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Tottenham Hotspur are interested in a deal to bring John McGinn to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by The Telegraph, who claim that Antonio Conte has now added the Aston Villa central midfielder to his list of summer transfer targets, with the same publication reporting earlier this year that Steven Gerrard would demand a figure of around £40m in order to part with the 27-year-old.

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The report goes on to state that, despite Fabio Paratici having already brought the impressive Rodrigo Bentancur to north London in the January transfer window, with both Harry Winks and Tanguy Ndombele looking set to leave the club this summer, Conte has targeted the Scotland international as a replacement for either the England or France international.

Conte can axe Winks with McGinn

Considering just how impressive McGinn has been for Aston Villa in recent seasons, it is easy to see why Conte would be interested in a deal to bring the midfielder to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this summer.

Indeed, over his 33 Premier League appearances this term, the £27m-rated talent has been in exceptional form for Gerrard’s side, scoring three goals, registering three assists and creating seven big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.2 shots, making 1.5 key passes and completing 1.3 dribbles per game.

The £70k-per-week midfielder has also impressed in metrics more typical of his position, making an average of 28.4 passes, 3.4 long balls, 1.0 interceptions, 3.1 tackles, 0.8 clearances and winning 7.4 duels – at a success rate of 59% – per fixture.

These returns have seen the player who Sam Morsy dubbed “unreal” average a quite remarkable SofaScore match rating of 7.30, not only ranking him as Villa’s best performer in the top flight but also as the joint 14th-best player in the league as a whole.

As such, considering just how little Winks has featured under Conte, it would indeed appear a wise move for Paratici to move the £91k-per-week midfielder who John Wenham dubbed “terrible” on this summer, before reinvesting the funds received from his sale into a move for the much more promising McGinn.

AND in other news: Conte could land the new Broja as Spurs eye “serious” 20-goal gem who’s “like a beast”

Wolves youngster Fabio Silva has hit some impressive form on loan in Belgium, thriving in Europa Conference League action this week.

The Lowdown: Anderlecht loan

Bruno Lage decided to send Silva on loan to RSC Anderlecht in Belgium for this season in order for him to get more minutes and further his development after struggling to adapt to the physicality of English football.

The striker was limited to just impending Diego Costa, Silva’s game time was likely to be even more limited this campaign.

The Latest: Impressive performance

Silva played for Anderlecht in the UEFA Europa Conference League on Thursday night, and scored the winning goal as his side beat Danish team Silkeborg IF 1-0 in their group stage opener.

The Portugal U21 international scored from the penalty spot with just under ten minutes to go in the match, admitting that he ‘celebrated like crazy’ after tucking it away.

Aside from his goal, Silva was the star of the show, achieving the highest rating (7.7) of anyone on the pitch by SofaScore, while he also had more shots (seven) than anyone else and made a joint-high two key passes.

He also won two duels in the game, and had 43 touches of the ball in total (SofaScore).

The Verdict: Someone to think about

Given that the Wanderers have struggled to score goals yet again this season, with only 38 scored in the Premier League last term and just three so far this campaign, the joint-lowest of any team, one could question whether sending Silva out on loan was such a good idea.

He now has seven goals and two assists in 12 matches in total for Anderlecht (Transfermarkt), showing that perhaps more patience was needed before deciding to let him go.

Kalajdzic now has an ACL injury, and Costa may struggle to get up to speed straight away having not played any competitive football since January, so perhaps Wolves should have kept hold of Silva for this season.

A first-hand account of Friday afternoon, when the Bangladesh team found itself yards away from the scene of the worst terrorist attack in New Zealand’s history

