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An update has emerged on Newcastle United’s pursuit of Liverpool defender Nathaniel Phillips…

What’s the talk?

According to i News, the Magpies are considering a deal for the Anfield destroyer as they plot a number of defensive additions to improve their squad.

The report claims that he is high on their list of centre-back targets and the Reds are demanding £15m for his services.

Howey 2.0

Eddie Howe could find his own Steve Howey for Newcastle in a deal to sign Phillips from the Premier League giants this month.

Howey was a homegrown defender who played 160 times for the Magpies during his time at the club and 193 games in the Premier League overall in his career. Phillips could follow a similar career path, albeit without starting at Newcastle, as he is an English centre-back who has the quality to play regularly at the top level for a number of years.

The Liverpool man may even end up coming up short on the international front, just like Howey during his playing days. Despite playing week in, week out for the Toon, the 50-year-old ended his career with just four caps for England’s senior side.

Phillips has played 24 times for Liverpool’s first team but has not been called up to represent England at any age level. This suggests that, like Howey, he may be a player who is overlooked by his country despite his performances at club level.

Last season, the 24-year-old averaged a superb WhoScored rating of 7.29 in the Premier League, his match average of 5.6 successful aerial duels the joint-fifth highest in the entire division. This led to Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp showering the centre-back with praise for his performances.

The German told Goal.com: “Nat Phillips is just an exceptional career so far, with all the things he did in the past and what he thought about and where he was and all these things. Now playing for Liverpool in the Champions League, Premier League, winning games, winning challenges.

“[He will have] probably the best heading statistics in the history of the Premier League I could imagine at least, it is unbelievable what the boy is doing there, and on top of that playing good football.”

This suggests that Phillips is capable of putting in top-class displays at the highest level, and that is why he could be Howe’s own Steve Howey, as the 24-year-old English destroyer could come in and be Newcastle’s go-to centre-back for the next decade if he remains consistent.

AND in other news, Fabrizio Romano drops exciting Newcastle United transfer update, fans will be buzzing…

Newcastle United are reportedly eyeing a swoop for Nantes attacking midfielder Ludovic Blas, with Eddie Howe’s side in desperate need of extra creativity in the final third.

What’s the story?

According to the Daily Star, the Magpies are in talks with the Ligue 1 outfit over a potential deal for the 24-year-old, with Premier League rivals Watford also reportedly in discussions.

The Frenchman has been in stellar form this term, scoring seven goals and setting up another one in 19 Ligue 1 appearances, with his side currently ninth in the French top flight.

Valued at £14.4m by Transfermarkt and earning £16k-p/w, the attacking midfielder -who is often deployed as an inverted right-winger – has two years left on his contract with Nantes and could be on his way to the Premier League this month.

Last season, Blas completed the most successful dribbles in Ligue 1 with 80, whilst recording the fifth-highest amount in the French top flight since the 2017/18 campaign.

There has been plenty of attention surrounding the 24-year-old, with team-mate and former Liverpool midfielder Pedro Chirivella comparing Blas to former Anfield teammates Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.

Speaking to French magazine So Foot, Chirivella said: “When it comes to pure talent, I rate Ludovic Blas above all the others. I played with [Philippe] Coutinho, Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, I know what they are capable of.

“And when I see what ‘Ludo’ is doing in training or in games, he has nothing to envy them when it comes to talent. He’s incredible, spectacular, and his future looks bright. We are often lined up together in the middle, we see football the same way, and it is a pleasure to grow alongside him.”

Blas would be a huge upgrade for Newcastle

With Eddie Howe’s side still 19th in the Premier League table and in real danger of being relegated, the 44-year-old will be desperate for as many new recruits as possible this window.

The Magpies have already signed right-back Kieran Trippier from Atletico Madrid and striker Chris Wood from Burnley this month.

However, their attack could do with the sort of creativity that Blas may be able to provide. The Tyneside outfit are currently averaging a goal per game in the Premier League, having scored just 20 goals in their 20 matches; only three teams have scored fewer goals in the division.

