All posts by h716a5.icu

Twilight Sheffield Shield matches will be tried again as part of the push towards night Test cricket in an Australian domestic schedule heavily influenced by the expansion of Twenty20

Daniel Brettig17-Aug-2011Twilight Sheffield Shield matches will be tried again this summer as part of the push towards night Test cricket, in an Australian domestic schedule heavily influenced by the expansion of the Twenty20 Big Bash League.Night Shield cricket was first experimented with in 1994 but the administrative desire to take Test cricket into the night has driven a return to the gambit, which will take place in a handful of matches played in the states that take part in daylight saving adjustments to local time.Shield and limited-overs matches have been heavily weighted towards the first part of the season, with each state having to play six of 10 regular first-class fixtures by the first week of December.This imbalance has been imposed in order to allow the BBL to operate without any crossover with the demands of the state associations between December 17 and January 28, as numerous players leave their states to play elsewhere for the manufactured city-based teams unveiled for the T20 competition.Australia’s players will face the hurdle of having to choose between the polar extremes of Test matches or T20 throughout the show-piece home series against India.The jump between formats will open plenty of questions in terms of tactical adjustments and physical conditioning should the selectors decide to make changes to the team that will face India, as seems likely.A more positive outcome of the schedule is that domestic aspirants for Test selection will get a significant chance to press their claims ahead of the series against New Zealand and India.Matches will be played in a handful of regional centres also, with Queensland to host a one-day fixture in Mackay while New South Wales play in Canberra.The domestic limited-overs competition has been reduced in size in another concession to T20, as each team will play eight preliminary matches rather than 10.Fixtures will revert to 50 overs after last summer’s experiment with a split-innings format, but other playing conditions will be more experimental in nature.Bowlers will be allowed to bowl a maximum of 13 overs rather than the traditional 10, and the batting Powerplay will have to be taken between overs 16 and 40, a change soon to be implemented in international limited overs matches.Also announced is the schedule for the hotly-debated Futures League second tier competition, which reverts to four-day matches with no over restrictions.The number of players allowed over the age of 23 has also been doubled from three to six, allowing young cricketers a better chance to learn from more experienced teammates.

Stuart Law, Sri Lanka’s interim coach, believes that England’s Test cricketers currently pose the “toughest deal on the planet”, but insists that his players have the expertise and character to put up a strong fight when the first Test in Cardiff gets und

