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Serie A giants AC Milan are reportedly interested in signing Wolves youngster Morgan Gibbs-White this summer.

The Lowdown: Gibbs-White’s superb loan spell

The 22-year-old was loaned out to Sheffield United last summer and it proved to be a fantastic move for him, as he helped them reach the Championship playoffs.

Granted, Gibbs-White missed a decisive penalty in Tuesday’s penalty shootout defeat to Nottingham Forest, but he scored 12 goals and registered ten assists in the league in 2021/22.

The midfielder will now return to Wolves full of confidence, but it could be that his future lies elsewhere.

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The Latest: Milan make contact

According to The Athletic‘s Tim Spiers, Milan have ‘lodged a tentative inquiry’ regarding the signing of Gibbs-White, although no significant progress has been made.

It is stated that Gibbs-White will want to test himself at the ‘highest level’ and that Wanderers will demand a huge fee and a ‘hefty’ sell-on clause if he does leave.

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The Verdict: Potential huge blow

Gibbs-White is a special young talent – Billy Sharp called him ‘instrumental’ at Sheffield United – so the idea of Wolves losing him just when he looks to have found his stride in senior football is hugely worrying.

With Ruben Neves looking highly likely to leave this summer, the Englishman may have an opportunity to make a central midfield spot his own at Molineux, although the lure of Milan could be great.

They are on the verge of being crowned Serie A champions and will be playing in the Champions League next season – something that could appeal greatly to Gibbs-White.

In other news, a journalist has delivered a Wolves transfer update. Read more here.

Leeds United have been handed a boost in their bid to bring Daichi Kamada to Elland Road next summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by German publication Kicker (via TEAMtalk), who claim that the attacking midfielder looks increasingly unlikely to put pen to paper on a new deal at Eintracht Frankfurt, with the 26-year-old’s current contract set to expire at the end of the 2022/23 campaign.

TEAMtalk go on to suggest that this will come as a boost to Victor Orta and Leeds, as the Whites’ director of football was reported to be keen on a £13m move for the Japan international in the transfer window just gone.

Indeed, should Kamada fail to agree to new terms with Eintracht prior to January, the forward will be free to discuss a deal with any overseas suitors at the turn of the year – when Kicker suggest the former Sagan Tosu star will be presented with significantly better economic offers than Frankfurt’s.

Orta must move

Considering just how impressive Kamada has been for Eintracht over the past 12 months, should the attacking midfielder become available to sign a pre-contract in January, the argument that Orta must launch a bid for the 26-year-old is an extremely easy one to make.

Indeed, over his 32 Bundesliga appearances – only 23 of which came as starts – last season, the £19.8m-rated talent scored four goals, registered three assists and created four big chances for his teammates, as well as made an average of one key pass, took 1.1 shots and completed 0.9 dribbles per game – with these metrics seeing him average a SofaScore match rating of 6.85.

The £7.2k-per-week forward also played a key role in Frankfurt’s Europa League victory last term, scoring five goals and providing one assist over 13 appearances in the competition, in addition to taking an average of 1.5 shots, making 1.4 key passes and completing 1.2 dribbles per game – with these returns seeing the 26-year-old average a SofaScore match rating of 7.06.

This is form Kamada – who can operate from central midfield, on either wing and as a number 10 – has continued over his six Bundesliga fixtures in the current campaign, having already scored four goals, registered three assists and created one big chance for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.0 shots, making 1.3 key passes and completing 0.7 dribbles per game.

These metrics have seen the player who Adi Hutter dubbed “brilliant” and has been labelled like “Messi inside the area” average a simply sensational SofaScore match rating of 7.15, not only ranking him as Eintracht’s best performer in the league but also as the joint 34th-best player in the German top flight as a whole so far this season.

As such, with Kamada quite clearly being an extremely creative and versatile option in attack, as well as one who knows how to find the back of the net, it is easy to see why Orta had targeted the Japanese sensation’s signing this summer, while it is not difficult to make the argument that the Spaniard simply must do all he can to land the 26-year-old on a pre-contract this winter.