Callum Wilson has provided six of those goals, but the 29-year-old is set to miss eight weeks of action through injury.

Right now, Allan Saint-Maximin is the Magpies’ top creator with five goals and three assists. However, after the Frenchman, no midfielder or attacker has contributed more than one assist.

Granted, there is the argument that Blas would need the time to settle in a new league, whilst there also being serious expectations put on the 24-year-old’s shoulders with Newcastle deep in the relegation dogfight. Based on the Nantes player’s goal return and the garlands surrounding him, though, he could prove to be exactly what Howe desperately needs.

AND in other news, Newcastle eyeing a move for player dubbed the “new Vidic.”

Graham Onions, the England pace bowler, will undergo surgery next week on a career-threatening back injury which will rule him out of action for up to nine months

Cricinfo staff02-Sep-2010Graham Onions, the England pace bowler, will undergo surgery next week on a career-threatening back injury which will rule him out of action for up to nine months. He has been plagued by a stress fracture since returning from England’s tour of Bangladesh in March and hasn’t played for Durham this season, but until recently retained hope of making a late push for the Ashes squad.A couple of months ago he was targeting a return to county action for the final few weeks of the season but when he bowled at Lord’s recently, under the supervision of the ECB medical staff, he suffered a further reaction and now surgery has been ruled as his only option.”Obviously I’m shattered to have been ruled out of the Ashes with the prospect of a lengthy recovery period,” he said. “After experiencing the euphoria of being part of an Ashes-winning England team last year, I was determined to get myself fit for selection ahead of this winter’s tour of Australia.”Unfortunately that’s not to be and, even though we have tried every possible form of treatment, surgery is the only option left. While I’m devastated to be facing such a long lay-off from cricket, I’m determined to overcome this setback and make sure I get back bowling again next year and work my way back into England calculations.”It’s been a difficult period for me but I realise that I have to have this operation if I want to play cricket again. I want to thank the ECB medical team for all their ongoing hard work and support.”Onions had enjoyed an impressive start to his international career with a five-wicket haul on debut against West Indies, at Lord’s, in 2009 before playing in three of last year’s Ashes Tests. However, his finest hours came with the bat when he twice denied South Africa victory during the winter series, fending off final overs from Makhaya Ntini at Centurion Park and Morne Morkel at Cape Town.”Graham has been suffering from ongoing discomfort due to stress fractures on both sides of his back,” Nick Peirce, the ECB chief medical officer, said. “We have thoroughly exhausted all avenues of conservative treatment and rehabilitation with surgery very much seen as a last resort.”Unfortunately Graham has not responded to these forms of treatment and as a result we have no option left but to undertake a course of treatment involving surgery. The surgery Graham faces is a relatively significant operation and his rehabilitation will see him ruled out of all cricket for approximately up to nine months.”His rehabilitation will be overseen and carried out by the ECB medical team in conjunction with the medical staff at Durham.”

Worcestershire’s openers put them in control at New Road for the first time in this season’s County Championship

