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A round-up of the second day’s play of the seventh round of matches of the Ranji Trophy Elite, 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Dec-2011Group AFor the second day in a row, eighteen wickets fell at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. With two more days to go, Saurashtra brightened their hopes for a knockout berth by setting a target of 247 and then reducing Railways to 97 for 6.Railways, reeling overnight at 71 for 8, could only add a further ten runs in their first-innings. Subsequently Saurashtra, sitting on a comfortable lead of 94, failed for the second time in succession as they mustered a meagre 152, but the target set seemed to be enough going into the third day.With the exception of Ravindra Jadeja, who played late to top score with 45, the visitors showed the same lack of application as that of the Railways’ batsmen. Luckily it did not hurt Saurashtra so much as Kamlesh Makvana ripped apart the Railways’ batting order in their second innings with his fastish offbreaks, which fetched him his fifth five-for in first-class cricket. There was not much hope for Railways when senior batsmen like Sanjay Bangar and Shivakant Shukla gave away their wickets by charging out to Makvana.The Railways coach Abhay Sharma, however, didn’t blame the nature of the pitch for the slew of wickets. “Some of our batsmen played bad shots. I don’t think the curator is responsible in any way. When you have a three-day gap between two matches, a curator could have hardly done anything,” Sharma said. “In northern India, it’s difficult to water the pitch as it might remain wet and also you can’t just use the roller on a dry pitch.”Orissa were staring at a big first-innings deficit as they ended on 76 for 6 in reply to Rajasthan’s 423 in Jaipur. Robin Bist’s unbeaten 127 and Puneet Yadav’s 63 were instrumental in Rajasthan getting to an imposing score. The pair added 124 for the fifth wicket before Yadav was caught behind by Alok Mangaraj. The 24-year-old Bist, originally from Delhi, continued till he ran out of partners, hitting 16 fours in his knock. This is his fourth century in five matches for Bist, who at 829 runs is the top run-maker of season so far. Basanth Mohanty finished with 4 for 104.Rajasthan’s Pankaj Singh then made early inroads with the ball before Sumit Mathur, instrumental in Rajasthan’s victory against Saurashtra last week, took three wickets in five overs to leave the visitors in trouble. With Orissa still adrift by 347 runs, the defending champions would like the enforce the follow-on and try and go for an innings victory to get the bonus points and keep alive the chance of a knockout berth for second year in a row. If they do manage to do that, Rajasthan would have to thank Bist a lot. “This has been my best season in Ranji Trophy. Before this season, I had just one Ranji century. Now, I have five,” Bist told the at the end of the second day’s play.Wasim Jaffer became the highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy and, along with the belligerent Suryakumar Yadav, steered Mumbai past Punjab’s first-innings total during a typically elegant knock. Punjab toiled all day but were blunted by Mumbai’s ultra-defensive approach in the first session, and later by Jaffer’s and Yadav’s aggression. With Saurashtra and Rajasthan in strong positions in their games, Punjab’s chances of making the quarter-finals were slim. Read the full report here.The second day’s play in Shimoga followed the course of the first, as Uttar Pradesh mirrored