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Michael Klinger led a much improved batting performance from Gloucestershire on day three at Bristol but his die still face a daunting task to salvage a draw with Surrey.

Press Association 11-Jun-2014
ScorecardMichael Klinger made a century for the second consecutive match•Getty ImagesMichael Klinger led a much improved batting performance from Gloucestershire on day three at Bristol but his die still face a daunting task to salvage a draw with Surrey.Klinger made 120, his second century in as many Championship matches, and Ian Cockbain was closing on 50 but, still 240 behind, the hosts will have to bat the whole final day to avoiddefeat.After falling to 17 for 4 within 10 overs of winning the toss on day one, it was vital Gloucestershire made a better start this time around. An opening stand of 60 between Dan Housego and Klinger was just the ticket, the former setting the wheels in motion with a boundary off Matt Dunn’s third balland Klinger following suit in the young seamer’s next over.Twenty runs came from the first five overs and the half-century came up with Klinger taking Dunn for three boundaries in succession and four in an over.The expensive Dunn exacted a measure of revenge on the batsmen when he had Housego, on 27, caught by Zafar Ansari and Surrey grabbed a second wicket before lunch, Alex Gidman making 10 before falling lbw to Gareth Batty.Klinger was one run short of his half-century at the interval, with his team on 98 for 2, and a single after the interval off Batty took him to 50 from 88 balls. He found a willing partner in Hamish Marshall in a stand of 42 before the New Zealander was also trapped in front by Batty for 27.As Cockbain established himself at the crease, Klinger continued to make solid progress and he moved into the nineties by hitting Batty for six. He added his 13th four, off Jade Dernbach, to move to a 183-ball century shortly before tea.He added another six off Batty but, having hit Jason Roy for two successive fours, he was dismissed by the part-timer as Hashim Amla took the catch at slip. Klinger batted for almost four and a half hours and faced 229 balls.Geraint Jones also occupied the crease well, lasting more than an hour for 13 from 47 balls before falling lbw to Dernbach, and it was left to nightwatchman Tom Smith to bat out the session alongside Cockbain, who will resume needing two runs to complete a fine half-century.

Sahara India – owner of the Pune Warriors franchise – have pulled out of the IPL

ESPNcricinfo staff21-May-2013Sahara India, owners of the Pune Warriors franchise, have pulled out of the IPL over financial differences with the BCCI stemming from the valuation of the annual franchise fee it has to pay. The decision, the latest crisis to hit the IPL, comes three years after it bought the Pune franchise for $370 million – the highest price paid for any of the IPL franchises.It seems the immediate cause was the BCCI’s decision to cash the bank guarantee from Sahara that that it was obliged, under its contract, to furnish at the start of each season. The guarantee is equivalent to the amount to be paid annually to the BCCI and can be cashed in case a franchise fails to honour its commitments.In this case, Sahara had furnished a bank guarantee worth Rs 170.2 crore (approximately $30 million). Since the deadline for paying the franchise fees was May 2, the BCCI waited till Sahara’s IPL 6 commitments were over and cashed the guarantee on May 20.Reacting to the development, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla said the board cashed the bank guarantee according to the rules. “Yes, it (Pune Warriors) has pulled out. As per the rules and procedure of the BCCI if a franchise fails to pay the fee then we cash the franchise’s bank guarantee. We are extremely sad by their decision to pull out. This should not have happened,” Shukla said.Pune Warriors finished eighth in the current IPL season, winning four out of their 16 matches.Franchises’ troubled history

Deccan Chargers – Terminated on September 14, 2012 due to financial problems as the owners were unable to service their debt obligations to lenders, eventually leading to its attempted sale and dissolution.

Pune Warriors – Owners Sahara India had cut its ties with the BCCI on February 4, 2012, withdrawing sponsorship from the Indian team and ownership of the franchise. However, the two patched up later, ending the dispute by issuing a joint statement.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala – Terminated on September 19, 2011 for breaching the terms of agreement – their inability to furnish a new bank guarantee for 2011.

