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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Daniel Vettori mopped up the tail with four wickets © AFP

A sizzling 71-run eighth-wicket partnership helped New Zealand shrug off a start-stop batting effort, enabling them to seal a comprehensive 129-run win against Ireland at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. With this victory, New Zealand were all but assured of a place in the semi-finals and just one win in the next three games – against South Africa, Australia and Sri Lanka – would gain their last-four spot.Ireland turned in a sterling bowling performance on a pitch which was a good one for batting. Their medium-pacers nagged away before the offspinners continued the good work in the middle stages. It was only in the last three overs when the wheels came off, as Brendon McCullum and James Franklin clattered 45. Chasing 264, Ireland’s batsmen began sluggishly and, barring a 75-run stand between the O’Brien brothers, couldn’t put up much of a fight.McCullum’s 37-ball 47 was the knock that changed the complexion of the game. Entering at 172 for 5, after New Zealand lost Peter Fulton, he pinched singles and twos before launching into the boundaries. Franklin provided him good company, striking three fours and a six and Ireland’s disciplined work for most of the innings went to pieces.Fulton’s was a cautious knock, and an essential one with the rest of the top order falling to poor shot selection. Standing upright and using his reach to full effect, he was decisive with his footwork: getting fully forward or fully back and effecting some meaty drives and pulls. He found the gaps easily and picked off singles between the boundaries. He wasn’t frustrated into any errors, despite the bowlers maintaining a tight line.Ireland indeed produced a superb bowling effort. Opening bowler Dave Langford-Smith bowled a fine spell of military medium, on a pitch tailor-made for attacking batting, while Kyle McCallan and Andrew White, the two offspinners, snared two wickets each. All of them were supported by athletic fielding, Eoin Morgan and wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien picking off sharp catches. Hamish Marshall and Scott Styris chased wide deliveries that were moving away. Stephen Fleming committed a similar error against Boyd Rankin while Craig McMillan, who entered in an aggressive frame of mind, paid for a loose slash against McCallan.

Kevin O’Brien kept Ireland’s hopes alive with a breezy 49 © Getty Images

Even an aggressive batsman like Jacob Oram couldn’t break away, nudging his way to 20 off 48 deliveries. He tried to be innovative, with reverse-paddles and cheeky deflections, but holed out trying to loft over long-on. Fulton fell a little earlier, trying to sweep one that was too full, but New Zealand showed their lower-order muscle with McCullum and Franklin making amends for the top-order showing.Shane Bond’s early double-strike set the tone for New Zealand’s dominance with the ball. Ireland needed a rapid start if they harboured hopes of overhauling the target but Bond’s incisive spell thwarted them early. Bond struck in his first over, striking the splice of Jeremy Bray’s bat going for a drive. It was a lethal delivery, pitched on middle and shaping away and kissed the edge en route to the wicketkeeper. William Porterfield was rattled by a short one and his attempted pull was well collected by Styris, running back from the slip cordon.The O’Brien brothers settled the nerves a bit. There were just three fours in the first 15 overs, with the batsmen trying to play out Bond, but Kevin O’Brien batted confidently as his innings progressed. He cracked three towering sixes in his 49 and appeared to be set to launch a determined counterattack. That’s when a messy run-out undid Ireland. Niall, his brother, who has been in fine form throughout this tournament, pottered around for 75 deliveries for 30 but a crucial error of judgment ended Kevin’s fine knock. Patting one to the off side in the 29th over, Niall took off for a single but stopped after taking a few strides. Kevin was too far down the track by then and an accurate throw from Marshall ended the steadying partnership.None of the others crossed 20 and Daniel Vettori mopped up the tail in truly efficient fashion. He varied his speed delightfully and none of the tailenders had much of a clue against his speedy darts from around the wicket. He accounted for four of the last six wickets – his offspinning partner Jeetan Patel snared the other two – as Ireland collapsed from 110 for 3 to 134 all out. They will now prepare for the clash against Australia on Friday the 13th, which promises to be a stiffer challenge than this one.

