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ScorecardMiles Hammond’s quickfire first T20 fifty and an unbeaten 32 from Ian Cockbain eased Gloucestershire to their sixth Vitality Blast victory of the season in a top-of-the-table clash with Kent at Canterbury.There was also a typically calm and responsible 43-ball 46 from their captain Michael Klinger as Gloucestershire chased down Kent 160 for 5, in which Joe Denly played an almost lone hand with a superb 99 not out from 63 balls, with five sixes and seven fours.Benny Howell, too, played his part by following up his 2 for 29 with 20 not out from 13 balls, including the winning four struck over mid-off from the second ball of the final over, bowled by Adam Milne, with the scores level.Left-hander Hammond had scored 51, with three sixes and five fours, when he hit the 31st ball he faced, the first of Calum Haggett’s second over, to wide deep midwicket to end an opening stand of 76 with Klinger.Hammond uppercut Haggett for a remarkable six over cover point in the third over, and then also clubbed leg spinner Denly and seamer Ivan Thomas for sixes.Klinger, content to play a supporting role, nevertheless seized on a high full toss from left-arm spinner Imran Qayyum at the start of the 11th over to smash a six over long leg. The over, which also contained five wides when Qayyum speared a ball down the leg side, ended up costing 18 runs and left Gloucestershire requiring just another 57 from the last nine overs.To their credit, Kent’s bowlers made the visitors work hard for the win, with Klinger departing in the 16th over when he tried to reverse-hit Qayyum but could only pick out Denly at backward point.Cockbain and Howell held their nerve, however, and the result was never in doubt once they had plundered 18 from the 18th over, bowled by Marcus Stoinis until he went off injured after bowling five balls, leaving Qayyum to finish it.A six by Cockbain over midwicket was followed by Howell driving a powerful four and then taking another four, through backward point, from Qayyum’s final ball.Kent reached 50 without loss in the six-over Powerplay, with Denly the initial aggressor with square cut and lofted off-side fours in the third over, bowled by Matt Taylor, and a six swung over wide midwicket against David Payne.Daniel Bell-Drummond, starved of much of the early strike, got going in the sixth over by pulling Taylor for six and then lofting the next ball over mid-off for four. On 19, however, he was perhaps unfortunate that a thigh-high full toss from Benny Howell was not called as a no ball as he mis-hit to deep midwicket.At halfway Kent were 84 for 1, with Denly hoisting Howell for six in his second over, and Heino Kuhn contributed a brisk 18 before being bowled sweeping at Graeme van Buuren’s left-arm spin in the 11th over.Successive sixes by Denly off van Buuren in the 13th over, the first straight and the second over the head of the long on fielder, provided Kent with some much-needed acceleration but Sam Billings found it hard to get going and it was no surprise when, on 7, he hit his 13th ball straight to long-on to give Howell his 100th T20 wicket.Stoinis offered one meaty blow, a lofted four off his fellow Australian AJ Tye, before hitting the same bowler to long off where Howell ran to his left to hold a good catch.Denly finished that same over by driving Tye wide of Howell for six but at the start of the next over Alex Blake was leg-before for a first ball duck trying to work David Payne to midwicket and the only boundary conceded by Payne and Tye in the last two overs came from the final ball of the innings, which Denly crashed through square cover to end up a frustrating one run short of a fifth T20 century.