Andrew Miller in Cardiff24-May-2011Stuart Law, Sri Lanka’s interim coach, believes that England’s Test cricketers currently pose the “toughest deal on the planet”, but insists that his players have the expertise and character to put up a strong fight when the first Test in Cardiff gets underway on Thursday.Despite being considered outsiders in English early-season conditions, Sri Lanka enter the series full of confidence after a pair of impressive victories in their warm-up matches against Middlesex at Uxbridge and England Lions at Derby, where they overcame the follow-on to win a thrilling contest by 38 runs on the final day.They have since suffered a major setback with the news that Nuwan Pradeep, their matchwinner at Derby with 4 for 29 on the final day, is set to fly home with a knee ligament injury. However, Law was confident that his squad was sufficiently well rounded, even in the absence of the retired Muttiah Muralitharan, to pose a challenge to England’s strong batting line-up.”It seems everyone else isn’t confident in our bowling, but we’ve played four different seamers [in the warm-ups] and won both games,” he said. “Our seamers run in and hit the seam, and in England conditions that’s always a bonus. Our spinners do a lot of work for Sri Lanka, and yes we haven’t got Murali, but we’ve got good spin. Given the right conditions and the right attitude, and if they are consistent enough, yes they can take 20 wickets.”Sri Lanka will be further buoyed by the memory of their last meeting with England, in the World Cup quarter-final in Colombo two months ago, when they romped to a ten-wicket victory with more than 10 overs to spare, thanks to centuries for Upul Tharanga and the new captain, Tillakaratne Dilshan. However, Law believed that in five-day cricket, England would pose an entirely different challenge.”I’ve said it openly, in the last 18 months, I believe England are the best team in Test cricket,” said Law. “They’ve beaten teams in their own backyard and away from home as well, they are well drilled, they leave nothing to chance, they prepare well. You can’t complain with the way they are going, and as an Englishman you’d be very happy after the Ashes, which is one of the biggest contests on the planet. We know we’ve got our work cut out, but we’ve not come here to roll over and die. We’ve come here to fight.”Injuries aside, Sri Lanka have had a difficult build-up to the Test series. There was a change-over in leadership following the resignation of Kumar Sangakkara in the aftermath of their World Cup final defeat against India, and a clash of priorities which led to several of the squad, including Sangakkara and his fellow veteran Mahela Jayawardene, missing the early part of the tour to concentrate on the IPL in India.In the circumstances, Sri Lanka have done remarkably well to make light of such difficulties, although Law – who himself is coaching in an interim capacity following the resignation of Trevor Bayliss – said that off-field problems were part and parcel of the country’s cricket.”If you understand what goes on in Sri Lanka cricket behind the scenes you’d be amazed how well these guys play,” he said. “They do have to put up with extra pressures, but this tour is a magnificent opportunity for [some] young guns to come in, stick their hands up, and say ‘I want to be here for 10 or 15 years and have a great career for Sri Lanka’.”Although Law admitted that his IPL latecomers, Sangakkara and Jayawardene, had looked a bit rusty during the match in Derby, he said he could sense a sharpening of focus during the squad’s practice in Cardiff on Tuesday morning. “Looking at them today their mindset has completely changed,” he said. “They are preparing for the first day of battle on Thursday. They are two quality individuals, two quality players, I’d expect they’d leave no stone unturned.”Although Sri Lanka’s Derby victory showed that they are not afraid of grassy wickets, the Cardiff wicket is one that could well play into the hands of a team of strokemakers who know how to make the most of flat surfaces. Two years ago, Australia posted a mammoth 674 for 6 at the same venue, and on first inspection, the 2011 pitch looks to be similarly full of runs.”The pitch looks a belter, completely different to the nets,” said Law. “It’s a true batting surface as they have been down here for a long time. In Test cricket you expect to see those sorts of pitches, and with all the weather around it might not change too much. And that’s what I’ve been trying to tell our boys. In all conditions, never give in, because you never know what’s round the corner.”We’re just preparing for them to be the toughest deal on the planet at this stage,” he added. “We are not underestimating one facet of their game. People are saying that certain areas of their batting line-up can be exposed, we are not seeing it that way, we are just coming up with good plans for each batsman, rather than say we are targeting this guy or that guy. If we can sniff a result, we’ll try to put our foot on their throat.”

Cricket Ireland has issued an appeal after three laptops and two external hard drives went missing at the end of a game in Belfast last week

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jul-2011Cricket Ireland has issued an appeal after three laptops and two external hard drives went missing at the end of a game in Belfast last week.A bag containing the equipment was stolen at the end of Ireland’s one-day game against Namibia at the Civil Service club in Stormont on July 5. The equipment belonged to Ireland assistant coach and video analyst Pete Johnston and he fears crucial tactical information will be lost.”The external hard drives contain footage of our matches, with game plans for the opposition and tactics that we employ, as well as our own key performance indicators,” he said.”I had everything with me as I was preparing for our ongoing tri-series with Sri Lanka and Scotland. The footage contained on these hard drives is crucial to our success and preparation for games. It’s an accumulation of work over the past four years, and is irreplaceable. I’m appealing to anyone that finds these or is offered them for sale to get in touch with Cricket Ireland immediately.”Cricket Ireland have offered a shirt signed by the World Cup squad as a reward for any information that leads to the retrieval of the missing equipment.

