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T20 World Cup: Want to take consistency from the tournament with us, says Craig Ervine

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7 months ago

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Coming into the Men’s T20 World Cup, not many had predicted that Zimbabwe would enter the Super 12 stage of the tournament, though they were riding on a new wave of results since July. After all, they were placed in a tough Group A of the first round which included two-time champions West Indies, Ireland and Scotland.

But Zimbabwe scraped through to defeat Ireland and Scotland to top the table and enter the Group 2 of the Super 12s. With confidence brimming and the goal of making Super 12s achieved, Zimbabwe were now in the pursuit of making life tough for the big teams clubbed alongside them.

Though their match against South Africa was washed out, Zimbabwe managed to stun Pakistan by successfully defending 130 and winning by one run. They had some disappointments too, losing by three runs to Bangladesh and comprehensively beaten by the Netherlands in a five-wicket defeat.

Now, looking back at their campaign ahead of their final match against India at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, captain Craig Ervine wants to build upon the consistency shown by his team in the tournament for achieving bigger goals in the future.

“We knew that coming into this tournament, we had really good momentum. We got some great results leading into the tournament. The confidence and everything was up for us coming into the tournament and our main goal was to qualify for the Super 12s as well as still performing against some of the bigger teams.

“Going away from the World Cup, we want to take that sort of consistency with us. We know that the cricketing schedule is very busy going forward, so we want to keep this momentum that we have created. We have created a good support base now that many people are following Zimbabwe cricket. We want to try keep it that way and build on it going forward,” said Ervine in the pre-match press conference.

Against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe were close to making an upset victory and spice up the tournament. But their inability to score even a single run off the last two balls of the game, especially after no-ball was called when teams were already back in the dugout, was a pinching loss for Ervine and Zimbabwe.

“The loss to Bangladesh was very disappointing, especially to come so close. More so from the position that we were in, we were pretty much looked out of the game. But then Sean Williams and Ryan Burl together almost took us over the line.

“Then the last ball being a no-ball, and to come back on the field, you sort of sit back and think maybe we weren’t destined for it. It’s such a quick turnaround in this tournament. You can’t really sit and think if we had done this or that as there’s a next game which is few days away. So, we have to just kick on and look at the next game,” expressed Ervine.

With India coming into the match after surviving a scare against Bangladesh to win by five runs, Ervine is aware that with matches in the tournament going down the wire, no team can be ruled out of winning the game. Zimbabwe know it very well too, having stunned India by three runs in the 1999 ODI World Cup in England.

“For a lot of games, the World Cup has been really exciting because there’s been a lot of close games. One thing that we’ve learnt is you’re never out of it. If you can try and stay in the game and try and take it as deep as possible, you never know where it might take you.

“There’s a lot of different pressures that are at play in various games, so especially just trying to take the game as deep as possible and letting the other side panic before you do.”

Ervine signed off by hoping Zimbabwe can make improvements in fielding and losing wickets in a heap, especially in the power-play, in future. “There’s a few areas that we’d like to improve on. One is especially the fielding over the last couple (of) games, has let us down quite a bit. Also the powerplay, we’ve struggled a little bit on the powerplay.”

“We’ve lost a lot of early wickets and it puts quite a bit of pressure on the middle order. Losing those wickets in clusters has been our Achilles heel in the batting department, and then in the fielding department it’s mainly been our dropped catches and missed fields we need to tidy up on.”

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Mark Zuckerberg strikes gold against jiu jitsu fighters, posts pictures on Instagram

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3 weeks ago

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May 9, 2023

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In the past, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has appeared helpless in front of the US Congress where he has been slapped by fines, and fired 11,000 vulnerable employees after being hit by falling revenues. But outside the business arena where Meta is facing tough competition from TikTok and other rivals, Zuckerberg is a huge mixed martial arts fan.

Contrary to setbacks in the tech sector, the Facebook founder has tasted victory in jiu jitsu.