Chris Read was in fine form before he had to return from the England A tour of West Indies © Getty Images

Chris Read has rejoined the Nottinghamshire squad for their their pre-season tour of South Africa after leaving the England A tour of West Indies when his family suffered a serious burglary.It was always Read’s intention to fly out with his team-mates for the seven warm-up games in Cape Town and Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket is delighted to have him back. “Chris was enjoying a terrific tour with England A and it was a double blow for him to be forced home in such a manner.”But he was keen to meet up with the rest of the squad and we’re glad to see him again. There’s been a real enthusiasm from the players in the last couple of weeks but now I think they’re all desperate to get some match practice under their belt.”The squad will be based at Bellville Cricket Club, where the allrounder Paul Franks has been playing since Christmas, and will play seven one-day matches, including a fixture with Somerset, who are also touring the area.Newell added that all players reported fit for the flight and said: “The conditions at Bellville are excellent and give us the ideal opportunity to get some outdoor practice in. All the matches will be competitive and good preparation before the season begins.”Nottinghamshire return on April 6 for two final warm-up games against Leicestershire before heading to Lord’s for the season curtain-raiser against MCC, which starts on April 14.

Shoaib Malik’s role will mostly be limited to batting© AFP

Pakistan, who will be hampered by the absence of Shoaib Akhtar during the forthcoming Indian tour, received another major blow when the board announced that Shoaib Malik was unlikely to bowl in the series, as he didn’t meet the ICC’s bowling requirements. Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, wasn’t optimistic about the chances of Malik’s action being cleared.Footages of Malik’s bowling action and his medical reports have been sent to the ICC for analysis, Shaharyar confirmed while speaking to the Press Trust of India. “We are hoping against hope that he will be available for us as a spinner in India,” he said. “We have asked the ICC to permit him to bowl again on medical grounds but I don’t think he will get the reprieve.”The Pakistan board had had attributed the problem to a road accident that he was involved in two years ago, which resulted in the loss of control of his tendon in his bowling arm. But it appears as though Malik will mainly play as a batsman on the Indian tour.Malik was reported to the ICC in October last year by Simon Taufel and Aleem Dar for a suspect bowling action. The ICC recently modified the elbow restrictions – which come into effect from March 1 – to 15 degrees. The previous limit was five degrees for spinners. However, according to the reports sent by the University of Western Australia to the PCB, Malik bent his elbow at 20.8 degrees for his offbreaks and 33.4 degrees for his doosra, the delivery that left the right-handed batsmen.

Pakistan’s fast bowler Shabbir Ahmed has been reported to the International Cricket Council for having a suspect bowling action.Shabbir was cited by Darrell Hair and Billy Bowden, the two umpires, after they reviewed footage of his action taken during the fifth and final ODI between New Zealand and Pakistan at Wellington on Saturday. Chris Broad, the match referee, informed the ICC and the Pakistan management of the findings.”The umpires asked to review footage of Ahmed’s action from the matchand after seeing this footage decided to report the bowler to the ICC,” explained Dave Richardson, the ICC’s general manager. “This issue now comes under the ICC’s regulations dealing with this matter and over the next six weeks Ahmed and the Pakistan Cricket Board will have the opportunity to work on any areas of concern. Ahmed will be able to continue to play during this time.”There now follows a two-stage process. The first phase, which Shabbir has now entered, allows him to continue to play international cricket while working with specialist advisers to be appointed by his home Board and a human-movement specialist from an ICC specialist panel to review his bowling action. This stage will last up to six weeks, and at its conclusion a report will be sent to the ICC. No further report can be lodged within this six-week period: however, the bowler remains subject to being “called” on the field by an umpire in accordance with the laws of the game.If, after the first stage expires, Shabbir Ahmed is reported again then he would have to appear in front of a formal hearing of the ICC’s Bowling Review Group (BRG), and he could face a 12-month ban.