Cricinfo staff17-May-2010
Scorecard
Phil Jaques shook off his poor form to reach 92 on the first day against Derbyshire•PA PhotosDaryl Mitchell completed a century and Phil Jaques emerged from one of the worst spells of his career as Worcestershire’s openers put them in control at New Road for the first time in this season’s County Championship. After 71 wickets in barely four-and-a-half days’ cricket in two Second Division fixtures on the ground, the batsmen cashed in today as Derbyshire conceded a first day total of 376 for 3.Jaques, dismissed for a duck in five of his six previous Championship innings, re-discovered his form with 92 from 135 balls and Mitchell ploughed on to 148, his first hundred since making a career-best 298 against Somerset at Taunton last September.Their partnership of 167 extended into the 10th over of the afternoon session before Jaques, having hit 15 fours, shaped to cut a ball from Tom Lungley but dragged it on to his stumps.For Derbyshire, it was a welcome change of luck after a frustrating morning in which the Australian left-hander mixed a number of streaky shots with a fine array of strokes in front of the wicket.It was Worcestershire’s best start in the Championship since Jaques, in anearlier spell with the county, and Stephen Moore, now with Lancashire, put on 234 against Surrey at New Road in 2007. This was also the second three-figure partnership for Jaques and Mitchell this summer – they started with 105 against Middlesex – but in between the first wicket had failed to get into double figure seven times out of eight.Badsey-born Mitchell, now in his sixth season with his native county, moved up the ranks this summer with his appointment as vice-captain. A natural accumulator, he served his side well in seeing off a strong opening spell by Steffan Jones and then milked the Derbyshire attack until reaching hissixth first-class century from the third ball after tea.There were some blemishes along the way but he maintained his focus, even after the confusion that cost Vikram Solanki his wicket. Sent back by his partner, he was run out for 42 by Tim Groenewald.In the next over from Robin Peterson, Alexei Kervezee survived a chance toGarry Park at silly point. It proved to be a costly mistake for Derbyshire during as the productive stand eventually yielded 114.While Mitchell was bowled, attempting to cut Peterson, after picking up 17fours from 260 balls, Kervezee stayed undefeated with 66, having followed his positive instinct to post a half century with an upper cut for six off Jones.

The Bangladesh coach is braced for the likelihood of a return to form for Kevin Pietersen at some stage during the two-Test series against England, which gets underway at Chittagong on Friday, but believes that his team has the bowlers to keep his attacki

Andrew Miller in Chittagong10-Mar-2010Bangladesh’s coach, Jamie Siddons, is braced for the likelihood of a return to form for Kevin Pietersen at some stage during the two-Test series against England, which gets underway at Chittagong on Friday, but believes that his team has the bowlers to keep his attacking instincts at bay.Pietersen’s alarming form slump has been the story of England’s tour to date, with just 69 runs from seven innings in all contests since arriving in Dhaka at the end of last month. Moreover, he has been dismissed by spin in each of his last five innings, and having named a squad packed with slow bowlers, including three left-armers in Shakib Al Hasan, Abdur Razzak and Enamul Haque Jr, Bangladesh intends to extend his lean spell for as long as they possibly can.”I think he’ll come out and try to play some shots, which will be good,” Siddons told Cricinfo. “He’ll either get us or we’ll get him early, which would be nice, but I hope he keeps failing because it’ll be one less batsman to worry about. It’s difficult when you’re out of form, as a right-hander in these conditions. Very difficult.”Pietersen’s single biggest weakness is against left-arm spin. With the ball turning away from the bat, and with the knowledge of a series of notable dismissals undermining his otherwise unshakeable confidence, he now appears to be in two minds when playing his favourite sweeps and leg-side flicks. In the one-day series he fell to that form of bowling in each of his three innings, and he also succumbed to the part-timer, Mehrab Hossain Jr, in the first innings of the warm-up game at Chittagong.Siddons confirmed that Razzak, who claimed Pietersen’s scalp in two of those ODIs, was the likeliest candidate to partner the captain, Shakib, with Bangladesh’s second allrounder, Mahmudullah, set to complete a three-pronged spin attack with his offbreaks. “If he struggles against left-armers, he’s got two bloody good ones against him,” said Siddons. “He’s a great player, there’s no doubt about it, at some point in the next four innings he’ll have a performance, but hopefully it won’t hurt us. We’ve got to get through all eleven of England’s batsmen. KP is just one of them.”Bangladesh have been preparing for the Test series at the National Stadium in Mirpur for the past week, a situation that left Siddons less than impressed with the scheduling, seeing as their opponents have been familiarising themselves with the Chittagong conditions ever since the third ODI on March 5. Nevertheless, he has reported a clean bill of health within the squad, and confirmed that Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain will spearhead the pace attack, just as they did during the one-dayers.Raqibul Hasan, who starred in the England warm-up with a century and a fifty in consecutive innings, is slated to come in at No. 4, with Junaid Siddique and Aftab Ahmed likely to flank him at 3 and 5 respectively, unless the selectors take a punt and promote the star of the recent New Zealand series, Mahmudullah, from his current No. 8 berth to the top order, in which case Naeem Islam will come in to balance the side.Either way, there is no place in the set-up for the country’s most experienced batsman, Mohammad Ashraful, whose omission from the squad was confirmed shortly after he was bowled for 30 in his second innings of the England warm-up. “At the start of that match it was between Raqibul and Ash, but Raq stood up and made it an easy decision,” said Siddons. “Most of us want Ash in the team, but only if he’s making runs. We’re definitely a better team with him in there making hundreds, and he’s had a lot of chances, but unfortunately he can’t find his form.”With 53 appearances from a Bangladesh total of 64 Tests, Ashraful is by some distance the country’s senior batsman, but Siddons was not worried about the void his absence has created, even though the next most capped player in the starting XI is likely to be the wicketkeeper, Mushfiqur Rahim, with 19. “Experience doesn’t count unless you’re performing,” Siddons said. “Ash’s stats just aren’t stacking up.”Bangladesh have achieved just three Test victories since their elevation in November 2000, and all of those have come against weak opponents. They start the series as massive outsiders, but Siddons reiterated that performances are more important to him than results.”Each game is different, each challenge is different,” he said. “Our matches are now going five days which is a great start, but for me it’s about improvement day by day, game by game, and ironing out our weaknesses. These days, it’s not just the one particular thing that is costing us games, we’re not playing rash shots anymore, we’re getting out fighting which is a good thing.”But we worry about ourselves,” he added. “England are having their ups and downs with new guys coming in from the one-day team. They are trying to find their feet, and our attack is different from the ones they’ve been playing. If we’ll bowl a ball in the right areas, they’ll get out. And hopefully they’ll get out for less than we make.”Probable Bangladesh team 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Junaid Siddique, 4 Raqibul Hasan, 5 Aftab Ahmed, 6 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 7 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 8 Mahmudullah, 9 Abdur Razzak, 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Shafiul Islam.

