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Aston Villa have a lot of work to do before their Premier League season gets underway next month with a home tie against Newcastle United.

Several summer departures will likely take place, with Emiliano Martinez reportedly keen on a move to Manchester United, while Jacob Ramsey is attracting interest from Nottingham Forest. But, with their PSR concerns now a thing of the past, plenty of new signings could also arrive through the door soon.

In particular, some confidence-boosting attacking additions look to be a priority, particularly if Ollie Watkins ends up joining Martinez as another first-team face to have left the building.

Aston Villa considering move for £60m striker

Watkins does look to have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to who he could pick as his next club after Villa, with it being reported that Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United are all keen on adding the England international to their respective sides.

Losing Watkins would be a notable blow, but Villa could begin to repair their depleted attack by adding reported target Alejandro Garnacho to their camp from the aforementioned Red Devils, alongside raiding Enzo Maresca’s men when going after a fresh centre-forward purchase.

An update from journalist Ben Jacobs via X indicates that Villa are in the running to land hot-and-cold Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson this summer, with Villa considering his name as they hunt down some more personnel up top.

It’s revealed that Chelsea won’t be pushing the ex-Villarreal attacker out the door – despite his hit-and-miss finishing ability – but they would consider bids if some are forthcoming, with Jackson reportedly available for around the £60m mark.

Transfer Focus

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

How Jackson could be Villa's next Duran

It would be an almighty gamble on Villa’s end to splash out some significant bucks on such an inconsistent performer but there are similarities, not just in the way they arrived in the country, but in their play styles too.

Indeed, the Villans took a risk when they landed Jhon Duran for £18m back in January of 2023, only to be immediately vindicated when he became a clinical hero for Unai Emery and Co.

After all, Duran didn’t dive into the English game boasting the most mind-blowing numbers for Chicago Fire, with only eight goals coming his way from 28 appearances in the Windy City.

Yet, he instantly became a favourite in the West Midlands for his high-octane performances in attack, culminating in a huge chunk of his 20 goals for Villa coming last season when he bagged 12 strikes from just 29 outings.

Goals

7

3

Assists

0

0

Goal conversion percentage

23%

21%

Goal frequency (minutes)

89

79

Shots per game

1.6

2

Chelsea purchased Jackson for around the £32m mark in the same year the Colombian arrived in England, knowing plenty more could come from the 24-year-old in his new location, with Villa already on the receiving end of Jackson’s lethal bursts when he headed home this effort against them during his debut campaign in West London.

Indeed, Jackson fired home a promising 13 strikes in Spain before embarking on this daunting adventure with the Blues, and whilst there have been plenty of grumbles at Stamford Bridge over his wastefulness, he has shown in spells that he can be a deadly and impactful presence on his day, just as Duran has.

Amazingly, despite squandering a costly 43 big chances across his two top-flight seasons at Chelsea, Jackson does still have more strikes next to his name in the Premier League alone than Duran mustered up across his entire Villa Park stint, with 24 goals in 64 league clashes.

Despite that, there are stylistic similarities between the pair, as the numbers showcase.

Shots

3.08

4.27

Shots on target

1.38

1.93

Completed passes

12.3

16.2

Progressive passes

1.54

1.83

Shot-creating actions

2.97

2.54

Successful take-ons

0.73

0.42

Analysing the data, we get a sense that neither are particularly involved in the play in large spells, registering fewer than 20 passes per game.

Likewise, neither striker particularly grabs the ball and takes a player on, completing fewer than one dribble per 90 minutes. Crucially, they both possess the ability to play on the shoulder of the last man and have a gangly playstyle associated with their height. Duran is 6 foot 1, while Jackson is 6 foot 2.

The 24-year-old Jackson might well welcome a fresh opportunity at Villa, particularly when taking in Emery’s transformative powers that worked wonders on the likes of Marcus Rashford last season. He had experienced an equally challenging time at Manchester United before bouncing back well with the Villans, amassing a blistering four goals and six assists in claret and blue.

Moreover, it’s even clearer from the Spaniard’s track record with Duran that he could be the manager to get even more out of a scapegoated Jackson, with the Senegal international once being labelled as a “special” talent by journalist Rahman Osman.

Of course, this move might well backfire if the 24-year-old’s wasteful displays rear their ugly head once more in the West Midlands. But, much like with Duran, it feels like a shot in the dark worth taking.

Better than Ramsey: Aston Villa register interest in £40m "superstar"

Aston Villa could soon win an attacking superstar who is better than Jacob Ramsey.

ByKelan Sarson Jul 17, 2025

كشفت تقارير صحفية بريطانية عن موقف لاعبي ليفربول من تصريحات محمد صلاح النارية ضد النادي والمدرب آرني سلوت خلال الساعات الماضية.

