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Celtic were incredibly busy during the previous summer and winter transfer windows in terms of bringing new players to the Parkhead club.

With the next summer transfer window set to open for business in a few months, it seems as though a clue has been dropped about the possibility of the Hoops keeping hold of one of their current loan recruits.

What’s the talk?

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, journalist and transfer insider Dean Jones had this to say about Celtic’s chances of securing a permanent transfer deal for on-loan defender Cameron Carter-Vickers in the summer.

He said: “I think that they are hopeful they can get him permanently. That was part of the feeling when they got him in; let’s just convince him that this is the place to be, and I think that it has gone a long way.”

Since arriving at Celtic Park on loan from Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, the centre-back has been a vital figure for the team by racking up a total of 38 appearances across all competitions, chipping in with three goals and one assist along the way in the SPFL.

Postecoglou’s dream signing

Having racked up an overall rating of 7.32 for his league performances in this campaign, making him the fourth-highest rated player currently in Ange Postecoglou’s squad according to WhoScored, it’s safe to say that the Celtic boss and the fans would be over the moon if the club were able to work out a deal with the north London club that would see the 24-year-old stay where he is for the foreseeable future given how well he’s done there so far.

Labelled as a player who is “desperate to win” according to fellow Hoops defender Greg Taylor, Carter-Vickers has certainly shown that he is capable of playing with Postecoglou’s side at a high level, which should make it a priority for the club to try and sign him permanently in the summer.

Taking all of this into account, it’s safe to suggest that this would be a dream deal for the 56-year-old Hoops boss if Michael Nicholson can convince Tottenham to finally release the American on a permanent basis.

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Given how young the centre-back is, he could well go on to be a long-term figure for the current league leaders, meaning that it could be worth the club splashing out a substantial amount of cash if that’s what it would take to land him in the summer.

In other news: Forget Kyogo & Turnbull: Celtic’s “mouth-watering prospect” can fire Ange to the title

The preparatory camp before selecting the Indian cricket team to play in the home series against Australia, will be held in Chennai from February 5 to 10.The BCCI secretary, Jaywant Lele, told PTI in Mumbai on Tuesday that the Challenger Series limited overs cricket tournament involving three teams, including the national team, would be held in Chennai from February 12 to 15.”Soon after the Challenger Series, the Indian team would be picked to play in the three Test matches,” he added. “However, the itinerary for the home series against the Australians, which is yet to be finalised, would be declared only on January 22 at Delhi,” Lele said. The probables for the series against Australia will be announced on January 29.

The BCCI’s Technical Committee has made a suggestion aimed at ensuring more exposure to the best teams from the Plate League. It has suggested that the knockout matches in the Plate League be done away with and the two best teams be included in the quarter-finals in the Super League.The recommendation, if approved by the BCCI’s Working Committee, will mean that the top three teams from each group in the Super League will enter the knockout stages.”At present, four teams in both groups play the semi-finals. What we have suggested is that the top three teams each from A and B groups of Super League along with the two finalists of Plate League play knockout quarter-finals,” a member of the technical committee told IANS. “This way the better teams in the Plate League will get more exposure against top teams of the Super League. We made this suggestion to the board in our previous meeting. Let’s see how the board takes it.”And if this team from the Plate League wins even one match in the quarter-finals, it will get another match to play, which means more exposure for them. Who knows, the Plate Group team could go on to win the Ranji Trophy.”Even if the Working Committee approves this proposal, it will come into effect only from the 2008-09 season.The BCCI has been grappling with how to reduce the difference in the qualities of the Super League and Plate League teams. Currently, the two worst teams from Super League are relegated to the Plate League, while the Plate League champions and runners-up are promoted. But this takes effect in the season after. The latest move will make sure the best teams in the Plate League get a taste of higher competition during that season itself.

Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara: “Warne was one of the shrewdest bowlers I have ever faced” © Getty Images

The thing that worried me most when facing Warne was his unerring accuracy and ability to exploit every single advantage. You never got a freebie from Warne. You always knew he was plotting hard about how to get you out, weighing up your attitude, the conditions and the state of the game.He was one of the shrewdest bowlers I have ever faced and this deep bowling intelligence got plenty of wickets he should not have got over the years. Sometimes he’d even let you know how he was trying to get you out, adding some extra pressure, toying with your mind. It was a game of bluff and double bluff.In recent years he rarely bowled a googly or flipper, but the stock legbreak was so dangerous because he had such control of spin. He relied heavily on clever variations in flight, drift and pace. And of course, like all the truly great bowers, he also had that special ability to step up when it mattered most. Out of the blue, when Australia needed it most, he would conjure up something unplayable to put you on the backfoot.Mohammad Yousuf

Mohammad Yousuf: “He is so accurate you can never switch off against him” © Getty Images

He is one of the greatest bowlers ever. And as he is one of the greats, it is difficult to pick out just one thing about him which makes him special – it was everything about him. His drift, his accuracy, his stamina – other bowlers have these qualities but no one has had them all together in one body.When I first faced him, in 1999-2000, he was a little bit older and some said that he had lost the zip he had in the mid-90s. But he was still amazing then and just always at you, never giving you any space. He is so accurate that as a batsman you can never switch off against him. My best century I consider to be the one against Australia at Melbourne in 2004 and that was because it was against great bowlers like Warne and McGrath.He bowled so many great balls it is difficult to pick out just one. I guess it would be the delivery to dismiss me in that Melbourne Test. He bowled it round the wicket and it drifted past my pads and I was stumped. It was when he produced it more than anything else because I was well-set by then.Daryll Cullinan
Shane Warne retires as one the greatest cricketers of all time. He holds just about every possible record for a bowler. Most wickets, most away wickets, most wickets in a calendar year, most wickets in won Test matches… it goes on and on. Having failed miserably at his hands in Test cricket he has always been a point of discussion wherever I have gone.

Daryll Cullinan: “I learned to handle him with the sweep shot and by watching the ball out of the hand” © Getty Images

Seldom has my good one-day cricket record against him been given credit but that was eventually achieved by discovering two things: the sweep shot, which came easier in one-day cricket, and the first thing a kid is taught in cricket: watching the ball out of the hand. However, by then the story had been told: Daryll Cullinan was Shane Warne’s bunny.The media thrived on it, in particular Neil Manthorp. His second best story about me was the Melbourne moment when, arriving at the crease on our second tour of Australia, Warne greeted me with the famous words: “I’ve been waiting six months to bowl at you.” The reply was: “I can see you spent it eating!”As the over finished, I met Gary Kirsten, my batting partner, in the middle and we had a chat about the big man’s comments. Kirsten, full of smiles, then made the comment to me that yes he could see he had been spending the time eating. This comment was subsequently attributed to me in Kirsten’s weekly column in a Cape Town newspaper which was been ghost-written by Manthorp. In Warne’s cricketing history it always comes up as one of the best sledges.Nasser Hussain

Nasser Hussain: “Batting against Warne was why I played the game” © Getty Images

I’d actually seen Shane Warne out here in Australia before he appeared in England in 1993. I was playing club cricket in Adelaide and used to head down to the Oval to get some nets in, and Shane would be there with the academy. He just looked like a big blond beach bum, to be honest, but every day he’d be in there working on his legbreaks, googlies and flippers.No-one ever thought he’d be as fantastic as he was for the game, though. For me, batting against him was why I played the game. I love to be in a challenge, I love to be in a fight. With Warney at the end of his run, with the zinc on, the beached hair, the weight-gain and the weight-loss, sledging you, testing you physically and mentally – it was the greatest challenge going.When I saw that Gatting delivery, my only thought was: “Thank God I wasn’t at the crease!” In that 1993 series, there was a lot of mystery around the England dressing-room. We hadn’t faced a legspinner for ages, we didn’t know what a flipper was. That was the difference really. We were just learning on our feet out there. As for the greatest ball I ever received from him, well, there were umpteen. You can’t just remember a few from Shane Warne.

Tinashe Panyangara, one of Zimbabwe’s most promising young players, is set to join an English club side this summer.The Zimbabwe Independent reported that Panyangara has agreed to sign for Holton-le-Clay in the Lincolnshire Premier League. He is now waiting for a work permit.Panyangara was non committal. “I might be going, I might not,” he told the newspaper. “My agent should be working on something like that.””This will be a good place for him to start with, and I’m sure he will be a star,” Holton-le-Clay vice-chairman Adrian Portus told the Independent. “That will give him a good ground to progress in his career.”

