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The Australia captain has reiterated that players are unlikely to tour Bangladesh without a resolution to the ongoing pay dispute between Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers Association

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Aug-2017Australia captain Steven Smith has reiterated that players are unlikely to tour Bangladesh without a resolution to the ongoing pay dispute between Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA). The tour is scheduled to begin in three weeks, from August 22.”I’d like to, but as we’ve said for a long time we need to get the deal done first,” Smith told , when asked if he expected the Bangladesh series to go ahead. “I don’t think it would be fair for us to go away after the [Australia] A guys were very strong on not going away on their tour [of South Africa], for us to then go away, I don’t think that’s fair.”CA know this, they’ve been told this. I told [CA’s Executive GM of Team Performance] Pat Howard personally that this was how things were going to be if there wasn’t a deal done.”CA and the ACA are in the middle of negotiations and are thought to be moving closer to an agreement. Contrary to some reports, an agreement has not yet been reached.Smith, however, remained hopeful because he said there had been “”some really good progress” in negotiations. He also spoke of the difficulty he faced in having to take a stand on behalf of the players while maintaining a healthy relationship with CA management, saying that he would have preferred for the dispute to remain confidential.”It’s had some difficult moments,” Smith said. “When this is all over with, I have to deal with Pat Howard, I have to deal with the (CA) Board and speak to [CA CEO] James Sutherland so I have to be careful with what sort of lines I tread. Some guys have been really vocal on social media and I think the way for me to lead in this dispute is to be able to talk to guys behind the scenes that are at the table and doing the job.”Australia have not toured Bangladesh for Tests since 2006. The upcoming tour was originally supposed to have taken place in 2016, but Australia postponed that trip because of security concerns.

Chelsea legend Frank Leboeuf has defended Mauricio Pochettino by insisting that even Pep Guardiola couldn't have led the club to success this season.

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• Leboeuf claims Chelsea were in shambles
• Even Pep would have failed to guide them to success
• Chelsea take on Liverpool in Carabao Cup final

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  WHAT HAPPENED?

  Leboeuf, who spent five years at Stamford Bridge between 1996 and 2001, has expressed his beleif that the club was in a "shambles" when Mauricio Pochettino took charge of the team ahead of the 2023-24 season. The Frenchman went on to claim that not even a manager of Pep Guardiola's calibre could have led the Blues to success this season.

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• WHAT FRANK LEBOEUF SAID

  Speaking to , the former defender said: "When Mauricio Pochettino signed for Chelsea, there was not a ‘right man’ for the job – the club was a shambles. You could have put anybody in there, even Pep Guardiola, and I don’t think they would have done anything special with this Chelsea team because an instant solution was impossible to find.

  "Now we are starting to see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel after the games against Aston Villa and Manchester City, but it is all about consistency. We can see how Pochettino is working with the players and the confidence that he is building with them, but there is still a long way to go. I think Pochettino is the last person to blame for the situation at Chelsea. I’m not even sure that I would’ve taken the Chelsea job at the time he did, because although the money might be good it is hard to know where to even start with actually managing the team! He had the guts to take it on and he is doing well."

  He added: "Sometimes the criticism of Pochettino is fair but he has not been without problems and injuries and he has done his best. Everybody was saying that Chelsea didn’t know how to defend without Thiago Silva, but then we saw against Manchester City that they are more than capable. Axel Disasi showed last weekend, against a cyborg in Erling Haaland, that he can handle it.

  "When Pochettino puts his confidence in his players, they have shown that they can produce good performances like they have recently against Aston Villa and Manchester City. Hopefully, we are going to see the result of Pochettino’s hard work very soon."

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Former Tottenham manager Pochettino did not have the best of starts to his journey with Chelsea as the club managed to register just eight Premier League wins out of 20 games in the first half of the season. They were plagued with multiple injuries, which certainly didn't help Pochettino, but he has still faced criticism for failing to bring the best out of a squad full of big-money signings. Chelsea have been performing more consistently since the start of the new year, though, and are on the verge of winning their first trophy this season as they gear up to take on Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR CHELSEA?

  After facing the Reds on Sunday at Wembley, Pochettino's side will next take on Leeds United in an FA Cup fifth-round clash on February 28.