South Africa batting coach Dale Benkenstein put his team’s struggles against spin down to their mental make-up after their twin collapses in the first Test in Galle. South Africa were routed 126 and 73 – their two lowest totals in Sri Lanka, and lowest since readmission – and Benkenstein said the poor performance arose from a lack of match practice and, chiefly, an absence of mental toughness on their first tour since early April.”It’s not the standard we want. Technically, you have to face the spinning ball and there’s a few things that you have to adjust to. But 90% of it is being tough mentally, being used to the ball missing the bat or spinning past the bat,” Benkenstein said. “When you’ve had a lot of Test cricket, you are toughened for Test pressures, and I think the guys were low on that as well.”South Africa came into the Test off a three-month off-season, and though some of their players were involved in the IPL during that period, and a few others in the county circuit, the rustiness from a lack of Test cricket showed. Benkenstein admitted that not even intense training at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria helped in shaking off the cobwebs. “We did some pretty good preparation before [the series], but in our conditions. We were trying to simulate the conditions here. We hit quite a lot of balls, but we haven’t had a lot of competition,” Benkenstein said.That competition arrived in Galle, and it turned out to be one in which South Africa lost heavily. But on the upside, it has given them two extra days in preparation for the next Test, and Benkenstein wasn’t necessarily looking at utilizing that time in the nets. “I don’t believe practises are going to make a huge amount of difference. Mentally, we’ve got to remind ourselves we are back in Test cricket again. It’s tough.”Tougher because South Africa’s best player of spin, Hashim Amla, is enduring a lean passage – he averages 25.87 from eight Tests this year, and the only player as adept as him, AB de Villiers, has retired. While de Villiers has been away from the South African Test squad before, when he was on sabbatical, he is now permanently out of the picture, and Benkenstein urged the squad to move on. “You don’t replace AB or Jacques Kallis – they are once in a decade, once in the lifetime [players],” Benkenstein said. “We can’t look backwards. A lot of the guys have played with AB and seen how he has gone about his business. We’ve got a task ahead of us now. The guys that are in the room are going to have to pull together.”Interestingly, Benkenstein made no mention of conditions or of what he wanted the batsmen to do to wrap their heads around the spinner-friendly tracks. All he said was that South Africa are close to getting things right, despite what the scorecard might say. “I don’t think we are far off. It’s actually not such a big gap. It seems like a big gap in the end, but it’s not such a big gap.”

Sunil Narine’s 36-ball 75 and Dinesh Karthik’s 23-ball 50 outdid KL Rahul’s 29-ball 66 in a match that produced an aggregate of 459 runs

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy12-May-2018Dinesh Karthik brings out one of his trick shots•BCCIFlat pitch, short boundaries, the best hitters in the game. This match featured all three ingredients, and by the end of it, only one match in all 11 IPL seasons had exceeded its 40-over run aggregate of 459. In the end, Kolkata Knight Riders’ total of 245, the fourth highest in IPL history, proved a stretch too far for Kings XI Punjab, who went into the match with at least one batsman too few.KKR boasted far more depth, and almost all their batsmen fired after they were sent in on a 45-degree Indore afternoon. Sunil Narine and Dinesh Karthik did the bulk of the heavy lifting with half-centuries at 200-plus strike rates, but there were important contributions from Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa and Andre Russell as well, and end-overs cameos from Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill.There was, in short, no respite for Kings XI, who were also without a key bowler, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, for a significant chunk of the innings. Struck on the hand by a blistering Narine drive while bowling his second over, Mujeeb was off the field for 11.4 overs, and it was too late for him to make any sort of difference by the time he came back to bowl the 16th.Chasing 246 with a line-up that had Axar Patel at No. 6, Kings XI were even more dependent on their openers than usual. KL Rahul kept them hoping with a 29-ball 66, but by the time he was dismissed in the ninth over, the batsmen at the other end (and extras) had only made 27 for 3 off 25 balls.Kings XI didn’t quite have the batting to chase 153 off the last 11 overs, and though there was some furious hitting from Aaron Finch and R Ashwin towards the end, it was never going to be enough.Narine blasts offThe first 20 balls of this match gave no warning of what was to follow. Only 20 runs came off them, and two boundaries – both inside-edged past the stumps by Chris Lynn. This was partly down to the two openers gaining a feel for the conditions, and partly to Mohit Sharma tucking Narine up for room in the third over. Narine drove the 20th ball hard and flat, back to Mujeeb, who ended up going off the field with an injured bowling hand. Ashwin brought himself on to complete the over, and Narine immediately went after him, clattering his first two balls over mid-on for six and four.It was as if Narine had flicked a switch. Having scored only seven off his first eight balls, he would smash 68 off his next 28, most of them with loose-limbed lofts in the midwicket-to-cover arc. With Lynn and Uthappa contributing 51 off 34 between them, KKR moved to 123 for 1 by the end of the 11th over.KKR go full speed aheadWhen Narine fell to an Andrew Tye short ball in the 12th over, Russell walked to the crease. Karthik joined him when Uthappa fell two balls later, slicing a slower ball to backward point. Rather than send in Rana or Gill and wait for the death overs, KKR wanted their best hitters at the crease right then.Both delivered, exploiting Kings XI’s field placements brilliantly. Russell and Karthik hit five big sixes between them, all in the arc between square leg and midwicket, but they also hit six fours and a six behind the wicket, mindful that Ashwin had stationed both third man and fine leg inside the 30-yard circle for most part. It could be argued that these fields played into Karthik’s hands in particular – given his fondness for behind-the-wicket innovation – but moving third man or fine leg deeper would only have brought someone else – say long-off or square leg – into the circle. On this pitch, there was little anyone could do to stop the haemorrhage of runs.Scooping short balls over his shoulder and reverse-slapping good-length balls between backward point and short third man, Karthik scored his first half-century of the season, getting there in 22 balls.Another Rahul specialOver the last two years, pretty much every limitation Rahul may have thought he had as a batsman has fallen away. During his unbeaten 95 against Rajasthan Royals in Kings XI’s last match, he realised perhaps too late that he’s also capable of finding the boundary with scoops and reverse-hits.Now his team needed sixes, lots of them, and Rahul immediately set about hitting them, starting in the first over with two effortless lofts over mid-off and extra-cover off Narine. There would be seven sixes in all, eventually, including a wide yorker sliced over third man, and anything seemed possible as long as he was in the middle – even when Russell sent back Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal with back-to-back bouncers in the sixth over.But Narine, coming back to bowl the ninth over, dismissed Rahul, who dragged an attempted sweep onto the stumps, and the magnitude of their task hit Kings XI afresh.

