India’s T20I captain had an impressive WBBL debut with the Sydney Thunder last season

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Nov-20170:34

Harmanpreet Kaur’s numbers from her WBBL stint last season

India T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur has extended her association with the Sydney Thunder in the Women’s Big Bash League by another two seasons. She was re-signed by the franchise on Friday, the final day of the tournament’s contracting period for the third edition, which starts from December 9.Last season, Harmanpreet became the first India women’s player to feature in an overseas T20 league, scoring 296 runs for the Thunder at an average of 59.2 and a strike rate of 117 – the second-highest run-getter for the side – while her offspin yielded six wickets, including a four-for against the Melbourne Stars. She was adjudged the Sydney Thunder’s Player of the Tournament for her stellar performances, even though the side failed to make the playoffs.

Current Sydney Thunder squad

Alex Blackwell (capt), Sam Bates, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Maisy Gibson, Lisa Griffith, Rachael Haynes, Rachel Priest, Naomi Stalenberg, Harmanpreet Kaur, Rachel Trenaman, Hannah Trethewy, Belinda Vakarewa.

Harmanpreet’s big-hitting prowess was in the headlines again after she steered India to a tense win in the final of the Women’s World Cup Qualifiers in February, and, in July, propelled India to the final of the Women’s World Cup with an unbeaten 171 off 115 balls against Australia – the highest ever individual score in the tournament knockouts.Thunder general manager Lee Germon expressed his excitement at Harmanpreet’s re-signing.”Following the Women’s World Cup, Harmanpreet was the hottest property in cricket,” Germon said. “She showed during that tournament, and through her performances with the Thunder, that she is one of, if not the most, destructive batters in the game at the moment.”Thunder coach Jo Broadbent spoke about the value Harmanpreet brought to the side as a big-hitter.”She’s a match-winner and that’s what you need in T20, you need those match-winners,” Broadbent told . “She’s got that really good blend of technique and power, she really works on the basics. She’s just incredible and such a great person to have. Her bat does most of the talking.”Normally in the women’s (T20) game if you get your run rate up to eight runs an over, you rarely see players explode and get over 10 runs an over and do that for four or five overs. She can do that. If we had to get 10 or 12 runs an over and she was in the middle, you’d almost be backing her to win a game.”Harmanpreet’s signing comes more than a week after New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Rachel Priest’s move to the Thunder from the Melbourne Renegades. The side, however, still have to confirm two members of their 15-member squad for the third edition before the deadline.

The 2023 FIFPRO's Men's Best XI has been announced with treble-winners Manchester City dominating the line-up.

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• Mbappe and Haaland named to FIFPRO World XI
• Lionel Messi and Jude Bellingham also make list
• No room for Cristiano Ronaldo

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  WHAT HAPPENED?

  The FIFPRO men's World XI was announced at awards on Monday, with Manchester City's treble-winning squad dominating. John Stones, Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, and Erling Haaland were all named in the team.

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  THE BIG PICTURE

  Ronaldo's move to Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabai has seemingly moved him out of the limelight, while Messi still shines in MLS for Inter Miami. Meanwhile, Real Madrid are firmly represented with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, midfielder Jude Bellingham and winger Vinicius Jr.
  However, the biggest takeaway from the XI is the oddity of the formation, with a 3-3-4 taking shape. Manchester City makes up the entire defense, with Walker, Stones and Dias all representing the backline, and has two more central with Silva and De Bruyne, alongside Bellingham.

  The attack sports City's Haaland and Madrid's Vinicius, alongside PSG's Kylian Mbappe and Inter Miami's Lionel Messi. It's a worthy front-four, but a lopsided XI. Regardless of that, though, how can you leave one of them out? What an XI.

• DID YOU KNOW

  The FIFPRO men's Best XI award only took into account the performances of the 2023 calendar year, meaning Argentina's World Cup win was not part of the voting process.

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  WHAT NEXT

  FIFA's awards will continue throughout Monday afternoon, but each respective player in the XI will return to the pitch shortly. Real Madrid will take on Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey on Thursday, while Inter Miami and Messi make their 2024 debut Friday, against the El Salvador national team. Manchester City, meanwhile, have a nice long break at the moment, with their next match coming in 11 days against Tottenham in the FA Cup. Then, it's PSG vs Orleans in the Coupe de France on Saturday.