ESPNcricinfo’s preview of the first ODI between West Indies and Pakistan in Gros Inlet, St Lucia

The Preview by Daniel Brettig22-Apr-2011Match FactsApril 23, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Start time 0930am (1330 GMT)Lendl Simmons. Does he look much like Chris Gayle to you?•AFPThe Big PictureChris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Kieron Pollard, Umar Gul, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal. The list of players missing from West Indies’ home ODI series against Pakistan, for all manner of reasons, is long. It’s been a somewhat incongruent start to the tour for Pakistan, who have enjoyed the far smoother preparation, having planned to rest Gul and Younis ahead of the subsequent Test series, while also cutting ties with the iron-gloved Kamran. The only kind of disquiet was created by the captain Shahid Afridi’s change of heart over making the trip to the Caribbean.Gayle has of course been at the centre of a perfect storm surrounding his non-selection and subsequent flight to the IPL, where the in-demand Pollard had already chosen to play ahead of national duties. Dwayne Bravo will join them when the Test matches start, painting an altogether unhealthy picture of West Indies unity, or lack thereof.However, a strong victory in the opening Twenty20 match suggested that Darren Sammy’s side is not entirely without hope, and will fancy their chances of overturning an ugly World Cup quarter-final loss to Pakistan in Mirpur, 31 days ago. Notable too is the return of Marlon Samuels for his first ODI since being banned for inappropriate dealings with an illegal bookmaker. It is nearly a year since Samuels became eligible to return.
Form guide(most recent first)West Indies WWLLLPakistan LWWWL
Watch out for…Lendl Simmons showed plenty of vim at the top of the order for West Indies in the Twenty20 prelude to this match, and will need to keep that up in the absence of Gayle. The circumstances of Gayle’s departure indicate that he might not be back, so Simmons has the chance to make the opening spot his own.Umar Akmal will also be hoping to raise his game in this series. A joy to behold at the batting crease, Umar must continue to grow and mature in the knowledge that the likes of Misbah-ul-Haq and the absent Younis are ageing all the time.
Team newsWest Indies expressed the desire to try a younger side against Pakistan in this series, but their manner of doing so caused all kinds of ructions surrounding the future of Gayle and Sarwan. Samuels, older and wiser, is back in the team, while Simmons will have the task of replacing Gayle at the top of the order. Pakistan have also plumped for youth, though in the case of Younis and Gul theirs is only a temporary absence. Hammad Azam is the man charged with replacing Abdul Razzaq as the allrounder.West Indies (possible): 1 Devon Smith, 2 Lendl Simmons, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Kirk Edwards, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Carlton Baugh (wk), 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Devendra Bishoo, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Ravi RampaulPakistan (possible): 1 Taufeeq Umar, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Asad Shafiq, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq, 5 Umar Akmal, 6 Hammad Azam, 7 Mohammad Salman (wk), 8 Shahid Afridi (capt), 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Tanvir Ahmed, 11 Saeed Ajmal.
Pitch and conditionsThe St Lucia surface lost pace noticeably over the course of the Twenty20 match that opened the tour, meaning more of the same can be expected in the first ODI – Ajmal and Bishoo take note.
Stats and trivia West Indies have not beaten Pakistan in a bilateral ODI series since a 2-0 success in Pakistan over three matches in November 1991 – the second match was tied.Pakistan won the only two matches between the two nations to be played in St Lucia, by 40 and 22 runs during the 2005 series won 3-0 by the visitors.West Indies’ short-term batting coach Desmond Haynes has made the most runs in limited-overs matches between the two countries, racking up 2390 at 41.92 in 65 matches, though his strike-rate of 60.86 now appears a little dated. Samuels’ last ODI appearance was also in St Lucia, against Sri Lanka in April 2008. He finished 3 not out as the match was wiped out by rain.Quotes”I have served West Indies for many years, but I was disrespected a lot, and I have been playing under a lot of pressure. I can’t sleep properly. I need to get this off my chest. I want everybody to print what I said, I want to clear the air and I want them to ease up. WICB… back up offa my back.”
“I had decided to skip the tour because I wanted to take a break from the game, but some former players and my family and friends told me to change my decision at this crucial time for Pakistan cricket.”

