Insider hints at Spurs naming rights boost

Speaking to Football Insider, Tottenham insider John Wenham – who regularly breaks news on his Lilywhites Rose social media channels – has hinted at a possible stadium naming rights boost amid ‘huge news’.

The Lowdown: Chelsea greenlight sale…

There have been numerous dramatic developments across London at Stamford Bridge over the last week after Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK government on Thursday.

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The Russian oligarch duly had his assets frozen, putting the sale of Tottenham’s rivals briefly on hold before Chelsea were once again permitted to find a buyer.

In the last 48 hours, despite the aforementioned sanctions, Abramovich has now given his approval for the sale of Chelsea to go ahead, with Sports Keeda journalist and verified Twitter personality Sripad describing it as ‘huge news’.

Amid this major development, Wenham has claimed that the auction of the west London club could inadvertently lead to Spurs sealing a stadium naming rights agreement.

The Latest: Wenham hints at potential Spurs boost…

Speaking to Football Insider, the insider said that consortiums who fail in their attempt to buy Chelsea could turn to agreeing a naming rights deal with Tottenham as a way of investing into the Premier League.

He explained: “There are all these consortiums trying to buy Chelsea. I’m not saying Tottenham could be taken over but there are a lot of investors looking to invest in English football.

“Someone who is interested but ultimately fails to buy Chelsea might come up with the idea to sponsor the stadium.

“That is another good way to invest in English football and it could be done through a consortium or a subsidiary company.

“If you want to do something football-based in London, that is a great option. Tottenham are a very big club with global recognition, just like Chelsea.”

The Verdict: Top priority for Levy…

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has been on the search for a £25m-per-year agreement for the club’s stadium since it opened in 2019. Talks have been held with various blue-chip companies, including links with Amazon and Nike, but Tottenham still haven’t been able to find a buyer.

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News emerged last week that Spurs reportedly held £500m discussions with an unnamed company over a 20-year agreement, with no update yet on whether those negotiations led to anything more advanced.

As the club aim to alleviate some of their mounting debt, Spurs will need all the help they can get, and supporters may well be hoping that a consortium could turn to investing in the stadium as an alternative to buying Chelsea.

In other news: Tottenham make pre-summer move as they chase ‘massive’ signing for Conte, find out more here

PCB rules out switching Australia tour

The forthcoming series between Pakistan and Australia will not be played at a neutral venue or in Australia as a last resort, the Pakistan board has reiterated., quoting an unnamed official, recently reported that the PCB would consider shifting the series – to be held in March-April 2008 – to Australia in a “worst-case scenario” in which conditions in Pakistan were not conducive to hosting the series. But Nasim Ashraf, chairman PCB, denied the report, stressing that the series will be played, as scheduled, in Pakistan.”The PCB has only one position on this series,” Ashraf told reporters in Hyderabad. “Australia will play in Pakistan as per their commitment in March-April 2008. There is no question of it being played at a neutral venue or swapping venues and playing in Australia at this time.”We have a visit to Australia at the end of 2009 and we will fulfill that as well. But the current series against Zimbabwe has shown that cricket is not affected by such things.”Pakistan has been rocked by a particularly turbulent year of political unrest and violence, which culminated with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, at the end of December last year. General elections were due to be held in the country on January 8, but have now been postponed to February 18.Several Australian players have voiced their concerns about touring Pakistan, but Cricket Australia’s stance on the issue has always been firm: any final decision on the tour will be made after a security delegation has assessed the on-ground situation in Pakistan. The visit is expected to take place soon after elections.”They are coming and the tour is on as far as we know,” said Ashraf. “We have given every assurance to the Australian High Commission. I am surprised but those statements [in the Australian press] were not made by any PCB official.”

Bracewell tips Sri Lanka

John Bracewell says Sri Lanka have “greater flexibility across the board for these conditions” © Getty Images

John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach, believes the conditions in the West Indies have pushed Sri Lanka towards World Cup favouritism. Bracewell made the assessment after watching his side lose to Bangladesh on a turning surface in Barbados on Tuesday and he will have another opportunity to gauge Tom Moody’s squad in New Zealand’s final warm-up on Friday.”Sri Lanka, given those conditions we played on [against Bangladesh], have probably shifted as one of the tournament favourites,” Bracewell told NZPA. “They have greater flexibility across the board for these conditions in terms of their spin, their part-time bowlers and their up-front swingers. They have the tools available and we need to adapt to that very quickly.”Bracewell said the two-wicket defeat to Bangladesh – it was the first time New Zealand had been beaten by them – could be the “best thing or the worst thing to happen to us”. “It’s a wake-up call, getting used to the conditions and respecting opposition we’re going to come across in pool play,” he said. “These are teams you’re expected to beat, but if you’re complacent and not quite ready then on these sorts of wickets they can kick you in the butt.”