ووفقاً لصحيفة “ديلي ميل” البريطانية فإن آرني سلوت أصبح يحظى بدعم أكبر من لاعبي ليفربول بعد تصريحات صلاح النارية، والتي كانت تهدف لزيادة الضغط على المدرب الهولندي.

ولا يزال سلوت يحظى بتقدير كبير من إدارة ليفربول كمدرب تكتيكي رغم المشاكل التي واجهها الفريق هذا الموسم.

أقرأ أيضاً.. ميرسون: محمد صلاح أسطورة.. وليفربول لم يكن ليفوز بأي لقب بدونه

وأظهرت مباراة إنتر ميلان وخطة مدرب ليفربول آرني سلوت أنه مازال قادرا على استخراج أفضل ما لدى اللاعبين، حيث حقق الريدز الفوز بهدف نظيف.

وعلى الرغم من ذلك فإن هناك شكوكا من البعض في مهارة آرني سلوت في إدارة اللاعبين، وبرزت هذه المخاوف أكثر من أي وقت مضى بعد تصريحات صلاح.

ولا يزال آرني سلوت يحظى بدعم إدارة ليفربول بما في ذلك الرئيس التنفيذي لمجموعة فينواي الرياضية مايكل إدواردز والمدير الرياضي ريتشارد هيوز.

В Steam добавили несколько новых бесплатных проектов. В свежую подборку вошли платформер с 2,5D-графикой, головоломка, два шутера с видом от первого лица и экшен-рогалик с кооперативом.

Quantum Rail — шутер от первого лица, где авторы смешали научную фантастику с вестерном. Цель игры — преодолеть несколько квантовых врат и пробраться в самое сердце территории роботов, чтобы уничтожить их раз и навсегда. В конце придётся сразиться с боссом. Страница в Steam.

Cave Crawlers — доступный в раннем доступе кооперативный экшен-рогалик, рассчитанный на 1-10 человек, где в роли гнома нужно исследовать подземный мир в поисках сокровищ, доспехов, оружия, зелий и ценных предметов. Также придётся прокачивать персонажа, решать головоломки и сражаться с мобами. Сейчас в игре есть два биома со своими боссами, более 60 типов оружия, множество видов врагов и 6 веток прокачки. Доделать игру авторы планируют до конца 2023 году. Страница в Steam.

Born to Rise — вышедший в раннем доступе 2,5D-платформер, события которого разворачиваются в подземных глубинах давно забытого города. В текущей версии доступны три локации. В будущем в игру добавят дополнительный уровень с новыми головоломками, врагами и боссами, где завершится история главного героя. В раннем доступе проект пробудет 5 месяцев. Страница в Steam.

Shattered Legacy — трёхмерная головоломка про исследование древних руин. Для прохождения доступны 50 уровней, расположенных в 7 уникальных биомах. Страница в Steam.

Zombiolence — арена-шутер на выживание про зомби-апокалипсис. Игрокам нужно продержаться около 100 раундов. В перерывах можно покупать новое оружие и улучшения для персонажа. В игре есть 4 вида зомби, 9 моделей оружия и 5 улучшений для героя. Страница в Steam.

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Manchester City could face a fight to hold on to one of their key players this summer, with Real Madrid circling as they look to replace the retired Toni Kroos, according to a new report.

Man City in driving seat for Champions League place

After a dismal start to the season, City have shown signs of a resurgence in recent months. While still some way off the standards that delivered recent domestic dominance, Pep Guardiola’s side are now unbeaten in their last six Premier League matches. This improved form, coupled with others’ struggles, has put Champions League qualification firmly in their own hands.

Ahead of the clash with Aston Villa on Tuesday, City midfielder Ilkay Gündogan spoke about the club’s “responsibility” to secure a Champions League spot.

“Our team is made and built to be more than this, it’s built to be a contender for the title every single year,” said the German star. “For various reasons, we haven’t been at our best for a long period of the season. We are where we are right now, and we need to accept the situation.”

He added: “There are minimum targets that have to be achieved at this club, and that’s definitely qualifying for the Champions League next season. We have to do it – it’s our responsibility.”

Man City have found their own Declan Rice in "outstanding" homegrown star

Pep Guardiola might well have his own Declan Rice at Manchester City with this terrific talent.

1 ByKelan Sarson Apr 21, 2025 Real Madrid chase Rodri in summer blow for City

If City secure Champions League football for next season, they may have to enter the competition without one of their most influential players – Ballon d’Or winner Rodri.

The 28-year-old has been a pivotal figure for City since his £63m arrival from Atlético Madrid in 2019 and was awarded football’s biggest individual prize last year for his outstanding performances during the club’s treble-winning campaign.

However, he’s missed much of this season due to injury – an absence that has coincided with a noticeable dip in City’s form.

