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Fulham have reached out and made contact over signing a former Real Madrid player, as Marco Silva’s side begin planning for next season.

Fulham competing for European qualification

Just seven points separate ninth from fourth in this hotly-contested Premier League race for Europe, and Fulham are still in with every chance of competing in the Conference League, Europa League or even the Champions League.

Club "moving" to sign "very important" Fulham star with unique offer planned

Marco Silva’s side could lose him.

ByEmilio Galantini Apr 3, 2025

While the latter competition is unlikely, Silva will be looking to end the season as strongly as possible to give Fulham the best chance to see their names in the Europa or Conference draws next season.

Tottenham are looking at Silva as a potential replacement for Ange Postecoglou, and if they decide he’s the right man for the job, then this could well be the 47-year-old’s final season at Craven Cottage.

Liverpool (home)

April 6th

Bournemouth (away)

April 14th

Chelsea (home)

April 20th

Southampton (away)

April 26th

Aston Villa (away)

May 3rd

The tactician will want to end his Fulham career on a high if he does decide to part company, and what better way than sealing a European qualification place? After they disappointingly crashed out of the FA Cup to Crystal Palace.

Unfortunately for Silva, some very tough tests await his side over this final stretch of the campaign, including Premier League title frontrunners Liverpool, this season’s surprise package Bournemouth and a crunch west London derby against Chelsea.

Qualifying for Europe will also go a long way to attracting the best players possible to Fulham this summer.

Andreas Pereira has been linked with a return to Brazil as well, so the Whites may also need to sign a quality new wide player to replace the former Man United winger.

Fulham make contact over signing Deportivo sensation Yeremay Hernandez

According to TEAMtalk this week, Deportibvo La Coruna sensation Yeremay Hernandez is on their radar. Hernandez’s excellent form for the La Liga 2 side this season has attracted interest from the likes of Chelsea, according to reports in Spain, but it is now believed that Fulham are ready to go toe-to-toe with their cross-town rivals.

The 22-year-old can play on either flank, bagging 11 goals and four assists from out wide, and he is seen by many as a young player with serious potential.

TT report that Fulham have made contact over signing Hernandez already, with the former Real Madrid academy gem also scouted by Arsenal and targeted by Brentford.

However, it is Fulham who’ve made a head start by instigating an approach, and it is believed they’re extremely keen on the £30 million Spaniard. Hernandez, it is claimed, would be seen as a “perfect” option for Silva, who wishes to reinforce his wide options a a top priority.

The slinger supreme casts an approving eye over Nuwan Thushara and Matheesha Pathirana, two bowlers cast in his image

Andrew Fidel Fernando21-May-2024Lasith Malinga, not renowned for his exuberant joy, is a little bit giddy. Or at least the closest he gets to being giddy.He is reflecting on two young bowlers who modelled their actions on his own crazy roundarm bowling having made Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup squad. He’s been coaching Nuwan Thushara at Mumbai Indians over the past two months; Matheesha Pathirana he’d worked with before.”I can’t tell you how happy it makes me,” he says.And then… oh my… was that a giggle? From ?Related

The slingy arm action, as patented by Lasith Malinga

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MS Dhoni: 'Pathirana shouldn't even get close to red-ball cricket'

Malinga on Pathirana: 'I somehow want to make this guy even better than me'

