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Wolves defender Fernando Marcal will leave the club at the end of the season, reliable journalist Tim Spiers has confirmed.

The Lowdown: Marcal a good servant

The 33-year-old made the move from Lyon to Molineux back in 2020, as he looked to add squad depth to Wanderers’ squad.

Marcal has done just that, proving to be a reliable figure, when fit, going on to make a total of 32 appearances for Wolves, including 18 in the Premier League this season.

The Brazilian’s current deal expires at the end of the season, however, and his exit has felt inevitable with the emergence of Rayan Aït-Nouri.

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The Latest: Summer exit confirmed

Taking to Twitter on Friday, The Athletic‘s Spiers said that Marcal would depart this summer, as he relaid Bruno Lage’s confirmation on the matter:

“Fernando Marcal is leaving Wolves this summer, Bruno Lage confirmed today. The Wolves boss also says he wants Joao Moutinho, Morgan Gibbs-White and John Ruddy to be in his squad next season.”

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The Verdict: Right time to leave

At 33, and with his contract up, it makes complete sense for Marcal to move on and find another club, rather than be offered a new deal at Wolves.

He was a solid performer throughout this season, winning an average of 1.4 aerial duels per game in the league, while Jeff Shi spoke of his happiness when Wanderers signed him.

Marcal won’t exactly go down as a Wolves legend but his contribution will always be appreciated, as he helped his side push towards a European finish in 2021/22.

In other news, one Wolves player has been linked with a high-profile exit. Find out who it is here.

Tottenham Hotspur, and club director Fabio Paratici by extension, ‘tried to sign’ colossal 6 foot 3 defender Kim Min-jae before his move to Napoli, according to a close contact.

The Lowdown: Spurs enjoy busy summer…

The Lilywhites completed a plethora of astute deals over a memorable summer transfer window.

Indeed, the likes of Ivan Perisic, Fraser Forster, Yves Bissouma, Richarlison, Clement Lenglet, Djed Spence and Destiny Udogie put pen to paper on moves to N17, with star defender Cristian Romero also completing a permanent transfer following his loan spell.

Antonio Conte’s side have also started this 2022/23 Premier League season in fine fashion, remaining unbeaten over their first six league games.

However, a ‘close collaborator’ of Kim has now revealed that Paratici was looking to strengthen Spurs’ options further as he attempted a move for the South Korea colossus.

The Latest: Paratici ‘tried to sign’ Kim…

As shared by Calcio Napoli 24, Spurs attempted a coup for the centre-back before his move to Napoli in Serie A.

Of the interested teams, a Jose Mourinho-lead AS Roma were also eyeing a move, along with Conte’s former team Inter Milan.

Ho Lee, a source close to the player, made some statements in a documentary about South Korean players before the winter World Cup in Qatar, saying:

“Inter, Juventus, Tottenham, Rennes and Roma have tried to sign Kim, and many clubs have held meetings on video, but we wanted Kim to be able to play in a good team with a certain continuity, and that team was Napoli.”

The Verdict: Big miss?

Judging by Clement Lenglet’s start to life in north London, it’s very debatable as to whether Kim will end up being a source of regret for Tottenham.

One thing that’s incontestable is the player’s quality, as evident by his WhoScored numbers so far this season.

Indeed, the 25-year-old is starring defensively at his new club overall – averaging among the highest rate of clearances per 90 in their squad (4.2) whilst also ranking as one of their top performers by average match rating (7.48).

Spurs coming back in for Kim in the next few years may well be one to keep an eye on, especially given his ‘monster’ reputation.

Alex Marshall explains why the ICC’s efforts have been heightened in an attempt to fight corruption in Sri Lankan cricket

