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Lionesses defender Millie Bright shared a positive update on Sam Kerr, videoing the Chelsea forward walking as she recovers from an ACL injury.

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Kerr walking with crutches Albeit slightly limping Bright a constant support for Kerr GettyWHAT HAPPENED?

Kerr suffered a devastating blow as she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during a Chelsea training camp in Morocco which ruled her out not only for the rest of the season but also for this year’s Paris Olympics. Despite being sidelined for several months due to the debilitating knee injury, the Matildas star has shown remarkable progress in her recovery journey.

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In a heartening update shared on Instagram by her Chelsea teammate Bright, Kerr was seen walking without her crutches. The forward was spotted smiling as she gingerly practised walking, with her crutches resting near the kitchen countertop.

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Despite the setback, Kerr's stellar performance earlier in the season cannot be overlooked. The 30-year-old forward made a significant impact, scoring nine goals in 12 appearances across all competitions. Notably, she secured a memorable hat-trick during the Blues' 4-1 victory over Paris FC in a Women's Champions League group stage match in November.

South Australia’s last Sheffield Shield-winning captain, Jamie Siddons, has returned to the state as head coach for the next three seasons

ESPNcricinfo staff27-May-2015South Australia’s last Sheffield Shield-winning captain, Jamie Siddons, has returned to the state as head coach for the next three seasons. Siddons will fill the role vacated by Darren Berry, who parted ways with South Australia in March.The third-leading run scorer of all time in the Sheffield Shield, Siddons captained South Australia in 69 matches and was in charge in 1995-96, when the state last won the Shield. Despite scoring 11,587 first-class runs at an average of 44.91, Siddons played only once for Australia, in an ODI against Pakistan in Lahore in 1988.After his retirement, Siddons started his coaching career with the Redbacks as an assistant for three years, before he became an assistant to John Buchanan in the Australia national setup in 2005. He coached Bangladesh in the lead-up to the 2011 World Cup and has steered Wellington to two titles in the past four seasons in New Zealand’s domestic competitions.”I am so happy to be back home after a long time away,” Siddons said. “I’m excited about the list, especially some of the talented young players, and I can’t wait to get started.”Keith Bradshaw, the SACA chief executive, said: “His coaching record over the past decade speaks for itself and he led South Australia to our last Sheffield Shield title. Jamie adds a freshness and expertise that will help guide South Australia to long term success. We have absolute clarity of where we’re going and 100% commitment to that.”The appointment of Siddons as the coach of the Redbacks comes after the SACA last month confirmed that Jason Gillespie would take on the coaching role with the Adelaide Strikers in the BBL.He will also be one of four new head coaches of the six states for next season, with David Saker in charge at Victoria, Phil Jaques at Queensland, and New South Wales needing a replacement for new England coach Trevor Bayliss.

A year to the day since Brendon McCullum was unveiled as New Zealand captain and he still does not have a Test victory to his name

