? @ShaneWarne, @mattyparky96

#RedRoseTogether pic.twitter.com/HwLQgwM9De

— Lancashire Cricket (@lancscricket) April 16, 2021

Freddie Freeman played a crucial role in the double play that clinched the Dodgers' World Series win on Saturday, but he made sure the game ball went to somebody else.

Speaking during the team's celebrations in Los Angeles on Monday, Freeman revealed that he actually passed the game ball off to general manager Dave Roberts, who Freeman believes to be the keepsake's rightful recipient.

"I waited for Doc in his office, right before we sprayed champagne, and I gave it to him and I hugged him," Freeman revealed.

"I said, 'You deserve this more than anybody.' So Dave Roberts has the baseball."

Watch that below:

Talk about a classy move from Freeman, who was nonetheless a huge player this series.

But Roberts, of course, deserves his flowers for managing the game and series particularly well, too. Those watching the game unfold seemed to agree.

"Ultimately," baseball legend Derek Jeter said during the MLB on FOX broadcast, "it’s up to the players to do the job, but [Roberts] puts them in a position to be successful and he pushed all of the right buttons."

"Put him in Cooperstown," added Alex Rodriguez.

With the win, which brings the skipper's overall total to three World Series, Roberts has now surpassed Tommy Lasorda to become the second-most-decorated Dodgers manager in history, behind only Walter Alston, who boasts four WS titles, per .

تحدث عماد متعب، نجم الأهلي ومنتخب مصر السابق، عن حظوظ الفراعنة في بطولة كأس العالم المقبلة، مؤكدًا أن المجموعة التي وقع بها المنتخب تعد مناسبة ويمكن التعامل معها إذا تم الإعداد بشكل صحيح.

وحسبما كشفت القرعة، تواجد منتخب مصر في المجموعة السابعة والتي تضم كل من: بلجيكا، إيران ونيوزيلندا.

وقال متعب في تصريحات عبر برنامج “ملعب أون” على قناة “أون سبورت”: “مجموعة مصر في كأس العالم أرى أنها جيدة، أول مباراة فقط أمام بلجيكا قد تكون صعبة، ولكن إن شاء الله منتخب مصر قادر بما يملكه من إمكانيات وباللاعبين الموجودين وبالعمل والمجهود أن يصل إلى الدور الثاني”.

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وأضاف: “بلجيكا ستكون بالطبع أقوى مباراة في المجموعة، وهي أيضًا المباراة الأولى، وفي بعض الأحيان يكون من الإيجابي أن تواجه الفريق الأقوى في البداية، لأنه إذا حققت نتيجة إيجابية ستسير الأمور بشكل أفضل، وأعتقد أننا لعبنا ضد بلجيكا أكثر من مرة وحققنا الفوز؛ مرة بفارق كبير، ومرة أخرى 1-0 حين سجل حازم إمام الهدف”.

وتابع: “نحن في حاجة إلى مباريات ودية كثيرة وقوية مع منتخبات على أعلى مستوى، لكن لدينا فرصة ذهبية في كأس الأمم الإفريقية، فهي احتكاك قوي للغاية أمام لاعبين أغلبهم ينشطون في أكبر الأندية في العالم”.

واختتم: “بعد انتهاء كأس الأمم يجب أن يكون هناك جدول واضح لمباريات منتخب مصر، نواجه خلاله منتخبات مثل إسبانيا والبرازيل وإيطاليا والأرجنتين، لا يجب أن نخاف؛ علينا مواجهة هؤلاء لكي نصل إلى كأس العالم ونحن على مستوى الكفاءة والسرعة والنسق نفسه الذي يلعبون به”.

Celtic have now been approached with the chance to sign a Premier League striker who could become Wilfried Nancy’s first arrival, according to reports.

Nancy delivers "honest" response to Celtic criticism

It’s been a tough start for Nancy at Celtic, who lost their first game under the Frenchman against title rivals Hearts last time out. One image, one tactics board and one defeat have already raised concerns around Glasgow, but the new manager has been quick to point out that he won’t pay attention to such criticism.

The Celtic manager told reporters: “People deserve the right to talk. I’m going to dress one way, maybe they are going to say that they don’t like the way I dress, so I don’t waste time on that.

“If I use it [the tactics board], it’s because it’s good for me. Simple as that and I’m not saying that I’m going to use it all the time.

