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A club in the Premier League are reportedly now in advanced talks to take Glasgow Rangers striker Rory Wilson away from Ibrox this summer.

The Lowdown: Sensational season

Wilson has come off the back of a sensational season with the Gers’ youth teams, scoring over 40 goals while also notching up eight in 11 games for Scotland’s U17s (Football Insider).

Unfortunately for the Light Blues, this is sure to drive up interest in the youngster, who is such a hot prospect at just 16 years of age and is now set to leave the club when his contract expires.

The Latest: Villa talks

As per Football Insider, Aston Villa are now in ‘advanced talks’ to sign Wilson, and are ‘confident’ of securing a deal ahead of Brighton and Hove Albion and other clubs in the English top flight.

A source from Villa Park has revealed that they are ‘close’ to a breakthrough for Wilson, who is regarded as a ‘big talent’ at the Teddy Bears.

Ross Wilson and Giovanni van Bronckhorst have ‘failed’ to convince him to stay, and so he looks set to leave for a development fee of just £300,000.

The outlet describes the news as a ‘major blow’ for the club, who also lost the talented Billy Gilmour when he was the same age.

The Verdict: Major blow indeed

Of course, losing Wilson will be a big blow for RFC, especially given what looks to be a minimal fee that they will get for him.

The lure of the Premier League is sometimes too difficult to turn down, and the 16-year-old now looks set to continue his development in Villa’s Academy.

Nonetheless, Rangers may now need to try and find a replacement for their youth sides, and of course the much bigger implication is potentially missing out on a massive transfer fee down the line if Wilson fulfils his potential.

In other news, find out who Gers have now enquired over signing here!

Famed transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano has claimed sporting director and club chief Fabio Paratici has pulled off a ‘masterpiece’ at Tottenham Hotspur.

The Lowdown: Good times return?

The brief Nuno Espirito Santo era is one Spurs supporters will be hoping to quickly forget.

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Paratici’s decision to appoint the ex-Wolves boss was met with criticism, particularly after Nuno was given his marching orders for terrible results and an arguable lack of exciting football (The Daily Mail).

Seven months on, new manager Antonio Conte has re-instilled faith in Lilywhites and guided them to a possible Champions League qualification finish – depending on how north London rivals Arsenal finish the campaign.

To even be competing for a Premier League top four place seemed like a pipe dream back in November, testament to Conte’s phenomenal job at Hotspur Way.

The Latest: Romano makes ‘masterpiece’ claim…

Taking to Twitter, Romano claims Spurs official Paratici was actually responsible for bringing in the former Chelsea manager – claiming he’s pulled off a ‘masterpiece’.

The journalist explained:

“Tottenham can’t lose Antonio Conte at the end of the season, no matter what happens with UCL race. He completely changed everything in the club since Paratici did a masterpiece to appoint him. #THFC Conte will meet with Levy at the end of the season to decide his future.”

The Verdict: Interesting claim…

Question marks surrounded Paratici following a 50/50 January transfer window but the game-changing Conte appointment appears to have vindicated chairman Daniel Levy’s decision to hire him.

Now, all focus for the 49-year-old will be on spearheading the club’s transfer assaults for this summer as he aims to back Conte and ensure that he can get most, if not all, of the six summer signings allegedly on the ex-Inter Milan boss’ radar.

In other news: Reliable source: Tottenham agreement ‘very likely’ as Conte closes in on ‘top signing’! Find out more here.

Warner’s Ashes struggles very clearly document his issues against a specific type of right-arm pace bowling. Pakistan didn’t get the memo

