Category Uncategorized

Sunderland have not been in the top-flight since they were relegated in the 2016/17 season as the Black Cats head towards the end of their fourth season in League One.

The Mackems went down five years ago after they scraped survival in the previous campaign under Sam Allardyce. The veteran boss came in to keep Sunderland in the top flight after Dick Advocaat was sacked in October 2015.

In the summer of 2015, the northeast side brought in the likes of Wahbi Khazri, Jeremain Lens, Younes Kaboul and Lamine Kone, among others, and they just about managed to do the job in the end, before going down the following year.

However, things may have been different had they been able to land one of their other targets in that transfer window – Virgil van Dijk from Celtic.

Advocaat wanted to bring the centre-back to the Stadium of Light and there was talk of a deal involving Steven Fletcher heading to Parkhead in exchange.

However, Southampton ended up completing a £13m swoop to sign the Dutch defender on 1 September, with his compatriot being unable to beat the Saints to the player’s signature.

In his first two seasons with the south coast club, Van Dijk averaged WhoScored ratings of 7.56 and 7.43 respectively as he consistently showcased his quality at the back. He took to the Premier League like a duck to water upon coming from the Scottish top flight, and his statistics show that he barely missed a beat.

His form caught the attention of Liverpool in the 2017/18 campaign and Jurgen Klopp moved to snap him up for a £75m fee – the most that had ever been paid for a centre-back at that time.

Since moving to Anfield, he has won the PFA Player of the Year award, the Premier League and the Champions League, whilst also being named in the UEFA Team of the Year. In his first three seasons for the Reds, he averaged WhoScored ratings of 7.35, 7.44 and 7.32 respectively in the Premier League, carrying over his form from Southampton.

His team-mate Joel Matip once dubbed him “complete”, while former Watford striker Troy Deeney said earlier this season that the Dutch defender is “world-class”, with his statistics and accolades living up to that praise.

By September 2019, he was valued at a whopping £90m by Transfermarkt. This is some improvement on the £13m for which Sunderland had the opportunity to sign him when they tried to snap him up from Celtic in 2015, and it illustrates why the Black Cats had a shocker with him that summer.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

His incredible statistics and achievements since coming to England suggest that he would have had a major impact on Sunderland’s team. Perhaps they would not have tumbled down the leagues if they had Van Dijk’s towering presence at the back, but it is impossible to say with certainty.

What we can say, however, is that this is one that got away…

AND in other news, Sold for £4m, now worth £11.7m: Sunderland had a howler over “very solid” colossus…

	Hamish Marshall: he ‘signed a good-faith contract and had no reason to think that there would be consequences’ © Getty Images

It is reported that as many as eight players are ready to resort to legal action depending on today’s ECB decision on whether to allow overseas cricketers who have signed with the unauthorised ICL to register for counties.Cricinfo has been aware for some time that players were willing to take the England board to court should it carry out threats to impose bans, and it is believed that some of the funding for one or two players for such action might be coming from the ICL itself.The ECB maintains that it cannot register players such as Shane Bond and Jason Gillespie unless it obtains permission, via a No Objection Certificate from their home boards. However, the boards concerned are distancing themselves from the row and are declining to grant or refuse such certificates.The ECB has maintained that it is on sound legal ground, but that is disputed by Andrew Fitch-Holland, who represents Andrew Hall and Hamish Marshall. “My clients are suffering because they have signed contracts that start this summer,” he told Cricinfo. “But they signed good-faith contracts and at the time had no reason to think that there would be consequences. How is it fair and reasonable that they are now prevented from playing?”Under the ECB’s own regulations, any player refused registration has a right to a personal hearing or an appeal in front of a three-man panel with one representative from the ECB, one from the Professional Cricketers’ Association and one from an independent arbitration organisation. However, this has not been offered to Marshall and Hall as an option.Fitch-Holland is also concerned that any appeals process could drag on and compromise both his clients and the counties. “If Hamish cannot play for Gloucestershire then are the points they miss out on because he is not scoring the runs expected going to be returned? Of course not.”Marshall’s case is more complex than most because he is an Irish passport holder and, strictly speaking, not even a Kolpak player. He has been refused because he last played for New Zealand on April 8, 2007, eight days after the April 1 cut-off. Had he played on March 31 then his registration could not have been declined.It is possible that the ECB could compromise by allowing those affected to play while their appeals are heard, but that would put them into direct conflict with the Indian board which has zealously insisted that any ICL-contracted players be banned from playing anywhere.