Nagraj Gollapudi17-Oct-2018What prompted the ACU heightening its presence and operations in Sri Lanka?Because in some countries, and Sri Lanka is one where I am very concerned, the high number of reports that we are getting and the high number of investigations would indicate that the corruption is in the system. Sri Lanka is the country where we have conducted the most investigations in the last 12 months with Zimbabwe a close second.Corruption may be linked to organised crime. So we are very worried about the young men and women players, who are very vulnerable in a system that may have within it corruption.So I am driven by stopping this cycle where a young player coming into a national team anywhere in the world is put in an impossible position by people of power and authority, where they can say ‘no’ to the approaches and will probably never play cricket again, or they can say ‘yes’ and then they are compromised forever. And we fear that there may have been examples of people who became corrupted when they were very young, coming into the team, who might have later in life become corruptors of young players themselves. So it is a cycle of corruption and abuse within the system. And I want to break that cycle and give the players more protection.One of the ways would be using criminal law to catch some of the corruptors outside cricket. And criminal law is not there in the Indian subcontinent. So the Sri Lanka government has been very good in proposing new legislation. But also we want to support them on having really strong, independent anti-corruption within cricket in Sri Lanka.Recently the ACU held a special briefing with the teams ahead of the limited-overs leg of Sri Lanka’s home series against England. Was there any specific purpose behind addressing both teams?Firstly, it was not to do with the current series. During the briefing, we showed names and pictures of active corruptors in cricket who were trying to get at players both in Sri Lanka and at tournaments elsewhere in the world. So we have openly shared the current information of active corruptors, we have shown their pictures, given their names and details. This way we felt the players are better informed. The exercise has already lead to new information coming forward from the teams.How many of these corruptors were shown to the teams?We showed them six. There are probably 12-20 very active corruptors that we are currently monitoring.All men?The pictures shown were all men, but there are couple of women, too, involved in the whole picture.And are they all local?In Sri Lanka it was both local and Indian corruptors. In most other parts of the world it is mostly corrupt Indian bookies.You also met the premier of the Sri Lanka along with several other key officials. Can you expand on the purpose of that meeting?We met the competent authority [in charge of Sri Lanka Cricket], the sports minister, the solicitor general [responsible to drafting new legislation], the Prime Minister and the President of Sri Lanka. The meetings with all these people were to give a description of what we see as the picture of corruption within Sri Lanka that is affecting the cricket.They have been very positive in wanting to work together to introduce new legislation in Sri Lanka as a starting point that would make match-fixing or approaches for match-fixing illegal. Without criminal law, if someone is outside cricket [the ACU] don’t have any sanctions. I will still call them in for an interview. I will still disrupt them. I will still publish their picture. I will still make life difficult for them with immigration and travel. But I haven’t got any powers that I can use to sanction. Whereas in countries like South Africa, England and Australia there are specific criminal offences of trying to do match-fixing or approach a player.So your investigations are not restricted to match-fixing and approaches made to players?We are doing several investigations into various types of corrupt activities. The focus is really on the people. We are investigating several people in Sri Lanka connected to cricket – from inside and outside of cricket. These people could be current players, ex-players, administrators, senior officials, people outside the game.Did the ACU submit any names of people in its meetings with the Sri Lankan heads of state?We never name people unless they are charged. Once charged we give out the basic detail and the real detail is given only after the person is charged by a tribunal. [In the meetings with Sri Lankan heads of state and government officials] We did not name anybody. There was no list submitted as has been speculated. We absolutely did not submit any list.

R Ashwin has a Test average of less than 20 against left-handers, and dismisses them once every 45 balls, but in Australia’s first innings he bowled 221 balls at them and returned figures of 1 for 62

S Rajesh05-Mar-20171:18

Chappell: Lyon’s overspin got him more bounce than Ashwin

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Australia’s dominance on the first two days in Bengaluru has been the manner in which their offspinner has trumped India’s. Bowling on a first-day pitch, Nathan Lyon extracted plenty of bounce and turn, bowled a superb line outside off stump, and troubled all the Indian batsmen. R Ashwin, with all of 68 wickets in ten home Tests this season before this game, was frugal and often tested the batsmen, especially in the morning session, but ultimately had disappointing returns of 1 for 75 from 41 overs on a pitch offering turn and uneven bounce.The control factors for the two bowlers illustrates Lyon’s extra potency on this surface. On a first-day pitch, batsmen played false strokes against him 22% of the time (30 out of 104 balls), while against Ashwin, the corresponding percentage was only 12.19.

