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St Lucia Zouks batsman Gidron Pope made the most of a pair of lives early in his innings to hammer USA’s bowling attack, finishing with seven sixes in his 62 off 27 balls as a CPL Invitational XI defeated a USA XI by seven wickets with two balls to spare.In a match reduced to 13 overs a side due to 75-minute lightning delay, USA XI won the toss and batted first with their innings anchored by opener Fahad Babar, who peppered the leg side boundary to top-score with 59 off 35 balls, in a knock that included seven fours and two sixes. Babar brought up his 50 off 28 balls in the 10th over and played a chanceless innings to help USA XI to a more-than-respectable 129 for 5.Despite several other batsmen making starts, nobody else was able to get to 20 on a good batting deck. USA XI had been motoring along with Babar in control, taking the score to 65 for 1 after five overs, but mystery spinner Nikhil Dutta, of St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and Canada, took 3 for 16 in three overs including the wicket of Babar to rein USA XI back in.In reply, Pope and Steven Taylor put on 99 for the first wicket, inside eight overs, for CPL XI, though USA XI’s sloppy fielding aided them greatly. A top edge from Pope, batting on 5, off Jessy Singh was spilled by Elmore Hutchinson at third man in the second over. Three balls later, with Pope on 9, the batsman was beaten in flight by Usman Rafiq’s offspin but wicketkeeper Akeem Dodson botched a regulation stumping.Pope found his groove in the fourth over, clattering Singh for 17 runs including a four and six over the leg side and another maximum over long off. After scoring just 10 off his first eight balls, he made it to 50 in 22 balls in the seventh over when he punished Adil Bhatti for three sixes straight down the ground as part of a 25-run frame.Ambidextrous spinner Prashanth Nair struck in the eighth over to remove Pope, having him caught at long off. He then used clever variations in flight to strike twice more, nabbing Taylor at short third man for 35 and Hamza Tariq for a second-ball stumping to finish with 3 for 24 in three overs. Alex Ross and Kyle Corbin took CPL XI over the line, finishing unbeaten on 16 and 12 respectively.The full 30-man USA national squad will commence with three 50-over trial matches starting on Monday after which the squad will be trimmed down to a final 14 ahead of WCL Division Four in Los Angeles from October 29-November 5.

The BCCI has decided to do scrap its domestic Twenty20 tournament, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, from the 2016-17 season and replace it with a new inter-zonal league

Nagraj Gollapudi24-Jun-2016The BCCI has decided to do scrap its domestic Twenty20 tournament, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, from the 2016-17 season and replace it with a new inter-zonal league. The new tournament will occupy the same slot in the domestic calendar as the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which was played in January this year.Ranji Trophy 2016-17 at neutral venues

The BCCI working committee has ratified the decision proposed by the board’s technical committee to play the Ranji Trophy at neutral venues. The idea was originally mooted by the technical committee, led by Sourav Ganguly, which had recommended the need for a radical idea to make the premier first-class tournament more competitive and discourage the growing trend of states offering underprepared pitches for home matches.
The idea received a favourable response from captains and coaches of domestic teams during a meeting on Thursday. A majority of them felt such a decision was inevitable considering the quality of pitches during a few games in the previous seasons, and the failure of match officials to impose a penalty for this.

“We have proposed that the T20 matches will be played on a zonal-league basis,” BCCI president Anurag Thakur said at the end of the board’s working committee meeting in Dharamsala on Friday. “The states can play these matches at any time of the year among themselves. Then a league will be started where the stakeholders would be the state units in the zone.”The new tournament will be divided into two stages – an inter-state one, followed by the main inter-zonal one. In the first stage, states within a zone will play T20 matches among themselves. Once that level is complete, every zone will have a board comprising one representative from each of the respective state associations. Members of the zonal board will appoint a CEO and selectors to pick a team for the main stage. For example, once state teams within the West Zone have finished their respective matches, their representatives can appoint a selection committee that will pick a team to compete with the other four zones. There could be an additional sixth team representing the affiliate states under the BCCI banner, but that has not yet been confirmed.The schedule for the main inter-zonal stage of the tournament is likely to be drawn up by the BCCI, but Thakur said the inter-state matches can be held anytime prior to the tournament. Incidentally, the new structure was not discussed at the captains and coaches meeting on Thursday.The format for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy comprised teams spread across four groups with the top two from each qualifying for the knockouts. When asked why the board decided to revamp the format, Thakur said the new tournament would provide an opportunity to youngsters and domestic players who were unable to participate in the IPL. He also said that the franchise-based leagues run by states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu would remain unaffected by this new tournament.”They can participate in that competitive tournament now,” Thakur said. “Rather than Syed Mushtaq Ali, the way it has been played, this new format will give more number of matches to the players and more glory and more money to the upcoming cricketers.”A BCCI official said that the idea to start the new zonal-league tournament came from Thakur, who presented a proposal to monetize the new tournament before the working committee.”He wants to find a sponsor for the tournament and market that,” the official said. “But that is not easy considering fans are interested in watching international stars and not domestic players,”The official also revealed that Thakur wants to resuscitate university cricket in a similar fashion by selling rights for the T20 University Cricket Championship. In 2013 the BCCI, along with the Indian government, had conducted the University Cricket Championship, an extension of the annual all-India inter-zone university Rohinton Baria Tournament, by selling the rights to NDTV and co-sponsor Toyota. However that venture was scrapped after one year.”The previous deal ended because there was no attraction for the sponsor. They were expecting that the BCCI would allow an international player in each team to create hype but that was not possible,” the official said.