Thushara claims hat-trick on way to five-for to finish Bangladesh off in decider

“In the T20 format you are always talking about the yorker because that’s the ball that stops sixes from happening. To have two bowlers who can bowl yorkers like the two of them can in the same tournament? That’s crazy. That’s absolutely mad.”Since Malinga made the yorker his signature delivery at the very start of his career, it has long been thought that roundarm bowlers are especially suited to bowling the yorker.The theory goes like this: where conventional bowlers’ higher trajectories mean that if they miss the blockhole, batters can use the depth of the crease to get under the ball, roundarm bowlers and their lower trajectories have a much greater margin of error when bowling full.Right through Malinga’s own career, a low full toss was almost as good a ball for him as his pinpoint yorkers, though this was also because of the reverse swing he often generated at the death.Pathirana: deadly at the death•Matheesha Pathirana/AFP/Getty ImagesSo far this is playing out in Pathirana’s career as well. Since January 2022, his economy rate of 8.13 when bowling yorkers, full tosses or full deliveries is the third best among fast bowlers who have bowled a minimum of 300 deliveries. (Fazalhaq Farooqi and Jasprit Bumrah are Nos. 1 and 2.) Thushara’s economy of 9.57 isn’t quite up there with the best when going full, but it’s not terrible either.”It’s the first time in my life I’m seeing one country have resources like this,” Malinga said. I think [Sri Lanka’s] bowling line-up is the best in the world.”If he’s getting carried away here, it’s not difficult to understand why. No bowler had ever done what he did at the international level, and now two from the country are. Pakistan have Malinga-style bowlers too, Zaman Khan being chief among them. There may be more in the pipeline.”I saw that there was someone at Under-19 level that was bowling like this, as well as a young bowler from Jaffna who was the same. And I’m even getting scolded that too many bowlers like me are coming through,” Malinga laughs.”But if they have the talent to play well at this level, what can I do? I’m so happy if they come through. I’ll teach them everything I know about my art!” “Thushara needs on-field management”
Of the two bowlers, Malinga says, Thushara is the most like him. “He swings the new ball into the left-hander, and swings it nicely away from the right-hander. He’s got a nice slower ball, which doesn’t quite have the dip mine did, but it’s good.Malinga: “I’m even getting scolded that too many bowlers like me are coming through!”•AFP”And in addition to that, he’s got a good yorker. Right now at training, he’s got good control of the wide yorker and the straight yorker.”Thushara has had a decent IPL, in a rough season for bowlers. In seven outings he has taken eight wickets and conceded runs at 9.88 an over. His start to his international career has been better – 11 wickets from eight games. In the last series he played, against Bangladesh, Thushara pulled off that classic Malinga feat – taking a hat-trick, as he collected figures of 5 for 20.”He’s a match-winning bowler, first of all,” Malinga says of Thushara, “But when he goes into the match, he sometimes gets a little confused about how to set his field. It could be because he hasn’t played enough at this level. He’s only played a handful of internationals.”Because of that, when the team is making plans for him, the captain has to be right there with him. The captain needs to know what types of balls he’s trying to bowl, so he can set the field according to that. Even if we as coaches tell him to bowl a certain way, if the captain is not there, it doesn’t work.”A player who doesn’t have a lot of experience is one that hasn’t built up a lot of confidence with his captain. If the captain is there in the meeting – if Wanindu Hasaranga is there, or the wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis is there – then they know what plans he’s made, where’s he’s going to bowl and what field he needs. If that happens, even with an inexperienced player, the captain and the wicketkeeper have the ability to adjust his fields.Thushara, second from left, in the game where he took a hat-trick, and four wickets in two overs. Malinga says the presence of Thushara and Pathirana in the line-up gives Sri Lanka the best bowling attack in the world•AFP/Getty Images”After the sixth over, you have to tell him to bowl three or four yorkers every over. What happens then is that you can’t hit sixes off those deliveries. If they are trying to get a wicket, the main weapon is the slower ball. He can bowl that at a wider line because that’s where the field is. The wicketkeeper, captain, and bowler need to all be on the same page about that.”He’s got the weapons. He’s got a perfect slower ball. He can bowl the slower yorker and the slower length ball, and I’ve helped him hone those. But he doesn’t have the experience yet to use them. If he can get a bit of guidance, he’s a deadly bowler. I’d definitely play him in this team, and give him two powerplay overs, and two at the death.”Pathirana’s “big heart”
Where it’s Thushara’s higher arm action and higher wrist that allow him to get early swing, Pathirana’s arm comes around even lower than Malinga’s, making him better suited to the middle and late overs. This is exactly where Chennai Super Kings have used him across the last two seasons.His improved control – especially when bowling yorkers – and rapid pace (he has frequently breached 150kph this IPL) have made him one of the most penetrative death bowlers in the competition.”Matheesha, without any fears you can bring him in the last stages of an innings,” Malinga says.”Even through the middle overs, if we want to unsettle batters, if we want to bowl short balls, if we want to bowl fast yorkers in the middle in tandem with a spinner – that’s an opportunity too. He doesn’t bowl with the new ball much, so you can use him in the middle for wickets.The math works out: “If in the last four overs one of [Thushara and Pathirana] bowls eight yorkers and the other bowls eight more, that’s 16 balls you can’t hit for six,” Malinga says•Ashwini Bhatia/Associated Press”If you have Wanindu bowling from one side, and Matheesha from the other, both are wicket-taking bowlers. If Wanindu locks up one side, batters know they have to score against Matheesha. Then there’s a big chance of getting batters out”Pathirana was actually among the top wicket-takers in the IPL this year, having taken 13 wickets from six matches, He arrived at the tournament slightly late, and had his season cut short by a hamstring injury. Sri Lanka hope he’ll be fit to start the World Cup.”His biggest weapons are his pace and his yorker, and he had a bit of an injury and he dropped pace a bit, so we’ll have to see how he recovers from that,” Malinga says.”But the biggest thing I see with Matheesha is his big heart. He’s very positive in the match. Those aren’t things we can teach him. Those are things he’s got naturally. Even in the year he first came into the IPL, he didn’t have any fear, or any doubts.”If you tell him this is what we need at this time, he has the ability to do that. He’s got the ability to make a decision. He’s quite clear in his thinking.”Could we see him bowl the death overs in tandem with Thushara?”If you get him set with Nuwan Thushara – it’s the first time in my life that I would see two yorker bowlers like them operating together. If in the last four overs one of them bowls eight yorkers and the other bowls eight more, that’s 16 balls you can’t hit for six. That’s the first time I’ve seen potential like that in my life. I don’t know what the selectors will do.”