Trescothick’s neuroses are peerless and this book goes into great detail about them. Pity about the cricket

Patrick Kidd14-Sep-2008

Howard Clayton, the long-serving England Under-19 scorer, tells a story about the young Marcus Trescothick that sticks in the mind. Trescothick used to wear his England cap and blazer everywhere while playing for the Under-19 side and was teased for it by his team-mates. “It might be the closest I get to playing for England” was Trescothick’s proud response.Years later, and with 202 senior international matches behind him, an older Trescothick is contemptuous of age-group cricket. “A complete waste of my time,” he writes in his autobiography, annoyed that having to play for the Under-19 team in 1994 meant he was 76 first-class runs shy of becoming the youngest Somerset batsman to score 1000 in a county season.Such things should really not matter – not when you have won the Ashes and people still sigh: “If only Tresco were still playing for England …” That even now this one tiny record rankles hints at Trescothick’s fatal obsession.Cricketers do tend to be obsessives, as do cricket fans, but Trescothick’s neurosis is peerless. It is seen in his refusal to eat any meat except sausages, a trait which lent him the nickname Banger. His fascination with kit, particularly bats, is another obsession. Trescothick says that if he were ever on Desert Island Discs his luxury would be a cricket kit catalogue.Of course, getting Trescothick on a desert island would be tricky given his homesickness. The depression that afflicted him on England’s tours of Pakistan, India and Australia in 2005 and 2006 appears to have been based on obsession. When doubts and homesickness appear, as they can for any sportsman, Trescothick cannot let go. The first show of fear came when travelling on a school outing to Torquay. “I was terrified, irrationally so, and that scared me even more,” he writes.The condition returned heavily in Pakistan in late 2005. Being away from his wife and baby daughter hurt Trescothick and his depression was exacerbated when he visited victims of the Pakistan earthquake. Witnessing children in pain left Trescothick in floods of tears. The first Test, in Multan, could have been a highlight of his career. Made captain after Michael Vaughan’s knee injury, Trescothick scored 193 as England built a healthy first-innings lead, but chasing 198 to win they were dismissed for 175, the captain making 5.Trescothick reveals why his mind was not on the game. On the second evening of the Test his wife rang him in distress after finding her father unconscious outside their house. He had fallen off a ladder and was taken to hospital. Here Trescothick’s obsession is apparent. He had installed CCTV at home and could watch the images on his laptop. That night he sits in his hotel room and watches the footage of his father-in-law falling, hitting his head and passing out. Forward and back goes the tape as he watches the images repeatedly.The next day his wife asks him to come home but Vaughan refuses to release him. The guilt of staying, heightened by a bomb “scare” (just an exploding gas canister), haunts Trescothick, as does his daughter’s lack of recognition of him at the end of the tour. Undeniably the pain and anxiety of the Pakistan tour caused his breakdown in India a couple of months later.Of the 20 chapters in this autobiography, half deal with his illness, his counselling, his attempted comebacks, why he lied in the set-up confessional with Ian Ward on Sky, and the false rumours about his marriage. This, sadly, is what we want to know, more than his experience of the 2005 Ashes or any of his feats with Somerset.It is a shame, because some of the cricketing stories are fascinating, particularly how Trescothick almost manipulated a run-chase of 612 for Somerset 2nd XI against Warwickshire, run out for 322 with victory seven runs away. But in these celebrity-focused days it is the mental frailties of our heroes that we need to read about in minute detail. Obsession is a weakness of us all.Marcus Trescothick: Coming Back To Me with Peter Hayter
(HarperSport) £18.99

Manchester United’s need for improvement in the 2025/26 campaign is there for all to see, after the club endured one of their worst seasons in memory last time around.

The Red Devils could only register a 15th-placed Premier League finish, ending the year 24 points off a Champions League spot, after winning just 11 times in their 38 outings.

Ruben Amorim has so far fallen below the expectations put on his shoulders after arriving, but will have the summer transfer window to try and transform the current situation.

Whilst it’s his first major chance to land new additions to his first-team squad, it could also be his last if he fails to attract the right calibre of player and subsequently sees a repeat of last season’s dismal form.

The pressure is certainly on, but it appears as though the hierarchy are set to hand the 40-year-old the tools he desires to make the changes he needs at Old Trafford.