Indeed, alongside the likes of Brenden Aaronson, Luis Sinisterra, Jack Harrison, Patrick Bamford, Rodrigo and Joe Gelhart in the Whites’ attacking arsenal, the arrival of Kamada would undoubtedly add another extremely impressive attacking string to Jesse Marsch’s already exciting attacking bow at Elland Road – surely a tantalising prospect for everyone involved with the club.

Luke Ronchi and Sikandar Raza were the only standouts for the Chittagong team that finished rock bottom on the points table, with only three wins in 12 games

Mohammad Isam07-Dec-2017Tournament reviewChittagong Vikings were the first team to be knocked out when they lost to Rajshahi Kings on November 29, seven days before the BPL’s league stage ended. They won only three matches, and in no stage did their squad’s combination look like a force.What has come out from their 12 matches is that their bowlers did not match up to their batsmen, and on the few days that they did bowl well, the batsmen failed. Luke Ronchi and Sikandar Raza were their best performers by a distance while Stiaan van Zyl was occasionally effective.Chittagong also suffered due to a lack of performances from most of the local players. Chief among them was Soumya Sarkar, who averaged 15.36 in 11 innings as a top-order batsman. Taskin Ahmed and Sunzamul Islam took 14 and 11 wickets respectively, though there were very times when they looked like match winners. Anamul Haque also struck two fifties but missed the back end through a hand injury. Fingers have also been pointed towards the capabilities of Chittagong’s team management. The owners too, perhaps, need to be better prepared for the next season.What didn’t workChittagong’s bowling attack. Taskin, Tanbir, Raza and Sunzamul bowled regularly but apart from Taskin, the others were not effective. Raza, an occasional offspinner, did better than his career average but looking at the team’s scatter-gun bowling, none of the other bowlers settled into their roles properly.What workedRonchi and Raza. They contributed regularly, with Ronchi applying pressure on the opposition bowlers in the Powerplay. He was their highest run-getter with 321 runs at an average of 29.18, scored two fifties in the process. His batting strike-rate finished at a shade under 170. Raza nearly made the season’s first hundred while also taking his career’s first four-wicket haul.Tips for 2018Chittagong have to focus their finances on building a stronger bowling attack, and if possible retain some of their in-form batsmen.

India’s new head coach could just be the man to challenge the ideas of India’s Test captain and temper his aggressive style

