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South Africa A finished the day on 299 for 9 despite a 100-run partnership between Hamza and Jordan Hermann

Shashank Kishore30-Oct-2025Rishabh Pant spent an entire day on the field, seemingly untroubled by his foot, as he returned to action after more than two months in rehab for a foot injury sustained while batting during the fourth Test in Manchester.N Jagadeesan wasn’t as lucky, after B Sai Sudharsan’s spikes got stuck into his right hand during a training session on match eve. The selectors were forced to summon Ishan Kishan as cover. Jagadeesan’s injury meant an opportunity at the top of the order for Ayush Mhatre, the Mumbai opener, who was originally set to play only the second four-day fixture.All eyes were on Pant when he arrived early and began the day with warm-ups, timed sprints and a batting hit prior to the toss, which he won to put South Africa A in to bat. On a green surface at the Centre of Excellence, which offered plenty of seam movement and swing, the decision seemed justifiable. But gritty efforts from Jordan Hermann and Zubayr Hamza drove South Africa A to 299 for 9 at stumps. Nonetheless, they will be disappointed with the total, because there was the promise of a lot more earlier in the day.India A’s efforts in the field were led by Tanush Kotian, the offspinning allrounder, who picked up four wickets. He wheeled away for much of the second and third session, and was complemented by Manav Suthar, who was unlucky to have only two wickets next to his name at the end of a day where he got the odd ball to turn sharply, and jump up at the batters, whenever they seemed indecisive.Jordan Hermann used sweeps to great effect•PTI

Among the fast bowlers, Gurnoor Brar was potent but had just one wicket to show after 15 overs of toil himself. But the wicket he prised out – of Hamza for 66 – exhibited the virtues he’s been picked for. Gurnoor can hit hard lengths, hustle batters for pace, and have them hopping. This was exactly how Hamza fell, when he tried to evade a well-directed short ball to break a 130-run second-wicket stand.But Hamza had several moments he will look back on fondly from his innings. His manner of tackling spin against Tanush Kotian and Manav Suthar will stand him in good stead, if he gets an opportunity to feature in the two Tests that follow later this month. He didn’t let Kotian settle down, and used his feet superbly to hit him over mid-off repeatedly in his first two overs.Then, Hamza drove Kotian against the turn through extra cover, with Pant keen on leaving cover open to try and trap him into a false stroke. Against Suthar’s left-arm spin, he used his feet well to step out and cover the line to flick him against the turn through midwicket. One such stroke brought up his half-century.Hermann was more sedate after a fiery start. He began with square drive off Khaleel Ahmed, and was quick to pounce on anything short. Once Hamza took charge, however, Jordan slipped back into a more tempered pace, playing himself into the innings. Along the way, he was challenged by Brar’s pace and late movement.India A attacked with close-in fielders before stumps•PTI

Once spin came on, Jordan eased himself against Suthar by playing the lap sweeps and paddles, one of which had him fall over in a manner reminiscent of Pant’s red-ball pyrotechnics. He also played the shot of the afternoon – a sumptuous flick through midwicket, off Khaleel, in the first over after lunch. But he was eventually dismissed on 71, lbw while stuck on the crease to play Kotian against the turn.Shortly prior to his wicket, captain Marques Ackermann perished to Kotian when he tried to step out and flick, unable to get to the pitch and chipping one straight to Suthar. This dismissal briefly brought together Jordan and his older brother, Rubin Hermann, to the crease.The latter did a fine job, after it looked at one point as if India A would run through the lower middle-order, when Rivaldo Moonsamy fell just after tea to leave them 197 for 5. Ruben drove through the line fearlessly as Khaleel went searching for some reverse in the final session, and had a slice of luck when Sai Sudharsan put him down at deep backward square leg on 38.But it didn’t cost India A much as he was out soon after. He was bowled by Kotian for 54, to a delivery that kept low after he was too early into a pull shot. Shortly after, Kotian scalped up a classic offspinner’s dismissal, when he bowled Prenelan Subrayen through the gate, to claim his fourth towards the end of the day’s play.As stumps approached, Pant employed as many as six fielders around the bat, with South Africa A’s lower order at the crease. The tactic worked when Tiaan van Vuren’s top-edge off a slog sweep was lapped up by Devdutt Padikkal. India A then enjoyed the perfect finish to the day, when Khaleel trapped Lutho Sipamla lbw, to help them take the honours on the opening day.

Winless on the tour, it took a century from the New Zealand captain to help turn around their fortunes in Delhi

Arun Venugopal21-Oct-20161:46

Agarkar: Once Williamson gets a start, he gets big runs

It’s easy to picture Kane Williamson as a school head boy. Like the best of them, he is extremely talented, has a fine work ethic and seen to be an ‘all-round good bloke.’As with all good head boys, Williamson finds himself at the nervecentre of every activity. Team meeting? Call Williamson. Press conference? Williamson will tackle it.

Williamson on…

Winning and getting a hundred
“It’s great that we showed some signs of improvement from the previous game which is always our focus. Although there were a lot of dots which is sort of the nature of the surface there was also boundaries which allowed us to score at a reasonably good rate. So it was nice to get that partnerships saying if we were able to perhaps get a few more in the later overs, we could have gotten an even better score.”
Boult
“Boult was extremely clever the way he tried to swing the ball early and then made the adjustment to come round the wicket just so with the low bounce not to give width. He was extremely accurate and I think a huge part or a huge reason why we got over the line today is his 10 overs.”