Against an Indian top order made up entirely of right-handers (Abhinav Mukund fell too early to play spin), Lyon settled into an excellent line, length and rhythm. Most of his deliveries were bowled from over the wicket – only five were bowled from round the stumps – and he worked a superb, tight cluster on the pitch map, giving the batsmen few opportunities to drive or cut. The overspin, on a pitch responsive to bounce, made him all the more lethal.Nathan Lyon’s pitch map to right-handers on the first day in Bengaluru•ESPNcricinfo LtdAshwin is usually lethal against left-handers – he averages 19.26 against them compared to 32.20 against right-handers over his Test career – but in this innings, Australia’s left-handers performed admirably against him: they collectively played out 221 of the 246 balls he has bowled so far, and gave away only one wicket (Ashwin’s overall strike rate against left-handers is 45, which means, on average, he dismisses them about five times when he bowls 221 balls at them). The left-handers also managed an excellent control factor of 87.78% against him.

Among the four left-handers who faced more than 15 balls each from Ashwin on Sunday, the stats for Matt Renshaw stand out: he faced 94 balls from Ashwin, and achieved a superb control factor of 91.49%. In fact, all these four left-handers achieved control factors of more than 80% each, which is extremely impressive given the sort of surface Ashwin was bowling on. It illustrates Australia’s preparation to play in these conditions, and their ability to stick to their plans.

Ashwin has so far bowled five spells in Australia’s first innings, including a spell which started an over before lunch and continued deep into the afternoon session, a passage when he bowled 18 overs at a stretch. His most effective spell was the first one of the day, when he conceded less than a run per over and took the wicket of Warner.

Lyon had bowled over the wicket through most of his spell, and got plenty of turn and bounce from outside the right-handers’ off stump. Ashwin tried that tactic, too, on Sunday after bowling from round the stumps on the first day, and while he forced a higher not-in-control percentage, the left-handers – Renshaw particularly – were still able to kick away the balls pitching outside leg. When bowling from his preferred round-the-stumps angle to left-handers, he was unable to extract the same turn and bounce.

Ravindra Jadeja, who was strangely underbowled, ended with the most wickets but troubled the batsmen the least. In fact, the two Indian bowlers who forced the highest not-in-control factor were the two seamers, who bowled their hearts out for very little reward. That is an indicator of how the day went for India, and also how well Australia’s top order combated the world’s No. 1 bowler.

Javagal Srinath discusses his time in the Indian team with Zaheer Khan, and his former team-mate’s natural flair for coaching

Javagal Srinath15-Oct-2015When I saw Zaheer Khan in 2000, I thought he was the best bowler around, in terms of hunger, in terms of wanting to do well. We played a match – he played for MRF – in one of the local tournaments in Bangalore, and I found him the best bowler. He looked better than me at that point of time, I would say.So, when it was very clear that I could not go to the Champions Trophy [ICC knockout], which was held in Kenya, I spoke to Chandu Borde [chairman of selectors] to pick him up straight away because he was that good. So that’s how Zaheer Khan came into the system.It was nice to see a good left-arm seamer bowl at 140 [kph]. He was rapid, which was good for international cricket. He had a good line, and more than anything else he had the ability to bring the ball back in. That’s what I saw in him.I always thought that the more fast bowlers you have in your side – Ashish [Nehra] was also up and coming then – then your longevity will also be better. I never thought that Zaheer was my competitor. I thought he always complemented me in many games.I think that was the time when we saw a lot of fast bowlers come in. Ashish had come earlier than Zaheer, but he was marred with a lot of injuries. Ajit [Agarkar] also came in around the same time. Others also started waking up to the possibility of fast bowlers coming in. In the ODIs and Tests played by India, we didn’t like going in with one symbolic fast bowler and going in with two fast bowlers made a lot of sense. I think One-Day [Internationals] gave birth to many fast bowlers then.The World Cup in 2003 was the first time as a bowling group we started to watch videos, we had technology at our disposal and started to strategise after looking at a batsman’s strength and weakness. Ashish, Zaheer and I worked on the batsmen for the first time and technology was completely used to enhance our efficiency. The three of us got together and that understanding made us a good combination. Especially in the World Cup we knew what we were doing up until the final.As far as Zaheer’s injuries go, I thought he should have managed it a little better. I certainly feel that injuries cost him a lot of wickets. I must say that the body is the biggest weapon you possess and you have got to take care of it. I believe if Zaheer had taken care of his body he would have had another 100 Test match wickets.I didn’t see a lot of the mentor in him because I retired in 2003 when he was still very young. But these are things you pick up over a point of time, and I think he is a good human being more importantly. So, these things come naturally to him.All cricketers have to fall back on cricket for something or the other. It all depends on where his interest lies. He is a successful businessman already. Mentoring and bowling coaching comes naturally to most of the bowlers. That is one aspect he will always do well in with his natural flair for coaching.As told to Arun Venugopal

South Africa have a history of goofing up at the knockout stage of world tournaments. Will it be different this time?