Osman Samiuddin28-Nov-2019You’re a right-arm fast bowler, for all your sins. You have a fresh new ball in your hand. Forty-odd yards away is taking guard The Bull, David Warner, but right now meek as a cow. This is 2019 where word travels faster than the speed of sound and so you know what you have to do. For starters, you have to go around the wicket. Right?Right?Wrong.Pakistan got a few things wrong in Brisbane, as individuals and as a team, from selection to shot selection. What they also got wrong was the way they bowled to Warner.Warner’s issues this summer in the Ashes are well-documented. Very well-documented. Stuart Broad from around the wicket, fuller and right at Warner’s stumps and 95 runs from 10 innings (61 of them in just one) the result.Broad dismissed Warner seven times in the Ashes that way. All of Warner’s 10 dismissals were by right-arm pace bowlers coming around the wicket to him. England’s right-arm fast bowlers bowled 149 out of the 184 deliveries Warner faced against them from around the wicket, or nearly five balls every over (and frankly, the surprise is it wasn’t six balls every over).ESPNcricinfo LtdSo up turned Pakistan in Brisbane, with all this information presumably at their fingertips because this is 2019, and their two right-arm pacers proceeded to bowl 70 balls at Warner from over the wicket and 47 from around.You might look at those figures and say, okay, at least they did try it. Not anywhere near enough compared to England, but Imran Khan and Naseem Shah did end up bowling nearly eight overs’ worth from around the wicket.Except if you break it down a little more, the reading gets worse. In the first 20 overs of the innings, when the ball was new and hard and most likely to do something, Pakistan’s right-arm fast bowlers delivered just eight of 39 deliveries to Warner from that angle. Only four of those were full or on a length and either at the stumps or just outside off – that is, the delivery Broad troubled Warner with the most.Imran went around to him in the sixth over. For one ball. Warner was already on 15 off 21, looking more settled and confident, more The Bull than he had all summer in England. For context, 15 was his second-highest score in Test cricket in 11 innings; it was only the third time he had made double figures in that stretch. And then no more from around until Naseem did in the 11th over.A batsman in a seriously bad run of form, with an obvious opening to exploit – Pakistan missed a trick that isn’t even a trick right now, it’s an SOP. Except the captain Azhar Ali didn’t see it that way.”There was a lot of talk about it,” he said, ahead of Adelaide. “We spoke about it as well. But David Warner is a class player. You speak about weaknesses of all batsmen. We speak about players and where you need to bowl to trouble them. But that’s why great players are great. They know how to counter it and manage it. We didn’t miss a trick and we did discuss it, but we weren’t able to execute it properly.”This is a weird answer because it could only be a failure to execute if they had gone around the wicket in the first place and Warner could only have countered it had he had to face it. Which, as we know in those first 20 overs, he didn’t. And what made it doubly clear that this was a failure of planning was the second new ball, which Pakistan took late on day two and with Warner now on 149.Imran’s first ball to Warner was from around the wicket. It was full. It swung in sharply. Warner misjudged the length, line and swing, left it and the ball duly clipped off stump, but didn’t knock the ball off. The next morning Pakistan persisted and with this new ball, Imran and then Naseem bowled 23 out of 26 balls from around the wicket at him. In that time he only scored two singles. In the final over before morning drinks, he was beaten from that angle twice, driving, before being dismissed by Naseem, albeit off a short ball that swerved into him.

A batsman in a seriously bad run of form, with an obvious opening to exploit – Pakistan missed a trick that isn’t even a trick right now, it’s an SOP

There are some pretty experienced heads in this Pakistan squad: Misbah-ul-Haq and Waqar Younis in the backroom staff, Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq on the field, with nearly a decade of international cricket behind them. How did they miss this?Could it have been the ball and conditions? Maybe Pakistan figured that the Kookaburra will not do as much on a harder, truer surface, in sunnier climes and warmer temperatures than a Duke’s in a wet-summer England? Maybe they knew that before this Ashes, Warner was averaging 52 over his career against right-arm fast bowlers from around the wicket, and over 57 in Australia?Although if they knew that they would also have known that it is bowlers with naturally fuller lengths who troubled him from that angle before the Ashes and that, as Broad revealed, going fuller to Warner was as significant as the angle.Was it the bowlers? Because you’ve still got to be a good bowler to get him out from there, either by holding the line, or moving the ball away. Pakistan had two guys with ten Tests between them, one on international debut, barely a week on from a tremendous personal trauma, the other returning after three years. And actually, had Naseem not over-stepped from over the wicket in the 27th over, we might not even be discussing this.But this wasn’t just about Warner, or England at Warner. This is a trend, something that all right-arm fast bowlers have been doing more and more to left-hand batsmen since 2015. They’ve bowled twice as many balls around the wicket to left-handers since then as they did from 2001-14 – and, clearly, for good reason. Didn’t miss a trick?Ultimately, it wouldn’t have made a difference, not with Pakistan’s record in Australia. They’ve lost Tests there every which way you can lose Tests. That doesn’t mean, though, that you don’t have the best possible plans in order to give yourself the best chance at not losing Tests.They look to be righting some selection wrongs for Adelaide but will they get it right to Warner?