The latest on United’s hunt for new signings this summer

Bryan Mbeumo is still the name on everyone’s lips at Man Utd, given the major interest they’ve shown in his signature during the ongoing transfer window.

The Red Devils have placed two separate offers for the Brentford star, with the latest totalling £62.5m, but no deal has been agreed, as Keith Andrews’ side are holding out for £65m this summer.

However, he’s not the only Premier League talent currently on their radar, with Chelsea star Nicolas Jackson a firm target, according to Sky Sports’ Dharmesh Sheth.

He claimed that Amorim’s side are keeping a close eye on a potential move for the 24-year-old forward, who registered 13 goals across all competitions last season.

It’s also been claimed elsewhere that he could command a fee in the region of £100m this summer, with the Blues demanding a pretty penny for his signature.

Why United’s £100m target could be Amorim’s answer to Isak

Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak has been a name hugely mentioned in recent days, with the Swede potentially being subject to an English record bid this summer.

The interest in his signature this window is hardly a surprise given the 25-year-old’s tally of 23 league goals in his 34 outings during the 2024/25 campaign.

Such a tally takes his total of goals in England to 62 in his 109 appearances, with Isak now undoubtedly one of the most feared talismen in Europe’s top five leagues.

There’s no denying that United fans must wish they had a talent like the forward, but talents like the Swede don’t come around often, and when they do, they command a hefty fee – as seen by his current price tag.

However, they could be about to land their own version of the forward this summer, with a potential move for Jackson, who possesses very similar qualities to the Magpies’ star.

He’s been labelled as a similar player to Isak by FBref, even managing to outperform him in multiple areas when comparing their respective stats from last year.

Jackson, who’s been labelled “sensational” by Pubity Sport, posted a higher shot on target accuracy rate – highlighting his ability to be more precise with the opportunities that are presented to him in front of goal.

He also managed to win more aerial battles, whilst also completing more of the passes he attempted, handing Amorim the focal point to play off and allowing for needed link-up play in attacking areas.

Whilst he’s been unable to match his goalscoring record, Jackson has showcased that he has all the tools to emulate his success in England’s top-flight in the years to come.

His comparison to such a high-profile attacker is evidence of the talent he possesses, hopefully making the jump and taking his career to the next level at Old Trafford.

If he can match the levels of Isak during any move to Manchester, it would be a sensational piece of business, handing Amorim that needed centre forward that he needs in 2025/26.

Amorim's own Pogba: Man Utd leading race to sign "sensational" £42m star

Manchester United could be about to make a move to land a key target in their plans for the 2025/26 campaign.

By
Ethan Lamb

Jul 16, 2025

Jaydev Unadkat, Shaurya Sanandia and Kushang Patel dismissed Haryana cheaply in their first-innings in Lahli and the hosts need another 78 runs to make Saurashtra bat again