The BCCI has sold the title sponsorship of the IPL for the next five years to PepsiCo for Rs. 396.8 crore

Nagraj Gollapudi21-Nov-2012Global beverage giant PepsiCo has bagged the IPL title sponsorship rights for the next five years (2013-17) for Rs 396.8 crore ($71.77 million approx), almost double the original title sponsorship deal done in 2008. Along with PepsiCo, the only other contender for the title sponsorships rights was Airtel, an Indian telecommunications company, who bid Rs 316 crore ($57.27 million approx). For the next five years the tournament is to be called Pepsi-IPL.In 2008, DLF, Indian’s biggest real estate company, had paid a sum of Rs 200 crore ($36.25 million approx), to own title rights for the first five years (2008-12) of the tournament. But in August DLF decided not to renew its contract, forcing the BCCI to issue a new tender. The BCCI had set Rs 300 crore as the base price for the title sponsorship.”So far our record of selling various properties of IPL has been very good,” IPL governing council chairman Rajiv Shukla said after a meeting of BCCI’s marketing committee in Mumbai. “We have doubled, tripled or quadrupled the amount while selling some of the properties,” Shukla said. Gautham Mukkavilli, CEO, Beverages, PepsiCo India region, said that in a country where “cricket was a religion,” the IPL had become the “most revered temple where the faithful flock to.”The news of the new title sponsorship was approved of by the IPL franchises, who believe the Pepsi deal will have a positive effect on their own businesses. Raghu Iyer, the chief financial officer at Rajasthan Royals, said the new title sponsorship will, “ignite the market” for the franchises. “It is absolutely double the value. What was expected was one-half-times what DLF paid, but these guys have paid something like 80-crore mark (per year)… IPL needed this kind of positive reinstatement from a global brand like Pepsi.”Venky Mysore, the CEO of Kolkata Knight Riders, said the title sponsorship would add “tremendous value” to both the league as well as the global beverage brand. “It is terrific news that they have come on board. Pepsi would have done their homework. They know their numbers and they would have clearly seen some value,” Mysore said.According to Mysore the value addition and the returns on Pepsi’s investment would be manifold. “There are analytical models that we also use to show our brands who are associated with our franchise in terms on what their return on investment is. Leave aside the fact that it is an association with a marquee product (IPL) and the synergies that brings, if you look at just pure advertisement value and the kind of the exposure that happens leading upto the IPL, during the IPL and then the rub-off effect of it continuing on, there is a very clear way of calculating what the value of that exposure is. That is how you calculate the return on investment. Pepsi would get at least five times the exposure it would normally get,” Mysore said.After DLF let the deadline of July 28 (meant for the renewal of the title sponsorship contract) pass, speculation grew about whether the value of the IPL as a brand was shrinking. The timing of that news coincided with the controversy surrounding the Deccan Chargers franchise. According to TAM Sports, a division of TAM Research, one of the leading television ratings agencies, the overall tournament rating for the fifth IPL was 3.45, compared to 3.51 the previous year – far from the TVR of 5.51 reached in 2010. The telecommunications pair of Airtel and Nokia had decided to not renew their annual title sponsorship of the Champions League Twenty20, adding weight to the growing perception that the IPL was no longer a valuable property.The new title sponsorship with Pepsi silenced those doubts. According to a senior official from a different franchise, who did not want to be identified, despite all the negative colours IPL had been painted in, the league has always achieved what it wanted. “People have spoken negative about IPL but in the end everybody has paid the money which we have always asked for. We have never had problems at getting sponsors at our price. I will get it even in future. People will still talk so it is best we keep quiet,” the official said. “Pepsi will not put in money unless they are sure about their numbers, isn’t it? They are putting hardcore cash. Pepsi operates not only in India. It is a global giant and they would have done their studies,” the official pointed out.

