While one senior player returned to the national squad, another made an exit when India’s squad for the women’s Asia Cup was announced today. Neetu David, who had retired from international cricket in 2006, was included in the 15-member squad after she decided to reverse her decision one and half months back. Meanwhile Anjum Chopra, who won India’s highest sporting achievement award last year, was dropped in favour of younger players.”I had retired for personal reasons,” David told Cricinfo. “But many people told me that I should return to play, that I was needed by the team. I thought as well that I still had enough cricket left in me, so I am back.”David’s inclusion means Priti Dimri, the left-arm spinner who David had stepped aside for two years ago, has been left out. But young legspinner Thirush Kamini has been retained in the squad while offspinner Nooshin Al Khadeer has been replaced by debutant Seema Pujare.Other newcomers include Under-21s Priyanka Roy, Snehal Pradhan, Gouher Sultana and Anagha Deshpande. Asha Rawat returns to the side after last playing in England in 2006.The Asia Cup includes four teams – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh – this year and will be hosted by Sri Lanka.India squad: Mithali Raj (capt), Jhulan Goswami, Jaya Sharma, Karuna Jain (wk), Amita Sharma, Devika Palshikar, Rumeli Dhar, Thirush Kamini, Neetu David, Seema Pujare, Snehal Pradhan, Gouher Sultana, Anagha Deshpande, Asha Rawat, Priyanka Roy.
As the Indian Premier League enters its second half, the matches hold more importance for the teams in the bottom half of the points table. The Rajasthan Royals are at the top of the league, and know that another couple of wins will virtually cement a semi-final berth. Delhi, on the other hand, are fourth and a defeat in Jaipur will give Kolkata and Mumbai a chance to draw level with them.Shane Warne’s men haven’t lost a game at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, winning all four of their matches there. They seem to have developed successful formula: win the toss and field, restrict the opposition with their versatile bowling attack, and chase down targets at a comfortable pace. Rajasthan won all three games in which Warne put the opposition in and also won the two matches in which they were asked to chase. Their only two defeats came when they batted first.These teams played each other in their first match of the tournament and Delhi won that game by a massive nine-wicket margin. Delhi also prefer chasing, and have successfully gunned down three out of four targets. Their strength lies in their opening combinations: Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir with the bat, and Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif with the new ball. Sehwag and Gambhir are among the top three run-scorers in the tournament and Shikhar Dhawan, the No. 3 batsman, complements them well with an average of 51. The weakness lies in their middle order, where their international stars, Shoaib Malik and AB de Villiers, are yet to make a significant contribution. Dismiss the openers cheaply and negotiate McGrath with the new ball and half the battle is won against Delhi.
Warne v Glenn McGrath. Warne took 0 for 16 off two overs in the previous match between Rajasthan and Delhi. McGrath took 1 for 21 off four overs.
Sohail Tanvir v Delhi’s openers. Tanvir has a strike-rate of 14.3 and could pose a challenge for Sehwag and Gambhir.
Swanpil Asnodkar’s impish stroke-play has been one of Rajasthan’s highlights and, if he plays, will his bold approach pay off against the wiles of McGrath and Asif?
Team news
Rajasthan did not play Asnodkar against the Deccan Chargers, presumably to give Niraj Patel a chance. Patel, however, didn’t get a chance to bat and Rajasthan might give him another go unless they want Asnodkar back at the top against Delhi’s potent bowling attack.Rajasthan Royals (probable): 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Yusuf Pathan, 3 Mohammad Kaif, 4 Shane Watson, 5 Niraj Patel, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Shane Warne (capt), 8 Mahesh Rawat (wk), 9 Sohail Tanvir, 10 Siddharth Trivedi, 11 Munaf Patel.Sehwag said after the last-ball defeat to Chennai that they missed a fifth bowler and hinted that Delhi may field a specialist spinner for their next game. Amit Mishra, the legspinner, could be that choice and, if he were to play, it would mean that Manoj Tiwary sits out once again. Delhi do have another option they haven’t explored, that of making de Villiers keep wicket and benching Karthik, who has scored 60 runs in four innings.Delhi Daredevils (probable): 1 Virender Sehwag (capt), 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Amit Mishra, 8 V Yomahesh, 9 Glenn McGrath, 10 Mohammad Asif, 11 Pradeep Sangwan.