As told to Mohammad Isam16-Mar-2019Tamim Iqbal spoke to ESPNcricinfo’s Mohammad Isam about ‪the events of Friday afternoon‬, when the Bangladesh team had a brush with death near one of the two mosques in Christchurch that were the target of terrorist attacks that have claimed at least 49 lives.***Let me tell you what happened before we got on the bus. It will help you understand how those two or three minutes made such a huge difference for us. Normally Mushfiq [Rahim] and Riyad [Mahmudullah] want to be present during the [sermon], which is why we want to reach the prayers early. The bus was scheduled to leave ‪at 1.30 pm‬, but Riyad had gone to the press conference. A bit of time was spent there, and after finishing the press conference, he came to the dressing room.In the dressing room, we got engaged in a game of football. Taijul [Islam] didn’t want to lose, but the others wanted him to lose in that game. Taijul and Mushfiq were having a one-on-one game, which took up a few more minutes. These little things saved us in the end.ALSO READ – Bangladesh team leaves Christchurch and tries to move onWe got on the bus right after that. The plan was to go to the team hotel after prayers, which is why Shree [team analyst Shrinivas Chandrasekaran] and Soumya Sarkar (both non-Muslims) were with us. Since it was optional training, those who weren’t going to practice, they’d stay back at the hotel, and those who had practice, they’d come back to the ground. This was the plan.I always sit on the sixth seat on the left. When we were getting near the mosque, everyone on my right started to see something outside the window. I saw that a body was lying on the floor. Naturally, we thought either he was drunk or had fainted. So then the bus kept going, and stopped near the mosque. But everyone’s attention remained with that man lying on the ground.While that was happening, my attention went to another man, bloodied, and about to fall down. Panic set in at that point.Our bus stopped in front of a car near the mosque. We saw that the bus driver was talking to a lady who was literally shaking and crying. She was saying, ‘There’s some shooting going on, don’t go, don’t go’.Bangladesh players arrive at Christchurch airport to catch their flight to Dhaka•AFPOur bus driver said that these guys are going to the mosque. She replied, ‘No no no, don’t go to the mosque. It is happening in the mosque.’ She started to cry. Everyone heard and saw her, and we started to panic a little more. At that point we were about 20 yards from the mosque. Literally get out of the bus and walk to the mosque. That close. We saw some more bloodied bodies lying around the mosque.When we saw more dead bodies, we couldn’t figure out what to do. Those wearing the cap, they took it off in fear. I mean, we figured out that something was going on. Those wearing punjabi [shalwar kameez] they started to wear a jacket over it. What else to do?We then just lay down on the floor of the bus. It had been about seven or eight minutes at that stage. We still didn’t exactly know what it was but we knew that there was some kind of violence happening.We were panicking big time. Look at me, I can’t even talk properly. We told the bus driver to get us out of there. Do something. But he wasn’t moving. Everyone started to shout at him. I was shouting at him. For those six or seven minutes, there was no police.Then suddenly the police appeared, and the way the special forces stormed the mosque, we just went numb. My whole body went cold. More injured and bloodied people started to come out of the mosque.ALSO READ – ‘There’s shooting here, please save us’That was the time we couldn’t control ourselves. We started screaming, ‘let us go!’ Someone said, ‘What if they shoot us when we get out?’ Someone else said, ‘We are in danger if we are stuck in the bus.’ I also felt that we would have a chance to escape if we got out of the bus. We become a big target in the bus. But where will we go? Both doors are closed.Right at that point, for some reason, the driver took the bus 10 metres ahead. I don’t know why he did this. We were at breaking point at that point. Everyone lost it. We started to bang the middle door. We were kicking and punching that door. He opened the door.When he took the bus forward, I started calling you. You thought I was joking. I was not in a position to tell you, ‘Isam I am being serious.’ You heard me, right? I lost my mind when I saw Mazhar [Uddin, another journalist] calling me. I didn’t know what was happening.It was about eight minutes when we finally got out of the bus. Everyone said let’s run though the park. Someone said that we become easier targets in the park [Hagley Park], what if the shooters just notice us there and start shooting?The Bangladesh team left Christchurch on Saturday•AFPThe next thing that really scared us was how the police may react seeing us running with bags, etc. By that time I saw you three there [Isam and fellow journalists Utpal Shuvro and Mazhar Uddin]. I didn’t realise it then but last night, I realised how big a risk you three took.There will be very few people on earth who will take that risk. I don’t think many close people would have turned up in that situation, like you came. I actually got relieved when I saw you guys. Then we all started to walk. By the time we had gone a fair distance, everyone started to run towards the ground [Hagley Oval].You know, you had seen death with your own eyes. Your body goes cold. It was something we will never forget. And it is such a thing, it is getting worse with every hour we pass. I have spoken to a lot of my team-mates, and everyone is talking about it. The good thing is that everyone still has a little smile on their face. But trust me, inside, everyone is shattered.We returned to the team hotel and went straight to Riyad ‘s room. We started to watch the shooter’s video. The players started to weep, like they were doing in the dressing room.One thing for sure, Isam , it will take a long time to get over. I hope the families help us. We might need counselling. I close my eyes, and I am seeing those scenes. Last night most of the cricketers slept in groups. I slept with [Mehidy Hasan] Miraz and [masseur Mohammad] Sohel . I dreamt that those guys are shooting in a bike.On our way to the airport, we were telling each other that if things had gone wrong by even a little bit, it would have been our dead bodies, not us, going home. It was just a matter of 30 seconds.

A distracted and angry team played without passion or practice, in a tournament that is off the radar for Australia’s sporting public