Firdose Moonda03-Apr-2014At crunch time in a major competition every team is focused on their opposition. They have to know almost as much about the 11 players on the other side as they do about themselves because that’s the only way they will be able to beat them.Of course the company line is to deny that and insist the focus is solely inward-looking and for one team that may actually be true – South Africa. Not only will they take on India in the semi-finals but they will also be jousting with the demons of almost every South African side who have been booted out of a knock-out match at an ICC event in the past.That is a lot of people to be playing against and the ones who will haunt them most are the ghosts of Dhaka 2011 – not just because it is the same venue. Although South Africa have participated and failed at two tournaments since then, the 2012 World T20 and the 2013 Champions Trophy in which they reached the semi-finals, the 2011 World Cup is the one that stung most because it looked like South Africa’s to win.They sailed through the group stages, even beating the hosts and eventual champions India. They were the only side whose bowling attack dismissed the opposition in every game of the first round; the only one with 60 wickets to their name. They were handed what seemed the easiest quarter-final opponent, New Zealand. They thought nothing could go wrong and then everything did.Vincent Barnes, who was the assistant coach, told Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn had their worst net session the day before the quarter-final. Barnes had to get the psychologist, Henning Gericke, to talk to both of them. There was also uncertainty over the playing XI because Steyn and Morkel had missed the final group stage match with niggles and their replacements, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Wayne Parnell, had done well. Barnes aimed to clarify the team early to ease the concerns.While Robin Peterson, who was South Africa’s highest wicket-taker at the tournament, remembers preparing well, he admitted carelessness crept in. “Maybe there was a little bit of complacency at that stage,” Peterson told ESPNcricinfo. “That game was just an enigma – to let ourselves down like that. I remember sitting in the change-room afterwards and we just couldn’t believe the tournament was over for us.”Nine of the 15 members of the current World T20 squad experienced the same thing but Peterson believes the same affliction won’t hit them this time. “I’m in touch with a lot of the guys and I know the feelings in the camp. Every game they play, I play it with them. There’s some nerves but there’s also a lot excitement. If they can get the balance between dealing with the pressure and having fun, they will do well.”But it is difficult to enjoy yourself when there are big things, things you have never achieved before, expected of you. “You have to be realistic as well. There can only be one winner,” Peterson said. “But this is a young team and I think that’s a good thing. Psychologically, they can draw on their recent performances against India, they have beaten them so they can do it again.”Last December, South Africa won a three-match ODI series 2-nil and a two-Test series, 1-nil. “We’ve had huge success against them, this season especially, and we’re playing good cricket,” Faf du Plessis said. Good enough to sneak under the radar for most of the tournament and pop into the final four almost by surprise. For another team that would not be cricket worth celebrating but for South Africa it is because, as Peterson explained, “it’s put them are on an upward curve.”All of that may actually mean nothing because their opposition are not burdened by the stresses that accompany South Africa. “Most of these guys are involved in the Champions Trophy, so that’s one experience everybody can draw from,” India offspinner R Ashwin reminded. “We don’t have any baggage. We’ve not lost many big competitions, there will be no scars with us. We have nothing to lose.”South Africa have everything to lose and they’re already talking like they know it. “It’s going to be a high-pressured game. We’re expecting the pressure and so it’s about making sure we do the basics really well,” du Plessis said. “We’ve played really well as a team and we’ve had different guys performing in every single game so we’re not relying on anyone [in particular].”They can’t even bank on summoning some of the good times Dhaka has given them, and there has been one standout, because none of them were around at the time. In 1998, South Africa won the inaugural Champions Trophy in Bangladesh but they’re not even going to think about that on Friday. “I was still at school, so I was very young,” du Plessis said. “But it’s irrelevant for us as a group of players to be looking at past performances. These T20 tournaments are about what you do on the day, nothing before has any importance.”