Karnataka’s batting effort to finish 39 runs short of the first-innings lead, with four wickets standing. Like their Karnataka counterparts on day one, UP built a solid base in the morning, only to lose wickets in a clump in the lead-up to tea. Like Stuart Binny on the first day, Mohammad Kaif battled through the slump, before stalling it with a dogged seventh-wicket stand. Read the full report here.Group BTamil Nadu strengthened their position against Madhya Pradesh in Chennai, with Dinesh Karthik scoring 156 – his second century in as many games – to take the team to 486. The hosts then consolidated their position by sending the vistors’ top order comprising Naman Ojha, Mohnish Mishra and Devendra Bundela – essentially the MP batting’s engine-room – back to the dressing room in no time.Earlier Karthik was bold in his strokeplay, despite having only the tail for support. Yo Mahesh, M Rangarajan and L Balaji all frustrated the MP bowlers, while Karthik went from strength to strength. After the debuant Amarjeet Singh failed to latch on a hard-hit return catch when Karthik was on 89, the former Tamil Nadu captain progressed to make 156. For MP, Ishwar Pandey finished with 4 for 123 off nearly 40 overs. Zafar Ali, the MP opener, witnessed three partners depart before stumps, leaving plenty for the visitors to do on the third day to match TN’s score.Gritty half-centuries from Sourav Ganguly and Anustup Majumdar put Bengal well on course to take a first-innings lead against Baroda at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. It was an eventful day for Ganguly who started the morning by wrapping up the Baroda innings while he finished with figures of 3 for 1. But Bengal were in for a rude jolt when they were wobbling at 98 for 4, which included the wicket of Manoj Tiwary, who had scored a century in each of his previous three matches. Bengal lost their opener Jayojit Basu to the left-arm seamer Gagandeep Singh, before Firdaush Bhaja had Arindam Das caught in the slips. Shreevats Goswami’s boundary-filled 38 came to an end when he nicked Gagandeep to the keeper. Gagandeep struck again when he had Manoj Tiwary caught at cover.Luckily Ganguly found a stable partner in Majumdar and the paired added vital 93 runs for the fifth wicket before the former Indian captain retired hurt due a left hamstring pull. Till then, Ganguly had 60 runs to his credit including nine fours. Majumdar, who ended the day unbeaten on 71, added a further 73 with Laxmi Shukla before stumps.Gujarat just about managed to take a slender first-innings lead of 21 runs against Haryana in Surat. Resuming on 46 for 1, the Gujarat top order showed an appalling lack of discipline and application, with no one managing even a half century. Luckily for the team, Pratharesh Parmar and Manprit Juneja showed some resistance, adding 63 for the fifth wicket, to help Gujarat to match Haryana’s score. For Haryana the job was done by India legspinner Amit Mishra and the debutant offspinner Jayant Yadav, as the pair took three wickets apiece to peg the hosts back. The other debutant, Mohit Sharma, took two wickets.Haryana erased the deficit of 21 by ending the day on a healthy 61 for no loss. If Gujarat lose this match, they would be relegated to the Plate division. And with the pitch aiding the spinners, a result seems likely. “The match is wide open and any target above 250-275 is going to be difficult to chase in the fourth innings on this ground with the wicket taking spin,” Jayendra Saigal, the Gujarat coach, said. “Our batsmen did not do justice to their talent today.”