Jarrod Kimber at Edgbaston10-Jun-2017In the gloom of Edgbaston, with England nearly home, the rain about to come, and their million-dollar bowler clutching his hamstring, Glenn Maxwell dropped a catch that he misread so badly it almost hit him. Even when it didn’t rain on Australia’s chances, their cricket was underwhelming.Australia have played only one completed match – and even that was incomplete. They were poor in their first match, and much better in the second. By the end of those two washouts, their tally of two points was exactly what they deserved. If you include their two warm-ups, they’d played in four games in England, and finished just this one.Essentially Australia’s only game of this entire tournament was a knockout game against the only unbeaten team, the favourites, the home team, and they came into it with no proper preparation. Most casual Australian cricket fans don’t even know what the Champions Trophy is, what it means, or how often Australia has won it. Plus, it’s footy season, and this is hardly the Ashes. Besides, the Australian players haven’t had to face anything as hostile on the field as they have from their own board. But even though Cricket Australia’s executives might have played even more reckless shots than their top order, this Australian team never looked right from the moment it took the field in this tournament.The problem started at No.4. Moises Henriques has never made more than 18 in an ODI. His top score for Australia is 81 not out in Tests. He averages 31 in List A cricket. He made two List A fifties in his first nine seasons of cricket. He’s only ever made limited-overs hundreds in domestic cricket. He’s 30. Ten Australian players have scored over 4000 runs in ODI cricket batting at No.4: Michael Clarke, Damien Martyn, Allan Border, Michael Bevan, Mike Hussey, Steve Waugh and Greg Chappell.Henriques has good recent form in the IPL, Big Bash and one-day cup, but at No. 4, in an ICC tournament, it was two or three places too high.It is not Henriques’ fault he is batting at 4: he is there because of a hole in the centre of this team. Australia are a batsman short and a bowler short. And to elongate the batting and rush through the fifth bowler’s overs quicker, Henriques has been brought in to fill this gap. The middle overs in this tournament are when bowling sides try and take wickets – England smashed through theirs with wrist spin and pace to make sure Australia had nothing left with which to strike at the death. But in the 13th to 15th of a must-win game, Australia was bowling Moises Henriques and Travis Head when they needed wickets with no catchers, no hope of a plan other than ‘”let’s hope Ben Stokes does something idiotic”.Would Australia have won the game with Marcus Stoinis instead of Henriques, or even Chris Lynn for Henriques, with Head and Maxwell combining for ten overs? Probably not, because even though the chemistry was wrong, the performances weren’t much better. Pat Cummins has taken two wickets in 25 overs in this tournament, and served up 144 runs – 52 of which came in his first five overs against New Zealand. Today, Stokes took him for 43 runs from 28 balls.Steven Smith was an angry man for much of a sorry Australia performance•Getty ImagesDavid Warner came into this tournament having made a staggering 23.5% of Australia’s runs since the last World Cup: here he failed in two of the three games. Steven Smith makes 16.5% of Australia’s runs; he failed in two out of three as well. Starc looked underdone in the first match, bowled beautifully in the washout against Bangladesh, and clutched his hamstring for much of this game.Australia’s game-plan relies on one of their top three batting big, to make up for their shallowness below them. Instead they lost regular wickets, and then 5 for 15 once the tail was exposed. Australia’s game-plan relies on their fast bowlers taking regular wickets. Instead they started brilliantly but couldn’t keep striking. And that was the ballgame.You could extrapolate this one game and talk about the Ashes, and a psychological dominance that England might feel they now have over Australia, but you probably shouldn’t. The Australians might be embarrassed that a team lost to England with six or seven potential Test players, but you know, they played a better-prepared team with better form in a must-win game, and they lost. Their ODI team might need a stronger allrounder, but other than that, it’s hard to answer any big questions from two washouts and a loss.Plus there are bigger questions in Australia that need to be answered right now, what’s Schapelle Corby up to, who’s winning in the footy and what is the best kind of fusion to win with on a reality TV cooking show?At 35 for 3, Hazlewood raps Stokes on the pad, the Australians are screaming, and one ball later they are coming off. Smith looks frustrated, but he has all day. He was angry when Henriques got out, he was angry when he got out, and he was angry when his team fielded poorly. The only time he wasn’t angry was when the rain came for the last time, then it was relief.Australia, caught rain, bowled England, 0.

A long journey, queues and ticketing troubles could not take away from the great show that Afghanistan and Scotland put on in Nagpur