YouTuber Conor McGilligan has slammed former Leeds United manager Javi Gracia for not dropping goalkeeper Illan Meslier.

What's the latest on Illan Meslier and Leeds?

As per Fabrizio Romano, the Spaniard is now on the verge of being sacked and replaced by Sam Allardyce despite having only arrived in February.

Gracia has lost four of his last five Premier League games in charge, and his exit means he won just three of 11 league games while working with Leeds.

It seems the 4-1 away defeat against relegation rivals Bournemouth on the weekend was the last straw but maybe he could have salvaged his career with the club had he dropped one man.

After all, when talking on the One Leeds Fan Channel, McGilligan claimed it was "insanity" to not drop Meslier despite his dismal form.

The YouTuber said (12:33): “ The manager doesn't make changes. Illan Meslier is still in goal… The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

"Gracia doesn't change things. He is inept, completely inept, he can't set us up with a structure or a framework to win a game – that's on him."

Did Meslier cost Gracia his job?

With those comments in mind, McGilligan will likely be relieved to learn that Gracia's short and woeful time with the club has now come to an end.

However, could it have worked out better had he simply dropped Meslier? Well, it's certainly safe to say he wasn't particularly good at keeping the ball out of the back of the net.

Indeed, during one stage of Gracia's tenure, the French goalkeeper conceded 11 goals from 11 shots on target across just two games (Crystal Palace and Liverpool). When talking about this on Sky Sports, pundit Jamie Carragher noted: "They look like they've got a kid in goal – he's got no presence."

Even so, after that game against the Reds which ended up as a 6-1 defeat, Meslier kept his spot between the sticks but conceded seven goals in the next three games until Gracia was sacked.

In that most recent loss at Bournemouth, the £30k-p/w man was directly reasonable for at least one goal. Indeed, in the LeedsLive player ratings, journalist William Jackson noted he: "Committed a howler of a mistake in the build-up to Jefferson Lerma’s second, flapping at a corner. Distribution was poor, too."

All in all, it's hard not to think it may have been wiser to take Meslier out of the team. It will be interesting to see what Allardyce does with the goalkeeper in the club's next game.

Tottenham Hotspur could potentially appoint interim boss Cristian Stellini "full time" if he impresses from now until the end of the season.

What's the latest Spurs manager news?

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, over a month after parting company with manager Antonio Conte, is still on the hunt for his permanent replacement at N17.

To make matters worse, the man who was leading their search, Fabio Paratici, has now resigned from his position as Lilywhites sporting director after having his worldwide FIFA ban appeal rejected.

Tottenham must now turn their attentions back to sealing a new head coach for the 2023/2024 Premier League campaign, and there have been serious links of late to former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique.

The 52-year-old is thought to be the subject of potential Spurs talks and is currently a free agent after leaving his position as Spain national team boss. Meanwhile, other top coaches who have been mentioned in the last few days include Feyenoord boss Arne Slot and Burnley's Vincent Kompany.

Amid talks of these candidates, though, reporter Pete O'Rourke says it isn't totally out of the question that they could hand the job to Stellini if he impresses enough and seals a top four finish.

The Italian, formerly Conte's number two, actually went on a mini-100% winning run when stepping in for his ex-boss in February – with Conte undergoing gallbladder surgery at the time.