Andrew McGlashan in Dunedin07-Dec-2013A year to the day since Brendon McCullum was unveiled as New Zealand captain and he still does not have a Test victory to his name. For the second consecutive home Test he had been denied what appeared certain spoils. No wonder he looked shattered.In Auckland it was down to Matt Prior (and how his fortunes have changed since) and this time it was a combination of West Indian resilience and the fickle Dunedin weather. For 14 sessions it had been the best weather for a Test here that many locals could remember. The fifth day’s rain, however, should not shift the focus from the fact that without Darren Bravo’s nine-and-a-half hours at the crease, and Darren Sammy’s gritty 80, this Test would have been done and dusted long before the weather turned. West Indies almost deserved the little bit of help.Although New Zealand stumbled to 44 for 4 against Shane Shillingford, the partnership between Ross Taylor and Corey Anderson had calmed nerves, bringing the target down to 33 as the rain began to threaten before tea. The radar showed it was coming – although not in the strength that developed after the break – but there was no great urgency from either batsman and no major concern when tea was taken five minutes early at 3.05pm. The players did not return despite brief optimism. The ground staff attempted to remove the covers while full of water, to hasten a restart, but they were too heavy to lift. Anyway, a few moments later the rain was back.”You are obviously judged by your results,” McCullum said after the game. “When you’ve not won a Test since I’ve taken over it frustrates you, but we did everything we could to win this Test match and I believe we’d have won if it hadn’t rained. We’ve had some lows during the time as well, but I firmly believe we are performing pretty well in Test cricket and sooner or later the wins will come. We just have to keep persevering and if we get the odd slice of luck go our way then those results will follow.”Having lost a clump of early wickets, New Zealand were clearly uncertain about having a dip before tea, even though Taylor and Anderson had settled. Anderson clubbed the occasional boundary, but Taylor was content to largely tap his way along. There are plenty of Otago players in the dressing room so you would have thought no lack of local knowledge about the potential for the rain to emerge. Saturday had always been the most uncertain day of the Test weather-wise.”It’s not often you get through five clear days of sunshine in Dunedin,” McCullum said wryly. “We never really got ourselves in a position in that chase to really put the hammer down. We had a feeling it was going to rain at some point but weather watching is never a great strategy when you’re trying to set up a chase.”New Zealand will have to be honest with themselves, though. They had the chance to wrap up this match much earlier; the return catch offered by Bravo on 82 was especially costly but on the final day Peter Fulton, despite his height, could only palm a ball over his head when Tino Best lofted Ish Sodhi. He only batted four more overs, but how New Zealand would have loved those four overs to bat.Then there was the way they began the chase. They are not a team used to winning and it showed, a little like at Lord’s earlier in the year when they could not convert a promising position. Hamish Rutherford shot was especially poor considering the long-on fielder had been pushed back. When McCullum skied his sweep it meant they had to rebuild, and it cost them vital time. A target of 112, with anything like a solid base, should have been reachable in 30 overs.”We just wanted to try and be positive and play our natural games in a chase of that size,” he said. “A couple of us played some shots that were too far on the aggressive side for what was needed at that time.”As in Auckland, so much impressive cricket had come to nothing. The return to form of McCullum was one of the significant outcomes of the Test and he admitted it was a weight off his shoulders even though fitness concerns persist.”I don’t think I’ve played under that much media or public scrutiny throughout my career,” he said. “To be able to come out the other side of that and score a hundred under pretty tough external pressure, but also internal pressure from an injury point of view, was reliving more so than pleasing.”Still it was very disappointing I wasn’t able to be there at the end today. Sometimes you make poor decisions in clutch moments and if I had that moment back I would. But overall it’s a step in the right direction and hopefully I can eradicate a few of those errors that crop up.”A few minutes earlier, as the rain momentarily abated to raise brief hopes of a resumption, the PA system at the ground had played the Johnny Nash song, with the lyrics: “It’s gonna be a bright, bright, bright, bright sun-shiny day.” It’s doubtful whether McCullum would have seen the funny side of it.

A last-minute change of tactics by AB de Villiers put South Africa on the road to squaring the one-day series after a quick chat with Gary Kirsten led him to open the bowling with Robin Peterson’s left-arm spin.