Over 70,000 people who filled the massive MCG got what they really wanted© Getty Images

In the end, the result didn’t matter. It was never meant to. What is cricket after all before life? In the sporting sense, it was odd watching the match which was billed as a one-day international, and it’s difficult to say if the players felt the same intensity as they do while turning out in national colours. But they surely knew what was at stake: it wasn’t a trophy or national pride, it was about rebuilding lives, giving hope, it was about standing up and being counted. It turned out to be a mismatch, but over 70,000 people who filled the massive MCG got what they really wanted.The magic moment of the match came after it was over, when Bob Merriman, Cricket Australia’s chairman, strode across to present a cheque for in excess of A$14million to World Vision. It was nearly as much as Cricket Australia’s accumulated losses last year, and it was, by a distance, cricket’s finest stand in many years. All it had taken was 12 days. It demonstrated, if any proof was needed, what good intentions could achieve. It was a game without losers.It would be cynical to wonder if the World XI shouldn’t have helped the Asian XI to score a few more runs and hit a few more sixes, because each run earned US$760 for the cause and each six US$38,000. But that would have turned the match into a charade. It was played as intended: in an honest competitive spirit. There’s nothing, after all, to prevent the sponsors, Toyota and 3 Mobile, from pitching in with a few more thousand dollars if they want to.Cricketers have turned out for charity matches before. Often it is for one of their own, and sometimes to support a larger cause. In 1996, a combined team of Indian and Pakistan players travelled to Colombo to play a solidarity match after a couple of teams had pulled out from their World Cup engagements in Sri Lanka citing security reasons. And the last time an Asian XI squared up against a Rest of the World XI, at Dhaka in 2000, it was for the “promotion of cricket”. Today, the cause overwhelmed all else. Humanity hasn’t known a natural calamity greater than last month’s tsunamis, and it was appropriate that cricket should respond in the best possible way. It was a grand affair for a grand cause.

Sri Lanka’s allrounder Kaushal Lokuarachchi, who was recently involved in a fatal motor accident, has been suspended from all cricket for four months and will miss the forthcoming home series against England.Lokuarachchi, 21, had been returning from a late-night party when he lost control of his car and ploughed into a woman and her adult son in the Colombo suburb of Kadawatha. The mother subsequently died from her injuries in hospital, and Lokuarachchi was arrested and released on bail.The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka suspended Lokuarachchi from all cricket pending an inquiry into the incident, and he has now been found guilty of breaching the board’s disciplinary code by breaking rest during a training period. His formal suspension will end on December 31, after which time his conduct will continue to be strictly monitored for a two-year probationary period.A court case is looming, and if Lokuarachchi is found guilty of reckless driving, he could be fined and banned from driving for up to a year.

Consider this for a statistic: in six previous tours to Australia, SouthAfrica have never won a Test series. In 1952/53 (under Jack Cheetham), in19963/64 (under Trevor Goddard) and in 1993/94 (under Kepler Wessels) SouthAfrican teams returned with a share of the spoils. The other three sides,most recently in 1997/98 under Hansie Cronje, all lost.So should it be any different this summer. Bluntly, the head says no. Evenordinary Australian teams are formidable opponents at home and this is aparticularly good one, well-organised and confident. By contrast, SouthAfrica have included two veteran fast bowlers, one of whom has barely bowleda ball in anger this summer, there are at least four batsmen in the side whoeither have questions to answer or are unproven at this level and SouthAfrica do not possess a spin bowler likely to win matches on Australianpitches.So, should Shaun Pollock’s side bother to get on the plane on Saturday. Theanswer is an unequivocal yes, if for no other reason than this is anopportunity for the current South Africans to make history. For some it willbe a last chance, for others perhaps the only chance.During the 1993/94 tour South Africa played dismally to lose a one-day gamein Hobart. Afterwards a grim-faced Wessels noted that Australia “makes orbreaks players”. The message got home and the team returned with thatamazing win in Sydney and a share of the series. The point, however, remainstrue.Wessels has again been connected with Australia this week when the UnitedCricket Board turned down a request for him to accompany the team as aconsultant. This was probably the right decision, if for no other reasonthan to give Graham Ford and Corrie van Zyl a chance to succeed or fail ontheir terms. Neither knows a great deal about Australia and both prefer to stayin the background, but they will never face a sterner test of their methodsand strategies than on this tour.The one asset they do have is the captain,Pollock. If the three can lift the side when the bad moments come – and theywill – then South Africa will have at least a fighting chance.Briefly, then, these are the question marks against the South Africans: canNeil McKenzie, one of Jaques Rudolph and Boeta Dippenaar and, to a lesserextent, Justin Ontong survive against an attack more disciplined thananything they have faced before and which includes the world’s best spinbowler? Can Allan Donald produce it once more for his country and, if not,can Steve Elworthy step in the breach? Has Makhaya Ntini got it out of hishead that he is an automatic selection and that he, more than most, needs tocompensate for his lack of variety by putting one ball after another forhour after hour? Can Lance Klusener quell the suspicion that he’d prefer toavoid the new ball if possible?Most importantly, can this South African side find the mental resolve tocope with all that Australia will throw at them over the next two months(and when I say all, I mean everyone – taxi drivers, waitresses, customsofficials, barmen – all of whom will be saying in one way or another: “Wait’till Warnie gets ya”).If the South Africans can find answers to these questions, then this verygood team could be remembered as a great one.