Fifteen wickets fell on the first day of the State Championship match between Wellington and Otago at the Basin Reserve and only 212 runs were scored at a trickle more than two per over.In polite terms, the match was “well advanced” at the end of day one. In other words, batsmen from both sides were gripped by a lemming-like urge to self destruction.Most preferred the exquisite agony of a slow death to more sudden termination. During Otago’s innings of 138, compiled after they had lost the toss, Robbie Lawson batted 61 minutes for 10 runs, Chris Gaffaney 58 minutes for 15, Andrew Hore 37 minutes for six and Neil Rushton 32 minutes for one.Only Craig Pryor, who made 59 in two hours and seven minutes, mixed longevity and productivity. He was helped by Nathan Morland who made 22 in 103 minutes in a 77-run partnership for the seventh wicket. That stand, measured by the duration of Morland’s innings, took Otago from 48/6 to 125/7.For Wellington, who were 74/5 at stumps in reply, Luke Woodcock batted 65 minutes for 30 but his was a good knock from a player opening the batting in his Firebirds debut.Selwyn Blackmore batted 103 minutes for 22, Sam Fairley 28 minutes for four, Glynn Howell 15 minutes for one and Grant Donaldson had stayed 48 minutes for eight when stumps were drawn.From beyond the boundary rope, and in appraising the bare statistics, it was possible to draw the conclusion that the pitch was hostile to batsmen. That summation formed part of Wellington’s decision to bowl when stand-in captain Richard Jones won the toss.But it would be hasty to jump to that conclusion. There were no real fireworks from the pitch today, no venomous bounce or unplayable movement. It is necessary to take into account that Otago have been wrecked by injuries, so much so that they must also have to corner young men in Dunedin pubs on Saturday night and press gang them into rep-team service. Wellington also fielded two new boys under 19.But that both innings ended in such a shambles was still unaccountable.Wellington’s best bowler was medium pacer Andrew Penn who took 4-45 from 18 overs but who blotted his copybook rather with five wides and who might have been called for several more if the umpires had been feeling ungenerous.James Franklin took 2-19 from 12 overs but bowled within his best and the perky off-spinner Jeetan Patel took 2-14 from 10.4 overs near the end of the innings. Matthew Walker who would be economical if he won Lotto, took 1-13 from 13 overs.Among the Otago bowlers, the useful left-armer David Sewell fared best with 2-34 from 10 overs. His mate in a left-arm opening pair, Rushton, bowled a good line but failed to take a wicket in six overs.Pryor, whose 59 was by far the best batting effort of the day, took 1-7 from nine overs, six of whch were maidens. Then the Otago spinners caused discomfort for Wellington before the close. Morland took 2-11 from eight overs and Rob Smith bowled five overs of exacting leg spin at a cost of two runs. Wellington took only seven runs from the last six overs before stumps.Again, the spectator beyond the boundary rope would conclude the pitch equally assisted the medium pacers – Penn and Pryor – and the spinners – Patel and Morland.But it was hard again to perceive the kind of assistance that would have made any of the bowlers unplayable.There had to be, and there was, a certain amount of bad batsmanship.Three Otago batsmen, including Pryor, were out lbw without offering a shot. That suggests they were surprised by balls that moved off the seam or in the air but that might be too forgiving of bad batsmanship.One carries a bat to hit the ball, not to display to the crowd at shoulder height.There were 18 boundaries in Otago’s innings, a healthy percentage of their total, and 10 of those were hit by Pryor so it was possible to play shots and to pierce the field.Thirty-two of Wellington’s 74 runs had also come from fours.It is hard to say application was lacking when batsman spent so long at the crease for so few runs. Rather, what was lacking was the mixture of application and urgency that only Pryor displayed.The match, so far advanced after the first day, is now unlikely to last four days. It is a match of considerable importance to Wellington who lie third on the Championship table but only one outright win behind leaders Auckland.They need to win this match to enlarge their hope of defending their national first-class title and of capturing a grand slam of domestic titles in this season. But they have made that task much harder than it should have been.The match continues at 10.30am tomorrow.

Baroda qualified for the knockout stages of the Ranji Trophy after drawing theirfinal West Zone league match against Gujarat at the Sardar Patel (Gujarat)Stadium in Motera on January 1. The five points that accrued from the firstinnings lead took Baroda’s tally to 19, close on the heels of Mumbai (21) andMaharashtra (20).Resuming on the last day at 343/6 in reply to Gujarat’s 298, Baroda lost twomore wickets before skipper Nayan Mongia closed shutters after lunch at 488.Rakesh Patel was the first to depart, falling to his namesake and fellow seamer,L Patel for 27. He was replaced by another Patel, the offspinner Umang, whoadded 66 for the eighth wicket with Mongia. After Mongia was dismissed for 80(132 balls, eight fours), Patel and Zaheer Khan proceeded to put together anenterprising stand of 48 in just over nine overs before the declaration came.Gujarat limped to 114/4 from 54 overs in their second knock. Zaheer Khan trappedboth openers leg before in a six over spell to take his match haul to six andUmang Patel chipped in with the other two scalps. The hosts, having needed anoutright victory from this game to qualify, collected three points from the drawto take fourth spot in the group with 14 points, ahead of Saurashtra whofinished at the bottom with six points.