According to Cadena SER, via Sports Mole, Rodri’s fitness concerns haven’t discouraged Real Madrid from identifying him as their ideal long-term successor to Toni Kroos, who retired at the end of last season. Madrid have struggled to fill the void left by the German maestro, and Cadena SER reports that Los Blancos see Rodri as the “perfect” replacement and “urgently” pursuing a new controller in the centre of the park.

Rodri has earned widespread acclaim for his dominance in midfield, particularly after his Ballon d’Or win, which drew praise from several footballing stars.

“Rodri is the perfect midfielder and there’s no one that plays his position better than he does—there are so many clubs in Europe looking for a world-class holding midfielder, but in the end there’s only him!” Gündogan wrote on social media.

Barcelona starlet Lamine Yamal added: “Receiving this award and having your work recognized is something incredible. Rodri is a fantastic player and an amazing person.”

Manchester United are believed to be in contact with a club’s director of recruitment over the signing of an “outstanding” goalkeeper this summer, according to a new report.

Man Utd produce historic comeback

Ruben Amorim’s side may have had a season to forget, but their 5-4 win over Lyon on Thursday evening was one of the most dramatic nights Old Trafford has ever witnessed.

Having led 2-0 and seemingly heading into the semi-finals of the Europa League with ease, United suddenly found themselves drawing 2-2 after 90 minutes, before then trailing 4-2 in extra-time against ten men.

Remarkably, the Red Devils scored three times in the remaining minutes, with Bruno Fernandes scoring a penalty, Kobbie Mainoo brilliantly curling home and Harry Maguire heading in a memorable last-gasp winner.

It was a remarkable evening that has kept United’s season alive, and given the nature of their victory over Lyon, there will be some who feel that their name is on the trophy. Regardless of what happens this season, though, lots of new signings are a must, including in goal to replace Andre Onana, and one intriguing transfer target in that position has now emerged.

Man Utd make contact for Kaua Santos

According to Sport Bild, Manchester United have held talks with Eintracht Frankfurt sporting director Markus Krosche over the signing of Kaua Santos this summer. The German outfit want £51m for his services and would rather keep hold of him.

It is claimed that Red Devils director of recruitment Christopher Vivell spoke with him during Frankfurt’s Europa League quarter-final first leg tie against Tottenham last week, as they look to entice the 22-year-old to Old Trafford.

Santos could be a strong addition for United ahead of next season, having enjoyed an impressive campaign for Frankfurt in Europe, standing out as a key man at a young age, especially for a ‘keeper. The Brazilian has started five matches in the Europa League this term, prior to being eliminated by Spurs on Thursday night, and the Red Devils may see him as having a higher long-term ceiling than Onana.

Santos has been hailed as an “outstanding” player by Bayern Munich and Germany legend Thomas Muller, while analyst Ben Mattinson has described him as among the “most promising” young ‘keepers in Europe.

While Onana has had good moments in a United shirt, he is an error-prone player who doesn’t seem to bring calm to the defence, and if Amorim wants to take his team to another level, an upgrade is required.

Saved by Maguire: Man Utd must axe star who lost the ball every 4.8 touches

Harry Maguire proved to be Man Utd’s unlikely hero in Thursday’s crazy game at Old Trafford

ByRobbie Walls Apr 18, 2025

Santos is admittedly still a goalkeeper learning his trade, but his performances this season suggest that he would be an exciting signing who should only grow as a player.

The best, the worst and everything in between from the past ten days of the IPL’s tenth season