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Oct-2017Saurashtra’s bowlers took 16 wickets on the second day in Rohtak to take control against Haryana, who need another 78 runs to make Saurashtra bat again. Shaurya Sanandia took six wickets on the day – four in the first innings and two in the second – while Kushang Patel and Jaydev Unadkat took four wickets each on the day, as Haryana were forced to follow on after being bowled out for 107. In their second innings, Haryana’s batsmen – barring Chaitanya Bishnoi (53*) – struggled once again, finishing the day on 93 for 6.Resuming from 271 for 7, Saurashtra were all out in the eighth over after adding seven runs to their overnight score. Ashish Hooda took two more wickets for Haryana to finish with figures of 6 for 61. Unadkat delivered a fiery opening spell for Saurashtra after that, dismissing the top order to reduce Haryana to 28 for 3. Sanandia then took the next three wickets as Haryana slipped further to 41 for 6. Rahul Tewatia (23) and Deepak Punia (18) then added 34 runs for the seventh, but after that partnership was broken by Sanandia, offspinner Kushang cleaned up the tail.Saurashtra asked Haryana to bat again, and the hosts’ batting faltered once more. Sanandia and Unadkat together reduced Haryana to 14 for 3 in their opening spell, before Chaitanya Joshi took control with a 97-ball 53. Joshi hung on till stumps, but three more wickets fell along the way as Haryana ended the day staring at a probable innings defeat.Mohammed Mudhasir’s five-wicket haul helped Jammu & Kashmir wrap up Rajasthan’s first innings in short time on the second day of their Group B clash at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Robin Bist, the overnight centurion was dismissed after adding just eight runs to his tally, for 113, while his partner Tanvir-ul-Haq was sent back without scoring. Rajesh Bishnoi resisted with 43 at No. 7 before becoming Mudhasir’s fifth and final victim as Rajasthan, who resumed on 249 for 4, folded for 330. Medium-pacer Samiullah Beigh and Parvez Rasool, the J&K captain, split the rest of the wickets between them.J&K’s openers made a strong reply thereafter, putting on 109 before Shubham Khajuria was bowled by the medium pace of Tanvir-ul-Haq. Ahmed Bandy, Khajuria’s opening partner, remained unbeaten on 72 and took J&K to 150 for 1 at stumps in the company of Pranav Gupta.Jharkhand offspinner Sunny Gupta ripped through Kerala’s top order but a fifty from Mohammed Azharuddeen and Jalaj Saxena’s unbeaten 47 helped the hosts take a 48-run first-innings lead in Trivandrum.Sunny had dismissed Kerala’s top four batsmen with only 77 runs on the board but Azharuddeen and Sachin Baby led a brief recovery through a 43-run partnership. Once Azharuddeen was dismissed for 51 off 66 balls, Jalaj Saxena guided the lower order. Gupta went on to pick two more wickets to end the day with returns of 6 for 94.The day began with Jharkhand nine down for 200. It took Kerala’s bowlers just 14 deliveries to wrap up the innings for 202. Gupta was the last batsman dismissed, losing his stumps to seamer Sandeep Warrier.

Gio Reyna is reportedly set to see a transfer away from Borussia Dortmund rushed through, with it possible that a deal could be done this week.

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• American struggling for regular game time
• Expected to be on the move in winter window
• Working with same agent as Cristiano Ronaldo

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The United States international has been generating exit talk at Signal Iduna Park for some time. He stayed put in the summer of 2023, but regular minutes in Germany have remained in short supply for the 21-year-old playmaker.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  That has led to fresh speculation surfacing in the January window, with Premier League side Aston Villa said to be one of Reyna’s many suitors. Any move to England – where his father Claudio previously turned out for Manchester City and Sunderland – would offer a fresh start to the talented youngster.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Reyna is said to be open to the idea of moving on at an important stage of his career, with it vital for him to get game time under his belt if full potential is to be unlocked. With that in mind, has drawn up a timeline that could see him sever ties with BVB by the time that they return to action against Bochum on Sunday.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR REYNA?

  Winter transfer windows across Europe are due to slam shut at the start of February, meaning that the clock is ticking for Reyna. He has linked up with Cristiano Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes, amid the questions of his future and has also been linked with leading sides in Spain, France and Portugal.

Some of West Indies’ best-known players are claiming they were “denied the opportunity…. to help Caribbean people” by being omitted from the teams involved in the Hurricane Relief game at Lord’s