This is the second time Sahara have pulled out of the IPL; they quit on the day of the 2012 auction and withdrew from sponsorship of the Indian team.This time, though, Sahara will continue its sponsorship of the Indian team until the end of December 2013, when their present contract expires. “We share an excellent relationship with the players and will not want such dedicated and good human beings who serve the country so committed to get harmed financially due to unsporting attitude of BCCI. So we have given time to BCCI to get the new sponsorship in place from January 2014.”Sahara’s actual franchise fee has been a contentious issue ever since they bought the Pune franchise for Rs 1702 crore ($370 million) in March 2010. Sahara had been demanding that the franchise fee from their original agreement should be recalculated since the minimum matches per year have been reduced to 14 from the 18 promised to them.In a lengthy statement, Sahara detailed its dispute with the BCCI over franchise fees. It said it was “disgusted” by the BCCI’s attitude towards it and would not rejoin the league even if the entire franchise fee was waived.”In 2010, Sahara had bid Rs 1700 crore for the IPL franchise on the basis of revenue calculation on 94 matches. But we got 64 matches only,” it added.”We and the Kochi team [also bought at the 2010 auction] immediately protested and requested the BCCI to reduce the bid price proportionately for viable IPL proposition. Nothing was heard. We waited with confidence that such a sports body should have sportsmanship spirit,” it said.

Following Colombia's triumph against Brazil, Liverpool teammates Luis Diaz and Alisson exchanged an impassioned hug that left fans in awe.

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Diaz scores twice against BrazilColombia beat Brazil 2-1Diaz and Alisson embrace post matchGettyWHAT HAPPENED?

Late in the second half, Diaz scored twice in four minutes to help his country win 2-1 against Brazil in a World Cup qualifying match. Given the circumstances surrounding his father's abduction, Diaz's moving performance had even more emotional resonance. It was only during the international break that Luis Manuel Diaz and his son were reunited following his 12-day detention by the rebel organisation ELN in Colombia last week. Following the final whistle, Diaz was spotted embracing Alisson, his teammate at Liverpool and the Brazil goalie for the evening.

AdvertisementWHAT DIAZ SAID

Diaz singled out Alisson's support towards him during the ordeal: "He’s a great human being. I really respect him. He was very happy for me because he knew what we all went through. He gave me all the support I could’ve asked for."

GettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Colombia won their first match against Brazil in eight years thanks to two goals from Diaz, which also moved them up to third in the South American qualification standings. Brazil is now in fifth place in the competition after losing twice in a row.

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RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP via Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR DIAZ AND ALISSON?

The Brazil keeper will next be in action when his country takes on their rivals Argentina, while Diaz will participate in Colombia's clash against Paraguay.

Only 30 miles down the road from England’s debacle at Lord’s, life at Tunbridge Wells chugged along much as always

