“It’s good fun and it gets you away from reality for a little while,” he said. “Some blokes like the soaps but here you see blokes belting each other up and chicks getting their kit off, so it is great entertainment.” “The Undertaker” is his favourite and England will be hoping that the symbolism is not too prophetic.. No side has enjoyed the arrival of Twenty20 cricket quite so much as Leicestershire. Their status in the Championship and National League – they are in the second division of both – is a fair reflection of a modest team yet they will go to The Oval on Saturday week for their third appearance in the finals in three attempts. What’s more, they will fancy their chances of successfully defending their title after an unlikely victory over Middlesex in the quarter-finals last night again emphasised their liking for the short game.
A score of 159 for 6 from their 20 overs after Middlesex had asked them to bat looked precariously small against a side possessing the season’s most prolific batsman, but an exceptional spell of new ball bowling from South African left-armer Charl Willoughby dealt the visitors what turned out to be three decisive blows.Willoughby could not have had a better start, removing danger man Owais Shah with his first delivery.Willoughby followed that by dismissing Ed Smith, bowled off an inside edge in his next over, and when Paul Weekes drove him straight to mid-off he had figures of 3 for 2. He could not quite manage an economy record but 3 for 11 from four overs is fairly impressive, especially when one considers that England’s Matthew Hoggard conceded 63 in an earlier match.James Dalrymple and Scott Styris did as much as they could to put their side back in with a chance, their partnership adding 87 in 10 overs before Dalrymple holed out to long-off. But Middlesex were still left to score 54 off the last four overs, which always seemed a tall order, even though Styris continued to score heavily.The New Zealander finished unbeaten on 73, but both Ed Joyce and Ben Hutton fell cheaply and Leicestershire’s winning margin of 19 was much more comfortable than they could have foreseen after their own innings had run out of steam.l Somerset’s opener Matthew Wood steered his side into the Twenty20 Cup semi-finals at Northampton with a six-wicket win.
Wood made a patient 58 as the West Country side passed the Northamptonshire total in the final over.. Tottenham yesterday launched a £14m bid for the Seville midfielder Julio Baptista and are now in pole position to sign him ahead of Arsenal who have lined up the Brazilian as their most expensive signing of the summer following the departure of Patrick Vieira. Arsenal have been unable to seal the signing of Baptista, 23, despite meeting with Seville officials last week and have encountered a reluctance from the player himself who favours a move to Barcelona at the end of next season. However, Tottenham’s greater financial resources could undermine Ars? Wenger as he prepares for the difficult task of replacing the influence of Vieira in his midfield.
The Seville president, Jose Maria Del Nido, is eager to sell the player this summer to realise his rising transfer value after two seasons in which Baptista has scored 48 goals from midfield.
His disclosure of the bid from Tottenham, who – up until yesterday – had only inquired about the player, is a deliberate move to force the transfer through. Del Nido said: “The most important offer that we have received is that of Tottenham, of more than €20m [£13.8m] It’s going to be difficult for him to leave. Time is passing by and there are fewer days in order for clubs to make higher offers than what we have received so far.” Ashley Cole completed the most remarkable u-turn in recent football history yesterday when he signed a one-year extension to the two years remaining on his contract and secured the wage increase that had been the motivation for his infamous meeting with Jose Mourinho and Chelsea’s chief executive, Peter Kenyon, on 27 January. Although Arsenal’s announcement of the deal was scarce on detail and suitably muted in terms of mutual appreciation between club and player, it would now appear that Cole’s £100,000 fine from the Premier League independent commission was money well spent. He has secured vastly better terms over the course of three years and should endure no problems recouping that money in salary increases with a deal understood to be worth £70,000 a week. In a brief statement, Arsenal said: “Everyone at Arsenal is looking forward to Ashley being an integral part of the club’s challenge for honours in the forthcoming seasons.” However, there are no plans yet for a public reconciliation between the player and the vice-chairman, David Dein, who clashed over the club’s determination to report Chelsea to the Premier League over the tapping-up scandal.
Cole refused to acknowledge Dein on 1 June when the three-man commission gave their verdict and in a newspaper interview he accused the vice-chairman of having “hung me out to dry”. He also said that Wenger had not given him the support he felt he deserved over the affair.. Rafael Benitez has made one significant step towards reshaping his Liverpool forward line by omitting Milan Baros from tonight’s Champions’ League qualifier against TNS Llansantffraid only to discover that three Premiership rivals now share his interest in the Southampton striker Peter Crouch. Middlesbrough, Charlton Athletic and Manchester City, keen to placate their manager, Stuart Pearce, and their supporters by reinvesting the £21m banked for Shaun Wright-Phillips in new talent, have all joined the pursuit of the England international, a long-standing target of the Liverpool manager who has had two bids, of £6m and £6.5m, rejected so far.
The developing auction will satisfy the Southampton chairman, Rupert Lowe, who is determined to hold out for £8m for a player signed for £2m from Aston Villa only 12 months ago but now determined to leave the relegated club in order to improve his prospects of taking part in next summer’s World Cup.The Southampton manager, Harry Redknapp, said last night: “Peter has been as good as gold He is training hard and not letting things affect him. The strikers always need to score more than 13 goals, but I am confident that if we have better possession of the ball this season and play better football they will have more chances.”We had a lot of problems last season with injuries to strikers, but I am sure it will be different this year.
It’s like we have signed some new players because they are all fit again now.”The competition between the strikers will be better, too. We can use Fernando Morientes in the Champions’ League this season. We also have Luis Garcia to come back, [Djibril] Ciss?ho can operate on the right and Harry Kewell can play in two or three different positions when he is fit.”The Liverpool manager, who is likely to start with several leading names on the bench tonight, added: “Even though we’re three goals up we want to name a strong side because we don’t want any surprises. “Barring an astonishing upset, Liverpool will face either FBK Kaunas, of Lithuania, or HB Torohavn, of the Faroe Islands, in the second qualifying round, with the Lithuanians taking a 4-2 first-leg lead into this evening’s home leg.TNS Llansantffraid (probable, 4-4-2): Doherty; Baker, Jackson, Evans, King; Wood, Naylor, Holmes, Ward; Lloyd-Williams, Wilde.Liverpool (probable, 4-4-2): Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Whitbread, Riise; Potter, Alonso, Hamann, Zenden; Le Tallec, Ciss?.
