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After England’s tied match with India at ICC World Cup 2011, Group B was thrown wide open. While making it tougher for India to head the group, the result also propelled England, and a win against against South Africa, however unlikely, could have pushed England to the top of the group with the prospect of facing New Zealand in the quarter-finals.

But all that was before England’s game against Ireland on March 2.

England’s batting has flourished with Strauss striking a purple patch, and Pietersen’s promotion to opener has given England the boost they needed at the start of their innings. Added to that, Trott and Bell have carried on from where they left off in the Ashes series in Australia. With the top four batsmen looking solid, England have managed scores of 293, 338 and 328 in three games so far. But the lower middle order has been a worry with Collingwood not too impressive in the games against India and Ireland, though admittedly the former captain was instrumental in seeing his side through to a thrilling win in their first game against Holland. Prior has also not impressed in the brief forays he has had in the last two games.

It is becoming increasingly evident that the smartest bowling side is likely to enjoy an edge over the others. Unfortunately for England, it isn’t them. Though Bresnan got a five-for and decimated India’s tail, in the tied game, he did not have too much to show against Ireland. Anderson has been going for plenty of runs, and Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien in particular treated him with scant respect. Broad has been in and out of the team missing the India game owing to fever. Swann has been the sole threat to rival batsmen in the England squad but even he cannot stem the flow of runs on a flat track.

The loss to Ireland has exposed England’s bowling, and like India, Strauss’s men must worry about they are going to tackle strong batting teams with a bowling that has few clues on the flat tracks of the sub-continent. Like India, England must ponder the inclusion of 5 front-line bowlers. They must also rethink the wisdom of bowling out Swann’s quota and to hold him back for a few overs at the death. Swann took 3/47 but with Ireland reeling at 111/5, there was scant indication of the carnage to follow in the batting power-play that yielded 60 runs with O’Brien getting 47 in 15 balls.

In the process, O’Brien who got his hundred in 50 balls, broke Hayden’s world cup record of a ton in 66 deliveries set at the 2007 event, in the West Indies. Ireland also set a new record for the highest chase at the world cup.

Wittingly or otherwise, England have made Group B more interesting; with India and South Africa likely to fight for the top two spots in Group B, the third and fourth places are likely to see three suitors in England, Bangladesh and the West Indies. Great value for money for cricket fans worldwide.

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Manchester United star Portuguese midfielder Christiano Ronaldo says he is raring to go and is as fit as ever ahead of the start of the 2007/2008 Premiership football season as Man Utd prepare their defence of the Premiership title.

Man Utd manager Sir Alex Ferguson has made many big signings ahead of the new season, strengthening the squad somewhat with the acquisitions of Anderson, Nani, Owen Hargreaves and (eventually hopefully) Carlos Tevez.

When asked about the new signings Ronaldo stated that they are all fantastic signings, they will be great for the club and the team – and that he hopes they never leave.

Cristiano Ronaldo meanwhile has been in terrific form at the start of the pre-season, with many dazzling performances on Utd’s 4 day tour of the Far East. Sir Alex Ferguson will surely be a lot happier with the progress the players have made fitness wise this pre-season, after having to endure many of his star players performing tirelessly at least seasons World Cup finals in Germany.

This season around the likes of Rooney, Ronaldo and co will all be fully prepared for the coming up season, after admitting last season that they started feeling the effects of a prolonged season last time around.

Manchester United will be facing nearest rivals Chelsea on Sunday in the Charity Shield football match at Wembley, and the weekend after they will open their Premiership account with a home match against last seasons surprise package Reading.

Ronaldo can’t wait for the new season to begin, and is already looking to build upon the success of last year – which has already seen him crowned PFA Young Player and PFA Player’s Player Of The Year.

«Things are going very good for me,» Cristiano Ronaldo told MUTV. «I feel fit and I’m very happy with the way our preparations have gone so far. But I must keep my form going. The Premier League starts soon and I must be ready for that. I hope to play well. My ambition is still the same – I want to play well, score goals and provide assists. I tried to do the same last year and I worked hard to do that. I hope things come good for me.»

It remains to be seen how Cristiano Ronaldo can really improve on his performances last season around, but with just a few weeks away from the kick off of the new Premiership season we can’t wait to see how the new-look Manchester United team performs, and whether Christiano Ronaldo can really build on his success of last season.

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After losing the Player of the Year award (Ballon d’Or) to Lionel Messi for four consecutive years Cristiano Ronaldo won the accolade in 2013. This and the great start Ronaldo has made in the new season have livened up an old debate as to whether he is a better player than Messi.