There is also the inevitable comparison with his predecessor – Brendon McCullum – to contend with. While McCullum had the class of 2015 rapping to the tune of fearless, attacking cricket, Williamson’s imprint is still work in progress.The class of 2016 does not comprise slackers – most of McCullum’s merry men continue with the good work – but the India tour has proved to be overwhelming for many of them. Martin Guptill has resembled an agonised drifter, while Ross Taylor seems to have gone uncomfortably numb. After the Test series whitewash, the free fall continued in the first ODI in Dharamsala. Who do they call on to arrest it? You hear a chorus, “Captain Kane!”It is not like Williamson has had it all worked out himself. While he has looked good on different occasions during the tour – never mind the bullying by R Ashwin – he had not managed a century. “That is a good place to start,” Mike Hesson, the headmaster, may possibly have told Williamson on the eve of the game. “And, for heaven’s sake, win the toss.” No pressure, Kane.Hours later, Williamson loses another toss. Minutes later, he watches Guptill’s bat stay away from the ball’s path. Seconds later, Williamson walks out. India’s new-ball pair of Umesh Yadav and Hardik Pandya has a skinny leg-side field, and they keep the off side interested by bowling well outside off. Further, the slip goes out to short cover, and a gully is in place to shut down the dab to third man, one of Williamson’s strong scoring zones.Williamson, standing on middle and leg stump, moves closer to the off stump. The counter-strategy is to enable him to connect deliveries outside off better, and also create an angle favourable for leg-side play. And so, Williamson flicks and tucks balls that remotely veer towards middle and leg, while flaunting his cover drive when the bowler overcorrects and goes too wide outside off.MS Dhoni is doing everything to seal the off side, especially in front of square on a dull track, but there is the left-hand solidity of Tom Latham to contend with as well. Like many head boys, Williamson has a geeky, loyal sidekick in Latham, who refused to abandon the crease in Dharamsala even as the rest of his mates loped off.1:46

‘Fantastic effort from our seam bowlers’ – Williamson

The pitch has by now begun misbehaving, and the balls keep low as promised. But Latham is driving and pulling smoothly, as is Williamson, who does so by going down on his knee. At the start of the 13th over, he stays low and bashes Axar Patel through midwicket, and two balls later steps out to loft him over mid-on for six. The next delivery is flat and fast. Williamson lets the ball go past him and taps it on its head past gully. When Wiliamson is not playing these strokes, he is sweeping firmly and wristily. He has scored a half-century, but there is no theatre. The celebrations can wait. New Zealand, though, are breathing more easily at 115 for 1 in 20 overs.That soon changes as Kedar Jadhav dismisses Latham with his Virender Sehwag-esque offbreaks. Jadhav’s larger contribution, however, is drawing Taylor out of the dressing room. For the next 10 overs, Taylor is swiping at everything, but mostly air. Attempted cuts are inside-edged and slower ones are missed. The bowlers are now bowling further away from off stump. When one of Taylor’s desperate swishes lands into the fielder’s hands, New Zealand have scored only 38 runs in the 10.3 overs since Latham’s dismissal.Williamson knows the momentum has been snatched away. The bowling side is on top. He merely looks downwards with one hand on his waist. There is no discernible emotion otherwise. There is Corey Anderson on the comeback trail, and together they attempt to rebuild, brick by brick. As Williamson nears his hundred, the exertions are showing. On a day of unusual injuries – Rohit Sharma later seems to have a bicep cramp – Williamson’s forearms are cramping. Massages are given and fluids are administered, literally, as he is not able to hold the bottle.But, Williamson gets back to work, drives crisply to gather the two runs needed for his century. The bat is held up momentarily and the helmet is off, more as a polite ‘thank you’ than in any sense of accomplishment. Soon, he watches Anderson depart. Not long after, he departs, too, after battling three flanks – India’s tactics, his team-mates’ inadequacies and his own body.New Zealand’s last ten overs are a laborious blur and they only just manage a par score. But, as the night comes to a close, the head boy is making his victory speech. Unlike whatever he has done on the field, it is vanilla and free of passion. The good head boy is glad to keep it this way.

Tottenham Hotspur’s unbeaten run across all competitions has now extended to three games across all competitions after Tuesday’s Champions League win over Slavia Prague.

The Lilywhites claimed a superb 3-0 victory in Europe after penalties from Mohammed Kudus, Xavi Simons and an own goal from opposition defender David Zima.

Thomas Frank looks to have finally found a winning formula, as seen in recent weeks, after previously failing to win in any five matches, four of which came in the Premier League.

Some may argue that the Dane is starting to get the best out of his current playing squad, with a period of adaptation evidently needed after his summer appointment.

However, despite the three-goal triumph in North London last night, the manager will no doubt have seen some glaring flaws that will need correcting in the weeks ahead.

Spurs's biggest underperformers against Slavia Prague

After starting each of the last four games on the substitutes bench, winger Wilson Odobert was handed the chance to start from the off against Slavia Prague.

However, the Frenchman struggled to make the desired impact, as seen by his tally of 86% duels lost, leading to his withdrawal in the 76th minute of the clash.

Other figures, such as zero dribbles completed and two big chances missed in the final third, also highlight his lack of positive impact despite Frank’s faith shown in the youngster.

He wasn’t alone in struggling to deliver during the win, with Pedro Porro unable to produce the regular attacking quality the fanbase have become accustomed to in recent years.

The Spaniard only managed to complete one of his five attempted crosses, whilst completing just 66% of the passes he attempted – largely being ineffective when in possession.

He also failed to win any tackles against the Czech side, whilst failing to complete any of his attempted dribbles – showcasing his lack of quality at both ends of the pitch in North London.

Spurs star needs to be dropped after Slavia Prague

Spurs have spent heavily over the last couple of years to try and be competitive in the Premier League and try and compete for titles under Frank in the years ahead.

In the recent summer alone, the Lilywhites hierarchy backed the manager with over £120m worth of funds to make an immediate impact during his first year at the helm.

Xavi Simons was just one of the additions made by the hierarchy during the off-season, but he’s struggled to make an impact across various competitions in recent months.

He went 17 games without a goal until last week, but the Dutch star has started to find his feet – as seen by his tally of two goals in his last two games for the Lilywhites.

The same can’t be said for striker Richarlison, who has constantly struggled for consistency after his own £50m transfer from Everton back in the summer of 2022.