زعمت صحيفة “ميرور” البريطانية أن هناك اهتمامًا من قبل نادي بايرن ميونخ بضم أحد مدافعي الفريق الأول لكرة القدم بنادي ليفربول في الميركاتو الصيفي.

وبدأ فينسنت كومباني مدرب بايرن ميونخ الجديد التخطيط للموسم الجديد مع الإدارة الألمانية لمحاولة استعادة الألقاب في الموسم المقبل.

اقرأ أيضًا.. بايرن ميونخ يطرح 6 لاعبين للبيع في الميركاتو الصيفي

وخرج بايرن ميونخ بموسم صفري محليًا وقاريًا بعدما فاز باير ليفركوزن بالألقاب المحلية وخرج النادي البافاري على يد ريال مدريد من نصف نهائي دوري أبطال أوروبا.

ولكن بحسب التقرير أن كومباني قد طلب من إدارة بايرن ميونخ التعاقد مع مدافع ليفربول ومنتخب إنجلترا، جو جوميز، في الصيف الحالي.

ويمتلك بايرن ميونخ لاعبين إنجليز منذ الموسم الماضي وهما هاري كين القادم من توتنهام وهداف الفريق وكذلك إريك داير الذي انتقل من نفس الفريق في يناير الماضي على سبيل الإعارة حتى يونيو 2025.

🚨 #LFC 🔴🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
Liverpool have no plans to sell England defender Joe Gomez, 27, despite interest from Bayern Munich. pic.twitter.com/XgvhPJ5uKT — Ekrem KONUR (@Ekremkonur) June 12, 2024

ورغم ذلك أفاد الصحفي، أكرم كونور، بموقع “Caught Offside” البريطاني أن ليفربول يرفض تمامًا التفريط بمدافعه تحت أي ظرف.

Sheffield United may not be the biggest club in Yorkshire but they certainly boast a notable number of celebrity supporters. It’s a club that generates local passion, after all – and that’s seen in those who grew up there.

Athletes, actors, musicians, and one Argentinian footballer all feature on a list of those struck by the Blades. Here is our pick of the bunch for Sheffield United’s most famous supporters.

8 Juan Sebastián Verón

Let’s get the strangest one out of the way first. Former Argentina international Juan Sebastián Verón was a Sheffield United fan in childhood and openly admitted wanting to play for them.

There’s a good reason for it, too. Verón’s uncle, Pedro Verde, spent time there at the tail-end of his career and it sparked interest in the young footballer-to-be.

“I was a fan of Sheffield United but I sadly never had the chance to play for them, but I would have wanted to!” Verón went on to say. Oh what could have been…

7 Jessica Ennis-Hill

An Olympic champion and a three-time World champion – Jessica Ennis-Hill is one of the most successful individual athletes to come out of Britain in recent years. She’s also born and raised in Sheffield.

Ennis-Hill is a Blades fan, too, and even had a stand named after her post-Olympic gold. However, that did change in 2015 when it was instead named after a sponsor.

6 Kell Brook

Sticking on the wildly successful athlete theme, Kell Brook is a Sheffield native who went on to hold the IBF Welterweight title for nearly three years between 2014 and 2017.

Brook is a lifelong fan of the Blades, as with just about everyone on this list, and even fought at Bramall Lane back in 2017.

