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

The cricket world reacts to Rohit Sharma’s stunning T20I century in Indore

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Dec-2017

Hitman at it again. Clean and powerful hitting at it's best. Take a bow brother. Double it up now. @ImRo45 #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/k3z00KqYNP

— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) December 22, 2017

So This is Christmas … the lights are on in the crowd… Fireworks from Rohit and Rahul … and SL showcasing the spirit of giving #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/1R03pfqh65

— Russel Arnold (@RusselArnold69) December 22, 2017

First t 20 200 by an individual and the highest team score, both records in danger of being broken tonight!. @ImRo45 is just painting the big hits like an artist. #INDvsSL

— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) December 22, 2017

Wow again @ImRo45

— Mitchell McClenaghan (@Mitch_Savage) December 22, 2017

There are a few in the world, but none in India who can catch up with Rohit when he is in this mood. #Rohit

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) December 22, 2017

What a stunning century it was from Rohit Sharma. 35 ball 100. May this purple patch continue. pic.twitter.com/1MsNKfJd0F

— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) December 22, 2017

Rohilicious….first individual T20 double hundred is a real possibility. #IndvSL #Indore #DilMangeMore

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) December 22, 2017

Everytime you think you have seen it all, you see something incredible. Today, Rohit Sharma has shown us that. I admit I am gasping.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) December 22, 2017

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.

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.”

There are many good reasons for Joe Root to enter the IPL auction, but his inclusion begs several questions that cricket must answer

David Hopps13-Jan-2018As they apparently say at the poshest parties when asked who is coming: “Everybody who is anybody darling”. As many as 1122 players, including 282 from outside India, have put themselves up for the IPL auction. It is easier to ask who can’t be there.But for one player at least, the decision has not been an easy one. For two seasons, Joe Root has eschewed IPL, firstly because he wanted to establish the certainty of his Test match game, then because of the twin considerations of his first child and his appointment as England’s Test captain.Such considerations are now behind him. Root wants to swig headily from IPL’s champagne flute as much as anybody. Entering his peak years, at 27, he desires to assert himself as a multi-format player, part of a special breed of batsmen including Virat Kohli, Steven Smith and Kane Williamson who can turn their hand to anything cricket’s split personality can devise.The mood in England towards the IPL has also changed. Resistance to the tournament was abandoned within the ECB from the moment Andrew Strauss became director of England cricket. But resistance has also collapsed beyond the confines of the governing body. The new breed of cricket fan, weaned on Twenty20, actively wants to see Root play in the IPL and even many traditionalists who resent the format because it intrudes so overbearingly on the start of the English county season now shrug that his involvement is inevitable.England will always come first – Root

Joe Root emphasised that England will always take priority after he entered the IPL auction.
“I’ve always said I put playing for England first and if it means resting from things like the IPL, which I’ve done in the past, I’ll happily do that,” he said. “For however long my international career lasts it’s going to be focused about giving as much as I can for this team and playing for England.
“But as someone involved in the Test side I don’t want to be missing white-ball cricket and falling behind, trying to catch up. The IPL is a great opportunity. It may be that I don’t have a great IPL but the best thing would be the exposure to different players and different ways of looking at the game, being under pressure for long periods of time. I can’t see how that could hamper my game or be detrimental to my England career.”

Root is right to join the IPL long list. Not to challenge himself against the best, in the hullaballoo of IPL, would be to limit the extent of his ambitions. Not to learn from the best would be to suppress his potential. IPL is now a central part of cricket’s history. See and be seen: it would be a strikingly non-conformist cricketer who resisted that.There has been a lot of tosh, nevertheless, about how a sports career is short and cricketers “need” the money. Of course, they are entitled to seek their rewards while they can, but “need” is an inflammatory word when a top cricketer can earn in a single year from England alone what a worker on average wages can earn in 40. And, as for talk of a short career, the support mechanisms that exist for English professional cricketers as they approach retirement are better than ever. They are allowed to work after their careers are over.T20 data on Root is hardly extensive. He has regularly rested out T20 internationals and such is the all-consuming nature of England’s international summer that he has rarely appeared in the Blast – England’s own T20 tournament. But his strike rates in all three forms of the game are comparable to Smith and faster than Williamson. He is no plodder; indeed, it is his propensity to become over ambitious when set at Test level that has become one of the recurring features of his game.Dan Weston, a data analyst at Sports Analytics Advantage, calculates that Root will do better than many casual Indian observers expect, saying: “With an Expected IPL batting average of 46.35, and strike rate 134.44, Root would be an excellent acquisition for an IPL franchise looking for a player capable of playing a strong anchor innings at the top of the order.”As Weston points out, the comparison to last year’s IPL mean batting average of 25.29 and strike rate of 133.36, suggests that Root’s elite-level performance would be expected to be seen in his average rather than strike rate. There are other predictions, too: his boundary count can be expected to be lower with a heavy emphasis on reducing dot balls to a minimum, and potential suitors might fear that his innings may stagnate against spin.All this conjecture is the very stuff of sport and encapsulates why Root must put his skills to the test.

