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Leeds have recently been linked with Nottingham Forest star Brennan Johnson, and his performance against Blackpool this weekend will certainly have caught Victor Orta’s eye.

This forms part of our Transfer Watch series, where we react to a performance from a current transfer target.

The Lowdown: Orta confirms talks

The Whites are keen on signing the Wales international in the summer, with Johnson in no rush to extend his current Forest contract. [Football Insider]

Leeds chief Orta confirmed in the week that he tried to bring Johnson to the club when he was just 16 years of age. He still appears to be on the club’s radar ahead of Jesse Marsch’s first full season in charge and once again starred for Steve Cooper on the weekend.

The Latest: Impressive display

Forest put in an impressive display at Bloomfield Road on Saturday lunchtime, with Johnson the star of the show, scoring twice and registering an assist in a 4-1 win.

He recorded a remarkable SofaScore match rating of 9.1/10 in his 66-minute display and also registered two key passes and completed two dribbles.

Johnson even contributed defensively by making a clearance and an interception as Forest continued their push for a Championship play-off place.

The Verdict: Sign

You’d expect that Johnson’s display would have caught Orta’s eye, and should Forest remain in the second tier, a move for the attacker this summer should be a no brainer.

Johnson has played all across the attacking line this season, contributing to 20 goals in all competitions. His versatility and breakthrough campaign at the City Ground has been impressive, and with Raphinha heavily linked with a move to Barcelona, Johnson could be the next gem signed by Orta.

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Leeds’ squad could also do with bolstering even if Raphinha stays, so bringing in Johnson could be an extremely shrewd move, providing Forest fall short in their bid to reach the Premier League.

In other news: Leeds may now lose another star alongside Raphinha and Phillips; he stunned a club employee. 

Scorecard

	Bermuda were bowled out for a paltry 13 © ICC

Bermuda’s women carved an unwanted niche in the international record books with one of the most abject performances in the game’s history. In their opening match of the World Cup Qualifiers at Stellenbosch University, they were bowled out for 13 and then South Africa took only four balls to sweep to a ten-wicket win.Bermuda’s men haven’t made much of a positive impact in the game either – eleven months ago, they conceded 413 for 5 against India in the World Cup and lost by 257 runs, the biggest margin in one-day history. But their women have just lowered the bar by several notches.They crawled to 7 for 2 after ten overs, but that represented the high-water mark. By the time drinks were taken after 15.5 overs they were 13 for 7 and had lost their 42-year-old captain, Linda Mienzer, for a determined 1 off 48 deliveries. Such was the confusion that when play resumed the batsmen returned to the wrong ends.The last three wickets failed to add to the score as Sunette Loubser finished with 6 for 3, including 5 for 1 in 12 balls.Terry-Lynn Paynter opened Bermuda’s attack but struggled to find the cut strip, conceding nine wides and a no-ball. Olivia Anderson did manage to reach one, which she dispatched for four.The statistics of the match are mindboggling. Eight Bermudans failed to get off the mark, and the three that did only managed a single each. Ten of the runs that helped make up their meagre score were extras – 71%. South Africa’s score of 15 for 0 was also made up of ten extras – nine wides and a no-ball. Anderson scored 50% of the runs scored off the bat in the match, and 80% of her side’s runs.Unfortunately for South Africa, but mercifully for the record-books, Bermuda’s debacle does not count towards the official statistics because they are ranked outside the world’s top ten countries. “I am disappointed that today’s stats don’t count for nothing,” said Loubser, “but I would say it was a team effort to win the opening match of the tournament.Bermuda’s captain, Mienzer, tried desperately to put a positive gloss on the performance. “I am extremely proud and our team is very proud to be here,” she said. “Just a year and a half ago there was no women’s programme so we went to Canada and qualified to come here which is an achievement in itself. In terms of women’s cricket in Bermuda, it has come a long way but we still have a long way to go.”South Africa’s next match is against equally unheralded opponents, Papua New Guinea, on Tuesday. “We are taking one match at a time and we are happy that we are off to a good start,” said Loubser. “It should augur well for the whole tournament. We don’t know anything about our next opponents, but that doesn’t mean we should rest on our laurels. We should be ready for anything.”

