Leeds fans are all saying the same thing after Luke Ayling tweeted about their brutal opening fixtures, begging the defender to bring Kyle Bartley to the club.

Bartley was a hugely popular figure during his loan spell at Elland Road, and the Swansea defender has been heavily linked with a permanent move.

The Leeds defence is a completely different prospect with both Ayling and Bartley, as the Swansea man’s departure coincided with an injury to Ayling.

New manager Marcelo Bielsa usually opts for three at the back, so having both players back there with Pontus Jansson could be a formidable force.

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”257599″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch Leeds’ opening fixtures for the 201819 Championship season”]

Of course, this all implies Bartley actually joins, and fans are begging Ayling to make it happen.

The 26 year-old fan favourite tweeted his excitement about the club’s brutal opening fixtures, as Bielsa will open his Championship account with games against Stoke and Derby County.

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“Juicy start to the season,” said the defender, and fans are hoping Bartley is right there alongside him for it.

You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…

Newcastle fans in the Transfer Tavern will be praying that the club can sign some quality players to finally bring a title back to Ibrox. 

New Rangers boss, Steven Gerrard has also ready signed a raft of new players and looks set to sign Roma striker Umar Sadiq. It’s not just up front where the Liverpool legend has been looking to bolster the numbers for his squad but also in midfield. One name that Gerrard should be looking to add to his squad is Steven Davis.

The Breakdown

The underrated midfielder has attracted interest from Rangers boss Steven Gerrard this summer according to Sky Sports.

The Northern Ireland midfielder, spent six-years at Ibrox and could well be tempted by back by the new Gers boss. The midfielder played 152 games for Rangers after initially joining on loan from Fulham and won three Scottish titles before he headed south of the border.

This year, however, the midfielder suffered a hamstring injury in the latter stages of the season and as a result, only played one game for new Saints boss Mark Hughes.

If Gerrard could bring the midfielder into his squad, it would be a superb signing. Davis would provide, intelligence, energy, underrated technical ability and excellent experience to the squad.

Moreover, Davis has won titles with Rangers before and could add a winning mentality to the squad.

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With only 12 months left on his current deal with Southampton, bringing Davis in on a cheap deal would be a shrewd bit of business for Rangers.

Should Gerrard bring Davis back Rangers fans? 

Allrounders the world over are either fighting frequent injuries or giving up one form of the game to prolong their careers in another, but not Jacques Kallis

Cricinfo staff18-Nov-2009Allrounders the world over are either fighting frequent injuries or giving up one form of the game to prolong their careers in another, but not Jacques Kallis.
He’s remained remarkably durable over a 14-year career, performing consistently with bat and ball, and has no intention of giving up a format, or forgoing his bowling, to extend his career.”As I sit here at the moment, I’m still fit enough to keep going and I enjoy all three formats,” Kallis said. “I enjoy both batting and bowling. Certainly in Test cricket, if I spend a day in the field without bowling, it feels like it’s two days. For me to give up bowling would be tough, and I’ll only do that if my body tells me to. The day I wake up and it gets too much, [and] I’m not really enjoying it, I’ll stop.”Kallis has scored over 10,000 runs and has taken more than 200 wickets in both Tests and ODIs but his career, which has remained largely injury-free, has been the exception during a time when genuine allrounders are becoming a rarity. Andrew Flintoff’s spate of injuries forced him to give up Test cricket in order to prolong his limited-overs careers, and New Zealand’s Jacob Oram has often said that he could be forced to give up bowling in order avoid sitting injured on the sidelines.”With the amount of cricket that is played around the world, it’s tough,” Kallis said. “I’ve been fortunate in my career, I haven’t been injured too often, but the life of an allrounder is pretty tough. It is tough on the body and that’s probably why there are not so many top allrounders still playing all three formats.”Kallis recently received high praise from Kevin Pietersen, who called the allrounder the “greatest cricketer ever”.”It’s a great compliment, especially coming from a player like him,” Kallis said. “But you’ve got to look at the stats – sure, the runs might be there and the wickets might be there, but we’re playing a lot more cricket these days than the guys in yesteryears. I’m sure that if they’d played the amount of cricket that we play today, they would have achieved what modern-day cricketers achieve as well.”A side-strain prevented Kallis from bowling during the second Twenty20 international against England on Sunday but he is expected to be fully fit for the first ODI in Johannesburg on Friday.