Ben Stokes’ most complete Test hundred came at a vital moment for England and set the example for his team-mates to follow

George Dobell28-Jul-2017Think of the first half-dozen or so words used to describe Ben Stokes. Brutal might be there. Talented, certainly. Maybe furious, committed, athletic, ginger, tattooed and, so long as you’re out of earshot, balding.But mature? That’s not a word we have heard to described Stokes so often.Yet it was Stokes’ maturity that was the key factor in his fifth and perhaps most complete Test century. It was Stokes’ maturity that took England from a precarious 120 for 4 (and then 183 for 5) to a final total that may well prove to be match defining. And it was Stokes’ maturity that has set the example for the way England should bat in Test cricket.That is not entirely fair. It was Stokes’ maturity and Alastair Cook’s excellence. Had Cook not helped England through the early onslaught – the new ball is especially tough to deal with on this pitch – it is entirely possible they could have suffered a similar fate to that experienced at Trent Bridge.Cook and Stokes’ batting isn’t often compared. But there were similarities here. Both men respected the bowling, accepted that it would be necessary to proceed with caution and were prepared to soak up long periods of pressure.So while a highlights package might feature all the familiar Stokes strokes – the crunching drives, dismissive pulls and the trio of slog-sweeps that took him past his century – it was the periods of scorelessness in between that were just as relevant. He earned the right to those boundary balls.Most of Stokes’ other Test centuries have been pretty simple affairs. Most of them have seen him simply take on the bowling and thrash his way to a century. Think of that maiden hundred made in a hopeless cause in Perth, the quickest-ever made in a Test at Lord’s when counterattacking against New Zealand, or the massacre that was his double-century in Cape Town.This wasn’t like that. It was a far more measured affair. And, while there were periods when the runs came quickly – each half-century occupied 72 balls – there were also periods, such as when it took him 60 deliveries to move from 50 to 76, when he had to demonstrate those more prosaic skills: patience; discipline and an ability to adapt to the conditions and the match situation. Where once Stokes’ innings were characterised almost entirely by boundaries, he now runs his singles and twos with the greed of the professional batsmen.It was just what England needed from their new vice-captain. And it was exactly what they talked about after the debacle of Trent Bridge. It showed all the skill we’ve seen before, but saw it complemented by restraint and responsibility. To score runs in conditions when few others can manage it is the hallmark of the better batsmen. Nobody else on the day scored more than Jonny Bairstow’s 36.”It’s the one I’ve had to work hardest for,” Stokes said. “I came off the field after the first day and did not feel in the best of form. I had played and missed at a few balls and Vernon had a few over me. I had to stick in with Cooky. We both knew that it was going to be tougher for the guys coming in after us so we had to work through the hard times to put away any bad balls.”Stokes had one huge slice of fortune. Illness to Vernon Philander deprived South Africa of not just a dangerous bowler but a nicely balanced attack. And while Morne Morkel and Kagiso Rabada continued to bowl well, Chris Morris struggled with overpitching and was unable to maintain the pressure. Stokes took him for 26 in the 30 balls he faced off him and Toby Roland-Jones 15 from just six.Had Stokes not absorbed periods without scoring, though, he might never have faced those spells. And he might never have had the opportunity to thrash Keshav Maharaj for 29 off 21 balls – including those three successive sixes to take him past three figures – or to cash-in against a tiring Rabada. He had forced those bowlers into extra overs and extra spells and persuaded Faf du Plessis to turn to his support bowlers.Stokes had played Philander as well as anyone. Standing a stride or two down the pitch – perhaps to meddle with the length Philander was bowling, perhaps to ensure the ball came on to the bat with the pace he enjoys – he demonstrated his improving mental strength and defensive technique to deal with the ball nipping around sharply.Mental strength may be key in these conditions. While other batsmen became flustered by the prodigious lateral movement – think of Heino Kuhn’s intemperate swipe across the line when South Africa batted, or Maharaj’s optimistic attempted force off the back foot – Stokes allowed himself a couple of rueful smiles when beaten by deliveries searing part his outside edge, then got his head down and played the next delivery on its merits.This is how England should bat in Test cricket. There is still the room for the flamboyance that makes them so enjoyable – few batsmen can have brought up their centuries with successive sixes as Stokes did here – but it is most effective when tempered with some restraint and sophistication. Whereas, in recent times, they have sought to put pressure back on bowling teams by thrashing quick runs, here they did so by keeping them out in the field for over 100 overs – longer than they managed in both innings combined at Trent Bridge – and making South Africa work much harder for their wickets. And it was Stokes that led the way.He may have started out as something of a wildcard in the England team, but he is maturing into a very fine player.