The Brazilian international has been Frank’s starting centre forward for the majority of 2025/26 to date, subsequently managing to net a total of seven goals across all competitions.

Whilst such a tally may seem respectable, he’s often gone missing in major moments this campaign, as seen against Slavia Prague in the meeting on Tuesday.

He was once again handed a start at the top end of the pitch, but he was unable to provide the goods in front of goal and was subsequently replaced in the 68th minute.

Richarlison was only able to register a measly tally of 22 touches, a tally fewer than goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who managed 50 – showcasing his lack of impact in North London.

He also only managed to complete nine passes and lost possession on seven separate occasions, further highlighting his lack of positive impact during the Champions League clash.

The Brazilian also missed one big chance in front of goal and won just 50% of his aerial battles, often struggling to provide the focal point Frank has massively craved.

As a result of his showing, the striker was handed a measly 6/10 match rating by Football London’s Alasdair Gold, further showcasing his struggles in North London.

After such a showing, Frank must certainly be left with no choice but to drop the forward and hand the likes of Mathys Tel and Randal Kolo Muani the chance to stake their claim for the number nine role.

Richarlison has no doubt been a decent option for Spurs over the last couple of years, but it’s becoming increasingly evident week on week that he’s not at the level needed for success.

Frank's new Mbeumo: Paratici set to make Spurs bid to sign "world-class" CF

Tottenham Hotspur could be about to land a new talisman in the upcoming January window.

By
Ethan Lamb

3 days ago

Ipswich Town have shown in their last two Premier League outings that there’s plenty of fight in their camp, with an unexpected home win against Chelsea being followed up with a battling 2-2 draw away at Fulham.

That draw at Craven Cottage might well have been all three points on another day if Leif Davis hadn’t clattered into Raul Jimenez for the home side’s equaliser, but a share of the spoils was still a positive result for Kieran McKenna’s men to take back to Suffolk come full-time.

Yet, McKenna and Co won’t be resting on their laurels as they do find themselves submerged in the bottom three still on goal difference, meaning this month’s busy transfer window could come in handy in boosting the underdogs’ chances of survival.

Who Ipswich could sign in January

Whilst there has been significant talk this January that Liam Delap could up and leave the relegation-threatened outfit, there have also been plenty of rumours linking Ipswich with some notable incomings.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

One recent report from journalist Alan Nixon suggests that the Tractor Boys would be willing to fork out £30m to win Botafogo striker Igor Jesus’ services this month, with Everton also reportedly keen near the foot of the division.

Whilst this could look like Ipswich are preparing for the worst regarding Delap’s fate, Jesus’ arrival would make sense as they aim to boost McKenna’s options up top, away from George Hirst and Ali Al-Hamadi already at Portman Road.

What Jesus could offer Ipswich

With reports linking the Tractor Boys with a move for Liverpool’s exciting young winger Ben Doak alongside the expensive South American, this could be a duo made in heaven as far as McKenna is concerned.

Indeed, Doak has set the Championship alight so far this season on loan from Liverpool, with two goals and six assists standing out from his league numbers to date at Middlesbrough, alongside his ability to twist and turn defences with slaloming solo surges up the pitch.

Capable of playing down either wing, McKenna might well believe the Scotsman could become his new Omari Hutchinson if he can get his hands on him, having managed to get ten goals and six assists out of the ex-Chelsea man down a division before letting him loose on the Premier League.

Whilst Doak would undoubtedly boost the Tractor Boys in midfield, with Wes Burns the only recognised option down the right owing to injuries, Jesus would also come in and give McKenna another option he could fall back on if Delap is having a rare off-day with some impressive numbers, notably at Shabab Al-Ahli.

Football journalist Zach Lowy even described the Brazilian’s heroics as “incredible” across 2024, with his rich vain of form in front of goal playing out in the Middle East seeing him win an international call-up.

Both players entering the building this January could well give McKenna the depth he craves in attack, and would make the Tractor Boys even more of a threatening prospect going forward to try and surprise more teams in their ongoing bid to beat the drop. The thought of the two linking up in attack should also be a salivating prospect for the masses at Portman Road.

Whilst it would be risky to fork out £30m on an unknown entity in the English game, Ipswich never looked back after splashing £20m on Delap who had never cut his teeth in the Premier League prior, with the hope this wild buy – alongside the added energy of Doak – can help the Suffolk side survive against all the odds.

After Godfrey: Ipswich target £16m monster who outperformed Delap last year

The experienced forward would add more goals to Ipswich’s attack.

By
Jack Salveson Holmes

Jan 6, 2025

Test teams are looking for solidity at the top, and batsmen are comfortable specialising in the format that suits their style