Compensation levels to the clubs that produce the players who keep the T20 gravy train rolling are wholly inadequate

But there are legitimate worries nonetheless. International cricket and the T20 leagues co-exist not by intelligent consideration of a sustainable international schedule, but by piling ever more demands on ambitious young sportsmen.Multi-format cricketers feel this burden more than many, none more so, of course, than Kohli, who played 86 days’ international cricket in 2017, plus IPL. Root played 78, plus two four-day Championship matches for Yorkshire, and the sight of him exercising one of the stiffer backs in international cricket have become commonplace. More than double that for practice and travel days. Root, too, has committed himself diligently to regular media opportunities on behalf of various sponsors and charities and surely now that must be curtailed.Already Trevor Bayliss, England’s coach, has intimated that, if Root wants rest, he might also now have to skip county matches ahead of the England Test summer (he only played two anyway and barely got a run). Just turn up to practice, flick a switch and put on the right coloured clothing. It is now quite possible Yorkshire – the county that nurtured him – will not see him again for the next five years.Root’s exhuastion summed up England’s repeated Ashes failings•Getty ImagesCompensation levels to the clubs that produce the players who keep the T20 gravy train rolling are wholly inadequate. The gathering talent drain from county cricket has emphasised the pressing need for England’s 18-team professional system to extend its developmental reach to ensure its standards are not compromised. Proper financial rewards would protect the supply lines – and not just in England.As far as the players are concerned, to cope with the workload, concessions are already made. International tours have been curtailed by slashing warm-up matches, and too many series have become one-sided as a consequence, but until crowds fall, or TV companies protest, that outcome is not about to change.In England, some young county professionals excited by a marquee signing for the NatWest Blast have been somewhat disillusioned when the recognition dawns that most of the sporting knowledge they hoped to glean from their overseas import would have to take place on the golf course. The second tier of T20 leagues might still manage to sign the player, but they no longer delude themselves that they necessarily command his full attention.Eventually, something will give. Just as it takes a tragic accident outside a school for a council to fast-track a new speeding sign, it will doubtless take an overburdened, world-renowned cricketer to suffer a serious health issue to make cricket give the issue serious thought. Unless cricket’s rulers negotiate a responsible outcome, where T20 and international cricket can co-exist in a sensible framework, that one day the whole shebang will explode in our faces is inevitable.

Eight teams, plenty of jersey numbers. Can you ace this quiz?

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Apr-2018

In accordance with the rule of a maximum of four overseas players, ESPNcricinfo had to sacrifice one big performer in the best XI of BPL 2016