Alastair Cook, the England opener, has been named the Test Cricketer of the Year at the ICC Awards ceremony in London

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Sep-2011England opener Alastair Cook has been named the Test Cricketer of the Year at the ICC Awards ceremony in London. Cook beat off competition from his team-mates James Anderson and Jonathan Trott, and South Africa allrounder Jacques Kallis.”I think the highlight of year was when we won in Sydney to beat Australia, and Chris Tremlett to take that final wicket, it was truly a great year,” Cook said after receiving the award from ICC Hall of Fame inductee Curtly Ambrose. “This award is about the rest of the team not just me.”During the performance period – from August 11, 2010 to August 3, 2011 – Cook played 12 Tests and in 18 innings he scored 1302 runs at an average of 76.58, including six centuries and four half-centuries. His 235 not out against Australia in Brisbane kick-started England’s first Ashes victory away from home since 1986-87.Cook finished the Ashes with a phenomenal tally of 766 runs, but his best batting effort came against India at Edgbaston, where his monumental 294 helped England seal the series and knock India off the No. 1 Test spot.

A round-up of the action from the third day of the second round of the Ranji Trophy Plate League 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Nov-2011Group AVidarbha completed a three-wicket win against Himachal Pradesh at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharmasala. Chasing 254, Vidarbha were in some trouble at 110 for 6, but veterans Hemang Badani and Sairaj Bahutule came good to carry them home. The pair put on 132 for the seventh wicket. Bahutule fell for 61 with victory in sight, but Badani stayed till the job was fully done, finishing unbeaten on 83. Himachal’s pacers did all the damage, Mohinderraj Sharma being the pick, but it was just not enough to thwart Vidarbha. The win puts Vidarbha at the top of Group A, just above Himachal.A 146-run stand between Venugopal Rao and Bodapati Sumanth put Andhra Pradesh in comfortable position against Tripura at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Vijayawada. The pair took Andhra from a wobbly overnight score of 47 for 3 to 161 before Sumanth was bowled for 62. Not long after Venugopal hit one back to the bowler, offspinner Udit Patel, on 96. A half-century stand between AG Pradeep and Syed Sahabuddin followed, to take the lead past 300. Andhra declared on 271 for 6, setting Tripura 333. The hosts’ new-bowlers – Atchuti Rao, in particular – then put them firmly in charge, knocking over five top-order batsmen for single-digit scores, as Tripura slipped to 24 for 5 at stumps.Services secured a slim first-innings lead against Kerala, at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi. Kerala began the day on 121 for 4, after Services had made 253 on Friday, and most of their batsmen got into double figures but could not push on. Sony Cheruvathur showed some late resistance and almost pushed his side past Services first-innings total, but was run out as they finished with 249 – five runs shy of taking the lead. However, Kerala ended the day with a chance to win outright, picking up five wickets in 37 overs to reduce Services to 89 for 5 by stumps.Group B Only 2.1 overs of play were possible in Guwahati between Assam and Goa, during which Goa went from 277 for 8 to 282 without losing a wicket.No play was possible between Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand in Srinagar for the second day running, due to a wet outfield.

Jamie Cox has cleared the way for a complete overhaul of Australia’s selection panel by standing down and declaring he will not reapply for the role of part-time selector

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Sep-2011Jamie Cox has cleared the way for a complete overhaul of Australia’s selection panel by standing down and declaring he will not reapply for the role of part-time selector. Cox’s decision means that all four of the Australian selectors who picked the side during last summer’s disastrous Ashes campaign have now moved on.The Argus report last month recommended a five-man selection panel with a full-time chairman, a move that ruled Andrew Hilditch out due to his business commitments, while there will also be no place for the national talent manager, Greg Chappell. The fourth selector, David Boon, had already quit during the off-season to become an ICC match referee.Cox spent nearly five years as a selector, but it was far from a successful tenure. He was the selector on duty at The Oval in 2009, when he was responsible for leaving Nathan Hauritz out of the side on a dry pitch that proved to be of great assistance to the spinners; Graeme Swann took eight wickets in the match and England’s victory meant they won the Ashes.Cox also faced criticism over a potential conflict of interest, as he juggled the selection role with his full-time job as South Australia’s director of cricket. By declaring he won’t reapply for one of the two part-time positions on the new selection panel, Cox has ensured Australia can make a clean break from the Hilditch era, although he will stay on until the new panel is appointed.”There is a clear mood for change and I think it’s time for a new panel to be given the opportunity set its own direction without links to the past,” Cox said. “It has been a true privilege to serve Australian cricket in this role since the 2006-07 summer and whilst the transition from our era of dominance has been challenging, I leave the role strong in the belief that we have a terrific group of young men emerging, to lead Australia back up the Test cricket rankings.”Cricket Australia’s new selection panel, which will include the captain and coach, won’t be confirmed until after the appointment of a general manager of team performance, a new role that will be created as a result of the Argus report.

Pakistan have included three uncapped players – top-order batsman Rameez Raja, legspinner Yasir Shah and seamer Aizaz Cheema – in their squad for the tour of Zimbabwe that starts on August 28