Srinath Sripath13-Mar-2016Choice of game
As someone who has been following the Associate cricket scene fairly closely since the 1999 World Cup, I have always wanted to watch the likes of Scotland, Ireland and Afghanistan play live. Once it was decided that Zimbabwe v Afghanistan would be a direct knockout, last-minute arrangements were made to make the 800-odd km train trip from Mumbai.Team(s) supported
Afghanistan and Scotland. Every time Afghanistan take the field, the mind goes back to Taj Malik and . Their form in the run-up to this fixture and their defeat of Zimbabwe in Sharjah earlier this year meant their victory would not be seen as any kind of upset.Scotland – John Blain, George Salmond, Gavin Hamilton. Those are the kinds of names that pop up in the head when I think of them. It was, therefore, astounding that they have never won a World Cup game in any form since they made their debut in 1999.Key performer
While Samiullah Shenwari and Mohammad Nabi played vital roles in the Afghanistan win, Mohammad Shahzad’s early blitz set the pace for the game. Though sparse, the Afghanistan fans were out in vociferous support, chanting “Shahzad, Shahzad”, as he sent one ball after another for boundaries across the wagon wheel.One thing you’d have changed about the match
The ticketing. Fans were forced to go to the old VCA stadium in Civil Lines, a good 20 km from the actual venue. The comic relief, in all this, was on a notice board announcing ticket collections. It seems ticket collection was to be at the Jamtha stadium, and a last-minute shift meant a plain, white paper was plastered over the word ‘Jamtha’. Simple, brutal and convenient.
Moreover, there were no separate entry queues at the ground for the day’s fixtures, and plenty of Afghanistan fans waited from as early as 6am to beat the line.Face-off you relished
Samiullah Shenwari bowling to Malcolm Waller and Richard Mutumbami. Shenwari seems every bit the hard-working cricketer, not willing to give an inch to the opposition while batting, bowling or fielding. While he was hard on himself for dishing out balls down leg, he produced a few perfect deliveries any legspinner would have been proud of – flight, dip and sharp turn to beat the bat. One of these was to Waller in his second over, and when he came back for his third over, he hit the off stump with an almost identical delivery. First the feint, then the knockout punch.Wow moment
Right before the Zimbabwe innings began, wicketkeeper Shahzad and Noor Ali Zadran, who was fielding at first slip, had a lengthy argument about where the third man fielder should stand. In the end, they both decided that one of them should go to the crease to decide this once and for all. Shahzad, clearly the less athletic and orthodox of the two, sent Noor Ali to the crease. With Sibanda waiting to take strike, Noor Ali shadow-batted a cut to third man, and asked Gulbadin Naib to move to his left. As he walked back, the two had a hearty laugh. Not quite the autopilot settings that the likes of India and South Africa have, yet thoroughly enjoyable.Close encounter
Among the players and officials at the venue, Inzamam-ul-Haq got the loudest cheers when Afghanistan were warming up. A section of Indian fans somehow elicited a wave from the shy Inzibhai. A grinning Makhaya Ntini on the big screen came a close second.Shot of the day
Despite its brevity, it’s impossible to pick out one shot from Shahzad’s innings. An entire over from Tendai Chatara had one improbable shot after another – a front-foot pull to a short ball, then a blistering square cut, followed by a cheeky hook over short fine leg. You could play these in your head over and over again, and still run out of adjectives to describe them.Crowd meter
Earlier in the day, I ran into a number of Afghanistan fans, decked in their traditional , waiting for their tickets at the old VCA stadium. A majority of them were students, who had made the 700 km trip from Pune, while some others had come from as far as Kandahar and Herat. “,” (By the grace of Allah, we shall win today) was the common sentiment. These fans were a tireless cheering squad that picked out three of their biggest stars – first “Shahzad, Shahzad”, followed by “Nabi, Nabi” and “Hassan, Hassan”, as the players took Zimbabwe apart.Entertainment
The running between the wickets from the Zimbabwe and Hong Kong batsmen provided the most entertainment. Samiullah Shenwari, ever the livewire, took a shy at the stumps casually towards the end of the Zimbabwe innings. Donald Tiripano’s bat was inside the crease, but not grounded. It was yet another comic run-out from Zimbabwe, in what has been a dreadful series for them.Overall
Afghanistan were clinical, and it always felt like they were on fourth gear, from start to finish. Their fans from far and wide made it an atmosphere worth savoring. Associate sides get the wrong end of the stick far too often, and it was a joy to see them get past Zimbabwe. Likewise, a few Scottish fans by the South stand were there to witness their side’s first-ever triumph at this level. The perfect evening for them, despite the rain trying its best to deny them a deserving, account-opening victory.Marks out of 10
7. I almost missed the match due to the ticketing system. With no separate queue for this game, we had to stand in the same, long queue as that for India games. An understanding VCA official saved our day, just in time, to ensure we had the tickets before the game started.The new VCA stadium, the venue for the games, is a top-class facility and the experience in general was better than what you have at packed India games. You could roam around almost anywhere without being asked a thousand questions, and it was a chance to sneak around to some of the other stands and boxes to get a different view of the game.

Playing the long game may not come naturally to Faf du Plessis but he is showing the qualities that can turn him into a key part of South Africa’s spine

Firdose Moonda in Cape Town03-Jan-2015Look at Faf du Plessis and you may not see a man cut out for roughing it. The slick side-path, groomed ‘tache and clear complexion suggests quite the opposite. But look at Faf du Plessis while he is batting and his ruggedness is revealed.There’s the intentional forward defensive, complete with exaggerated stride and firm nod of the head as bat meets ball. There’s the intrepid back and across, which often serves only to gives him a closer look as the delivery passes safely outside off. There’s the introspective walking towards square leg, sometimes after delivery, sometimes less often to let the mind wander away from the importance of the task at hand.Even when he is not trying to save a game, those three things are the foundation of every du Plessis innings. It’s how he gets himself in the right of frame of mind to understand the small margins. Jerome Taylor only had to drop it a touch short and du Plessis had the time to rock back and pull, Sulieman Benn only had to venture a little too close to the leg-stump line for du Plessis to flick it down fine.Du Plessis on the day’s play

Denesh Ramdin’s wicket in the final 15 minutes of play on the first day allowed South Africa to claim an advantage over West Indies overnight and laid the platform for them to build on it with the bat on day two.
“What helped was the wicket we got last night. If they came to the crease with a nice partnership this morning it could have been difficult for us,” Faf du Plessis said.
“Losing six wickets on the first day is two wickets too many. At times, they batted quite nicely but we felt in control of day one. We knew once we got that wicket last night, we could run through them. Now, its a case of making sure we score as many as possible. Hopefully there is a base for us. If we can get to 450-500, we’ll be in a really good position.
Jason Holder conceded that West Indies finished “about 70 runs short”, but said his bowlers could have been a little tighter.
“We let them score a little bit too freely,” he said. On a pitch that remains good for batting, Holder hopes West Indies will not labour for too much longer. “It’s a good pitch for batting. Once you apply yourself, its an easy pitch to bat on but if you get it a little bit fullish, there’s something in it for the bowlers. If we can get early wickets, we can get back into the game.”