Mohammad Isam10-Dec-20161 Tamim Iqbal (476 runs at 43.27, SR 115.8)
Given his top position among the run-scorers, Tamim was an automatic choice. He spent much of the tournament trying to ensure his runs mattered for Chittagong Vikings, who failed to make it past the eliminator match despite having a strong line-up.2 Mehedi Maruf (347 runs, SR 135.54)
Maruf’s strike rate was the highest among openers who played at least 10 innings. He did not make many big scores but always provided Dhaka Dynamites with a fast start in the Powerplay. He is a good fielder too, and affected a crucial run-out to dismiss Sabbir Rahman in the final.3 Sabbir Rahman (377 runs, SR 117.81)
Sabbir edged out Mohammad Mithun by virtue of one innings. His 122 against Barisal Bulls was the tournament’s only century. Mithun had a better average and appeared more stable, but you would always want a gun batsman like Sabbir at No. 3.Mahmudullah was declared Player of the Tournament•BCB4 Mahmudullah (396 runs at 33; 10 wickets, 7.41 RPO)
He was often a one-man show for Khulna Titans. For his exploits with bat and ball, Mahmudullah was the Player of the Tournament. He was consistent with the bat despite having to switch between roles of anchor and slogger, and though he bowled less this year, his last-over heroics in two matches ultimately took Khulna to the playoffs.5 Mohammad Nabi (overseas, 230 runs, SR 174.24; 19 wickets, 6.47 RPO)
Chittagong had great service from Mohammad Nabi, who won them matches with bat and ball. His reputation grew from the 2013 BPL, when he appeared for Sylhet Royals, but this time he was more involved by bowling up front and batting higher up the order.6 Darren Sammy (capt) (overseas, 276 runs, SR 174.68; 6 wickets, 7.54 RPO)
By pulling Rajshahi Kings to the final with his leadership and crucial runs, Sammy was chosen ahead of Kumar Sangakkara, who made 370 runs, in the XI. Sammy brought his ability to inspire to a franchise that was making its debut in the BPL. His team talks, some of which were seen in the middle, seemed to bring everyone together. His big-hitting also won them a few matches, and there was also the odd breakthrough with the ball.7 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk) (341 runs at 37.88, SR 134.78; 7 dismissals)
Because Sangakkara could not be fit in because of the limit on overseas players, Mushfiqur made it. He was the lone light in a dreary season for Barisal Bulls, who finished at the bottom. There was a marked improvement in Mushfiqur’s wicketkeeping.8 Dwayne Bravo (overseas, 104 runs; 21 wickets, 7.55 RPO)
Dhaka Dynamites wouldn’t have been champions without Bravo’s effervescence with the ball. He failed to take wickets in only two matches and collected at least three wickets in four matches. He was the highest wicket-taker of the tournament, which helped him stretch his lead as T20 cricket’s highest wicket-taker.Arafat Sunny bowled tightly for Rangpur•AFP9 Arafat Sunny (13 wickets, 6.29 RPO)
Sunny edged out Sunzamul Islam, Nazmul Islam and Rangpur Riders team-mate Sohag Gazi because he conceded only 4.02 per over in wins. Sunny was also the only Bangladeshi spinner among the top ten wicket-takers this season. But he had one sour note: his bowling action was reported by umpires for one delivery.10 Shafiul Islam (18 wickets, 7.78 RPO)
In this unusually long injury-free period, Shafiul bowled better than he has ever done in a tournament. He ended with more wickets than Rubel Hossain, Mohammad Shahid and Taskin Ahmed, becoming the highest Bangladeshi wicket-taker in the tournament. But he eventually suffered a hamstring injury and missed the second qualifier for Khulna.11 Junaid Khan (20 wickets, 6.09 RPO)
Junaid was the second highest wicket-taker in the tournament, grabbing the attention with a four-wicket haul in Khulna’s first game. His pace, lengths and variation impressed even Wasim Akram, who tweeted that the performance should be noticed by Pakistan’s selectors.

Eden Park likes to produce a tight game. Six of New Zealand’s last eight ODIs here can certainly lay claim to the tag of a nipper. On the eve of the decider against South Africa (these two have history at the ground) here’s a rundown