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jul-2011Pakistan have rewarded some of their consistent performers in domestic cricket by including three uncapped players – top-order batsman Rameez Raja, legspinner Yasir Shah and seamer Aizaz Cheema – as well as fast bowler Sohail Khan, who has played only one Test, in the squad for the tour of Zimbabwe that starts on August 28. There are also recalls for opening batsman Imran Farhat, who hasn’t played for Pakistan since the one-day series against South Africa in the UAE in October 2010, and left-arm fast bowler Sohail Tanvir, who was last included for the New Zealand tour earlier in the year.The squad seems to be an experimental one, with the bowling attack in particular featuring several new names and missing some of the senior players. Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed and Wahab Riaz, who have been Pakistan’s three premier fast bowlers in recent times, have all been rested, with Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Cheema and Junaid Khan making up the pace attack. There is also a change in the spin department with Abdur Rehman being rested and Yasir being given an opportunity.Pakistan’s chief selector Mohsin Khan explained that the fresh look to the squad was an effort to blood youngsters. “We have to bring in young players along with seniors so that they could be groomed,” he said. “Because it’s a short tour we have selected only one squad for all three formats of the game and have rested Riaz and Gul in a hope to try out some youngsters.”Adnan Akmal has reclaimed the wicketkeeper’s spot in the squad, meaning Mohammad Salman, who failed to impress with the bat in the West Indies and Ireland, makes way. Allrounder Hammad Azam also failed to have an impact on those tours and has been kept in the standbys to make place for Raja. Ahmed Shehzad, who was dropped after the tour of the West Indies, has been left out again.Another development is the inclusion of Shoaib Malik, the former Pakistan captain, in the list of standbys. Malik has been involved in a battle with the PCB, whose integrity committee has not cleared him for selection since the controversial tour of England last year. Mohsin said Malik would only be included if he managed to obtain clearance from the PCB. Meanwhile, legspinner Danish Kaneria, who has taken his fight to get clearance to the Sindh High Court, continues to be ignored.Raja’s call-up comes on the back of consistent domestic performance in all formats. He was the leading run-getter in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Division One last season, and was top of the run charts again during the recent Faysal Bank Super Eight Twenty20 Cup. His performances in the T20 competition, which included a 97 in the semi-final and a half-century in the final, led to calls for his inclusion in the national side.Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir and Cheema were all recently part of an emerging players camp at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, where they received tips from former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz. Sohail Khan and Sohail Tanvir both brought themselves back into the limelight during the Super Eight Twenty20 competition; the former took 14 wickets in Karachi Dolphins’ road to the finals, while the latter captained Rawalpindi Rams to the title. Cheema, 31, earned his call-up through another strong first-class season in which he took 57 wickets in eight games in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.Yasir impressed with his 16 wickets in four games during the Faysal Bank Pentangular Cup at the beginning of this year, and then took 3 for 29 for Pakistan A against Afghanistan in a one-dayer. Farhat also did well in the Pentangular, hitting a century and two fifties, and was leading run-getter in the domestic one-day competition before that.Pakistan squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Taufiq Umar, Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Rameez Raja junior, Adnan Akmal (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Shah, Sohail Tanvir, Sohail Khan, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema.Standbys: Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Khurram Manzoor, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Talha, Hammad Azam, Shoaib Malik (subject to clearance from PCB integrity committee)

Gareth Rees scored his first fifty of the season and James Harris took five wickets for 39 runs as Glamorgan moved themselves into a strong position against Gloucestershire at Cardiff