Karthik Krishnaswamy12-Feb-2017January 3, 2017. It is close to half-past noon at the Sydney Cricket Ground when David Warner manoeuvres Wahab Riaz through backward point, runs three, and leaps, fist pumping the air. He has become only the fifth batsman to score a hundred before lunch on the first morning of a Test match.At that point Warner is batting on 100 off 78 balls, and he has hit 17 fours. At the other end, Matt Renshaw, having faced two more balls than his opening partner, has made 21 with two fours.Warner falls in the sixth over after lunch, for 113 off 95 balls. Renshaw bats on until the sixth over of the second morning, when he is dismissed for 184 off 293 balls.Warner, 30, and Renshaw, 20, both bat left-handed and throw right-handed, but the paths they took to the Australian Test team couldn’t have been more different. Warner made his T20 debut for Australia before he had even played first-class cricket. Renshaw had only played 14 first-class matches before making his Test debut, but was – and is – yet to play T20 at any level, international or domestic.At first glance, Renshaw should be the anomaly and Warner the prototype of the Test-match opening batsman in the T20-dominated cricketing landscape they inhabit. This, however, is not so. A majority of the world’s Test line-ups now begin with a pair of opening batsmen who are not part of their country’s first-choice T20 side. Alastair Cook and Haseeb Hameed. Tom Latham and Jeet Raval. Kraigg Brathwaite and Leon Johnson. Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar. Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva. Azhar Ali and Sami Aslam.Ten of those 12 have never played T20s for their country. Neither of the other two – Alastair Cook and Latham – has played one since November 2015. Brathwaite – who has been a first-class cricketer since 2009 – and Hameed, like Renshaw, haven’t even played T20s at the domestic level.As a result of this, the way Test teams combat the new ball has changed.Eight of the ten most prolific opening batsmen of this millennium have scored their runs at a strike rate of 50 or more. Four of them – Virender Sehwag, Warner, Chris Gayle and Matthew Hayden – have done so at 60-plus strike rates.KL Rahul is one young batsman who can adapt his style to any format•AFPSehwag, Gayle, Hayden and Tillakaratne Dilshan were thought to have changed Test cricket forever with their aggressive approach at the top of the order. That hasn’t been the case.The generation that has followed them seems to have retreated from “see ball, hit ball” to “see off new ball”. Only two of the ten top run-getters among openers since the start of 2015 – Warner and Martin Guptill – have scored their runs at 50-plus strike rates.Aakash Chopra, the former India opener, suggests teams worldwide are looking for solidity at the top of the order to try and arrest the trend of collapses that has beset Test cricket over the last few years.”I think technique has become slightly compromised a little bit in the recent past,” he says. “The number of collapses is unbelievable – if there’s anything in the pitch, you’ll see a collapse – whether it’s spinning, it’s swinging, whatever. If there is something out of the ordinary, there is an issue. So that fact perhaps explains that teams maybe realise you need openers with better skills.”Given that the skills required to open in Test cricket are so different from those required to open in T20, Chopra says a number of batsmen have realised they might be better off specialising in the format they are best suited to.”I feel the time has come when people have realised that as a Test opener, I’m okay being a Test player, I’m okay not to play T20 cricket. And the people who are playing T20 cricket are perhaps also okay with the fact that they’re only going to play T20. There will still be exceptions; KL Rahul is an exception, because I actually see him as this modern-day batsman who will fit into all three formats.”Someone like M Vijay, I think, has made up his mind, that Test cricket is my first priority, everything else is okay. Same is the case with Tom Latham – he’s again a Test batsman in the Test mould.”Virender Sehwag came to T20 as a fully formed Test batsman, unlike young openers of today•Getty ImagesThere is, concurrently, a parallel universe of openers who only play short-format cricket, containing the likes of Jason Roy, Johnson Charles and Aaron Finch. The few that have crossed over to Test cricket, such as Guptill and Alex Hales, have generally struggled to express themselves. England dropped Hales after he averaged 27.28, and scored at a strike rate of in his first 11 Tests.A group of attacking openers who made eye-catching starts to their Test careers – Adrian Barath, Phillip Hughes, Hamish Rutherford, Shikhar Dhawan – have not made a sustained impact, for one reason or another, and of their generation only Warner and Tamim Iqbal have gone on to establish themselves as regulars.Perhaps this could be because the likes of Sehwag and Gayle came to T20 late in their careers, by which time they were already successful long-format batsmen. Their style of play happened to suit T20 as well. The generation that replaced them had to adjust to T20 before they were fully formed.Chopra expects the next generation to be more comfortable shuttling between formats, and sees Rahul – who has scored hundreds for India in all formats – as a prototype of that new kind of opener.”It’s a process. There will still be exceptions to the rule,” Chopra says. “I keep mentioning KL Rahul because he that modern-day batsman. Sometimes we underestimate evolution, we believe that this is how it should be, but some humans have evolved so much that they say a Test opener can easily be a one-day opener or a T20 opener.”And it doesn’t even have to be a Sehwag. KL Rahul is otherwise a very correct kind of, straightforward kind of batsman.”Chopra says Vijay is similar to Rahul in the sense of having an orthodox technique as well as an ability to hit over the top, but found it more difficult to adjust between formats than Rahul – who arrived later on the scene – has done so far.”Temperamentally, for a while, [Vijay] was shuffling between Test, one-day, T20,” Chopra says. “He wasn’t sure of what he wanted, and therefore he was highly uncertain, but now he’s made up his mind that, okay, he’s solely a Test player.”So it’ll be interesting to see. In five to seven years, you’ll find another new phase coming in. You’ll have batsmen coming in who are equally successful in Test cricket, equally successful in one-day cricket, and will not even have to slog in T20.”

Manchester United have certainly got a lot of work to do if they want to salvage the season. Ruben Amorim’s side sit 12th in the Premier League, with 29 points to their name. The Red Devils are currently 12 points outside of the top four, and if they are to reach that kind of level, it would be an impressive end of the campaign.

The Portuguese manager has a bit of an underwhelming record during his time at United so far, winning eight times, losing seven and drawing two in the 17 games he has managed. That is certainly going to have to improve if United want to qualify for Europe.

To help boost themselves up the table, United are targeting reinforcements in the January transfer window, including looking to strengthen in midfield.

Man United’s midfield target

The player in question here is Juventus and Brazil international midfielder Douglas Luiz. It has been a tough first season in Turin for the 26-year-old, and he has been heavily linked with a move away from the club in the winter.

According to a report from The Mail, the Red Devils are believed to be one of the sides interested in a move for Luiz. United are thought to be ‘ in the wings’ waiting to pounce and complete a deal for the Brazilian if the chance arises.

However, they will likely face tough competition from some of their Premier League rivals. Closest to home is Manchester City, who are believed to be ‘contemplating a loan’, hinting at a temporary switch to United, too. Nottingham Forest and Fulham are also keen.

Why Luiz would be a good signing

It has not quite been the season Luiz might have expected when he first put pen to paper in Turin, after his £42.35m move from Aston Villa in the summer.

The Juve man – who’s previously been dubbed “one of the best in the world” in his position by Sky Italia journalist Cristiano Giuntoli – has played just 18 times in all competitions, although did face a spell on the sideline with muscle fatigue.