“I’ve imagined this for weeks and I’ve dreamt about this since being a young kid,” he said ahead of that fight.

“I never thought I’d see a boxing ring on the pitch at Bramall Lane, but I’m ready and I’m determined and I’m excited. I’ve got a lot of memories of watching the Blades, my uncle used to throw me up in the air when we scored and at the weekend I want to be throwing my belt above my head once again.”

5 Joe Elliott

Joe Elliott, as the lead singer of Def Leppard, is in the discussion for the most successful person on this list. The band was formed in Sheffield back in 1976. Elliott is from the city and has called United his team all his life.

Sheffield has had more than their fair share of world-renowned music acts and Def Leppard are arguably the biggest. That other group that has an argument are all Wednesday fans, if you’re wondering.

4 Paul Heaton

Paul Heaton was born on the Wirral but moved to Sheffield when he was very young. He and his brothers all struck up an interest in football but while they all went with Wednesday, Paul followed United.

Heaton would go on to form the Housemartins and The Beautiful South, with massive success in the ’80s and early ’90s. And in terms of Blades fans, he might be one of the biggest on this list.

3 Joe Root

Former England Test Cricket captain Joe Root is another from Sheffield and has made no secret of his love for United. In fact, Root has appeared on the club’s social media channels several times, while one of the first interviews he gave after receiving the captaincy was at Bramall Lane.

His support runs through the family, too, it seems. “I’ve always been a Blade,” Root told the Athletic in 2020. “There were three generations of Roots there when I watched my first game. Myself and my brother, dad and grandad.”

Root, of course, will go down as an all-time great Test batsman – yet one more wildly successful name on this list, then.

2 Michael Palin

Michael Palin might be a bit of a controversial one on this list as he’s very openly talked about also wanting Wednesday to do well. The comedy legend is from Sheffield and grew up supporting the Blades – but he’s a little bit more about the city doing well than his club.

Here’s what he told When Saturday Comes back in 2000:

“United were the club I supported when I was growing up, mainly because their ground was the nearest to our house. I used to see Wednesday supp­orters as a different type of person, just… deeply dis­turbed. But then I was always excited when either club was involved in a big game and Wednesday tended to be involved in bigger games. When I first came to London, it was 1966 and Wednesday were in the Cup final, so I couldn’t say I wasn’t interested because they were from my city. Eric Idle was a big Chelsea fan and I used to go there to see either Sheffield team play. I found myself being sucked in as a sort of associate Wednesday fan, though I would have been disem­boweled in Sheffield if they’d known that.”

Fans can make their own minds up whether they’re accepting that one or not.

1 Sean Bean

We thought we’d save the most famous Sheffield United fan until last. Sean Bean isn’t just the most famous person on this list, after all, but he’s also incredibly public with his love for them.

Bean has tattooed his support on his shoulder, while he’s also competed in charity matches and above all, served on the club’s board in the 2000s. He als, chewed-out manager Neil Warnock after the club were relegated from the Premier League back in 2007 – though, Bean claims this wasn’t as aggressive as the manager claimed in his book.

“Yes, I was looking for him after we were relegated – and I wasn’t the only one,” he said, per the Mirror. “We were all devastated. But I didn’t storm into Warnock’s office and confront his wife as he claims in his book. I was outside in the corridor when I told her what I thought of him.

“What I didn’t know was that his kid was behind the door and when someone pointed that out to me, I immediately apologised.”

MatériaMais Notícias

Protagonistas da decisão do Campeonato Carioca deste ano, Fluminense e Flamengo voltam a se encontrar no Maracanã, desta vez pela oitava rodada do Brasileirão.Separadas por apenas três pontos na tabela, com o Tricolor em oitavo e o Rubro-Negro em quinto, as equipes fazem um confronto direto para seguir na parte de cima da competição.

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O time de Odair Hellmann chega em baixa após um empate com o Atlético-GO em casa e uma derrota de virada para o São Paulo no Morumbi. Além disso, o treinador perdeu um de seus jogadores mais importantes, o atacante Evanilson, vendido para o Porto (POR). Portanto, o dilema para escalar o ataque continua forte nas Laranjeiras.

Já o Flamengo completou três vitórias consecutivas e começa a dar mais tranquilidade ao trabalho do treinador Domènec Torrent. A equipe, porém, terá desfalques importantes. Os goleiros Diego Alves e César continuam em tratamento de Covid-19, enquanto Bruno Henrique, Pedro Rocha e João Lucas estão no departamento médico.