Being able to see when the smallest opportunity to score runs presents itself and being able to actually score those runs is what makes du Plessis a good No. 3. Being able to sit tight and wait for those the rest of the time is what will make du Plessis a great No. 3, the kind South Africa got used to thanks to Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis.That position is crucial to sustaining the success of South Africa’s strong top seven, which hinges on No. 3, 4 and 5 more than it sometimes seems to. The No. 6 and 7 positions have been used to blood new batsman and the opening partnership has not performed as consistently or confidently as it should have in the recent past.South Africa’s top two for the last two years has most often been Alviro Petersen and Graeme Smith. They batted together 18 times and averaged 37.70. Since Smith’s retirement, Petersen and Dean Elgar have had nine innings and upped that average to 39.77.Thought about simply, that means South Africa usually find themselves around 40 for 1, which does not paint the picture of stability they seem to stand for. It also goes some way to explain why a conservative approach like du Plessis works so well. It allows him to perform some of the rebuilding he relishes without requiring the full-scale refurbishment that would leave him struggling with the tail. Instead, du Plessis usually finds himself batting with the best of the South African line-up, Hashim Amla or AB de Villiers, who both seem on an upward curve that has no ceiling.Since January 2013, Amla has played 17 matches, scored 1382 runs, including five centuries and and averaged 61.90, higher than his overall numbers of 52.63. All that is in addition to taking over the captaincy. In the same time, de Villiers has played 18 matches, scored 1596 runs with six hundreds at 63.80, also higher than his overall 51.65. For some periods of that, he was also the first-choice gloveman. The pair embrace extra responsibility as though it was a cuddly teddy-bear and that may be why they have responded to the need to make up for a changing lower-middle order and a top two who often have to contend with challenging conditions, especially at home.They have laid the blueprint for South Africa’s line-up, as du Plessis explained. “We always strive to get hundreds and we do it quite consistently. AB and Hashim have been in the top two batsmen in the world so they do it most consistently. We hope one or both of them can go on to get hundreds tomorrow,” du Plessis said. “I was disappointed not to go through and score 100. I felt very good, I moved well and hit the ball nice and late. I did the hard yards. My role at No. 3 is to be as solid as possible for the team. I should have got 100 or been 80 or 90 overnight but a lapse in concentration showed you can get out every time.On 68, du Plessis advanced out of his crease to hack at a ball that was well outside off and was stumped. That left him with just one of his five Test hundreds at No. 3, but his average in that position is noticeably higher there. In six innings at No. 3, du Plessis boasts 427 runs at 61.00, in 14 innings elsewhere, his numbers are still impressive, particularly at No. 6 where he started his career, but it’s clear where he prefers to bat. More importantly, it’s clear how he wants to bat: the way a No. 3 should.

The method of ranking teams which are level on points through NRR was designed to reward comprehensive wins, but it surely isn’t working at the Champions Trophy

S Rajesh10-Jun-2013Over the last few of days, there have been a couple of close, low-scoring games in the Champions Trophy. Both have been won by the team chasing with plenty of overs to spare, but they’ve been nail-biters because in both instances the winning teams had to rely on their last couple of wickets to do the job. West Indies squeezed past Pakistan’s 170 with 56 balls to spare but only two wickets in hand, while New Zealand were very nearly unsuccessful in their quest for 139 against Sri Lanka, winning only by one wicket even though they had 13.3 overs in hand. The other two results in each of the two groups – India beating South Africa in group B and England trouncing Australia in A – were clearly more convincing wins.However, you wouldn’t know that if you looked at the points table, for New Zealand are on top in group A and West Indies in B. That’s because of the net run rates, which is the method used to break the deadlock if teams are level on points in multi-team tournaments. The NRR takes into account only the run rates of teams, and is calculated as the difference between the batting run rate of a team and the bowling economy rate over the entire tournament. A team which is all out is considered to have faced the full quota overs. However, in non-all-out situations, wickets lost isn’t factored in at all. Thus, New Zealand benefit because the method considers the fact that they won with 81 balls to spare, but ignores the fact that they were nine down when they did so. Hence, their NRR of 1.048 is superior to England’s 0.960. Even their most ardent supporter would admit, though, that England’s win was far more convincing. Group B’s scenario with West Indies and India is exactly the same. This method of ranking teams which are level on points was designed to reward comprehensive wins, but that surely isn’t working here.Limited-overs cricket is clearly a game where teams need to juggle with two sets of resources – overs and wickets in hand. Depletion of either of those resources, with respect to the target before the team, is a sign that the team’s in trouble. Any method which is used to differentiate between teams on equal points should therefore consider both these factors when judging how comprehensive the victory was. The NRR method fails to do that. There have been other debates and arguments on the shortcomings of the NRR, but this is clearly the greatest one.A possible solution here is to use the rain rule to decide the margin. In the case of the New Zealand-Sri Lanka match, the par score for New Zealand when nine down in 36.3 overs is 132. Since they won the match at this stage, they were seven runs ahead of the par score, which thus becomes the margin of victory. Since England’s margin of victory over Australia was 48 runs, they would clearly be the group leaders. However, if New Zealand had won in the same number of overs for the loss of four wickets, then the margin by the D-L method would have been 52 runs.Similarly, the margin of victory for West Indies over Pakistan would have been 20 runs by this method. Since India beat South Africa by 28, they’d have been the group B table-toppers at this stage. The victory margins in games which are won by the team batting first are anyway in terms of runs, so this option allows all match results to be expressed in terms of runs. It can be further argued that these margins should further take into account the target, so that a ten-run margin in a low-scoring game counts for more than the same margin in a high-scoring one.As things stand in this tournament, there could be a scenario – however unlikely it seems at the moment – in which New Zealand and England finish with the same number of points, and are fighting for second place in the group. If New Zealand stay ahead of England on NRR based on their one-wicket victory in Cardiff, it’ll surely be a travesty.

