Newcastle United reportedly have a "concrete" interest in bringing in a Champions League-winning manager as Eddie Howe's successor, according to a fresh update.
Eddie Howe under pressure at Newcastle
Howe has done a magnificent job as Magpies boss overall, not least because he finished fourth in the Premier League last season, guiding his team back into the Champions League in the process.
There is no doubt that the 46-year-old has suffered an underwhelming campaign this time around, however, not helped by injuries, in fairness. Both performances and results haven't been good enough in various competitions, and it now looks like a tough ask for Newcastle to once again finish in the top four.
Howe now appears to be under genuine pressure to keep his job for the first time, and with PIF no doubt wanting the Magpies to enjoy similar success to Manchester City in the future, they may be ruthless in disposing of the Englishman if they feel there is a stronger alternative out there.
Newcastle eyeing Jose Mourinho move
According to a new update from Football Insider, Newcastle have "concrete" interest in making Jose Mourinho their next manager, should they part company with Howe, with the former Chelsa and Man United manager very keen on the role.
AS Roma manager Jose Mourinho.
"Sources have also told Football Insider that links to multiple Premier League title winner Jose Mourinho are “concrete” and that the two-time Champions League winner is very keen on the job.
"Sources have told Football Insider (5 January) that Howe is under huge pressure to keep his job at Newcastle following a dramatic downturn in results. It is believed that the owners’ expectations this season are to repeat the success of qualification to the Champions League."
It does certainly feel as though the pressure is really starting to crank up on Howe, despite Saturday's vital 3-0 win away to rivals Sunderland in the FA Cup third round, and he faces a massive few months ahead of him. As the report states, it looks as though the Newcastle manager will again need to secure a top-four finish to keep his job, but the Magpies are already 11 points adrift of Arsenal in that position, so it is asking a lot to achieve that.
Should Howe be relieved of his duties at the end of the season, Mourinho would certainly be an intriguing option, considering the Roma boss is widely seen as one of the best managers of his generation. The Portuguese is a serial winner, tasting Champions League, Premier League, La Liga and Serie A glory down the years, and he is the big-name figure that the owners could want, in terms of attracting world-class players to St James' Park.
Journalist hints at influential Newcastle figure leaving the club
The reporter in question claims “an approach will come”.
By
Henry Jackson
Jan 6, 2024
Howe arguably doesn't possess that, and with each passing month, the more it arguably feels as though he may have taken the Magpies as far as he can, doing an admirable job along the way, making a move for Mourinho one to keep an eye on in 2024.
Premier League and La Liga clubs could potentially boycott the expanded Club World Cup in 2025.
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PL & La Liga protest against FIFAWants 2025 CWC to be rescheduledThreaten legal action if demands are not metWHAT HAPPENED?
Leading the charge against FIFA are Premier League chief Richard Masters, Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) boss Maheta Molango, and La Liga president Javier Tebas. These influential figures are set to meet on Thursday at the FIFPRO and PFA Player Workload Conference in London to discuss the future of the tournament and have not ruled out legal action if their demands are not met. They argue that the proposed schedule, which would see the revamped Club World Cup hosted in the USA next summer, places an undue burden on players and clubs.
AdvertisementGettyWHAT MAHETA MOLANGO SAID
Molango has been particularly vocal, expressing his discontent with the current direction of football’s governing bodies. "Football is killing its own product," Molango told
"Those who run the game need to listen. If they don’t, then as unions we have a responsibility to the players to take action — and the legal route is the next step. The governing bodies have had every chance to meaningfully engage with us on this, but they have failed to do so. Current player workloads are unsustainable. People are realising the amount of games being pushed into the fixture calendar just don’t fit."
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The crux of the argument against the expanded Club World Cup centres on player welfare. The new format includes three group matches followed by up to four knockout games, all to be played between June 15 and July 13. This tight schedule means players would return to action just two weeks after the Champions League final, leaving insufficient recovery time. International players’ union FIFPRO and the PFA have highlighted that this violates the minimum three-week break stipulated in professional contracts, increasing the risk of injuries and burnout.
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While the tournament promises a substantial £600 ($762) million-plus prize fund, critics argue that the financial incentives do not outweigh the physical toll on players. Top clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea are set to participate, along with international stars such as Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich and Jude Bellingham’s Real Madrid. However, the allure of monetary rewards does little to mitigate concerns over player health and sustainability.