McCullum blasts Canterbury to Twenty20 title

Brendon McCullum’s pyrotechnics sealed Canterbury’s victory in the Twenty20 final © Getty Images

Brendon McCullum smashed 62 from 22 deliveries to propel Canterbury to a six-wicket win over Auckland in the inaugural Twenty20 final at Eden Park’s Outer Oval.Chasing 180, McCullum went hammer-and-tongs at the Auckland bowling attack, smashing six sixes and four fours in an opening stand of 80 with Nathan Astle. Swinging the bat at almost every delivery faced in a 25-minute stay at the crease, McCullum effectively signalled the outcome of the match – Canterbury’s fifty came up in 13 minutes and 17 deliveries – by the time he holed out to Mayu Pasupati off Paul Hitchcock.Astle, reserved in comparison to McCullum, hit 74 from 52 deliveries with 11 fours and two sixes before being run out by New Zealand team-mate Lou Vincent with victory just 2 runs away.After being inserted by Chris Harris, the Canterbury captain, Auckland’s total of 179 for 7 was centred around Scott Styris’s 62 from 32 balls, complete with five sixes and four fours. Vincent and Hitchcock also contributed with 37 and 36 respectively. Chris Cairns, who recently announced his retirement from international cricket, picked up 2 for 31 from four overs..

Fastest Indian to 3000 runs

  • When he reached 160, Virender Sehwag became the 16th Indian to get to 3000 Test runs. He achieved the landmark in his 34th Test, and while Sunil Gavaskar took the same number of Tests, he played 11 more innings than Sehwag. In fact, Sehwag is easily the fastest, in terms of innings, to reach the milestone. Mohammad Azharuddin, who’s in second place, took 64 innings.
    Quickest to 3000Tests/InngsAve100s/ 50s
    Sehwag34/ 5556.3110/ 9
    Azharuddin43/ 6450.0010/ 10
    Gavaskar34/ 6650.0012/ 14
    Dravid39/ 6749.187/ 16
    Tendulkar45/ 6750.8510/ 15
  • This innings also took Sehwag’s first-innings average to a monumental 75.12. Among batsmen with at least 1500 Test runs, Sehwag’s average is second only to Don Bradman’s.
    First-innings performersRunsAve1st inng 100s/ total 100s
    Bradman469797.8519/28
    Sehwag 2554 75.12 10/10
    Weekes 342971.4414/15
    Barrington506965.8317/20
    Hutton490565.4017/19
  • Sehwag’s 201 was his 10th Test hundred, in his 34th match – that’s a rate of a century every 3.4 games. Among batsmen with at least ten hundreds, Sehwag is in seventh place. Don Bradman is well ahead of the pack, while George Headley and Clyde Walcott are the only others with a ratio of less than three games per century.
    Best Test/ 100 ratioTests100sRatio
    Bradman52291.79
    Headley22102.2
    Walcott44152.93
    Weekes48153.20
    Hayden66203.30
    Sutcliffe54163.38
    Sehwag34103.4
    Sobers93263.58
    Tendulkar122343.59
    Greg Chappell87243.63

  • Jaya Sharma cracks 96 as India record nine wicket win

    India 211 for 1 (Sharma 96*, Jain 58) beat New Zealand 207 for 7 by 9 wickets
    ScorecardJaya Sharma played a stellar role, for the second time in as many matches, as the Indian Women romped home to a facile nine wicket victory against New Zealand in the second one-dayer at Aurangabad. After the bowlers had done an excellent job of restricting the visitors to only 207, the Indians lost only one wicket as they finished the job with more than two overs to spare.The story was similar to the first one-dayer in Mumbai, that India won, as New Zealand were kept on a tight leash from the beginning. The Indian spinners came to the fore and teased the batsmen all day with Nooshin Al Khadeer finishing up as the most successful bowler with two wickets. Amita Sharma, Deepa Kulkarni and Neetu David also bowled a nagging line and dried up the runs to a great extent.Maia Lewis (47), the captain, Haidee Tiffen (44) and Kate Pulford (37) chipped in with useful contributions but the runs came at a crawl and New Zealand lost their way in the middle-overs. In the end, Lewis’s knock took them past two hundred and gave them some chance.The Indian openers kept abreast with the run-rate and never found themselves in any trouble. Sharma cracked 11 fours in her fine innings and Anju Jain proved an ideal foil. Jain, unhurried throughout he stay, fell shortly after making her fifty, but that was when the fun began. Mihali Raj unveiled some classical shots as a flurry of boundaries were executed. She raced to 38 of just 34 balls and finished the match with a flourish as India took a 2-0 lead in the five match series.

