Middlesex 247 and 48 for 3 (Ball 3-20) require a further 187 runs to beat Nottinghamshire 241 and 240 (Mullaney 64, Rayner 4-83) Scorecard There was a time, not so long ago, when these late season Championship encounters held little significance.
cheap soccer jerseys . Sure, one team might be challenging for a title but, as recently as 20 years ago, such matches very often lacked relevance or competitive edge. The season drifted off to sleep with the same gentle familiarity as Sailing By and the Shipping Forecast.Not any more. Here we are in the second week of September and Nottinghamshire and Middlesex go into the final day of this match with everything at stake. The side that loses will be relegated or see their hopes of a Championship title severely dented. Both have to win. Both can win. We are all set for a classic at Trent Bridge.So, as county cricket tears itself apart in the quest for a few dollars more - or a few million dollars more - it is worth reflecting on one of the great success stories of recent years: promotion and relegation works. It has improved county cricket markedly. It has made it tougher, more interesting. And, partially as a result of the increased edge to the competition, Englands players go into the fierce environment of Test cricket better prepared for the rigours they will face.It is no coincidence that England have won five of the last seven Ashes series; no coincidence that the side that reached No. 1 in 2011 contained four men in the top seven (Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior) who made centuries on Test debut - two others, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell, made half-centuries - and a bowler (James Anderson) who started with a five-wicket haul. We risk diluting the success of the Test team when we meddle with its foundations.That Nottinghamshires hopes of survival remain just about alive is largely due to some decent batting from Steven Mullaney and Brett Hutton and another incisive new-ball spell from Jake Ball. Balls fitness levels might need to improve if he is to enjoy a long Test career - unlike Chris Woakes, for example, it is noticeable that his fourth spell is significantly less hostile than his first, irrespective of the softening of the ball - but with the new ball he is, already, a terrific bowler.After taking a hat-trick in the first over of Middlesexs first innings, he struck first ball in their second. And if Nick Gubbins, so compact and calm around, might regret being drawn into pushing at one he could have left well alone, the delivery that accounted for Sam Robson - nipping in sharply and taking the off stump as Robson tried to leave it - was a gem.There was a revealing irony in that dismissal. As Nick Compton went out to bat in the first innings, Robson warned him to watch out for the booming outswing that had just dismissed him. Moments later Compton was walking off having been trapped in front by one that cut back. Here Robson had been undone by the same trick. It bodes well for Ball, and England, that he has such skills. If Nottinghamshire do go down, second division batsmen face quite a challenge next year.Dawid Malan, also beaten by one that nipped back, but this time to the left-hander from round the wicket, also departed before the close. Middlesex bat pretty deep - Toby Roland-Jones is a No. 9 who could be a No. 6 - but Notts will know the allrounders will be padded up in the morning.At his best, this is the sort of situation Compton would have relished. But now? He has had looked a defeated man at times this summer, beset by the doubts and scars that torture nearly all batsmen in the end. But perhaps this challenge - and it is a hell of a challenge - might be yet the thing to reinvigorate him, entwine him to the heart of this teams title challenge and prove to himself what most of those watching will know: at this level, at least, he remains a class act with much more to give.Batting on the fourth day is unlikely to prove easy. Samit Patel, again looking as solid as anyone (technically rather than physically), was undone by one that cut back and kept horribly low while, in the final over of the day, Compton was beaten by a legbreak from Imran Tahir that turned so sharply you imagine Don Bradman, at his best, might just have been good enough to edge it.Middlesex did not bowl especially well earlier in the day. While Steven Finn finished with three wickets, he gained two with balls that might uncharitably be described as long-hops - certainly the one that Michael Lumb edged as he tried to cut would have to be described that way - and the other with a leg-before decision that seemed to be heading down the leg side. They may yet regret allowing Notts to score 50 or so more than might have been the case.But the fragility of Nottinghamshires batting has let them down all campaign. Here, they fought for a while, but like addicts slipping back into bad habits, they couldnt resist for long. A waft here; a poke there: at least three of the top four will reflect that they played a huge part in their own downfall.Jake Libby, poking at one without moving his feet, was first to go, before Tom Moores slashed to point and Lumb tried to hit his cut too hard. None of them averages 30 in the campaign. And while that can be tolerated for a couple of youngsters learning their trade at this level, it requires compensation from senior players. There has been none of that compensation this year, with nobody in this team averaging even 38 and only Mullaney