Stellini is also taking charge of Tottenham's remaining eight league games, and as per O'Rourke, it could act as a little audition.

He said to GiveMeSport:

"The better that Stellini does, it increases his chances of maybe getting the job full-time. I still think Spurs are looking for a bigger name to come in the summer, but who knows, if Stellini gets Tottenham into that top four, it does offer the possibility of a longer stay as manager."

Could Stellini impress Spurs enough?

Whatever the result of his final-run in as interim manager, we believe it would be a huge, huge gamble for Spurs to appoint him full time – even if he does seal Champions League qualification and galvanise the squad.

Amid these troubling times in north London, Tottenham need an elite, experienced tactician who could ideally also reinstill a brand of exciting, attacking football.

That's why it is best to keep chasing the likes of Enrique and former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino – who is also readily available after leaving PSG last year.

Aston Villa could sign Southampton defender Mohammed Salisu over Chelsea and Manchester United this summer, according to transfer expert Dean Jones.

Could Salisu leave this summer?

The Villans picked up a highly impressive 2-0 victory away to the Blues on Saturday evening, thanks to goals from Ollie Watkins and John McGinn. It was the latest sign of the progress being made under Unai Emery, with his side now sitting ninth in the Premier League table.

This summer, the hope is that plenty of transfer funds are available for Villa to boost their squad, as they look to go up another level next season in what will be Emery's first full campaign in charge. They have been linked with a move for Salisu recently, with the 23-year-old proving to be a key figure for Saints this season and potentially available for £25m.

He has started 21 league games in 2022/23 to date, averaging 5.4 clearances per game, as well as 2.5 aerial duel wins and 2.3 tackles, highlighting his defensive dominance. Now, a new update has emerged regarding his future, with Villa again in the mix to snap him up.

Are Villa the favourites to sign defender?

Speaking to Give Me Sport, Jones said that he believes the Villans are more likely than Chelsea or United to sign Salisu in the summer window:

"Salisu's being linked with some massive clubs at the moment, and I think most of them are quite unrealistic given his current levels and what he's been able to achieve so far in his career. But I think this [Villa] is probably a bit more realistic.

"I'm still not convinced that Salisu's actually going to be leaving Southampton at all, but if he was to leave, then Aston Villa are the sort of club I could imagine [him joining]."

Salisu may be playing in a Saints side threatened by relegation currently, which doesn't necessarily suggest he has excelled throughout this season, but he could still prove to be a great signing by Villa this summer.

In terms of his quality "against the ball", he has been lauded as "one of the best defenders in the league" by former Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, which shows what an inspired addition he could be to Emery's back-line this summer.

With Tyrone Mings now 30 years of age, the six-cap Ghana international could possibly be viewed as a long-term replacement for him, as well as coming in as an immediate key man from the off and enhancing Villa's squad depth.

A number of Manchester United fans online have rushed to criticise former player Paul Pogba after hearing that his Juventus contract could be terminated.

What’s the latest on Paul Pogba?

In the summer, the midfielder left England to return to Italy after a six-year stay with the Red Devils in which he never truly managed to convince.

After all, we won’t quickly forget the way pundit and retired footballer Graeme Souness repeatedly slammed the Frenchman for his sometimes underwhelming displays in a United shirt.

Back in Serie A with Juve, now, it seems things haven’t really gone to plan for Pogba either. Indeed, injury issues have limited him to playing in just two games – for a total of 35 minutes – this whole season.

In fact, the Frenchman is now set for an extended lay-off after remarkably injuring his thigh practising free-kicks on the training pitch. It was an incident where he felt obliged to apologise to the adoring Juve fans. You can watch the clip below.

#Pogba alla richiesta di autografi e selfie: “Scusatemi, non ho la testa”. Molto provato emotivamente 🇫🇷⚪ï¸âš«ï¸@GoalItalia pic.twitter.com/w9jJrFp2Ib

— Romeo Agresti (@romeoagresti) March 13, 2023

The latest news now coming out of the Turin club is that, as per Gazetta dello Sport, Juve could potentially terminate his contract in the near future.

Upon hearing this development, it seems as though a collection of Man United fans weren’t surprised by the player’s struggles – having grown weary of Pogba during his time in the Premier League.

Indeed, many supporters took to Twitter to make their feelings known. Here are some of the most notable reactions…

Journalist Charles Watts has claimed that Arsenal midfielder Jorginho could drop out of the starting XI following a sub-standard display against Everton.

What happened to Jorginho against Everton?