    Advance of coloured players delights Ackerman

    One of the most satisfying aspects of South Africa’s reaching the final of the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Christchurch, New Zealand to coach Hylton Ackerman was the contribution of the eight players of colour in his side.Compared to when South Africa returned to international cricket in 1992 the differences were immense.”To have eight players of colour is a huge difference to what it was,” he said.Those players also made an immense contribution to the side and Ackerman referred to team captain Hashim Amla as his “Graeme Pollock”.He could also reflect on an outstanding innings today by wicket-keeper Zwelibanzi Homani whose half century got the side over 200 runs in the final.But it was the run outs of his two best players of spin bowling Amla and David Jacobs that crippled South Africa in the final.”Three weeks ago I said to the players imagine if they ran out Graeme Pollock in front of 30,000 people at a ground in South Africa, which side of the ground would they leave from, and my Pollock ran himself out today,” he said.”But the Australians deserved to win, for the way they played the entire tournament. And I think it was great that they played four spinners in a one-day team.”Their captain Cameron White was also outstanding. With all respects to my own captain, he was yards ahead of anyone else here. And their left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty really impressed me.”We may have lost the final but the learning process for our team here has been unbelievable.”

    UP batsmen struggle on opening day

    It was largely a struggle for the Uttar Pradesh batsmen on the opening day of their Central Zone Ranji Trophy match against Rajasthan at the KL Saini stadium in Jaipur on Monday. Winning the toss and electing to bat, UP took 94 overs to score 196 for six at stumps.Medium pacer Shamsher Singh wrecked the top order by prising out Manoj Mudgal (6), Rohit Prakash (for a first ball duck) and Rizwan Shamshad (10) with only 25 runs on the board. A fourth wicket partnership of 61 runs off 31 overs between Jyoti Yadav (34) and skipper Gyanendra Pandey (40) helped UP to stage a recovery of sorts. Both batsmen however fell in quick succession but a sixth wicket stand of 68 runs off 26.4 overs between Mohd Saif (52 not out) and Parvinder Singh Singh (28) boosted the UP total somewhat. At close Saif and AW Zaidi (17) were at the crease. Saif has so far batted three hours, faced 162 balls and hit three fours. Shamsher Singh, who caused all the early damage, finished the day with the splendid figures of 12-9-9-3.

    Tyler Roberts out for the season

    Tyler Roberts won’t play again for Leeds United this season because of a serious hamstring injury, as per The Athletic’s Phil Hay.

    The Lowdown: Roberts injured at Leicester

    The Welshman picked up the knock in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat away to Leicester City in the Premier League, having only come on as the third and final substitute, meaning he continued playing while clearly badly hampered.

    It was a result that left Leeds further in the relegation mire, as Jesse Marsch lost his first match in charge after replacing Marcelo Bielsa as manager.

    The hope was of course that Roberts would only be out for a number of weeks but a fresh update is far worse than that.

    [freshpress-quiz id=“383507″]

    The Latest: Hay confirms bad news

    Taking to Twitter on Monday night, Hay confirmed that the attacking midfielder isn’t expected to play again this season:

    “Looks like Tyler Roberts’ season is over. Has undergone surgery on the hamstring injury he suffered at Leicester. Three-month recovery period.”

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    The Verdict: Another blow for Marsch

    While Roberts isn’t as vital as fellow absent teammates such as Liam Cooper, Kalvin Phillips and Patrick Bamford, this is still undoubtedly another big injury blow due to the impact on the depth at Marsch’s disposal.

    Fitness issues have played a big part in Leeds’ struggles this season, with important figures unavailable too often and it clearly taking its toll on results, with fatigue and inconsistency often prevalent amongst overworked players.

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    Roberts has come off the bench 16 times in the top flight this term, so Marsch will now be without one of Bielsa’s first options when a change is needed for the remainder of the season.

    For Roberts, it could even be that he has played his game for Leeds, with reports linking him with an exit in the past and Marsch likely to bring in his own attacking signings this summer, such as Brenden Aaronson.

    In other news, Leeds have been backed to sign one British player this summer. Find out who it is here.

    Moyo misses qualifiers for Zimbabwe

    Siphatisiwe Moyo, the Zimbabwe allrounder, has pulled out of next week’s Women’s World Cup qualifier in South Africa with appendicitis.Moyo, 22, learnt of her condition in December and is to undergo surgery in South Africa.The qualifying series was originally due to be held in Pakistan in November last year but was moved to South Africa, following the political upheaval which ensued after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

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