Andrew McGlashan at Trent Bridge05-Sep-2012A last-minute change of tactics by AB de Villiers put South Africa on the road to squaring the one-day series after a quick chat with Gary Kirsten led him to open the bowling with Robin Peterson’s left-arm spin. Peterson soon removed the in-form Ian Bell and it set the tone for a dominant performance from the visitors who finished the series by cantering to a seven-wicket victory.It was not the first time Peterson had got the better of England with the new ball. He did significant damage during the World Cup match in Chennai last year where he removed Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen in his first over and then added Bell a short while later. While his impact at Trent Bridge was less dramatic it meant England had lost one of their key top-order players, and Peterson later returned to claim two more scalps and finish with 3 for 37.”That was a late call from me,” de Villiers said. “I just discussed it with Gazza (Kirsten) before we went out and said go with your gut feeling. We only had three seamers, I was going to have to bowl a lot of spin and I thought I might buy myself a couple of overs and even pick up a wicket. Robin has done it before and has always been successful. It’s never nice as an opener to face a spinner, you want the ball coming into your bat. It paid off today so I’m very chuffed.”Spin played an important part for South Africa during the innings as their part-time bowlers, JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis, both claimed important breakthroughs in their opening overs. Duminy had Eoin Morgan caught at mid-on for a duck and du Plessis could barely believe his good fortune when Alastair Cook spooned back a full toss. De Villiers, as captain, could do no wrong.”It doesn’t always pay off but I just went with my gut feeling,” he said. “It was important to change the pace of the game, I felt they had started to settle in nicely. It’s not nice when you are set and the captain keeps changing things. It came off today.”Although there was the common sight of Hashim Amla making a significant score as South Africa overcame a wobble at 14 for 3, the run chase also marked de Villiers’ first international half-century of the tour.”It’s been a fairly quiet summer for me but a very enjoyable one,” he said. “I felt I was in good form right throughout the Test series and today; it’s always nice to play under pressure.”It was a very important series for us and we didn’t want to go down here,” he added. “It’s always hard to play here, England know the conditions really well. For a very brief moment after Southampton we had a chance to win the series but we had a couple of ODIs in row where we just weren’t up for it and didn’t play good cricket. But the fact we came back here and played good cricket, I’m very proud of the boys.”Cook was a far more frustrated captain after watching the batting line-up subside for 182 to a collection of poor shots in a performance that he had not seen the like of before.”We’re clearly very frustrated and disappointed – especially with the manner of the dismissals,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve played in a game where we’ve given away so many dismissals before. These things can happen. It’s very frustrating when it does happen to you, especially in a series that’s there to win.”All of us, from one to 11, just played some pretty poor shots. I don’t know why. As a side, our real challenge has always been to be as consistent as we can. We’ve made huge strides at that. But there’s always that performance in there, which we’re trying to eradicate.”

Mustafa Kamal, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president, has said he will with work with PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf at the ICC level to return international cricket to Pakistan

Umar Farooq03-Mar-2012Mustafa Kamal, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president, has said he will work with PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf at the ICC level to return international cricket to Pakistan. Kamal was speaking in Islamabad, after meeting with Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik to discuss security issues regarding Bangladesh’s proposed tour in April.Although no formal decision was taken at the meeting, the delegation from Bangladesh was briefed about the security arrangements the Pakistan government would make and Kamal was optimistic about the limited-overs series going ahead. The delegation will inspect facilities in Lahore and Karachi before returning home on March 5 to submit a report to the Bangladesh government.”Now I am here to make a commitment that both Mr Zaka and I will work together to make things right at the ICC level,” Kamal said. “We have our endeavour and always will work hand in hand to convince our other colleagues in the ICC to bring back cricket to Pakistan at the earliest.”I am here with a positive frame of mind and I want us to be in a position to convince our ICC board members, so that they also agree to play in Pakistan as early as possible.”The ICC was not part of the meeting between the BCB and the Pakistan ministry and they will carry out a separate assessment of the security situation if the tour is confirmed. Malik assured the Bangladesh delegation of the security their team would be given, saying the government had taken “total political ownership” of the series.”I have given full assurances regarding security, they will visit two stadiums, let them have a look at all those arrangements which we are proposing,” Malik said in Islamabad. “I assured him [Kamal] from my side, on behalf of the government, that we have taken total political ownership of this match.”I’ve also given him the prerogative that if he wants to add or subtract [to security arrangements] we will do it. We will show our capabilities, and of course then it comes to the planning, the road map, security parameters as to how we’re going to take care of things. So all those things at international standard, they all will be met.”Two members from the Bangladesh delegation went to Karachi to witness the security arrangements that would be put in place should a match go ahead at the National Stadium there.There are two itineraries proposed at present: one is a three-ODI series and the other is two ODIs and one Twenty20 international to be completed in a week in April. Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium and Karachi’s National Stadium are the potential venues.”This is the first step, and I am sure they will be fully satisfied with the security plan being given by the ministry and by the provinces of Sindh and Punjab,” Ashraf said, “And when they go back home, they go back home fully satisfied.”It is three years to the day that terrorists with guns attacked the bus carrying the Sri Lankan team to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, and several players and officials were wounded. Since then, no international side apart from Afghanistan, has toured Pakistan. They were removed as co-hosts of the 2011 World Cup and have been playing their home bilateral series at offshore venues such as England, New Zealand and the UAE.Edited by George Binoy

Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has said Shahid Afridi proved he was a matchwinner in his first match since coming out of a conditional international retirement

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Nov-2011Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has said Shahid Afridi proved he was a matchwinner in his first ODI since coming out of a conditional international retirement. Afridi took 3 for 27 in 9.3 overs in Dubai, helping bowl Sri Lanka out for 130 and set up an easy Pakistan victory.”Shahid Afridi is a matchwinner and he proved that today,” Misbah said. “He came on when we needed wickets and also needed to keep the runs down. He bowled a wicket-to-wicket line, didn’t give away runs and also made key breakthroughs. He’s started his comeback well and I hope he continues to perform.”Afridi’s wickets came after Pakistan’s seamers had got a couple of early breakthroughs. Misbah said it had been the constant pressure his bowlers asserted that had been Sri Lanka’s undoing. “The pitch played well and was the same across both innings. Credit goes to our bowlers. We pressurised them right from the start by being disciplined with the ball. The seamers were disciplined early and then the spinners came on and did really well.”Tillakaratne Dilshan, the Sri Lanka captain, said it was once again poor shot selection that was behind the batting failure. Sri Lanka’s batsmen had struggled in the Test series too, getting dismissed for first-innings totals of 197 in Abu Dhabi and 239 in Dubai. Dilshan said it had nothing to do with any technical faults but was down to making bad choices.”Our mistake again was shot selection,” Dilshan said. “It’s not the technique of the batsmen because they are all getting starts but throwing it away with poor shots. There were one or two good balls today, the rest were all bad shots. We knew this was not a 250-280 pitch but felt that with four seamers we could defend something around 220-230. But 130 was obviously too low.”Dilshan had chosen to bat, as he had in the Test at the same venue. There was a little help for Pakistan’s seamers early but Dilshan said it wasn’t the pitch that got Sri Lanka’s batsmen out. The next ODI is also in Dubai, on November 14, and Dilshan said if the game was played on the same pitch he would not hesitate to bat first again.”The track was not bad. If we are playing on the same track in the next match I think batting first will still be the right option.”Dilshan also said Mahela Jayawardene was a doubt for the next game as he had hurt his knee. He said Jayawardene would have a scan on Saturday after which the team would take a call on whether he would be fit for the second ODI.

Mark Greatbatch, the former New Zealand coach, has questioned the team’s constant inability to cope against spin bowling

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2012Mark Greatbatch, New Zealand’s former coach, has questioned their batsmen’s constant inability to cope against spin bowling. New Zealand lost the first Test against India in Hyderabad by an innings and 115 runs and Greatbatch said that while the current crop of players had been taught a lot about playing spin, it remained unclear whether they had been absorbing the information and putting it to use.”You can only teach them so much; they have to take it on board and I’m questioning whether or not they are,” Greatbatch, who played 41 Tests for New Zealand and coached them prior to John Wright, told . “In the last four or five years, there have been people who have worked with players on playing spin and you’d have to question whether or not the information being delivered and talked about is being held on to.”The top 20 to 30 fringe players have had access to resources and coaches – you name it, they’ve had it, but they’re not getting any better in that department. A cynic would ask if all that information they’ve been given is any good, but when you have guys like John Wright, myself, John Bracewell, Andy Moles, Martin Crowe and Richard Hadlee involved, you’d suggest we know a thing or two about it.”New Zealand were bowled out 159 and 164 and eighteen of their 20 wickets fell to the India spinners, R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha, with the final seven wickets falling for just 26 runs on the fourth evening. New Zealand captain Ross Taylor said, after the defeat, his team’s capitulation was more to do with a mental block against spin than technical shortcomings. Kane Williamson was the only batsman to go past 50 for New Zealand – he made a watchful 52 off 163 balls in the second innings. During his knock, Williamson had looked to drive against the spin and, he said, this was something he consciously attempted after observing the India batsmen.”One thing that’s been quite clear is, growing up in New Zealand we’ve been taught to hit with the spin whereas their [India’s] players tend to bat the other way and hit back into the spin,” Williamson said. “It’s quite a change, but it’s something they all look to do, so it’s quite a clear difference and something that our batsmen are looking at as potential options.”The strategy, Williamson said, could help the New Zealand batsmen avoid getting tied up. “It’s about giving yourself a bit more room in terms of where you bat, so you have an option rather than the ball always spinning into your pads and getting caught up.”It’s not easy, seeing as it’s something we’re not faced with a lot. [But] it’s important that each batsman has a clear message, so we go out and have that confidence to play the shots that we feel are required and spend a lot of time out there and enjoy the challenge of it.”In the second Test, which begins in Bangalore on Friday, the batsmen will have to look to get on the front foot as much as possible, Greatbatch said. “I’m not saying they have to go forward, but they have to [at least] look to; it’s easier to go back from there if you need to, but going forward once you’ve gone back is much harder.”