Daniel Vettori was pleased with the 1-1 series outcome yet fully aware that hard work was in order

Cricinfo staff15-Dec-2009BJ Watling’s debut Test, especially his unbeaten 60 in the second dig, pleased his captain•Getty Images

At the end of a 1-1 series that New Zealand can claim to have dominated slightly more than Pakistan, Daniel Vettori was pleased with the outcome yet fully aware that hard work was in order. In hindsight this was a match and series that New Zealand should have won, but after a promising opening stand the Napier weather had the final say and Vettori felt his side was unfortunate not to edge an absorbing series.”I suppose we had an opportunity [but] the rain denied us this afternoon, so we’ll look back at that with a bit of disappointment,” he said. “We’re pleased we fought long and hard enough to give ourselves a chance. Taking six wickets this morning was always going to be a tough ask but we did it really well. And then the way that BJ [Watling] and Tim McIntosh set us up, it looked like if we could continue that we had a good chance of winning.”There was a lot of disappointment in the home camp when the rain came, which Vettori said had not foreseen playing such a large role. “I didn’t think there was ever a case for it to completely take over the game,” he said. “We thought there was the possibility of a little bit but not have a washout.”Vettori said that the belief within the team this afternoon was that if they could get through the first ten overs without giving Pakistan an opportunity to break in, then the game, and consequently the series, was theirs to win. “We just needed to get a platform to build off, and just show some intent. We probably didn’t do that in the first couple overs but once we got past that we really set it up. The fields were spread wide and we were able to dictate play, so if we continued that way we had a really good chance of winning.”It took New Zealand a lot to bowl Pakistan out for 455 on a Napier surface known for the amount of runs on offer. Looking back at the events of the last two days of this match, Vettori felt that different types of pitches needed to be produced to allow the bowlers be better used. “You don’t want the batting to be at its best on the fourth and fifth day,” he said. “The way we went out to bat this afternoon showed that and I think on Test-match wickets you want some variable bounce. On the fourth and fifth days you want it to get harder and harder to bat on, and this wicket just got better and better. Every time we’ve come to Napier we’ve probably said the same thing.”For a side that has struggled to find solidity and consistency at the start of the innings for some time – since McIntosh’s debut in December 2008 this was the 17th opening pair New Zealand have used – the unbeaten 90 that was put on today was an encouraging sign. Vettori was impressed, particularly with Watling’s debut performance.”In his first Test match, to dictate play, and the momentum he took into it, that was always going to be difficult this morning but he once he settled in he really dictated play,” he said. “Pleasing for a guy in his first Test to be able to do that.”Vettori termed the series as competitive, starting with the opener in Dunedin where both sides were on an equal footing when pressing for a win, to Wellington where New Zealand were outplayed, to Napier where the home side had the momentum on a difficult track to bowl on. “We’re happy with it [the series] on a number of aspects, but we’ll continue to look back at that first innings in Wellington as the part of the series that really let us down,” he said.New Zealand still have issues to sort out at the top. McIntosh gave his flagging career a fillip with 74 in the first innings in Napier and an unbeaten 23 in the second, but still has not entirely convinced as an opener. Martin Guptill, used as opener and No. 3, scored 88 runs in five innings. Daniel Flynn’s prospects as an international top-order batsman continue to look slim after he scrapped together 62 runs in three Tests. Peter Fulton, recalled to the side for the first two matches, had a series to forget.”There are issues but a couple of guys stood up over the course of this match. Tim McIntosh in the first innings and BJ today,” said Vettori. “We still put 470 on the board so we have to look at our batting as a collective effort but there are areas of concern within out batting unit.”I think our seam bowlers were fantastic throughout the series and you couldn’t really ask for too much more. Like always, we’ve just got a little bit more to work on with our batting.”Vettori promoted himself to No. 6 for this match and immediately contributed with his fifth Test century, but was not willing to commit himself to that place in the future. “That depends on the make-up of the team,” he said. “I still prefer to go in with six batters and four bowlers but we need a couple of those batsmen to be able to bowl. Look at the likes of a [Jesse] Ryder when he’s fit and [Grant] Elliott when he’s fit, they contribute a number of overs. I’m sure that will be debated with the other selectors but the option for me to go there is there, and it its needed I’ll do it.”