Stats and trivia
Delhi’s top-order – Sehwag, Gambhir and Dhawan – have scored 781 runs between them while Malik, de Villiers, and Dinesh Karthik have scored a cumulative of 158 in 11 innings.
Delhi’s opening partnership averages 54.75 in wins and 19.67 in defeats.
Yusuf Pathan is proving to be Rajasthan’s most destructive batsman with 231 runs, including three fifties, at a strike-rate of 180.46.
Quotes
“McGrath is still the best fast bowler in world in my opinion. We will assign someone the task of taking him. He still is a miser. Not more than 29 runs have been taken off him. We hope to take 30 off him tomorrow .”
Dav Whatmore knows a thing or two about coaching struggling sides, and coaxing success out of whatever resources are at hand. He masterminded Sri Lanka’s World Cup win in 1996, and sparked a change in Bangladesh’s trajectory when he took over the coaching role there in 2003.He moved into his current position with Zimbabwe less than six weeks before the World Cup earlier this year, and was able to bring enjoyment and cohesion back into the team environment in remarkably quick time. Yet positive results haven’t been forthcoming, and on Tuesday Zimbabwe slipped to a 3-0 series defeat to India despite putting themselves into positions of dominance in all three matches.”That was a hugely disappointing effort in that first game. We honestly thought we should have won that. When you get so close, and you don’t, I think psychologically it becomes a little bit greater when you play the next one. We’ve got the potential, as you can see, we just need to transform our ability into performance, and that comes from here,” Whatmore said, pointing at his head.Though Whatmore prompted “a total 180 in the players’ mindsets” very quickly, according to former captain Brendan Taylor, he insists there is no quick fix for Zimbabwe’s issues.”It doesn’t happen like that,” Whatmore says, clicking his fingers to emphasise the point. “It never does. It takes a bit of time. If you look at the history of Zimbabwe cricket over the last four years, if you’ve done your research you’ll know that we’ve only played a handful of games. And to improve you need to go through certain situations more often. So hopefully boys will learn as quickly as possible, because we are now playing competition which we haven’t had in the past.”It’s okay to say ‘be patient with us’, it’s a cliche but I’m very pleased to have played these three games and we look forward very much to the future matches coming in this calendar year. And we look to improve. So please bear with us, we are trying really hard to get it right and we will need a bit more time. As other sides do.”Zimbabwe have been slightly surprised by the way these pitches have played, as ordinarily Harare Sports Club tracks ease out during the course of the day, particularly in winter. In this series, there has always been something on offer for the bowlers. They “briefly” considered batting first after Elton Chigumbura won his third toss in a row, Whatmore explained, “but this wicket generally gets a lot better than this. It’s sort of misbehaving a little more than what most of us thought. Generally speaking this wicket flattens out a little bit more, but it’s had some life in it right throughout.”India haven’t had it all their way in this series, slipping to 87 for 5 in the first match, losing 6 for 77 in the last 10 overs on Sunday, and wobbling at 82 for 4 today, but Zimbabwe were never able to land the killer blow and, as Whatmore admitted, “we’ve let them off the hook a couple of times”.The problem, for Chigumbura, is a lack of ruthlessness.”It’s just about being ruthless,” he said. “You tend to relax when you are on top, or sometimes some guys realise we’re on top. And also because of not playing many games regularly. I think the more we play the more we could quickly learn from these mistakes.”We need to dig deep when we get into these situations. I think that’s where we’re lacking. We always get into a good position, in almost every series that we play we’ll get one or two chances that we can take with both hands and win the game, but we don’t.”Zimbabwe have a quick turnaround in which to try to set things right before the Twenty20 series starts on Friday, but they can also look forward to an unusually full schedule in the months to come. With a little luck and a lot of hard work, particularly on the psychological aspect of their game, Zimbabwe could yet be another of Whatmore’s success stories.
Sourav Ganguly’s association with one of the new IPL franchise owners has been questioned as a possible case of conflict of interest. Ganguly is a member of the IPL governing council and is also a co-owner of the football franchise Atletico de Kolkata; a fellow co-owner is Sanjiv Goenka, who heads the New Rising consortium that today won the Pune IPL franchise.The matter was raised at the press conference that followed the auction procedure and BCCI officials present denied it was a case of conflict but said it would be for the newly appointed ombudsman to decide. Ganguly, when contacted by ESPNcricinfo, laughed off the suggestion of conflict, saying football and cricket are two different sports.