Nimbus, the Indian production company, has secured the rights for India’s offshore series against South Africa in Ireland in June. The series was under threat yesterday when the BCCI’s deal with Zee Sports fell through, but Nimbus have stepped in to alleviate Ireland’s fear of the whole tournament being cancelled.Nimbus agreed to pay US$24.20 million for the series and, according to Lalit Modi, the BCCI vice-president, bagged the rights after Zee failed to pay the stipulated amount by the deadline of May 28.”Nimbus have agreed to pay US$6.05 million per match for the four matches in Ireland [against South Africa on June 26, 29 and July 1] and Scotland [against Pakistan on July 3],” said Modi. “We have terminated the contract through a letter sent to Zee today.”According to Ashish Kaul, Zee’s senior vice-president, his company had pulled out of the deal because they were not given the same discount offered to Nimbus for telecasting the matches held in India, after the broadcasters were forced to share the feed with public broadcaster Doordarshan. But Modi denied this claim.”Zee were offered the same discount as Nimbus but it was not agreeable to them,” said Modi. If Doordarshan, with whom all broadcasters have to share their feeds, does not encrypt its signals, Nimbus will be given a discount of Rs 257 crore from their overall deal of US$612 million with the BCCI to telecast all cricket played in India till March 2010.”We recognise the problems faced by broadcasters over the non-encryption of Direct to Home (DTH) signals by Doordarshan and have come to an amicable settlement with Nimbus,” added Modi. “We have held many meetings with both Nimbus and Zee over the issue.” After Zee’s pull-out the BCCI held talks with ESPN Star Sports, Ten Sports and Nimbus who were the only ones who accepted the board’s offer.Modi also disagreed with Zee’s views that the BCCI kept the broadcasters in the dark about offshore ventures and said, as per the agreement, the telecasters were told about future offshore ties six months in advance.Harish Thawani, Nimbus’s chief, expressed satisfaction with the four-match deal and said they would be interested in televising further offshore matches organised by the BCCI. “We have come to an amicable amount and we are happy that the BCCI have quantified our losses and compensated us,” said Thawani. “Cricket has to go on. One or two technical matters have also been dealt with.”Thawani added that the matches would not necessarily be shown on Nimbus’s Neo Sports channel but there was a possibility of it being syndicated to six other channels, including regional ones, as was done with the Bangladesh series.These developments come 24 hours after Nimbus pulled out of broadcasting the Afro-Asian Cup beginning in India on June 5. They cited the absence of several big stars in the Asian XI as the reason for pulling the plug. However, the series will take place as planned after the Asian Cricket Council struck a last-minute deal with ESPN-Star.

Brain Lara arrives for the press conference announcing his re-appointment © T&T Express

Brian Lara has been appointed the captain of West Indies captaincy for a third time. The formal announcement was made at midday in Trinidad.”It’s a great honour,” Lara told reporters. “It’s the third time I’m taking the job and I feel I have the necessary support. [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul did a wonderful job under the circumstances. He’ll reap the benefits later in life. He called me and he said he’d support me and asked that I give it some consideration.”The fact that a lot of former players called me was humbling. This was followed up by phone calls from present team-mates who thought I should assume the mantle of leadership at this juncture. I called past and present players for an objective view on the matter. They unequivocally thought the same as the others who were trying to influence me.”Ken Gordon, the board chairman, was quick to stress that Lara was not a stopgap choice. “His appointment is not an interim one,” he said. “His appointment as captain stands and it is not for any fixed period of time.”It is logical to go back to Lara. Of all the players available, they each had varying strengths but there were also varying weaknesses. He brings a lot to the table at this time which will make a material difference. Whatever the risks, the best is to go with Lara, whose experience and knowledge is unquestioned.”Lara has already led West Indies 40 times, winning 10 and losing 23. He was first captain between 1996-97 and 1999-2000, resigning after a dismal series in New Zealand. He was appointed for a second time in 2002-03, eventually being replaced by Chanderpaul in March 2005 when he stood down because of an ongoing contractual dispute with the board.

Baloo Gupte: a domestic giant © Getty Images

Baloo Gupte, the former Indian legspinner, has died this morning after a prolonged illness. The 70-year-old Baloo, the younger brother of Subash, the legendary Indian legspinner, was suffering from cancer for the last few years. He is survived by his wife, a son anddaughter.Born on August 30, 1934, Baloo played three Tests for India between 1961 and 1965, all at home, and managed to pick up only three wickets. He made his debut against Pakistan at Madras in 1960-61 – ironically replacing his brother Subash, who was dropped – but had a miserable baptism when he conceded 116 runs in 35 overs and finished wicketless. He played his third and last Test four years later against New Zealand.But he was a colossal presence in the domestic circuit, when he played for Mumbai, Bengal, and Railways, and one of the leading wicket-takers in the Ranji Trophy of his time (he finished with 255 Ranji wickets at 23.47). His 9 for 55 for West Zone against South Zone in the 1962-63 Duleep Trophy final is still the best in the competition. He ended with 417 wickets in 99 first-class games at an average of 24.88, including a staggering 26 five-wickets hauls and five ten-wicket hauls.