averaging more than 35.He batted nicely here. He plays the cover drive as nicely as anyone in the county game and has an efficient cut that was well fed by a diet of Finn long hops. Hutton, too, attacked selectively and eked out 40 runs for the last two wickets that might yet save his county from the drop.But the sense that Notts had failed to take advantage of a slightly off-colour display from Middlesex was underlined by the manner in which they lost their last three wickets: Ball missed an attempted whip into the leg side; Imran slogged one to cow corner - where Roland-Jones clung on to an outstanding catch leaning backwards having originally misjudged his run and lost sight of the ball in the sun - and Harry Gurney was run-out. Each one of them was unnecessary and, in a match - a season, even - where another 10 runs might yet prove crucial, just a bit sloppy. Ollie Rayner finished with four wickets without ever looking particularly dangerous on a surface offering him some assistance.Still, it all leaves this match beautifully poised. Triumph and disaster loom. It will be painful for some but its meant to matter. And the fact that it still does, at this late stage of the season, is something to savour.
cheap jerseys from china .Y. - Rob Manfred was promoted Monday to Major League Baseballs chief operating officer, which may make him a candidate to succeed Bud Selig as commissioner.
wholesale nfl jerseys . -- Anaheim Ducks defenceman Luca Sbisa will be out at least six weeks with a torn tendon in his right hand.
http://www.wholesalecheapjerseysnflauthentic.com/ . 9. Price, heading to the 2014 Olympics for Canada, was named the First Star after posting wins in three starts with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .971 save percentage. Boxing is currently caught up in a frenzy of frustration and fans are in a mutinous mood. Attractive matches are sinking in a morass of greed and incompetence, while pretenders looking for an easy buck seem to have overrun a world once populated by hard men itching for a fight.Welcome to boxing, 2016 style.Amid all the cancellations, postponements and alphabet idiocy comes the return of Manny Pacquiao, an event that was virtually guaranteed the moment Manny said he was retiring following his April 9 victory over Timothy Bradley.Pacquiao is no Tyson Fury when it comes to such matters, but by normal standards a seven-month hiatus can hardly be considered a retirement. Not a serious one, anyway, so when Pacquiao signed to fight Jessie Vargas it seemed more an inevitability than a betrayal.Manny talked about missing boxing and maybe he did. But thats secondary. Its all about the money. It always is. And when it comes to Pacquiao, were talking megabucks. Not quite Floyd Mayweather money, but close enough.Pacquiaos fights have sold approximately 18.4 million pay-per-views, generating roughly $1.2 billion in revenue. According to Kurt Badenhausen, who covers sports business for Forbes, Mannys share, combined with endorsements and other ancillary earnings, totals about $500 million.Even after taxes, thats a staggering amount of money. Whats even more mind-blowing is the rapidity with which Manny spends it. Pacquiaos lifestyle is unsustainable without massive infusions of cash that only boxing can provide. He has to keep fighting and he knows it.Boxing is my main source of income, Pacquiao told reporters in the Philippines when he announced he would return to the ring. I cant rely on my salary as public official.One can only imagine what will happen when Pacquiao can no longer demand eight-figure paydays, and those days might be coming sooner than later. His third PPV fight with Bradley performed poorly and the announcement of Pacquiao-Vargas was not greeted with anything approaching universal approval.Social media was inundated with negative feedback, most of it of the no way Im buying the pay-per-view variety. Its a perfectly valid point of view, but as many abstainers would agree, the Vargas match -- set for Saturday in Las Vegas -- is not a bad one in itself. It could very well be a fun fight. Its just not what most consumers consider PPV-worthy.When HBO passed on the match, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum bristled but soon switched to boasting about all the money he would save by cutting out the middleman.From here, however, it looks like Arum is gambling on the future, confident he can maneuver Manny into another massive payday -- or at the very least make sure that if Arums meal ticket loses, is to one of his own guys.Not even Arum is audacious enough to peddle Pacquiao-Vargas as super fight, but maybe we should be grateful for small favors. At least Pacquiao-Vargas is happening and has a reasonably good chance of being an entertaining bout.That is more than you can say for Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko (or Fury-Klitschko, for that matter), Daniel Jacobs-Gennady Golovkin or even Orlando Salido-Takashi Miura, all of which have vanished from the boxing calendar like spit on a hot stove.Sure, better fights have been promised farther on down the road, but weve heard that before and know how quickly things can fall apart. Thats just the way it is in boxing. The only thing you can count on is inconsistency, and things have been so drab of late any dash of color is welcome, even if its overpriced.Pacquiao is still one of the most recognizable names in boxing, and if the Vargas bout turns out to be a good one, the fighters wwill not be the only beneficiaries.