Srinath Sripath25-Apr-2017No T20 for old-school men?
Time to think again, say Kane Williamson and Hashim Amla. Two batsmen whose technical correctness and textbook perfection invoke more than a tinge of nostalgia, set the IPL alight last week, proving once again that there is a place for finesse and elegance in the game’s shortest format. After seeing Williamson’s match-winning 89 and Amla’s masterclass against Lasith Malinga, their captains have been served a reminder not to drop them again anytime soon.Pacemen turn on the heat
Another set of cricketers who have not had too much limelight in the IPL – fast bowlers – took centre stage once again. After Andrew Tye’s knuckleballs did the (hat-)trick in Rajkot, swing, pace and bounce troubled batsmen across venues last week. Bhuvneshwar Kumar turned the game around against Kings XI Punjab with his accuracy and nip, Mitchell McClenaghan dismantled Delhi’s brittle top order and Nathan Coulter-Nile got rid of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in a dream spell on a rainy Kolkata night.T20’s trailblazer scales another peak
Chris Gayle is arguably T20 cricket’s foremost superstar, and among the few greats the format has seen in its short history. Last week, en route to his 38-ball 77, his first significant performance this season, Gayle crossed 10,000 runs in his 285th T20 innings. Some of the numbers he has racked up, such as his 18 hundreds (11 more than anyone else), prove why there is broad daylight between him and the rest of the pack.Rishabh Pant has found the going tough in the last two games•BCCIThe Super Kings roar again
Times certainly have changed for Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni since their halcyon years donning the yellow jersey in the IPL. Both of them have been through shaky periods of late, in their own, different ways. Raina has lost out on his BCCI contract, while Dhoni has faced public criticism from Harsh Goenka, brother of his side’s owner, Sanjiv. Raina and Dhoni made a statement of their own with match-winning knocks for their sides, reminding everyone why they are so feted as T20 stars. Harsh Goenka was reduced to tweeting praise of the former India captain, while Raina’s destructive knocks have been one of his side’s few shining lights so far.A golden duck and a Bombay duck
Rishabh Pant’s knock in Delhi’s opening game, in the aftermath of his father’s death, was one of the major storylines of the first week. Since then, his form with the bat has been patchy at best. Things have gone downhill since his quickfire 16-ball 38 against Kolkata Knight Riders at home. In Daredevils’ last two away games, Pant has failed to get off the mark, first with a slog sweep down long-on’s throat in Hyderabad, then fishing outside off stump to a Jasprit Bumrah jaffa in Mumbai. In the week when India are set to announce their squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy, these are twin setbacks he could have done without.Sachin Tendulkar celebrated his 44th birthday in front of a doting Wankhede crowd•BCCIThe s#&t question
Legspinners have dismissed Glenn Maxwell 11 times in the IPL, of which Amit Mishra accounts for four dismissals. So, after Mishra picked him up once again during Kings XI’s defeat to Delhi, it was not entirely surprising that there was a question in the post-match press conference about his fragility against spin. “That’s a shocking question”, Maxwell retorted, citing his recent six-hitting form against spin, when another reporter pressed him on his apparent knack of getting out to leg-spinners on April 15 for the past three years. This time Maxwell lost it, sliding down the political correctness scale, calling it a “s&#t question”.Tendulkar pierces the gaps… on his birthday cake
It is IPL 10, and also the tenth time Sachin Tendulkar celebrated his birthday during the course of the tournament. Matthew Hayden, who is part of the commentary team, baked him a cricket field-themed cake with a bat and ball as the icing, and interviewed Tendulkar by the Mumbai Indians dugout. Tendulkar, though, refused to cause damage to a cricket bat out of respect, even on a cake. He then cut through the green cricket field portion, quipping about “finding the gaps on the field”.Brendon McCullum’s hat was the difference between an acrobatic catch and an avoidable embarrassment•BCCIThe hat trick that wasn’t
Wearing a floppy hat for a floodlit cricket match is akin to wearing sunglasses in your bedroom. While there is no need for it, it is harmless
most of the time. Not for Brendon McCullum, though, as his acrobatic effort by the boundary to get rid of Chris Gayle, was undone by the brim of his hat grazing the skirtings. It only made him wear the hat more: he turned up to open the batting in the next match without a helmet.Lancashire v Durham, round two
Jos Buttler had smashed Ben Stokes for two sixes when Mumbai Indians met Rising Pune Supergiant earlier this season. This time, though, a night after his father Ged threw him a surprise by landing in India, Stokes foxed his England team-mate with a slower one. Buttler ended up scooping one gently into long-on’s hands, and Stokes was so pumped he went on to bowl a maiden over. Ben Stokes, King in the North, first of his name.Commentary gem of the week
This was long before Royal Challengers had sunk to the IPL’s lowest total. “It’s just a mobile number at the moment,” Ravi Shastri said about the scorecard, while the collapse was on. RCB’s ten batsmen were dismissed for what ended up reading 7018982020. It was a unique occurrence in IPL history, and it strangely came on the same day they had put up the highest T20 score, four years before.

Abdul Qadir talks about the art of legspin, his one frustrating tour of Australia, and how he thrived as a spinner in an era of fast bowlers