For a long time, Shikhar Dhawan struggled to put balls away off the pads, and though he is still not a classic on-driver, his leg-side play has improved considerably over the past year

Sidharth Monga in Ranchi12-Feb-2016In scoring his maiden Twenty20 international fifty, Shikhar Dhawan has placed one of the final pieces in the jigsaw of India’s World T20 team. Do not go by India’s score, Ranchi was a tacky surface where the ball did not come on to the bat. Around Dhawan, two other top-order batsmen just about to managed to stay around a run a ball.Dhawan scored 51 at more than two runs a ball. More than that number, though, and more than the fact that he might put to rest some of the concerns about his T20 batting, it was striking how fluently he played through the leg side, scoring 27 runs in seven shots into that region.For long, Dhawan has been a batsman bowlers have tried to tuck up because while he is a master through the off side, he tends to get cramped when looking to put balls away off the pads. Recently, though, he has put this into the past tense a bit. One of the more remarkable aspects of India’s batsmen over the recent years has been that they have kept evolving, not shying from introducing new shots or making technical changes even during a series. Dhawan, too, has slowly added leg-side play to his game over the last year or so.It was most striking in Dhawan’s hundred in Canberra last month. In his century during the chase, Dhawan scored 55 off 27 shots. These numbers do not include the dot balls, which make them a slightly skewed measure, but the fact is he is playing more shots on the leg side. Two of the more notably fruitful shots have been the slog and the sweep. Today, he played the slog for a six off Thisara Perera, and also swept Sachithra Senanayake for a six pretty early into his spell.Dhawan is clearly not the classic on-driver, but he has found a way around it. In ODIs since April 2015, Dhawan has been hitting a boundary per 5.71 shots through the leg side, which is better than 6.3 until then. In T20 cricket, that rate has improved from 4.3 to 3.9.Thisara, who took a hat-trick later in the innings, said the plan was to cramp Dhawan up, but the batsman was equal to it. Not to mention the bowlers did not quite execute the plan well enough. “We tried to cramp him up, but this time he played really well,” Thisara said. “But the thing is our bowlers didn’t bowl well also.”

Dhawan was playing proper shots, but at the same time whenever he got boundaries, if the ball was not there he was not hitting itMS Dhoni