Fans wishing to listen to commercial-free, ball-by-ball radio coverage of the Ashes series at the venue will need to bring their own radios after Cricket Australia froze out the ABC and the BBC from the three-channel earpieces sold and distributed at each ground.The commercial networks Channel Nine, BT Sport and Triple M are the networks included on the earpieces, which have been part of the at-ground experience in Ashes Tests since 2010-11. In recent summers the earpieces have generally been tuned to take coverage from Nine, the ABC and Fairfax radio.The choice of broadcasters, omitting the two leading radio providers with long histories of covering the game in Australia and England, raised numerous eyebrows during the first Test of the series in Brisbane.It was initially thought that CA may rotate the networks used on the earpieces on a match-by-match basis this series, in part to acknowledge the bigger-than-usual array of coverage options available for the Ashes and its wider-than-ever attendant following.However ESPNcricinfo has learned that Nine, BT and Triple M will retain their places on the device throughout all the remaining Tests in Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, with the only likelihood of change to be for the limited-overs matches that follow the Ashes.”We have five broadcasters and three channels,” a CA spokesman said. “The Nine Network is allocated one because it engages with the largest audience (8 million Australians watched the Brisbane broadcast), and BT provides English fans at the match with the English commentary.”This year we are rotating the third slot to be fair to our radio broadcasters: the ABC and Macquarie have each had a channel for a number of years, when we had just the one TV broadcast, and this year it is Triple M’s turn.”In its strategy document released earlier this year, CA stated that its goal for followers of the game is that: “We will give fans what they want and grow the Big Bash.”This summer is the last of the existing domestic broadcast rights deals with Nine for international cricket and the Ten Network for the BBL and WBBL, which were signed in 2013 and worth A$590 million over five years. Formal negotiations are expected to begin in the new year, following Ten’s successful acquisition by the American broadcasting giant CBS.

Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne has revealed that he knew his hamstring was close to breaking point before he tore it at the start of the season.

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De Bruyne reveals hamstring painBelgian knew he was at risk of big injuryMidfielder made triumphant return to actionWHAT HAPPENED?

De Bruyne made his first appearance in almost five months when he came off the bench in the 5-0 hammering of Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup, after undergoing surgery in August to treat his ruptured hamstring. He took little time to get his first assist of the season, setting up Jeremy Doku. The Belgian spoke of his joy at returning to action after the game and admitted it was only a matter of time before he seriously injured the hamstring, which he also aggravated during the Champions League final.

AdvertisementWHAT DE BRUYNE SAID

"I had three hamstrings [injuries] in a row but they were nowhere near the same place. I had so much scar tissue that it could snap at any moment," De Bruyne told reporters. "People said I returned too quickly but when you train three weeks in a row without any issue it was fine. I played against Arsenal for 40 minutes or so but then after Burnley it just needed to be done."

Getty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

City coped well without De Bruyne, winning their first six Premier League games of the season before having a brief slump in form. But they are now clicking into gear again and his return comes just as they are preparing their assault on the Premier League title and looking to repeat their incredible success of last season. De Bruyne revealed how hard it was to watch City's games while he was recovering.

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'I DON'T LIKE IT'

"No. I can watch whatever football and I watched every game but I don't like it," De Bruyne added. "They've obviously been alright. After the year we had last year there will be ups and downs but most of the games except for Villa and maybe Wolves we did fairly well. We are there with the other teams. If you're here with all the teams around you're not going to be far away. We are where we need to be, but we need to try and continue that."

Leeds United continue to be linked with a man certain to ease the biggest issue emerging from Elland Road of late…

Who are Leeds United signing this summer?

Having already welcomed Ethan Ampadu and Karl Darlow to the club this summer, it could be argued that Daniel Farke has sufficiently bolstered a weak backline.

It seems like the German clearly feels that way too, given how reports are detailing their new pursuit of Swansea City striker Joel Piroe.

Football insider has offered a fresh update, suggesting that it will take a sum of around £20m to tempt the Welsh outfit to part with their star man, who has just one year left on his deal at The Swansea.com Stadium.

Read the latest Leeds transfer news HERE…

They are set to battle with a host of Championship clubs for his signature.

How good is Joel Piroe?

Whilst acquiring the Dutchman would mark outstanding business in its own right, the current injury crisis plaguing Farke's front line is a point of serious concern that makes this move even more important.

Journalist Graham Smyth wrote on Twitter: "Bamford (hamstring) and Rutter (core muscle injury) now doubtful for Cardiff but Farke not yet certain of timescale."

To be without these key attackers for the opening day of the new campaign will be a worry for the new boss, which he will seek to ease before that deadline in just under a week.

