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Flocking to Twitter, many West Ham United fans have been left in awe of new signing Nikola Vlasic following his international outing for Croatia on Tuesday night.

Vlasic, who signed for the Irons on summer transfer deadline day, hasn’t yet featured under manager David Moyes due to the timing of his switch but could make his debut for the club this weekend.

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The exciting 23-year-old put pen to paper on a five-year contract as West Ham paid an initial £26.8m, with an extra £7.7m in potential add-ons, to sign him from CSKA Moscow (BBC).

The Croatia international comes to east London with plenty of promise following his fantastic 2020/21 season in the Russian Premier League, where he averaged a four shots per game whilst bagging 11 goals and five assists (WhoScored).

After his outing for his nation against Slovenia on Tuesday evening, a match where he got on the scoresheet, had three attempts on goal and made three key passes (WhoScored), many West Ham fans have been raving about their “clever” new talent on Twitter, with one likening him to former Irons player Marko Arnautovic.

Check out some of their verdicts below.

West Ham fans rave over Vlasic

“Vlasic build and the way he runs at players reminds me of Marko Arnautovic.”

Credit: @westhamonline5

“Nikola Vlašić’s goal for Croatia highlights his intelligent final third movement that makes him very capable of operating as a false nine when required. He’s a creator, dribbler and drifts into goalscoring positions often. Such a smart signing for West Ham”

Credit: @danwoff98

“Vlasic is so good”

Credit: @central_louis

“Vlasic looks a player. Finds space well and can spot a pass. Work rate is good and tracking back”

Credit: @Pfinch215

“He’s gonna ball out in the Europa League”

Credit: @Kieranwhufc

“Vlasic did well to hold his run last night because on his first run he was Ignored.

Vlasic had to improvise & then he got a good cross for his goal.

Clever player

At West Ham I’m hoping his movement is noticed earlier, also the clever runs between defenders must be noticed.”

Credit: @RockyWhu

In other news: Agent lifts lid on West Ham interest in 63-goal forward, makes deadline day claim…find out more here.

New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum will lead Kolkata Knight Riders for the second season of the IPL, which begins on Saturday in South Africa

Cricinfo staff17-Apr-2009New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum will lead the Kolkata Knight Riders for the second season of the IPL, which begins on Saturday in South Africa. He has replaced former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who led Kolkata during the first season of the IPL.Ganguly said he was “okay” with the decision. “I’ll play as an ordinary player and support McCullum in whatever way I can,” he told the Kolkata-based . “Shah Rukh has spoken to me and he’s given Buchanan everything he wanted, including the captain, and stated that there could now be no excuse for not performing.”The move has cleared some doubt regarding the multiple-captain theory proposed by Kolkata coach John Buchanan. The team had been using different captains in each of their practice games in South Africa, but it is now clear the strategy has been done away with.”Prior to coming here there was obviously some speculation about the multi-captains,” Buchanan said. “We’ve appointed Brendon, who is very happy about it. He has the support of Sourav Ganguly, Brad Hodge and Chris Gayle as senior members and obviously Matthew Mott as team coach.”McCullum will also keep wicket and open the batting. “I’m immensely proud to have been named Kolkata Knight Riders captain. It’s a tremendous honour,” he said.”We’ve got some quality players in our line-up and I will be looking to use the skills and expertise of Sourav, Brad and Chris throughout the tournament.”I don’t know how it looks from the outside, but Sourav has been extremely supportive of my role in Kolkata Knight Riders, right from the inaugural season,” McCullum wrote in his column for . “He is an icon who has always had a way with younger players and it is wonderful to watch how they respond and react to him. I am sure that Sourav will be one of the chief motivators for the youngsters in the group this year as well.”As a unit, our expectations from him are high and we feel that he will now be able to express himself more freely as a batsman and of course he will be making huge inputs in planning and ideating.”Buchanan said the decision was taken in the best interests of the team. “I’m sure there’ll be the odd objection to it, but hopefully the fans will understand that what we are trying to do is the best for them, the best for the franchise and the best for Sourav. We don’t make these decisions lightly.”Ganguly is the third captain to have lost the captaincy after the IPL’s first season. VVS Laxman was the first to go when the Deccan Chargers appointed Adam Gilchrist to lead the side, followed by Rahul Dravid making way for Kevin Pietersen at the helm for the Bangalore Royal Challengers.Kolkata will play their first game against Deccan on Sunday.