MS Dhoni said Dhawan has been in the form that has been putting pressure on the bowlers, which increases the number of the kind of mistakes Thisara mentioned. “He is playing proper shots,” Dhoni said. “At the same time he is not trying to over-hit. The good thing with him is he is getting a boundary in the first couple of balls in the over so that he doesn’t need to take the risk later. The good thing especially about today’s innings is something he has done brilliantly: if there is an opportunity to hit one more boundary he is playing to his strengths.”At times in the shorter format when you get boundaries you often try to be always in the fifth gear. What is important is to see how many runs are good enough. If you have already got 10 runs in the over, 12 in an over, and if the ball is not there, you don’t really need to manufacture a shot. Everybody has shots that are their good shots, that they can always play. He doesn’t need to manufacture shots. This is what he did really well.”He was playing proper shots, but at the same time whenever he got boundaries, if the ball was not there he was not hitting it. But if it was there, even if it was the fifth or the sixth ball of the over, he was playing whichever his strength is. This is very important in the shorter format, and he has been doing it really well. More often than not as an opener you have to take the risk but once it pays off it is important to go back and play your natural game. At the same time if the ball is there, because there is pressure on the bowler to execute their plans.”The six off Thisara is an illustration of Dhoni’s assessment. It came off the last ball of the second over, when Dhawan need not really have taken the risk, but he saw the ball on the pads and made the statement. Then, in the fourth over, Dhwwan kept going after Kasun Rajitha because he kept getting the balls that could be hit for boundaries without taking too big a risk.His task now is to repeat it against better and more experienced attacks who will not be this easy to put under pressure.

Over the last 12 months, Imran Tahir has come back to carve a niche as South Africa’s premier limited-overs spinner. And his gleeful celebrations are becoming a more common sight

Firdose Moonda in Sydney27-Feb-2015Professional sports can become so pressured that it can sometimes be on the precipice of letting the simple pleasures pass it by, unless you’re Imran Tahir. Then, the game is all about those things.The legspinner bowls every ball with the effort he would put into the last ball he will ever bowl, and no matter what the outcome, he has a reaction.If he is hit for runs – even run – it is the worst run that has ever been taken off him. He puts his hands on his heads or his hips, chews his lip nervously or shakes his head in irritation. If he beats the bat or induces a miscued or mis-timed shot, when the batsmen fail to pick him properly, he reacts as though he has committed the ultimate act of deception. His face contorts into an expression of regret: he’d gotten away with a wicket. If he senses there is an appeal to be made, he makes it as though it is the last time his voice will be heard. He stretches his arms out, arches his back and belts it out, even if there is no choir to join his chorus. If the appeal is successful, the real fun begins.Tahir has been known to take off with such gusto the security officials aren’t quite sure if they should follow him lest the spectators need protection. Sometimes his team-mates follow. Other times, they wait for him to come back. He always does.That’s the thing about Tahir. No matter how bad it has got, or how many times his career has been on the cusp on ending, he has come back. “I just like challenges,” he said. “I had a lot of them in my life, and then when it comes to that, I think I can be ready for anything, really.”Over the last 12 months, he has come back to carve a niche for himself as South Africa’s premier limited-overs spinner. Perhaps that was what Tahir was always meant to be.Imran Tahir has been known to take off with such gusto the security officials aren’t quite sure if they should follow him lest the spectators need protection•Getty ImagesAlthough he was initially selected to be part of a Test squad – to play England in January 2010 before he was properly eligible to represent the country – he made his debut as an ODI player. At the 2011 World Cup, Tahir was South Africa’s second-highest wicket-taker after Robin Peterson and had featured in two fewer matches, but he was left out of future fifty-over squads until late 2013 and has been a fixture ever since.Unlike in the longer format, when his variations have seemed to confuse him more than the batsmen he is bowling to, Tahir has control in limited overs and he first showed it in the shortest format. He played in seven T20s before last year’s World T20, where he began to refine his strategies for limited-overs cricket.”The last T20 World Cup we played in Bangladesh I started talking a lot to AB (de Villiers) Faf (du Plessis) and Hashim (Amla) and I think that helped me a lot,” Tahir said. “If I could bowl to those guys I know I can bowl to anyone in world cricket.”That was also when Tahir put in extra hours on the other aspects of his game – batting, fielding, fitness and more discerning analysis. Prasanna Agoram, South Africa’s video and statistical guru has been “helping me a lot, telling me about my feel, what to do and stuff,” Tahir said. “These are the few things which are small, but that improves my game, and that’s what I think is the reason I’ve been so consistent.”The most impressive aspect of Tahir’s game has been ability to control the middle overs by restricting batsmen and plucking wickets. His ODI economy rate is 4.38 runs to the over and 4.30 in this tournament, numbers which appear more startling because of the regularity with which totals of 300 are chalked up. Tahir bowls a teasing line and length which is difficult to get away with and has gone wicket-less only three times in 33 ODIs.Recently, he has been taking more wickets as batsmen try to take him on but fall on their sword. And the more wickets he has taken, the more he has enjoyed himself, the better his contributions have become and the more confidence he has gained.”I’m just really honoured to play for South Africa. Just to be part of this team is a special feeling,” Tahir said. “I think about that when I walk onto the field. I think about all the good people in my life who helped me in my career. My wife, my kid are here. I think that’s made my arms a little bit stronger – carrying him for a few nights. With their support and with my team’s support, I’m just really glad and very happy to be where I am today. When you always walk into the middle with green and gold, I just want to take 10 wickets every game.”Imagine the fun if that happens.