The Kumble Question
The recent resignation of Anil Kumble, another former India captain, from the Mumbai Indians support staff had raised similar doubts over conflict of interest. Manohar was asked on Tuesday whether he thought Kumble’s case was similar to Ganguly’s, as he was not directly related to the Mumbai Indians franchise, and he replied: “No, he was on the technical committee, and the technical committee makes all rules and regulations with regards to playing of the game.”
Shashank Manohar, BCCI president and a lawyer himself, offered a more nuanced defence. “According to me there is not [a conflict of interest] because this is a transparent bidding concept,” Manohar said. “Basically I get questions everyday [about conflict of interest]. People have not understood the meaning of the word conflict. Conflict means where there could be an obvious bias with regards to the decision-making process. When a person can influence the decision-making, then only there is conflict. You can’t extend it to absurdity levels. I am a lawyer, if there is a client of mine, unless it can be shown I have influence, there is no conflict if he bids for a team.”Manohar, though, said his assessment of the Ganguly situation was his own personal view. “Everybody has a right to disagree with me. I am not going to be the judge. The board has appointed an independent agency.”Manohar’s point was that nobody knew the bid amounts while walking into the meeting. They didn’t even know who all were going to bid. The bidders made walk-in offers, which ruled out any knowledge to anyone as to who was going to bid how much. “It was a closed bid submitted at the bidding time,” Manohar said. “Sourav Ganguly has nothing to do with that. Even if somebody has an objection now, we have appointed an ombudsman to look into these cases.”New Rising made two bids in this reverse-bidding process, both in minus. Both were lower than any other bid, but they could get only one franchise according to IPL rules. Every other bidder made at least one positive bid.Manohar did not, however, address the issue of a situation that could arise going forward, where the IPL’s governing council – of which Ganguly is a member as a “cricketer” – might have to decide on matters directly related to the Pune franchise. Though his role is seen as largely ceremonial, it could be argued that he would have influence over decisions taken.It could also be argued that Ganguly is partner with Goenka in a separate entity, and might not have anything to gain financially from New Rising as a co-owner of Atletico. Such a defence has not been put forward by any of the parties involved, although Ganguly’s cryptic reply to ESPNcricinfo might have hinted at that.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSabbir Rahman became only the second Bangladesh cricketer to score 40 runs and take three wickets in a T20I•AFP
Sabbir Rahman gave an account of his all-round abilities in Bangladesh’s 42-run win over Zimbabwe in the second T20 in Khulna. He smacked an unbeaten 43 before picking up the vital wicket of Hamilton Masakadza, one of his three scalps, as the wind was taken out of the visitors’ 168-run chase in the ninth over.Soumya Sarkar also made 43, but missed out on a bigger score after he threw his wicket away in the 10th over. Yet, Bangladesh kept hitting the boundaries – they managed 11 fours and eight sixes to equal their own record of most sixes in a T20 innings. Zimbabwe’s reply was nearly a mirror image of Bangladesh’s first half, until Sabbir came along to seal a victory that gave Bangladesh a 2-0 lead in the four-match series.Bangladesh started well, but the real push came when Tamim Iqbal hammered Neville Madziva for a four and six in the fifth over. By getting into his hitting zone, he then smacked Taurai Muzarabani through cover in the next over. But just as he started to rev up his engine, he also found a top edge that was easily taken by Brian Vitori at fine leg in the sixth over.Sarkar also looked authoritative by striking three fours and a six before Tamim fell and he then built the base further with Sabbir. He was particularly harsh on Graeme Cremer, the legspinner, who was hit for sixes over deep midwicket and long-on. But just like Tamim had done, Sarkar threw it away in the 10th over as Malcolm Waller took an easy catch at deep midwicket to end his promising innings of 43.Zimbabwe were further boosted by the wicket of Mahmudullah, who fell to a superb catch by wicketkeeper Richmond Mutumbami. That meant Mushfiqur Rahim had to bat through the second half of the innings to give Bangladesh a solid total to defend. That he did, despite his hamstring pulling up in the 16th over, by adding 52 for the fourth wicket with Sabbir.Sabbir made the most of a reprieve on 7 by Mutumbami as he lined up the straight boundaries well, even as Mushfiqur used the bowler’s pace well in his 20-ball 24 before hobbling off the field. Shakib then finished off the innings with a cameo as Bangladesh took 50 off the last five overs. Yet, they would have perhaps felt 10-15 short.Masakadza came out all guns blazing, hitting two fours and two sixes in 2.2 overs, while Vusi Sibanda also soon got into the act. Zimbabwe were reprieved twice in the fourth over bowled by Mashrafe Mortaza. First, the substitute Imrul Kayes dropped Masakadza at