Colin Benjamin24-Apr-2018Some of West Indies’ best-known players are claiming they were “denied the opportunity… to help Caribbean people” by being omitted from the teams involved in the Hurricane Relief game at Lord’s.The charity T20 match between West Indies and a World XI is being staged on May 31 to raise funds to repair five major cricket venues damaged by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. West Indies named a 13-man squad last week and it did feature some big names – Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels – but Dwayne Bravo insisted he, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard and Darren Bravo had all hoped to be involved as well. None of them were picked.”We were denied the opportunity to be a part of something to help Caribbean people in a charity game we wanted to play in and were looking forward to being a part of”, Bravo told ESPNcricinfo. “We weren’t contacted or selected, so we just want people to know that we were fully available for the game and are seeking answers behind our non-selection.”This led former West Indies captain Darren Sammy to suggest Cricket West Indies has missed an opportunity to build bridges between itself and the players.”What better chance could the board want to engage players?” Sammy said. “They could have swallowed their ego and pride and brought the World-Cup-winning side together, even if it’s one last time.”I have personally done fund raisers, sent food and water supplies to Dominica, played and helped organise previous charity game in Trinidad. I was looking forward to this game.”During last October’s Hurricane relief charity game between Trinidad & Tobago and a West Indies XI, all the senior players were picked despite the Trinidad players having a similarly poor relationship with the local TTCB board.Bravo has also requested bank details from the board so he can make a financial contribution. “They’ve given the public the false impressions we don’t want to play in the World Cup qualifiers because we went to play for money, but now we’re available for free for a good cause and they don’t pick us,” he said. “Caribbean people need to know the truth. What we will do also is to ask CWI to provide bank account details, so we the players who are not part of the game. can still make a contribution towards it.”The players are understood to have enquired whether they could represent the World XI side, but were told it was not possible.”It’s a Rest of the World XI not a World XI,” CWI chief executive Johnny Grave told ESPNcricinfo. “And it’s a fully accredited T20I so counts for stats, hence why Caribbean players can’t play for opposition team. It needs to be a proper game of cricket for people to buy tickets to go and see it at Lord’s.”However, Grave said he would like to meet the players to discuss their international futures.”They weren’t invited to take part,” he told . “Darren Bravo has refused selection on a number of occasions now so we can’t continually go back to him every time we have a match and ask if he wants to be part of it.”Dwayne hasn’t played for quite a while in any of our sides… and said he does not see his future playing international cricket. So we’ve asked him for a meeting to see if that is his firm position.”The problem we have at the moment is that there is a huge amount of uncertainty where some players say they are not available and then suddenly they are available.”We can’t have a situation where players pick and choose when they want to play international cricket. In any team you need to have a group of players that are committed to playing and winning cricket matches and then build that cohesion to keep same group of players together for as long as possible.”So we will hopefully be meeting with Dwayne, Kieron, Sunil and Darren in June after the IPL to explain to them what the fixtures are between now and the World Cup in England and World T20 in Australia, who we are playing, when we are playing and if they want to be part of it or not.”What we can do is give them clarity in what it looks like to play for us, We know our tours all the way up to 2023. We’ve got an IPL window and a CPL window. Whether that is enough for them or whether they want to become T20 specialists and travel the world to play franchise cricket, that is kind of what we want to find out from them.”

India have never lost a Test in Johannesburg, and they have never been whitewashed in South Africa. Both those records are under threat as the hosts push for 3-0 with a green pitch and overcast conditions to aid them

The Preview by Sidharth Monga in Johannesburg23-Jan-20185:36

Cullinan: South Africa will win 3-0

Big Picture

“A lot of big names have played for 20 years, they have come here many times, and they have never done it. But this team has done that. This team is used to doing things that a lot of other teams haven’t done, and that too overseas.”This is a slightly abridged version of a quote from India coach Ravi Shastri in Sri Lanka last year. He was talking about India winning the three-Test series 3-0.There is a real threat that it could be adapted for use in the current climate. Many weak Indian teams have come to South Africa since the first tour in 1992-93, and none has been whitewashed. This “strong” team, with so many options that the team management has admitted to the inevitability of highly debatable, even controversial, selections, now needs something special to avoid a whitewash. If there is any consolation, they are making this attempt at a venue that should inspire them: the Wanderers is where they won a World T20 final and also brought up their first Test win in this country. India have played four Tests at this venue, and have never lost.The series is gone, but neither side is seeing this as a dead rubber. Not only is it a matter of pride for India to avoid a whitewash, it is also about bragging rights in a world where it is the mark of a good side to lose less poorly away from home. South Africa, still smarting from the ambush in India in 2015-16, which ended their nine-year run of never losing a series away from home, are in no danger of treating this as a dead rubber either.The hosts not only want to avenge their defeat in India with an identical scoreline, but also want to close in on the No. 1 ranking, which will be only a few decimal points away from them should they win on the green Wanderers pitch. The weather has been overcast in the lead-up to the Test, and there has been more than a bit of rain forecast, so this should be a difficult Test for batting, in conditions where both sides could choose to go without a spinner.India see the green pitch as an opportunity. It brings their seam bowlers into the game, and if their batsman can do something special – which they have been waiting for since the start of the series – they feel they can come close to winning a Test.