Sidharth Monga24-Jun-20165:27

Chopra: Kumble the best man for the job

There is something instructive about the images that TV news channels use to accompany discussions around prospective coaches. Rahul Dravid chose not to be in the fray, but whenever his name comes up we don’t see him square-cutting the winning runs in Adelaide or negotiating a tough morning on a damp Headingley pitch. We see him in unrecognisable training kits with more sponsor names than team identity, coaching IPL teams.When Anil Kumble’s name came up, and was eventually finalised, the visual most used on TV was him bowling with a broken jaw in the West Indies. It’s an image which, in a summary and populist kind of way, at once tells you why he is the right man to be involved with Indian cricket and at the same time raises a question or two. He was a brave cricketer who made the most of his self-admittedly limited talent; he played his cricket with aggression but also with respect and integrity; when his body began to give up on him he quietly retired, sparing the selectors the tough call and not for one moment coming in the way of a more deserving youngster.Yet the TV channels didn’t show any image of his coaching a cricket side because, well, by all public accounts, Kumble had never shown any intention to coach at such a high level, let alone actually coach a team. He didn’t fulfil the BCCI criterion of having “successfully coached a cricket team of any of the member countries of the ICC, at the first class or at the international level”. Kumble’s coaching experience is limited to mentoring Mumbai Indians, a job he resigned from to “pursue other interests around cricket”.What India need from Kumble is to be a manager, a tactician and a leader. To advise more on field placements than the position of the front foot•Getty ImagesThe BCCI, for all its claims of new-found transparency, wouldn’t say why it felt – or why its advisory committee of Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman felt – that Kumble was the right man for the job, superseding others who were – at least on paper – better qualified for the job. While the BCCI’s advertisement made it clear when a requirement was not mandatory – for instance, it clarified that speaking Indian languages was preferred but not necessary – the demand of prior coaching experience continued using the word “should”.By all accounts, Kumble’s application took the BCCI by surprise. There has been no denial of reports that Kumble’s name didn’t feature in the pruned list of 21 candidates forwarded to the advisory committee. The trepidation from the board’s side is apparent in how it has given Kumble just a one-year term, waiting to see how he performs before committing to him for a longer duration. Which is fair.It is unfair, however, on Kumble that the BCCI officials chose to not speak about his coaching prospects, relying instead on his legendary status as a player. For there can be a lot to recommend Kumble by. His commitment, as Sanjay Manjrekar tweeted, will be absolute. He won’t, as Aakash Chopra has said, settle for mediocrity. Harsha Bhogle has drawn on his experience of Kumble the player to say he is a born leader.India’s last two captain-coach pairs have seemingly failed to challenge each other. MS Dhoni and Duncan Fletcher were both similar in nature: pragmatic, relying on outlasting the opposition through defence. Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri were both gung-ho; they don’t just want to attack, they want to be seen as attacking. There have been many times when you wondered just how different it would have been if Shastri had asked Dhoni not to give up on the bowlers as quickly as he used to with defensive fields; what might have been if there had been a Shastri in the dressing room asking him to declare earlier in Wellington, or reassuring him that they had nothing to lose going for the target in Dominica.Similarly you wondered if a more pragmatic voice might have helped India draw the Test in Adelaide when they continued to attack even when it was clear the only option left was to draw, notwithstanding that attacking had brought them close in the first place. That voice of experience might have challenged Kohli’s lust for a magic move on debut as Test captain in selecting a green legspinner in Karn Sharma with no real credentials in first-class cricket.Kumble’s coaching experience is limited to mentoring Mumbai Indians•Mumbai IndiansNow, though, there could be a better mix. Kohli attacking, but only after having his moves and philosophies challenged by Kumble, who always showed a solid and even temperament as a player. Disagreeing respectfully has always been a more fertile ground for ideas than leaders who always agree with each other. Kumble will be no yes-man.Kumble is also the idol of India’s biggest match-winner in Tests, R Ashwin. Taking Ashwin to the next level, perhaps in limited-overs cricket, where all fingerspinners are struggling, might just become Kumble’s personal project. Kumble’s presentation, reportedly, had plans for every series over the next three years as per the current FTP.Most importantly, though, perhaps the biggest discredit to Kumble is done by the coach advertisement itself. It is no secret that the role of a coach at the highest level has changed from the days of John Wright and Bob Woolmer. Teams have become richer, there is enough money to hire specialist coaches who will look after the biomechanics. India even have a specialist who travels with the team just to give the batsmen throwdowns in the nets.Experience and certificates are not what make a head coach nowadays. What India need Kumble to be is a manager, a tactician and a leader. Somebody who enables the players to give their best. The role of the coach now is more about giving the team a direction, not throwdowns. To advise more on field placements than the position of the front foot. To create and maintain an atmosphere in the dressing room that is conducive to achieving the best results.If Kumble has been given one year to prove himself, he should be given the freedom to choose his own specialist coaches and analysts. As Kumble said immediately after the appointment, he is only too aware of the pressure on the coach of being accountable for a team’s performance. No matter how he might have been appointed, Kumble won’t shy away from that accountability.

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Apr-2015Kraigg Brathwaite received a nasty delivery that he fended off to gully…•AFP…and Shivnarine Chanderpaul was held by Alastair Cook at slip at the third attempt•Getty ImagesMarlon Samuels edged Anderson behind for his third wicket and to set alarm bells ringing for West Indies•AFPThere was simply no keeping Anderson out of the game. He took two catches and struck a direct hit to run out Jason Holder•AFPWest Indies slid away and lost 8 for 83 as England bowled them out for 307 with Moeen Ali taking the last two wickets lbw in the same over•Getty ImagesIt left England with 143 to chase and there was an early scare with Jonathan Trott chopping on in the second over•Associated PressBut West Indies faint hopes were dealt a blow when Jason Holder was carried off with an ankle injury•Getty ImagesGary Ballance got stuck into the target…•Getty Images…and together with Alastair Cook, the pair broke the back of the chase with both men going past fifty•Getty ImagesCook and Ballance steered England home by nine wickets for a remarkable victory•Getty Images

Plays of the day for the opening day of the first Test between India and West Indies in Mumbai