Gary Neville has hit back at Oasis star Noel Gallagher for talking about Manchester when he lives in London as their feud continued.
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Gallagher mocks Neville after Man City title winEx-Man Utd claps back at ex-Oasis guitaristUnited take on City in FA Cup final at WembleyWHAT HAPPENED?
Following City's historic fourth-straight Premier League title last weekend, musician Gallagher poked fun at United legend Neville.
He said: "Gary Neville, at this moment in time, I wonder how he's feeling. We deserve it! We're the best team in the country."
Now, the Salford City co-owner has hit back at the guitarist.
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He told : "He's been a big part of Manchester's history but he lives in London. Do you know what I mean, Noel? Don't talk about Man… you live in London. You live in Knightsbridge, or wherever it is. Hampstead, wherever he lives, you know what I mean. You can't start talking about Manchester – 25 years he's not been here. He comes once a year for that trophy parade! I saw him on Sunday, actually."
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Feuds aside, City are streets ahead of their bitter rivals United these days. They won the treble last season and could win the double this term, whereas Erik ten Hag's men came eighth in the table and the Dutchman is facing the sack. Therefore, there is a lot on the line on Saturday when the two teams meet in the FA Cup final.
Rarely has a line-up been made to look quite so wrong-headed as in Barbados, but here are five more blunders that came back to haunt selectors.
Andrew Miller29-Jan-2019
Head down for Devon Malcolm as India look set to win•Getty Images
Selection is easy in hindsight, claimed Joe Root in the wake of England’s 381-drubbing in the first Test against West Indies. But rarely has a line-up been made to look quite so wrong-headed as in Barbados. ESPNcricinfo looks back on five other selection shockers that the brains trust came to rue.India v England, Calcutta, 1992-93Arguably the most scandalous selection of England’s tour of India in 1992-93 occurred before a ball was bowled: David Gower’s and Jack Russell’s omissions outraged MCC to such an extent that a special general meeting was convened in protest. But even if those two causes célèbres had been picked, there’s no chance on earth that it could have made a difference in the series opener at Eden Gardens – thanks to the catastrophic line-up with which Graham Gooch took the field.The facts of the contest speak for themselves. England picked four frontline quicks (combined figures: 6 for 321), with the legspin of Ian Salisbury elevated ahead of John Emburey and Phil Tufnell on account of his greater rhythm in the nets. India, on the other hand, opted for three frontline spinners – Venkatapathy Raju, Anil Kumble and Rajesh Chauhan – who claimed 17 for 354 between them.Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar (both allrounders) bowled just a handful of seam-up in either innings, while England’s only threat came from the part-time offspin of Graeme Hick (5 for 28 in the match). Mohammad Azharuddin (182) outscored England (163) in their first innings, and the tone for the series had been set.India’s Mohammad Azharuddin after scoring a century•Getty Images
England v Australia, Headingley, 1997On his day, Andrew Caddick was as awkward a seam bowler as England have selected in a generation – but it was his awkwardness as a character that seemed to count against him on far too many occasions. His non-selection for the 1998-99 Ashes tour was self-defeatingly dim-witted – he proved his point by taking 10 wickets at Sydney four years later – but a harbinger of that call had come at Headingley in the fourth Test of England’s home Ashes campaign in 1997. The series was locked at 1-1 but, after being stung into action by England’s incredible win at Edgbaston, Australia were the team on the march. They were denied by rain at Lord’s before Steve Waugh duked a dogfight at Old Trafford.But then came Headingley, a traditional seamers’ paradise – and what did England choose to do? In their infinite wisdom, they decided the time was ripe to ditch Caddick, their leading hit-the-deck exponent, and choose instead a rookie left-arm swing bowler. I mean, who’d do such a thing?With Australia wobbling at 50 for 4 in their first innings, legend has it that the series turned when Matthew Elliott, who made 199, was dropped by Graham Thorpe on 29 off the debutant Mike Smith. And yet that narrative ignores the fact that Smith never again came so close to claiming that elusive maiden wicket.Graham Thorpe drops Matthew Elliott off the bowling of Mike Smith during the 4th Ashes Test in 1997•Clive Mason/ALLSPORT
Caddick, on the other hand, still went on to glean 24 wickets at 26.41 in the other five Tests of the series – comfortably England’s outstanding performer.England v India, Lord’s, 2018For all that they have been the pre-eminent Test team of the past couple of years, India’s selection has let them down on more than a few occasions – particularly in South Africa and England in 2018, where they slumped to hard-fought series losses that looked more comprehensive on paper than they actually had been in reality.Cheteshwar Pujara’s omission at Edgbaston was a case in point, but nothing was more self-defeating that their absurd team balance for the second Test at Lord’s. The left-arm wristspin of Kuldeep Yadav had been a sensation in the one-day leg of the England tour, so the urge to include him at some stage of the series was overwhelming.Kuldeep Yadav delivers the ball•Getty Images