LV has announced the renewal of its sponsorship of the County Championship through to the end of 2012

Cricinfo staff01-Apr-2009LV has announced the renewal of its sponsorship of the County Championship through to the end of 2012.The company has been sponsoring England’s domestic first-class competition since 2002 (when it was under the brand Frizzell).”Our sponsorship of the LV County Championship has proved very successful in getting our message across to cricket fans far and wide,” Mike Rogers, the company’s chief executive, said. “We look forward to strengthening our partnership with the ECB and our support for the most prestigious domestic cricket competition – the one all the players say they most want to win.””They have been great supporters of cricket for many years now and this renewal underlines the benefits that sponsorship can bring to commercial partners,” ECB chief executive David Collier added. “This announcement is fantastic news for domestic cricket and LV’s continued support will play a key role in the future success of our national summer sport.”

Alan Hutton has welcomed the news that Nikola Katic has left Glasgow Rangers on loan for the rest of the 2021/22 season.

The Lowdown: Katic leaves

On transfer deadline day, the Ibrox club confirmed that the Croatia defender had left on loan to join Hadjuk Split.

Steven Gerrard’s side also have a recall option on the centre-back for January.

The Latest: Hutton on Katic

Speaking to Football Insider, former Light Blues right-back Hutton has welcomed the club’s decision to send Katic out on loan. He said:

“I think it’s a perfect move for everyone involved.

“I feel for him because he is only 24. He has had a serious injury and has been out for a long time.

“When he played, he looked like a rock back there.

“He probably understands that he needs playing time, and he’s not going to get it at Rangers.

“If you recall back to the start of the window, Gerrard said he needed to move centre-backs on.

“I thought then he would be one to leave, because of his injury.

“If he can go away and get that game time and come back to Rangers, I think he can come back a stronger and better player and fit right into the team.

“Rangers will be monitoring him closely.”

The Verdict: Great move

Hutton is right- it is certainly an ideal move for all parties involved that Katic has been allowed to leave on loan.

The Croatia international has not played for the Gers since the 2019/20 campaign due to a serious injury incurred last year and has made 59 appearances in total over all competitions, scoring six goals and supplying three assists (Transfermarkt).

Gerrard already has four established centre-backs that he can call upon in his squad, so it is unlikely that Katic would have had much game-time if he stayed this season.

At 24 years of age, he still has potential to improve further, so sending him out on loan was the best choice in terms of helping him continue his development.

Katic should feel comfortable playing in his home country of Croatia with Hajduk Split, and hopefully come back to Scotland a better player.

In other news, find out whose rumoured Rangers exit is claimed to be ‘dead in the water’

Sri Lanka’s cricketers and officials, who were attacked by terrorists in Lahore, are undergoing post traumatic counselling in Colombo

Sa'adi Thawfeeq11-Mar-2009Mendis doubtful for IPL?Ajantha Mendis, the Sri Lankan spinner, is reportedly among the worst injured in the Lahore terror attack. He is suffering from constant headaches after a second operation to remove 12 pieces of shrapnel from his head. He is responding slowly to treatment and is in danger of missing the IPL which begins on April 10.Sri Lanka’s cricketers and officials, who were attacked by terrorists in Lahore, are undergoing post traumatic counselling in Colombo, team manager Brendon Kuruppu has said. Each player was being assessed individually and he expected the process to last two weeks.”After the doctor has done her assessment on the players and officials she will decide which of them would require further reviewing,” Kuruppu said. “There are some who need immediate counselling while others are affected to a lesser degree. There are others who felt strong soon after the incident but are now reacting a few days later.”Not only cricketers, even their immediate family members, who are affected by the circumstances, are undergoing counseling.” Kuruppu said Sri Lanka team physio Tommy Simsek was co-ordinating the sessions.Meanwhile some of the injured players and assistant coach Paul Farbrace continue to receive treatment at a private hospital. According to sources Thilan Samaraweera, who had a bullet removed from his left thigh, will be detained for another two weeks because his injury would require regular cleaning. Tharanga Paranavitana, who had a bullet removed from his chest, had a slight infection on the wound but is said to have recovered. Farbrace was still receiving treatment after undergoing two operations on his right arm to remove shrapnel. He is expected to be released from hospital before the weekend and plans to travel to England shortly.