Although both struggled last season in the Premier League, at present this would leave them with only youth team strikers to occupy such a role, or else be forced to play someone out of position.

That is where Piroe would come in as a star above all else, likely even the injured pair.

After all, the 23-year-old has shone ever since trading his homeland for England, scoring 22 goals and assisting six in his debut year, before posting a further 21 goal contributions in the league just last season.

Such form unsurprisingly has drawn praise, with Chair of the Swansea City AFC Foundation Andrew Rhodes having predicted something "special" from their new frontman. That has since come to fruition.

Russell Martin would later outline this, detailing his lethal scoring touch as a fine asset in April 2022: "If you wanted it to fall to anyone, it is him, he is so clinical with both feet, and he is a great technician. But the most important thing he has is the right mentality when he gets around the goal.

“He shows composure, he is calm, and he just focuses on his technique, something that all top strikers possess."

Whilst Bamford might have scored 16 during his last Championship campaign, and Rutter boasts immense potential that could thrive under less pressure their new level brings, Piroe would still represent a far more reliable source of goals given he has shone for two consecutive years now.

The former proved himself far from the requisite level last campaign in the top flight, missing 13 big chances as they fell to the drop. Meanwhile, the Frenchman would start just once following his club-record switch in January.

For just £20m, the young finisher would take the goalscoring burden off both of these struggling forwards, hopefully to fire Farke to an instant promotion.

Zion Suzuki has reportedly rejected the chance to make the move to Manchester United this summer, according to reports.

This comes after the Premier League giants reached an agreement with the goalkeeper's current club Urawa Red Diamonds.

What's the latest on Zion Suzuki to Manchester United?

Manchester United have agreed a deal with Urawa Red Diamonds for Suzuki, and a move seemed likely. According to Manchester Evening News, however, a major problem has emerged as the shot-stopper has rejected the Red Devils in favour of completing a move to join STVV in the Belgian Pro League.

Rejecting United is certainly a bold move, but Suzuki may have made the decision based on potential game time. As per Manchester Evening News, the Manchester club felt as though the goalkeeper needed two more years to make an impact in the Premier League.

Read the latest Man United transfer news HERE…

Erik ten Hag must now search elsewhere to find a back-up to recent summer signing Andre Onana. The former Inter Milan man completed the move for a reported £47.2m this summer.

Suzuki, meanwhile, looks increasingly-likely to complete a move to STVV in the coming weeks.

Who is Zion Suzuki?

The first thing that comes to mind about Suzuki is how bold he is, reportedly turning down a big move to Old Trafford this summer. On the pitch, however, it's no real surprise that the goalkeeper has attracted such interest this summer.

Football Talent Scout spoke about Suzuki in their look at the best players in Japan, saying: "Widely considered as one of the most exciting goalkeeping prospects coming out of Japan, however it is across the Pacific in America where most of this hype has been garnered as many supporters of the national team are keen for the Arkansas-born stopper to be called up for the USMNT.

"He is also eligible to play for Ghana and of course Japan, whichever lucky nation calls him up first and secures his name in their nation's goalkeeping ranks has hit the jackpot with a special goalkeeper.

"Zion’s distribution is exceptional, he makes passes which would be talked about for weeks if it were Ederson as seen here.

"Due to his age he is still prone to a few errors as he can sometimes be seen rushing out too early but these characteristics will slowly fade as Zion progresses and matures whilst gaining experience in games. A good alert goalkeeper, Zion’s speed and agility allow him to be both a good shot-stopper and a good distributor of the ball."

That potential looks set to be seen in the Belgian Pro League, rather than at Old Trafford, though, in what will ultimately leave Ten Hag bitterly disappointed.

The Dutchman has, at the very least, welcomed the majority of his summer targets so far in the current window, with Mason Mount making the move from Chelsea, Rasmus Hojlund joining from Atalanta, and Onana making the move from Inter Milan.

So far, United have spent a reported €192m (£166m) so far in the current window, and were willing to add to that with the signing of Suzuki. As per reports, however, it simply wasn't meant to be this time.

Everton are interested in completing a transfer for Danish side FC Midtjylland midfielder Emiliano Martinez this summer and are believed to have been following the Uruguayan for several months.

Toffees boss Sean Dyche has started to assemble his team for the forthcoming season after a slow start to the transfer window, with the experienced Ashley Young arriving on a free transfer and Arnaut Danjuma signing on a one-year loan deal.