However, he has certainly not played as much as he might have liked. Incredibly, the Brazil international has featured for just 566 minutes in all competitions, the equivalent of just 6.2 full 90-minute games. Given it is the end of January, that is an outrageously low number.

Yet, the midfielder is clearly an excellent player, as he showed during his time at Villa Park. In fact, football statistician Statman Dave described him as the “best box-to-box CM in the Premier League”, which is high praise indeed.

He played 204 times for the West Midlands side, scoring 22 goals and grabbing 24 assists. The Brazil international particularly excelled in the 2023/24 campaign, scoring nine times and grabbing five assists in 35 games, an excellent record in midfield.

Luiz could be a brilliant replacement for Casemiro, who is linked with a move to AS Roma. Like his countryman Luiz, he has not played much this season and has been an unused substitute in United’s last six games.

Jamie Carragher thought his time at the top level was up last season, famously telling the midfielder to “leave the football, before the football leaves you”, after a 4-0 thrashing away from home against Crystal Palace.

The stats on FBref suggest that a move for Luiz as a Casemiro replacement could be a smart piece of business for United. He is better in many metrics than the Red Devils’ number 18, implying he would be a big upgrade.

For example, over the past two seasons, the Old Lady midfielder averages 5.2 progressive passes compared to just 4.98 per 90 minutes for Casemiro. He also averages 1.99 progressive carries, with the former Real Madrid star averaging 0.48 each game.

If United can do a deal for Luiz on loan, it could be an excellent piece of business for Amorim’s side. Not only would they be able to offload Casemiro, who is a high earner and doesn’t play, but they have a replacement for him ready to go.

As far as United’s push for European qualification goes, Luiz could be the perfect player to help push them up the table.

Amazing Hojlund upgrade: £58m "monster" now wants to sign for Man Utd

Manchester United are looking to bring in this new attacker before the transfer window closes.

By
Kelan Sarson

Jan 28, 2025

Time away from the game due to a stress fracture helped Jaydev Unadkat gain physical strength and perspective and has driven his success this season

Arun Venugopal17-Feb-2016When Jaydev Unadkat tells you that ‘switching off’ is integral to his game it is easy to mistake it for the kind of jargon that spontaneously seems to roll off a modern cricketer’s tongue. He has, after all, been as ‘switched on’ as only somebody who has prised out 20 wickets in two matches can be – his destruction of Vidarbha and Assam in the knockouts saw Saurashtra make the final of the Ranji Trophy for the first time since 2012-13.But you only need to go back to August 2014 to see where Unadkat is coming from. During India A’s tour of Australia, Unadkat developed trouble in the lower back region which was eventually diagnosed as stress fracture. For four months thereon, Unadkat was forced to push the ‘pause’ button. He didn’t go anywhere close to the ground during the first two months, following which he kept bowling off short strides for four weeks before eventually bowling off a short run-up. Unadkat played only one Ranji Trophy game in the 2014-15 season, four in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament and made one appearance for Delhi Daredevils in IPL 2015.The downtime helped him indulge in luxuries he had missed – spending time at home, catching up with friends and cousins, and a family holiday. More important, however, was the perspective that kicked in. “Sometimes it happens that you take things for granted and in times like these you start counting your blessings,” Unadkat tells ESPNcricinfo. “When you are going through a season you don’t really pause to reflect where you are standing at present in life. Sometimes we just look at the negatives, don’t look at the positives of how our career is going. All of us are really blessed to pursue something which we really love.”Switching off only helped me. I was thinking a lot about my game during that period. I guess I would have become that [a cricket nut]. [Now] I don’t keep on talking about the game. Probably that has helped me overcome this. I was refreshed and eagerly waiting to start playing again so that motivated me again when I came back.”Combating negativity was the biggest challenge for Jaydev Unadkat as he made his way back to cricket after the injury•Associated PressBy his own admission he emerged a better person at the end of a phase where combating negativity was the biggest challenge. “[It was] probably the time after the injury that did that [made me a better person],” he says. “Rather than those four months the next three months were more difficult when I started bowling. I wasn’t feeling as if I was the same bowler. It was in the back of my mind, ‘What if I try to give my full effort and it occurs again?’ That can be the limit of self-belief going down. I have felt that in those two months. I wasn’t really feeling that I could really bowl at the highest level.”[I] probably [developed] a bit of control over my thoughts. I was talking to a couple of coaches – I don’t want to name them – who said the technical faults in my action – a semi-open action is probably a mixed action – won’t allow me to bowl fast and will keep giving me injuries. That has kept haunting me… if I can I manage with those technical flaws? I wanted to be clear with my thoughts [and] that’s one thing I was working on.”A welcome consequence of Unadkat’s injury and his non-selection for India or India A matches was the time he found to work on his strength and stamina and the mental aspects of bowling. He has also looked visibly quicker than he was a year or two ago. “These two-three months in between, the off season that I got, were really crucial. Because of the work I put in the period I can see the difference in my bowling [speed] and I have been able to persist with it throughout the season. Someone told me I clocked 138-139 [kmph in the Assam game]. I have increased my pace by at least 4-5 kmph.He also attributes his improved performance to a better balance between his bowling sessions and gym work. “I have bowled a lot in the off season. I wasn’t bowling this much in the past. I mean I was focusing on gym and all, but I wasn’t bowling much,” he says. “You need to have a work log for yourself where you can see it’s not going above the limit. But it’s important to keep bowling, keep pushing yourself in the nets as well.”I would say during the season [bowling in the nets] is not much. But in the off season I have really pushed it a lot. My workload has increased 20 or 30% more than in the past. I bowl probably eight to ten overs in a session and I do at least five sessions of bowling a week apart from the running and agility sessions.”Unadkat has sought to upgrade his skill quotient and in the process has acquired some valuable pointers from Wasim Akram and Zaheer Khan. “I have met a lot of good people on the way. Bharath Arun sir was in the NCA when I used to go to NCA a lot in the last couple of seasons. He has been guiding me.”Zaheer bhai used to use the angles a lot. He would always tell us that it is about going one step above the batsman. You should be knowing as a batsman what would you think if you were in his place. I have seen him do that [go round the stumps and move the ball away from the right hander]. I have practised that a lot in the nets. That angle is really difficult for a batsman.”I was also making sure [during the Ranji semi-final] that I don’t fall over at the time of delivery. I don’t want to bowl faster and in the process end up losing my bowling shape. I wanted to hold my non-bowling arm till the end. Those are a couple of things I am working on.”