Form guide

South Africa WWWWW (last five completed games most recent first)
India LLDWDAFP

In the spotlight

One way to look at this series is to say the batting of AB de Villiers has been the difference between the two sides. He has dragged South Africa out of crisis on two occasions, and has contributed 35 and 20 on the other two. He has also been superb in the slips and wherever he has been posted in the outfield. India will be tempted to imagine what it feels like to get him out of the way, but to do that in reality they will need to work harder.The only man certain to play for India, and hence in the spotlight, is Virat Kohli. He scored a superlative 153 in the last Test, but that wasn’t enough to prevent his first series loss as captain. Between the Tests, questions have been raised about his leadership. Kohli needs to replicate some of that batting form, and also to select properly and motivate his side out of this mire. The test of his captaincy is only just beginning.

Team news

There has been talk that South Africa might go without a spinner – as they have done in their two previous Tests at the Wanderers – and beef up their batting, but the injury to Temba Bavuma might have changed the equation a little bit. If Keshav Maharaj is indeed left out, it could open the door for batsman Theunis de Bruyn or allrounder Andile Phehlukwayo. Chris Morris is away on paternity leave. Aiden Markram, who was off the field for parts of the Centurion Test with a left quad strain, is fit and will open.South Africa (probable): 1 Dean Elgar, 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Faf du Plessis (capt), 6 Quinton de Kock (wk), 7 Theunis de Bruyn/Andile Phehlukwayo/Keshav Maharaj, 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Lungi NgidiIndications are that Ajinkya Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar seem set to make their way back into the side, but at whose expense? The men under threat are Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin (because of the pitch) and one out of Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah. Don’t count against an all-seam attack. Parthiv Patel, ordinary with the big gloves in Centurion, could lose out to Dinesh Karthik, who doesn’t have too much long-format match practice behind him: he only played four first-class matches in the 2017-18 domestic season, and only kept wicket in two of them .India (probable): 1 and 2 Two out of M Vijay, 2 Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 3, 5 and 6 three out of Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya, 7 Parthiv Patel/Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 to 11 four out of R Ashwin, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah

Pitch and conditions

The pitch at Wanderers is unmistakably green. The head groudsman Bethuel Buthulezi might be tempted to not shave any of the 6mm grass because there is rain expected on every day of the Test. The sun has beaten down in the lead-up to the Test to create some cracks, but it has also helped the groundstaff roll the pitch nice and hard. Faf du Plessis said his side didn’t ask for anything over the top but a track with pace and bounce. Kohli expected the pitch to do more than the one at Newlands for the first Test. There are some cracks on offer, but it is possible overhead conditions will play an equally important role in this Test.

Stats and Trivia

• Hashim Amla is one catch short of becoming the fourth South African to 100 catches as a fielder, joining Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers. Amla will be the slowest to the mark.
• Contrary to reputation, the Wanderers has historically not been a graveyard for spinners. Among venues that have hosted at least 20 Tests, spinners have worse averages in 15 grounds than their 35.76 at the Wanderers. Those 15 grounds include Lahore, Port of Spain and Adelaide.
• Apart from Virat Kohli’s 153 in the first innings in Centurion, India’s specialist batsmen haven’t scored a single fifty in this series. The top six batsmen have averaged 20.45 – their third-worst in any series of two or more Tests. If Kohli’s 153 is discounted, the average of the 23 innings played by the top six drops to 14.08.
• Rohit Sharma’s difference of 60.09 between home and away averages is the worst for India batsmen who have scored a minimum of 500 runs each home and away

Quotes

“They’ve played some good cricket here. The last Test match we played against India here was a fantastic Test match. Their bowing is good. They’ve come this time around with a very good seam attack and if you have that you will be able to compete. We have got a fantastic seam attack as well so it will be the battle between those two. The pressure is in making sure we keep their batsmen under pressure. It’s been a pretty quiet series for most of them and if we can keep doing that, we will change that stat.”
“As a team we are looking to correct all the mistakes that have happened, Wanderers has been a special venue for us, hopefully we can play the same kind of cricket.”