But, given that the whole of the first day of the second Test had been washed out by rain, and that the second dawned dank and overcast too, the inclusion of Kuldeep, alongside a second spinner in R Ashwin and instead of the seamer Umesh Yadav, beggared belief.Sure enough, James Anderson claimed 5 for 20 to rout India for 107, and in reply, Kuldeep was called upon for just nine flaky overs as England pounded out 396 for 7 declared to set up a thumping innings win, and a 2-0 series lead.England v South Africa, Headingley, 2008One of the weirdest selections of all time, and that’s saying something given England’s reputation for pinning donkeys onto their tails. There was something distinctly amiss about the latter months of Michael Vaughan’s England reign – the team was in transition and Graeme Smith’s South Africa (after finding their feet in a towering rearguard at Lord’s) were suddenly itching to outgun them on home soil.But when Ryan Sidebottom, one of the few stalwarts of that mini-era, went lame on the eve of the match, the selectors decided to replace him with an Australian roof-tiler, two weeks shy of his 30th birthday, whom Vaughan admitted at the toss he knew next to nothing about – Darren Pattinson.Apart from anything else, the decision was a final kick in the teeth for the hard-toiling Matthew Hoggard, who had been dumped unceremoniously during the winter tour of New Zealand, and who now wasn’t even trusted for an emergency encore on his Yorkshire home ground. England were duly stuffed by 10 wickets, and though Pattinson was an all-too-easy scapegoat, Vaughan admitted afterwards that the bizarre circumstances of his selection had left the dressing room baffled and unsettled.Unsurprisingly, he never played again, though his brother James went on to play in the 2013 Ashes … for Australia.Darren Pattinson lies on the pitch after failing to catch Mark Boucher off his own bowling•PA Photos
England v Australia, The Oval, 2009Long before Nathan Lyon rocked up to provide Australia with their most reliable spin option since the mighty Shane Warne, Nathan Hauritz had been plugging away on a diligent line and length, fulfilling an unglamorous role with as much skill and professionalism as he could muster. He was, in short, an easy player to overlook.But by doing just that, Australia squandered arguably their best chance of an Ashes win in England in nigh on two decades. Hauritz had picked off ten wickets in the first three Tests of the series when he was justifiably omitted for the fourth at Headingley – an extraordinary contest in which England were blitzed inside three days to draw the series level at 1-1 and leave everything hanging on the decider at The Oval.Nathan Hauritz at training ahead of the fifth Ashes Test in 2009•Getty Images
But flushed with familiar Aussie confidence, and reassured that their pace attack had the measure of an England team that had seemed to be living on its wits for much of the summer, they failed to pay heed to a suspiciously dry Oval deck. And though Stuart Broad set up the win with the first of his now familiar Ashes rampages, the sight of Marcus North claiming four second-innings wickets was an indication to Australia of what they might have overlooked.Sure enough, England’s own spinner Graeme Swann sealed a nervy victory with four scalps of his own, just when it seemed that a target of 546 might not be completely out of the question.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson put the 4-1 series result down to the way India’s bowlers bowled throughout the series and the way the visitors put the hosts “under a lot of pressure”. Speaking after losing the fifth ODI by 35 runs in Wellington, where New Zealand were unable to chase down 253, Williamson conceded there was “a little bit of a theme throughout the series” in the way India would recover and put the pressure back on the hosts.”I mentioned earlier that the game is about pressure and if you can, as an outfit, you want to put the opposition under as much pressure as you can to challenge decision-making, and when you do that, you tend to pick up wickets and that puts you in a fairly strong position,” Williamson said. “I think throughout this series India were far better at that than us and as a bowling unit they were superb – their accuracy from a seaming and spin perspective did put us under that sort of pressure in which we saw improvements throughout the series but it certainly was something that we didn’t start the series well with. We weren’t able to soak that up and try and turn up and put it back on them.”To be honest, over these five games, we’ve been put under pressure a lot and it obviously challenges decision-making which although we’re on the wrong side of the results 4-1, which India fully deserve.”New Zealand’s bowling unit relied heavily on their swing spearhead Trent Boult, who collected 12 wickets, but no team-mate of his picked up more than