This series might actually be the best way to get the Indian Test team breathing back to normal and ensure that they digest the rest of what awaits them

Sharda Ugra05-Nov-2011When the India v West Indies series, which begins at Feroz Shah Kotla on Sunday, first turned up on the calendar, there was much mumbling and grumbling from the hosts. Sandwiched between the tours of England and Australia, it was given the status of a meaningless shred of lettuce in a double cheeseburger. West Indies are amongst the game’s contemporary strugglers (a fact that is easy to understand but hard to keep writing about), they have not been on a full Test series in India for nine years, during which India toured the Caribbean thrice.To mark the moaning and mourning, the Kotla Test will be the first of three week-day specials, from Sunday to Thursday. Eden Gardens runs Monday to Friday game and Mumbai begins on a Tuesday and ends on a Saturday.Yet, suddenly the lettuce is not quite so meaningless for India – because the first of that burger led to a bout of coughing and choking (no pun intended, honestly) that lasted three months. This series, then, might actually be the best way to get the Test team’s breathing back to normal and ensure that they digest the rest of what awaits them.If England became a case study of the “everything that could go wrong did go wrong” tour for the Indians, the three Tests against West Indies will be a check of whether all their best parts can get back to working order. Had this series not been around, the R&R available for the Indians after the bruises in England would have consisted largely of a few first-class cricket games for every player. West Indies, despite all their recent struggles, are an opposition that will ask far tougher questions.India’s comfort at home is expected to give its injured players a chance to test their recovery, their out of form batsmen a much-needed inner kick of confidence and also a return to even keel, the team’s faith in its ability to create and seize opportunities to win five-day games. For the moment, it has certainly given India’s selectors, a chance to offer proof of their bravado before they actually pick the 15 for Australia.That, however, is weeks ahead. Which is where West Indies want India to be looking, far ahead of them, ahead even of themselves. Captain MS Dhoni was not about to be distracted. When asked about the dramas of England, he said, “There’s no good reason why we should be thinking about England. It is all about looking ahead, that is what we have done.” A few minutes later, a query popped up about the Australia tour, to which he said, “the Australia series is too far away, no point thinking about it.” The immediacy of India’s present involves being up against a team to whom this series is quite completely, the real deal. In the time that West Indies have been kept away from a tour of India, the game’s goalposts itself have shifted. Darren Sammy’s men now know where it’s at.

Sandwiched between the tours of England and Australia, it was given the status of a meaningless shred of lettuce in a double cheeseburger

The Tests against India are not about trial-error-tinkering of any kind. When the captain Sammy called the series, “the biggest” for most of his team, it was not as if he was merely talking the series up. The three Tests will be a demanding examination of West Indies’ capabilities as travellers. Victory in Bangladesh, they know, was enjoyable, welcome, rousing even but not exactly the Normandy landing. Bangladesh is one of only three countries where West Indies have won an overseas Test in the last 10 years, South Africa and Zimbabwe being the other two.The big benefit from the West Indies win in Dhaka is that they travel to India with match-winning performances from some of their inexperienced players, particularly legspinner Devendra Bishoo, and top order batsmen Kirk Edwards and Darren Bravo. They bring with them a frontline bowling attack – Fidel Edwards, Kemar Roach, Ravi Rampaul – with more Tests between them than India’s main bowlers have played. (Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha are still one short of a combined experience of 50 Tests and Dhoni has promised two debuts at the Kotla).Outside the more familiar parameters of an Indian home series – slow, flat wickets, heaps of runs – the series will test the resolve in the younger West Indian batsmen and the strength of India’s bowling bench. Even without the presence of Chris Gayle, a series once glumly considered of as a mundane afterthought, is now full to the brim with individual stories. The question about the Tendulkar Hundred is the least of them, at the moment, even to the man himself. What is of greater interest is whether he will be back to the match fitness that makes him both confident and relaxed. Virender Sehwag’s shoulder has to be worked to full stretch, his collective with Gautam Gambhir needs to get going again. Darren Bravo must prove that he is a worthy successor to Sir Brian Charles. Marlon Samuels must make himself truly valuable to the West Indies again. Ishant must be ready to lead the bowling regardless of Zaheer Khan’s medical condition (for the moment, reported to be improving) and ankle-muncher wickets.This week, Delhi’s winter suddenly set in with foggy skies, weak dawns and early sunsets. It is exactly what the India v West Indies series had promised to be when first announced: bleakly grey, largely uneventful, predictable even. On the eve of India’s first Test at home versus West Indies in almost a decade, a series of revelations await. Who knows, we may even be witness to a burst of winter sunshine.