“I’m going to be really honest with you. When I decided to become a coach – sorry, when I had the opportunity to become a coach – I was an assistant coach for seven years, so I worked with many coaches. I always told myself that when you become a coach, cut everything. So this is what I did.”

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It doesn’t get any easier for Nancy, either. Up next, Celtic square off against AS Roma in the Europa League tonight and could get the chance to see Evan Ferguson in action for themselves ahead of a potential January move.

Celtic offered chance to sign Evan Ferguson

As reported by TeamTalk, Celtic have now been contacted with the chance to sign Ferguson, with Roma increasingly likely to cut his loan spell short in Italy.

The Brighton & Hove Albion forward was once valued at as much as £100m, but is now in the most difficult moment of his career after scoring just once in 14 games at Roma.

The Republic of Ireland forward now needs the Hoops just as much as they need the best version of him in January, as they aim to come from behind and retain their Scottish Premiership crown.

At his very best at Brighton, Ferguson was never short on praise with the Premier League’s record goalscorer, Alan Shearer, among those who had plenty of positives to say in 2023.

Two years on, the 21-year-old may be out of form, but the potential is still there and Celtic should look to take full advantage in the winter window next month.

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Freddie Freeman won't be in the lineup against his former team Monday night for the first game of the Los Angeles Dodgers' series against the Atlanta Braves.

Manager Dave Roberts told reporters that Freeman is considered day-to-day after the star first baseman rather bizarrely tweaked his ankle. Roberts indicated that the injury to Freeman's ankle occurred as a result of a "mishap" while he was entering the shower at his home.

The veteran first baseman had offseason surgery on that same ankle, which bothered him throughout much of the Dodgers' World Series run.

With Freeman unavailable, Enrique Hernandez will take over at first base for Monday night's game and is slated to hit seventh in the lineup.

The Braves will be in Los Angeles from March 31 to April 2, so there's still a chance Freeman can take the field against the team he played for throughout the first 12 years of his MLB career.

Through three games this season, Freeman has a 1.083 OPS with two home runs and four RBIs.

Glasgow Rangers are concerned about Youssef Chermiti and could let him leave in January for another Europa League side.

Chermiti's time at Rangers so far after £8m transfer

Things haven’t gone to plan for Chermiti at Ibrox so far following his £8m move from Everton in the summer, making him the club’s second most expensive signing in history.

1

Tore Andre Flo

£12m

Chelsea

2000

2

Youssef Chermiti

£8m

Everton

2025

3

Ryan Kent

£7m

Liverpool

2019

4

Michael Ball

£6.5m

Everton

2001

5

Mikel Arteta

£6m

Barcelona

2002

On £30,000-a-week, Chermiti has scored just one goal for the Gers, coming in Danny Rohl’s first Scottish Premiership win in charge against Kilmarnock.

Both supporters and those inside Ibrox were ideally hoping for more from the forward following glowing praise from ex-manager Russell Martin back in September.

“It’s a long-term investment for the football club, I think it will be a brilliant investment for the football club. I think he’ll do extremely well for us. There won’t be any expectation on him in here, I’m sure externally maybe that changes.

“He wants to learn, he wants to grow and he wants to help the team. Youssef has tools that you’d really want in a number nine. Good athleticism. Great kid. Wants to learn. Brilliant record at youth level.

“He hasn’t really had the chance he probably wanted at first-team level yet. Obviously in the toughest league in the world as well.

“We’ll judge him on here and now and what he does for us. We’re really excited to have him in because he’s a seriously talented player and also there was a lot of interest throughout Europe in top leagues for him.”

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Chermiti’s is contracted in Glasgow until 2029 and so far, he has made £300,000 in wages, working out at £60,000-a-week for every start he has made for the club in the 10 weeks he has been at Ibrox.

Rangers concerned and could loan Chermiti to Europa League side

Now according to a report from Ibrox News, Rangers have been left concerned with Chermiti’s performances and could now loan him out in January.

Europa League side Braga are eyeing up a temporary deal for the forward in the New Year, whereas clubs in Turkey could also make a move.

Should Chermiti leave Scotland for the second half of the 2025/26 season, Rohl would be left with Bojan Miovski and Danilo as his centre-forward options.

The 49ers Enterprises may then need to recruit another attacker in the winter window, and right now, the £8m fee on Chermiti isn’t looking like a smart piece of business.

Danny Rohl now orders Rangers to make three January signings, priority revealed