When James Anderson started out he needed favourable conditions to perform; now, he can be expected to succeed no matter what the conditions

S Rajesh17-May-2013No. 300: Peter Fulton caught at slip•Getty ImagesWhen he had Peter Fulton caught low at second slip by Graeme Swann, James Anderson became the fourth England bowler – after Ian Botham, Bob Willis, and Fred Trueman – and the 26th in all, to take 300 Test wickets. That journey took him almost exactly ten years, given that he made his Test debut on May 22, 2003, and over those ten years, Anderson has developed from a bowler who could be effective only in favourable conditions (often at home), into one who is an undoubted asset anywhere, no matter what the conditions.Anderson began his career at Lord’s, with figures of 5 for 73 against Zimbabwe, returns which are very similar to Ian Botham’s debut performance of 5 for 74 against Australia in 1977. If Anderson stays fit, it’s entirely conceivable that he’ll overtake Botham’s tally of 383 and become England’s highest wicket-taker in Tests.Among these four bowlers, Trueman reached the 300-wicket mark the fastest – in just 65 Tests – while Willis and Anderson have taken the longest. In terms of averages, Trueman is again clearly on top, while Anderson is the only one the four to average more than 27. Willis didn’t take a single ten-wicket haul in his career, but that’s also partly a reflection of the other bowlers who were playing for England at the time. Botham had an excellent strike rate in terms of wickets per Test till he got to 300 – he reached the mark in only 72 matches – but then took only 78 wickets in his last 30 Tests to finish on 383 from 102.

Anderson’s average is currently the worst among the four, but it’s not unreasonable to expect it to get better, for he has been improving with every season over the last few years and is arguably at the peak of his powers. In his first four years in international cricket, Anderson’s stats were pretty ordinary, with his average touching 40. It gradually improved into the early 30s in 2008 and 2009, and has, since the beginning of 2010, been an impressive 26. Over the next couple of years it might improve further, given that he has developed excellent control over his swing, and has learnt to bowl in all conditions.

In the early years, Anderson was known as a bowler who could be extremely threatening when conditions were suitable for swing bowling, but didn’t know how cope when it wasn’t swinging. His first series in Australia was a fine illustration of his struggles overseas: in three Tests in the 2006-07 Ashes, he took five wickets at an average of 82.60.His next tour of Australia, in 2010-11, was a fine illustration of how he developed his skills to become a potent bowler no matter what the conditions: in five Tests of a series dominated by England, Anderson took 24 wickets at 26, and was one of the same reasons for England’s 3-1 triumph.Over his entire career, Anderson’s home stats are still better than his overseas numbers, but the difference has been reducing in the last few years. Before the 2010-11 Ashes series, Anderson’s overseas average was almost 44; in 17 Tests since that Ashes tour, his overseas average has dropped to 28.17, though ironically, he’s only taken one five-for during this period, compared to two before that. After that Ashes tour, Anderson also had three fine series in Asia, averaging 27.66 against Pakistan in the UAE, 21.77 in Sri Lanka, and 30.25 in India. Those are the kind of numbers he would have struggled to achieve in his early days in international cricket.

One of his big improvements has also been his bowling to left-handers. In his first six years in international cricket, Anderson struggled against left-handers, averaging almost 42 runs per wicket against them. Since the beginning of 2010, though, his average against them has almost halved, while his average against right-handers has dropped only marginally.