N Hunter14-Nov-2013The drop
Mohammad Azharuddin and Rahul Dravid used to field at first slip. Hands that picked some of the best catches. A bowler would trust them completely and likewise, these guys built his confidence. However R Ashwin, who fields at the same position, has never given that same kind of assurance. Today he had already seen a difficult chance, an outside edge from Kieran Powell fall a yard in front of him. But a few overs later when Powell was beaten by the superb seam movement of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashwin spilled a straightforward catch. The ball was going to his left. Ashwin moved quickly but tried to pouch the ball, probably, with hard hands because the ball bounced off his left palm, trickled across his arm before bouncing off his lap onto the ground even as he tried to hold on to it in vain. Ashwin looked to the heavens for assistance. The bowler, too, did the same.The shot
The ball was pitched on a good length. It was slightly fuller. Sachin Tendulkar’s eyes lit up. He opened his stance, quickly moved forward and using his left elbow to lend direction, he punched exquisite straight drive -past Darren Sammy, past mid-on for another four. It was a shot that comes to mind when you think Tendulkar the batsman. It is shot the roaring Wankhede took home.The word of caution
Narsingh Deonarine was playing his first ball of the series. He tapped Bhuvneshwar towards mid-on and set off for a single without even realising Pragyan Ojha was standing well inside the circle. If that was not enough, Deonarine, who replaced Veerasammy Permaul, should have at least realised his partner was the as-safe-as-they-come Shivnarine Chanderpaul. The Guyanese, playing his 150th Test match, did not even blink as he turned his back to Deonarine, who had to retreat swiftly. An annoyed Chanderpaul indicated his displeasure by drawing a question mark with his hands.The plan
The ploy of making the batsmen play as many balls as possible is a rule good fast bowlers never forget. Bhuvneshwar deployed that strategy successfully against all batsmen including Chanderpaul, who was defeated by the bowler’s accuracy and persistence. In his third over of his first spell after lunch, Bhuvneshwar bowled four balls to Chanderpaul of similar nature: pitching back of a length, on leg or middle stump and moving away. Chanderpaul left a couple of deliveries alone, but the other two he was tempted to play, only to get squared up. In his next over, Bhuvneshwar improvised by pitching on the leg stump and creating an angle that forced Chanderpaul to play at the ball. The thick edge went to Ashwin, who did well to hold a good catch.The catch
Deonarine seemed in a hurry as he tried to play most of the balls. Trying to defend a delivery from Ashwin which had pitched on the middle stump and was turning away, Deonarine stretched forward, but could not get to the pitch of the ball. The outside edge flew to the left of M Vijay, at short gully, who dived to pluck a spectacular low catch.

Harsha Bhogle, Tom Moody and Peter Kirsten review the tournament, and CSA’s head Jacques Faul offers his assessment of the league