Old Trafford has been home to many huge football superstars over the years, and it’s not often that Manchetser United get it wrong when they make moves for players to bring into the club.

However, Ed Woodward had an absolute howler in letting one player slip through the cracks, and the United board will surely regret not taking the player’s potential more seriously.

Former Red Devils scout Jorge Alvial revealed to Manchester Evening News that the powers at Old Trafford ignored the chance to sign Bayern Munich superstar Alphonso Davies on numerous occasions, ignoring 40 reports on the talent before he signed for the Bundesliga giants.

Eventually the club did offer Davies a trial, but the 17-year-old rejected the offer and committed his immediate future to Vancouver, with the player reflecting on the interest from English clubs when he signed for Bayern Munich two years later.

He revealed to the Daily Mail: “I know there were rumours about England. I know different teams had approached my agents. My full focus at the time was Vancouver and trying to get into the play-offs.”

At this point, the left-back has become one of Europe’s hottest prospects, winning 12 trophies with Bayern Munich since he joined in 2019, including a Champions League and three Bundesliga titles. Therefore, the United board must be having nightmares over relinquishing the opportunity to sign the 21-year-old when they had their chance.

Another kick in the teeth for the Red Devils will be the fact that the German champions signed Davies from Vancouver for just £9m, and according to Transfermarkt as of December 2021, the young player is now worth an astonishing £63m, a 600% increase in value in just three years.

When you compare Davies to United’s most recent left-back signing Alex Telles this season, the Bayern Munich star has made 23 more ball recoveries, completed over 200 more passes, has a better pass accuracy, completed 55 more take-ons and won 55 more ground duels according to Squawka.

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Davies, who was hailed the “Usain Bolt of football” by Rio Ferdinand, clearly has a bright future ahead of him, and United must learn from the decision to ignore the young star as they move into their new era with a new manager at the helm this summer.

In other news: Man Utd suffer major Ten Hag setback which will have Red Devils fans worried

Harry Redknapp has had plenty to say ahead of Tottenham’s trip to the Etihad Stadium; a game which the Spurs boss believes is not the ‘must win’ that everyone would have you believe. Redknapp feels that 8pts is a small margin to retrieve at this stage of the season where everyone will take points each other.

The Tottenham manager of course is the master of deflecting the pressure of his football teams and he has bundled a shed load onto City by suggesting that if Spurs were in a position to pay players £250k a week then he would fully expect them to be top of the table and winning the title. While many will see Redknapp as having a point; the actual reality is that splashing the cash brings no guarantees. Tomorrow’s game promises to be a classic, although it is certainly a tough one to call.

In this week at FFC we have seen a mixed bag of blogs that includes Tottenham could find inspiration from Germany; now or never for Redknapp, while conflicting reports over the club’s pursuit of Loic Remy. We also have new features including quote of the week and a full match preview ahead of the trip to the Etihad Stadium.

Best of FFC

Tottenham can find inspiration from Germany and France

Tottenham arguably have the best in the Premier League…don’t they?

Will the Premier League’s top stars find the allure of Spain too hard to resist?

Tottenham’s top TEN ‘Cult Heroes’ of all time

Simply foolish to write off Tottenham

Now or never for Tottenham Hotspur?

Why Harry needs to strike a transfer balance

Conflicting reports in France as Spurs chase Remy

Coyle plots £4m raid on Tottenham

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Best of WEB

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A day to forget, yet worth remembering – Dear Mr Levy

We could have danced all night – Spurs Musings From Jimmy G2

Pav’s Gone AWOL – Harry Hotspur

Good But Not Good Enough. Or FFS Shoot! – Tottenham On My Mind

Klaas Jan Huntelaar: Surely A Better Bet Than Loic Remy, Anyway? – Transfer Tavern

Quote of the Week

“That is new to us and maybe people would expect us to fall away in the second half of the season but, as players, we believe in our ability and we believe we can keep getting results. We have lost just one in the last 19 and that is great form. If we keep it up then we are in with a chance,” Ledley King (Mirror)