Read the latest Everton transfer news HERE…

The central midfield is as yet untouched, and the Mersey outfit – while offence may be the priority – will be eager to fortify the nucleus of the team.

Are Everton signing Emiliano Martinez?

That's according to Danish outlet Tipsbladet, who claim that Everton – alongside Premier League rivals West Ham United – are interested in a deal for the rising star, who has flourished in the Danish Superliga.

It's claimed that Midtjylland will demand roughly £9m for his sale to be granted, and with journalist Rodri Vazquez claiming two months ago that Everton have made a "firm" for the 23-year-old, it could be following up with talks to finalise a transfer.

Should Everton sign Emiliano Martinez?

The £6k-per-week Martinez – who is not to be muddled up with his namesake; the World Cup-winning shot-stopper playing for Aston Villa – who plied his trade in Uruguay and Brazil before going on his European adventure, and is already making waves big enough to attract the attention of Premier League outfits.

As per Sofascore, the defensive midfielder recorded an average rating of 6.87 in the league last term, impressing across his 25 appearances and impressing by completing 85% of his passes, making 2.5 tackles per game and succeeding in 70% of his attempted dribbles.

Having been handed two caps by his national side already, Martinez is clearly held in high regard and looks destined for a date with the highest level, and given that he ranks among the top 1% of midfielders across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for tackles and blocks per 90, as per FBref, could be the perfect, tenacious option to complete the Toffees' midfield.

According to one South American football expert, Martinez would be a "fantastic [Declan] Rice replacement for West Ham", with the esteemed midfield anchor completing a club-record £105m transfer to Arsenal this summer.

Rice was been hailed as "the best holding midfielder in the country" way back in 2020 by Hammers boss David Moyes, and was paramount to the east London club's ascent to European competition after forging 245 displays – West Ham will play continental football for the third successive term after winning the Conference League this year.

The 43-cap England international ranks among the top 19% of midfielders across Europe's top five leagues for pass completion, the top 20% for progressive passes, the top 15% of progressive carries, the top 17% for clearances and the top 5% for interceptions per 90.

Martinez, who has demonstrated his intensity and defensive application and composure through his tackling consistency and crisp passing, could be Dyche's very own Rice and could have a transformative effect on the Merseyside outfit with his deployment into the midfield.

Praised for a very "solid" build – by Juan Genova – that has allowed him to thrive through his brutish physicality, Everton must do all they can to secure Martinez's services this month ahead of a campaign that simply has to be a success, and for the paltry fee of just £9m, the importance of swift action is only intensified.

Life as an understudy wicketkeeper on an Ashes tour can be humdrum, but Ben Foakes made good use of his opportunity for England Lions in Brisbane

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Nov-2017

Keaton Jennings and Ben Foakes made an impression for England Lions in Brisbane as England’s head coach Trevor Bayliss and batting coach Mark Ramprakash looked on before heading to Adelaide to prepare for the second TestJennings, who has switched from Durham to Lancashire to try to restate his England credentials, scored 89 from 148 balls and shared a second-wicket stand of 144 with Foakes, who like his Surrey team-mate Tom Curran was drafted into the Lions team from England’s Ashes squad in search of match practice.Foakes, understudy to Jonny Bairstow, whose strange headbutt greeting to Cameron Bancroft has given the Ashes one of its stranger headline stories, shared wicketkeeping duties with Lancashire’s Alex Davies at Allan Border Field as the Queenslanders made 396 for 9 on the first day.He then stroked 67 from 94 balls, batting at No 3, to continue the excellent batting form that had been a feature of his 2017 county season.Westley heads home

Tom Westley was due to return home from the England Lions’ tour of Australia on Wednesday in expectation that he will need an operation on finger injury on his left hand.
Westley, who was omitted from England’s Ashes tour party after a five-Test run last summer, had been due to bat first wicket down for the Lions in their clash with Queensland Select.
Instead, he is heading for Leeds where he will have a second scan and any surgery that proves to be necessary.

“Obviously I’ve been netting a lot out here so it was nice to get out in the middle, share a stand with Keats and get a few runs,” said Foakes.”When you come out as back-up keeper you know your game time is going to be limited, but it’s still been special to be out here,” he added.”We had three days of hard work in Brisbane when I thought we played pretty well, and although it slipped away in the end, hopefully Adelaide will be a good place for us to come back.”Jennings declared the Lions innings on 250 for five, in the hope of setting up a last-day run chase and there seemed every chance of further batting opportunities as Queensland powered to a lead of 344 at the close with eight wickets remaining.