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2012
Was it a successful tournament from a South African perspective? (2.10 – 3.05)
Peter Kirsten: Definitely. The great thing about the Champions League is that it gives the franchise teams in South Africa a chance to show what they can do against top-class international players of different nationalities. It gives the franchises all around the world not only an opportunity to make a lot of money – if they make the finals or win it – but also show the IPL bosses what exactly they can do. With the Lions making the final, it was a great success for the South African public and the organisers.The best team won in the end… (3.06 – 3.57)
Tom Moody: I agree. The Sydney Sixers showed true form and consistency throughout the tournament. They looked dominant in all three aspects of the game. I thought they were the best fielding side, the best performing bowling attack, and they also showed depth in their batting, particularly after Shane Watson left to go back to Australia early. They showed they were capable of doing something without such a key player around.Why did the IPL teams do badly? And why is it that the South African sides did well? (3.58 – 7.24)
TM: The IPL teams struggled with the conditions – they are a lot different to what Indian players would face in the subcontinent – and it’s early season in South Africa. There’s seam movement, swing, and there was that extra bit of bounce. The most significant point is that the IPL teams didn’t gel as quickly as the other teams. The IPL teams are brought together over a two-month period for an IPL extravaganza in the middle of the year. The teams that tend to do well in the IPL are the ones that get together and gel together quickly. In such a short tournament like the Champions League, there’s not a lot of time for that.PK: There’s quite a lot of national diversity in many of the other IPL teams. If you take the Lions, Titans and the Sixers, there’s only Nathan McCullum and Michael Lumb and [Sohail Tanvir]. The local teams definitely had the advantage, and it’s very difficult for a diversity of national players, such as the IPL teams, to suddenly get it together. And certainly, the conditions suited Australia and South African teams with the bounce. Unfortunately on the day, the Lions batsmen succumbed – yet again a South African team succumbing to the pressure.A well-fought contest between bat and ball… (7.30 – 11.25)
PK: Twenty20 cricket is also about playing good, decent cricket shots as Brad Haddin and Lumb showed in the final. The Lions batsmen played completely across the line against quality fast bowlers and spinners. So definitely, the bowling skills are coming to the fore. In terms of captaincy, I thought it was a masterstroke from Haddin to go with his gut feel and start with the spinners and it worked superbly for him on the day. A good bowling side definitely has a distinct advantage in Twenty20 cricket.TM: When there’s a little bit more in the conditions, it tests a true player and a true team. A player, whether bowling or batting, needs to adapt to the conditions and the situation. That was the beauty of this particular Champions League. It made it an intriguing contest between bat and ball, where it wasn’t one-way traffic. What it showed was that batsmen prepared to play with good technique and composure under pressure were generally the ones that came out on top in those contests.Were you happy with the quality of cricket played? (11.26 – 13.52)
PK: The Sialkot Stallions might have been a decent introduction to the [main round of the] Champions League. They definitely would have drawn the attention of many more Pakistan fans. The standard of cricket was generally pretty good, at this time of the year there’s a bit more movement similar to Australian pitches. Generally speaking, the quality of cricket improved, the fielding was excellent and what the batsmen would have learnt in South Africa is try and play straight down the ground, as you saw with the Sixers batsmen yesterday and Symes of the Lions. Perhaps they would need to look at the structure of the qualifying rounds the next time around.Is the role of spin changing in different conditions? The Indian spinners didn’t do well but the others did. (13.53 – 15.37)
TM: That’s more a coincidence. The Indian spinners didn’t perform, more to do with the fact that their team had no momentum and was playing poor cricket. At the end of the day, the spinners that did do well were complemented by the remainder of their attack. They were made as strong as what they were and their attack was also complemented by the way they bowled. It was a collective effort. Talk about Steve O’Keefe and McCullum – any spinner would love to know that at the other end is a Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood or a Pat Cummins, because it just complements their art.The standard of national teams is above that of franchise cricket, which is sometimes contrary to what we see in football. Also, is the South African national side a fair representation of the best franchise teams in the country? (15.38 – 19.25)TM: The national teams are the cream of the crop in every country. They are well-drilled and at the absolute peak of their powers as cricketers. What you’ve got is a hot-house of the very best of that country that are selected because they are good at that format of the game.PK: The domestic scene in South Africa is very strong. Over the last ten years, dare I say this, we’ve tended to copy the structures of Australian domestic cricket and in many ways it has worked. There is depth in South Africa. Coach Gary Kirsten and the selectors are looking to give guys a chance. Aaron Phangiso, Chris Morris came through beautifully. South Africa still need to pay a lot of attention to the dotting of the Is and crossing of the Ts in Twenty20 cricket. They were found out in Sri Lanka, and again in the final a South African franchise struggled to put it together on a big day. It’s a difficult one for coach Kirsten and the others to get the right team together.Who were the players that excited you in the Champions League? (19.26 – 21.53)
TM: There’s two from the Sixers side. One is Josh Hazlewood: he was the most consistent quick out of that star-studded line-up. The other is Moises Henriques: he was touted a few years ago as a star allrounder, was thrown into the deep end and he struggled. Henriques has had that period out of the international spotlight and he’s ready to go back in. He looked the real deal as an allrounder.