A round-up of the first day’s play of Group B second-round matches of the Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2013
ScorecardB Aparajith hit 14 fours and two sixes in his knock of 118•MPCANineteen-year-old B Aparajith struck another hundred, his fourth in five matches, and along with Tamil Nadu veteran S Badrinath, took the team to a commanding position on the first day against Madhya Pradesh in Indore. While Aparajith fell for 118 ten balls before stumps, Badrinath was unbeaten on a patient 126 after Tamil Nadu were put in to bat.Openers Arun Karthik and Abhinav Mukund provided a steady start till the 12th over when medium-pacer Amarjeet Singh broke the partnership by having Mukund caught by Udit Birla for 13. Karthik was joined by Badrinath but their stand didn’t survive for too long either as Salman Baig bowled Karthik for 31, which included five fours.Badrinath and Aparajith then started the partnership which buried all hopes of any more success for the MP bowlers, until the penultimate over of the day. The duo put on 240 runs for the third wicket, with Badrinath, who struck 16 fours being a bit slower than Aparajith, who hit 14 fours and two sixes. Tamil Nadu scored at just over three-and-a-half runs per over and Aparajith brought up his fifth first-class hundred, while it was number 30 for Badrinath.Ishwar Pandey gave MP the only other success of the day when he got Aparajith caught behind after an innings that lasted nearly five hours. Dinesh Karthik survived six deliveries after that as Tamil Nadu ended the day at 294 for 3.
ScorecardSaurashtra were in deep trouble as lost their top four batsmen in quick succession after rain and fog delayed the start of their match against Railways at the Jamia Milia Cricket Ground in Delhi.Medium-pacer Anureet Singh took the first three wickets within nine overs of the match and Krishnakant Upadhyay took the fourth wicket to leave Saurashtra reeling at 24 for 4 after 13.4 overs. The opening stand was broken with the wicket of Sagar Jogiyani who was caught for six. Anureet struck twice in the ninth over, when he had Chirag Pathak caught for 12 and Sheldon Jackson caught behind for duck three balls later.Just when Saurashtra thought they had a partnership going, Upadhyay dismissed Bhushan Chauhan for a 23-ball duck. They were finally given respite with Aarpit Vasavada and Jaydev Shah seeing their side till stumps with a 64-run stand, surviving 32.2 overs. Vasavada was unbeaten on 44 and Shah not out on a patient 25 from 97 to take the total to 88 for 4.
ScorecardOpener Vineet Saxena saved Rajasthan from an embarrassing collapse with a fighting hundred against Bengal in Jaipur. Out of the eight batsmen who batted on the first day, only three got in double digits and Saxena remained unbeaten on 110.Ashok Dinda broke the opening stand in the very first over with the wicket of Sourabh Chouhan for a duck. Saxena and Robin Bist had a strong partnership going as they scored 96 runs, out of which Bist scored 44 with six fours. But offspinner Saurashish Lahiri ended the stand and Shib Paul added to Rajasthan’s troubles with two quick wickets. He bowled Ashok Menaria and Hrishikesh Kanitkar within eight runs scored by Rajasthan to leave them at 124 for 4.Rajesh Bishnoi and Saxena revived the innings for 11 overs with 48 runs but Bishnoi was caught behind for 25 and another 11 overs later, Dishant Yagnik became Lahiri’s second wicket when he was bowled for 6. Saxena kept going at the other end and brought up 13th first-class century to take Rajasthan to 222 for 6 with Ramesh Powar at the other end.
ScorecardLeft out of India’s Test squad, Suresh Raina nudged the national selectors with an attacking century on the opening day of Uttar Pradesh’s second-round match against Baroda at Moti Bagh. Raina’s 123, off 154 balls, helped UP to 291 on an evenly-matched day. Baroda struck with quick wickets on the final session and had all but wrapped up the innings before stumps.Read the full report here.