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Apr-2011
Scorecard
Gareth Rees scored his first fifty of the season and James Harris took five wickets for 39 runs as Glamorgan moved themselves into a strong position against Gloucestershire at Cardiff. Glamorgan ended the second day of the County Championship Division Two match on 185 for 3 in their second innings – an overall lead of 199 after they had bowled the visitors out for 188 in 89.1 overs.But the Welsh county did not have it completely their own way today, with a frustrating eighth-wicket partnership between Jon Lewis (56) and Vikram Banerjee holding them up. The home side were not helped that left-arm seamer Graham Wagg was off the field after suffering a hamstring injury on the first day.But early on Glamorgan did not require his services as Harris broke through in the sixth full over of the morning to have Will Gidman caught at square leg by Rees. And Adam Shantry claimed his third wicket when he bowled Ian Saxelby as Gloucestershire, who had resumed the day on 76 for 5 – 126 behind, were reduced to 94 for 7.That was effectively 94 for 8 after Chris Dent suffered a double fracture of the finger in the field and was unable to bat. But Lewis and Banerjee frustrated Glamorgan either side of lunch putting on 77 in 39 overs.Lewis brought up his half-century in 94 balls with three fours before Harris struck in the fourth over with the second new ball. Substitute Stewart Walters, on the field for the injured Wagg, took a stunning slip catch swooping to his right at second slip to dismiss Banerjee to give Harris his fourth victim. Harris claimed his fifth wicket when Lewis was the last man out caught behind to finish with impressive figures of 5 for 39 from 25.1 overs.Glamorgan openers Gareth Rees and Alviro Petersen raced to 44 in 10 overs before tea. But although Rees lost his captain, who was trapped leg before by Saxelby, he went on to register a 71-ball half-century with nine fours. After putting on 65 in just 11 overs with fellow left-hander Will Bragg, Rees also went leg before wicket to Will Gidman, who also bowled Michael Powellfour overs later.There were no more scares for Glamorgan, however, as Bragg and Ben Wright hadadded 42 runs for the fourth wicket by the close.

Martin Crowe, the legendary New Zealand batsman, has said that he is serious about making a comeback to first-class cricket as a means of self-motivation and a tool to get fit at the age of 48

Sriram Veera19-May-2011Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, has said that he is contemplating a return to first-class cricket 15 years after retiring from it. Crowe, 48, said he sees it as a means of self-motivation and a tool to get fit – and also an opportunity to score the 392 runs he needs to tally 20,000 first-class runs.He will first turn out for the Cornwall cricket club before deciding on plans to play for Auckland Central Districts.”Every now and then you find yourself drifting along. I needed to do something to stay at the top of things,” Crowe told ESPNcricinfo.” It’s a little bit of fun but it’s based on the need to get off my butt. When you get to my age, you need to do something. Physically, I am a person who needs more than going to gym. I need to fire myself up. I don’t like swimming, cycling, or lifting weights. I can’t climb, I can’t run; why not bat? It’s a serious goal to get fit but it’s a fun and light-hearted attempt to see if a 48-year old can play and at what level. Unless you try you will never know.”He then added, with a laugh, “Hey! If Ganguly can do it, anyone can do it!” Shane Warne has been amazing and as a spin bowler he can probably bowl like that for a long time to come. Gilchrist has kept himself fit. It’s human nature to feel that you are top of things.”It’s also human nature that makes some fans wary of sportspersons making comebacks at such an age. The thought of watching their once-favourite player struggling doesn’t sit too well with some fans. Some even consider such comeback attempts to be a bit sad on the part of the player but Crowe said he didn’t subscribe to that view. “No. if I had done that at the age of 37-38, then may be your concerns would be valid. If I had done it then, it would have been sad. At that stage you are trying to make a comeback to international cricket. Now, I don’t have any aspiration to play international cricket. I gave up then because of my knee. I am interested to see if a 48-year old can bat. It’s probably unlikely. It’s probably only heard of at average club level. But that’s what we are going to check out.”Crowe said he drew inspiration from Adam Parore and Mark Richardson. “Parore is about to climb Mount Everest and Mark Richardson is about to do four marathons this year. I realised I needed to something that wasn’t just about getting fit but oriented towards something I would have fun doing. My friend texted me: ‘Why don’t you try knocking off 20,000 first-class runs? You have 392 to go.’ And I thought that’s the perfect answer. Why don’t I take a bat in my hand and see what happens when summer comes around. At the same time it could be fun because here in New Zealand the batting is in a little bit of decline and it will be a good way to see where the techniques are at.”Crowe was forced to quit international cricket due to his bad knee, with few career goals still unfinished. “I’m happy with my career except for the fact that I finished on a downer, with an injury. I suppose I wanted 20 hundreds, 6000 runs, but in the end I was not physically capable of hanging on. And a lot of politics came in to it. Howarth as coach was a joke, and I played under Lee Germon, which was ridiculous,” he had once said in a 2008 interview.After retirement, Crowe underwent an operation to his knee. “By the time I was 40, I couldn’t even walk. I had a major operation called an osteotomy; it gives you 15 years of interim relief until you are old enough to have an artificial knee. I have felt good with this operation in the last 4-5 years. I have been playing regular golf and walking with no discomfort. I just feel I need to do a little bit more as I am lacking focus on something. So I have come up with this.”