The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket

Steven Lynch14-Nov-2005The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:

I recently read about Hasan Raza’s Test debut at the tender age of 14. Is he the youngest debutant? And who is the youngest to get a century? asked Aswin Chari from Singapore
Hasan Raza, who is playing in the current Test against England at Multan, is indeed the youngest person to appear in a Test match – he was only 14 years 227 days old when he made his debut for Pakistan against Zimbabwe at Faisalabad in 1996-97. There is some doubt about his exact age, but independent tests at the time suggested that he was about 15, so the published date is not far wrong (if indeed it’s wrong at all). For a full list of the youngest Test players, click here. The 12th man on that list, Mohammad Ashraful, is the youngest to score a Test century – he was 16 years 364 days old when he scored 114 against Sri Lanka in Colombo on the third day of his Test debut.Shaun Udal is currently playing his first Test for England, aged 36. Have many people have been older on their Test debut? asked Jeffrey Cobb from Fareham
Shaun Udal was 36 years and 239 days old when the match started, making him the oldest debutant for England since John Childs, who was 81 days older when he made the first of his two Test appearances in 1988. In all 22 players have been older than Udal when winning their first cap for England: for a full list of the oldest Test debutants, click here.Why did Mark Boucher have the number 200 printed on the back of his shirt in the fifth ODI between South Africa and New Zealand? asked Aamir Masood
Mark Boucher wore the special shirt because that match at Centurion was his 200th one-day international. He is the fourth South African to reach this landmark, after Jonty Rhodes (245 ODI appearances), Shaun Pollock (244) and Jacques Kallis (224). For a list of those with most ODI appearances, click here.

I read somewhere long ago about a Test played in the West Indies that was abandoned because the pitch was deemed unsafe to play on. Was that the only such occurrence? asked Prateek Goorha from Australia
It wasn’t actually that long ago – the match in question was the first Test of England’s 1997-98 tour, at Sabina Park in Kingston. There was less than an hour’s play – 10.1 overs in all – during which time England limped to 17 for 3, with the busiest man on the ground being their physiotherapist, who kept having to run out to players who had been injured by balls flying unpredictably off the rutted surface. I’ve always felt particularly sorry for Mark Butcher, who hadn’t expected to play, got a late call-up … and was then dismissed by an unplayable lifter. This is the only instance in Test history of a match being abandoned after it had started because of an unfit pitch, although there was one ODI that suffered this fate – India v Sri Lanka at Indore on Christmas Day, 1997.You wrote a couple of weeks ago about there having been only one Test in Multan – but surely there have been several played there? asked Siddiq Khan from Lahore
The question was in this column two weeks ago, and asked about grounds which had only staged one Test. What I meant was that there was a ground at Multan – the Ibn-e-Qasim Bagh Stadium – which had only staged one Test (against West Indies in 1980-81). Subsequent Test matches in Multan have been played at the new Multan Cricket Stadium. The current Test against England is the fourth to be played there.I know that Mohammad Azharuddin scored a hundred in both his first and last Tests – has anyone else done this? asked Neeraj Bhardwaj from Canada
Apart from Mohammad Azharuddin there have been three other batsmen have scored hundreds in their first and last Tests, and they are all Australians: the current Indian coach Greg Chappell, Reggie Duff and Bill Ponsford. This excludes any current players, and the two men – Andy Ganteaume and Rodney Redmond – who scored a century in their only Test match.

Ashley Nurse and Tion Webster were picked as replacements for Mehidy Hasan and Raymon Reifer respectively

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Aug-2017Trinbago Knight Riders and Barbados Tridents have brought in Ashley Nurse and Tion Webster as replacements to their respective sides for losing out on players who received Test call-ups recently. Knight Riders lost the services of Mehidy Hasan, who was picked for the home series against Australia, while Tridents have been without Raymon Reifer who has been in the UK with the West Indies Test squad.Mehidy will not be available for Knight Riders for the entire CPL this season. Nurse, who earlier represented Tridents, most recently played ODIs for West Indies at home against Afghanistan and India. Nurse will join the squad in St Kitts for the match against St Kitts & Nevis Patroits on August 23. Knight Riders head coach Simon Katich said: “Ashley gives us another spin option. He has been playing some league cricket in England so he comes fresh to us from there.”Dwayne Bravo was very keen to get him into the squad given that we have still got some big games coming up against St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, Jamaica Tallawahs and Barbados Tridents.”Last month, Reifer had earned his maiden call-up to the Test squad and was therefore unavailable for Tridents for this season’s CPL. He played the tour game for West Indies against Kent but was left out of the day-night Test at Edgbaston. Webster, his replacement and so far uncapped in T20s, made his first-class debut for Trinidad & Tobago in April 2017, and scored a century in his second match, which was also the last match he played.