FICHA TÉCNICA
FLUMINENSE X FLAMENGO

Estádio: Maracanã, no Rio de Janeiro (RJ)
Data e hora: 9 de setembro de 2020, às 21h30
Árbitro: Raphael Claus (Fifa/SP)
Assistentes: Danilo Ricardo Simon Manis (Fifa/SP) e Neuza Ines Back (Fifa/SP)
Árbitro de vídeo: Luiz Flávio de Oliveira (Fifa/SP)
Onde ver: Globo, Premiere e tempo real do LANCE!

FLUMINENSE (Técnico: Odair Hellmann)
Marcos Felipe; Calegari, Nino, Luccas Claro, Egídio; Yuri, Dodi, Nenê; Michel Araújo, Marcos Paulo (Fred) e Wellington Silva.

Desfalques: Frazan, lesionado, Muriel e Fred, dúvidas
Pendurados: Fred, Ganso e Nino
Suspensos: Ninguém

FLAMENGO (Técnico: Domènec Torrent)
Gabriel Batista; Isla, Rodrigo Caio, Léo Pereira e Filipe Luís (Renê); Arão, Gerson, Everton Ribeiro e Arrascaeta; Michael e Gabriel Barbosa.

Desfalques: Diego Alves e César, ambos com Covid-19, e Bruno Henrique, João Lucas e Pedro Rocha, lesionados.
Pendurados: Everton Ribeiro, Diego, Gerson e Gabriel Barbosa.
Suspensos: Ninguém

Palpites: Na redação do LANCE!, 65% apostam na vitória do Flamengo, enquanto 15% acham que o Fluminense sairá vitorioso e 20% acreditam no empate.

Aston Villa could revisit one of their long-term transfer targets this summer, as Unai Emery bids to resolve the injury woes already plaguing the squad.

Just one game into the season and the Villans are without both Tyrone Mings and Emiliano Buendia for the foreseeable future, with both starting players suffering significant knee injuries.

While the Argentine’s fate was confirmed last week, Mings was stretchered off the pitch at St James’ Park just half an hour into the Premier League opener against Newcastle United, leaving Emery two players short so early into the campaign.

Despite hiring strongly already this summer, the Spaniard could opt to delve back into the market to gather further reinforcements following the double blow.

Who could Aston Villa sign this summer?

The name surrounding Villa’s current transfer narrative is Nicolo Zaniolo, who is close to being unveiled in claret and blue this week on an initial loan deal from Galatasaray.

Read the latest Aston Villa transfer news HERE…

Considering Buendia’s injury, paired with the expected departure of Philippe Coutinho, Emery could consider revisiting a former target of the Villans in the form of his former player, Dani Ceballos.

The Spaniard was linked to Villa in the January window, with Sport reporting earlier this month that the Midlands club were readying an offer worth €15m (£12.8m) for the midfielder.

Emery was behind the 27-year-old’s first spell on loan at Arsenal, with the player already having Premier League experience under his belt.

What is Dani Ceballos’ style of play?

Having been praised by the Villa boss himself as a “very good player” due to his capabilities of playing as both a number 10 and eight in central midfield, the Spaniard is a real handful in the middle of the park.

With talents in both the offensive and defensive roles in and around the engine room, the Real Madrid ace could be the perfect acquisition for Emery to reconsider showing interest in, in the absence of Buendia.

Also lauded as “too good” and as an “amazing” talent by scout Jacek Kulig, the 27-year-old could be a valuable asset for the manager to once again have at his disposal, in a player that already has sufficient experience in the English game.

On two separate loan spells, Ceballos made 77 appearances for the Gunners, playing as both an attacking midfielder and adhering to the deeper role in midfield on occasions to showcase his versatility.

Like Buendia, the Utrera-born star is a creative-minded talent, as highlighted by his numbers last season for Los Blancos, in which he averaged a mighty 11.74 progressive passes and 1.73 key passes per 90 in LaLiga, via FBref.

Deployed with the role of a box-to-box player in mind, the Spaniard is a strong carrier of the ball, as conveyed by his 3.45 progressive carries per 90 last term, suggesting that he could be the perfect addition in Emery’s free-flowing system in the middle of the park.

Identified as a manager that sets his teams up to build through the middle channel, the four-time Europa League winner could integrate Ceballos into his plans to great success.