Daniel Vettori reflects with awe and amazement at Twenty20’s inexorable march to prominence

Alex Brown14-Feb-2009Vettori and Haddin face off as captainsIt was only a few weeks ago that Brad Haddin was embroiled in a heated row with the New Zealanders over his part in the controversial dismissal of Neil Broom during the first one-day international in Perth. Haddin is confident there will be no hostility when he comes face-to-face with Vettori at the coin toss.”We spoke about it after the incident, and we haven’t spoken since,” he said. “I wouldn’t speak to him normally – it’s just pleasantries and saying ‘hello’. But during the series we haven’t had much contact with any of the New Zealand players. Things have been fine.”Vettori also played down whether there would be any tension at the toss on Sunday. “He’s just a captain, cricket captains don’t really go head to head,” Vettori said. “They just shake hands and flip the coin. It’s pretty easy really.”
The standard of play – and hairstyles – has changed since Chris Cairns and Hamish Marshall took part in the first Twenty20 International © Getty Images
National sides are fast learning that Twenty20 is a young man’s game that requires a skill-set different to other forms of the game; a fact reflected in the selections for Sunday’s match. The average age of the Australian squad is just 26, and several of its members – most notably Rob Quiney and David Warner – are not yet permanent fixtures in their state’s first-class teams. New Zealand, too, have rung in the changes, with the likes of Nathan McCullum and Ian Butler flown in specifically for the SCG encounter.Perhaps Australia’s most notable move is at the top of its chain of command. Brad Haddin, who only forced his way into the squad on a full-time basis last summer, has been bestowed the unexpected honour of captaining his country for the first time, and will do so before an appreciative home crowd.”It’s probably come about the same way with me opening the batting – through blokes being rested or injured,” Haddin said. “I’ve seen the work Ricky [Ponting] has to do and it’s an extraordinary role. To be quite honest, I’ve never really thought about doing it full-time. I don’t think it’s something that’s a real goal of mine at all. I’ll enjoy the occasion and do it as a one-off.”

London Evening Standard journalist Jack Rosser believes that West Ham United could sign Jesse Lingard in the January transfer window.

The Manchester United star enjoyed a spectacular loan spell in east London in the second half of last season.

In 16 games in the Premier League for West Ham, Lingard scored nine goals and also registered five assists, playing a key role in the club’s qualification for the Europa League group stages, and earning himself a recall to the England squad prior to Euro 2020, although he missed out on the final squad.

Lingard has been a target for the Hammers throughout the summer, as a result, as they look to bring him in on a permanent basis.

Rosser, though, feels that he is currently completely focused on fighting for his place at United, although he may well decide to make a move in the January transfer window, if he does not force his way into Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s plans.

The journalist said: “It might be something that he revisits himself, personally, in January. West Ham will always be there, ready and waiting to take him, but at the moment he’s fully focused on United.”

Fulham have been dealt a big injury blow ahead of their Championship fixture this Saturday.

What’s the latest?

According to a report by The Athletic, Tom Cairney has only taken part in training once since the arrival of Marco Silva at Craven Cottage earlier this summer, with the midfielder having to withdraw from this session due to a recurrence of his knee injury which has so far kept the 30-year-old out of action for nine months.

Speaking about Cairney’s injury, the Portuguese manager stated: “It’s a situation we have to see day by day. He had one training session with me and then he got worse, and after we decided to stop him.”

It is then claimed that the Scotland international will not be available for the Huddersfield Town fixture this afternoon, with his return date being unknown at present. Harrison Reed and Terence Kongolo are also set to miss the clash due to knocks, while Anthony Knockaert is a doubt due to a back injury.

Silva will be gutted

While knocks to the likes of Reed, Kongolo and Knockaert will come as a blow to Silva, it is Cairney’s ongoing injury in particular which will leave the 44-year-old gutted.

The absence of the midfielder was drastically felt by Fulham last season, and considering the level of his performances in the club’s last promotion-winning campaign, he would very much appear to be a player who has the ability to fire the Cottagers back to the top flight once again this term.

Indeed, over his 34 Championship appearances for Fulham in 2019/20, the £8.1m-rated ace bagged eight goals, provided three assists and created six big chances for his teammates, taking 1.1 shots and making 1.8 key passes per game.

These returns saw the £27k-per-week midfielder earn an average SofaScore match rating of 7.12, ranking him as the club’s second-best performer in the second tier that year.