four in the series. India, in comparison, had all their frontline bowlers chipping in with Mohammed Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal taking nine each, Kuldeep Yadav eight, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar seven. They also stifled the New Zealand batsmen, with none of the above conceding more than 5.50 runs per over. Overall, the New Zealand bowlers picked up 27 wickets in the series and India had 40 to their name.In the fifth ODI, India were in trouble at the start yet again, at 18 for 4, but recovered on the back of Ambati Rayudu’s 90 and scores of 45 each from Vijay Shankar and Hardik Pandya, which helped them post a challenging total. Williamson said they were “confident” of chasing the score but India managed to pick up wickets at key moments.Colin Munro tosses his bat up after chopping on•Getty Images
“I think it was probably a par-ish total on that surface,” the captain said. “It (the pitch) was a little bit variable and probably a little bit two-paced as well. We knew that the Indian bowling attack would maximise what they might be able to get out of it, as they’ve done in the series. So we knew it’d be a challenge but saying that when it is 250, there isn’t the scoreboard pressure, so if we’re able to get partnerships then we could take the game deep and we were confident and been able to chase it down.”But I guess there’s a little bit of a theme throughout the series although there were some improving signs today, we just wanted to take them a little bit further. And they were able to pick up wickets at key moments which made life a little bit difficult in that chase. I thought the first half from the bowlers was outstanding and in the last two games they’ve really stepped up which is pretty nice.”India’s recovery on Sunday was made easier by their decision to play an extra batting option in Vijay Shankar by resting spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Shankar batted at No. 6 ahead of allrounder Jadhav and consolidated with Rayudu by putting on 98 runs for the fifth wicket with a patient 45 off 64 balls. India’s decision to add depth in the batting also allowed them to play Pandya at No. 8 – he hammered 45 off 22 balls – and Bhuvneshwar Kumar at No. 9.”It would have been nice to pick up another couple of wickets [after 18 for 4], we obviously spent a lot of resources at the top with seven and six [overs] from our front two seamers,” Williamson said. “Knowing that they had an extra batter we had to make a few changes and because they’ve not been coming that hard at us it was difficult to blast them out but we thought if we could squeeze for a period of time we would maybe create a couple of errors.Colin de Grandhomme walks back after being trapped in front•Getty Images
“We saw some chances, maybe the odd mistake which is nice if it goes your way, but for the large part they were able to soak up that pressure and take the game to a stage where then they could knock some hard runs. [Pandya’s] was a fantastic innings of 40 off 20 which put them at that par, perhaps even a fraction higher, at the halfway stage.”Williamson quickly dismissed suggestions of any kind of complacency after New Zealand had dismissed MS Dhoni for 1 and had India four down inside the first ten overs.”Not, not at all,” Williamson said, when asked if his team grew complacent. “We’ve seen throughout the series how good India are and you do need to be playing good cricket for a long time, not just a few dismissals. MS is a big wicket but as we’ve seen today there are a number of other guys that are outstanding world-class players. We’ve seen throughout the series. So there was none of that.”Williamson also admitted he made a “mistake” when asked about the dismissal of Ross Taylor, who was trapped lbw by Pandya for 1 in the 11th over. The ball had struck Taylor above the knee roll and the batsman decided not to review it after having a chat with Williamson at the other end. Ball-tracking later suggested the ball would have bounced over the stumps.”Yeah, I heard about that. We obviously had a conversation and Ross has been batting absolutely beautifully so it’s actually hard when you realise you make a mistake through our communication but unfortunately it’s one of those things and you do need to move on.”Yeah, he walked past me and asked, ‘what do you reckon, and maybe it’s too high, and maybe it’s umpire’s call,’ and unfortunately it’s one of those things that we move on [from].”After the upcoming T20I series against India starting February 6, New Zealand will host Bangladesh for their last three ODIs before the World Cup in England. Williamson was non-committal about how far they were from finalising a squad of 15 before the world tournament.”We had a number of guys involved from a larger squad perspective which was great,” he said. “There’s still some cricket to come and that will be helpful but time will tell as to finalising that squad but it’s not so much about that as it’s about the cricket that we want to play right here right now.”The idea is that as a squad you want to be able to have guys in the situations and have these experiences so over a bigger picture we’ll all be better for it and that’ll be the best part that came out of this series, it was a very tough series.”