“The domestic scene in South Africa is very strong. Over the last ten years, dare I say this, we’ve tended to copy the structures of Australian domestic cricket and in many ways it has worked”Peter Kirsten

PK: It was wonderful to see Neil McKenzie have such a great tournament. I’ve had a bit to do with Neil’s batting over the years. Playing for South Africa in your mid-30s, mentally you’re strong. Unfortunately for him in the final, he played a poor shot. He was a key batsman in the middle order for the Lions.George Bailey had talked about the need for Australia to have mystery spinners. But John Inverarity has said Australian spinners won’t bowl like that, effectively saying the 15-degree rule is not right for the game. How does Australia approach slow bowling in T20s, for example? (21.54 – 24.10)
TM: I tend to agree with Bailey. You always look to expand and develop your game and if you come up with something different – like the switch hit, reverse sweep – why not. As long as it stays within the rules of the game – the 15-degree rule came over a decade ago – why not try to be a little different? Too often we try to develop players out of the manual. Sanath Jayasuriya, Brian Lara, if you take a look at them through the ICC coaching manual, they probably wouldn’t pass. By goodness, haven’t they passed the test of time of international cricket? As long as it’s kept within the guidelines that’s clearly stated now, I don’t have a problem with it at all.What would you do different to the Champions League? (24.11 – 25.24)TM: I would like to see every country represented in the main competition and there not to be a qualifying stage for them.Excerpts from an interview with Jacques Faul, acting chief executive of Cricket South Africa and a member of the CLT20 governing council.In your view, has this tournament been a success?
The one thing is does do is provide your local domestic player an opportunity to play international stars, also from other countries. From a South African perspective, we’re very happy with the tournament and also because it provides the incentive for two of our six franchise teams to qualify.Are you concerned that viewership ratings are down, sponsorship is changing and as a viewing spectacle, this hasn’t quite taken off the way it should have?
There’s a concern in terms of the volume of entertainment and sport in general in the world. It seems to be escalating. I don’t think it’s isolated to the Champions League in itself, but it’s definitely something you’ve got to be mindful of. But it’s still a good product, if you compare it to other forms of entertainment and sport. The financial incentives are very good, so is the exposure value for players. For our South African teams, it’s a very important tournament. It boosts our domestic product.What does it mean to cricket in that territory to have that kind of money coming in?
They all receive, from CSA, US$600,000 as a yearly grant. That’s an annual grant, so to receive US$1.3 million or even US$500,000, that’s a lot of money. It’s a good incentive for players to win it as prize money. To give you the formula – the players get 50% of it, 25% goes to the winning franchises and the other franchises share in the remaining 25% of it. So, all our professional cricket structures benefit from it.Was the timing right? There was always the threat of rain.
Unfortunately, we had a lot of rain, it’s not the norm. I don’t think it’s a bad window.Were you happy with the number of people who turned up?
We are, but that’s affected by rain unfortunately as well. The opening match was unbelievable. The final, a lot of these matches were sold out. It also brings new people to grounds that have not supported cricket in the past, so very happy with it.Is it a weakness of the Champions League that it’s almost got to be too India-centric?
You can never underestimate the value of Indian teams playing in the tournament. The focus is not to deprecate the IPL, but still have the value of a large IPL influence and yet open it up to the world. It’s wonderful playing the IPL teams – they’re strong, well-structured and coached, but you can benchmark against it as well. Twenty20 brings teams closer. It’s good to have the best of the IPL combined with the rest of the world.How do you make the league stronger? For example, in the qualifying round, teams played one match and then were virtually out after losing.
Stronger teams from the members taking part will make it stronger, with the value in having strong and good players in it. Structurally, you can look at it. We’re going to have a debriefing on the tournament, get inputs from all stakeholders, team owners, officials, also the broadcasters. It is an evolving tournament and I can’t see it staying the same for the next five or six years.Is it possible for the tournament to move to Australia, with the time difference etc?
That’s probably an issue. Ultimately, it’s also important to have a strong television product. The financial model relies a lot on broadcasting rights and you’ve got to take that into consideration. I can’t say we’ll never have it in Australia, but you’ve still got to pay the bills and listen to your biggest investors and that’s probably broadcasting as well. I think there’s something wonderful and romantic about playing in India.Numbers Game (35.43 – 38.02)
Question: In the Champions League 2012, the spinners from which team had the poorest economy rate?