For all the high-tech scientific methodologies of 21st-century cricket, England may be establishing a new blueprint for tournament success in the modern hyper-crowded international cricket calendar

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013
We are so exhausted that we will surely win the Champions Trophy© Getty Images
Well, be honest. Did you see that coming from England? If you are claiming that you did, I want to see written proof, verified by an independent third party.The latest upward surge in England’s wildly fluctuating 2009 has seen them give two outstanding and dominant performances in three days, including a new England record for sixes in a one-day international – 12 (twelve, honestly, twelve) (I saw them all with my own eyes) (albeit on television, so the possibility remains that the entire match was in fact a hoax).Let’s put this in perspective. The dozen missiles launched by Shah, Morgan and Collingwood into the Centurion stratosphere on Sunday eclipsed England’s previous ODI record of 10 sixes in Napier two winters ago. Let’s put this in further perspective. England hit just eight sixes in the seven-game series against Australia just completed. And let’s now complete the perspective putting − Shah’s six bombs put him second equal on England’s all-time list for ODI aerial boundary blasts (as they will in due course become known to TV audiences); Morgan’s five place him fifth equal.Once again, following their ultimately successful Ashes blueprint, England have shown that they are never more dangerous than when they have been playing like a bag of pumpkins (nor, worryingly for the rest of the tournament, are they more vulnerable than when they have been on fire). Expectations had been hovering between low and non-existent, even amongst those England fans who had noticed that the tournament was taking place. However, as in the Ashes, they deserve immense credit for rebounding from performances of rare ineptitude for which they were rightly slammed. What a thoroughly odd team.England thus reach the semi-finals of an international one-day tournament for only the second time in ten attempts since the 1992 World Cup, whilst South Africa depart another event they had looked well-equipped to win, having conceded well over 300 twice in three rusty games.For all the high-tech scientific methodologies of 21st-century cricket, England may be establishing a new blueprint for tournament success in the modern hyper-crowded international cricket calendar.1. Ensure that you begin the tournament with your two most important players out injured.
2. Ensure that the remaining players are completely out of form, freshly demoralised after a massive drubbing.
3. Enter the competition with a batting order that habitually crawls along nervously, ineffectively and unexplosively.
4. Back this up with a bowling attack that has lacked penetration and control.
It will be interesting to see whether other teams have the courage to put this plan into practice with quite the same dedication as England.It has been an interesting enough tournament so far, although lacking a classic match that has gone to the last over, and missing too many of the world’s leading one-day players through injury. With its simple, condensed format, almost every game has mattered, there is no obviously dominant team and even the pretend West Indies team has performed creditably. The entire tournament will take three fewer days than the England-Australia seven-match jeroboam of tedium. And more than a month less than the 2007 World Cup. If brevity is indeed the soul of wit, then (a) my career is in trouble, and (b) it is also the key ingredient in the recipe for interesting 50-over cricket tournaments.A word too for Anderson and Collingwood. Anderson was expensive, largely ineffective and apparently exhausted in the Australia series, he has taken 6 for 62 from his 19.3 overs against Sri Lanka and South Africa. Collingwood, as generally happens when people start to prematurely question his value, has been at his decisive best.Both players appear reinvigorated after being rested during the recent 6-1 clobbering. If any further proof were needed that the world cricket calendar is counter-productively, idiotically overloaded – and the case for the prosecution is already struggling to cram all the existing bits of proof into a giant skip to dump outside the courtroom – this is it. International cricketers should not need to be rested. Doing so devalues the concept of international cricket – how can it claim to be the best that nations can pit against each other, when some of the best are too knackered to crawl out of the pavilion?The authorities responsible are clearly devotees of the foie-gras school of cricket scheduling – the more matches, series, travel and press conferences they can force-ram down the straining gullet of cricket, the tastier the end product will be. Sadly for them, cricketers are not French geese. This is a slippery slope, and there are few signs that the powers that be have any other intention than to shove cricket into a bobsled with no brakes, and kick it down that slope.

