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New Zealand Cricket has decided that Hamilton will not host a one-day international during Australia’s tour which starts next month. Westpac Park was scheduled to host the fourth match of the series on March 2, but following criticism of the pitch there during New Zealand’s match against the FICA World XI on January 26, the board decided that an alternative venue would be sought.Martin Snedden, NZC’s chief executive, said that the pitch had probably not settled completely since being laid in April 2004, and indicated that it might not match up to international standards. “We have decided to move the Australian ODI as we can’t afford to risk the pitch for that match not being up to international standard. We need to ensure the match is played on a good-quality surface.” The match is likely to shift to Auckland, Christchurch or Wellington.”The Hamilton City Council has done tremendous work improving facilities and upgrading the quality of the ground at Westpac Park,” said Snedden. “The issue with the wicket block is likely to be short term. With the exception of the pitch issues there were a large number of positives from the day [the January 26 match] which showed that the venue has the ability to successfully host ODIs.”We made the decision to play Wednesday’s match at Westpac Park based on previous experience with Waikari wicket-blocks. We had expected that the block would have settled enough to allow an acceptable playing surface to be prepared. That wasn’t the case, and ultimately the responsibility for that decision rests with NZC.”I am happy with the efforts of the Westpac Park turf-management team. The issue appears to be one with the block not settling as quickly as would be expected, rather than with the preparation of the playing surface.”The pitch at Hamilton came in for severe criticism, with Shane Warne, the World XI captain, suggesting that it wasn’t upto international standards. The World team was bundled out for 81 in that game, and the match finished in just more than 35 overs, forcing the sides to play a ten-overs-a-side game.

Tickets are still available for the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy Final – between Gloucestershire and Worcestershire – at Lord’s on Saturday 30th August.No further advance bookings are being taken. Tickets will be available from the North Gate Sales Points in Wellington Place from 8.45 am.Only three types of ticket currently remain available – Adult tickets to the Upper Tier of the Grand Stand (£45 each), Adult tickets to the Mound Stand (£40) and Juvenile tickets to the Lower Tier of the Mound Stand (£5 each).

Cold, and sometimes wet, weather struck the second one-day match between New Zealand’s Cricket Academy and the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy of Australia at Lincoln University today.The game was originally reduced to a 42-over match, starting at 1pm, but three overs into Australia’s innings it rained briefly and the game was further reduced to 41 overs.New Zealand’s injury worries for its bowlers continued and Cleighten Cornelius joined James Franklin as ring-ins for the home team.They were both soon among the wickets which saw the Australians, such impressive winners in the first game, faltering at 26 for four wickets.But George Bailey and Cameron Borgas got the train back on the rails before Bailey departed at 74 for 32 when he attempted a high drive from Luke Woodcock’s bowling only to be caught by Shanan Stewart at long on.Fifty-three runs were added by Borgas and Mark Cosgrove for the sixth wicket in 32 minutes off 52 balls.Cosgrove was particularly severe on Aaron Redmond, striking him for 26 runs off nine balls (including three huge sixes), before holing out to a fine low catch to Nathan McCullum for an aggressive 36 off 28 balls. Redmond’s three expensive overs cost 34 runs.Xavier Doherty was run out after Borgas turned him back when mid-pitch, beaten by the throw to the wicket-keeper from Cornelius.Daniel Christian and Borgas worked the gaps between the batsmen and the fielders as they accumulated singles with positive communication and running.Taraia Robin bowled Christian with the second ball of his new spell and two balls later he removed the in-form Borgas, caught behind by wicket-keeper Reece Young for a well compiled 74 off 93 deliveries. Borgas provided the backbone of the Australian innings.Tail-enders Adam Crosthwaite and Steven Crook assisted the total to 209/9 with their undefeated 10th wicket partnership of 35 off 26 balls.Cornelius proved the best of the NZCA bowlers especially with his work into the strong southerly wind to record the parsimonious figures of 2-27 off his nine overs.The NZCA openers took their time to settle on a pitch that was becoming slower and lower as the game progressed. Jamie How and Brendon McCullum put on 86 runs in 81 minutes off 123 balls, looking to work the ball into the gaps.McCullum was the first to depart when he walked past a flighted delivery from left-arm spinner Doherty to be stumped untidily by a scrambling Crosthwaite for 41 off 58 balls.How was next out for 43 from 78 balls, when he was trapped leg before wicket by Doherty and a disappointing run out so Nick Horsley follow soon after.Suddenly from the competitive position of 86 without loss, New Zealand were 100 for three wickets off 25 overs. The pressure soon went on from the Australians and the run rate required by the home team mounted. Stewart was another victim of the pressure when he was run out.Redmond was bowled for a duck while Nathan McCullum was run out at the bowler’s end from a deflection onto the stumps.With five overs left, and four wickets in hand, New Zealand’s required rate was up to 12. Jonathan McNamee then departed and with four overs left 55 were required.And with three overs left, and Cornelius out, 47 were required off three overs.There was little option but for Franklin and Young to hit out in an attempt to narrow the widening gap. Young was severe on Crook taking 14 runs off his solitary over and 20 runs were then required off the last over.Young was run out off the third to last ball of the innings and that effectively shut the gate on New Zealand’s hopes. He scored an impressive 18 runs off only eight balls.The NZCA finally brought up the 200 but remained 10 runs short of victory. Franklin was 18 not out from 12 balls.The teams have a day off tomorrow then play two more one-day games on Friday and Saturday.

Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid have been backed to give England the spin resources they need to challenge Pakistan, with the bowling partnership set to have a new nickname.Moeen claimed 3 for 41 from 22 overs during a hot day’s work in Sharjah as England completed their first two-day match against Pakistan A. Rashid, who is closing in on a Test debut, was wicketless but conceded under three runs an over during 20 overs as the spinners were given a lengthy outing by Alastair Cook.Mark Wood, who claimed one of the two wickets to fall to the pace bowlers, believes the pairing can flourish in tandem – a role they had during the one-day series against Australia last month – and a recent film night for the squad has inspired a moniker for them.”‘Tweedledee and Tweedledum’ are going to be perfect together in these conditions,” Wood said. “We watched [the film] last night, and there was a midfield partnership of ‘Tweedledee and Tweedledum’ – so I think they’re going to get that nickname now.”The spinners showed today they’re going to be vital. Moeen Ali, I thought, assessed the conditions really well and bowled a great pace. Then Adil Rashid, if chances had been taken off him, I think he’s proved he’s a wicket-taking bowler.”I thought they were excellent. I think, if we need to break a partnership, those two are going to be vital.”The 90 overs in the field reinforced what England will face when the Test starts next week in Abu Dhabi. The catching was far from faultless, with two chances doing down and another missed in the slips, and Wood is well aware that every opportunity will have to be grabbed when it really matters.”If we’d taken our half-chances, I think it would have been a brilliant day – but it’s still been a good one,” he said. “That’s how we we’re going to win the series, by taking those half-chances.”Wood also conceded that England are going to have to adapt their gameplan from the often gung-ho approach which paid dividends during home series against New Zealand and Australia. Large totals will have to be ground out then wickets chiselled away in Tests that are likely to move at a very different pace.”We found out it’s pretty hot here and you have to dig in and that patient cricket is going to do the business here,” he said. “I tried a few different things, tried to be aggressive at times but I have to be patient at times as well. We got used, during the summer, to playing this attacking brand of cricket – where we’ve been trying to blast teams out. That aggressive style is what we want to play at home [but this] is totally different.”One key element to England’s attack will be trying to get the ball to reverse swing once the small window of opportunity with the new ball has passed and Wood was pleased to see a hint of movement as the day wore on in Sharjah.”The ball reversed a little bit which is key for us. It’s going to be vital during the series that we get the ball moving off the straight – and we managed to do that today.”

Football fans’ willingness to show their dedication comes in all shapes and sizes. One such way is to splay their dedication over their body in the form of a tattoo. I can understand why somebody might choose to tattoo their footballing allegiance onto their body. Whilst women come and go, a football team is for life. It’s the manly man’s equivalent of getting “I love mom’ yet a tattoo is a big commitment, so it’s important to get it right. As you can imagine, this process isn’t always a success.

Below are the top 10 Newcastle United tattoos to be found on the net – the good, the bad and the plain ugly – click on image below to unveil gallery:

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Have you got a better Newcastle tattoo? Football FanCast would like to invite the readers to submit their own entry via our Facebook Page. The winning entries will go forward to our grand competition to find the best tattoo in the Premier League.

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Pep Guardiola singled out Seydou Keita as the man who made the difference for a depleted Barcelona in their 3-0 win over Mallorca.Goals from Lionel Messi, David Villa and Pedro secured the La Liga victory for the visitors to the Iberostar Stadium on Saturday.But Mali international Keita – who has been forced to contend with a place on the bench for much of the season – was the man to draw special praise from Barca coach Guardiola.”Today we have won the game thanks to (Seydou) Keita,” Guardiola said.”He is a strong midfielder, and we need him a lot. I’m happy for him.” The defending La Liga champions were without key men Carlos Puyol, Victor Valdes, Dani Alves and Xavi for the away match. But Guardiola acknowledged that injuries and suspensions were a fact of life.”I would prefer that they were all available and nobody got hurt, but these things happen,” he said.”If they didn’t we would just have 11 players and our accounts would be healthier.”