Andrew Miller at Tunbridge Wells20-Jul-2015
ScorecardRob Key was one of five Kent batsmen to pass fifty•Getty ImagesRavi, Jesse, Hoddy and Napes. As rampant seam attacks go, it’s not really a patch on Josh and the Three Mitches. But, for most of the patrons at the Nevill Ground in Tunbridge Wells, that was a somnambulantly pleasing fact.Thirty miles and several light-years from the scene of yesterday’s crime at Lord’s, life went on as normal in Kent’s most idyllic of outgrounds. Kent churned out the runs, 352 of them on the day, for the loss of four wickets. Essex stuck wilfully to their task, outplayed on the day maybe, but proving positively incisive compared to the horrors being endured by Sussex’s and Glamorgan’s bowlers at Horsham and Colwyn Bay.Fourth versus eighth in the second division of the LV= County Championship brought with it an excuse not to be drawn to the edge of one’s seat, or chew one’s nails to the quick. Instead it was an excuse to sit back and soak in, as Kent closed on an imposing 420 for 4, a lead of 160 leaving them well placed to exact revenge for their five-wicket defeat on a Chelmsford minefield in April.The spectators who bimbled around the boundary’s edge included plenty refugees from England’s Ashes debacle: horrified survivors of that grim fourth day, as well as mildly bewildered holders of those now-redundant fifth-day tickets, all booked up but with nowhere to go.In between their perusals of the second-hand bookstall at midwicket, or their chats with Jack Russell – the Gloucestershire and England legend was incongruously in situ, selling signed copies of his painting compilations – the faithful were rewarded with a meandering day of accumulation.None of Kent’s batsmen made fewer than Sam Northeast’s 43, but Daniel Bell-Drummond’s 81 from 71 balls – 46 of which had come in his first-evening onslaught – remained the clubhouse-leading score by the close.His aggression and timing was matched, in the gloaming, by the evergreen Darren Stevens, who enlived the evening session with 11 fours and a fierce six over midwicket off David Masters, as he and Ben Harmison laid into the new ball to carry the total past 400 in an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 117.In between whiles, Kent’s batsmen took turns to drive the innings along without ever seizing the day by the scruff of the neck. Bell-Drummond looked the likeliest to do so, but with the third ball of his second spell, Ryder bowled him off a big inside-edge, his deceptively lolloping run-up giving way to a command of swing and seam that has now earned him 34 wickets at 23.76.Rob Key, restored to the opener’s role that he had relinquished during his last stint as captain, made a confident 71 – a lower-octane affair than his 87 against the Australians at Canterbury last month, maybe, after which he had joked that he wasn’t paid enough to face Mitchell Johnson at full tilt, but one which ended amid the threat of unexpected bounce. Graham Napier kicked one off a good length and Key, visibly taken aback, flapped an uncommitted pull to a stooping Nick Browne at square leg.That ought to have been Napier’s second of the day after Joe Denly had been dropped by Ryder at slip before he had scored. But he was quickly into his stride thereafter, clipping Napier through midwicket to get off the mark, and moving serenely along to 69 from 121 balls before Ravi Patel, the left-arm spinner, bowled him through a loose drive.Northeast, by that stage, had lost his leg stump to Jamie Porter, Essex’s quickest bowler whose methods were less suited to the conditions than those of his team-mates – his 18 overs were milked for 105 runs, including a loose morning spell in which Key and Bell-Drummond had picked off the boundaries at will.”I always enjoy playing at Tunbridge Wells, it’s always a decent wicket and enjoyed spending some time out there today,” said Denly at the close. “It’d be good to get one over Essex, and we are in a very strong position. Hopefully tomorrow we can kick on again, get a good lead and hopefully put them under some pressure.”It was very slow wicket,” he added. “Early on, Keysy and Deebs [Bell-Drummond] played very well with the newer harder ball, but when it got softer it was pretty hard to score and time, and my innings was a little bit scratchy. But at the end when the new ball was taken, Stevo and Ben were able to score a bit more freely and put us in a good position.”

Delhi came out of their Ranji Trophy match against Tamil Nadu with first-innings points that were hard-earned and well-deserved

Sharda Ugra at Feroz Shah Kotla27-Nov-2012
ScorecardKB Arun Karthik struck a century on the final day to secure a draw for Tamil Nadu•ESPNcricinfo LtdDelhi came out of their Ranji Trophy match against Tamil Nadu with first-innings points that were hard-earned and well-deserved; of the two teams at the Kotla, Delhi were more purposeful and intense.Tamil Nadu spent the final day of the game following-on and holding out for a draw. They ensured there were no more dramas after they had been dismissed for 224 on Monday in reply to Delhi’s first-innings score of 555. Led by their opener, K B Arun Karthik, who scored his first Ranji century of the season, Tamil Nadu ended the day at 220 for 2 in 77 overs. Karthik was not out on 121 after a little over five hours of resolute but aggressive batting. It was a performance that Tamil Nadu could have done with 24 hours earlier.Karthik, who, in the company of Abhinav Mukund and Murali Vijay, is the least known of the Tamil Nadu triumvirate of openers and began his competitive career in Sri Lanka, held off a sustained first-session burst of seam and swing from Delhi’s attack, well aware that once the morning session was past, he could cash in. Five minutes before lunch, though, Abhinav Mukund drove uppishly against left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra to Rajat Bhatia at mid-off; on the other side of the break Tamil Nadu lost the wicket of Baba Aparajith to wobble a little at 117-2, but the calming presence of S Badrinath was quick to put an end to Delhi’s dreams of an outright win.With Badrinath striking the ball from the middle of his bat, Delhi accepted the sign that there was little point in their quick bowlers being forced to run in all afternoon. Karthik began facing the second rung of Delhi’s bowling, once he had held off Bhatia. As he neared a century, he was given an entire bowling sweet-shop to tuck to; first from Unmukt Chand and then even more delicious offerings in a few Vaibhav Rawal full tosses. He smacked Rawal twice towards the midwicket boundary with a bat-swing that would have made baseball legend Babe Ruth proud and leapt from his nineties to his fifth first-class century.Play was called off 30 minutes after tea at the start of the mandatory overs. Delhi captain Shikhar Dhawan said there were no regrets in his dressing room about having to field for two days running. “We had to give ourselves the chance to get seven points, plus we wanted our bowlers to have bowl in a second innings here; if we get into the quarters, this would have been a good experience for them.”Delhi have picked up three points from this game and Tamil Nadu just one; at the halfway stage for both teams, Delhi with 11 points from four games, are third behind surprise leaders Odisha and Baroda who have 13. Tamil Nadu have slipped to fifth with nine points from four games, UP on fourth with 10 points from three. Delhi now play three of their next four games away from home. Coach Vijay Dahiya believes if Delhi can get two outright wins from their next four games, they will have a “80 to 90 percent chance” of qualifying for the quarters.From December 1 to 4, Delhi will play Haryana in Lahli while Tamil Nadu travel to Vidarbha.