Celtic have the chance to secure the Premiership title tonight as they travel away from Parkhead to take on Dundee United.

The Hoops are currently six points clear of their rivals at the top of the league table and this means that one point will be enough to seal the deal, with only one match left in the division after today.

Ange Postecoglou’s team come into this clash off the back of a 4-1 win over Hearts at the weekend and will be looking to carry some of that momentum into this potential title clincher.

How many changes will Ange make to the team? Here is our predicted XI…

We are predicting that he will make three alterations to the side, with James Forrest, Stephen Welsh, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Tom Rogic all coming in.

Starting off at the back, Postecoglou may offer Welsh a rare chance to show what he can do at the heart of the defence next to Cameron Carter-Vickers.

Carl Starfelt was arguably at fault for Hearts’ goal at the weekend and has been dubbed “Sunday League” in the past by John Hartson. The head coach may opt to rest him, from the start, for this match as a result of that error and this would open the door for the young Scot to showcase his quality.

In the middle of the park, we are predicting that Rogic will be given the nod ahead of David Turnbull. It was the latter’s first start of 2022 after an injury-hit beginning to the year and he may drop to the bench to avoid breaking down again.

This will allow the Australian gem to return to the starting XI. Postecoglou previously tipped him to be “dominant” for Celtic and that is what he has been at times this season as he has plundered six goals and six assists in just 19 starts.

FFC published an article explaining why James Forrest should come into the starting line-up and the final change we are predicting is Giakoumakis starting in the number nine role. The Greek has scored 10 goals in as many Premiership starts this season and Postecoglou may look to his goalscoring prowess to clinch the title.

AND in other news, Forget Maeda: Celtic must unleash “frustrated” ace today, he’ll fire them to the title…

Leeds United are interested in a deal to bring Daichi Kamada to Elland Road in the summer transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Football Insider, who claim that a recruitment source has revealed Leeds are plotting a bid for the Eintracht Frankfurt attacking midfielder at the end of the current campaign – if the Whites remain a Premier League side next season.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-leeds-united-news-transfer-rumours-gossip-and-much-more” title=”Read the latest Leeds United news and rumours!”]

The report goes on to state that Victor Orta will be sending one of his scouts to watch the 25-year-old in Frankfurt’s Europa League semi-final second leg fixture against West Ham United on Thursday evening, while Jesse Marsch is already said to be aware of the Japan international from his time in the Bundesliga with RB Leipzig.

Marsch would love him

With Leeds already having been linked with moves for the likes of RB Salzburg’s Brenden Aaronson and Nottingham Forest’s Brennan Johnson, it is clear to see that Orta and Marsch are looking to bring a new attacking midfielder to the club this summer.

And, considering how impressive Kamada has been in Germany this season, the 25-year-old would indeed appear to make a fantastic addition to Marsch’s current options in the position.

Indeed, over his 30 Bundesliga appearances this term, the £19.8m-rated forward has been in fine form for Oliver Glasner’s side, scoring four goals, registering two assists and creating four big chances for his teammates, in addition to taking an average of 1.2 shots, 1.0 key passes and completing 0.9 dribbles per game.

These returns have seen the £7.4k-per-week midfielder who has been dubbed like “Messi inside the area” average a SofaScore match rating of 6.87, ranking him as Eintracht’s ninth-best performer in the German top flight.

However, it has been over his 11 Europa League appearances in which Kamada has really caught the eye, with the 16-time capped international scoring five goals – including the winner at the London Stadium – providing one assist and averaging a highly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.10.

As such, it is clear for all to see that a player of Kamada’s undoubted ability would be a signing Marsch would love to get over the line this summer, leading us to believe that, should Leeds go on to seal their place in the Premier League next season, Orta must do all he can to land the 27-year-old.