The Logan Cup, Zimbabwe’s first-class competition, is due to get underway on Thursday (April 12) but such in the chaos inside the country that not only has Zimbabwe Cricket been unable to publish any fixtures, it has yet to actually confirm who is taking part.The 2005-06 tournament was scrapped by the board – although no official announcement was made for months – amid widespread rumours that standards in the Faithwear Cup, the one-day competition which preceded the scheduled start of the Logan Cup, were so poor that the first-class games would be open to ridicule.For some time ZC claimed that it had not been cancelled, merely that the board has decided to change the dates of the first-class season. Few believed that, and the 2005-06 event was quietly allowed to die.The 2006-07 competition was supposed to herald a new start, with the abolition of the old provinces and the creation of new ones to take their place. But less than 48 hours before the opening matches were due to begin, it was apparent that nobody knew what was going on. Repeated requests for fixtures produced nothing, and ZC’s own website had no information either.On Tuesday, Chris Chiketa, ZC’s cricket operations manager, issued a statement in which he spoke of foreign players being brought in, in what would be a welcome bid to improve standards. “Kenya has shown a keen interest to be part of the proceedings,” he said, “and we hope they will make it for the second week of the tournament as they are still re-grouping after taking part in the World Cup in the West Indies.”Cricinfo spoke to Cricket Kenya and a source said that the invitation to send the Kenyan national side had come last week. He added that it would not be possible to send the full side as several players had club commitments in England, but it was still possible that an A team could travel to participate. Negotiations are said to be ongoing, but it seems bizarre that a competition can start without a full list of participants being known. On Tuesday, the ZC website referred to Pakistani cricketers being lined-up to play, but by Wednesday that reference had been removed.As a further indication of the shambles blighting Zimbabwe cricket, scorecards from the Faithwear Cup, which took place a fortnight ago, have yet to be provided to the media.

Three of the four bidders for the lucrative global television rights for 25 offshore ODIs to be played by India over the next five years have complained to the Indian board against irregularities in the tender process.Nimbus, ESPN-Star Sports and Zee Sports have alleged that Sahara’s tender was accepted by the board despite the bid being delivered after the 11 am (IST) deadline on Wednesday, which clearly violated the guidelines. They further alleged that the bid was not delivered in a sealed envelope as the rules stipulate.Nimbus and Zee Sports immediately sent out letters to the BCCI while ESPN-Star indicated that they reserved the right to take action if necessary. Meanwhile, Lalit Modi, the board’s vice-president, dismissed their claim and maintained that the bidding process was done in all fairness. “Sahara had deposited the money of five million dollars yesterday itself and its representatives were waiting at the reception whereas the other bidders had gathered in the boardroom,” he was quoted as saying by the .Himanshu Mody, the business head of Zee Sports, in his letter wrote, “We believe that the new BCCI administration has conducted the earlier tender process with complete transparency and fairness. There have been instances in the past, where companies have been disqualified on technical grounds. Keeping these facts in mind, we trust in all fairness, the Sahara financial bid should not be considered. We are hopeful the BCCI will take a fair decision on this occasion as well.”The BCCI is expected to announce the results of the bidding at Mumbai on Thursday. They have also fixed a reserve price of US $5 million per match and the bid is likely to fetch a minimum of $100 million.In his letter to the board, K Digvijay Singh, Nimbus’ CEO, said, “In line with the strict and uniform concurrence to BCCI policy, Sahara’s technical non-compliance with Clause 10 (b) of the Invitation To Tender (ITT) should render their bid subject to rejection according to the BCCI’s strict policies.”It may be noted that Nimbus has a positive working relationship with Sahara. Nevertheless, in the interests of equity and a constant policy that the present BCCI committee have taken pains to exemplify, we respectfully maintain that the Sahara bid should not be permitted to qualify herein.”The offshore television rights include the two India-Pakistan matches to be played in Abu Dhabi on April 18 and 19.