Striking gold, but in a different arena

  • The billionaire who has trained with UFC fighters, posted pictures after winning jiu jitsu matches for the first time.
  • The billionaire who tried his hand at martial arts, revealed that he won a gold medal in the Gi categroy and a silver medal in the No-GI category.
  • His post on Instagram received comments from UFC featherweight and bantamweight category champions, as well as jiu jitsu hall of fame member Bernardo Faria.

Competitive or short tempered?

  • The entrepreneur turned sportsperson, who also enjoys surfing, was seen getting into a heated argument after losing a contest during the tournament in California as well.
  • On the work front, Zuckerberg’s firm Meta also surprised the markets by bouncing back with strong earnings, after struggling with loss of ad revenue.
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International

Al Hilal swoop in with bumper €400 million per year salary deal amid reports of Lionel Messi leaving PSG

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4 weeks ago

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May 4, 2023

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Paris Saint Germain forward Lionel Messi is reportedly planning to cut short his time at FC Barcelona and eventually join Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia. This comes after Messi was suspended for two weeks for travelling to the Kingdom without PSG’s Qatari owners’ permission.

End of Project Messi

Messi had hoped to stay at PSG beyond the end of the current season. However, with recent events, the situation has changed drastically. Given his incredible record with FC Barcelona and PSG, Messi’s potential move to Al-Hilal would undoubtedly shake the football world.

While Messi’s priority remains to play in Europe, transfer market expert Fabrizio Romano reported that Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal has offered the Argentine superstar a bumper contract with a record-breaking salary worth €400 million per year. The potential deal will lead to Messi surpassing his eternal rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, who earns €223 million per year at Al Nassr.

Hindrance to Messi’s Barcelona return

There is strong speculation that Messi may return to his former club, FC Barcelona. However, the club is facing difficulties in shedding the €200 million ($220 million) required from their wage bill to make the deal viable. Despite this challenge, Barcelona is trying to convince La Liga that they have a workable plan to make the numbers work for a potential deal with Messi.

Consequences of Messi’s Suspension

Messi’s suspension was imposed because he went to fulfill his duties as a tourism ambassador. The Argentine will also be docked two weeks’ pay, which Forbes’ recently-published list of the World’s 10 Highest-Paid Athletes 2023 estimated to be around $2.5 million. As a result, Messi will miss games against Troyes and Ajaccio.

In addition, PSG has reportedly cancelled a contract renewal offer to Messi, whose current agreement at the Parc des Princes expires on June 30. The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner will be free to negotiate with other clubs starting in January 2023.

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Saudi Arabia to host FIFA Club World Cup 2023

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3 months ago

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February 15, 2023

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Saudi Arabia has been named the host of the FIFA Club World Cup 2023, scheduled to take place from December 12-22.

“In relation to the FIFA Club World Cup 2023�, which is due to be played under the current format with seven clubs, the FIFA Council unanimously appointed the Saudi Arabian Football Federation as tournament hosts from 12 to 22 December 2023,” the FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday night.

The unanimous decision was made at a FIFA Council meeting and came only a few days after Real Madrid lifted the trophy in Morocco, following a thrilling 5-3 win over Al-Hilal, the first Saudi club to reach the final of the tournament.

Saudi Arabia will be only the sixth host of the competition since its inception in 2000.

The Gulf nation, earlier this month, was awarded the hosting rights of the men’s Asian Cup 2027 and is also bidding to host the Women’s Asian Cup for the first time in 2026.

The FIFA Council also confirmed a change in the format of the tournament from June 2025 — to expand the FIFA Club World Cup from 24 to 32 teams — with 12 teams from Europe involved along six from CONMEBOL, while CONCACAF, CAF and the AFC will each have four, with one place for the OFC and another for the hosts.

In addition, the Council also confirmed that the hosts of the FIFA World Cup 2026, namely Canada, Mexico and the USA, will qualify automatically as the joint hosts of the tournament, with their slots, therefore, being deducted from the overall allocation of six assigned to Concacaf.

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