AND in other news: Major update emerges on big-money deal at Leeds, it’s devastating news for supporters

The high cost of broadcasting rights has created greater pressure on cricket broadcasters to generate revenue through ad sales, a top official of the organisation owning the Ten Cricket channel has said

Siddhartha Talya27-Jan-2011The high cost of broadcasting rights, the low subscriber prices for TV channels and under-declaration by cable operators have created greater pressure on cricket broadcasters to generate revenue through ad sales, Atul Pande, a top official of the organisation owning the Ten Cricket channel, has said. Ten Cricket was issued a show-cause notice by the Indian government’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry for violating the country’s advertising codes during its coverage of India’s tour of South Africa. The channel’s advertisements were deemed to be interfering with the programme, prompting the government to seek an explanation from the broadcaster.”Given the status of rights fees for most of the Indian tours you’ve got broadcasters trying to generate as much revenue as possible. It’s possibly leading to a clutter of advertising across all channels because they have to also monetise the property,” said Pande, the CEO of Sports Business, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited. “The underlying principle is that there is a significant amount of pressure to monetise Indian cricket events, and the monetisation structure is such that there is pressure to generate money through ad sales.”Apart from high rights fees, Pande said the relatively low cost of subscribing to Indian TV channels was another problem facing broadcasters. “The Indian consumer, or subscriber, pays a very little amount of money to watch very high-quality sport. Possibly the lowest in the world. Even if you bought all these sports channels today on a-la-carte prices, you’ll still not pay more than say Rs125 a month. And you have access to virtually any live sporting event in the world.”The other issue is the way in which cable pricing is administered in India which is that most cable operators under-declare and therefore the revenue which comes to the broadcaster is much lesser than it should be.”For sports channels across India, cricket, and especially Indian cricket, generates 85% of ad revenues, Pande said, and other avenues to monetise were limited. Broadcasters, he claimed, were not being greedy to maximise profits but were making losses. “We are struggling to pay our bills during cricket events. You look at the profit and loss numbers of two businesses that are listed. One of them is ours – we are a subsidiary of a listed company – and the other listed company is another Indian sports channel that is now trying to go for an IPO. Both these businesses lose money.”Though Pande admitted broadcasters were willing to cut down on intrusive advertising, he called for contracts between cricket boards and broadcasters to be structured in a way that would protect the interests of the latter. The cost for the broadcaster, Pande said, was also affected by a law that called on them to share feed with the public broadcaster, Doordarshan, as in the case of the India-South Africa ODIs. “It also precludes the value of the event to the broadcaster because it increases inventory, and the pricing also gets impacted for the broadcaster’s channel.”A possible solution, Pande suggested, for the current problem was a premium fee paid by the consumer for ad-free coverage; England and Australia follow a similar model. “We are more than happy to give an ad-free feed at a higher price. If there is a customer who wants to look at uninhibited watching of a cricket event, and he is willing to pay a price for it we are more than happy to provide a service. We need to get a license expeditiously for that kind of a service, and we should be able to price it the way we want to price it. It’s like any other premium service; if the customer is prepared to pay a premium price for it, he gets a premium service.”Ten Cricket was launched in August 2010 and prior to airing matches from India’s tour of South Africa, also broadcasted the series between Pakistan and South Africa held in the UAE.