To the victor, the spoils – first the trophy, now the contract for Harmison© Getty Images

Less than 24 hours after wrapping up their historic series victory in the Caribbean, four of England’s key players have been awarded six-month summer contracts by the England & Wales Cricket Board.The new contracts, which take immediate effect, have been awarded to England’s pacemen Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Matthew Hoggard – who shared 47 wickets between them – as well as the veteran batsman, Graham Thorpe, who scored 274 runs in the series, including a matchwinning century in Barbados.”Each of these players has made an outstanding contribution to England’s successful tour of the Caribbean,” said David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, “and the award of contracts is richly deserved. The team now faces a busy period of international cricket this summer and all four players will have an important part to play in our plans.”The contracts system, which was introduced at the beginning of the decade, has been a vital component in England’s steady improvement over the past four years. “The lads face a really heavy schedule,” Graveney told BBC Radio. “We won in the West Indies as we kept our bowlers fit and we need to keep doing that.”The game isn’t flushed with money but it’s a balancing act between cricketing needs and finances,” added Graveney. “Harmison and James Anderson were on summer contracts last season. These give control to look after bowlers and counties get compensated for services lost by these lads.”Harmison’s county, Durham, was delighted by the news. “Stephen is proving what a great bowler he is,” said Martyn Moxon, the head coach. “The contract is justification for all the effort he has been putting in. The downside, for Durham, is that we are unlikely to see much of him this year.””We are delighted that Stephen’s continued excellent form has led to him being granted a central contract,” added David Harker, Durham’s chief executive. “The contract is the result of months of hard work following his back injury in Bangladesh and no one deserves it more than Stephen.”The four join eight other players who were awarded 12-month contracts by the ECB last September: James Anderson, Mark Butcher, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick.

Essex fast bowler Ashley Cowan will miss the whole of the 2003 season afterhaving surgery on his right knee. He was forced to restrict the majority ofhis appearances in 2002 to one-day cricket due to continuing problems withan arthritic condition.Essex Chief Executive David East commented:
“Ashley has undergone a grafting treatment on his knee. The operation wasconducted in stages, but the final surgery was delayed until January so thatall other options could be considered. He has been advised by hisconsultants not to play during 2003 as the graft will take time to settledown, although it is hoped that he will be fit for the start of the 2004season. There is no question that Ashley will be missed, but it is essentialthat we give him the best chance of extending his career with thisrevolutionary new treatment.”