Not many teams beat South Africa on home soil, even fewer do it by an innings an hour into the final day

Andrew McGlashan in Durban30-Dec-2009As the crow flies it is almost 8000 miles between Kingston in Jamaica and Durban, but in every sense for England they have proved worlds apart. A year that began amid turmoil with a collapse for 51 all out in one of their most humiliating defeats has ended with of one their most impressive victories. Not many teams beat South Africa on home soil, even fewer do it by an innings an hour into the final day.With Andrew Strauss at the helm, and Andy Flower exuding calm control, the players will be kept firmly grounded in the days to come. This job is only half done. England didn’t come here to win a Test, they came to win a series, but this will rightly be acknowledged as a victory of the highest order.”We’ve come a long way in the last 12 months, and that’s all credit to the way the guys have embraced changes,” Strauss said. “We’ve all got behind each other and enjoyed each other’s success and have finished the year on a real high. I don’t think most people would have thought we’d win the Ashes and then come here and do so well so far. We’ve been able to do it, because we stick together through the tough times.”Everything about England was impressive. From the early new-ball wickets on the first day, to the way they built pressure as Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis threatened to produce a commanding total. Then there was a unyielding batting display, with contrasting but complementary contributions all through the order, before the match cumulated in a destructive second-innings bowling effort from Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad.The only time England appeared momentarily rudderless was when Dale Steyn cut loose for his 47 at No. 10, but the ledger was soon balanced by Strauss’s own rollicking start. Strauss has been through quite a year. He wasn’t even captain when it started and then only took the job because there wasn’t really anyone else available. Now he has the chance to etch his name among England’s finest leaders.Strauss and Graeme Swann have been England’s outstanding performers in 2009•Getty Images”Away from home, that is as emphatic a victory as I can remember,” he said. “For pretty much the whole Test match, we did exactly what we wanted to do. They never got away from us, and we always felt it was under control.”Getting that big score set it up for us to bowl them out in the fourth innings. I don’t think we felt it was going to be as easy as it was. But all credit to the way Broady and Swanny bowled last night. But we know we’ve still got a lot of hard work to do. As captain, you need to lead by example on that.”There is no doubt that Strauss will do just that. As he did after the Ashes, when he called for calm amid the euphoria and demanded it be used as a stepping stone for the future, he was quick to focus on the task to come in South Africa.”It feels wrong to dampen things down after a win like this but we still have a lot of work to do,” he said. “We lost heavily at Headingley last year against the Aussies – and we know in the next Test what happened here counts for nothing.”But we are 1-0 up with two to play, and the way we won today gives us a lot of confidence going to Cape Town. South Africa will come back hard at us, because they’re a proud team and have some very good players.”Importantly, though, this victory shows that England are finding a way of winning Tests with a new balance of team. The Ashes success was secured with Andrew Flintoff still in the side – albeit on one leg most of the time – and when this tour began the huge debate revolved around which suit England would strengthen (and which they would weaken) to compensate for his absence.They went down the six-batsmen route, despite early suggestions Luke Wright was in the running for a debut, and it has paid off handsomely with Ian Bell making 140, arguably his best Test innings to date. It won’t always work, for example in the subcontinent where conditions may demand two spinners, but this Durban pitch was fairly placid yet England comfortably took the 20 wickets required. Nine of those went to Swann, their bowler of the year, and the second leading wicket-taker in the world for 2009.”It’s like all these things, if you win it’s right decision if you don’t it’s the wrong decision,” Strauss said. “You pick the side you feel will win the Test match and I felt a valuable contribution from No. 6 on this wicket would be important, and so it proved.”Belly’s hundred got us in a position where South Africa were no longer in the game and our bowlers could attack. I must say the four-bowler option works a lot better when your spinner is contributing in the first innings, which has made life a lot easier for us.”It was one of those matches a captain dreams about, where selection, planning and on-field tactics all work in sync. Strauss’s year is littered with notable achievements, some more noticeable than others, but this victory has put him one win away from starting 2010 with a triumph that would surpass everything else. Even the Ashes.