New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee has been declared fit for the first Test against England, which begins at Lord’s on Thursday

ESPNcricinfo staff13-May-2013New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee has been declared fit for the first Test against England, which begins at Lord’s on Thursday.The New Zealand team management had rested Southee after lunch on the third day of the warm-up match against England Lions in Leicester, after he picked up a foot injury. Southee, who bowled 19 overs in the four-day game, visited a specialist in London over the weekend to erase all injury concerns.”Tim is fine,” Mike Hesson, New Zealand coach, told the media at Lord’s on Monday. “It was very much a precautionary response from us to send Tim down to London for further investigations. He had some treatment on his toe and he is very comfortable and will be all right for the first Test.” Hesson also cleared doubts over left-arm seamer Neil Wagner, who suffered a broken toe-nail but has been declared fit.During the drawn home Test series against England in March, New Zealand persisted with same XI in all three matches, an approach Hesson admitted was important to provide stability and confidence to the squad.In that series, which was drawn 0-0, the hosts stuck to three fast bowlers in Southee, Wagner and Trent Boult along with Bruce Martin, the left-arm spinner. Although he did not reveal the line-up for the first Test, Hesson said he was open to playing four fast bowlers based on the ground and overhead conditions.”Absolutely. It is an option,” Hesson said. “We are not closed in our views in terms of who we play. Whoever is left out is a tough decision but we have got to pick the best side for the conditions.”

Hakim Ziyech's agent has denied saying that the winger has asked to leave Galatasaray amid reports claiming his loan from Chelsea will be cut short.

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Ziyech struggling in TurkeyCould head back to London in JanuaryAgent labelled exit statement as fake newsWHAT HAPPENED?

According to Turkish outletNTV Spor, Galatasaray are looking to end Ziyech's loan deal in January. The 30-year-old has endured an "ineffective" spell in the Super Lig since he moved on loan to Istanbul from Stamford Bridge in the summer. He has featured in just nine matches so far this season, which has given rise to speculation that his time in Turkey might be over, despite his contract expiring in the summer.

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Amid the uncertainty, Ziyech's representative George Gardi was alleged to have said in a statement: "Hakim Ziyech's Galatasaray adventure started well, but it did not continue well. We conveyed to Galatasaray that we wanted to leave. Galatasaray will not cause us any difficulties."

However, Gardi set the record straight on his Instagram story, labelling the statement "fake news".

"I never made ay statement on Ziyech and I don't know this person who wrote using my name," he wrote.

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Ziyech's future remains uncertain as Mauricio Pochettino might not find a place for him at Chelsea given his options in attack and the squad's bloated nature. For now, Ziyech will shift his focus to international duty with the Morocco national team. He has received a call-up to Walid Regragui's squad for the Africa Cup of Nations and will have his sights set on a deep run at the prestigious international tournament.

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Ziyech has just four goals and two assists to his name in all competitions for Galatasaray. The team management reportedly do not deem his efforts to be enough to keep him on board until the summer, and are looking to get him off their books before the January window slams shut.