The West Indies Cricket Board has denied holding any discussions over the contracts issue with the players in the absence of the West Indies Players’ Association. The denial comes in the wake of allegations by Dinanath Ramnarine, the president and chief executive of the players’ association, claiming that the board acted in “bad faith” and went against “good industrial relations practice”.Roger Brathwaite, the chief executive of the WICB, who met with the players along with Tony Howard, the team manager, was quoted as saying in The Trinidad Express, “… as any responsible employer, the board thought it fit to let the players know about matters which affect their interests. With the Digicel home series ended, we took the opportunity to speak with them briefly as a group before they departed for their respective homes.”I told him [Ramnarine] that I took the opportunity to inform the players that the WICB has been trying without success to meet with WIPA since the start of the Digicel home series, but this had not proved possible.”Braithwaite further mentioned that the contract for next month’s series in Sri Lanka had been forwarded to WIPA, and hoped that a swift agreement could be reached on the terms and conditions for that tour. West Indies are scheduled to play two Tests followed by a triangular one-day tournament, also involving India.

India 211 for 3 (Sehwag 90, Tendulkar 44) beat Zimbabwe 208 for 6 (Streak 59*) by 7 wickets with 12.2 overs to spare
Scorecard

Heath Streak top-scored for the second match in a row for Zimbabwe © Getty Images

The third match of the VB Series, at Hobart, resulted in a comprehensive win for India, after yet another worrying top-order collapse prevented Zimbabwe from reaching a competitive total. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar put on their second century stand of the series as India achieved the 209-run target with 12.2 overs to spare to take home a bonus point as well. Heath Streak top-scored for Zimbabwe with an unbeaten 59 and troubled the Indian openers early on, but was let down by most of his team-mates.India’s opening pair initially approached batting with caution. Having done that, Tendulkar got into his groove and split the field with languid ease, bringing out a range of strokes that had gathered cobwebs during the Test series. The cut over point, the expansive drives, and a loft over mid-off were all on display. At the other end, Sehwag, who had lost his touch temporarily, found his variety of strokes again, much to the bowlers’ chagrin.After surviving when Tatenda Taibu put down a difficult chance, Sehwag rubbed in the mistake that very over, picking a delivery from Sean Ervine and putting it into the stands at midwicket. Sehwag brought his wrists into play often, pulling balls from outside off stump to midwicket, and standing high and punching through cover. And when Raymond Price bowled to him, spectators at midwicket were under constant threat.But Price wasn’t exactly powerless. He nearly had Tendulkar caught at cover, but for a straightforward chance being put down by Streak. Tendulkar’s masterclass ended the next over, when he played down the wrong line and was bowled by Ervine for 44 (129 for 1). After missing out on Tendulkar’s wicket, Price had his sights set on Sehwag (90), who played one shot too many, and spooned a catch to cover (158 for 2). Hemang Badani (15) made a minimal contribution, before playing an expansive drive and nicking a ball to Taibu (172 for 3). Sourav Ganguly then came out to score 32 of the 37 runs India needed, and took the team home by seven wickets.Earlier, though Streak held firm at one end, he needed support. It came in the form of Ervine, who smashed an unbeaten 48 off just 33 balls. Both batsmen took their chances, and raised a rambunctious 93-run partnership off only 72 balls. They ran hard, hit harder, and India’s bowlers, who had given a good account of themselves so far, didn’t know what to do. Anil Kumble bowled eight overs for 19, but then ran into Ervine, who hit a six over cover, and helped himself to 19 more off Kumble’s last two overs. Ajit Agarkar’s last over was taken apart for 20, after the first seven had gone for 19. A spectacular six over long-on preceded an even grander hit out of the ground over midwicket. Later that over, Streak flayed one to deep extra cover to reach his fifty. It was the kind of batting display that made you forget the bad start, until India put the target in perspective.India’s bowlers choked the runs and took wickets at regular intervals to keep Zimbabwe on the mat. The openers played watchfully for three overs, before Vusi Sibanda ran for a single that might have been on if Inzamam had been the fielder. Instead, Yuvraj Singh, at point, dived, stopped, and flung the ball to the bowler’s end, and Sibanda (12) was found short of his crease (14 for 1).Stuart Matsikenyeri played tentatively throughout his stay and scored 9 before attempting a full-blooded whack off Irfan Pathan to the leg side, only to loop it up gently for Badani to take a simple catch at cover (36 for 2).Shortly after, Kumble slipped a googly through Mark Vermeulen (2), bringing an end to a scratchy 24-ball innings (48 for 3). The next three batsmen got themselves out: Stuart Carlisle (37) played across the line to a straight one from Sehwag, Grant Flower (15) patted a ball back to the bowler, and Taibu somehow converted a full-length delivery from Badani into a yorker (114 for 6). It was at this stage that Ervine walked out to join Streak, and show the top order how things should be done. But it wasn’t enough, as India bludgeoned their way to victory, turning the three-team series more and more into a two-horse race.