wholesale china soccer jerseys. An exciting contest will also help hoist the sports sagging image while we wait for Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev to finally get down to business.There is no doubt Pacquiao chose the easiest option among the opponents Arum offered. Terence Crawford would have pacified the cognoscenti, but he was little more than click bait and never really part of the equation.Crawford is only marginally better known to the casuals than Vargas. The money simply wasnt there to make the risk-reward factor worthwhile. But its not all bad news.Vargas is better equipped to give Pacquiao a tough fight than recent opponents such as Brandon Rios and Chris Algieri. Rios was outclassed and overwhelmed by the occasion, while Algieris chin turned out to be as soft as his punch, resulting in six trips to the canvas and an easy win for Manny.Vargas is tougher both mentally and physically and comes armed with the hungry determination of a man who always thought he would make it to the top and cant quite understand why he hasnt gotten there yet.That Vargas has only 10 knockouts to his credit in an overall record of 27-1 is misleading. His latent power surged to the forefront in his two most recent fights in the form of a concussive right hand.It first emerged in June 2015 when he had Bradley out on his feet with just 15 seconds to go in the final round. Vargas ran out of time and lost the decision, but his newfound power was confirmed when he pancaked highly touted Sadam Ali eight months ago. The vacant welterweight title Jessie won that night will be on the line against Pacquiao.This is not to say that Vargas has morphed into Tommy Hearns. Nonetheless, knowing Vargas has the power to turn a fight around with one or two punches should give him added confidence going into the biggest fight of his career. And a confident Vargas means a better fight.Pacquiao did the bulk of his training in the Philippines, splitting his time between the gym and his job as a first-term senator. Such a crazy schedule could prove disastrous for most fighters, but Mannys multitasking skills have never let him down before and are unlikely to do so now.Conditioning has never been a problem and Pacquiao looked sharp in training videos, ripping into the heavy bag with rapid-fire combinations. But the bag doesnt punch back. Vargas does.Pacquiao, 37, remains an aggressive fighter, but hes nowhere near as reckless as he was in his prime. Now he prefers to use his legs to get in, unload and get out. Hell occasionally revert to his whirlwind style of old but its just a flashback, not a renaissance.Vargas is 10 years younger than Pacquiao, 5 inches taller and has a 4-inch reach advantage. That alone will not be enough, but no fighter, not even George Foreman or Bernard Hopkins, can go on forever. If Saturday is the day the weight of 66 professional fights against the best of his era comes crashing down on Manny, an upset is within Vargas reach.Not even Pacquiao knows how long hell be able to keep competing at the highest level. Money is his chief motivation but boxing is still what he does best, his first love, the one that made everything else possible. Voluntary retirement is not an option. Never was.Its like Louis Armstrong once said, Musicians dont retire; they stop when theres no more music in them. Its the same for boxers; they stop when they have no fight left in them. Judging by the way he handled Bradley earlier this year, Pacquiao still has quite a lot left, enough to defeat Vargas at any rate.
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