Match Preview v Manchester City

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Tottenham will be eager to dish out some payback on league leaders Manchester City when they travel to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Roberto Mancini’s men thrashed Spurs 5-1 in September and should be fearful of a backlash from the North Londoners. Despite a slight wobble in recent weeks City remain comfortable at the top three clear or rivals United and six ahead of Harry Redknapp’s side. Having spent much of the season playing breathtakingly exciting football their win at Wigan on Monday night owed much to their ability to dig in and grid out results. The loss of Vincent Kompany to suspension has hit them hardest in recent week with youngster Stefan Savic struggling to adapt to the pace and physicality’s of the English game. However the grit and determination displayed at the DW Stadium will go a long way for City as they aim to bag their first ever Premier League title. Their record at the Etihad Stadium is perfect after 10 wins in a row whilst they scored 31 goals and conceded only four. They’ll need another valiant display on Sunday if they are to maintain that unbeaten home record and put some distance between themselves and their third placed visitors.

It’s been an unbelievable campaign for Spurs as they continue to stay involved in the title race. Redknapp will be desperate for his side to enact some revenge on City after the White Hart Lane mauling they suffered although since that game they’ve won from 14 out of the 19 subsequent fixtures losing just once. Since then Tottenham have been irresistible and deservedly sit in the top three just two victories away from top spot. Despite being held at home to Wolves last week they will be confident of toppling the league leaders on their own patch especially with Scott Parker and Luka Modric resuming their midfield partnership. The signing of Parker in the summer was seen as the final piece of Redknapp’s jigsaw as it would allow Modric to concentrate on creating goals instead of worrying about fulfilling his defensive duties. The Croatian has been a driving force in attack linking up to great effect with Gareth Bale and Emmanuel Adebayor whilst Parker sits back and cuts out any threat from the opposition. The duo will be key to keeping City’s midfield three quiet on Sunday as well as getting wingers Bale and Aaron Lennon into the game and providing killer balls for Jermaine Defoe who will start in place of Adebayor who can’t play against his parent club.

Manchester City 1st : 51 points

Last six: W W L D W W

Team news: Vincent Kompany is still serving a ban and misses out alongside Micah Richards who has a hamstring injury. Mario Balotelli could feature despite picking up an ankle knock.

Key Player: David Silva

After spending much of Christmas on the sidelines the silky Spaniard roared back into life on Monday against Wigan. City will be grateful that Silva has finally recovered from injury and he’ll be sure to make up for lost time against Tottenham on Sunday.

Tottenham Hotspur 3rd : 46 points

Last six: D W W D W D

Team news: Spurs have seven first team players out injured for their trip to the Etihad Stadium whilst Emmanuel Adebayor will be missing as he isn’t permitted to play against his parent club.

Key Player: Luka Modric

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Breaking down a City defence that has conceded just four times at home will be extremely difficult but a challenge Modric will savour. The Croatian has been superb for Tottenham this season as they aim to close the gap on the league leaders.

PREDICTION

City’s record at the Etihad Stadium is phenomenal but they’ve been shaky of late and Vincent Kompany’s absence continues to haunt them. Spurs will see an opportunity to write the wrongs of the 5-1 they took in September and inflict a first home defeat of the season on Roberto Mancini’s men.

Score 2-2

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Click on Roger Johnson’s misses below to unveil our current Premier League Wag XI

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With the race for the Premier League title looking all but over following United’s hard fought victory, the attention now moves to the bottom of the table and who is going to stay in the division. With West Ham and Wigan both losing it has enabled both Wolves and Blackpool to move away after picking up a valuable point against Fulham and Newcastle respectively. You will be a brave man to put any wager down on who is likely to stay-up and you do sense it is likely to go down to the very last kick of the season.

In the papers this morning there has been a mixed bag of stories that includes news that Gerard Houllier’s progress is encouraging; Fergie admits Raul regret, while the Premier League’s chairman comes under fresh scrutiny.

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Wenger retains trust in self-belief – Guardian

Houllier progress ‘encouraging’ – BBC

Ferguson wary of ‘resilient’ Germans – Daily Telegraph

Inter Milan in for £40m Tevez as Argentinian looks for Eastlands exit – Daily Mail

Sir Alex admits Raul regret – People

Premier League chairman’s role under fresh scrutiny – Independent

Real waiting in wings if Wenger decides to leave – Mirror

Spurs and Kop batte for £15m rated Gary Cahill – People

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Hernandez: My dream has come true at Manchester United – Daily Mail

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