The Italian has been impressive since his deadline-day move from Chelsea, playing an instrumental role in Arsenal’s comeback victory against Aston Villa, but was far from his best against Everton before being substituted at half-time.

Mikel Arteta hinted that the midfielder “wasn’t feeling good” before being replaced by Thomas Partey as Arsenal ran riot, and there is now a question mark over who starts the next match against Bournemouth.

Partey picked up an injury which saw Jorginho start against Manchester City, Aston Villa, Leicester and Everton, but the Ghanaian could come back into the side now.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Watts claimed that Partey could replace Jorginho for the game at the weekend, before coming back in for Arsenal’s Europa League trip to Sporting CP.

“We’ll have to wait to see what happens with Jorginho, who really struggled in the first half yesterday, and was replaced at halftime by Mikel Arteta. You can see something was up with Jorginho, it was really obvious. You see how frustrated he was getting with himself, he lost the ball a couple of times and his passing was poor. It just didn’t look right,” he stated.”Mikel said afterwards he hasn’t been feeling well at all and that’s why he took him off at halftime, and you could tell there was something just not quite right with him.”Even when he’s not playing well, Jorginho’s, a very good passer. He doesn’t lose possession very often, but he was clearly off his game a little bit yesterday, but we’ll wait and see if he’s fit enough to feature at the weekend.”Even if Jorginho is fit, I think Partey will be playing at the weekend. Then you’d bring Jorginho back into the side for next Thursday in the Europa League.”Can Jorginho cover for Partey?Jorginho was targeted following a failed pursuit of Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo, and a long-term injury to Mohamed Elneny, with the idea that he would provide cover for the injury-prone Partey.There were concerns about his physicality compared to Partey, but he has slotted in well so far, with his experience and technical ability proving useful in this young Arsenal team.Jorginho ranks highly in passing, progressive passing, tackles and interceptions as per FBref, and with plenty of experience at the base of midfield from his time at Chelsea, he can provide the boost in squad depth necessary for Arsenal to try and secure their first Premier League title since 2004.

Glasgow Rangers’ transfer business hasn’t exactly been exemplary since arriving back in the Premiership back in 2016.

Signings flops such as Carlos Pena, Dalcio and Umar Sadiq set the club back and proved that they weren’t genuine title contenders.

Steven Gerrard changed that having arrived in the summer of 2018 and the last few years have seen the Ibrox side gain a much better foothold in the transfer market, with Gerrard’s decisions paying off massively.

Signing Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey for just £300k and £230k respectively during the Englishman’s tenure allowed him to develop the youngsters and they were eventually sold last summer by Giovanni van Bronckhorst for £10m and £23m, representing wonderful business by the Light Blues.

The two haven’t exactly shone since leaving Glasgow however, especially Bassey, who has struggled to live up to his significant transfer fee at Ajax.

How has Calvin Bassey done since leaving Rangers?

The defender was arguably one of Rangers’ most impressive performers last season, even more so considering he was often played out of position in a central defensive role alongside Connor Goldson due to an injury crisis.

Across 29 Premiership appearances, Bassey averaged a solid Sofascore rating of 6.97/10 while displaying his defensive acumen by keeping 13 clean sheets, making 1.5 tackles, 1.2 clearances, and only being dribbled past 0.1 times per match, all while winning an impressive 63% of his total duels, clearly suggesting his physical presence was a major advantage to the side.

This breakthrough campaign led to him winning a Scottish Cup winners medal and reaching the Europa League final, which obviously caught the attention of Ajax and the move became Rangers’ record sale.

Since moving to the Dutch side however, he hasn’t quite settled in as well as he’d have hoped, with Dutch TV pundit Kenneth Perez criticising him recently, saying: “Ajax has paid far too much for him. He is limited in so many ways.”

While former Tottenham Hotspur maestro Rafael van der Vaart claimed the Eredivisie side made a mistake in signing the defender, saying:

“How is someone who played for Glasgow Rangers like Calvin Bassey going to be able to lead the defence at Ajax?

“Where was the Ajax youth system? Was there no one there better than him? Because if there isn’t then you have a major problem. Sometimes it’s better if you don’t have any money because then you don’t do crazy things.

“Then you wait for the right moment and occasionally take a chance. Instead, they spent 23 million Euros on Bassey. Alfred Schreuder made too many big mistakes.”

Scathing criticism indeed.

Bassey’s performances, especially in the Champions League have been poor.