Steve Rixon, Australia’s new fielding coach, talks about how they need to get back to the basics to become the world’s top fielding outfit again

Interview by Brydon Coverdale04-Jul-2011After 20 years of coaching around the world, it must be pleasing to be part of the Australian side again?
It is. I’ve spoken to a lot of people who said, “It must have rejuvenated you a lot.” I haven’t needed any rejuvenation! I’ve been extremely rejuvenated wherever I’ve been involved, and have had plenty of success wherever I’ve been involved.It is always great to be involved with any Australian side. My big thing is about being able to do something to actually try to help get Australia back into a better place. At the end of the day, a lot of people sit on the fence and do nothing. Well, I’ve been given an opportunity to be able to do something about it. I’m extremely excited at the proposition of working with a lot of those kids I’ve seen over the years. I’ve seen things that I would like to sit down and talk to the boys about, and hopefully turn them into better cricketers – certainly from the fielding perspective.What do you think of the fielding standard around the world at the moment?
If you go through the best sides of the past, whether it’s the Windies in the 80s, through to the cream of the crop with Australia, we’ve had some outstanding fielding teams. You can see the English now have upped the ante with their fielding, and it’s standing out. I’ve noticed the Indians are starting to hit the deck more often, and they’ve become better. Everyone has eventually realised that you can’t have a passenger in the field anymore. To me, it’s always been an important part. You can walk into any organisation and really not know whether someone is going to go out and get a hundred or get five-for, but there’s one thing you should always be assured of, if your preparation has been good, and that’s that they make limited errors in the field, and maybe do something that might change the pattern of the game.Not long ago Australia were the world’s best fielding team. Is that still the case?
I don’t think so. I won’t say that. We’ve got some world-class fielders. Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey – they’re three of the older boys. That tells me there are a lot of youngsters that need to get back to some simple basics in the field like they do in the other aspects of their game. I have no question they are crying out to be helped, and I think they will improve. But we’re definitely not leading the way in the fielding anymore.It was a little bit different when you had Warne and McGrath in your side, because even if you did drop a catch, it wouldn’t be too much longer before McGrath would give you another opportunity. Warnie just created opportunities for fun, and you can’t buy that back. In the changing of the guard, you don’t have that. That, to me, is something we’ve got to be realistic with. So what we’ve got to do is make sure that when we have an opportunity, we’re going to make the best of it. That’s when our fielding will be at a new level, because we’ll have people who are not missing anything, really. That’s in the perfect world, of course, but that’s the objective. We’re talking about getting less opportunities but getting more catches when we do.

“A lot of people will field for hours, and eventually they’ll walk off when they’ve had the worst quarter hour of fielding of the whole time they were out there. You gain nothing out of that. You stop when you’re on top of your game”