Durham will celebrate their back-to-back Championship titles with a trip to Dublin after the season finishes, but first they want to complete their dominant campaign with two more victories

Andrew McGlashan14-Sep-2009Will Smith: ‘It’s one of the proudest moments of my cricketing life and does surpass last year’•PA PhotosDurham will celebrate their back-to-back Championship titles with a trip to Dublin after the season finishes, but first they want to complete their dominant campaign with two more victories and put further daylight between them and the chasing pack. Will Smith, the captain, is taking more pleasure from this year’s triumph than Durham’s maiden four-day title last year having assumed the captaincy from Dale Benkenstein.The runs haven’t flowed for Smith in the same manner (522 runs at 27.47 so far in 2009 compared to 925 at 51.38 in 2008) but the demands of leading a title defence have left him proud of his achievement. Division One has been a one-horse race since Durham hit their straps after three early draws and they wrapped up the title with a thumping innings-and-52-run victory against Nottinghamshire.”On a personal level, I had a decent part to play as I scored a few runs last year but this year, while I haven’t scored the runs, I’ve put far more energy and emotion into it,” he told Cricinfo’s Switch Hit Cricket Show. “It means a hell of a lot more this year to captain the side to what, on the face of it, is a very convincing victory. It makes me immensely proud and if we win the next two matches it will be a very dominant table at the end of the season. It’s one of the proudest moments of my cricketing life and does surpass last year.”However, the hectic nature of the county calendar means they played a Pro40 match the next day – although most of the first team continued their celebrations on the balcony as a young side took the field – and on Monday were on a long coach journey to play Hampshire at The Rose Bowl. For Smith, one of the players who had to battle a heavy night to play on Sunday, it means the enormity of the achievement hasn’t sunk in.”I don’t think it has yet. We had the Pro40 game that didn’t really allow is to accept it and the evening we won it was mostly a drunken haze more than anything,” he said. “It will do in the next week or so. We have two games to play, and we are concentrating on those, but when they are done and dusted there will be a few more celebrations and a few more events to honour the occasion and then it will really hit home.”Even when Durham were occasionally put under pressure they managed to turn the tables. Against Worcestershire they found themselves 59 for 6 in the first innings, but won the came by five wickets, and conceded a 135-run lead against Yorkshire yet finished with a dominant draw.”It’s been a funny season in many ways,” Smith said. “We’ve had to dig in at stages so there have been sessions where we’ve been up against it. But someone will recognise that moment and drag us around, that’s really been the story of the season. There have been times when it’s been tough and we’ve had to fight tooth and nail.One of those to play a vital role at turning innings around has been Ian Blackwell and Smith was full of praise for the all-round skills he has brought to the team. “He contributed a lot of tough runs in difficult situations at the start of the season, and in combination with Phil Mustard and Liam Plunkett put on crucial runs. And later in the season he has come into his own with the ball.”When he was at Taunton he probably wasn’t renowned as an attacking spinner because it was a small ground with a flat pitch. With all due respect to every spinner we’ve had at Durham but he has really raised the bar. He’s a very clever bowler, with variations in pace, and that’s allowed him to take nearly 40 wickets which is a great record.”And there is Steve Harmison, who is yet to confirm his international future after not earning a central contract. He has set his sights of Simon Brown’s Durham wicket-taking record of 518 scalps and is currently one short of reaching 400. “He’s been fantastic this season. He’s an incredible guy and an incredible bowler,” Smith said. “Sometimes he’s misunderstood and it seems to me that when he plays for England or Durham all he does is put his heart and soul into it all.”That’s been obvious this season when he’s bowled for us, sometimes bits have been falling off and he’s still been charging in. The emotion he summons up when playing for Durham is incredible and as long as his body and mind are willing he’ll be one of the first names I’d love to have in the team.”Smith insists thoughts of making it a hat-trick of titles will wait while they celebrate this success, but if Harmison is around for a full season it’s going to be very hard to stop Durham.