Dayyaan Galiem, the South Africa Under-19s right-arm seamer, will miss the ongoing World Cup in the UAE due to a recurring knee injury

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Feb-2014Dayyaan Galiem, the South Africa Under-19s right-arm seamer, will miss the ongoing World Cup in the UAE due to a recurring knee injury. He has been replaced by the offspinner Bradley Dial, who played the opening warm-up game against Namibia U-19s in Abu Dhabi on Monday.Galiem, 17, had earlier toured with the U-19 side for the quadrangular series in Visakhapatnam last year. Dial, 18, has played nine U-19 one-dayers for South Africa, taking six wickets.”Playing in a ICC event like the U-19 World Cup is an even greater experience for any young cricketer in South Africa,” CSA general manager of cricket Corrie van Zyl said. “This experience has been taken away from Dayyaan Galiem, a very talented cricketer and an allrounder that the SA U-19 team would have benefited from.”But life tends to throw us these curve balls and we feel for the Galiem family as he had to be withdrawn from the tournament due to an injury. I spoke to Galiem on the morning after the team was announced and he has put the disappointment behind him, will support the team and will be back to compete again.”Obviously this disappointment has proved to be the opportunity for Bradley Dial, who will now look to take this break and turn it into gold for the Coca-Cola SA U-19 team.”South Africa play their second and final warm-up game against India in Dubai on Wednesday.

After Sri Lanka won their second close match of the Asia Cup, their captain Angelo Mathews said they had grabbed the important moments

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Feb-20140:00

Mathews hails match-winner Sangakkara

Sri Lanka have won their first two matches of the Asia Cup, beating their two strongest opponents, Pakistan and India. Both were close matches, and Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka’s captain, said they had won because they had grabbed the important moments.”We’ve been winning those close games,” Mathews said. “Once again it was a nervous game but we do those little things right. But we need to play better cricket against stronger teams. Today also I think we could have won it a bit easier than what it was in the end because the middle order collapsed.”Angelo Mathews said Ajantha Mendis and the rest of Sri Lanka’s spinners would have posed a threat even if they had bowled second•AFPMathews said Kumar Sangakkara’s 84-ball 103, the fastest century of his career, which came on a slow pitch that other batsmen from both sides had struggled to score quickly on, was one of the best innings he had seen.”He’s a true champion,” Mathews said. “Has done it for the past so many years. Once again when the team needed, he delivered. It was a treat to watch him bat and it was one of the best innings I have seen in the recent past and most importantly he got us through. I am really happy with the way he batted.”Sri Lanka had picked three spinners for this match, and it helped the team that they won the toss and avoided bowling when the dew came into play. Asked about this, Mathews said Sri Lanka had the resources to win even if they had batted first.”We were geared up for both batting or bowling first,” he said. “But we wanted to chase as the dew comes in to play. Wicket was slow so we played [Ajantha] Mendis in place of [Suranga] Lakmal. Had we lost the toss India would have bowled first as well. Bowling second is not tricky because it turned with Jadeja and Ashwin as well. So it was tricky for our batsmen as well. We have the allrounders too with Sachithra at eight and Mendis at nine. We have the batting depth so we were up for the challenge if we had to bat first as well.”