The £172k-per-week gem has all the tools to thrive at Villa Park and could be a strong acquisition to reconsider following Buendia’s injury blow.

An update has emerged on Leeds United and their attempts to strengthen the playing squad before the end of the summer transfer window…

What's the latest Leeds transfer news?

According to The Telegraph's Mike McGrath, the Whites are set to land Tottenham Hotspur central defender Joe Rodon on a season-long loan.

The reporter has stated that the west Yorkshire outfit have agreed on a deal with the Premier League side to secure the Wales international's services on a temporary basis.

Read the latest Leeds transfer news HERE…

"Tottenham have agreed a deal for Wales centre-back Joe Rodon to join Leeds on a season-long loan. Formalities of deal to follow in coming days," he tweeted.

If the deal gets complete this week, it could see him available for the trip to face Birmingham City on Saturday afternoon.

How good is Joe Rodon?

The 25-year-old titan is a proven Championship performer who also has top-level experience and would come in as a far better option than Robin Koch, who has joined Eintracht Frankfurt on loan for the season, for Daniel Farke.

Rodon spent the 2022/23 campaign on loan with Rennes in France and averaged a solid Sofascore rating of 6.88 across 16 Ligue 1 outings as he won 61% of his duels and completed 90% of his attempted passes.

Koch, meanwhile, averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.63 over 36 Premier League matches for Leeds, which placed him 17th within the squad. The Germany international came out on top in 57% of his duels and finished the season with a pass completion rate of just 77%.

Both players were plying their trade in major European leagues and Rodon stood out above the former Freiburg man with his average performance level, quality in possession, and his strength in physical contests.

The Tottenham outcast's score for Rennes was also higher than any Whites defender managed last term as Max Wober led the way with a rating of 6.84, which means that the possible new signing could be the best central defensive option for the head coach this season.

This suggests that the 6 foot 4 colossus would be better for Leeds than Koch was for the club last term due to his ability on and off the ball at the heart of the defence.

Rodon would also come in with Championship experience from his time with Swansea earlier in his career.

During the 2019/20 campaign, the £24k-per-week gem averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.99 across 21 appearances.

No Leeds player with at least five appearances averaged a Sofascore rating higher than 6.98 for the club last term and this suggests that the Spurs talent has the potential to be an outstanding performer for Farke.

Rodon, who was once hailed as "perfect" by ex-manager Jose Mourinho, would come in as a defender who can hit the ground running as he already knows the country and league, rather than coming in from a foreign club with no experience of English football.

This could allow him to make an immediate impact on the pitch as a way better option than Koch, and potentially the rest of Farke's centre-backs, which is why this signing could improve the squad and, therefore, the club's chances of earning promotion straight back to the Premier League over the next nine months.