Andrew McGlashan in Auckland03-Mar-2017Lost by two wickets v West Indies, 2013Darren Sammy carried West Indies over the line in a low-scorer•Getty ImagesFor all the talk of short boundaries at Eden Park, the bowlers have more than their fair share of moments. Having been put in, New Zealand crashed to 156 all out (98 of the runs coming from the McCullum brothers) as firstly Jason Holder and Ravi Rampaul – plus one of Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor’s mix-ups – then Dwayne Bravo did the damage. But West Indies made heavy weather of the chase as Mitchell McClenaghan took 5 for 58. The innings had barely passed halfway when Holder fell leaving them needing 10 to win with two wickets in hand. Darren Sammy was not taking any chances, clubbing McClenaghan for a six and a four in the space of three balls.Tied v India, 2014Ravindra Jadeja starred in 2014 when India earned a tie•Associated PressA Martin Guptill century had anchored New Zealand towards 314, although India’s bowlers fought back when it looked like 350 was touchable. In turn, they were swiftly out of the blocks but 64 without loss became 79 for 4. MS Dhoni helped rebuild, but when he fell for 50, brilliantly caught by Tim Southee, the game again looked lost at 184 for 6 in the 36th over. However, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja produced a rollicking stand of 85 in nine overs yet when last man Varun Aaron walked in, 29 were needed off 13 balls. Jadeja was given a life in the penultimate over, still 12 off three balls was cutting it fine. A four and six later it was two off one, but he could only drill the next delivery to one of the cluster of in-fielders. All square.Won by one wicket v Australia, 2015Six to win. Job done•Getty ImagesA bizarre game. Australia’s 80 for 1 became 106 for 9 in one of the most dramatic World Cup collapses (for an hour or so, anyway) as Trent Boult curved the ball through the middle order with five wickets in 17 balls. They scrambled to 151, but Brendon McCullum made minced meat of the new ball with 50 off 24 deliveries. When he found mid-off, New Zealand were 78 for 2 in the eighth over. It wasn’t even the dinner break. Then it was over to Mitchell Starc. Either side of the interval he castled Ross Taylor and Grant Elliott with consecutive balls. Still, Kane Williamson and Corey Anderson got New Zealand to within 21 when Anderson slogged to mid-on. In the blink of an eye, and a flash of zing bails, Boult walked in with Starc on a hat-trick and six required. Boult somehow survived, but Williamson wasn’t going to wait to see for how much longer. The next ball he received he drilled Pat Cummins over the short straight boundary. It wasn’t even dark, but everyone needed a lie down.Won by four wickets v South Africa, 2015Grant Elliott soaks it all in after his matchwinning innings in the World Cup semi-final•Getty ImagesDale Steyn. Grant Elliott. Six. That’s almost enough to say, but a magnificent game had many strands. South Africa were threatening to cut loose through AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis when one of the most important showers in New Zealand history blew through and zapped South Africa’s momentum. David Miller’s 18-ball 49 ensured it remained a daunting chase, but New Zealand didn’t feel it was out of sight. It was firmly in view when McCullum plundered 59 off 26 ferocious deliveries in an opening stand of 71 in 6.1 overs. Elliott arrived with consolidation needed and alongside Anderson added 103 in 16.2 overs. It came down to 23 off two overs. After Elliott was dropped, it was 12 off the last (or 11 for the tie which was also good enough for New Zealand) then 10 off 4. Daniel Vettori squirted the most important boundary of his life. Elliott was back on strike with five needed off two. It was back-of-a-length from Steyn. Elliott saw it early. Swung for the hills. Connected.Won by three wickets v Pakistan, 2016Mitchell Santner kept his cool after a chase against Pakistan got a little tight•Getty ImagesSomething a little more mundane this time, but still a frantic finish. New Zealand had appeared to time their chase pretty well needing 41 off the last five but there wasn’t much room for error. Then Anderson was given a reprieve when Billy Bowden didn’t spot an edge off Rahat Ali (Pakistan had used up their review) which was followed by consecutive sixes – 26 off 24 left breathing room and 13 off 18, after Mohammad Amir’s last over went for 13, should have been a cakewalk. Somehow, though, Pakistan pushed it out to six off the final over. Mitchell Santner pricked the tension with a crunching cover drive and after two teasing dot deliveries drilled the winning hit down the ground.Won by six runs v Australia, 2017Australia celebrate after clinging on for victory after Marcus Stoinis’ onslaught•Getty ImagesThis wasn’t looking like a thriller. For the third consecutive time at Eden Park, Australia’s top order had been blown away. From 67 for 6 chasing 287, they would even do well to just make a game of it. Marcus Stoinis, in just his second ODI, was 73 off 84 balls when Cummins, who had 36, was stumped with Australia needing 91 off nine overs. Then Stoinis really started swinging. Three sixes came off the next over from James Neesham. But just defiance, right? Starc came and went: 61 off 42 balls with one wicket in hand. Stoinis’ sixth six brought up a stunning century and three more followed off the next seven deliveries. He then survived a run out chance and a huge appeal for caught behind. Nineteen needed off 24, astonishingly the run rate wasn’t an issue. Two sixes later and the target was in single figures, the stand was worth 52 and Josh Hazlewood hadn’t faced a ball. Queue lengthy field changes. Southee them jammed in a yorker, Stoinis dug it out to Williamson at short mid-on (one of those field changes) but Hazlewood, similarly to Allan Donald in 1999 World Cup semi-final, had charged up the pitch. Williamson collected the ball, wasn’t balanced but somehow managed to back-hand it into the stumps.