Plays of the day for the second day between Australia and Pakistan at the SCG

Peter English and Osman Samiuddin at the SCG04-Jan-2010Katich chases quick return

Australia remain hopeful Simon Katich will be available for the final Test in Hobart after scans showed bruising to the bone and tendon in his right elbow. Katich, who was hit by Mohammad Aamer in Melbourne, was ruled out shortly before the toss on Sunday and will see Alex Kountouris, the team physiotherapist, again on Tuesday. “We are hopeful he will be available for selection for the next Test,” Kountouris said.Lee eyes World Twenty20
Brett Lee is also on the comeback trail following elbow surgery and is aiming for the World Twenty20 in the West Indies in April. He had the operation in November and was at the SCG planning his way back, although he is still unsure how much more his body can take. “It has been a 16-week injury with ligament damage,” Lee told Nine. “There’s a couple of bone spurs in there which have been taken out. I’ve had 12 operations now. This has probably been the worst. It has probably been the most painful. I’m pretty positive. Let’s wait and see what happens.” At 33, Lee has played 76 Tests and taken 310 wickets, but if he decides he wants to continue playing his future will probably centre around the limited-overs contests.The new Hayden-Langer
Have Pakistan finally resolved their opening woes? Imran Farhat and Salman
Butt’s opening stand of 109 was their third century stand in nine Tests
and they have a couple of fifty partnerships to go with it. Why they’ve
only opened that many times over five years is anybody’s guess. In
Pakistan’s current opening landscape that is the stuff of Hayden and
Langer.Nervy start?
Come out, give the bowler the first half hour, settle down and make hay?
Not if you’re Umar Akmal. The very first ball he faced from Nathan Hauritz
he drove through the covers for four. Next ball was cut square for the
same result. He played out one ball before coolly depositing the next two through midwicket. For good measure he square drove his
next ball from Mitchell Johnson to end up with five fours from the first
seven balls he faced.Vice-captain under review

Michael Clarke briefly took over the captaincy in the middle session when Ricky Ponting was off the field and he quickly added a strange choice for a review. Shane Watson got one to cut back to Mohammad Yousuf on the way to Brad Haddin and the Australians appealed, both for the original decision and Asoka de Silva’s not out. Replays showed the ball hit the front pad flap and his sweater, but was not close to the bat or the glove. Ponting returned swiftly with only one review remaining.North heading south

After a boom start to his Test career, Marcus North is in a rut, owning five scores of 16 or less in his seven innings this summer. The confusion over his batting, and subsequent pressure on his place, has also spread to his fielding. Last year North had a couple of problems at first slip but was persevered with and developed into a comfortable choice in between Haddin and Ponting. However, he spilled Australia’s main chance of the first session when he missed Farhat in the fourth over of the morning. Farhat was 11 on the way to 53.More close calls

Haddin had a chance to run-out Farhat when the batsman had charged Watson and missed before ambling back to his crease. Had Haddin’s underarm been more accurate the batsman would have been gone for 40. Nothing was going the Australians’ way and Watson followed through to deliver a verbal blast to the relieved Farhat. He was fortunate again on 42 when called for a single from Butt, but Johnson was unable to force a direct hit at the striker’s end from cover. Two runs later Farhat played back to Nathan Hauritz, who offered a soft appeal that was turned down, but Hawkeye showed it hitting leg.Flying high

Shane Watson is the most athletic of the Australians and he showed his skills with an outstanding back-tracking catch at deep point to remove Faisal Iqbal. The hosts needed some inspiration and the fine take, which came with him off the ground and lunging backwards, gave them a lift. Haddin soon took off to his right to intercept Mohammad Yousuf’s edge on a tough day for the home side.