“When you are going through a season you don’t really pause to reflect where you are standing at present in life.”

Unadkat also gets his adrenalin rush from movies and songs. He listened to from on the way to the ground before unleashing a fiery spell against Assam in the second innings in Vadodara. “I have my specific playlist when it comes to listening songs on match days – a couple of songs from or , and English songs like and . My favourite movies have been Lagaan, Iqbal and I like those movies related to the army as well.”All the movies which have positive vibes like conquering something and proving something to your country or yourself… I just get that sense of inspiration. When you are going through your routines this helps you to get that adrenaline high.”His biggest influences off the field are his older sister, Dheera, and team-mate Cheteshwar Pujara. “The only girl that I adore at present is my sister. I am very close to her. There was one time when I was playing for RCB and she felt that season would be the turning point for me. She would send me something in red to wish me luck before every game as it matched the colour of our team kit. She doesn’t talk cricket at home and motivates me at the right time.”Cheteshwar has been my best friend since the last five-six years now. I have gained a lot of maturity from him. I have tried to learn from him is his approach for the game and the discipline he has in all his schedules. We share rooms. Even if we get single rooms we try to stay together. That bond is something we cherish. Whatever cricket I talk about is with him.”

If you wanted any more comparisons to 2005, was this the Glenn McGrath moment?

Andrew McGlashan29-Jun-2023At around 4.30pm, Nathan Lyon, playing his 100th consecutive Test, set off to chase a ball towards the Grand Stand boundary. He pulled up and started to limp, a few moments later he was hobbling towards the dressing room. England were 182 for 1 and Australia had, at least for the day, likely the match and maybe even the series, lost a specialist bowler, one with 496 Test wickets to his name. If you wanted any more comparisons to 2005, was this the Glenn McGrath moment?It had already been a day where Australia had let slip their grip on the contest. It had started late on the first evening when they handed two wickets to Joe Root shortly before the second new ball. Although Steven Smith crafted a superb century, the slide continued on Thursday morning and in all their last seven wickets fell for 100. From England’s point of view a total of 416 isn’t a great result when you’ve asked a side to bat, but they had not been shut out the way Smith and Travis Head had threatened to.A few hours later, Lyon was being helped off the field, a fate he had avoided since being recalled midway through the 2013 Ashes – the corresponding fixture on this ground was the last Test he did not play. The sun was breaking through the clouds, the pitch was looking flat, England’s second-wicket pair of Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope had put together 91 in 20 overs at that point and Cameron Green was struggling to keep his foot behind the line.Related

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Pat Cummins knew there would be times when he would be challenged in this series. There had been some at Edgbaston, but here was one he would have hoped to avoid. With frontline spin not an option, they went for the short-ball plan and England obligingly helped them out. There was more than a hint of Ben Stokes’ own Bazball tactics in the way Cummins marshaled his side. Not that England’s batters needed much persuading, but he dared them to take it on with fielders scattered in the deep and they were happy to roll the dice. It was only Stokes, himself, who brought a modicum of calm to proceedings.”We felt like we were in the game for a lot of the time there,” Smith said. “Until probably Stokes, he came out and he was starting to duck under a few, but we were setting the fields and they were taking it on and creating opportunities.”It was interesting. Most of the fast bowlers, they probably wouldn’t want to keep charging in bowling the short stuff but while it looked as likely as it did, on a pretty benign surface, it was the right way to go. If you get under a few then might stop doing it. They kept taking it on and kept presenting opportunities for us.”Pope picked out deep square leg, Duckett found long leg two short of a second century at Lord’s and Root was brilliantly caught by Smith at backward square leg having been given a life second ball when Green overstepped in the same over he claimed Pope. All of a sudden it was 222 for 4 and Australia’s predicament was not quite so bad. It would have been 243 for 5 had Marnus Labuschagne not spilled Harry Brook at square leg on 25.However, barring a remarkable recovery from Lyon overnight Australia face the rest of this game without someone who has been ever present, and recently a consistent matchwinner. Green, bowling at Lord’s for the first time, sent down six no-balls in his seven scattergun overs but the importance of his presence in Australia’s attack has grown significantly in the light of Lyon’s injury.Nathan Lyon sits off the field injured•Getty Images

He will at least allow Cummins to spread the load between himself, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood – whose energy levels will soon be depleted if they have to sustain the short-ball approach – with some help from Head’s not-to-be-underrated offspin. The last over of the day was sent down by Smith, and could it be that he has a role to play on the ground where he began as a legspinner in 2010 (and claimed his career-best 3 for 18 in 2013)?Australia’s bowlers have accepted they will need to look at their bowling figures in a different light during this series. At one stage Starc, who had briefly found some swing with the new ball, was conceding seven an over but as he did in the World Test Championship final, where he claimed Virat Kohli, found a way to claim the big prize of Root. Hazlewood dragged his economy back from above a run-a-ball.When Lyon left the stage, he was conceding just 2.69 an over to further highlight the role he was playing. England did show Head’s offspin significant respect as Stokes brought an element of balance to the innings in the closing half an hour, although that could be different when there isn’t stumps to play for.England, you would assume, will have a run chase to try and win this match at some stage in the next few days. The early history of Bazball was defined by their inhibitions of hunting down big targets last season against New Zealand and India. Most likely Australia will not have their frontline spinner. Lyon’s injury hasn’t quite defined the game yet, but it might yet do so if England’s batters don’t offer the visitors a way out.