Round-up of the third day of the fifth round of the Ranji Trophy Plate League

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Dec-2010Group BAndhra took a big step towards securing a semi-final berth as they took 12 wickets on the third day at the Rural Development Trust Stadium in Anantapur, leaving Kerala 218 runs behind with seven wickets in hand. With Services looking likely to pick up points from their match against Maharashtra, Andhra need to complete the win on Saturday to qualify for the knockout phase. It was a joint effort by Andhra’s bowlers on Friday, as they bowled Kerala out for 137, enforced the follow on and then reduced them to 92 for 3 in their second innings. Seamers Doddapaneni Kalyankrishna and Duvvarapu Shivkumar, and legspinner Sairaj Bahutule took three wickets each in the first innings and one each in the second. Kerala were hapless with the bat in their first attempt, with only four batsmen reaching double figures. In the second, Abhishek Hegde provided some resistance with his unbeaten 53.Services look set to pick up three points against Maharashtra at the Harbax Singh Stadium in Delhi, after opener Pratik Desai’s 109 and captain Yashpal Singh’s 82 took them to within 41 runs of the first-innings lead, with six wickets in hand. But they need to push for an unlikely win to secure a semi-final berth, as Andhra look set to take maximum points from their match against Kerala. Desai had set the foundation for Services’ innings on the second day leading them to 109 for 1 at stumps. He and Jasvir Singh, who made 62, continued building their partnership on Friday. Maharashtra got themselves back into the match, taking three wickets for one run to leave Services at 188 for 4. But Yashpal and Soomik Chatarjee, who made 45 not out, steadied the ship for Services and took them to 346 for 4. Services will have half an eye on Andhra’s match on Saturday, as a recovery from Kerala there looks more likely than a win for them.Vidarbha are in pole position to win their first match of the season, against Jammu & Kashmir, at the Gandhi Memorial Science College Ground in Jammu. Vidarbha reduced the hosts to 224 for 6 in their second innings, leaving them with 43 runs still to get to make Vidarbha bat again. Azhar Sheikh, who made 69 not out in Vidarbha’s first innings, continued to have a productive game, as he took 2 for 53 in J & K’s second innings. J & K wicketkeeper Arshad Bhatt scored 75 and ensured they at least did better than their first attempt when they were all out for 165.Group ARajasthan made absolutely certain of their semi-final place, as centuries by opener Aakash Chopra and Rashmi Parida took them to 466 for 8 against Jharkhand at the Field Club Ground in Udaipur. Chopra, who started the day on 88 not out, made 109 and then Parida went on to get 174 as Rajasthan built on their overnight total of 186 for 3. Rajasthan lead by 163 and could even push for a win on Saturday.Shadab Jakati led a fightback by Goa’s lower-order that has given them a slim chance of making it through to the semi-finals. Goa are 78 runs ahead of Tripura, with two wickets in hand, in Porvorim. They will need to beat Tripura and then hope Hyderabad somehow avoid giving Madhya Pradesh any points. It’s an unlikely situation, but Goa can take heart from the fact that Tripura have been bowled out for less than 100 runs four times this season. They will be hoping that the visitors’ 353 in their first innings was an aberration. Goa had almost no chance of making anything out of the match when they started the day at 128 for 4, but Jakati’s 75 and useful contributions from the rest of the tail took them to 319 for 8 at the end of a rain-hit third day. Play only started after lunch on Friday. Tripura seamer Timir Chanda completed his first ten-wicket haul in first-class cricket, taking 6 for 107 in Goa’s second innings.Madhya Pradesh look set to pick up three points from their game against Hyderabad at the Gymkhana Ground in Hyderabad, after reducing the hosts to 168 for 4. MP declared on 422, with captain Devendra Bundela scoring 121. Bundela’s century made him MP’s highest-ever run-getter in the Ranji Trophy. Bundela completed 5798 runs in the tournament, which beats the earlier record held by Amay Khurasiya. Bundela also equalled Khurasiya’s record for the most number of Ranji Trophy centuries by an MP batsman, with 16. Hanuma Vihari provided some resistance for Hyderabad with his 81 not out, but will need to bat for long tomorrow to avoid giving MP three points.