SYDNEY, Dec 15 AAP – Australia A centurion Jimmy Maher has urged Ricky Ponting’s senior side to remember Sri Lanka remain a threat despite the tourists’ heavy defeat at the Gabba last night.Maher, who has enjoyed a prolific season against the touring teams, added a 106 to the twin double-centuries he scored against England as Australia A racked up 8-312.Sri Lanka’s reply stuttered early and died as Sanath Jayasuriya’s side lost its opening tour match by 102 runs.But fewer than three months ago, it was Australia that was on the receiving end, slumping to a seven wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy.And Maher has warned they remain a threat, particularly in the latter stages of the triangular tournament – that also involves England – when off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is expected to return from injury.”They will be a threat. On wickets like Adelaide and Sydney that turn a bit more, and certainly in Melbourne, I think they can be very competitive,” he said.”When Murali comes back in their side, (Aravinda) De Silva, Chaminda Vaas – you’ve got to remember the last time we played them in the Premadasa Stadium in Sri Lanka they comprehensively beat us.”They are a good cricket side and you never underestimate a Sri Lankan one-day side, with the likes of (Sanath) Jayasuriya, (Marvan) Atapattu and (Romesh) Kaluwitharana – they are all exciting players, hit the ball very hard and to all parts of the ground.”If they get away to a good start in a couple of games it’ll be very tough.”Complacency is not something Australia have been guilty of in the past and despite predictions of another unbeaten summer, Maher insists ponting will not allow any let-up in intensity.”You can never walk out and think it’s all going to happen. Obviously Australia are a fantastic unit, playing very good cricket, but on their day both these sides (Sri Lanka and England) could cause some problems.”I don’t think its going to be a walkover like everyone says. Sri Lanka have generally been a very good one-day outfit”.

Ricardo Powell

Ricardo Powell the young West Indian batsman is turning out for Hampshire 2nd XI this week, in the Championship match v Essex at the Hampshire Rose Bowl (Nursery Ground) this week. The match is a four day contest, starting Tuesday 6th June.Powell who is playing League cricket in the North is short of match practise, and under Michael Holding’s recommendation turns out for the County.Tim Tremlett, Hampshire’s Director of Cricket is happy to give him the opportunity. “With a few of our Academy players taking exams at this time of the year, and the University members of the staff still unavailable, our resourses were stretched.”Details of this match and all 2nd XI cricket played throughout the season can be seen on the Hampshire Web Site.

Kyogo Furhashi’s return to action will ‘rattle’ Celtic’s title rivals Rangers, Frank McAvennie has claimed. 

The lowdown

Furuhashi sustained a hamstring injury in a Europa League group stage game against Real Betis in December and then aggravated it against St Johnstone on Boxing Day.

The 27-year-old has been out of action since, though The Athletic’s Kieran Devlin did reveal on Monday that he had resumed running at Celtic’s Lennoxtown training facility.

Devlin previously wrote that Furuhashi may be back ‘scampering about in the jersey’ after the international break, and he may be on schedule.

The Hoops are due to face the Gers twice in the space of a fortnight when the season resumes.

They travel to Ibrox on Sunday, 3 April before locking horns with Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side once again in the Scottish Cup semifinal at Hampden Park on 17 April.

The latest

McAvennie says it will be a ‘brilliant’ boost for Ange Postecogolou when Furuhashi is available again.

And he thinks Rangers will be nervous about the impact the Japanese forward will have, particularly against their ‘far from solid’ defence.

“It still looks like he will be back for these games against Rangers and that is brilliant for us,” he told Football Insider.