The discussion has focused on a particular set of statistics, namely, goals. To the extent that the data can help us to hazard an educated guess about player performance, Messi is the better of the two at club and international levels.

However if goals are used as the criteria to compare players it is not sufficient to look only at the number of goals scored. You also have to break down the conversion rate into such things as whether the shots are from inside or outside the area, the goal expectation i.e. whether an average player would score given the chance presented and the quality of the opponents.

CLUB LEVEL

The findings of a recent mathematical study were published in the Washington Post which showed that in 2009 to 2013 Messi’s average chance quality (i.e. quality of chances created) was higher than Ronaldo’s. Ronaldo had more shots but were mostly from long distance and he only scored 30 goals from 587 such shots whereas Messi scored 28 goals from his 287 long distance shots. Messi was more efficient because a higher percentage of his shots were converted i.e. 9.75 % to 5.11%.

The study found that Messi is better at getting into goal-scoring positions since he had 29 danger zone shots (from inside the area) to Ronaldo’s 20.

Messi is also a better finisher. In the period 2009/10 through 2013/14 Messi averaged 40% more goals than expected goals compared to Ronaldo’s 20% (see WASHINGTON POST – Despite great season, Cristiano Ronaldo is not better than Lionel Messi; by Michael Caley, November 7, 2014).

Last season Ronaldo broke the norm and outscored Messi. This propelled him to win the Ballon d’Or in 2013. But this has to be looked at in light of the fact that Messi missed a part of the year through injury and when he resumed playing he almost caught up with Ronaldo’s tally of 31 by scoring 28 by the end of the 2013/14 season.

Also, in the current season Ronaldo has made a great start by scoring 12 non-penalty goals to Messi’s 7. A plausible explanation for this is not that Ronaldo is now a better player but it is attributed to the changing roles of both players at their respective clubs.

With the addition of Neymar and Luis Suarez on the flanks of Barcelona’s 4-3-3 formation Messi now plays a deep-lying playmaking role which has led to his goals trending down while his assists are going up. His goals per game fell from little under 1.50 in the season 2012/13 to 0.86 in 2014/15 while his assists in 2013/14 was little under 0.50 and rose to 0.86 in the current season.

At Real Madrid the trend was the opposite. With the recent addition of Gareth Bale and James Rodriques in the midfield Ronaldo is now more of a striker and less focused on distribution. He now takes more shots from inside the penalty area and in the current season his 12 non-penalty goals except for 2 were from inside the box. His goals per game rose from 1.00 in 2013/14 to 2.20 in 2014/15 while his assists in the same period fell from 0.25 to 0.17 (ESPN FC GLOBAL- Realigning Stars: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo face changing roles; by Michael Cox, October 23, 2014).

INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

Messi has a better strike rate than Ronaldo. The all time stats for all competitions show that Messi has 44 goals from 95 caps (0.46 goals per game) whereas Ronaldo has 51 from 116 caps (0.43 goals per game) (INTERNATIONAL STATS – November 8, 2014).

World Cup – Messi also surpasses Ronaldo with 5 goals from 15 caps (0.33 goals per game) to Ronaldo’s 3 goals from 13 caps (0.23 goals per game) (INTERNATIONAL STATS etc.).

Messi’s record is very impressive. In 2014 he led Argentina to the final, was voted Man of the Match in 4 games (the most of any player in the competition) and won the Golden Boot as the best player of the tournament.

Contrary to what some critics say he was the most deserving of the latter award. He had the most impact on the competition as Argentina would not have progressed to the final without him. He was the joint highest goal scorer with 4 goals and assists, created the most chances, had the most successful dribbling runs, made the most deliveries into the box and produced the most through balls of any player.

In contrast, Ronaldo has a sorry record. He has only scored thrice and against weak opposition, namely, a penalty against Iran (2006), the sixth goal in a 7-0 win against North Korea in 2010 and a late goal against Ghana in 2014. In the last tournament his only real contribution was an assist against the USA.

QUALITY OF OPPONENTS

Messi has more career goals for club and country. He has a total of 420 goals in 564 games (or 0.74 goals per game) while Ronaldo has 449 goals in 702 games (or 0.63 goals per game).

The important difference is that the Argentine has more game changing goals and against stronger opposition. His goals are directly associated with winning titles in La Liga, Champions League victories, Olympic gold medal matches and Youth and Club World Cups.