From the table below, it’s also clear that Anderson has targeted, and succeeded in dismissing, the top batsmen from opposition teams. The two players he has dismissed most often are Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis, arguably two of the best batsmen of his era. Both of them have only managed an average in the mid-20s against Anderson, while Michael Clarke and Kumar Sangakkara have struggled him as well. Like a true spearhead of a bowling attack, Anderson has been at his best against the best opposition batsmen.He also has 171 wickets in matches that England have won, at an average of 23.60. He is third-highest among England bowlers in that list, and only six short of Trueman, whose 177 wickets in wins came at 17.30. If things go to plan, Anderson should be on top of that list before the summer is done.

Equally significant for Bangladesh as Elias Sunny’s debut showing, was another landmark: Mushfiqur Rahim’s declarations in consecutive innings

Mohammad Isam25-Oct-2011The headlines from Chittagong are likely to be dominated by the performance of the debutant Elias Sunny, whose seven wickets, including a five-for, added drama to a match doomed by rain. Equally significant, though, was another landmark: Mushfiqur Rahim’s declarations in consecutive innings, on the fourth and fifth days, the second of which threw the match tantalisingly open.Fact is, declaring isn’t something that comes naturally to Bangladesh captains – they are a breed more used to looking towards the opposition dressing-room for the signal, which perhaps can excuse the timing of both declarations in the match. What made Mushfiqur’s decisions all the more notable was that this was his first Test as captain – and he became only the fourth captain to declare twice on debut, after Waqar Younis, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook..Declarations against Bangladesh have occurred a staggering 38 times in the 70 Test matches they have played so far. On only two of those 38 occasions have Bangladesh found a favourable result, a draw, but even those were due to inclement weather. Mushfiqur has been out in the field on 12 such instances, first as a 16-year-old at Lord’s and on the last occasion in Harare, where Brendan Taylor’s century forced Bangladesh out of the one-off Test match in August. Only two previous Bangladesh captains, Habibul Bashar (2004 and 2005) and Mohammad Ashraful (2008), have had the luxury of declaring an innings, though in the latter’s case it was due to the game being affected by rain rather than any solidity from the team.Bangladesh’s 350-9 in the first innings of the Chittagong Test was deemed enough for a bowling attack that included two debutants and a man who was returning to international cricket after more than a year. Sunny was well supported by Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur’s trump card, while Rubel Hossain and Shahadat Hossain provided a degree of discipline from the other end. West Indies went on to improve their overnight score (144-5) by a hundred runs, before Shakib wrapped up the tail with three wickets in the span of 14 balls. Bangladesh’s opening pair, Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes, though, struggled on the sluggish pitch, which lost the crust of its topsoil after just three days of use. With the track being difficult, only Shahriar Nafees managed a half-century. With two and a half hours left to play, and Bangladesh ahead by 225, Mushfiqur declared a second time.The lack of experience in such circumstances aside, Mushfiqur had to weigh his bowling options before being bold. On Monday, the last 45 minutes of the Bangladesh innings seemed needless, as Naeem Islam and Shahadat Hossain meandered along quietly after Nasir Hossain was dismissed. The second innings too was, at 42 overs, a bit too lengthy as none of the batsmen hit their stride on a track that had begun to turn more with every delivery. It prompted talk of negativity, but the lead was only 225 runs and it isn’t every day that they get to set up a fourth innings chase.Only a Bangladesh captain – Khaled Mashud and Khaled Mahmud spring to mind – can understand how elusive a declaration could be. Mashud and Mahmud led before Bashar and their stints were regarded as the dark days of Bangladesh cricket, inundated with huge innings defeats, three-day losses and an overdependence on Mohammad Rafique.Mushfiqur was right in pointing out that West Indies will be under more pressure in Dhaka to win the series than his team. Now, without dwelling too much on the achievements from the rain-curtailed Chittagong Test, Mushfiqur must plan for the next Test and five more days of consistency from his bowlers and batsmen.