“My vision is pretty good. One of the challenges is to see how the nerves hold out – when a 20-year old is bowling at you, how do you feel about it? And I am quite keen to find out what’s that like.”Martin Crowe

The last time he picked up the bat was last March, when he turned out in a charity game for the Christchurch earthquake called ‘Fill the Basin’. Crowe made six runs, which included a boundary, before falling to Stephen Fleming. “I play regular golf and I have played cricket occasionally over the years. Two years ago, I took the New Zealand team to Hong Kong sixes and I did a lot of practice. When I was in Bangalore for IPL in 2008 as coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore, I did a lot of practice before the main players turned up. I faced a lot of Sunil Joshi in the nets. I felt good, fit. I know I can still use the bat, it’s the case of whether the body holds up, and how long the foot will keep moving until everything seizes up.”Crowe said he will stop playing when he gets close to risking an injury and shared his thoughts on facing young pace bowlers. “Getting injured is going to be a high probability. When it starts getting to that stage, you stop. The quest is over. I want to see how far I can push myself. I will start with club cricket and if all goes well, then that far-fetched dream of getting 20,000 runs is earned. That’s the Everest, the goal I am giving myself. I am pretty confident that I can play nice and straight and score runs with my ability to hit the ball where I want to. My eye-sight is pretty good. One of the challenges is to see how the nerves hold out – when a 20-year old is bowling at you, how do you feel about it? And I am quite keen to find out what’s that like. As soon as I get a feeling that it’s all too hard, that’s fine’; we shall pack it up. To walk out and play competitive cricket is the goal.”Crowe will return to his spiritual cricket home at the Cornwall cricket ground in Auckland. “I started there when I was six years old. That’s where my father’s ashes are. That’s where my family was brought up in cricketing sense.”Batting against pace might excite him but what about fielding at this age, and at what position will he field? “I like the gully,” Crowe said with a laugh. Asked whether he will consider turning out for New Zealand if he succeeds at the club and first-class levels, Crowe deadpanned: “Now you are getting silly mate!”

Dean Henderson would likely replace Martin Dubravka if he joined Newcastle from Manchester United, Keith Downie says. 

The lowdown

Newcastle held talks with The Red Devils over a loan move for Henderson in January but couldn’t reach an agreement.

However, The Northern Echo’s Scott Wilson reported in March that Howe intends to return with a permanent offer for the Englishman this summer.

The manager wants to strengthen his goalkeeping department and has considered moves for Arsenal’s Bernd Leno and West Brom’s Sam Johnstone, but Henderson is his primary target ‘by some distance’.

Playing second fiddle to David de Gea, the player is unhappy with his situation at Old Trafford.

The 25-year-old still has more than three years left to run on his contract and is valued at £16.2million by Transfermarkt.

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The latest

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Sky Sports’ North-East England reporter said he couldn’t see Henderson joining Newcastle as a deputy. Instead, he’d probably arrive as the new no. 1, displacing Dubravka.

“You’d be surprised if someone like Dean Henderson came in as number two,” Downie said.

“Yes, he’s number two at Manchester United, but I’m not sure that would be the case here.”

The verdict

If Howe isn’t satisfied with Dubravka, then Henderson would be a good bet as a replacement.

He has 29 games’ worth of experience at a top club, keeping 13 clean sheets, and is also an England international, having made his debut in November 2020.

Indeed, moving to St James’ Park and becoming a first-choice ‘keeper could help his prospects no-end ahead of the World Cup in Qatar.

Former team-mate Sander Berge has provided a glowing review of Henderson that will surely excite the Magpies.