Interview by Umar Farooq11-Dec-2016Your Australia tour wasn’t as successful as your overall Test career. What do you recall of the Test series from 1983?
I had just one tour to Australia, and I can safely say it was a failure for me. There are many reasons for that.One of them was the sandy outfields in all the Australian grounds. I used to apply dry mud from the outfield to my fingers and use saliva to tighten my grip on the ball. But due to the sandy soil, I wasn’t able to grip it. I didn’t find that out until my last Test. I was actually never in control with the ball. It was really very frustrating, and my entire tour was a chaotic one.I took five wickets at the MCG, but there’s a background involved. I was surprised, frustrated and worried about my bowling and was always thinking about it. One day, just to clear my mind, refresh my thoughts, I went to the dance floor in my hotel in Melbourne. I was standing next to a pillar, lost in my thoughts, when someone came up behind me and covered my eyes. I thought it was Immy [Imran Khan] – no other Pakistan player would dare to do that to me – but then I realised it was the great Dennis Lillee.He’s a charming man with beautiful thoughts. He said to me: “Abdul, I can understand what you are feeling. A bowler like you when you are not performing, how it feels. You looked depressed to me, and why not, when a great bowler is not performing, he must be upset. I have gone through this as well. You are still a great bowler and we admire you.”I was touched because a bowler like Lillee was praising me regardless of the fact that I was bowling badly all tour. This really lifted my spirits and I went on to take five wickets.You conceded 166 runs for those five wickets.
Yes, the problem was still there. I wasn’t really up to my own standard. It was like Yasir Shah or Danish Kaneria, not Qadir at his best. I remained dissatisfied despite the crowd standing on their feet and clapping for my fifer. I looked happy but I was hollow inside.Also, maybe I was missing bowling with Imran. We had such a great time bowling together. I had a good bunch of bowlers [in that series], but it didn’t go well.Commentators like Bill Lawry, Ashley Mallett and Clarrie Grimmett were arguing that I should be bowling from over the wicket, but my problem was the grip. I didn’t bother which side I was bowling from. The main worry was that I was wasting my deliveries, as I was not able to concentrate.Because Qadir was a bowler with killer instincts, I would have gone all out for the kill. But something was missing.I spoke to Nazar Junior [Mudassar Nazar] about the problem with the mud not staying on my fingers. I actually used to spin the ball with my last three fingers, but the ball wasn’t gripping. Nazar told me that the outfield was made of sand. When I realised the problem, the series was over.In the ODI series, I used the soil and made it wet with saliva, and I made the headlines after that – “Abdul takes revenge”. I still have those newspaper clippings with me.

“In an era of fast bowlers, I took more than 200 wickets as a spinner. Other spinners came, got hammered and faded away, but I hung around and did well”

So legspin in Australia is all about how you grip the ball?
In my case it was.Why do you think you were so popular in Australia?
Australians are naturally aggressive cricketers and they have always had a great regard for the art [of legspin]. They always came to me and told me that one thing they liked about me was that I was a spin bowler with the attitude of a fast bowler.See, in cricket legspin is the most difficult art because the mechanics involved in it aren’t easy to master. I am satisfied with my overall career – in an era of fast bowlers, I took more than 200 wickets as a spinner. Other spinners came, got hammered and faded away, but I hung around and did well in that era.You returned to Australia to play club cricket. What was your experience?
Oh yes, it was a learning curve for me. Only by the end of that ’83 tour had I realised how to bowl in those conditions, but I never returned to Australia for Pakistan again. I did return some eight years after the ’83 tour to play club cricket in Melbourne for Carlton. Being older and much more experienced, I managed to take 72 wickets and won the Ryder Medal at a time when Shane Warne was also playing. I don’t remember, but I think it was a record and it earned great praise.Richie Benaud always rated you highly. Did you ever get a chance to meet him?
He came to Lahore once and we had a chat for two or three hours sitting in the Holiday Inn hotel. He asked a lot of questions, and we had a long discussion on how many types of deliveries a legspinner can bowl. We were surprised that I had more ways of delivering and spinning the ball, while he, despite being a legendary spinner, knew only a few, traditional ways of doing legspin bowling.I told him that, unlike other legspinners, I used my last three fingers, with the middle finger generating most power. I would use a combination of my last three fingers in such a way as to manage the workload of my fingers. I used to flick with my middle finger to make the ball turn, and would hide the ball from the batsman to prevent him from reading it early. The index and ring fingers were my triggers for the googly, and that was the main art.Benaud appreciated me and praised me, and I was humbled that I had won his praise. You can’t bullshit with a guy like Richie. He was a legend and his knowledge of the game was immense. We both walked away with more respect for each other. I am glad that I was able to add something to his knowledge.”Many bowlers have come to me [for advice] – Shane, Kumble, Afridi, MacGill – but it is up to them to give credit if they are willing to”•AFPCaptaincy didn’t sit well with you?
I played in an era with Imran Khan and Javed Miandad, so I never even thought about the captaincy. But it did fall in my lap when Javed got injured. So I was lucky to have got it somehow, and the matches I lost as captain were close ones. I can also tell you that I was offered the captaincy in the presence of Javed Miandad, but I refused. I told Haseeb Ahsan [PCB secretary at the time] that I wouldn’t accept the offer. I stood by that principle and never accepted the captaincy, except for that one series when Javed was injured. He was my captain at HBL and it wouldn’t have been proper to promote me while bypassing him.What do you think of Yasir Shah’s progress?
He is a good bowler and he was always in our plans when I was chief selector in 2009. He was among 20 players I had told the PCB to keep an eye on and select as soon as possible. But, without a googly and a flipper, a legbreak bowler will struggle at some point, and I have seen his form fluctuating. I think he tries to bowl the googly but it goes too flat. For his flipper, he might not really be gripping the ball well.Has he ever come to you to talk about his bowling?
No, never. And I am not surprised at all. Because he probably sees Shane Warne as his idol and he is more tempted to approach him []. There were so many bowlers who came to me, and that is the blessing of Allah. Shane, Kumble, Afridi, MacGill [all approached me] but it is up to them to give back the credit if they are willing to.Mushtaq [Ahmed] replaced me in the team in the early ’90s and – you can ask him – he came to me and I told him why I had struggled in Australia and what he needed to do to get wickets there. He was really good, bowling long spells and had good control over his line and length. He needed to bring variation in his bowling, but I liked his spirit and ambition. He was very positive about the game.