So what if England didn’t win too much last summer? The video chronicle makes for compelling viewing

Edward Craig24-Jan-2009

Any DVD called should be a seminal record of the game’s shifting sands: helicopters landing at Lord’s, players auctioned for millions of dollars, and bitter power
struggles between governing bodies.The problem is it has to contain the cricket. It can be only as good as the material it has to chose from – and bore draws at Lord’s, an awful lot of rain and England losing do not help. There were good games and great moments. The trouble is that England were on the wrong end when it mattered.Despite this the DVD is compulsive viewing. And that is because it is put together by Sunset and Vine, the company that produced Channel 4’s coverage and still does Five’s daily highlights. This is essentially Five’s highlights of all the internationals edited and slung together.Mark Nicholas gushes his way through the summer, Geoff Boycott is brutal and accurate, and Simon Hughes is fantastic. As The Analyst on Channel 4, Hughes offered insight that Sky fails to match.Additional details knit it together well. The news-round before each Test explains what happened off the
pitch: Stanford’s millions, Pattinson’s selection, Vaughan’s resignation. As a refresher it is priceless.How good was England’s comeback at Old Trafford against New Zealand? How poorly did Ryan Sidebottom bowl (the end-of-day summaries constantly refer to him as “off-colour”)? How good was
Graeme Smith’s knock at Edgbaston? Who played the innings of the summer? (Answer: Ross Taylor, 154 at Old Trafford – the flair of Lara, the technique of Tendulkar.)You might not want to see Daniel Flynn’s tooth slowly dislodged from his mouth but then the same
goes for much of England’s summer. England’s Summer of Cricket 2008
2 Entertain, 682 min, £29.99

Gabonese forward has been linked to Club América, and according to multiple reports, the club is preparing an official offer

América will visit Necaxa tomorrowThe team has four points in the Apertura 2025Israel Reyes made a significant statement about Bouanga's potential arrivalFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱Getty Images SportWHAT HAPPENED?

Denis Bouanga’s potential move to Club América remains unresolved, with LAFC reluctant to let go of their star forward – but the speculation has already reached the locker room.

On Friday, América defender Israel Reyes gave a nod of approval to the idea of the Gabon international joining the squad.

“He’s a great player. We’ve faced him a couple of times, given our positions on the pitch,” Reyes said in a press conference. “Any player who wants to contribute and do things the right way is welcome here. If he comes, we’ll make him feel at home like anyone else, help him understand what this club stands for, and let him know we’re going all in.”

AdvertisementGetty Images SportTHE BIGGER PICTURE

A few days ago, during the All-Star Game between Liga MX and MLS, América goalkeeper Luis Ángel Malagón revealed he jokingly asked Denis Bouanga if he was coming to the team. "I asked him, ‘Are you coming or not?’ He’s a great player, he has so much quality,” said Malagón.

Club owner Emilio Azcárraga also admitted there had been contact, though LAFC and MLS denied any negotiations, according to league insider Tom Bogert.

Bouanga, himself, added to the speculation at MLS All-Star Media Day. When asked about potential changes to the format, the forward started (through a translator) by saying, "If I'm here." A week ago, he also wouldn't deny rumors when asked about his future.

"Whatever has to happen regarding my future will happen, that's what I think," he told reporters at a press conference. "For now, I'm just trying to stay focused here because I have a match every four days."

Getty Images SportWHAT ISRAEL REYES SAID

Israel Reyes admitted that recent results have affected the atmosphere around Club América, despite the team’s solid start to the Apertura 2025, where they’ve collected four points from a win and a draw in the first two matches.

Even so, the outcomes have not met expectations in high-stakes matches – most recently, a 3-1 loss to Toluca in the Campeón de Campeones.

"I think there are two sides to this coin. This club is always expected to win – that’s the reality of América," Reyes said at Friday’s press conference.

"If you win three straight titles, the next tournament has to be about winning again. When you get used to winning so much and come off two great years where we barely lost, it weighs on you. We know this current situation doesn’t define us – we’re in a transition phase. We’ve had key players missing, and that has taken a toll."

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Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR CLUB AMÉRICA?

André Jardine’s team will face Necaxa on Saturday in a Matchday 3 clash of the Apertura 2025.