As such, Silva will undoubtedly be hoping that Cairney will be able to recover from his knee injury as quickly as possible, as the 30-year-old would most likely be a key player for the Portuguese manager this season whenever he’s available once more.

However, with it appearing very uncertain at present as to exactly when the Scot will make his return to first-team football, Silva will simply need to make do without the midfielder for a little while longer just yet, starting with Huddersfield this weekend. Not knowing when the 30-year-old will be back in action must be a killer for the new Fulham manager.

In other news: Silva must axe Fulham’s £3.6m-rated flop with “Barca DNA”, he’s stealing a living

England allrounder says tight security may be a distraction but believes normal service will resume when the first Test gets underway in Chennai on Thursday

Cricinfo staff09-Dec-2008
A sniper takes up position at the roof of the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai © AFP
England landed in Chennai on Monday night and woke up to a wet Tuesday but allrounder Andrew Flintoff believes the real challenge will be the extra security they will receive. “The environment is going to be completely different when you talk about commandos and hotels being locked down,” he told the after the squad arrived from Abu Dhabi. “That is going to be a challenge for the lads. A few of us experienced something similar here in 2002 when we had guards everywhere, but hopefully that will wear off pretty quickly.”He believed normal service would resume once the first Test got underway on Thursday. “Once you’re out in the middle bowling at Sachin Tendulkar or trying to hit Harbhajan Singh around, I don’t think you’ll be worrying about who might be around off the ground. I think that will happen more when you’re at the hotel or mooching around.”The team have made the decision to go and play cricket in India and we want to give a good account of ourselves. These circumstances might make the team tighter and hopefully this can be reflected in the results.”According to the Joint Commissioner of Chennai Police, P Balasubramaniam, England’s stay in the city will be conducted behind a security blanket of more than 5000 personnel. A squad of 300 commandos will be at the hotel and 1000 police at the outer periphery of the hotel. Heavy security will also be in place all along the route to the stadium, and 2000 police personnel will be in attendance at the venue itself.Flintoff, along with Steve Harmison, was initially apprehensive of returning to the subcontinent to complete the tour. Apart from the series missing a competitive edge, personal safety and family concerns had also weighed on Flintoff’s mind.”That was one of the things I had to get right in my mind as well,” said Flintoff. “The one thing about me is that I have to be able to try my best when I get on a cricket field. So I had to be sure I could give my all. I took time to ring family and think it over myself. It was just a case of digesting it and getting it straight in my mind. We needed to know how the tour was going to take place and, once that was presented to us, we could then decide.”There was safety to consider and also whether it was right to be playing in India so soon after Mumbai. I can’t vouch for other players but for me the IPL didn’t come into it at all. Safety is far bigger than the IPL.”However, the team decision to return and the prospect of missing cricket made him rethink. “One of the reasons I decided to go was for my team-mates. We didn’t want to get into the position where the team was split up. Even though we got beaten during the one-day series against India, the spirit in the camp was really good and that’s something we don’t want to lose. So unity has played a major part.”

A round-up of the first day’s play of the second-round matches of the Ranji Trophy Super League 2007-08