West Bromwich Albion have been dealt a blow after learning that one of their first-team stars is facing an extended spell on the sidelines.
West Brom injury news
The Baggies currently have Daryl Dike, Martin Kelly and Matt Phillips all out of action with their own respective problems as it stands, and they have recently been joined in the treatment room by another squad member having suffered a fresh setback.
In the Championship, Carlos Corberan’s side were on the receiving end of a 2-1 defeat to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light last weekend, and unfortunately for the manager, the result wasn’t the only negative to occur from that day on the club’s trip to the northeast.
On 36 minutes, Josh Maja was the subject of a heavy challenge from Dan Ballard and the intense pain that the striker felt forced him off the pitch prematurely, which will have caused concern among supporters because they know that their summer signing hasn’t had the best of luck since he put pen to paper.
The Nigerian has only been able to make one start in the second tier since the start of the season having only recently returned from an ankle injury (WhoScored – Maja statistics), and the 24-year-old is now set to spend another period of time away from the grass.
Maja ruled out for four months
Speaking to West Brom’s official website, Corberan confirmed that Maja is facing four months out because he may require surgery to rectify his problem in order for it to heal as quickly as possible, describing it as the "worst news".
"In the tackle against Sunderland they injured all the ligaments in his ankle, it depends and the doctors still need to ask for a second opinion to see if there is any ligament to fix without surgery. Normally he will need surgery and be out of the team for the next four months. It's the worst news we can give."
West Bromwich Albion's home stadium, The Hawthorns.
Corberan dealt huge blow over Maja
According to Josh Bunting, Maja was an “interesting” addition over the summer, because while he isn’t the best at linking up the play, as per the journalist, he is a fantastic finisher, with his prolific form being something that he has shown right since the very start of his career.
The Lewisham-born talent has clocked up 79 involvements, 61 goals and 18 assists, in 213 appearances following his arrival on the professional scene, and it’s not just his ability to find the back of the net that the boss will have to cope without once again (Transfermarkt – Maja statistics).
Sponsored by Nike, the striker is a versatile operator having previously been deployed in four different positions over the grass, including three roles across the frontline and even as an attacking midfielder, though this is another attribute that the coach won’t have at his disposal for the foreseeable future.
Therefore, Maja not being able to return until April at the earliest will come as a setback to Corberan, and it may mean that the club are forced to enter the market to find a replacement for their injured star during the upcoming transfer window in January.
Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall has revealed when Frida Maanum will return to the first-team after collapsing in the Conti Cup final.
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Maanum collapsed in Conti Cup finalTests showed she is "stable & doing well"Arsenal boss Eidevall issues update on midfielderWHAT HAPPENED?
The 24-year-old went down off the ball in second-half stoppage time during the final, where the Gunners went onto beat Chelsea 1-0 after extra time. The midfielder was stretchered off during the game and was later fitted with a device to monitor her heart; but tests found "no obvious cardiac causes" for her collapse. Now, Arsenal boss Eidevall says the Norwegian will be available to face Leicester City in the Women's Super League later this month.
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According to journalist Tim Stillman, the Arsenal manager said Maanum won't be fit for their WSL clash with Bristol City on Sunday evening but will be available for the visit of Leicester on April 21.
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The football community will have breathed a huge sigh of relief when Arsenal said Maanum was "stable and doing well" after this scare. If she can be back playing a matter of weeks after this worrying incident, that will be a huge boost to her and her team-mates.
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Arsenal, who are third in the WSL and have an outside chance of pipping Manchester City and Chelsea to the title, have five more games left to play this season, one of which is against league leaders City on May 5.