The 23-year-old played in a side that kept just one clean sheet in six group games, ironically against Rangers, while losing possession on average 9.3 times per match and winning just 43% of his aerial duels.

It appears as though the Glasgow side have struck gold by selling Bassey last summer judging by his performances and Michael Beale will be hoping to potentially profit on current players if a big money offer comes in during the transfer window.

Sky Sports reporter James Weir believes Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is continuing to display worrying signs as the Reds’ miserable season continues.

The Lowdown: Molineux nightmare

Klopp’s side found themselves on the wrong end of another scoreline in the Premier League with the Reds beaten comfortably at Molineux on Saturday.

An own goal from Joel Matip just five minutes in set the tone for the rest of the afternoon for the visitors as Craig Dawson and Ruben Neves added a second and third for Wolves, who climbed out of the drop zone with their 3-0 win.

The defeat sees Liverpool currently as close to the relegation zone as they are to the top four, sitting 11 points from each zone in 10th.

The Latest: Weir’s comments

Following a third defeat in four league games with the other a goalless draw against Chelsea, Sky Sports reporter Weir discussed Klopp’s position on Sky Sports and suggested that the poor form is taking its toll on the German manager, saying:

“All those serial winners spitting their dummy out and toys come out of the pram when they get questions they don’t like to answer and we’re seeing it increasingly with Jurgen Klopp now.”

“It’s like when you’re sitting round the dinner table with your family and ‘I’m not talking to you, can someone tell Mum to pass me the salt’, that’s what it sounded like, you can ask me the question but I’m not going to answer it from him.”

“You need to be a bit of a sore loser but that’s coming across more and more now and he just seems to be wearing all these defeats very visibly as well”

The Verdict: Worrying times

As Weir mentioned, Klopp gave a prickly post-match interview following the Wolves defeat where he refused to answer a question posed by The Athletic’s Liverpool reporter James Pearce.

Klopp claimed that he didn’t want to talk to him for “all the things you wrote” but allowed other reporters to ask the same question (via Sky Sports).

Liverpool have finished in the top three of the league in the previous four campaigns and a Champions League spot in the last six, you have to go back to when Klopp first took charge to see them miss out on Europe entirely with an eighth placed finish (Transfermarkt).

His reaction to Pearce’s question shows a clear insight into the pressure he’s feeling potentially mounting on him, that he’s again relayed in an irritable press conference.

Newcastle United could now potentially be propelled into the January transfer window with a midfielder possibly on Dan Ashworth’s radar after Sunday’s victory.

What’s the latest?

Eddie Howe’s men boosted their hopes of a spot in the Champions League for next season with a big win at home against the in-form Fulham.

However, the celebrations on Tyneside will be tainted by the injury concerns over their star midfielder, Bruno Guimaraes, who was replaced at half-time.

The scenes after the match will not have provided the Toon Army with much optimism as the Brazilian was seen leaving the stadium wearing a protective boot and being supported by crutches.

And this has seen journalist Craig Hope speak on his YouTube channel about the possibility of this injury seeing Newcastle enter the market for a midfield backup:

“That perhaps might just give Eddie the case he needs to go and knock upstairs and you know look for midfield reinforcement especially given they were already light in that area without injuries. So as that’s one little newsy item to emerge from the press conference there.”

Backup for Bruno

The pictures during the game certainly showed the emotions of the Newcastle midfielder who was seen leaving the pitch at half time as he fought back the tears.

Speaking after the game, Howe has claimed the midfielder will go for a scan on Monday to find out the severity of the injury sustained against the Cottagers.

And perhaps that will be the determining factor as to whether the Magpies go into the market to strengthen their midfield options.

In the small sample size without Guimaraes, the Toon’s form was not the best with just two points taken from a possible nine (via Transfermarkt).

On top of this, Howe’s midfield options are already sparse with the likes of Jonjo Shelvey also sat on the sidelines through a long-term injury issue.

So with that in mind, if Guimaraes is to be sidelined for a number of weeks or even months, it could become a priority for Newcastle to provide Howe with some backup in midfield.

As well as Guimaraes’ potential absence leaving Howe short in midfield options, it will also leave Newcastle without a player who has shown huge quality since making the move to Tyneside.

Newcastle have been linked with Youri Tielemans for a number of months now, so it will be interesting to see if this is an opportunity Newcastle could look to take up this month.

The Belgian now has just a matter of months left on his deal with Leicester City so he could prove a cheap option this month with Brendan Rodgers believed to be wanting a number of players gone this month.