“He’s insane,” the Sheffield United man said during Hendersn’s loan spell. “I’ve never been with such a good goalkeeper. One thing in matches, he is almost a defence alone at times, and you feel so secure with him.

“But people have to see him at training. It’s crazy. He saves balls from one yard. Sometimes I am completely speechless by how good he is. It’s like having two goalkeepers in goal with him. He’s awesome.”In other news, a transfer insider drops a Philippe Coutinho claim concerning NUFC.

South Africa Under-19 completed a clean sweep of Zimbabwe across both limited-overs formats with a crushing eight-wicket win in the second Twenty20

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jan-2011
Scorecard
South Africa Under-19 completed a clean sweep of Zimbabwe across both limited-overs formats with a crushing eight-wicket win in the second Twenty20 at Northerns-Goodwood Cricket Club Oval in Cape Town. Quinton de Kock’s imperious hundred helped his team to easily overhaul Zimbabwe’s 151 for 8, the landmark coming from just 51 balls as victory was achieved with 25 balls to spare.Zimbabwe gave themselves a chance of scoring a consolation win to close their tour when Matthew Bentley bowled Regardt Verster to reduce South Africa to 68 for 2 in the eighth over. That was as good as it got for them, however, and the match slipped rapidly away in the course of de Kock’s whirlwind innings.He had looked a threatening prospect in the first match at Paarl, making 49 in 29 balls to go with 118 runs in three innings during the one-day series, and took full toll today hitting 13 fours and three sixes. Only Roy Kaia and Liberty Nherera escaped the full wrath of de Kock’s bat, with Tochukwu Enwerem, Vuyisile Mapala and Peacemore Zimwa conceding 58 runs in a combined four overs and five balls.Grant Edmeades was a mere spectator in an 87-run partnership for the third wicket, the runs flow at better than 10-an-over as de Kock stormed towards his hundred and the series whitewash for South Africa.Zimbabwe had once again relied upon a couple of good individual performances to shore up their batting after South Africa’s bowlers scythed through their line-up. Kevin Kasuza was in the runs once again, making a confident 39 to go with his half-century yesterday before he was stumped by de Kock off Malcolm Nofal. Kaia’s unbeaten 60 held the rest of the innings together, with every South African bowler finding some reward to set up a triumphant end to a one-sided tour.

Allan’s mooted Everton exit should not come as a surprise, journalist Paul Brown has told GiveMeSport.

The lowdown

TuttoMercatoWeb journalist Niccolo Ceccarini recently reported (via Sport Witness) that the Toffees could well put the Brazilian midfielder up for sale when the summer transfer window opens.

The 31-year-old is under ‘strong consideration’ at Lazio as they assess potential replacements for exit-bound Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

Allan left another Serie A outfit in Napoli to join Everton in a £21.7m deal in September 2020, reuniting with Carlo Ancelotti on Merseyside. He has gone on to make 56 appearances for the club, including 25 Premier League starts this season.

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Brown doesn’t believe that it would be wise for Everton to hand Allan a long-term contract extension, particularly if he demands a pay rise.

The journalist told GiveMeSport: “I’m not surprised he’s leaving and it would be foolish to stick him on a longer contract.

“He would probably want more in terms of a salary too, so it doesn’t surprise me that he will go.”

The verdict

To a degree, it would be a surprise to see Allan being sold, given the extent of his involvement in the top flight this season. With three starts in Everton’s last four matches, during which they have picked up seven points, he certainly isn’t out of favour under Frank Lampard.

Indeed, it was only this time last year that BT Sport commentator Darren Fletcher was describing him as a ‘vital’ player for the club.

However, his contract is due to expire in just over 13 months’ time, so Everton may view this summer as their final opportunity to cash in on him. Come next January, Allan will be able to negotiate pre-contract terms with other clubs if he is still with the Toffees.

The Brazilian earns £70,000 per week at Goodison Park and, as Brown says, it may not be regarded as financially prudent to prolong that lucrative contract into his mid-30s.

In other news, Kevin Thelwell is keen on bringing this defender to Everton