For example, as at March 24, 2014 for Barcelona he has scored against the best teams namely, 21 against Real Madrid (Barcelona’s fiercest rival), 20 against league champion Atletico Madrid and 18 against Sevilla (most successful club in Andalusia). In the Champions League he has 12 against German teams, 8 against English teams and 5 against Italian teams. And in the World Cup 2014 he scored 4 match winning goals.

Ronaldo on the other hand has failed to score in decisive matches and succeeded in scoring multiple goals against weak teams not only with his club but with his country. For example, in the English Premier League for Manchester United he only scored 2 goals in 9 games against Liverpool (United’s fiercest rival) and scored 1 goal in 15 games against stalwart Chelsea.

In the Champions League for United he failed to net in his first 26 games and although he scored in the final in 2014 for Real Madrid he had little impact in the other final in which he played in 2009 in a 2-0 loss to Barcelona.

In Spain in his first 9 games against Barcelona (Real Madrid’s main rival) he scored just 3 goals.

In the World Cup he has a sorry record which was discussed above and in the European Championship he has 6 goals against minnows Greece, the Czech Republic and a weak Holland team and underperforms against strong teams like Germany and Spain.

All in all the stats show that Messi is the better player because he is better at getting into goal scoring positions, is a better finisher and is a more efficient goal scorer. Messi has an age advantage because he is 27 and Ronaldo is 29 and though it is likely that both will still be playing for a few more years the Argentine will have more time than Ronaldo to extend his record of achievements. In the meantime the debate goes on.

Victor A. Dixon

November 20, 2014

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Dean Mervyn Jones, DM Jones as it appeared in the scorecards for Australia in the mid-eighties to early nineties for both Tests and one-day internationals (ODI), passed away suddenly in Mumbai of a massive cardiac arrest on September 24, 2020. He was in the city for being a part of the broadcast team operating from Mumbai for the ongoing new normal Indian Premier League 2020 (IPL13). As per reports Dean took part in a discussion, and was then chatting with others in the hotel lobby when he suddenly collapsed, falling to the ground. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. He was just 59 and was in very sound health. Well, in this gloomy COVID-19 times death no longer needs an excuse to strike. The death of Dean Jones is a great tragedy to befall world cricket, and a terrible shocker for all cricketers, commentators and lovers of the game.
We remember Dean Jones as the awe-inspiring No.3 Australian batsman when Australia had been a formidable opponent beating all teams of international cricket including India with ease, under the respective captaincy of Allan Border and Steve Smith. Dean was inducted in the Australian team in 1984 during its West Indies tour, and played 52 tests till 1992 when he was dropped under controversial circumstances. In his Test career DM Jones scored 3631 runs with 11 centuries and 14 half-centuries, his batting average at a terrific 46.55. He was equally successful in the ODI format scoring 6068 runs, 7 centuries, 46 half-centuries yielding a very healthy average of 44.61. He was one of the top batsmen of the world during his tenure as per the relevant ICC rankings. He was named the Cricketer of the Year in 1990 in acknowledgment of his towering performance in the successful Ashes Tour of 1989. He had also been a part of the victorious Australian side in the 1987 ICC Cricket World Cup held in India.
Among millions of cricket lovers across the world we also remember him specially for his performance in the historic third Test against India in Chennai (Madras then) in September 1986: under extremely humid conditions, Dean Mervyn Jones, suffering bouts of dehydration on the field, scored a definitive 210 runs in the Australian first innings of a massive 574 for 7 declared. That Test match went on to become only the third ever Tied Test in world cricket with India, set 348 runs to win on the fifth and final day, and the hosts getting all out for 347, scores level. Dean Jones played his last ODI against South Africa in 1994.
After his rather controversial exits from both the Test and ODI formats Dean Jones continued to remain in limelight as a commentator in live cricket matches and tournaments, and as a live-wire anchor in various television sports series. His special love for India brought him here very often, participating in various new cricket talent-hunt and humanitarian projects, and it is indeed tragic that he should breathe his last in the cricketing city of Mumbai. Dean Jones had always been spirited, dramatic, humorous and outspoken in his roles as commentators and anchors. His speaking-the-mind utterances often landed him in trouble, both during his playing and commentator tenures, leading to sackings from the team or breach of contracts.
A cricket legend goes for the heavenly abode; sad, shocking and untimely demise of a lively former cricketer, commentator, television anchor and cricket coach. He will always be remembered as the outstanding No.3 Australian batsman who came in after the fall of one of the legendary openers, Marsh and Boon, invariably and regaled his home fans and all other cricket lovers across the globe with aggressive attacking shots: fours and sixes in abundance. We mourn the death a cricket legend deeply.
At a personal level, I would like to mention another tragic loss of an outstanding physician, Dr. Ashwini Kumar Sarma, in a town in Assam on 18th September 2020; not because he was my brother-in-law, but because of the striking similarities between the two tragedies. The doctor also succumbed to a sudden, massive and inexplicable cardiac arrest during his afternoon nap and it was all over in just five minutes. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and was declared dead on arrival, before anybody could even guess what happened. He was also 59, and in reasonably good health. Humans cannot understand the bizarre ways of Death, ever.