Is the fact that the fielding standard has dropped a reflection on domestic cricket around Australia?
I think that’s a very good summation. I have seen some of the domestic games, and there is the odd standout, but it does need a new level brought into state cricket. They’ve fallen off the pace quite a bit there. We need to be much more consistent and realise that every opportunity that comes could be the changing of the game. It is a reflection on our domestic game, which is a bit sad, because that has been without question the strength of Australian cricket. Our grade sides have been strengthened by the fact that we’ve had a lot of state players go back to grade cricket on occasions. That lifts the standard, as does Test cricketers coming back and playing state cricket. If we’re looking at getting that standard to a higher level, we’re certainly going to have to do that.Why have fielding standards dropped away in domestic cricket?
I’ve seen some games where the fielding is very, very good, and I’ve seen some games where the intensity level is down. Your intensity level comes from your preparation. If you prepare and train smart, you’ll probably find you’ve got a little bit of an edge. It’s not by accident those three older guys I talked about [Ponting, Hussey and Clarke] turned out to be very good fielders. They’re all quite athletic, but [the more important question is] who does that little bit extra from a young age all the way through? These guys have done the extra work.We need to focus on the intensity of training, and also the smartness of when to stop. I’ve seen a lot of people will field for hours, and eventually they’ll walk off when they’ve had the worst quarter hour of fielding of the whole time they were out there. You gain nothing out of that. You stop when you’re on top of your game, and you trust that preparation is the way you’re going to go out into the next game.How important was fielding practice in your previous coaching jobs?
I remember only too vividly turning a group of guys in New Zealand into arguably the best slips cordon I’ve seen, outside of anything Australia have produced. We had [Adam] Parore, [Stephen] Fleming, [Nathan] Astle and [Bryan] Young, and I can’t remember them dropping any more than about five catches collectively in all the games that we had. So we did have something special. We had to, because we didn’t have the bowling power or the batting power to compete with a lot of nations. That single-handedly kept us in a lot of these games.Will you be working with the keepers as well?
I’ve been working with Brad Haddin for seven or eight years, so nothing will change there, except that I’ll be around more often. Hadds and myself have had a special relationship for a long, long time and that’s never waned. I’ll certainly be doing my work with him and [Tim] Painey. It’s something I really enjoy doing. The slips cordon is something I’ll be doing a lot of work on.”Hadds and myself have had a special relationship for a long, long time and that’s never waned “•Getty ImagesI want to make players take ownership of a position. We’ve got to work out where everyone fits into the equation. We want players to have a wishlist of where they’d like to be – outside of stuck at fine leg or third man all day – if they’d like to be at slip or short leg, or be one of the important players square of the wicket. If you feel you can do it, let’s put it on the wishlist and work towards it. Then if the situation ever arose, you’re not out of your depth. That to me is very important – you have the basics covered but also have something in mind as to where else in the field you might be able to contribute, so we don’t have any passengers at any stages.The appointment is for the tours of Sri Lanka and South Africa. Do you want to stay on after that?
They [Cricket Australia] came to me asking the questions, I didn’t go chasing the job. I’ve never taken a coaching job and committed to anything like three or four years. I back myself to do two years and then reassess. Let’s see how it goes for two tours and see if it’s the sort of thing I would like to continue with – I’ll be very surprised if it isn’t. IPL is very much part of my life at the moment, with the Chennai Super Kings. They’ve been extremely good to me, so I’ve said from day one that that will be a priority. The idea of the shorter term is as much for me as it is for Cricket Australia.Will you be a sounding board for the other coaches as well, in areas besides fielding?
Most definitely. With 20-odd years of coaching and 15 years as a player, I’d be very surprised if they didn’t want to hear from a new set of eyes around the place. If I was a coach and had someone new come in, I’d be all over him. I’d want honesty out of him and I’d want him to tell me as he sees it, because that’s the only way you move forward. As Michael [Clarke] and Tim [Nielsen] know, I’ll be very happy to be honest with what I see. It’s not about individuals, this is about a group going together and trying to get Australia back on track, to get away from ever looking at fifth position on a Test table ever again. We don’t want to ever be seen or thought of in the same breath as, say, West Indies after their reign at the top of the tree. We need to recover quicker than anything West Indies have done.Are you confident Australia has the young talent to climb back up the Test rankings?
That’s the only part I really do know without any apprehension. I look at what we’ve got in our youngsters, throw in your mix of senior players, and we have the ability to get back on top of things very quickly – albeit we will be taking things in small steps, looking at the fourth position before we look at first. We want to be tracking to that first position, but that may take a little bit of time. We definitely have the quality of players in Australia, no question about that.

A Test was forfeited for the first time ever, an elite panel umpire was sacked, two leading bowlers were banned after testing positive for a banned steroid, and then those bans overturned less than a month later. All brought to you courtesy Pakistan

Osman Samiuddin26-Dec-2006

Tennis without McEnroe, boxing without Tyson, Australia without Warne: Take the latter out of the equation and you lose, other than some of the greatest talents, sports’ roguish charm, an essential farrago of mischief, volatility, drama and an element of the unknown and danger. They are a reason to tune in, get hooked. Sort of like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, without the jelly.Take Pakistan out of cricket in 2006 and you lose the same. What happened, after all, of any interest without them? Australia won the Ashes – really? Australia won the Champions Trophy – well, blow me down, there’s a surprise. England was as successful at ODIs as Americans were at military adventures, the BCCI made more money than most economies and Murali took a gazillion more wickets. You could have penned these forecasts 360 days ago (and put some money on while at it).What you probably couldn’t have guessed was this: that a Test would be forfeited for the first time ever, that an elite panel umpire would be sacked for making, according to the laws, two correct decisions, and that two leading bowlers would test positive for a banned steroid, be slapped with bans and then have those bans overturned less than a month later. All brought to you, as sponsors would have it, courtesy Pakistan.If you’ve been following Pakistan since the 80s, the October revolution might have rung a bell or two, bringing as it did a new chairman and three captaincy changes in three days. As would have Shahid Afridi’s classic “I’m retiring…wait I’m not” act. Then again, if you’d been following them for the last two years only, you wouldn’t have predicted that either. Yes, in the year that Justin Timberlake brought sexy back, Pakistan brought crazy back. They gave cricket its scandal, they brought – before the Ashes – cricket onto front and back pages. They gave cricket its oomph.On the field, there was real nothingness about their results. They won, drew and lost nearly an equal number of matches (four wins, five draws, three losses) and only won one more ODI (11) than they lost. Test series wins against India, Sri Lanka and the West Indies were all significant but the one they lost – against England – was probably the most significant.Fashionistas will pooh-pooh the opening problem as ‘ last year’, except that this year, from the trillion combinations trialed, only one century partnership in all international cricket was produced and Pakistan appeared no closer to identifying a pair. On pitches with bounce – as Old Trafford and Mohali proved – even the rest of the batsmen were befuddled. But we live in fast-changing times, so if brown is the new black, then fielding is the new opening.Beginning with a horror show in the Karachi ODI against India this year, Pakistan’s fielding was as poor as it has been in recent memory. Catches were dropped, mostly by Imran Farhat, as often as Britney Spears’ dumps boyfriends, dives and takes were fumbled; the Jonty Rhodes experiment in June was never going to improve matters much but no one thought it would worsen.Happily, to the certainties in life of death and taxes can also be added Pakistan’s endless capacity to churn out fast bowlers. Mohammad Asif lit up the first half of the year and when he was absent, Umar Gul reminded one and all that before his back injury over two years ago, he was actually Pakistan pace’s shining light. Add a belated return from Shahid Nazir to existing reserves and a formidable pace attack resulted.But finally, whose responsibility it will be to deploy them in the future became less clear. Younis Khan was the leading candidate to take over from Inzamam but the confidence invested in him was eroded by his almighty tantrum and a less than convincing Champions Trophy when he did lead. He probably still is the leading candidate, but only just.