“Just having him there will rattle Rangers a bit. They will know he’s ready, waiting on the bench for his moment.

“That will be a massive blow to that team because their defence has been far from solid recently.”

The verdict

In quotes that will offer further encouragement, the player himself told Celtic supporters this week that he was feeling ‘very good’ and would be back in action ‘soon’.

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Furuhashi is the team’s top scorer with 13 goals even though he hasn’t kicked a ball in 2022, so his impact on the side is clearly massive.

If indeed he is able to feature in some capacity against Rangers, he’ll be hoping to make amends for his miss at Ibrox in August. Furuhashi was set through one-on-one with Gers keeper Robbie McCrorie but spurned his chance to equalise, and Rangers eventually won the match 1-0.

In other news, Paddy Kenny reacts as Celtic injury update emerges.

	Aravinda de Silva: “Playing on matting wickets will create much better players because that extra bounce will encourage batsmen to play shots square of the wicket and produce more gutsy players.” © Getty Images

Blaming the mediocre standard of batsmen in school cricket today partly to the preparation of substandard pitches, Aravinda de Silva, the former Sri Lanka batsman, is of the opinion that playing school matches on matting surfaces than on turf pitches would improve the quality of batting significantly.Being appointed consultant coach to the Sri Lanka under-19 World Cup team enabled de Silva, who retired from international cricket five years ago, to make a close study of the declining standards of school cricket in Sri Lanka and this is what he observed.”As I see it, playing on matting wickets will create much better players because that extra bounce will encourage batsmen to play shots square of the wicket and produce more gutsy players,” de Silva said. “One thing we should look at is that some of the fast bowlers of today can’t get the ball to rise waist high.””We played most of our cricket at school on matting wickets. It is easier to switch over from matting to turf. There are two sides to playing on matting. On turf you get use to playing on different sort of surfaces. But at a younger age I don’t think that is necessary. You must allow them to go and play their normal cricket, to play with aggression. The advantages are greater to develop batsmen than bowlers on matting.”Throughout his illustrious career he remained the most feared batsman in the middle-order, capable of single-handedly changing the course of a match. He was renowned for being a fearless hooker and cutter of the ball even against the fastest of bowlers in the world. He had the freedom and confidence to play shots all around the wicket because of the quality of cricket he played at DS Senanayake MV where his natural talents were allowed to flow.”Playing tough competitive cricket on good wickets is what our youngsters lack. They lack a lot of confidence because of poor wickets. Arjuna [Ranatunga] made a triple hundred at the age of under 15 and players used to get double hundreds regularly during our time. Today as a team schools are averaging totals of 190-200 except for some schools that play on good wickets.””That is perhaps mainly because the batsmen lack in confidence to play their shots. The only way to give them the confidence is to prepare good batting surfaces. But most schools cannot afford to maintain turf wickets and therefore play on substandard surfaces.”Even for the bowlers why we don’t develop good spinners is because the wickets are all crumbling. Also there is no competition to create situations because they play safe games. Some of the coaches go round setting fields and not allowing the players to think on their own. More than winning competitions coaches must get players to think and make decisions on their own. This would allow the boys to study the game from a young age.”De Silva’s remedy to overcome this shortcoming is to field a schools team in the inter-provincial tournament. “They will gain a lot of experience from the exposure that will be given to them. Playing with guys like Mahela [Jayawardene] and Kumar [Sangakkara] will give them competitive cricket and a chance to learn the game.”Having watched how the under-19 World Cup teams of Pakistan and England played in the recently concluded tri-series in Colombo, De Silva said: “The Pakistan and England sides are very much matured. They have more thinking cricketers than our guys. The Pakistan bowling attack is a lot better that Sri Lanka and England because most of the bowlers have got exposure at first-class level. Every bowler was able to move the ball, which is a very good sign at that age. Our batsmen found it difficult to face up to the Pakistani bowlers when the ball started to move around because they play on flat and slow wickets at school.”Sri Lanka lost all three fixtures (including the final) to Pakistan in the tri-nation series. de Silva suggested that as the Junior World Cup is played every two years, Sri Lanka should pick a pool one year ahead from the under 17 squad and prepare for the event.