MS Dhoni has been ruled out of the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong because of a back strain

Sriram Veera in Chittagong16-Jan-2010MS Dhoni has been ruled out of the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong because of a back strain. Virender Sehwag, his deputy, will lead India in the match scheduled to start on Sunday, and Dinesh Karthik will replace him as the keeper, the Indian team manager Arshad Ayub confirmed.Dhoni suffered a back spasm during morning practice, retired to the dressing room and sent Virender Sehwag for the traditional captain’s pre-match conference. However Sehwag, in his inimitable style, just offered: “He is fine, just taking a break and he is enjoying in the dressing room.””The spasm continued and refused to go away,” Ayub told Cricinfo. “Dhoni didn’t want to take any chances and decided at the team-meeting in the evening that he wouldn’t play the Test. Karthik will replace him.” Karthik played two games as an opener in the recently concluded tri-series.Dhoni had earlier suffered a back spasm during India’s tour of New Zealand early last year and, as a result, had to sit out of the second Test in Napier, which ended in a draw. Sehwag led India in Napier in Dhoni’s absence and will be captaining his country in a Test for the third time when he steps out tomorrow.

A round-up of the RBS Twenty20 Cup matches that took place on March 1

Cricinfo staff01-Mar-2010

Group C

One of the tournament heavies Faisalabad Wolves began their campaign by crushing Abbottabad Rhinos by 90 runs at the National Stadium. Mohammad Hafeez and Asif Hussain set up the win with an opening stand of 89 before Asid Afridi, the left-arm seamer on debut, dismissed Hussain. Afridi later made a big impact in the final over, taking four wickets in five balls to leave Faisalabad at 165 for 7. The astute Misbah-ul-Haq, with 40 off 26 balls including four sixes, ensured it didn’t derail his side from an impressive total.Abbottabad’s chase was never on, throttled early by Samiullah Khan Niazi. It turned out to be an evening for left-arm seamers as Samiullah dented the top order with three wickets. Abbottabad then lost three wickets with no addition to the score, including two to the excellent Shahid Nazir and at 57 for 7, the contest was long gone. Saeed Ajmal cleaned up the tail to finish with 3 for 4. Abbottabad are a traditionally weak side but were strengthened this year by the inclusion of a number of Peshawar players such as Yasir Hameed, Yasir Shah and Riffatullah Mohmand and will look to improve results.

Group D

Karachi Dolphins got off to a winning start making light work of Hyderabad Hawks at the National Stadium. They had much to thank the visitors for pressing the self-destruct button before crawling to 119, a target that was always going to be easy.Opener Shahzaib Hasan, a World Twenty20 winner, provided the fireworks during the chase, smashing 46 off 21 balls, including six fours and two sixes. Once Karachi had reached the halfway mark in just the fourth over, Khalid Latif continued the momentum, blitzing 32 off 15 balls. The openers’ charge was enough as the hosts sealed the win in the 10th over. Hyderabad had made a watchful start with opener Sharjeel Khan managing a near-run-a-ball 39, but three run-outs in the space of three overs meant they ended on a well below-par score. Fawad Alam was Karachi’s most successful bowler with 2 for 20.

Group A

Multan Tigers recorded their second consecutive win after cruising past Quetta Bears by seven wickets. Mohammad Hafeez and the tall Mohammad Irfan – at six foot ten, one of the tallest bowlers going – set it up by sharing seven wickets between them to restrict Quetta to a poor 99. Rameez Alam then scored an unbeaten half-century to guide them home within 17 overs. Irfan and Hafeez cut through the middle order to reduce Quetta to 59 for 5 and it was a position from which they never recovered. Hafeez finished with 4 for 17 while Irfan took 3 for 14 before wrapping up the innings off the penultimate ball. Multan lost Babar Ali off the first ball of the chase but Rameez piloted the innings to help them coast home.