Norwich City are looking to end a run of five straight losses in all competitions as they face off against Chelsea at Carrow Road tonight.

The Canaries host Thomas Tuchel’s side as they attempt to pick up points against a traditional top-six team for the first time this season.

Dean Smith’s men lost 3-1 to fellow newly-promoted outfit Brentford last weekend in the Premier League as Ivan Toney scored a hat-trick for the Bees.

How many changes will Smith make to the team? Here is our predicted XI…

We are predicting that he will make four alterations to the side, with Ozan Kabak, Max Aarons, Pierre Lees-Melou and Lukas Rupp all coming in.

Starting off in defence, we are predicting that on-loan defender Kabak will be brought back into the XI for the first time since his strong showing against Charlton in the FA Cup in January. Albeit against lower league opposition, the Turkish international caught the eye as he won six of his seven individual duels and made five interceptions, two tackles and three clearances – as per SofaScore.

He may now have the chance to show that he can replicate that showing at Premier League level after Ben Gibson’s horror show last weekend. Ian Wright dubbed his display as “absolutely crazy” as he gave away two penalties against Brentford – committing a high foot on Pontus Jansson from a corner before going to the ground on Toney in the box shortly after.

Smith may now axe the liability after that dreadful display and hand Kabak, on loan from Schalke, a start next to captain Grant Hanley.

At right-back, Max Aarons could come back in for Sam Bryam. The England U21 international was named on the bench against Brentford, but has started 25 matches for the Canaries in the top-flight and Smith could start him in hope that he gets a reaction out of the £35m-valued full-back to being dropped.

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In midfield, Billy Gilmour will need to be replaced as he is ineligible to face his parent club. Lees-Melou came off the bench in the middle of the park last weekend and completed an impressive five long passes in just eight minutes on the pitch, which could be enough to seal his place in the XI.

Finally, we are predicting that Kenny McLean will be axed in favour of Rupp. In 90 minutes against Brentford, McLean won zero ground duels as he failed to make a single block, tackle or interception, whilst also creating zero chances and failing to hit the target with either of his two shots – as per SofaScore.

This could lead to Rupp, who scored in their 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Liverpool, lining up in midfield alongside Mathias Normann and Lees-Melou.

Match abandoned
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThe rain left the outfield too wet for play at McLean Park•AFP

The second ODI, in Napier, was abandoned without a ball being bowled, after heavy rain persisted until mid afternoon, and left the ground too sodden for play to begin. The skies had begun to clear well ahead of the game’s cut-off time of 7:19 pm, but with the outfield having received more than 24 hours of persistent rain, umpires Billy Bowden and Bruce Oxenford decided not to risk player safety.The game was called off just before 6:30pm. At that time, portions of the field still appeared waterlogged despite hours of drying withsuper soppers. Pakistan can now only draw the series at best, as the action moves to Auckland, for the final match of the tour, on Sunday.