Leeds United are back in action in the Championship once again this evening as they prepare to welcome Norwich City to Elland Road, with the chance to move top of the league with a win.

Sheffield United’s comeback against Swansea on Tuesday night placed them at the top of the second tier, but three points for the Whites tonight would immediately put them back in first place.

Daniel Farke’s side should be high in confidence ahead of this clash with the Canaries after they beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 last time out on Sunday.

The West Yorkshire outfit could end the night level on points with Burnley, if they win their match, and only two points ahead of Sunderland if Norwich come to Elland Road and claim three points.

That illustrates how tight it is at the top of the Championship table and that is why Leeds may still be looking at their options in the January transfer window to see if they can improve the squad before the deadline.

The Whites have reportedly set their sights on attacking reinforcements as they have been linked with an interest in a forward who could become the manager’s next Emi Buendia…

Emi Buendia's magic for Farke

Leeds are reportedly battling it out with unnamed clubs from LaLga to land a loan deal for the Aston Villa attacking midfielder, as the Whites boss looks to reunite with the talented playmaker.

Farke worked with Buendia during his time at Norwich City, signing him from Getafe in the summer of 2018, and won two Championship titles in three seasons with the right-footed magician.

The German head coach lifted the second tier trophy in the 2018/19 and 2020/21 campaigns, with the Argentina international an influential figure in both of those successes due to his ability to score and create goals from an attacking midfield or wide position.

As you can see in the table above, Buendia played a key role in those two promotion-winning seasons by contributing with 23 goals and 28 assists combined.

The 28-year-old star has, therefore, proven that he has the quality to make a consistent impact at the top end of the pitch at Championship level, whilst working under Farke, and that is why he could be a terrific signing for Leeds this month.

If Leeds are unable to strike a deal to sign Buendia, though, due to interest from LaLiga, then the German boss could unearth his new version of the former Norwich sensation by securing a deal to sign someone else.

Leeds in the race to sign Burnley star

According to Belgian outlet Voetbal Nieuws, as relayed by Sport Witness, Leeds are one of a number of clubs lining up a move to sign Burnley attacking midfielder Mike Tresor this month.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

The report claims that the 25-year-old wizard is looking to move on from Turf Moor before the end of the January transfer window, as an outing in the FA Cup against Reading earlier this month was his only appearance of the season so far.

It states that the Clarets are also keen to part ways with the Belgian dynamo, who they signed on a permanent deal from Genk last summer after having him on loan in the Premier League last term, but it does not reveal exactly how much they are looking for in return for his services.

Voetbal Nieuws adds that Belgian sides Anderlecht and KAA Gent are also interested in a swoop for the Burnley outcast, whilst Dutch giants Ajax are among the clubs eyeing him up and are said to be Tresor’s preferred destination at this moment in time.

This suggests that this could be a difficult deal for Leeds to get over the line, given the competition for his signature and the fact he plays for a direct rival in the Championship, but it could be one that is well worth pushing for.

Tresor could arrive at Elland Road as Farke’s new version of Argentine magician Buendia. Here’s how they compare…

Why Tresor could be Farke's new Buendia

It is fair to say that Tresor has endured a difficult time in England since his initial move to Turf Moor on loan from Genk in the summer of 2023.

He only started three of his 16 appearances in the Premier League under Vincent Kompany in the 2023/24 campaign and has yet to play in the league under Scott Parker this term.

The 25-year-old gem has, therefore, not had many opportunities to truly showcase his quality in England, with just three starts, and Leeds could offer him a chance to play week-in-week-out to get back to his best on the pitch.

Tresor’s form for Genk in the 2022/23 campaign, before his move to Burnley, suggests that the potential is there for him to be a Buendia-esque talent for Farke if he can hit his stride in the final third again as an attacking midfielder or wide player.

As you can see in the table above, the Belgian sensation, whose form was praised as being “absolutely sensational” by talent scout Jacek Kulig, provided a regular threat at the top end of the pitch, particularly as a creator.

The Leeds target has the vision and technical ability in the final third to consistently unlock opposition defences to create high-quality chances for his teammates, which could help the likes of Joel Piroe and Mateo Joseph to thrive in the second half of the campaign.

He was directly involved in 32 goals in those 38 games, and that is more than Buendia was ever involved in in one season for Norwich, with 31 in the 2020/21 campaign being his best return, which speaks to his potential to make a huge impact as an attacking force.

Joseph upgrade: Leeds considering bid to sign "powerful" £4m striker

Leeds United are one of the clubs reportedly interested in the striker in January.

By
Dan Emery

Jan 21, 2025

Therefore, Farke could unearth his new version of the Argentine ace, and forget about a swoop for the Aston Villa man, by securing a deal to sign Tresor from Burnley this month, because he has the playmaking and goalscoring tools to emerge as a star for Leeds.

But a wily Victoria outfit will be a stern obstacle to South Australia’s first Shield since 1996