cover, before Shuvagata couldn’t reach a chance at midwicket.But Mashrafe soon had a wicket to show as Sibanda was bowled off the inside edge for 21 off 17. It was then that Sabbir was thrown the ball, and he delivered by having Masakadza caught at long-on for a 28-ball 30 that had three fours and two sixes. Sean Williams fell soon after to give Shuvagata his first T20I wicket and leave Zimbabwe needing a further 103 runs from the last ten overs. Sabbir then had the wicket of Mutumbami, who holed out to Sarkar at deep midwicket.Malcolm Waller briefly kept Zimbabwe in it by striking a four each in the 13th, 14th and 15th over, but an already escalating rate was compounded by Bangladesh’s spinners, who used the slowness of the surface well, and the chase spiralled out of control. Waller was eventually dismissed for a 21-ball 29 by Al-Amin Hossain in the 16th over.With the game all but over, Mustafizur Rahman then came to the party to dismiss Madziva and Peter Moor in the 17th over to puncture Zimbabwe. The eighth wicket was fittingly taken by Sabbir, who became the second Bangladesh cricketer to score at least 40 and take two wickets in T20.With a series win out of the equation, Zimbabwe have two more matches to potentially get their combinations right leading to the World T20.
The second ODI between Hong Kong and Scotland at Mission Road was abandoned without a ball bowled due to persistent rain across the city. The match had been pushed into a reserve day but that mattered little as wet weather continued from Thursday into Friday and with no chance of the field drying out, play was called off before the scheduled start time on Friday’s reserve day.The result meant each team got a point from the abandonment, which pushed Hong Kong above Netherlands into first place, though Netherlands has a chance to leapfrog Hong Kong when they play UAE on Friday in Abu Dhabi. Scotland is now in third place with seven points, one ahead of Kenya on the table.This was the third time in six scheduled WCL Championship matches during the current competition that Scotland has had to split points due to poor weather following a no result and a total abandonment in the Netherlands last September. Scotland also came close to missing out on maximum points in their opening two encounters at home in July against Nepal but managed to come away with two wins despite wet weather in Ayr.
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan may have formed a solid opening combination at the top of India’s batting order, but Rohit feels that comparisons with the prolific Sachin Tendulkar-Sourav Ganguly duo are premature.Rohit and Dhawan have put up 2763 runs from 63 innings across formats at an average of 44.56, with eight centuries and 10 fifties between them. While that is still a fair bit away from the 6609 runs Tendulkar and Ganguly put up together, Rohit has “immense satisfaction” that people are already drawing comparisons between the two pairs.”Comparisons with India’s most successful opening pairing [Ganguly-Tendulkar] gives you immense satisfaction. Comparisons are a piece of joy,” Rohit told . “It would be great if me and Shikhar as an opening pair can achieve the success that these two accomplished in their illustrious careers.”We are still not there but both of us would like to entertain the fans and win as many matches as they have won for India.”Rohit, who was named Player of the Series in the recent ODIs against Australia for his 441 runs from five matches, also felt that even his personal best was yet to come.”This is not the best. Whatever I achieve, I would always tell myself that my best is yet to come. I have scored 441 runs in the ODI series in Australia. In the next big series, my target will be to score more than 441 runs. If I am satisfied with my past achievements, I will never be able to set higher benchmarks.”It is a fact that you need to get the basics right. The straight six over fast bowlers’ head is a shot which I play with my batswing being the extension of my arm. It is about timing and position of the body negligible power element in it. But when MS Dhoni bats in the 45th over with the ball going soft, you need those wrists and brute power to clear ropes. That’s why MS is special.”Despite Rohit’s heroics in the ODI series, India went on to lose 4-1, though the visitors sealed a historic 3-0 whitewash in the T20Is that followed. However, Rohit said that the T20 win could not be put on the same pedestal as India’s victory in the 2007-08 tri-series, owing to the quality of Australia’s bowling attack back then.”I agree that their bowling attack is not same as it used to be but does one expect that Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath would have played on forever? You can only score runs off the bowlers that you play against,” Rohit said. “Every win counts as that’s what you are supposed to do while playing for the country.”[2008] was so different. I was a 20-year-old on my second or third tour. The new captain [Dhoni] was just settling down. Imagine their bowling attack. Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and a far younger Mitchell Johnson. The batting line- up was Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting and Clarke. So that tournament win can’t be compared to this win but this is also special in its own way.”