James Anderson admits that England fell short of the standards they set for themselves, as doubts about the consistency of the Test team surfaced again

Alan Gardner at Headingley26-Aug-2017England went into the second Investec Test hoping to confirm they had shaken off the up-and-down form that has held them back over the last couple of years. After two days at Headingley, however, it was clear that their capacity for inconsistency had struck again, with James Anderson admitting that the players had not lived up to “the standard we set ourselves”.On the back of resilient hundreds from Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope, West Indies had built a 71-run lead over England by the close, with five wickets still in hand. Not only do England have plenty of work to do if they are to turn this match around, their ongoing fragility is becoming a cause for concern as the winter’s Ashes commitments in Australia edge closer.”As a team we know we have got to play a lot better than we have over the first two days. This is not the standard we set ourselves,” Anderson said. “From this Test team’s point of view, we have created a lot of good things over the last few months, played some really good cricket and I don’t think this last couple of days is a fair reflection of where we are.”I thought we had started to resolve that [problem], with the two wins against South Africa and then winning the first Test here. We are still evolving as a side, trying to improve and ironing out those inconsistencies is a really big thing for this team going forward.”Obviously, we have got a big tour of Australia coming up in the winter, and we really need to turn things round. We can’t go over there, be inconsistent, and expect to win a series – or any series, to be honest.”The partnership between Brathwaite and Hope was the most substantial against England this summer and it gave Joe Root plenty to ponder in his sixth Test as captain – and first on his home ground. Headingley twice rose to give generous applause to the West Indies centurions but there was less to be happy about from an England perspective, certainly after a morning session in which Anderson gave the opposition a thorough frisking under cloudy skies.Ben Stokes endured a frustrating morning•Getty ImagesAnderson’s initial burst of 6-3-5-2 was identical to his foray on Friday evening, other than it yielded an extra wicket. But while Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes saw edges fall short of the cordon and Brathwaite twice overturned lbw decisions given on the field – against Broad and Moeen Ali – the fourth-wicket pair refused to buckle.While Anderson praised Brathwaite and Hope for their application – something he said England could learn from in their second innings – he was clear that the bowlers had not been up to the mark as conditions for batting eased.”It was really helpful conditions this morning, cloud cover and the floodlights on,” he said. “But when the sun came out, the pitch seemed a lot slower, it seemed easier to bat and didn’t do as much, and they batted very well. We didn’t bowl very well.”We didn’t bowl enough balls in the right area. You have still got to create pressure even if you are bowling on a pitch with life in it, and we didn’t do it often enough.”We talk a lot about bowling in partnerships and we didn’t do that as well as we could have done. There was always a release. If someone was bowling well from one end there was always a release at the other end. We bowled quite a lot of bad balls and that’s something we don’t usually do.”They played the conditions very well, got through the tough period and as the day went on they cashed in. Our batsmen could have learned from the way they applied themselves.”Having plugged away with a fairly orthodox seam attack during the morning, Root tinkered with his options as the day wore on. Ben Stokes went on a short-ball offensive during an energetic spell of eight overs from the Kirkstall Lane End, with a leg slip and two men back, during which he hit Hope on the helmet; Anderson made a rare switch to round the wicket against the right-handed Brathwaite, to no avail.During the afternoon session, while England experimented with a leg-side trap for Hope, he edged Broad through a gap in the slips. Root had been standing at silly mid-on but shuffled back into the cordon a few balls later.Getting funky in the field had not worked and there was perhaps a lingering question over selection, too. Before the Test, England couched the decision to bring Woakes back ahead of Toby Roland-Jones as one of picking their strongest XI. On the form he was in – and bearing in mind Woakes has only played one other first-class game in 2017, due to injury and his involvement at the IPL – Roland-Jones may have felt he had valid reason to quibble. While Woakes began well, finding swing and beating the bat regularly, he appeared to be down on pace: his average speed fell below even Anderson’s over the course of the day.After several stellar performances with the ball this summer, Moeen was not quite as effective in a holding role. He only bowled four overs out of the first 52, despite almost taking a wicket with his fourth ball and seeing Hope edge on the bounce to slip with the last delivery before lunch. When Hope turned a sharp chance to short leg on 72, the ball hit Mark Stoneman on the body and went to ground.Root was not tempted to bowl himself, though Tom Westley’s offbreaks were given their first airing in Tests; in keeping with England’s day, when he did find the outside edge of Hope’s bat, it again fell short of slip.There were also shortcomings with their application of the DRS, as three hopeful reviews were knocked back, but if it appeared that England’s bad juju at Headingley – they have lost four of their last seven Tests on the ground – may be about to manifest itself again, Anderson was not about to concede matters. He suggested that if they could keep West Indies’ first-innings advantage below 150, England would still be in the game.”We have played many games in which we have had a first-innings deficit and turned things round,” he said. “Obviously, we don’t want to be in this position but we have the character, we know we have to bat a lot better in the second innings, and there is still a lot of work to do in the morning.”Anything over 150 would be a tough ask to try to turn it around, and give ourselves something to bowl at in the second innings. So restricting them to anything under that and we are still in the game.”England’s mounting frustrations after their initial success had been evident early on, when Broad turned and scuffed the turf after changing to the Football Stand End only to see his first ball cut for four by Brathwaite. Although he eventually removed the opener with the second new ball, the sight of Jermaine Blackwood slapping a Moeen half-tracker to the rope to signal the close pretty much summed up England’s day in the dirt.