At the time of his retiring, Chris Cairns was 50 runs short of becoming only the third player to score 5000 runs and take 200 wickets in one-day cricket

George Binoy23-Jan-2006

Chris Cairns ended his ODI career on the doorstep of an elite club. © Getty Images
At the time of his retiring, Chris Cairns was 50 runs short of becoming only the third player to score 5000 runs and take 200 wickets in one-day internationals, the other two being Jacques Kallis and Sanath Jayasuriya. The mindset that didn’t urge him to play the extra one or two games to achieve this record is precisely why a statistical view of Cairns’s career cannot fully capture his impact as a player. A penchant for big-hitting evidently ran in the Cairns family. His father Lance’s ODI strike rate of 104.88 is the third-highest and Chris’s tally of 240 sixes (in both Tests and ODIs ) is behind Shahid Afridi’s 254 and Jayasuriya’s 245. Cairns’s averages with bat and ball, which hovered either side of 30, are ordinary figures but put the two together and throw in a strike rate of 84.26 with a six-hitting frequency better than Viv Richards and you begin to get the picture of what Cairns brought to the game. He’s one of seven players to have taken 200 wickets and scored more than 3000 runs in ODIs.

Allrounders with more than 3000 runs and 200 wickets

Player Matches Runs/avg Wickets/avg

Sanath Jayasuriya 347 10333/31.99 268/36.77 Jacques Kallis 229 7955/44.19 201/32.08 Chris Cairns 215 4950/29.46 201/32.81 Chris Harris 250 4379/29 203/37.50 Abdul Razzaq 201 3949/29.92 223/29.84 Kapil Dev 225 3782/23.79 253/27.45 Wasim Akram 356 3717/16.52 502/23.53A player of his ability has a crucial influence on the outcome of the game. In matches won by New Zealand, Cairns averages 36.22 with the bat and just 24.91 with the ball . Three of his four centuries have resulted in New Zealand wins, the most significant being the hundred in the Champions Trophy final against India in Nairobi.Cairns played 215 ODIs for New Zealand but missed out on a whopping 104 matches (32.6%) during his career mostly because of injuries that never allowed a consistent display of his outstanding talent.His batting record against Trans-Tasman rivals Australia is one that Cairns would have dearly liked to improve. He averages 24.68 and has only six half-centuries in the 42 games played against Australia. England also have got the better of Cairns. In 18 games against England, Cairns has scored just 290 runs at 18.12 with two fifties.Most fast bowlers have struggled with the heat and flat pitches in the subcontinent and Cairns was no exception. In 38 games in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, he took just 19 wickets. In India he averaged 46.41, in Pakistan 71.83, and in Sri Lanka Cairns managed just one wicket from nine games.

Their success in the two Tests against Ireland has pushed Sri Lanka’s Prabath Jayasuriya and Ramesh Mendis up in the bowlers’ rankings

ESPNcricinfo staff03-May-2023

Fakhar Zaman has scored back-to-back centuries in the ongoing ODIs against New Zealand•PCB

Pakistan have a one-two at the top of the ICC ODI batting rankings, with opener Fakhar Zaman moving eight places up to achieve a career-best second spot, only behind his captain Babar Azam. Fakhar has scored back-to-back centuries in Rawalpindi in the ongoing five-match series against New Zealand, while Babar has hit 49 and 65 in the two matches.Fakhar made 117 in the chase of 289 in the first ODI and followed it up with 180 not out in the second as Pakistan chased down 337, taking them 2-0 up in the five-series. His previous best ranking in the format was No. 7, which he reached in April 2021.With Fakhar moving up, South Africa’s Rassie van der Dussen has slipped one place down to No. 3, while India’s Shubman Gill is at No. 4.Full rankings tables

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Pakistan also have Fakhar’s opening partner Imam-ul-Haq rounding off the top five after scores of 60 and 25 in the two ODIs.In the men’s Test rankings, a number of Sri Lanka players have made moved up after their a 2-0 series win over Ireland in Galle.Left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, who picked up 17 wickets across the two Tests, including a ten-wicket match haul in the first Test, is up six places to No. 13 in the bowling rankings, while offspinner Ramesh Mendis is up ten places to 22nd after taking 11 wickets in the series.Angelo Mathews has also moved one place up to No. 22 in the batting rankings after scoring 100 not out in the second Test, where Sri Lanka put up 704 for 3 declared on their way to an innings win, while Kusal Mendis is up three places to 39th after making his career-best score of 245 in the same game.