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His ability to spot a young talent to don the famous red and white soccer uniform and nurture them to greatness is renowned. At the helm at Arsenal since 1996, Wenger has recognized talent in many players and his current squad bears witness to his ability. Despite the fact that Arsenal was up there and winning trophies up till 2005, they have won nothing since and not even got close in the UK. They did enjoy the distinction of being the first London club to reach a European Champions league final, losing out to Barcelona in 2006.

Since the (some say premature) departure of Thierry Henry to Barcelona in 2007, Arsenal appears to have lost their edge in the last third of the pitch. To watch them play some times can be very frustrating as they have some really skilful players, and a creative gem in Cest Fabregas, but they just don’t seem to score enough goals, especially against the other members of the big four ( Chelsea, ManUtd. or maybe Liverpool).

Unfortunately where Arsenal does appear to lead the field is in the number of horrific injuries that their players have suffered over the last few years. Every team going through a tough season, and especially those who are playing a lot of games, are liable suffer injuries to their key players. However very few see their players being stretchered off with career threatening injuries the way Arsenal have, especially in the last few years.

The recent terrible injury blow that Arsenal suffered was with their young Welsh talent, Aaron Ramsey who was a victim of a studs up tackle by Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross which left Ramsey with seemingly no less than six fractures to his shin. Shawcross left the field in tears, and the Arsenal and Stoke players were obviously shaken as nineteen year old Ramsey was stretchered of, and is not likely to feature again on a soccer pitch till 2011.

It must have been like déjà vu for Wenger as he recalled the day in February 2008, in a match against Birmingham City, where another one of his proteges, Croatian born Eduardo suffered a badly broken left fibula as well as an open dislocation to his left ankle. The injury was caused by an over the ball tackle by Birmingham’s captain Martin Taylor, who was promptly sent off. It took Eduardo almost exactly one year to get back to proper match fitness.

As Arsenal’s season continues and they still remain in contention for the two major trophies ( Premier League and Champions League) how will Ramsey’s injury affect the rest of the players’ ability to get stuck in around the opposition’s penalty area when the tackles start to fly.

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Spain is the reigning world champion, having won the FIFA world cup in 2010 by beating Holland in the final. They have for long been considered one of the top football playing nations but have consistently underperformed at the international level until recently.

That said, the game is extremely popular in the country and the fans of the game constitute the biggest inspiration for the national team that relies on a solid championship structure at the club level.

The Spanish Super Cup, known as the Supercopa de España, is a Spanish football championship in which the winners of the La Liga take on the winners of the Copa del Rey. This is similar to the Community shield in England in which the winners of the Premier League and the FA cup face each other in a traditional season opener.

This year’s tournament in Spain will be contested by Barcelona, who won the 2010-11 edition of the La Liga; they will face Real Madrid who won the Copa del Rey, last season.

The competition as it is currently played was first organized in 1982. In a previous era of Spanish football, between 1940 and 1953, a similar competition was held, in which the winners of the league and the cup, then called the Copa del Generalismo, met in similar fashion.

The tournament was initially called Copa de Campeones when it began, in 1940, after which there was a hiatus for five years, before a similar contest was held in 1945, under the sponsorship of the Ambassador of Argentina, under the name of Copa de Oro Argentina.

Two years later, a new annual tournament called the Copa Eva Duarte de Perón was held and dedicated to the President and the first lady of Argentina. The tournament was held between the ninth and last months of the year, in the form of a single-leg final.

The 2010 Spanish Super Cup was contested by Sevilla FC who won the Copa del Rey that year, and Barcelona, who were the La Liga winners for the 2009-10 season. Barcelona beat Sevilla by a 5-3 aggregate score in the two-leg encounter to claim their 9th Super Cup title.

Among other champions, Real Madrid have won the title on eight occasions, since the tournament began in 1982, while Deportivo have won it twice. There have been seven other champions to have won it once each. These are Sevilla, Zaragoza, Valencia, Mallorca, Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad.

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