Steven Smith has been ruled out of the third Ashes Test on the morning of the match in extraordinary circumstances with Usman Khawaja earning a recall just a day after it seemed unlikely that he would play another Test for Australia.Cricket Australia (CA) confirmed just before the start of play that Smith was suffering vertigo type symptoms, something he has battled with in the past. He left the ground during the warm-up after he had batted in the nets and had a conversation with coach and selector Andrew McDonald.Related
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Smith missed training on Monday due to illness but had trained on Sunday at Adelaide and then played golf with his team-mates at Kooyonga on Sunday afternoon.He returned to training on Tuesday and was first in the nets. But he did not look in full health during the net session and was also hit in the groin at one point which felled him and caused him to take a lengthy break.”Over the past few days he has been feeling unwell, with symptoms including nausea and dizziness,” a CA spokesperson said.”He was assessed and monitored closely and was close to being available to play. However, given the persistence of symptoms, a decision was made not to proceed.Steven Smith came down will illness ahead of the Test•Getty Images
“He is being treated for a potential vestibular issue. This is something Steve has experienced intermittently in the past and is being managed accordingly. He is expected to be available for the Boxing Day test in Melbourne.”Pat Cummins, who returned as captain after Smith had led the first two Tests, confirmed after winning the toss that Khawaja would replace him.”Steve’s been feeling a bit unwell the last couple of days,” Cummins said. “He came and gave it a crack this morning but didn’t think he was going to get up for this one. So he’s headed off home. But pretty lucky we’ve got someone like Usman who can step right in. Usman will bat No. 4″Khawaja has been recalled after Australia had elected to leave him out despite returning to full fitness from a back injury, with the success of the Travis Head-Jake Weatherald opening partnership in the first two Tests forcing the selectors’ hand. Even with Khawaja’s last-minute return, the selectors have decided to keep Head and Weatherald at the top. Khawaja will slot in at No. 4 with the rest of the order remaining the same.Khawaja has only twice batted at No. 4 in Test cricket, including in the first innings of the first Test in Perth when he was unable to open due to back spasms. It has been his preferred spot to bat in first-class cricket, averaging 53.15 with 10 centuries. He batted at No .4 in Sheffield Shield cricket for Queensland for several years while he was Australia’s Test opener.Khawaja will turn 39 on Thursday, and become the first 39-year-old to play for Australia in 40 years.Smith has missed two of Australia’s last six Tests through injury or illness. He missed Australia’s first Test of the West Indies tour in June due to a finger injury he suffered in the WTC final. Josh Inglis batted at No. 4 on that occasion.Prior to that he had not missed a Test since the third Test of the 2019 Ashes series when he was ruled out with concussion. He has suffered several bouts of vertigo in the intervening years but none that have kept him out of a Test match.
Aston Villa have seen numerous players leave the Midlands club over the past few years such as Jack Grealish, Ally Samatta and Bjorn Engels among many others.
With the upcoming summer transfer window on the horizon, it seems as though the Villans could be set to wave goodbye to another one of their players.
According to a recent report from Italy (via Sport Witness) Serie A club are still interested in signing Douglas Luiz in the summer after previously being linked with the Brazilian.
Should the former Manchester City midfielder call an end to his time with the Villans in the summer, this may not be a big disaster for Steven Gerrard as he already has a potential replacement for Luiz.
Signed during the previous summer transfer window from fellow Midlands club West Bromwich Albion, 18-year-old midfielder Tim Iroegbunam has made 19 appearances for Villa’s U23 side.
In those appearances, the Englishman has scored one goal and provided one assist in the process.
Since December, the teenager has been involved in Villa’s senior matchday squads, making his Premier League debut during their 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion back in February.
This shows that he is on the fringes of becoming a fairly regular first-team player for the Villans and is trusted by Gerrard to be in and amongst the senior squad.
Labelled as a “super impressive” person by Michael Beale as well as a “top young footballer” who has a “very bright future ahead” of him, the 18-year-old could find his pathway to regular senior minutes at Villa Park made clearer should Luiz find himself on the move in the summer.
