Magnificent SEVEN play for countries
SHANE Warne has called for a golf-style revolution in Test cricket in order to secure the future of the red-ball game.
The former Australian leg-spinner said Test cricket needed to adopt what the PGA Tour in the US did with the FedEx Cup, which sees the best golfers compete annually in a play-off for a prize of £7.6m.
Warne said the International Cricket Council (ICC) should offer a pot of £15.18m in order to energise the five-day game and called for better marketing of Test cricket.
“I would love to see the ICC say for the team over a cycle where you play everyone home and away, there is a prize of 20million US dollars and they can give it to charity, grassroots cricket or whatever,” Warne said.
“I also think we have got to hope that the best players in the world take responsibility and say they want to test themselves against the best, to be the best, and the best arena to do that is Test cricket.
“The best team will always win over five days and the drama unfolds. You see some amazing draws where people hang on right until the end. Those are some of the most exciting games we have seen where the team hangs for a draw.”
Warne said they marketing of cricket focused too much on the Twenty20 competitions, such as the T20 Blast, the Big Bash or the IPL.
“It’s always the Twenty20 cricket that gets the big dollars thrown at them,” he said.
“So I would like to see people get re-educated about Test cricket and why it is so great, and get the best players talking about it.” HUDDERSFIELD Town could have seven stars in international action tonight.
A number of Terriers have been called up to their national sides’ first teams or youth age groups this month and nearly all of them could feature tonight.
In fact, Aaron Mooy and Florent Hadergjonaj are the only players to have been called up over this international break that will not turn out for their nations, with the Australian having withdrawn from the Socceroos’ squad and Hadergjonaj’s Switzerland in action tonight.
Steve Mounie could feature for Benin (4pm kick off) in the Squirrels’ AARON Ramsey will miss Wales’ Nations League fixture against the Republic of Ireland tonight for family reasons.
Ramsey captained Wales during the second half of their 4-1 friendly defeat to Spain at the Principality Stadium last Thursday but has joined Gareth Bale in withdrawing Africa Cup of Nations Group D qualifying match against Algeria.
The striker’s nation currently sit second in their qualifying group after three matches, with Algeria on top having beaten Mounie’s men 2-0 in their last meeting on Friday.
Mathias ‘Zanka’ Jorgensen and Jonas Lossl could face Austria with Denmark in an international friendly, with their match kicking off at 7.45pm.
Zanka played the full 90 minutes in Denmark’s previous match, the goalless draw with the Republic of Ireland on Saturday, while Lossl is still waiting on his first cap since March 2016.
The rest of Town’s international interests come at Under 21 level.
Philip Billing has been selected from the squad that will travel to Dublin. Swansea winger Daniel James has been called up from the U21s as a replacement for the Arsenal midfielder.
The Football Association of Wales said in a tweet: “Daniel James has been called up to the senior team from the U21s this morning.
“Aaron Ramsey will no longer travel with the squad to Dublin due to family reasons.” Ramsey was by Denmark’s U21s for the European U21 Championship qualifier against the Faroe Islands (5pm kick off). The Danes will qualify for next year’s tournament should they win or equal the result of secondplaced Poland, who face Georgia tonight.
The Town man netted against Poland last time out, recording his first goal at Under 21 level for Denmark.
Billing’s goal could go some way to helping Jon Gorenc Stankovic qualify for the same tournament next summer, as Slovenia are chasing second place in Group 9 and a spot in the play-off picture.
The four best second-placed teams advance to the play-offs and Slovenia will be hoping to out-perform the likes of Poland, Russia, Sweden, Portugal, Slovakia and Ukraine in order to book their spot in the competition.
In order to do so however, they must beat France (5.45pm kick off) and hope other results go their way.
That will be easier said than done against a French outfit which has
Steve Mouni could feature for Benin in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier
allowed to miss Arsenal’s Europa League tie against Qarabag in Azerbaijan two weeks ago to stay in London with his wife, who is pregnant with twins.
His personal situation was addressed when manager Ryan Giggs named his 25-man group for the double header against Spain and the Republic. Giggs said earlier this month: “We have to weigh it up and it’s something for us to assess. won every qualifying match and has conceded just five goals in the process. Isaac Mbenza also faces a tricky test with Belgium’s Under 21s as the Red Devils take on second-placed Sweden in their final qualifier for the U21 Euros. Belgium are guaranteed the play-offs already, but can book their spot in Italy and San Marino next year should they either draw or beat the Swedes tonight (5.30pm kick off). Both Stankovic and Mbenza started in their respective sides’ last outings against Bulgaria and Hungary. Finally, Abdelhamid Sabiri could make his debut for Germany’s Under 21s against the Republic of Ireland (5.15pm kick off). Germany have already qualified for the tournament and called up three noncapped players to their squad for the final two matches against Norway and Ireland. One of those was Sabiri, although the Moroccan-born midfielder did not feature in the 2-1 win over Norway on Friday.
“Obviously, we are at home for the first game. That’s a plus, but we are just monitoring the situation.”
Ramsey, whose future at the Gunners has been the subject of some speculation as his contract runs out next summer, referenced the impending additions to his family when he celebrated his goal in Wales’ 4-1 win over the Republic in Cardiff last month by putting the ball up his jersey.