Cricinfo staff10-Nov-2008
Scorecard
Twelve wickets fell on day one in Mohali after Gagandeep Singh and Manpreet Gony tore through Rajasthan’s batting order and then Punjab lost two wickets as they looked to wipe out the first-innings deficit.Gagandeep was the first to strike when he removed Shubhansu Vijay and Nikhil Doru in the space of four balls. Rajasthan looked set for a collapse at 9 for 2. That is what followed when Gony had Vineet Saxena caught behind for 9 and two balls later did the same to Venugopal Rao. There was no respite for Rajasthan as the two seamers struck thrice in four overs to reduce them to 22 for 7.None of the top six reached double figures with three of them falling for ducks. Robin Bist led a brief revival by adding 28 with Pankaj Singh after which he lent support to No. 10 Vijay Yadav, whose unbeaten 41 was the innings’ highest score. Yadav took Rajasthan past 100 after left-arm spinner Amol Kakkar had Bist caught for 39. But Gony ended his fight when he dismissed last batsman Gajendra Singh with 133 on the board. Sunny Sohal, the Punjab opener, scored half of that in the 36 overs the hosts batted before stumps. Batting with Uday Kaul, after Pankaj Singh picked up two wickets, Sohal will look to go past Rajasthan early on day two.
Scorecard
The situation was completely different at Surat’s Lalbhai Contractor Stadium where Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane made the Gujarat bowlers toil away all day while they took Mumbai to an imposing 327 for 2.In their last match, Gujarat’s bowlers, led by Siddharth Trivedi, bowled Saurashtra out of the game to hand their side an innings win. But today Trivedi went wicketless and his 16 overs went for 53 runs. Jaffer added 218 with Rahane and another 104 with Amol Muzumdar after his opening partner Sahil Kukreja was lbw to Ashraf Makda for a duck in the fourth over. Gujarat had to wait 57.2 more overs before they got their second wicket – Timil Patel had Rahane stumped for 104. After his dismissal, the run-rate, which had been at nearly four an over, slipped below three and a half. Jaffer scored 88 of his 172 in boundaries; Gujarat used seven bowlers in trying to stem the flow of runs.
Scorecard
Uttar Pradesh’s bowlers, led by Praveen Kumar, also toiled for 90 overs but returned better results than Gujarat’s by bundling out Baroda for 235. Praveen picked up 5 fof 71 but it was legspinner Piyush Chawla who gave UP the timely breakthroughs which included the wicket of Rakesh Solanki, the innings top scorer with 71. Solanki’s partnership with Shatrunjay Gaekwad was blossoming at 48 when Chawla bowled Gaekwad for 18. Then when Solanki was trying to herd the tail-enders along, Chawla had him stumped with the score on 235. Praveen had slowed Baroda down with two early wickets – Satyajit Parab (22) and Azharuddin Bilakhia (40) – before he returned to wrap up the tail.UP batted for three overs, in which they lost Ashish Kapoor – bowled by Irfan Pathan – for a duck. At stumps Tanmay Srivastava was batting with Praveen Gupta.
Scorecard
Anoop Pai anchored Hyderabad’s innings with a patient unbeaten 102 after the first three wickets fell for 58 and at stumps the hosts reached 247 for 5 against Delhi. Pradeep Sangwan bowled D Ravi Teja in the second over and Ashish Nehra followed it up by bowling T Suman in the seventh. D Rushi Raj, who scored a half-century on debut in the previous match, batted 70 balls for his 28 and added 38 with Pai before being caught off Sangwan. Pai briefly upped the run-rate at Rushi Raji’s fall by scoring at more than seven an over in adding 46 (off 35 balls) with Arjun Yadav (9). The revival began in earnest, even though the run-rate plummeted to 2.44, when Abhinav Kumar joined Pai at the crease. The two added 134 together before Abhinav was trapped leg before off Rajat Bhatia late in the day. His 186-ball 76 included nine fours while Pai’s 239-ball innings had 11.
Scorecard
The honours on day one in Nasik belonged to Maharashtra, for whom Samad Fallah, a left-arm medium-pace bowler, took five out of the six Andhra wickets to fall, including that of centurion Hemal Watekar.Fallah was in the thick of things right from his first over when he had opener Prasad Reddy caught for a duck. When he trapped Y Gnaneswara Rao leg before for 16, Andhra stumbled to 39 for 2 in 15 overs. But Bodapati Sumanth gave able support to Watekar with a 93-ball 45 and the two added 91 before Sumanth was run out. More help was on the way in the form of Satykumar Verma, who contributed 45 to the 116-run stand. When he fell, lbw to Fallah, Andhra were still well-placed at 246 for 4. But it turned around in the penultimate over of the day: off his first ball Fallah got Watekar to edge to the keeper and off his last he had D Kalyankrishna dismissed the same way for a duck. He will hope to better his best figures – 6 for 49 – on day two of his seventh first-class game.
Scorecard
Cheteshwar Pujara shrugged off a poor first game to score his eighth first-class century and at stumps the Orissa bowlers would have left the Khandheri Cricket Stadium in Rajkot in an apprehensive mood for they were unable to break his 173-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja.Last month Pujara scored triple-centuries in a week at the same venue while participating in the CK Nayudu Under-22 tournament. Today when he came to the crease, Saurashtra were at 26 for 2 and two overs later they lost another wicket with only one run added to the total. Pujara began the rescue effort, helped by Shitanshu Kotak, who batted nearly two hours for his 37. The two scored at two and a half an over before Kotak was trapped lbw when Saurashtra were at 100. Jadeja’s arrival improved the situation – the run-rate increased to nearly four – and they added 173 in 286 balls. Pujara, who spent more than five hours over his 128, hit 16 fours, while Jadeja (71) hit eight.