A solid top-order batting, led by half-centuries from Aaron Finch and Callum Ferguson, and an all-round bowling effort led Australia A to series-clinching win, by 113 runs, against England Lions in Hobart

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2013
ScorecardA solid top-order batting, led by half-centuries from Aaron Finch and Callum Ferguson, and an all-round bowling effort led Australia A to a series-clinching, 113-run win against England Lions in Hobart.After being put in to bat, Australia A openers, Peter Handscomb and Finch, put on 66 runs to give them a positive start. Two wickets fell quickly, then, before Ferguson added 82 runs for the fourth wicket with Rohrer, and 51 runs with wicketkeeper Tim Paine, pushing the score beyond 250. For the Lions, Simon Kerrigan was the most productive bowler, taking 2 for 27 off his ten overs.In reply, the Lions were two down for 27 in the ninth over. Their captain James Taylor kept them in the hunt with a 67-run stand with Gary Ballance, but a collapse ensued after Ballance was out in the 23rd over. Seamer Alister McDermott took three wickets and spinner Cameron Boyce took a couple, to leave the Lions struggling at 112 for 8 in the 31st over.Taylor, however, remained unbeaten for 78, as his team were bowled out for 143.

GOAL asked the AI to choose the best United States Women's national team XI of all-time – from Abby Wambach to Joy Fawcett, here's the results!

Have you ever thought of picking the all-time best XI for the USWNT? Well, ChatGPT is here to help! GOAL asked the artificial intelligence chatbot that the world is talking about to come up with a combined XI featuring the greatest players to have ever played for the U.S. Women's national team.

Did the AI chatbot include your favorites?

Let's start with the query we put to ChatGPT. We asked, to begin with: "Which eleven players would ChatGPT select for the best all-time women's United States national team for soccer?" We also asked the AI to select the manager that would take charge of the best XI.

Check out the full ChatGPT XI below and let us know what you think in the comments section!

Getty ImagesHope Solo – Goalkeeper

USWNT career: 2000-2016

Total USWNT caps: 202

AdvertisementGetty ImagesJoy Fawcett – Defender

USWNT career: 1987-2004

Total USWNT caps: 241

Total USWNT goals:27

Getty ImagesBrandi Chastain – Defender

USWNT career: 1988-2004

Total USWNT caps: 192

Total USWNT goals:30

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Getty ImagesChristie Pearce Rampone – Defender

USWNT career: 1997-2015

Total USWNT caps: 311

Total USWNT goals:4

Rahul Dravid believes “people in Bangladesh deserve a bit more from their cricketers” as they approach the World Cup in a few days time. Dravid was speaking on Contenders, ESPNcricinfo’s build-up programme for the upcoming World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Feb-2015Rahul Dravid believes “people in Bangladesh deserve a bit more from their cricketers” as they approach the World Cup in a few days time. Dravid was speaking on Contenders, ESPNcricinfo’s build-up programme for the upcoming World Cup. Dravid’s co-panelist on the show Graeme Smith, while reflecting on Zimbabwe’s troubles leading to the tournament, said poor administration “had really cost” the team.Bangladesh have pulled off a couple of memorable upsets at World Cups , shocking Pakistan in 1999 and then India in 2007. However, they have failed to consistently challenge top teams and Dravid has said that has led to very few “positive stories” for their fans.”Sure they had the odd upset. Losing to Bangladesh in the 2007 world cup cost us deeply,” he said. “You thought that from 2007 they would grow and become a more consistent team, it just doesn’t seem to happen and it’s been a long time since 2007. We are talking eight years later and still there aren’t enough wins against the top-eight sides. For Bangladesh, they need to have more wins and more confidence in their own cricket and players.”Smith agreed with Dravid saying the “passion” for the game in Bangladesh deserves better results from their team. “They’ve got a few left-arm spinners, their batters are hit and miss,” Smith said. “There’s no consistency in their cricket and there has been no development in terms of ‘oh, there’s a fast bowler coming through’ or ‘oh, that batsman really has potential’. They always stay the same, and you wonder if it’s coaching or the way they think about the game or what they’re exposed to in terms of growth.”Zimbabwe too have had their share of memorable performances in World Cups, beating England in 1992 and India in 1999. However, in recent years, they have made more headlines for administrative problems than results on the field. “They have had a lot of challenges over finances, managing finances, a lot of players haven’t been paid.” Smith said. “They had a walk out where a lot of quality players just walked away from Zimbabwe cricket. They’ve had unique challenges but a lot of these players have hung on and stuck through it.”Dravid was part of the Indian team that was beaten by Zimbabwe at the 1999 World cup and said it was a “pity” that they had been unable to maximise on the small resources at their command. “When you see the quality of players that have come out of Zimbabwe, you’d think that by now they’d really be growing from strength to strength,” he said. “It’s just not developed from there. You felt at some point in 2000 or 2001 that Zimbabwe is going to become a force. It’s actually regressed to a level where they’re struggling.”