Instead of adding some bizarre aspects to his bowling, debutant Kuldeep Yadav used flight, dip and turn to puzzle the Australian batsmen

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Dharamsala25-Mar-20172:12

Left-arm wristspin looks tough to face because it’s rare – Kuldeep

It wasn’t a wicket-taking ball, but it was one of the best deliveries Kuldeep Yadav bowled on his first day as a Test cricketer in Dharamsala. It hovered above Matthew Wade’s eye line, drawing him forward, making him believe he could get close to the pitch of the ball and drive. Once it reached the apogee of its flight, the ball began descending steeply and landed a few inches short of Wade’s expectations.It made Wade stretch and reach out in front of his body, and still, he didn’t meet it on the half-volley. It ripped away off the pitch and beat the outside edge.When teams select spinners of unusual styles, they often do it because of the mystery. Late last year in Adelaide, South Africa handed Tabraiz Shamsi a Test debut largely because they thought the pink ball and floodlights would make his left-arm wristspin harder to pick out of the hand and off the seam. He played that one Test, since which South Africa have reverted to the left-arm orthodox of Keshav Maharaj.Kuldeep, like Shamsi, is a left-arm wristspinner who can be hard to pick out of the hand. Glenn Maxwell found that out in the worst way possible when he was squared up and bowled off the thigh pad while playing down the wrong line of a googly. Wade later said he had found it difficult to read Kuldeep as well when he was new to the crease.”Yeah, it took a couple of balls to get used to it. He bowled a lot of different deliveries. He bowled a lot of legspinners with a scrambled seam and then his wrong’un was scrambled seam as well, so it took a few balls to get used to it. But once you stayed out there for a little while, you got a read on him.”Kuldeep’s bowling on Saturday, though, wasn’t all about mystery. It wasn’t even primarily about mystery. Take, for instance, that ball to Wade. It had beaten the batsman even before it landed. It had beaten him in the air.The same was the case with the ball he bowled to dismiss Peter Handscomb – it hung enticingly in the air, drifting wider and wider, all that width tempting the batsman into a drive away from the body.The wicket of Pat Cummins? Classic legspinner caught-and-bowled against left-handed batsman, except in the mirror. No mystery here, just flight and dip and turn.This was the first day of the Test match, and the HPCA Stadium pitch was unlike the pitches at the three previous venues of this series. There were no footmarks to exploit just yet, little help by way of up-and-down bounce, and only a few cracks to disturb the equanimity of an otherwise firm surface. This wasn’t yet a surface for India’s fingerspinners to thrive on.The ball to dismiss Handscomb had flight, drift and turn to beat the batsman•Associated PressWristspinners, though, tend to extract a decent amount of turn and bounce from harder pitches. In that sense, India’s decision to go with a third spinner, and to pick Kuldeep rather than the offspinner Jayant Yadav, was thoroughly sound.Wristspinners, however, can also be erratic, and when Kuldeep came on for the first time, with lunch just minutes away, India couldn’t afford erratic. Australia were 120 for 1 and already going at more than four an over.Kuldeep had learned the evening before that he was part of India’s 12-man shortlist, and on the morning of the match that he would be playing. He was replacing India’s captain in a swap that wasn’t like for like. He was the extra bowler playing at the expense of a sixth specialist batsman, and he would have to justify not just his inclusion but the change in the team’s composition as well. Given Australia’s situation when he came on, Kuldeep had to be on the money straightaway.”We planned about the next session during lunch time,” Kuldeep later said. “The plan was to not give them more than 70 to 80 runs. Not much [was discussed] about number of wickets we intended to take. Obviously, if you are giving away only 80 runs you are bound to get wickets. [I] followed plans as per team management’s demands.”He certainly seemed to. Kuldeep did not bowl a full toss – apart from when Shaun Marsh or Handscomb stepped out and met his deliveries on the full – or a long-hop all day, and when he did err, it was almost always on the fuller side.His pitch map, in the end, didn’t look a whole lot different to Ravindra Jadeja’s in terms of length, just a broader spread, consistent with the greater margin for