A majority of overseas players and coaches involved in the Shpageeza Cricket League, Afghanistan’s domestic Twenty20 tournament, has decided to remain in the country, despite an incident last week when a suicide bomber reportedly detonated explosives at a checkpoint en route to the Alokozay Kabul International Cricket Ground in Kabul. Eight foreign personnel, most from South Africa and Zimbabwe, left the country.The blast, which killed three persons including the attacker, took place last Wednesday afternoon, during a league match between Boost Defenders and MIS Ainak Knights.Although the match resumed once security officials gave the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) the nod, there was concern among the overseas players and officials and their respective cricket boards. Cricket South Africa was one of the first boards to revoke the no-objection certificates of its players, while Zimbabwe Cricket, too, asked players to return immediately.Four South Africans (Cameron Delport, Morne van Wyk, Glenton Stuurman and Abdul Razak), two Zimbabweans (Hamilton Masakazda and Solomon Mire), and West Indian Rayad Emrit chose to leave, while former South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs, who was the head coach of Speen Ghar Tigers, was the only overseas official to depart. According to the ACB, Emrit played two further matches after the blast before flying home to Trinidad to be with his wife who is pregnant.Zimbabwe’s Elton Chigumbura, Sikandar Raza, Johnathan Campbell, Ryan Burl, Richard Ngarava, Tendai Chisoro, Luke Jongwe, Richmond Mutumbami and Vusi Sibanda, former Pakistan allrounder Abdul Razzaq, Sri Lanka’s Ashan Priyanjan, and Oman cricketers Bilal Khan and Zeeshan Maqsood were among those who opted to stay back, along with overseas coaches Adam Hollioake, Andy Moles, Gus Logie, Gordon Parsons and Umesh Patwal. Former Australia batsman Dean Jones and former Zimbabwe captain Alistair Campbell, who are part of the commentary team, also opted to stay back.According to Shafiqullah Stanikzai, the ACB chief executive, Afghanistan’s interior minister Wais Bamrak met all the teams on the evening of the blast and conveyed to them the message from president Mohammad Ashraf Ghani that the government would ensure their safety. Last Saturday, Ghani invited the overseas players and officials to his palace in Kabul, which is adjacent to the team hotel. Ghani, who is also the patron-in-chief of the ACB, told players and officials that they would receive presidential-level security.Ghani’s words had a positive effect, and Zimbabwe allrounder Raza also stated that security had been increased around the teams and the team hotel immediately after the blast. “The security has improved. The radius of the safe zone has grown bigger,” Raza told ESPNcricnfo. “After the incident, there are two ways to look at it. One way is that the incident happened close to the ground. The other way to look at it is that the security forces managed to stop that guy from getting in. So, security did work.”Raza admitted that there was a “moment of fear” following the blast as security personnel assessed the situation. “There was a moment of fear, but once we realised that everyone was safe and nobody was hurt or dead, I think it brought us to our feet again,” he said. “The game stopped and we tried to find out what exactly had happened. We managed to find out that the security forces had done their job and the man was stopped. The sound itself was pretty loud and there was a moment of fear. But we got out of it pretty quickly and that’s why we went out and played the game.”Cricket is the most popular sport in a country that has been war-torn for decades. According to Raza, the Shpageeza League had “houseful” crowds for every match. “I just hope the tournament can finish smoothly now and we are hoping such incidents don’t happen again because all lives matter and are worth the same. From the cricketers’ point of view, we certainly don’t want anyone to lose their lives for us.”

An update has emerged on Celtic and their transfer plans for the remainder of the summer window as they prepare for the 2023/24 campaign…

What's the latest Celtic transfer news?

According to Turkish reporter Ahmet Konanç, the Hoops remain active in the race to sign Dinamo Zagreb goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic as Brendan Rodgers eyes a swoop for the World Cup sensation.

He has claimed that the Scottish giants are competing with Fenerbahce to secure the 28-year-old titan's signature, whilst the Super Lig side are now in contact with Paris Saint-Germain's Keylor Navas as an alternative option.

This comes as a twist to the tale as Fabrizio Romano reported on the 16th of July that a €9m (£7.7m) deal had been agreed between the Turkish team and Dinamo.

They have failed to get that move over the line in the subsequent ten days and Celtic are seemingly now interested in an attempt to usurp Fenerbahce before the deadline.

How good is Dominik Livakovic?

The 6 foot 2 colossus enjoyed a terrific 2022/23 campaign for club and country and his performances suggest that he would be far better for the Hoops than current no.1 Joe Hart.

For the Croatian giants, Livakovic averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.93 across 35 SuperSport HNL matches. He saved 74% of the shots on his goal and did not make a single error leading to a shot or goal for the opposition in that time.

The 6 foot 2 shot-stopper also caught the eye with his performances in Europe. An average Sofascore rating of 6.98 in six Champions League games placed him third within his club's squad.

However, his heroics at the 2022 World Cup for Croatia were arguably the most impressive part of his season.

He averaged an excellent Sofascore rating of 7.33 across seven appearances at the tournament, in which time he saved 78% of the shots against him and did not make a single blunder leading to an opposition shot or goal.

Livakovic also saved a penalty from Real Madrid's Rodrygo in a shootout to help his country knock Brazil out of the competition, which came after teammate Luka Modric hailed him as "miraculous" for his three shootout stops against Japan in the previous round.

Hart, on the other hand, struggled at times for Celtic.

He averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.77 across 37 Scottish Premiership outings and saved 65% of the shots on his goal to go along with four direct mistakes leading to shots by the other team.

The former England international also endured a dismal Champions League campaign with an average Sofascore rating of 6.23, which placed him bottom of the 22-man squad. During those six matches, the ex-Manchester City saved just 52% of the efforts on target and made one error directly leading to an opposition goal.

These statistics indicate that the Dinamo star would arrive as a far better option than Hart for Rodgers based on their form for their respective club, and country in the Croatian gem's case, last season.

Livakovic has showcased his ability to perform consistently at a considerably more impressive level by saving a higher percentage of the shots against him and being less of a liability between the sticks when it comes to making mistakes.