Tim May, the chief executive of the international players union FICA, has warned that Twenty20 cricket is ‘ripe for corruption’

Cricinfo staff16-Feb-2010Tim May, the chief executive of the international players union FICA, has warned that Twenty20 cricket is ‘ripe for corruption’.May, a former Australian offspinner, told magazine “Lord Condon, who headed up the ICC’s Anti-corruption and Security Unit, said only last year that we can never think we have this cancer beaten. Twenty20 is just ripe for corruption – the shorter the game the more influence each particular incident can have. So I think it opens up a great deal of opportunities for the bookmakers to try and corrupt players into providing various different outcomes in the game, if not the result itself. Cricket needs to be very, very careful.”Cricket only recently emerged from a nasty episode of revelations about match-fixing when in 2000 Hansie Conje, then South Africa captain, admitted to taking money from bookmakers. It spiralled into a full enquiry headed by Condon’s team at the ICC. Since then the game has stayed clean but the rise of Twenty20 has created new vulnerable areas. In July last year Dave Richardson, the ICC general manager, said the ICC was ‘concerned’ and that the IPL will “inevitably attract the interest of match-fixers and people like that.”With Lalit Modi recently announcing that the second season of the Twenty20 Champions League will clash with the climax of the English domestic season, May also criticised the ‘arrogant’ decision making of the IPL executives.”The refusal to grant players the ability to review the security arrangements and the decision of the IPL and its franchises not to recognise or deal with any players’ managers or agents, is self-defeating. Its decision-making is very arrogant. The attitude is that they’re the only game in town, they’re the biggest game in town and, as long as they pay these huge amounts of money, they can do what they like. That may not always be the case.”Seeking avenues to protect the Test game, May said a Test championship would add much-needed context to the format but fears that political wrangling of the ICC members could prevent it from developing. “At the moment it’s just a mad scramble of bilateral series that mean nothing. A Test championship over a period of one or two years would increase the value of those contests and make it possible to play significantly less cricket but maintain or increase commercial revenues,” he said.”The political nature of the ICC board and its members means it’s going to be a difficult concept to sell. There is an over-riding need for boards to be absolutely in control of their destiny, and going with a Test championship would hand over a lot of power to the ICC. A lot of boards don’t want to do this – that selfish mind-set isn’t in the best interests of the game.”Ahead of England’s departure to the UAE for two Twenty20s against Pakistan, the England offspinner Graeme Swann said the squad was fully aware of the dangers of match-fixing. “There are guys from the [ICC] Anti-Corruption Unit who travel all year round with us and everyone is fully educated about the dangers. It probably does go on in some form with some teams and some players, but you never know who it is. I certainly don’t think any of this England team could be considered match-fixers.”We haven’t been given any warnings specifically for this trip. You’d have to be an absolute idiot to do it.”