On a two-paced pitch in Tarouba, Karthik crashed West Indies’ party with an unbeaten 19-ball 41

Deivarayan Muthu30-Jul-2022Ravindra Jadeja swipes his bat over the stumps in frustration after carving Alzarri Joseph straight to short third. India are 138 for 6 in 16 overs on a grippy, two-paced pitch in Tarouba. Jason Holder and Co are regularly taking pace off and keeping the ball away from the batters’ reach. West Indies are sensing that they are onto something, with a packed crowd rallying around them.Dinesh Karthik, however, crashes West Indies’ party, in the first international game at the Brian Lara Stadium, with an unbeaten 19-ball 41 that powers India up to 190 for 6. On a tricky surface, where wickets fell in clusters, Karthik is the only Indian batter to strike at over 150.Related

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• Dinesh Karthik the finisher unlocks the best version of himself

After expertly closing out innings for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, and for India in the T20Is against South Africa at home, Karthik whipped up another finishing act, this time in the Caribbean, strengthening his case for the inclusion in India’s XI at the T20 World Cup, which begins in October later this year in Australia.Since the start of IPL 2022, Karthik has struck at 210.91 at the death overs in T20 cricket. Among those who have played at least ten innings during this period, only Tim David (226.72) and Jimmy Neesham (220.45) have a better strike rate.Sure, Karthik has trained the house down for the finisher’s role, but the conditions and circumstances were stacked against him on Friday. He was on 17 off 12 balls at one stage; there were no proper batting options for India beyond him, and the ball kept stopping at the batters. However, there would be no stopping Karthik.When Holder missed a yorker, Karthik shuffled across and threw everything into a swipe that sailed over midwicket for six. Holder then went around the stumps and angled a length ball across him but Karthik stretched out like Mister Fantastic from the Marvel Universe and scythed it over covers, where there was no protection in the deep, for four. To add to West Indies’ hurt, they could have just four fielders outside the 30-yard circle due to an in-match penalty for their slow over rate.Karthik hurt them even further in the last over by hitting the ball over the infield for two more fours and another six. In that final over, Karthik deployed a higher backlift, pointing towards first slip, AB de Villiers-style to generate extra power against the change-ups of Obed McCoy.ESPNcricinfo LtdAt the other end, Ashwin sat back and gushed: ” [This is good], DK!” Back in the day, Ashwin was among those who used to travel to Chepauk just to watch Karthik bat. Karthik is now at the peak of his powers and has so much role clarity and confidence that he can succeed as a finisher irrespective of conditions.”I’ve been enjoying it [the finisher’s role] a lot; it’s a very interesting role,” Karthik said at the post-match presentation after bagging the Player-of-the-Match award. “It’s not something you can be consistent with, but on the days that you do well, you can make an impact for the team. You need the backing of the captain and the coach that I’ve got in abundance, so that really helps.”What is important is assessing the wicket. On any given day in the last four-five overs when you bat, there are a lot of things you need to be aware of – the shape of the ball, the softness of the ball, [the nature of] the wicket, what kind of shots you can play, and then you need to decide. That comes with a little bit of practice and understanding the various aspects of batting.”Karthik has always been big on practice and game time. Ahead of IPL 2022, he had travelled to Theni, located about 500km from Chennai, to play a T20 tournament for his club India Cements. Ahead of the Caribbean tour, when Karthik needed some game time, he travelled to Coimbatore to play a T20 game for his TNPL side Tiruppur Tamizhans on a sluggish surface.He continues to put all of that preparation into excellent use and prove people wrong, at 37. Speaking on the BeerBiceps podcast, even Karthik’s close confidant Shanker Basu, who is also Royal Challengers’ fitness coach, revealed that he had ruled out an international comeback from Karthik.Karthik has made such a strong comeback that India’s team management is now open to swapping the position of other batters to let him do his thing at the death. He even captained the Indians in two warm-up T20s in England, and after his latest act, he is now a step closer to nailing down the finisher’s spot for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

A look back at the 1984 Port-of-Spain Test, when Border put together one of the all-time great Test performances

S Rajesh21-Mar-2020Thirty-seven years ago on this day, Allan Border stitched together one of the great backs-to-the-wall performances in Test history, against one of the best teams of all time. This was when West Indies cricket was at its pomp, in the mid-1980s, and during a 18-year period when they didn’t lose a single series at home.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn this Port-of-Spain Test of 1984, their bowling attack included Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and Wayne Daniel, and they got into the act straightaway after Australia were put in to bat. Australia were 16 for 3 when Border walked in, and the score soon became 50 for 4 and 85 for 5.With some support from Dean Jones, Border lifted Australia to a first-innings total of 255, but he was left stranded on 98 as Daniel and Garner mopped up the tail.After West Indies piled up a first-innings lead of 213, their bowlers were at it again, reducing Australia to 41 for 3. For the second time in the match, Border walked in with Australia in huge trouble, and for the second time in the match, he defied West Indies’ pace attack for over four hours and 250-plus deliveries.In a game where the next highest score by an Australian batsman was 48, Border finished with a match aggregate of 198 not out. While the other Australians were dismissed every 35 deliveries, Border faced 583 without being dismissed once. In the 25-year period from 1976 to 2000, when West Indies won 20 out of 23 home series, no overseas batsman faced more deliveries in a Test match in the Caribbean.