Tim May, the chief executive of the international players union FICA, has warned that Twenty20 cricket is ‘ripe for corruption’

Cricinfo staff16-Feb-2010Tim May, the chief executive of the international players union FICA, has warned that Twenty20 cricket is ‘ripe for corruption’.May, a former Australian offspinner, told magazine “Lord Condon, who headed up the ICC’s Anti-corruption and Security Unit, said only last year that we can never think we have this cancer beaten. Twenty20 is just ripe for corruption – the shorter the game the more influence each particular incident can have. So I think it opens up a great deal of opportunities for the bookmakers to try and corrupt players into providing various different outcomes in the game, if not the result itself. Cricket needs to be very, very careful.”Cricket only recently emerged from a nasty episode of revelations about match-fixing when in 2000 Hansie Conje, then South Africa captain, admitted to taking money from bookmakers. It spiralled into a full enquiry headed by Condon’s team at the ICC. Since then the game has stayed clean but the rise of Twenty20 has created new vulnerable areas. In July last year Dave Richardson, the ICC general manager, said the ICC was ‘concerned’ and that the IPL will “inevitably attract the interest of match-fixers and people like that.”With Lalit Modi recently announcing that the second season of the Twenty20 Champions League will clash with the climax of the English domestic season, May also criticised the ‘arrogant’ decision making of the IPL executives.”The refusal to grant players the ability to review the security arrangements and the decision of the IPL and its franchises not to recognise or deal with any players’ managers or agents, is self-defeating. Its decision-making is very arrogant. The attitude is that they’re the only game in town, they’re the biggest game in town and, as long as they pay these huge amounts of money, they can do what they like. That may not always be the case.”Seeking avenues to protect the Test game, May said a Test championship would add much-needed context to the format but fears that political wrangling of the ICC members could prevent it from developing. “At the moment it’s just a mad scramble of bilateral series that mean nothing. A Test championship over a period of one or two years would increase the value of those contests and make it possible to play significantly less cricket but maintain or increase commercial revenues,” he said.”The political nature of the ICC board and its members means it’s going to be a difficult concept to sell. There is an over-riding need for boards to be absolutely in control of their destiny, and going with a Test championship would hand over a lot of power to the ICC. A lot of boards don’t want to do this – that selfish mind-set isn’t in the best interests of the game.”Ahead of England’s departure to the UAE for two Twenty20s against Pakistan, the England offspinner Graeme Swann said the squad was fully aware of the dangers of match-fixing. “There are guys from the [ICC] Anti-Corruption Unit who travel all year round with us and everyone is fully educated about the dangers. It probably does go on in some form with some teams and some players, but you never know who it is. I certainly don’t think any of this England team could be considered match-fixers.”We haven’t been given any warnings specifically for this trip. You’d have to be an absolute idiot to do it.”

Dirk Nannes has always felt comfortable in India and is a definite starter in the IPL tournament beginning on Friday

Cricinfo staff07-Mar-2010Dirk Nannes has always felt comfortable in India and is a definite starter in the IPL tournament beginning on Friday. Nannes left Melbourne on Saturday to join Delhi Daredevils and was confident the security and safety problems would not be an issue during the event.”I have always felt pretty good in India,” Nannes said in the Sunday Herald Sun. “Security can be a bit of perception. If you feel safe, then you probably are safe. But the reality may be completely different.”I wasn’t comfortable in coming to a decision myself, but, luckily, the Australian Cricketers’ Association has done a lot of investigating and has been pushing to make it a lot safer for us. They think if things keep progressing the way they are, then things will be fine from next week and the start of the tournament.”Nannes has retired from first-class action to prolong his career in the shorter formats, which includes representing Australia in Twenty20s. He has played five T20s for Australia and his left-arm fast, which can top 155kph, is a daunting prospect for batsmen as they chase boundaries.”My body simply cannot handle playing first-class cricket,” he said. “Even if I made myself available, there was no chance of me playing the last few [Sheffield Shield] games.”I have a back issue. It’s fine for playing the shorter forms, but if I was asked to bowl 17 overs one day I couldn’t back up and bowl again the next day.” After the IPL Nannes is hoping to be part of Australia’s World Twenty20 campaign, having played in last year’s tournament for the Netherlands.