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Even though the Midlands club have not been shy when it comes to spending money on bringing new players to the club over the past few years, giving Iroegbunam the chance to show what he’s capable of in Luiz’s potential absence could be the way forward and save them millions.
Having done this with Jacob Ramsey, who has now scored six goals in 28 league appearances this season after working his way through the youth ranks, the club know what benefits can arise from giving young players the chance to shine on the main stage.
In other news: £8.1m down the drain: Sherwood’s “menacing” £28k-p/w flop rinsed AVFC dry for 523 days
After naming his final 23 to take to South Africa yesterday, some of Fabio Capello’s choices proved controversial to say the least. Whilst his squad is undoubtedly talented there are three players that England still could have benefited from going into the World Cup. Here are the three players in order of their importance to England:
3. Scott Parker
The West Ham captain has had a great season for the East London club despite the team narrowly avoiding relegation. The enigmatic midfielder is definitely one of the main reasons that the Hammers stayed up this season and his inclusion could have given more bite to the midfield. Parker is definitely more of a commanding presence than Michael Carrick and Tom Huddlestone and although he would have been deployed as a substitute. He could come off the bench should England either be winning or chasing a game as he is able to make good tackles and close the game up, but can also provide a drive from the midfield.
Michael Carrick is too much of a one dimensional player and just sits in the midfield and screens the back four. Granted he can be a good player when he is given the time and has a good passing ability to his game. However it’s unlikely he will be starting a game in the World Cup and can only really be used off the bench for England to hold on to a lead. This is why Parker is the better option, and the two-time Hammer of the year should have been given at least a bit of playing time in the friendlies against Mexico and Japan to show what he can do.
2. Theo Walcott
Probably the player who has caused the most debate over his exclusion from the squad, the Arsenal winger was the surprise omission from Capello’s squad. Walcott hasn’t had the best of seasons for Arsenal and has had a lot of expectation put on him after scoring a hat-trick against Croatia in the qualifying campaign. Arguably that has set the standard of what he should be achieving, but at the same time if it wasn’t for that feat then surely people wouldn’t really be making such a fuss out of his exclusion.
The 21-year-old was given starts in both England friendlies but didn’t play brilliantly; his performance in the game against Mexico drew some very harsh criticism from Chris Waddle who said:
“I’ve never seen him develop. He just doesn’t understand the game for me – where to be running, when to run inside a full back, when to just play a one-two. It’s all off the cuff. I just don’t think he’s got a football brain and he’s going to have problems. Let’s be honest, good defenders would catch him offside every time.”
Despite these comments Walcott didn’t have too bad a game but is clearly lacking the confidence that he showed in Zagreb all those month ago. However he is clearly a talented a player and coming off the bench would have been much more of a threat to the opposition than Shaun Wright-Phillips, due to his superior technical ability.
1. Darren Bent
Capello’s biggest mistake was definitely not taking the Sunderland striker. Bent has been in terrific form this season scoring 24 Premiership goals, finishing as the third-highest goalscorer in the league and the second-highest scoring Englishman. Yet this still wasn’t enough to convince Capello to take him to the World Cup and it could be something that comes back to haunt England. Although it can be argued that Bent hasn’t performed for his country he has never been given a fair chance and shouldn’t have been substituted at half time in the game against Japan.
With all the expectations on Wayne Rooney upfront, Bent could have been England’s Geoff Hurst in South Africa, and the 1966 hero even had this to say on Bent:
“Emile Heskey hasn’t played all year and hasn’t scored goals, whereas Darren Bent has played all season and scored 25 goals – so if you’re picking on form, it’d have to be Bent.”
However Heskey made the final cut after scoring a pathetic three league goals all season. Yet apparently because he links up well with Rooney gets in the team, but for every good bit of movement he does that leads to a goal there’s a lot of other things he gets wrong. Also with Peter Crouch in the team for link-up play then what use is there for Heskey anyway? As for England’s other goalscorer Jermain Defoe, Bent has scored more goals than him in the past two Premier League seasons and that includes last season when Defoe was much preferred to Bent when they were both at Spurs. Defoe’s international record isn’t the best either; he has 11 goals in 40 games.
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Darren Bent is England’s best out-and-out goalscorer and his presence could be sorely missed in South Africa, if England were chasing a game and needed a goal he would be the perfect player to bring off the bench.
Do you think Capello made the right choices with the players he omitted?