error afforded to a bigger turner of the ball. In terms of line, though, it was even more stump to stump, reflecting his predominantly left-arm over angle to the right-hand batsmen, which allowed him to land both his stock ball and his googly in roughly the same area.This presented Australia’s batsmen a problem they hadn’t faced all series. Two kinds of deliveries, turning in opposite directions from roughly the same area, one threatening the inside edge and the other the outside edge, both of which could conceivably hit their stumps.All through the series, Australia’s batsmen have spoken about playing for the one that attacks the inside edge and threatens lbw and bowled, and not worrying too much if their outside edge was beaten. They could do that with Jadeja. They could do that with R Ashwin. Those two had to produce an absolute peach to beat the outside edge and still hit the stumps. With Kuldeep, it was a little different.Kuldeep’s left-arm over angle to right-handers allows him to land both his stock ball and the googly in roughly the same spot•ESPNcricinfo LtdIt made for an excellent package: consistent lines and lengths, deceptive trajectory, turn in both directions. For Kuldeep to put it all together demanded a great deal of composure – he was playing on a stage he had never been part of before – and belief in his own ability. He certainly seemed like a man full of confidence at the end of the day’s play, during his first press conference as a Test cricketer.He referenced his dismissal of David Warner when asked about his interactions with Shane Warne.”Did you see the first wicket?” Kuldeep asked. “That wasn’t a chinaman. It was a flipper which I learnt from Shane Warne.”So learning from Warne and then dismissing one of his [Australia’s] players is great. My idol was Warne and I have followed him since childhood. I still watch his videos and it was a dream come true when I met him. I couldn’t believe I was speaking to my idol and sharing my thoughts on bowling and what all I should be doing.”I did exactly what he told me to do. He has promised that he will have another session with me in the near future.”Was that wicket really a flipper? Flippers tend to go straight on and skid, staying a touch lower than expected. Warner was instead defeated by extra bounce. It would be just like Warne, though, to call a non-flipper a flipper and make batsmen hurry back to the video analyst.When asked about bowling to Steven Smith, who made his third hundred of the series on Saturday, Kuldeep was matter-of-fact.”Actually, I was bowling to Smith for the first time, and I didn’t have any difficulty as he wasn’t playing any shots against me,” he said. “Maybe he didn’t want to take any chance against me and was depending on singles. Maybe since wickets were falling at the other end, he was being cautious.”I was never nervous against Smith. From childhood, I have been told that a spinner should take wickets even if he gets hit. My theory remains the same.”Then someone asked him which of his wickets he prized the most.”All four are precious but the first one was very special. The next two [Handscomb and Maxwell] were satisfying, as I got them exactly how I had visualised their dismissals.”He surely cannot have visualised bowling Handscomb through the gate or squaring up Maxwell with a googly. Maybe he did. Or maybe it was all just , something he picked up from all the Warne videos he has watched. We may yet come to see and hear more of it from this confident young leggie in the mirror.

MatériaMais Notícias

da poker： Com o acesso para a Série A, a temporada do Vasco chegou ao fim, os jogadores saíram de férias, mas o trabalho da diretoria está só começando. O departamento de futebol passará por uma intensa reformulação a começar pela comissão técnica. Jorginho ainda não foi procurado para tratar sobre renovação e a tendência é de que não permaneça, assim como o treinador inglês de bolas paradas, Alex Clapham, que encerrou o período de estágio no Cruz-Maltino.

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da realsbet： Antes de contratar jogadores, o Vasco pretende definir o novo técnico. A ideia é oferecer um projeto de médio a longo prazo. Alguns nomes estão em pauta como o de Juan Pablo Vojvoda, que está em final de contrato com o Fortaleza, Odair Hellmann, que está sem clube, e André Jardine, atualmente no Atlético San Luis, do México. Vojvoda é o preferido por se aproximar do perfil que mais agrada o diretor esportivo da 777 Football Group, Johannes Spors, enquanto Jardine é quem tem menos força.

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