Best batsmenIt was the best of three generations over the past week.Eighteen-year-old Atharwa Taide, who was the second-highest run-scorer for India Under-19 in their Tests against Sri Lanka in July, broke into the Vidarbha squad for the first time and got a fifty on debut. He soon scored his first hundred – an unbeaten 148 against Himachal Pradesh in a losing cause. His effort was overshadowed by Ankush Bains, previously an Under-19 graduate himself, who struck an unbeaten 173 off 149 balls as Himachal chased down 298.Bains’ score was the top individual score in a week that included three 150-plus scores. One of those came from Gautam Gambhir – twice the age of Taide – who made 151 as Delhi piled on 392 for 3 while plundering Kerala by 165 runs. Gambhir averages 74.50 in four innings this season, and is striking at 116.86.Still, he is 11th on the batting charts for the season so far, behind Himachal’s Prashant Chopra (four fifties), Nagaland’s KB Pawan (two fifties and a hundred), Tamil Nadu’s B Indrajith (three fifties and a hundred) and Abhinav Mukund, who made a half-century in each of his last three games.But the star of the last round was Baroda’s Kedar Devdhar, who made scores of 44, 107 and 123 in three consecutive wins to help his team rise to third place in the Group A table. Devdhar built upon a decent last season in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in which he made 274 runs in seven innings. He is currently the top-scorer in the tournament.Best bowlersShahbaz Nadeem continued to boss the oppositions. Having begun the tournament with world-record figures of 8 for 10 in List A matches, Nadeem kept up the level with another five-wicket haul – 5 for 17 while defending 221 against Jammu & Kashmir, and remained the highest wicket-taker, with a tally of 19 from five games. Like Devdhar, all of Nadeem’s performances led to victories for Jharkhand, who are leading Group C with five wins, no losses and an abandoned match.BCCI
The rest of the top performers were also left-arm spinners. Most notably, Krunal Pandya who took career-best figures of 6 for 41 against Goa, who were skittled for 148 in a chase of 282. Hyderabad’s Mehdi Hasan took his maiden five-wicket haul in one-dayers: 5 for 20 against Uttar Pradesh who were bowled out for 130 in Delhi. He followed it up with 3 for 19 against Chhattisgarh and had an economy rate of 2.22 in the gameweek.Tamil Nadu’s mystery spinner Varun Chakravathi, who had taken 12 wickets in four games, picked up only three in his last two.Other noteworthy performers during the week were Bihar’s Keshav Kumar and Services’ Arjun Sharma, who took eight wickets in three matches each.Best matchesMadhya Pradesh and Odisha provided the closest game of the week in Delhi, with MP pulling off a one-run victory. Middle-order contributions had helped MP put on 277 before they were bowled out and they had Odisha at 159 for 5 with just over 18 overs to go. From that point, Abhishek Raut made an unbeaten 55 that brought Odisha to needing 10 off five balls. No. 10 Krishna Palai played a dot, and then the batsmen ran a bye. With nine needed off three balls, Raut had strike, but couldn’t score off the fourth ball. He hit the next ball for six to bring up his fifty, but with three still required off the last ball, he only managed a single. The teams make up the bottom of the Group B table at the moment and the result didn’t make a significant difference, but it was MP’s first win of the season.The other cliffhanger was between Nagaland and Puducherry. Chasing 203, Puducherry had slipped to 149 for 7 before a 50-run stand between two of their professionals, Paras Dogra (98*) and Pankaj Singh, dragged them close, and Dogra saw them through.Players to watchBCCI
Indrajith’s first-class and List A careers began much later than his twin brother B Aparajith’s, who was the better rated of the two in junior cricket. But Indrajith’s career has taken on a more rapid growth trajectory. Tamil Nadu’s leader when Vijay Shankar is away, Indrajith is the second-highest run-scorer of the season and currently averages 52.14 in 26 List A games. Indrajith had been prolific in first-class cricket over the last few seasons, and as one of the seniors in TN cricket, he has made a successful transformation into limited-overs cricket.How the newbies have doneSikkim began their professional cricket career by being bowled out for 84, and after showing a few better batting performances, sunk to another low. They were pummeled by current table-toppers of the Plate Group, Bihar, on Sunday, being bowled out for 46 in a 292-run loss, the highest margin ever in Indian domestic cricket. The true extent of their struggles was reflected in the fact that they faced 31 overs to score those 46. They are, mathematically, the tournament’s worst team, with no points and a negative net run rate of 2.765. Assam, who are also winless but got two points from an abandoned match, come close with a net run rate of -2.726.At the other end of the table, Bihar registered three consecutive wins in the last week, and Uttarakhand won two in two. After their narrow loss against Puducherry, Nagaland fell behind Uttarakhand by four points and are in third place, while Puducherry’s recently-depleted team sits fourth.In the news
M Vijay and Washington Sundar have been named in Tamil Nadu’s squad. Vijay had a productive stint with Essex following his axing from the Indian Test squad, while Sundar comes back from a long injury lay-off. He last played a competitive game on May 1 for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Vinay Kumar was stripped off his captaincy after Karnataka’s only points after four matches had come from an abandoned game. Manish Pandey was appointed in his place and he led Karnataka to a win immediately, against Vidarbha. In a radical shuffle, Karnataka also dropped veteran wicketkeeper-batsman CM Gautam.