New man on the block

Has to be Mohammad Yousuf. He was, after all, a new man this year, in name, faith and beard. Above all, he was a new batsman. Out went the beautiful, wasteful artisan, in came the beautiful, resolute, run-getter. Hundreds were crafted for fun, mostly large ones, in all kinds of situations and he also floated past Viv Richards’s records for most Test runs in a year.Fading star

Shahid Afridi’s ill-timed, ill-advised and short-lived ‘retirement’ ended his most successful period and sparked off another wishy-washy one. Gone was the verve and chutzpah of 2005, replaced by introspection, insecurity and uncertainty. Where to bat, when to bowl? No one knew, so they dropped him.High point

The Karachi win against India. To recover from nought for three and 39 for 6 was stunning enough but to do it on the back of one of the finest Pakistani centuries of all time was even better. It was also when Mohammad Asif said hello to the world. Of course, you’ll come across a few who would pick Darrell Hair’s sacking as their high point.Low Point

Err, which one?
The Oval Test , Shoaib Akhtar doing something suspicious to the ball in an ODI soon after,
Younis Khan’s captaincy tantrum, another board chairman getting the sack, another year without a constitution, Shoaib and Asif testing positive for doping, Shoaib and Asif being banned for doping, Shoaib and Asif having their bans for doping completely overturned …What 2007 holds?

On the field, the year begins bright and early with a tough tour to South Africa. Soon after, the World Cup brings a natural end to a four-year cycle. After it, calls for a new captain will be sent out. So too might calls for a new coach: Bob Woolmer’s contract ends in June. Ultimately, a little less madness would itself be a considerable triumph.

Richard Masters, the Premier League's chief executive, has issued an update on the status of the legal case against Manchester City amid a long delay.

Man City facing at least 115 chargesClub awaiting verdictMasters admits his frustration is 'irrelevant'Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

City continue to await the outcome of the proceedings against them, as they have been accused of 115 charges of financial rule breaches. The Premier League opened the case against City in 2023, and there is still no sign of a verdict, with the wait beginning to frustrate onlookers.

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Masters has admitted that he has his own frustrations over the length of time that has passed, but he has defended the Premier League's judicial processes. Reports have suggested that a verdict could be revealed in 2025, but Masters stopped short of giving a firm date. 

WHAT MASTERS SAID

Masters told Sky Sports: "It's an independent judiciary essentially. They are then in charge of the process and its timings. They hear the case, they decide the outcome and we have no influence over it or its timing.

"My frustration is irrelevant really, I just have to wait. Legal processes rarely take less time than you anticipated. But we have to be patient."

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GettyWHAT NEXT?

City will kick off their Premier League season against Wolves this Saturday, as they once again head into the campaign with a legal cloud hanging over them. Should they be found guilty, reports have suggested they could be relegated.