Time is running out for Deccan Chargers, for another defeat, their sixth in a row, could all but end their hopes of reaching the semi-final

The Preview by Siddhartha Talya07-Apr-2010

Match facts

Thursday, April 8
Start time 2000 (1430GMT)Adam Gilchrist hasn’t converted starts into big scores•Associated Press

Big Picture

In the league phase comprising 56 games, the eight teams have had their chances to rectify declines, build on successful runs, reassess failing strategies and work out winning combinations. But time is running out for some, especially Deccan Chargers, for another defeat, their sixth in a row, could all but end their hopes of reaching the semi-final. They are currently seventh, and will remain there if they lose on Thursday to Royal Challengers Bangalore. Given their poor net run-rate, and the rush for a knockout berth among at least three other better-placed teams, their prospects remain bleak.Bangalore, currently ranked fourth, are strong contenders but have experienced a blip, losing three of their last four games. A win against Deccan, added to their superior net run-rate, will propel them to second place and distance them further from Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings, who, too, are competing for a spot in the final four. A loss will only make that scrap more intense.Ross Taylor’s arrival prompted a few changes in the Bangalore line-up – they left out Dale Steyn and Manish Pandey for their previous game, a strategy they might reconsider, given the margin of defeat against Delhi Daredevils. Aiming to recover from the recent downturn, Bangalore will want to have their best available team to surge forward with four games to play after Thursday.Deccan were on the verge of arresting their losing streak before panic set in against Rajasthan in the final over of the chase, costing them the game by two runs. None among their last seven batsmen reached double-figures, and another capitulation is something they can ill-afford in troubled times.

Form guide (most recent first)

Royal Challengers Bangalore: LWLLW

Deccan Chargers: LLLLL

Team talk

Cameron White may have to make way for Steyn, while Abhimanyu Mithun could step out for Pandey.Deccan have problems in the middle order, with meager contributions from the Indian players. Monish Mishra, Venugopal Rao, Anirudh Singh and Azhar Bilakhia have, largely, failed and there is little that Deccan, apart from shuffling them around, can do. If Herschelle Gibbs is called back, Deccan may have to leave out an all-round option in Dwayne Smith.

Head to head

Bangalore 3 Deccan 2
It’s the 40th match of the IPL but the two teams haven’t met yet this season. In the inaugural edition, Bangalore sneaked home by three wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and won more comfortably in Hyderabad.The teams shared honours in the league stages in South Africa, Deccan winning by 24 runs in Cape Town and Bangalore, thanks to Pandey’s century, by 12 runs in Centurion. Deccan, however, had the last laugh, beating Bangalore in the final by 6 runs at the Wanderers.

In the spotlight

Ross Taylor: In his 10-ball stay against Delhi, Taylor showed how valuable he is to the Bangalore outfit. He blazed three sixes to race to 22, and was one batsman who threatened to scale down Delhi’s strong total before being trapped in front. His power-packed strokeplay, and the ability to clear the boundary with ease, can be especially dispiriting to his opponents in the death overs.Adam Gilchrist: With just one half-century in nine games, and an average of 23.22, Gilchrist has confined himself to attractive cameos – five out of nine times has he scored above 20 – but failed to press on. With a struggling middle order, Deccan need a greater boost at the top and no one is better equipped to do that than their captain.

Prime Numbers

• Deccan’s run-rate in the last five overs this IPL has been the least among all teams. They have scored at 7.74 an over – Bangalore are second-highest with 10.38 – and have lost 28 wickets at an average of 11.75, the joint-lowest.
• Deccan have struck one six more than Bangalore so far – 48 to 47. Chennai lead the pack with 68, followed by Rajasthan at 66.

Quotes

“I think we could say that all of us in our team had a couple of glimpses of fantastic performances and probably too many glimpses of disappointing performances.”
Adam Gilchrist on his team’s inconsistency.”We played Mumbai Indians at DY Patil [one of Deccan’s designated ‘home venues’, in Mumbai] and not one spectator supported us. Sometimes the crowd factor plays a part. Your supporters give you that extra push in crunch matches.”

Rohit Sharma rues the lack of support for Deccan.