Stats highlights from New Zealand women’s record-breaking day in Dublin

Bharath Seervi08-Jun-2018491 for 4- New Zealand women’s total, the highest in women’s ODIs. They broke their own previous record of 455 for 5, which was set in 1997 against Pakistan in Christchurch. New Zealand’s total, in fact, is the highest in all ODIs. The highest total in men’s ODI cricket is 444 for 3 posted by England against Pakistan in Nottingham in 2016.160.63 – Suzie Bates’ strike rate in her 151-run knock – the second highest in an innings of 100 or more in women’s ODIs. Meg Lanning had hit 103 off 50 balls at a strike rate of 206 against New Zealand at SCG in 2012. Bates’ team-mate Maddy Green, meanwhile, scored 121 at a strike rate of 157.14, taking fifth place on this list. Bates also went past Debbie Hockley to become New Zealand women’s highest scorer in ODI cricket.26- Number of overs which yielded 10 or more runs in New Zealand’s innings. There were three overs which went for 19 runs: 30th, 48th, 50th.119 – Runs conceded by Ireland’s Cara Murray in her 10 overs, the most by a bowler in women’s ODIs. Incidentally, it was Murray’s first ODI. The only other bowler to have conceded more than 100 runs in women’s ODIs is Pakistan’s Shaiza Khan, who had given away 111 runs against Australia in 1997. Murray’s spell is also the most expensive in all ODIs. Mick Lewis went for 113 against South Africa at Wanderers in 2006.4 – Bowlers who conceded over 90 runs in New Zealand’s innings. Murray conceded 119 runs while three others – Louise Little, Lara Maritz and Gaby Lewis – gave away 92 runs each. In 1114 Women ODIs before Friday’s match only once was a bowler hit for more than 90 runs: Shaiza Khan (111).2000 The last time a team had century stands for the first two wickets. Bates and debutant Jess Watkin added 172 runs for first wicket and then Bates and Green shared 116 for the second. Overall this was the fifth such instance in women’s ODIs.

Apart from the form he brings from the County Championship, the fast bowler also adds vast experience of Asian conditions to a squad lacking Steven Smith, David Warner, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins

Daniel Brettig25-Sep-20180:54

Australia focussed on Pakistan’s spinners – Siddle

There are a few reasons why Peter Siddle is in Dubai sweating it out with the Australian Test squad, rather than donning a beanie in the last throes of the English County Championship, or firing down a white ball for Victoria in the domestic limited-overs tournament back home. One is his recent performance for Essex, a reminder of Siddle’s quality, and another is his vast experience in Asian conditions, dating back to the 2008 tour of India alongside the likes of Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden.Most overwhelming in the factors for Siddle’s recall, however, is that the team now captained by Tim Paine and coached by Justin Langer was desperate for senior figures. Not only to replace the missing Steven Smith, David Warner, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, but also to help chart a new and better cultural and performance path for the Australian team in their first series since the Newlands ball-tampering scandal.In recent years it could be argued that Siddle’s skills were rather undervalued by Australia, whether it was in his omission from the 2015 Ashes until the final Test, or his being rushed back from injury into the team in late 2016, whereupon he re-injured his back. Now, in the team’s hour of need, Siddle is back in favour, and he has a clear idea of why this is so.”JL’s spoken a lot about good people and good characters and coming into the side I think, just from an outside point of view, the side probably in the last little bit maybe lacked a bit of leadership,” Siddle said in Dubai. “So I think without having the captain or vice-captain or any of those terms, it’s just about being a leader in my own right, just doing what I do to lead by example and just help out the young guys and help out the group … it’s stuff I’d normally do.”But you want to make sure you get the right things done and the team’s preparing well. All in all the whole group is preparing as leaders, they’re going out there and leading by example in their own right. That’s a good sign for this group going forward and just looking forward to a few more training sessions, but I think everyone’s starting to adapt well to the conditions and looking forward to this practice match.”Having been coached by each of Tim Nielsen, Mickey Arthur and Darren Lehmann before Langer’s arrival, Siddle said the difference in styles was noticeable. The word most often used to describe Langer was again used when Siddle pondered the approach of Langer to a job he had first applied for as far back as 2011 – intensity.”He’s very intense. I think people could understand the way he went about the game when he played, how switched on and how hard he worked,” Siddle said. “I think we probably get a good understanding that’s how he’s coaching regime’s going to be. It started off like that, which is enjoyable. He knows his plans, knows the way he wants the team to go and I think the boys are getting a good feel for that over these first couple of days.”I’ve had a few coaches over my time in the role as a player, but it’s always fresh when a new coach, a new person comes in, their personality and they way they want to coach and lead the team. It always gives a good vibe around the group and with the younger guys here also it’s been enjoyable.”One area in which this adaptation is being attempted in a more rigorous fashion than before is in the calling up of a pair of Indian spin bowlers through the network of the spin consultant Sridharan Sriram – the legspinner Pardeep Sahu and the left-arm wristspinner KK Jiyas. This pair have been hired as part of an effort to simulate the offerings of Yasir Shah, who so confounded the Australians in the UAE in 2014, and Shadab Khan. Siddle noted this was a step up in preparation from what he had experienced on past tours.”I think in the past we’ve come into series, worked hard on spin but not specifically on what they’re bowling, the deliveries they bowl and the cues to watch as a batter,” Siddle said. “We’ve been lucky enough to get a couple of guys come in that are very good spin bowlers. I think the big focus is they’ve got two star legspinners, Yasir Shah who we’ve played before, a great player, and Shadab Khan, who’s been playing and we expect to line up.”So we’ve got a contest against those two guys, and having good discussions about different deliveries, what to watch, I think it’s been good for us tailenders as well to hear from different batters, the way they go about it, the way they watch the ball. It’s nice to hear from them and it gives us something to work on when we get in the nets. I definitely think it’s helped me personally and the other guys have definitely learned a lot from it.”Getty ImagesPakistan have struggled for traction in the concurrent Asia Cup being played in Dubai, but Siddle noted that the extra volume of cricket being played in the stadium will likely have a flow-on effect for the sort of pitch prepared for the Test match starting on October 7. Namely, it will be likely to take spin earlier in the game than its 2014 equivalent.”The Dubai wicket has had a lot of cricket played on it throughout this Asia Cup, so you can see the whole square’s being used a lot more,” Siddle said. “So I think the previous series when we came here, the wicket was a bit flatter, a bit more slate, so it took a few days to actually break up, but this series it looks like it’s going to break up a lot earlier so spin is going to play a part.”I think for me it’s going to be similar to what I do in Australia, it’s about holding up an end, building pressure and trying to put the batsmen under a lot of pressure to generate those wickets. I don’t think my plan changes a hell of a lot from different conditions. But probably more so here it’s about hitting the stumps, making them play a lot more and having the fielders in the right positions.”As for whether Siddle’s presence and experience will be useful in ensuring the Australian team does not let behavioural and cultural issues get out of hand in the UAE, despite the hot sun and unrelenting conditions, the 33-year-old is hopeful that the lessons of past tours will come in handy. “It’s hard to say,” he said. “Emotions come out in games and different things happen throughout matches, which you react to.”Hopefully just being around the group and just giving a bit of knowledge about conditions. I’ve played in the subcontinent a lot, I’ve played here once before, and it’s just about talking about those experiences. I got to play under some great guys on my first ever Test tour [in India in 2008], Haydos and Punter and Brett Lee, guys like that who’ve played a lot of cricket.”I’ve taken a lot of knowledge from them and hopefully I can pass a bit of that to these guys and watch them go forward. I think these days the boys have played a lot in the subcontinent, even the younger guys, so they’ve been exposed to those conditions, which is exciting. They’re not coming in here in an unknown world not knowing anything, so the young guys are preparing very well in the nets at the moment.”