Cricinfo presents the plays of the day from day four in Hobart

Cricinfo staff17-Jan-201098, 99, 100!
It’s been a hard summer in the 90s for Simon Katich, who began the season with 92 against West Indies in Brisbane. He has also posted a 98 and a 99, so when he was faced with the triple-figure barrier again, albeit in a much lower-pressure situation, he was determined not to fall at the final hurdle. Katich brought up his milestone with a clipped single behind square on the leg side but that was his last run. In the next over he was caught on the boundary.Delayed gratification
Shane Watson picked up two wickets with lbw decisions but on neither occasion was he certain that he had his man, as Mohammad Yousuf and Umar Akmal both called for reviews. Watson was confident that both times the ball would have hit the stumps and the third umpire’s verdicts backed him up, but he said the review system had created a strange dynamic on the field. “When there’s a decision now it’s hard to fully celebrate because you know there’s a good chance of it being referred,” Watson said. “Occasionally it’s given not out so you don’t want to carry on too much. It’s always nice to see the finger go up but you know it’s not a confirmation until the referral goes ahead.” Who needs a fielding coach?
At last count Pakistan had dropped 16 catches and four were missed by Kamran Akmal in one Test alone. All along the camp has insisted no fielding coach is needed and that everything that can be tried is being tried. This morning before play Intikhab Alam, the coach, was practicing edging catches to the wicketkeeper, with a fielder throwing a ball at him. It is routine practice, but Intikhab was ultimately only able to direct roughly four edges in the direction of the wicketkeeper.Rain, rain, go away (or stay)
Australia knew there was going to be wet weather on the horizon towards the end of the game and the players will be racing to the hotel windows as soon as they wake on Monday. The forecast is for cloudy periods with occasional showers, which is a better predicament for the locals than the heavier falls predicted earlier for the start of the week. The final hour of the fourth day was lost to the weather with the hosts in a commanding position. They want six wickets, the visitors need Hobart’s unpredictable weather to turn into a day of rain.

Crystal Palace have been dealt an injury blow ahead of their trip to Leeds United in the Premier League after manager Patrick Vieira confirmed Joachim Andersen will not travel with the squad.

What’s the word?

The 25-year-old was unable to play any part in the Eagles’ 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa over the weekend after picking up a thigh problem, and it now appears as though he’s set for an extended stint on the sidelines.

“Joachim is not going to travel, he is not 100%,” revealed Vieira in Monday’s press conference, although there was also some positive news.

Star forward Eberechi Eze made his long-awaited return to first-team action last time out, coming on as a 60th-minute substitute following six months on the treatment table with an Achilles issue.

“I think it’s good for him, for the club and the fans,” said Vieira when asked for an update on his situation. “He needs to play games, he needs time to get to his best, and we will give him the support that he needs.”

Crystal Palace fans will be gutted

Despite Eze’s impressive progress in his quest to return to full fitness, Palace supporters will be gutted to learn that Andersen will be absent for the potentially crucial clash at Elland Road this evening.

The south London outfit’s seven-game unbeaten run came crashing down on Saturday, and Vieira will be desperate to get back to winning ways as soon as possible.

With only four points separating Leeds and Palace in the top-flight table, this midweek encounter could have a sizeable impact on the two sides’ fortunes for the rest of the campaign, and Andersen will be a big miss.

As per WhoScored, Andersen has averaged 1.5 interceptions per league game throughout 2021/22, 2.9 clearances and a whopping 6.3 long balls, placing him in the top three for each metric when compared to his teammates.

With winnable fixtures against the likes of Southampton, Everton and Watford coming up over the next few weeks, Palace will be hoping to see Andersen back in the starting lineup sooner rather than later.

And, in other news…Palace “lining up” swoop for “complete” £12.6m-rated gem, Vieira surely buzzing