Even a decade ago, cricket groundsmen would have laughed at the idea that knowledge of fireworks, logo painting and the chemical deterrence of dew would be an essential part of their craft.But these issues are all on the agenda of the New Zealand Sports Turf Conference and Trade Show, being held in Rotorua this week.More than 300 people involved in the turf management industry are in attendance, with cricket strongly represented.Some of the machinery on display looks like a by-product of the space programme, with computers and lasers seemingly more common than forks and spades. Delegates were reminded that things used to be very different by the reminiscences of Gary Walklin, formerly groundsman at McLean Park, Napier.Walklin’s first job in turf management was to be given sole charge of 15 cricket blocks and an equal number of practice wickets at Hagley Park in Christchurch, more than 30 years ago. His only qualification was a love of cricket, his only training a week spent with his predecessor. Equipped with tools that were little better than farm cast-offs, he learned as he went along.While agreeing that the development of scientific methods, hi-tech equipment, specialist grasses and training programmes have been of great value to groundsmen, Walklin does not believe that the trade has become easier.”I know of no other job that has so many people reporting on your performance. Umpires and managers report on the pitch, while players and the media are increasingly critical.”When Gary Walklin entered the industry the only bar chart he came across was probably a list of beers available at the end of a hard day’s work. Now, they are part of a detailed package of information that groundsmen have to study before working on the turf.Bill Walmsley of the New Zealand Turf Institute produced a bewildering array of graphs and charts in response this question, posed at the start of his talk.”Why isn’t every pitch you produce as good as the best you have ever produced?”Quality control and understanding of the scientific principles at work in the soil was Walmsley’s answer, with the maintenance of good moisture levels throughout the preparation period the key. This is necessary for the achievement of the compaction needed for good bounce.As curator of the WACA ground in Perth, Richard Winter is an authority on the production of fast, bouncy pitches. The WACA is considered the best Test pitch in the world, by Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie, at least.Formerly at the altogether slower-paced Eden Park, Winter described the process of producing a Test pitch. He acknowledged that the Western Australian climate and unique clay soils are considerable advantages.The secret of producing the extra pace that causes batsmen around the world to wake up screaming in the middle of the night apparently lies in rolling the pitch quickly while it is covered in a thin mist of dampness. This reduces friction to a minimum.It came as a relief to those delegates becoming bamboozled by the complex science of modern day pitch preparation that Winter’s method for testing the moisture content of his pitches is simply to push a screwdriver into the ground to see how far it goes.Trevor Jackson is responsible for pitch preparation at the new National Stadium on Wellington’s waterfront, and at the Basin Reserve. He illustrated the problems faced by groundsmen at multi-use venues by presenting the February 2001 schedule for the National Stadium.A period of less than three weeks began and ended with ODIs. Between these important games, the venue staged the World Rugby Sevens – two whole days of intensive punishment for the turf – followed by an Australian Rules contest.Each of the sports took no account of the time needed to prepare for the others, and were very precise about their own needs.The Australians were most demanding. It was inconceivable that their game should proceed unless every blade of grass was exactly 22mm long. There was to be no covering of the cricket block, a stipulation that would have been disastrous for the production of a decent pitch had there been bad weather. They were even unhappy with the pattern created by the mowing. It had to be redone.Consideration is being given to reducing the block at the stadium from five to two pitches. This should make it easier and cheaper to maintain quality. Cricketers, who resent rugby being played on cricket blocks, can forget that rugby players dislike it just as much, sometimes finding them dangerously hard and slippery.By implication, a decision to reduce the size of the block at the National Stadium would be good news for those keen to retain international cricket at the Basin Reserve.Before the forthcoming season, Jackson faces another problem. 14,000 people on the outfield at a Robbie Williams concert. “At least that will get rid of the winter poa build-up” he wryly remarked.Tomorrow, CricInfo will report on the solutions offered by modern technology to the problems of crowded schedules and the growing commercial and media demands that can get in the way of the production of top-class playing surfaces.

	The National Stadium will host its first-ever Test © Getty Images

Guyana Cricket Board has made assurances that the pitch at the Providence Stadium will be ready for the first Test against Sri Lanka despite the warm-up match between the Sri Lankans and a Guyana President’s Select XI to be played at the same venue.The tour game, scheduled between March 17 and 19, was to be played at Bourda but heavy rain left the ground waterlogged and the board was forced to shift it to the Providence Stadium, which will host its first-ever Test on March 22.”After Bourda was under water for several days we consulted the West Indies Cricket Board about using the National Stadium [ Providence Stadium] for the warm-up match and we were told once we do not use the same pitch it would be fine and the pitch we are using [for the warm-up game] is two pitches away from the one we will be using for the Test match,” said Chetram Singh, the Guyana board president.Singh said groundsmen will work overtime to get the Test pitch ready in time. “We started the preparations for the Test match earlier than usual so we will ensure that the three day match will not disturb the Test pitch to a level of Test match readiness.”Ticket sales picked up on Friday after two days of little rain and much sunshine, according to Singh. “We’re hoping from Monday that the sales will pick up further with additional publicity and the cricket fever kicking in with the public knowing that the Sri Lankans are here.”The confusion we usually have at Bourda at the gates and so on, we don’t see that confusion at the [Providence] stadium. Parking facilities will be much better at the stadium because there is a huge parking space in front the stadium and because the stadium was constructed to specific ICC regulations the entire running of cricket at the stadium is going to be much easier.”

We were all were miserable in our short stint in the West Indies – Sami © Getty Images

The performance evaluation committee (PEC), formed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to look into Pakistan’s dismal World Cup performance, questioned several players and officials in Karachi.Wasim Bari, former chief selector, Younis Khan and legspinner Danish Kaneria, as well as former selector Iqbal Qasim and fast bowler Mohammad Sami, were all questioned.The players and officials were asked to record their views about the poor performance in the World Cup and also asked for suggestions for the improvement of domestic cricket.Talking to reporters after his session with the committee, Sami blamed the team for a lack of application in the Caribbean.”Our batting, bowling and fielding, all were miserable in our short stint in the West Indies and all the team members are responsible for the team’s early exit from the event,” he said.Kaneria, however, spoke about the failure of Pakistan’s batsmen, while also expressing surprise over his exclusion for the Ireland game. Pakistan’s defeat in that game, their second in a row, condemned them to an early exit from the tournament.The committee, having already questioned several big names including Inzamam-ul-Haqand Mushtaq Ahmed, will carry out their next assessments in Lahore. Ijaz Butt, chairman, said the committee will finish their assignment in the next seven days before submitting their final recommendations to the PCB.