Mali international midfielder Mahamadou Diarra is desperate to try and make his name with Real Madrid, having been linked with a summer move away from the Santiago Bernabeu.

The 29-year-old former Lyon schemer joined Real in the summer of 2006, but has struggled to hold down a regular starting spot for most of his time in the Spanish capital.

Diarra told Marca:"I do not want to leave Real Madrid without having won the Champions League. This is my challenge and I want to stay here and do that.

"I want to work with Jose Mourinho and to show him that I am worthy of a starting place.

"For me he is a coach with the same mentality as Fabio Capello and he was good for me when he was at Real.

"Mourinho is a winner and perhaps we needed to have him on the bench this season.

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"I intend to stay at Real and this is a big test. I am focused on playing for Mourinho and bringing success back to this club."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Continuing our look into the foreign wags that put the Premier League ones to shame…

Davide Bombardini is a pretty unremarkable footballer who is currently plying his trade in Serie B with AlbinoLeffe; however the same certainly cannot be said of the experienced midfielder’s other half, Giorgia Palmas.

A former Miss World runner-up, Giorgia Palmas is model and TV personality in her native Italy and I’m sure you’ll agree by flicking through the gallery that she more that puts the Premier League WAGs firmly in the shade.

While life in Serie B cannot be much fun for Mr Bombardini, I’m certain Davide must take a lot of comfort knowing the little lady he has waiting at home for him.

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Click on Giorgia Palmas below to see here in all her glory

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After the 2-1 scoreline between Arsenal and Barcelona at The Emirates Stadium in the first leg of the last 16 of the Champions League, the Gunners now head to the Nou Camp next month with a great deal of confidence. Arsene Wenger’s men will be travelling to the Catalan region of Spain feeling that they can progress to the next round and knock out the La Liga champions. Similarly Arsenal fans will be sharing that belief when they travel to Spain’s second city and to enjoy some Champions League action at the Nou Camp. If you didn’t visit the Nou Camp last year and haven’t travelled to Barcelona for European football before, here is a guide to the Spanish city so that you can know everything you need to on your European trip.

The first thing you’ll want to do is get your hands on those coveted tickets for the match at the Nou Camp. The second leg takes place in Barcelona on Tuesday 8th March and you can check ticket availability by clicking here. The stadium is located in the west of Barcelona, approximately 5 km from the city centre. You can take the metro to Maria Cristina or Les Corts Stations on Line 3, or to Collblanc or Badal Stations on Line 5. If you go down the route of car hire and head into Barcelona from the north then you’ll want to search for car hire options, alongside flights, by clicking here.

There are a number of flight options available to you, although as the Champions League fixture approaches the demand for air travel to Barcelona is sure to increase. Flights are available from a number of airports in the UK, including London Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted and Luton direct to Barcelona International Airport. You can decide to stay in Barcelona for the night and get a return flight back the next day so that you can explore the Spanish city as well as watch the football.

Buy Barcelona v Arsenal Champions League tickets here!

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If you plan to stay in Barcelona for the night then you’ll need to book hotel accommodation alongside flights. The Football FanCast Travel Page is ideal for this as you can bring up all the hotels within a five mile radius of the Nou Camp. The available hotels are also listed in order of price so that your Spanish football trip doesn’t have to cost you the earth. A handy map illustrates just where you’ll be staying, too, with the Madanis hotel and Princesa Sofia Gran Hotel both on the doorstep of the Nou Camp.

So you can book football tickets, flights, hotel and accommodation for the Barcelona v Arsenal Champions League fixture with a couple of clicks of your mouse. This will ensure your trip to Spain is as simple as possible, then you just have to hope that the Gunners do the business in the Nou Camp.

Former West Ham United striker Ilan has admitted he would consider a return to the Premier League after his brief spell in England last season.

The Brazilian, who joined the Hammers on loan from French side St Etienne in January, scored four goals in 11 appearances to help ease their relegation fears.

Despite his efforts, the Londoners opted not to renew their interest, but the 29-year-old is confident of landing a contract with Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers thought to be keeping an eye on him.

Speaking to reporters, he said:"I did well in the Premier League and I was hoping to continue where I left off next season, but West Ham had other ideas, that's football.

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"I have a good record here and in France so I'm confident that a club in the UK or Europe will call my agent (Rob Shield) and I can get something sorted before training starts again."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email