Plenty of athletes come to the School of Human Movement at the University of Western Australia. Only cricketers do so with their hearts skipping a beat

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan08-Feb-2008

Daryl Foster: in the business of studying injuries Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
The School of Human Movement is at the southern tip of the University of Western Australia campus, beside the Swan river. Footballers, rugby players, athletes, swimmers and even ballet dancers have approached the school but it’s cricketers whose hearts skip a beat when they come here.For it is cricketers alone who walk in needing a certificate, one that confirms them as legitimate participants in the game. Other sportsmen are only interested in studying their body movements to enhance performance. Footballers are usually interested in the movement of the ankle and knee, athletes want to test the dynamics of their run, and swimmers try to calibrate the movement of their shoulders and feet. Ballet artists try to study their position, to gauge the angles that will help them perform.We’re standing outside the famous laboratory where bowlers are tested for the legality of their actions. “I still remember the day Murali was here,” says Martin Anderson, one of the members of the staff. “The whole international media were stationed outside the laboratory. That was probably the first time I have seen such a frenzy here.”Daryl Foster, the former Western Australia coach and a specialist in the science of body movements, has lectured at the university for a number of years. He talks about the department and tells us how its genesis had nothing to do with testing the extension of the elbow.”It all began in 1973, when Dennis Lillee was the first recorded bowler to break down with stress fractures,” he says. “Dennis was rehabilitated in the Department of Human Movement, where his action was refined. Because Dennis broke down and received publicity, we got a lot of calls from parents saying, ‘My little boy has broken down, can you help?'”And it all developed from there. Our first emphasis was lower-back injuries from fast bowling. We initially went by the MCC coaching book, which basically said, ‘Thou shalt bowl with a side-on action’. But in the early ’80s you had a number of West Indian fast bowlers bowling with a front-on action. We then slowly realised that side-on was fine and front-on was fine but when you mixed it you were likely to get stress fractures in the lower back. Most of the research in the university concerns mixed actions and lower-back injuries.”Studying injuries still forms a large part of the research at the School of Human Movement, but in the mid-90s the focus shifted to bowling actions. “I was coaching Kent in 1995, and met Murali through Aravinda de Silva, our overseas player then,” Foster says. “Later that year Murali was called by [Darrell] Hair and [Ross] Emerson. I got in touch with him then and brought him to Perth to take a look at his action. We’ve tested Murali in 1995, 1999-00, 2004-05, and every time his offspinner has been fine. The had a considerable degree of extension but the ICC changed the law and it’s within the limits now. I think we’ve tested a dozen bowlers since.”Since the whole testing procedure takes just two or three hours, bowlers can afford to fly in, be tested, and fly out again. Amity Campbell, a PhD student at the university, remembers Johan Botha, the most recent visitor, coming in jet-lagged, bowling, and leaving immediately. She goes on to show us a crack in the door, when a ball from Jermaine Lawson hit it.The lab is the size of an indoor badminton court, and contains equipment straight out of a film. The bowler, markers stuck to his body, is analysed at the time of delivery, with his action simulated on a computer screen for analysis. “We have 12 cameras here and each can capture five times the number of frames that you see on television,” Campbell says. “We also have gauges for ball velocity, ensuring that the bowlers stick to their actual pace in the lab conditions too.”Spin bowlers have it easy but the fast men need to run in from the field and into the lab. “We needed to open up both the gates for Shoaib Akhtar,” Campbell smiles, pointing to the distant horizon to indicate from where he ran in. “But we only need to do the testing when he actually delivers the ball, so how much he ran didn’t matter.”

A graphic representation of Murali’s bowling action for his doosra, as analysed at the UWA Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
Until May 2004 the ICC’s tolerance level for bowlers straightening their arms read: five degrees for slow bowlers, 7.5 degrees for medium-fast bowlers and ten degrees for fast bowlers. “It was ludicrous,” says Foster. “It’s not the type of bowler but the amount of acceleration he generates during the point of delivery. Murali generated as much as acceleration as some of the quicks.Also, what about a fast bowler bowling a slower ball? What about a spinner firing one in? “A research of many bowlers around the world showed 15 degrees will encompass most bowlers around the world breaking the law,” says Foster. “It’s a common misconception that the rule was changed because of one bowler (Murali). That’s not right. All bowlers around the world extend their arms to some degree.”We’re shown the graph for Murali’s . The flex-angle is plotted against the distance moved by the arm and it’s clear that the angle goes from a maximum of 61 to a minimum of 50. “That’s only 11 degrees,” says Foster, “and I think we found a few cases when it was 10.5 even.”What of Shoaib? “I can remember Shoaib didn’t use an up-and-down motion for his front arm but opened himself up and generated all the speed through the chest. Looking at him initially, all we could say was, ‘You need to get your arm a lot higher.’ Lillee said it would take a long time to adjust to this change but I was confident he would manage – simply because he had begun to bowl fast only when he was 17 or 18. And he’s mainly tried to keep that action since 2001.”I was with the team as a consultant in the World Cup in 2003. I still remember Shoaib saying to me, ‘In the sixth ball of the fourth over, I’ll bowl 100 mph’. I laughed. Stunningly, he actually did it.”