Criminal charges may result from allegations of corruption in Australian cricket, the ICC has warned, as an investigation began in earnest in the wake of claims that the ongoing third Ashes Test at the WACA has been targeted by spot-fixers.According to a report in The Sun, two men asked the newspaper’s undercover reporters for up to £140,000 (USD187,000) to “spot fix” markets in the third Test, such as the exact amount of runs scored in an over. No individual players on either team were singled out in the report.The ICC responded with a statement from Alex Marshall, general manager anti-corruption, who said there was currently “no evidence” that the Perth Test had been corrupted. He later added that the ACSU would be cross-referencing the new information from The Sun with their existing intelligence, and confirmed that they would push for prosecution if it was deemed that offences had taken place in countries, such as Australia, where match-fixing is a criminal offence.”It is obviously very early stages and our priority on receiving everything from The Sun late last night was to consider whether the integrity of the third Ashes Test had been compromised,” said Marshall. “There is no evidence, either from The Sun or via our own intelligence, to suggest the current Test match has been corrupted. At this stage of the investigation, there is no indication that any players in this Test have been in contact with the alleged fixers.”We are now working through the rest of the information from The Sun as part of what will be a wide-ranging investigation and we will map this against our own existing intelligence and live investigations to look for any corroboration or cross over. We are taking these allegations very seriously and will follow the correct processes of a thorough investigation. We will look for clear and usable evidence that proves or disproves the allegations made. This will include looking for corroboration, speaking to key witnesses and securing all relevant evidential material.”This will not be concluded overnight and we will be working with ACU colleagues from Member countries to investigate every single allegation in full. We will not be making any comment in relation to the identity of any individual names in the dossier whilst this investigation is ongoing.””The allegations are wide ranging and relate to various forms cricket in several countries, including T20 tournaments. We will look closely at all the information as part of our investigation. We ask anyone with information about these allegations to get in touch with the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit via [email protected].”The ACSU’s sentiments were echoed by England and Australia officials. “Cricket Australia takes a zero-tolerance approach against anybody trying to bring the game into disrepute,” said a CA spokesman.”Cricket Australia will co-operate fully with any ICC Anti-Corruption Unit investigation.”Australian cricket has a long-standing, proactive approach to sports integrity management and Cricket Australia has a dedicated Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) to prevent corruption within Australian domestic comptetitons, including the BBL.”In addition to this, all players participating in CA sanctioned competitions, including the BBL, are required to complete an anti-corruption education session before they can compete.”CA works closely with the ICC ACU on all international fixtures played in Australia.”Players are able to report any suspicions they have on a confidential basis and in the past there has been a strong Australian player culture to do so.”An ECB spokesman added: “ECB work closely with the ICC and their Anti-Corruption unit to protect the integrity of the international game. We are aware of these allegations and there is no suggestion that any of the England team is involved in any way.”The game’s most high profile spot-fixing scandal was broken by the now-defunct – sister paper to – in 2010, which led to Pakistan’s Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif being given prison sentences for bowling deliberate no-balls in a Test at Lord’s.Marshall confirmed that similar action could be on the cards if deemed appropriate. Recent legislative changes at state and federal levels have made fixing a criminal offence in Australia and New Zealand, while in the UK it is covered under the Bribery Act.”Nothing has been referred [to the police] as yet because we are still assessing the information,” he said. “If we deem that offences have taken place in countries where match-fixing is illegal then yes we will work with the local police and report our concerns and share information to push for prosecution.””As with any investigation we will use all options available to us should we deem it necessary and appropriate. The ability to download mobile phones is one part of the investigative toolkit for us.””We are conducting a live investigation and will do that by focusing on the facts, intelligence and evidence at hand. We will be looking in detail at the allegations, looking for any corroboration of what has been alleged, either from the Sun’s own investigation or our own intelligence, and we will be examining whether there is any evidence which we can now use and take forward. We will do this without further speculation or comment.”Australia’s wicketkeeper Tim Paine said the allegations had not been a distraction to him during the first day of the Test match, and reiterated that he and others in the team had long been educated about the pitfalls of corruption.”I heard very briefly about it this morning, not a lot else about it,” he said. “What I do know is that all of our guys have been educated on that sort of stuff for a long time, I’ve been contracted since I was 16 and been through it every year, so we certainly know what’s right and wrong and I know there’s no-one in our team who’s involved in any way.”

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.