Daniel Brettig25-Mar-2016Twenty years since their last victory, South Australia are hopeful their fearless young team’s rapid progress will continue in the Sheffield Shield final, against a Victorian side wanting nothing more than to take the match all the way to a nerve-shredding fifth day.In a climate of doubt about the future of the showpiece match, there is an eagerness on both sides to play out a contest befitting the occasion. South Australia’s season ledger of five wins and as many defeats does not suggest they are well equipped to scrap to a draw. Likewise, Victoria’s recent batting travails make a draw an unlikely prospect. This may be a Shield to be won, not salvaged.The extra 90 overs will scarcely be needed if the pitch at Glenelg Oval is anything like the lively strip on which the Redbacks rumbled Tasmania last week to vault to the top of the table. However, South Australia’s high performance overseer Tim Nielsen said he would actually prefer a less seamer-friendly surface, with his eyes on the team’s progress well beyond the next week.”I hope it’s got a little bit less grass on it – we don’t want to see anyone bowled out for 90 on the first morning of a Shield final,” Nielsen said of Glenelg Oval, where the final must be played due to the shunting of cricket from Adelaide Oval for the AFL season. “The challenge is trying to produce a wicket on a ground that doesn’t have regular first-class cricket, so it doesn’t have the consolidated rolling throughout the season or the square used for four-day cricket on a regular basis.”We’ve had two or three Futures Leagues games there, but this is a five-day game with a bigger focus. I’m hopeful it’ll just be a good-quality cricket wicket that will bounce and carry a little bit and give us the best chance to play the way we do – support our bowlers but also allow our batters to play their shots.”Victoria coach David Saker expects a fair wicket, noting how the likes of Travis Head and Jake Lehmann have prospered when given the right conditions to put pressure on bowlers. He is eager to push the game all the way to the end, reasoning that the Bushrangers’ more seasoned XI and spin bowlers Fawad Ahmed and Jon Holland can come into their own.”I don’t think it’ll be as flat as some of the wickets produced [for finals] in the last few years, it’ll be a good wicket,” Saker said. “But I don’t think they’ll green it up too much because it’s a bit too risky on the toss then. They’ll try to produce a good cricket wicket, their batters are in good form so we’ll wait and see. We’ve got two good spinners so, if it is a good wicket, we think we can win the game at the back end if we bat well enough.”Sometimes that feeling of just giving it a go like the South Australians will is a better place to play in, knowing what the trophy is and what it’s like to win it, the hunger they’ll have will be unbelievable you’d think. But our guys know what it takes and five days of cricket doesn’t sound a lot more because it’s only one day, but it is a lot more cricket. In 90 overs a lot can happen on that last day, so we’re going to fight our butts off and hopefully it comes down to that.”It seems no coincidence that South Australia are contesting their first final since 1996 in the same season when they also made the limited-overs playoff in Sydney at the start of the summer. Under Nielsen and the coach Jamie Siddons – wicketkeeper and captain in that last victory – a concerted effort has been made to focus on homegrown talent and bolster it with a more hardened attitude to fitness and skill than had become customary in the state’s cricket.The acquisition of the former AFL fitness coach Stephen Schwerdt was much publicised in Adelaide, but Nielsen explained that a challenging pre-season was part of a wider plan. For one thing, the notion of plucking imported players from interstate in search of instant results was shelved. Paradoxically but tellingly, success has arrived faster than expected.Chris Tremain is Victoria’s leading wicket-taker with 32 scalps from eight matches•Cricket Australia/Getty Images”Stephen Schwerdt was a good focus point for us but it was more about changing the culture in the place and understanding exactly what hard work was and how professional athletes went about their business,” Nielsen said. “They’ve improved a huge amount with their skills as well. They are batting, bowling and fielding better than they were at the start of the year and fitness was just one aspect of that. We set that up with a really strong, hard pre-season, and now they’re still going strong. Our bowlers have gone from strength to strength – Chadd Sayers, Joe Mennie and Daniel Worrall have been strong the whole way through and that is a benefit of being fitter and stronger.”We hadn’t had any real success on a consistent basis for a long period of time and we were probably at different stages through that period guilty of recruiting people who we thought would be a quick fix for us. At the start of last year, we really put up the fences, we didn’t let any of our good young players go and we certainly didn’t go looking for the quick fix. We backed our players and Jamie is an excellent developer of young cricketers and young men, so that was a good time for him to come into the system.”It was time to set something up for ourselves, for the future. They have done that, had a bit of luck, learned from those things, and the staff have been excellent having the big picture at the forefront of their minds. It’s not just about winning today, but setting something up that will hold some water for the next five years and have a consistent era where we are competitive.”Like Siddons, who moved from New Zealand, Saker arrived from England last year with a mandate for regeneration. Though the likes of Rob Quiney, Matthew Wade, Clint McKay and Cameron White have been around the block plenty of times, Saker sought, and has achieved, a sizeable renewal of the state’s batting stocks in particular.”We were in need of finding some younger batters in our group and the one thing I said straightaway was we’d make sure we get a couple of games into some young batters and thankfully Travis Dean’s been outstanding for us at the top,” he said. “His start to the season was amazing. So he’s got a game that I think can move on to the next level, he’s a really compact opening batter. We got some games into Aaron Ayre who I think is a really good young left-hand batter and Sam Harper kept wicket a couple of games, performed really well for us with the gloves and showed some little signs with the bat.”That’s exciting and with the ball we’ve given games to a few players. Chris Tremain has been outstanding this year coming into the state as sort of a back up bowler but now he’s one of our frontliners and he must be putting his name forward for Australian selection. We needed to freshen it up a little bit, but it’s good to have those more experienced players around the group as well to help you out. If you need to call on them, which we did with Cameron, they so often stand up. We’ve got a good mix at the moment.”South Australia’s colts have gathered momentum closer to the season finish line, while the Bushrangers rather stumbled into the final. But they did so through the determination of White’s outstanding rearguard against New South Wales in Alice Springs, a performance that Saker hopes has not only lifted the mood of what had been a fading outfit, but also shown the way forward this week.”We didn’t celebrate like we won the game but it was a very happy bunch of guys at the end of the day,” Saker said. “Cameron was exhausted but very pleased with what he’d done, and good for him because he’s struggled a bit this year at times, being out of the team. All along I’ve said he’d have a big part to play late in the season and he’s done exactly what we hoped he would do.”It was an excellent innings, unbelievably skilful to be able to handle the spin, the reverse swing, batting a bit out of his crease to make sure lbw was out of play and he just played extremely well. A quote from Graham Gooch is that it was ‘great batsmanship’ and it was great to watch, really determined stuff. Going into that last day as a coaching staff we didn’t really expect to do what we did, but it was great to see and a great shot in the arm for us going into a final after seeing a performance like that.”White knows what it is like to win, and to lose; the Redbacks are presently unaware of either. Whether Head’s young team are able to keep charging ahead without being dragged down by the weight of 20 underachieving years is the question about to be answered.