Bihar’s captain Pragyan Ojha will miss the remainder of the Vijay Hazare Trophy with a shoulder injury.
Manchester United are set to face competition from top European clubs including Manchester City and Real Madrid in pursuit of Everton star.
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Man Utd eyeing move for BranthwaiteMan City and Real Madrid chasing the English defenderCould make his international debut against BelgiumWHAT HAPPENED?
Earlier in March, reported that Manchester United are strong contenders to land Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite as the Red Devils look to bolster their backline ahead of the 2024/25 season.
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Now the reports that United would face competition from rivals Manchester City and La Liga giants Real Madrid in pursuit of the English defender, who has a release clause of £60m (€70m) in his current contract.
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In the 2023/24 season, Branthwaite has appeared in 31 matches across all competitions and has performed consistently for his side despite The Toffees being placed at the bottom half of the league.
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The 21-year-old, who earned his maiden England call-up ahead of the March international friendlies, could make his debut for The Three Lions on Tuesday against Belgium at Wembley.
With three days still to go, and a draw or win unlikely for the visitors, the coach Ottis Gibson said that he wanted his players to compete with pride
Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo21-Jul-2018
Akila Dananjaya belts out an appeal•AFP
Before this series, South Africa’s lowest total in Sri Lanka had been 169. On this tour, they have now crashed to 126, 73 and 124 – a grand total of 323 runs, in a series in which opposition opener Dimuth Karuanaratne, by himself, has made 330 (and counting). Staring at a 2-0 whitewash two days into the second Test, South Africa are still at a loss as to how it all went so horribly wrong, but the only thing they know for sure, is that right now, it hurts.”We’ve got very capable batsmen – world class batsmen – in our dressing room, and they are hurting at the moment because they haven’t performed to the level that we expect in Sri Lanka,” South Africa coach Ottis Gibson said. “In the past, Hashim Amla and Dean Elgar especially have got runs here. We got a couple of new faces as well as youngsters getting their first or second taste of subcontinent cricket, trying to understand what’s it all about. But you could put up your hands and say that Sri Lanka in these conditions are too good for us.”South Africa will have to bat last in this Test, and are already 365 runs in arrears, with Sri Lanka likely to grow their lead beyond 400 on the third morning. With the pitch taking significant turn, South Africa’s is almost a hopeless situation – no team has ever successfully chased down over 400 on the island. With victory virtually out of reach, and a draw unlikely with three days to play, what is left to play for is pride, Gibson said.”That’s one of the things that we talk about – making sure that we play for pride, because when we left home we came here full of pride, and full of optimism and ambition, hoping we can do well in the series. It hasn’t worked out. I would like to think that the guys who haven’t performed up to now would look at is as one more opportunity whenever the Lankans are bowled out or they have declared. And that they try and bat as long as we can and see what we can get out the game still.”The one thing that I picked up very early when I came to South Africa was what it meant to represent the Proteas. I will still be drawing on that in the dressing room tomorrow to say that the thing about the Proteas is that we fight till the very end, and that’s what we are going to do for the duration of the game.”Among other South Africa hopes that haven’t quite panned out in Sri Lanka, was the expectation that the seamers could get wickets via reverse swing. Of the 13 Sri Lanka wickets to have fallen in this Test, only one went to a South Africa quick – with the visitors playing three fast bowlers in their XI, with only one frontline spinner in tow. In Galle too, reverse swing had failed to play the role it often does for South Africa, on tours of Asia, but the team had still felt that banking on pace and reverse swing was the right call, over playing two spinners.”We played two spinners in Galle and we got 20 wickets, but we didn’t make enough runs and we felt the batting was a bit short,” Gibson said. “So we thought we’d play an extra batsman. Looking at the surface before the game it looked a lot more abrasive than the Galle surface, and we felt we’d get a bit of reverse swing, so we backed our seamers.”