Gloucestershire 292 (Charlesworth 71, Harris 52, Patel 5-113, Potts 3-43) and 181 for 6 (Harris 71*) need another 244 runs to beat Durham 445 (Clark 100, de Leede 65, Coughlin 59*, Borthwick 53) and 272 for 4 dec (Jones 121*)Matthew Potts did his prospects of featuring in the upcoming Ashes series no harm at all as Durham put Gloucestershire under the pump on the day three of the LV=County Championship match at Bristol’s Seat Unique Stadium.On a day when Sussex paceman Ollie Robinson joined Joffra Archer and Jimmy Anderson on the treatment table, Potts claimed 2 for 21 in an impressive five-over burst with the new ball to issue a timely reminder to the England selectors.Building on a first-innings lead of 153, Durham posted 272 for 4 declared second time around thanks to a fine innings of 121 not out by Michael Jones and a quickfire half century from Ollie Robinson, setting Gloucestershire a notional victory target of 426 in 142 overs on a deteriorating pitch.Potts then went to work, removing left-handers Chris Dent and Ben Charlesworth with successive deliveries in the third over to commence a slide which saw Gloucestershire subside to 58 for 4. Although Marcus Harris proved cussed in registering 71 not out to see the home side through to 181 for 6 at the close, they still trail by 244 and, with the weather set fair for the final day, the overwhelming likelihood is that Durham will complete a fourth victory in six outings to cement their position at the top of the Second Division.Given that Archer has already been ruled out of contention for the remainder of the summer and Anderson continues to be troubled by a groin strain, news that Robinson had sustained an ankle injury and been unable to take the field for Sussex against Glamorgan at Hove after lunch, served to further propel the 24-year-old Sunderland-born paceman back into the international reckoning.With England’s first-choice seamers dropping like flies, opportunity could yet come knocking for Potts, who has now claimed 28 wickets in five red-ball outings since early April. Certainly, he was too much for Dent and Charlesworth, the former caught behind and the other wafting outside off stump and nicking to third slip as Gloucestershire made the worst possible start to their second innings.Miles Hammond survived the hat-trick ball, but did not last much longer, nicking Ben Raine to first slip, while Jack Taylor was lured onto the front foot by Ajaz Patel and stumped for a first-ball duck as the home side slipped to 58 for 4.Eager to press his claims for inclusion in the Australia team to face India in the ICC World Test Championship final at The Oval next month, Harris held up Durham’s victory charge with his second half century of the match, going to that landmark via 89 balls. He was at last afforded the support his efforts deserved when joined by Bracey, who contributed 50 from 78 balls in a fifth wicket partnership of 92.But Gloucestershire’s stand-in captain blotted his copybook when nicking a delivery from Scott Borthwick to leg slip, while Zafar Gohar danced down the track to Patel and was comprehensively stumped for 11 to leave Durham on the cusp of an inside-the-distance triumph.Potts had earlier wrapped up Gloucestershire’s first innings on 292, clean bowling Ajeet Singh Dale for 15 to finish with 3 for 43. Josh Shaw remained unbeaten on 37, smashing 3 sixes and a brace of fours to dominate a last-wicket stand of 65.With a declaration figure already in mind, Durham were understandably eager to score quickly and Jones and Alex Lees obliged in a progressive opening stand of 119 in 27.1 overs. The pick of the Gloucestershire bowlers, Singh Dale troubled both openers in a venomous new-ball spell before retiring to the pavilion with an injured knee. Jones in particular cashed in, twice carting Zafar over mid-wicket for six and meting out the same treatment to Matt Taylor as he went to 50 from 73 balls.Depleted Gloucestershire continued to fight hard and debutant Zaman Akhter generated a head of steam from the Ashley Down Road End to bowl Lees for 40, while Zafar pinned Borthwick lbw for two to briefly slow northern progress. David Bedingham scored 29 from 26 balls in a rapid stand of 56 for the third wicket before coming forward to Shaw and guiding a leading edge to cover with the score on 178.Unperturbed by goings-on at the other end, Jones simply kept going, raising three figures for the first time this season with his ninth four, a cut to the square leg boundary at the expense of Zafar, who was struggling to exert any control. Aided and abetted by 5 sixes, Jones’ second 50 occupied just 54 balls.Robinson scored at an even brisker pace, rushing to 50 via 25 balls with all but four of those runs coming by way of boundaries as dot balls became a rarity. Without the protection of scoreboard pressure, spinners Zafar and Jack Taylor suffered horribly, conceding at 6.36 and 9.25 an over respectively.By the time Robinson overbalanced and was stumped for 67 off the bowling of Zafar, Durham were ready to spare Gloucestershire’s hard-pressed bowlers further punishment by declaring. Robinson’s whirlwind innings comprised 36 balls and included 9 fours and 3 sixes, while Jones finished unbeaten on 121 from 148 deliveries, with 11 fours and 5 sixes. Their fourth wicket alliance yielded 94 runs in just 10.1 overs.