A round-up of the fourth round of games from the Stanbic Bank 20 domestic tournament in Zimbabwe

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2010Mashonaland Eagles solidified their position at the top of the points table of the Stanbic Bank 20 tournament as another fine allround performance from Ryan Butterworth took them to a three-wicket win over Mid West Rhinos at Harare Sports Club. Butterworth chipped in with a wicket after Rhinos opted to set a target and reached 174 for 6 and then, with his side in some trouble at 99 for 6, blasted six sixes – four of them in one over – in a 20-ball 52 to secure the win and his second Man of the Match award in two days.Eagles had tweaked their batting line-up heading into their chase, with Trevor Garwe and Andrew Hall pushed up the order, but the decision backfired as Ian Nicolson’s pace and Brendan Taylor’s part-time offspin combined to reduce them to 26 for 3. Overseas batsman Nick Compton led a revival, taking three fours from one Paul Franks over as he reached a rapid half-century only to be caught at deep extra-cover off legspinner Graeme Cremer.Taylor then struck in consecutive balls to bring Butterworth to the crease to face the hat-trick delivery. With that hurdle safely negotiated, Butterworth seized the initiative with gusto and put on 51 in under five overs with Forster Mutizwa. When Cremer bowled Mutizwa with the first ball of the 18th over with 25 required the game was anybody’s once again, but Butterworth responded in brutal fashion to seal the result.Taylor returned to bowl the 19th over and Butterworth ensured there would be no need for the match to go into the final six balls as he smashed three successive sixes, played out a dot ball, and then finished the game with a fourth. His effort took him to the top of the run-scoring charts, level with team-mate Compton with 155 runs.A pair of electric innings from Sikandar Raza and Elton Chigumbura set up Southern Rocks’ 41-run win over Matabeleland Tuskers in the other match of the day. Raza shared in a 98-run opening partnership with Brian Lara – to which Lara contributed just 11 – and was within sight of a maiden Twenty20 hundred when he slapped Keith Dabengwa to Paul Horton at extra cover to be out for 93 just two balls into the 12th over.He had added a quickfire 43 for the second wicket with Chigumbura, who was every bit as aggressive at the crease and hit his first ball, from Tuskers captain Gavin Ewing, high over midwicket for six. Six more sixes – but no fours – followed as Chigumbura rushed past fifty and Rocks amassed 221 for 6.Tuskers’ top order made a valiant effort to chase the runs down, but while each of the top five made aggressive starts none stuck around long enough to play a decisive innings. Facing an almost impossible task, the lower order imploded and Chamu Chibhabha collected four wickets as Tuskers were bowled out for 180 in the final over.

Celtic have been given an injury boost on the double ahead of their next Premiership clash, with Sunday’s opponents deprived of two more players.

The lowdown

Fourth-placed Hibernian are due to welcome the Premiership leaders to Easter Road on Sunday lunchtime, but they will be without James Scott and Elias Melkersen, who have both joined an extensive injury list for the Edinburgh club.

Hibs already knew they would be without Paul Hanlon, Paul McGinn, Joe Newell, Demetri Mitchell, Harry Clarke and Kyle Magennis against Ange Postecoglou’s side.

Celtic have won all three meetings between the teams so far this season, prevailing 3-1 away from home in October before winning 2-0 at Parkhead last month in the Premiership. They also defeated tomorrow’s opponents in the Scottish League Cup final just before Christmas.

The latest

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Hibs boss Shaun Maloney confirmed the fresh double blow, fearing that his side will miss the ‘speed’ and ruthlessness of Scott in particular.

As quoted by The Scotsman, he said: “Unfortunately, the same six players are still out, and they are senior players. We’ve also lost Elias and James through illness, which is a shame.

“It’s a shame because Elias was progressing, and James Scott brings something to us that I see as a coach. In certain moments in matches he brings that speed and that power to finish games.”

The verdict

Valued at £360,000 by Transfermarkt, Melkersen has yet to make his debut for Hibs following his January move from Bodo/Glimt, who knocked Celtic out of the Europa Conference League this week.

The absence of the £450,000-rated Scott is more significant given that he had featured in four of the last eight games, and Maloney seems to view the Hull City loanee as a potential game-changer off the bench.

In truth, a severely depleted Hibs, who have only picked up five points from their last seven matches, may be dreading this clash with the league leaders, particularly with two more players added to their extensive missing list.

In other news, Celtic have been linked with someone who scored against them recently